I am the true vine. John 15:1 Read John 15:12-27. Is this the type of final words you expected to hear from Jesus? Have you felt God speak you about your hearts’ desires with His words and His love? Do you feel a sense of lack in your life? This may be because you have a love deficiency. We all get busy going and going, doing, and doing. We feel the grind to keep up and to check off every item on our to-do list. This is what I have felt this last month. Then I sit back and wonder when I have had a real true connection with…
-
-
Reconciled with God and Others
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did you see a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. . . . . As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” Matthew 25:37-40,45 Does Our triune…
-
Offenses Toward Others
“So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.” Acts 24:16 Do you offend people? Do others offend you? The apostle Paul understood the necessity of both dimensions of God and man. Paul was intentional about being moral at all times with God and with others. Paul wanted to make sure at all times there was no offense between him and others. Join me as we learn about having a clear conscience. Has the Holy Spirit convicted you of a sin you had committed against someone, or you had no peace in your conscience until you made it right with that person? We can…
-
Honesty: Being Silent Is Not Always The Way To Go
Proverbs 28:13 “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. When we are seeking God in our personal life there is a level of honesty that has to happen. How honest are you with God. How nervous does this make you? Does this make you uncomfortable? Since humilty is the first step of drawiing closer to God, then the next step is being honest with God and others. When was there a time when you were tempted to leave a better impression of yourself than what was true? What did you do? Why? So when the woman saw that the tree…
-
Love An Action
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need – how can God’s love reside in him? Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action. This is how we will know we belong to the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence, … 1 John 3:16-19 How did your grandparents or parents show their love for one another? I was lucky to have grandparents and…
-
God Loved
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17 Are you a gift giver or do you like to receive gifts? I love gifts. I love receiving them. However, I am not a gift giver. I struggle in this area. Do you? I am a rule follower and I have rules to buying gifts. I think this take the joy out of giving gifts.…
-
Attentive To The Prayer
Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Nehemiah 1:11 Don’t you just love God’s word. I am so thankful for His Word. I am thankful that through His Word he speaks to us! Or at least its one way of hearing him. I really enjoyed studying the old testament. In fact, when I got the last book of the Old Testament, I grieved. I know you are probably saying, ‘what???’ Not that since I started the new testament have I not opened the old testament. I have read books still…
-
God And Others First
Do nothing from selfish ambitions or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Philippians 2:3 Today we see selfish ambition. It is one of the top enemy of unity in the Christian community. Christians fall trapped in the tendency to promote their own interests and not let go of their own views and opinions. Humility is a part of Christian unity because it is a quality of Jesus’ character. The Bible’s view point of humanity and spiritual salvation places a high value to humility. Humble means to be conscious of our weaknesses and inadequacies. To give quick credit to God and others for what they have…
-
Motive In loving Others
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:10 Love is fulfilled by both positive (the things we are to do) and negative (the things we should not do) commands. Love must always look at the good and best interests of others. Love is positive, yet it can be negative. For example, placing restrictions on certain behaviors. The negative way is in that it takes the overwhelming human tendency towards sin, selfishness, and cruelty. Eight of the ten commandments are restrictions of what not to do, because sin comes naturally, while good does not. The first sign of Christian love is turning…
-
Laboring In Prayer
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Colossians 4:12 Prayer is a strong battle tool against the enemy. What is amazing about it is all we have to do is prayer. Pray for ourselves and for others. Let’s take a look the words laboring. In this verse laboring fervently is wrestling in agony of prayer. Other translations use struggling. Struggling in the Greek word is agonizo. This is where we derive the English word agonize from. To labor, struggle, or agonize speaks of deep desire and…