Bible Verses Used

Colossians 3: 12~17

Matthew 7: 1~5

Luke 6: 27~38

Romans 2: 1

James 4: 11~12

Romans 14: 10

We need to put our roots down deep in God. There are surface roots, but if there’s no rain, the plant will wither and die. The first time a storm comes along, you are in deep yoghurt. Put your roots down deep. God looks at our ♥♥♥ ~ you can’t do without God’s love.

Let love guide your life; then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony. We are the church. There are many people who have their “church persona” and the “rest of their life persona”. We need to have the same persona throughout the whole week.

Jesus commandments are:~

• Love God.
• Love others.

You can’t be a God~lover and not love others. The human tendency is to stand on the sidelines and not to pitch. We are not to judge others, for with the measure with which we judge others is the measure with which we will be judged. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Who are you to judge your neighbour? When you criticise someone else, you are going where you are never meant to go. How many times have I sat in judgement? If a person’s drowning, they will push you under in order to save themselves. There is no excuse for pushing someone down in order to elevate yourself.

We are to pray for our enemies. Criticism is the major instrument that Satan uses to destroy the church. Peace, harmony and unity are what God wants within our church today. Unless your roots are down deep, it is easy to go Satan’s way. There is a narrow way or a broad way ~ the broad way is the easiest way.

Gossiping is passing on information when you are not a part of the problem or a part of the solution. People who will gossip to you will also gossip about you. People who gossip cannot be trusted with your confidences. The greatest wounds come from other sheep, not from the wolves. Gossip is not meant to be a part of our lives. When people gossip, they are destroying harmony and unity within the church. If they are gossiping, confront them with this. We each have talents and abilities, and the church needs each one of us. God blesses churches that are united. God is looking for a church that will build and strengthen believers.

People are looking for acceptance and love when they come to our church, a church where every person can be:~

• Accepted
• Loved
• Valued

Leaders and pastors are not perfect, but they need your support and prayers to build the church that God wants. We want God to be welcome to walk into our church, and we need to work together.

No matter what comes, we shall stand and we shall build the church that God wants.

A holy man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell. The Lord said to the holy man, “Come, and I will show you hell.”

They entered a room where there was a large table, and a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew. Everyone was famished, desperate and starving. The stew made the holy man’s mouth water. Each person held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arms that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths. The suffering was terrible, and everyone sitting around the table were thin and sickly.

“Come, and now I will show you heaven,” the Lord said after a while. They entered another room, identical to the first — the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But there everyone was happy and well-nourished. “I don’t understand,” said the holy man. “Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything looked the same?”

The Lord smiled, “Ah, it is simple,” he said. “Here they have learned to feed each other.”

The greedy think only of themselves.

When Jesus died on the cross, He was thinking of you!

Remember that I will always share my spoon with you.

Scripture memorization is extremely important to the Christian. It helps him to withstand the attacks of the Wicked One. Scripture memorization will help the Christian to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (1 Peter 3:15). Scripture memorization should be an integral part of every Christian’s spiritual walk with God. Scripture mentions the memorization of God’s Word in many places, especially in Psalm 119. How fitting it is that the longest chapter of the Bible contains so many references to memorizing God’s Word as well as many indirect references to it.

Scripture memorization is one of the most effective ways of blocking Satan’s attacks. Why wait until Satan attacks to try and counter attack and find your armour? Isn’t it better to have your armour on before the battle, than to walk out onto the battlefield, start the battle, and then discover that you forgot to bring your armour with you? Oh, how true are the words of the Psalmist David when he said, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm 119:11). Hiding God’s Word in your heart will help you to overcome Satan time and time again. Here are just some of the verses in Psalm 119 discussing Scripture memorization: Psalm 119: 9, 11, 16, 17, 38, 50, 82, 101, 105, 162 and 172. There are many more in that one chapter that deal less directly with the issues. Some of those may not deal with the benefits of Scripture memorization, but with the results of not memorizing the words of our Mighty Lord. We should always seek to memorize more of God’s holy, inspired Word.

If someone asks you the “reason of the hope that is in you” if you have memorized God’s Word, then you will be able to give them an answer direct from God’s Word. God’s Word has the power to change people’s lives. “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;” (Romans 10:8). Praise God if His Word is found in our mouths and our hearts, and not just in our heads. His Word is of no value if it is only in our heads and in our hearts, It only has the power to change our lives if it is our hearts and committed there through prayer and the Holy Spirit.

No matter if you memorize a passage a week, or a larger passage a month, pray that God will commit that passage to your memory for life. One day you may need those passages that you memorize, so don’t just let them be forgotten in the busyness of life. If you have never memorized God’s Word before, or if you have trouble memorizing His Word, pray to Him that He will help you to “hide His Word in your heart.” He can help you to overcome any problem that you are facing right now – don’t be afraid to ask Him, and to ask Him for a double portion of His Spirit to help you overcome.

The cost of selfishness and self-pity is very high. Selfishness and self-pity lead to many problems in the home. These include domestic disputes, anger, divorce, violence, and affairs among many other things. Selfishness has lead to many unhappy marriages even between committed Christians. Selfishness harbours resent; even though the person may not see the situation as unfair, it may just be their outlook that makes it feel that way. Selfishness is a sin, and sin can take many forms. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” Sin may appear as if you have been wronged, but that is the way that Satan wants you to see it. He likes to disguise sin and deceive Christians with that sin. And [Satan] shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, (Revelation 20:8). It must really grieve God to see His children deceived by the Wicked One.

When marriages end in divorce, it is usually because of selfishness in one or both of the couple’s hearts. What may start out as a trivial matter will then be dwelt upon and fester up inside of one or both of the couple and then grow into resent, which is really selfishness or self-pity in disguise. They will continue to dwell upon the resent until it becomes such a great burden that they explode and the once happy marriage will end in divorce. Satan loves to see marriages fall to pieces as it means that his tactics have worked yet again inside of a happy, successful marriage between two committed Christians. If only married couples realized that resent is really selfishness, and selfishness is really a sin, then many marriages could be saved before they ended in a divorce.

Self-pity has many the same symptoms as selfishness. It can disguise itself just the same under a cloak of “Poor me!” or just like an affiliate link that has been cloaked, it is still self-pity, no matter what disguise it takes. It still takes you to the same endpoint whether it is seen or disguised. If it is disguised it may just take a little longer to get to the same end. Just like an affiliate at the end there is a cost. The cost with self-pity is always high, no matter whether it is “cloaked” or not. It may be a friendship that someone has broken, it may be a marriage that has ended in divorce, or it may be a business venture that has ended in failure.

If you are suffering from selfishness or self-pity, then pray to God that He will help you to find the source of that selfishness or self-pity. Then either remove the source from your life, or ask God to help you overcome the thing that is causing this problem. If you ask God, He will surely help you to overcome that thing in your life – all you have to do is ask.

Original image from here.

Image from here.

Satan is continually trying to bombard the Christian’s mind with things that will tempt him to do wrong. If you fail to deal with what Satan tempts you with, in the right way, then you may find yourself thinking on these things more and more, or you may even find yourself doing them. There is a continual spiritual find for the mind of a Christian. When God doesn’t have total control, then Satan will take advantage of your situation. He will always tempt you when you are out of fellowship with God. If you’re right with God, then you are less susceptible to Satan’s attacks to control your mind. Satan is behind all the attacks on your mind, even though He also has his demons wandering the earth, looking for Christians to tempt to turn away from God. You may not always see the temptations as Satan is very subtle to start with. Then the attacks become more and more direct.

If you’re in constant fellowship with God, then the chances are that your relationship is right with God. This will mean that Satan is less likely to tempt you. If you’re right with God, then Satan will flee. Resist the devil and he will flee away from you (James 4:7). Praying and reading God’s Word is resisting the devil, but you can’t just read God’s Word, then say Satan won’t tempt me. Resisting the devil needs to be an ongoing process. Satan loves to snatch people from God’s fold, and bring them into his own. Even if you are resisting the devil, he will still try you from time to time. Satan knows when your relationship with God is not at its strongest, and that is when He will tempt you.

You can resist the devil by fellowshipping with God each day: by reading His Word and talking to Him. The more alert you are, the better your outlook on life, and the better your outlook on life, the more likely you are to be right with God. When you aren’t alert, Satan loves to try you more than when you are awake. This is because when you are less alert, you tend to dwell on what Satan puts on your mind. The more you dwell on what Satan tempts you with, then the more likely you are to do that thing or think those thoughts.

God is greatly grieved to see any of His children fall for Satan’s tricks. Satan still hasn’t got his head around the fact, that no matter how far a Christian wanders from God, God will always forgive them and love them. God will strengthen His children if only they ask Him. Ask God to help you resist the devil. Remember, if your relationship with God suffers, then Satan will tempt you to sin. God hates to see His children tempted, but He must allow Satan to tempt you. No matter how Satan tempts you, God will give you the strength to overcome that old dragon.

The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in the waiting room of what I thought to be a court house.

The doors opened and I was instructed to come in and have a seat by the defense table.

As I looked around I saw the ‘prosecutor’.

He was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he stared at me.  He definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen.

I sat down and looked to my left and there sat My Attorney, a kind and gentle looking man whose appearance seemed so familiar to me, I felt I knew Him.

The corner door flew open and there appeared the Judge in full flowing robes.

He commanded an awesome presence as He moved across the room, and I couldn’t take my eyes off Him.

As He took His seat behind the bench, He said, “Let us begin.”

The prosecutor rose and said,

“My name is Satan and I am here to show you why this woman belongs in hell…”

He proceeded to tell of lies that I told, things that I stole, and In the past when I cheated others Satan told of other horrible Perversions that were once in my life and the more he spoke, the further down in my seat I sank.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t look at anyone, even my own Attorney, as the Devil told of sins that even I had completely forgotten about.

As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these things about me, I was equally upset at My Attorney who sat there silently not Offering any form of defense at all.

I know I had been guilty of those things, but I had done some good in my life – couldn’t that at least equal out part of the harm I’d done?

Satan finished with a fury and said, ‘This woman belongs in hell, she is guilty of all that I have charged and there is not a person who can prove otherwise.”

When it was His turn, My Attorney first asked if He might approach the bench. The Judge allowed this over the strong objection of Satan, and beckoned Him to come forward.

As He got up and started walking, I was able to see Him in His full splendour and majesty.

I realised why He seemed so familiar; this was Jesus representing me, my Lord and my Saviour.

He stopped at the bench and softly said to the Judge, “Hi, Dad,” and then He turned to address the court.

“Satan was correct in saying that this woman had sinned, I won’t deny any of these allegations.  And, yes, the wages of sin is death, and this woman deserves to be punished.”

Jesus took a deep breath and turned to His Father with outstretched arms and proclaimed, “However, I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life and she has accepted Me as her Saviour, so she is Mine.”

My Lord continued with, “Her name is written in the Book of Life,  and no one can snatch her from Me.

Satan still does not understand yet.  This woman is not to be given justice, but rather mercy.”

As Jesus sat down,

He quietly paused, looked at His Father and said, “There is nothing else that needs to be done. I’ve done it all.”

The Judge lifted His mighty hand and slammed the gavel down..  The following words bellowed from His lips..

“This woman is free. The penalty for her has already been paid in full. Case dismissed.”

As my Lord led me away, I could hear Satan ranting and raving, “I won’t give up, I will win the next one.” I asked Jesus, as He gave me my instructions where to go next, “Have you ever lost a case?”

Christ lovingly smiled and said,

“Everyone that has come to Me and asked Me to represent them has received the same verdict as you,

~Paid In Full~”

Stop telling God how big your storm is.
Instead, tell the storm how big your God is!

Bible Verses:

Blessed is the man that perseveres under trial, for when people endure, they will receive the Crown of Life. What are we required to do? Persevere, and we will be blessed. Being blessed is more than being happy – it is about that spiritual joy that occurs in the heart. Jesus went to the Calvary for the joy of the cross. Do you think that Jesus really enjoyed what God asked Him to do? No, but He did it for the joy of the cross.

The picture in James 1:12 is of a winner of a race receiving the crown of glory, but the crown we receive is of eternal life. Picture yourself victorious with the crown of life – can you really picture yourself like that? That is how God is seeing you right now.

There are televisions that have PIP, which is where you can have one screen showing, and another screen as well. Picture yourself as the top screen and God’s screen is the bottom one – what God sees is the real you, and the top screen is how you see yourself, but God’s screen shows us victorious, which is sometimes not how we see ourselves, and if we can’t see God’s screen of ourselves, we only see our own perspective.

We try to do things in our own strength, but we should trust God and persevere through to the other side. You are not meant to understand everything, only that God calls you to persevere. God told Eve that she could eat of any tree in the Garden of Eden, but of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Eve knew what God wanted her to do, but she began to doubt when Satan planted thoughts into Eve’s mind, saying that she would not surely die, but her eyes would be opened and that she would be like God, knowing good and evil. Eve was tempted because she wanted to know what God knew. The trap is that you need to understand the mind of God.

There are seasons of hardness and easiness. We need to be in the position where our first response is a spiritual response, rather than a human response. Then we feel guilty, and that is Satan’s infiltration. Our first response, if we have someone do something wrong to us, is to criticise.

A certain prominent female politician attended a vehicle accident, and when she was there, the person in the car needed medical attention before the ambulance crew arrived, so she went into doctor mode, which was her previous profession. Note that she went into doctor mode – interesting, isn’t it, that when she was under pressure that she went into doctor mode??? We need to go into Christian mode when things go wrong.

There are seven main points for a Christian to remember, and they are:

1. Refuse to give in to wrong thoughts – guard your mind. There’s an old saying, “Garbage in, garbage out”, and this means that if you take garbage into your mind, that is exactly what you will get out of it. Be disciplined and determined – don’t entertain wrong thoughts about yourself or others. Note that I said, “Don’t entertain wrong thoughts” because that is exactly what Satan is getting you to do. The devil will put wrong thoughts into your mind, but what you do with them is your responsibility. Protect your mind!
2. Resist the temptation to psychoanalyse yourself. If you do, you’ll see all of your failures, but that’s not how God sees you. If He didn’t love me, would He have sent His Son to die on the cross for me? When God wants you to change anything in your life, He will reveal Himself to you.
3. Fight by using God’s Word. You can have no more powerful weapon than God’s Word. Jesus used God’s Word to defeat Satan when He was tempted, but you need to know what it says.
4. Listen to God – God speaks to you in a still, small voice that only you can hear. God wants to speak to you, but you need to let Him in the busyness of your life.
5. Be willing to move to a higher level of faith. Expect God to respond to a higher level of faith, and He will, as you step out in faith.
6. Get your life into proper alignment with God – this can only be found in God’s Word. This needs to be a part of your daily routine. We need to be lined up with God’s plumbline.
7. Understand and accept the place that you are in right now. When you know that what I am being put through is a part of your eternal destiny, life becomes easier. You need to place your life into perspective with the eternal crown of life that is promised to you.

When the going gets tough, God blesses you abundantly.

Run that you may receive the ultimate reward:

the

Crown of Life

and

eternity in heaven with God.