Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Fear of death cannot be of God
Since the Holy Spirit lives within me, any fear if death cannot be of Him and must be of Satan. God has given us a "Spirit of courage". The Holy Spirit that lives inside of me is one if courage, and so any fears are not of God. He wouldn't lead me to be fearful because it goes against His character. I must allow His character, that which lives inside me to come through. I must see all fear as from the evil one, speak against it, and pursue the confidence that is living within me through Christ.
Monday, 2 March 2015
Consider it joy to face persecution
Acts 5:41-42
These verses show apostles who had just been brutally tortured and flogged. Yet they went right back to preaching for Jesus. They were excited to have been considered worthy by God to suffer for His name. I must have this same attitude and be bold and confident in preaching for Him.
These verses show apostles who had just been brutally tortured and flogged. Yet they went right back to preaching for Jesus. They were excited to have been considered worthy by God to suffer for His name. I must have this same attitude and be bold and confident in preaching for Him.
A Spirit of Power
2 Timothy 1:6-9
This verse says very clearly that God has given us a Spirit of "power, love and self-discipline". This is the Holy Spirit living inside me. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit is living inside me, I must work to have the same qualities as that of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is within me, working and interceding on my behalf to help me become these ways.
I not only can be these ways, I must be these ways, for this are the characteristics of the Holy Spirit.
This verse says very clearly that God has given us a Spirit of "power, love and self-discipline". This is the Holy Spirit living inside me. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit is living inside me, I must work to have the same qualities as that of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is within me, working and interceding on my behalf to help me become these ways.
I not only can be these ways, I must be these ways, for this are the characteristics of the Holy Spirit.
A time for everything - Ecclesiastes
God is sovereign. Part of His sovereignty is the fact that He uses each and every situation for His glory and purposes. Even bad situations He will use. This is incredibly comforting and gives tremendous confidence and peace to those of us who place our trust in Him. "What Satan meant for evil, God uses for good."
The world is cursed by sin. This is a devastating reality. The good thing however is that God has overcome the curse of sin. Therefore we can live in complete confidence knowing that He lives within us, is completely sovereign and will use every situation to further His Kingdom, and at the same time, He has great plans for us and wants to bless us.
It is important to accept God's timing and purposes in every season of life. If I don't do this I will be a very bitter person. It is imperative that I live thankful and surrendered to the Lord at all times.
How foolish of me to think that I know what is best for me. How ignorant of me. I must be surrendered to the one who created me and died for me.
Savor the gift of every moment in life. Enjoy it. We have Christ! Enjoy life being surrendered to Him.
The world is cursed by sin. This is a devastating reality. The good thing however is that God has overcome the curse of sin. Therefore we can live in complete confidence knowing that He lives within us, is completely sovereign and will use every situation to further His Kingdom, and at the same time, He has great plans for us and wants to bless us.
It is important to accept God's timing and purposes in every season of life. If I don't do this I will be a very bitter person. It is imperative that I live thankful and surrendered to the Lord at all times.
How foolish of me to think that I know what is best for me. How ignorant of me. I must be surrendered to the one who created me and died for me.
Savor the gift of every moment in life. Enjoy it. We have Christ! Enjoy life being surrendered to Him.
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Prayer as a tool in war
These thoughts come from chapter 7 in "Killing Lions" by John & Sam Eldredge.
There are many evil forces out to try and devour Christians. This is a Biblical fact. Therefore it is imperative that we pray against these. We need to give them to God's control and authority and speak against any attacks in His perfect name. We are at war, but Jesus is on our side. We need to put Him at the centre of each of our fights, otherwise we don't have a chance. With Him, however, we are guaranteed the victory!
Anything that is not of God - whether it be fear, discouragement, frustration, impatience, anger, etc. - must be given to God and prayed against in the name of Jesus. I am completely niave if I don't realise that these things come as attacks from the evil one. Therefore, I mist always put Jesus at the centre of each of these battles. This is jowni become a warrior for Him. I lean on Him, put Him at the centre of the fight, and allow Him to fight the battle for me. My part is to then resist, saying, "You cannot have my heart fear, temptation, anger, frustration, impatience, etc..".
I never gave enough thought to the fact that all these things are often attacks from Satan. Therefore it is time for me to make like a true warrior and start fighting by doing what has been described above.
A very important part of this is to be daily praying against all evil attacks on behalf of my family. God is with us and will watch over us, but we need to do our part of the battle. That part is to obey Him, seek Him, pray against evil and in doing so resist it.
There are many evil forces out to try and devour Christians. This is a Biblical fact. Therefore it is imperative that we pray against these. We need to give them to God's control and authority and speak against any attacks in His perfect name. We are at war, but Jesus is on our side. We need to put Him at the centre of each of our fights, otherwise we don't have a chance. With Him, however, we are guaranteed the victory!
Anything that is not of God - whether it be fear, discouragement, frustration, impatience, anger, etc. - must be given to God and prayed against in the name of Jesus. I am completely niave if I don't realise that these things come as attacks from the evil one. Therefore, I mist always put Jesus at the centre of each of these battles. This is jowni become a warrior for Him. I lean on Him, put Him at the centre of the fight, and allow Him to fight the battle for me. My part is to then resist, saying, "You cannot have my heart fear, temptation, anger, frustration, impatience, etc..".
I never gave enough thought to the fact that all these things are often attacks from Satan. Therefore it is time for me to make like a true warrior and start fighting by doing what has been described above.
A very important part of this is to be daily praying against all evil attacks on behalf of my family. God is with us and will watch over us, but we need to do our part of the battle. That part is to obey Him, seek Him, pray against evil and in doing so resist it.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Stop being so stupid and trying to determine my own way!
When examing the life of Joseph, it is very clear that God blessed Him in major part because He was surrendered to Him. Even in the midst of heartache, pain and unfair treatment, Joseph remained faithfully surrendered to God. He allowed the Lord to bring his way whatever God saw fit. And Joseph was incredibly blessed for it.
I need to learn from this. When I examine my life, all good things have come directly from God and have never come as a result of me forcing the issues. They have come because God has blessed me with them.
A lot of times I have had goals and dreams that have not been fulfilled to which I later realize I am thankful that they weren't. God had a better plan which He brought about. I therefore need to really learn from this. I need to stop trying to force things. Rather I must work hard in all areas of life, striving to worship the Lord, and then allow Him to bring into my life whatever He sees fit. Forcing things are foolish. I must get out of the way and allow the Lord to determine the course of my life for He truly knows what is best for me. He has a perfect track record!!!
I need to learn from this. When I examine my life, all good things have come directly from God and have never come as a result of me forcing the issues. They have come because God has blessed me with them.
A lot of times I have had goals and dreams that have not been fulfilled to which I later realize I am thankful that they weren't. God had a better plan which He brought about. I therefore need to really learn from this. I need to stop trying to force things. Rather I must work hard in all areas of life, striving to worship the Lord, and then allow Him to bring into my life whatever He sees fit. Forcing things are foolish. I must get out of the way and allow the Lord to determine the course of my life for He truly knows what is best for me. He has a perfect track record!!!
Monday, 17 November 2014
Listening to Arguments about Evolution
It was frustrating listening to some arguments in one of Richard Dawkins' books about "proof" for evolution.
-Many of the arguments it seemed could have been flipped around to argue for creation, which to me means they are just rhetoric.
-Evolutionists use this rhetoric, but there rhetoric still leads to them having to have tremendous faith in their beliefs. Christians have faith, but our faith is based off of a God Who was seen and therefore known to have existed - JESUS CHRIST
-the arguments presented only make sense if evolution is true. As these arguments are presented they do seem to make sense, but that is because they do make sense only if evolution is true. However, there are so many problems with evolution, and most importantly, so many proofs for creation, that it is scientifically irresponsible to present evolution as fact.
-Of course if you are assuming something to be true, then the arguments you use to prove it are going to be "true". For instance, if I made up a fictional story, and in that fictional story I came up with a way for how life was created, and I explained in detail all the ways that life was created in my fictional story, I could indeed come up with a plan that seems to make sense. However, that is a fictional story. I made it up. It is the same with the theory of evolution being the means for how the earth and life was created. The story may sound like it makes sense, and the proof/explanations provided in favour of it may seem to make sense, but that does not make it true. This is one way that evolution is actually deceptive. Explaining how evolution could have happened, does not make it true. And Dawkins and other evolutionists explain what could have happened in a way that presents these ideas as "facts", saying that they absolutely happened this way. That is deceptive and scientifically irresponsible.
-Many people say that books like Lee Strobel's "Case for a Creator" is a God of the gaps book, saying that it only fills in gaps of evolution. I think this is a foolish argument. For one, that's what it should do. It should fill in the gaps that evolution has. And secondly, why do people who accept evolution not look at this arguments that are filling in the gaps? These gaps serve to disprove evolution, showing that it cannot be the means for how life was created.
-Many of the arguments it seemed could have been flipped around to argue for creation, which to me means they are just rhetoric.
-Evolutionists use this rhetoric, but there rhetoric still leads to them having to have tremendous faith in their beliefs. Christians have faith, but our faith is based off of a God Who was seen and therefore known to have existed - JESUS CHRIST
-the arguments presented only make sense if evolution is true. As these arguments are presented they do seem to make sense, but that is because they do make sense only if evolution is true. However, there are so many problems with evolution, and most importantly, so many proofs for creation, that it is scientifically irresponsible to present evolution as fact.
-Of course if you are assuming something to be true, then the arguments you use to prove it are going to be "true". For instance, if I made up a fictional story, and in that fictional story I came up with a way for how life was created, and I explained in detail all the ways that life was created in my fictional story, I could indeed come up with a plan that seems to make sense. However, that is a fictional story. I made it up. It is the same with the theory of evolution being the means for how the earth and life was created. The story may sound like it makes sense, and the proof/explanations provided in favour of it may seem to make sense, but that does not make it true. This is one way that evolution is actually deceptive. Explaining how evolution could have happened, does not make it true. And Dawkins and other evolutionists explain what could have happened in a way that presents these ideas as "facts", saying that they absolutely happened this way. That is deceptive and scientifically irresponsible.
-Many people say that books like Lee Strobel's "Case for a Creator" is a God of the gaps book, saying that it only fills in gaps of evolution. I think this is a foolish argument. For one, that's what it should do. It should fill in the gaps that evolution has. And secondly, why do people who accept evolution not look at this arguments that are filling in the gaps? These gaps serve to disprove evolution, showing that it cannot be the means for how life was created.
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