Are you paying attention to the truth by Jesus?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5)

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. (Proverbs 28:26)

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. (Psalm 37:3)

Just a thought – God can turn your burdens into blessings

God can turn your burdens into blessings. This is possible for those who believe in Him more than anything else.

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Biblical advice for those who are in need of healing

If you or any of your loved one’s are unwell, never feel too small to ask help from the elders of the the church in terms of prayers and anointing. The doctors are not to replace the elders of the church and neither are the elders of the church are told to replace the doctors. In short this means ; let the doctors do their part and let the elders do their part as per the Word of God.

The Saviour of the World Jesus Christ himself mentioned the importance of doctors (physician’s) in the following Bible verse:

And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. (Mark 2:17)

 

If you’re all hale and hearty, praise the Lord God for it. If you are in suffering pray to the Lord for your deliverance.

Also if someone is sick, do call for the elders of the church to pray over the unwell person anointing him or her with oil in the name of the Lord, so that healing and forgiveness come forth for that unwell one. A true elder of the church won’t reject this work which is required of them clearly written in the Holy Scriptures below:

Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. ¹⁴ Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; ¹⁵ and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit. (James 5:13-18)

Also do please take note O you who believe in Jesus Christ, do pray for each other so that you may be healed. Confess your sins as per the Word God.

Finally remember the case of the Prophet Elijah who had a faith that shut down rains and brought back the rains at the command of the Lord God. So can you bring forth miracles of healing if you walk in the holy faith of the Gospel and pray in righteousness.

Christ be with you!

 

Quick reminder: Read the Bible

Whom does God listen to?

Never be envious or jealous of others if you love God

Never be envious or jealous of others if you love God, because that would amount to doubting God’s goodness in your life.

Why must you be envious of sinners, especially those who look prosperous?

Do you want to have their final hopeless end as well? Or do you want to have the hope which comes from Christ Jesus alone?

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. (Proverbs 23:17-18)

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. (Psalm 37:1-3)

Image credit – Daily hope by Pastor Rick

Envy is a sin that starts first in the mind but once it’s put into action, it can harm others and self too

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death. (James 1:13-15)

Some people are utterly lazy and some lack the right mindset for success, yet these people get very envious and jealous of others who succeed where they failed. Instead of being happy for the success of others, they only find faults with that person. In offices, you will see such kinds, who refuse to talk to a recently promoted colleague just because of envy. In families, you will notice people who won’t help their suffering kin but will do everything to mock a family member who just came out of joblessness, because of jealousy. In politics, you will see one politician who is willing to burn down the entire nation, just because he or she cannot see another politician getting praised by the people for his or her government policies. (Just to be clear, I’m not talking about any specific country, nor about some specific religion. I’m talking about the whole wide world.)

Don’t even say jealousy and envy motivate you

Anyone who claims jealousy and envy motivates them to do better is just plain wrong. Such a person’s wisdom is never from God and can therefore never be justified. You can succeed in life by being truthful and kind and hardworking.

But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t brag and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil. (James 3:14-16)

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Aim to be free from envy and jealousy for your own welfare

Those who continue to remain envious and jealous are simply harming themselves. Firstly harming their thought life and eventually losing their body and soul.

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. (Proverbs 14:30)

Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple. (Job 5:2)

Instead of jealousy and envy have true love and desire to grow in the Word of God

Instead of wasting your life, resist all jealousy and envy, and each sinful habit and instead love God in all truth. Read the Word of God and grow in it.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (1 Corinthians 13:4)

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. (1 Peter 2:1-2)

Christ be with you!

Related articles:

• Envy is the mother of murder
• An Idol is anything that takes the place of God
• The counsel of the Holy Spirit will never go against the scriptures

The Bible is written to change you so don’t try to change it

Some people in vain try to change the Bible. They try to re-interpret it as per their convenience. However, when it comes to understanding the Bible, context is king. In fact text without a context is just pretext.

 

 

Jesus himself condemns the misuse of the Bible regardless of what reason anyone would give. He even exposed them in the following Bible verses of Mark 7:8-13:-

You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God) — then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”

 

If Jesus condemned the Pharisees of those days, how can we even expect the Risen Lord to now condone anyone to rewrite the Holy Scriptures! I’m not telling you sometime thing new. This has already been confirmed in the Bible:

 

1)Rejecting the Scriptures (the Word of God) by not doing as per it results in Judgement

If any one hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. (John 12: 47-48)

2) God will prove all those who add to the Scriptures to be liars

Do not add to God’s words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. (Proverbs 30:6)

3) God has not given anyone permission to removing anything from the Scripture

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2 )

 

You might ask what makes this relevant to today’s context. I’d answer that by saying people are still doing the same error like the one’s Jesus condemned the Pharisees for. People still come up with many crafty religious explanations to justify their vile deeds.

I remember many years ago, a preacher and some of his helpers came to my house reminding my family to pay our offerings to God. I happened to notice one of them was someone who had just passed out of college. So I asked this girl, “Are you going to pay your offerings to God as well?”. And she angrily replied, “No, since I sing in the Church choir my service equals all financial offerings that I could ever give”. Immediately the preacher was upset with her answer and said, “I’d deal with you later” to her. And he continued to speak to my family about why we should be making our financial offering to God.

Therefore, you must always follow the Holy Scriptures (the Word of God) in the right context or you will just find ways to avoid doing what God told you in the first place. Try to understand why the Holy Scriptures are given to us and you will do well.

 

What are the Holy Scriptures given to us for?

1. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation (2 Peter 1:20)
2. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ^that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
3. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deutronomy 29:29)

 

Instead of trying to rewrite the words of the Scripture in our own image and likeness, simply follow it as God meant it to be followed. It will save you a lot of trouble and give you a lot of benefit as well.

 

And finally please do remember the punishments for trying to add or removing are not just one-off punishments that end in a few minutes. These are eternal punishments! So take heed because you have been warned for your own good.

I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.  (Revelation 22:18-19)

The World’s perspective of God and the Biblical perspective of God

The World’s perspective of God.

We are down here struggling, many people are suffering, there’s injustice everywhere, wars, diseases, earthquakes, floods, disasters all over the world, and where is god?

He’s in Heaven, enjoying himself, oblivious to all the problems we have down here. Why doesn’t he do something?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why doesn’t he take care of his creation?  Is he asleep? Doesn’t he care? And after we go though this miserable life, he sends many people to hell? What kind of god is that?

The natural man loves this perspective because it justifies him, and shows that god is clearly in the wrong.

The Biblical perspective of God.

We are down here living in rebellion to God, we don’t obey His Word, we ignore His warnings, we refuse to repent, we kill His prophets & crucified His Son, we provoke Him to anger, we reject His mercy, we mock those He sends to us, we ridicule His ways and we live our live in accordance with Satan, doing whatever we want, making up our own rules, and continually breaking God commandments.

This rebellion causes God great pain and suffering.  The suffering you see on Christ’s body, represents the suffering of the Father’s heart, because His creation hates Him and rebels against Him.  He patiently holds back His fierce judgment, not punishing people as they deserve, so that some men might repent and be saved, before it is too late. 

The natural man hates this perspective, because it clearly shows that he is in the wrong with no excuse. 

(By Robert Brownell)

Quick Reminder: God’s not going to rewrite the Bible

1. “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle [a tiny mark in the original spelling of a word] will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)
2. “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” (Luke 16:17)
3. “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)
4. “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it;you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32)
5. “…if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:9-10)
6. “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:4) [I.e. don’t tolerate heresy]
7. “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5-6)
8. “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)

Should Christians have medicines?

Any Christian can take note that the Bible never tells us to avoid medication nor does it say to avoid doctors. In fact Jesus himself confirmed that the doctors (physicians) are important for the recovery of those who are unwell. Please refer to the following verses:

• And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. (Luke 5:31)
• On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)

Most doctors in their treatment of those who are ill, often prescribe medicines to them. So its Biblical to get to the doctor if you are unwell and then have medicines.

The Lord has caused medicines to exist and be discovered. So sensible one’s won’t despise them but have them as per their needs. Even the world after Judgement Day the Tree of Life will be used for healing the people.

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelations 22:2)

Don’t bother to have any sort medicine but always look for good medicine. This is where many get dismayed due to choosing the wrong medicine and then start fearing doctors and medicine. Pray for wisdom to know the right medicines to take and also that you get the right diagnosis by your doctor.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)