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Five simple tips to worship God with your heart, soul and mind
Do you worship God because you love him? Do you worship God fully focused or are you always distracted?
And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)
The greatest thing in your love for God is that you worship him. Don’t worship the Lord God the sake of it but do with full involvement of your heart, soul and mind. Here are a few tips to worship God with your heart, soul and mind:
1) Have faith in God
Trying to worship God without believing in Him is completely illogical. And this won’t please God even one bit.
- But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. (Psalm 73:28)
- And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
2) Repent of all your sins to let your prayers be heard
God is holy and does not desire his worshippers to cling to sin. Repent and ask God for his forgiveness and be determined to do His will.
- We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. (John 9:31)
- Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8)
3) Forgive everyone because its God’s will
Don’t cling to unforgiveness so that you live as per the will of God. Make it point to fully forgive each and everyone who sinned against you. Also, forgive yourself.
- And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”(Mark 11:25)
- Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:12-13)
4) Always love the Lord God
Without love towards God, your worship of God is in vain. Love God in all sincerity when you pray to Him.
- If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)
- Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:8)
5) Focus on the Lord God
Meditate on the goodness of the Lord. By focusing on the Word of God and speaking it in heart and mind you will be more attuned to the things of the Lord by the Holy Spirit. Even if distractions come, rebuke and reject them in the name of Jesus and continue to worship God.
- I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. (Psalm 119:15)
- But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16-17)
Quick reminder: Give the highest esteem to being forgiven by God
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:8)
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7)
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah …(Psalm 32:1-11)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ( Romans 10:9)
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, so beware of it!
All praise and glory to the Lord God Almighty the Father along with our Lord Jesus Christ in union with His Holy Spirit. Thanks be to Jesus Christ for giving us the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us in this world and in the world to come. Amen.
Neglecting, ignoring and opposing the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, is the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If there is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and you say it is from the devil, you are dangerously blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Don’t Risk It! Don’t resist the movements of the Holy Spirit, that is the Blasphemy we were warned about. (Robert Brownell)
There are three sins mentioned in the Bible that cannot be forgiven and of them only for one you still have a chance out of it. Here are the trio:
- Receiving the mark of the Beast and worshiping the image of the Beast. (refer Revelation 14:9-12)
- Unforgiveness. (refer Matthew 6:14-15)
- Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Of these three sins only unforgiveness has a cure which is that before a person dies, he or she must actually forgive those who sinned against them. There is no other remedy to unforgiveness than to forgive. The other two sins are totally unpardonable forever.
Coming to the main topic about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, one must realize that there is absolutely no forgiveness for this sin. Even Jesus won’t forgive those who sin against the Holy Spirit. You can read the verse Mark 3:22-30 mentioned below which confirm this:
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
You can also read the below verses which confirm the same thing:
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31-32)
One must take note of the word ‘whoever’ in the above verses. This means it applies to everyone in the world including atheists. There are various skeptics against the Christian faith who have gone to the extent of churning out blasphemies against the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t matter what they do or do not believe in, they are already under eternal condemnation. Don’t waste your time on such blasphemers as even the Gospel can’t save them now. This also applies to people who do believe in the existence of God as well that they must never blaspheme the Holy Spirit. As Christians, there should be no one so wicked as to commit this sin and so be condemned.
How does the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit manifest?
There are two major ways that I noticed how this happens:
- There are fools who directly speak evil against the Holy Spirit. They may also use cartoons, literature, videos etc to do this.
- There are people who criticize, oppose, reject and ignore the workings of the Holy Spirit through various individuals, ministries, groups etc. (This usually doesn’t happen overnight)
One must be very careful about blaming other Christians in saying that they are doing the works of demons. Just because you can’t understand them doesn’t mean they are always wicked. You need to check if they manifest the fruits of the Holy Spirit and do they preach Christ crucified and his resurrection.
For instance, there’s a young man who comes to church and after the church service waits outside and starts praying for sick people and they get healed. Then don’t be rash in judgement saying he does this by demonic powers because he wasn’t doing this in the church. What if he was doing this by the Holy Spirit and you were impulsive to skip all the due diligence but instead directly accused him? How would you be answerable to God for that?
So what I suggest is that if there is such a person you encounter then walk up to him with your church preacher and/or with some mature Christians and question him about his methods, doctrines and behavior. Ask him why did he, all of a sudden come to start healing and also what is his mission towards God. Ask him does he believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised from the dead on the third. Then check back on the Bible and see if any of the things he mentioned or does contradicts the teaching of the Bible. You can then accuse the person if he indeed does go against the Lord God in any way. Be wise enough that you actually mention the sin or wrongdoing along with valid proof, if you’re warning others. That too warn others because you don’t wish them to be in deception.
Another example, is when ministries or church groups accuse each other blindly instead of checking for the facts. This is true in cases when their members are filled with misplaced pride about their sect or denomination instead of being focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. They will rally forth a huge volley of insults calling each other ‘demon led’, heretics, new world order stooges, [insert swear word] of Babylon, damned sinners and what not, on seeing that the people they oppose are doing great works in the name of the Lord Jesus and winning more converts to the Christian faith than them. Some of them even incorporate this into their doctrines and close the doors on open dialogue between opposing groups.
This name calling goes on really foolishly, especially on online forums that even unbelievers are shocked or amused by this. Now once in a while a person comes by and then asks them what is the actual crime they accuse each other of, then on systematic checking he realizes that these are not true or simply speculations. It’s quite a weird situation then, when such people are found to be foolishly accusing each other without valid proof. One excuse which is given when they’re caught is that they say they need to test every spirit. Well, ‘test every spirit’ means you actually test instead of jump the gun and directly accuse each other.
We are called to test every spirit. Any evil spirit you encounter, go ahead rebuke it in the name of Jesus. Keep your peace when any person is talking things contrary to the Gospel and if you want to rebuke or expose his falsehood, then do so with due diligence. You don’t need to become a person who speaks foul language even against blasphemers. Even the angels of God despite being powerful know to conduct themselves with honor. Jude 1:9 says that; But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
1 John 4:1-6 has excellent principles on how to test the Spirits. Here we go:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
So do check the facts before blaming anyone who is doing the works of God. Forgive those who sinned against you and reject the Evil One. Love and respect the Holy Spirit at all times. Give glory to God in all that you do.
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Do not judge or do not repent?
When telling people about their need to repent sometimes some of them act like pompous Bible scholars. They will churn out their favorite verses to justify themselves. Here’s what they will normally use the following verses and that too out of context:
Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37)
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)
So their logic is that nobody is to judge them and they can continue in their sinful lifestyle as long as they please. Any other Christian who tells them to please not speak vulgar jokes, to avoid drugs etc is given the ‘Judge not’ bible verse to counter the need to repent. Such is either their shamelessness or ignorance that they totally chose to forget the same Lord Jesus who spoke about ‘Judge not’ also said in Matthew 4:17 that “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
However, these same ‘Judge not’ Christians will pay up the their fines for going over the speed limit with no questions asked. No questions at all. They are the same people who will never dare use the ‘Judge not’ verse in front of a Judge when they are convicted for drug peddling etc. Why so? Because they know well that their ‘Judge not’ joker card won’t work against those who are trained to interpret the law (civil) and not aligned to any religion at least when carrying out their duties in dispensing justice.
Another crafty ploy used by the ‘Judge not’ Christians is that the person telling them to leave a specific sin himself/herself is a sinner. So going by that logic they imply that if the person telling them not to steal a million even stole a wee penny then it’s perfectly fine for them to steal as much as they want and they won’t be at risk by the law of the land nor even punished in hell. Such is their profound wisdom in misusing the Holy Scriptures. These people must realize that there is an abundance of scriptures verse that also tell us to repent. May they learn the need for actual repentance before it’s too late!
Here are a few Bible verses that show us the need to repent:
- Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matthew 3:8)
- Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19)
- Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14)
- Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. (Revelation 3:3)
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Beware of doubting your forgiveness by Christ
I was once leading praise and worship for a few christian youth. Everyone was participating in the songs to praise God. Now in that service I just felt like singing a song thanking Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. Suddenly most of the youth were feeling uneasy singing that song. So I decided to repeat this song again. Same lack of joy. I then realized in spirit that most of the youth doubted the forgiveness that comes from Christ.
So I stopped everyone and asked “do you feel forgiven?” And I noticed doubtful faces to that question. Most were avoiding that question. I told them no matter how many times you have sinned Jesus will forgive you of them all. They seemed a bit better on hearing this. I spoke about genuine repentance and forgiveness. After that I asked let’s all pray together asking Jesus for the forgiveness for our sins and then we will go on to thank Jesus for that. All were fine with that. So I led them in prayer asking for forgiveness from God for all their sins. Then when we sang back the song about thanking Christ for the forgiveness of sins everyone was fully into praising the Lord with genuine joy.
By this experience I realized that lack of faith in being forgiven is a stronghold that must not be ignored. Forgiveness of your own sins by Jesus is the most important part of your salvation. To doubt forgiveness is to doubt your salvation. Therefore cease and desist from doubting your forgiveness in Jesus when you repent in faith.
If we confess our sins, Christ is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)
There may be many reasons why some doubt their forgiveness. Four of them are major reasons. Some misuse forgiveness, some themselves don’t forgive, some keep on going back to the same sin or a worse one. And some sin against the Holy Spirit. Let’s try to learn more about them.
1) Misuse of the principle of forgiveness
Now Jesus faithfully forgives even unto a persons final breath. However some misuse this and keep sinning thinking let’s sin now and later repent. Such people are risking eternal damnation for themselves. For nobody knows when one may die. In the past centuries many people made a mockery of the forgiving nature of Christ not in words but in deeds. They continued to sin hoping to get forgiven when they can’t sin. For such people the gates of hell gladly are opened by the Evil One as he knows their have tampered with their salvation and are liable for greater torments. Forgiveness is not a license to sin later.
2) Not forgiving others who may have offended you
Forgiving others may seem a burden unless you realize that you are not giving up on justice but rather doing the will of Jesus the Judge of all. Some people don’t want to forgive others who hurt or offended them. A person who doesn’t forgive others won’t be able to experience forgiveness from God. That’s why not for your offenders sake but for your sake forgive them.
3) Going back to a sin or a worse sin
Some people confess their sin’s but later do that sin again. Sometimes they sin even more gravely. They do feel bad about it and later try to repent plus ask forgiveness from Christ. Now due to continual sinning and asking for mercy and back to sinning they feel like giving up. They want to give up on the mercy of God. These people doubt themselves, they doubt their own sincerity as they are witness to their own backsliding ways. All they must do in this case is not look on their faithfulness but look on the eternal faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So even if you are a habitual sinner keep coming back to Christ even till your last breath. However I still maintain that you must desire to permanently leave your sins. Especially sins of drugs, murder, witchcraft, adultery and idolatry.
4) Sinning against the Holy Spirit
All the above three reasons I say there is still hope for a person. But for the fourth I admit there is NO true hope. That is why a person must avoid any sinning against the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. If you notice the below verses all sins can be forgiven except those against the Holy Spirit. Let’s read:
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:31-32)
Value your salvation. Value your forgiveness from Christ. It’s as real as the air you breathe and your heartbeat. Thank God for your forgiveness which you have received in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The heresy of pre-forgiven sin
Galations 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
I pray that you truly understand the meaning of Galatians 1:8. Now I have noticed on those lines a lie that sounds very religious but in fact is a false gospel. Here’s what it is. It says that by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross not only your past and present sins are forgiven but also your future sins. Now for a second this seems legit but that lie further adds that if you live in sin in the future, even that is forgiven without you feeling the need to repent. This is simply a heresy of the highest order.
Such lies make a person who is struggling with sin, to give up and commit more sins in the false hope of being automatically forgiven. We are in Christ called to live in true hope. We are called overcome our weaknessess and failures instead of shirking responsibility. If you know you have sinned be humble and ask for mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ who will pardon you. To say that you never sinned is to deny the truth of Gospel which says Christ came for sinners and not for the righteous. He came to seek and save the lost. Amen, he continues to save people even today if they call upon his holy name.
Now the scripture can be used with amazing effect to fight heresies. The are principles in the Bible that stand the test of time. Like God will always be the ruler of heaven. Also Satan will never ever become a good person! Now coming to the point, the blood of Jesus does not automatically forgive you of your FUTURE sins, as these need to be repentanted off once the sin is done. If someone disagrees, why not consider as to why Ananias and Saphira were NOT pre-forgiven. Their sin is mentioned in the Bible along with God’s judgement on them.
Acts 5:1-11
The Sin of Ananias and Sapphira
A man by the name of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sold some land. 2 He kept back part of the money for himself. His wife knew it also. The other part he took to the missionaries. 3 Peter said to Ananias, “Why did you let Satan fill your heart? He made you lie to the Holy Spirit. You kept back part of the money you got from your land. 4 Was not the land yours before you sold it? After it was sold, you could have done what you wanted to do with the money. Why did you allow your heart to do this? You have lied to God, not to men.”
5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down dead. Much fear came on all those who heard what was done. 6 The young men got up and covered his body and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in. She did not know what had happened.
8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for this amount of money?” She said, “Yes.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “How could you two have talked together about lying to the Holy Spirit? See! Those who buried your husband are standing at the door and they will carry you out also.” 10At once she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in, they found that she was dead. They took her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Much fear came on all the church and on all who heard it.
Now there’s more. Why does the Lord through the Bible keep warning of severe judgement if some were to receive the mark of the Beast? The are verses that say that those who recieve it, will never be forgiven. If the Lord knows that some people are going to sin why does he not use the ‘auto forgiven for the future’ stance? Because simply, such a thing does not exist and is wholly inconsistent with the Gospel. You need to repent if you sin. Period.
Get rid of all bitterness through forgiveness
Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
If there is too much of bitterness and wrath in you then its not a good thing. Malice in your heart for too long can end up hurting you emotionally.
Forgiveness is the cure to that!
Now when you forgive it doesn’t take away the fact that you were wronged. Its only that you have decided not let the evil done to you end up controlling you.
You might feel you are giving away your right to justice. Not actually, your right to justice remains but that part will be handled by God for sure. Remember at the Final Judgement, all those who are still in their sins will be judged severely and permanently.
On your part, forgiving the person who hurt you keeps you away from judgement.
Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Luke 6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
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Disciples of hope 