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Monday, 19 January 2009

  • Devotional 1.6

    Scripture used: 2 Timothy 3:16-17

                            Hebrews 4:12-13

                            James 1:22-25

                            Romans 1:16

                            Psalm 119:9-11, 119:105

     

                I’ve heard that some people don’t believe the Bible is completely true and each time I hear it, I’m shocked and angered. I don’t see how Christians themselves can say they don’t believe in all of the Bible, when the Bible defines basically Christianity and how God has been chasing us down for so long when he finally sent his son. The Bible is a love letter to us. But that’s another story. My point now is, if you can’t believe the Bible, in its entirety or otherwise, where is your basis for your belief in Jesus?

                The Bible is “ ‘God-breathed’ and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”  How can you not believe all of the Bible when it is God-breathed? You are basically saying God is a liar.

                The Bible is actually mentioned a lot within itself. In Hebrews, it says the word of God is active and alive. In the NKJV, it describes the Word as being a ‘discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ How often you read your Bible can really affect your spirituality and relationship with God. Without the Bible to convict you and letting God speak through it, you will let lots of things go without realizing it.

                I don’t know how else to say it. You can’t neglect the Bible.  It is one of the many ways that God chooses to speak to us and to ignore it is to ignore God; without it you lose the basis for having any belief in the first place.

Sunday, 15 June 2008

  • Devotional 1.5

    Scripture used: Romans 12:2

                            1 Peter 2:9

                            Matthew 5:48

                            Acts 1:1-11

     

    We’ve seen Jesus’ live. We know the suffering he went through before he met his end at the cross. And every Easter we remember how he came back and conquered death.

    But that’s not the end of the story. After the resurrection, Jesus stayed on Earth for 40 days. He gave them final commands, in a way, last words.

    Among these last words are ‘you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.’

    A while ago as I was reading this section of Acts I realized that Jesus was, in a way, asking us to carry on his legacy. To be him for the world, ‘even to the ends of the world.’ I know, I’ve touched on this before.

    Many maybe surprised to find out that we’re expected to be different from everyone by the normal population. They expect to see Christians acting different, having different morals, just be different. But when we keep what Jesus said in mind, things make more sense. Jesus was very different from everyone. His ideas were radical to people who had been living to please outwardly. He was different. Even God has told us to be different. He has said not to conform, through Paul. We are not supposed to live like everyone else. There should be a difference between our attitudes, thoughts and feelings when compared to a non-believer. And when we don’t conform we will know God’s will.

    We have been called to something much higher then what many of us are living up to. Being a Christian is much more then emotions for one weekend at a retreat! It’s a life changing experience. And when we have truly have that, we belong to God. We are called a ‘holy nation’, but do we act holy? Holy is defined as “dedicated to religious use; consecrated; sacred” and “spiritually pure; sinless”. Do we reflect that? Or are we just like everyone else? Do we go out to parties to get drunk? Do we stand by our convictions and morals during peer pressure? Do we purposefully cause trouble? The list could go on for a while.

    But how many of those things do we do? And what happened to our calling? Is how we act spiritually pure and sinless? If its not, its against our calling. And our calling is directly from God. We are to obey it.

Sunday, 08 June 2008

  • Devotional 1.4

    Scripture used: Psalm 51:10

               

                Well, this is another slightly more personal devotional. Lately, I’ve been having normal life difficulties. I had pneumonia last week and I’m still feeling a little bit of the aftermath. I’m having difficulties in my home and so on. Nothing others don’t deal with. But it’s also something that gets others down, like it did me.

                Before I go on, I might add that lately, in my own walk with God, I’ve been noticing not so good things. When I got serious about having this relationship with Jesus, I noticed changes in me. I was much more optimistic and things didn’t get me down as easily. God has continued to work in me and change me. But some of those changes in my heart did not continue changing. In fact, I feel I have gone backwards in terms of the optimism. I am once again quick to look on the negative side of things. For months now, I’ve been trying to figure out what the difference between now and back when I really committed myself to God. And just this past day or so, I’ve figured it out.

                I keep a journal where I will write down prayers, various interpretations of different Bible verses and what I feel being placed on my heart by God. Its definitely a reminder of where I’ve been with God and what I’ve learned. I was looking in an old journal, from the time that I was desperately searching for God and committing myself. I found a prayer, where I’m begging God to continue to work in my heart. I’m asking him to change me. That was my prayer for so long, back then. Then, I found the verse in Psalm 51:10.

                “Create in me a pure heart, O God,
                            and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

                I’ve just recently realized that I haven’t kept my heart the way it was when God first healed it. I’ve let it get hurt again, but I didn’t come back to him to get it fixed again. After a while, I didn’t continue to ask him to give me a pure heart, a light heart that doesn’t get concerned with everyday things. We’re always dependent on God to fix us. We are going to become more and more like we were before, unless we’re on the look out and depending on him. We have to continue to pray for him to mend us, or we’ll become the way we were.

Saturday, 24 May 2008

  • Devotional 1.3

    Scripture used: Proverbs 20:1; 23:29-35

                            Luke 21:34

                            Ephesians 5:18

     

                Its Friday night and suddenly it seems like everyone is having parties and hanging out, alcohol provided. The next time you see your friends, you know you’ll hear the stories about the awesome time everyone had, although they don’t remember most of it. You find yourself wanting to join them, but you have heard all the warnings against alcohol and drinking from school and adults.

                God has made it clear that drunkenness is not what he wants from someone serving him. He warns us that we’ll “see strange sights” and “imagine confusing things”. He knows that such things are not beneficial to us.

                Jesus even said that drunkenness would weigh us down. When he was teaching his disciples about the signs of the end of the age, he tells them that with drunkenness weighing them down that day will close on them like a trap. What will you have to show if you spend your days clouded by drinking?

                Finally I want to repeat Paul’s words. “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” When you are filled with the Spirit , you are much better equipped to do whatever God may want us to do.

                Everything we do should lead to the glory of God. Think about that the next time you think about joining your friends for a beer. Is this helping me do what God wants me to do?

Saturday, 17 May 2008

  • Devotional 1.2

    Scripture used: 1 Samuel 16:7

                            Proverbs 31:30                                  

                            Matthew 23:27-28

     

                Why is there so much focus on what color a person’s hair is, or what pant size someone wears? In some cases it ends up deciding whom a person hangs out with, how they are treated or even what a person thinks about themselves. Magazines target girls, saying that they must be a certain way and men are told they are attractive if they are a certain build. If we don’t fit that, we don’t fit into society. We’re misfits.

                Luckily, God doesn’t use such superficial requirements regarding us. He sees our hearts; he doesn’t care about our hair cut, or our friends. He sees and judges on what we carry around in our hearts and minds. He sees the difference between what the world see, what we proclaim and what is the truth. He sees whether we are sincere, or just putting on a show.

                Because of this, should we be more concerned with what is on the inside? In Proverbs 31:30, God says ‘Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a women who fears the Lord is to be praised.’ We should give God the power and glory he deserves, because he is eternal. What we wear is going to be rags in a few years and our bodies with return to the earth, whether our make up was perfect or our abs were more of a six-pack, then a keg.

                When Jesus said the seven woes to the Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, he even addressed that the inside should be clean, before the outside can be considered clean. Are you only cleaning the outside, and letting the inside slid? Or does your heart and mind match the outside? Is your concern for the outside a reflection of respecting what God made? Or is it to glorify yourself?

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  • I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I'm trying to encourage people. Thats basically it. Check out the myspace Living for Christ Jesus as well (http://www.myspace.com/livingforchrist_jesus). If you want me to pray for you, please just message me here, or send an email to livingforchristjesus@gmail.com.