Dealing with Inferiority - Part 1

Dearest Saints,

          When I do any series involving any issues that we need to deal with, I use my past experiences as a means to convey a message in order that I can always bring hope and encouragement to everyone in every case.  This way, people know I speak from my experience and not simply look up any title to talk about or use anyone else as an example of what not to do.  One of the symptoms I have had to deal with in my past was the fact that I often felt inferior, which I believe is a greater problem than most people think.  The nice thing about dealing with any negative issues we need to deal with is that there is always hope to overcome this and every other issues because of the Grace and mercies of God.  To start, I would like you to open your Bible and please read Luke 12:47, 48 where the emphasis is the fact that when people receive more from God, God Himself is going to require and demand all the more who have received more.  Also, read Romans 14:10-19 and focus on the last verse which is the key issue to realize why we do what we do.  The end result of why we do what we do is to always remember that our purpose for doing anything should always be to promote peace, encourage one another, edify one another and do all out of love one for another, because love always believes the best for one another (1 Cor 13:7) and should always bring out the best in everyone, which should always be our intent in the first place (Rom 14:19). 

          I would like to start by getting our focus on the right direction for people who deal with feeling inferior.  When God creates man (men & women), He never created any man or woman more superior or inferior to one another.  Therefore, everyone has equal opportunity to do His will.  Society today will make many believe that they are superior or inferior to others simply because of their “so-called” natural talents they have attributed.  We need to know that any gift or talent that anyone inherits is always a gift from God in the first place.  God can strip anyone of any talents at any time.  When God gives more talents to people, He is going to require a greater account from those who have received much.  Just like you just read in Luke, when a person has been given much, much is going to be required of them.  Sometimes, it is a blessing to only receive few talents, because we are not often willing to accept responsibility when we are going to be accountable.  Many times, people want to know more and want to have more, but they are not prepared to accept responsibility or be accountable to the extent which God is going to require.  When I felt I had very little talents when I was younger, I can now thank God for that.  I know if God were to have given me more talents than I could handle, I would have been lifted up with pride, which is the very thing that would have destroyed me (Prov 16:18).   Just like lucifer, who was once Gods highest angels was given more, he was lifted up with pride which caused him to be forever condemned and cast out of Heaven (Isa 14:12-19).  I believe it is by the goodness and Grace of God that He often withholds from giving us more than we ought to receive because certain people are not able to maintain a Christ-like character to handle more.   One thing to test this is when we live from paycheque to paycheque, will we remain the same when we win the multi-million dollar loto?

          The problem when people feel inferior is that they compare their own man-made ability to other peoples natural ability and fail to see all of these as God given, because no man will ever be able to boast in himself.  When we look at the servant who was given five talents and another servant was given two talents, God was equally pleased with both of them (Matt 25:20-23).  He did not show greater pleasure simply because one had more talent than the other, because God expects more from the one who was given more in the first place.  I truly believe if a person was given 10 talents and used 9 of the ten, God would be more pleased with the person who only received two talents and uses both talents.  Therefore, it is not the amount of talents that God is pleased with, He is pleased when we use what He has given us.  It is impossible to try to work with three talents when God may have only gifted you with two talents.  Otherwise, we are trying to accomplish an agenda on our own strength and not by what God has gifted us, which will never work. This is the initial truth that people need to know when dealing with an inferiority spirit. 

          When we know it is only by His Spirit working through people, do you suppose that Gods Spirit is any less capable working through you as anyone else in this world?  Is not the same Spirit that gives gifts to everyone by the same Spirit? (1 Cor 12:4-9)  Therefore, its never a matter of what we can do in the natural.  The problem we see is when a person is dealing with an inferiority complex, they are not cooperating with the Spirit of God.  In other words, they rely on themselves lacking any attributes of certain talents.  So they are basing their “so-called talents” by their standard rather than seeing how powerful God is and what He is able and willing to do through willing vessels who will dare to believe that He can do mighty things through anybody!  When you think of Moses and how he commented to God that He could not use him because he was a man of slow speech and of a slow tongue (Exod 4:10,11), God was not pleased with Moses because he was trusting in his natural ability rather than focusing on the awesome ability that God is able to do through him to deliver His chosen people from Egypt.  God was not able to initially do His work through Moses until God confronted his inferiority complex.

          We need to see from this illustration that anyone who feels inferior needs to realize that this is a powerful deceptive weapon that the enemy uses against many people.  People who feel inferior hinder the wonder working power of God who is able and willing to work mightily in their lives.  It is a horrible deterrent and a deceptive tactic the enemy uses to rob many Christians of their God given ability and potential for Gods Spirit to work through them.  When we continue on, we will recognize the symptoms of a person dealing with an inferior spirit and realize that this is not only very deceptive, but can also be very destructive within the body if we don’t learn to recognize the symptoms, learn the need to deal with it and overcome this by the Grace of God.

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

God Wants to do More

^{Dear Saints.  I would like to share scriptures from Ephesians 3:14-19:} 

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵from whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; ¹⁷that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ, which surpasseth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

     ^{Here Paul tells the Church in Ephesus about praying that their inner man would be strengthened (vs 16).  The Apostle Paul realizes that praying for healing, finances or other answers to minor or major issues that concern us is not the answer without first dealing with the HEART of the matter in the first place which is, our HEART.  In other words, his prayer for this particular Church was that their inner man would be strengthened first.  As an example, there is a lady I know who is often fearful about many issues in her life.  When a prayer goes up to receive healing, receive financial help or receive a specific answer to prayer for her, she does not seem to get over being fearful about one thing or another, even though many of her prayers have been answered in the past.  We need to first pray that this person deals with the real issues that are causing herself to continue to be fearful and have anxieties when it should not be the case for any Christian.  What good does it do when we do have answers to prayer, but remain weak in our faith in Him?  What good would it do when someone is sick and gets physically healed, but still has issues with bitterness and unforgiveness towards others?  What I want to encourage you is when we go to prayer, we need to ask the Lord to examine ourselves to see if their is any "heart issues" with us that we need to deal with. Just like David prayed to see if there was any wicked way in me and lead me in to the way of everlasting (Ps 139:24).  Nothing else mattered without first examining his heart.  When God encourages us to pray for our inner man to be strengthened, this would include our love for the Lord by first acknowledging His love for you and I. Another issue about the inner man would be to strengthen in our faith in Him by trusting in His total divine goodness and care for us. Because without having faith in Him, it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).  To know that an awesome God who created the entire universe beyond mans immagination wants us to know His love and care for each of us, who promises that He Himself never will leave us or forsakes us.  Also, our inner man would be strengthened in love, unity and peace one for another, because the measure of our relationship with one another is the measure of our relationship with the Lord.} 

     When you read verses 18 and 19 along with that text, it would appear that in order for our "inner man" to be strengthened, we first need to know the greatness of the Love of God for each one of ourselves personally before we can be strengthen within.  Therefore, if we pray all sorts of prayer, but still deal with fears and anxieties, we as Christians should never be dominated by fear when we should know the awesome magnitude of how much God loves us.  When we see ourselves having fears, doubts, this is what we need to deal with before we should go to prayer for anything in general.  Being fearful is not believing or receiving the truth about His love and care for us.  By dealing with issues that deal with our soul or any of our negative emotions, I believe it is vitally important to deal with our heart by humbling ourselves before God, confessing any area of weakness we may have (James 5:16) and ask Him to reveal these things to us and believe that He has His outstretched arms out to help and care for us in our time of need.  When God invites us to go to prayer, He wants to do so much more for each of us.  When we pray for healing of a physical or emotional wound, He wants to go further and deal with deeper issues by restoring our inner man, building our hope and faith in Him by being bold and courageous because we have the confidence of His divine love and care for each of us.  It is like Christ who tells His Disciples not to forsake the weightier matters that are the real issue (Matt 23:23).

     The Lord gave me an illustration of an electric socket that had burnt edges around the perimeter where you insert your plug reseptable.  Many of our prayers are compared to removing the cover and only replacing it while forsaking the real issue which is hidden inside the wall itself that has a frayed and faulty wiring which continued to be a hazard.  When we pray superficial prayers, God always wants to go further and remove the faulty wires from behind the doors of our heart and help us deal with the real issues that really matter.  Sometimes, it is going to be hard, but always brings the peaceable fruit of righteousness in the end (Heb 12:11). So when you feel that God is breaking through the walls around your heart, He wants to replace that "faulty wire" of harbouring possible bitterness, resentment, surrendering our past hurts to Him to deal with and/or many other possible issues that may often hinder our growth in Him.  God not only wants to heal, but He wants to deliver, restore, rebuild and make us strong in Him because of the strengthening of our inner man (our renewed love relationship with Him, our renewed confidence in Him and our love relationship with each other as Christians are called to have). 

    

     Not dealing with the inner man and not dealing with the real issues we need to face up to will do us no good in the long run. Just like an unsaved man who wants to be healed, we know that it is much more important to pray for his salvation before any healing takes place, because healing without salvation will mean nothing in the long run.  Therefore, it is vitally important that we first deal with the inner man before we start asking God to answer any prayers we may personally have.  I hope you are encouraged to work with the Lord to allow Him to go deeper in the recesses of your heart and restore you fully so that in the end, the fullness of Christ may be evident through you (Eph 3:19).

Be blessed to browse my updated blog and both websites.  God bless.

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ and who maketh manifest through us the savor of His knowledge in every place. 
(2 Cor 2:14) NKJV

Developing God Confidence

Dearest Saints,

 

          When we fail to believe that His awesome power can work mightily through us individually, it is because we are still relying on our own strength and power to accomplish any task or mission we may be called to do, rather than relying on Him.  When we know how awesome He is and when we know how He can and is most willing to use the weaker vessels of the world (such as I), we should always have that confidence to do great things as His Children because it is His power working through us in the first place.  We need to realize the truth that He wants so much to use His power within us to be used to do the greatest mandate as His useful representatives or what I like to compare it as His Ambassadors.   We have to stop seeing what we can accomplish by our own strength and ability (which is by far very limited) and see how awesome He is able to empower us when we do the things out of love for God and for one another.  I find that we develop confidence in God when we reflect the words of David when He says how fearfully and wonderfully we are made in His image (Ps: 139:14).  To stop and consider the complexity of our anatomy in order to function the way we are capable of doing gives us a real appreciation of how we truly are fearfully and wonderfully made.  David didn't have all the facts like we do today with all the research man has revealed about the complexity of a human body.  Yet, He still attests to this many centuries ago about how wonderfully God had created him when we should do so that much more when we have much more evidence of how wonderfully a human body functions the way it does in its entirety.  I don't believe that anyone can ever know everything about a human body, mind, soul and spirit in their entire lifetime.  And yet, God created a human being with every cell, chromosome, muscles, sinews, bones, flesh having mind, soul and spirit in place perfectly within one day.  When we see how everything in the universe is set in place and know that all things are held by the power of His Word (Heb 1:3), we see how He is able to set and keep everything in its proper place who is a God of order.  It's amazing when I realize I have a hard time doing two or three things at once at the best of times! 

 

          When we factor human life, scientists explain that 41 factors are required to take place for a human life to be able to exist.  That is like comparing 1 to several trillions upon trillions (of which one trillion alone is counting 1 million, a million times).  It is an astronomical number which is the chance of any of us could ever exist just by chance or a cosmic explosion or other means other than an awesome creator which many people can foolishly consider!  Some of the factors include the perfect size of the earth that we inhabit, which allows us to weigh a reasonable amount.  Had we lived on a planet like Jupiter, with its large gravitational pull, a 100 pound person would weigh around 236 pounds.  So a normal 200 lb man would double that weight on Jupiter.

Life on Earth is possible because of a coincidental combination of factors:

• The habitable zone: Earth is at the right distance from the Sun to have liquid water on its surface, and for the atmosphere to be at a reasonable temperature for life to occur. It also doesn't stray too far from the optimal distance, making the temperature stable.
• Stable planet: we aren't inundated with lava every day. This gives life the chance to happen without being destroyed instantaneously.
• Water: we have it. necessary for life, with the right amount of water that covers 70% of the globe.
• Atmospheric composition: began with plenty of carbon oxides and simple organic compounds with very little free oxygen; an important atmosphere for biogenesis.

Here is a few to add:

• Axial tilt. Our planet has a reasonable and more importantly quite stable tilt to it (around 23-24 degrees off axis). This lets the weather be relatively stable and thus becomes a candidate for life.
• Composition of the planet and its atmosphere. We need water, carbon, hydrogen, oxides (like oxygen gas and ozone), carbon oxides, and nitrogen gas and more.
• An iron core; our planet would be harmed by the suns radioactive rays without an iron core to protect us (mostly).
• The planet continues to allow life to exist - while most planets would not follow this.
• We need a moon that is about 1/3 the size of Earth to regulate our orbit.
• Earth's path has to be a good ellipse around the sun.  As the earth is approx 93 million miles from the sun, we would not be able to inhabit the earth if we were a million miles closer or a million miles further away.
• The earth remains perfectly in its orbital path every day and throughout every year, year after year,
• Earth has to be the right size and not moving too fast and the remaining factors continue to create equal days/nights and seasons throughout the year, etc...etc

 

These are just a fraction of the 41 factors that allow life to exist in its many variations, from humans, to animals, insects, birds, marine life and all matters that are both visible and invisible to the eye in order to sustain life.

 

          When we think of these attributes, we need to see how awesome our God is, who is the same One who lives within us when we receive His dearly beloved Son to be our Lord.  For those who have not received Him, He desires to inhabit our lives with His Goodness and awesomeness and reveal His glory through His Children.  When we consider these factors and many others, how can we not have that reverential awe of Him.  No wonder God has a right to be angry with nations who do not have that reverential fear or awe of Him (Jer 2:19).  Therefore, I find it important just to meditate on these attributes.  To just stop and see the starry skies some night on a clear sky and know that the Heavens do declare His glory (Ps 19:1).  Meditating on how awesome He is to sustain and preserve life in its entirety should give us confidence in what He is able and willing to do when we see the reverential fear and awe we should have of Him.  When we learn to be still before Him, we can know that He is in fact an awesome God (Job 37:14; Psalm 46:10) which is a start of developing that strong God confidence we should have.

Be blessed to browse below websites.  God bless.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Power of Humility

Dearest Saints, 

          While we need to be humble to allow the power of God to work mightily through us, we also need to have that courageous and bold confidence in the Lord.  Being bold in the Lord in an arrogant way is seeking to have His power to benefit with yourself in mind.  Having that true spirit of being courageous and bold in the right way is delighting to see the power of His goodness work through you to represent Him favorably and to be a blessing to others.  When a person believes they are being selfish by being confident in the Lord and knowing how much He favors us, this is false humility which is a form of pride.  False humility is the same as pride because people are trusting in their own judgment and opinions rather than simply believing and receiving the truth of what He tells us to believe.  So when we fail to be bold in Him, we have that form of false humility which is having a proud spirit, because we believe otherwise when He tells us to be bold, courageous and to fear not.  It seems contradictory that God tells us to be humble, yet at the same time, to be bold.  We need to be bold by having that fearless and courageous confidence in the Lord simply because we highly trust Him alone to help us in every endeavour because He wants us to rely on Him for everything.  When we put our confidence in Him, we can trust Him personally to help us make every decision to lead us down the right path when we acknowledge Him (Prov 3:5,6).  We are righteous before Him when we have confidence of His divine protection, even when we may be threatened by life's challenges.  We are told to put no confidence in the flesh (ourselves or relying solely on other people, Governments, etc), so that we allow Him to be our Refuge, which He encourages us to do so.  When it comes down to it, we always have confidence in something, in someone or another.  When we have true confidence in Christ alone, that means we should never have any place by having confidence in anything or anyone else.  Just like the Bible talks about God and mammon.  You either love one or love the other.  You cannot love both, nor can you love neither.  The Bible tells us that we either love one or the other.  The same thing holds true, that we either put our confidence in flesh (ourselves, our jobs, our status, our material possessions, etc) or we put our confidence in God.  You cannot have confidence in both or neither (read Matt 6:24; Luke 16:13). 

          Here is a test to determine this; when we are more afraid of losing our jobs, etc., we are actually putting our confidence in our workplace, employers or organizations to support us more than relying on the One whom we should look to as our Provider.  When we fret about being lonely and thinking we may never marry (for those who are single), we end up putting confidence in someone else to satisfy our needs rather than trusting God who is truly the only One who is able to satisfy our need, having that inner joy and peace that the world can never give.  When we fret about losing our identity when we think of work or no longer being a part of a social group, or losing our status, we tend to identify more about who we are by what we accomplish, what we do or what groups or organizations we belong to instead of simply knowing our true identity in Christ.  It all comes down to finding out if we are more fretful or worried about certain areas of our lives or having that rich inner peace by being confident in Him.  We need to continue to build our confidence in the One who loves us more than anyone or anything else could ever do (John 3:16). 

          We are justified when we have that bold confidence in Him, because He tells us that the Righteous are as bold as a lion (Prov 28:1).  Being righteous is being in right standing with God because we choose to believe what He tells us, regardless of what we think.  The works Jesus tells His Disciples is simply to believe in the One whom the Father has sent (John 6:29).  He also tells us in Heb 4:16 that we need to approach His Throne of Grace boldly (having confidence in Him) so we can receive His much needed Grace and Mercy which we desperately need at all times whether we realize it or not.  Having that bold confidence starts with knowing how much He loves you because of what He Himself willingly went through for you and me personally.  I like the song that reminds me if I should forget His love for me, just remember what He went through the Garden of Gethsemane and willingly went all the way to Calvary for me.  I find it important that we need to speak boldly that Jesus loves me because He went to the Cross and laid down His life for me!!  He loves me with an everlasting love.  He loves me like no other friend.  When we speak these words and other promises of His loving Word to ourselves, it is important to speak them audibly with confidence to yourself because I find that we believe more of what we say about ourselves than anyone else.  By our words, we are either justified and acquitted, or we are condemned and sentenced (Matt 12:37).  When we receive Him (who is that perfection of love) for us personally, we can walk boldly and confidently in Him because it is receiving that perfect love (that Only He has perfected) is able to cast out every fear (1 John 4:18).  For perfect love casts out all fears.  Walking in true humility (knowing our inabilities without the Lord) while having that bold confidence of knowing Him, knowing who we are as His Children, His inheritors and receiving the fullness of His love for us, we will be ever so strong in the Lord which He encourages us to be (Eph 6:10).  Walking in the power of His Spirit always lives under the rule of love for Him and for one another.  Just like operating in the gifts of the Spirit (prophesying, speaking in unknown tongues, gift of miracles, gift of discernment of spirits, etc (read 1 Cor 12:4-12) everything is to be under the rule of love.  As an example, I always say that love is not the exception to anything, but is always the RULE for everything.  Therefore, whatever we learn about the Word and how we can have more of Him in our lives, love is always the rule for everything in order for His power to work effectively through us. 

          When we walk in true humility, having the true characteristics of being strong in the Lord, having bold confidence in Christ and allow the rulership of His love to work through us, the power of God is able to do exceedingly beyond our expectations because we simply believe His promises that He truly does love me (insert your name).



Be blessed to browse my updated blog and both websites.  God bless.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Power Through Humility

Dearest Saints
     I realize more and more that if we want the power of God to be evident in our lives, we need two essential ingredients. First, we need to be humble before God. It seems as though when we talk about humility, I believe alot of us get the wrong impression of humility as though it is a negative emotion to pursue, by thinking lowly about ourselves and just accepting every negative comment anyone may say of us. There is a big difference between humiliation and humility. Humiliation is receiving everything negative about our character, ability which brings about discouragement. Anytime we become discouraged by any form of humiliation is always from the enemy and has nothing to do with true humility that God talks about. On the other hand, true humility which God tells us to develop is having that grace and peace of being honest about our weakness before God while at the same time that allows His power to work supernaturally through us in ways beyond what we normally could ever do in our own strength. When a person is not truly humble before God, they are simply deceived. Because the Bible tells us that without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). And the Bible only speaks genuine truth to us. We just need to have the wisdom to be humble enough to receive it. When we come humbly to declare the truth about ourselves with a humble spirit, we open the door for His power to work mightily through us simply because we do not allow our own natural strength or natural ability to get in the way of His supernatural strength and ability that works effectively in our lives. True humility confesses this promise: that without God , we can do nothing. But like Paul himself says: That I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13). Having this spirit of humility allows us to always appreciate God, knowing who He is, knowing how God richly loves us, is able to always help us in our time of need and care for us in ways we could never do in every detail of our lives. When we are humiliated (which only comes from the enemy), as a Child of God, we DO NOT have to accept any lies from any man or devil who speaks contrary to the Word of God. Humility does not accept any words spoken from lying lips, but with wisdom, a humble Christian accepts His instrucations and uses the authority He has given to each of us by rebuking the lies of the enemy who tries to bring us down with his lies. By confidently believing His Word is having humility before God because we believe the authority of His Word no matter what. True humility comes by only accepting and speaking the power of Gods encouraging Word over us and being submissive (being humble) to receive His loving Words and instructions for our lives. True humility the way God intended for us to have never be allowed to ever hang your head low, but holds our head high that allows to shine His light through us without allowing us to have any arrogance. True humility always considers His way regardless if it makes sense to us or not. We become proud when we think our way is better than Gods way because it may not make sense to us. That is why we are to become as a Child because a Child believes his father no matter what. A child does not have to always try to figure things out when his/her father says something. When we stop to consider how God orchestrates the universe, creates every living thing, sustains every life and all things are held together by the power of His Word, who are we to question God? That is why being proud and arrogant is becoming as a fool (if I may use that term). Another aspect of true humilty is to consider the advice of others and stop ever thinking our opinions are the only ones that matter. Humility values the advice of others. Just like when God tells us to forgive others, we need to do just that instead justifying ourselves, especially when we know is contrary to His Word. Humility is willingly accepting His instructions, even though our flesh would like to think otherwise. One of the greatest characteristics of humility is being thankful to Him in all ways, even in tough times. Also being thankful to others. True humility also regards others greater than us in a balanced way. I say that in a "balanced way" because I know I can have the habit of taking things to the extreme. Therefore, when we think more highly of others, true humility does not put ourselves down because of it. If we expect to have the confidence of Christ within us like He tells us to be, we need to demonstrate that by walking with confidence and having that positive attitude knowing that He loves and cares for me and He promises never to leave us or forsake us. Again, its always a matter of having balance. For differing weights are an abomination to Him, when we take everything to the extreme (Prov 16:11; Prov 20:10 and Prov 20:23). Being humble allows the power of God to work within us. When we are not honest before God about being humble and our total inability, we are simply deceived. Being humble in a balanced way allows us to invite His Spirit to enable us to do far greater works. The reason why there are many people who seem to have more of the power of God working in their lives than others is because they humbly confess their inability and invite His Spirit to enable them. Thats why Paul mentions that when he is weak (by admitting his inadequacies), he is then strong (which allows the power of God to do much greater work through us) 2 Cor 12:10. Being proud is a roadblock to allow the power of God to work on our behalf. It's also the same that when we confess our faults one to another, our land (lives) will be healed rather than trying to hide your weakness to pretend to be "holier than thou". However, I find it important when we share our faults one with another, that we share only with those whom we can trust and are mature in the Lord. Without having true humility before God, you can never expect the wonderful working power of Gods Spirit to work mightily through you. If you want the power of God to work through you, we need to simply be honest and make our confession known to God that we can do nothing without His help and invite Him to lead us and direct us in every area of our lives because He is far greater than any of us and He knows best about everything! People are never strong in the Lord because they themselves have a strong character, but because they express their need of Him that invites His Spirit to work mightily through them. Another key ingredient I find absolutely necessary along with humility is having that bold confidence in Him which I will continue on next. Be blessed to browse my updated blog and both websites. God bless. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Whom to Put Our Hope

Dearest Saints With so many pressures and cutbacks that the Government is creating, great pressures are being put on people everywhere. Those that are most affected by these pressures are those who put their trust in the wrong resources, whether it includes other people, workers, our career or Government, etc. This reminds me where God tells us that worldly sorrow brings forth death (2 Cor 7:10) because it negatively affects people more when we put our hopes in anyone or anything else other than God. When people put their hopes and trust in a commodity, organization, Government or resource other than God, sooner or later, every one of these resources and agencies are going to fail each of us. When they do, people become angry, discouraged and distraught because they put their hope and expectations in someone or something that is anything but stable. Also, when people put too much expectations on other people or organizations to provide their needs, they are the ones who tend to become more angry because their level of expectation is far greater when those whom they put their expectations on are not able to meet their high expectations. Just like the term that I once heard about "Cognitive Dissenence". This term is based on the level of how much a person expects and the actual outcome of that agenda. This may be related to couples in marriage or our careers or anything else one may put high hopes and expectations towards. The level of Cognitive Dissenence reflects the outcome of a persons attitude. When Cognitive dissenence is greater, people tend to become more upset because their level of expectations were much too high to the level of the actual outcome they encounter. People who put their trust in someone or somethings modestly will not become as intolerable as those who always demand higher results from others all the time. When a person accepts other people and realizes and accepts the faults of others, they have a calmness of understanding by being realistic when others are quick to point the fault of others. What we need to do is to put our hopes and expectations in the One who will never fail us, which is Christ Jesus and Him alone. I know there are alot of people who would question this, but I want to ask this: Who/what are you putting your hope and expectations in? Are we truly humbling ourselves before God, or our we blaming God or others from the events happening in our lives? If we are, we need to face ourselves in the mirror and point the finger at ourselves by always asking the question, what can I do to improve the situation? I realize more and more that there will never be a time or place in our lives when we think we know anyone enough to be able to judge them, because we never know the deep truths of why people act the way they do. That is why only God is able to be the Judge who always judges righteously. It has often happened in my past where I was critical of someone when I soon found out afterwards why people are the way they are, and when I realized I was judging them harshly, I felt sorrow for them instead and often felt bad for mis-judging them. It reminds me when we judge critically, we always mis-judge because we can never be in a place where we can rightfully judge, which is why God is displeased when we judge and we will be judged equally by the One who is the Righteous Judge. However, we are called to judge circumstances, not people because God does tell us that we are to judge all things (1 Cor 2:15). When we stop allowing ourselves to be offended and realize that our oppressors are the real victims and pray for them, it is a liberation of following the awesome wisdom of God who is the One who knows all things and what is the best medicine for our very soul. Following His awesome wisdom, loving instructions and having a high value for His Word will always inherit peace that surpasses all understanding, joy unspeakable and full of glory. His Word will give you beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning a garment of praise instead of heaviness (Isa 61:3). We may not understand why things happen the way they do, but that's OK. When we are told to be like a Child, a Child doesn't always understand his/her father, but they always trust and believe their father cares and loves them and a Child always believes their father knows what is best for them regardless. By putting our hopes in the One who truly does love and care for us, in the end, will never disappoint without ever having any regret. Regret always comes later to those who choose to do things their way when it contravenes the loving wisdom of His instructions. Be blessed to browse my updated blog and both websites. God bless. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Focus on Jesus

Dearest Saints.

I was talking to a long time friend of mine this past week, who once walked with the Lord and has since backslidden and no longer going to Church or being an active participant living as a Christian. He mentioned that him and his wife had a bad experience with a Church they were involved with many years ago. That the leaders of the Church they once belonged to, actually shunned them because they chose to make a decision that was by no means ungodly, but the Church did not approve of. The actions of the Church were most ungodly when they would turn around the other way when some of the elders and leaders of this church would see this couple in the distance. They basically disassociated themselves from this couple who are my friends.

It's most unfortunate that often times, when disagreement comes with one another, that the leaders of some Churches or Christians who may have been walking with God for many years act very ungodlike when we are told to be imitators of Christ (Eph 5:1). Can you imagine for one minute if Christ, who knows when He Himself disapproves of us doing certain things, that He would forever turn His back on you and me? Yet, that is the way many Christians act and that should not be the case. What kind of account are we going to give the Lord because we turned off many people because of the way we acted that is often no different from the world when we should be representing who Christ Himself is. By living the life of love and living out the true meaning of what love is as mentioned in 1 Cor 13:4-8, no Christian will ever be justified by acting with contempt with one another no matter what. Although many people within the Church may have caused many others to turn from Christianity while those of whom have been offended by the Church leaders or any Church members, we are to remember that we need to fellowship one with another to Worship our dear Lord, who alone is worthy. We go to a worship service and meet together with the Church to worship the Lord. I find that many people who have left the Church and Christianity itself is the result of focusing much of their attention on the leaders, or their denominationalism or the hierarchy of the leadership of their Church when they should put their focus on Jesus instead, because He alone never fails. When one may get turned off from one another, we need to maintain our focus because when we set our mind of following the loving counsel of Christ, we should never turn away from the One who lived a life of uncompromising and unparallelled love for each of us.

When I look back on my life, I was often overwhelmed by the circumstances of life. I used to fret and complain when I focused my mind on my circumstances rather than turning my mind and heart to Christ and being reminded how He willingly gave Himself up so much by leaving Heavens glory to come to earth in the form of a Servant and often being despised, ridiculed and forsaken by His followers and ultimately, to a most inhumane suffering and death of the Cross when He did that for me personally (including each one). The problem is when we get our focus off of Him, His love for us and end up putting our expectations on man, Government or other circumstances which ends up causing us to be bitter and resentful because we put our hope in someone or something that will eventually fail us. This is when people leave the Church because they fail to set their heart and mind on Christ. No man or any other source can ever take the place of Christ and when we focus our mind upon Him, I believe we are motivated by His love. For His joy is truly our strength (Neh 8:10), and we receive that when we keep our mind and heart fixated upon Him.

God is true to His Word because I am living proof of it in so many complex situations in my past. There were times I didn't understand why, but God had to put me through the fire so that I would take my affections off from worldly ambitions and be made most useful by Him. Many times, Gods answer came clear after the fact, when He knew all along what was best for me. I needed to be strong through those times by maintaining my trust in Him because He loves me, cares every detail for me and He knows and wants the best for us.
I want to encourage you that no matter what, don't get trapped by putting your expectations on anyone else or any other source other than God alone. Because He alone is the only One who will never fail you. Just think when the Saints experienced the death of Christ, they thought it was all over and the enemies rejoiced. But little did they realize that what seemed to be the greatest day of hopelessness and despair, this day was in fact the biggest day of victory, and the manifestation of that victorious celebration came only a few days after what seemed inevitably a great loss. Remember, the darkest part of the night comes just before dawn. Like the celebration of Resurrection Day soon came after the day Christ was crucified. Compared to "Good Friday", it was when I was at my lowest times in life that worldly ambitions that once had me bound were broken off and that was the day that I was set free. Then came the "resurrection" of rising up with Christ that I was able to enjoy a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him because of what we considered very unfavorable circumstances.

I hope this encourages you to refuse to give up, be determined by His Grace to live to His glory by keeping your heart upon Him and what He suffered, endured and accomplished for you personally. And by His Grace, be determined not to be dominated by our circumstances simply because He has Risen!!


In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/