A Victorious Attitude through Trials

Dearest Saints

          We may be familiar with scriptures I know I have used many times to encourage myself that is found in Rom 8:37 when God tells us that we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us.  When some would believe that because we are more than conquerors, that we shouldn't expect any trials to come our way that is a false concept of having that winning mindset.  When you read the previous 2 verses just before this powerful promise, it mentions about Paul going through many trials.  We need to see the positiveness and necessity of trials for several reasons.  I think God allows us also to go through just enough trials no matter what so that we don't ever find ourselves unprepared when He does return.  Otherwise, we may be like Lots wife who looked back because she longed to go back to where she came from.  God tells us that when we do, we won't be fit for His Kingdom (Luke 9:62).  Instead of being blessed by looking ahead, she became a pillar of salt and remained (Gen 19:26).  Perhaps if she went through further trials, she would have refused to ever look back and be better prepared to enter the promised land which the Lord had prepared for her to enter in to.  Another reason why God allows us to go through trials is so that we won't become self-sufficient and a sense of feeling secure that ends up living dangerously by being independent of God.  When we do, we fail to pursue and rely on God who is the One who sustains us with every breath we breathe, whether we know it or not.  That is why God is not pleased with us when we don't acknowledge His goodness, His mercy and hand of protection upon us when in fact if He were to turn His back on us for one moment, we wouldn't survive the next breath.  God Himself became angry with a nation that became secure by being self satisfied and self-reliant rather than seeing their need of God (Zech 1:15).   

          For myself, I now see my trials as beneficial when I consider how much more I desire to see His coming.  That doesn't mean that we don't learn to enjoy and be content with our lives because He died and suffered to the point so He could offer us the abundant life (John 10:10).  However, when we do go through trials, the affections of this world no longer attract us and ever distract us from having that hopeful desire and longing to be with Him.  Through these trials, we learn to be hopeful to be in His presence in Heaven which is far greater than attaining any earthly ambitions because we should never call this temporal life our home, when our home (where we set our heart) should be in the eternal realm where Peace, Hope and love in this Kingdom never ends.  For God tells us that where our treasure is, this is where our hearts desire is (Luke 12:34).  In Heb 11:16, God tells us that when we do long for His coming, He is not ashamed to call us His Children because of it.

          If we didn't have to deal with injustice from the trials we go through, we wouldn't learn how to fight for one another when they deal with injustice as the Lord would want us to.  We wouldn't know how to stand up for what is right when we see wrong happening and band together as Gods mighty prayer warriors.  We wouldn't be as passionate to fight against the principalities of darkness in our persistent prayers and pursue prayers of intercession one for another.  When others are being discouraged by circumstances, we wouldn't be as effective to be able to encourage each other like the Bible tells us to.  When everything is going "right" by defining what we think is just a life of ease, contentment, we wouldn't be able to reach out to others and be used mightily that God can use and we may not be able to use what God purposed us to use.  It reminds me of a story when a person was going through trials and he sought the comfort of others going through the similar trials.  However, when this person started to get back on his feet, he soon forgot his other friends he met through counsel groups and he soon left and was no longer around to help counsel others.  How we soon forget others pain when we no longer carry any burdens ourselves.  These type of people who soon forget have simply gone through trials all for nothing because they desired to see it only benefit themselves rather than seeing how they could benefit others which Gods desire for us is.  We forfeit so much blessings when we live for "self" when God Himself will tell us that we will not be rewarded because we already received our just reward.   It reminds me of Jobs friends who should have encouraged him rather than try to use worldly-wisdom which only aggravated him.  Had his friends gone through what Job was encountering, I believe his friends would have been much more effective to properly console and be a strength to him when he needed understanding and not mere feeble words of wisdom which we find out was not Godly wisdom in the first place.  If we are going through trials, some of the questions we may need to ask ourselves is:

          How am I coping through these trials?  Is this drawing me towards God, am I becoming stronger in the Lord or am I drawing away from Him?  If we are being drawn away from Him, could that mean that we have our ambitions and setting our affections in the wrong place?  Do we hope to make it through trials to simply live a life of ease, or do we long to be a blessing to other people?  Are we mindful of serving "self" or serving others?  We need to realize that we are created to be used to worship Him (Isa 43:7), to be a blessing to others and reflect Gods glory so others can be drawn to Him through us.  If we see how we may be going through trials when God is trying to get our attention, we  need to be thankful that we see Gods mercy towards us by helping us get our attention to turn to Him so we can set our priorities as God would have it.  He wants us to set our ambitions and store for ourselves treasures in Heaven where the rewards are far greater than storing treasures of this world where it will eventually separate itself from you.  For we entered the world naked and we will leave this world just as naked (Job 1:21).  So what good is attaining all this ambition for only a brief moment in time to forsake our eternal destiny?  Going through trials just may be helping us to set our priorities right.  It was only after going through trials that I no longer have the affections it once had a strong hold on me.  God desires to reward us with eternal rewards when all along, we may be fighting against Him to be rewarded on earth that will cause us to lose our eternal rewards just to get a moments glory.  Therefore, we need to see trials as something positive which is what James 1:1-5 tells us.  We need to refuse to see that trials in our lives is simply not a matter of misfortune of events, but to see this as shaping us to be more stronger in the Lord, more useful for the Lord and be better prepared and receive the greater rewards when we do come to our eternal home.  I find when we go through trials, we become much stronger and useful for God because these set of events often cause us to come to a cross-roads in our lives by choosing to head upward on that narrow path, or head on the broad road that leads to destruction (Matt 7:13). 

          If we are going to benefit from the trials we have or are enduring, we need to Rise-Up with a victorious attitude and fearlessly make up our mind to choose Gods way.  We need to boldly declare that by Gods Grace and the Help of His Spirit, we are going to be better people through  it.  So in the end when our works are tried by fire, we won't suffer loss, but will reap a far greater eternal inheritance because we have become determine through trials to have that steadfast Hope in God and be the people He can use for His glorious purposes (1 Cor 3:12-15).  It helps to see a bigger picture that our momentary troubles we go through on earth will not be compared to the eternal glory that will be revealed in us (Rom 8:18).  When we see our eternal inheritance and how God shaped us through trials when we dare to trust in Him regardless, we will receive the greater rewards of our eternal inheritance through the trials we had endured because we came to the place where we made a commitment to live for the Lord and trust Him regardless.

Please feel free to share my Blogsite so that others may find hope that God has for them.

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

What then shall we say to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

Loving God; Hating evil

Dearest Saints,

          Is it any wonder that much of the world in general have gotten to a place where society now applauds evil and considers much of what God values as dispicable.  What God Himself clearly says that is an abomination to Him is now acceptable and agreeable to the world.  In fact, sadly, much of the religious denominations have also accepted and applauded to the ways of this world when God clearly indicates that He opposes.  An example is found in Romans 1:25-27 highlights one of the many agendas that many churches and the world has turned away from Gods loving ways and Words of wisdom to live by.  This is what often is fulfilled as mentioned in the following verse in the Old Testament,  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isa 5:20).  

          

          The enemy is suttle and is considered a master deceiver which is why the Bible describes satan as an "angel of light"(2 Cor 11:14) because he masquerades as an "angel of light" when he is that wolf in sheep's clothing.  The world didn't follow God one day and then totally decide to do a "U-Turn" the following day.  It started by people letting down their guard and allowing the enemy access in to their lives by compromising Gods standards little by little, where it is almost undetected.  God tells us to hate evil and not just tolerate or dislike evil (Amos 5:15; Rom 12:9).  For us to hate evil the way God sees it, we need to know that His standard is the only acceptable principle in our lives to the point that we should consider anything else to be a great evil by compromising His Word.

          When you see how a person has finally opposed Gods ways by slowly accepting the practices of mankind and failing to hate evil, people initially began to "dislike" evil.  Then later on as time continues, what people once hated, then disliked evil eventually became "tolerant".  As time continued on, many of those people who compromised His standards, societies ways went from being tolerant to eventually become the "acceptable" practice in today's society.  Now, it has become even worse because not only does the world accept much of the evil ways that goes against God, they now applaud the worlds views and consider what God cherishes as evil.  Just like we have read in Isaiah 5:20 just moments ago.  For society to have taken this total turnaround, you will notice how suttle we have allowed the enemy to infiltrate his ways in to many peoples lives simply because they allowed the enemy of our souls a foothold, which we are told never to even give him any access (Eph 4:27).   We don't realize that it is a serious problem when we think it is no big deal to simply dislike evil rather than continuing to abhor its presence.  It's the old saying that when you give him (our enemy) an inch, he will end up taking a mile.  So before he goes the distance, it always starts with the first step.  Just picture a pendulum crossing ever so slowing from one side to the other.  It may take 50 years or less to swing to the other side, but it moves slow enough that hardly anyone detects its suttle change of direction.  It's only when you decide to go back to Gods Word that we realize just how far we may have gotten side-tracked and have to get ourselves back on the narrow path that leads to life.  When you consider a ship leaving New York and going towards Lisbon, if two ships are leaving and heading in to the same direction, but one is off track by 1 or 2 degrees, it won't be long before the main ship to follow is out of sight.  That is why the standard we need to guard is to always see every aspect of our lives in the Light and Truth of His loving Word, which is meant to give eternal life.  We need to reject anything else that goes against His Word.  When God says He hates something, we too are to equally hate what He considers evil and not just tolerate it.  In the Church of Ephesus, one of the things God tells us He was pleased was that this particular Church did not even tolerate the wickedness of man (Rev 2:2).  They didn't let down their guard to ever compromise evil in any way other than hating what is evil.  

          When the world considers evil, they often relate to agendas such as murderers, kidnapping/abducting innocent children, demonstrating violence of some sort to the vulnerable such as the infants or elderly and the like.  We too should consider these things evil.  However, there are many agendas that God clearly states is equally evil to Him that the world has turned their ways.  Here are just some of the many agendas that the world opposes Gods view of what is evil:

               a.  Failing to give God glory He so much deserves (Rom 1:23); 

               b.  Need to hate pride (which was what destroyed satan who was once called lucifer by                

                    being one of the highest arch angels (Isa 14:12);

               c.  Apathy, lukewarmness, being passive towards Gods ways (Rev 3:16)

               d.  Being compromisers of Gods Word (Prov 25:26);

               e.  Fear, doubt, worry, gossip, slander, factions, disunity;

               f.  Failing to be aggressive to seek His Righteousness and pursuing His ways;

               g.  Failing to not only to hate evil, but failing to love good and to do good (Ps 34:14);

               h.  Failing to acknowledge Him, spending time with Him, seeking His help (Psalm 45);

                i.  Being thankless (2 Tim 3:2), etc..  

          I think we can go on for several pages.  These are some of the many illustrations that we see the world loves when we need to see these things that are evil in Gods sight should remain equally an abomination to us.  Sadly, in many churches today, there is often bickering, gossip, strife and division occurring within the Church and knowing that God declares is dispicable.  Many Christians have given the enemy access into our Church which we should NEVER have allowed it and we should never allow this to be an option in the first place.  It begins when we make excuses by justifying ourselves, even when we should know it clearly goes against Gods instructions.  We cannot compare our values to the ways of this world.  When we do, we are following the one who actually rules this world (system) which is why the Bible tells us that satan is the "god of this world" (1 John 5:19).  This is why it is utmost important to exalt Gods Word into our lives and come to the point where we are to hate compromising His Word that is otherwise meant to enrich our lives.  When many of these churches allowed strife, division and other forms of ungodliness to come in, they should have had the wisdom to follow Gods ways and come against the real enemy (satan) and pray for our fellow man which God commands us to do.  The result that lead to factions and discord would have lead to peace, love, unity, forgiveness, faithfulness instead had they understood the evil of not following Gods principles.  You can clearly see that following Gods Word is by far the BEST!! Following any other principle does nothing but lead to destruction.

    

           I want to encourage each of us, with Gods help, to be men and women after Gods own heart by not only hating evil, but hate failing to do Good and pursue the things of God.  Failing to do good is what God also calls sin (James 4:17) because it also robs God the glory He so much deserves.  Compromising Gods ways was what lead Christ to the Cross who paid that great penalty of sin which mankind brought condemnation upon himself.  I don't think anyone can ever appreciate all entire penalty Christ came to pay on our behalf right from the day of birth til his last breath.  When we ask God to help us love what He loves and hate what He hates that comes in total agreement with God, we do what is right because only God alone is perfect and every other belief and philosophy of mankind ends up contaminating the purity of His Word for us.  If we say we love the Lord like we should, then we will equally hate evil and compromising His Word which is what the Lord hates.  The Lord promises to us that He is a Great Rewarder for those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6b).

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

What then shall we say to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

Repent and Be Cleansed

Dearest Saints,

          I always want to encourage people with the absolute truth about everything that Gods love means to us.  Therefore, I don't ever want to encourage anyone simply with a bunch of false hope just to try to make one feel better, but with the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of His encouraging love letter to each of us.  Knowing His Word and receiving it for ourselves personally is what sets us free, because Jesus tells us that knowing the Truth (Jesus) truly does set us free (John 8:32).  I know that many Christians have some sort of bad habits in one way or another.  I want to encourage you to continue to be persistent in repenting before God, persevere to continue to receive His forgiveness and that "giving-up" ever doing this is NOT an option.  I am encouraged that when I read the love chapter of 1 Cor 13:4-8, that God tells us in one of the verses that Love (God Himself) never remembers the wrong we have done (end of vs 5) and Love always believes the very best for us....regardless (vs 7).

          When one would confess that they are addicted to a bad habit, I would like to encourage you to not think of it as God forgiving you for the millionth time, even if that is the case.  When God Himself says that He forgives are sins when we repent, He always goes farther then we would by forgetting our past sins because He does not keep a record.  If He did, this would go below Gods standard to forgive our trespasses.  So, if He chooses to totally forgive and forget, we may have a hard time to do either of that.  But I want to encourage you that God is not keeping a record of how many times you have sinned because He has chosen to forget our sins and wipe out our sins when we do repent.  So when you think that God has forgiven you over 10,000 times for the same sin, think of it as the first time you have sinned this because God has chosen to forget our past sins and so should we.  The Apostle Paul himself stated in Rom 7:15-25, he mentions about having habitual sins in his life that he is bewildered about.  He continues to tell us that when we do sin (for the Christians), it is NOT within our nature because God has given us a new nature (2 Cor 5:17), but is the sin principle warring in our flesh (vs 17).  This doesn't mean that we should go on sinning, but when we do sin that does go against our new nature, God helps us by convicting us.  Therefore, we should consider the Spirit of Conviction as our friend indeed, because His Spirit is always there to help us when we desperately need it.  I find that when we are convicted by God and we feel bad for a short time, that is a good sign that this is an indication that we remain sensitive to Him and what He encourages us to do is Repent, forgive ourselves and continue to confess our need of Him to help us in our time of need in order to be cleansed.  The last thing God wants us to do is feel condemned which does nothing but discourages us and we give more power to the enemy (satan) who is the one who is considered the accuser (Rev 12:10).  We give the enemy more power to the portion when we start to doubt Gods Word for us, His love for us and believing the lies of the enemy who speaks against His Word.  Even though the enemy lies, his lies become a powerful deceptive truth when we choose to believe his lies which makes many people a slave to him who is nothing but a deceiver.

          An accuser is someone who brings up the past after you have repented when God Himself has forgiven you.  Accusations always brings condemnation which does not come from God.  Towards the end when the Apostle Paul is wrestling between the flesh warring against the Spirit, he puts a question like we would normally do "Who will deliver me from this body of death" (vs 24)?  For those who have not invited Christ to be their Lord and Saviour,  the answers they would ever have would always be without hope, because without Christ as our Lord and Saviour, there is no hope.  But the Hope we have when Paul tells us in the following verse that "Oh, thank God...He will, through Jesus Christ the Anointed One".  Paul remained encouraged by having that steadfast Hope when he chose to give Him thanks first while at the same time, knowing that through Christ, He will deliver us when we refuse to give up.  I want to encourage you that when you feel discouraged, refuse to accept this because the enemy tells lies to accuse us when we need to remember God has dealt with our sins when we do repent.  When we are convicted, that is encouraging in one sense because that tells us that we (by our new nature in Christ) hates committing sins and God is encouraging us to be persistent to repent, receive His cleansing, His pardon, His forgiveness and confess by His Grace that you are trusting in Him and declaring His promise that He has come to set His captives free (Ps 146:7).  

          When Peter asked Jesus how many times do we need to forgive (Matt 18:21)?  Peter expected that seven was being generous, but it fell far short of how many times Jesus tells us to forgive (seventy times seven) vs 22.  This doesn't mean that the 491st time someone sins against you, that you don't have to forgive.  But is an illustration to habitually and purposefully forgive no matter how many times people may sin against you with the same sins.  Just like God chooses  to always forgive us when we have asked for His forgiveness after we have sinned against Him with possibly the same sins over and over.  This doesn't encourage anyone to be able to live a sloppy life to sin and know that we should ever take His Grace for granted.  Paul in Rom 6:1,2 tells us that just because we (Children of God) who are under His Grace does not give us the license to sin.  But at the same time, I want to encourage you to repent as quick as you can when you do feel convicted and receive His forgiveness no matter how many times you have fallen in to sin.  Refuse to allow your sins to be greater than Gods Grace to forgive you of your sins!  When we fail to receive His forgiveness by remaining to feel guilty, then it is just like refusing to ask for forgiveness.  His forgiveness cannot benefit you unless you learn to receive His forgiveness.  Just like the other message I mentioned about not allowing Christ to cleanse us, that we would not be able to have fellowship with Him (John 13:8).  I believe the following two areas we need to purposefully guard ourselves against:

          a.  Not accepting Gods full pardon and forgiveness for us when we come to Him and repent;  and

          b.  Refusing to repent when we sense His conviction upon us which is to encourage us to get right with Him.

          When people refuse to repent when convicted by God, I believe this is a beginning when our consciences start becoming seared and when this happens more and more, people come to the place where they no longer are sensitive to the Spirit.  This is when we should be very concerned.  In John 14:26 (Amplified Version), the Spirit (who is considered our Helper, our Comforter, our Intercessor, our Advocate, our Strengthener and our Standby) is the One who perfectly represents all of these characteristics.  Why would anyone not want His loving help?  He is always faithful to do His part, but we have a part by believing and receiving this for us in order to make it work.  We can never undo the past, but always be encouraged to repent when you sense He lovingly convicts you, receive the truth that He does forgive (by refusing to remember our past sins no more) and be encouraged like Paul says that Jesus Christ the Anointed One will deliver you (Rom 7:25).  Refuse to give up repenting, refuse to ever deny His perfect love for you, His Help, His cleansing power for you.  He tells us when we have learned to be forgiven much because we have received His forgiveness much, we will be able to love much (Luke 7:47).  When we learn to love much, that is the most powerful weapon we can use against our enemy and the greatest blessing we can inherit from the One who truly does love us.

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com 

What then shall we say to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

Making Use of Our Past Trials

Dearest Saints,

          I would like you to know that no matter what trials you are going through, many of us have been through equally bad trials, and perhaps, greater trials. I heard once that when someone was complaining about the cross they had to carry, they asked to change their circumstances with someone else.  When this person put their cross in the room, he was asked to go and pick another cross.  When he opened the door, he chose this particular cross that was amongst the smallest by far.  As this person asked for the smallest cross, the Master told him that this was the cross he wanted to exchange in the first place.  Unknowingly, like many of us, we often don't realize that many others had bigger trials in their lives.  When we have trials, I must admit that I think I have a bigger cross to carry than most others and they would not simply understand because they do not know my great trials I bear. When I hear testimonies of many others, I quickly realize that many others deal with trials that are often bigger than mine and I am ashamed that I had complained about the "smaller" cross I had to carry.  Trials can be a blessing when we use it when we share our burden with one another and we have that spirit of compassion that helps to heal others because we have been there and understand their pain.  I realize that had I not gone through the trials that I had endured, I know I would not have been effectively used to be a blessing to many others in their time of need.  And I know many others can attest to the same thing.  I have seen the ones who have gone through the greatest trials are the ones who have had the greatest impact to inspire many others that allows them to have hope they often desperately need.  With the help of God from the trials we have endured, we are able to comfort those with the comfort we ourselves have received (2 Cor 1:3 - 7).  During the time of our trials, it does not seem pleasant at all, but when we see how we have become a blessing to others, I now strangely admit that I am glad I went through the trials, now that I know how much of a blessing it has helped many people. I am humbled to admit that God used myself and several others to help stop someone from contemplating to commit suicide. I know this because of an email response I once had from a lady who admitted she was considering taking her life that very night.  Had I not gone through my past trials, I don't think I would have had the compassion to help this individual.  Although I am greatful to be used by God, I don't take any credit, but give God the glory. 


          Therefore, trials are not to be an attitude where you say "I guess this is my lot in life" or any similar negative confession. The only time trials are simply a misfortune and have no value is when we fail to use our past trials to be a blessing to others in their time of need, and continue to dwell in that "woe is me" attitude. Again, I have known many times that those who have gone through many adversities are able to reach out and be a blessing and an inspiration to many others because of it.  However, they would not have been mightily used, but would be another pitiful life had they just dwelt on the misery of their past and simply felt sorry for themselves like the devil wants to keep people in bondage to.  I now understand when (James 1:2 - 4) tells us to rejoice when we go through trials, because it is preparing us to be a special blessing to others if we choose to believe God can use this for His glorious purposes.  When we refuse to give up and believe that God can use our past, regardless of how negative it may have been, this can be the greatest mandate of all humanity is to know how much of a blessing we can be to others because of what God has shaped us to be through trials and valleys. 


          When I have been through many trials, I boldly declared in prayer that by the Grace of God and His help, I am going to use my past to be a rich blessing to many others.  What He has done for many others, He is faithful to use you if you will choose to believe He can use you for His glorious purposes.  One of the greatest tragedies in life is to realize how we have wasted our lives feeling sorry for ourselves and fail to be a blessing to many others whom God could have used.  Don't let any of your past trials be in vain, but with the help of God, let it be a rich blessing and be a life giving example and an inspiration to many of those whom God can use to bless many others.  Unless you ask God and believe Him to be able to use your past trials to bless many others, you will never know the value your life can bring hope to many others who may receive greater eternal blessings because of it.


Please share my Blog with others who you know could use some encouragement.  Also, please check out our site @  http://www.answers2prayer.org/ filled with many topics you may have questions about.




Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.

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

Do not cast away your fearless confidence in Him for such is great reward (Heb 10:35)

God Wants to be Gracious Towards Us

Dearest Saints,  

          I am encouraged with a spark of energy when I read scriptures like in Isaiah 30:18 (in the Amplified Version) that tells us how He wants so much to be gracious and bless us.  

Isa 30:18 "And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship] (Amplified Version)!

          When I read these scriptures, I like how the Amplified Version expounds the meaning as we pay attention to several of the adverbs that often puts greater emphasis on nouns, verbs and adjectives of what we read.  When we do pay attention to these details, we see how much of a greater impact His Word has on us than those who just read and skim over scriptures.  How He not only "waits", but He waits the way He wants us to wait on Him, by being expectant, looking with Hope and longing in a healthy way, and not as though we are dreading while we wait.  God doesn't need to prove Himself anymore because He already fulfilled everything imaginable including fulfilling all prophecies this through His Son Jesus so we may all benefit in this present life as we prepare to dwell in our eternal home.  However, He longingly waits for us to prove our love and faithfulness to Him which means He wants to see us trusting Him regardless of the present circumstances.   How can we prove we are faithful to Him if we always relied on favorable circumstances in the first place in order that we may be thankful?   In other words, are we under the influence of our circumstances by how we react or will we trust Him completely and continue to be thankful to Him regardless?   He wants us to have stability by remaining confident in Him that makes a person having a strong Christ-like character.  He doesn't want us to be under the influence of our circumstances, but to prove ourselves to Him by being stable by trusting and loving towards Him.   God does not want to bless us just so we can be faithful and loving towards Him, but He wants to "prove us" so He can bless us because we have proven our love and faithfulness to Him in the first place.  However, this almost sounds like we are rewarded based on our works.  But this is where we need to be obedient and humble as we ask and rely on the help of His Spirit in the first place as we learn to trust Him.   Even though God does expect much from us by living in freedom from the entanglements and bondages of sin, He still tells us that we can't accomplish any of this without the help of His Spirit (John 15:5) "For without Him, we can do nothing".   So the bottom line is to understand that we need to be humble in a healthy way, to simply confess our need of the help of His Spirit and believe only for the best results when we truly trust in Him and leave the results to Him.  To receive His best, we have to believe and expect the best which is what He is able and willing to do (Eph 3:20).  He does want to be gracious to us and offers us the abundant life, but I wonder how many times we have stopped Him from doing that for us when we allowed ourselves to doubt when we should have approached Him with that Hopeful Expectation so we would allow Him to be gracious to us.  If we always expected Him to be good to us first so we can be joyful, we would only believe because we see or experience.  However, God tells us that we are more blessed simply because we first choose to believe before we see any results (John 20:29).   This way, we can prove our genuine love for Him because we don't have to see in order to believe He is loving and gracious towards us.

          I am encouraged to pay attention to each of the adverbs that expound key words that will give greater emphasis to what God wants to say.  That is why I think studying other versions of the Bible is not such a bad idea.  So when we re-read Isaiah 30:18 amongst other favorite scriptures that may encourage you, I hope you pay particular attention to these adverbs such as "being hopeful"; "greatful", thankfully, with great expectation, etc., while we focus on the magnificence of God as you personalize His promises in His Word for you.  I believe it will put greater emphasis to allow the power of His Word to work more effectively on your behalf.  No matter what our past may be, we have to remember His Love, Power and Grace far exceeds any of our shortcomings.  I find it amazing that even though He foreknows everything of what we will ever do, say or think, He still chooses to love us unconditionally.  When I end up doing dumb things, I often remind myself that I am no surprise to God and to understand that He knew what He was getting Himself into when He chose me.  This is why we need to know that He "can" and is "most willing" to be ever so gracious towards us, regardless of our past.  I believe if we want to get the most out of Gods Word, we have to see the measure of the truth of His Word as "Powerful, Life-Giving"; "Uncompromising Truth" that exposes anything else as a lie and see His Word as a "Double-edged Sword" that is powerfully effective which is the only weapon that no enemy can withstand when we His Word confidently and with authority that He has given to each of us.  He has given us authority in His Name (Luke 10:19), but it is of no avail unless we learn to put it to use.  Lets not allow the enemy to have the upper hand simply because we have been silent to speak the Word and use Gods Word as a Sword which is meant to richly bless us.

I hope you will share my Blog and our Answers2Prayer website whom you believe will be blessed from it.  God bless.                

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Do not cast away your fearless confidence in Him for such is great reward (Heb 10:35)

How to Fulfill Our Duty

Dearest Saints,

     I believe the greatest satisfaction when one examines their own lives is that we want to have value in the service to others as Gods representative.  I have good news!! God values each of us.  By having true joy in ones life, it comes by serving Him when we serve others in their time of need.  The Bible indicates that "If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness and joy" (Job 36:11).  This tells us two things we need to do.  To obey and serve Him according to that scripture.  When I re-read this sentence, God revealed this thought to me.  You will notice that the word "obey" comes before the word "serve Him".  I look at this as prioritizing our requirements.  This tells me that we need to first be obedient to Him if we expect to effectively serve Him.  When I examine my life, I often may think I am doing the works that He calls me, but when He speaks to us deep within (when He speaks to our conscience), He may be telling us otherwise.  Therefore, my "so-called good works" really isn't pleasing to Him if I don't first learn to joyfully obey Him.  This may be simply to learn to just wait and trust in Him when we would rather go out and rush to do something for Him, even though what we do may be Godly.  When we study the Word, I like to dig deeper and often ask myself the question on many issues "How"?  In other words, we often know what we need to do by what we read, but the key is knowing "How to apply" what we know.  So one of the questions is: "How can I get myself to obey the Lord better"?  I like what it says in Ecclesiastes 12:13, that the whole duty of man is "Fearing God" and keep His commandments (by obeying Him and His commandments).  So even before we learn to obey, we notice that it first comes by reverently fearing Him.  Just like the previous verse we talked about the position of the wording.  We notice here that it first starts with reverently fearing Him.  So, the next question we should ask ourselves is "How can I be most effective to reverently fear Him more?" 

     One of the things I find it most helpful to reverently fear Him is when we learn to take our time see how awesome and big our God is.  For myself, I like astronomy, so I get the atlas book out and turn to the page that shows our solar system.  When you look how tiny the earth is in comparison to our immediate galaxy we are located in, this is just a start of a glimpse of how great and awesome our God is, because He fills all Heavens and earth (Jer 23:24) which goes far beyond our galaxy.  When I see how small I am compared to the earth, and then realize how insignificant the earth is compared to some of the other planets within our solar system, and then our solar system is tiny in comparison to other systems, I am amazed at how Great He is, knowing that He is beyond the boundaries of what scientists have been able to locate out in the extremities of the universe.  He also names all the billions of stars and many of the stars that look like a tiny dot in the night sky can be a million times bigger than the earth, such as the massive giant star called VY Canis Majoris, which is the size that would fill the entire orbital path of Saturn.  There are billion times more stars that are many times more massive than the sun, and yet, God Himself is far greater than all of these.  When we take time and consider how He orchestrates the position of earth to maintain its perfect distance from the sun to sustain life, continuously making its orbital path around the sun by maintaining equal timings for different seasons and spinning at its point of axis consistently at the same speed by giving us the same time of 24 hours to complete each day.  Even at the massive speeds that the earth orbits around the sun and spins on its axis, yet there are times that you don't even see a ripple in the water.  To me, that is how God is awesome to know that He has everything under His control. He tells us that everything is held together by the power of His Word (Col 1:17).  So here, we see the power and control of our God.  Therefore, when we take time to see how much control and power He does have, we can learn to truly trust Him.  This is why we often need to sit still and meditate on these things and know the He truly is God (Ps 46:10).  

     When you consider the complexity of how we humans are formed and how fearfully and wonderfully we truly are made, how can anyone be so foolish to believe we just evolved?  I may tend to be harsh about this, because I believe God is most displeased which is why He has the right to be a jealous God (Deut 4:24).  When you consider how we are fearfully and uniquely made, to think otherwise is indeed foolish.  What the doctors are finding out now, God had already created everything right from the beginning.  If one chromosome was out of balance, we would appear much different than we truly are.  This is only a fraction of the awesome knowledge and wisdom of our God.  With such power, knowledge and wisdom beyond our comprehension, yet, we are never too insignificant for Him to be forever mindful of each of us.  

I now like to compare His love for us in the same magnitude as His bigness, His infinite power compared to our extremely limited ability, His infinite wisdom and knowledge that no man can comprehend.  When we come to terms to think that any human being on earth would dare to leave living the life in a royal palace and having everything handed to you and choose to live in a clay hut and be a servant to everyone, I can't see any human being considering this thought.  Yet, Christ Himself went beyond that, because His Throne in Heaven far exceeds the best palaces on the face of this earth.  Yet, He willingly chose to be born in the lowest of clans to do this for you and I (Micah 5:2) and be servant to all.  When you realize His love in a greater capacity for you and I individually, we will want to love and obey Him more.  This starts by being still and taking quality time to meditate on His sovereignty (His awesome attributes) in detail.  God tells us in Joshua 1:8 to take time to meditate on His Word in order that are able to do according to do all that is written in His Word which He promises us that will make our ways prosperous and be able to deal wisely and have good success.  

     When we make quality time to meditate on His Word, this is when it gets from our head to our heart.  When His Word gets into our heart, this is when we do all things out of love for Him because His Word is now placed in our heart.  Jesus says, if you love me, you will obey Me.  When His Word is in our heart, we will also have that deep rooted reverential fear of Him.  Afterall, this is the whole duty of man (Eccl 12:13).   

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/


For He who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His Word. (Heb 10:23b Amplified Version)

Let Him Cleanse Us

Dear Saints,

     I have been away on holidays for the past several weeks and feel refreshed.  I did miss spending time in ministering, but know that we all need to spend time, go to a quiet place to refresh our soul and rekindle that loving relationship with Him that He so much wants us to have with Him.  This is the bottom line, when you read about the first Church in Revelation (Church of Ephesus) in (Rev 2:1-4), it would seem that they were pleasing the Lord with all their "good works".  By this, they labored much through troubling times with patient endurance (that I know pleases God).  They would not tolerate evil (which God is pleased), they tested and appraised those who call themselves Apostles (like we should do), and patiently endured trials by bearing up the Name of Christ and through it, not ever becoming weary (as He would be pleased with).  Yet even through all these "so-called good works", God still had a charge against this Church.  Even through we may think that with all this labor, toil and patient endurance, is it still possible that we could be like this Church and lose our first love for Him?  I find it sobering to think that out of all our laboring and working patiently, persistently and faithfully doing the Lords business, we can still be confronted by Him simply because we have overlooked the one most important consideration which is to remain "IN-LOVE" with Him by loving to live His way.   

     When we remain in love with Him, it helps us to remind ourselves that He is a true Friend like no other person on earth can be compared with.  He alone remains faithful to me when others have proven to be otherwise.  When others don't have time for you, He always has special time for you.  He willingly offers to take all our burdens which no one else would dare do because He wants us to cast our burdens on Him (Psalm 55:22).  He is the only One who did not owe anything of Himself to us.  But yet, willingly paid a far greater price for me personally and chose to pay what we could not ever pay.  He tells us that a true friend would hardly dare die for another friend, yet He suffered and died for the rebellious sinners like I once was.  He offers to remove our tattered garment (every known sins we have ever committed against our Lord) and give us His spotless robe of Righteousness so we will be to the Father as though we had never sinned (Isa 61:10).  He continually and mercifully forgives our sins (though they may be many, He is always willing to forgive when we repent).  When others fail you, He never FAILs.  Many people may think He does, but He doesn't because He is trying to teach us to trust Him and test us to see if we do prove our love for Him.  The problem is that we have allowed impatience to overshadow us that has often hindered us to prove our faithful relationship with Him.  This is why true love (His Love for us) never fails.  Job did not fail God when all was stripped from Him, yet he still chose to worship God during these trying times and God was pleased with his faithfulness.  Not only did He restore everything back to Job, but restored double to him.  God wants to be that Great Rewarder to us (Heb 11:6b).  He wants to prove us to Him (with His help), that no matter what happens, we can remain loving, trusting in Him and being faithful to Him regardless of our circumstances.  Why would He have gone through so much pain, trouble and agony on our behalf if He didn't care for us or want the best for us in the first place?  He went through so much for us and gave His best for us, He would ask me, what is my best for Him? 

     I liked the revelation God revealed to me when I was reading about how Jesus girded Himself with a towel and washed the Disciples feet.  Even if anyone would have thought about doing that, I don't think anyone would have taken this action to willingly humble themselves enough to do this as Jesus Himself willingly did (The God of the Universe would do that for us)!!  When it came to Peter, he was not willing to let Jesus wash his feet.  I think He said this because he didn't feel right that someone like Jesus should stoop this low to do this task, when Peter probably thought, this should be the job of someone else while Jesus should be sitting on a throne as any earthly king would normally do.  He compared the mind of Jesus to that of an earthly king.  But here is the interesting part, In the second part of John 13:8 Jesus told Peter "Unless I wash you, you have no part with (in) Me [you have no share in companionship with Me] (Amplified Version). 

 

     When I read that part, I realized that when we come to Him, unless we allow Him to cleanse us (our heart, our past/repentent sins, cleanse our ways and every evil motive) and allow Him to fully restore us, He tells us that we will NOT be able to share in His companionship because we have failed to allow Him to love us enough and in turn to be able to love Him back to accept His offer to cleanse us.  Just like the scripture talks about cleaning ones feet, He goes further talking about our heart which is what He desires to wash.  But we need to allow Him to wash us, unlike Peter did not allow initially.  For Jesus mentions in vs 10b and 11 to indicate that no everyone was clean was because the one who was going to betray Him (which was Judas Iscariot) did not allow Jesus to cleanse his heart, which was why he ended up doing this wicked and detestable thing by betraying Him.  This is an indication of what may happen to a follower of Christ, who fails to allow Him to wash our hearts clean by coming to Him, to ask and accept His full pardon and forgiveness.  Otherwise, we too will fail in our fellowship with Him and He will tell us like He did to this Church of Ephesus that we have lost our first love (when we first got saved) which He will not be pleased.  He tells this Church that He will take away the very lampstand, even though they were full of "good works".  

     For us to be able to truly love Him, we have to know deep within and believe that He first loves us more than we can imagine, because we can't give anything good from our hearts and love Him or others back if we don't first learn to receive from Him.  Only He is GOOD and anything good from within is only because we first received His goodness within us.  It's always a good reminder to go to 1 Cor 13:4-8 and re-read this love chapter audibly and insert your name and let God speak to you personally that He fulfills that perfect love for you because He has proven His love for you in such a magnificent way far beyond our comprehension.  He foreknew every event, yet willingly bore the pain and allowed the guards to hammer those huge spikes through his hands with such excruciating pain, take on so much agony and far greater suffering than any man would have ever offered to do for us, just so we can be set free from sins bondage and be given life eternal.  This is just only a fraction of how He has proven His love for us.  How much more proof of His love do we need?  With love like that, let us receive His love from Him personally to each of us and in turn, be able to be in love with Him and be able to love others back.  Unless we first receive His love for us in order to love Him first and love others, anything else means absolutely nothing to the Lord. 

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.

http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://www.answers2prayer.org/
 
Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name. (Ps 91:14 Amplified Version)