Dearest Saints.
I want to share different agendas all the time that God has taught me and continues to teach me. The reason why I may have knowledge of many things is definitely not because of any intelligence of my own, but most likely the exact opposite. I learned much from God of the many errors of my ways and the greatfulness of His loving correction in order to be positioned to realize the rich value and wisdom of His instructions. What I like doing in these series is to encourage you to share what God has blessed me with. When we don't share with others of what we have learned, we are like that wicked servant who hid his talent and failed to use it to be a blessing to one another (Matt 25:24-30). We all have a testimony and are highly valuable to someone else. There is not one Christian who can truthfully say that they are not valuable to be an encourager or inspiration to others, or just to be spoon-fed by others, for we are all called to be ministers of God (1 Pet 4:10). God ultimately strengthens us and gifts us in the first place, but we never fulfill our greatest potential to be a rich blessing to others until we learn to surrender to Him, acknowledge our desperate need of Him and believe that He is able to use us no matter what. My desire is to always seek to be an encourager for what God has done in my life. I cannot think of a better way than to share my personal testimony, which is why I was able to write a book in 2009 titled "The Greatest Builder for Our Life". Sharing the Word of my testimony with the Blood of the Lamb is what the Bible tells us that shuts the mouth of our greatest accuser (satan) as found in Revelation 12:11. So I would like to do just that, by showing how great and merciful He has been to me that will shut the mouth of the devil and to never allow his garbage of lies and accusations to be a dumping ground for you.
My testimony goes back to when I was an infant. At that time, I had a case of mild epileptic seizure of which I was put on heavy medication for the first 10-11 years of my life. During that time, I saw myself as inferior to the rest of my family due to the effects of that medication and how it often slowed me down in many ways and displaying violent tempers. As my siblings succeeded in every area of their lives, I saw myself falling behind more and more. This has caused me to become angry (not realizing I was angry with God for what seemed of a great injustice during that present time), with much bitterness and resentment. When my other siblings skipped grades and passed with honors and went on to further their education in Tech school and university with little effort, I struggled much just to maintain an average grade. The result of many of these caused me to receive that disgusting competitive spirit within me and become a fault-finder because I felt angry and inferior. I graduated high school that was anything to brag about my marks. I failed at several jobs badly and started my downward spiral of feeling more inferior, bitter and negative. Later on, there were several times in my early career that I succeeded very well, but because I was competitive, I became proud to flaunt my success to try to prove to myself I was not a failure afterall. Then, because I could not handle success due to my pride, I had taken a turn again for the worse. Maybe that is why God did not want me to succeed early in life because I was not able to handle it. This proves the truth of the Bible when it tells us that pride comes before destruction (Prov 16:18), which I can identify with. Every part of my life hit rock bottom. Of course, alot of people would argue, "Where was God in all of this?" Without going through trials to crucify the hardness of my heart and the flesh (like having a proud spirit, being competitive, being critical of others and many other sinful attributes), I would have continued to live in spiritual darkness and remain blind to Gods love and His ability for me to live the blessed life which He willingly suffered in order to give us. I often lived with negative results simply because I was living in ignorance to Gods Word. As one example, I was just accepting every negative word spoken against me and living that defeated life simply because I was listening to the lies of the enemy through many people and not listening to what God had to say. When I realized many years ago that the devil was the real enemy and had deceived me all those years, the Bible told me that he was already defeated. Then why was I living a defeated life? This was often the result of listening to the lies of the devil more than believing what God says about us. When I reached up to God and repented of this, and humbled myself for His much needed help, I declared with His help alone, to cast out the effects of every negative word by not ever accepting it anymore. Then I learned to use His Word boldly to declare His promises for me because I began to see who He really was and what He wanted to do for me. I know when I have been kicked by the one who was a defeated enemy, I learned to develope that fearless confidence in Him (Heb 10:35) and refuse to allow the enemy to rule my circumstances. I was desperate enough to tell God that I no longer wanted to live according to my passions and ambitions, but to live for Him and to use me mightily to live the way He intended for me to live, and live to be a rich blessing to many worldwide. When I learned the truth about the power of the tongue (Prov 18:20,21) from Gods Word, I chose to boldly declare His victory in what He accomplished through His Son for me, simply because of who He is and choosing to believe what He says and refuse to listen to anything else aside from Gods word which is living a lie. In my present life, I can strangely say that I am glad that God put me through unfavorable circumstances because I now understand how I was blind to having that arrogant, proud spirit that is an offense to God. I can now boldly declare that it is only by His Grace, Mercy, love and wisdom that turned my life around and am now much better off then had I not gone through what I had to go through. I can never declare that God is the greatest Restorer of my life had I not saw the need and how great He was able to restore my crumbled life in the first place. By His Grace, I have accomplished much greater goals than I ever dreamed, since my rebellious pride had been broken and I desire to live to glorify Him. Since I have become successful in many areas, it is a great liberation to hate pride and no longer accept it when I remember my severe trials and past failures. Therefore, I hope this testimony encourages you to know deep within that trials are not simply an unfortunate event, but it is God doing a much required work through you (more than you realize) to become the best you can be for His glory and be most useful to advance His Kingdom. I now realize how valuable His Word is because I can be a living testimony that His Word is TRUTH and everything He says is for our eternal benefit.
The longer we fight against God by grumbling in our circumstances, by not trusting fully in Him, we are going to remain wandering around the same stupid mountain in the wilderness that will just take us longer to enter in to the Promised land (living the blessed life) that He wants us to enter in to. Just like it took the Isrealites 40 years to wander in the desert when it could have only taken them 11 days simply because they harbored doubt and unbelief that caused them to be totally thankless, to grumble against God and Moses.
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/
Saturday, 18 February 2012
Monday, 6 February 2012
To Seek His Face
Dearest Saints
God often reminds me lately about simply "seeking His face". I didn't know really what that meant. I heard someone explain it like this: "Rather than always quickly going to prayer and asking God to always do this and do that, we need to just simply have that wonderful intimate fellowship with Him". When someone put it this way, I realized that is what I needed to do more than ever. The Lord does truly want us to acknowledge Him to help heal the sick, heal broken relationships, help those in financial need and any other issues that may include employment and other agendas in ones life. Often times, when I look at my situation, I am reminded to stop and seek His face by acknowledging His love for me, His promises that He never leaves me, His wonderful care for me and to give Him thanks with an attitude of gratitude. Just like the prayer Jesus taught His Disciples when He first acknowledges His Father by starting His prayer model "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy Name". In His prayer, He first acknowledges His Fathers awesome holiness before He asks of anything from Him. Seeking His face is not something that is a formula of words or a structured agenda, it is simply putting aside quality time to speak with God from your heart, acknowledging His sweet presence and quieting our spirit to hear Him speak to our heart. I remembered one night in particular when I was outside in the outbacks of northern Botswana and with very little lights to brighten the atmosphere, you could easily see countless stars in the black of night and it was times like that, that I simply look up and smile and say how awesome are You O Lord. He tells us that the heavens declare His glory (Ps 19:1 and Ps 97:6). Just having this quiet time many years ago is one of those times I am able to remember because of having that special time to acknowledge His sweet presence and His awesomeness of knowing each star He has placed.
As I ponder this thought even now, if we are often frusterated and burdened with many cares that we carry around, we need to ask ourselves if we have spent the quality time with God to seek His face as we should? I see more and more that the world is often in need of entertaining ones self all the time that people can hardly go from home to work and back home on the bus without playing games on the ipod, watching a movie or being consumed with all sorts of reading material, wearing headphones on may different electronic gadgets that literally shuts oneself in their own world. I often believe there is a connection of many people having unrest and the result of their need of being entertained all the time who fail to seek Him and His presence because they are so consumed. I often hear that if the devil can't make you mad, he will make you "busy" with distractions. When I do spend quality time with God, by having no distractions to disrupt this tranquil time of peace, I am strengthen much more and enjoy the rich peace He gives us that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7). The simplicity of spending quiet time with God is an awesome experience. When we go to pray and just quickly give God our "wish list" of things to do, we need to spend rich quality time with Him first. That is why God tells us to seek His face and not His hands (1 Chronicles 16:11). In other words, just to spend quality time with God rather than always just asking Him a list of "to do"s for us and/or for others during prayer. It is important to acknowledge His help in prayer, but I often experience many prayers of people just coming to God with just a "to do" list and forgetting to come in to His presence to worship and acknowledge His holiness, His beauty and goodness. When we spend quality time with Him, it is utmost importance that we do not overlook this. When we come with our list, He already knows what we need and He promises to meet our needs when we first seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, by having that quality time with Him. When we get in to the works of the flesh, we become frusterated because we are relying on ourselves to make things happen. God continues to teach me to seek His face by acknowledging our need of Him, our inadequacy without Him (John 15:5) and asking Him to take the lead and ask Him to help us to simply obey the leading of His Spirit because He is the One who causes things to grow (1 Cor 3:7). I find that my day goes much better when I start my day first by inviting Him in to my conversation. When we come to God, let us seek His face and the beauty of His wonderful presence. By learning to receive His peace (which He came to give us in the first place), we need to know a couple of things for us personally, deep within:
a. That He is the fulfillment of perfect love who loves us perfectly (1 Cor 13:4-8). I find it helpful to read this and insert your name as though you hear Him speaking directly to you;
b. Know that He cares for you (1 Pet 5:7);
c. Understand that He knows best. When you acknowledge Him to answer prayer and the door closes, He has something better for you (Rev 3:7,8);
d. Know His omnipresence (that He already promises that He will not leave or forsake you) (Heb 13:5);
e. Know that no other power or authority has dominion over Him. However, it is often stopped by our unbelief or doubt of His love and care for each of us. Unbelief and doubt is a horrible detterent that literally stops the work of God on our behalf. Just like Jesus was unable to do any miracles in His hometown simply because of unbelief (Matt 13:58).
When we come to know deeply and personally of His loving and awesome attributes for us, we can effectively develop that strong confidence, deep inner peace within us, knowing He loves us and truly does care for us. We are only able to obtain this when we learn to spend quality time with Him first and foremost by seeking His face.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
God often reminds me lately about simply "seeking His face". I didn't know really what that meant. I heard someone explain it like this: "Rather than always quickly going to prayer and asking God to always do this and do that, we need to just simply have that wonderful intimate fellowship with Him". When someone put it this way, I realized that is what I needed to do more than ever. The Lord does truly want us to acknowledge Him to help heal the sick, heal broken relationships, help those in financial need and any other issues that may include employment and other agendas in ones life. Often times, when I look at my situation, I am reminded to stop and seek His face by acknowledging His love for me, His promises that He never leaves me, His wonderful care for me and to give Him thanks with an attitude of gratitude. Just like the prayer Jesus taught His Disciples when He first acknowledges His Father by starting His prayer model "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy Name". In His prayer, He first acknowledges His Fathers awesome holiness before He asks of anything from Him. Seeking His face is not something that is a formula of words or a structured agenda, it is simply putting aside quality time to speak with God from your heart, acknowledging His sweet presence and quieting our spirit to hear Him speak to our heart. I remembered one night in particular when I was outside in the outbacks of northern Botswana and with very little lights to brighten the atmosphere, you could easily see countless stars in the black of night and it was times like that, that I simply look up and smile and say how awesome are You O Lord. He tells us that the heavens declare His glory (Ps 19:1 and Ps 97:6). Just having this quiet time many years ago is one of those times I am able to remember because of having that special time to acknowledge His sweet presence and His awesomeness of knowing each star He has placed.
As I ponder this thought even now, if we are often frusterated and burdened with many cares that we carry around, we need to ask ourselves if we have spent the quality time with God to seek His face as we should? I see more and more that the world is often in need of entertaining ones self all the time that people can hardly go from home to work and back home on the bus without playing games on the ipod, watching a movie or being consumed with all sorts of reading material, wearing headphones on may different electronic gadgets that literally shuts oneself in their own world. I often believe there is a connection of many people having unrest and the result of their need of being entertained all the time who fail to seek Him and His presence because they are so consumed. I often hear that if the devil can't make you mad, he will make you "busy" with distractions. When I do spend quality time with God, by having no distractions to disrupt this tranquil time of peace, I am strengthen much more and enjoy the rich peace He gives us that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7). The simplicity of spending quiet time with God is an awesome experience. When we go to pray and just quickly give God our "wish list" of things to do, we need to spend rich quality time with Him first. That is why God tells us to seek His face and not His hands (1 Chronicles 16:11). In other words, just to spend quality time with God rather than always just asking Him a list of "to do"s for us and/or for others during prayer. It is important to acknowledge His help in prayer, but I often experience many prayers of people just coming to God with just a "to do" list and forgetting to come in to His presence to worship and acknowledge His holiness, His beauty and goodness. When we spend quality time with Him, it is utmost importance that we do not overlook this. When we come with our list, He already knows what we need and He promises to meet our needs when we first seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, by having that quality time with Him. When we get in to the works of the flesh, we become frusterated because we are relying on ourselves to make things happen. God continues to teach me to seek His face by acknowledging our need of Him, our inadequacy without Him (John 15:5) and asking Him to take the lead and ask Him to help us to simply obey the leading of His Spirit because He is the One who causes things to grow (1 Cor 3:7). I find that my day goes much better when I start my day first by inviting Him in to my conversation. When we come to God, let us seek His face and the beauty of His wonderful presence. By learning to receive His peace (which He came to give us in the first place), we need to know a couple of things for us personally, deep within:
a. That He is the fulfillment of perfect love who loves us perfectly (1 Cor 13:4-8). I find it helpful to read this and insert your name as though you hear Him speaking directly to you;
b. Know that He cares for you (1 Pet 5:7);
c. Understand that He knows best. When you acknowledge Him to answer prayer and the door closes, He has something better for you (Rev 3:7,8);
d. Know His omnipresence (that He already promises that He will not leave or forsake you) (Heb 13:5);
e. Know that no other power or authority has dominion over Him. However, it is often stopped by our unbelief or doubt of His love and care for each of us. Unbelief and doubt is a horrible detterent that literally stops the work of God on our behalf. Just like Jesus was unable to do any miracles in His hometown simply because of unbelief (Matt 13:58).
When we come to know deeply and personally of His loving and awesome attributes for us, we can effectively develop that strong confidence, deep inner peace within us, knowing He loves us and truly does care for us. We are only able to obtain this when we learn to spend quality time with Him first and foremost by seeking His face.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Standing for Justice - Gods Way
Dearest Saints,
I sense more and more that a great injustice is coming against Gods people through mis-understanding. Often times, when we become offended we are giving the devil access in to our situation that allows him to control over many areas of our lives. The devil and his angels can only be effective to work against us to the measure we allow him. We are told not to give him a foothold or an entry way in to our lives or any of our situations, which means that he cannot have any access unless we allow him access (Eph 4:27). I have come across lately that people are allowing themselves to become easily offended when we should be standing our ground against the enemy who is infiltrating his ways in to many Christians lives when we shouldn't allow him to. One area I see taking place is when we separate ourselves from other Christians because we have allowed ourselves to become offended. We need to stand against the real enemy (satan) because he will do whatever he can to bring strife, division, factions, separation between Gods people, when we shouldn't allow him the power to do so in the first place. It's just like that wolf that wants to separate a sheep from the rest to make his final attack. When we see ourselves becoming detached, we need to not only be promoters of love, unity, peace, but at the same time, we need to stand strong against the enemy not to allow strife, factions or division to come between us by coming to Him in prayer and interceding one for another. Christ tells the Disciples that a kingdom cannot stand when it is divided (Matt 12:25) and the enemy often weakens the Church when we are not vigilant to pray for unity. We need to know who the enemy is and stop seeing everyone else as our enemy and join forces in love, prayer, unity for Gods power to move through His people and pray against injustice (all that goes against Gods Word and His will). Afterall, this is Gods will, which should also be our will. The injustice I often see not only affects ourselves, but affects the body of Christ and ultimately, it is an injustice against Christ Himself when we forsake aggressively being a Peacemaker. Some instances of injustice that comes against Gods people and against Christ is when we fail to encourage each other (Heb 3:13), when we fail to pray one for another when we see a Brother or Sister in need. God forbid that I should fail to pray one for another. We also fail when we are not strong to take courage in the Lord when He often tells us to be strong because we know His love for us.
When Moses sent out the 12 spies to spy against the land of the enemies of God, only Joshua and Caleb had that fearless courage to come against the enemy not because they were strong in themselves, but they had the confidence that the Lord was with them because they knew how much God loved them and they knew who they were in Christ. God saved Joshua and Caleb because they were the ones who wholly followed the Lord because of it (Num 32:12). We need to have more Joshuas and Calebs today in our Churches, that sees the work of the enemy and have that bold confidence in the Lord to come against and defeat the enemy in our midst who often comes against us. When we see negativity or separation coming between Brothers and Sisters, we cannot afford to become offended which only allows the enemy to have dominion in our midst, but we need to recognize this spiritual thief that tries to come against Gods people by standing in the gap by boldly praying Gods will to be done, which promotes love, peace and unity that protects and brings deliverance. When I see how the enemy destroys families, we need to cry out for Gods Justice to prevail. The injustice is when we see family divisions taking place and we fail to cry out to God for His Justice (Love, mercy, peace, unity) and boldly declare this because I believe He paid every price to give us victory in every area of our lives. Although my wife is still unsaved, I see her as a victim of the real enemy who continues to blind her. As God was revealing to me, I need to declare His Justice for my wife so she will no longer be a victim of the enemy and come to know Christ personally and live the blessed life that Jesus suffered so that we may have. In Isa 59:4, God tells us that none calls out to Him for Justice or pleads for His Truth to prevail. I know Justice will eventually prevail because God tells us in Isa 89:14 that the foundation of His Throne is Justice and Judgement, Mercy and Truth goes before His face. When I look at my past, I feel God has received injustice from myself when I have allowed the enemy to have dominion because I failed to stand in the gap and call out for His Justice (to pray one for another, to fight for my family and to do my part to allow God to fight our enemy). So rather than coming against our spouse, Brother, Sister or others, we need to call out to God for His Justice to prevail so that they will receive the blessings of God and not be a victim of the real enemy, satan. Gods Justice ALWAYS promotes love, peace, unity and prosperity in every area of our lives. A great injustice is when we do not believe or doubt that His blessings is for us or doubt that He will help us. This is a great injustice against our Lord because of the tremendous price He paid so we can live a life in victory (2 Cor 2:14) and in abundance (John 10:10b). I asked God to give me courage and boldness, having confidence in Him (Heb 4:16; Heb 10:35; Prov 28:1) to help me stand in the gap for one another when we need to do that and refuse to allow any offense to come upon me. We cannot stand in the gap for each other when we allow ourselves to be offended in any way. We need to say like Jesus did to tell satan who worked through Peter and say to him: Get thee behind me satan, for you are an offense to God. I believe we can add our family and Church members to that sentence. Even though he spoke to Peter, he directed His rebuke to the real enemy, satan. I believe allowing ourselves to be offended is a weapon for our enemy to be used effectively that weakens the power of God in our lives and within our Church. When people have said bad things against me, I ask God to remove any offense from me and start praying for that individual because God tells us in Proverbs 19:11 that it is to our glory that we overlook all offenses, because we are aware of who the real enemy is. Instead of the devil becoming a great enemy against us, we can become a greater enemy against him when we submit to Gods will and do what He would require us to do.
Standing against injustice Gods way is not coming against one another, but against the real enemy one for another when we desperately need to do this more than ever.
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/
I sense more and more that a great injustice is coming against Gods people through mis-understanding. Often times, when we become offended we are giving the devil access in to our situation that allows him to control over many areas of our lives. The devil and his angels can only be effective to work against us to the measure we allow him. We are told not to give him a foothold or an entry way in to our lives or any of our situations, which means that he cannot have any access unless we allow him access (Eph 4:27). I have come across lately that people are allowing themselves to become easily offended when we should be standing our ground against the enemy who is infiltrating his ways in to many Christians lives when we shouldn't allow him to. One area I see taking place is when we separate ourselves from other Christians because we have allowed ourselves to become offended. We need to stand against the real enemy (satan) because he will do whatever he can to bring strife, division, factions, separation between Gods people, when we shouldn't allow him the power to do so in the first place. It's just like that wolf that wants to separate a sheep from the rest to make his final attack. When we see ourselves becoming detached, we need to not only be promoters of love, unity, peace, but at the same time, we need to stand strong against the enemy not to allow strife, factions or division to come between us by coming to Him in prayer and interceding one for another. Christ tells the Disciples that a kingdom cannot stand when it is divided (Matt 12:25) and the enemy often weakens the Church when we are not vigilant to pray for unity. We need to know who the enemy is and stop seeing everyone else as our enemy and join forces in love, prayer, unity for Gods power to move through His people and pray against injustice (all that goes against Gods Word and His will). Afterall, this is Gods will, which should also be our will. The injustice I often see not only affects ourselves, but affects the body of Christ and ultimately, it is an injustice against Christ Himself when we forsake aggressively being a Peacemaker. Some instances of injustice that comes against Gods people and against Christ is when we fail to encourage each other (Heb 3:13), when we fail to pray one for another when we see a Brother or Sister in need. God forbid that I should fail to pray one for another. We also fail when we are not strong to take courage in the Lord when He often tells us to be strong because we know His love for us.
When Moses sent out the 12 spies to spy against the land of the enemies of God, only Joshua and Caleb had that fearless courage to come against the enemy not because they were strong in themselves, but they had the confidence that the Lord was with them because they knew how much God loved them and they knew who they were in Christ. God saved Joshua and Caleb because they were the ones who wholly followed the Lord because of it (Num 32:12). We need to have more Joshuas and Calebs today in our Churches, that sees the work of the enemy and have that bold confidence in the Lord to come against and defeat the enemy in our midst who often comes against us. When we see negativity or separation coming between Brothers and Sisters, we cannot afford to become offended which only allows the enemy to have dominion in our midst, but we need to recognize this spiritual thief that tries to come against Gods people by standing in the gap by boldly praying Gods will to be done, which promotes love, peace and unity that protects and brings deliverance. When I see how the enemy destroys families, we need to cry out for Gods Justice to prevail. The injustice is when we see family divisions taking place and we fail to cry out to God for His Justice (Love, mercy, peace, unity) and boldly declare this because I believe He paid every price to give us victory in every area of our lives. Although my wife is still unsaved, I see her as a victim of the real enemy who continues to blind her. As God was revealing to me, I need to declare His Justice for my wife so she will no longer be a victim of the enemy and come to know Christ personally and live the blessed life that Jesus suffered so that we may have. In Isa 59:4, God tells us that none calls out to Him for Justice or pleads for His Truth to prevail. I know Justice will eventually prevail because God tells us in Isa 89:14 that the foundation of His Throne is Justice and Judgement, Mercy and Truth goes before His face. When I look at my past, I feel God has received injustice from myself when I have allowed the enemy to have dominion because I failed to stand in the gap and call out for His Justice (to pray one for another, to fight for my family and to do my part to allow God to fight our enemy). So rather than coming against our spouse, Brother, Sister or others, we need to call out to God for His Justice to prevail so that they will receive the blessings of God and not be a victim of the real enemy, satan. Gods Justice ALWAYS promotes love, peace, unity and prosperity in every area of our lives. A great injustice is when we do not believe or doubt that His blessings is for us or doubt that He will help us. This is a great injustice against our Lord because of the tremendous price He paid so we can live a life in victory (2 Cor 2:14) and in abundance (John 10:10b). I asked God to give me courage and boldness, having confidence in Him (Heb 4:16; Heb 10:35; Prov 28:1) to help me stand in the gap for one another when we need to do that and refuse to allow any offense to come upon me. We cannot stand in the gap for each other when we allow ourselves to be offended in any way. We need to say like Jesus did to tell satan who worked through Peter and say to him: Get thee behind me satan, for you are an offense to God. I believe we can add our family and Church members to that sentence. Even though he spoke to Peter, he directed His rebuke to the real enemy, satan. I believe allowing ourselves to be offended is a weapon for our enemy to be used effectively that weakens the power of God in our lives and within our Church. When people have said bad things against me, I ask God to remove any offense from me and start praying for that individual because God tells us in Proverbs 19:11 that it is to our glory that we overlook all offenses, because we are aware of who the real enemy is. Instead of the devil becoming a great enemy against us, we can become a greater enemy against him when we submit to Gods will and do what He would require us to do.
Standing against injustice Gods way is not coming against one another, but against the real enemy one for another when we desperately need to do this more than ever.
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/
Friday, 23 December 2011
To Follow God or not
Good Day Dear Saints
I don't know about you, but I sense that this coming year is going to be a year that is critical. I have known too many Christians that say they are one, but live as though it is really questionable. I believe it is a time when we say who we are, we need to live it out, whether we feel like it or not. To truly follow the Lord is to follow His loving ways by loving one another without making any conditions. Especially, to first and foremost love the Lord with all our heart, mind, body, soul and spirit. How many times do we become bitter and not realize we may have been bitter towards the Lord Himself? Before Christ was committed to His ministry, He was prayed up in advance. If He needed to be prayed up, how much more do we need this? We need to be prayed up in advance and make up our minds to love the Lord and trust Him no matter what, before events come that we find ourselves going through that would otherwise cause us to fail to love Him or love others. I believe this is the time many of us have to decide to follow Him regardless or not. Too many Christians say one thing who they believe they are, but live entirely another way. Our greatest witness is not what we say, but how we live out what we say. When many pray the Lords prayer, they pray for God to forgive them as they have forgiven those who have trespassed against them, yet they continue to treat others with contempt, which is nothing but hypocrisy. That to me does not identify those who are true followers of Christ. The measure we love the least amongst our Brethren is the measure we love the Lord. To sing to the Lord with open arms while at the same time, we harbour contempt or bitterness towards others in our hearts is dispicable. I would hate to see one day that the Lord would ever question any of us "Why did you show contempt towards Me?" all because we showed contempt towards others (Matt 25:40,45). When we lack love towards our Brothers or Sisters in the Lord, we lack that same measure of love towards Christ. When we speak evil or slander one another, we do it as unto the Lord. When we speak well of others, visit the sick, clothe the naked, meet the needs of others and are mindful and respectful to others, we are showing the same respect to our Lord. Just imagine how irritating it must be to the Lord, when we play "Church" and put on our "church face", sing in the choir and are active in many ways, but we fail to do what is most critical... and that is to show true genuine Godly love. To God, He says that is like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor 13:1), which to me, would be most irritating. Christ mentions to His Disciples that it is better to have a plate of herbs and peace than to have a fattened calf and strife in the house (Prov 15:17). When that is the case, we have failed to deal with a critical matter at hand that matters the most. It's also like swallowing a camel and yet straining a gnat (Matt 23:24) by making a big issue over petty agendas and making light from promoting peace and unity. I believe as we enter in to 2012, this is going to be a time where we need to make a decision in advance and purpose in our hearts to fulfill the law and the Prophets (Matt 22:36-40) and live by the rule of love in every detail as found in 1 Cor 13:4-8.
Too many people are sitting idly on the fencepost who need to make a decision to either follow the Lord regardless, or allow ourselves to decide to follow our own fickle feelings that often opposes following the Laws of love which is following the Lord. In other words, when He tells us to forgive, we cannot be making excuses. We need to purpose in our hearts to divorce ourselves from all gossip, slander, all ungodly behaviour, that is unbecoming and anything that would promote strife, factions, divisions or that fails to promote love, peace and unity. That with His help, Gods Spirit will arise within us when we understand that His Love, His Power and Wisdom far exceeds our own and we gladly yield ourselves to His loving ways. I declared that 2011 was a year of restitution and bring unity in to the body. I now believe if those who refuse to allow love and unity to rule their spirit, they need to make a decision that we are going to follow the Lord or not. Follow in His loving ways to love others, or we are not and stop making excuses. We are going to promote peace and harmony, or we are not. I believe it is time to make this coming year, to make a critical decision to follow the Lord and allow the fruit of the Spirit to be evident, or we are not.
My prayer is that all will be most blessed to Choose His loving ways in all His ways and make 2012 the most blessed year for you and see the increase of Christ within, His love and His power be exalted in each of our lives and be part of a wonderful revival in our midst.
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/
www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com
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
I don't know about you, but I sense that this coming year is going to be a year that is critical. I have known too many Christians that say they are one, but live as though it is really questionable. I believe it is a time when we say who we are, we need to live it out, whether we feel like it or not. To truly follow the Lord is to follow His loving ways by loving one another without making any conditions. Especially, to first and foremost love the Lord with all our heart, mind, body, soul and spirit. How many times do we become bitter and not realize we may have been bitter towards the Lord Himself? Before Christ was committed to His ministry, He was prayed up in advance. If He needed to be prayed up, how much more do we need this? We need to be prayed up in advance and make up our minds to love the Lord and trust Him no matter what, before events come that we find ourselves going through that would otherwise cause us to fail to love Him or love others. I believe this is the time many of us have to decide to follow Him regardless or not. Too many Christians say one thing who they believe they are, but live entirely another way. Our greatest witness is not what we say, but how we live out what we say. When many pray the Lords prayer, they pray for God to forgive them as they have forgiven those who have trespassed against them, yet they continue to treat others with contempt, which is nothing but hypocrisy. That to me does not identify those who are true followers of Christ. The measure we love the least amongst our Brethren is the measure we love the Lord. To sing to the Lord with open arms while at the same time, we harbour contempt or bitterness towards others in our hearts is dispicable. I would hate to see one day that the Lord would ever question any of us "Why did you show contempt towards Me?" all because we showed contempt towards others (Matt 25:40,45). When we lack love towards our Brothers or Sisters in the Lord, we lack that same measure of love towards Christ. When we speak evil or slander one another, we do it as unto the Lord. When we speak well of others, visit the sick, clothe the naked, meet the needs of others and are mindful and respectful to others, we are showing the same respect to our Lord. Just imagine how irritating it must be to the Lord, when we play "Church" and put on our "church face", sing in the choir and are active in many ways, but we fail to do what is most critical... and that is to show true genuine Godly love. To God, He says that is like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Cor 13:1), which to me, would be most irritating. Christ mentions to His Disciples that it is better to have a plate of herbs and peace than to have a fattened calf and strife in the house (Prov 15:17). When that is the case, we have failed to deal with a critical matter at hand that matters the most. It's also like swallowing a camel and yet straining a gnat (Matt 23:24) by making a big issue over petty agendas and making light from promoting peace and unity. I believe as we enter in to 2012, this is going to be a time where we need to make a decision in advance and purpose in our hearts to fulfill the law and the Prophets (Matt 22:36-40) and live by the rule of love in every detail as found in 1 Cor 13:4-8.
Too many people are sitting idly on the fencepost who need to make a decision to either follow the Lord regardless, or allow ourselves to decide to follow our own fickle feelings that often opposes following the Laws of love which is following the Lord. In other words, when He tells us to forgive, we cannot be making excuses. We need to purpose in our hearts to divorce ourselves from all gossip, slander, all ungodly behaviour, that is unbecoming and anything that would promote strife, factions, divisions or that fails to promote love, peace and unity. That with His help, Gods Spirit will arise within us when we understand that His Love, His Power and Wisdom far exceeds our own and we gladly yield ourselves to His loving ways. I declared that 2011 was a year of restitution and bring unity in to the body. I now believe if those who refuse to allow love and unity to rule their spirit, they need to make a decision that we are going to follow the Lord or not. Follow in His loving ways to love others, or we are not and stop making excuses. We are going to promote peace and harmony, or we are not. I believe it is time to make this coming year, to make a critical decision to follow the Lord and allow the fruit of the Spirit to be evident, or we are not.
My prayer is that all will be most blessed to Choose His loving ways in all His ways and make 2012 the most blessed year for you and see the increase of Christ within, His love and His power be exalted in each of our lives and be part of a wonderful revival in our midst.
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/
www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com
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
Friday, 2 December 2011
Priceless Gift of Understanding - Part 2
Dearest Saints,
When God offers us gifts, like wisdom and understanding, I often have to admit from my past that I don't appreciate the wonderful value of this and possibly many other of His Gifts including the gifts of the Spirit. I believe many of the Churches are not as strong in the Lord as they should be. And one of these attributes missing is the Church members lacking in understanding. What I believe gaining this valuable gift will allow us to remain strong in the Lord when circumstances around us would cause us to get upset, moody or even depressed. When I have either travelled much in poorer nations or gone through trauma, I am able to share the pain of others because I have learned through experience to understand what is truly important in life and what is needed. When I stopped coveting material things, it was after I had understood the pain that others lack the basic necessities in life to be able to live in a healthy environment. Another strength in gaining understanding is the result of keeping focused on always promoting unconditional love for one another, maintaining peace and unity with one another, just as God wills for us to develop and maintain. Gaining understanding would also allow us to refuse being lead of the evil one who is out to bring division between Brothers and Sisters, we would cease to allow any gossip or strife to have any place within our church when we desire and delight to gain understanding from His Throne on High. When we gain understanding, Gods power moves wonderfully through His Children because this is a gift which allows us to be able to be set free from ever remaining in bondage by harbouring any unforgiveness, bitterness, envy or resentment which is a trap of the enemy and allows him to be effective in our lives. We will have the wisdom and insight to ever refrain from slandering one another that causes chaos which is the result of the enemy who is often able to work through the children of God more times than we care to admit, which is most unfortunate.
Gaining understanding more and more is seeing with our spiritual eyes and heart the wonderful qualities of God and His character increasing in us ever so much. John says in John 3:30, that He must increase and I must decrease. It is like seeing Him and His Word in a whole new dimension that should cause us to love deeply. I also sense that when we desire, ask and receive understanding, we will know the importance to a life of prayer, being able to gain discernment to be able to give Godly counsel and being able to minister as we are called to do. The Church will always be seeking to increase in love, peace and unity within the body when we delight to gain this priceless gift of wisdom and understanding. I believe we will also hate anything that does not promote these attributes and we would hate to ever cease bearing fruit. Therefore, it is not just a matter of refraining from doing evil and hating evil, but equally hating not to grow more in the Lord. I believe gaining understanding will cause us to have integrity to do what is right, even when we may be mocked or receive adversity from others or fail to receive any praise from others including Church members. I believe when we see this wonderful gift of understanding to receive from the Lord, we will be able to defend ourselves and others by being fitted with the armour of God so we can stand against the wiles of the enemy (Eph 6:10-18). Receiving His Understanding will not allow ourselves to be vulnerable to the enemy and will allow His Spirit to grow within us more and more. It will allow us to live by the wisdom of His Word and His instructions, that helps us from getting sidetracked by the deceptive ways of our real enemy. No wonder this gift is worth so much more than all the gold, silver and precious jewels this world could ever offer. When we receive His Grace, it is because we humbly approach His Throne of Grace with confidence in Him (Heb 4:16) and by His Grace, we can stop allowing ourselves to be used of the devil and be used mightily by Him.
I would love to see how powerful the Churches can be if we would only desire by asking to receive His wisdom, knowledge and understanding that will allow His Spirit to move mightily within each of us and within the Churches so that we can be more effective and have more positive influence to reach out within our community and beyond the borders of our nation.
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/
When God offers us gifts, like wisdom and understanding, I often have to admit from my past that I don't appreciate the wonderful value of this and possibly many other of His Gifts including the gifts of the Spirit. I believe many of the Churches are not as strong in the Lord as they should be. And one of these attributes missing is the Church members lacking in understanding. What I believe gaining this valuable gift will allow us to remain strong in the Lord when circumstances around us would cause us to get upset, moody or even depressed. When I have either travelled much in poorer nations or gone through trauma, I am able to share the pain of others because I have learned through experience to understand what is truly important in life and what is needed. When I stopped coveting material things, it was after I had understood the pain that others lack the basic necessities in life to be able to live in a healthy environment. Another strength in gaining understanding is the result of keeping focused on always promoting unconditional love for one another, maintaining peace and unity with one another, just as God wills for us to develop and maintain. Gaining understanding would also allow us to refuse being lead of the evil one who is out to bring division between Brothers and Sisters, we would cease to allow any gossip or strife to have any place within our church when we desire and delight to gain understanding from His Throne on High. When we gain understanding, Gods power moves wonderfully through His Children because this is a gift which allows us to be able to be set free from ever remaining in bondage by harbouring any unforgiveness, bitterness, envy or resentment which is a trap of the enemy and allows him to be effective in our lives. We will have the wisdom and insight to ever refrain from slandering one another that causes chaos which is the result of the enemy who is often able to work through the children of God more times than we care to admit, which is most unfortunate.
Gaining understanding more and more is seeing with our spiritual eyes and heart the wonderful qualities of God and His character increasing in us ever so much. John says in John 3:30, that He must increase and I must decrease. It is like seeing Him and His Word in a whole new dimension that should cause us to love deeply. I also sense that when we desire, ask and receive understanding, we will know the importance to a life of prayer, being able to gain discernment to be able to give Godly counsel and being able to minister as we are called to do. The Church will always be seeking to increase in love, peace and unity within the body when we delight to gain this priceless gift of wisdom and understanding. I believe we will also hate anything that does not promote these attributes and we would hate to ever cease bearing fruit. Therefore, it is not just a matter of refraining from doing evil and hating evil, but equally hating not to grow more in the Lord. I believe gaining understanding will cause us to have integrity to do what is right, even when we may be mocked or receive adversity from others or fail to receive any praise from others including Church members. I believe when we see this wonderful gift of understanding to receive from the Lord, we will be able to defend ourselves and others by being fitted with the armour of God so we can stand against the wiles of the enemy (Eph 6:10-18). Receiving His Understanding will not allow ourselves to be vulnerable to the enemy and will allow His Spirit to grow within us more and more. It will allow us to live by the wisdom of His Word and His instructions, that helps us from getting sidetracked by the deceptive ways of our real enemy. No wonder this gift is worth so much more than all the gold, silver and precious jewels this world could ever offer. When we receive His Grace, it is because we humbly approach His Throne of Grace with confidence in Him (Heb 4:16) and by His Grace, we can stop allowing ourselves to be used of the devil and be used mightily by Him.
I would love to see how powerful the Churches can be if we would only desire by asking to receive His wisdom, knowledge and understanding that will allow His Spirit to move mightily within each of us and within the Churches so that we can be more effective and have more positive influence to reach out within our community and beyond the borders of our nation.
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/
Friday, 25 November 2011
Priceless Gift of Understanding
Dearest Saints.
Earlier this month, we celebrated by taking time to remember those who fought against enemy forces alongside with our allies so that we may enjoy the democratic freedom we are so blessed with, known as either Remembrance Day as we celebrate each year in Canada and other nations know as Veterans Day. As I continue to serve in the Naval Reserve and served in the Regular force, I have often been away working from home of great distances and in very remote regions, like in the middle of the ocean for weeks or in the high arctic as a couple of examples. When I give time to think of my experience in this, it gives me much greater appreciation to those who were gone much greater period of time than I ever had and to experience a much greater volatile situation, like those who fought in the past world wars. When I take time to think of my experience, I understand the sacrifices much more than others who never experience being away on duty in an operational environment. I sense a greater appreciation to others when we understand others by what we experience. When God tells us to get understanding, I realize that when we do desire understanding, we come to a point where we are able to appreciate others in a much greater way who may not be similar in our own character and our own way of thinking. By understanding more to those who fought for our freedom and are often away fighting terrorism and attempting to rebuild nations far away from home, we have a greater appreciation when we truly understand others when we take the time to reflect and contemplate situations when others may have endured hardships. I find we fail to appreciate when we don't take the time to stop and think of what others may have had to endure and the consequences of being away from the comforts of home and family. When we fail to understand, we don't end up appreciating others for what they have had to endure and sacrifice, even when it is to our own benefit and comfort.
I find the same thing in our own churches. When we fail to understand and desire true knowledge, wisdom and understanding that comes from God, we often see the results of making harsh and rash judgments about others in our own circles and often base our critical views of the actions of other people rather than the intentions of the heart of people. By this, we fall in to the hands of the enemy by doing his destructive will. Sure, people may have made dumb mistakes, but have we not all made some dumb mistakes ourselves? People in our Churches who lack understanding often find fault of others and often fail to see their own faults. When I stop and think, God has been impressing upon me to reflect to understand others in a way that will allow me to cease being rash and becoming critically judgmental and rather, to pray for the individual. When I think of how people have misunderstood me and have failed to forgive me, it is often the case that they have misunderstood my intentions which is the result of lacking understanding. Therefore, I am continuing to learn from my experience of this, that maybe I have misunderstood others and should be mindful to quickly forgive. I believe when we truly desire to gain understanding, we will be able to forgive others rather than being lead to not forgive by the actions of others and not knowing their intentions. We will also desire unity more and be in the will of God by praying more for others when we choose to get understanding. When we gain understanding, we see the big picture because it is only natural that man judges by appearances because the natural man has no understanding when it comes to the things of the Spirit (1 Cor 2:24). Just as David says in Psalm 73:12-19, that when he understood the end of the wicked, he felt sorry for them rather than harboring bitterness towards them. David was envious towards the wicked when he felt they were always prospering until it was when he finally understood by going to God and saw the big picture rather than focusing on the present activity of injustice. I believe besides Jesus, Stephen was a man of understanding, because he was able to feel sorry for those who were stoning him to death because he saw the big picture of the consequences of their ways and how his oppressors were blind to their wicked ways. No wonder God emphasizes for us to gain understanding, because it is a priceless gift to receive in order to truly develop a wonderful character of Christ. Refusing to seek and receive understanding is like letting down our shield when our enemy attacks.
When we learn to get understanding from the One who is able to give to those who hunger and ask, getting this is truly better than all the gold, silver and precious jewels one could ever attain, because this is a real need to develop that wonderful strength and character of Christ. Therefore, let us ask for understanding and believe He gives liberally to those who ask (James 1:5) because of His wonderful ability to work in a heart that is hungry. I believe Churches today would be much better off if we would all choose to get understanding. Good scriptures of this is found in Psalm 119:104; Proverbs 3:13; 4:5; 16:6 and 23:23.
Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding [drawing it forth from God's Word and life's experiences], (Prov 3:13) Amplified Version
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/
Earlier this month, we celebrated by taking time to remember those who fought against enemy forces alongside with our allies so that we may enjoy the democratic freedom we are so blessed with, known as either Remembrance Day as we celebrate each year in Canada and other nations know as Veterans Day. As I continue to serve in the Naval Reserve and served in the Regular force, I have often been away working from home of great distances and in very remote regions, like in the middle of the ocean for weeks or in the high arctic as a couple of examples. When I give time to think of my experience in this, it gives me much greater appreciation to those who were gone much greater period of time than I ever had and to experience a much greater volatile situation, like those who fought in the past world wars. When I take time to think of my experience, I understand the sacrifices much more than others who never experience being away on duty in an operational environment. I sense a greater appreciation to others when we understand others by what we experience. When God tells us to get understanding, I realize that when we do desire understanding, we come to a point where we are able to appreciate others in a much greater way who may not be similar in our own character and our own way of thinking. By understanding more to those who fought for our freedom and are often away fighting terrorism and attempting to rebuild nations far away from home, we have a greater appreciation when we truly understand others when we take the time to reflect and contemplate situations when others may have endured hardships. I find we fail to appreciate when we don't take the time to stop and think of what others may have had to endure and the consequences of being away from the comforts of home and family. When we fail to understand, we don't end up appreciating others for what they have had to endure and sacrifice, even when it is to our own benefit and comfort.
I find the same thing in our own churches. When we fail to understand and desire true knowledge, wisdom and understanding that comes from God, we often see the results of making harsh and rash judgments about others in our own circles and often base our critical views of the actions of other people rather than the intentions of the heart of people. By this, we fall in to the hands of the enemy by doing his destructive will. Sure, people may have made dumb mistakes, but have we not all made some dumb mistakes ourselves? People in our Churches who lack understanding often find fault of others and often fail to see their own faults. When I stop and think, God has been impressing upon me to reflect to understand others in a way that will allow me to cease being rash and becoming critically judgmental and rather, to pray for the individual. When I think of how people have misunderstood me and have failed to forgive me, it is often the case that they have misunderstood my intentions which is the result of lacking understanding. Therefore, I am continuing to learn from my experience of this, that maybe I have misunderstood others and should be mindful to quickly forgive. I believe when we truly desire to gain understanding, we will be able to forgive others rather than being lead to not forgive by the actions of others and not knowing their intentions. We will also desire unity more and be in the will of God by praying more for others when we choose to get understanding. When we gain understanding, we see the big picture because it is only natural that man judges by appearances because the natural man has no understanding when it comes to the things of the Spirit (1 Cor 2:24). Just as David says in Psalm 73:12-19, that when he understood the end of the wicked, he felt sorry for them rather than harboring bitterness towards them. David was envious towards the wicked when he felt they were always prospering until it was when he finally understood by going to God and saw the big picture rather than focusing on the present activity of injustice. I believe besides Jesus, Stephen was a man of understanding, because he was able to feel sorry for those who were stoning him to death because he saw the big picture of the consequences of their ways and how his oppressors were blind to their wicked ways. No wonder God emphasizes for us to gain understanding, because it is a priceless gift to receive in order to truly develop a wonderful character of Christ. Refusing to seek and receive understanding is like letting down our shield when our enemy attacks.
When we learn to get understanding from the One who is able to give to those who hunger and ask, getting this is truly better than all the gold, silver and precious jewels one could ever attain, because this is a real need to develop that wonderful strength and character of Christ. Therefore, let us ask for understanding and believe He gives liberally to those who ask (James 1:5) because of His wonderful ability to work in a heart that is hungry. I believe Churches today would be much better off if we would all choose to get understanding. Good scriptures of this is found in Psalm 119:104; Proverbs 3:13; 4:5; 16:6 and 23:23.
Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding [drawing it forth from God's Word and life's experiences], (Prov 3:13) Amplified Version
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/
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Remembering His Goodness
Dearest Saints,
We are coming to one of my favorite times of the year, when we are to take time to remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for us to enjoy our freedom. I am glad that as we reflect to remember, we remember the One who gave the greatest sacrifice by what Jesus paid so we can be offered eternal life. It is these times that when we are truly grateful to those whom we should honor, this happens when we choose to remember. When we take communion, Jesus tells us to do this often in remembrance of Him. In other words, we need to be mindful to purposefully remember why we celebrate when otherwise it would become nothing more than a ritual and would lose its deep meaning. However, sometimes when we remember the wrong events in our lives, we can become bitter from the negative actions of others that had its negative effect on us. For myself, I can remember working for a retail outlet (after I have retired from the Regular Forces) and worked hard to do my best. However, I wanted to honor the Lord, so when I had no choice but to go to work 4:00 in the morning on Sunday, I would stop working by 10:00. I was asked to see if I would stay back to work more, and I said I would like to go and attend church service. Nevertheless, several months later, the employers decided to hand out some pink slips to their employees and lay them off for no apparent reason. Of course, I was one of them and others who chose to stay working rather than having to do anything with Church, were granted to remain being employed. So, knowing my flesh, I would be upset and envious and question God "Why this injustice?" This happened about 10 years ago. If I continue by choosing to dwell on this particular scenario about this injustice, I would continue to remain in bondage by harbouring bitterness, which we know would only do us more harm in every way. This is where that "self pity" becomes destructive. As I reflect from this on the other side of the coin, I could have been like the others and chose to not go to the service just to save my job. However, what man had closed the doors on me, the Lord opened wide the doors of much better opportunity because we delight to do His will. I have had the privilege of being employed full time in the Naval Reserve with much better pay, much better working conditions and much better working hours, where I don't have to get up at 3:00am and work different shifts. I have been privileged to travel with my work and be invited to many different units to help them out in their finance section and help train junior members and teach classroom, which I love to do immensely. Had I chosen to do otherwise, I would have missed out so much on the rich blessings by following His ways. So, when I could have remained in bondage to what I had believed to be a great injustice, I choose now to reflect and remember the blessed outcome of my decision because of what the Lord has graciously done for me. In many other instances, I could also dwell on the negative circumstances that occurred in my life from some of the past events that took place. Again, what helps me is when I stop dwelling on the injustice, but how the Lord has opened wide His arms when I reached up to Him. Those who have offended are the ones who still are wandering in spiritual darkness and perhaps I would never have reached out to the Lord in my time of need had I not gone through some of the valleys of life. Perhaps, I would remain like them by trying to be like one of them and remain to this day in spiritual darkness. It reminds me of a scripture that for every trouble, we will receive a double blessing (Isa 61:7) For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.
Therefore, I realize what I need to do is to choose not to dwell on the negative circumstances, but the rejoice in the blessings of the outcome that the Lord has opened up to us. Just to know we are His, is a rich blessing beyond any amount of money anyone on this earth could ever attain. Who knows, maybe we would not have reached out to the Lord if it weren't for our enemies?? When we see Jesus as our common denominator, we can believe that whatever man or the powers of darkness has ever done against us, God is able to do exceedingly if we will simply believe. I can truly testify that when trouble came against me in the past, God made a better way for me. I can now claim the power of the promises of His Word and know that when God is for us, who can stand against Us? (Rom 8:31); and read Deut 20:4.
I encourage you that when you are tempted to dwell on the negative actions that others may have done to you because God is able to do exceedingly for us. We can have victory as we dwell on how good He is to us and the promises we can live according to His Word if we will choose to keep our mind steadfast upon the Lord and His goodness and He promises that we will have perfect peace (Isa 26:3). It is easier for us to remain thankful to Him who is worthy when we remember His goodness to us, because His faithful promises are reserved for those of us who love the Lord.
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/
We are coming to one of my favorite times of the year, when we are to take time to remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for us to enjoy our freedom. I am glad that as we reflect to remember, we remember the One who gave the greatest sacrifice by what Jesus paid so we can be offered eternal life. It is these times that when we are truly grateful to those whom we should honor, this happens when we choose to remember. When we take communion, Jesus tells us to do this often in remembrance of Him. In other words, we need to be mindful to purposefully remember why we celebrate when otherwise it would become nothing more than a ritual and would lose its deep meaning. However, sometimes when we remember the wrong events in our lives, we can become bitter from the negative actions of others that had its negative effect on us. For myself, I can remember working for a retail outlet (after I have retired from the Regular Forces) and worked hard to do my best. However, I wanted to honor the Lord, so when I had no choice but to go to work 4:00 in the morning on Sunday, I would stop working by 10:00. I was asked to see if I would stay back to work more, and I said I would like to go and attend church service. Nevertheless, several months later, the employers decided to hand out some pink slips to their employees and lay them off for no apparent reason. Of course, I was one of them and others who chose to stay working rather than having to do anything with Church, were granted to remain being employed. So, knowing my flesh, I would be upset and envious and question God "Why this injustice?" This happened about 10 years ago. If I continue by choosing to dwell on this particular scenario about this injustice, I would continue to remain in bondage by harbouring bitterness, which we know would only do us more harm in every way. This is where that "self pity" becomes destructive. As I reflect from this on the other side of the coin, I could have been like the others and chose to not go to the service just to save my job. However, what man had closed the doors on me, the Lord opened wide the doors of much better opportunity because we delight to do His will. I have had the privilege of being employed full time in the Naval Reserve with much better pay, much better working conditions and much better working hours, where I don't have to get up at 3:00am and work different shifts. I have been privileged to travel with my work and be invited to many different units to help them out in their finance section and help train junior members and teach classroom, which I love to do immensely. Had I chosen to do otherwise, I would have missed out so much on the rich blessings by following His ways. So, when I could have remained in bondage to what I had believed to be a great injustice, I choose now to reflect and remember the blessed outcome of my decision because of what the Lord has graciously done for me. In many other instances, I could also dwell on the negative circumstances that occurred in my life from some of the past events that took place. Again, what helps me is when I stop dwelling on the injustice, but how the Lord has opened wide His arms when I reached up to Him. Those who have offended are the ones who still are wandering in spiritual darkness and perhaps I would never have reached out to the Lord in my time of need had I not gone through some of the valleys of life. Perhaps, I would remain like them by trying to be like one of them and remain to this day in spiritual darkness. It reminds me of a scripture that for every trouble, we will receive a double blessing (Isa 61:7) For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.
Therefore, I realize what I need to do is to choose not to dwell on the negative circumstances, but the rejoice in the blessings of the outcome that the Lord has opened up to us. Just to know we are His, is a rich blessing beyond any amount of money anyone on this earth could ever attain. Who knows, maybe we would not have reached out to the Lord if it weren't for our enemies?? When we see Jesus as our common denominator, we can believe that whatever man or the powers of darkness has ever done against us, God is able to do exceedingly if we will simply believe. I can truly testify that when trouble came against me in the past, God made a better way for me. I can now claim the power of the promises of His Word and know that when God is for us, who can stand against Us? (Rom 8:31); and read Deut 20:4.
I encourage you that when you are tempted to dwell on the negative actions that others may have done to you because God is able to do exceedingly for us. We can have victory as we dwell on how good He is to us and the promises we can live according to His Word if we will choose to keep our mind steadfast upon the Lord and His goodness and He promises that we will have perfect peace (Isa 26:3). It is easier for us to remain thankful to Him who is worthy when we remember His goodness to us, because His faithful promises are reserved for those of us who love the Lord.
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/
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