30 November 2014

Lesson for the week: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

1 Corinthians 1:3-9 (NKJV)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Gifts at Corinth

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words :)

Terry

Comments Welcomed

23 November 2014

Lesson for the week: Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15-23 (NKJV)

Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words :).

Terry

Comments Welcomed

16 November 2014

Lesson for the week: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (NKJV)

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (NKJV)

The Day of the Lord

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words :)

Terry

Comments Welcomed

15 November 2014

Hi All:

This was written by a Facebook friend of mine, Bill Dennington. I think you will find it worth the read :)

Terry

Bill Dennington
I have had people as me over the years, “Why did this or that happen to me?” or “Why did this or that happen to Brother or Sister So and So?” We all want to know the answers to these questions, and rightfully so. We want to know the answer to the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
While there is no way anyone can know the details that play into events in every situation, especially in the lives of other people, I do know and have studied the truth of how spiritual laws govern our lives as revealed in the pages of the Word of God. I have discovered that just in the same manner as physical laws govern our lives, so to do these spiritual laws govern our lives to contribute to how things play out on a day to day basis.
God, in His sovereignty, created both spiritual and physical laws. He has revealed the secrets of spiritual law throughout the Bible. (By spiritual law I am not talking about the Mosaic Law, but the laws of the spirit realm that are functioning 24/7 just like the laws of physics do in the natural realm).
Just as the laws of aerodynamics govern flight, so do these spiritual laws govern the realm of the spirit. If you violate any of the laws of aerodynamics you pay a price, sometimes a great price. So too with the laws of the spirit, violate any of those laws and you will pay a price. Live your life in a manner that is putting those laws to work in your favor and you will live a blessed life; live your life in a manner that puts those laws to work against you and it will be difficult for you.
It takes knowledge of the Word, wisdom from God, and the leading of the Holy Ghost to live accurately in this earth where spiritual law is concerned. No one is perfect, and we all can become complacent in being diligent to stay disciplined in our lives spiritually. Thus, things can happen, even to great Christian leaders that appear to not make any sense at all.
We cannot know all that led up to individual situations playing out, that is why we are not to judge. We can only judge ourselves and do our best to live our lives in a manner that puts spiritual law to work in our favor.
Sadly, the vast majority of churches today do little or no teaching along this line. It is too easy to just blame God or the devil as opposed to doing the necessary homework and get into the Word of God and dig out wisdom and gain understanding and then teach it in a manner that everyone realizes that they have a personal responsibility to live their lives yielded to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead you each and every moment of the day. He will not lead you in manner that causes you to violate God’s Word or spiritual law.
Violating the law of love is a big area that gums up the works in folk’s lives. In conjunction with violating the law of love is violating the law of forgiveness; refusing to forgive is deadly. Having an undisciplined tongue that speaks words that license death rather than life is another area that causes major issues in the lives of people. Too many Christians speak words of fear, sickness, disease, death, poverty, lack, strife, hatred, and other such words concerning themselves and others to the degree that it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for God to bring blessing into their lives.
Sowing and reaping governs this planet spiritually. Words are seeds and will produce a harvest. Decisions are seeds and set definite things into motion that produce a certain result. All of these things play into weaving a tapestry of life that becomes extremely difficult to unwind or undo without the help of the Holy Spirit and the power of the blood of Jesus.
This is why renewing the mind to the realities of who we are in Christ, what we possess in Christ, and what we can do through Christ is so important. Our union with Him is what gives us the ability to live in victory. Without Him, we can do nothing, but fail. He is not an escape hatch to use when things get too screwed up to handle it any longer. He must be the One to whom we inquire continually to have the wisdom and understanding to know what to do and say that leads us to victory and success. When we live that way we experience true success and He gets all the glory for we cannot claim any of the results as being due to our efforts. It is only our union with Him and living in total dependency on that union that will produce the desired results in life.
Jesus indicated that we can grow progressively in obtaining those results: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred. So we can grow and develop in these things and increase in our sensitivity to His leading as well. This is what we should all strive for on a daily basis.
The greatest enemy of our day in that developmental process is two-fold: becoming too busy and growing too lazy. Laziness is pretty easily recognized, but being busy is much more sinister as it can be justified in our minds. When we are so busy that we are not taking the necessary time to pull aside and inquire of Him on a daily basis, even if that busyness is ministry or church related, we are in dangerous waters.
Psalm 23 and Psalm 91 speak to this matter. Those two Psalms are closely related, as they both give us insight to the kind of lifestyle that a believer needs to live to be successful in this dangerous world we live in. The secret place is a place that is quiet and still, peaceful and a place where we can listen and commune with Him. Jesus spent much time there, and so should we. It is the one place that we cannot abandon if we are going to live in victory in this dark and dangerous world.

09 November 2014

Lesson for the week: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NKJV)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NKJV)

The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words :)

Terry

Comments Welcomed

02 November 2014

Lesson for the week: 1 John 3:1-3 (NKJV)

1 John 3:1-3 (NKJV)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

May you, the reader, be blessed by these words :)

Terry

Comments Welcomed