Somebody is always promising something. From politicians promising change to children promising to clean their room, it's no wonder we've become cynical and unable to trust anyone. When it comes to God however, doubt can be disastrous. When it comes to the bible and searching for answers to life's biggest questions, we need to trust what the Scriptures say. I used to think that doubt was good. I guess I thought if you were doubting you were questioning, which meant that you were searching. Good, right? Well I've seen a different side of doubt, and it's not healthy.
I'm talking about God's promises. The bible is full of them. Read through one chapter in any book of the Scriptures and you will read at least a handful of promises. Can we trust them? Do we have any reason to doubt them? See, even though the bible is 66 books written by various authors, Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God,..." That means God basically wrote every word, through men inspired by the Holy Spirit. (2 Pet 1:21) Let me ask again, "Have you any reason to doubt God's promises?" Has He ever let you down before? Has He ever lied to you?
Moses says in Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" And Paul says in Titus 1:2 "in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." (See also Heb 6:18)
We really have a hard time wrapping our minds around God, in fact it's impossible in this life. God is spirit, God is love, and God is incapable of lying, it's just not in His nature. We need to trust in His promises, hanging on to them for dear life. Meditating on them and using them to encourage not only ourselves but others in times of need. The number one promise is this, even though I am the chief of sinners, I have a refuge to run and hide in, that's Jesus Christ. That is my hope,
"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, ..." Heb 6:19
Grace, MB
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Genesis 3:4-6 Would you want to be like God?
Gen 3:5 (GNB) "God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad."
Whether we know it or not, we are all driven by the desire to be like God. We want it all. We want to know it all. We want to be somebody, and why not be like God. Verse 6 goes on to explain what she was thinking after the serpent tempted her.
Gen 3:6 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."
What was she really considering here? 1 John 2:15-17 makes it really clear to me, check this out.
1Jn 2:15 9 (GNB) "Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father.
1Jn 2:16 Everything that belongs to the world---what the sinful self desires [lust of the flesh], what people see and want[lust of the eyes], and everything in this world that people are so proud of [pride of life]---none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world.
1Jn 2:17 The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live forever."
When your god is the world, you will pass away with it, taking nothing with you but a fear of judgment. When your God is Jesus Christ, you will not only live an abundant life now, but you will be taken by Christ Himself and reign with Him forever more (see 1 Thess 4:13-18). Sweet!
Grace, MB
Whether we know it or not, we are all driven by the desire to be like God. We want it all. We want to know it all. We want to be somebody, and why not be like God. Verse 6 goes on to explain what she was thinking after the serpent tempted her.
Gen 3:6 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."
What was she really considering here? 1 John 2:15-17 makes it really clear to me, check this out.
1Jn 2:15 9 (GNB) "Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father.
1Jn 2:16 Everything that belongs to the world---what the sinful self desires [lust of the flesh], what people see and want[lust of the eyes], and everything in this world that people are so proud of [pride of life]---none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world.
1Jn 2:17 The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live forever."
When your god is the world, you will pass away with it, taking nothing with you but a fear of judgment. When your God is Jesus Christ, you will not only live an abundant life now, but you will be taken by Christ Himself and reign with Him forever more (see 1 Thess 4:13-18). Sweet!
Grace, MB
Genesis 3:1-6 "You will not surely die."
Genesis 3:4 "Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
This is supposed to be the first lie recorded in scripture. Now that I look at it I see two lies. "You shall not surely die" and "...your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,..." It seems the serpent continues even today filling our heads with these lies. How many times do we think about death? I know I don't very often. Most of us are running about never thinking about the afterlife, but only what's next on our agenda. Satan wants us to forget about our future fate, that everyone is going to breath his/her last at some point, and we don't know when. His hopes are that death will sneak up on us, catching us by surprise, having never really considered we are going to answer to God concerning what we did with His Son. If he can get us so wrapped up in our own little world, maybe we'll never take the time to seriously think about it. God's amazing gift - the forgiveness of all our sins. Satan's hope is that we will continue to live a defeated life of depression, discouragement, guilt, and hopelessness. We don't have to. Thank you Jesus!
[To be continued]
Grace, MB
This is supposed to be the first lie recorded in scripture. Now that I look at it I see two lies. "You shall not surely die" and "...your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,..." It seems the serpent continues even today filling our heads with these lies. How many times do we think about death? I know I don't very often. Most of us are running about never thinking about the afterlife, but only what's next on our agenda. Satan wants us to forget about our future fate, that everyone is going to breath his/her last at some point, and we don't know when. His hopes are that death will sneak up on us, catching us by surprise, having never really considered we are going to answer to God concerning what we did with His Son. If he can get us so wrapped up in our own little world, maybe we'll never take the time to seriously think about it. God's amazing gift - the forgiveness of all our sins. Satan's hope is that we will continue to live a defeated life of depression, discouragement, guilt, and hopelessness. We don't have to. Thank you Jesus!
[To be continued]
Grace, MB
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Gen 2:18-25 "It is not good that man should be alone."
Genesis 2:18, 20b-24 " And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him....But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Friends, these verses can solve most of the suffering in our world. For I believe at the root of all our problems lies pornography and the decimation of the family unit. Let explain by being transparent for a moment. There are times when I should not be on the computer. There were times in my past that I shouldn't of been on the computer at all. Being in a hotel room by myself is not the best situation for me to be in. Business trips can be torturous. I'm just speaking straight from the heart, I'm human, and my flesh is weak. That weakness came from my past when I allowed certain temptations into my life, the devil got a foothold, and to this day I still battle the lust of flesh. Men, pornography kills. It kills relationships, it kills jobs, it kills your body, and it especially kills marriages . Men, "it is not good that man should be alone".
Friends, marriage was instituted by God from the beginning, we need a partner of the opposite sex, a helpmate. It's part of our genetics, deep down we crave it. No animal will do and no human of the same sex can fulfill that void which exists in our soul. Homosexuality is not normal, was never intended from the start, and is not genetic. It's a sin, meaning it goes against God's wishes for mankind. The sin of homosexuality is no worse than the sin of lying, stealing, or gossiping. James 2:10 says "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." Please don't think me judgmental, I say this only as a warning to me foremost, flee anything that has to do with sexual immorality, it's never too late, it wants to destroy everything you hold dear in life, and it will. Find someone you trust and ask for help. Prayer is vital for strength to withstand the temptations, and reading the bible on a daily basis gives us the weapon we need to fight the enemy when he says, "come on, one peak won't hurt, no body is watching". "Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." 1 Peter 2:11 See also Matthew 5:28, 1 Corinthians 6:15-20
Grace, MB
Friends, these verses can solve most of the suffering in our world. For I believe at the root of all our problems lies pornography and the decimation of the family unit. Let explain by being transparent for a moment. There are times when I should not be on the computer. There were times in my past that I shouldn't of been on the computer at all. Being in a hotel room by myself is not the best situation for me to be in. Business trips can be torturous. I'm just speaking straight from the heart, I'm human, and my flesh is weak. That weakness came from my past when I allowed certain temptations into my life, the devil got a foothold, and to this day I still battle the lust of flesh. Men, pornography kills. It kills relationships, it kills jobs, it kills your body, and it especially kills marriages . Men, "it is not good that man should be alone".
Friends, marriage was instituted by God from the beginning, we need a partner of the opposite sex, a helpmate. It's part of our genetics, deep down we crave it. No animal will do and no human of the same sex can fulfill that void which exists in our soul. Homosexuality is not normal, was never intended from the start, and is not genetic. It's a sin, meaning it goes against God's wishes for mankind. The sin of homosexuality is no worse than the sin of lying, stealing, or gossiping. James 2:10 says "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." Please don't think me judgmental, I say this only as a warning to me foremost, flee anything that has to do with sexual immorality, it's never too late, it wants to destroy everything you hold dear in life, and it will. Find someone you trust and ask for help. Prayer is vital for strength to withstand the temptations, and reading the bible on a daily basis gives us the weapon we need to fight the enemy when he says, "come on, one peak won't hurt, no body is watching". "Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." 1 Peter 2:11 See also Matthew 5:28, 1 Corinthians 6:15-20
Grace, MB
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