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The Young Ones are Impressionable
As parents, we need to help our children select their friends from as early as primary (elementary) school. This should not be done as a means to segregate, nor should we be training them to be pompous or selfish. This is early training for them to recognize good and bad traits in persons, so they can make the right choices.
Surely we do not want our children being influenced by other children who have been exposed to blue movies, drugs, serious abuse of all types or other antisocial behaviour.
We must encourage our children to become persons of integrity, to speak the truth (no matter the cost), to be honourable (their word must be good), to communicate well, to be leaders, to give their hearts to God, to be thinkers, to seek the truth, otherwise they will fall in the group which believes that Jesus Christ will return to this earth on the 21st May 2011, when Jesus Christ Himself does not know this. Matt.24:36 and Mark 13:32.
Our children must be taught how to be thrifty (to save from their allowances to buy gifts for instant), they must be taught how to be contented with little (in lack) and how to share with others in need. These instances will teach them to exercise their faith in God and to become over-comers.
We must teach our children not to be rude but rather that they should seek to make a positive difference in every situation, to be warriors for God! If we train our children properly, they will impact their peers positively. Our country and the world will benefit.
Father bless our children with good sharp minds. That they will use whatever you give them Lord, for the betterment of others and themselves in Jesus name, amen.
Enjoy Your Testings
Our lives on this earth will never be perfect but can always be made better. Ever notice how as soon as we fix one situation, another one arises? The initial reaction is usually one of rejection which leads to miserableness and stress. The sooner we accept any given situation as is and start looking for solutions, the quicker we will come out of them. Stress cripples the mind and body and therefore makes a solution less likely.
We must try to see each situation in our lives as a test which we must overcome. Though it is difficult, let us try to enjoy each test…. The word of God says that He chasteneth whomever He loves! So, is not wicked God wicked, it is because He loves us. Why do we chastise our own children?
Just as how God uses the things physical (parables) to teach us of the things spiritual, He uses our relationship with our children to show us the relationship He wants to have with us.
Father we thank you for every test that You have ever put us through, although we fear and we tremble. Father we pull the courage and thank You now in Jesus name, amen.
We Can’t Serve God Without Knowing Him
By faith we believe that God exist and if we diligently seek Him we will find Him. He will reward us with himself, Hebrews 11:6. Everytime we oppose a wrong word or action, it is an exercise in faith, Hebrews 11:24. Please read the entire chapter of Hebrews 11.
God responds to faith with works, so we cannot say it is faith unless we have taken the action to bring what we believe in to being. The greater the degree of faith, the greater will be the miracle and the glory of God.
In Isaiah 43:10, God declares to his prophet that before Him there was no God formed and neither shall there be any after Him. We can always find many gods (common g) in this world, be it persons or things, but only one God (capital G).
God could have made it easier for us to serve Him by removing our will but that is not His will. Consider how pleasing it must be to God for any person to willingly decide to give their heart to Him, to surrender to Him. This is not like say surrendering to a gunman (without a choice). This is saying, God here I am, do whatever you will with me, I can’t but You can. This is in spite of the fact that I still could have said no to God.
Father, we pray that all of us will make the effort to surrender more to You each day, that our hearts will not be hardened because of the pleasures of this world, or because of our world view, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Marriages
To begin with, and contrary to what many pastors preach, God does not put all marriages together! Just a second, would God sanction a business marriage (marriage for opportunity) or a same sex union (pollution of His temple)? And if you think that He would, then what about persons having sex with animals? The point is, God starts with perfection and is always perfect. Man starts imperfectly and work towards perfection.
Our marriages are under attack primarily through impropriety or by messing with our finances.There is much arguing between couples because there might be an abuse of monies or just simply prioritizing to pay bills can bring major arguments. These arguments sometimes lead to separation.
Are we willing to fight for our marriages? Do we want to defeat the devil at his cunning games?
There are no breaches in our marriages that God cannot heal. There are no wounds of the heart that God cannot fix, but we must desire to be healed, we must forgive, we must repent in Jesus name. We can no longer hold fast to our positions as this prevents the move of God!!!! Let us soften our hearts and surrender God. Amen.
Friday the 13th, so what??
Persons have always been wary of Friday the 13th but there are other days of the week which are much more serious, in terms of witchcraft. It is just that we might not be aware of them. We have all been guilty of subscribing to witchcraft at some point or another but as we become more aware we should make the necessary changes for God.
Some of the things we should stay away from are:-
1) No spilling of chicken or goat blood in the foundations of buildings.
2) We should delete all emails which suggest good luck or bad luck if we follow or don’t follow the sender’s instructions.
3) There should be no wearing of guard rings, pendants, etc.
4) We should not take any specially prepared baths done by obeah man, mother woman, etc.
All we need is to call on the name of Jesus!!
Please remember to ask the Lord for his protection at least twice per day. ( to put on the full armour, to hedge around you or to cover you).
It was God who chose to make good and evil, so He is much more powerful than all evil combined. Fear God only.
Depend on God
The word of God encourages us to put our trust in God, because God cannot fail. If we put our trust in man, man can fail and will fail! God wants us to learn to trust Him more, to depend on Him more, to lean on Him more. We must understand that without God we are nothing, but that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So God enables us.
God put persons in our lives to encourage and to support us to continue to work for God or that we are to stop doing the wrong things, so He uses His saints, His angels.
Father, we pray for the young persons this morning Lord, that You will protect them from the workings of Satan, that You will enable those who will be taking exams and that they will have clarity of mind. We pray that You will put persons in their lives to encourage and support them in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.
Pressures Within and Without
Paul spoke many times in the scriptures about the things of the flesh and the warring against them. These are sometimes extremely difficult to deal with and the enemy knows how to effectively use them against us, how to build the pressures from within. So the greater the degree of control we have and the more we use our will to put the flesh under subjection, then the lest susceptible we will be.
When a man is extremely hungry, it is difficult to speak to him about God unless you first relieve the hunger. It is one of the reason why Jesus tells us in the word that if our brother is hungry we must feed him, or if he is naked we must clothe him. You see, by showing love we are then able to reach persons.
The gods of this world have so blinded our eyes that we are able to send more persons and their families to suffer by putting them out of a job and justifying it by showing the savings to the country. The pressures that are building out there are extreme. One of the ways of easing the pressure is by providing more jobs so that persons can build their lives and not seek to take it.
One man was given a tax write off recently of over J$ 280,000,000.00!
What has been the cost to our country (tax payers) for our politics? The dons, the trading of guns and drugs, the cost of the constant warring, the corruption??
Father, I ask now in the name of Jesus, that you expose and correct the wrongs in our country at every level, but especially at the leadership level. That you will heal us of the selfishness and greed in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Give Thanks
The Spirit of God does not strive in man at all times (strive – make great efforts). This speaks to why hardened Christians do or say the wrong things. So as Christians we must endeavour to have the Spirit of God with us at all times.
The word also tells us that iron sharpeneth iron (the file is made out of iron as is the cutlass or the axe). The file and the cutlass are both tempered differently with different levels of impurity and rigidity, hence one is able to sharpen the other. That’s amazing!
Let us give thanks for the persons in our lives who agitate us to godliness and holiness and righteousness and greatness in Jesus’ name.
Things We Cannot See are Critical
While we can feel pain and stress and can even look at a person and know that they are stressed or feeling pain, none of us can actually see pain or stress. To stretch our thought processes let us think of someone who could be smiling broadly, yet experiencing the greatest of pain (putting the best outside). Or someone could be crying and yet experiencing the greatest joy (tears of joy or it could be the Holy Spirit ministering to the person!).
When the Word of God says “weeping may endure for a night but joy commeth in the morning” or “turning one’s sorrow into dancing”, this is the process by which the pain and agony of our testings are turned into victory and joy of our testimonies.
To extend a bit more, the word of God says that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimonies. So each time we overcome, it qualifies us to be tested further and to overcome!
Father, in the name of Jesus, your children shall overcome and we will not be defeated. Father, I command that every breach be repaired, that everything that is wrong in the lives of your people be fixed in Jesus name. Hedge around us again Lord in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Learning How to Live with Much or with Little
The word of God instructs us to learn to live with much or to live with little Phil. 4:12 (to abound or to abase). It is much easier to live with much than to live in lack. It is however much more beautiful to live in lack and be contented, to depend on God and not freak out!
The beautiful part of living in lack is when you are able to once again purchase the simple basic things that you have had to do without for months and years. Suddenly they seem to take on added value and the simple things mean more to you now. Thank you Jesus!
God knows that if he gives us in abundance without us knowing the value or the cost, then most likely it will become a mess. It is like salvation without knowing or understanding what Jesus Christ actually did, it is like salvation without conviction, backsliding is easier.
Father, help us that we will not perish. Keep us steatfast in Jesus’ name. Amen