“We are frail. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, Forged in the fires of human passion, choking on the fumes of selfish rage. And with these our hells and heavens, so few inches apart, we must be awful small, and not as strong as we think we are.” – Rich Mullins, in his song “We Are Not as Strong as We Think We Are”
If you really wanna knock the Devil for a loop, just start praising the Lord no matter what’s happening!
Repentance opens the way for relationship with God. Repentance has two sides—turning away from sins and turning toward God. (Read Luke 3:1-18 key verses 7,8). To be truly repentant, we must do both. We can’t just say that we believe and then live any way we choose; neither can we simply live a morally correct life without a personal relationship with God, because that cannot bring forgiveness from sin. Determine to rid your life of any sins God points out, and put your trust in him alone to guide you.
(Ron Clarke)
Amakove Malemba has just reminded me of something I taught the youths in our Gospel Assembly Church-Mombasa and that I also used to share with girls as a Guidance &Counselling Secondary School Teacher.
THE 5C’s THAT EVERY TEEN GIRL MUST WATCH AS THEY ARE USED BY MEN WITH “INTENTIONS” TO LURE THE INNOCENT IN SCHOOL.
~Chips
~Chicken
~Coke
~Cash
~Car
One scene that I recall clearly from my secondary school teaching years was when, as I explained the Theory of Evolution to a form 1 class, one deeply religious girl told me she cannot take History (a compulsory subject) as it goes against her biblical beliefs. (God created the world. FULL STOP)
So, I had to take a detour and introduce a special one lesson on “What is a Theory?”
She went on to become one my best performing History students.
What do you get at your church?
Gospel entertainment or the Good News of the Gospel?
What you WANT to hear or what you NEED to hear?
“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold. (2 TIMOTHY 4:3 AMP
Bill Goes to Church (Author Unknown)
There was a man named Bill who had never gone to church in his life. No matter how much he was encouraged or coaxed, he couldn’t be persuaded to go to church, even on Easter or Christmas. He would say, “When it freezes in June, then I will go to church.”
One year there was an unusually cold spring, and it remained cold all the way into the month of June! One day, in early June, the temperature dipped to freezing for several nights. Everyone remembered Bill’s statement and wondered if this cold spell would finally get him to come to the church.
Well, yes! It certainly did! On that Sunday, Bill made his first appearance in the church building – while the organ played softly, and six men carried him in. Yes, he made it, but instead of sitting in a pew, he was lying in a casket.
Just as an infant requires food, fresh air, exercise, and the help of others in the physical realm, we need Bible study, praying, service and witnessing, and fellowship in a good church, from the spiritual realm. A follower of Christ who neglects any of these four cannot expect to grow in his spiritual life.
So, I hope you’re not being like ol’ Bill. Go to church and enjoy the view from the pew!
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” Hebrews 10:25
SELECTIVE APPRECIATION OF SCRIPTURE 😉
These are some verses which usually don’t get too many “likes”…….
“And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.” (Deut 31:28)
“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10)
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10)
BUT POST THE LIKES OF THE THREE BELOW AND SEE THE NUMBER OF LIKES THEY WILL ELICIT PLUS AMENS!
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (Deut 31:6)
“You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.'”(2 Chr. 2017)
To believe on Christ, I say: not merely to believe in him, or to believe something about him, but to believe on him; and this means to entrust your soul to him and to trust in him for wisdom and strength and salvation.
(Washington Gladden)
Mind the Chickens
Sometimes, chickens leave behind more than eggs and meat.
My maternal grandmother-a residence of Vance for many years-had a dozen or so chickens wandering around her yard at any given moment. At night, she enclosed them in a small pen, complete with a coop my grandfather constructed for her. There, they slept, laid eggs, and made fertilizer. But it wasn’t the only place they left things behind.
Being country boys, my cousin and I stayed outside most of the time, romping through the woods, playing in the hog pens, and mulling around in the yard-the same yard the chickens scratched around in. Since we didn’t always wear shoes during the summer months-and even if we did-our grandmother would warn us before we placed one foot on the backdoor steps: “Mind you don’t bring any chicken mess into this house on your shoes.”
Chickens, it appeared, laid more than eggs, and my grandmother didn’t want their leftovers or left behinds in her house or on her porch. If we discovered this unwanted material on our shoes, we paused to scrape it off on the dirt or on a grassy patch. Doing so became such a habit that eventually our grandmother didn’t have to remind us.
In Jesus’ day, getting one’s feet dirty was a fact of life. If shoes were worn, they were open sandals-and open sandals don’t keep out dirt. And since the main form of travel was by foot, people’s feet stayed dirty. When entering a house, it was common for the owner-or his slave if he had one-to wash a guest’s feet. He didn’t, however, wash the entire person. If the person needed a full bath, they could tend to that themselves.
Jesus’ meaning, however, goes deeper. The full bath happens when I trust Christ as my Savior. God the Father takes the righteousness of His Son and applies it to my sin, making me pure and holy in position-although not in practice. But daily living is like walking in my grandmother’s yard. I’m subject to get my feet messy with unwanted things. Sinful influences and smelly temptations wander around the world.
The news isn’t all bad though. Jesus says I just need to wash my feet. Through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, biblical meditation, and confession, I scrape my feet across the dirt or on a grassy patch and remove what shouldn’t be there.
Confession brings restoration, and knowing God’s Word keeps my lifestyle aligned with His principles.
Learn to mind what the chickens of this world leave behind-and avoid it.
The news isn’t all bad though. Jesus says I just need to wash my feet. Through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, biblical meditation, and confessions, I scrape my feet across the dirt or on a grassy patach and remove what shouldn’t be there.
Confession brings restoration, and knowing God’s Word keeps my lifestyle aligned with His principles.
Learn to mind what the chickens of this world leave behind and avoid it
(Martin Wiles, Hodges South Carolina, USA)
