The more we know of God the more unreservedly we will trust him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more childlike will be our faith.
John Gresham Machen
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Do Not Trust Every Spirit
August 22, 2013 
9 Comments
1 John 4:1-6 (VOICE)
My loved ones, I warn you: do not trust every spirit. Instead, examine them carefully to determine if they come from God, because the corrupt world is filled with the voices of many false prophets. Here is how you know God’s Spirit: if a spirit affirms the truth that Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, has come in human flesh, then that spirit is from God. If a spirit does not affirm the true nature of Jesus the Anointed, then that spirit does not come from God and is, in fact, the spirit of the antiChrist.[a] You have heard about its coming; in fact it is already active in the world. My children, you have come from God and have conquered these spirits because the One who lives within you is greater than the one in this world. But they are of this world, and they articulate the views of the corrupt world, which the world understands. We come from God, and those who know God hear us. Whoever is not from God will not listen to us. This is the way we discern the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
How can the words of prophets be tested to discover the truth? The most important question is whether they acknowledge that Jesus is fully God and fully human. In the first century, many people were so convinced that this material world was corrupt and evil that they couldn’t imagine how a perfect God could wrap Himself in imperfect skin. Many today still function as if the physical world is a bad thing; this understanding is demonstrated when they downplay the hope of bodily resurrection and emphasize the heavenly destination of souls. Implicitly, this belittles Jesus’ own incarnation and resurrection.
On the other hand, many people accept Jesus’ humanity but deny His divinity. He may have been a great teacher, they say, but certainly not the incarnation of God. However, Jesus made bold claims about who He was and what He came to do. These are not the things a great teacher would have said or done if they had not been true. It is fair to say that no other life has drawn so much scrutiny, and no other life has ever elicited such praise.
God Bursts Through
August 21, 2013 9 Comments
Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Be Prepared To Do It
August 19, 2013 8 Comments
I can say from experience that 95% of knowing the will of God consists in being prepared to do it before you know what it is.
Donald Grey Barnhouse
The Devil’s Dance
August 17, 2013 14 Comments
When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy.
Corrie Ten Boom
Walk Wisely
August 16, 2013 8 Comments
Ephesians 5:15-20 (VOICE)
So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiots as the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times. So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly. Don’t drink wine excessively. The drunken path is a reckless path. It leads nowhere. Instead, let God fill you with the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in the soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God; and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done.
Wisdom is a rare commodity. Paul urges believers, then and now, to walk wisely. It involves living well every day. Time itself seems to be co-opted by dark forces. But when believers understand God’s will, avoid drunkenness, and allow God to fill them with His Spirit, they are able to walk wisely and live well. The Spirit-filled life is not just for a special few; it is the normal Christian life, and it affects everything, including how we live in community and how we treat others at home.
Marriage Is A Spiritual Relationship
August 15, 2013 0 Comments
Since marriage is a spiritual relationship involving husband, wife, and God, prayer together keeps communication flowing among all three.
Dennis and Barbara Rainey
Are You Thanks-Living?
August 14, 2013 3 Comments
Thanksgiving is good, but thanks-living is better!
Matthew Henry
Awaken A Slumbering Conscience
August 14, 2013 5 Comments
Proverbs 25:21-22 (VOICE)
If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink, For your kind treatment will be like heaping hot coals on his head, it may cause a change in heart, and the Eternal will repay you.
Acts of kindness, especially when we know they are undeserved, awaken a slumbering conscience, stimulate sorrow, and perhaps even effect a change. They are the best ways to turn an enemy into a friend.
Trust>Fear
August 13, 2013 3 Comments
Psalm 56:11-13 (VOICE)
In God I have placed my trust. I shall not let fear come in, for what can measly men do to me? I am bound by Your promise, O God. My life is my offering of thanksgiving to You, For You have saved my soul from the darkness of death, steadied my feet from stumbling so I might continue to walk before God, embraced in the light of the living.
Are You Leaving Room For Faith?
August 13, 2013 0 Comments
There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what he promises.
John Calvin
Inherit A Blessing Today
August 12, 2013 9 Comments
1 Peter 3:8-9 (VOICE)
Finally, all of you, be like-minded and show sympathy, love, compassion, and humility to and for each other, not paying back evil with evil or insult with insult, but repaying the bad with a blessing. It was this you were called to do, so that you might inherit a blessing.
Love People!
August 12, 2013 9 Comments
Love people and use things. Don’t love things and use people.
For Those Who Love Him
August 11, 2013 6 Comments
Romans 8:28 (NIVUK)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Praise To The Sound Of Strings
August 10, 2013 9 Comments
Psalm 92:1-4 (VOICE)
How good it is to give thanks to the Eternal and to praise Your name with song, O Most High; To speak of Your unfailing love in the morning and rehearse Your faithfulness as night begins to fall.
How good it is to praise to the sound of strings—lute and harp—the stirring melodies of the lyre. Because You, O Eternal One, thrill me with the things You have done, I will sing with joy in light of Your deeds.
A Tried Christian
August 10, 2013 4 Comments
A tried Christian grows rich by his losses, he rises by his falls, he lives by dying, and he becomes full by being emptied.
C. H. Spurgeon
Transform My Thinking
August 9, 2013 11 Comments
Loving Father, transform my thinking, and open my mind to the way that You work. Take the focus off of me and the size of my contribution, and let me fix my eyes and my hope on You and who You are in me. Amen.
Little Things
August 9, 2013 4 Comments
Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things- I am tempted to think- there are no little things.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
✞ Music “More” by Mars ILL
August 9, 2013 0 Comments
I can’t stay still when listening to this song! 😀
You Were Deliberately Planned
August 8, 2013 6 Comments
You aren’t an accident. You weren’t mass-produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman.
Max Lucado
Praise His Holy Name
August 7, 2013 6 Comments
Psalm 103:1-5 (VOICE)
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal with all that is in me—body, emotions, mind, and will—every part of who I am praise His holy name.
O my soul, come, praise the Eternal; sing a song from a grateful heart; sing and never forget all the good He has done.
Despite all your many offenses, He forgives and releases you. More than any doctor, He heals your diseases. He reaches deep into the pit to deliver you from death. He crowns you with unfailing love and compassion like a king.
When your soul is famished and withering, He fills you with good and beautiful things, satisfying you as long as you live. He makes you strong like an eagle, restoring your youth.
Don’t Forget God!
August 7, 2013 0 Comments
We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity, for in prosperity we forget God.
D. L. Moody
Step By Step
August 6, 2013 10 Comments
“He [Satan] will take away your prayer life little by little, and cause you to trust God less and less and yourself more and more, a little at a time. He will make you feel somewhat cleverer than before. Step by step, you are misled to rely more on your own gift, and step by step your heart is enticed away from the Lord.”
Stay Connected
August 6, 2013 9 Comments
John 15:1-9 (VOICE)
Jesus: I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. My Father examines every branch in Me and cuts away those who do not bear fruit. He leaves those bearing fruit and carefully prunes them so that they will bear more fruit; already you are clean because you have heard My voice. Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. A branch cannot bear fruit if it is disconnected from the vine, and neither will you if you are not connected to Me.
I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit. Without Me, you will accomplish nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is like a branch that is tossed out and shrivels up and is later gathered to be tossed into the fire to burn. If you abide in Me and My voice abides in you, anything you ask will come to pass for you. Your abundant growth and your faithfulness as My followers will bring glory to the Father.
At a time when all of His disciples are feeling as if they are about to be uprooted, Jesus sketches a picture of this new life as a flourishing vineyard—a labyrinth of vines and strong branches steeped in rich soil, abundant grapes hanging from their vines ripening in the sun. Jesus sculpts a new garden of Eden in their imaginations—one that is bustling with fruit, sustenance, and satisfying aromas. This is the Kingdom life. It is all about connection, sustenance, and beauty. But within this promise of life is the warning that people must be in Christ or they will not experience these blessings.
Show Me…
August 5, 2013 6 Comments
Lord, I want to show the kindness of Your heart today. Please show me who I can help and in what way. I want my words and deeds to convey Your love. Amen.
The First Job Each Morning
August 4, 2013 15 Comments
The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life coming flowing in.
C. S. Lewis
Unfailing love
August 2, 2013 5 Comments
Psalm 89:1-2 (VOICE)
I will sing of Your unfailing love, Eternal One, forever.
I will speak of Your faithfulness to all generations.
I will tell how Your unfailing love will always stand strong;
and how Your faithfulness is established in the heavens above.
God Wants To Use You
August 2, 2013 8 Comments
There are times when God wants to use you in someone else’s life; it may not be pretty or comfortable, but they need to see Jesus!
The Peace Of God
July 31, 2013 8 Comments
Philippians 4:6-7 (VOICE)
Don’t be anxious about things; instead, pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your needs and be thankful for what has come. And know that the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus, the Anointed One.
Are You Carrying A Grudge?
July 30, 2013 8 Comments
To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one wasp!
Diet or Die – Part 2
July 30, 2013 16 Comments
Romans 12:1 (VOICE)
Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God’s mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship.
My Thoughts 💭
wow what a roller coaster of a journey so far this year as I battle with my life long overeating fleshly desire! God has taught me so much this year about facing giants and humbling myself before him in prayer each morning to die daily, pick up my cross and follow Jesus.
If only my body would’ve heard my prayer too! lol.
I started my inner revolution at the end of January (see Part 1) and as of this morning i’ve lost 1Stone 5lbs (19lbs) and i’m truly blessed with the work God is doing in me.
📖 Verse 4 2day!
Romans 7:10-12 (VOICE)
This commandment was supposed to bring life; but in my experience, it brought death. Sin took advantage of the commandment, tricked me, and exploited it in order to kill me.
Over the years i’ve always made my own commandments/rules when setting up a diet or healthy eating plan such as:
- only having one takeaway a month
- cutting down on fried foods
- Not eating supper late at night just before I go to bed
- And on, and on, and on
This only aroused my sin and focused my mind on the foods I was cutting out, as my body loved them and had lived on them up until this point. Predictably I failed (or learnt how not to do it) then carried on eating junk food to put on more weight than I started with!
It was only when I stopped trying to make lists etc and give it all to God, did I notice a huge difference.
I’m able to eat all foods which has stopped me focusing on the ones i’d usually cut out, but now I feel so good I don’t want to choose anything that’s going to bring me down or make me feel tired. I no longer feel that I want takeaways as i’m enjoying the feeling that healthy foods give me.
I had to fight temptation from every angle, but even when I lapsed, I didn’t stay down feeling like a failure, I jumped right back into prayer and staggered on through my personal storm.
🙏 Prayer 4 2day!
“Father, I ask that You would give me a moment to pause, right now, to contemplate what You say is true about my nature—that I am both dead to sin, and alive in Christ. This is too deep, too profound for me. I need You to lead me into the Truth so that I can be free to live according to my new nature as the Spirit leads and empowers me. Amen.”
Part 3 (Dec 2013)
Please keep me in your prayers! 🙂
Resting in the Lord ~
July 30, 2013 0 Comments
I’m resting,
I’m waiting on the Lord
some people say . . .
I look a little bored.
But, I’m trusting,
see how I am still
it’s because I know
it’s all about His will.
Yep, that me,
looking sweet as a lamb
Only because I know . . .
He sees me as I am.
Waiting, anticipating,
nothing to worry about
I have faith in my Lord
what is there to doubt?
God’s timing is perfect,
so I am just hanging
He’s teaching me to be still
and I’m not even panting!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Be still, and know that I am God:”
King James Version
Public Domain
Copyright 2013
Deborah Ann Belka
In Perfect Sync With God’s Spirit
July 29, 2013 6 Comments
Galatians 5:13-26 (VOICE)
Brothers and sisters, God has called you to freedom! Hear the call, and do not spoil this gift by using your liberty to engage in what your flesh desires; instead, use it to serve each other as Jesus taught through love. For the whole law comes down to this one instruction: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” so why all this vicious gnawing on each other? If you are not careful, you will find you’ve eaten each other alive!
Here’s my instruction: walk in the Spirit, and let the Spirit bring order to your life. If you do, you will never give in to your selfish and sinful cravings. For everything the flesh desires goes against the Spirit, and everything the Spirit desires goes against the flesh. There is a constant battle raging between them that prevents you from doing the good you want to do. But when you are led by the Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
It’s clear that our flesh entices us into practicing some of its most heinous acts: participating in corrupt sexual relationships, impurity, unbridled lust, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, arguing, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contentiousness, division, envy of others’ good fortune, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other shameful vices that plague humankind. I told you this clearly before, and I only tell you again so there is no room for confusion: those who give in to these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul has been preaching about the call of God to freedom, and so he now spells it out: we are done with the demands of the law; now we are free to live in the Spirit and to be truly right with God. As free people, the Spirit gives us the characteristics of Jesus; we, too, can freely love in joy and peace. We can have patience along with kindness and faithfulness that can only come from the Father. We can reflect the goodness of God while being gentle in operating with self-control. For those who follow Him and live in the Spirit, these characteristics or fruits are a gift from God. As we grow in the faith, we find that we belong to God and can walk daily in the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit produces a different kind of fruit: unconditional love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You won’t find any law opposed to fruit like this. Those of us who belong to the Anointed One have crucified our old lives and put to death the flesh and all the lusts and desires that plague us.
Now since we have chosen to walk with the Spirit, let’s keep each step in perfect sync with God’s Spirit. This will happen when we set aside our self-interests and work together to create true community instead of a culture consumed by provocation, pride, and envy.
Real Rebellion
July 29, 2013 8 Comments
‘Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s real rebellion.’
Alice Cooper
Prayer For Unity
July 28, 2013 5 Comments
Lord Jesus we prayed that your people would be one, forgive us Lord and take away the pride and arrogance which divides your church. Break down the walls that separate us; unite us by your spirit ant teach us how to love each other.
Help us to humbly kneel before you and surrender all, Please guide us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds as we seek to find your good and pleasing will, Amen.
My Thoughts 💭
The church I attend on sunday mornings has been without a pastor for well over a year now, so I post this prayer to try and help the body of believers unite and stay faithful to our awesome God.
I’d also love prayers from all of my amazing sisters and brothers here for this church as we seek to find a spirit filled, mature and wise pastor.
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