“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? – Charlie Brown
“Aren’t we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas? You know… the birth of Santa!” – Bart Simpson
Are you aware of this simple fact, that God couldn’t possibly love you more than He does right now? That He loves you as much as a perfect God can? That He loves you perfectly, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you more? There’s nothing you can do to earn His approval; you have it. Are you aware of that? Do you realise how deeply God loves you?”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Have you received this gift?
Father, today and through this season, give me the ability and the willingness to realise how deeply and passionately You love me. Amen.
Is life not full of opportunities for learning love? Every man and woman every day has a thousand of them. The world is not a playground; it is a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday, but an education. And the one eternal lesson for us all is how better we can love.
I’ve just finished reading this interesting article (see below) which i can relate too a lot, as i’ve been through this particular growth stage by cleaning up my music library, well more like deleting the whole lot and starting again! Have you had a similar conviction after giving you life to Jesus? Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this.
Why Christians should not listen to secular music
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” – 1 Peter 2:9.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. – 1 John 2:15-17.
Hip pop secular music and ChristianityOne sad truth in Christendom is the fact that many Christians do not recognize their identity in Christ. Being a Christian goes a lot more beyond being called a Christian. “Being a Christian is a work of a moment but living a Christian is a work of a lifetime,” Billy Graham observed.
Every Christian has a unique story to tell. However, in the midst of each story is a loving God who gave up is life as ransom for our sins. Different things and different circumstances had over the years led many to Jesus Christ. Every believer reading this post has been delivered from bondage of some sort. The Lord Jesus had met each of us at different points of our lives. Some have been delivered from drugs, others from excessive partying, clubbing and sexual promiscuity. And many others have been delivered from worldly lusts: the lust for money, the lust for material possessions, and greediness.
But when we become born again by the blood of the Lamb, we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 2:17), we become the sons and daughters of God (John 1:12), but most significant, we become a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and peculiar people. The attributes and identities of believers have been made evident by the apostle Peter (See 1 Peter 2:9). There is a reason why God gives the believer all this attributes. It is so that we can “show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light” – 1 Peter 2:9b.
What does it mean to show forth the praises of God?
I believe it means doing away with worldly lifestyle; secular music, secular movies and anything that do not glorify our Heavenly Father who loved us and sent His Son to die to save us. The scripture says “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” – (Galatians 2:20). Being in Christ means we are no more of the world. We have been delivered from the darkness and are now nigh to the marvelous light of God in Christ. This is why every Christian must grow to a point in their life where they can boldly say NO to secular music and all the profanity and deception that go with it.
How to Stop Listening to Secular Music
The lesson in Galatians 2:20 is that Christ lives in us. Every believer must always be conscious of the fact that Christ lives in us. Whenever you are tempted to sing or play a secular music, pause and ask yourself, “Will Jesus listen to this song I am listening to? Will He dance to this song I am dancing to? I have found this questioning approach to be an effective way to stop or quit listening to hip and secular music.
Alternatively Christians can stop listening to secular music by listening to more godly music. I used to really love hip pop, R & B and rap music. Now I am in Christ and I still enjoy these genres but I do it this time to edify myself and to praise the LORD my God. I no more listen to those secular artistes singing and rapping about sex, money, drugs and girls. Instead I listen to Christian rap music, Contemporary gospel and gospel reggae. It is the same rhythm but with edifying and uplifting lyrics. Just take a look at the music video below and you will understand what I am talking about. The song is by Lecrae(a Christian rapper). God bless you!
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
13 Who in your community is understanding and wise? Let his example, which is marked by wisdom and gentleness, blaze a trail for others. 14 If your heart is one that bleeds dark streams of jealousy and selfishness, do not be so proud that you ignore your depraved state. 15 The wisdom of this world should never be mistaken for heavenly wisdom; it originates below in the earthly realms, with the demons. 16 Any place where you find jealousy and selfish ambition, you will discover chaos and evil thriving under its rule. 17 Heavenly wisdom centers on purity, peace, gentleness, deference, mercy, and other good fruits untainted by hypocrisy. 18 The seed that flowers into righteousness will always be planted in peace by those who embrace peace.
You who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day; you who are keeping wretched quarrels alive because you cannot quite make up your minds that now is the day to sacrifice your pride and kill them; you who are letting your neighbor starve until you hear that he is dying of starvation or letting your friend’s heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy, which you mean to give him some day; if you could only know and see and feel all of a sudden that time is short, how it would break the “spell.” How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do.
I’m being seriously convicted at the moment as i study the books of Revelation & Genesis seeking TRUTH. it’s completely blowing my mind as i realise how i’ve been deceived and conditioned by the lies of the world my whole life.
The article below by David Wilkerson was in my inbox this morning and i thought id share it with you.
GOD MEANS WHAT HE SAYS by David Wilkerson
Do you sit under strong preaching that lovingly exposes your sin? If so, do you allow that word to convict you? Or, do you go right back to your sin without grieving at all?
If you are rejecting the warnings of the restraining Holy Ghost—disobeying God time after time, without any heart-grief—then you are being recruited for the cult of Antichrist. The devil is silently initiating you into his “mystery of iniquity” and when the promising, miracle-working Antichrist comes along, you will be swept up in his lies and given over to a delusion!
Listen to what Paul says about compromising believers who refuse to love and obey God’s Holy Word: “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12).
Here are the ominous results of not believing and acting on God’s truth:
The heart becomes hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Satan works on the hardened heart to justify itself, so that it is relieved from all fear of penalty.
The believer becomes blinded by the lie that says there are no wages for sin and no Judgment Day, and that he can get away with his lustful pleasure.
The believer falls prey to doctrines of demons, thinking evil is good and good is evil.
He eventually drifts so far from Christ and the truth, he becomes blinded to who the Antichrist is—and he ends up worshiping and serving him as a god.
On Judgment Day, God will say to such a person, “Depart from Me, you worker of iniquity!”
Beloved, it does not have to be this way for any of us. God has made a covenant promise to remove all delusion from us and give us victory over sin, through the power of Christ’s cross. All He asks is that we declare war on our sin, saying, “I won’t make peace with this habit. I refuse to abide it. Deliver me, Father, by Your Spirit.” When He hears this prayer, He will send such Holy Ghost power and glory from heaven, the devil will not stand a chance!
Pray right now that God implants in you a great reverence for His Word. Ask Him to help you be disciplined in your reading of the Scriptures and ask the Spirit to help you take to heart what you read and believe that God means what He says!
A spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord. Thank God in the midst of trials and every persecution.
Because God loves you so much that He gave His one and only Son, sending Him into the world as a poor baby so that He could show you how to live.
Even more than that,
that He might be your life. He lived perfectly, died a grizzly death, shed His blood so that your sins might be removed, so that you will not perish, but spend forever with Him.
Celebrate always, pray constantly, and give thanks to God no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. (This is God’s will for all of you in Jesus the Anointed.)
Each one of us is God’s special work of art. Through us, He teaches and inspires, delights and encourages, informs and uplifts all those who view our lives. God, the master artist, is most concerned about expressing Himself- His thoughts and His intentions- through what He paints in our character; He wants to paint a beautiful portrait of His Son in and through your life. A painting like no other in all of time.
Father, 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.
Father, empower me and motivate me with Your love. Give me a sincere heart for those who are bound for a Godless eternity. Equip me and make me willing to allow You to use me to destroy myths and share the truth about Your love with any and all people that You place in my path. Amen.
You can know a tree by the fruit it bears. You don’t find figs on a thorn bush, and you can’t pick grapes from a briar bush. It’s the same with people. A person full of goodness in his heart produces good things; a person with an evil reservoir in his heart pours out evil things. The heart overflows in the words a person speaks; your words reveal what’s within your heart.
What good is it to mouth the words, “Lord! Lord!” if you don’t live by My teachings?
Those who put themselves in His hands will become perfect, as He is perfect- perfect in love, wisdom, joy, beauty, health, and immortality. The change will not be completed in this life, for death is an important part of the treatment. How far the change will have gone before death in any particular Christian is uncertain.
The word resentment means to re-feel…to feel again. Someone wrongs or wounds you; in resenting it, you re-feel the injury. And you re-hurt yourself. The Hebrew Talmud says that a person who bears a grudge is “Like one who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand.”
Not for us, O Eternal One; this glory is not for us—but for Your name because of Your loyal love and truth. Why should the nations ask, “Where is their God now?” Our God is in heaven doing whatever He chooses. Those nations worship idols of silver and gold, crafted by human hands: They have given their gods mouths, but they cannot speak; eyes, but they cannot see. They have provided their idols with ears, but they cannot hear; noses, but they cannot smell. They have fashioned hands, but the idols cannot reach out and touch; feet, but they cannot walk. Their idols cannot make a sound in their finely crafted throats. The people who make idols will become useless like them, like all who trust in idols.
Many a humble soul will be amazed to find that the seed it sowed in weakness, in the dust of daily life, has blossomed into immortal flowers under the eye of the Lord.
The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, “I was wrong.”
The army of Israel looked at Goliath through the eyes of man and said he’s too big to beat. David looked at him through the eyes of God and said he’s too big to miss.
Sarah & i have just got home from “The Johnny Cash Roadshow” at Epsom Playhouse. When they introduced Johnny Cash as a Singer, Songwriter, Christian & Sinner, i knew it was going to be good! 🙂
The UK’s No1 Tribute, fronted by respected singer/songwriter Clive John, re-creates with astounding accuracy and truly captures the essence of what it was like to be at a real Cash show! Also featuring Jill Schoonjans as June Carter, Amanda Stone and Sheena Beckett as the Carter Sisters all aspects of Cash’s life are covered with impeccable taste.
The show takes the audience from the 1950’s right up to 2002 and all the stops in between. All the greatest hits are included, Ring of Fire, Walk the Line as well as the Johnny and June duets Jackson and If I Were a Carpenter and so many more, all the while accompanied by an amazing video back drop with evocative images and shots from Johnny Cash’s life.
I hadn’t heard many Johnny Cash songs (even though i play a few) but i was pleasantly surprised with the strong Christian message in some of them! Now i’m totally Country’d out! I’ve added a few songs played tonight, enjoy! 🙂
There are wounds of the spirit which never close and are intended in God’s mercy to bring us nearer to Him, and to prevent us leaving Him by their very perpetuity. Such wounds then may almost be taken as a pledge, or at least as a ground for a humble trust, that God will give us the great gift of perseverance to the end. This is how I comfort myself in my own great bereavements.
Nothing transcends the power of God. Whether our difficulty is from Satan, others, self-inflicted, or experienced in the process of our obedience, it is God’s prerogative to rearrange, reconstruct, reinterpret, and realign the situation to bring glory and praise to His name.
Explore me, O God, and know the real me. Dig deeply and discover who I am. Put me to the test and watch how I handle the strain. Examine me to see if there is an evil bone in me, and guide me down Your path forever.
Be guided, only by the healer of the sick, the raiser of the dead, the friend of all who were afflicted and forlorn, the patient Master who shed tears of compassion for our infirmities. We cannot but be right when we put all the rest away, and do everything in remembrance of Him…There can be no confusion in following Him, and seeking for no other footsteps, I am certain!
Drawing from Exodus 32–34, Paul uses Moses as a model of one who has been transformed by God’s glory, but in a limited way. Moses encountered God (the Lord) through the Spirit on that mountain, but the Spirit now—as a fulfillment of the new covenant—dwells in the hearts of believers and continually transforms them. This transformation is based on a new way of understanding God’s revelation: Jesus Himself, the One who reveals God’s glory, is the very image of God. Through this Spirit-enabled encounter, believers experience a new way of living and therefore come to resemble the Anointed One as they reflect His glory.
Since we are joined together in this ministry as a result of the mercy shown to all of us by God, we do not become discouraged. Instead, we have renounced all the things that hide in shame; we refuse to live deceptively or use trickery; we do not pollute God’s Word with any other agenda. Instead, we aim to tell the truth plainly, appealing to the conscience of every person under God’s watchful eye. Now if our gospel remains veiled, it is only veiled from those who are lost and dying, because the evil god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. As a result the light of the good news, the radiant glory of the Anointed—who is the very image of God—cannot shine down on them. We do not preach about ourselves. The subject of all our sermons is Jesus, the Anointed One. He is Lord and Master of all. For Jesus’ sake we are here to serve you. The God who spoke light into existence, saying, “Let light shine from the darkness,”[a] is the very One who sets our hearts ablaze to shed light on the knowledge of God’s glory revealed in the face of Jesus, the Anointed One.
But this beautiful treasure is contained in us—cracked pots made of earth and clay—so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us. We are cracked and chipped from our afflictions on all sides, but we are not crushed by them. We are bewildered at times, but we do not give in to despair. We are persecuted, but we have not been abandoned. We have been knocked down, but we are not destroyed. We always carry around in our bodies the reality of the brutal death and suffering of Jesus. As a result, His resurrection life rises and reveals its wondrous power in our bodies as well. For while we live, we are constantly handed over to death on account of Jesus so that His life may be revealed even in our mortal bodies of flesh. So death is constantly at work in us, but life is working in you.
Jesus’ death is the means to new life for others. Similarly when believers suffer for others as Jesus did, their suffering is an avenue for God’s life to transform situations.
When we understand that He is Lord of our time, we realize that interruptions are of His planning. They become opportunities to serve rather than plagues to keep us from functioning.
Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest.
It would seem, after having been a Christian for almost 80 years, that I would no longer do ugly things that need forgiving. Yet I am constantly doing things to others that cause me to have to go back and ask their forgiveness. Sometimes these are things I actually do- other times they are simply attitudes I let creep in which break the circle of God’s perfect love.
How great is the contrast between that forgiveness to which we lay claim from God towards us, and our temper towards others! God, we expect, will forgive us great offences, offences many times repeated; and will forgive them freely, liberally, and from the heart. But we are offended at our neighbor, perhaps, for the merest trifles, and for an injury only once offered; and we are but half reconciled when we deem to forgive. Even an uncertain humor, an ambiguous word, or a suspected look, will inflame our anger; and hardly any persuasion will induce us for a long time to relent.
Mark it down. God never turns away the honest seeker. Go to God with your questions. You may not find all the answers, but in finding God, you known the One who does.
Last night during the evening service at our church, Nik our Minister read the following and asked us to discuss which one from the bullet list really stood out to us, and why?:
“I am loved”
‘but what does this mean to you?‘
• The whole of me my body, mind heart and soul, that is my strength, my thoughts my deepest longings and all my emotions are loved by God. • God knows me AND loves me (not God knows me but loves me) • I am loved for who I am. Completely, Utterly, For Ever. • Others may dislike me, but God loves me • I may hate myself, but God continues to love me • He loves me for what I am and what I will be. • He loves me because he understands me.
it was really interesting hearing the different answers from the diverse brothers and sisters in our congragation.
So I wondered if you could comment with your answers/thoughts to the same question above?
Because of God’s grace, there is nothing we can do that will make Him love us more than He already does. And there is nothing we can do or have done that will cause Him to love us any less.
December 20, 2013 
iChristian 
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