Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
Will be forever mine.
You are forever mine.
A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is… A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.
Father, help us to do your Word and not just hear it. Help us to live a life that is pleasing to you in what we say, what we watch, what music we listen to, what we wear, what we think, where we go, and how we live. help us to be mindful that we represent you.
Help us to live by and lift up the standard that has already been set by your Son. Bring us into alignment with your Word & your will for our lives. Help us to be better stewards over our time, over our finances, over our resources, over our families, and over all that you have given us. Let our delight be in the Lord, the Word of God. Help us To meditate on your Word day & night.
Please give us the Spirit of discernment so that your will for us might be made clear.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
There are fathers waiting until other obligations are less demanding to become acquainted with their sons. There are mothers who sincerely intend to be more attentive to their daughters. There are husbands and wives who are going to be more understanding. But time does not draw people closer. When in the world are we going to begin to live as if we understood that this is life? This is our time, our day…and it is passing. What are we waiting for?
To become Christ-like is the only thing in the whole world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain.
Let the word of the Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singing—sing to God from hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness.
Father, please give me courage to not lean on my own understanding. I know my thinking can be flawed and what I intend for good can blow up in my face. Please bless me with wisdom and insight as I seek to live for you in today’s confusing and immoral world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
It is generally true that all that is required to make men unmindful of what they owe to God for any blessing, is, that they should receive that blessing often and regularly.
But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They’ll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong.
They give the way of truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won’t, of course, get by with it. They’ll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on.
4 Before God and Jesus Christ, I give you a command. Christ Jesus is the one who will judge all people—those who are living and those who have died. He is coming again to rule in his kingdom. So I give you this command: 2 Tell everyone God’s message. Be ready at all times to do whatever is needed. Tell people what they need to do, tell them when they are doing wrong, and encourage them. Do this with great patience and careful teaching.
3 The time will come when people will not listen to the true teaching. But people will find more and more teachers who please them. They will find teachers who say what they want to hear. 4 People will stop listening to the truth. They will begin to follow the teaching in false stories.
Gifts of the Spirit, which are intended to strengthen the church body, often divide the body because members of the church elevate those who possess the more visible gifts over those whose gifts function in the background. In fact, this is the very problem facing the Corinthians. So while talking about the importance and function of these gifts in chapters 12 and 14, Paul shifts his focus to the central role love plays in a believer’s life in chapter 13. Love is essential for the body to be unified and for members to work together. Members of the body that are very different, with little in common, are able to appreciate and even enjoy others because of the love that comes when a life is submitted to God.
What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. 2 What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. 3 I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts.
Paul boils it all down for the believers in Corinth. Religious people often spend their time practicing rituals, projecting dogma, and going through routines that might look like Christianity on the outside but that lack the essential ingredient that brings all of it together—love! It is a loving God who birthed creation and now pursues a broken people in the most spectacular way. That same love must guide believers, so faith doesn’t appear to be meaningless noise.
4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; 5 it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs 6 or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! 7 Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. 8 Love will never become obsolete. Now as for the prophetic gifts, they will not last; unknown languages will become silent, and the gift of knowledge will no longer be needed. 9 Gifts of knowledge and prophecy are partial at best, at least for now, 10 but when the perfection and fullness of God’s kingdom arrive, all the parts will end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke, thought, and reasoned in childlike ways as we all do. But when I became a man, I left my childish ways behind. 12 For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, I will fully know just as I have been wholly known by God. 13 But now faith, hope, and love remain; these three virtues must characterize our lives. The greatest of these is love.
There is only one basis for really enjoying life, and that is, to walk in the way in which God leads you. Then you are prepared to find delight in all sorts of wayward incidents….When a man is drifting through life, seeking nothing outside of self-gratification, the world must become increasingly a barren and forbidding wilderness. But it is wonderful how many delights fall to the lot of him who is led by God. For such a one the clasp of a friend’s hand, a cool drink in the heat of noon, a merry salutation from a passing traveler, a glimpse of beauty by the road, a quiet resting place at night, are all full of unspeakable pleasure.
I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me.
“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.”
January 27, 2014 
iChristian 
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