Monday, January 20, 2020

Brothers & Sisters

(Group of Men and Women)
Brothers and sisters, those of us who call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, it is us who have now accepted the higher calling upon our lives. As we have been chosen by God to become His hands and feet on the earth and reach the world with the Gospel, we must be prepared to do so by praying, reading the Word, and living a life that is pleasing to God. Being that we have been chosen by God, and have accepted the call, it is up to us to do more than say that we are His, we must show the world that we are indeed truly His. The first step to showing the world that we are God’s children is to love God and love others more than we love ourselves. Jesus Himself stated, in Matt. 22:37-40, that to love God with all of our heart, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves is the completion and fulfillment of the law; however, there’s still more to do. Our next step is to learn to love ourselves while also forgiving ourselves for the shortcomings and failures we have experienced in the past.

In the book of Romans chapter 12, we are admonished by Christ, through the writings of the
(Jesus)
Apostle Paul, to not be Conformed to the ways of this world, but instead, to be transformed by the Power of God’s Grace. To do this, we must step out of the darkness, and into the light. But what does this mean? Great question, and here is the answer, we must be separate, in the world, yet not of the world. Understandably, it would be very difficult for an individual to completely remove themselves from the rest of the world; however, we as individuals can differentiate ourselves in the way we dress, act and interact with others, the way we comb our hair, and even in the way we speak.

Matthew 12:36-37
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned...

In the two verses above, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees; yet, He is also speaking to the people of today as well when He warns them that there shall be an accounting to God for every single word we have spoken. We as the followers of Christ Jesus must understand that after we have put on the “new,” the “old” no longer applies; therefore, our language must change, our attitudes must change, in fact, everything about us must change. Again, Christ tells us that we shall be judged by the words that we speak; therefore, it is important that we as believers be very careful about what we say, and how we say it, words can lift up, encourage, and show love and mercy; however, words can also be dangerous, they can tear down, destroy, and even kill.

James 3:5-10
(Holy Bible)
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be...

(King Cobra)
Again, as stated in the preceding set of verses, we who proclaim to be the children of God should know better than to speak both curses and praises from the same mouth and/or keyboard. All too often, there are Christians who will post pictures, tweets, or Facebook status updates describing women in a derogatory manner, use racist words, or other forms of crude terminology, only to then follow that up with bible verses, religious photos, videos, and the like; why, how can this be? It simply should not. For us, those who are called by the Name of Jesus, to use any of the language described above, it is not only a sin, it is deadlier than a snakes venom, causing divisions, pain, and destruction.

Brothers and Sisters, it is imperative that we as the followers of Christ, begin to take our walk with God much more seriously, but why? The answer to that question is simple, because there is always someone watching. With this knowledge, we must also know that any damage we cause by speaking or acting inappropriately, we must answer for in heaven. To be the hands and feet of God is to have the honor of not only being the child of God, but we are also listed amongst the kings and priest, those who are charged with reaching the world with the Gospel, those who are commissioned as intercessors, to be the bridge between the lost, and God, the salt of the earth. Finally, my friends, let us continue to live by faith, knowing that the God who has begun a work in you, is faithful and just to complete that which He has begun.

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Reference: Ep.4:29, Jm.1:26, Lk.6:45, 1Pt.1:15,3:10,

Friday, January 10, 2020

Heroes

(The United States of America)
Here in America, we celebrate our heroes, those who served, and/or gave their lives for the freedoms that we so dearly cherish, as we should. Unfortunately, just as we celebrate those who have fought, sacrificed, and died for us, we must also realize that there are many who continue to wish us harm; therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we continue to pray, seek God, and declare that the evils that have caused the deaths of many, cannot, and will not be repeated today, in our own time.

Recently, I met a WWII veteran who survived the beaches of
(The Real American Hero)
Normandy, fought all throughout France and the occupied territories, and finally met up with the forces of the other Allied nations as they crossed the Rhein river, headed into the heart of Germany and Hitler's Nazi fatherland. As we talked for those few minutes, I began to realize one thing, just as I am able to talk with this gentleman today, 75 years after the conclusion WWII, somewhere, out in this beautiful God-given world of ours, there remains many of the perpetrators of perniciousness that had stained Europe, Asia, and the entire world at that time.

The world that we live in today is not much different than the world of twenty, forty, 75, or even 2000 years ago, evil abides everywhere; however, there is a God who will hear the cries and prayers of His people, and He will hear us from heaven, and He will come in like a flood to aid and protect His people.