Practical teachings from the Bible for every day living.
God has a good plan for your life, of that much we can be sure. The plan is complex and will take you to specific places and specific points all at specific times. We see these factors at work in the life and ministry of John the Baptist. John ,who came in the spirit of Elijah, was a ‘wilderness’ soul . The wilderness was a prepared place for him. As we look at this today, remember the God of John the Baptist is your God and He has prepared places for you.
Do Americans have a comfortable gospel, compared to the rest of the world? Lack of hunger for the things of God is an early warning signal of a Christian life that is not reaching its full potential. You should have an appetite for His things. You should have a craving for His Word. You should have a strong desire for His Presence. You should have an intensity about you to do His will. You should have a zeal to know Him better.
Fear is the number one attack of the enemy that you will face on planet earth. The earth is a fear filled place. The number one fear is the fear of death. It is right that believers are being led to write books about it. It is right for preachers to preach on it. It is right for you to have an arsenal of books and tapes on it, to help you combat it. It is right for you to mark out in your Bible or to have lists of scriptures that help you in this fight. At all costs fear must be eliminated from your life. What steps can we take in order to rid our lives of this deadly enemy?
What is the role of a believer on planet earth? Does the Bible tell us? Why didn’t the Lord save us and then just take us to heaven? What is our purpose? There must be a reason. 2Cor. 5:17 speaks of the ministry of reconciliation. According to the Bible, every believer has this ministry. What is that ministry and how can we fulfill it?
How badly do you want to know God? Tim Hansel in his book “When I Relax I feel Guilty,” writes some insights of what most people want from God. “I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love someone racially different or someone who is an immigrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please.” How much of God do you want?
There are many voices in the world the Bible states (1Cor. 14:10). These voices are constantly trying to be heard. They are continually trying to input into our lives; trying to establish our thinking. The subject matter is varied. But, one ongoing arena is the identity of man. There are voices that are constantly trying to define what a man is. There are voices trying to define what a woman is. What does the Bible have to say in these areas?
Life is all about growth and development. Life is about striving to become more than what you are today. If you are not growing, if you are not increasing, you are just existing. Jesus grew and developed and He is our example (Lk. 2:52). Growing is a process and the process must be respected. Here are is one way you can intentionally engage the process.
Many times we are tempted to bug God about changing things in our lives and we pray over and over again but I want you to know today and understand how faith works – faith is a rest – you don’t have to worry; you don’t have to fret because God wants you to know that He has Already heard you and though the manifestation seems to be NOT YET, I am here to prophesy to you today that God is going to change your NOT YET to IT’S HERE because with Him it’s ALREADY!
The Lord put certain people in your life in order to help you navigate through and fulfill your destiny. These relationships are God ordained relationships. They are not after the flesh. They are Spirit-led and Spirit orchestrated encounters. There is much talk of ‘relationship mechanics’ in the world today and you can find such talk easily on the internet. The difference between Spirit-led, God ordained, relationships and what the world has to offer is like the difference between the 1st Temple that Solomon built and the 2nd Temple that was rebuilt after the Babylonians came in and destroyed the first one.
Do Americans have a comfortable gospel, compared to the rest of the world? Lack of hunger for the things of God is an early warning signal of a Christian life that is not reaching its full potential. You should have an appetite for His things. You should have a craving for His Word. You should have a strong desire for His Presence. You should have an intensity about you to do His will. You should have a zeal to know Him better.
In the book of Jonah, we have a tale of two hearts. We can see God’s heart of compassion for Nineveh. We can also see Jonah has no heart for Nineveh. What is the problem here? Jonah knows the Lord. Jonah knows His voice. Jonah operated in the prophetic, so he is spiritually gifted. Jonah is not a big time sinner. Yet with all of those spiritual credentials, Jonah has no heart for Nineveh. His heart was not tuned into the heart of God. So, what does the Lord do? He confronts Jonah with a situation that shows him how out of tune he is.
Peace is translated in the KJV as ‘peace, quietness, rest, or to be set at one again.’ There exists many earthly definitions for peace. But, here we are talking about peace in your heart. Peace that is in your recreated born again human spirit. We are talking about quietness or rest in your spirit. The Bible says the fruit of the spirit is peace! If it is a fruit, then know that fruit can grow! Here are three things that God’s peace provides in the life of a believer.