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How to Unravel the Puzzle Which Is God’s Will

The Book of Hebrews

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Finding God's WIll Can Be at Times Like Working a Puzzle.

Have you ever heard of the open window method in seeking God’s will? You put your Bible by a window and the pages blow and you put your finger on a verse. One man did that and pointed to the verse, “Judas went and hanged himself.” Not a very good life verse, and he did it again. This time he put his finger on the verse that said, “Go and do thou likewise.” The third verse he found said, “Whatsoever thou doest, do quickly.” 1 As you can tell from this illustration, this is not a very good method to ascertain God’s will. Here are some Bible thoughts along this line to help you in your journey.

[Tweet “Jesus style Spirit life is a big puzzle of which there are many pieces.”]

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Narrow is the Way Which Leads to Life

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Narrow is the way which leads to true life.

Finding the Narrow Way

Walking in the eternal life of God is a simple and uncomplicated thing.

So says Jesus said in these stunning words while teaching His disciples the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7:13–14 (NKJV) — 13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

  • All roads do not lead to Jesus.
  • There is only one road.
  • Only one path.
  • The way of the world is a broad wide way.
  • Diversity is not your friend in this particular area.

John 14:6 (NKJV) — 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

[Tweet “All roads do not lead to Jesus. There is only one road.  Only one path.”]

Taken while on vacation in Iceland. For more of our travels check out our Instagram account.© 2017 Emery Horvath

For more ‘photo posts’ see ‘The Word of the Lord Is a Fire‘.

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#S4-009: Why Incurable Diseases Are Surging And How to Protect Yourself [Podcast]

Gospel Truths On Healing

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Incurable diseases are on the rise. You can protect yourself.

Incurable diseases are on the rise on planet earth. So says a September 2017 report. Why are they increasing? Is there any clue? Yes, thank God there is. The Word of God helps us to know why and also clues us into how to effectively close the door to them. Charles Kettering, the famous research scientist, is impatient with people who speak of insurmountable obstacles. “It is like the doctors with their incurable diseases,” he says. “Did you ever stop to think what an incurable disease is? It is one the doctor doesn’t know how to cure.” The doctors may not know but the Lord does. 1

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[Tweet “He sent His word and healed, repaired, restored to health, mended, fixed, and cured us.”]

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Why You Need to Pour Your Jesus Life Into Others

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Discipling Is Where You Pour Your Life Into Others

A young man who works in an aquarium explained that the most popular fish is the shark. If you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet. That also happens to some Christians. I’ve seen some of the cutest little six-inch Christians who swim around in a little puddle. But if you put them into a larger arena—into the whole creation—only then can they become great.1 Is it your goal in life to just be a cute six-inch puddle swimming Christian? Wouldn’t you rather get out into the ocean and make a big splash for the Kingdom of God? How do you do it? First, you have to make a decision about being willing to pour your life into others.

[Tweet “Ministry, discipling, and teaching, is where you share and pour your spiritual growth into people.”]

For more on this subject see ‘How to Develop Spiritually [Podcast].’
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#S4-008: What Ten Things Are You Thankful For? [Podcast]

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Be Thankful Unto the Lord

Here we are again, another Thanksgiving season. I turn sixty in a few days. Man, am I thankful unto God. I am thankful unto God for good health. At this age, my father was in the throes of battling cancer and had been so for many years. He went home at age 61.   Every year, at this season, I like to address the topic of thankfulness. No need to break the string now. The character trait of thankfulness is right to have because it strikes at one of the key elements necessary for success in the human person, attitude.

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[Tweet “If thankfulness is anything – its attitude.”]

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What Kind of Things Should We Be Thankful For?

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Do You Have A Thankful Heart?

Is there any benefit to being thankful? Many only think about thankfulness around this time of the year. We are often admonished to be thankful, to count our blessings, to look back over the year and be grateful for what we have. According, to the Bible, being thankful is not a holiday. In the Old Testament, God commanded the children of Israel to keep certain feasts unto the Lord. By these feasts, they and their children were supposed to be reminded of all that the Lord did (Ex. 13:5-10). These feasts were supposed to be points where children were instructed in the things of God. Most of all, they were supposed to be occasions of rejoicing.

For more on the subject of thankfulness, please see ‘What Ten Things Are You Thankful For [Podcast]‘

[Tweet “A thankful heart is a heart which is having a party all the time. That’s God’s idea.”]

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The Word of the Lord Is Like A Fire

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The Word of the Lord Is A Fire

How’s Your Fire?

Jeremiah said the Word of the Lord in him just lit his heart up like fire.

Jeremiah 20:9 (GW) — 9 I think to myself, “I can forget the Lord and no longer speak his name.” But ⌊his word⌋ is inside me like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I wear myself out holding it in, but I can’t do it any longer.

If you think about the Word of God long enough, if you ponder it and meditate on it like the Psalmist David did in Psalm one,

Psalm 1:1–3 (GW) — 1 Blessed is the person who does not follow the advice of wicked people, take the path of sinners, or join the company of mockers. 2 Rather, he delights in the teachings of the Lord and reflects on his teachings day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted beside streams— a tree that produces fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. He succeeds in everything he does.

You will come to a place just like Jeremiah where His Word is so strong in you that you can’t hold it in. You have to just let it go.

[Tweet “Is God’s Word like a fire shut up in your heart?”]

We met this colorful gentleman in Ocho, Jamaica while on vacation. For more of our travels check out our Instagram account.© 2017 Emery Horvath
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#S4-007: Why Divine Healing Is Better for Your Life [Podcast]

Gospel Truths on Healing

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Divine healing is better for your life

Divine healing is better for your life, that’s not only a Bible fact, it’s an earthly fact too. A survey conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians shows that ninety-nine percent of doctors believe a relationship exists between faith and physical healing. Recently, more than one thousand health-care professionals met at Harvard Medical School to examine the connection between spirituality and healing. Doctors’ faith in faith was bolstered by a California study of the effect of prayer on recovery from heart problems. About two hundred heart patients were assigned to Christians who prayed for them, while an equal number, a control group, received no known prayers. Neither group knew about the prayers, yet those who received prayer developed half the complications that were experienced by those in the control group. A similar study by the Dartmouth Medical School examined the effect of prayer on healing when the patients prayed for themselves. The death rate six months after bypass surgery was 9 percent for the general population but 5 percent for those who prayed for their own healing. And none of the deeply religious patients died during the period of the study. 1

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[Tweet “Divine healing is ‘Jesus style’ healing. It’s the method that He employed in His earth walk.”]

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Why the Calling of God on Your Life Takes Time

The Epistle to the Galatians

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God has a calling on your life.

I came across this amusing story which as a nice application in the area of our calling in God.

The commanding officer was furious when nine GIs who had been out on passes failed to show up for morning roll call. Not until 7 p.m. did the first man straggle in. “I’m sorry, sir,” the soldier explained, “but I had a date and lost track of time, and I missed the bus back. Being determined to get in on time, I hired a cab. Halfway there, the cab broke down. I went to a farmhouse and persuaded the farmer to sell me a horse. I was riding to camp when the animal fell over dead. I walked the last ten miles, and just got here.” Though skeptical, the colonel let the young man off with a reprimand. However, after him, seven other stragglers in a row came in with the same story—had a date, missed the bus, hired a cab, bought a horse, etc. By the time the ninth man reported in, the colonel had grown weary of it. “Okay,” he growled, “now what happened to you?” “Sir, I had this date and missed the bus back, so I hired a cab .” “Wait!” the colonel screeched at him. “don’t tell me the cab broke down.” “No, sir,” replied the soldier. “The cab didn’t break down. It was just that there were so many dead horses in the road, we had trouble getting through.” 1

The point is that sometimes there are obstacles that you have to traverse, bumps in the road that you have to climb on and over in order to realize your calling from God. Overcoming these bumps take time and in God, you just have to learn to respect the process.

For more on the book of Galatians see the following posts: Do You Look Like the Galatians?

Upcoming Series for the Light on Life Podcast: Gospel Truths on Healing

[Tweet “Paul was busy in ministry teaching and building the church before he got over into his calling.”]

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#S4-006: How and Why It’s Important to Honor Your Parents [Podcast]

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Honor your parents, that's the Word of God unto us.

Philo, a first-century Jew living in Alexandria, Egypt, writes about the obligation of children in the home to honor their parents.

“Parents have not only been given the right of exercising authority over their children… for parents pay out a and invest in nurses, tutors, and teachers, in addition to the cost of their clothes, food, and care in sickness and health from their earliest years until they are full grown. Given all these considerations, children who honor their parents do nothing deserving of praise since even one of the items mentioned is in itself quite a sufficient call to show deep respect…Therefore, honor your father and mother next to God, he [Moses] says [Ex. 20:12].… For parents have little thought for their own personal interests and find their fulfillment and happiness in the high excellence of their children, and to gain this the children will be willing to listen to their instructions and to obey them in everything that is just and profitable; for the true father will give no instruction to his son that is foreign to virtue.” 1

Philo had it right. The Bible is clear, honor your parents.

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[Tweet “Jesus connects the word ‘honor’ with doing things financially for your father and mother.”]

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Why Your Miracle Testimony Gives Glory to God

The Epistle to the Galatians

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Your Miracle Testimony Is Important

A rather pompous-looking deacon was endeavoring to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. “Why do people call me a Christian?” the man asked. After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you.”1 This is not the way to live. Our miracle testimony should give glory to the God who saved us. It should be evident.

For more on the book of Galatians see the following posts:

Do You Look Like the Galatians?

Why Bumbling Believers Are Yet Part of the Family of God

Why Things Never Go Right for Some

Why You’re Bored in Church and How to Overcome It

The Truth About the Enormous Problem of Itching Ears

Beware of Abandoning Jesus and Know How to Spot the Signs

[Tweet “Comparing one person’s sins to another is futile. We were all lost in whatever way we took.”]

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#S4-005: What to Do When Your Family Thinks Your Nuts about Jesus [Podcast]

The Kingdom Series

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Are You Nuts about Jesus?

Here you are, you’ve come to Jesus and you’re nuts about Him. In fact, you didn’t just come to Him, you gave Him your everything. But, your family thinks you’ve gone off the deep end. You’ve gone a little too far with this Jesus business. What do you do? Well, you can look at the example of Jesus. What did Jesus do when His family thought He had lost His mind over God the Father?

Listen to the Audio

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[Tweet “The ones who are nuts, are those who don’t choose the Kingdom first lifestyle.”]