Archive for March, 2014


Christianity Is A Hard Task

Q: I am a young man battling with my Christian faith. Growing up, I was the only one in my household who had a difficulty converting to Christianity as I did not want to conform to the morals and standards of the Christian journey because I found that life boring. However, I began attending church regularly in my late teens. I found myself getting closer to God, especially through my exciting Sunday school classes. The classes were engaging and fruitful. The teacher was the main reason the class was so real to me and uplifting. He portrayed Christ-like qualities, and knew how to express and share the joy he found in the Lord. He went the extra mile to guide me and helped with my decision to be baptized. I was now on the right path, ready to fulfill God’s purpose for me. I believe God placed him in my life. He was an excellent example to how to follow Christ.

I moved to a different parish because of my job, and while there, I found it difficult to find a church. I kept in touch with my old Sunday school teacher, especially when my Christian journey got rough. It is a rough journey. I am trying hard to keep the faith, but that changed one night.

While on vacation, I went out with my non-Christian friends. I had a few drinks too many, and we ended up at a strip club. I felt guilty the entire time I was there and wanted to leave. But when I decided that this place was not for me, I noticed a familiar face in a corner of the strip club. To my amazement, it was my old Sunday school teacher! I immediately walked over to him where I pushed away one of the women. I didn’t have the strength to utter any words. He quickly grabbed my hand and took me outside, trying to formulate some kind of explanation, but failed. He was the one person I could count on to make sure I was doing what was right in the Lord. Now, I am lost and confused and I do not know who I can trust or believe in. How do I find my way back to Christ?

A: The arm of flesh will fail you, so you dare not trust your own. Your Sunday school teacher is not perfect, just like you. He struggles with temptations similar to your struggles. In fact, it is part of human nature to struggle with temptation for the rest of one’s life. Failure to meet the standards of God does not mean one is not a Christian. It means one has fallen short of the Glory of God. Sometimes, we even rebel against God’s will. God is always willing to forgive our failures and sins. God wants erring human beings to be sorry for their wrong actions and pledge to do better.

PUT CONFIDENCE IN GOD

Your confidence should not be in any preacher or Sunday school, but in God. You will need the support of others in the Christian journey. You need to engage in spiritual exercises of meditation, reading of the Bible, prayer and alms-giving. This will make you stronger to continue the Christian walk.

Don’t condemn your Sunday school teacher because you saw him at the strip club. It is better to try to understand him and encourage him to walk the straight and narrow path.

All the best on your spiritual journey.

Courtesy of the Editor (Jamaica Gleaner)

Have you been struggling and seeking the answer you need to find peace and deliverance from whatever situation you are facing in your life today?

struggles

Has the devil been feeding you with negative and defeating thoughts to make you believe that you will never overcome your struggles?

The answer to your struggles is just a distance between your knees and the floor. Prayer is a powerful resource that you can utilize to find the peace and comfort you need to get you through whatever situation you are struggling with.

You might be depressed, confused, exhausted and hopeless, but Jesus encourages you in the Scripture, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30.

God’s Compassion Never Fails

When life’s troubles hit you like a tidal wave, you must remember that God’s Compassion never fails (Lamentations 3:22).

God can give you the hope you need….. feeling hopeless reminds you that you are helpless without God.

Hope

Do you fear that life will be a constant struggle and you will continue to live in poverty for the rest of your life? Have you been trying different methods to obtain a financial breakthrough, but kept failing?

Lonely-man

Have you been worried that you might get sick, lose your home, lose your job, lose your spouse, get a divorce, lose your profit in a business, and be stabbed in the back by whom you trust? Or that you won’t get married, have children and fulfill your dream of a career? Or you or your children will not amount to any success? The list of scenarios could be much longer than this; nevertheless, let’s get to the matter at hand.

Life is short, you need to enjoy it while it last. God does not want you to walk by fear, but by faith. I used to be in that situation years ago, where I was looking about a specific business, and instead of trusting God, I got worried. Conversely, I realized that ‘worry’ only caused me to get sick and weak, and disallowed me to move forward in the path that God has laid out for me.

Over the years, God has put me through several severe test, which allowed me to prove Him and increased my faith in Him. In fact, while here on earth, Jesus could not do any mighty work, if the people did not have faith in Him. It doesn’t matter what God has promised you, you have got to believe to receive!

In recent time, for reasons I cannot specifically disclose at this time, I was working towards a major project that God has already promised me two years before. I have seen this project materialized in a dream, and God has shown me that He will help me to accomplish this dream. For the same reason, when I got to the point where everything would be materialized, the enemy reared its ugly head. You see, when you get to a point in your life when you will accomplish something great, and Satan knows that your breakthrough is imminent, that’s the time when he works the hardest to plant lies and seeds of doubt in your mind. Why? Satan knows if he plants lies and seeds of doubt in your mind, then your faith will be weakened, and you won’t please God for Him to reward you.

There are certain dreams that you have to accomplish in your life, that God sometimes require your physical help here on earth, while He works supernaturally in heaven. Although this may be true, if you become weak, fearful and doubtful, then you won’t be able to carry through effectively, hence thwarting the plans that God is helping you to accomplish.

All things considered, I again proved what I need to do, in order to have the blessings and plans of God accomplished in my life.  In the final stage of this major project when the enemy reared its ugly head, I was getting weak and contemplating what to do. Granted this, I have a picture frame that I bought sometime earlier, because it contains a scripture that I gave my mother-in-law on her death-bed, minutes before she departed this earth. This picture frame has been hanging in my house for about two years untouched. Admittedly, the very day when this major project would be materialized, and I was getting weak and in contemplation from all the exhaustion of working towards the fruition of this project, I cried out to God, and I heard a loud thud! I hurried out to the living room to see what it was, and lo and behold, I saw the picture frame flat on the floor, unbroken! The scripture on the picture frame is:

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Well, seeing this, I said, “Lord, I hear you.” I persisted and pressed through by faith, and this major project finally came to fruition that very day!

Given these points, what I have learned through my years as a Christian, if you do not have faith, it is impossible to please God, and if you can’t please Him, then He can’t reward you. For you to get any breakthrough in your life right now, you have got to act through faith, and not only so, because faith without work is useless. You will have to play your part. At the same token, you have got to press!

With that being said, stop believing the lies of the enemy today. There’s something that you have to accomplish, of which you believe won’t be materialized, because you are doubting God. I am not sure who I am speaking to, today. To put it briefly, stop doubting God, and step out in faith right now, to claim that which the Lord has promised!

Amen!

with faith you can move mountains

praise-the-lord-morning-550x320

“One of them came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Glory to God, I’m healed!’ He fell flat on the ground in front of Jesus, face downward in the dust, thanking Him for what He had done. . . . Jesus asked, ‘Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the nine?’” Luke 17:15–17

I have often thought of how exciting it will be when we get to heaven and our eyes will be opened to see all the miracles God did for us — most of which we were unaware of. However, we will also come to realize how many times we rationalized away many of the miracles— just like the nine lepers who were healed.

The cartoon character Charlie Brown gave several possibilities as to why the nine lepers never returned to Jesus to give thanks. Keep in mind that these are only possibilities, but they reveal a lot about human nature. One man waited to see if the cure was real. – One waited to see if it would last. – One said he would see Jesus later. – One decided that he had never really had leprosy. – One said he would have gotten well anyway. – One gave the glory to the priests. – One said, “Oh, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything.” – One said, “Any rabbi could have done it.” – One said, “I was already much improved.”

Think about it. Are we thanking God for all He has done and is doing for us? Or are we, like the lepers, rationalizing away God’s miracles? Father, would You please give us an attitude of gratitude — every day?

Thank You! Amen.

 

Exodus 14When you have done what you can, God will do what you can’t.

May God Give You…

MayGodGiveYou

May God Give You . . .

For Every Storm,  ‘A Rainbow,’

For Every Tear, ‘A Smile’,

For Every Care, ‘A Promise’,

And ‘A Blessing’ in Each Trial.

For Every Problem Life Sends,

A ‘Faithful Friend’ to Share,

For Every Sigh, A ‘Sweet Song’,

And An ‘Answer for Every Prayer’. Amen!

Grace to You and Peace from God Our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:2).

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