Are They All Spiritualy Healthy?

Are you concerned about the Spiritual health of your brothers and sisters?

Do you think because someone is a member of your assembly that they have a good grasp of their salvation in Christ?

Or because someone comes on Sunday, or to any studies, or Bible activities in your church building that they are safely living their new life of Christ in the world?

God shows us that just by asking a few simple questions, we can find out the spiritual health of a fellow believer. To know this, read the gospels and the book of Acts to see how the many gifts of God are used to bring people to know Jesus and His death on the cross. It was for their Spiritual needs; the immanent necessity of knowledge to obtain the righteousness given by Jesus' death on the cross.

God has more concern for the spiritual health of His people than their physical needs.

"Therefore, do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" Matthew 6:31-33

• We trivialize the cross of Jesus Christ by making it pretty.
• We make the cross of Jesus Christ frivolous by making it a symbol.
• We accessorize the cross of Jesus Christ as what God did from love.

The cross of Jesus Christ is the wrath of God.

"The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is in unconscious blasphemy."

Oswald Chambers: My Utmost for His Highest

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" Proverbs 1:7

"Bear one another's burdens , and so fulfil the law of Christ" Galatians 6:2.

(Jesus said), "This is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" John 15:12

Ask a few questions to see how your brothers and sisters in Christ are doing in their Christian walk and help them where they need strengthening.

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Leaders In Faith, Leaders Of Faith

"Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" James 5:14,15.

It is the example of faith in the leaders of the church that helps in the healing faith of the sick. The oil may be medicine from the Doctor, or it may be the action of using the symbol of the Holy Spirit (the oil) that helps the sick recover.

But whatever way God choses to interact in response to the elder's prayer, it is the action of believing faith exhibited in our elders that comes to the forefront. It is all faith in the Lord that is the power.

The showing of faith is like the faith of the four men who brought the paralytic to Jesus by lowering him through the roof. It was their faith that brought God's blessed healing on the sick man. (Mark 2: 1-5)

In seeing the godly faith of others brings conviction of sins and repentance and finally forgiveness. The sick are healed physically and maybe healed spiritually also, if need be.

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The Continuity of The Bible

The theme in Psalm 136, 137 & 138 is God's enduring Mercy and it repeats through these three songs.

I am so amazed at how God designed the Bible, (For I believe the Bible is all God's doing from cover to cover in any language) and I am constantly amazed how certain books and passages line up.

Psalm 136 seems boring with its repetition but when reading it as listening to a leader speaking and then a crowd giving the echo, I imagine God smiling. It is a great song of praise and worship.

Then psalm 137 follows and leaves the wonderment of why so sad a follow-up? It recounts the horror of Israel's captivity in Babylon. The atrocious treatment at the hands of their captors.

But because the sadness of 137 follows immediately after 136, I return to the refrain "For His mercy endures forever" (or as it actually reads "For His mercy forever!) You can't help but recall the mercy of God. People are seldom merciful, but God never changes. His mercy endures forever.

The life of a person on earth is so short as to never even cause a blip on the eternal. Yes, the captivity was horrible, but God's people have the remembrance of God's everlasting mercy. The Rock of Salvation, A Mighty Fortress.

And Psalm 138, a song of David placed seemingly out of context, for David wrote it long before the Babylonian captivity. Yet reading 136, 137. & 138 altogether, the song continues and completes.

For David is the author of the chorus of 136 as he writes 138:8b: "Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever"

How awesome to have thee three Psalms lined up to be read as one song, with a common chorus.

"Your mercy, O LORD, forever"

Amen

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God Designed Christianity for His Glory!

Paul's letter to Ephesians reveals the awesomeness of the grace of God that saves us. Our God is so awesome!

The entire first chapter of this book explains the simplicity of our faith. He established all of Christianity before we even knew anything about Him. He laid down the foundation of our faith in heaven in Christ Jesus before man existed.

That's one of those things we can't really get our heads around but when we're born-again and in Christ Jesus by faith, we can see the kingdom of God. We can undeniable accept our life in Christ because God is the power in us to do so.

And then there's the great explanation of grace in 2:8-10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works. lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

We have something supernatural that the religions based on the world ideas cannot even comprehend. Heavenly God is the Author of the Christian faith. We are saved in Jesus' sacrificial death for it pleased God to do so to save everyone in the world. And all those who accept Jesus as Savior have that predestined power of Christianity in this new life in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Amazing Grace!!!!

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Can You Trust God When Your Ship Is Sinking?

Paul suffered the perils of a severe shipwreck recorded in Acts 27.

"Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up" Acts 27:20.

Paul was in chains, a political prisoner on his way to the High Court of Rome and the ship that his guards had placed them on was going down in a horrendous winter storm. Paul never lost his faith, even though everything around him was literally coming apart.

A successful missionary, vexed by many trials, Paul probably needed some encouragement often, yet even in this particular life-threatening peril, while apparently personally fearful, he prayed for everyone else.

God dispatched an angel to encourage Paul."Saying, "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you" Acts 27:24.

God didn't calm the storm, it raged on for days, yet Paul's faith in God's control saved everyone's life. The guards wanted to kill the prisoners to keep anyone escaping during the sinking and the sailors attempted to save themselves and abandon the passengers. Paul's concerns are for the lives of everyone around him. He trusted God's love for their souls, and didn't get distracted by the loss of the material.

God never says our ministries will be easy, or that what we know of God will be accepted by everyone around us, but even when the ship is sinking, we need to remember that our focus is on God, not on the sinking ship under our feet. God cares for people's souls and not necessarily their material comfort. While common sense says we need this, or that to serve God, God says, "All you need is Me. Look to Me and I'll take care of all the material things." (Matthew 6:33)

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest says this about trusting God even while common sense says it can't work that way.

"If a man (woman) is going to do anything worth while, there are times when he has to risk everything on his leap, and in the spiritual domain Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense and leap into what He says, and (when) you immediately do, you find that what He says fits on as solidly as common sense.....Trust God entirely, and when he brings you to the venture, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.

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Moses In The Cleft Of The Rock

We sing "Rock of Ages, Cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee" That song carries in it a tremendous amount of Spiritual truth and Scriptural truth.

In Exodus 33, Moses asks God for a marvelous gift when he asked to see God. Not Jesus incarnate, whom talked to Moses face to face at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, but God the Father.

"And he, (Moses). said, 'Please show me Your glory." Ex 33:18.

God seems quite pleased with Moses request, immediately answering: "Then He, (God) said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you." Ex 33:19a

But, God gives a concession in one thing: "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion'" Ex 33:19b.

No one has seen God the Father at any time (John 14:9), and He lives in unapproachable light, (1 Tim 6:16).

The Bible also declares that the pure holiness of God will destroy anything impure and unholy by nearness to Him. Because Adam's sin corrupted every thing God created, means every created thing will be destroyed by God's perfection, no matter what, (2 Thess 2:8, Heb 12: 18-21), (Ex 19), unless God consents to spare it. Which means He is being VERY gracious to the world.

So God has to give this extra declaration that He will choose not to destroy Moses. Yet He said He would show only His back; "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live" Ex 33:20.

But Moses still wants the joy of seeing God, and with absolute child-like trust in God's grace, Moses goes to the place on the mountain where God shows him to wait.

Moses did not go to a cleft to wait. There is no break in the mountain for him to squeeze into. God opened the side of the mountain, placing Moses into it, and closing up the mountain. Moreover, God gave the protection of His hand over the place where He enclosed Moses. Then God, the Father, allowed Moses to see His Almighty Light after passing. God's glory, (the Hebrew word Kabod), His Might.

"So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you into the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen" Ex 33:22,23.

Moses couldn't place himself in the rock to save himself from God's perfection, and he couldn't get out once God had placed him in the rock. It was all God's doing. And He did it just because Moses asked.

God has done a similar thing for those who believe in Him and have asked for forgiveness of sin. We can't stand in the perfect Light of Almighty God, (Rev 19:11-15), unless God has chosen to do something to save us.

Which He did, for the same reason He told Moses. "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" Ex 33:19. Jesus took our sin and died for it, (2 Cor 5:21), so God the Father can give us Jesus' righteousness.

"For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved" Romans 10:13. (Joel 2:32)

We can't get ourselves into Christ without the Father's grace, (John 14:6, John 17), and after we're in, we can't get out because He holds us there by His grace,(John 10:28-30).

wow

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Do You Want Revival?

Brought dynamically alive by God for His work would be great!

But, is it possible, if God the Holy Spirit revealed Himself to some congregations today, might there be more weeping than rejoicing.

To have the perfect presence of God come into the midst of a Sunday congregation would expose how terribly sinful we are and how unfit we are for His work. When Peter saw one miracle, he fell at Jesus' feet and begged Him to leave,(Luke 5:5-8). And Peter was a godly man seeking the coming of his Messiah, (John 1:40, 41).

In the past, when the God's revivals came, the men and women went into small groups of prayer, and earnestly sought God for themselves, fasting, asking to be cleansed, forgiven, and made right for the work. And then they turned their prayers toward the needs of others.

And God answered their faith and faithful prayers to change them and the areas around them for a generation.

"Fear of the LORD is instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility" Proverbs 15:33.

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" 1 Peter 5:6.

"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction, but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
Now to Him who is able to keep
you from stumbling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy, to God our Savior,
who alone is wise, be glory and majesty. dominion and power,
both now and forever.
Amen."
Jude 20-25.

To be revived, you must admit you're dead and without power in yourself, trusting God to bring life back to your body.

Wanting revival shouldn't be for personal benefit, it should be a desire for our God to be revealed and glorified by the changes in our lives and the lives of those who will be saved by His grace and love.

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