Do you really know your captain?

/ Jesus_Follow3r / 2 Comments

This is a great post! I enjoyed the illustrative connection that you made between “Saving Private Ryan” and the ongoing spiritual warfare which we constantly face in our lives.
As Christians it is both absolutely amazing and reassuring that Jesus, the One who conquered the grave and overcame the world, is working on our side!
Like you identify near the end of this post, it is simply not possible for us(or anyone) to faithfully and wholeheartedly pursue an intimate relationship with God without first knowing Him. The only way where we are really able to get to know God is through His Word. Through the transformative power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, our hearts will be molded into being joyfully obedient to God. I believe that it is this very form of joyful obedience that the Lord desires for all His Children to pursue.

God Bless!

Elihu's avatarElihu's Corner

Saving Private Ryan, Photo by Amblin Entertainment - © 1998 Saving Private Ryan, Photo by Amblin Entertainment – © 1998

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Ephesians 6.10-13

Many of you may remember seeing the movie Saving Private Ryan. The movie is not for the faint of heart, particularly the opening scene. All the ugliness and brutality of war is graphically portrayed so that the viewers would understand the depth of sacrifice the dead and the…

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Church. What’s The Point?

/ Jesus_Follow3r

This blog entry conveys a deeply-needed message to Christians particularly within the West. It’s so easy to overemphasize either building up one another as a Church, or physically evangelizing in the world. It is certainly a very delicate balance that definitely needs to be maintained, however. By seeking to maintain this balance our impact as Christians is able to be optimized and most importantly our Awesome God is also being glorified!

God Bless!

Attitude of Gratitude

/ Jesus_Follow3r / 1 Comment

One of the most consistently explored topics in the Bible surrounds the importance of being thankful as believers in Christ Jesus. Being thankful in all circumstances is by no Thankful in all circumstancesmeans an easy thing to accomplish alone, but I do believe that as Christians with the indwelt Holy Spirit it is not so much a recommendation than it is an act of obedience to the Lord. Throughout this post I will highlight three central reasons explaining why the Christian attitude should be one of gratitude.
Continue reading →

Suffering (Part 1 of 4), Perseverance, Character, and Hope

/ Jesus_Follow3r / 2 Comments

Romans 5 3-4.jpgToday I feel that the Holy Spirit is guiding me to start a new series about perhaps one of the most ubiquitous topics that we face on a day-to-day basis. Specifically, this topic focuses on both suffering and perseverance and their critical importance in our lives, particularly as Christians living in an increasingly broken world. Throughout this first entry (1 of 4 in series) I will attempt to provide linkages between suffering and perseverance, relying on God’s Word, in order to emphasize their respective levels of significance in the Christian life.

To begin, I will identify what the Scriptures tell us regarding the value that suffering has in the Christian life.

The relevant Scriptural Text here comes from Romans 5:3-5 where it tells us the following:

3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

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He Orchestrates Your Life

/ Jesus_Follow3r

Great post!
It’s very encouraging, and so incredibly true!
Good things certainly come to those who prayerfully and faithfully wait upon the Lord!
I have definitely learnt the importance of always trusting in God by leaning on His strength and relying on His wisdom from His Word particularly throughout life’s valleys!
The precision of His timing for those who obediently submit to Him is unparalleled and it is infinitely greater than we could ever accomplish alone.
Thanks for sharing!

Melwyn Misquitta's avatarBoosters, Prayers & Confessions

FAITH BOOSTER:

He Orchestrates Your Life [June 01, 2015]

WORD OF FAITH:

“There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’s counsel — that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21, NKJV)

God is a strategic God. He has laid out an exact plan for our lives down to the smallest details. God knows the people you’re going to need to fulfill your destiny. He knows who is going to need to give you a good break and who is going to need to put in a good word for you. He knows when someone is going to need to be there to help you out of a difficult time. God has it all figured out. He is not vague or approximate. God is orchestrating our lives down to the very second, causing us to be at the right place at the right time so we can meet the right people…

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5 Ways To Actually Practice Mercy You Need To Know

/ Jesus_Follow3r

Admittedly, I didn’t have the opportunity to read last Thursday’s post, however based on the excerpt you provided here, I absolutely agree with your insightful thoughts.
What I have come to discover is that Truth is often the toughest pill to swallow, especially during particular seasons/times when we have permitted our Christian lives to become complacent (myself included).
Over the recent years, I feel that throughout Western Culture we have allowed Christianity to become too comfortable.
Nowadays, it is very evident that the number of Christians whom actually pursue godly risks, and take leaps of faith is dwindling. This deeply saddens me, and this reminds me even more so of how much work is needing to be done by Christians in this broken world.
Jesus tells us that “…The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2).
Jesus not only clearly identifies the problem (which is just as relevant now as it was then), but He also provides us with the solution. The solution is simply found in faithfully asking(through prayer) our Mighty God to send(emphasis) workers(you and I) into the harvest field(to those in need within the front-lines).
It is worth noting as well that believers doing the praying are no more exempt from actively partaking in this work of spreading the Gospel(The Great Commission) themselves than other believers.

God Bless!

Hate Isn’t Helpful

/ Jesus_Follow3r

I definitely agree with this author’s thoughts regarding the destructive influence that hatred has amassed within our already-fractured world. Sadly, hatred has become increasingly more and more prevalent in this day and age. Having said this, I am genuinely concerned for what is on the horizon for this generation in light of the frighteningly significant level of traction that hatred has gained.
Roman 12:21 tells us the solution to this dilemma by instructing us to, “…not be overcome by evil, but [to] overcome evil with good”.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please bless all of us as we fight the good fight by seizing every opportunity while striving to make a difference by being empowered with Your Holy Spirit.
Also, please help us to keep our eyes on Your Son: Jesus Christ, Who is our Living Hope, where we are made completely secure and anchored by means of Your unfailing love!

In Jesus’ Name I pray,
Amen.

Steve Keating's avatarLead Today

So…. I sent out a tweet a few days ago about hate. It said basically that you don’t gain anything by hating and that the “hater” loses more than the “hated.” That’s it, it didn’t say anything about who hated, why anyone would hate, it mentioned no name, no race, no sexual preference, no political affiliations, nothing.

Immediately after sending it out, and I mean immediately, I started getting replies about how stupid liberal democrats are and how republicans make it hard not to hate. In short, I received a bunch of hate-filled replies agreeing that hate was terrible but blaming either democrats or republicans for making it impossible not to hate.

I’m going to guess here but I’m betting it was Republicans blaming Democrats and Democrats blaming Republicans.

Other people blamed gays for hate, or Muslims, or TV news, or cops, or blacks, or whites, it went on and…

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Comfort in Knowing God’s Sovereignty Despite the Unfairness of Life

/ Jesus_Follow3r / 2 Comments
Always trust in the Lord!

Always trust in the Lord!

The unfairness of life is commonly held knowledge in this fallen and broken world. Paradoxically, bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. The beauty of surrendering your life to Christ is not that suddenly bad things no longer afflict you, but rather that God wastes nothing with these bad things. Even during our darkest and seemingly hopeless times we are able to trust in God’s perfect timing that our sufferings and afflictions(all things) will be redeemed working for our good (Romans 8:28). One excellent example of this is how God redeemed the most heinous form of evil, the crucifixion of His Son Jesus Christ, into our means of salvation and where He is able to be eternally glorified. Continue reading →

Value of Money in The Christian’s Life

/ Jesus_Follow3r / 1 Comment

Like with mostly anything, when we as Christians view something as an ultimate, we risk committing the sin of idolatry. As Christians we must ensure that we do not allow anything to obstruct our relationship with God. Most people believe that money in and of itself is evil, but rather it is “…the love of money” which is the real root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). The Lord knows that we require money to live. It is when we relentlessly pursue and desire the accumulation of more and more money, regardless of the costs involved, that we run into problems. This is why it is critically important that we keep Christ above everything else in our lives. Continue reading →