Christian

For articles about Belief in Christ Jesus and exploring faith

Christmas Past

grahamcommand Christian, faith, Inspiring

This is in memory of past years and how the culture in England has changed over the years

With little if anything to do with the birth of Jesus, replacing this most important fact

With fantasies of Santa’s Grottos, and Hollywood films adding flying Reindeer for fast delivery of children’s presents.

Christianity has been attacked over many years by the likes of Richard Dawkins, who was happy at the continuing drop of people who attend church, but upset that Ramadan was celebrated

Poor Richard, too obsessed by science to stop and realise that once worshippers stop attending churches will close or be converted into shops, restaurants or residential housing

 Christmas Past

The birth of Jesus was the true meaning of Christmas, for without His birth, we would all be without hope, without freedom from the slavery of sin

Let all those who have chosen by God to worship Him with all their hearts and not as the world has chosen, to celebrate “reason for the season” While encouraging inclusion for everything except Christianity and preaching salvation or even reading the Bible out loud

The depth of darkness

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Inspired by a YouTube Praise video

I love to watch praise videos, mostly through YouTube. In recent years, Facebook has also allowed videos to be uploaded, even those that have been linked from YouTube

Having watched and been uplifted by many praise videos, I quite often scroll down to read the comments, while all Christians offer their own praise and thanks to the person who uploaded the video

There always seem to be other viewers (non-believers) who delight in criticising all too often

There are many forms of darkness, not just the darkness of the night. One of the deepest darkness is depression, which wraps itself around your life force and sucks all the joy out of your very being

Dragging you downwards into a spiral of self-criticism, self-doubt, along with self-pity, which uses our own weaknesses against us

Clouding our vision so we begin only seeing the lies of the darkness, exaggerating even our smallest faults and allowing them to grow into nightmarish monsters

 Much of the darkness inflicted upon us can be beyond our control, while some are self-inflicted because they offer false pleasure but become easily addictive

The enemy weaves such a web of deceit all around us; we can so easily become trapped as a fly stuck fast upon its sticky strands. We soon grow weaker through the struggle and succumb to its power over us until we accept the situation as a normal part of life

Since the fall, we seem to have bodies and minds that are far short of what they should be, and our children become affected by the sins of their parents

Many modern people view the commandments as outdated and even unfair, considering it unreasonable for God to expect us to adhere to all of His strict rules.

Uncontrollable anger rages – a sense of hopelessness, self-doubt, self-pity, and perhaps the worst of all, self-indulgence

This we shrug off with excuses, “I’m only human”, “You have to have some pleasure in life”

But deep in our hearts, we know that self-indulgence will lead us into more self-centred behaviour, blocking out our ability to see our desperate need for salvation before we can help others

Whatever darkness threatens to engulf us, let us pierce with praise, that we be freed from the enemy’s clutches, and help and pray for each other to become free through the grace of Jesus Christ

Help me Lord to make a difference!

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New Creation

Even as You have forgiven me and made me a new creation

You have chosen to give me a desire to serve you within my heart

I continue to read Your Holy Word, even though I struggle and stumble

Although many have been presented to my eyes spreading false teachings

Your word is consent and clear shaking me from idle deceptive words that would tempt me back into that darkness which so enslaved my life before You saved me.

In that hellish place of self-torment where I was so unclean in thought and deeds  

Yet You Oh Lord who chose to set me free, for I am willing to do Your bidding, even if others threatened and killed me, for I would rather die than ever go back to that dark place

I will continue to praise You my Lord and serve You, without fear of what men may do

I no longer desire the things this world has to offer, for You my Lord are more than I will ever need

Amen

What has the darkness to do with the light?

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People love the dark due to their desires overtaking them

Therefore, they dwell in the darkness believing it will hide their sins

Their minds become seared also their hearts are hardened

In this present darkened world, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few

To this extent, gay parades have gathered in huge numbers, in many countries even in unexpected places.

Sucha as in India and here in England there is a gay village in Birmingham city

Jesus said many things during his ministry, but even in his own home town

He was frequently threatened by angry people who at times wanted to stone him

Jesus made it clear to those who would listen

 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Even though Jesus made it crystal clear who He was and why He came

Far too many have become like lost sheep either rejecting God or turning away from Him

Heavenly Father may it please you to use me, unworthy as I am, to bring your light back into this dark world

Moved into Deuteronomy

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My Bible reading is admittedly a slow progress.

Nevertheless, it came as a surprise that I had finished Numbers.

Poor Moses had a really difficult time with the children of Israel

Having been unexpectedly chosen by God to lead the children of Israel out of slavery

From the land of Egypt to the promised land God instructed Moses about

After many times Moses requested the Pharaoh to let his people go, finally, the Pharaoh gave in and told Moses to take his people out of his sight

Even after they had all left and headed to the Red Sea, the Pharaoh pursued intent to capture them all to increase their slavery and punishment hardships

The people were full of fear and began to doubt God and distrust Moses as a leader.

This process continued even though Moses always spoke to God on behalf of the children of Israel

Despite their continually being dissatisfied and crumbling, God directed them to the promised land

With reluctance and stubbornness, they finally entered into the promised land

All except Moses who was denied entrance to the much-awaited paradise of milk and honey

While there will be another Moses, there is no shortage of people who have wandered far from God to the extent of denying His very presence

Being boastful and proud, wilfully exulting themselves as little gods, so blinded by their sinful nature they view themselves as good people

This leaves anyone who has been born again, being slowly transformed into a true Christian

Each one of us finds ourselves becoming a Moses-type seeker of the lost and attempting to show them they are sinners in desperate need of forgiveness.

All those lost ignore or ridicule and mock all Christians whenever they try to shine the light and gently guide them back to our loving Saviour

  

How do you know you have been forgiven?

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Part of knowing you are forgiven and set free from whatever sin nature has enslaved you

As they are part of the same process, first when you have confessed you are a sinner and in need of forgiveness

You will be given a new heart, not a physical one but a spiritual heart

With which you will begin to desire the things of God

The old things of the flesh will not have a hold on you

As you will be a child of God, and as a real child will need to learn and grow

So, you will begin to grow in the fruits of the Spirit

Even when you face hardships or persecution, the Holy Spirit will dwell within you and you will know Jesus as your Saviour

This knowledge alone will sustain you on your journey in this new life

Reading the Scriptures and praying and preaching the Good News

Become part of this new life, also experiencing the Fruit of the Spirit

Starting with patience, at least with me it was so

Followed swiftly with longsuffering, which I thought was the same thing

Of course, I was wrong, as it is more of the progress of shedding off the layers of old stubborn fleshly desires along with old wrongful habits

The Old Testament

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Fairly recently I began reading the Old Testament

Right back to Genesis “In the beginning”

I have to admit I have struggled with not just with names I find it hard to pronounce

But also, with God repeating things already said especially when He spoke to Moses’ instructions for the people he led out of Egypt

It seems more likely the reparations were for His stubborn people

As they often misunderstood or frequently ignored instructions

Humans in these modern days despite all our technical advances are no better at following instructions

I know that is true of me, I’m always too eager to use new things without reading the instruction manual.

Back to my Bible reading progress, I plodded on through Exodus onto Leviticus, and a little way into Numbers.

There are little footnotes at the bottom of the Evidence Bible, which I bought through Living Water Ray Comfort

This was a replacement for the King Charles III Bible, that used for many years, as it had a useful concordance, but the size of the print became a problem, as well as the antiquated language  

When I was a child, I spoke as a child

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When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, and I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

But in that process, I turned away from the God of the New Testament Jesus

Even though I had come to know Him through my school days, youth

Who am I that You Lord should choose to suffer and die for such a wrench this sinner who now kneels before You, guilty in so many ways

I, who knew of you from my young childhood days

Yet so easily forgot all I had been taught

You, the good shepherd, lovingly persisted and directed my path to a Christian school

Lovingly guiding my young life through your words

Bringing me closer to learning and getting to know you in all your fullness

Even then, I quickly shrugged off all you had taught me, all too eagerly seeking out many self-centred pleasures that swiftly became addictive

With thoughts and images that consumed every moment, all too soon tormenting my mind throughout the night and gaining strength throughout every day

In my weakness, I fell prey to so many lies from the enemy that mislead me onto other paths on darkness where I lost all sense of direction

Sin in all its fullness offers many seemingly harmless temptations, but all of them will snare you and corrupt your mind, body, and soul as they did mine.

If not for You, my Lord, being willing to forgive me my sins against You and freeing me from all the wicked darkness I had accumulated

Oh! The blessed relief and joy that flooded into my wretched body, I had quite forgotten what joy felt like and the quietness of peace of mind

I will continue to praise You, Lord, with every breath I take for the rest of my days.

For You are worthy of Praise

A Prowling Lion

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The devil is known by many other names (titles)

One of which is a prowling lion hunger for unsuspecting prey

He is said to be like a prowling eager to kill and destroy

But perhaps we underestimate the full character of the devil

He is also described as the serpent of old who softly spoke lies and planted the seeds of doubt in Eve

Not that Eve was weaker, but rather less experienced since she had been created a little while after Adam so less experienced

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'”

Which is another title he has been given is The Dragoon of Old

While many in this world image the devil to be dressed in red with a pointed tail holding a pitchfork

Which no doubt pleases Satan, as it gives him the freedom to easily deceive and lead them into all kinds of evil darkness without them even knowing

Yet as Christians, we are instructed to wear the armor of God to protect us from the fiery arrows of the enemy

Lest we become entangled and go astray, for he is a real advisor who delights in weakness and exploits our weaknesses to his advantage

Not that the devil is able to hear your thoughts but knows from experience how to use our weaknesses against us

As he did to me recently, piquing my curiosity enough to check out a video

Which Featured a full-bodied young lady wearing a somewhat revealing outfit

In an attempt to arouse my lustful nature, although I managed to avert my eyes from the revealed flesh, I knew that the enemy was stalking close by eager to pounce.

I shudder at just how easily I could have become his next prey, Lord help me to consistently wear your protective armour

Praise

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Based on a Hymn Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty

The second line is “Early in the morning our praise will rise to Thee

That line came back into my memory and inspired me to get out of my bed early as it says

To raise my praise to the Trinity

My praise

Heavenly Farther thank and praise you for the many blessings you bestow on my family and myself

Thank you for the many answers to my prayers

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you were willing to suffer and die on the cross at Calvary, to forgive me of all my sins

May the Holly Spirit continue to transform me into the person you would have me be

Teach me, guide me, inspire me, so that I may bring glory to your Holy name

Thank and praise you for every day you give me breath, that may offer my praises to you

Amen