Christian

For articles about Belief in Christ Jesus and exploring faith

Bible Reading Update

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Having finished reading the lifetime of Moses a little while back

I felt sympathy towards Moses after a lifetime of service for God, he was denied entrance into the promised land.

Perhaps this was God’s way of demonstrating the need for the perfect saviour as the only way anyone would be allowed in Heaven.

Moving onwards into the book of Joshua, unlike Moses I knew very little about Joshua

Apart from the Sunday school song “Joshua and the Battle of Jericho” only to find out Joshua went on to conquer many other cities by the sword, unlike his Jericho victory.

Reading later on how Joshua went on to divide the conquered cities for all the tribes of the Lord

I must confess to skipping some of the numerous listed tribes and the lands they were given

I know I must persist in reading His Holy Word daily, even though family life is demanding

Shall I keep reporting my progress, or not?

Perhaps I need to write about other things too?  

Hot – Cold – Luke Warm

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God told us He would rather we were hot or cold and warned us never to be Luke warm

There have been Christians who became cold and turned away from the faith and became atheists

Some of those turned away from being atheists and became Christians again

While some staunch atheists fully embraced Christianity and were born again

Perhaps this world is full of people who have turned so away from God they have grown cold and hard-hearted

Even when on fire for God Christians attempt to preach the gospel, they are mocked and ignored

Ray Comfort takes a different approach by asking people if they consider themselves “Good”

Then step them through a few of the Ten Commandments, by asking if they have ever lied

Ever stolen anything – or have they ever committed adultery (lustily looked)

Then tell them they will have to face God on judgement day

Then He lists all those who will not be allowed into heaven – liars -thieves etc 

Then Ray asks them “Heaven or Hell?”

  He then preaches the good news

With this in mind, the cold and lost will fare better on judgement day than the Luke Warm

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

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

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

He Has Risen

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The world celebrates Easter with chocolate eggs and other indulgences

Whereas Christians celebrate the risen Christ Jesus, by proclaiming

“He has Risen”

Knowing that He died in our place so that we may be forgiven

We can truly rejoice and praise Him with every beat of our new hearts  

As the Holy Spirit continues to transform us so that we may bring glory to His Holy name

With every breath and with every fiber of our being, may our praise never cease as long as we may live

To serve our God and Him alone

May this be true of me and every other Christian

Amen

The Fruits of the Spirit

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I do not boast for I have no goodness of my own, but rather a small but growing fruit of the spirit goodness

In Galatians 5:22-23, Love, Joy, Peace, Forbearance, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control

As with the eating fruit, the Fruits of the Spirit both take time to grow and mature enough to blossom and bear fruit

After being set m free and forgiven of my sins, I experienced an unexplainable joy

Which was promptly replaced by an overwhelming sadness that so many of the world hated God and even the name of Jesus offended them

It seemed I was directed back to YouTube video exposing false teachers who were busily fleecing the flock which preach anything but the Gospel

My new heart I had been given God allowed me to begin to experience and understand His hatred  

At the same time, my patience continued to grow and strengthen my self-control

My heart ached that I could do so little to reach out to all these poor lost souls

I started praying for prosperity preachers individually as they are beyond my contact reach asking the Holy Spirit to touch and convict them so they would come to know His saving Grace

That they would repent and turn away from their sinful lives before it’s too late

I need the help of prayer warriors to join me in praying against the widespread wackiness that continues to spread and growing stronger with every passing day

Unique and Rare Opportunity

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The Year 2023 will Offer a Rare Opportunity for Christians as explained in the Ray Comfort YouTube Video

Click the Image Above or the Link Below

Christians Need to check out this video about an extraordinarily exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach these masses with the Gospel! https://youtu.be/lYlRqseBA0k

The Embaed code failed to work so I had to resort to this other method, in order to share this news