What happens when you believe in the resurrection

It is easy to fall into the realm of intellectually giving one's ascent that Jesus physically rose from the dead. Do you really believe it? Once one sees the Son of God and the Son of Man arise from the dead, how hard will it be to believe that person? A much deeper understanding and a much deeper relationship results in embracing the risen Lord.

Jesus the...Almighty

Many Christians are like the woman at the well. Their troubles run very deep. When Jesus comes, we reason "of course he cannot bring up peace and comfort from the well within me. It runs too deep." Jesus is not going to bring up anything from the wells of your humanity. Like the Greater than Elijah, he will call down water from above, because he is the Almighty.

Doubting Jesus' Sufficiency

We often times fool ourselves when we say we trust in Jesus alone. The fact is that we trust in ourself alone and in Jesus for heavenly things. We neglect to consider an incarnational Jesus working in the contemporary world. We tend to delegate his work for heaven and designating the hard earthly work for the flesh. Jesus claims be bring us all things, both on heaven and earth for those who place their faith in Him.

Pouring Yourself Out To Others For Christ's Sake

When it comes to Christian service, the saying 'what would Jesus do? is appropriate." In most people's estimation, they like the idea of service, but not really for Christ's sake, but to be seen by others. It was Paul who stated that the more he loves, the less he is loved. That is hard for must of us to take. We want return for our service. It is necessary to remember the return Jesus received for all of His service.

The Love of Christ in Me

We are not called to be our own. Genuine relationship to Jesus in marked by the term surrender. The incarnational work of Jesus is now done through His disciples. Therefore we are not our own. We don't even have spiritual freedom. What we have is spiritual service. The best interests for Jesus is His church. We should at all times be in the Jesus business of building up the church and to advance the cause of His gospel.

For Those Who Are Called, Whom Do They Serve?

Is it a righteous act to pour yourself out in service for the benefit of humanity? The World thinks so. These are not the echos of the Apostle Paul. Yes, he poured his life out as a drink offering, but for the sake of Jesus Christ. It is Christ alone who he served. For anyone considering service, the rewards are greater and the honor is lower when you serve the King of King and Lord of Lords.

God's Command to Perseverance

Endurance is not perseverance. The difference is the object of your hope. Hope grounded in Christ is perseverance because our expectation is for our Lord to be victorious over every one of our enemies.

What agape love looks like

Love that is not whole hearted and others centered is not love at all. God values our will more than anything else in our lives. Love will forgive a multitude of sins. Love never fails to achieve its goals and is always sufficient.

Drudgery is hard work

It is not very often that our Christian experience leads us to the mountain tops. The overwhelming part of our experience is in the task work, those simple and uninspiring jobs that in the long run set us apart from the world. It is better to seek our inspiration from the Lord who is our example.

Moving Forward in Christ

Fortunately, during our times of dispair, Christ does not let us perish. Instead He commands us to arise and to go forth with Him. We cannot see the future that He holds for us. As David said, it is better to place your life in the hands of a Redeemer than in the hands of ruthless men. So arise and lets go forth.

Got Depression?

Did you know that all of the great figures of the Bible suffered depression? The simple answer to such a problem is following the Spirit of God to begin doing the simple things. When David had laid prostrate before God so as not to lose him, God still took his son. David arose, groomed himself and went to dine. When asked why he carried on this way he said because God refused his plea so there is no need to go on morning. In the same way, when Cain was ashamed and depressed before God, God asked him if he arose and did something good, would not his countenance rise? These are two different reactions to the same problem. Depression is of the flesh, life is of the Spirit.

Speak, Your Servant Hears

The right heart attitude of a child of God is intently listening for your Master's voice. We, however, often times are listening to the world and don't even hear our Master's call. Jesus says if you are my friend, you will hear my voice. Jesus calls us His friend, yet we only hear Him sometimes. We need to be in the world, but not of it.

Ultimate Humiliation

In our minds, we don't deliberately disobey God. We simply do not listen to Him. That's why the children of Israel said to Moses to speak to them, less God speak to them. They probably felt disobeying Moses was better than disobeying God. The problem is that ultimately our disobedience will be brought before us and we will experience the ultimate shame and humiliation. And that's the way it is with the Greater than Moses representative of God in Jesus Christ. If we love Him, we will obey Him.

The Vanity of Unbelief

It is impossible to deny the existenance of an all-knowing all-sovereign God. The natural man wants to avoid this realtiy and they hope against hope that with the passage of time, that this all aspiring feeling of the presence of God will dwindle. However, men in the absence of God are in no wise superior to brute beasts and in many respects far more miserable. It is as Plato wrote:"the highest good of the soul is likeness to God, where, when the soul has grasped the knowledge of God.

Idols or idolotry?

Spiritual blindness is not being able to see what is put before you. God has revealed himself in many ways. Consider the ocean who knows its boundries or the sun who doesn't fail to show up on time. However, we then compare that with our own experiences. Experiences have a way of hardening the heart and dimming the eyes. It is time to set aside the experiences of fallen man and put on the God who is the creator of the universe.

Feed My Sheep

When you are discipling another believer, it is likely that they will draw their spiritual energy from you rather than Christ. At times, it may feel as though your spiritual service is exhausted, but it is important to remember your first love. Christ brought you up in the faith so that you can rely on him for your nourishment. So when you are feeling weary, go back to Him who sent you.

The Cost of Discipleship

If we pray the prayer to be sanctified, many do not know what they are asking? Sanctification is a work of God that separates us from the world for His sake. It is loving the Lord with all our hearts, soul, strength, and mind. It may sound good to pray for such a thing, but who is prepared to do that? Are you willing to give all that you have away to follow Christ, because that is what you are asking?

Seeking Christ

It is interesting that God says his name is I am, but we are forever calling out am I? To call I am is to be seeking God Almighty, but the one who calls out am I is headed for physical and spiritual destruction. In our daily prayers, we should seek the person of Christ, because when you find him, you find the answers to your prayers.