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Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
How are we expected to be happy about the horrors people do to us just because we love God? Our horrors in the western world are nothing compared to those experienced by people in the east.
God does not want us to shy away from things we can do for Him – even if it means we should have to put up with some sort of suffering…
We may not be called to be martyrs, but we are called to share the gospel & many people are going to object and try to ridicule us into stopping what we do. Be strong!
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Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
What sort of a person do you see yourself as? The kind who gets up and does things? The kind who serves others? The kind who looks after themselves first?
We are all very different people and we are all called to do various things to glorify God!
For some, it is to be the peacemakers in society – the people who try to quell the arguments from the factions, the people who try to uplift those in need and bring the able together to help others.
What kind of person are you?
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Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
I can’t read this verse without singing the ‘Veggietales’ song which has these words in it…
This is something we do need to not just remember but to sing and shout about so more people get the chance to change their lives as we should be!
If God was vindictive, we may well have been wiped out as a race already! Instead, God continues to try and get us to focus on what He wants and not on the things He has had to do to sort us out in the past.
Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with YOUR God!
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Luke 8:10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’”
Have you tried to figure out the best way you can learn things by? I learn things best when I have to question what I am being told…
If someone just talks at me and tells me all the story which makes utter sense, my mind goes to sleep because it is not being challenged at all.
But if I hear things which I question, my brain kicks in and starts to ask more and more questions – questions for which I seek the answers for.
God wants our attention, not our unseeing, unhearing gaze!
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Galatians 3:12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”
Some people would take this sort of statement and say how the gospel is against the Torah or how it is against religion… but I say we should be comparing everything with what is already written in the bible.
If we stick absolutely to the law, then we are not supporting our faith. The law has not changed, but the rules of sacrificing things and such like are different because of what Christ has done.
God did not sacrifice Jesus! Jesus came forward knowing He would be crucified; but also knowing He would be raised up from the dead! Have faith.
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Romans 10:5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”
How do you live your life? Do you live it according to the laws of the land, the laws of the Torah, or are you looking for something else?
In the early days when Moses was given charge of teaching the people of Israel how they should be living, he had to teach them a new way to bring them back in line with what God had in mind.
But, people being people, they tried to stick to those rules above all else and hence got tied into that way of living.
Jesus wants us to live in a relationship with Him whereby we do our best and He makes the way forward for us!
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Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
I would not liked to have been Jeremiah when He was receiving all the terrible news of how Israel would become slaves and generally go downhill.
But when God promised things would turn up again, He also promised Jeremiah He would answer his prayers – not based on what men can do, but based on what God can do!
We have an awesome God who is able to do so much more than we can imagine – plead with Him and know He will be answering according to His ability and not your own imagination!
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Jeremiah 23:16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
Have you ever been in the position where your superior is telling you a bunch of lies in order to get you to do something their way?
It may be easier to spot when people in this world are telling you lies because you can compare what they say to reality…
But when it comes down to our teachers and leaders in church, we cannot rely on what the world has to say – we have to look at what God’s Word has said and make sure what they say is in agreement with it!
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Ezekiel 38:14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it?
There is going to be a time when people will look back at what God has done and wonder why they did not believe in Him in the beginning; a sad day.
It may just take a solemn reminder from us of this day to get people to think about their future and open their hearts to God.
We will never be able to work out how other people think or why they don’t want to believe in God; but we can tell them of the things God has promised will happen and allow them to make their own choices.
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Isaiah 2:11 The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
This is not a new way of looking at God – right from the early days during the time of the prophets, God wanted people to focus on their own relationship with Him rather than the acts of sacrifice.
People would compete against each other as to how much they could do for God – and continue to do the same today!
Stop the race. Stop the worldly ways. Focus on what God means to you. Focus on what is in your heart. Focus on what God has done for you and reflect that love!
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Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’
What is your relationship like with Jesus? How do you see Christ? What position do you think you hold in God’s life?
If you focused on the last question, then I would like you to question your relationship with Christ.
We cannot continue to look at our relationship as being some sort of social experience where we judge it by how much we think we do for God.
God wants to know what is in your heart on not what you can do for Him!
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Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
I wonder what went through this man’s mind when Peter said these words! I wonder what it was like to spend all of your life having to beg because you could not work!
We are so lucky in many parts of the world where we have countries such as the UK who try to look after their citizens and keep them from having to beg for a living.
But even though we may be poor in monetary wealth, we still have the wealth of the gospel and God’s love and grace which we can share with others all the time!
Step forward and be the difference!
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Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Daniel did not follow the rules of the land in this matter because he knew in his heart it was against everything he had learned about God.
God is never going to support any law from any land which prohibits people praying openly to Him; Daniel continued to pray openly (he continued to leave his window open just as he had always done)
We need to follow this example and the example laid down by the disciples and lift up our prayers to God ever day and always; He will never stop listening!
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Psalms 55:17 Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
There is nothing new about praying all the time – Daniel was a prime example of someone who refused to give up praying despite it being outlawed.
But many of us only call out to God when things go wrong or when we are under some distress.
We need to change our ways and call out to God at all times, be they good or bad. God is always there, always listening and always ready to be by your side.
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Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
How often do you talk to God? I know when I used to drive a lot to and from work I would always be chatting away as if He was in the car with me…
But then I got a bit busy with doing Christian things and my prayer life began to suffer!
We need to be reminded just like the disciples are being reminded here – never give up talking with God. Just as you would constantly chat away with a friend, so you should be talking to God.
This is a personal relationship we have with Him. Treat it so!
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Luke 21:36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.
When you are faced with things which you feel will be able to overcome you, you need someone who is going to stand by you and encourage you by supporting you no matter what!
We have that in Christ! He is willing and able to stand by our side and get us through the difficult times we face – we may not be able to escape the final result, but God can guide us to the best outcome!
What we should be doing is standing by Christ’s side so we have the best protection at all times and not wandering off and having to call out for help!
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Matthew 25:11 Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
Don’t you just hate it when your appliance breaks down just after the warranty period expires? Unfortunate as it is and as much as we dislike it, we did purchase our appliance knowing the warranty expiry!
Unfortunately, we do not know the date which the Lord will come back – so instead of doing what we like and smartening up the day or hour before, we have to be ready, constantly.
God wants us to be prepared so He will not have to say “I didn’t know you...”
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James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
If you are looking for guidance, then seeking it from the world is going to land you with “worldly wisdom”. We can all see where the world has got itself nowadays – pretty good mess if you ask me!
God is the author of wisdom. He is our creator God and continues to uphold His ways even though the world continues to seemingly destroy itself.
To be confident you are receiving the right advice, always follow God and His Word. Encompass the good fruits from Heaven above.
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James 1:20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Ok, we have to admit it, when we get angry, all sorts of things come out of our mouths and we do things which we don’t normally do! That’s what anger does.
If we could stop ourselves and think for a few moments when we get angry, we probably would not do most of what we do – but that doesn’t happen because we are angry!
God wants us to be quicker to listen than to retaliate, slower to speak than to hear and a bit less apt to anger. For that, we need someone else’s help – ask God to give you that strength each and every day...
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Ecclesiastes 9:17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.
We seem to live in a world where the person with the greatest outreach in social media or the greatest publicity is seen as the wisest…
This is far from the fact! Wise people do not always publicise themselves in order to gain popularity – wise people do what is right and don’t look for public adoration!
Jesus came to do what was right and He did it without trying to gather the biggest crowds and make Himself known; instead, He just continued to do what His father guided Him to do...