Religion & Spirituality Blogs (1,493)

What is it that you perceive???? I wish to perceive beauty....

People have been flooded by all types of religions and cultures!Have people realised that most of the world's conflicts are caused by religions and politics?

What if finally on the "judgement day" JESUS CHRIST do not recognise any religion?

If the only question to permit you enter into heaven, which THE LORD JESUS CHRIST will ask is "What was your relationship on earth with ME and "THE ALMIGHTY GOD"? What will be your response?

A Compilation 9/14

Recently I’ve been studying about some of the great men and women of God of the past. Many of them made huge sacrifices, because that’s what was necessary to get the job done in the time and place where they lived, or because that’s what the Lord called them to do. The Lord does ask difficult and sometimes very costly sacrifices of His followers today, but in many cases, the sacrifices we make today are different from theirs. Sacrifice, when the Lord asks it of us, is part of our life for the Lord.

The same principle applies to the way many missionaries of the past, who were among the first to bring Christianity to foreign lands, labored with broken health and suffered physically. These men and women of God deserve our admiration for their obedience to follow the Lord no matter what it cost them.

Thankfully our lives for the Lord aren’t just about sacrifice. And most of the time, we don’t have it so bad. There’s a lot of work, and there are difficulties and obstacles, but if you have the right attitude, then you are able to see the blessings and benefits.—Peter Amsterdam

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There are many leading characters in the Bible, ordinary people who have done great exploits because they knew their God. God has plans for our lives, and when our hearts and minds are aligned with His, He’ll use us in extraordinary ways. Sensitivity and obedience to His agenda will ensure the outworking of His personal guidance. We may never know the chain of events God orchestrates that eventually puts us in such a place for such a time on a grander scale than we know. Perhaps a life will be saved, a shelter built, a tragedy averted because God was directing our course.

Though we may not be privy to an end result, or only see it in hindsight, God’s plans for our lives are intricately connected to His plans for the world. We need to look beyond the mundane to the magnificent and see God’s divine purpose.—Charles Price

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We will never make this world a perfect place; that will only happen when Christ returns in glory. But we are called to make it a better place, doing all we can to alleviate human suffering and combat social injustice. Of all people, Christians should be burdened about intractable problems that plague the human race, such as poverty, disease, ignorance, famine, environmental damage, racism, violence, and war. God may call you to attack these problems directly either individually or on a much larger scale. At a minimum, support those who are working to alleviate these problems in Christ’s name, both by your prayers and your financial support. By doing so, we demonstrate Christ’s compassion for others and also may open the door for the Gospel. Jesus said, “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (1)

… Simply living a good life isn’t enough. People also need to understand what the Gospel is—and they will only understand it if someone tells them. The Gospel has content, and it must be communicated in ways people can understand. Paul asked, “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (2) Preaching isn’t limited to a formal speech or sermon. The word Paul used here means announcing or communicating a message, and it happens whenever we share Christ with someone—whether in church, across a cup of coffee, in a hospital or dorm room, at summer camp, or even seven miles up in an airplane.—Billy Graham (3)

1 Matthew 10:42 NIV.
2 Romans 10:14 NIV.
3 The Journey - Thomas Nelson, 2006





Anchor TFI

How can some claim to love God and hate their own brother, sister, neighbor, friend, spouses.

1 john 4:20 says, if a man says, I love God and hateth his own brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his own brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen

One day Abraham Lincoln was walking down the street with two small boys who were both crying loudly. A neighbor passing by inquired, “What’s the matter, Abe? Why all the fuss?” Lincoln responded, “The trouble with these lads is what’s wrong with the world; one has a nut and the other wants it!” This is an old story and a little humorous, but it humorously illustrates a big problem and the oldest one known to man—greed.

The tragic irony is that the serpent tempted the woman with something that was already true—made in God’s image, she already was like Him! She already radiated His majesty and glory; she already existed in perfection. But it was not enough. It was not enough to have His light pulsating through her; she wanted to be the light itself.—Hannah Anderson

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We are growing in our character every day. The question is in which direction are we growing? Are we growing toward godly character or ungodly character? Are we growing in love or selfishness; in harshness or patience; in greed or generosity; in honesty or dishonesty; in purity or impurity? Every day we train ourselves in one direction or another by the thoughts we think, the words we say, the actions we take, the deeds we do.—Jerry Bridges

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Money is plainly not intrinsic treasure; love is, goodness is, joy is. A beloved disciple, in a moment of inspiration, announced the profound truth that love is “of God.” Men wrongly divide love into two types, “human love” and “divine love,” but in reality there is only love. Wherever love has become the nature of the soul and it has become “natural” now to forget self for others, to seek to give rather than to get, to share rather than to possess, to be impoverished in order that some loved one may abound, there a divine and godlike spirit has been formed. And we now come upon a new kind of wealth, a kind that accumulates with use, because it is a law that the more the spirit of love is exercised, the more the soul spends itself in love, so much the more love it has, the richer it grows, the diviner its nature becomes.—Rufus M. Jones
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JOHN 3:36 ENDS ALL OUR WORRIES! "HE THAT HATH THE SON HATH EVERLASTING LIFE!"

You don't have to wait till you die to find out if you're saved! Once you've received Jesus Christ & you have Him in your heart, & you love Him & you know Him & you believe on Him as your Saviour, there are no if's, and's, or but's about it! You are a saved child of God! You have eternal life right NOW!--And you are the Lord's FOREVER! (Jn.1:12; 6:37; 10:28,29)

You already have Salvation! You don't need to worry about whether or not you are going to lose it, or how you are going to manage to STAY saved, because Eternal Salvation by Grace means ONCE saved, ALWAYS saved!--Besides, YOU can't keep yourself saved any more than you could save yourself in the first place! Only JESUS can do it! (Phi.1:6; 1Pet.1:5) So even though you're not perfect, & you're bound to make mistakes, God is going to save you anyway! Once you've received Jesus, you are completely purified & redeemed in the eyes of God by the sacrifice of CHRIST on Calvary!--That's the amazing Love of Jesus Christ & the Mercy of God! You're saved right now because God has promised it & God's Word is true!

Salvation is FOREVER! He's ALREADY given it to you & He's not going to take it back! It's YOURS! Praise the Lord!




Anchor

It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age. Margret Mead

A compilation JANUARY 20, 2015

Let your conversation be without covetousness [love of money]; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.—Hebrews 13:5 (1)

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And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”—Luke 12:15 (2)

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Everyone is laying up treasure in some way. It may not be expressed in our assets or bank accounts, but there is something which gives us reason to get up in the morning. Whatever controls our heart is our treasure, and it’s either earthly or heavenly. The reality is we straddle both spheres, and no matter how heavenly our interests may be, we live on earth and are subject to its demands and values.

What begins as our treasure, whether earthly or heavenly, is something which serves us and furthers our interests. In the pursuit of it, our treasure becomes our vision, and in time what began as our treasure and grew into our vision becomes our master. The free will we are given is actually limited to one thing … who is our master? From there on, everything we do is a logical explanation of what is the mastering principle of our lives. It’s either temporal or it’s eternal, self-centered or God-centered, earthly or heavenly, but it cannot be both.

Society today holds to the belief that a person’s status and success is directly related to reputation and material wealth, but society has it backwards. We cannot put the pursuit of money, prestige and power before the pursuit of God. Jesus says we cannot serve both God and money. (3)

The features that characterize heavenly treasures are the exact opposite of earthly treasures. Instead of temporary and troublesome, they are permanent and peaceful. To store up treasure in heaven is to live on earth with heaven in mind. The issues which govern our values, goals and behaviours should not be confined to this life only and played out ‘before men’. They should have eternal issues at heart, and be played out before God. The very same possessions, bank balances, occupations, living standards can either be storing up treasure in heaven or on earth. It is not the substance of our possessions that is the issue, but the audience before whom we live.

Materialism does not relate to how much we actually possess, but our attitude towards what we possess. Everything that we lose when we die should be given appropriate status now, and that which holds its currency beyond death is what we should invest in now. Once we have settled the issues of storing up our real treasure in heaven, our vision is good, and our master is God.—Charles Price

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Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.—Matthew 6:19–21 (4)

1 KJV.
2 ESV.
3 Matthew 6:24.
4 NASB.

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SPEND YOUR LIFE LOSING YOUR LIFE FOR OTHERS.--THAT'S THE SECRET OF SAVING IT!

Jesus said, "He that saveth his life shall lose it, but he that loseth his life for My sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it!" (Mk.8:35). "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God!" (Mat.6:33). And what is His Kingdom? His Kingdom is souls! His Kingdom is missionary work! His Kingdom is reaching the lost with the Gospel! Jesus didn't commission us to save ourselves, He commissioned us and called us into His army to save others!





Anchor TFI

First, let’s start with some definitions for a better understanding of the topic, so no one will get confused.

Key terms and their meanings giving more insight into the what Jesus is speaking about.

Fast: The Greek word here is, nesteuo: It means the same as in English, which is to voluntarily abstain totally, or sparingly from eating all foods or certain foods, or to eat prescribed kinds of foods; and/or from drinking of certain drinks or no drinks for a set period of time as a religion duty for a particular purpose or cause..

Hypocrites: Greek word here is hupokrites: An individual (s) who pretend to be other than who they really are, they are actors, counterfeits, phonies, great pretenders who falsely gives an impression of virtue or sincerity; having a phony front in character and feelings of qualities they do not possess with deceitful assumption of being praiseworthy.

Somber: Greek word is skuthropos: To be sad and discouraged; to have a gloomy or sad countenance (look on face) or a serious appearance; to look deprived of light or to be melancholy depressed face of sorrow.

Many people “fast” for many different reasons, some restrict their diets for medical reasons, or to loses weight and trim down to fit into clothes they haven’t worn in 30 years … But for many Christian believers who fast, it for a spiritual purpose and cause although God does not require of us to fast, but IF, and WHEN we do fast, it is our choice to do or not to do… this pleases Him... and there are times He will/does call us into a fast for His purposes and His glory.

Some believers in Christ, fast to hear from God in a certain matters and for Him to move on their behalf; some fast as a part of their daily, weekly, or monthly worship to the Lord, by giving a few hours in prayer and fasting, or one or two days in prayer and praise before him; others fast to seek more spiritual power and anointing from God; and some Christians fast every three or four months or once a year doing as God has called in Isaiah chapter 58, to pray for the poor, brokenhearted, and downcast, as this is the proper fast that pleases God, and we receive the blessings He has promised.

Isaiah 58:“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens,To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

Regardless of the reason a Christian believer decides to fast, it is a form of worship before the Lord, because a spiritual fast for whatever reason, MUST include purpose and prayer, which lead us to a life of worship, discipline and good stewardship before the Lord.

Excerpts from my Bible Study teaching...continues below..

Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison, and there wouldn't have been any point in preaching to them if it hadn't been possible for them to repent and be sorry for their sins and to receive some kind of opportunity thereby to get forgiveness and to find a better life, to be delivered from their imprisonment in the heart of the Earth. Whatever it was or what it was like is not clear, but if it's spoken of as a prison, that's bad enough! (Mt.12:40; 1Pet.3:19; 4:6; Eph.4:9.)

But for Jesus to come and preach to them, it was obviously to give them an opportunity to believe and receive which they had not had, and to be released or saved. That's obvious, you don't even have to argue about it. Theologians argue about it because it doesn't fit their particular doctrine, but it's right there in the Bible plain as day! Why else would Jesus have gone to the trouble to preach to them unless there was a second chance in some way--really their first chance--and an opportunity for them to be sorry and repent and be forgiven and released?

God probably has as varied terms and means of punishment and correction in the afterlife as there are in this life under the System and its laws, etc. He's probably got a great and wide variety to show people how wrong they were and give them an opportunity of repentance and change--as has been manifested in many near-death experiences or of people who have had death experiences.

God actually let them leave this life temporarily to show them their mistakes when they couldn't learn any other way; to actually come face to face with the Judgement Angel and be told and showed and taught where they were making their mistakes and what they were doing wrong, with the opportunity to correct their life and even allowed to go back and live again in order to change!

Well, if God will do that for the living, then why not also for the dead? If there's no further opportunity or possibility of them learning and repenting in this life, then He takes them on the other side permanently to show them and teach them--and there's no point in showing them unless there's opportunity of repentance and some chance that they'll be able to change.

And if there's a chance to repent and change not only here but there, then there must be some opportunity for forgiveness and release from punishment and from chastening and such purging as Purgatory. Purgatory, as the Catholics call it. I'm a firm believer in Purgatory, but not necessarily their kind of Purgatory, whether it's Hellfire, Lake of Fire or whatever, it's a purging.

It seems from all I can gather from the scripture, that the lake of fire is pretty bad punishment for the very worst! To be cast in the Lake of Fire you've got to be a pretty wicked sinner who has been really defiant of God and every opportunity God has given you to repent, and have really done a lot of damage and hurt a lot of people; like Hitler and some others, someone who has turned many astray.

So that's the kind of people the lake of fire is reserved for--including the Devil and the False Prophet and the Antichrist and all his crowd! That's very plain in the Scripture. (Rev.14:11; 19:20; 20:10,14-15; 21:8.) The very worst and the ultimately wicked who just are horrible and have slaughtered millions and destroyed nations and killed babies and innocent women and children, Hell could hardly be bad enough for some of those people, and it'll be plenty bad!

These folks, they not only didn't know it was their Master's will, they didn't even know there was a Master, possibly! But if they didn't know their Master's will and did things worthy of stripes, they're still worthy of some punishment. Because the Lord Himself in His Word says "This is the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World!" (Jn.1:9.) Everybody is given some light.
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Rev.12:10



DeepTruths

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:29, 30 ESV

Death is not a curse for little children and the innocent and ignorant and the poor and the suffering and the less responsible, less accountable. Death is not a curse for them, because they go to a better World and a better life and a relief from the evils of this horrible planet, and so death's a blessing.

So perhaps this is why the Lord allows so many of the poor and the young to die, those who are suffering just almost beyond endurance in this life. Therefore the Lord takes them out of their suffering and out of their poverty and out of their pain and out of their starvation, and blesses them with death--which to those upon whom He has such mercy is a mere gateway, a doorway, an entrance to a better life in which they'll be relieved of all this.

So perhaps that's why the Lord allows so many of the poor country people and villagers to die in some of these great disasters, because they're the ones who are struggling and starving and suffering and poor and poverty-stricken and oppressed and in pain and oppression almost beyond endurance, so God mercifully relieves them from this life. (Maria: And from the suffering brought on by the Devil and his workings, instead of the Lord like most people try to say.) Yes.

So often the Devil brings on suffering to some people without killing them, hoping they will blame it on God and turn against God and "curse God and die" as Job's wife advised him to do, and as Jews so often do. (Job 2:9.) They blame God for all their troubles and curse Him for them, because they are of their father the Devil and of the Synagogue of Satan and are not Jews but pretend to be what they're not!

So the Lord allows the enemy to test people to see if they're going to endure in faith and trust God anyway and say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" (Job 13:15.) And when they express that kind of faith, either He rewards them with relief and new life, or death and new life, one or the other.

The whole thing is, people have difficulty getting over this habit of considering death a complete curse, that to die is horrible and it's awful that all these tens of thousands of people should be killed in great disasters, etc. Well, that's not awful and horrible! The more people that get out of this World, the better off they are, much better off! They should be thankful, and they probably are!

Except the very wicked, who God seems to almost ignore until the very end, and then He just completely wipes'm out just to get rid of'm!--No doubt send them to Hell to learn the lessons there that they refused to learn here. (Maria: But the moderately sinful won't go to Hell at all?) Everybody will be rewarded according to his works and according to his sins or whatever they are.

He says that they which did things deserving punishment, stripes, having known their Master's Will and still did those things, shall be beaten with many stripes--they will receive severe punishment. But those who knew not their Master's will and yet did things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with very few stripes. (Lk.12:47,48.)

Their punishment will be very light, corrective, no doubt of the chastisement nature, and they'll undoubtedly then repent and be forgiven and given a new life completely--not the same as those who are saved, not the same as those who serve the Lord faithfully here and repented here and now before death, but there are going to be plenty of people repenting after death, that's obvious.




DeepTruths TFI