‘A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.’ Proverbs 17:17 “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 ” Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Proverbs 27:6 A man’s self-righteous dignity must be wounded in order for him to receive God’s love unashamedly. The love which comes of Christ alone, functions toward a sinner, toward a strengthless one, toward an enemy; all in the same way. A person may feel they have a right to be loved, or no right to be loved. Man’s rights play no part in God’s love for Men. There is none good, no not one. But, we have “been made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” See Colossians 1:12 We qualify under the…
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Job 42:10 “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Psalm 126:1 “. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.” My first visit to an African nation was almost surreal. I had only imagined such places and found their reality to be much different than my imaginings. It was the same for Europe and for that matter, Prescott Arizona. Locations differ, but also conditions, such as Job’s trial. A long experience in certain conditions creates a kind of reality and when released from it, seems a dream. Israel had been exiled for 70 years. Release was breathtaking for those participating in it. Both Job and Israel had been in captivity. Perhaps you have had a long battle with sickness, with cancer, with financial issues,…
The story is found in Exodus 7:9 -14: “and given that Paroh will speak to you saying, give for you a wonder, and you will say to Aharon, take your branch and throw it out to the face of Paroh, he will exist as a crocodile. And Mosheh came, and Aharon, to Paroh, and they did so, just as YHWH directed, and Aharon threw out his branch to the face of Paroh and to the face of his servants, and he existed as a crocodile. and Paroh also called out to the skilled ones and to the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Mits’rayim, also did so with their blazings, ( The word “BLAZING” is the same word used for the sword of the Keruv (cherub in most other translations, Genesis 3:24) and each threw out his branch and they existed as crocodiles, and the branch of Aharon swallowed their…
The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians. In that letter he exhorts them: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.” Ephesians 4:22-25 And to the Romans: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:13-14 Brothers and sisters, “do not go on presenting your members to sin…
Take heed that no man deceive you! Keep your eyes open, lest some one may or may not deceive you at any point in time. So taught Jesus in Matthew 24:10 “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. ” He was referring to the same last time. 2 Timothy 3:13, “Adam and Eve were in a perfect environment, but Eve was deceived because, as a responder, she didn’t abide under her covering—and she didn’t receive doctrine from God.” Dr. Carl H. Stevens See Genesis 3:4 “the serpent deceived her by saying, “You will not surely die as you have been told” Iniquity is the emotions of Lucifer influencing the emotions of the woman. Notice, the serpent didn’t tackleAdam; he deceived Eve. ” CHS In Revelation we see the fate of the deceiver. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that…
” Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. ” John 15:3 The Galatian Christians had fallen from grace, and the Hebrew Christians were warned about failing the grace of God. What action or what failure caused the fall or fail? Well some Galatians took on circumcision as a prerequisite for salvation. This practice eliminated simple grace as the only means of attaining salvation. Receiving this salvation is through simply believing. The Hebrew Christians interpreted their persecution as a rejection by God, rather than seeing it as a chastening from Father. They excluded themselves from grace. In both cases, conditions were attached to the free gift, though their salvation was intact. See Roman’s 6:23, 3:23 etc. So, Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians you are “not in darkness” — not in darkness of understanding (that is, spiritual ignorance) or of the moral nature (that is, a state…
“Hope maketh not ashamed , for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” Romans 5:5 The verb for “shed abroad” consists of a Greek “Perfect passive indicative” of ekcheō –meaning to pour out.” On this verse we read comments, “And how can this hope of glory, which as believers we cherish, put us to shame, when we feel God Himself, by His Spirit given to us, drenching our hearts in sweet, all-subduing sensations of His wondrous love to us in Christ Jesus?” JFB We now approach the glorious theme of the Life of the Justified. “…. It is to appear as a state warmed with eternal Love; irradiated with the prospect of glory. In it the man, knit up with Christ his Head, his Bridegroom, his all, yields himself with joy to the God who has received him. In the living power of…
A skeptic doubts, but something deeper had happened. A true skeptic questions because he or she just cannot believe. For them, the inability to believe something without a total analysis hinders the simplicity of seeing the invisible. But what is the criterion for a skeptic’s analysis ? Romans 4 gives us several examples: First, a program of merit through good works. In this mindset anything of value comes as a reward for performance. Romans 4:2 teaches us, ” …if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.”” …the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. “Of course, good works create value, but not as a means of gaining favor from God. That favor is given as a free gift. The next mindset used as a criterion for analysis centers around the ritual of circumcision. This rite practiced strictly by Jewish folks, eliminates all…
“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3 During a time of trouble, wise men will shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever, they turning many to righteousness also shall shine bright. John the Baptist “was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. “says John 5:35 He was the forerunner and prepared the way for the Messiah — meaning (sending on before kings on their journeys, persons to level the roads and make them passable.) “John Baptist was a priest of the order of Aaron, yet we find him preaching in a wilderness, and never officiating in the temple. The doctrine he preached was that of repentance (Matthew3:2); Consider your ways, change…
“Be strengthened with might, by my spirit in the inner man.” Strengthen? to empower, that is, (passively) increase in vigor:(Strongs) Might? force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself): – ability, abundance, meaning, might. (Strongs.) “Inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth” (Thayers) Brothers and sisters we must be empowered in our inherent power, which power resides in us through the filling of the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18. Cement is strong and can bear a load, however, cement that is endued with iron is stronger and can bear a heavier load. This is just one way of looking at it. Frankly, every believer has been gifted the Holy Spirit. All of us believers have been baptized into the body of Christ, and made to drink of that one Spirit. 1Corinthians 12:13.…