Peter fished: “Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. Matthew 4:18 He walked on the water: “Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. Matthew14:28-29 He spoke well: “Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16 He rebuked the Lord: “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” Matthew 16:22 He queried Jesus: “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Matthew 18:21 “Behold, we have forsaken all,…
Healing at the Cross Posts
We can know that God loves us. How? The Bible tells us so. “Knowing” proceeds on several levels, so “knowing God loves us” is perceived in several abilities. First the mind can grasp a truth from the Bible translated into our language. Our language learning has given us an ability to take hold of meanings. If the Bible has meaning to me, it happens because something in me can relate to something outside of me. The relating brings the Word in. In me are the tools of creation, the faculties of humankind, created in His image and likeness. Outside of me, the Word initiates a friendship. This friendship occurs as we give authority to this Word by lending a worshiping ear to it; this implies that we comprehend it, believe it, reckon on it, position our focus on it, become a willful servant to it. (see Roman’s 6) God Himself…
Any man, redeemed or other, can recognize the following possibilities: Knowing that I am different — I can isolate myself from others. Recognizing that others are different — I am suspicious of others, I can deceive others. I can meet my own needs, Free will — I can resist the devil, but, I can resist God. I can choose what will influence me — spirit or sense. Oswald Chambers expounds in his book, “Biblical Psychology,” these soul powers. Expansion, contraction, and rotation are three. From these headings we have seven subtitles, “self-comprehending, (discerning where I leave off and the other person begins). stretching beyond self, (imagination). self-living (will),” spirit penetrated, (a soul has this capability). stirred sensually (soulishly) or spiritually, speaking spirit thoughts, sum total of unity.” Fundamental abilities, these, of course, require further explanation; they function one way in the unredeemed person, as above describes, but differently in the redeemed.…
When disappointments would come my mother would say, “its not the end of the world.” Since those days I have had many “end of the worlds.” Perhaps some of us are having a doomsday even as we write — a grand parent, mother or father, even a son or daughter have gone away. Friends, Jesus is the glory and the lifter of our heads. Psalm 3:3 Robert Nathan wrote his poetic cry: God of pity and love, return to this earth, Go not so far away, leaving us to evil, Darkness is loose upon the world, the Devil Walks in the land, and there is nothing worth. Death like a dog, runs howling from his lair; His bite has made men mad, they follow after All howling too, and their demoniac laughter Drowns like a sea our solitary prayer. Return, O Lord, return. Come with the day, Come with the…
There’s a new world coming, with a new world order. Are we excited yet? “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” Isaiah 11:6 On the earth, yet “not of this world,” the righteous shall enter the kingdom; Matt 25:37 teaches, “then shall the righteous answer.” and Isaiah 60:21, “Thy people also shall be righteous, they shall inherit the land forever.” In that day, “Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10 “With righteousness shall He judge the poor; righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins.” Isaiah 11:4-5 Other characteristics: Israel shall…
J.B. operated as a spy of the K.G.B. in America during the cold war. A brilliant intellect, J.B. was especially chosen, trained and then sent. In America his skill developed in his ability to merge unsuspected into society; he worked, attended university, married and parented a child. At a time when J.B. would be recalled to his homeland, he discovered a problem: he had fallen head over heals for his newborn daughter. The love for her grew so great during her early years that he refused to go back; he made up a brilliant excuse, and stayed. This man, whose testimony is heard in churches, was later introduced to Jesus Christ, whom he received gladly. Love did it. Can we underestimate the dynamite called love? Bursting forth on the stoic intellects of men and women, love, in all of its purity, excitement, joy and exchange, overpowers the heart and soul,…
Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God…” Proverbs 20:28, “Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.” Romans 14:4, “…to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.” A person stands, is upheld, and his rational service is founded, in something he does not deserve. Paul the Apostle beseeches men, by the mercies of God… William Newell comments, “We must believe that these divine mercies have persuasive powers over our wills.” “It is not that we can move our own wills; but that faith in God’s…
So, not worthy, so unworthy, we are made worthy (…God the Father, who has enlightened us and made us worthy partakers of the inheritance of the saints…). Colossians 1:12. Lamsa translation. Unworthiness is defined, “ lacking in excellence or value, not meritorious, not deserved, inappropriate to one’s condition or station” – merriam-webster The problem of unworthiness has been tackled by many a well-meaning therapist, who offer a re-teaching, chipping away at, working through approach. However, even in visiting childhood’s ‘unfortunate but nonetheless forming events and words,’ presupposed in this visit is something not Biblical: that somehow we were seeing ourselves as worthy, but lost it, and not of our own fault, most of the time. Precious souls, our unworthiness is entrenched in the depths of an old sin nature, which has not just stigmatized us, falsely identified us, or named us wrongly, but has called us correctly; unworthy, unworthy, unworthy! Unworthy cannot morph into…
I’m so glad, He saved my weary and wayward soul! I will go to heaven one day, because He came to earth and died. Through His blood poured out, I was washed. Some folks feel He came to give us a second chance. Sorry, that would not be enough for me because I am a hopeless sinner. A second chance would imply that I could change myself; I could not. I write with thanksgiving deep in my heart, but many do not have this. They are still trying hard, religiously dedicated. They feel that some day their fervency will measure up to a reward from God. It will not. More honest are the drunks, addicts, and prostitutes; they are closer to the kingdom. But will they come to God for cleansing in His blood? If not they will die in their sins. A third group have adopted one of many…
“The survivors of the destruction of Jerusalem, left in Judah after the banishment of their fellow countrymen to the Euphrates, seemed, for the time, overwhelmed by the calamities that had befallen their nation. The Temple they had thought invulnerable was burnt to the ground; Jerusalem, in which they had gloried as “the joy of the whole earth” was a waste of blackened ruins. The town gates seemed to have sunk into the ground; the roads to Zion, once thronged with pilgrims, lay untraveled; no concourse gathered outside the walls, for gossip or business; even the walls themselves were thrown down, the jackals haunted the holy hill!” “For ages past every event in their national history, whether glorious or sorrowful, had been commemorated in the lyrics handed down from generation to generation. The defeat of Pharaoh, the triumph over Sisera, the death of Saul and Jonathan, the overthrow of the northern…