3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 4 Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge 6 and to knowledge, self control and to self control, perseverance and to perseverance, Godliness 7 and to Godliness, brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 10 Therefore my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall
The above scripture contains the blueprint for growth in Christ. For the word of God to reach its full potential, it has to be spoken out into the atmosphere, and not just anyone can do this. The person proclaiming it, must have faith in the principles that are spoken.
When a person is shot and killed, it is true to say the bullet killed him. But before this could happen, even though the bullet contained all the power to do the killing, three objects had to come together: the person to pull the trigger, the gun from which the bullet was fired, and the bullet that does the killing. Only when this combination is met, can the bullet reach its full potential. Likewise, a threefold combination is required for the release of the spoken word: the person that speaks it, the faith that releases it, and the word that performs the transformation.
Jesus demonstrated this three fold combination when he spoke to the fig tree destroying it from the roots up, and when he spoke to the spirit of death which was over Lazarus, and when he spoke to the widow's son being carried in his coffin to his own funeral, and also to Jairus's daughter who had died. He also demonstrated this when he spoke to the infirmities of leprosy, blindness, deafness, or to the dumb.
These miracles did not happen through some mystical power of mind control. Jesus, full of faith and power, spoke to the problem, and the word came forth out of his mouth; like a bullet leaving the barrel of a smoking rifle and finding the target it was sent to neutralize. For the Christian to become effective in the realm of the supernatural, it is essential to realize the power of the spoken word in faith.
Wednesday 13 May 2009
2 Kings 2:19-22
19 The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive". 20 "Bring me a new bowl", he said, "and put salt in it". So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the Lord says ", "I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive". 22 And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.
Do you know what the waters were causing? Miscarriages. The effect that it had was on the weak productive organs of the animals and the people. There were no children. There was no new birth. Nothing on the face of the earth will destroy a move of evangelism greater than bitterness. If you have conceptions they will be born and die. They will not grow. You can lead people to the Lord and all of a sudden they get along side of a bitter well and that bitter well will pollute them and next minute their spinning out back into the world spiritually dead. Yet the church as a whole goes through it time after time after time.
When the bible says here that Elisha put salt in, we are the salt of the earth and if the salt loses its flavour it then becomes decaying. It is the preservative of the world.
Hebrews 3:19, 4:1, 2
19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. 4:1 Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
PREACHER'S MESSAGE
Do you know that I can preach the Gospel every Sunday morning and people can say that was the greatest message in the world and they walk out of the door and they have this principal of truth but it won't profit them one lick because they never mixed faith with it? Do you know that they could even be in a worse state because of unbelief?
You might say that "Oh no brother, when I specifically read in the covenant and in the journey of Exodus that the reason they got dealt with was because they murmured." What is the root of murmuring? Murmuring is to speak evil about something which is good. It comes from unbelief, they didn't believe that God was a giver. They believed that God was a punisher. So the devil was a thief and could come and steal from them all that God had promised them and they would accept it as being God. Then they would get even angrier with God.
When you hear people start to murmur and speak in a negative way, they have unbelief in their heart. The only way that you can deal with unbelief is to make a decision to believe.
Mother's Day
Different countries celebrate Mother's Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins.
One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.
The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.
In addition to Mother's Day, International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries on March 8.
The United States version of the Holiday can trace its origins back to 1912 when Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association to continue the tradition of honoring mothers that had long been established in the United Kingdom where her ancestors originated.
One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.
The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.
In addition to Mother's Day, International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries on March 8.
The United States version of the Holiday can trace its origins back to 1912 when Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association to continue the tradition of honoring mothers that had long been established in the United Kingdom where her ancestors originated.
Valentine present(March 7, 2009)
This was the valentine gift I surprisingly gave to my beloved honey although it was a bit late but as the old adage says: It's better late than never at all and It's the thought that counts, this simple gift probably still lives its purpose.
Once upon a time....
Once upon a time there was an island where all the feelings lived; Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all the others......, including Love.
One day it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
So all the feelings prepared their boats to leave. Love was the only one that stayed.
She wanted to preserve the island until the last possible moment.
When the island was almost totally under, Love decided it was time to leave.
She began looking for someone to ask for help. Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat.
Love asked, "Richness, Can I come with you on your boat?" Richness answered, "I'm sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there would be no room for you."
Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was passing in a beautiful vessel. Love cried out, "Vanity, help me please." I can't help you", Vanity said, "You are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat."
Next, Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said, "Sadness, please let me go with you." Sadness answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be alone now."
Then, Love saw Happiness. Love cried out, "Happiness, please take me with you." But Happiness was so overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling to him.
Love began to cry. Then, she heard a voice say, "Come Love, I will take you with me." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder his name.
When they arrived on land the elder went on his way. Love realized how much she owed the elder. Love then found Knowledge and asked, "Who was it that helped me? "It was Time", Knowledge answered. "But why did Time help me when no one else would?", Love asked.
Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered,
"Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."
Love Nortured by SALT
He met her on a party. She was so outstanding, many guys chasing after her, while he so normal, nobody paid attention to him. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him, she was surprised, but due to being polite, she promised. They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, she thought, please, let me go home.... suddenly he asked the waiter. "would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee."
Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red, but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously; why you have this hobby? He replied: "when I was a little boy, I was living near the sea, I like playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there". While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched.
That's his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has responsibility of home. Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family. That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story.
They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm, careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee!
Then the story was just like every beautiful love story , the princess married to the prince, then they were living the happy life... And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee e, as she knew that's the way he liked it.
After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said: "My dearest, please forgive me, forgive my whole life lie. This was the only lie I said to you---the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead.I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you for anything..
Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing so I tell you the truth: I don't like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste.. But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and have you for my whole life,even though I have to drink the salty coffee again".
Her tears made the letter totally wet.Someday, someone asked her: what's the taste of salty coffee?
It's sweet. She replied.
Love is not 2 forget but 2 forgive, not 2 c but 2 understand, not 2 hear but 2 listen, not 2 let go but 2 HOLD ON !!!!
Don't ever leave the one you love for the one you like, because the one you like will leave you for the one they love.
Forget the things make u sad....
Remember the things make u Glad...
Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red, but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously; why you have this hobby? He replied: "when I was a little boy, I was living near the sea, I like playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there". While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched.
That's his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has responsibility of home. Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family. That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story.
They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm, careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee!
Then the story was just like every beautiful love story , the princess married to the prince, then they were living the happy life... And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee e, as she knew that's the way he liked it.
After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said: "My dearest, please forgive me, forgive my whole life lie. This was the only lie I said to you---the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead.I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you for anything..
Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing so I tell you the truth: I don't like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste.. But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and have you for my whole life,even though I have to drink the salty coffee again".
Her tears made the letter totally wet.Someday, someone asked her: what's the taste of salty coffee?
It's sweet. She replied.
Love is not 2 forget but 2 forgive, not 2 c but 2 understand, not 2 hear but 2 listen, not 2 let go but 2 HOLD ON !!!!
Don't ever leave the one you love for the one you like, because the one you like will leave you for the one they love.
Forget the things make u sad....
Remember the things make u Glad...
FAITH
Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of faith is to see what we believe.
-st. Augustine
The fields were parched and brown from lack of rain, and the crops law wilting from thirst. People were anxious and irritable as they searched the sky for any sign of relief. Days turned into arid weeks. No rain came.
The ministers of the local churches called for an hour of prayer on the town square the following Saturday. They requested that everyone bring an object of faith for inspiration.
At high noon on the appointed Saturday the townspeople turned en masse, filling the square with anxious faces and hopeful hearts. The ministers were touched to see the variety of objects clutched in prayerful hands – holy books, crosses, rosaries.
When the hour ended, as if on magical command, a soft rain began to fall. Cheers swept the crowd as they held their treasured objects high in gratitude and praise. From the middle of the crowd one faith symbol seemed to overshadow all the others: A small nine-year old child had brought an umbrella.
source:Chicken soup for the Christian Soul
-st. Augustine
The fields were parched and brown from lack of rain, and the crops law wilting from thirst. People were anxious and irritable as they searched the sky for any sign of relief. Days turned into arid weeks. No rain came.
The ministers of the local churches called for an hour of prayer on the town square the following Saturday. They requested that everyone bring an object of faith for inspiration.
At high noon on the appointed Saturday the townspeople turned en masse, filling the square with anxious faces and hopeful hearts. The ministers were touched to see the variety of objects clutched in prayerful hands – holy books, crosses, rosaries.
When the hour ended, as if on magical command, a soft rain began to fall. Cheers swept the crowd as they held their treasured objects high in gratitude and praise. From the middle of the crowd one faith symbol seemed to overshadow all the others: A small nine-year old child had brought an umbrella.
source:Chicken soup for the Christian Soul
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