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Showing posts from 2012

Needless Doubts

John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, "Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?" - Luke 7:19 John did not doubt the Messiahship of Jesus that day beside the Jordan, when from the cloven heavens the radiant dove descended upon Him and the Father's voice was heard in loving approval. Nor did He doubt in any of the bright days that followed. It was only when it grew dark for John himself that he doubted. That is just the way yet with many people. When everything is bright and sunny they think they have surely found Christ, and they believe He is their friend, and their hearts are full of joy. But when troubles come and things begin to go against them, they wonder whether, after all, they have really found the Savior. They begin to question their own experiences. “Am I really a Christian? Was that really conversion when I thought I was saved? or is there some other experience that I must yet have?” Christ does not do j

Love Thy Neighbor

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Both in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, we are told that God’s fundamental rule about how we are to interact with one another can be summed up, “Love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18, KJV). In fact, out of hundreds and hundreds of Jewish laws about behavior and godly conduct, Jesus said that all of the laws basically relied on only two of them, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30–31, Matthew 22:37–39). The assumption that most people bring to this Golden Rule is that we all know we love ourselves and know how we want to be treated so therefore we should love others and treat them the same way. However, many people do not seem to have this basic, healthy love for themselves, which in turn makes it nearly impossible for them to love others any better. If they can’t love themselves, then how can they express anything resembling unconditional love to anyone else? It is diff

Know the Difference between the Permissible and the Intentional Will of God

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  It is amazing to me how quickly we will put God in something in order to give credence and credibility to our own actions. We are quick to say what God told us to do or what God is in. Anything you do that contradicts God's word is not something God has told you to do. You can't set out to destroy somebody and their character and reputation and claim that God told you to do it...contradiction. You can't hold grudges and treat people with disgust, contempt and malice and claim God told you to do it...contradiction. Don't be so quick to incorporate God into your own selfish advances and activities...because God will find a way to show you that He is not in it. The same can be said for events and situations that happen in life that don't turn out in the favorable way that you desired. Don't always assume and speak that God caused it. One of the great examples of this truth can be found in an incident out of the life of the prophet Elijah. It is found in 1 King