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<p>"[1] DO not ever promise a person something you then cannot or – even worse – do not wish to keep for whatever reasons, if you truly want to become children of God. In truth, I tell you, the worst thing is a promise that is not kept.</p>
<p>[2] For the one who is angry sins within himself and harms first himself. Who practices lewdness buries his soul in the judgment of the flesh and again harms himself, but the evil of evils is the lie.</p>
<p>[3] If you have promised to do something for a person and circumstances arise that make it impossible for you to keep your promise, do go to him without delay and tell him honestly what has happened to you, so that he can help himself at the proper time in some other way to overcome some difficulty.</p>
<p>[4] But woe betide everyone who makes promises and does not keep them, even if he could do so, for thereby he causes far-reaching trouble. The one who expected his help cannot fulfill his duty, and the hands of those who relied on him are tied, and thus such a broken promise can cause greatest embarrassment and distress to thousands. Therefore, a promise that is not kept is the thing most opposed to the love of one’s neighbor and, therefore, the greatest of evils.</p>
<p>[5] It is better to have a hard heart because that will not raise any deceptive hopes with anyone. One knows that nothing can be expected of a hard-hearted person and, therefore, other means are sought for the preservation of the necessary order. But if someone expects something that was promised to him, he abstains from seeking other ways and means, and when the time comes that the business of the one expecting help has to be attended to and the one who promised him lets him down and does not tell him in advance that for some reason, which must of course be absolutely true, he will not be able to keep his promise, such promiser is like Satan who from the very beginning made mankind brilliant promises through his prophets none of which he has ever kept, thereby plunging numerous people into misery.</p>
<p>[6] Therefore, beware above all of such promises which you cannot keep and, even worse, for whatever reasons do not want to keep, for that is the attitude of the chief of devils.</p>
<p>[7] Be loving and righteous in all things, for in the Father’s Kingdom the righteous once shall shine as the sun at noon."</p>
<p>(The Great Gospel of John through Jakob Lorber, Book 2, chap. 98)</p>
<p><a href="http://community.beliefnet.com/psimonel/go/gallery/item/142800627"><img width="335" height="223" src="http://fast1.onesite.com/community.beliefnet.com/user/psimonel/491f4dc6f166ccc78efef625bb5f32c3.jpg?v=235224" alt="" /></a></p>
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Prosperity is already here.
Such is the wealth of life in this area. The lights of the new day flood the entire fishpond that occupies the whole area. You can’t believe how huge the territory is. You’re standing in front of it and yet it feels like watching the globe. It’s as if you and Jesus are standing on top of the mountain and watch the universe as God pointed His hand here and there.
In your journey God continues to anoint you more and more making His promises to come to pass, to turn the impossible into possible, to experience security during instability, to give hope during restless times, to give strength during hard times, to give courage and boldness in times of fears and doubts.
When God delivers you from bondage and promote you to be His son or daughter, blessings just overtake you. His favor is upon you and you have more job opportunities, increase businesses, increase income, new home, new car. And not just you, God blesses your household, the people who come in contact with you, your church, your ministries. God is now giving you increase, multiplication, advancement, promotion, wealth or prosperity.
God is truly faithful so, give more of yourself to God; give your time, your talents, your money especially your tithes. God keeps blessing you so you become His kingdom Businessman or Businesswoman. There are a lot of ministries that go to the ends of the earth to tell the thirsty, hungry, broken and orphaned people that Christ is King, that He is our Blessed Redeemer. God is calling His children to give financial aid for God’s kingdom advancement. Utilize the gifts God has given you and you will move upward in life. Do your part and be amazed. You don’t need to search the horizons for God’s blessings and provisions. They will just come to you. Learn to count your blessings each day, enjoy them and always thank God for everything He has given you as He continues to pump unending and unlimited flow of His life to you.
All these are the fruits of your labor, the rewards from God because of your hard work, faithfulness in listening and obeying God. Everything you believe God can do to your life will come true. Indeed all things are possible with God. He is our source. He manifests in unusual, unexpected and amazing ways. Give thanks for all the great deeds God has done in your life. Celebrate with Him. The harvest season is to be enjoyed. The greatest news is that harvest is forever when God is your partner in everything you do.
When you experience the fullness of life, the abundance of God’s blessings, the better life, be humble and love God and the people around you. As Deuteronomy 8:11-14 says:
Make certain that you do not forget the Lord your God; do not fail to obey any of his laws that I am giving you today. When you have all you want to eat and have built good houses to live in and when your cattle and sheep, your silver and gold, and all your other possessions have increased, be sure that you do not become proud and forget the Lord your God who rescued you from Egypt, when you were slaves.
Spread His love, let your integrity remain intact, be channels of blessings, tell the world about the great things God has done in your life. Make His name famous to the ends of the earth.
To God be the glory, honor and praise. God bless!
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<p>How can a Christian such as ourselves, believing both in the Scriptures and the New Revelation, answer to an unbeliever about the main possible reasons to be a Christian?...</p>
<p>Of course, he could mention salvation and eternal life after the death of body. But for the unbeliever these are, in the usual circumstances of life, just kind of philosophical concepts. He could mention the moral arguments... but each man of conscience can recognize them also outside any religious belief. He could unfold some modern scientific arguments which indeed, point to the existence of an intelligent and incredibly careful creator... but the nonbeliever may easily observe that none of them implies that this mysterious creator incarnated himself as a man to bring the example of divine love to mankind in order to ensure its salvation. He could enumerate the prophecies of the Old Testament, confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls, which find their fulfillment in the life of Jesus as it is described in Gospels. However, these ones will usually not attract the unbeliever, for he already heard about all kinds of other theories which seem to condemn irrefutably their fallacies and shortcomings. He could mention the New Revelation through Lorber and Mayerhofer, which confirms the scriptures and fully solves all Christian dilemma. Unfortunately, very few will take some interest in studying a teaching which has still no popularity in the world. With other words... even if what they hear seems pretty interesting, they chose to remain skeptics because  no worldly authority supports that message.</p>
<p>Finally... the believer may then simply affirm that to be a true Christian means not only to love your fellowman, but also to be able to keep this love alive against all enmities and injustices, to be able to turn self-love, resentments and hate into love, by means of forgiveness and compassion. He may conclude that to be a true Christian means to be an apostle of unconditional, invincible love.</p>
<p>Some proof for this?... Any seeker may browse the old and modern history of Christianity and discover at every step people letting themselves killed on the cross, given to the lions, chopped off, tortured and killed in an unimaginable variety of ways, for their faith.</p>
<p>Could any mental delusion lead to such incredible sacrifices? Certainly, not.</p>
<p>Could love lead to them? Certainly, yes. And real faith is nothing else but the living promise of love.</p>
<p>In a world in which love is the most misunderstood and betrayed thing, the Christian martyrs represent in the purest way the fundamental truth any good parent and true lover recognizes:<strong> life is less than love</strong>.</p>
<p>So, finally, coming back to our question... why should an unbeliever be interested in becoming a Christian?</p>
<p>Well, simply because he might be interested to discover in himself <strong>the love which is greater than life</strong>.</p>
<p><a href="http://community.beliefnet.com/psimonel/go/gallery/item/142800459"><img width="277" src="http://fast1.onesite.com/community.beliefnet.com/user/psimonel/e03315e9a1902275cbd3afcf8fc7e19d.jpg?v=75067" alt="" /></a></p>
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<p>"[1] You know that someone who has become rich in earthly goods has most of the time also become in his heart as a stone of in sensitiveness and without love. What does he care about the many thousands of other people who are tormented by hunger, thirst and still other disasters, for he is well provided for, has never felt hunger or thirst and has an abundance of treasures to please him with every other pleasure, so that he does not have to taste any boredom or any other displeasure.</p>
<p>[2] But then, where does such a person stand in his inner spiritual sphere of life? I say to you: on the point of eternal judgment and its death, and his whole circle of acquaintances is not far away from it.</p>
<p>[3] Besides that, remember what I will proclaim to you: <strong><span class="fbUnderline">when there will be a lot of Epicures on the Earth, a general judgment over all the people on this Earth will also soon be allowed by God.</span> Then we will see if somewhere there will again be men who will stand up with the measuring stick in their hand and dare to say to their fellowmen: ‘Look, I have measured this big piece of land, I have indicated its boundaries and declare this as my complete inviolable property, and he who has the brutality to dispute this or will only say: ‘Friend, everyone of us has the right to snatch this imagined right out of your hands, as long as he has the power and the means to do it', I will punish with death.'</strong></p>
<p><strong>[4] I say to you: <span class="fbUnderline">at that time such people will never exist</span>, for when next time I will come again on this Earth to keep judgment over such dead epicures, but also to give the reward of life to those who out of love for God and their fellowman have suffered much misery and distress, then the Earth will no more be measured with any measuring stick for the benefit of one person only, but wherever one will stand, he will also reap and provide for his need. And the people will well support one another, and no one will say: ‘Look, this is my property and I am lord over it.'<span class="fbUnderline"> Because then men will perceive that I alone am the Lord, and that they all are brothers and sisters.</span></strong></p>
<p>[5] It is true that this should also be the case among the people now, but in this middle period of development of men who are still not purified by the big fire of life, it will stay allowed, but from now on, it will not be a full 2.000 years anymore. After that, the spirit will predominate strongly with men and on the Earth no more ‘mine' and ‘his' will be seen, nor will be talked about it.</p>
<p>[6] You, who are now My friends, possess a big piece of land of the Earth that has been measured to you. Ask yourselves who measured it to you as your legal property, and the answer will be: the laws made by men, and your money and other treasures to which again only men have awarded an idle value to it.</p>
<p>[7] From God's point of view, the whole Earth belongs to all men in equal measure, as this was the case in the beginning. Wise men should divide it according to the need of the people and should teach them to cultivate it, and then the fruits should be partly distributed by the wise men and the surplus should be kept in warehouses and storehouses that are arranged for that, so that no one in the community should suffer need.</p>
<p>[8]<strong> But if the rich and mighty will draw everything unto themselves, a lot of people must by that become very poor and live their lives in great misery and distress, because everything belongs to the few rich and mighty but nothing to the poor, except what the rich and mighty want to give them in a scanty measure for the heavy work that they have done for them.</strong></p>
<p>(Great Gospel of John Book 20, chap. 30.   About future events)</p>
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<p>"[1] Thus, let everyone be full of meekness and humility. By that you will give each other the greatest and most true human honor, and live and have dealings with each other in peace and quietness.</p>
<p>[2] However, thirst for honor and pride will awaken resentment, offense, contempt, grudge, anger and finally vengeance, war and its evil consequences. <strong>The one who is proud and is thirsty for honor is also always full of self-interest and greed, and the sad consequence for the fact that he only wants to acquire everything for himself to increase his worldly honor, is that hundreds and thousands of people around him have nothing and must live in the greatest poverty and need, as it was the case during the time of Noah, and will be the case even more during the last time of the new paganism.</strong></p>
<p><strong>[3] But this evil and complete hellish condition among the people will be the judgment that they will cause themselves.<span class="fbUnderline"> The enormous number of poor and oppressed people will finally rise against their extremely proud oppressors and will make a short work with them, and this will be a second deluge by the fire of the finally too badly and too heavily oppressed poor people.</span></strong></p>
<p>[4] But during that time, also a natural fire will destroy many places, for <strong>because of a too highly inflated pursuit of earthly gain during that time,</strong> the people will penetrate like malicious worms into the depths of the Earth, will search therein all kinds of treasures and will also find them. However, once they will have reached the mighty layers of buried ancient forests of the Earth and will use them for the glowing and melting of metals and still for many other things, then also, the latest judgment which they will prepare for themselves, will be at the door.</p>
<p>[5] Yet, the people who will then live in the great cities of the kings and the mighty of the Earth of that time will have to suffer the most.</p>
<p>[6] Therefore, always stay meek and humble, and by that in true neighborly love, then no judgment will be called over you, because where during that time the people will live according to My order, there will be no last judgment. I have told you this now beforehand with the purpose that you will also tell and proclaim it to the people, so that finally no one can bring forward the excuse that he had not been warned for the danger.”</p>
<p> (Great Gospel of John Book 18, chap. 99. The coming judgments)</p>
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<p>[5] <span class="fbUnderline"><strong>But when too many people will have reached the full measure of their evil</strong></span>, <strong>then the time of their unpunished evil actions will be shortened by Me for the sake of the still few good ones and chosen ones</strong>, and then their own judgment and their death will devour them before the eyes of the few righteous ones, just like it was the case at the time of Noah, and of Abraham and Lot, and also partially at the time of Joshua, and as it still will be repeatedly the case from now on.</p>
<p>[6] The beginning of that will soon be experienced by the Jews, as well as later by other kingdoms with their rulers and nations. <strong>And in not completely 2.000 years there will again be a very big and general judgment</strong>,<span class="fbUnderline"><strong> leading to salvation of the good ones and to ruin of the worldly great ones and the complete loveless people.</strong></span></p>
<p>[7] How that judgment will look like and what it will imply, that I have revealed already several times to all My disciples who are present here with Me, and after Me they will proclaim it to the nations of the Earth. Happy the one who will take it at heart and who will arrange his life accordingly, so that he will not be taken by the judgment.</p>
<p>(Great Gospel of John Book 20 Chap 97. About the measure of good and evil)</p>
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<p>[16] Correspondingly, when men become, concerning their inner life activity, lukewarm, lazy, sleepy and without light, then immediately great movements will arise in the endless great spirit world, and these will then cause by their influence also all kinds of movements and waves among men who still live on this Earth. Then one nation rises against the other, one teaching fights against the other, and this will continue for a long time until men will be led to the greatest possible life activity.</p>
<p>[17] <strong>As a result, it will then also become clearer and lighter among them</strong>. The apparent need makes them inventive and forces them in this manner to an ever greater and more orderly activity. Because of that, the nations will learn to know each other, who before hardly knew anything of each other, and in time they will become useful for each other, and in course of time the light will increase among them and will in the first place bring about a greater longing for an almost tangible proven truth of life.</p>
<p>[18] When finally the need will become more general and the people will be no more satisfied with the pure authoritative belief, which is all the time a cause of the dark and lazy superstition, <strong>then the time will have come to give them a great and tangible light of life, full of clearness and truth.</strong></p>
<p>[19] <strong>And look, a lot of people on the whole Earth who nowadays are as if seized by a deep sleep by all kinds of laziness and darkness of life, <span class="fbUnderline">must thus be led into a heavy stormy movement until they can be awakened after a long series of periods of time to a point where in this awakened condition they finally begin to feel what they are lacking</span>.</strong>” </p>
<p>(Great Gospel of John Book 20 Chap. 10.  The order in the household of God)</p>
The Christian teen fantasy entitled Hafren: A Fantasy for the Young at Heart is now available. The novel got a great review from the Midwest Book Review. Hafren: A Fantasy for the Young at Heart is available from amazon.com and from the Lighthouse Christian Publishing website fantasy page two.
I was told this was a Christian site so here goes.
If you don’t understand spiritual warfare and their is a variety of Christians who get attacked by the enemy because of either being in Ministry doing the Will of God or have a calling and took the call, you won’t understand what I’m about to write down, you probably even got lost in the first sentence. This is a warning to people if you don’t like the message you don’t have to bother reading it.
For those who are ready for this story I’m about to write please stay tuned.
The Shark that wanted a human snack.
I was on my boogie board late in the summer back in close to the late 1980s where school was out and it was beach time. I was not too far out in the ocean I had my older brother with me as I also had my snorkelling gear with me, not the profession kind for gear. As I went over a wave I put my head under looking at the beautiful ocean floor. To my surprise when I went to lift my head up their were swarms of fish about three feet from me. Out of no where the swarm looked to be fading out as a big huge fish came out of the swarm of fish looking directly towards me. I could not believe what I was seeing then it opened its huge mouth and I lifted up my head and said shark out loud to my brother. My brother said be quiet , don’t make a scene just calmly swim back to the shore. Not listening to my brother I panicked and heard him say, stop Scott, don’t splash so much. If the shark wanted to get me it could of right their at that moment, but to my surprise it did not nor did I want it too. After reaching the shore I told a lifeguard what had happen and he rang the bell to get people out of the water. The Shark was no where to be found. My testimony I believe God was with me that kept tha shark from getting to me. Not to go too religious on you but I did start praying while I was swimming to shore with my boogie board.
If you liked that story feel free to sub to me , I have lots more to tell where that came from.
And I say this with all love hope and cheer those who want to be blessed be blessed have great day .
I hope you all enjoyed the article I posted yesterday about prayer and its effect on healing in the medical field. I also hope you took the eleven minutes or so to watch the video posted above: “10 Questions Every Intelligent Christian Must Answer.
By now you may be feeling several different emotions. You may be angry at the video, in deep thought, or downright questioning your faith.
I encourage you to do none of the above.
It’s good to question the bible and some of the aspects of Christianity. Think about school and learning in general. Teachers say that no question is a dumb question. If you do not understand, then ask. The same holds true to religion. If you are unsure of something, ask someone who may have the answer and then decide for yourself whether or not it’s logical.
It’s also important to remember that religion, like knowledge, is ever expanding and always changing. You can never learn enough, so consequently, you’ll never learn it all. While Christianity is consider “the truth,” it’s important to remember that we’ll never fully understand why on earth. Sure, we’ll believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected, but will we have ever answer about theology? Of course not.
The problem with the article I posted yesterday and the video today, is that both examples attempt to prove something we’ll never fully understand. God is not present on earth in a literal form so we cannot fully understand him. If you believe in Christianity, you do believe God appeared in human form through Jesus -but he is long gone (again, in a literal sense).
In John 20:29, Jesus tells the doubting Thomas who finally believed through sight, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
I do believe there is a little Thomas in all of us.
The problem is we want to explain, prove, pr disprove something that is not evident.
Why do other non-believers spend time and energy trying to disprove religion and Christianity more specifically?
I like to call it a moral obligation.
Which brings us to our conscience.
The conscience is perhaps the biggest loophole in fully understanding evolution. Sure, there is some evidence that points to this theory. Apes for example, are very intelligent, especially for an animal. Yet, we cannot prove whether or not they have a conscience.
I personally believe they do not and is the single biggest factor that separates humans from animals.
Animals are all about instinct and survival. It’s all about when the next meal will arrive and how will I get it.
Humans operate on such a higher plane.
So, the question becomes, if you believe like I do, how did humans receive a conscience? Was it merely by mistake and chance as evolution leads us or was some divine influence behind it all?
Faith is the evidence of the unseen.
If you believe in a God, then you automatically trust in something that is unknown to all of the human senses. The problem with non-believers is that they want to fill their spiritual side with facts and that defeats the process altogether.
I firmly believe that every human is blessed with physical traits, mental capacity, and a spiritual guide. The first two are a given. The spiritual side is up for debate. While some people may disagree, you would be hard pressed to find a logical argument. If individuals are not practicing religion, what are they doing in their free time to fill the spiritual side?
Yoga? Writing? Intellectual conversation about our purpose?
The problem with non-believers is that they want the answers when science does not even prove everything. Keep in mind that a “theory” in science is based on a series of experiments and studies that leads us to a final conclusion. The conclusion is up to debate and not bullet proof. In fact, some popular theories were and will continue to get disproved by newer and “more logical” theories. Does evolution fit under that bill? How about The Big Bang? Only time will tell.
I really believe that the majority of us believe in something more than just this universe. I use the term atheist a lot, but in all fairness, there are a lot more deists and other forms of “I think there is a God, but where he is or what he is doing is beyond me” in the world.
What’s ironic is these people are almost admitting, “Yes, there must be more to this world than just this, but I refuse to believe or acknowledge the God behind it all.”
These people understand that they’re specially crafted human beings and that there is more to this world, yet they refuse to compromise.
Instead they blindly search for all of the answers. They are fools who do not understand that nothing in this world is pure.
We’ll never have all the answers. The boredom…and danger of knowing everything is deadly. What would be the point in living if we had all the answers? Say there was no God. Would anything really make sense on this planet? What would be the point in rules, morals, and ethics when no consequences existed?
Some may argue that we could finally set our eyes on chasing money, fame, and power because that’s all that really matters. ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS! Have you seen the majority of celebrities in our culture? Most of them look incredibly unhappy. A lot of them are battling drug and alcohol addictions. Has anybody read Brian Welch’s story?
When will we get it through our heads that money and power cannot buy happiness?
Yet if we do not believe in a deity we automatically conform to earthly standards of living and success - which are money, power, and fame. ‘Cause you have to live for something, right?
Tomorrow I will tackle all of the questions posed in the video posted at the top of the page. I will attempt to give “some rationalization” or “invent an excuse on God’s behalf” to defend Christianity.
I will attempt to become intelligent, despite the misconception that Christians are obviously dumb and ignorant. I will attempt to answer questions from the ‘grand master’ who obviously thinks he is very intelligent despite the well known principle that anyone who is wise is humble.
Isaiah 40:18 “And to whom can YOU people liken God, and what likeness can YOU put along side Him?”
“He (Jesus) is the reflection of [his] glory and the EXACT representation of his very being” (Hebrews 1:3 )
1) The heavens are the works of God’s hands (Ps. 102:25) The heavens are the works of Jesus’ hands (Heb. 1:10)
2) God laid the foundations of the earth (Isa. 48:13) Jesus laid the foundations of the earth (Heb. 1:10)
3) God is our judge (Ps. 50:6; Eccl. 12:14; 1 Chron. 16:33) Jesus is our judge (2 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 20:12)
4) God is the temple of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22) Jesus is the temple of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22)
5) God is the alpha and omega (Rev. 1:8) Jesus is the alpha? and omega (Rev. 22:13)
6) God is the first and the last (Isa. 44:6; 48:12) Jesus is the first and the last (Rev. 22:13)
7) God is the beginning and the end (Rev. 21:6) Jesus is the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13)
8) Only God can forgive sins (Luke 5:21) Jesus can forgive sins (Luke 5:20)
9) God is our hope (Ps. 71:5) Jesus is our hope (1 Tim. 1:1)
10) God is eternal (Deut. 33:27) Jesus is eternal (Isa. 9:6; Heb. 1:10-11)
11) God will come with all the holy ones (Zech. 14:5) Jesus will come with all the holy ones (1 Thess. 3:13)
12) Only God is our Savior? (Isa. 43:11) Jesus is our Savior (Tit. 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:1) Jesus is the creator of the universe (Jn. 1:3)
14) To God, every knee will bow and every tongue confess (Isa. 45:22-23) To Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess (Phil. 2:10-11)
15) God is the same and his years will have no end (Ps. 102:27) Jesus is the same and his years will have no end (Heb. 1:12)
16) God is immutable (Mal. 3:6) Jesus is immutable (Heb. 13:8)
17) God is over all (Ps.? 97:9) Jesus is over all (Jn. 3:31)
18) The spirit of God dwells in us (Rom. 8:9) The spirit of Jesus dwells in us (Gal. 4:6)
19) God is a stone of offense and a stumbling block (Isa. 8:14) Jesus is a stone of offense and a stumbling block (1 Pet. 2:8)
20) God was valued at 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12-13) Jesus was valued at 30 pieces of silver (Mt. 24:14-16)
<p>mikeoverson.multiply.com/video My Bible notes at Multiply are only until they will discontinue it like Friendfeed did, (nice going you evil atheists, see pages 165 and 210). Because I, (Mike Overson), had a calling  to represent Jesus' return,  (an awkward job but somebody had to do it), I felt obligated to make a note on every part of the Bible that I received as a sign. It's not finished yet but I thought I'd better post what I have in case I die a premature death. The latest update on 12-22-12 is on page 211, previous updates on 11-23-12 are on pages 33 to 46 and 188 to 211. After making these updates I'm convinced that Multiply is making a very evil mistake, (= a siren at 1148am which confirms it because it means "I can't believe how cold you are"). The only way I know of to stop Multiply in a case like this is by PRAYER, (see pages 33 and 115 or my class L122 here at Multiply or at Vimeo), so I'm praying that God will rescue social networking at Multipy and I hope others will to. latest Bible notes on 12-22-12 @ page 211.zip At Multiply: Download the attached Bible notes zip file and open it in text edit and instead of printing it click Preview for the best view of these notes. (I make these instructions idiot proof in case anyone is as dumb at computers as I am.)</p>
Keep Your Hand On The Plow
Every Christian is called to be God's servant and should strive to serve with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Luke 9:62, Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Jesus is telling us not to look back at the world and our old way of life but to to keep looking to God for all things. He seems to be speaking mainly to those in ministry, however, it applies equally to all believers. Even though everyone is not called into ministry, all believers are called to be servants for life. The Bible does not mention part-time Christians, part-time service or early retirement for anyone. Once a person accepts God's call into ministry, he becomes God's servant for life and should continue in service for as long as he or she is able. Once we have put our hand to the plow, we should not look back otherwise we will drift off the path God has chosen for us. If we long for what we have left behind, we will soon become worldly and backslide to become unfit for service in the kingdom of God. Our focus must always be on God and how to serve Him better.
Going into ministry
Jesus warned those who wanted to follow Him that He had no place to lay his head and if anyone wanted to follow Him then they must leave their old life behind (Luke 9:57-62). Elisha is a perfect example of the attitude needed by a person accepting God's call into ministry. In 1 Kings 19:19-21, we are told that Elijah anointed Elisha to succeed him as prophet. At the time, Elisha was plowing with his oxen. After Elijah anointed him, he went home to say goodbye to his family. He then slaughtered his oxen and burned his plowing equipment to cook the meat as a feast for the people. Then, after burning his bridges, he set out to follow Elijah and become his attendant. Elisha knew he was going into ministry for life so he completely cut himself off from his old way of life; he left family, friends, cattle and land to serve the Lord. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Elisha denied himself all things and completely relied upon God.
Remaining faithful to the call
Not all who go into ministry remain faithful. For example, Balaam loved the world more than he loved God and he became wicked (2 Pet. 2:15). Initially, going into ministry may not be such a hard thing to do but it can become very testing. It seems that when we first go into ministry, and also when we first get saved, we go through a honeymoon period with the Lord. We strongly sense the Lord's presence and everything goes very well (I floated on clouds for ages). However, after a while the Lord withdraws those feelings somewhat and the honeymoon ends, so to speak, because God wants us to live by faith, not feelings.
Continuing in faith
Some years ago, I quit work and went into full time service for the Lord. In Mark 10:29-30 Jesus promises to provide for anyone who, like Elisha, leaves everything for Him and the Gospel. He said, "I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." For many years I had no trouble believing this promise but, with age, my faith has weakened at times. It is easy to trust in something that is a long way off but the real test of faith comes when we are face to face with the situation. Jesus' disciples were very confident that they would not desert Him but they soon scattered in fear when He was arrested. In the same way, my faith is being tested as I face old age.
This testing of my faith resulted in serious agitation at times and a complete lack of peace for long periods. Recently, worrying that the Lord would not provide for me, I considered getting work to stop my bank account from emptying but that thought brought an even greater lack of peace. After much prayer, I came to understand how I was sinning against God: I was seriously offending Him in two ways:
I had previously fully committed myself to Him but now I was considering going back into the world and removing myself from His service. Num. 30:2 came to mind and heavily convicted me. It says, "When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said." If I went back to work then I would be breaking my word and that would make me a liar.
I was calling God a liar because I was no longer trusting His promise to provide for those who had left everything for Him and the Gospel.
It's no wonder that I had no peace. God doesn't like being lied to or being called a liar so it is easy to see why He had taken my peace away. Thankfully, once I came to see that my weak faith was leading me into great error, I repented and, needless to say, the peace of God returned. There is no doubt that in the future I will waver from time to time but big mistakes leave big scars and I am not likely to forget this lesson in a hurry.
Finally
When we look back, it is always easy to see our error but, the truth of the matter is, sin often creeps up and can overcome us like cancer. It starts out small but if we don't deal with it quickly then it will grow and cause us to sin. A lack of peace is a sure sign that there is sin between us and God; He always removes our peace when we sin. Sin can start out small but if it is not quickly repented of then it can soon cause big problems: A lie can utterly destroy relationships; dislike can lead to hate and even murder; a lingering look or touch can lead to lust and immorality; a covetous thought can lead to theft or jealousy or worse and our emotions can lead us into error just like my fear led to unbelief. For this reason, if we want to keep our hand on the plow and honour God then we have to keep our eyes on Jesus and deal with sin as soon as the Spirit convicts us. As soon as we lack peace we should ask God why He has taken our peace away. In this experience of mine, I was far too slow in seeking God and I suffered for it. I should have looked to Him much, much sooner. I have an article on hearing and following the Lord's voice, called The Way Of Peace, at
http://www.christianissues.biz/thewayofpeace.html
(Please note that this article is about my personal walk with the Lord. I am not saying that it is wrong to be in ministry and work at the same time. Paul worked as a tent maker during his ministry.)
This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html
Mick Alexander
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