Archive for the ‘Biblical’ Category
Prayer Request
August 7, 2009Dear Friends
Could you please pray for my upcoming Evangelistic Concert – that God’s Holy Spirit will bring especially non christians, and that many of them will make a decision for Christ. (There is a low key alter call at the end where people can respond).
I have distributed posters and brochures to shopping centres , music stores, churches and christian book stores in South Western Sydney. There will also be a small letter box drop in the Seven Hills area.
So come along on Sat 29 August @7pm and bring your non christian friends and family as well for an evening of uplifting songs.
Here are some verses of encouragement:-
Matthew 10:42 – And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.
Luke 6:38 – Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Thanks for your help
God Bless
Bev
Waiting for Answers to Prayer
July 27, 2009One of the challenging things that christians often face is waiting for answers to prayer. Sometimes God may take a long time in answering prayer. For instance when we pray for the salvation of close friends or family members.
A friend of mine shared with me that she heard a helpful sermon where the preacher likened this process to planting a small seed and waiting for it to grow into a large fig tree. When we first put the seed in the ground, we may need to wait for weeks, months and sometimes even years where we see nothing happening above the surface of the ground. However does this mean that nothing is actually happening? No. Not really. Underneath the ground, the small seed is slowing germinating and gradually growing special roots beneath the surface, to form a foundation for a small seedling to eventually sprout out of the ground.
This is what it’s like when we wait for answers to prayer. We may sow small seeds to our friends or family when we talk to them about Jesus, as the Holy Spirit leads us. Even though it may seem on the surface that we don’t seem to be making any progress with our non believing friends or family, our actions and prayers are never in vain. The reason is that God, in his infinite wisdom is doing the work in His own time. This work, will eventually in the long term, grow into a beautiful fig tree.
So take heart. Just like the planting of a tiny seed to grow a fig tree, our prayers and actions are not in vain. Instead God is doing his own work beneath the surface of the soil, even though we may not see with our own eyes any progress or change. This is where we need to execise faith and trust in our loving Heavenly Father. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen” – Hebrews 11:1
Interpreting the Bible
July 13, 2009Interpreting the bible properly & correctly can be a great challenge especially for those who are not familiar with reading the bible. For instance it is important to note there are two sections ie the Old Testament and the New Testament. This is another name for the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The New Testament is when Jesus eventually came to the earth to bring ultimate salvation through his death on the cross. As a result the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross replaced the need for people to offer animal sacrifices to atone for people’s sins. In fact what Jesus did replaced a lot of rules and regulations that were practiced in the Old Testament. For instance salvation was no longer just exclusively for the Jewish people anymore, but became available for all races of people on the earth.
Many things that were described in the Old Testament were cultural and only pertained to the period of time those 2000 years ago. For instance during the biblical culture wealthy people often had slaves to work for them. This does not mean that christians today believe in slavery. In biblical times most women were not educated . This does not mean that christians today believe that females should not be educated.
A good book to read about how to interpret the Bible correctly is :- “How To Read The Bible For All It’s Worth“ By Dr Gordon D Fee. It discusses the type of literature each book of the bible is, and how to read and interpret it properly.
Homosexuality – The Christian View
July 11, 2009The bible states that the act of homosexuality is a sin according to God’s laws. See :-
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (NIV).
Romans 1:26-27 – “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” (NIV)
Homosexual tendencies within individuals are often caused by a degree of abuse or dysfunction experienced during the early childhood and or teenage years. People are not born as homosexuals. Here are some examples :-
1. If a boy was sexually abused by his father, step father, uncle, male teacher, male peer or any other male figure, this boy may develop homosexual tendencies because of this abuse . Sometimes these incidents can be so traumatic they can become suppressed memories in the subconcious and may only surface in later life when the survivor is ready to deal with these memories. Incidents of severe abuse may also be so buried in the subconcious, they may sometimes only surface in dreams or nightmares.
2. If at birth the parents of the child wanted a girl instead of a boy, and this is clearly made known to the child while growing up, the boy may subconciously reject his maleness and adopt female characteristics in order to please his parents.
3. If the wife continually puts down or rubbishes her husband due to discontent, infedility or disapproval and puts down men in general, in front of her male child, this child may in turn grow to see that being male is a negative thing and hence learn to take on female qualities and desires instead.
Every individual case is different as to the root causes of their homosexual tendencies. It may be a series of different incidents and effects that can contribute to their homosexuality. It can also depend on how continuous the abuse or negative input into a child’s life is. How sensitive a child is, can also make a difference in how he or she reacts to their environment. Not every child will react in the same way to the same abuse or negative input.
The good news is that it is possible for the power of God through Jesus Christ to heal the homosexual. God loves the homosexual person and in his compassion desires to see him or her fully healed and restored to wholeness. This can be achieved through skilful and trained prayer ministry and inner healing. Even suppressed memories from childhood, can be unearthed and revealed through the power of Jesus, in the form of skilful and trained prayer ministry. However it is not always a quick process, but can often take a long time - even a number of years. The length of time can depend on how severe the root causes are and how willing the person is willing to work on change. See :-
1. Exodus International http://www.exodus-international.org/
2. Living Waters Ministry http://www.livingwaters.org.au/
Unfortunately many homosexual people, do not choose the road of wholeness and healing, partly because they do not want to admit they are broken people who need help. It is much easier to believe that homosexuality is now a normal and accepted state of being, in society. In this way one can live in denial that there is anything wrong and that deep issues need to be dealt with in their lives.
However it is not a weakness to admit that one is “broken” and in need of help or healing. Instead this is really the beginning of true freedom and restoration in a person’s life. And if it is any consolation, all of us a broken and wounded in various degrees and in different ways. This is due to the fact that we live in a world of sinful and imperfect people, many who will hurt us and wound us whether they realise this or not. This is why all of us are in need of the saving power of Jesus and that is why Jesus came to die for every one of us not just for homosexual people.
So the fact is all of us are broken people in some way or another. Some people just live in denial that this is so.
Another point to note is that the more a homosexual person willingly engages in this sin and lifestyle, the more that person gives a foothold for Satan to enter his life and eventually take control of him or her. They will soon succumb to the deception that what they are doing is normal acceptable and OK before God.
Since God sees the homosexual act as a sin, these people would also need to abstain from carrying out their sexual desires in this area. Many people may view this as harsh and unloving for God to demand such a thing.
However I would like to argue that abstaining is not a new thing within the Christian faith. For instance for Christians, if one is single one has to wait until they have found a marriage partner until they are able to have a sexual union. Some individuals may only find their life partner when they reach the age of 40 or 50 . Hence they have to abstain from sex for 20 or 30 years. Even married people who are Christians, have to abstain, in a sense as well. Not necessarily from their spouse (but this may also occur due to sickness etc) . However if they become attracted to other members of the opposite sex, which may occur through the process of everyday life, they cannot just act on every impulse that comes their way. They have to choose to abstain and exercise self control as well.
God’s laws are always given for our own good and well being- to protect us from a life of disaster and emotional and physical chaos. It is up to the individual whether he or she chooses to believe this or not.
Praying in Tongues
May 26, 2009To some observers praying in tongues may look and sound like a lot of meaningless babble.
However recently I discovered the deeper meaning of what praying in tongues means, and the benefits it has to our spiritual walk with God.
Firstly, praying in tongues is a spiritual gift from God and is given to any believer who earnestly desires and asks for it in prayer. It is best imparted by another mature believer who also practices the gift of praying in tongues.
After receiving this gift, we must then practice it on a regular basis. Five minutes per day could be a good start. This enables the words and language to develop. God will give us the words, we just have to focus on our spirit. It is also best not to analyse the process too much with our minds. It is not ourselves that creates the words – it is the Holy Spirit who directs us, as to what to say. Sometimes if we think about the process too much, it could give us a headache and we can lose the spiritual impact of this gift.
What is Praying in Tongues?
Whenever we pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit gives us the prayers to pray. Since these prayers emanate directly from God, there is an absence of all self centred, soulish elements or attitudes in these prayers. It completely bypasses the soulish (or fleshly) realm. As a result, our spirit is united with God’s spirit to become one, while we pray in tongues.
Benefits of Praying in Tongues
1. It edifies our spirit and lifts us up, even though we may not know the exact meaning of our prayers or what we are saying.
2. We are able pray God’s prayers for us or a situation. In effect these prayers are not diluted with our own thoughts or selfish desires.
3. It unites our spirit with God’s Holy Spirit
4. It strengthens our spirit to make us more resilient to Satan’s attacks and prepares us for God’s work.
5. When we feel Satan attacking us in some way, praying in tongues straight away, helps to fight him off. For instance attacks in the form of negative thoughts, words or actions.
6. Praying in tongues on a daily basis, can help us to desire the things of God instead of the things of this world. It can hence help us to overcome sin in our lives.
Book about “Living By Faith” (Financially)
May 10, 2009There is a interesting short book about how a group of christian women trust God totally for their finances. They are the Evangelical Sisters of Mary who are like protestant nuns (no they’re not Catholic despite the name “Mary”).
They do not have paid jobs, but testify of God’s miraculous provision for their food clothing, shelter and more. The book gives many real life testimonies of God’s faithfulness from the smallest to the biggest of needs.
An important point in the book is their continual lifestyle of prayer, confession and repentence to facilitate this lifestyle of faith.
There are actually two books available. They are :-
1. Realities – “Down Under” - about how the sisters established their ministry in Australia &
2. Realities of Faith – by M Basilea Schlink. This talks about how the ministry was first established in Germany.
There is a cute part in the second book where the sisters spent a week doing special activities for some poor children in the area. They were teaching them how to pray in faith. Hence some of the children starting praying for some candy because after World War II such luxuries were very scarce. On the day before the children were to leave, a man came to deliver supplies of jam to their centre. He apologised that the delivery was a bit late and sheepishly offered a large bag of candy to compensate for his tardiness, (having no idea that the children had been praying for this). Naturally the children were delighted to see God’s provision of a special treat before leaving the Sisters’ lodgings.
You can purchase the books by emailing-
orders2@canaan-resources.com
The Evangelical Sisters of Mary website is http://www.kanaan.org
NB. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are trying to do the best they can)
Purity of Heart and Compassion
April 27, 2009I was reading parts of the book called “The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus” by Brennan Manning and discovered some very interesting and fascinating insights I thought I would share with you. This has been a great book to read since the author confronts Christians with many issues. Another title of this book could be “The Things We Think But Do Not Say”.
In his book he shares his view about what “Purity of Heart” means to him. He talks about the idea that it does not necessarily mean that a person is totally sinless since it is difficult for any Christian to attain this level of perfection here on earth. Instead it is when we cry out to God in worship saying ” You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord.” It does not come by our own Herculean efforts and threadbare resolutions. It is through constant worship of the Lord in our lives that helps us produce this purity of heart. When we worship God, we choose to see only the compassion, the infinite patience and tender love of Christ and realise that Jesus is Lord. We realise this is all that we need. When we are mesmerized by his presence then our own guilt and reproach disappear into nothingness. We are no longer aware of ourselves. Instead in worshipping God it takes our eyes off ourselves and focuses them on the wonder and holiness of God. Through worship even the desire for holiness can be transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus himself. In this way Purity of Heart can be seen as taking our eyes off ourselves and our own faults and instead focusing them more on Jesus. When we have a simple desire for Jesus and have him always in our focus, then God can gradually cleanse us in His way and time even while we are not looking .
Hope this doesn’t sound too “airy fairy”. However it did help me to see another perspective to what “purity of heart” means and helped me to make a more conscious effort to enter into worship during our worship times.
The author also talks about the importance of compassion and how this is one of the true characteristics of a Christian. He goes on to say that it can take a lot of spiritual maturity to have compassion and that it is opposite of competition which he finds so present in the Christian world.
Daily Encouragement
April 27, 2009Our church community “The Servants of Jesus” recently had a message about the importance of encouraging each other in the body of Christ. You can also receive daily encouragement from the Bible as well. I find the “Our Daily Bread” booklets very helpful in maintaining a consistent reading plan. It also helps to bring out the important points of the bible passage that you read each day.
Sometimes we may face situations where there is no one to encourage us at one point in time. This is where God’s word is always there to help us.
Here is a link where you can order a copy of this quarterly booklet at no charge :- http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml
