Spiritual Disciplines - means not an end

Daily spiritual disciplines of reading the Bible, worship, prayer and speaking in tongues are means to an end and not an end in themselves. They should not make us feel we have arrived spiritually and become spiritually proud because of our ability to accomplish them.
Rather they help train us to be sensitive to the Lord as we seek to commune with Him through these tools. The end of spiritual disciplines is an ever growing love for the Lord and a deeper level of walking in step with Him as He daily lead us. The disciplines allow us to enjoy the Lord even as He enjoys our company.
So let us seek Him with discipline so that we can enjoy this relationship of faith with Him each day.

Youtube videos for eternity

The videos created by me to illustrate God's eternal love for us and our need of Him.
How to have a relationship with God for eternity
The Eternity Illustration
Blogs that matter:
Life is fragile
New Birth needed
My Story

New Birth

The New Birth giving rise to the New Life in Jesus Christ

When we are born in the natural, God has already created within us our sex, our physical attributes, temperament and our personality. We all have a physical body and a soul (our mind, emotions and will). However, we also have a spirit that is created to have a personal relationship with our Creator. But this spirit is NOT alive and is unable to have fellowship with our Holy God because of our sin nature (which is inherited from the first man, Adam who disobeyed God and sinned).

Since our spirit is dead, we need to be born again so that our spirit may come alive and able to have fellowship with God. No matter how many good works and religious acts we do, we cannot make our spirit come alive and be accepted by God.

Only God can create this New Birth through our confession with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus Christ died for our sin and rose again to give us eternal life.

God so loved us that He sent Jesus His Son to come to earth to pay the penalty of sin by dying on the Cross. This is the righteous requirement of God for sin as the wages of sin is death – eternal separation from God.

But Jesus did not remain dead but rose again so that we can have new and eternal life when we surrender our lives to Him and trust Him completely.

When we receive by simple faith, Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, He forgives all our sins and makes our spirit alive so that we can have eternal fellowship with God.

Conclusion

1. No matter what his current moral state is, every person needs a new birth. We cannot change ourselves.
2. Only through the new birth can a person’s spirit come alive and able to fellowship with God, moving from darkness into light and from sin to holiness.
3. The new birth comes through faith by confessing and believing that Jesus Christ is your Saviour and Lord.

Consider whether you have experienced the new birth. If not, use the prayer below to help you be born again into this new life.

Pray this prayer out loud so that you can hear it and mean it in your heart:

“Heavenly Father God, I come to You admitting that I am a sinner. Right now, I choose to turn away from sin and I ask You to forgive me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I believe that Your Son, Jesus, died on the Cross to take away my sins. I also believe that He rose again from the dead so that I can have eternal life and fellowship with You. In the Name of Jesus Christ, I confess and believe Him to be the Saviour and Lord of my life from this day forth. I choose to follow Him and I ask You to fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live this new life. I declare that right now I am a child of God. I am free from sin and full of the righteousness of God. I am saved in Jesus’ Name. Amen”

Change your vocabulary

"If you say what you have, you will have what you say." - this is a Scriptural principle in God's Word.
Our Creator God spoke the world and everything in it, including mankind, into existence. What He says has creative power and His words will be carried out.
We are made in His image and when we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we become the new creation in Christ, endowed with the Holy Spirit living in us, with the power and authority now to speak creative words of power to effect change in our lives and our environment.
Hence let us speak words that are positive and according to our Father's heart. Speak blessing, healing, restoration, renewal, revival and faith-filled words everyday to ourselves and our circumstances.
Do we need to speak out loud? Yes, we do as many scriptures exhort us to speak and our hearts will receive what we speak and faith will arise. 
Rom 10:8-9 - The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming... confess with your mouth, ..... and believe in your heart
Ps 19:14 - the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart..
Matt 17:20 - if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, `Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
So today and everyday, speak faith-filled words and see your faith grow and things change for the glory of God!

Growing Gracefully

Let us not take our wives for granted as we grow 'old' in our marriage relationships. Make each day a fresh way in which we relate to our wives in tender love and care. It's not easy so let us ask the Holy Spirit, the Perfect Gentleman, to help us. 

As our wives age into menopause, we have to be more vigilant as hormone levels change and the tendencies for emotional ups and downs are higher. Let us be careful with our words and tone of voice in relating to them.

Pray God's protective covering over them emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually each day.

May the Lord help us to make our marriages strong and a blessing to many even as we grow with grace in our later years.

Life is fragile

My accident on Tuesday made me reflect: Life is truly fragile. One moment I was walking fine and the next I am on my way in an ambulance with my head bandaged up! This experience reminds me that we all need to be prepared at all times - who knows when we are called home to be with the Lord.
Let us then each day keep short accounts with the Lord and with others. Rise and retire each day with thanksgiving for a new day began and ended. Renew our commitment to the Lord and rest in His love. Repent and receive His forgiveness. Respond with forgiveness to others who have wronged you.
For those who have yet to experience the wonderful relationship you can have with the Lord of the universe, let today be the day you believe and confess Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. There is no better way to live this life given to us.

Holy Anger

The spirit of anger – unholy anger

orge  (or-gay) - anger (indignation) - be angry (orgizo) - same word in all occasions in the Bible.

Anger is a valid emotion but needs to be controlled for it can be destructive if it is not.

Valid Anger (righteous anger)

MK 3:5 He (Jesus) looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."

Rom 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

Eph 4:26-27 "In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Invalid Anger (unrighteous anger)

2 Cor 12:20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

Eph 4:31-32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

Col 3:8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

1Tim 2:8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

James 1:20-21 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

 

Valid anger	Invalid anger
Concerned for God’s holiness and glory Concern for justice and righteousness Concern for truth and in helping others	Concerned for self-glory Concern for self-preservation Concern for self-interests (revenge)

How to use anger correctly: (BMI principle)

1. Be angry primarily at sin, not the sinner.  Attack the attitude, behaviour, lies, evil-doing, not the person.
2. Master anger and use it to defeat injustice and evil.  Do not let anger master you and ‘force’ you to act out in angry outbursts.
3. If anger overwhelms, look to the Holy Spirit for control.