Humility

James 4:6, 10; 2 Chronicles 7:14




But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

According to the Student Bible Dictionary humility is defined as the freedom from pride as well as having the right view of God, self and others, but I would like to add to the dictionary's definition by saying that humility puts into perspective whatever accomplishments and or blessings we have come from God and He is to be given the glory and honor for each.

In the Bible humility isn't considered a weakness but instead a quality of strength as well as showing our trust in God in every situation. Jesus Christ is our perfect example of humility. He never once said "I am God you have to respect me"; He simply informed the Samarian woman that He was the promised Messiah.

Humility is about developing positive relationships with God and others. Allow me to pose this question, What kind of relationship will a prideful person develop as oppose a humble person? If God resists a prideful person then what is the reaction from our fellowman? Resistance has been my experience.

Our scripture text encourages us to refrain from self-exaltation and let God lift us up and receive more of His grace. 2 Chronicles 7:14 outlines four specific requests from God and He promised to heal our land-bless us. Land can be each individual as each one add to the whole.

Humility brings more of God's grace and His exalting; be humble.

Comments are welcome

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http://willie-writing.blogspot.com

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Obey God

Obey God

Jeremiah 7:23

But this things commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God; and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

The command to obey God has been God's request since creation; Adam and Eve's disobedience was man's downfall which began when they ate of the forbidden fruit. In our scripture text God is still asking His people to obey His voice while stating the blessings that will be received from obeying God.

Acts 5:29 tells us it is better to obey God rather than man simply because God knows best and His ways is far better than those of man. Most importantly, God is worthy of man's obedience being that God created us in His image and likeness; gave His Son to die for our sins and all who accept His Son Jesus as Savior will spend eternity with God. What a blessing!

I've always heard that obedience was better than sacrifice; with that being said, these questions come to mind, Who would risk going to hell because of disobedience? Isn't it far better to follow instructions than to try finding your own way? For me and my house obeying God is the best way.

Obey God as He is the one true God.

Comments are welcome

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white3285@sbcglobal.net

http://willie-writing.blogspot.com

www.shepherdministries.info.com

Trust

Proverbs 3:5


Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.


In Tuesday's discussion our focus was Prayer and Faith as faith is a key ingredient to answered prayers; today's focus is trusting in the Lord and the importance of trusting God. Allow me to emphasize a few facts to trusting God, and they are:

a) God is sovereign; He is our creator and sustainer.

b) He knows all, in all and can do all.

c) His knowledge far exceeds all human knowledge and understanding as our understanding is fallible and prone to error whereas God's knowledge is infallible.

d) He provides for all our needs, cares and concerns according to His Word and His word is true (Philippians 4:19, 1 Peter 5:7). There are many personal testimonies of God's trustworthiness.

e) Trusting God is essential to our relationship with Him and this trust is based on His trustworthiness. God is not liar and He cannot lie. He is faithful to His promises.

f) Trusting God shows our total confidence in Him as there is no failure in God.

g) Lastly, totally trusting God we acknowledge Him in all our ways (v. 6) means we allow God to direct our paths through our plans, activities and decisions-making. Acknowledging God in all that we do we have established a close relationship with Him. In doing so He will lead us to the goals He has for our lives and will remove all obstacles that we may encounter. His residing Holy Spirit will aid in our decision-making (Proverbs 11:5; Isaiah 45:13).

God is worthy of our trust and we can depend on Him in every situation.

Comments are welcome

Author's contact:

white3285@sbcglobal.net

http://willie-writing.blogspot.com

www.shepherdministries.info.com

Prayer And Faith

Hebrews 11; James 5:16C




Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. The effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

During my private Morning Prayer time and pondering what to talk about in today's discussion the Lord directed me to prayer and faith as these two go together. I make this statement because without faith in our prayers they are just empty words. I was taught early in life that if you pray don't worry, but if you worry then don't pray, because worry shows a lack of faith in God and are failing to trust Him with your cares and concerns. According to 1 Peter 5:7, God wants us to bring Him our cares. His shoulders are larger enough to handle our little problems. Why? Because if we believe through faith that the God of heaven created the world by His Word (Hebrews 11:3), then He is certainly capable of handling every situation we bring to Him.

In our Model Prayer we are to ask that God's will be done (Matthew 6:10); in doing so we are aligning our will with God's will and is acknowledging that He is all powerful and faithful to His Word. According to His promise He will supply all our needs and will take care of our problems.

What are we to do when God delays His answers? We are to continue in prayer thanking Him for answering our prayers and all His blessings while remaining faithful and trusting in Him knowing that He will bring you through. God knows the extent of our faith. He wants us to grow in faith and draw nearer to Him; in doing so we establish an intimate relationship with Him. Then too God looks at the heart and knows the sincerity of every prayer that is prayed. Therefore, pray to God in faith from the heart and with all sincerity.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16).

Pray in faith God answers.

Comments are welcome

Author's contact

white3285@sbcglobal.net

http://willie-writing.blogspot.com

www.shepherdministries.info.com

Conformed To Christ-likeness

Romans 8:29; 12:2

For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn amongst many brethren. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If the question were raised, How are believers transformed into the likeness of Christ? Romans 12:2 provides the answer by stating that a transformation is mandatory which begins in the heart as it is the epicenter of all thoughts and actions. It can also be said that what a man thinks in his heart he does in actions. With that being said, if a man thinks worldly thoughts then his actions will be worldly in nature; whereas, if a man think godly thoughts then his actions will be of such.
To answer the implied why question is to say that everyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is born into the family of God and must bear resembles of Christ. Believers being born into the corporate body of Christ are called to separate themselves from this world and its systems and to live holy lives before a holy God as all believers glorify God through holy living.
Believers can live in Christ-likeness with the aid of the Holy Spirit who guides believers and teaches them all things.
Be like Christ and do not conform to this world while in the world.

Comments are welcome
Author's contact
white3285@sbcglobal.net
http://willie-writing.blogspot.com/

The Protective Hand Of God

Psalm 91:1-16

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust.

Reflecting on the mighty hand of God we can see His protective eye and hand intertwined in our daily lives. God has instilled His internal alarm clock in each of us. We are rocked to sleep by His hand of quite rest and as we slumber and sleep we are kept by His hand of love, then when it is time to rise He gently wakes us and guides us through our daily tasks. He keeps us from hurt, harm and danger as we go. He meets our daily needs. He loves us unconditionally and we are never out of reach of His protective hand of care.
For this I say like the Psalmist thank You for being my refuge, my fortress and my God (v. 2). I will trust You always and every morning give You the first fruit of my lips of prayer and praise.
Thank You for being my God.

Comments are welcome
Author's contact
white3285@sbcglobal.net
http://willie-writing.blogspot.com/

Baptism In The Holy Spirit

Acts 1:5

For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

In Tuesday's discussion we discussed water baptism today our focus is the transformation and faith walk each believer begins upon being baptized in the Holy Spirit. With that being said, allow me to highlight a few points of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and they are:
a) Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is for all who have professed faith in Jesus Christ as all believers have been born again and is now being indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This is so Christ's ministry of saving souls will continue as believers are to witness Christ the world over in obedience to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
b) Being baptized in the Holy Spirit believers can and will boldly witness Christ with power given by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:14-41). Believers have committed themselves to a lifetime of witnessing Christ.
c) Being baptized in the Holy Spirit believers live a life that brings glory to Jesus Christ (John 16:13-14; Acts 4:33). Living the life of faith Christians develop a greater desire for prayer as it is our communication with God (Acts 2:41-42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 10:9) and in doing so we establish an intimate relationship with God.
d) Being baptized in the Holy Spirit manifestation of the different gifts given by the Holy Spirit for the edification of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4-10).
Believers, Jesus Christ baptize us in the Holy Spirit who is God and He lives in us.
Comments are welcome
Author's contact
white3285@sbcglobal.net
http://willie-writing.blogspot.com

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