Faith in God through Jesus Christ

1 John 5:1-5

In this week's blog we will look at some key lessons in faith as "faith is based on our knowledge of God's Word and His character" (Spirit Filled Bible).

In faith we as believers look forward to the second coming of Christ as we know that we well be transformed into Jesus' likeness when He returns. Because of our faith we are confident in our witness to who Christ is and the love that God, the Father has shown to all mankind as the Holy Spirit bare witness of our faith and love for God and others. In yielding to the Holy Spirit we grow in total obedience to God. Our faith gives us the assurance that we as believers have victory through Jesus Christ as He has overcome the world and as we stand firm in our faith, the world has no control or influence over us. This is the faith that see the eternal realities and as we experience the power of God to the point the world's sinful pleasures, ungodly ways and selfish materialism is of no interest to us as believers.

What principle is applied in a faith-filled practice? Believers practice a daily faith-filled prayer life as this is the believer's communication with God. Through faith we know God hears all our prayers and when our prayers are aligned with the Will of God we get a "yes" answer. God know best and He desires the best for us. This bring into focus our faith and trust in God in all that we do and request of Him.

How strong is your faith?

Author's Contact:

wwhite@goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com

white3285@sbcglobal.net

www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com

Let Go And Let God

1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 23:1-6, Philippians 4:19

This week’s topical discussion is to encourage us to take our problems to God and leave them with Him as He is willing and able to handle all of our problems. 1 Peter 5:7 reminds us of God’s care for us in that He asks us to “cast your cared upon Him; for he careth for you.” God would not make such request if He were not willing or able to handle our problems. Another school of thought is that God is the creator of all that is created and this includes man His prized creation that God created in His likeness and image, then God provide for all our needs, concerns and provides solutions to all our problems.

Reflect with me on Psalm 23 and take an analytical look at each verse and see what God is saying to mankind yesterday, today and tomorrow. In verse 1 God tell humanity that you shall not want (partial paraphrase), meaning whatever the situation He, God is going to take care of it. As you continue analytically looking at this passage of scripture God says, “Yes, you may face some dark days, but I am there with you all the way.” God provides us with His rod and staff, the Holy Spirit as our comforter and that’s not all, God in divine provisional care dispatches His goodness and mercy angels that walk beside us every day of our lives and this protection is provided until we are ushered into heaven. So what the worry?

Remember when Christ was physically in the world He healed the sick, raised the dead, made lame to walk, and dumb to talk, well, Christ said that upon His departure that He would send another comforter, this was the Holy Spirit who resides inside each believer. One of the Holy Spirit’s functions is to bring us comfort in times of distress, but if we pray about our problems and continues to worry then, this tell God that we lacks the necessary faith and trust in Him that He can and will solve the problem. I am reminded of a phrase, if you pray don’t worry, and if you worry don’t pray. This phrase reflects on our discussion topic, but in our humanness we tend to worry and pray, but God wants our complete trust and faith in Him. A reminder is to pray that His Will be done and ask for strength to endure the situation and through the Holy Spirit God gives us the necessary strength we need.

Another thought on our topical discussion is when we encounter adversities our faith is strengthened as we learn to rely on God each time. Lastly, when we learn to let go and let God we establishes a closer walk with Him and completely trust God in every situation realizing God’s goodness surrounds us.

Let go and let God for He is in control.
Author’s contact:
wwhite@goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com
white3285@sbcglboal.net
http://willie-writing.blogspot.com
www.goodshepherdwritingandpublising.com

Words of Encouragement

John 16:33; Romans 15:1; Hebrews 3:13

While reflecting on the grim news that is bombarding our air ways while many are experiencing personal challenges, I felt it was my Christian duty to impart words of encouragement. Allow me to say regardless of personal situation, remember Jesus Christ is present through the Holy Spirit who is our comforter, guide and present help in times like these. Remember God's Words when He promised never to leave or forsake His own, and it has been my personal experience that when God seem to be far away is when He is the closest to us. Also, reflect on the famous poem, "Footprints in the Sand" which depicts two people walking alone the beach with two set of footprints been seen and the two become one; this is when the Lord carries His child through the darkest point in their lives. What a great God?

Romans 15:1 encourage the "strong to bear the infirmities of the weak" which mean those of us who are not experiencing trial and tribulations lend a listening ear or speak a kind word to those who are going through their storm. Be assured that trouble is certain to knock on your door, but the comforting thought is found in John 16:33 where Jesus states that "in the wold ye shall have tribulations: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Thank God for Jesus!

In closing, allow me to impart these word of wisdom, through it all God is still in control. Remember Job and his situation, Satan had to get permission from God to afflict Job, but God saw job through and blessed him immensely. Satan was not allowed to touch Job's soul, our souls belong to God and He is going to protect what's His. As God protected Job and brought him through He will do the same for you and I. Lastly, through all the turmoil that many are facing, whether personal or public look to God and "cast your cares on Him."
Cheer up tomorrow is a brighter day--God is in control.

wwhite@goodshpeherdwritingandpublishing.com
white3285@sbcglobal.net
http://www.goodshpeherdwritingandpublishing.com/
http://willie-writing.blogspot.com/

Come as You Are

Pondering what to write for this week’s blog, I was led to the above phrase as it relates to God’s invitation to humanity. It is God’s desire that all be saved and He invites all to come to Him without money, or any other baggage that could hinder the unsaved from receiving salvation.
What this phrase is saying that God in His love will do the cleansing through regeneration, sanctification, and justification for all who accept His gift of salvation, but the unsaved must first admit that they are a sinner and is in need of a Saviour. Repenting of ones sin the new convert becomes a born again believer in Christ as this is his/her spiritual birth through regeneration. The new convert becomes a new creature in Christ who has given his/her life to Christ and has been transformed from a life of sin to a new life in Christ.

Sanctification in the new convert’s life is a process where the believer is made holy, consecrated, or separated from the world and all ungodliness. Being sanctified the believer has the ability to live holy lives unto God and love Him with all their heart and soul. More importantly, the new convert achieves sanctification by faith (Acts 26:18) and is in union with Christ in His death and resurrection (John 15:4-10; 1 Corinthians 1:30) and by the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7-9).
During the cleansing process the new convert is justified, which being acquitted or found not guilty of ones sins before God. Justification is a gift of God as no one can make himself or herself right before God as this was seen in Old Testament times.

In closing this dialogue, the invitation “come as you are” is powerful in that God will perform the cleansing getting us ready to spend eternity with Him. More importantly, this invitation speaks to God’s love for all humanity. This reminds me of the prodigal son where the lost son did not have to clean himself, just admit his wrong doing and return to his father. The same principle applies to all lost souls-- God awaits for your return.
Come---God will wash you clean with the blood of Jesus.


Author’s contact:
wwhite@goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com
white3285@sbcgloba.net
http://willie-writing.blogspot.com
www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com

Memorial Day

May 20, 2009

Memorial is designated as a time of remembering or reflecting, and as we approach this holiday day weekend, I felt it necessary to take time out to wish everyone a safe, happy and relaxing weekend.

Many will spend the day /weekend reflecting and paying tribute to love ones and our fallen soldiers who have given so much for this country; for this I say my prayers and love are with the families and the soldiers both past and present alike, and well as the families who pay tribute to love ones who have made their transition they too are us in my heart. For those who will spend time together with family and friends, I say love and peace.

Family time together is a beautiful portrait of love, happiness, mutual respect and unity.

Author’s contact:
Emails: wwhite@goodshpeherdwritingandpublishing.com
white3285@sbcgloal.net
Blog: http://willie-writing.blogspot.com
Website: www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com

The Holy Spirit

In preparation for the release my next book (June 2009), An Exposé of the Holy Spirit, I decided that this was an opportunity to provide a brief introduction to the book by looking at the word Pheuma and its meaning and then who He is in relationship to the other members of the Godhead as He is the third person that make up the Trinity.
The study of the Pheuma is Pheumatology which is the study of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Pheuma is a Greek word for spirit which is sometimes translated as ghost, but it simply means spirit (Foundational Doctrine Dr. Harry E. Carr). The Holy Spirit is a deity just as the Father, and the Son as the three makes up the Godhead. Upon closer examination of the Holy Spirit, He is cop-equal with God the Father and God the Son as there is but one God operating as three distinct persons. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 referrers to Him as the Spirit of God and in Philippians 1:19 He is referred to as the Spirit of Christ. In Ephesians 4:4 He is referred to as the one Spirit as this scripture talks about unity in the Spirit as each of us has one body but many members that make-up the body as we are one in the Spirit.
Often times the Holy Spirit is referred to as “it” as this can be contributed to false teaching or the lack of understanding of the Trinity, but the Holy Spirit is a person with an intellect, a will and emotions.
For a brief moment let us look at the intellect of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:10 states that “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God.” With that being said, then the Holy Spirit has the ability to think, reason, plan and know as He is God as this is how He can teach all things to mankind. If a person has a will he or she has the power to choose and the power to act on that choice; in Acts 13: we see a choice being made and acted upon with the separation of Barnabas and Saul as they were to preach the gospel of Christ to other nations. Lastly, what are emotions; they are feeling and the ability to respond to those feeling. Therefore, just as humanity has feeling so does the Holy Spirit, as He can be grieved over humanity’s unconfessed sins and we are encouraged not to grieve the Holy Spirit. (See Ephesians 4:30).
In my book I look at the many titles/names, emblem, ministries and works of the Holy Spirit that is associated with Him and supports each with scripture references. In next week’s blog I will provide more insight from the book as it takes an in-depth look at the Holy Spirit in an effort to give a better understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and His interaction in man’s life from creation to the end as the book is designed for good reading, to enlighten, to gain a better understanding about the Holy Spirit, as well as it can be used as study guide, but more importantly it designed for both believers and non-believers.


Author’s contact:
Emails: white3285@sbcglobal.net
wwhite@goodshepherdwritigandpublishing.com
Website: www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com
Blog: http://willie-writing.blogspot.com

A call to repentance

Zephaniah 2:1-3; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Romans 12:2
In light of the daily distressing news, I felt the need to reiterate the call for repentance. I say reiterate because this was the title of my April 30th devotional reading and many didn’t receive the booklet.
American and the whole world need to repent and I make this statement because America and the world are experiencing financial and health crises which is due mainly because of sin in one form or the other. America has been a blessed nation all of its young history and as God blessed America it began to drift farther and farther away from God and this displeased Him. Racism has been a thorn in America’s side that has and continues to cause strife among its citizens and many say there are Christians. How can this be when the Bible says if we say that we love God whom we have never seen and hate our brother who we see daily then we are a liar? Also, America has become so puffed up in its self until it implies that it no longer need to put God first in all that it does. Why? Because America wants to remove the wording “In God we trust” from our monetary system, which raises this question, if we do not trust God then who do we trust? Is it that we have become so modern until we feel that God has no place in our lives? Have we replaced God with our gods? However each person answer, it is God who we must place our trust in because He is supreme and always will be.
Other sinful acts that has brought God’s wrath upon America and the world in that America is allowing same sex marriages, greed is running rampant and self-centeredness has taken center stage in many of our lives. In short man has gone against the Will of God and He is angry.
In this writer’s opinion God has taken a health issue, the swine flu and fanned it across the world like a raging wild fire and it is raging out of control, and only God will put out this fire through His grace and mercy. People, God is angry and unless man repents of his sins we will continue to experience unimaginable pestilence far worse than what were are witnessing. This brings into focus our scripture verses; in Zephaniah 2: 1-3 we see the prophet Zephaniah calling on the nation of Israel to repent and return to God before His pronounce judgment. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God issued a call to repentance where God asked His people return to Him as God ask mankind to do four things which are (a) Humble themselves, (b) Pray, (c) Seek my face, and (d) Turn from their wicked ways and if man does these four things then God will do three things, which are (a) hear, (b) forgive, and (c) heal. The call remains open for all humanity.
Fellow believers the time has come for an earthly revival which must begin in the hearts and minds of all mankind and through the sincere prayers of God’s people there can and will be a change (a return to God) which is badly needed. It is prayer time.
Believers join me in prayer.
Father God I make this petition on behalf of all mankind, Father I see Your anger and Father I am asking You to touch the hearts and minds of all mankind as we have sinned against You and only You and for this I am asking for forgiveness. Man’s pride, greed and his disobedience has brought Your anger upon this land and Father if You just blow Your breath of healing upon Your created earth, there will be a healing of physical and spiritual sickness on all humanity. Father, I know You can and I believe that You will for this I thank You and will forever give Your name the praise and glory You so richly deserve. In Jesus name Amen!