Dear Friend:
Before anything else, let me just point out that we Have Three enemies and they are the Devil which I discussed earlier; then the World; which makes us hooked and Idolized it; but the worst is Ourselves which is the The first enemy among the Three and that is the FLESH. The Flesh according to the bible is anything that is contrary to the the Word of God and they are the Following:
A.)Hatred, Immorality, Lust, Vengeance, Anger, Lust for sex; Jealousy, Unforgiveness, Gossip, Slander, Murder and many more just read the book of Romans but the fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Self-control, Patience, Endurance, Humility, Fortitude and anything that is not in the spirit is the work of the flesh.
A lot of preachers today claim that their messages, all of them, can change your life. They say that to get you to buy what you just heard them preach. They are dealing with this issue or that issue or problem area of you life. But if that were so, then there are a thousand messages you have heard that should have, but didn’t change your life. The problem is that they never got to the core problem and went to the foundational issue.
This Word of God will do that. No message or word of man has the power to change your life, but the Word of God, if it is heard and received and believed and acted on, has the power to change your life, for that is how you get or got saved to begin with. It was because you heard the Word and you were brought to conviction and repentance and so were born again by the Word of God. 1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” The power of God is in His Word. When that logos becomes rhema in our spirit, then the Spirit of God uses it to make a change and transformation in us.
We think, look I’m saved, I’m born again, I have the spirit of God in me, why do I keep sinning and doing the wrong thing, I just can’t seem to overcome my flesh. You can overcome the flesh and live in God’s abundance by walking in the spirit and not fulfilling he lusts of the flesh. How do you do that? We need to find our how to be led by the spirit and stop walking in the flesh and how to walk in life and victory.
The flesh is a way of thinking that leads to a bad decision that leads to failure. Failure doesn’t come from being in the flesh or being out of control in your emotions but failure comes from making bad decisions and bad decisions come from being in the flesh and from letting your emotions rule over you.
The enemy of our inheritance is not the devil, but the flesh. The devil doesn’t stop us from walking in the spirit and having what God wants us to have but our flesh. The flesh opposes the spirit and the spirit opposes the flesh. If you are not walking in your inheritance it is because you are not walking in the spirit, but in the flesh.
John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” The spirit quickens, it gives life. The flesh profits nothing. If the flesh profits nothing, if something, anything profits nothing then there is no benefit in doing it and that is not where we want to be or to be headed. Why do people walk in the flesh? It isn’t because they have too but because they choose to, especially if they have been redeemed. Most people walk in the flesh because they think it will accomplish something, or produce something. Why do people get angry? They think it will cause others to do what they want. They think it will get others to change their behavior or whatever. But the flesh profits nothing. The spirit is the words of God. To walk in the spirit is to walk in the Word of God. When you walk in the word, you walk in the spirit for the Word is spirit and life. And if you walk in the Word, you will not walk in the flesh and think and do that which will lead to failure, sin and that which is bad for you.
We are talking about a mindset. What you mind is set on and the basis for your thought life. We are also talking about a worldview. Do you think and see things in this world, in your life and circumstances through the filter of the Word of God or is it by what man say, by humanistic thinking, by modern psychology, by that which is convenient to you or that which you think will benefit you. Today society is being taught to think contrary to the Word of God, to think that they are not a creation of a loving God, to think that God shouldn’t be in our society because everyone doesn’t believe in God and that there are no moral or other absolutes. That way of thinking leads people to walk in the flesh and produce the lusts of the flesh and do that which is contrary to God and that which is life and to live in sin. So, let us start with some definitions.
Our spirit is that part of our being that is conscious of what is above us. It was created to be God conscious. Our soul is that part of our being that is conscious of that which is around us. Our flesh is that part of our being that is conscious of what is wrong with us, and what is in us. Our flesh is that part of our being that is what is in us, not what God has put in us, but what our emotions and that which we feel, see and hear or that which is on us.
There is a part of us that can be conscious of what is above us. What is above us but heaven, God and life. Colossians 3:1-2 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” It is where Jesus is “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:21) and “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
Galatians 5:16-17 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” The flesh is at war against the spirit, and the spirit is at war against the flesh and they are fighting one another and you can’t do the things you want or desire and you can’t have what you want. The war between the flesh and sprit will keep you from having the things you wish, desire or that God wants you to have. So we have to put an end to the flesh.
The Bible doesn’t say battle your flesh, but crucify your flesh. Romans 13:14 “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Galatians 5:24-25 “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” That means to walk in the power and by the leading of the Holy Spirit. What does the Spirit of God use to speak to you and lead you in making the right decisions? The Word of God. Isaiah 30:21 “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” What is that word you will hear, the spirit speaking to you God’s Word, bringing a verse to mind, causing your consciousness to be pricked because of the truth you know and what God has commanded you to do and how He has told us to live.
Look at this verse, Isaiah 42:16. “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” How does God do this? To bring one from darkness to light is by the revelation of God’s Word. Christ told Paul that he was sending him to preach the gospel to “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” (Acts 26:18). 2 Peter 1:19 puts it this way, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” That is because God’s word is the light. Psalm 119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light.” The Word of God brings light into the mind. That which is contrary to the word of God is darkness and blindness of the mind. 2 Corinthians 4:4 brings these two things together. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
That thinking which is contrary to truth is thinking which is not according to truth or that which is a lie. Romans 3:4 says, “let God be true, but every man a liar.” Any thought that is contrary to truth is a lie. The truth of God’s Word is light. So any thinking that is contrary to the light of God’s Word is darkness. God’s Word is spirit and life and all thinking that is contrary to God’s Word is flesh and death.
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” To walk after the Spirit is to walk under the authority and under the obedience of the Word. If you walk contrary to the Word you are walking according to the fleshly mind and that brings condemnation because you are in disobedience to the Word. Therefore, it continues, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” When you walk in the fleshly mind, you will make wrong decisions that lead to sin and sin leads to death.
Scripture says that you have to take up your cross daily, not fight your flesh daily and that is because the flesh tries to resurrect itself. Luke 9:23 “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” What is your cross? Your cross is where your will, your desire, your thoughts are contrary to the thoughts, will and desire of God for your life. It is where your will and the will of God come into conflict and you have to do as Jesus when He walked as a man and pray, “Father… not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Why is this true? We can verify this with another scripture. Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So when we are following our ways, our thoughts, that is walking in the flesh because it is contrary to God’s ways and God’s thoughts which are given to us through His Word.
But you have to crucify your flesh once and for all. That is done by your coming to the cross and surrendering your life and identifying with His death, burial and resurrection, which is shown in baptism. Therein through baptism we tell the world that we have died to our self and living by our flesh, the ways that are contrary to God’s Word and now are a new creation in Christ Jesus and will walk according to His Word and His Spirit. You crucify your flesh by identifying the flesh to the simplest definition and then you won’t have to constantly battle it.
You won’t have to think, now does my flesh want to eat a piece of pie or whatever. At the simplest definition, the flesh is the opposite of the spirit. John 6:53-58 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”
So what is Jesus talking about here? This passage is twofold. In this passage there is an indirect application in communion, but in this context it is primarily speaking about His Word. Yes, we remember His life and death by partaking of the elements of communion and thereby identify with His sacrifice for us and come back to the cross and apply it to our lives.
But more importantly, Jesus was the Word become flesh, the living bread that came down from heaven and we live by Him by eating His Word and living by His Word, which is our heavenly manna. Jesus lived by the Father by living by His Word and so do we. John 5:30 “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge.”
Concerning us, in John 5:24, Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” How do you pass from death and condemnation into life? By hearing the Word and believing His Word which means to live by His Word and allow it to influence and control our decisions. John 8:31-32 “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth is God’s Word is what sets us free from all lies and deceptions of the world and the devil and walking by His Word is what makes us His disciples. Walking in the flesh is walking contrary to God’s Word.
The words of Jesus are the spirit of God, walking in the spirit is walking in the Word. Walking in the flesh is walking contrary to the Word and it happens without thought because it is a mindset and that is why our minds must be renewed by the Word of God. Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world:(don’t be made in the image of this word, to look and act like the world, we are to be conformed to the image of Christ) but be ye transformed (totally changed in nature so as to make fit for a totally new purpose so that your outward man looks like the inward spirit of Christ) by the renewing of your mind (by the living and abiding Word of God within), that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” The only way to transform your mind and thinking is by filling it with the Word of God and walking according to the Word of God is the only way to prove that good and acceptable and perfect will of God for your life.
I sinned, I fell, I blew it. Does that mean I was in the flesh? No. It’s being in the flesh that caused you to sin, to blow it. Being in the flesh is not an action, but a way of thinking. It is a disease condition of the soul that leads to corrupt decisions and that is where failure comes from. The flesh is a way of thinking that leads to a decision against God’s Word that leads to bad decisions to being out of control in your emotions. Bad decisions come from being emotionally ruled instead of ruling over them, it is a way of thinking that opposed the Word and opposes righteousness. The flesh stays alive through a system of thoughts.
Therefore the flesh is crucified by taking thoughts captive. 2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Imaginations speaks of images in the mind and those images that come from worldly, carnal, ungodly thinking must be cast down because they are contrary to Christ. God said bring your thoughts into line with my Word, into obedience of His Word and that is what it is to bring them into the obedience of Christ. You can only do that by displacing incorrect thinking with the Word of God, by filling your mind with God’s Word that you will then walk and make decisions according to that Word.
That is what the word to Joshua was all about in Joshua 1:8. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” When you fill you mind with His Word, you meditate on His Word and it is in your heart, then you will speak it and do according to it and then you will have success because you will be walking according to the spirit and not the flesh.
Romans 8:4 “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Righteousness is fulfilled by the spirit, by walking in the spirit. Those in the flesh mind the things of the flesh and those in the spirit have their minds on the things of the Word. Romans 8:5-6 “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally (worldly) minded is death; but to be spiritually (Word) minded is life and peace.” To be fleshly minded, carnally minded is death. The flesh is a way of thought, a way of thinking, of words that are contrary to the scripture and to Jesus. It is not that the flesh wants this or that. It is a way of thinking that leads to immorality; that leads to lust and other works of the flesh. The words of the flesh lead to the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21. Lasciviousness is living without boundaries. This list of the works of the flesh, are the manifestations of a wrong way of thinking. The flesh is simply a wrong way of thinking, a wrong attitude of the mind, a wrong mindset.
The flesh is not thinking of lusting things. No the flesh produces lustful things. Lustful things are the fruit, the harvest of the flesh. The flesh is not thinking “that sin that I did, that will finish me off; that will doom me.” You wouldn’t think that that thought is the flesh talking to you, but that is what it is; because it is contrary to what the Word says. No sin or failure has to result in your ultimate doom. The word says God will remove our sins as far as the east is from the west when we repent of them. The Word says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). End of subject. God is faithful and just to forgive. Our part is to humble ourselves and repent of that sin and then change our way of thinking, that is the about face of repentance, so that we do not go back to that sin and continually walk in that sin we have repented of. It is done by a change of mind, a change of thinking. Repentance is first and foremost a change in attitude of the mind and therefore a change in direction.
When we think, “I don’t know if I will ever get over this sickness.” That is the flesh, not the spirit because it is not the Word of God. There is a difference between the manifestation of the flesh, the byproducts of the flesh and what it is. The sprit says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,” and the flesh says, “If I just do this or that, or fast enough, I can do it myself.” I am not saying you shouldn’t fast, but fasting doesn’t crucify the flesh. Fasting can help put your mind on spiritual things and help you focus on spiritual things and to quiet the appetites of the body so you can feed on the Word to help renew your mind to the things of God.
The flesh’s appetite is fed by a wrong thought pattern that leads to fleshly actions and sin. “I don’t know if I can do this, if I can stop doing this, or get victory over that.” That is the flesh. The flesh opposes the sprit, which is the Word that says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It is not I can do all things. That is also fleshly thinking that will bring us into condemnation before God because it is pride in our ability rather than faith in His ability to work in us and enable us to do it.
We cannot do what He asks in and of ourselves or by our flesh. We can only obey and do God’s will by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Yes, the Spirit of God can work and lead a new believer in that which is right, even though he or she doesn’t yet know the Word concerning something, but still can convict of God’s desire for us and lead us in the right way. Yes, but the problem is our thinking being by a worldly, humanistic mindset that has to be changed by the washing of the water of the Word, which bring sanctification, which is a process and doesn’t happen all at once. It is when we see ourselves in the mirror of the Word and see that we are doing something that God doesn’t want or not doing what He does, that we change our thinking in that area and ask the Lord to enable us to then do that which is right, but it begins with your changing your thinking so that it is according to His Word. Why? Because scripture tells us this about man, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). That is because you first think, then you do or act on what you think or meditate upon. You become according to your thinking. So you’re thinking and your life are either being conformed to the image of Christ by being conformed to His Word or you are being conformed to the image of Lucifer by your thinking more and more like the world and its ways.
James 1:13-15 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” How are you tempted? In your mind! It is by thoughts of the mind that temptation comes. Then the question is, what do you do when a bad or evil thought comes. It isn’t the first look or first sight that is or causes lust and adultery in the mind, but the second look that continues to look and admire and think upon. No one ever robbed a bank or another person without thought and planning. It begins in the mind. No one lied without thought to try and conceal truth to protect themselves or whatever. What you think upon, you will move toward and then you will do it and sin and if you continue in it that continual sin will lead to spiritual death. It is that simple. You can loose your salvation. You once made a decision for Christ, okay, but that isn’t good enough. It isn’t where you begin the race but where you finish it. You must continually choose to follow Jesus. You still have a free will and many, like Demas, in love with the world and the things of the world, turned away from God and the ministry he was once a part of. Unconditional eternal security forgets your own free will which doesn’t change when you come to Christ. As I was told when I came to Jesus, try Jesus, if you don’t believe serving Him is better than your present life, you can always change your mind and walk away and take your old life back. Many have and when they walk in the flesh and according to its lusts; that leads to spiritual death as with the prodigal son. But yet, God in His great mercy; allows for repentance and restoration of the prodigal who turned away from His grace. That is grace beyond understanding and love I cannot comprehend.
Again, the flesh says I’m afraid, I can’t believe that, that isn’t going to work. That is the flesh. Your right, the flesh doesn’t believe anything but self. It only believes what it can see, touch, hear and smell. The flesh lives by its five senses and the flesh can’t please God.
Romans 8:7-8 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” The carnal, fleshly mind is hatred against God and the things of God and it cannot be subject to the Word of God. Why can’t you please God in the flesh? Because the flesh lives by what you see and if you live by what you see you can’t live by faith and without faith it is impossible to please God. Romans 10:17 “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” The opposite of faith is the flesh. Faith comes from hearing the word. Fear comes from hearing you flesh, something contrary to the word of God.
All depression is from listening to your flesh. Those who know who they are in Christ have crucified the flesh, that worldly, ungodly mindset and its affections and lusts. Those who walk in the righteousness of God have crucified the flesh. It’s a righteousness that comes from God versus that which comes from our flesh. As we think righteousness and know we are righteous in Christ; that causes the flesh to stay hidden.
How do you think righteousness? Righteousness becomes the filter of your mind. Nothing can go through your mind without asking righteousness decision. Every thought that comes into your head needs to stop at the registration desk and check in with righteousness and let righteousness decide whether to allow that thought in or not. That is how we must live to come to victory and becoming what God wants us to be, conformed to the image of Christ. Romans 8:19 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” The registration of your mind must be righteousness, God’s righteousness.
Remember your thought life controls your actions and the flesh is a way of thinking. If you think the way God tells you to think, then you will see results and you will get victory over your flesh and its desires. The key is to take charge over your flesh by taking change over the fleshly thought life and mindset and bring it into the obedience of Christ. This is the key to a walking in the spirit.
Walking in the spirit first takes filling your mind with the Word of God and then prayer and learning to become sensitive to the spirit of God by practice and exercising your spirit and faith in everyday life.
Romans 8:9-10 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” We have to remember, that it must always begin with being born again of the spirit of God. The natural man, not born of the Spirit, cannot walk according to the Spirit of God, cannot be led by the Spirit of God, cannot have his mind renewed by the Spirit of God, which uses the Word of God to renew and cleanse the mind of the things of the world and the past life, when we come to Christ and walk with Him. But if you have come to Christ, you have come to the cross and put your faith in the finished works of Calvary and the blood of Jesus shed for your sin, then the Spirit of God comes into your life and that will bring life and righteousness. 1 Corinthians 1:20 “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
Those without the Spirit of God can only know the letter of the Word which is death. 2 Corinthians 3:6 “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” Without the life giving Spirit of God, there is no life and the Word of God is a dead book, words on a page for there is not revelation and understanding of the meaning of those words, so they are death and not life. The Spirit must first convict the sinner using the Word of God to bring them to repentance and then He can do His work of salvation and renewing of the spirit within man that makes us born-again. “… but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.;” (Titus 3:5).
We must begin with the Spirit by being born of the Spirit and then we must continue in the Spirit, allowing Him to renew our minds by His Word as we read and study and meditate upon it and then allowing Him to speak to us in our daily life and become sensitive to His leading that we know His voice and leading and then we will find a new level of success and victory in life and we think according to His Word and allow it to direct our decisions in life.
Bringing the words of God to Joshua we read earlier into the New Testament and summarizing this we do so with the words of James 1:22-15. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” It does no good to read or hear the Word if it goes in one ear and out the other and we do not hear, believe and then act according. When God’s Word shows us the way and rebukes something in our life, then we need to allow it to cleanse our lifestyle by cleansing and renewing our thinking. Then we will walk according to His Word and Spirit and be doers of the Word and receive the blessing of God. The one, who hears only, doesn’t receive the blessing and the inheritance, but the one who is a doer because He allows His thinking to be changed and conformed to the Word of God, which conforms us to the image of Christ.
In closing: Romans 8:12-14 “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” You must walk as a son of God to be a son of God. To be a son is to come under the authority of your spiritual Father. To be a part of His kingdom, you have to be under the authority of the King. That is what sonship is about, not just confessing, “I am a son of God.” That doesn’t make you one any more than swimming or going fishing makes you a fish.
You are what you do, not what you claim by profession. If the Word is directing your life and decision, therefore your actions, then you are being led by the Spirit of God, for His Word is spirit and life (John 6:63-64). “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not.”
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is FREEDOM"..
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
What is the TRUE Meaning Why Many People Are Experiencing Weaknesses in Life?
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Distorting the Message to Make It Marketable
One of the reasons biblical Christianity has to be so drastically distorted in order to sell it to mass markets is that the market wants power to escape weakness in leisure, but Christianity offers power to endure weakness in love.
Verse 9 just doesn’t sell: “Jesus said [in response to Paul's prayer], ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” IN weakness? What the market wants is escape from weakness, not power in weakness. But to meet that felt need in the market the message must be distorted—and often is.
But by distorting the message to make it more immediately appealing, two things are lost:
1. the truth of the message is lost, and
2. the chance to meet the really deep need that we all have in the midst of adversity is lost.
So what I want to do—for the sake of God’s truth and for the sake of meeting your deepest need—is lay open this text with as little distortion as possible. You have it in front of you. You be the judge.
Three Questions About Christian Weakness
We are going to talk about the Christian experience of weakness. There are three questions to answer in the time we have:
1. What are the weaknesses that Paul has in mind here when he says, “The power of Christ is made perfect in weakness”?
2. What is the source of such weaknesses? Do they come from Satan or from God? Or both?
3. What is the purpose of such weaknesses? Is there a goal or an aim for why the weaknesses come?
I ask these three questions not only because they are the ones answered in the text, but because knowing these things and being reminded of them in our hearts as God’s truth will give us the strength to live and endure and often even to thrive in the midst many weaknesses.
Bringing the Questions Closer to Home
Just to bring it closer to home, on Wednesday we had a really good all church strategy meeting. One of the songs we sang has a chorus that goes like this:
Since Jesus came into my heart,
Floods of joy o’er my soul
Like the sea billows roll
Since Jesus came into my heart.
As we sang it, I wondered how everyone in the chapel was processing that statement in the light of real life experience when sea billows of joy do not roll over the soul. Here’s how I fit it in my own experience: Yes, since knowing Jesus, joy has rolled over me like the waves of the sea, but not always. There are times when the tide goes out. God is still God; joy is still joy; but I am baking in the seaweed on the beach waiting for the tide to come in.
What makes days and months and years like that livable is the grace and power of Jesus described in our text.
1. What Weaknesses?
What are the weaknesses Paul has in mind here when he quotes Jesus as saying in verse 9, “My power is made perfect in weakness”? And then says, “I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses”? And then again in verse 10 says, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses”?
Four Other Words to Fill Out the Meaning
I think the safest way to answer is to let the four other words in verse 10 fill out what he has in mind. What he summarizes as weaknesses in verse 9 he spells out in four other words in verse 10: insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
1. Insults—when people think of clever ways of making your faith or your lifestyle or your words look stupid or weird or inconsistent. When we were giving out “Finding Your Field of Dreams” at the dome, I heard one man say mockingly, “And the Lord said, Play ball.” And all his friends laughed.
2. Hardships—circumstances forced upon you, reversals of fortune against your will. This could refer to any situation where you feel trapped. You didn’t plan it or think it would be this way. But there you are, and it’s hard.
3. Persecutions—wounds or abuses or painful circumstances or acts of prejudice or exploitation from people because of your Christian faith or your Christian moral commitments. It’s when you are not treated fairly. You get a raw deal.
4. Calamities (or distresses or difficulties or troubles)—the idea is one of pressure or crushing or being weighed down; circumstances that tend to overcome you with stress and tension.
Not Sin or Imperfect Behaviors
So you can see that what Paul has in mind here is not sin. He is not talking about a kind of behavior—like we might say he has a weakness for lust; or she has a weakness for overeating. Paul is not talking about bad choices that we make. He is not saying, The power of Christ is perfected in my bad choices. Or: I will all the more gladly boast of my bad choices. Weaknesses here are not imperfect behaviors.
What Theses Weaknesses Are
They are circumstances and situations and experiences and wounds that make us look weak; things we would probably get rid of if we had the human strength.
1. If we were “strong,” we might return the insult with such an effective put down that the opponent would wither and everyone would admire our wit and cleverness.
2. If we were “strong,” we might take charge of our own fortune and turn back the emerging hardship and change circumstances so that they go the way we want them to and not force us into discomfort.
3. If we were “strong,” we might turn back the persecution so quickly and so decisively that no one would mess with us again.
4. If we were “strong,” we might use our resources to get out of the calamity or distress as fast as possible, or take charge of the situation and marshal our own resources so masterfully as to minimize its pressure.
But in reality we don’t usually have that kind of human strength, and even when we may have it, Christians don’t use it the way the world does. Jesus tells us not to return evil for evil (Matthew 5:38-42). Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:12-13, “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate.” And then he added, “We have become like the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things.” In other words, this kind of lifestyle, this kind of response to abuse, looks weak and beggarly and feeble and anemic and inept—at least it looks that way to those who thrive on pride and equate power with the best come back.
So the answer to our first question is that weaknesses are not sins but experiences and situations and circumstances and wounds that are hard to bear and that we can’t remove either because they are beyond our control or because love dictates that we not return evil for evil.
2. Where Do They Come From?
What is the source of such weaknesses? Do they come from Satan or from God? Or both?
Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh”
Let’s take Paul’s thorn in the flesh as an example and see what his answer is. In verses 1-4 Paul describes what amazing revelations of God’s glory he had been given—he was caught up into Paradise and heard things that cannot be told on earth (vv. 3-4).
How easy it would have been for Paul to think that he was already rising above the ordinary hardships and troubles of earthly life because he was given such a privilege. But verse 7 shows what actually happened: “To keep me from being too elated [RSV; a better translation would be: "to keep me from exalting myself," NASB, or: "to keep me from becoming conceited," NIV] by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from exalting myself.”
Now this thorn in the flesh (whether it was some physical problem or some relentless enemies) is one of the weaknesses he is talking about. We know this because when he prays that God would take it away in verse 8 (“three times I besought the Lord”), the Lord answers in verse 9, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” So the thorn in the flesh is one of the weaknesses we are talking about.
A “Messenger of Satan”
And where did it come from? Paul calls it a “messenger of Satan” (v. 7) given to harass him. So one clear answer is that some weaknesses come from Satan. Satan afflicts the children of God through his angels or messengers. His aim is destruction and death and misery.
But it is not that simple is it? Satan is not the only one at work here. God is at work. This thorn is not just the work of Satan to destroy. It is the work of God to save.
The Work of God to Save
We know this for two reasons. First, because Paul describes the purpose for the thorn in terms of preventing pride. But Satan’s whole design is to produce pride not prevent it. That’s how he kills: either with pride in what we have done, or despair over what we haven’t done. Paul’s revelations in Paradise made him vulnerable to pride and self-exaltation. So God uses the hostile intentions of Satan for Paul’s holiness. Satan wanted to make Paul miserable and turn him away from the faith and the ministry and the value of the visions he had seen. But God wanted to make Paul humble and turn him away from self-exaltation. So God appointed the thorn of Satan for the work of salvation.
The other reason we know the thorn is God’s work and not just Satan’s is that when Paul prays in verse 8 that God would take the thorn away, the Lord says, No, because my power is made perfect in this weakness. In other words, I have a purpose in what is happening to you. This is not ultimately Satan’s destroying work. It is ultimately my saving, sanctifying work.
Just like it was with Job—God permits Satan to afflict his righteous servant, and turns the affliction for his good purposes. (See also Luke 22:31-32.)
The Truth of God’s Sovereign Grace
So the answer to our second question is that the source of our weaknesses may sometimes be Satan and his destructive designs for us; but always our weaknesses are designed by God for our good. This is why the truth of God’s sovereign grace is so precious in the midst of hardship and calamity. God is in control of Satan. Satan does nothing to God’s children that God does not design with infinite skill and love for our good.
Which brings us to the final question, which we have already answered.
3. For What Purpose?
What is the purpose of such weaknesses? Is there a goal or an aim for why the weaknesses come? Why insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities, troubles? Why can’t I find a job? Why am I trapped in this awful marriage? Why does my dad have cancer? Why can’t I have children? Why do I have no friends? Why is nothing working in my life?
Paul gives three brief answers about his own experience and I think they are tremendously important for us to live by.
Satan’s Purpose to Buffet You
First, he says that Satan has the purpose to buffet you or harass you (v. 7). And so it is OK to pray for relief. That’s what Paul did until he got word from the Lord. Pain is not a good thing in itself. God does not delight in your suffering. Satan does and he must be resisted.
God’s Purpose to Humble You
Second, God’s purpose over and through Satan’s harassment is our humility. Paul was in danger of pride and self-exaltation and God took steps to keep him humble. This is an utterly strange thing in our self-saturated age. God thinks humility is more important than comfort. Humility is more important than freedom from pain. He will give us a mountain top experience in Paradise, and then bring us through anguish of soul lest we think that we have risen above the need for total reliance on his grace. So his purpose is our humility and lowliness and reliance on him (cf. 1:9; 4:7).
God’s Purpose to Glorify Jesus
Finally, God’s purpose in our weaknesses is to glorify the grace and power of his Son. This is the main point of verses 9-10. Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God’s design is to make you a showcase for Jesus’ power. But not necessarily the way the market demands: not by getting rid of all our weaknesses; but by giving strength to endure and even rejoice in tribulation.
Let God be God here. If he wills to show the perfection of his Son’s power in our weakness instead of by our escape from weakness, then he knows best; trust him. Hebrews 11 is a good guide here. It says that by faith some escaped the edge of the sword (v. 34) and by faith some were killed by the sword (v. 37). By faith some stopped the mouths of lions, and by faith others were sawn asunder. By faith some were mighty in war, and by faith others suffered chains and imprisonment (see also Philippians 4:11-13).
The ultimate purpose of God in our weakness is to glorify the kind of power that moved Christ to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done. Paul said that Christ crucified was foolishness to the Greeks, a stumbling block to the Jews, but to those who are called it is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23f.).
The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God in the universe—the glorification of the grace and power of his Son—the grace and power that bore him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done. That’s what God is building into our lives. That is the meaning of weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, calamity.
I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Distorting the Message to Make It Marketable
One of the reasons biblical Christianity has to be so drastically distorted in order to sell it to mass markets is that the market wants power to escape weakness in leisure, but Christianity offers power to endure weakness in love.
Verse 9 just doesn’t sell: “Jesus said [in response to Paul's prayer], ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” IN weakness? What the market wants is escape from weakness, not power in weakness. But to meet that felt need in the market the message must be distorted—and often is.
But by distorting the message to make it more immediately appealing, two things are lost:
1. the truth of the message is lost, and
2. the chance to meet the really deep need that we all have in the midst of adversity is lost.
So what I want to do—for the sake of God’s truth and for the sake of meeting your deepest need—is lay open this text with as little distortion as possible. You have it in front of you. You be the judge.
Three Questions About Christian Weakness
We are going to talk about the Christian experience of weakness. There are three questions to answer in the time we have:
1. What are the weaknesses that Paul has in mind here when he says, “The power of Christ is made perfect in weakness”?
2. What is the source of such weaknesses? Do they come from Satan or from God? Or both?
3. What is the purpose of such weaknesses? Is there a goal or an aim for why the weaknesses come?
I ask these three questions not only because they are the ones answered in the text, but because knowing these things and being reminded of them in our hearts as God’s truth will give us the strength to live and endure and often even to thrive in the midst many weaknesses.
Bringing the Questions Closer to Home
Just to bring it closer to home, on Wednesday we had a really good all church strategy meeting. One of the songs we sang has a chorus that goes like this:
Since Jesus came into my heart,
Floods of joy o’er my soul
Like the sea billows roll
Since Jesus came into my heart.
As we sang it, I wondered how everyone in the chapel was processing that statement in the light of real life experience when sea billows of joy do not roll over the soul. Here’s how I fit it in my own experience: Yes, since knowing Jesus, joy has rolled over me like the waves of the sea, but not always. There are times when the tide goes out. God is still God; joy is still joy; but I am baking in the seaweed on the beach waiting for the tide to come in.
What makes days and months and years like that livable is the grace and power of Jesus described in our text.
1. What Weaknesses?
What are the weaknesses Paul has in mind here when he quotes Jesus as saying in verse 9, “My power is made perfect in weakness”? And then says, “I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses”? And then again in verse 10 says, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses”?
Four Other Words to Fill Out the Meaning
I think the safest way to answer is to let the four other words in verse 10 fill out what he has in mind. What he summarizes as weaknesses in verse 9 he spells out in four other words in verse 10: insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
1. Insults—when people think of clever ways of making your faith or your lifestyle or your words look stupid or weird or inconsistent. When we were giving out “Finding Your Field of Dreams” at the dome, I heard one man say mockingly, “And the Lord said, Play ball.” And all his friends laughed.
2. Hardships—circumstances forced upon you, reversals of fortune against your will. This could refer to any situation where you feel trapped. You didn’t plan it or think it would be this way. But there you are, and it’s hard.
3. Persecutions—wounds or abuses or painful circumstances or acts of prejudice or exploitation from people because of your Christian faith or your Christian moral commitments. It’s when you are not treated fairly. You get a raw deal.
4. Calamities (or distresses or difficulties or troubles)—the idea is one of pressure or crushing or being weighed down; circumstances that tend to overcome you with stress and tension.
Not Sin or Imperfect Behaviors
So you can see that what Paul has in mind here is not sin. He is not talking about a kind of behavior—like we might say he has a weakness for lust; or she has a weakness for overeating. Paul is not talking about bad choices that we make. He is not saying, The power of Christ is perfected in my bad choices. Or: I will all the more gladly boast of my bad choices. Weaknesses here are not imperfect behaviors.
What Theses Weaknesses Are
They are circumstances and situations and experiences and wounds that make us look weak; things we would probably get rid of if we had the human strength.
1. If we were “strong,” we might return the insult with such an effective put down that the opponent would wither and everyone would admire our wit and cleverness.
2. If we were “strong,” we might take charge of our own fortune and turn back the emerging hardship and change circumstances so that they go the way we want them to and not force us into discomfort.
3. If we were “strong,” we might turn back the persecution so quickly and so decisively that no one would mess with us again.
4. If we were “strong,” we might use our resources to get out of the calamity or distress as fast as possible, or take charge of the situation and marshal our own resources so masterfully as to minimize its pressure.
But in reality we don’t usually have that kind of human strength, and even when we may have it, Christians don’t use it the way the world does. Jesus tells us not to return evil for evil (Matthew 5:38-42). Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:12-13, “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate.” And then he added, “We have become like the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things.” In other words, this kind of lifestyle, this kind of response to abuse, looks weak and beggarly and feeble and anemic and inept—at least it looks that way to those who thrive on pride and equate power with the best come back.
So the answer to our first question is that weaknesses are not sins but experiences and situations and circumstances and wounds that are hard to bear and that we can’t remove either because they are beyond our control or because love dictates that we not return evil for evil.
2. Where Do They Come From?
What is the source of such weaknesses? Do they come from Satan or from God? Or both?
Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh”
Let’s take Paul’s thorn in the flesh as an example and see what his answer is. In verses 1-4 Paul describes what amazing revelations of God’s glory he had been given—he was caught up into Paradise and heard things that cannot be told on earth (vv. 3-4).
How easy it would have been for Paul to think that he was already rising above the ordinary hardships and troubles of earthly life because he was given such a privilege. But verse 7 shows what actually happened: “To keep me from being too elated [RSV; a better translation would be: "to keep me from exalting myself," NASB, or: "to keep me from becoming conceited," NIV] by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from exalting myself.”
Now this thorn in the flesh (whether it was some physical problem or some relentless enemies) is one of the weaknesses he is talking about. We know this because when he prays that God would take it away in verse 8 (“three times I besought the Lord”), the Lord answers in verse 9, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” So the thorn in the flesh is one of the weaknesses we are talking about.
A “Messenger of Satan”
And where did it come from? Paul calls it a “messenger of Satan” (v. 7) given to harass him. So one clear answer is that some weaknesses come from Satan. Satan afflicts the children of God through his angels or messengers. His aim is destruction and death and misery.
But it is not that simple is it? Satan is not the only one at work here. God is at work. This thorn is not just the work of Satan to destroy. It is the work of God to save.
The Work of God to Save
We know this for two reasons. First, because Paul describes the purpose for the thorn in terms of preventing pride. But Satan’s whole design is to produce pride not prevent it. That’s how he kills: either with pride in what we have done, or despair over what we haven’t done. Paul’s revelations in Paradise made him vulnerable to pride and self-exaltation. So God uses the hostile intentions of Satan for Paul’s holiness. Satan wanted to make Paul miserable and turn him away from the faith and the ministry and the value of the visions he had seen. But God wanted to make Paul humble and turn him away from self-exaltation. So God appointed the thorn of Satan for the work of salvation.
The other reason we know the thorn is God’s work and not just Satan’s is that when Paul prays in verse 8 that God would take the thorn away, the Lord says, No, because my power is made perfect in this weakness. In other words, I have a purpose in what is happening to you. This is not ultimately Satan’s destroying work. It is ultimately my saving, sanctifying work.
Just like it was with Job—God permits Satan to afflict his righteous servant, and turns the affliction for his good purposes. (See also Luke 22:31-32.)
The Truth of God’s Sovereign Grace
So the answer to our second question is that the source of our weaknesses may sometimes be Satan and his destructive designs for us; but always our weaknesses are designed by God for our good. This is why the truth of God’s sovereign grace is so precious in the midst of hardship and calamity. God is in control of Satan. Satan does nothing to God’s children that God does not design with infinite skill and love for our good.
Which brings us to the final question, which we have already answered.
3. For What Purpose?
What is the purpose of such weaknesses? Is there a goal or an aim for why the weaknesses come? Why insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities, troubles? Why can’t I find a job? Why am I trapped in this awful marriage? Why does my dad have cancer? Why can’t I have children? Why do I have no friends? Why is nothing working in my life?
Paul gives three brief answers about his own experience and I think they are tremendously important for us to live by.
Satan’s Purpose to Buffet You
First, he says that Satan has the purpose to buffet you or harass you (v. 7). And so it is OK to pray for relief. That’s what Paul did until he got word from the Lord. Pain is not a good thing in itself. God does not delight in your suffering. Satan does and he must be resisted.
God’s Purpose to Humble You
Second, God’s purpose over and through Satan’s harassment is our humility. Paul was in danger of pride and self-exaltation and God took steps to keep him humble. This is an utterly strange thing in our self-saturated age. God thinks humility is more important than comfort. Humility is more important than freedom from pain. He will give us a mountain top experience in Paradise, and then bring us through anguish of soul lest we think that we have risen above the need for total reliance on his grace. So his purpose is our humility and lowliness and reliance on him (cf. 1:9; 4:7).
God’s Purpose to Glorify Jesus
Finally, God’s purpose in our weaknesses is to glorify the grace and power of his Son. This is the main point of verses 9-10. Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God’s design is to make you a showcase for Jesus’ power. But not necessarily the way the market demands: not by getting rid of all our weaknesses; but by giving strength to endure and even rejoice in tribulation.
Let God be God here. If he wills to show the perfection of his Son’s power in our weakness instead of by our escape from weakness, then he knows best; trust him. Hebrews 11 is a good guide here. It says that by faith some escaped the edge of the sword (v. 34) and by faith some were killed by the sword (v. 37). By faith some stopped the mouths of lions, and by faith others were sawn asunder. By faith some were mighty in war, and by faith others suffered chains and imprisonment (see also Philippians 4:11-13).
The ultimate purpose of God in our weakness is to glorify the kind of power that moved Christ to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done. Paul said that Christ crucified was foolishness to the Greeks, a stumbling block to the Jews, but to those who are called it is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23f.).
The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God in the universe—the glorification of the grace and power of his Son—the grace and power that bore him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done. That’s what God is building into our lives. That is the meaning of weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, calamity.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
WHY GOD ALLOWS WEAKNESSES OR THORN IN THE FLESH?
We may ask why we are not confident like others; or why we lack Physical traits such as intelligence compared to others? We may also ask why we are victims of physical deformities and many other forms of limitations. And to make the story short, why God allowed weaknesses in every aspect of our lives or why thorn in the flesh?
You will be tempted to conclude that God is not treating fairly to some or even to me.
But there is always a reason why God puts major weaknesses to major strengths and that is because He wants us to remain humble and seek Him always.
12:7-10 The apostle paul gives an account of the method God took to keep him humble, and to prevent his being lifted up above measure, on account of the visions and revelations he had.
We are not told what this thorn in the flesh was, whether some great trouble, or some great temptation. But God often brings this good out of evil that the reproaches of our enemies help to hide pride from us.
If God loves us, he will keep us from being exalted above measure; and spiritual burdens are ordered to cure spiritual pride. This thorn in the flesh is said to be a messenger of Satan which he sent for evil; but God designed it, and overruled it for good.
Prayer is a salve for every sore, a remedy for every malady; and when we are afflicted with thorns in the flesh or weaknessess, we should give ourselves to prayer. If an answer be not given to the first prayer, or to the second, we are to continue praying.
Troubles are sent to teach us to pray; and are continued, to teach us to continue instant in prayer. Though God accepts the prayer of faith, yet he does not always give what is asked for: as he sometimes grants in wrath, so he sometimes denies in love.
When God does not take away our troubles and temptations, yet, if he gives grace enough for us, we have no reason to complain. Grace signifies the good-will of God towards us, and that is enough to enlighten and enliven us, sufficient to strengthen and comfort in all afflictions and distresses. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Thus his grace is manifested and magnified. When we are weak in ourselves, then we are strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; when we feel that we are weak in ourselves, then we go to Christ, receive strength from him, and enjoy most the supplies of Divine strength and grace.
You will be tempted to conclude that God is not treating fairly to some or even to me.
But there is always a reason why God puts major weaknesses to major strengths and that is because He wants us to remain humble and seek Him always.
12:7-10 The apostle paul gives an account of the method God took to keep him humble, and to prevent his being lifted up above measure, on account of the visions and revelations he had.
We are not told what this thorn in the flesh was, whether some great trouble, or some great temptation. But God often brings this good out of evil that the reproaches of our enemies help to hide pride from us.
If God loves us, he will keep us from being exalted above measure; and spiritual burdens are ordered to cure spiritual pride. This thorn in the flesh is said to be a messenger of Satan which he sent for evil; but God designed it, and overruled it for good.
Prayer is a salve for every sore, a remedy for every malady; and when we are afflicted with thorns in the flesh or weaknessess, we should give ourselves to prayer. If an answer be not given to the first prayer, or to the second, we are to continue praying.
Troubles are sent to teach us to pray; and are continued, to teach us to continue instant in prayer. Though God accepts the prayer of faith, yet he does not always give what is asked for: as he sometimes grants in wrath, so he sometimes denies in love.
When God does not take away our troubles and temptations, yet, if he gives grace enough for us, we have no reason to complain. Grace signifies the good-will of God towards us, and that is enough to enlighten and enliven us, sufficient to strengthen and comfort in all afflictions and distresses. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Thus his grace is manifested and magnified. When we are weak in ourselves, then we are strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; when we feel that we are weak in ourselves, then we go to Christ, receive strength from him, and enjoy most the supplies of Divine strength and grace.
Monday, November 23, 2009
OUR DAILY STRUGGLE..WHO IS OUR ENEMY?
Subject: Spiritual Attack
Theme: Gaining the Victory Over All Spiritual Attack
Passage: Ephesians 6: 10 - 20
One of the aspects of truth that evangelicals have been slow to catch unto is the intensity of the battle in which we are engaged and what my part is in that battle. In another section of scripture we read about the world, the flesh and the devil - we are going to concentrate in this study on the devil.
Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints––"
We began the study of the letter to the Ephesians with the blessings of the Christian life, with the joy of being chosen by God, accepted in the beloved, redeemed by His blood, forgiven of all our sins, so that in the ages to come we might be to the praise of God's grace.
We learned how we who once were dead towards God in our sin, were made alive by faith in Christ, how we were brought into the church in which all distinctions have been removed so that Jews and Gentile believers form one body in Christ.
As we came into the second half of Ephesians we were challenged to no longer walk in the same way the rest of the world walks, but to turn away from all sinful ways, walking in the love of Christ, walking in light of God's truth, walking in the wisdom of God in our homes, in our families and in our workplace.
In other words, all of life has been transformed by our relationship with Jesus Christ. Now we are coming to the end, but before Paul wraps up his instruction, like any good preacher, he has a "Finally, my brethren,"
What does he want to say to us in this final word? He wants to remind us of the Christian's ongoing spiritual battle. You are not home yet!
1. The Battle:
Every person is engaged in this battle whether you want to be or not. And every person is on one side or the other - either on Satan's side or on God's side. You were born on the enemy's side and that is why you had to be born again. You may have thought that crossing the lines through faith in Christ was going to get you off the firing line into the territory of peace and you may have been surprised to find that in fact faith in Christ just intensified your problems. The answer is very simple. It is simply the truth that when you started considering crossing the lines Satan turned up the heat - he marshalled all his forces to stop you from doing so, and he probably used your own desires, fears, pride, jealousy, envy, and every other foul thing to try to trip you up while at the same time stirring up opposition from other people around you - often those you love the most. We had better understand that our enemy is ruthless, and powerful and has his allies within your own being; all around you in the persons who do not know God, even if they may appear to be religious; and in the spirit world itself through all the demons at his command.
Warren Wiersbe puts it graphically, "The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battleground." Another writer puts it this way, "For the Christian, the world is an arena, not an armchair." Yes, the Christian life is a warfare; we live in enemy territory.
So if you don't want a fight, I'm afraid I have both good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that there is no way to avoid this battle. The good news is that Christ has already won it, and in yielding your life to Him He has adequate resources to help you win the victory also, and He fully plans for you to WIN!
So right at the beginning, he tells you to be strong. Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
2. The Enemy:
a. There is an enemy.
He is called Satan, and he is a real, a powerful, a malicious and an utterly evil being. The Bible unambiguously tells us that Satan, as the "god of this age" (2 Cor. 4:4) and "the prince of this world" (John 12:31, 14:30) has been allowed by God to have his own dominion of darkness (Col. 1:13) and to war against the kingdom of light (Col. 1:12). Other names applied to him are "ruler of the kingdom of the air", "the evil one" (2 Thes. 3:3 etc.), "the tempter" (Matt. 4:3). "the accuser" (= 'Satan', Zech. 3:1), "(our) enemy, the devil" (1 Peter 5:8), "a roaring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), "an enormous red dragon" Rev. 12:3) and "the serpent" (Rev. 12:9).
b. His character:
"the wiles of the devil." "schemes". "cunning devices".
He is the master of seduction and deception. One of his most effective deceptions is to convince people that he really doesn't exist, that there is no intelligent being behind the evil in the world. The scriptures say that he is fully capable of "(blinding) the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of God" (2 Cor. 4:4). Though in reality a "roaring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), yet he presents himself as "an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14). Words like subtle, fraudulent, unscrupulous and malicious come to mind. Our Lord referred to him as "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
Probably the devil's most deadly 'stratagem' is that of religious deception, be it through the cults, or false prophets and teachers, or liberal theologians or gospel hucksters. The New Age movement reminds us of Satan's original temptation, "You shall be like god, knowing good and evil." Satan is incredibly dangerous.
c. Not flesh and blood v. 12- It is important for us to realize that our enemy is not that other person, even if he or she is attacking you. How often people make that mistake and get involved in a wrangling match with a person, whether in the home or in the church. How Satan loves it when he can stir up strife in a church and turn people against one another. How sad that the unsaved people in the world can excuse their own unbelief by pointing to professing Christians as unlovely, unkind, unchristian in their words and actions. Satan has no more effective weapons than Christians who have been turned aside to fight battles against fellow Christians.
d. His organization;
12 "but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
It would appear that Satan was successful in drawing at least 1/3 of the angels of God after him in his original fall. It would appear as though these demonic forces are fully organized in their struggle to overthrow God through their attack on God's people.
principalities - probably indicates that these fallen angels have retained the rank of ruling dignitaries;
powers invested with authority to exercise such rule.
rulers of the darkness of this age speaks of the realm in which they operate: the world in its present state of spiritual darkness.
spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. - the invisible horde "whose appetite for evil only exceeds their capacity for producing it (Eadie)
e. His effectiveness:
Satan's effectiveness is found in the allies he has even within our own beings. I mentioned earlier that the Bible tells us of the world, the flesh and the devil, and this reminds us of the fact that we are still living in the world around us, with all of its sinful, worldly thinking and ways. - the world - all that is ungodly and opposed to the rule and reign of God. We are still influenced by those old thought patterns which once were our own.
Then there is the enemy within -the flesh, the old nature - sold out to the enemy - subject to old appetites; to old habit patterns; old thought patterns. Praise God that when we became a Christian God placed within our heat His new nature which is pure and righteous and holy. The Holy Spirit came to live in our hearts, and He gave us a love for God, a love for the good, and the uplifting and the holy. But we still have a battle with our old way of life.
- the devil - a lion - seeking whom he may devour; the angel of light seeking to seduce the unwary; murder and mixture; defeat and compromise;
When you consider all of the advantages that Satan has, is it not a wonder that we have any success in this battle at all? And yet we do. Praise God. Jesus has won the victory over the enemy and he designs that His children shall also win the victory. So the question is, How may we win the victory against this spiritual opposition which we face?
11 Put on the whole armor of God, .... 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Conclusion:
This reminds us that God has provided everything we need in order to win the battle against this enemy. God expects us to win. Even when we lose, God uses even our losses to show us His forgiveness, His kindness, His mercy, His compassion. To study the nature of the armour God has provided though is too large a study for this morning, so we shall have to leave it for next week.
But let me leave with you this final thought. The scripture shows over and over that Satan cannot go one step beyond what God allows him to go. Therefore, God is the victor, and we have the victory in Him.
Amen.
Theme: Gaining the Victory Over All Spiritual Attack
Passage: Ephesians 6: 10 - 20
One of the aspects of truth that evangelicals have been slow to catch unto is the intensity of the battle in which we are engaged and what my part is in that battle. In another section of scripture we read about the world, the flesh and the devil - we are going to concentrate in this study on the devil.
Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints––"
We began the study of the letter to the Ephesians with the blessings of the Christian life, with the joy of being chosen by God, accepted in the beloved, redeemed by His blood, forgiven of all our sins, so that in the ages to come we might be to the praise of God's grace.
We learned how we who once were dead towards God in our sin, were made alive by faith in Christ, how we were brought into the church in which all distinctions have been removed so that Jews and Gentile believers form one body in Christ.
As we came into the second half of Ephesians we were challenged to no longer walk in the same way the rest of the world walks, but to turn away from all sinful ways, walking in the love of Christ, walking in light of God's truth, walking in the wisdom of God in our homes, in our families and in our workplace.
In other words, all of life has been transformed by our relationship with Jesus Christ. Now we are coming to the end, but before Paul wraps up his instruction, like any good preacher, he has a "Finally, my brethren,"
What does he want to say to us in this final word? He wants to remind us of the Christian's ongoing spiritual battle. You are not home yet!
1. The Battle:
Every person is engaged in this battle whether you want to be or not. And every person is on one side or the other - either on Satan's side or on God's side. You were born on the enemy's side and that is why you had to be born again. You may have thought that crossing the lines through faith in Christ was going to get you off the firing line into the territory of peace and you may have been surprised to find that in fact faith in Christ just intensified your problems. The answer is very simple. It is simply the truth that when you started considering crossing the lines Satan turned up the heat - he marshalled all his forces to stop you from doing so, and he probably used your own desires, fears, pride, jealousy, envy, and every other foul thing to try to trip you up while at the same time stirring up opposition from other people around you - often those you love the most. We had better understand that our enemy is ruthless, and powerful and has his allies within your own being; all around you in the persons who do not know God, even if they may appear to be religious; and in the spirit world itself through all the demons at his command.
Warren Wiersbe puts it graphically, "The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battleground." Another writer puts it this way, "For the Christian, the world is an arena, not an armchair." Yes, the Christian life is a warfare; we live in enemy territory.
So if you don't want a fight, I'm afraid I have both good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that there is no way to avoid this battle. The good news is that Christ has already won it, and in yielding your life to Him He has adequate resources to help you win the victory also, and He fully plans for you to WIN!
So right at the beginning, he tells you to be strong. Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
2. The Enemy:
a. There is an enemy.
He is called Satan, and he is a real, a powerful, a malicious and an utterly evil being. The Bible unambiguously tells us that Satan, as the "god of this age" (2 Cor. 4:4) and "the prince of this world" (John 12:31, 14:30) has been allowed by God to have his own dominion of darkness (Col. 1:13) and to war against the kingdom of light (Col. 1:12). Other names applied to him are "ruler of the kingdom of the air", "the evil one" (2 Thes. 3:3 etc.), "the tempter" (Matt. 4:3). "the accuser" (= 'Satan', Zech. 3:1), "(our) enemy, the devil" (1 Peter 5:8), "a roaring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), "an enormous red dragon" Rev. 12:3) and "the serpent" (Rev. 12:9).
b. His character:
"the wiles of the devil." "schemes". "cunning devices".
He is the master of seduction and deception. One of his most effective deceptions is to convince people that he really doesn't exist, that there is no intelligent being behind the evil in the world. The scriptures say that he is fully capable of "(blinding) the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of God" (2 Cor. 4:4). Though in reality a "roaring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), yet he presents himself as "an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14). Words like subtle, fraudulent, unscrupulous and malicious come to mind. Our Lord referred to him as "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
Probably the devil's most deadly 'stratagem' is that of religious deception, be it through the cults, or false prophets and teachers, or liberal theologians or gospel hucksters. The New Age movement reminds us of Satan's original temptation, "You shall be like god, knowing good and evil." Satan is incredibly dangerous.
c. Not flesh and blood v. 12- It is important for us to realize that our enemy is not that other person, even if he or she is attacking you. How often people make that mistake and get involved in a wrangling match with a person, whether in the home or in the church. How Satan loves it when he can stir up strife in a church and turn people against one another. How sad that the unsaved people in the world can excuse their own unbelief by pointing to professing Christians as unlovely, unkind, unchristian in their words and actions. Satan has no more effective weapons than Christians who have been turned aside to fight battles against fellow Christians.
d. His organization;
12 "but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
It would appear that Satan was successful in drawing at least 1/3 of the angels of God after him in his original fall. It would appear as though these demonic forces are fully organized in their struggle to overthrow God through their attack on God's people.
principalities - probably indicates that these fallen angels have retained the rank of ruling dignitaries;
powers invested with authority to exercise such rule.
rulers of the darkness of this age speaks of the realm in which they operate: the world in its present state of spiritual darkness.
spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. - the invisible horde "whose appetite for evil only exceeds their capacity for producing it (Eadie)
e. His effectiveness:
Satan's effectiveness is found in the allies he has even within our own beings. I mentioned earlier that the Bible tells us of the world, the flesh and the devil, and this reminds us of the fact that we are still living in the world around us, with all of its sinful, worldly thinking and ways. - the world - all that is ungodly and opposed to the rule and reign of God. We are still influenced by those old thought patterns which once were our own.
Then there is the enemy within -the flesh, the old nature - sold out to the enemy - subject to old appetites; to old habit patterns; old thought patterns. Praise God that when we became a Christian God placed within our heat His new nature which is pure and righteous and holy. The Holy Spirit came to live in our hearts, and He gave us a love for God, a love for the good, and the uplifting and the holy. But we still have a battle with our old way of life.
- the devil - a lion - seeking whom he may devour; the angel of light seeking to seduce the unwary; murder and mixture; defeat and compromise;
When you consider all of the advantages that Satan has, is it not a wonder that we have any success in this battle at all? And yet we do. Praise God. Jesus has won the victory over the enemy and he designs that His children shall also win the victory. So the question is, How may we win the victory against this spiritual opposition which we face?
11 Put on the whole armor of God, .... 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Conclusion:
This reminds us that God has provided everything we need in order to win the battle against this enemy. God expects us to win. Even when we lose, God uses even our losses to show us His forgiveness, His kindness, His mercy, His compassion. To study the nature of the armour God has provided though is too large a study for this morning, so we shall have to leave it for next week.
But let me leave with you this final thought. The scripture shows over and over that Satan cannot go one step beyond what God allows him to go. Therefore, God is the victor, and we have the victory in Him.
Amen.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
IS IT STILL POSSIBLE TO PRAISE GOD IN TIMES OF TROUBLES? HOW??
I am Rick Pila, 38 years old on the 25th of July 2007. I am Presently addressing to all that Praising God during happy moments is very easy to do but how about when you lost your Job? When one of your loveones dies? if you where not receiving answers to your prayers? Or during the time where God is silent everytime you pray? How can you praise God if life is a disaster to you? How about if life does not makes sense? This are the following questions we need to consider in Praising God.
As you know, The bible says that we should not live by sight but by faith which means that you have to Honor God and give Him praises not only in times of harvest;meaning, let us not praise God only when things go well such as having Nice house, Cars, financial breakthrought and successful job. But rather we should praise God because of Who He is? and What He is?..The greatest sacrifice we can offer God is when we give Him praises in tough times. We should realized that God never change no matter what situation we are facing. Because it is very high form of worship when you praise God in times of toubles and sufferings. It really touch the heart of God when He sees you praising Him despite of pain nad problems.
It is evident in the bible, how God tested Job by many troubles such as losing his children, wealth and eventually his health yet he says that: "The Lord gave and the Lord take it away and let the name of the Lord be praise".. Job's trust in the Lord is continues and unwavering and at the end, God gave job back all what He had taken away and gave it back to job with multiplicity.. You have seen how God tested moses when his family disown him by seling him into slavery until he was accused falsely by his master's wife of raped and molestation and then he was thrown in prison without due cause and burden of proof and still He trusted the Lord that He will not leave him nor abandon so, at the end he was release in prison and made him the second in command in egypt..It is apparently bogus that God will never leaves nor forsake us whatever situation we are facing today because God's promise of Prosperity and success for us is marked in the book of Jeremiah 29:11 will always remains the same and will never change. So Moses forgave all his brothers who betrayed him by selling him into slavery;and because of this God raises him up and made all his brother be subject for his anger yet he still forgives them all despite the damage and pain his brothers had cause him.
Its a perfect example how moses trusted the Lord inspite of Hardship & Suffering. and it is very clear how the Lord rewarded him at the end..The lesson we can learn from the story of Moses, Job and the rest of God's followers who has done His will in all ages is clear that we too must realized that the sufferings we are facing now can never compare to the success and victory God has prepared if we will just trust Him even in times of Hardship and sufferings. The bible said:"If we will be humble and fear God, He will give us ,Wealth, Honor & Long Life"..proverbs 22:4; therefore, let us give praises to God no matter what we feel or state of life cause God will never keep His promises for those who do His will. The bible also said:"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you can ask anything in my name, and it shall be given to you".. From now on, let us all put our trust in the Lord and never rely on what you think you know because God can give us more than we could ever expect.
At the moment, I am enjoying my life trusting the Lord because I am not thingking of the present pain and hardship but rather I focus on the time that the Lord will fulfill His pormises, and that is: "We will be Prosperous and successful with brighter future and hope to face forward"..
God Loves You!!
As you know, The bible says that we should not live by sight but by faith which means that you have to Honor God and give Him praises not only in times of harvest;meaning, let us not praise God only when things go well such as having Nice house, Cars, financial breakthrought and successful job. But rather we should praise God because of Who He is? and What He is?..The greatest sacrifice we can offer God is when we give Him praises in tough times. We should realized that God never change no matter what situation we are facing. Because it is very high form of worship when you praise God in times of toubles and sufferings. It really touch the heart of God when He sees you praising Him despite of pain nad problems.
It is evident in the bible, how God tested Job by many troubles such as losing his children, wealth and eventually his health yet he says that: "The Lord gave and the Lord take it away and let the name of the Lord be praise".. Job's trust in the Lord is continues and unwavering and at the end, God gave job back all what He had taken away and gave it back to job with multiplicity.. You have seen how God tested moses when his family disown him by seling him into slavery until he was accused falsely by his master's wife of raped and molestation and then he was thrown in prison without due cause and burden of proof and still He trusted the Lord that He will not leave him nor abandon so, at the end he was release in prison and made him the second in command in egypt..It is apparently bogus that God will never leaves nor forsake us whatever situation we are facing today because God's promise of Prosperity and success for us is marked in the book of Jeremiah 29:11 will always remains the same and will never change. So Moses forgave all his brothers who betrayed him by selling him into slavery;and because of this God raises him up and made all his brother be subject for his anger yet he still forgives them all despite the damage and pain his brothers had cause him.
Its a perfect example how moses trusted the Lord inspite of Hardship & Suffering. and it is very clear how the Lord rewarded him at the end..The lesson we can learn from the story of Moses, Job and the rest of God's followers who has done His will in all ages is clear that we too must realized that the sufferings we are facing now can never compare to the success and victory God has prepared if we will just trust Him even in times of Hardship and sufferings. The bible said:"If we will be humble and fear God, He will give us ,Wealth, Honor & Long Life"..proverbs 22:4; therefore, let us give praises to God no matter what we feel or state of life cause God will never keep His promises for those who do His will. The bible also said:"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you can ask anything in my name, and it shall be given to you".. From now on, let us all put our trust in the Lord and never rely on what you think you know because God can give us more than we could ever expect.
At the moment, I am enjoying my life trusting the Lord because I am not thingking of the present pain and hardship but rather I focus on the time that the Lord will fulfill His pormises, and that is: "We will be Prosperous and successful with brighter future and hope to face forward"..
God Loves You!!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
WHEN PERSECUTIONS STRIKES! WHAT WILL YOU DO?
Dear Friend
Greetings!
As a Marketing manager of a Giant Company, there are so many people who want to rule and take over especially those who are already pioneer employees. It is clear that my function is promotions & business development but sometimes all my projects were not heard because many don’t understand it especially those who are not part of promotions and worst they will stop you from reaching your goal. In other words many are gossiping and trying to pull me down because they don’t want my ideas but they want theirs. As a Filipino, one of the culture is most Filipinos will not stand on what is right but rather being the nice guy always. I've tried it many times but it seems my project wont work if I am always pleasing everybody. I learned that the most difficult thing in life is trying to please everybody. I am surprise that even my boss which is the General manager cannot just simply stand for what is right because of so many people inside who are acting like big boss so I decided to just focus on my job instead of meddling others but I also found out that still my faith is being tested especially when one of the consultants always backlights me over promotions because he wants to take over but i just can do that or else I will be in hot water. It seems that almost every move I made is always being watch by him and worst he will even advertised the slightest error I made and always shouting at me knowing that I respected him a lot because of the age gap. The worst thing he did resulted most of the employees are already looking down on me and it is really very embarrassing on my part. I had sleepless nights and I cry out to the Lord, saying Lord! Lord! Why did you allow me to be humiliated like this? I haven’t done any wrongs and why is that person whom i trusted is the one backlighting me? as I read the bible, the spirit lead me to the verses stating:" Rejoice when people insult you and say many things against you and never pay wrong to the wrongs they did to you but rather gave them the other cheek as well if they slap you on the first cheek; and if they throw you stones, throw them bread instead Cause Vengeance is not our's but His then if you do that, God will bless everything you does".. as I meditated these verses, I started applying then one morning, The Owner of the Company wants to meet me; I felt so scared but i was very surprised that he just simply want to had a conversation with me about Marketing plans. After discussing it to him, He told me that he wants to meet me from time to time. When he heard that i was being pressured by the said consultant, He immediately called his attention and reprimanded him and told me that no one can touch me inside the company because I will be reporting directly to Him. To make the story short, God is indeed True in His promises that He will never forsake nor abandon you and Justice will be in His hands because as a child, he will not allow any to hurt his child. I am now enjoying and having a journey with the Person who discovered my talents in marketing and I firmly Believe that this is not an incident nor that it was because of my intelligence but rather the promises of God is always true no matter how or what you feel.
Regards
Rick
Greetings!
As a Marketing manager of a Giant Company, there are so many people who want to rule and take over especially those who are already pioneer employees. It is clear that my function is promotions & business development but sometimes all my projects were not heard because many don’t understand it especially those who are not part of promotions and worst they will stop you from reaching your goal. In other words many are gossiping and trying to pull me down because they don’t want my ideas but they want theirs. As a Filipino, one of the culture is most Filipinos will not stand on what is right but rather being the nice guy always. I've tried it many times but it seems my project wont work if I am always pleasing everybody. I learned that the most difficult thing in life is trying to please everybody. I am surprise that even my boss which is the General manager cannot just simply stand for what is right because of so many people inside who are acting like big boss so I decided to just focus on my job instead of meddling others but I also found out that still my faith is being tested especially when one of the consultants always backlights me over promotions because he wants to take over but i just can do that or else I will be in hot water. It seems that almost every move I made is always being watch by him and worst he will even advertised the slightest error I made and always shouting at me knowing that I respected him a lot because of the age gap. The worst thing he did resulted most of the employees are already looking down on me and it is really very embarrassing on my part. I had sleepless nights and I cry out to the Lord, saying Lord! Lord! Why did you allow me to be humiliated like this? I haven’t done any wrongs and why is that person whom i trusted is the one backlighting me? as I read the bible, the spirit lead me to the verses stating:" Rejoice when people insult you and say many things against you and never pay wrong to the wrongs they did to you but rather gave them the other cheek as well if they slap you on the first cheek; and if they throw you stones, throw them bread instead Cause Vengeance is not our's but His then if you do that, God will bless everything you does".. as I meditated these verses, I started applying then one morning, The Owner of the Company wants to meet me; I felt so scared but i was very surprised that he just simply want to had a conversation with me about Marketing plans. After discussing it to him, He told me that he wants to meet me from time to time. When he heard that i was being pressured by the said consultant, He immediately called his attention and reprimanded him and told me that no one can touch me inside the company because I will be reporting directly to Him. To make the story short, God is indeed True in His promises that He will never forsake nor abandon you and Justice will be in His hands because as a child, he will not allow any to hurt his child. I am now enjoying and having a journey with the Person who discovered my talents in marketing and I firmly Believe that this is not an incident nor that it was because of my intelligence but rather the promises of God is always true no matter how or what you feel.
Regards
Rick
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
WHEN GOD ANSWERS...
Dear Friend:
Finally God answered my prayers because on August 6, 2009, God answered my long time prayer which is I was hired as MARKETING MANAGER AT Vazquez-Madrigal Group of Companies here in Makati, a very well known Group of Real estate Projects here in our metropolis.
I was able to received this answered prayers and able to land this job is not because I am good or Intelligent but rather it is the mercy of God on me and of course I am a Child now because of what Jesus Did on the cross two thousand years ago.
I started praying for this position since year 2001 but to no avail God is still molding me before giving me a great task. In other words, God will not answer our prayer if we are not yet ready for it.
I encourage everybody to learn how to wait because waiting is a great Virtue for every christian and for everyone who wish Success in everything. The bible says that Those who hope in the Lord will rise up with wings like Eagles; they will runned but not grow weary; walked and not faint"..
I remember as the days how I waited this prayers to be answered and I learned that just like a young boy, normally a good father will not entrust a car to his beloved son everytime a son will request or even demand with anger over it because the father knew in his heart that if he will entrust the key to his son without the proper training of driving then it will be abvious that it can be a recipe for disaster for his child so the good father will be sad by not giving what his son wants because he exactly knew when is the right time for his son to take over the key of his great car"..
In other words, Our Father in Heaven has the great Key of the treasures of this world and the world above and He will wait for the right time for us to take over those keys in His proper time; therefore, let us not be discouraged when most of our prayers are not answered yet by God because He is preparing for the best season for you to take over the key.
Take note that God's heart is broken everytime he sees your heart broken as well because as a Father, He can't imagine not giving what his son desires but the thing is that it is not yet the right time so the father will also wait with sadness while waitning for the right time because He loves you so much.
Have a great day and cheer up because you are far richer than you could imagine!!!
Always !
Rick
Finally God answered my prayers because on August 6, 2009, God answered my long time prayer which is I was hired as MARKETING MANAGER AT Vazquez-Madrigal Group of Companies here in Makati, a very well known Group of Real estate Projects here in our metropolis.
I was able to received this answered prayers and able to land this job is not because I am good or Intelligent but rather it is the mercy of God on me and of course I am a Child now because of what Jesus Did on the cross two thousand years ago.
I started praying for this position since year 2001 but to no avail God is still molding me before giving me a great task. In other words, God will not answer our prayer if we are not yet ready for it.
I encourage everybody to learn how to wait because waiting is a great Virtue for every christian and for everyone who wish Success in everything. The bible says that Those who hope in the Lord will rise up with wings like Eagles; they will runned but not grow weary; walked and not faint"..
I remember as the days how I waited this prayers to be answered and I learned that just like a young boy, normally a good father will not entrust a car to his beloved son everytime a son will request or even demand with anger over it because the father knew in his heart that if he will entrust the key to his son without the proper training of driving then it will be abvious that it can be a recipe for disaster for his child so the good father will be sad by not giving what his son wants because he exactly knew when is the right time for his son to take over the key of his great car"..
In other words, Our Father in Heaven has the great Key of the treasures of this world and the world above and He will wait for the right time for us to take over those keys in His proper time; therefore, let us not be discouraged when most of our prayers are not answered yet by God because He is preparing for the best season for you to take over the key.
Take note that God's heart is broken everytime he sees your heart broken as well because as a Father, He can't imagine not giving what his son desires but the thing is that it is not yet the right time so the father will also wait with sadness while waitning for the right time because He loves you so much.
Have a great day and cheer up because you are far richer than you could imagine!!!
Always !
Rick
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
My Personal Letter to Mary O Laughlin
Hello there!
How are you today? I hope everything is fine with you. As for me, I am doing great here in Glorieta 5 becoz all my trainers are very cool. I really like the culture in Convergys becoz it is not very worldly unlike other call centers here in Manila.
By the way, I was so touch about the message you sent earlier becoz it talks more on the interventin of God in your life. The way I analized it is that You are a woman for mission but many demonic forces wanted to stop the mission God has for your life that's why you were close to death many times in your early days but behold, what happened to you happened in the book of Genesis.
It goes like this: According to the book of Genesis, "The woman was carrying a baby in her womb but the Serpent wants to kill the baby but the baby was spared and instead the baby killed the the old Serpent when the woman gave birth to her offspring".. The interpretation of that verse is recorded in the New Testament bible about virgin Mary during the time of Jesus of Nazareth.
During the birth of Jesus, The bible says:"King Herod ordered all male baby ages 8 to 9 be kiled but Jesus was spared then when Jesus started the Ministry, in his 30's Many opposed His teaching and more frustrating, One of his trusted apostle Judas Iscariot betrayed him by selling Him to His enemies, the Pharisees and the jews, His own people.
In short, Jesus Was crucified by His own people and HE receive Severe Pain, False Accusations & Shameful death but Jesus was humble and Obedient until death on the cross. The devil though that he was victorious when Jesus was crucified but he didnt realized that Jesus decided to die on the cross to Redeem us all and spare us from hell; Jesus could had saved himself becoz He is God but He decided not to do it becoz HE is thinking of You & Me.
He couldnt afford to lose us thats why He decided to be killed instead with a very painful & Shameful death. In other words, He saved us and destroy the works of the Serpent which is the devil".. Jesus pay the price for our sins and used Himself as a ransom as what the bible says in John 3:16 " For God so Loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son & whosoever Believe in His Son will not perish but have everlasting life"..
In reference to your dream, You were attacked heavily during the birth of your son, the minister, becoz the devil knew that your son is carrying the Spirit of salvation becoz that Spirit is Jesus Himself dwelling in your son and that was the reason no matter how difficult your past were but Jesus spared you & your son despite what happened to you & your family.
In other words, You are very special in the Eyes of God becoz you, as the mother, your son is destined to advance God's Kingdom to the ends of the earth primarily in Korea. So Congratulations for many were called but few are chosen and you are among the Chosen people of God. Again, Congrats. The bible says:"the Old has passed; behold, the NEW has come and you are Now a NEW Creation.
I am looking forward to see you in our church so I can introduce you to my wife and the church. My Cellphone is 09153907985 pls dont forget to check the site as well as the many stories I wrote in my blog. This is all for now!
Happy lenten season to you and your family!
Rick & Avic God Bless!
How are you today? I hope everything is fine with you. As for me, I am doing great here in Glorieta 5 becoz all my trainers are very cool. I really like the culture in Convergys becoz it is not very worldly unlike other call centers here in Manila.
By the way, I was so touch about the message you sent earlier becoz it talks more on the interventin of God in your life. The way I analized it is that You are a woman for mission but many demonic forces wanted to stop the mission God has for your life that's why you were close to death many times in your early days but behold, what happened to you happened in the book of Genesis.
It goes like this: According to the book of Genesis, "The woman was carrying a baby in her womb but the Serpent wants to kill the baby but the baby was spared and instead the baby killed the the old Serpent when the woman gave birth to her offspring".. The interpretation of that verse is recorded in the New Testament bible about virgin Mary during the time of Jesus of Nazareth.
During the birth of Jesus, The bible says:"King Herod ordered all male baby ages 8 to 9 be kiled but Jesus was spared then when Jesus started the Ministry, in his 30's Many opposed His teaching and more frustrating, One of his trusted apostle Judas Iscariot betrayed him by selling Him to His enemies, the Pharisees and the jews, His own people.
In short, Jesus Was crucified by His own people and HE receive Severe Pain, False Accusations & Shameful death but Jesus was humble and Obedient until death on the cross. The devil though that he was victorious when Jesus was crucified but he didnt realized that Jesus decided to die on the cross to Redeem us all and spare us from hell; Jesus could had saved himself becoz He is God but He decided not to do it becoz HE is thinking of You & Me.
He couldnt afford to lose us thats why He decided to be killed instead with a very painful & Shameful death. In other words, He saved us and destroy the works of the Serpent which is the devil".. Jesus pay the price for our sins and used Himself as a ransom as what the bible says in John 3:16 " For God so Loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son & whosoever Believe in His Son will not perish but have everlasting life"..
In reference to your dream, You were attacked heavily during the birth of your son, the minister, becoz the devil knew that your son is carrying the Spirit of salvation becoz that Spirit is Jesus Himself dwelling in your son and that was the reason no matter how difficult your past were but Jesus spared you & your son despite what happened to you & your family.
In other words, You are very special in the Eyes of God becoz you, as the mother, your son is destined to advance God's Kingdom to the ends of the earth primarily in Korea. So Congratulations for many were called but few are chosen and you are among the Chosen people of God. Again, Congrats. The bible says:"the Old has passed; behold, the NEW has come and you are Now a NEW Creation.
I am looking forward to see you in our church so I can introduce you to my wife and the church. My Cellphone is 09153907985 pls dont forget to check the site as well as the many stories I wrote in my blog. This is all for now!
Happy lenten season to you and your family!
Rick & Avic God Bless!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Secret Behind Failure
Hi
How are you? By the way, thank you for your prayers coz I was hired yesterday by CONVERGYS ( March 12, 2009 ) One the biggest company in the BPO INDUSTRY. Our office is in Makati, fronting RCBC. I decided to grab this opportunity because I am running out of Cash and I need to pay bills. I am glad that they have an outright benefits upon hire and it is tantamount as if I was Regularized right away. I was waiting to be regularized in ICT upon 6 months to enjoy the benefits but on February 09, 2009, I was inform that I can no longer pursue my Employment with ICT cause I didnt meet the metrics as well as General Motors is downsizing so I resigned on February 11, 2009.
Honestly, I had sleepless nights wondering and figuring out as to why I didnt make it and mind you for one Month since February 09, I was totally depress and discouraged because I did my best but my best wasnt good enough.
I really cry out to God why HE allow this to happen to me? I told God, I can no longer wait again until six months just to wait the health & other benefits since most Companies today are giving six months probation before they give benefits.
But during the interview on March 12, 2009 at 2PM, I was recommended by the recruitment to have instead the Outbound Collections Account which is not easy to apply in Convergys so God really made a miracle on me yesterday at 4PM, March 12, 2009 upon signing the contract with Convergys.
BUT God has another way as HE said in the bible that:"If there is anything Impossible in the eyes of men, there is no Impossible in God"..
So God Literally Gave me my hearts desire which is Outright Health Care & many benefits plus Basic Salary & US Dollar Incentives & Commission which includes my whole family. The reason why God allowed me to lost my JOb because HE is preparing the better one. HE wants the best for me. Let us not blame God over our failures because God has His own plans for us which is far greater than what we could ever think or imagine for God says:"My thoughts and ways are not like men's ways"..
One thing that attracts me about Convergys is that I was offered the position of Outbound Collections with Basic Salary, US Dollar Incentives & Commission and the other is they will give me outright health card, Insurance & other benefits which includes my whole family upon hire..
I am still looking forward for any Sales & Marketing Position(MANAGERIAL LEVEL) in ICT or other companies and eventually in the USA as part of My Long Range Objective for World Mission as where my heart desire lies. This is all for now. For more Miracles in my life, Please read all the miracles God made in my life at http://thesecretbehindinfailure.com May God Bless you always and your whole family.
To God Be The Glory ! Forever! Amen!
Rick
How are you? By the way, thank you for your prayers coz I was hired yesterday by CONVERGYS ( March 12, 2009 ) One the biggest company in the BPO INDUSTRY. Our office is in Makati, fronting RCBC. I decided to grab this opportunity because I am running out of Cash and I need to pay bills. I am glad that they have an outright benefits upon hire and it is tantamount as if I was Regularized right away. I was waiting to be regularized in ICT upon 6 months to enjoy the benefits but on February 09, 2009, I was inform that I can no longer pursue my Employment with ICT cause I didnt meet the metrics as well as General Motors is downsizing so I resigned on February 11, 2009.
Honestly, I had sleepless nights wondering and figuring out as to why I didnt make it and mind you for one Month since February 09, I was totally depress and discouraged because I did my best but my best wasnt good enough.
I really cry out to God why HE allow this to happen to me? I told God, I can no longer wait again until six months just to wait the health & other benefits since most Companies today are giving six months probation before they give benefits.
But during the interview on March 12, 2009 at 2PM, I was recommended by the recruitment to have instead the Outbound Collections Account which is not easy to apply in Convergys so God really made a miracle on me yesterday at 4PM, March 12, 2009 upon signing the contract with Convergys.
BUT God has another way as HE said in the bible that:"If there is anything Impossible in the eyes of men, there is no Impossible in God"..
So God Literally Gave me my hearts desire which is Outright Health Care & many benefits plus Basic Salary & US Dollar Incentives & Commission which includes my whole family. The reason why God allowed me to lost my JOb because HE is preparing the better one. HE wants the best for me. Let us not blame God over our failures because God has His own plans for us which is far greater than what we could ever think or imagine for God says:"My thoughts and ways are not like men's ways"..
One thing that attracts me about Convergys is that I was offered the position of Outbound Collections with Basic Salary, US Dollar Incentives & Commission and the other is they will give me outright health card, Insurance & other benefits which includes my whole family upon hire..
I am still looking forward for any Sales & Marketing Position(MANAGERIAL LEVEL) in ICT or other companies and eventually in the USA as part of My Long Range Objective for World Mission as where my heart desire lies. This is all for now. For more Miracles in my life, Please read all the miracles God made in my life at http://thesecretbehindinfailure.com May God Bless you always and your whole family.
To God Be The Glory ! Forever! Amen!
Rick
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Divine Calling Of GOD On Me & My Wife
As you know, We are so excited to Be part of the Mission because Many are called but Few are Chosen so I want you to know that the " Harvest are Big but the Laborers are few " and this is the mandate we have that We as a christian are called to make disciples not only in the Philipines but to Asia and to the Ends of the earth. There is only one reason why we want to pursue in the mission field and that is because of this mandate and most of all we, the laborer's are few.
My only problem is that I was able to talk to Pastor Earl & Noel yesterday & they told me that there is no mission assignment in L.A. California USA where most of my family are residing & they arent a christian yet especailly my Beloved Mom who is 75 years old already. All my cousins whom I grew up with and aunties and uncles and friends were busy in worldly affairs in L.A. I told Pastor Noel & Earl that L.A. is only my desired Nation but God can change it anytime HE wishes and we are ready for any calling God will appoint us as we knew that we only have One life to live on earth.
I am sorry for sharing this to you because we just find comfortable sharing our visions to you because of the background you have before you join the Mission. We knew that, you were also told by some Leaders not to go to the mission field but because of your persistence so the Will of God prevails and not the will of men as the bible says:"Many
are the plans in men's heart but ultimately God's will always prevails"..
Please help us go through with this calling of God as we are new in manila and we dont have much connections here since I am so busy working in a call center unlike when we were still in Victory zamboanga where most of our time was devoted to Ministry & small group together with my wife.
I believe that it should be family first before Ministry but mind you that without ministry we find no family. Me and wife are totally dedicated to the work of spreading the gospel to our friends, fellow church & to the lost. We do have our limitations but our focus & vision is to reach and introduce the Gospel especially to the lost. We do have the Mind & heart of Jesus. WE just simply cannot use family reason to stop the work of spreading the gospel. WE are not saying that we are disregarding our needs but what I am saying is that me & my wife had decided to focus on the Calling and we firmly believe that Everything will be added as the bible says:"Seek God & His Rightoeusness then all will follow"..
As a businessman & employee at the same time, I can have all the reasons not to pursue ministry. To be honest, Since I started working here in the call center, I really dont have much time even going to Leader's group because of the pressures of grayvyard shifting. And because of my Financial Goal, i find no time for people but since the bible says that Many were called and few were chosen, this gave me the impression that if people who are always busy for themselves for Money are not really the one who was chosen because pursuing God is total Self-denial which includes changing your Vision from Money to Ministry. Hence, we are not called by God to be rich only but to change the world with the kind of Lives we leave & most of all, Ministering His Word to others as we the laborers are but few so to speak.
The bible says:" We cannot serve both Money & GOD. So I need to make decision whether I wanted to serve God in World Mission or To become a Rich guy in my career & Business. The Desire to become rich alone & desire to serve God can never reconcile. Prosperity & Success Includes wealth but it is not wealth alone. Let us pursue wealth by pursuing God and not Pursuing wealth then God. Let's put God first and let's advance the Knigdom of God thorought Discipleship & Ministry to the lost. Please pray for us today for favor. This is all for now.
More Power In Christ!!
Rick & Avic
My only problem is that I was able to talk to Pastor Earl & Noel yesterday & they told me that there is no mission assignment in L.A. California USA where most of my family are residing & they arent a christian yet especailly my Beloved Mom who is 75 years old already. All my cousins whom I grew up with and aunties and uncles and friends were busy in worldly affairs in L.A. I told Pastor Noel & Earl that L.A. is only my desired Nation but God can change it anytime HE wishes and we are ready for any calling God will appoint us as we knew that we only have One life to live on earth.
I am sorry for sharing this to you because we just find comfortable sharing our visions to you because of the background you have before you join the Mission. We knew that, you were also told by some Leaders not to go to the mission field but because of your persistence so the Will of God prevails and not the will of men as the bible says:"Many
are the plans in men's heart but ultimately God's will always prevails"..
Please help us go through with this calling of God as we are new in manila and we dont have much connections here since I am so busy working in a call center unlike when we were still in Victory zamboanga where most of our time was devoted to Ministry & small group together with my wife.
I believe that it should be family first before Ministry but mind you that without ministry we find no family. Me and wife are totally dedicated to the work of spreading the gospel to our friends, fellow church & to the lost. We do have our limitations but our focus & vision is to reach and introduce the Gospel especially to the lost. We do have the Mind & heart of Jesus. WE just simply cannot use family reason to stop the work of spreading the gospel. WE are not saying that we are disregarding our needs but what I am saying is that me & my wife had decided to focus on the Calling and we firmly believe that Everything will be added as the bible says:"Seek God & His Rightoeusness then all will follow"..
As a businessman & employee at the same time, I can have all the reasons not to pursue ministry. To be honest, Since I started working here in the call center, I really dont have much time even going to Leader's group because of the pressures of grayvyard shifting. And because of my Financial Goal, i find no time for people but since the bible says that Many were called and few were chosen, this gave me the impression that if people who are always busy for themselves for Money are not really the one who was chosen because pursuing God is total Self-denial which includes changing your Vision from Money to Ministry. Hence, we are not called by God to be rich only but to change the world with the kind of Lives we leave & most of all, Ministering His Word to others as we the laborers are but few so to speak.
The bible says:" We cannot serve both Money & GOD. So I need to make decision whether I wanted to serve God in World Mission or To become a Rich guy in my career & Business. The Desire to become rich alone & desire to serve God can never reconcile. Prosperity & Success Includes wealth but it is not wealth alone. Let us pursue wealth by pursuing God and not Pursuing wealth then God. Let's put God first and let's advance the Knigdom of God thorought Discipleship & Ministry to the lost. Please pray for us today for favor. This is all for now.
More Power In Christ!!
Rick & Avic
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Love has a Mysterious Meaning
Dear Friend:
I told my wife this new year that I have a vision on 2009 and that is when I texted my wife saying that for Me, Life has only two meaning or goal and that is Worshipping God and Loving her and all the rest is History and secondary. I remember the days when me and my wife had the storms in life when we were still adjusting each other plus the many weaknesses we both shared. It is tantamount for separation because we are both has our own flaws and it was very hard for us to reconcile our weaknesses and for long eight years without a child, we both felt like having our own way but there is only one important thing that endured which brought us to where we are today and that is:..Love.
The bible says that No matter how hard you've try or even have your body get burn to offer as a living sacrifices but if there is no Love then you are like a clonging bell or a noisy gong.
No matter how hard you try or exert greater effort but if there is no Love then one day you end up tired and fed up but God through apostle paul describe Love in Corinthians chapter 13 provides"Love is Patient, is kind and and does not keep a record of wrongs for it's Faith, Hope and Endurance Never fails"..
In many Romantic novels and books, it has been said and replayed over and over that Love has many splendor things and indeed Love has a very significant role in the lives of men and everybody, it even applies to people who are rude and evil yet only Love can transform them.
It is very apparent that what Paul says in Corinthians 13 that Loves Endurance never fails and you can see it right around you where a mother rescue her baby despite of the fire where the baby is but for the mother, Her Love for her baby is greater than the fire itself. So the mother doesnt care if she gets burn becoz the fire of Love in her heart for her baby is greater than anything that can be described by heaven or hell. Paul also Concluded that there are three things that remain after all and that is Faith, Hope and Love but the greatest of this is Love. Why is Love the Greatest?? Why is Love very popular even among the worldly people or romantic novels and movies?? The answer to this is God is Love... No where in the bible that says that God has Love.. The bible says: God is Love..Love is synanimous to God and vice versa"..
Because God is Love, He can not just sit down and enjoy heaven with all it's splendor while looking at you and me sufferring on earth; suffering on our misery, bondage and disaster. So God decided to go down on earth and died on the cross just to liberate you and me out of suffering.. The bible says:" For God so love the world that He gave His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, that whosoever believe in HIM will not perish but have eternal Life"..John 3:16"..
I just wanted you all to know how much God loves you and Me.. It is just how you Love your Love ones.. When I think of how much I love my wife and my mother, I really cant imagine that the measure I love my family is the same as the measure God Loves me thats why He gave me His Only begotten Child Jesus by dying on the cross two thousand years ago.
Just imagine, God gave up His only Son for you and Me.. The question is: Can you give up your son for somebody else?? of course not.. Over my dead body! but God is different becoz God is Love.. The very nature of God is Love. Loving is giving out everything. What a tremendous Love God has for you and Me.. Wow, thats awesome!! Are you willing to give up everything for the sake of LOVE??
Sincerely,
Rick
I told my wife this new year that I have a vision on 2009 and that is when I texted my wife saying that for Me, Life has only two meaning or goal and that is Worshipping God and Loving her and all the rest is History and secondary. I remember the days when me and my wife had the storms in life when we were still adjusting each other plus the many weaknesses we both shared. It is tantamount for separation because we are both has our own flaws and it was very hard for us to reconcile our weaknesses and for long eight years without a child, we both felt like having our own way but there is only one important thing that endured which brought us to where we are today and that is:..Love.
The bible says that No matter how hard you've try or even have your body get burn to offer as a living sacrifices but if there is no Love then you are like a clonging bell or a noisy gong.
No matter how hard you try or exert greater effort but if there is no Love then one day you end up tired and fed up but God through apostle paul describe Love in Corinthians chapter 13 provides"Love is Patient, is kind and and does not keep a record of wrongs for it's Faith, Hope and Endurance Never fails"..
In many Romantic novels and books, it has been said and replayed over and over that Love has many splendor things and indeed Love has a very significant role in the lives of men and everybody, it even applies to people who are rude and evil yet only Love can transform them.
It is very apparent that what Paul says in Corinthians 13 that Loves Endurance never fails and you can see it right around you where a mother rescue her baby despite of the fire where the baby is but for the mother, Her Love for her baby is greater than the fire itself. So the mother doesnt care if she gets burn becoz the fire of Love in her heart for her baby is greater than anything that can be described by heaven or hell. Paul also Concluded that there are three things that remain after all and that is Faith, Hope and Love but the greatest of this is Love. Why is Love the Greatest?? Why is Love very popular even among the worldly people or romantic novels and movies?? The answer to this is God is Love... No where in the bible that says that God has Love.. The bible says: God is Love..Love is synanimous to God and vice versa"..
Because God is Love, He can not just sit down and enjoy heaven with all it's splendor while looking at you and me sufferring on earth; suffering on our misery, bondage and disaster. So God decided to go down on earth and died on the cross just to liberate you and me out of suffering.. The bible says:" For God so love the world that He gave His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, that whosoever believe in HIM will not perish but have eternal Life"..John 3:16"..
I just wanted you all to know how much God loves you and Me.. It is just how you Love your Love ones.. When I think of how much I love my wife and my mother, I really cant imagine that the measure I love my family is the same as the measure God Loves me thats why He gave me His Only begotten Child Jesus by dying on the cross two thousand years ago.
Just imagine, God gave up His only Son for you and Me.. The question is: Can you give up your son for somebody else?? of course not.. Over my dead body! but God is different becoz God is Love.. The very nature of God is Love. Loving is giving out everything. What a tremendous Love God has for you and Me.. Wow, thats awesome!! Are you willing to give up everything for the sake of LOVE??
Sincerely,
Rick
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