Are You Fascinated or Merely Interested In God?
God wants His creation to be fascinated with Him and His ways.
Passages like Isaiah 40 are examples of how God wants us to always have hearts that pursue and seek out the mystery of God and His ways.
Why Are You Living Outside the Curtain?
When Jesus died on the cross the thick curtain of the temple that separated the Most Holy Place from the outside world was ripped in half from top to bottom. This short, unnoticed event illustrates one of the most important truths in all of Christianity. There was only passing mention of this in Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ”; this event is unknown by most Christians.
Connecting to the Eyes of the Lord
Since the human heart is filled with wickedness and deception it behooves us to spend time with the Lord who alone knows our true situation and needs.
Thorns, Thistles, and Transformation
Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, everything in life has been negatively affected. Even when Jesus was about to be crucified the Romans crowned Him with thorns, which is symbolic that all the world could give the Son of God as the Second Adam was thorns and pain, because He was about to bear the sins of Adam and the human race. Paul the Apostle found thorns in everything he put his hand to.
Why Pain is a Catalyst for Purpose and Power
Pain is unavoidable in this world. The primary kind of pain I am referring to throughout this article is emotional, mental and psychological. Jesus promised us that in the world we will suffer tribulation John 16:33. (Both physical and emotional in this context.) There are many different reasons for pain: some pain is self inflicted, some is caused by unexpected tragedies like an accident, some is caused by the behavior of other people, some from mental and emotional trauma, some, like in the Book of Job are divine tests, and more.
Why Some Believers Experience More Spiritual Warfare than Others
There are some believers who falsely believe that if they have a lot of faith they will not undergo any suffering, severe tests or satanic attacks. Nothing could be further from the truth! Actually, the opposite is true. For example, in the Book of Job chapters 1 and 2, God actually asks Satan if he considered His servant Job. Hence, God brought Job to Satan’s attention, not because Job was in sin, but because Job was the greatest servant of God on the earth at that time (read Job 1:6-12; 2:3-6).
The Third Fire
I. Introduction
a. The Bible teaches that fire is a metaphor describing three types of purging people can experience:
• The fires of testing
• The fires of evaluation
• The fires of damnation
10 Signs You Are a Secular Believer
As a full-time church minister since 1981, I have had the task of observing the lives of thousands of believers. Consequently, I have come to the conclusion that there are believers in the church who say they are Christians, while, at the same time, espousing value systems that are secular. However, these secular believers are slightly different from what we may identity as a “carnal Christian,” whose ways have to do with the overt sins of the flesh and emotions (read 1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Of these two types, the secular believer, as with “secular Christianity” (which, by the way, is contradictory and, therefore, a misnomer) is more subtle because they are sugar-coated with spirituality and outward peace but have foundations of secular values.
Ruling in the Heavenlies
Ephesians 3:1-13, 20-21:
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Putting On the Full Armor of God
In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace wants nothing to do with fighting for his people until his own wife is put to death. Often it takes something painful to wake us up to the sober realities of how this world functions. If you were dropped into an arena as a gladiator and had to fight, it would be a battle to the death for a chance to live another day.