Category: Food for Thought

It Pales In Comparison

Acts 20: 24.

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus—the work about telling others about the good news and the wonderful grace of God.

Paul the preacher, the evangelist, experienced a dramatic conversion that motivated him to enthusiastically preach the cross of Christ in ways that the listener could understand. His message was powerful and honest. He pulled no punches. He called it as it was, rebuking when necessary and encouraging when he could. He did not preach notions, or controversy, relevancy, or affairs of the state or government. This sincere evangelist preached faith and repentance, motivated by the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit within him and the steadfast ‘grace’ of His faithful God, whom he had come to love and trust. Paul knew that God’s grace didn’t end with forgiveness, but, on the contrary, God’s vast, extravagant grace had only just begun. He had to get the Word out at all cost. What his life ‘was’ and what it held in store, paled in comparison to the glorious transformation that he had experienced through Christ and passionately desired for others to come to know. His life paled in comparison to God’s lavish grace and his physical life paled in comparison to the glorious eternal life that lie ahead for him in death. Paul’s miraculously transformed life was all about his Lord and Savior and the people had to hear this Good News, at all cost…Yes, even if it meant imprisonment, torture and ultimate death for his faith Paul felt compelled to get the Word of Truth out, not only into the heads but more importantly into the hearts of people. Absolutely nothing held him back! What hold you back from sharing the glorious message of the life changing power of Christ in a life? Let’s be challenged to say today with Paul,

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned to me by the Lord Jesus—the work about telling others about the good news and the wonderful grace of God.

by Categories: Bible, Food for Thought, Inspirational, Soul FireTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Acceptance And Contentment


Philippians 4: 6-7.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Wow! what a great word of encouragement from Paul, written from behind bars, for the persecuted Christians in the church of Philippi. Do you need to hear them today for your whirlwind world that seems to spin out of control? He was all too aware of the discouragements, and difficulties that plagued them. He, himself, had been in similar conditions and was in prison because of the trials that bombarded him, in sharing the message of the Gospel. Paul didn’t speak much of his own discouragement or fear, but instead, he wrote with joy, from a heart of compassion, demonstrating that Christians can be passionate for Christ regardless of their circumstances.

These words were written by Paul to encourage the fearfully anxious to talk over everything with God. To bring each and every issue, situation and circumstance before Him in prayer, being ‘thankful’ for whatever it was that caused chaos in their life and uprooted their peace of mind. It’s tough to be thankful for bad days isn’t it? It’s very difficult to wrap our mind around thankfulness, when everything goes wrong. Those in Philippi experienced more than just bad days. They were immersed in terrible days of torture, torment, and possible death! Yet, Paul exhorts them to be ‘thankful.” Paul knew the secret! He knew that it was only in thankfulness of heart that we can accept what comes. It’s in accepting the situation, that we find contentment and it’s in contentment that we find a healing peace from God that can not be explained. It’s a deep inner, spiritual knowledge that all is well with our soul and with our life, because God is the Master engineer and come what may, through it all, all things are Father filtered and customized to our needs to aid us in spiritual growth and maturity in Christ.

What’s on your heart today. What chaotic circumstances are battering you like a ship tossed at sea? Mark 4: 39, tells us “Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.” Christ can speak peace into the eye of your storm and into the heat of your struggle, if we ask HIm. Quiet your heart and your mind before Him and Be still! Psalm 46: 10 says “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

When thankfulness to God in all things is our default, We can experience peace in all things! It’s God’s promise! Let Him rebuke the wind and waves in your life and speak His gentle, healing peace into the storm.

╔═════════ღ❤ღೋ═════════╗
♫❤♫❤♫❤B L E S S I N G S♫❤♫❤♫
╚═════════ღ❤ღೋ═════════╝

by Categories: Bible, Food for Thought, Inspirational, Soul FireTags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Boldly Confident


1 John 5:14-15.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

The key here is asking in accordance to ‘His Will.” If our will is lined up with His, then we can have all the confidence we need to be bold in our prayer life. God truly instills within His beloved, His plan, His desire, His goal, His direction and His purpose for our lives. If we take the time to be still and listen as He whispers to the innermost part of our being, we will desire to pray for the things that He wishes to bless us with. Isn’t that so exciting? God knows what He wants to do for our benefit and His glory. Prayer releases His power to bring about His will. He is relational to the core and He wants to be asked and He wants to be sought.

In Psalm 31:19 the psalmist speaks of God’s goodness when he says “How great is the goodness You have stored up for those who fear You! You lavish it on those who come to You for refuge.”

God is brilliantly creative, gloriously mysterious and always up to something big. Selfish prayers won’t get past the ceiling, but, as His children, we have the right to boldly seek Him for His direction then simply accept His will and watch as His will, in the form of our petitions, take shape and fall into place precisely on time. Requests are granted and answered prayer becomes reason for praise and thanksgiving!

¸☆´ (¸.♥´´¯`•.¸¸.ღ
¸.ღི♥ྀღ ❤ ❤
( ི♥ྀ<3 ღ k
`.¸¸♥´¯) ¸.☆´¯)
(¸☆´<3 (¸.♥´´¯`•.¸¸.

by Categories: Bible, Food for Thought, Inspirational, Soul FireTags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Pitiful Pride


Romans 14:11

“It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’””.

Sometimes personal opinions get in the way and cause problems within the body of believers, within our churches don’t they? We tend to have this ‘I’m right, your wrong’ attitude when it comes to how we should live our lives and put our faith into action. In our verse today, Paul addresses some of these issues because Jewish custom and culture was very different than Gentile culture and it showed in their manner of eating, and in other areas as well. Some were looking down their noses with contempt at others of the faith, who saw things very differently. Paul’s point here, is that these things do not matter in the big picture, because faith isn’t grounded on these issues. True Faith is grounded on the pure and simple gospel message of the cross , the Lord and the Christ who died to make atonement for our sins possible and bring salvation to the lost. It is God, who is the true and righteous Judge, who will deal with the flaws and shortcoming of His people, when every knee bows before Him and every tongue confesses Him as Lord. God will deal with it as He sees fit. Paul reminds the believers that each brother and sister in the Lord, is responsible for themselves personally, before God and judgment from others is unnecessary and uncalled for. In other words, we are not to judge! Plain and simple!

However, because of pride, we get caught up in this haughty mindset and take judgmental authority upon ourselves in order to straighten every one out. We begin to rebuke, criticize, condemn and slander, even cry ‘hypocrite’ to new or even seasoned believers, for not adhering to our self – made ‘laws’ that we govern our own lives by. Such non – graced action quickly leads to dissension, quarreling and divisive behavior, when it’s really no concern of ours, how others, who profess their faith in Christ, live their lives. Paul makes it clear that we are not too look with scorn on those weaker in faith or on those who live out their faith in the Lord differently than we do.


Have you been judged, criticized and ridiculed for something? Has it hurt you or made you leave the unity of the body of believers? It’s the enemy’s tactic for causing strife and bitterness. It’s sad and it shouldn’t happen! Or maybe you’ve been the judge and held the gavel over someone’s head while pronouncing them guilty as charged. That’s pride and is also the enemy’s tactic for causing division. It’s wrong and Paul says we have no business doing that! Instead, we need to take account of ourselves before God and make sure that our own hearts are right!

Now it can get really personal and this is where our true colors of the faith show. It’s where our mature, strong faith in Christ will show up or not! If our behavior causes others to question and doubt, then, we, who are strong in the faith, need to put the questionable behavior behind us and act in such a way that it will glorify Christ and speak lovingly to others. Why? Because as mature Christians, we need to take responsibility for our actions. Forgive and receive forgiveness if need be and put our self-righteousness behind us. Our main goal as a Christ One is to win the lost and be excellent representatives for the Lord and His work. If something we do, hurts someone, then we have a responsibility to own up to it and stop it! It’s our responsibility to maintain peace and share joy, compassion and love within our circles of influence. No, we don’t look at someone else but let’s look into the mirror and yeah, everyone let’s heed Paul’s words of wisdom and quit passing judgment on our brothers and sisters because according to us, they don’t measure up, and let’s make sure we don’t give others any reason to question our own testimony for the Lord. Friends, if we could all live in such a way, our world would be wonderful and our churches? Well…they would not be divided, for each one would settle their accounts before God, give grace where needed and maintain peace and unity within the body of believers.
#soulFire

by Categories: Bible, Food for Thought, Inspirational, Soul FireTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment