September 28, 2011
Children
John 1:12
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
Month: September 2011
Monday Meditations – John 1:12
September 26, 2011
Today’s Medication Verse:
John 1:12
12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
From the time Christ was here and came to bring the pure undiluted and perfect gospel, man himself has set out, even if unintentionally to dissect and dilute it.
Through the years there have become thousands of different beliefs on not only religion, but also the gospel itself. Churches continue to split even now in regards to what they want to believe is the truth. Continue reading
The Great Deception
September 25, 2011
Today in our small group we discussed the story at the beginning of Acts 5 where Ananias and Sapphira attempted to deceive the Holy Spirit and fell dead. It was a good lesson and there were many comments of discussion.
I wanted to write today because this very thing ties so closely with what I have been writing about. Ananias and Sapphira were tares or counterfeit Christians. How do I know this? Because their hearts were revealed and their hearts were not turned towards the Father, but that Satan had filled their hearts.
Continue reading
Orphans
September 23, 2011
Picture the scene from Apple Cider Rules when a couple came to look over the children at the orphanage to find a child. All the children made sure that day they looked their best. They tried to not hope too much that they would be chosen. There was always a huge possibility of disappointment. As the children grew older their chances of being chosen grew slim and many became adults having never been chosen, always to be orphans.
Continue reading
Wednesday Word Study – Futility
September 21, 2011
Futility
Strongs Concordance Number:3153
Transliteration: mataiotés
Phonetic Spelling: (mat-ah-yot’-ace)
Definition: vanity, emptiness, unreality, purposelessness, ineffectiveness, instability, frailty; false religion. Aimlessness due to lacking purpose or any meaningful end.
On Monday we talked about the scripture Romans 8:19 and how all of creation is waiting eagerly for the sons of God to be revealed. This holding pattern that we are all placed in until that time is described by the author with the word futility. All of creation is in a futile (unreal, purposeless, ineffective, fragile) period of time waiting on the sons of God to be revealed. Continue reading
Monday Meditations – Romans 8:19
September 19, 2011
Todays Meditation Verse:
Romans 8:19
19) All creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal who his children are.
Monday Meditations are designed to get you to thinking about scriptures that you may have not previously thought much about. It is to hopefully get you to meditating on a particular scripture for the entire week. I think this week you may ponder this one for some time.
The world that we know today is not what was originally created prior to the fall of man. We cannot comprehend the way creation was because we have no form of reference. All that we know is what we have seen and experienced in our lifetime. Continue reading
Feeding the Hungry
September 16, 2011
John 1:9-13
9) There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10) He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11) He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Continue reading
Monday Meditation – Matthew 6:9-13
September 12, 2011
today’s meditation verses:
Matthew 6:9-13
9 our father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
10 may your kingdom come soon.
may your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11 give us today the food we need,a
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 and don’t let us yield to temptation,b
but rescue us from the evil one.c
This is the Lord’s Prayer as translated in the new living translation. Most of us can quote it from the King James Bible, but I wanted to use the NLT because is brings the prayer into today’s simpler language.
For some reason this prayer has been resonating within me lately. Often when I pray these words seem to rise up within me. So, I’ve begun praying this prayer often. Because of that I’ve also begun mediating on the words of this prayer and just exactly what I am praying.
Verse 9 acknowledges the holiness of God and prays that His name will be kept holy. As we enter into his gates in prayer, remembering God’s holiness is of supreme importance and will center us in our faith as we do remember.
Verse 10 asks for God’s kingdom to come soon. He was teaching this to those gathered around Him prior to His crucifixion and resurrection, therefore His kingdom on this earth had not yet come. So they were to pray for it to come. Now we are to pray for its increase and that the kingdom here will reflect God’s heavenly kingdom.
Verse 11 asks for our daily food. We know that there are ample scriptures about God’s abundant provision and that we have no need to worry about it. But here it does show that we are to continue to pray and request that provision. However to be fed by daily bread may not just mean literal bread but spiritual and emotional nourishment as well.
Verse 12 shows us to ask for forgiveness as we forgive those around us. We are perpetually forgiven, but if we want to put a kink in the pipeline of grace which rains that forgiveness down on us, then all we have to do is not forgive others. Note verses 14 and 15.
Verse 13 asks God to help us with all the daily temptations that will most assuredly come our way and also asks that he will run interference for us with the enemy, protecting us throughout the day.
The preceding verses to this prayer talk about not needing to babble on with long lengthy prayers. I love the simplicity of this prayer that covers so much in such an efficient manner. Learn this prayer and its meaning and then you will no longer have the excuse that you have no time to pray or that you do not know what to pray.
Meditating on the meaning of these prayer verses will bring reflection to ours lives. Use this prayer to kick start your prayer life today.
No matter what your beliefs are, I want to thank you for visiting my Christian bible study blog!
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You Must Change Your Mind!
September 9, 2011
This week our word study and mediation focused around the word repent. If you have ever spent any time at all in any Christ based church in the world you have heard the word repent. But what I was taught was the meaning of the word from a small child on up, was not what the true meaning was.
We have been doing a lot of word studies here on TestifyBlog the past few weeks and very surprisingly when we go look at the root Greek word, it doesn’t have the same meaning that we believed it to have. I am not sure just how the meanings of the words have become so distorted through the years, but it is vitally important that we know the truth of what is being said in the gospels, for our sake as well as others. Continue reading
Wednesday Word Study – Repent
September 7, 2011
Acts 3:19
Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.
This is the Strong’s Greek Concordance Number: 3340
Transliteration: metanoeó
Phonetic Spelling: (met-an-o-eh’-o)
Definition: I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent.
When I first learned the true meaning of the work Repent I was very surprised!! The church I had grown up in taught us that repenting was telling God you were sorry and that you wouldn’t do it again, then asking Him to forgive that sin. It was usually a one-sided dialog where we repeatedly kept telling God out sorry we were.
It was usually accompanied by remorse and a sense of guilt, but because of the shame we never really allowed the Father to work on our heart. It was if we kept Him at arm’s length while we babbled on about how sorry we were.
So the remorse, shame and guilt stayed and afterwards because we had not allowed ourselves to receive from the Father, we went away unchanged, untransformed and we made the same mistakes and operated in the same sin again and again.
But the true meaning is to ‘change your mind’!
I copied this from the Biblios website under the Strongs word section:
3340 metanoé? (from 3326 /metá, “changed after being with” and 3539 /noié?, “think”) – properly, “think differently after,” “after a change of mind”; to repent (literally, “think differently afterwards”).
The phrase above “changed after being with” makes so much sense to me. When we are with the Father after doing something wrong, we will change our mind and realize that what we did was wrong and that we should not do it again. Being with the Father will change our heart and when we leave His presence we will desire to be different and to do different than before. If we will take our remorse, shame and guilt to Him and allow Him to reaffirm His forgiveness and love, we will see a new and better way.
Our selfish desires will fade away more and more as we go to the Father in repentance, but not just admitting a wrong done, but receiving His transforming grace, instruction and love in regards to the matter.
That would make sense. If we previously thought it was a good idea, or if our selfish desires were leading us to that behavior, then we will change our minds and believe that it is behavior that is not beneficial to us or the kingdom. Therefore we will strive to never do it again. Being with the Father will change both our hearts and our minds. His immeasurable love and grace will give us the power to live a Holy life.
But we must make the move to go to Him so that that change can occur. We must take our mistakes, our sin, our missteps and deeds to Him so that He can reveal the truth of our behavior to us. As He does, He will also show us His loving heart and that kind of love never fails. It never fails to transform us into His image, little by little, day by day.
No matter what your beliefs are, I want to thank you for visiting my Christian blog!
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