Romans 9:17-18
For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. (NLT)
As believers partaking in the benefits of a relationship with Jesus, we know He is alive today. We see Him working in and around us every day. But others do not know Him as being alive. To them He is may be just a name in a book.
The Word tells us that we are in Jesus and He is in us. Therefore, God’s glory is in each believer. And it is for the purpose of displaying His power to others that they may see Jesus in each of us. It is His light that is to shine though us in all we say and do.
The words out of our mouths should be formed by the Holy Spirit that lives within us and not out of our carnal mind. But it is up to us to allow Him to work through us. As we lay hands on others we can pray with our carnal mind that the Father touch them in Jesus name. And He promises to hear our prayers.
We can also lay hands on the sick and see them recover by letting the Holy Spirit do His work through us directly. The Holy Spirit living in us is the living Jesus for the entire world to see. But it is up to us to let Him out.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Tell Everyone
Acts 12:16-1717
Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. "Tell James and the other brothers what happened," he said. And then he went to another place. (NLT)
When something good happens we are always ready to tell about it. Like when our favorite team wins the game. We talk about it all day to everyone we meet. We are so excited. Or if we won the prize at the office party. We are quick to tell about our worldly good fortune.
Peter was excited about what had happened to him. He was in prison and an angel sprung him. He was free by an act of God. He went directly to Mary's house to tell them what had happened, but he did not stay. He went on to tell others.
When God touches our lives, it should not be a secret. Yes it was a personal thing when He healed us or spoke into our lives in some way. But we need to not keep it to ourselves. We need to go around knocking on doors and tell.
As we tell the story of what Jesus has done for us we do two things. First we reinforce what He has done in us which diminishes what the enemy is trying to do to take it away. And second we encourage others about Jesus and what it means to have a relationship with Him.
By spreading the good news of Jesus in our lives, we are spreading the Good News to others.
Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. "Tell James and the other brothers what happened," he said. And then he went to another place. (NLT)
When something good happens we are always ready to tell about it. Like when our favorite team wins the game. We talk about it all day to everyone we meet. We are so excited. Or if we won the prize at the office party. We are quick to tell about our worldly good fortune.
Peter was excited about what had happened to him. He was in prison and an angel sprung him. He was free by an act of God. He went directly to Mary's house to tell them what had happened, but he did not stay. He went on to tell others.
When God touches our lives, it should not be a secret. Yes it was a personal thing when He healed us or spoke into our lives in some way. But we need to not keep it to ourselves. We need to go around knocking on doors and tell.
As we tell the story of what Jesus has done for us we do two things. First we reinforce what He has done in us which diminishes what the enemy is trying to do to take it away. And second we encourage others about Jesus and what it means to have a relationship with Him.
By spreading the good news of Jesus in our lives, we are spreading the Good News to others.
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Plan
Colossians 4:5-6
Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. (NLT)
Most of us have heard the old adage If you fail to plan you plan to fail. So we set out on our life journey with a plan. We set goals for our lives and work our plan. Schooling leads to job opportunities and they set us out on our carrier path with the ultimate goal of a comfortable retirement package.
It all sounds good, but most never make it. The schooling that looked so right did not get us into that perfect job. We either did not end up liking what we trained for or there just were not jobs available in that field. Or the jobs were available, but the carrier path never unfolded. The result was that we did not end up meeting those goals set early on.
Then we met Jesus. These earthly plans we had depended on all of a sudden were meaningless. We now understood that He held the ultimate plan and He would help us meet the true goals of life, if we would allow Him to do so.
In our Bible we read the Great Commission and found ourselves eager to do what He told us. We were so eager we told everyone we met about our encounter with Jesus and how they had to meet Him, too. We set our goals and made our plan, once again. We decided how we could best do the job for God and became a salesman for Jesus.
But He tells us to live wisely among those who are not believers, and to make the most of every opportunity. We realized that it is His plan and not ours that will complete the journey. If we wait on the Lord, He will show us when it is time to tell our story. He makes the opportunities and it is up to us to listen for them and then act in faith on them.
And when we do step out and speak we are to let our conversation be gracious and attractive so that we will have the right response.
Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. (NLT)
Most of us have heard the old adage If you fail to plan you plan to fail. So we set out on our life journey with a plan. We set goals for our lives and work our plan. Schooling leads to job opportunities and they set us out on our carrier path with the ultimate goal of a comfortable retirement package.
It all sounds good, but most never make it. The schooling that looked so right did not get us into that perfect job. We either did not end up liking what we trained for or there just were not jobs available in that field. Or the jobs were available, but the carrier path never unfolded. The result was that we did not end up meeting those goals set early on.
Then we met Jesus. These earthly plans we had depended on all of a sudden were meaningless. We now understood that He held the ultimate plan and He would help us meet the true goals of life, if we would allow Him to do so.
In our Bible we read the Great Commission and found ourselves eager to do what He told us. We were so eager we told everyone we met about our encounter with Jesus and how they had to meet Him, too. We set our goals and made our plan, once again. We decided how we could best do the job for God and became a salesman for Jesus.
But He tells us to live wisely among those who are not believers, and to make the most of every opportunity. We realized that it is His plan and not ours that will complete the journey. If we wait on the Lord, He will show us when it is time to tell our story. He makes the opportunities and it is up to us to listen for them and then act in faith on them.
And when we do step out and speak we are to let our conversation be gracious and attractive so that we will have the right response.
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