Lazy Christians-Is it a Sin to be Lazy?

Newton’s first law of motion states that an object in motion tends to remain in motion, and an object at rest tends to remain at rest. This law applies to people. While some are naturally driven to complete projects, others are apathetic, requiring motivation to overcome inertia! Laziness, a lifestyle for some, is a temptation for all.

The lazy mind thinks, “Just five more minutes on this computer game, and then I’ll do those dishes”, “My boss won’t notice whether or not I do my best work”, “Someone else will do it.” Lazy people spend more time making up excuses than the time it would take to complete a project. Because their greatest concern is their own comfort, they are energy-stealers and time-wasters. After all, being entertained is more exciting than showing hospitality; being in debt is easier than paying the bills; and being overweight is more acceptable than exercising and dieting. They have an aversion to work.

Is work a punishment for sin? No. Although sin’s curse made man’s labor difficult (Genesis 3:23), God designed work for man before the fall (Genesis 2:15). Because the Lord, who is a working God, ordained work for man, laziness is sin.
 

Laziness Described in Proverbs:

A lazy person hates work.

(Proverbs 21:25) “The desire of the lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.”

A lazy person loves sleep.

(Proverbs 26:14) “As a door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on his bed.”

A lazy person gives excuses.

(Proverbs 26:13) “The lazy man says, ‘There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!’”

A lazy person becomes a servant (or debtor).

(Proverbs 12:24) “The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor.”

A lazy person strains relationships.

(Proverbs 10:26) “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy man to those who send him.”

A lazy person wastes time and energy.

(Proverbs 18:9) “He who is slothful in his work is a brother to him who is a great waster.”

A lazy person overlooks creation’s example.

(Proverbs 6:6) “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise.”

A lazy person believes he is wise.

(Proverbs 26:16) “The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.”

A lazy person seeks comfort.

(Proverbs 20:4) “The lazy man will not plow because of winter; he will beg during harvest and have nothing.”

A lazy person may come to poverty.

(Proverbs 13:4) “The soul of the lazy man desires and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.”

Laziness and the Christian:

A new believer is truthfully taught that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). But a believer can become idle if he erroneously believes that God expects no fruit from a transformed life. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Slothfulness violates God’s purpose – good works. The Lord, however, empowers Christians to overcome the flesh’s propensity to laziness.

Christians are a new creation.

(Ephesians 4:28) “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”

Christians show their faith by their works.

(James 2:18, 26) “. . . I will show you my faith by my works. . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

Christians are workers with God.

(1 Corinthians 3:9a) “For we are God’s fellow workers.”

Christians will reap reward for well-doing.

(Galatians 6:9-10) “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

(Colossians 3:23-24) “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

Christians’ labors of love are remembered by God.

(Hebrews 6:10) “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name. . . .”

Christians should discipline the lazy.

(2 Thessalonians 3:10-15) “. . . If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

Christians should work to meet basic needs.

(Acts 20:34-35) “Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Christians should provide for their own household.

(1 Timothy 5:8) “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Christians should labor in God’s strength to evangelize and disciple.

(Colossians 1:28-29) “[Christ] we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”

Because God ordained work for man, laziness is sin. Even in heaven, Christians’ service to Him will continue, although no longer encumbered by the curse (Revelation 22:3). Free from sickness, sorrow, and sin – even laziness – the saints will glorify the Lord forever. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

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What Is The Gospel?

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor.15:1-4) 
It might seem almost a work of supererogation to answer a question like this. We hear the word, "Gospel" used so many times. People talk of this and of that as being "as true as the Gospel," and I often wonder what they really mean by it.
First I should like to indicate what it is not.
THE GOSPEL IS: Not The Bible
In the first place, the Gospel is not the Bible. Often when I inquire, "What do you think the Gospel is?" people reply, "Why, it is the Bible, and the Bible is the Word of God." Undoubtedly the Bible is the Word of God, but there is a great deal in that Book that is not Gospel. 
"The wicked shall be turned into Hell with all the nations that forget God." That is in the Bible, and it is terribly true; but it is not Gospel. 
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." That is in the Bible, but it is not the Gospel. 
Our English word, "gospel" just means the "good spell," and the word "spell," is the old Anglo-Saxon word for, "tidings", the good tidings, the good news. The original word translated. "Gospel," which we have taken over into the English with little alteration is the word, "evangel," and it has the same meaning, the good news. The Gospel is God's good news for sinners. The Bible contains the Gospel, but there is a great deal in the Bible which is not Gospel.
THE GOSPEL IS: Not The Commandments
The Gospel is not just any message from God telling man how he should behave. "What is the Gospel?" I asked a man this question some time ago, and he answered, "Why I should say it is the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, and I think if a man lives up to them he is all right." Well, I fancy he would be; but did you ever know anybody who lived up to them? The Sermon on the Mount demands a righteousness which no unregenerate man has been able to produce. The law is not the Gospel; it is the very antitheses of the Gospel. In fact, the law was given by God to show men their need of the Gospel . 
"The law," says the Apostle Paul, speaking as a Jewish convert, "was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. But after that Christ is come we are no longer under the schoolmaster." 
Not Repentance
The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past.
THE GOSPEL IS: Not Giving Up The World
Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all. 
THERE ARE SEVEN DESIGNATIONS OF THE GOSPEL in the New Testament, but over and above all these, let me draw your attention to the fact that when this blessed message is mentioned, it is invariably accompanied by the definite article. Over and over and over again in the New Testament we read of the Gospel. It is the Gospel not a Gospel. People tell us there are a great many different Gospels; but there is only ONE. When certain teachers came to the Galatians and tried to turn them away from the simplicity that was in Christ Jesus by teaching "another Gospel, "the apostle said that it was a different gospel, but not another; for there is none other than the Gospel. It is downright exclusive; it is God's revelation to sinful man. 
Not Comparative Religion
The scholars of this world talk of the Science of Comparative Religions, and it is very popular now-a-days to say, "We cannot any longer go to heathen nations and preach to them as in the days gone by, because we are learning that their religions are just as good as ours, and the thing to do now is to share with them, to study the different religions, take the good out of them all, and in this way lead the world into a sense of brotherhood and unity." 
So in our great universities and colleges men study this Science of Comparative Religions, and they compare all these different religious systems one with another. There is a Science of Comparative Religions, but the Gospel is not one of them. All the different religions in the world may well be studied comparatively, for at rock bottom they are all alike; they all set men at trying to earn his own salvation. They may be called by different names, and the things that men are called to do maybe different in each case, but they all set men trying to save their own souls and earn their way into the favour of God. In this they stand in vivid contrast with the Gospel, for the Gospel is that glorious message that tells us what God has done for us in order that guilty sinners maybe saved.
THE SEVEN DESIGNATIONS OF THIS GOSPEL ARE CALLED
1. The Gospel Of The Kingdom,
and when I use that term I am not thinking particularly of any dispensational application, but of this blessed truth that it is only through believing the Gospel that men are born into the Kingdom of God; We sing: "A ruler once came to Jesus by night, To ask Him the way of salvation and light; The Master made answer in words true and plain, 'ye must be born again.' " But neither Nicodemus , nor you, nor I, could ever bring this about ourselves. We had nothing to with our first birth, and can have nothing to do with our second birth. It must be the work of God, and it is wrought through the Gospel. That is why the Gospel is called the Gospel of the Kingdom, for, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3,7). "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. . . And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you" (1 Peter 1:23-25. Every where that Paul and his companion apostles went they preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and they showed that the only way to get into that Kingdom was by a second birth, and that the only way whereby the second birth could be brought about was through believing the Gospel. It is the Gospel of the Kingdom.
It also called
2. The Gospel Of God,
because God is the source of it, and it is altogether of Himself. No man ever thought of a Gospel like this. The very fact that all the religions of the world set man to try to work for his own salvation indicates the fact that no man would ever have dreamed of such a Gospel as that which is revealed in this Book. It came from the heart of God; it was God who "so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He first loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9,10). And because it is the Gospel of God, God is very jealous of it. He wants it kept pure. He does not want it mixed with any of man's theories or laws; He does not want it mixed up with religious ordinances or anything of that kind. The Gospel is God's own pure message to sinful man. God grant that you and I may receive it as in very truth the Gospel of God.
And then it is called
3. The Gospel Of His Son
Not merely because the Son went everywhere preaching the Gospel, but because He is the theme of it. "When it pleased God," says the apostle, "who called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the nations; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood" (Gal. 1:15,16). "We preach Christ crucified . . . the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23,24). No man preaches the Gospel who is not exalting the Lord Jesus. It is God's wonderful message about His Son. How often I have gone to meetings where they told me I would hear the Gospel, and instead of that I have heard some bewildered preacher talk to a bewildered audience about everything and anything, but the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel has to do with nothing else but Christ. It is the Gospel of God's Son. And so, linked with this it is called 
4. The Gospel Of Christ 
The Apostle Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost of the risen Saviour, says, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." And He speaks of Him as the anointed One, exalted at God's right hand. The Gospel is the Gospel of the Risen Christ. There would be no Gospel for sinners if Christ had not been raised. So the apostle says, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:17). A great New York preacher, great in his impertinence, at least, said some years ago, preaching a so-called Easter sermon, "The body of Jesus still sleeps in a Syrian tomb, but His soul goes marching on.: That is not the Gospel of Christ. We are not preaching the Gospel of a dead Christ, but of a living Christ who sits exalted at the Father's right hand, and is living to save all who put their trust in Him. That is why those of us who really know the Gospel never have any crucifixes around our churches or in our homes. The crucifix represents a dead Christ hanging languid on a cross of shame. But we are not pointing men to a dead Christ; we are preaching a living Christ. He lives exalted at God's right had, and He "saves to the uttermost all who come to God by Him."
The Gospel is also called
5. The Gospel Of The Grace Of God,
because it leaves no room whatever for human merit. It just brushes away all man's pretension to any goodness, to any desert excepting judgment. It is the Gospel of grace, and grace is God's free unmerited favour to those who have merited the very opposite. It is as opposite to works as oil is to water." If by grace," says the Spirit of God, "then it is no more works. . . but if it be of works, then is it no more grace" (Rom.11:6). People say, :But you must have both." I have heard it put like this: there was a boatman and two theologians in a boat, and one was arguing that salvation was by faith and the other by works. The boatman listened, and then said, "Let me tell you how it looks to me. Suppose I call this oar Faith and this one Works. If I pull on this one, the boat goes around; if I pull on this other one, it goes around the other way, but if I pull on both oars, I get you across the river." I have heard many preachers use that illustration to prove that we are saved by faith and works. That might do if we were going to Heaven in a rowboat, but we are not. We are carried on the shoulders of the Shepherd, who came seeking lost sheep When He finds them He carries them home on His shoulders. But there are some other names used. It is called 
6. The Gospel Of The Glory Of God 
I love that name. It is the Gospel of the Glory of God because it comes from the place where our Lord Jesus has entered. The veil has been rent, and now the glory shines out; and whenever this Gospel is proclaimed, it tells of a way into the glory for sinful man, a way to come before the Mercy Seat purged from every stain. It is the Gospel of the Glory of God, because, until Christ had entered into the Glory, it could not be preached in its fullness, but, after the glory received Him, then the message went out to a lost world.
It is also called 
7. The Everlasting Gospel
because it will never be superseded by another. No other ever went before it, and no other shall ever come after it. One of the professors of the University of Chicago wrote a book a few years ago in which he tried to point out that some of these days Jesus would be superseded by a greater teacher; then He and the Gospel that He taught would have to give way to a message which would be more suited to the intelligence of the cultivated men of the later centuries. No, no, were it possible for this world to go on a million years, it would never need any other Gospel than this preached by the Apostle Paul and confirmed with signs following; the Gospel which, throughout the centuries has been saving guilty sinners.

THE GOSPEL DECLARED
What then is the content of this Gospel? We are told right here, "I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." There is such a thing as merely believing with the intelligence and crediting some doctrine with the mind when the heart has not been reached. But wherever men believe this Gospel in real faith, they are saved through the message. What is it that brings this wonderful result? It is a simple story, and yet how rich, how full. "I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received." I think his heart must have been stirred as he wrote those words, for he went back in memory to nearly thirty years before, and thought of that day when hurrying down the Damascus turnpike, with his heart filled with hatred toward the Lord Jesus Christ and His people, he was thrown to the ground, and a light shone, and he heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" And he cried, "Who art thou Lord?" And the voice said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." And that day Saul learned the Gospel; he learned that He who died on the Cross had been raised from the dead, and that He was living in the Glory. At that moment his soul was saved, and Saul of Tarsus was changed to Paul the Apostle. And now he says, "I am going to tell you what I have received; it is a real thing with me, and I know it will work the same wonderful change in you. If you will believe it. "First of all, "That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Then, "that He was buried." Then, "that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." The Gospel was no new thing in God's mind. It had been predicted throughout the Old Testament times. Every time the coming Saviour was mentioned, there was proclamation of the Gospel. It began in Eden when the Lord said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head." It was typified in every sacrifice that was offered. It was portrayed in the wonderful Tabernacle, and later in the Temple. We have it in the proclamation of Isaiah, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and with His stripes we are healed." It was preached by Jeremiah when he said, "This is His Name whereby He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness" (Jer.23:6). It was declared by Zechariah when he exclaimed, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones: (Zech.13:7) All through those Old Testament dispensations, the Gospel was predicted, and when Jesus came, the Gospel came with Him. When He died, when He was buried, and when He rose again, the Gospel could be fully told out to a poor lost world. Observe, it says, "that Christ died for our sins." No man preaches the Gospel, no matter what nice things he may say about Jesus, if he leaves out His vicarious death on Calvary's cross.
CHRIST'S DEATH - NOT HIS LIFE
I was preaching in a church in Virginia, and a minister prayed, "Lord, grant Thy blessing as the Word is preached tonight. May it be the means of causing people to fall in love with the Christ-life, that they may begin to live the Christ-life." I felt like saying, "Brother, sit down; don't insult God like that;" but then I felt I had to be courteous, and I knew that my turn would come, when I could get up and give them the truth. The Gospel is not asking men to live the Christ-life. If your salvation depends upon your doing that, your are just as good as checked for Hell, for you never can live it in yourself. It is utterly impossible. But the very first message of the Gospel is the story of the vicarious atonement of Christ. He did not come to tell men how to live in order that they might save themselves; He did not come to save men by living His beautiful life. That, apart from His death, would never have saved one poor sinner. He came to die; He "was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death." Christ Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all. When He instituted the Lord's Supper He said, "Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. . . This cup is the new covenant in My Blood" (1 Cor. 11:24,25) There is no Gospel if the vicarious death of Jesus is left out, and there is no other way whereby you can be saved than through the death of the blessed spotless Son of God. 
Someone says, "But I do not understand it." That is a terrible confession to make, for "If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (2 Cor. 4:3). If you do not see that there is no other way of salvation for you, save through the death of the Lord Jesus, then that just tells the sad story that you are among the lost. You are not merely in danger of being lost in the Day of Judgment; but you are lost now. But, thank God, "the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," and seeking the lost He went to the cross. "None of the ransomed ever know How deep were the waters crossed; Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through, Ere He found the sheep that was lost."
THE NECESSITY OF DEATH
HE HAD TO DIE, to go down into the dark waters of death, that you might be saved. Can you think of any ingratitude more base than that of a man or woman who passes by the life offered by the Saviour who died on the Cross for them? Jesus died for you, and can it be that you have never even trusted Him, never even come to Him and told Him you were a poor, lost, ruined, guilty sinner; but since He died for you, you would take Him as your Saviour? HIS DEATH WAS REAL. He was buried three days in the tomb. He died, He was buried, and that was God's witness that it was not a merely pretended death, but He, the Lord of life, had to go down into death. He was held by the bars of death for those three days and nights, until God's appointed time had come. Then, "Death could not keep its prey, He tore the bars away." And so the third point of the Gospel is this, "He was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. "That is the Gospel, and nothing can be added to that. Some people say, "Well, but must I repent?" Yes, you may well repent, but that is not the Gospel. "Must I not be baptised?" If you are a Christian, you ought to be baptised, but baptism is not the Gospel. Paul said, "Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel" (1 Cor. !:17) He did baptise people, but he did not consider that was the Gospel, and the Gospel was the great message that he was sent to carry to the world. This is all there is to it. "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."
THE GOSPEL ACCEPTED
Look at the result of believing the Gospel. Go back to verse two, "By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." That is, if you believe the Gospel, you are saved; if you believe that Christ died for your sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again, God says you are saved. Do you believe it? No man ever believed that except by the Holy Ghost. It is the Spirit of God that overcomes the natural unbelief of the human heart and enables a man to put his trust in that message. And this is not mere intellectual credence, but it is that one comes to the place where he is ready to stake his whole eternity on the fact that Christ died, and was buried, and rose again. When Jesus said, "IT IS FINISHED" the work of salvation was completed. A dear saint was dying, and looking up he said, "It is finished; on that I can cast my eternity." Upon a life I did not live, Upon a death I did not die; Another's life, another's death, Is take my whole eternity." Can you say that, and say it in faith?
THE GOSPEL ACCEPTED
What about the man who does not believe the Gospel? The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15,16). He that believeth not shall be devoted to judgment, condemned, lost. So you see, God has shut us up to the Gospel. Have you believed it? Have you put your trust in it; is it the confidence of your soul? Or have you been trusting in something else? If you have been resting in anything short of the Christ who died, who was buried, who rose again, I plead with you, turn from every other fancied refuge, and flee to Christ today. Repent ye, and believe the Gospel. 
"O, do not let the word depart, And close thine eyes against the light; Poor sinner, harden not thy heart, Be saved, O tonight."
by Dr. Harry Ironside.

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Are Christians Supposed to Worry?

Many of us worry about our daily lives from time to time. Some more than others. Worries about affording your next meal, getting a new job, school, making more money,etc, can be overwhelming for many. I'm definitely guilty of worrying way too much in the past! But what does God say about worrying?


Well Philippians 4:6 reads; "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God".


So God instructs us not to worry or be anxious about anything in our lives, but in thanksgiving, present your requests to Him! How many times have you or someone you knew prayed, not thankfully, but in anger to God about their problems? I'll admit I've done this many times in my past, and it's no wonder things didn't get better! We are instructed to trust in Him, and to be thankful for what we do have (as little as it may be), and He will listen and make our paths straight.


More confirmation of God's instruction not to worry can be read in Matthew 6:25-34;"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"


What an amazing verse! This verse changed the way I think about day-to-day life. I try to give my worries to God and be thankful for the blessings I do have, instead of focusing on the things I don't have!
So instead of worrying, we should pray, give our requests to God and most of all trust in Him to make everything work out in the end. The Lord always does what's right! If you're reading this article right now, give praise to the Lord, you are alive! What a blessing that is in itself! :)
 
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." -Matthew 11:28-29

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What Does the Bible say about Acceptance?

I've seen some Christians who have a hard time accepting other people based on appearance, history, or even because of the way they speak! But is this a "Christian" thing to do? Let's see what the scripture has to say about acceptance;

"Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." -Romans 15:7

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." -John 6:37

"And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' But when he heard it, he said, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.'" -Matthew 9:11,12


"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt." -Exodus 22:21

In this verse God also stresses the fact that even the lowest of the low are significant in His eyes; "So the last will be first, and the first will be last" -Matthew 20:16

God is absolutely clear that we as Christians are to love our neighbors and even our enemies. If someone comes to us for help,we should not reject them based on their past or their appearance, but we should accept them with open arms as Jesus would! 

When I hear stories of "formal" churches where everyone dresses very well, rejecting or looking down upon someone who shows up in jeans or torn up clothes, it simply disgusts me! Jesus called everyoneto come to Him, regardless of what they can afford to wear! "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost." -Isaiah 55:1



God Bless,

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God Has a Plan for your Life: Even when you're Suffering!

I'm sure we've all at some point in our lives wondered,"What is going on God?!?!".  It's kind of funny for someone to actually pose such a question to an all-knowing, all-powerful God! But yes, I've done it many times (sadly)! 

There were times when my life was complete chaos, I was questioning God and asking Him what was He doing? Where is He? What's going on? Is He even listening to me or am I being ignored? 

Well, I want to tell you with full confidence that even in those hard times, when you just can't understand why bad things are happening in your life or why you are going through so much suffering, that God is still in control. Now don't think that this goes for everyone, because God is only going to mold the life of a born again believer. If you're still living in sin and rebellion towards God, chances are that the turmoil you are in will not change much until you come to Him and give your heart to Jesus completely. (see Acts 2:38)

If you are born again and you are going through hardship, remember that God sometimes allows your suffering to mold you and give you spiritual maturity and character that you otherwise would not achieve. Proverbs 3:11-12 says, "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

So delight in your suffering, because it proves you are a child of God.  Here are more verses to give you complete confidence that God is molding your life, and that there is a great reward awaiting you at the end of your trials!:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; patience, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." ~Romans 5:2-5

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation." ~1 Peter 4:12-13

"Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right." ~1 Peter 4:19

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." ~Romans 8:28

Keep pressing on towards the prize! God bless you all.

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Jesus is the Holy Ghost/Comforter

Matthew 28:20--And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

John 14:16-18 -- And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Romans 8:9-11--You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you

Comments:

One must be exercise caution to remember that the Holy Spirit is God's Spirit, not a separate entity.  The words "Holy Spirit" are "pneuma hagion" in the Greek.  Translated it means "holy breath." It was the holy breath of God that hovered over the waters in creation (Genesis 1:2).   That same holy breath of God overshadowed Mary, the mother of Jesus, and then lived in his son.  The holy breath of God raised Jesus from the dead.  The spirit of the risen Christ referred to in these verses is the same holy breath of God.  Only now, the spirit has taken up permanent residence in a man.  Jesus told his followers in John 14: "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you" (KJV). He identifies himself as the comforter, which is one and the same as the Holy Spirit.    In Romans, Paul refers to the Spirit of God living in you, and in the next phrase emphasizes the importance of having the Spirit of Christ in you.  The connection should be simple. 

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Forget the Past, Live a life of Purpose!

Many of us struggle with unpleasant memories. The hardest memories are the ones that caused hurt, pain, sorrow or regret. How do we get over the things we've done in the past, or the things others have done to us? How do you begin to heal from deep emotional distress that placed an unwanted imprint in your mind?

The first thing you must know, which is something I've recently learned, is that we have a choice in what thoughts/memories we allow to reside in our brains. No, I'm not saying that we can erase a memory (I wish!), what I'm saying is that if an unpleasant memory or thought comes into our minds, we can choose to reject it immediately, or allow it to take its residence in our minds and spirit!

So let's say that a painful memory comes into your mind, you can say to yourself, "I will not dwell on this, it's no longer a part of my life", and you can replace that thought with a positive one. Dr. Leaf, who holds a Masters degree and Phd in Communication Pathology said the following about controlling your thoughts:

"There is a point in your brain called the “free will” and it is a genetic structure, there is genetic code. You can use that free will to accept or reject that incoming information. So if you are controlling your thought life, you don’t have to just receive all of this input that is coming in from the outside world, from the media, from external and also from your internal world; we’ve got a lot of existing toxic memories in our head, everything from birth to death is stored in your brain. So you’re going to have information coming from the outside, information from the inside and it all meets at this point of the free will in the brain. You can make a decision at that point to accept or reject that information. If you decide this is not good for me and you actually analyze that thought and say, this is not good for me, this is not healthy. You can reject that thought and it goes out and becomes heat energy. It actually becomes hot air and it doesn’t become part of you. But if you choose to think about it, if you choose to meditate on that, if you choose to ask, answer, discuss, analyze to give meaning, you push it into these memory trees of the mind, into the memory circuits and once they’re there, they are there for good. Once they’ve moved into what the neuro-scientists call the magic trees of the mind, once they’re there, they’re there for good, you can’t get rid of them. Then you’ve got to rebuild, that’s the renewing of the mind. Much more difficult to rebuild than it is to reject."
~ Dr. Caroline Leaf 

What profound information isn't it? And it should give us a different perspective on the way we think. Christians, we DO have a choice in what we allow to control our lives. We DO have a choice in what kind of person we will become! Your past does not determine your future, but your mind does! Romans 12:2 tells us, "And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." 

This renewing of the mind starts with first making Jesus Lord of your life. Then you can start taking control of what you allow your mind and spirit to yield to. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 

Christians, we need to take those negative thoughts captive as soon as they creep in and make them obedient to Christ! Every thought that goes against God's word, or that we know is not God's will for our lives, we need to take it captive and rebuke it in the name of Jesus! 

Remember: You don't have to be what you always were. Think about who you want to be, because that's who you should be! God bless you.

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14)

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