Tag: Food For Growth

⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ~ Isaiah 55:9

God is not limited by our limitations. He’s the God that spoke life into being. He’s the God that created the Heavens, the Earth, and everything in between. Even though He is God of the entire Universe, He takes the time to make a plan for our lives. He knows the beginning and the end. He guides us through life so that we can avoid pain and suffering.

Oftentimes, we feel like we know what’s best for ourselves. We allow our fleshly desires and feelings to control us. We look inwardly for guidance instead of looking upwardly to God. Sometimes His plan doesn’t always look safe. It doesn’t always look easy. Sometimes it even looks impossible, but if we trust in God, He won’t let us down.

If we allow God to guide us, we wouldn’t have so much pain and suffering in our lives and in the world. He wants what’s best for us. He doesn’t change. He was love, and He still is love. Our God has done great things, and He is still doing great things. He is doing great things in us and through us. If we follow Him and listen to His instruction, God will guide us into our promised land. We have to set aside our fleshly desires and feelings in order to follow the plan of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow His Ways.

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⁵⁸ Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. ~ Acts 7:58–60

Over here in the West, there isn’t much persecution against Christians. We have so much freedom, yet we lack so much love. When someone wrongs us, we want revenge. When we see someone doing wrong, we want to send them to Hell ourselves, but is that how we are to live our lives? Look at the men of the Bible; they didn’t call for instant judgment; they pleaded for mercy on behalf of the men who were persecuting them.

The men whom Stephen was witnessing to dragged him outside the city and began to pelt him with rocks. I’m sure he was trying to dodge a few, but they hit him in the stomach and in the head, and in his face when his hand would try to protect one part of his body, ten more rocks would hit him in another part of his body, until he was full of blood. Bleeding from the hits he received from the stones.

And what did he cry out? LORD save me? Or LORD, where are you? NO! He cried out, “LORD, do not hold this sin against them.” In other words, please forgive them; they know not what they do. He learned and understood from his Savior, Jesus Christ. Were his eyes on the temporal? NO! His eyes were on the eternal. This world held nothing here for him. He understood that there was something bigger than him and all of them at work. He understood what was in store for them if they didn’t repent. Stephen looked at his murderers with only love.

When we look at the world, do we look at them with love or with hate? Do we want God to show them mercy and soften their hearts, or do we want the wrath of God?

LORD God, help us to look at the world with love. Help us to pray for our enemies and bless those who curse us. Fill our hearts, oh LORD, with compassion. Help us to be the light in this dark world. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

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¹¹ Now on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ~ Luke 17:11-19^NIV

Jesus was in Galilee and was on His way to Jerusalem to actually die on the Cross. A huge crowd was following Him; after all, He fed them with five loaves of bread and two fish. He also healed their diseases and raised their dead. Now He was at the end of His earthly ministry and on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified for the sins of the world. But He comes to a problem. The Jews with Him do not pass through Samaria, so He travels along the border between Samaria and Galilee.

The people who lived in Samaria were Jewish people who intermarried with non-Jews and were considered half breeds. They hated each other to the point that Jews would rather walk around the border of Samaria than to take the shorter route through Samaria.

We have that seem divisions today in our culture. We have the black people not wanting to mix with the white people and the white not wanting to mix with the Spanish and Spanish only wanting to hang out with other Spanish people. But that is not the way God intended it to be. And as Christians, we are determined to break down those walls that separate the cultures.

There is a Latin term ‘Divide et impera.’ It means ‘Divide and Conquer,’ or ‘Divide and rule.’ It is a military tactic but just as effective when applied to a political strategy designed to keep the people separated and fighting amongst themselves while the ruling class gain more and more power. And that is what is happening right now. We are so busy at each other’s throats that the real plan is virtually going unnoticed. The majority of people spend the majority of their time sitting in front of the tv being indoctrinated by the same media companies that are keeping us divided. But if we would only put our differences aside and unite, we can say enough is enough. United we stand, divided we fall.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Unite.

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¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ~ John 4:17-20

I think it’s safe to say that this was an uncomfortable conversation. Not only did Jesus tell the woman of her past sins and that she was still living in sin, but Jesus even went as far as to tell her that she doesn’t even know who she is worshipping because she is not a Jew. Jesus didn’t avoid these kinds of hard conversations because He understood that people would die in their sin without hard conversations. He was prepared for any response that the woman could have responded with because He loved her. His love for her gave Him the patience He needed to have the hard conversations.

We need this kind of love today. Not every conversation we have will be easy. Some will be hard. Some will have people becoming angry. Some will have people becoming all kinds of emotional, but without these conversations, how can they be saved? Jesus was crucified because of what He said and did, but yet He cried out on their behalf. Stephen was stoned to death. Paul was kicked out of several towns, beaten several times, and left for dead. The disciples were crucified. So many have died and are willing to die for the Word of God, for Truth, but in a free country, we are afraid to offend or upset someone. We are afraid of uncomfortable conversations.

Why? I believe it’s the lack of love. We’d rather allow someone to stay in their sin, ignorance, or lack of faith because we don’t want to be uncomfortable. If we only understand a tenth of the punishment they would face, we would have any conversation necessary to save their soul from destruction. We would humble ourselves and look at them with love. We would have mercy and speak life to them. Look at how Jesus finished His hard conversation.

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

John 4:21-26

He ended it with hope. He didn’t just say you’re a sinner. He didn’t just say, well, you’re not even a Jew. No, He left the woman with hope. The hope of the Messiah who would break down all barriers. The hope that no matter the past, the Messiah is the future. Who is it that you’re avoiding your hard conversation with? Don’t avoid it any longer. Don’t wait any longer, for tomorrow is promised to no man. Give them a chance to repent and find Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Have Hard Conversations.

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²⁴ Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.” ~ John 20:24-25

Jesus not only represents the relationship between a husband and a wife but also between a parent and a child. Isaiah 9:6 and John 14:18 confirm that Christ is also our Everlasting Father. Now, Thomas looked like Jesus, followed Jesus, but had very little faith. He knew Jesus said He would be raised again, but Thomas didn’t have the faith to believe that it was true or even possible. Jesus didn’t get angry at Thomas; He didn’t get frustrated and condemn Thomas. When Thomas didn’t have the faith, Jesus showed Him the Truth so that He could have the faith. Jesus helped Him believe.

²⁶ Eight days later, His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered Him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ~ John 20:26-29

This is the patience and love we have to show our children, especially as parents. We can’t become angry or frustrated when our children lack faith; we have to look at them with love and empathy that we may be able to help them in their unbelief. We have to follow Jesus’ footsteps by spending time in prayer and studying the Word of God so that we might be able to guide our children through Scripture into a deeper and stronger faith.

¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. ~ Romans 10:17

You only have a short time to influence your children’s lives before they start to become influenced by the world. Don’t let the world negatively influence your children, take the time to lovingly guide them. Show them that they can come to you about anything. Show them that they can trust you with anything. Show them that no matter how they come to you, you will be there for them to guide them back into the Light. Start this from a young age so that when they are grown, and they need someone to lean on, they can lean on you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Guide Your Children With Love and Patience.

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¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹for if you practice these qualities, [or in other words, if you do these things], you will never fall. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Peter 1:10-11

Peter admonishes us to be diligent in making sure our names are on the guestlist, but the question that begs to be answered is, how? Well, in the first couple of verses, Peter says that through Jesus’ divine power, He has given us everything we need for Godly living. Nothing is lacking. We can’t say, well, we didn’t know, or we didn’t have the right tools. Everything we need has been made available to us so that we are without excuse.

Not only are we given everything we need from Jesus to live a Godly life, but Peter also instructs us about the supplements or the additions to our faith that we should all do. He said, “for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith.” What are the supplements?

• • This word faith means a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith
  • To faith, we add virtue. Virtue simply means moral excellence, mastery over immorality. We are no longer to be led astray by sin and temptation, immorality, and debauchery. We are to live a wholesome and holy life
  • And to virtue, we add knowledge. This means to have a strong grasp or an intelligent comprehension of the knowledge of who Jesus is

The LORD God wants us to know Him, and He wants us to be just like Him, practicing the same things He practices:

• • Steadfast love
  • Justice
  • Righteousness

He is the only one who is good. We are filled with sin that defiles us, but through Jesus Christ, we are able to be cleansed from all unrighteousness because He took our punishment for us. If we repent and turn to Christ, He will make us a new creation in Him.

Dear LORD, soften our hearts towards You. Fill us with a fire that can never be put out, that we may never be lukewarm. Give us a desire for the things that please You. Give us a desire to seek You and love You with all of our heart. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. ~ Acts 17:11

Christians tend to be closed-minded, but not by worldly standards of closed-minded, but biblical standards. We take what has been taught to us as being right, and we never go looking to see if it’s right or not. We never question it. Why? Could it be that we are taught not to question anything from childhood, just accept what is taught as absolute fact? When children ask us why, we quickly shut it down and don’t give them an answer other than, “because that’s the way it is.” Why do we do this? Why do we limit ourselves and our children from knowledge?

The writer of Acts spoke about the Bereans. The writer called them more noble than the Jews in Thessalonica because they searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was preaching was true. How many of us can say we daily search the scriptures to make sure that what we have been taught all of our lives is true? Very few of us, if any of us. We mostly, as a whole, turn a blind eye when it comes to tradition. We turn our eyes and refuse to question what we believe has been set in stone. But what good does that do us? Who does that help?

It limits us. It can keep us from getting close to God. And in many cases, it can even lead us to an eternity without God. Wouldn’t it be better if we all searched the scriptures daily? But why do we have to do it daily? Why do you have to breathe every second? Because without reading the scriptures, it’s like you stop breathing, and now your spirit isn’t getting any oxygen. And soon enough, your spirit will give out and will die because you refuse to give it oxygen to breathe.

See, we’ve gotten to the place where we no longer read our bibles daily. We no longer search for the truth. And we as a Church has become very weak. We have allowed sin into our temples and blasphemies on our pulpit. We have looked the other way and have become closed-minded. We are supposed to be doing greater things than even Jesus did, but we can’t even read and search the scriptures once a day. We have our priorities all wrong. So many of us are blinded by tradition that we don’t even know who we are fighting. We are completely defenseless, and we don’t even know it. Remember that a blind man cannot lead another blind man to safety.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Search Daily.

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⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. ~ Genesis 3:6-7

For the majority of my life, I thought Adam was way across the garden and didn’t see any of this taking place. Turns out Adam was right next to Eve. He saw his wife about to sin, saw her sin, and then partook in sinning with her. He didn’t stop her, he joined her, and because of that, he allowed all sin to enter the world.

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Romans 5:12

Now see if Adam had just spoken up, neither one would have sinned. If you see your brother falling, slipping, messing up, you need to say something, not just for their sake, but for yours as well. See, Adam didn’t say anything, and he then sinned as well.

This is the same with us today; imagine if we corrected, with love, those who sinned. Imagine if we stopped being politically correct and started calling sin sin. Imagine how many lives we could save. Correction isn’t an easy thing to do; it can be uncomfortable, especially in today’s society. But correction is the only way that we can grow as a Church, people and get closer to perfection.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Correct Your Eve.

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¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?” ¹⁵ Moses replied, “Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. ¹⁶ When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.” ¹⁷ “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. ¹⁸ “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. ~ Exodus 18:14-18^NLT

God created you for a specific purpose. You don’t have to take everything on by yourself. God didn’t create you to do everything. He has created many people to do many different things. Look at how Paul puts it,

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

2 Corinthians 12:14-20

We each have a specific purpose of fulfilling in our lives. If we try to take on too much, then we aren’t just taking away a job from someone else, but we can’t take on more than we can handle. We can’t take on everything; that’s why we are one part that makes a greater body.

Sometimes it’s hard to ask for help, but not even God does everything alone. He never acts on earth without the help of us. He doesn’t need our help, but He makes us a part of His plan. We have to learn to ask for help. We have to grow as one single body together.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Part of The Body.

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