“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 NIV
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 NIV
“The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” ― George Muller
“George Mueller was a Christian evangelist and director of the Orphanage at Ashley Downs in Bristol, England during the 1800s. He is best remembered for his complete trust in God’s provision, never soliciting the community for financial donations nor accepting any government support. With this unique dependence on unsolicited gifts, his institution is estimated to have received and disbursed over £113 million in today’s money by the time of Mueller’s death.” CompellingTruth.org
Note: That would be over $151,453,900!
In His Love, Cindy
“God treated Jesus as if He had lived my life, that I may be treated as if I had lived His life.” Harvey Stalker
How do we show Jesus that we love Him? He told His disciples,
“If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15 NIV
“Such love is not a matter of mere emotions, though emotion is not ruled out. Rather, true love is expressed in obedience. As Jesus loved the Father and obeyed him, so those who loved Jesus would in turn obey him.” Asbury Bible Commentary
Someone said, “Well, we all sin every day,” suggesting it would be impossible to obey Him fully. But isn’t that just an attempt to let ourselves off the hook?
If we truly love Jesus, we will obey His teaching because we trust Him. We will study our Bibles and seek to please Him. I’m not talking about being legalistic; I’m talking about desiring to follow Him, obey Him, and walk with Him each day.
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 NIV (emphasis mine)
In His Love, Cindy
“God treated Jesus as if He had lived my life, that I may be treated as if I had lived His life.” Harvey Stalker
God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. 8 He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don’t burst with the weight. 9 He covers the face of the moon, shrouding it with his clouds. 10 He created the horizon when he separated the waters; he set the boundary between day and night. 11 The foundations of heaven tremble; they shudder at his rebuke. 12 By his power the sea grew calm. By his skill he crushed the great sea monster. 13 His Spirit made the heavens beautiful, and his power pierced the gliding serpent. 14 These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?” Job 26:7-14 NLT (emphasis mine)
In His Love, Cindy
“God treated Jesus as if He had lived my life, that I may be treated as if I had lived His life.” Harvey Stalker
I have been reading in my Bible about the kings and prophets of Israel. Much of it is prophecy, and I have found it fascinating because it explains a lot about our times. And there are many lessons for the Church in these pages, too. I am referring to all the books of the prophets, plus 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles.
As I finish up this important study, I wonder why so many pastors ignore Bible prophecy. How is it even possible?
“Out of the 216 chapters found in the entire New Testament, did you know there are 318 references to the Second Coming of Christ? That means if you were to omit passages about prophecy, you would have to remove one out of every thirty verses in the New Testament. You would also have to skip 23 of the 27 New Testament books because that’s how many mention it. For every prophecy about the birth of Christ, there are eight about His Second Coming. Considering prophecy’s prominence in the Bible, how could any believer call it unimportant?”
Dr. David Jeremiah
And that’s just in the New Testament! Bible Scholars estimate that 27% to 28% of the Old Testament is prophecy. That’s a lot of the Bible to ignore! So I did some research to find out why.
One Christian author, Steve Lampman, suggests that fear is to blame (And we know where fear comes from: SATAN). Steve says,
“Fear of showing their lack of knowledge on the subject. Fear pastors may have of offending or scaring church members. Maybe the fear that people will stop coming and stop giving to support the church. Or maybe it’s the fear of them looking like a fringe group who take things to an extreme when other churches pulpits are silent on the subject. … There are many pastors who remain silent on Bible prophecy because they don’t understand and were never taught it in seminary. ”
Steve Miller also attributes fear as the reason prophecy is not being taught in the church:
A fear of generating Controversy and Division
A fear of being viewed as sensational
A fear of the Complicated and Unknown
Before I began this research, I didn’t expect to find that fear would be the culprit behind this neglect. But it seems to be so.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13 NASB
“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion [apostasy] occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–4, NIV 1984).
My Musings – What was true then is still true today. The great apostasy or falling away from the truth of God’s Word must occur first. The world has nothing to fall away from, so this must refer to a great part of the Church.
A time when the truth does not move or convict as it once did. An outright rejection of some or all of the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures that were once accepted by faith. Claiming that what may have been true in the past is no longer so. Or perhaps, asserting that it really doesn’t mean what was believed for all these centuries. Are we really so much more enlightened than those who came before with our doubting, distorting, disputing, and denying?
“I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17–18, NIV).
“Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me.’” (Matthew 26:31, NIV).
My Advice –These are the words Jesus spoke to the eleven on the night He was betrayed. And they all did, for a time. Today, are we on the edge of “this very night” that Paul spoke about? As we see many denominations and congregations crumbling before our eyes, bowing to the pressure to conform to the culture rather than calling for the culture to be transformed, we must ask ourselves, “Where do we stand?” As the day gives way to night, we must
“choose for [ourselves] this day whom [we] will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14–15, NIV 1984).
Stand firm, or fall away. The time is fast approaching when the world will demand that you choose. But more than they, so will the Master.
If you want to know the Bible, you have to read the Bible, all of it, not just your favorite parts. If you don’t know the Bible well, you are vulnerable to deception. And that is exactly why so many Christians are deceived by false teaching.
The Bible consists of 66 books: The Old Testament (39 books) and the New Testament (27 books). If we are to understand the whole counsel of God’s Word, we must read and study all of it.
Every book of the Bible contributes to our knowledge of God. The Old Testament contains well over 400 verses and allusions that point to the coming Messiah.
You can read the whole Bible in one year by reading for about 15 minutes per day. This is not difficult to do! I highly recommend it! I have been doing this since 2019, when my pastor shared a one-year Bible reading plan. It changed my life!
It seems like most Christians would rather read a book by a well-known minister rather than read their Bible, but remember this: Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth. You will be surprised by how much you will learn!
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV (emphasis mine)
In Psalm 119, King David wrote:
“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” vv15-16 (emphasis mine)
“Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.” v 24
“Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations” vv89-90
“If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.” v92
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” v105
“You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.” v114
“Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.” v165
“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” Psalm 25:9 NIV
“As we journey every day, requiring His grace afresh every morning, may we remember that He guides us every step of the way in what is right. It is not our intellect that directs and sustains us on the right path, but it is God who does that. Christ is the one who is our wisdom (1 Cor 1:30) and gives us discernment (Phil 1:9).
And as he guides, our posture has to be one of humility, acknowledging that we completely rely on Him in every way, for His word says that he guides the humble.” Manu, from her post, Rest Your Gaze on God
“God desires that His children not only receive His grace but understand why it is precious. Through the Son, believers learn to value mercy because they see what it cost…In Christ’s submission to the Father’s will, the depth of divine mercy is revealed. The Father’s justice and compassion meet perfectly in the cross. In that sacred union, the believer learns both the seriousness of sin and the magnitude of grace.”
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” Matthew 18:6-7 NIV
As we reflect on these words of Jesus, let us consider the spiritual needs of our children and ask the Lord to give us wisdom and discernment so that we can protect them and teach them what is right.
Once there was a very popular preacher. So many people crowded into his church services that the church had to be enlarged. He frequently preached at other churches, as popular preachers often do.
The preacher wrote beautiful Christian songs that were popular with churchgoers. Soon, he began a series of weekly prayer meetings in addition to regular services.
What made this preacher so special? I believe it was his life journey.
All the experiences in our past have shaped us into the person we are today. This preacher, at one time, was a vile sinner, cruel and having a hardened heart; a man without compassion or mercy.
Is it possible for such a person to have a complete turnaround? Can a hardened sinner become a saint? Can a depraved evildoer become a man (or woman) of God?
Ask the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, anointing them with costly perfume. When an indignant Pharisee questioned Jesus about allowing this sinful woman (probably a prostitute) to touch him, Jesus said this:
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”Luke 7:47 NIV
Have you guessed the preacher’s identity yet? You won’t find him on YouTube or TV. He was born in 1725.
Before he gave his life to Christ, he was the captain of slave ships. I can only imagine the horror of such ships. Still, it is well documented that slave ships provided such wretched accommodations that many men, women, and children died before arriving at their intended destination. In the words of a former slave, Olaudah Equiano, “The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying rendered the whole scene of horror almost inconceivable.”
Who was this forgiven reprobate turned preacher-songwriter?
His name is John Newton, and he wrote these famous words: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.”
This celebrated hymn touches my soul because I know that what God’s grace and mercy did for John Newton, He did for me.
As you listen to Amazing Grace, thank God for his mercy and forgiveness. The more we have been forgiven, the more we love Him. That’s what Jesus said.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18 KJV
“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Titus 3:5 NIV
Real Christian Women 