“God treated Jesus as if He had lived my life, that I may be treated as if I had lived His life.” Harvey Stalker
From Alan Kearns’ Devotional Treasure
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6
RealChristianWomen.blog
“He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” Psalm 91:4 NIV
“A mother bird spreads her wings over her fledglings to protect them from storm and predator. She will allow herself to be wounded to protect them.” (Jeremiah Study Bible notes)
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6
RealChristianWomen.blog
Those bad Pharisees! I can’t believe how stubborn they were! I’m glad I’m not like one of them!
We tend to see the faults in others before we see our own. Isn’t that true? I’m pretty sure that’s called pride. So as we examine what the Bible says about worship, let us look inward, at our own hearts.
Jesus talked about two kinds of worshippers – “true worshipers” and those who “worship me in vain.” Do we really understand the difference? Let Jesus explain.
To the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus said,
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23-24 NIV
But when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, He said,
“You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;” Matthew 15:6-9
The Greek word translated “worship” in the first passage is proskuneo. It means to prostrate oneself in worship, to reverence, to adore. To lie prostrate implies total surrender.
The Pharisees put on a show of reverence but were not totally surrendered to God. Interestingly, Jesus did not use the same word for worship in Matthew 15:9. He used the word sebomai, which means to revere. There is a big difference. The Pharisees honored God, but they were not surrendered to His will. Their hearts were somewhere else.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1 NIV
Let us examine our hearts. What kind of worshipper am I? Is my worship pleasing to God? Am I surrendered to His will? Or, do I worship Him in vain? Do I give Him reverence, but cling stubbornly to my own will? Do I worry more about how I appear on the outside, or the condition of my heart?
Am I totally surrendered to Jesus?
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Pray for Israel!
Photo: Woodlands Worship
RealChristianWomen.blog
Music is not the origin of worship, but it can be the expression of it. Do not look to music to induce your worship; look to music as simply an expression of that which is induced by a heart that is rapt by the mercies of God, obedient to His commands.” GotQuestions.Org
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1 NIV (emphasis mine)
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Pray for Israel!
RealChristianWomen.blog
Jesus said, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45 NIV
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Pray for Israel!
RealChristianWomen.blog
“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Pray for Israel!
RealChristianWomen.blog
Statistics show that children today spend an average of 30 hours per week in school where they are often taught ideas that are diametrically opposed to biblical truths, e.g., evolution, the acceptance of homosexuality, transgender ideology, etc. Then they come home to another 30 hours per week spent in front of a television bombarded by commercials and sitcoms or social media that portray homosexuality and abortion as normal and acceptable.
This is in contrast to the short time spent weekly in church. Not only that, our teens face a much different world than we did, and the propaganda to influence their beliefs is great.
I have often wondered why so many Christian teens drift away from God when they go away to college. Many research studies confirm that this is true and provide insights into why. But God’s Word is even more insightful.
#1 “Train a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6 NIV 84
Training children is the responsibility of the parents, not the youth leader, pastor, or Sunday School teacher.
One study found that when both parents were faithful and active in the church, 93 percent of their children remained faithful. But when neither parent was active at all and only attended church now and then, the percentage dropped to a mere 6 percent.
#2 In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus said, “Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.” Luke 8:6
Jesus explained it like this,
“Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.” Luke 8:13 (emphasis mine)
The problem: no roots! So how do we ensure that our children are rooted in God’s Word? We must instill in them the importance of God’s Word. We do this most effectively by our example. Once they leave home, they WILL be tested. Will they be prepared?
“Blessed is the one …
whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV
#3 “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7
I found nothing in God’s Word that commands us to entertain them and make church fun. And even though church attendance is important, it is not the youth leader’s responsibility to prepare your child to go out into the world. It is yours.
#4 Pray for your children.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 NIV
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6
RealChristianWomen.blog
“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 (NASB)
“This verse affirms that God Himself works within us to fulfill His purposes. Our ability to perform works that please God is not a matter of our own strength or wisdom; it is God who enables and directs our efforts in accordance with His will.” Bruce Cooper
Read more in the article Circumventing God’s Will.
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Pray for Israel
RealChristianWomen.blog
“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 NASB
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Pray for Israel
RealChristianWomen.blog
“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” 2 Corinthians 3:5 NASB (emphasis mine)
In His Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?
Pray for Israel
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Real Christian Women 