Getting Well

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?
John 5:6

Before the paralyzed Man by the pool of Bethesda was healed, he had to come face-to-face with a question that, on the surface, seems bizarre. " Do you want to get well? Jesus asked him. "Do I want to get well?" The man might have exclaimed. "What kind of question is that? Of course I want to get well?
   That's not what he said. Instead  he began to explain why being well was outside the realm of possibility for him. Somewhere along the way his dream of ever walking again had died. Jesus , however is in the business of resurrecting things that have died. With loving compassion. He simply said to the man, " Get up." Inherent in His word was both the motivation and the ability for the man to finally do what his heart had yearned to do for years to walk.
   What has died in you? What debilitates you in your grace walk? You can be well . God's will is most definitely for you to know and believe thus fact it's your turn! Jesus is speaking to you right now. Deep inside you something his stirring. It is a hope that all this might be true. Well it is sometimes reasoning misses us that the author of life we are talking to. Now faith is!

A Real Disciple

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:35

There are many aspects of our faith the people believe are primary. Some think that correct doctrine is most important. Others believed that worship is the foundation of our lifestyle. Some would argued that evangelism is the key to being a disciples of Jesus. Take a poll and there will be a multitude of opinions.
  Jesus narrowly it all down to the one thing that identifies His disciples. He said that love is the main thing. We might know sound doctrine and even be able to teach it, but if people don't see us as loving, what good is our knowledge? We can follow a biblical pattern of worship that angel would admire, but if people don't know we love them, what good is it? We can proclaimed the gospel to everybody any place, town, but if they don't sense love, what results can we expect?
  Love is everything, God is love, and if we aren't expressing love to everybody we meet, we aren't expressing Him to them. Apart from love, anything we do is nothing more than dead, religious activity.
  Look around today and find somebody you can truly show the love of God. When you do that, you're  behaving like a real disciples.

God is for you

I know that God is for me.
Psalm 56:9

Have you ever found yourself in a place where it seems like life is against you? Sometimes it seems like nothing works in our favor. In those moments, we may be tempted to wonder where God is in all that's going on.
  The answer is simple. He is with you. Not only is  He with you, but God is for you. This is a fact you need to settle in your mind once and for all time. Unless you have established firmly in your heart and mind that this is for you, you will be an easy target for attack every time things seems to go wrong.
   When we can't see the hand of God at work in our circumstances, then we have the opportunity to exercise our faith. There is no rooms for faith when there is no room for doubts. So the fact that the situation seems to suggest  your Father isn't involved  makes it a perfect time for declaring in faith and faith alone, "This I know, that God is for me!"

Heavenly Source

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1 Corinthians 2:30

You will be completely free to rest in your grace walk when you understand that it isn't up to you to become a better person by trying hard to do the right things. It is by your Father in Heaven that your in Christ Jesus. Jesus has become your wisdom, righteousness, Sanctification, and redemption. Your only role is to believe in that reality and rest in Him, refusing to struggle to improve yourself.
  This doesn't mean your life is passive. Rather, your lifestyle is one in which you accepted the fact that Jesus has done for you all the things you couldn't do in a lifetime of religious commitment and effort. Learn to focus on what He has done and thank Him for His finished work. To the extend that you rest in the reality of what He the extend that you rest in the reality of what He has already done in you, your experience will increasingly conform to that reality, and you will see your lifestyle be transformed. However, the change won't come by self-effort. It will be by the operation of His grace within you.

Getting to know All of God

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grape how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpassed knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:17-19

When I think of God  the Father's special gift to us, I think of His plan of Salvation. The Father was the one who came up with the idea. That's why I often spend time my devotion and worshiping Him in Reverend and respect.
  Other times in my prayers, I thank about God the Son and His special gift to us of grace. Jesus is the one who follow through on the Father's plan of Salvation. And my response? Gratitude that He's my Savior And obedience to Him as Lord.
When I dwell on the Holy Spirit And His gift of strength and encouragement of heart, I remember that He's the one who gives us assurance and joy. That's why I take care not to grieve, quench, or opposed Him.
  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I am filled to the measure of all the fullness of God as I commune with each member of the Trinity. It's glorious way to experience a full communion with the Lord and thereby discover how wide, long, high, and deep is the love of Christ.

The Real Truth

"What is truth Pilate asked with this he went out again to the Jews and said, " I find no basis for a charge against Him.
John 18:38

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ this question as the latter was being tried on charge of sedition. Pontius Pilate then was procurator, a governor in the land of Israel. During his reign, truth had been irrelevant in his political  conquest. Bribery and graft and corruption, linked with murder and violence, had been his tools in maintaining Roman supremacy.
  One can readily understand his quest a for truth been in his grasp, he would have possessed that which men have been seeking since the dawn of humanity. This words, "What is truth?" Found neither their beginning nor ending with Pilate several hundred years before Pilate, there were the Greek philosophers who spent their lives seeking truth, and today, centuries later many will seek truth. We have made tremendous strides down the corridor of knowledge, but the search for truth continues.
   A major news magazine describes "synthetic thinking"/as one of the 21st" century most powerful ideas, but anything synthetic is  substitute for the real thing. There is no such thing as "synthetic truth"! Believing something to be true, when in reality it is false, is synthetic.
  This answer to " What is truth" finds its perfect expression in Christ, Jesus said, I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the life. No one  comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6). As you  begin to fathom the mind of Christ, you will begin to understand what Jesus meant. He also said, "You shall know the truth [ that is Christ] and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

The Compliment Ad Machine

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT

They call it a Compliment Machine, something that is not available at your local electronic store. It was the brain child of 46- year old artist Tom Greaves and was displayed in an outdoor art exhibit put together by a grouped artists. The Compliment Machine consists of 100 compliments pre-recorded on an iPod Nano  powered by a car battery. And what kind of compliment does the machine produced?. It say positive statement such as, "You are awesome!" Or "You are a great driver." Another is "You have a nice voice." A joggers who came by sweaty  and smelling like a gym locker got one that went, "You smell good!.
How was the project viewed by local merchants? They  liked it. It generated more traffic in the area and customers seemed to enjoyed it People began passing by simply to hear what compliment the machine would say about them. The artist whose idea resulted in this machine said, " The , human  need for assurance and reassurance and be affirmed, to feel worthwhile to yourself and to others. It's one the basic emotional  needs that we as human have  one that is soften  neglected." When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he instructed, "Encouraged one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing" (1 Thessalonians 5:11). The word that Paul used is the same word that would be used of someone who build a house  brick by brick and timber by timber. Insincere, meaningless flattery stings, and few are gullible enough  to believe it. But a compliment that affirmed and encourages can spell the difference between someone trying again or simply giving up, weight down by feelings of inadequacy; why not practice  affirming others be tasting today