Some scriptures I have been thinking on

 Some scriptures I have been thinking on

 

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

 

Galatians 5: 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

 

1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

Did you know that these blessings are yours to walk in?

 Did you know that these blessings are yours to walk in?

Deut. 28:313 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

“Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

“The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

“The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them

Sadly many don’t so they don’t have faith for them and so let ignorance feed their unbelief. 

If we look at our lives and see that they are not blessed lives it ain’t God’s fault. It isn’t that He isn’t blessing, we are just not receiving.

Words have power.

 Words have power. 

YOUR words have power.  

One of the better-known scriptures concerning the power of words is Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Probably from your own life you have experienced this.  How someone spoke something over you when you were young that, positively or negatively, influenced the rest of your life. 

The question is now what words are you speaking over your life and the life of those around you?  Are you speaking life to things that need to become alive and are you speaking death to those things that need to die?  

The Vine and the Branches. John 15:5

Faith and Mustard Seed

 Faith and Mustard Seed

 

Sadly, one of the issues with some “Modern translations” of the Bible is that they get some things wrong and because people sometimes don’t use logic there can be confusion.  For instance, Matthew 17:20.

In the NIV this verse says He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

 

Now let us look at this logically.  The verse says because you have so little faith but then says if you have faith as small as a mustard seed nothing will be impossible.  This makes no sense especially seeing how mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds.  Also, you will never find Jesus complimenting someone’s little faith, actually every mention of Jesus speaking of little faith it is a gentle rebuke.

 

Now let us look at a more reliable translation. 

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  NKJV

 

Now this makes more sense, doesn’t it?  For further explanation of why the second version is a more accurate translation we need to exam it in the context of the rest of scripture.  Let us go back and look at what Jesus has said about the mustard seed earlier.  

 

Matthew 13:31-32

³¹ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, ³² which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

 

In these 2 verses we see a couple of key points.  Mustard seed, though it is the least of all seeds, when it is planted grows into something that is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree large enough for birds to make nests in.  

 

So, when we put Matthew 17:20 into proper context of Matthew 13:31-32 we can see that faith may start small but is never meant to stay small.  It is meant to be planted into God and when we plant that faith in Him it GROWS and becomes great. Great enough to move mountains and where nothing is impossible for us.  

 

If our faith is still the size of a mustard seed THERE IS A PROBLEM.  As a farmer if I planted seed and it didn’t grow there were only two reasons.  Either the seed was bad or it was planted in the wrong place.  As a believer the problem isn’t the seed so it must be where it was planted.  

Love in Deed

Love in Deed

Have you ever had someone say that they loved you but you didn’t believe them or feel like it was the truth?  Have know that you were loved by someone who never said I love you but you knew that they did? What is the difference? 

Think about this. How do you know that God loves you or anyone? Was it simply because He said I love you, I love everyone OR did He demonstrate His love through action? 

As a Christian should we not love as God does?  Should we not use the same method that He does?  

Look at what God’s Word says about how He expresses loves.  

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In both of these verses we see that the Love of God is not just a simple phrase. Words are cheap and insincere without corresponding actions.  Love is not emotion, it is action that comes from a choice to love.  God hates sin and yet while we were in sin He sent Christ to pay the price for our sins by His dying in our place, taking our wrath and punishment upon Himself.  

I have lost track of how many times strangers have teared up when I have prayed for them.  Trust me it wasn’t the eloquence of my words, it was the fact that I showed genuine care for them.  Folks there is a world that is separated from the Father which means that they are separated from true love.  There is not love apart from God for God is love.  Everything else that we call love is just a cheap imitation, lust, maybe affection at best but usually selfish and self centered.  God love is none of that.  It is the real deal and when you truly experience it you can’t help but be changed.  

So let us follow the instruction of 1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

If we do this we will change the world.