Showing posts with label relationship with Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relationship with Jesus Christ. Show all posts

Tuesday, 9 August 2016

May we be “ready” when Jesus returns

 
Do Jesus' words come alive in our minds daily with real, committed belief?

Actions show what people really believe!

All around us are those whose actions show they do not give a moment’s thought to there being a God, who had a Son, who invites them to follow him. We ourselves prove by our words and actions in doing “the will of God” whether we really believe – and, as a result, have a wondrous relationship as a brother or sister of Jesus – this being a day after day experience.

As a result, may we be “ready” when Jesus returns.

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Wednesday, 6 July 2016

Focussing on the man Jesus and the relationship with God

Having now three different websites focussing on the man Jesus and his relationship with God we only can hope more people shall come to listen to the very challenging things Jesus said.

Hopefully those Christians who take Jesus as their god will consider those words Jesus spoke like
“on that day” (Matthew 7:22),
i.e., the day of judgement. Jesus speaks of those who will come before him, but to some of them he will say,
 “Depart from me; I never knew you” (verse 23).
 These will be among the
 “many (who) will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name … and do many mighty works in your name?” 
In Christendom we can see many  who try to build mega churches and attract lots of people by laying of hands and claiming to do miracles in the name of God, though “works” does not necessarily mean, perform miracles, and his reference to those who prophecy, we should not think of him as meaning those who have some gift to foretell the future.

It is God Who calls people, but it is the way how they react to God's call which shall be important. We also should be aware that when people hear about Jesus and his heavenly Father they shall come to make decisions. How and why they take them shall be important for God and on the final day of judgement.


Those who Jesus tells to depart are described as “workers of lawlessness”, the ones who are “outside” excluded from a place in God’s “city” because their names were not found in “the book of life” (20:12). them who did things which are not acceptable for God, perhaps wanting to keep to human traditions, participating to heathen rituals and preferring to be popular, i.e. being of this world, instead of becoming a child of God belonging to the world of Christ.

You may wonder when a person does not want to accept the words Jesus speaks, like saying the Father is greater than him, how they sincerely can be called a follower of Christ when they keep holding fast to human traditions and human doctrines like the trinity, worshipping a three-headed god instead worshipping the Only One True God.

How can they who consider Jesus to be God build up a proper relationship with Jesus, when they keep ignoring that Jesus did not do his own will and demands from us to do the same, coming in unity with his heavenly Father like Jesus is one with God


We must make sure we have developed a really strong and committed relationship to and with Christ – only then will we be able to “conquer” our human nature and become more and more like our Saviour. Let us remember what we read last week in Revelation 21:7
 “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son” – then “on that day” he will declare “I … knew you”.

Friday, 21 May 2010

Partakers of His Suffering

Partakers of His Suffering

        . . . but rejoice         to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . 
       — 1 Peter 4:13       


If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, "Oh, I can’t deal with that person." Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered "according to the will of God" ( 1 Peter 4:19 ), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the "long road home."

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not  knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— "God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!"

 - Oswald Chambers


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