This Week With Jesus

  Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV): "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  This verse beautifully illustrates the daily renewal of God's grace and mercy, offering a fresh start each day to each of us.  Isaiah too gave similar counsel in chapter 43:18-19 (ESV): "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."   This encourages us to look forward to the new things God is doing and a daily spiritual renewal and revival for each one.  So, every day let us be happy for another day to live.  Today is a New Day so thank you for a chance for a new start. Yesterday's gone and with it are our failures, mistakes and regrets. Lets ask God to help us to start again. It's a good day to give thanks for this life. A new oppo...

"God has a time for everything, a perfect schedule. He is never too soon, never too late. The when of His will is as important as the what and the how." ~ Richard Halverson "A grateful heart is like a sponge that soaks up God's goodness." ~ Joel Osteen "God sees in you a masterpiece about to happen" ~ Max Lucado "God loves purity so well He had rather see a hole than a spot in His child's garments." ~ William Gurnall "Harboring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping your enemy will die." ~ Joyce Meyer "The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays." ~ Soren Kierkegaard "I don't want to play with marbles, when God told me to move mountains!" ~ Reinhard Bonnke "Religion says earn your life. Secular society says create your life. Jesus says, 'My life for your life." ~ Timothy Keller "In reading our newspapers today, we can se...

Despite the actions of Adam and Eve, and Eve's role in those events, God recognized the immense value and strategic importance of a woman as a wife. If Eve possessed the ability to influence Adam toward rebellion, she also had the potential to guide him toward faithfulness and obedience to God. In this light, the modern-day woman embodies a vital role—serving as God’s influencer within the family. A wife has the capacity to inspire spiritual growth and foster faithfulness and godliness in her husband and children. Her influence, however, extends far beyond the boundaries of her immediate family, reaching into society, the church, the workplace, and the broader community. Thus, today's Eve holds a very important position : that of being Gods influencer in the family. The Bible features numerous women who wielded significant influence, demonstrating strength, faith, and leadership. Here are a few notable examples: Miriam: She was a prophetess and played a crucial role in the earl...

There is this story of a man who was asked what he gained by praying so much to God. The man replied nothing. But I lost a lot. How so, he was asked, what did you lose? "I lost anger, greed, ego, insecurity and fear of death to start with". On reading this, maybe fictitious, story, one thinks - what did I gain or lose by praying and spending time with God? For starters we may gain a relationship with the Father. By having that we can be assured that all things, no matter how dismal they may look today, work together for our good. So that builds up faith. We also realize we are under His protection. That builds up a sense of security. We also realize that He is very real, because we see Him at work in our life. Therefore, He exists in a realm which is our destination and therefore death is not final. And till then, we are at peace with ourselves and our fellow men, which adds to happiness Finally, our deep peace comes from not being at loggerheads with God over who's will ...

  It is not our business to make the message acceptable, but to make it available. We are not to see that they like it, but that they get it. -  Vance Havner Let me remind you that this is God's universe, and He is doing things His way. You may think you have a better way, but you don't have a universe to rule. -  J. Vernon McGee "When we share Christ, the Truth behind our transformation, we are offering people an opportunity to be transformed." ~ David Jeremiah "When the Lord's white sheep become dirty gray, all black sheep feel more comfortable." ~ Vance Havner "If you see a Bible that is falling apart, it probably belongs to someone who isn't!" ~ Vance Havner "God often hides His blessing in trouble or trial, which makes it all the sweeter when it comes our way." ~ Aiden Wilson Tozer "The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now." ~ Rick Warren "God is not just s...

The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer.    R. A. Torrey Too many Christians live their Christian lives inside their heads; it never gets out through hands and feet and lips. - Vance Havner God gives us people to love and things to use, not things to love and people to use. - Max Lucado There is no sweeter manner of living in the world than continuous communion with God - Brother Lawrence Real true faith is man's weakness leaning on God's strength. - Dwight L. Moody The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.' - Billy Graham Creative words generate energy; negative words drain out energy. - Robert H. Schuller It is not the bee's touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates mo...

Matthew 17: Verses 1-9 About eight days after Jesus had made certain statements (likely referring to his impending suffering and death), he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.  As Jesus was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. The three of them were looking at God! One wonders how and when and if we too will see God or encounter God in our earthly life. Ms. Francis Taylor answers this question in a simple and beautiful way, and we reproduce it here: "When I asked myself that question (if I will see God), I came up with so many answers they were too long to list! However, I will name a few: looking into the faces of my newborn children and grandchildren, watching the waves break on a stormy day, standing in Denali, looking up at Mt. McKinley, a crocus peeking out of the snow, seeing the sunrise and/or sunset over the ocean, seeing the look of love in the eyes of a spouse or a ch...

In an earlier post about following Jesus, we talked about making idols in our lives, contrary to the 1st commandment. We think we don't, but we do. Rev Francis says - "Every time we put our needs before God, we set ourselves up as gods. Every time we choose pleasure, money, sports before God, we have created idols for ourselves." Is it any wonder that Jesus said that we need to forsake what the world gives us to be able to follow Him? He never said that we should not enjoy the good things we have - but let not those things become "Gods" and give them priority over that one true God. It could be something as simple as time. We can't serve Jesus because our job takes up too much time. It could be our family or a party or TV or sports. This does not mean we should not have or do these things. It simply means we must develop a habit to consciously give priority to Jesus over everything else, which comes second. Today, let's review our life, and without a bia...

Today, we cover a book named "Time to Rise and Shine" by Janice Riley, a dear friend, book publisher, and ordained minister. She and her husband Rob, a professional and short-term missionary, have visited India, Honduras and the Dominican Republic for revival meetings. Their mission trips included construction projects, prophetic training, community outreach and more. The book highlights the changing needs of Christianity in today's world and the need for a Christ-like response to people and situations. According to Janice, "this book is a heart’s cry to come and be transformed into the likeness of Christ, calling the Bride of Christ into her destiny, her identity. While The Church has been told what to do, given the top five ways to make it happen and a comfy seat to sit in while they watch the sage on the stage preach one more sermon, and enjoy one more musical performance by the worship team, religious tradition has assembled a mass of spectators to watch a specia...

          A whole Sermon can be compressed into a single quote   The true call of a Christian is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way - Dean Stanley. A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip - Billy Graham A man ought to live so that everybody knows he is a Christian... and most of all, his family ought to know . - Dwight L. Moody Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion - it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ - Billy Graham As a Christian, Christ died so that we will have eternal life in Him in Heaven. What it looks like doesn't matter, what it smells like doesn't matter, as long as Christ is there it will be Heaven to me - T . D. Jakes The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then only can i change - Carl Rogers. You have to look at what a person does with his life. Anyone can say that he's a Ch...