This Week With Jesus

  Recently we have seen a spate in discussions around the subject of Christians actively trying to convince others to follow Christ. This is said to be as per His command in Matthew 16:15. Francis Taylor has a very relevant view on this and has this to say - "If we ever needed a reminder of how important it is to practice what we preach, this is it. Not only are we encouraged to help others, but we are also warned about giving bad example or leading others, particularly children, away from the Lord." "I have spoken to many people who say that they became a Christian because of the example of people in their family, friends or strangers whose joy is so great they want a part of it. I also know people who have turned away from the faith they once had because they consider those who proclaim themselves to be Christian are hypocrites. Most people don't start out wanting to be Christians because of doctrine. They are influenced one way or another by people. Are you someon...

Reference: 2 Timothy 2 14-26 Our world revolves around two things - assets and liabilities. We define and classify people around us with these two scales. That is of course in the material world. In the Christian world, a similar question arises: are we an asset to Christ? Firstly, let us understand that we are NOT a liability. We, each one of us are valuable to God. Not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of what we have cost . Second, just because we are not a liability does not mean we are an asset. An asset is something or someone who is useful to the world, people around us and to society at large. As assets we become agents of change for the better. Last, and following from the above, as assets we become agents of change for God. His word tells us what we need to do, how we must behave and act. How we need to build a relationship with Him as well as the people around us. That we, become a lighthouse for Him, guiding others to Him. If our light starts to dim, w...

Did you know there was a 4th Wise man who didn't make it?  Long ago in the late 1800s a man named Eric Van Dyke wrote a short story about a "fourth" wise man (accepting the tradition that the Magi numbered three), a priest of the Magi named Artaban, one of the Medes from Persia. Like the other Magi, he sees signs in the heavens proclaiming that a King has been born among the Jews. Like them, he sets out to see the newborn ruler, carrying treasures to give as gifts to the child - a sapphire, a ruby, and a "pearl of great price". However, he stops along the way to help a dying man, which makes him late to meet with the caravan of the other three wise men. Because he missed the caravan, and he can't cross the desert with only a horse, he is forced to sell one of his treasures in order to buy the camels and supplies necessary for the trip. He then commences his journey but arrives in Bethlehem too late to see the child, whose parents have fled to Egypt. He saves...

          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...

  In our world of immediate gratification, success is measured by grandiose achievements. Yet, God delights in small, everyday acts and things, as He does in those grandiose achievements. For Him, it's the heart of the matter, not the outcome. So today we pray - Heavenly Father, help us to see the value and significance of the small tasks we do every day. May we find joy in the ordinary and the mundane, knowing that you are present in every moment. Give us the strength to be faithful in small things trusting that you can use them in your Glory. We thank you for the recovery of your servant in Australia and those who were sick and needed your intervention. Today DeeSki asks for Gods help and says - "Please god do not let her give up on me and this relationship. I am completely lost knowing I could losing her and my children. I’m asking for all of the prayers I can get and for somehow someway god to help me keep this relationship and family together." David thanks God for ...

On thinking about the subject line one decided to research it and came across a beautiful and meaningful post about this. We could not help but share it with you, our readers.   Withholding from God By Erika in Symphony of Praise “You did what?” My mouth dropped open as my husband told the story. I couldn’t believe it. “God told you to sacrifice our son? Abraham, what is wrong with you? Where is Isaac? Where is my son?” Abraham calmly replied, “He is outside with the servants tending to the animals. He is fine Sarah”. “Okay, let me get this straight! You bound my son to an altar. You treated him like an animal. You lifted a knife to kill him, and you say everything is fine?” “Sarah, what would you have me do? Disobey God? God told me to take our son . . . our Isaac . . . our baby . . . our heir . . . our life. Isaac was to be sacrificed as a burnt offering to God. I didn’t question. If God gave him to us, God can take him from us. Our son was God’s before he was ours.” I saw ...

                       1. “If you sell your soul to the Devil, you will spend the rest of eternity trying to buy it back.” – Matshona Dhliwayo 2. “If Noah waited for signs of rain to build an ark, he would have been swept away by the flood.” – Matshona Dhliwayo 3. “Before you look for dirt in people, look for treasure.” – Matshoa Dhliwayo 4.  "Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God's viewpoint." – Charles Stanley 5. "Do not judge others, we do not know the battles they face. Love and be kind, for it costs nothing.” – Henrietta Newton Martin 6. “One of the enemy's sneaky attacks against the joy of our salvation is to put us in the spiral of self-condemnation. ” – Linda Evans Shepherd 7. “If you want to know your worth, look at the old rugged Cross.” – Gift Gugu Mona 8. “The fact that I'm a biker doesn't make me a different kinda Christian, but the fact that I'm a Christian makes me a different kinda biker.” – ...

“He that watereth, shall be watered also himself” Proverbs 11:25 "I read this touching true story of a boy selling from door to door to pay for his school. One day he found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal, he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry and brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly and then asked, how much do I owe you?” You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “mother has taught us never to accept pay for kindness.” He said … “then I thank you from my heart.” As he left the house, he felt physically stronger, and his faith in God and man was strong. He had been ready to give up and quit. Many years later, that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease....

                                                  Life is lived on trust. When we consult a doctor or an architect for example, we trust that the outcome of their work will be good for us. When we board an aircraft, we trust the pilot and the technology to reach our destination. When we eat our food, we trust the farmer has not used dangerous fertilizers. Even when we cross the road we trust the walk sign. When we sleep, we trust that we will wake up the next morning. In all these situations where we trust, we trust fully. No halfway trust, no partial trust. There is no such thing.  When we completely trust all these things throughout our life so easily, why is it a challenge for us to trust God who made, maintains and runs all these things that we, so easily, trust? Jeremiah 17 Says   "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the L...

  As we relax on Saturdays, its time to not only think about ourselves but also all those people who need our prayers and support. We are sharing some prayer needs so that we all can support each other. For Upper Room readers who have requested prayers- Kait   requests prayer saying: Please pray that God relieves the pain in my body after a hard days work. Please pray that God will allow me to fulfill his calling for me for a long time. Thank you God for the many blessings you bestow RN requests prayer saying: Please pray my doctor’s appointment goes well tomorrow. Thank you so much. Jlow requests prayer saying: Prayer for my freedom. God bless those who are not. For a senior in India suffering from Dementia . We pray for her peace as well as strength for her caregiver. Please pray for Jim . Pray that he can work thru an issue that happened today. Pray for it to go well. John requests prayer saying: Please pray that my dad's hearing will be corrected and that at least one o...

 

In continuation of his post on Revival, Pastor Rajiv today outlines the steps we could take to experience our own revival. Remember, God has designed revival to begin with his own people who are called by his name, people like you and me who have called on the name of Jesus .  As a revival process, God’s first call for his people is to humble themselves .  How? Firstly, by recognizing and confessing our need to seek God in all things – spiritual and material. Our independence to be overcome by Dependence. We need humility to constantly guard against spiritual pride because spiritual pride results in self-centeredness, according to Hawkins. (Note: In Colossians 3:12, the word humility in Greek means “humbleness of mind or lowliness of mind”, and it’s the same word used in Ephesians 4:2 , Philippians 2:3 , and 1 Peter 5:5 . It is in this attitude of the heart that we came before the Lord, admitting that we were wrong; we are sinners, repenting, and asking Him to be our Savior...

The Christian Way "I can honestly say I am a Christian, but my spirituality has been developed on the road and is based on my experiences with God." Justin Timberlake 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 I wish not merely to be called Christian, but also to be Christian.  Saint Ignatius When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!  John Wesley 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 I'm just like you - I want to be a good human being. I'm doing my best, and I'm working at it. And I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm alwa...

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” - Maya Angelou A compliment, a thoughtful deed, an act of kindness, a blessing and a thank you go a long way in making someone feel seen, heard and valued. Words and actions can create a feeling of being important. We are all created in the image of God and when we recognize that fact, we acknowledge that other people have a worth in Christ. We don't look through people. When someone talks, we pay attention. We don't humiliate, nor do we build ourselves at someone's expense. And if we have done that by mistake or inattentively, we apologize so that the other person feels valued. It takes a lot of strength, humility and empathy to be genuinely  kind, so  let us start training today.  Proverbs 16:24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up an...

Pastor David Jacobs, trying to understand his mothers forgiveness asked her, "Would you be able to forgive me of I had committed murder?" She answered - "You will always be my son. I would not approve of what you did but I would be there in jail, visiting you whenever I could." So would God!  This leads to a thought: what does forgiveness from God look like?   I would guess pretty much the same. When we sin, He would still love us and still guide us, if we wished, but He would not approve of what we had done. David's story is a case in point. He broke the 6th, 7th and 10 commandments and had to pay the price, yet God loved Him. Like David, we sin all the time, yet God sacrificed His son to save us from complete annihilation. Just as knowledge of the depth of our mother's love fills our heart with joy and gives encouragement to abstain from hurting her, understanding the depth of God's love also gives us that desire to not hurt him, but try and please Him...

  If you had a choice between winning or losing what would you choose? This is a story of Shay, shared by a well-wisher, friend and a social worker. In this story there is no hero, no punchline and yet brings tear to the eyes. This is how it goes: "At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?' The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature prese...

Matthew 20: 21 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” Man's natural instinct is to strive for Glory, small or big. The question is who's Glory? Self or God? 1 Corinthians 10:31 says "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God". Yet, some people credit all their successes to their own knowledge and hard work, (much like Nebuchadnezzar and his self-praise regarding Babylon, Daniel 4, 28-37) relegating God's grace to church circles at best, and some not even that. Some even preach the gospel, inspired by themselves and uninspired by God, for their own glory as speakers or knowledgeable people. We thus become idols to ourselves. Romans 12:3 ... According to Paul Tripp in TGC, Typical signs of self glorification (among others), are - Parade in public what should be kept in private. - Be way too self-referencing. - ...

                                            "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts" . Malachi 1  When we have esteemed visitors over for a visit, we try and offer the best we can. Best crockery and cutlery, the best of foods, the best seat in the house and the best comforts. When God knocks, in the form of a hungry person, what do we offer? Stale food? When asked by beggars -do we give s oiled or unusable currency and keep the crisp notes for ourselves? It's not what we give. It's how we give. Let's not put terms and conditions to our giving. Recognize the need a...

  Today we have chosen the theme of Faith and Hope and bring you a post and a song. We hope you enjoy these.  Leap Of Faith can be read here  King of Heaven a Paul Baloche song rendered by Voices for Glory, the Bethel Methodist Chruch Choir can be heard here 

"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” - Esther 4:14 What a profound ultimatum was given to Esther!  But in  Esther we find a powerful message of courage and divine providence. Esther found herself in a powerful position as a queen. She used her position to save her people from a terrible fate at the urging of her cousin Mordecai, who is quoted above as well. In fact, till this day the Israelites celebrate Purim , to commemorate the defeat of Haman's plot to massacre the Jews as recorded in the book of Esther.  Like Esther, have you ever felt you were in a certain situation for a reason? That perhaps, like Esther, God has orchestrated events in your life to fulfil a special purpose? It can be easy to feel insignificant and powerless, but God often places us exactly where w...