This Week With Jesus

                                                                           Image: Scout Life Magazine Prayer is a pillar or actually the cornerstone of Christian life.  A typical prayer may include giving thanks, intercession, blessings, praise etc.  And we may ask for help with the problems and challenges we face. Tom Clark from Life, Home and Truth has this to say -  ... "do we always pray for the right things? Let me illustrate this with a paraphrase of a story by Peggy Porter on usscouts.org that I read many years ago. Eight-year-old Gilbert had only been in Cub Scouts a short while when the scoutmaster handed everyone a block of wood, four tires and a sheet of instructions, and told them to go home and “give it all to Dad.” Unfortunately, the dad part was not an option for Gilbert, so the block of wood sat untouched for days as a befuddled Gilbert struggled to figure out what to do. Finally, without a better option, Gilbert’s mom sat down with Gilbert one evening to guide

Ruth 1:16 “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Reading the story of Ruth has always been an inspiration. Naomi is devastated, Ruth's decision to tie herself into the hopeless situation of Naomi and her life changing decision to jump from the frying pan into the fire is incomprehensible by today's standard. She faced complete devastation yet became an inspiration for us when we face hard and terrible tragedy or circumstances. Joy Burgess puts it so well when she says - "When life brings devastation, it’s not easy to hope. It’s hard to have faith. But when things are the most difficult, that’s when we need faith and hope the most. In the moments where life feels like it’s crushing you, start with a little faith. Hebrews 11:1 reminds us that “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And looking a

 

Joshua 1: 7-9 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” What part of God's word did you put into practice today? You have read your Bible, said your prayers, meditated and possibly taken notes as well. Of all God's word that we read and quote, which ones have we actually put into practice? It is important because that "practice" is called obedience. And that is what the quoted verse is talking about. Second, let us not interpret Gods word, because we often interpret it to suit ourselves. For example, a

  Image: Martin Young Bible Cartoons Read : Matthew 25:14-30 "Ephesians 1:11 declares, “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” "Predestination” as it is used in the Bible means something different than what we probably think it means. It is more to do with Gods foreknowledge, plan and love. It is a vast subject and maybe you can get some more insight from Billy Graham HERE  “Predestination” , for most of us, on the other hand, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby God's omniscience seems incompatible with human free will. Today let us look at this word in another way :  referring to th

                                                                                                                    Image 9 Marks We know that it is everyone's responsibility to pray. But do we realize it is also our responsibility to pray responsibly ? Prayer is a serious act: it is talking to the creator Himself- one to one. In the words of Donal Cantrell, "True prayer involves people that understand the importance of taking responsibility. 1 -  God hears us when we pray. 2 – He looks at our hearts for sincerity and honesty. 3 – Do we mean what we are saying or are our words useless babbling? 4 – If we are asking God for financial needs do we honor him in our giving? 5 – If we are seeking wisdom do we read his word for guidance? 6 – If we pray for the backslider do we really love them and want to see them restored? 7 – If we pray for our enemies are we trul​y willing to forgive them? Prayer involves relationship and responsibility." (Donald Cantrell in his sermon on a m

                                               Psalm 121:7-8. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Do you know how many hours of the day we have no control on our life, and completely in Gods hand? No? Well here is a mathematical equation to help you calculate. No. of hours or minutes of sleep + hours spent in travel + hours or mins spent in profession + hours or mins spent in entertainment or games + hours or minutes spent in other activities like eating or partying, worrying, etc. Now if you total it up you will get a pretty good idea of the total time one is in Gods hand.  Mine is 1440 minutes when not I but God is in control.  What is yours? The how. A. When we sleep, we have no consciousness of dangers or potential mishaps - 8 hrs B. When we eat we really don't know the food quality, contamination, source, effect on our bodies and so on. - 1.5 hrs C. When we trav