Tuesday, February 27, 2024

I Am Christian's Tongue -Part One

 

I AM CHRISTIAN'S TONGUE

James 3:17
But the wisdom from above 
is indeed first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
reasonable, full of mercy and of good fruits, 
impartial, sincere. 
    I am Christian's tongue. In me is the power of life and death. The words I speak can heal and encourage or cause pain and discouragement. As long as The Word lives in me and moves through me, changing me as it flows through my spirit and soul; as long as I remain God's faithful servant, God's Word will be spoken with love when it rolls off this tongue. 
    1 Corinthians 13 tells me I must speak with love. And for it to be sincere the Love of God, His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, must absolutely be alive in me. Not just once, but all day and all night: every hour of every day. It is after all, a relationship with God's holy Son. We speak Love. 
    I am Christian's tongue. I speak The Word with knowledge of The Word, understanding of The Word, and in the wisdom of The Holy Spirit, who also lives and moves through me, strengthening my pursuit and endeavors in The Word.  
    To speak God's Word without any knowledge of God's Word is to bring a curse into your life, for you know not what you are saying: your knowledge is weak and your understanding is nil. Please, please read God's Word for yourself. Know The Word. Pray over your studies before you begin, while you are studying and after you finish each study. 
    I am Christian's tongue and I have a responsibility to be ready to preach The Word and Testify whenever I am asked what I believe and why. Jesus Loves Me this I know, For my Bible tells me so is a song we learn in Sunday School as children. I believe my Bible is the infallible Word of God in print. I believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son, that He died for me and rose from the grave into newness of life for me; that He has gone to prepare a place for me in His heavenly home when my flesh and my soul separate. 
    Why do I believe all this "almost too good to be true"? There are times in my life when I should have been dead and didn't die because someone was praying for. I haven't always lived the good life. This Christian used to be a wicked sinner. But somebody loved me enough to pray for me. Their tongue spoke my name and my life into God's hearing and He saved me from certain death several times. Their love for me is still bringing me closer to God. My tongue prays Ephesians 3 over my family, my friends, the strangers I meet and the people who hate Christians.
    I am Christian's tongue. I speak Truth. 2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 7:14. What is Truth? Jesus Christ. John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, “I Am The Way, The TRUTH, and The Life. No one comes to The Father except through Me.
    I speak Love. 1 Corinthians 13
(The Readers Bible)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.








Friday, February 23, 2024

I Am Christian's Heart


ROMANS 10:10

For it is by believing, in your heart. that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

I am Christian's heart: in me lives The Word of God. 

1 John 4:15
All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

    I am Christian's heart and The Word declares that I am wise: Ecclesiastes 7:4 "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure." A wise heart tells people about Jesus and His gospel of saving grace. 
Proverbs 11:30 "
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise." 
1 Corinthians 9:19 "Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible."

    I am Christian's heart and The Word tells me that I am broken: Psalm 34:18 "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit (repentant heart)." 
Psalm 51:17 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." 

    I am Christian's heart and I have hidden His Word in me: Psalm 119:10-11 "With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments. Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You." I am hid in God's heart, too. John 17:20-21 "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me." 

    I am Christian's heart. In me and through me the love of God moves. I am able to love like God because The Love of God lives in me: It thrives because I feed It with adoration and worship. I can love people because I love God and He loves me. He chose me to live in. 1 John 4:7-11
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; an devery one that loves is born of God, and knows God.
He that loves not knows not God; for God is love. 
In this was manifested (revealed) The Love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (John 3:16-17).
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."
    I am Christian's heart. Jesus Christ called me to open my door and let Him enter into me. Just like He's calling you to open the door of your hearts and let Him live in you, too: Revelation 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if anyone hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to them, and will sup with them, and they with me."

THE GOSPEL - Ryan Stevenson
ABIDE IN ME - Andrew Marcus
SHEPHERD OF MY SOUL - Rivers & Robots 
MY PORTION - Isla Vista 








Wednesday, February 21, 2024

PIERCED

 


PIERCED
CRUSHED
PUNISHMENT
WOUNDED
STRIPES
But He was pierced for our transgressions, 
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace
was upon Him,
and by His stripes
we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5

    PIERCED
The nails used to hold Christ to the cross were about 7-inches in length: head, shank, tip. 

    This is a Remembrance Nail my Mother found at a thrift store some years back. And she gave it to me. These were created in 1973 after much research by the man who commissioned them to be made. It's a heavy nail with a roundish head and a thick point. It was this type of nail that PIERCED Christ Jesus' hands and feet. And while the nails fastened Him to the cross, it was Love that kept Him there. 
    CRUSHED
    Oppressed in spirit, bruised in body, Jesus knew pain like many of us have never experienced. A crown of thorns was not just laid atop His head, but pressed into His head with such force that the top of His head bled. He was whipped then covered with a robe; when the blood had begun to dry on the robe, it was lifted off His body, tearing anew the wounds on His back. He was forced to carry His own cross up a hill. Then He was nailed to it. The reverberations of the hammer hitting the nails echoed through His broken body.
    We have oils and ointments and drinks to dull the sensations of pain in our bodies and minds. He had none of this, though when it was offered Him, He refused (Psalm 69:21; John 19:29). 
    PUNISHMENT
Hebrews 9:27, 28 tells us "Just as it is appointed unto man to die once, and after that to face judgment,  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." 
    He bore my sins and yours. He took our punishment upon Himself that we would not be punished for our unrighteous, wicked ways. Christ Jesus allowed Himself, in obedience to His Father, to be tortured and killed for us (Luke 22:42). 
WOUNDED
    Not all wounds result in death, but this wounding which Christ received not only resulted in His death, but was instrumental in conquering death once and for all to all who believe on The Name of The Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. 
    What are these transgressions for which He was PIERCED and WOUNDED? Rebellion. Rising up against God and God's Word. Rebellious thoughts and actions and attitudes. Insurrection against God's Authority. Treasonous words and actions.
    STRIPES
    It is for our rebellion that He willingly let Himself be led to a mock trial; let Himself be taunted, whipped with a Roman leather whip which had barbs in it designed to rip and tear the flesh off of the one being punished in this way. He allowed Himself to be led on the road to Calvary. He is God's Word in the flesh and in the flesh He submitted and surrendered to God's Will that God's Purpose would be carried out:
    JOHN 3:16, 17
For God so LOVED THE WORLD that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
    By His STRIPES we are healed. Healed of the sin in our hearts. Healed of the sicknesses in our bodies. Healed and delivered of the torments of the mind. All we have to do is believe that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. 
    And having believed it is only in this love we have for Him that we can choose to honor Him with our lives. So we ask The Holy Spirit to reveal God to us in His Word and help us to live a life that honors God. That's The Way of Holiness. That's the path we traverse and the journey we begin in this life. 

    It's a simple faith. So simple that it is impossible for many people to believe it. But I believe. Do you? 
    


BY HIS WOUNDS - Mac Powell (Glory Revealed album)
ONLY JESUS - Casting Crowns 


    


Friday, February 16, 2024

I AM CHRISTIAN'S HANDS

 

PSALM 24:3, 4
Who may ascend the hill of The Lord? 
Who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol 
or swear deceitfully.

    I am Christian's hands and I am many things, but mostly I am busy. Although, in order for me to be busy going about The Lord's work, several things must happen first. I must be clean (Ps 24:4) and I must be holy (1 Timothy 2:8). 
    These hands of mine I lift up to pray and praise The Lord (Ps 134:2). Though I am frail, The Lord is strong and in His strength my hands become His hands. With my arms I can hug you, but with my hands I can comfort you. With my hands I caress your face and tell you how much God and I love you. 
    My hands have fingers and my fingers can lock together, one hand grasping the other, in prayer. With my hands, palms up, I pray and praise my God. With my hands raise above my head, I yearn for the touch of The Lord God, and I reach out to touch Him as He makes His presence known in my praises. For "God inhabits the praises of His people" (Psalm 22:3 ), a dwellingplace not made with hands but with heartfelt, sincere praise. 
    My hands are diligent (Proverbs 10:4, 12:24): I'm working in the fields that are "white unto harvest" and I'm praying for the lost souls to find Christ and receive Him into their hearts, for The Holy Spirit to fill them with the power of God and walk in His strength and wisdom all the days of their lives. In each field which I am sent to work in - - for no two fields are the same, yet all will be harvested in due time -- I pray for a steady and steadfast surrender and commitment to follow Christ. 
    I am Christian's hands and I have placed myself in God's hands: it is the safest place i know to be. Since I am in God's hands even now there is nothing for me to be afraid of, no one for me to fear. 
    I am Christian's hands and I have laid my hands on others not to hurt, nor hinder them, but that I might pray for and prophesy into their lives through the power of The Holy Spirit Which resides in my heart and my life. Acts 6:6 and 2 Timothy 1:6. 
    I am Christian and my hands serve The Lord. With my hands I grip my Bible, turning the pages that my eyes and my heart might receive The Word which The Lord has prepared for me each day. With my hands I thank God for His faithfulness to me and His lovingkindness which He has extended to the people I pray for. Even you. 

HANDS & FEET - Audio Adrenaline

Saturday, February 10, 2024

I Am Christian's Feet

 


MATTHEW 16:24

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your way, take up your cross, and follow Me."

    Just as Jesus called His disciples then, He calls each of us who want to follow Him even now. 

    Calling the disciples:
Matthew 4:16-22; Mark 2:13,14; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 5:1-11; Luke 5:27,28; Luke 6:12-16; John 1:35-51.

    Calling all people:
Mark 8:34 
And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me
 Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon The Name of The Lord shall be saved. 
    I am Christian's feet and I am a "whosoever". 

    I am Christian's feet and I am beautiful. 
Romans 10:15 
And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Isaiah 52:7).  
Nahum 1:15 says to "look to the mountains for the one bringing good news". Therefore my feet have been made sturdy to walk upon these mountains. - - 
Psalm 18:33; Habakkuk 3:19. 
My path is broadened that I might not stumble -- Psalm 18:36. 

    I am Christian's feet and I walk in The Word {Exodus 15:26}. I walk by faith {2 Corinthians 5:7}. I walk in The Spirit {Galatians 5:16}. I walk in The Light {John 12:35}. I walk with wise companions, not foolish people {Proverbs 2:20}. I walk The Way of Holiness {Isaiah 35:8}. I walk the path of life {Proverbs 15:24}. 

    I am Christian's feet and I follow Jesus Christ...wherever He leads me. For I have taken up my cross and I would rather live and die with Him than without Him. 
Matthew 16:25, 26
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. 
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
1 Peter 2:21
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps.

WELCOME HOLY SPIRIT - Hilde M. Bedsvaag 
WALK WITH YOU - Michael Bethany 




Tuesday, February 6, 2024

I Am Christian's Memory

 


JOHN 14:26

But The Helper, The Holy Spirit, Whom The Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

    Memories are funny things. Even in our memories we are all different. I may remember my name and forget yours. As our physical bodies age or succumb to various diseases, our memories are affected, too. 

    Faces, names, connections like family and friendships may eventually fade from our memories in this life. But The Word which is planted within us will never fade. We will never forget that we belong to Christ. We have The Helper, The Holy Spirit, reminding us who we are in Christ and Who Christ is in us. I am Christian's memory and The Word will never leave me.

    Even the gospel songs we love to sing may still linger on our lips. Psalm 77:6 "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with my own heart: and my spirit made diligent search." I am Christian's memory and songs that glorify God and praise His Holy Name will always flow from within me. For The Holy Spirit is my Helper. He draws this flowing river of melodies and lyrics from the hidden places in my heart. 

    I am Christian's memory. I remember that God loves me so much He sent His Only Begotten Son to die for me. I remember that Jesus not only died to take my sins away forever, but that He defeated death, hell and the grave. 

    As He died on the cross, the sins of the whole world from the beginning of people until the last person gets saved were laid across His shoulders and He became sin. The weight of it crushed Him. But He stayed on the cross for us, for me. When He took our sins upon Himself, God could not be in His presence, for sin is unholiness and God's holiness had to separate itself from His Only Begotten Son. 

    After He died, His body was laid in the grave, the tomb. But only His body was there. His spirit and soul were in hell. Hell, where He overcame Satan in a battle we know little about. What we do know is that Satan, the devil, can be overcome by The Word and The Spirit, for that is how we overthrow him in this life we're living now. We know He holds the keys of death and hell (Revelation 1:18). 

    We know He overcame the grave because He walked out of it in His new body, His resurrected body was changed from what He looked like before He died. We know this because when Mary Magdalene encountered Him in the garden (John 20:14-16), she thought He was the gardener. [which, if you think about it, He is: He is the Master Gardener]. 

    I am Christian's memory. Because I live in Christ and He lives in me, I, too, will be changed when my body leaves the grave. But know this: my soul will not remain with my body. When I die here, I will take His hand there. As I breathe my last here, I will inhale the perfume of heaven and my soul will be at peace in the eternal presence of my Lord and Savior. I am Christian's memory and I will go with Christian when Christian dies. 

    All the bad memories, all the hard times, will pass from my memory permanently. For God has promised to wipe away all tears. For instance:

    Some time after my son Nick died, I had a dream. In this dream, as his car hit the pickup truck, Nick took hold of Jesus' hand which was extended to him and walked out of this life into his life eternal. He was not alone when he died; he was not afraid. The military chaplain who spoke at his funeral said that Nick was the "most Holy Spirit-filled young man he had ever met". What a testimony. This was the last time I cried. God put all my tears in one of His bottles (Psalm 56:8). 

    I am Christian's memory and I am filled with examples of the love of God, the merciful compassion of Christ, the guarded strength of The Holy Spirit. I may forget your name, your face, your connection to me. But I will never forget my God and my Savior. 

HOPE HAS A NAME - River Valley Worship



Sunday, February 4, 2024

The Lord Is Faithful and True

 

REVELATION 19:11

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war.

    HIS FAITHFULNESS
He Keeps His Promises
Psalm 96:12-13
Let the fields exult, and all that is in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for He is coming—He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

    HIS TRUTH
He speaks Truth because He IS Truth
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am The Way, The Truth and The Life: no man comes to The Father, but by Me.
John 1:14
 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of The Only Begotten of The Father,) full of Grace and Truth.
Numbers 23:19 (Balaam's response to Balak) 
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

    Every promise of God will be fulfilled. Whether to bless the faithful or judge the faithless. There are over 400 prophecies in The Old Testament concerning The One Whom God would send to deliver His people and reign as King. Just as the prophecies are several years apart, so, too, are the promises of God. It hasn't even been 2000 years since Christ, but we're getting close. Still His Name is proclaimed to the nations. Still He saves the sinner seeking His grace and mercy. Still The Holy Spirit is poured out upon they whom The Lord God has chosen to receive Him. 
    The promises of God are many and ALL will be fulfilled at some point in time. When King Jesus returns, according to the detail available in this verse, His Authority will be evident (the white horse - purity). He is not coming for a party, but for war. War against the people who chose not to follow Him and who remain after the event in which His people had been "caught up in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17); and after the dead in Christ have risen (1 Thessalonians 4:16). 
    His Name is Faithful (unwavering adherence to the truth, steadfast {committed,  unswerving, unyielding}) and True (in accordance with fact, reality; verifiable, accurate). He is Judge and Jury, for He will war against the unfaithful with His Righteousness: the divine approval of God. 
    So very thankful that this Righteousness covers me. See, it's nothing that I accomplished. But it's through my faith on, my belief in, The Only Name Under Heaven by Which We Must Be Saved, through JESUS CHRIST The Only Begotten Son of God, that I am made approved by God to be God's child. 
    His Righteousness is the spiritual garment I wear. I clothed myself in His Righteousness when I repented of my sins and turned away from a living a sinful life to living a holy life. It's not a perfect life, but a lifetime of small achievements in grace which make me holy. In His Righteousness is where I live. I became a  child of God through God's grace ( Galatians 3:25-27; John 1:12). 
    If you are not already in His Righteousness, it's not too late. As long as you have breath in your body, there's still time to place your faith in Christ Jesus. For the day is fast approaching when the decision to choose wisely will no longer be yours to make; for death will have snatched your soul and the opportunity to choose Christ will be gone from you for ever. 

SPEAK LIFE - TobyMac
JESUS HAVE IT ALL - Jeremy Riddle
NO OTHER NAME BUT JESUS - Victory House Worship





Saturday, February 3, 2024

Great Is Your Mercy

 


PSALM 86:13

Great is Your Mercy toward me: You have delivered my soul from the lowest hell. 

Psalm 56:13

For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in The Light of Life.

John 8:12
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am The Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have The Light of Life.”

    As long as I remain in The Light of God's Love, I can see clearly enough to know that God is with me and will not abandon me to my own follies. His grace, after all, is "sufficient for me".     The Lord is, as David writes in Psalm 27:1, "My Light and My Salvation, and My Strength of Life." The Lord is with me and I am content.
    
    See how David writes that The Lord God has delivered him from 'the lowest hell'? The very bottom of hell, where no light pierces. All is darkness, despair and hopelessness. His soul was in a very dark place. But God reached down when David reached up and lifted him out of the worst of the worst. Why? Because God loved David and David loved God.
    He faith in His God remained strong despite all the troubles and pitfalls David found himself in. This great faith can be ours, too. We just need to reach up to God, with our praises and prayers, and He will lift us up out of the dark places we find ourselves in from time to time.
    It's lonely in those dark places. A person would begin to believe they are all alone; that no one loves them or even thinks about them. No one reaches out to rescue them from the darkness and discouragement. It appears to the lost or lonely soul that they are the only ones to experience such thoughts. Not so, for even the faithful believer has to battle the thoughts that threaten their souls.
    Let us open our hearts and our mouths, lift our hands and begin to praise God right here, wherever you are, with every breath that is within us. Give God the glory. Give God adoration. Give God you. And you will find yourselves walking in His Light.