Acts 4:32-37......
32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. 36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, 37 having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
NKJV
2 Peter 1:2-4.......... 2 Grace
and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by
which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that
through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.
NKJV
Escaping the world is a good thing AND according to this it looks like we are to partake of the divine nature through all the precious promises given to us by God Himself.
If we sound like the world, does that bring any real change for good to anyone? If I just spend time telling you of my day and how I am doing my day, how does that help you or anyone?
But what if I am filled with the Holy Spirit, speak as I am directed by the Holy Spirit, to declare what God has done for me, and give you hope for your outcome of good in whatever situation or problem you face or see on the horizon, then you have been given that which is of a delight, pleasant, and brings life to you as it did to those who followed, not only David, BUT JESUS AS WELL! TESTIMONIES ARE GOD'S IDEA!
1 Thessalonians 5:5-24.................11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. NIV
So how are we looking in regard to the scripture above? Do we look good and sound good? Does everything go back to God and to His glory or is it about how good I am and how good I am doing?
In praying for others, do we operate in the love that was displayed at the cross at Calvary? Do we exemplify the truth of love that was displayed?
Verse 12..........live in peace with others.......that means husbands, and with our children as well.
Verse 13..........holding them who are over us, those in ministry, the work place, or again the husband. Do we highly esteem our husband? Do our words keep us in the peace of God, or we doing something other like King Saul did and cause tyranny in every direction?
Verse 16..........be joyful always. It says joyful ...........even when we have something we do not like to do, it is best to keep a cheerful heart. For when we smile, we can brighten other people's faces as well!
Verse 17..........pray continually. Are WE praying continually for people, those God has caused to surround us on every side? IT IS IN HIM, WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING.
Verse 18..........give thanks in all circumstances. It says to give thanks in all circumstances NOT FOR ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. So many times, people are giving thanks for the disease they have in their body. We do not lie about the disease and say it is not there if it does exist, BUT WE DO DENY IT'S RIGHT TO EXIST ANYWHERE IN OUR BODIES!
Verse 19.........pray to Not put out the Holy Spirit's fire ever and never treat prophecies with contempt.
The Holy Spirit enlightens us to the ways AND THOUGHTS OF GOD ......TO God's workings in His kingdom. He gives us details on what is on our pathway and it would not be good to douse the fire out with any carnal lusts.
Any teachings and preaching of the word is that which we are given as to prophecies. We are to not despise those teachings, but value the Word of God. It is His Word that is given by the Holy Spirit to increase our knowledge and grace.
Verse 21............hold on to good. Hold onto the good Word of God and let loose that which binds you to the world!
Verse 22.. ........avoid every kind of evil.........We have to remember people are watching us. We do not want to lead weak people back into the world if they just came out. What testimony could you give about how God has kept you from the world?
Verse 23..........May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Sanctified to do God's will for our lives. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8...............3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. NIV
God is faithful and He will do it!
It takes God's Grace to attract others to Him through us! How are we doing in this one thing? Are we giving a testimony of life or are we just whining how unfair life is to us? What do we expect from God as He has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness?
Father, thank You for grace. for we certainly see the advantage grace has for our lives. We give thanks for this attractiveness to others and that we can draw others to YOU always through this divine favor. We also understand that is by having a holy life before YOU. In Jesus' name, we pray to be those who will humble ourselves to be holy as YOU are holy. We seek to have the manifestation of the grace of God in our lives. For any Lord who have the favor to minister to others either through the pulpit, within homes, or on the street, we thank YOU for the light of YOUR graciousness toward us. We pray to not be those who would blow off an opportunity to give a testimony of YOUR goodness to us in the land of the living. We pray together for a unity with YOU and for truth of Your love that when we speak, people will see what is in our hearts. May people see YOUR word that is unfailing, dependable, and absolute. We pray that every testimony given will be with fire of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Grace. We pray also to be those who bring glory to YOU Lord. We are set apart for Your purpose and plan. We are to be different than that of the world. It is our desire today to live, act and think according to how YOUR Word directs us to live, act and think. May our love be that people will know as God's love that is merciful and always forgiving. May we keep our eyes on YOU, and not enter the path of the wicked and in the way of evil. FOR we do not want to eat the bread of wickedness and drink of the wine of violence. We believe our path of the just is like the shining of the sun that shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. We give thanks for the Spirit of Grace, our comforter, our friend, and we loose Him now into our lives and every area we step into today. Have YOUR way Holy Spirit and we will speak boldly the things God has done for us as our testimony of faith. Amen.
You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV
No comments:
Post a Comment