Wednesday 5 December 2012

We Are The Reason





We are the reason Jesus gave up His life to save us from our sins. His great sacrifice is the greatest gift of all. Merry Christmas. God bless you.


Saturday 1 December 2012

4 Spiritual Laws

As there are spiritual laws that govern the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws which govern your relationship with God. Let me introduce you to the 4 spiritual laws.



1. FIRST LAW: GOD LOVES YOU AND HE HAS A WONDERFUL PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE.


GOD'S LOVE
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 - John 3:16 -
 
GOD'S PLAN
(Jesus said), "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (a life full of meaning and happiness)
 
 - John 10:10 -




Why don't many people experience a happy and abundant life? See answer in the next law...


2. SECOND LAW: MAN (HUMAN) SINNED AND IS SEPARATED FROM GOD. THEREFORE, HE CANNOT KNOW AND EXPERIENCE GOD'S LOVE AND PLANS FOR HIS LIFE.


SINFUL MAN
 ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,...

- Romans 3:23 -



Man was created to have fellowship with God, but because of his stubbornness, he chose his own path and broke that fellowship with God. According to the Bible, stubbornness to choose his own path, and to be free from God is called sin and it exists, either with defiance or with foolishness.


MAN SEPARATED FROM GOD
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 - Romans 6:23 -

God is Holy, while man is sinful. This creates a gap between God and man. Man strives to seek God and to find a joyful life with his own effort but fails because of his sins.

But there is a way out of this problem...  


3. THIRD LAW: JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY TO SALVATION SPECIFIED BY GOD FOR FORGIVENESS OF SIN. ONLY THROUGH JESUS, YOU CAN KNOW AND EXPERIENCE GOD'S LOVE AND PLANS FOR YOU.


CHRIST DIED IN OUR PLACE
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 -

 
CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

- 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 -
 
CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY 
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

- John 14:6 -



God draw us back to Him by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place.

Knowing these 3 laws is not enough... 


4. FOURTH LAW: WE MUST ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST TO BE OUR SAVIOUR AND GOD BY INVITING HIM PERSONALLY INTO OUR LIVES. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW AND EXPERIENCE GOD'S LOVE AND PLANS FOR OUR LIVES. 


WE MUST ACCEPT CHRIST
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

 - John 1:12 -


WE ACCEPT CHRIST BY FAITH
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -  not by works, so that no one can boast.
 
- Ephesians 2:8-9 -


WE ACCEPT CHRIST BY INVITING HIM PERSONALLY INTO OUR LIVES
(Christ said), "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."
 
 - Revelations 3:20 - 




Accepting Christ means to turn from self to God, and to surrender our whole self (our thoughts, our feelings, our will) to God. It is not enough to only understand Christ's teaching with our minds or to respond with only our feelings. We must take action with our own will to submit every aspect of our lives to be ruled by Jesus Christ.


DO YOU WANT TO ACCEPT CHRIST TODAY? IF YOU DO, SAY THIS PRAYER IN FAITH.
(Praying means speaking to God in faith)

You may pray with your own words. Below is an example of prayer:

"LORD Jesus, I need You. Therefore I open the door of my heart  and accept You as my God and Saviour. Thank You for forgiving my sins. I accept You into my heart as my LORD and King. Change me and make me a person in accordance to Your will. Amen."
Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If you pray in faith and invite Christ to be in control of your life, what will happen? If this is your heart's desire, say this prayer now. Christ will enter your heart and your life as He has promised. Continue to follow this blog to know more about being a follower of Christ or a Christian. You may also seek advice from a pastor from your local church. God bless you. =) 


HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IF CHRIST IS LIVING IN YOUR HEART?

Have you really invited Christ into your heart in your prayer? If so according to His promise in Revelation 3:20, where is he now? Christ promised that He would enter your life when you invited Him in your prayer. Could he not fulfill His promise? How would you know that He answered your prayer? Be sure of one thing... God keeps His promises.


GOD PROMISES ETERNAL LIFE TO ALL WHO ACCEPT HIM


And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
- 1 John 5: 11-13 -
  
We can find the key word in Hebrews 13:5. Therefore, be thankful. If we have invited Him into our lives, He will never leave us. Christ dwells in your heart and He will never disappoint you ever since you have decided to accept Him by faith into your life as your Saviour.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,“Never will I leave you;never will I forsake you."
- Hebrews 13:15 -


DO NOT DEPEND ON YOUR FEELINGS

Assurance of faith is not based on our feelings. It is not about the changes of our feelings but it is about the promise of Christ. A Christian lives by faith in the LORD and His Word. The train chart below illustrates the relationship between FACTS/REALITY (God and His Word),  FAITH (our trust in God and His Word) and FEELINGS (consequence of our faith and obedience).



The train can continue to run with or without passengers, as long as the coals are put into the locomotive. It is impossible to make the train run by entering the coals into the passenger's carriages. As Christians we should not hang our FAITH in our FEELINGS, but we should base our FAITH on the promises of God in His Word (FACTS).

In other words, the coals are just like our problems or any situation we're in. If we put our focus (or faith) in our feelings, we're not going anywhere and we're making our burdens heavier. Just like the train, if we put the coals into the feelings carriage, we can't move on and the coals make the carriage heavier. If we put our focus and our trust in God's promises, God will take control of our problems or situations. He will get rid of all our problems and get us moving on to the next level. Just like the train, if we put the coals into the locomotive, the coals (our problems) will get burnt up as fuel and gets the train moving.




IF YOU ACCEPT CHRIST, MANY THINGS WILL HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE

  1. The Holy Spirit (representing Jesus Christ) will be in your heart (Revelations 3:20, Ephesians 1: 13-14, Romans 8: 14-17).
  2. Your sins are forgiven (Colossians 1: 13-14, 1 John 1: 9).
  3. You are a child of God (John 1:12, Romans 8: 15-16).
  4.  You have already started your journey of life in accordance with God's plan for your life (Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 5: 17).
Accepting Christ would be the most wonderful experience in your life. Because of that, you should thank Him in your prayer.

There are much more that we should know.



SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Next, we must know how to grow spiritually. Spiritual growth is a result of obedience to Christ "because the righteous will live by faith" (Galatians 3:11).

Living by faith will enable you to obey God in every area of your life and practice the following:



Bible verses involved:

John 15:7

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.


Acts 17:11

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.


John 14:21

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”


Matthew 4:19

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”


John 15:8

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.


1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.


Galatians 5:16-17

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.


Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”