Life Lessons from God's Word
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Imitate Christ
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Imitate Christ: 1 Peter 2:21 "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His st...
Imitate Christ
1 Peter 2:21
"For to this you were called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should
follow His steps:"
NKJV
NKJV
Romans 8:13 "For if you live according to the flesh you
will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will
live." NKJV
1 Corinthians 11:1
"And you should imitate me, just as
I imitate Christ."
NKJV
NKJV
1 Corinthians 10:31-32
"Therefore, whether you eat or
drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either
to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God
NKJV
NKJV
1 Corinthians 15:31
"For I swear, dear
brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride
in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you."
NLT
NLT
1 Corinthians 1:18
"For the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
God."
KJV
KJV
Romans 8:36-37
"As it is written: 'For Your sake we
are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in
all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
NKJV
NKJV
John 13:8-9 Peter
said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him,
"If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Simon Peter said to
Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" NKJV
2 Corinthians 4:11-12
"For we who live are always
delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in
you."
NKJV
NKJV
2 Corinthians 10:5
"casting down arguments and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,"
NKJV
NKJV
2 John 1:5-6 "I am writing to remind you, dear
friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but
one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us,
and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the
beginning." NLT
2
Corinthians 4:7 "But we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."
NKJV
Lamentations 3:21-23
"This I recall to my mind, Therefore
I have hope. Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His
compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your
faithfulness."
NKJV
NKJV
Romans 15:2
"Let each of us please his neighbor
for his good, leading to edification."
NKJV
NKJV
Mark 8:35 "For whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake
and the gospel's will save it." NKJV
My
Comments: Did you know you could be the means for someone coming to accept
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by your actions, words and being? It is so true
or you could turn them away from the Gospel just as well. Hopefully if that
happens the Lord Jesus will move through the Holy Spirit to reach out to that
person. Yet the fact remains that our thoughts become actions, our action and
words show our Lore of the Lord towards others and by loving with the Love of
God we can be used of God to bring others into the Kingdom of Heaven
I
find this especially interesting when we consider the fact that slavery was
huge at the time the Lord walked the earth and taught the Apostles and
Disciples, and even slaves were told to serve in Love. Of course those who
accepted the Lord were likewise encouraged to treat their servants and slaves
with love as well. Yet we do not have to look at this in terms of slave and
master.
We
look at it in terms of employer and employee, of parent and child, husband and
wife (though one is not telling the other what they should or should not do),
and any other relationship where people interact. We should always treat each
other with the Love of Jesus; sacrificially and with mercy and compassion. I
remember a story of a woman in China
She
was a young woman. She was a non-believer who needed milk for her child. A
Christian lady helped her and sent her to some believers who also helped her more;
they brought her to Christ. Then she was arrested for being a Christian. She
was pregnant. During this time she got her husband and one son out of China
This
abuse she turned back with love. Eventually after a great time while she went
overdue with her child she carried and could barely walk or sit, God had her
release come through and the head of the prison had to let her go. The love of
Jesus sustained her through it all and His love touched the hearts of many
through her faithfulness and love for others.
Love
is what John tells us in the Bible, is the most important thing we can do or
learn or give. It is everything that Christ did, gave or taught us. Jesus is
our guiding light and the one we model our lives after. He gave His all so that
we may live and live abundantly. That doesn’t mean here on earth like some name
it and claim it teachings of today. It means we will have life eternal as
Children of the God of the universe. He is King of everything and as His
Children we will have life abundant. To have this life abundant, means we can
expect this life now, to have hardships, trials and tribulations yet as we
persevere through them (and know Jesus goes with us through them) we grow in
the strength of Jesus. As we show His face to those who torment us we are the
instruments of God to soften the hearts of the unlovable of which we once were.
Sometimes
we forget what we were before Jesus entered into us and changed our lives. We
should never forget so we continue to have compassion and mercy, love and
forgiveness to all who come into our lives. God brings them into our lives for
a reason so treat them with the love of Jesus. Treat them as He treated and
treats you. Remember He went to the Cross gladly for us and died in our place
that if we accept Him as our Savior, confess our sin and follow Him we will be
Children of God and justified through the blood of the Lamb.
Abba
Father, fill our hearts with Your love, compassion, forgiveness and mercy for
all we encounter, live with, work with and interact with. Give us discernment
to know what to say and when to say it. Remove all anger, hurt and hardness of
heart from us so all will see and feel the love of Your Son, Jesus through us.
Thank You for sending Your Son to die in our place and take our sin upon His
pure flesh. We praise You and glorify You Abba for all You do and have done and
will do for us.
Jesus,
Messiah thank You for Your Love. Thank You for all You taught and are teaching
us. Thank You for showing the Way to Salvation. Thank You for always being with
us through all the hardships and trials of this life and the assurance of life
with You when we leave this life, when You call us home or come to lift us into
the clouds with You. We praise You for Your love and we hope we become more
like You each and everyday of our lives.
Holy
Spirit, fill us with the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of the Word of God
and all He desires for us to know. Give us we pray the words to say when we
talk to others. Help us to live lives exemplifying our Lord Jesus Christ the
Messiah and Redeemer, the Lamb of God and our Savior. Unstop our ears, open our
eyes and pour forth Your words from our mouth and may our hearts be filled with
Love for all peoples. May we never be a stumbling block to those who would know
Jesus and follow Him. Thank You for filling us with Love.
In
Jesus name, in union with the Holy Spirit, I pray and thank You Lord. Amen.
Rebishka
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Wisdom is of God
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Wisdom is of God: All of the Bible passages to day will be from the New American Standard Bible, Revised Edition. (NASBR) 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 18 For the...
Saturday, November 1, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Jesus is Love and He is the Love of God.
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: Jesus is Love and He is the Love of God.: John 15:13 New American Standard Bible (NASB) (Red letters are Jesus' own words.) 13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay ...
Friday, October 31, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: The Living Temple
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: The Living Temple: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 New King James Version ( NKJV ) 6 We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the gr...
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: He Wants to Change Your Heart
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: He Wants to Change Your Heart: Proverbs 4:23 , New King James Version (NKJV) The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. 23 Ke...
He Wants to Change Your Heart
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues
of life.
Ephesians
Proverbs 23:7a (NKJV)
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
Proverbs 27:19, (NKJV)
19 As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.
Matthew 5: 1, 8 (NKJV)
5 And seeing the
multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came
to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught
them, saying:… 8 Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see
God.
Galatians 2:20, (NKJV)
20 I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me.
Colossians 2:9-15, (NKJV)
9 For in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are
complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11 In Him you were
also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the
body of the sins[a] of the flesh,
by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with
Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith
in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being
dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive
together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped
out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to
us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having
disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them in it.
Psalm 8:6, (NKJV)
6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under
his feet,
2 Peter 1:4, (NKJV)
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.
1 Peter 1:4, (NKJV)
4 to an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you,
Ephesians 3:14-19, (NKJV)
14 For this
reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would
grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
through His Spirit in the inner man,17 that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the width and
length and depth and height— 19 to know the
love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God.
1 Samuel 16:7, (NKJV)
7 But the Lord said to
Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I
have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks
at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the
heart.”
Psalm 16:7, (NKJV)
7 I will bless the Lord who has
given me counsel; my heart
also instructs me in the night seasons.
Romans 10:9, (NKJV)
9 that if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
My Comments:
Jesus’ heart has been, is and always will be for us. When we come to Jesus and
believe His Gospel of death on the Cross for our sins and His Resurrection our
hearts are changed to reflect Jesus’ heart.
It can always
be seen who has really accepted or put of Jesus as their Savior and whose heart
has not been changed. I am not saying everyone shows signs quickly just that
when the heart is changed everything about a person starts to change.
They thirst
for the Word of God. They are pricked when they do something not pleasing to
Jesus the Son of God. They confess their wrongs. They are kinder more
considerate to others and reflect God’s love for mankind. They turn from the
lusts of the flesh and the desires of the heart to follow after evil, the world
and worldly pleasures. I remember how it was for me.
I was still in
the cult Soldiers of the Eucharist and really did not think I was doing anything
to hurt anyone else nor did I think the things I watched in movies or read in
books were separating me from God. I remember my heart being pricked to “purge”
my literature, movies and music so I listened to and read each one with an eye
and ear for how they measured up to the word of God and was ashamed know they
did not. So I got rid of almost everything. It felt good. Then a short time
later I felt the urge to purge again and thought, “How can I have missed any?”
I went through all the ones that were left, and you know it! I had to purge
more. He waited until my eyes were open to what came between He and I. He
actually had me purge four different times before I was free of the things that
fed the evil in my flesh.
Throughout the
years He has brought to mind things that hurt our relationship and I have had
to make the choice between feeding the flesh and feeding our relationship. He
is gentle and a gentleman and I make the choice to keep my heart for Him. Even
when going to the movies which I really enjoy doing once in awhile.
Movies are
harder because though it will say the movie does not have certain things in it
one can be sitting in a theatre and there it is. What does on do? I have bowed
my head, gotten up and asked for my money back and left. In books I have
brought home from the Library I have had to take them back when I would really
like to have burned them. Satan knows our weaknesses yet God is our strength.
If we rely on our strength we will fail miserably. If our hearts are bought for
the Father by the blood of the Son Jesus and taught by the Holy Spirit and have
His discernment we will by the grace of God persevere and our hearts will be
His. If our hearts are His our lives will reflect Him.
Abba Father,
we give ourselves to You through Your Son Jesus Christ who died for our sin. He
became sin who knew no sin that we may have life abundantly and eternally with
You. We give You our hearts and our lives to use as You know best because Abba
we do not and cannot live our lives well with out You in our Heart and Your
Holy Spirit filling us and guiding us at all times. Thank You Abba Father for bringing
us to Your Son and Salvation.
Lord Jesus,
Lamb of God, Son and Living God, you have purchased us with the price of Your
blood on the Cross. You have died in our place and we believe You rose again on
the third day and now sit at the right hand of Abba Father, God Almighty the
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. We give our selves to You
knowing You will live in us and present us to the Father unblemished and
spotless and He will see only You in us. Thank You Lord Jesus for Your loving
heart and Your Sacrifice.
Holy Spirit,
You came to fill us once we accept Jesus as our Savior and become Children of
God. Guide us please and fill us with knowledge, wisdom, and discernment to use
the gifts Abba gives to each of us, as Children of God who are Justified and
Redeemed. Fill our hearts for what touches the heart of Jesus and fill us with
whatever is needed to do the things He asks of us. Thank You for always being
there for us and now we thank You for being in us and strengthening and guiding
us.
In Jesus Holy
and precious name we pray in union with His Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rebishka
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