Willing to Help Others

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There is always someone who is in need of help. Driving through Atlanta it is clear to me that people are struggling. The homeless need shelter, food, clothing while the drug addicts need a dose of self honesty to stop the downward cycle of self-destruction. Commuters encounter each other in the hustle and bustle of hard work, appointment making and networking often in need of help just to smile. Hell, I need help just to cope with the mental, emotional and physical demands of being me – a middle-aged man called by God to preach, teach and live to serve others as a vessel of Light. There is a solution!

Helping others is spiritual. It promotes selfless acts of love inspired by inwardly receiving the love of Christ ourselves. Jesus Christ is love. We would not know true love if it was not first demonstrated by Him towards us. “We love Him because He first loved us.”(1 John 4:19)  His loving kindness is so enduring it progressively proves the excellence that is God’s faithfulness towards us. No one else in this world is going to love us like Him. His love is spiritual and great enough to influence that which is natural and earthly. Through His love in us, we become willing to help others experience real love through giving, caring, sharing, laughing and releasing it into the lives of others.

Agape love is the love of Christ characterized in 1 Corinthians 13. I Corinthians 13 GraphicHere’s how it works for me:

  1. When I see my ex-wife happy in another relationship and/or my associates happy in their marriages and family lives, my selfishness can make me bitter, disinterested and aloof. Agape love is patient, kind and is not jealous. Through Christ I can be glad for their happiness and thankful for the happiness I have know in my former marriage and family. I can and do celebrate their lives unselfishly.
  2. – my adult children’s safety, their financial stability and life choices –  Here is where I become fixated on controlling tactics to influence outcomes in others that will make me feel better about myself. The fact is agape love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things and never fails. Through Christ I can experience the peace of God through His love effectually embracing me spiritually. It is so powerful it enables me to experience faith overriding my fear. In the moment of someone’s crisis, I can “be” a staple of love, kindness, wisdom, hope and willing to help others – loved ones, strangers, members of the Body of Christ, etc.

In myself (my flesh) I am unwilling to be of help (service) to anyone unless I am getting something out of the experience. Selfishness will even make me lose out on capitalizing moments. However, through my spiritual position “IN CHRIST” I am fortified to be a vessel through which His love is freely demonstrated towards others. You too can experience the powerful, strengthening love of Christ Jesus compelling you to live in the Spirit and stay willing to help others in any way possible. With God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Rev. D

The Sharp Accuracy of the Bible

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I cut my hand this morning while preparing breakfast. The sharpness of the knife sliced more of my finger than the frozen meat needing cutting. My understanding of the cardiovascular system provided some quick thinking while my spirit became captivated with the LESSON GOD WAS PROVIDING ME IN THE EXPERIENCE.

Never allow the sudden entrance of painful experiences to distract you from the fact that GOD IS OMNISCIENT, OMNIPRESENT AND OMNIPOTENT.

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The aftermath of nearly slicing off the top of my right finger!

While the blood poured out of my finger and the intense, sharp sting of the running water made me cringe with concern – so much so I had to let the finger bleed until the thought to use gravity kicked in – the Holy Spirit was QUICK to remind me of Christ’s nail-scarred hands as He hung on the Cross BLEEDING for me. Since He was PRESENT in the moment  I was at peace with the trauma of seeing me bleed. Some would rush to the hospital with the cut I sustained-which may be NECESSARY in those cases – but God’s ALL KNOWING POWER prepared me for such a time as this.

OK the bleeding slowed considerably as the use of gravity was maintained for 11 minutes without interruption. Obviously the cooking stopped but more importantly the PRAYING began. There are many posts here on ConquerorShots chronicling the slogan “Prayer Changes Things.”  (Use the search bar to see) It soothed my doubts and calmed my fears. Suddenly I remembered one of the points from yesterday’s Cyber Bible Study   lesson I taught on Jacob. (You can sign up to get in on this free Spirit-filled weekly experience)

In Genesis 32:24-29 we see that Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord all night long. The Bible lesson for us today is that Jacob’s experience with God’s Word cut him so deep it soothed his fears and produced faith to trust in Him exclusively.  The text reveals that at this stage Jacob was a mature man, having persevered 20 years of toils prescribed by Laban. Jacob was a father of 12 with 2 wives who supported His Spiritual reliance on God. Jacob maintained an abundance of fear for he and his family’s lives were threatened due to the death sentence his brother Esau vowed years ago. 

Jacob wept bitterly with anguish and heartache having lived to realize that all his worldly treasures could not deliver him from the consequences of his sinful past having stolen Esau’s birthright and blessing. God’s Providence for Jacob is undeniable as is the EFFECTS HIS CONSISTENT WORD HAD ON JACOB. At the time of the text Jacob realizes DIVINE incentive to wrestle (pour out his heart’s pinned up anguish from adolescence, working for Laban, having to marry Leah and looking at her crooked eye as the mother of  7 children and all the years he had to wait for his love Rachel to birth Joseph) with the Second Person of the Godhead – Jesus Christ INCARNATE – to the point where God changed Jacob’s name to ISRAEL. The evidence of it being a physical battle was the onset of the hip joint injury Jacob sustained. C.B.S. classmates have learned the name change was OBVIOUSLY part of God’s Plan made before the world was formed. (Psalm 90:2) 

This name change is so significant it can’t be overlooked. The seed that was originally predicted in Genesis 3:15, promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was now set in motion to become a DIVINE, UNIMAGINABLE, LOVING, JUSTIFYING SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SINS AND MINE through the manifestation of the Nation of Israel. Jesus Christ – the Lamb of God, the way the truth and the life, the Word in the Beginning that was with God and was God which became flesh so that He could identify with His Creation and SAVE US FROM ETERNAL JUDGEMENT AND DAMNATION – IS THE SEED PROMISED TO THE PATRIARCHS. 

God confirmed Jacob’s anguish as He allowed me to nearly slice off my finger. THE WORD OF GOD CUT JACOB WITH SHARP ACCURACY over time whereas a physical knife can cut our flesh deeply and IMMEDIATELY. TODAY, children of God/members of the Body of Christ, experience God’s WORD with QUICKNESS, ACCURACY and POWERFUL LONG SUFFERING RESULTS. THESE RESULTS ARE POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST NOW LIVING INSIDE US THROUGH OUR FAITH IN CPR² ON A DAILY BASIS.

Without FAITH it is IMPOSSIBLE to experience the life-changing experiences God’s Word can demonstrate in your life

Jacob wrestled with Him in the Old Testament. We wrestle with Him daily as He is revealed in the Pauline Epistles as the Head of the Body/Lord and Savior and our righteousness and peace.

THE PRAYER: “Thank you Lord for allowing me to see how your Word operates on my soul like a knife on my flesh. My sin-sick soul is pierced with the DOCTRINE, CORRECTION, INSTRUCTION AND REPROOF OF YOUR WORD AS IT LIVES IN ME LEADING ME INTO ALL TRUTH FOR YOUR NAME’S SAKE WITH SHARP ACCURACY WHILE I LIVE THE CONQUEROR LIFESTYLE – in Jesus name amen!”

 

God’s Priceless Gift

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Now that Christmas is over many of you received all kinds of gifts – expensive, inexpensive, thoughtful, thoughtless, etc. – which you are now getting accustomed to having. For example, someone got a new coat and is getting used to it being in their closet. Now he can include it in his selection of outerwear choices or, more simply, she now has a coat to wear as opposed to not having one prior to the gifting. Anyway you look at it, the coat is a blessing and its new owner continues to receive the benefits of the blessing every time he/she wears it and it actually protects her from the elements of the world – the cold, rain, snow, high winds and stormy weather.

gift_box_red_bowGod‘s priceless gift, Jesus Christ, who’s birth we are to celebrate on Christmas day, is a far better gift than any earthly gift we can receive. But once Christmas is over, and the earthly gifts have lost their splendor, many people are still uncertain about the reason for the season. They go on living life, trying to be righteous in themselves, doing the best they believe they can to get on God’s good side. Many are attending all sorts of religious assemblies to manifest a sense of spiritual praise that is heavily influenced by human practices that ease God (who created the Heavens and the Earth) out and allowing for the God of this world – Satan – to have his way. Others are maintaining some appearances of goodness which they feel is their reasonable service to get to Heaven, when all the while they live in  fear, terror, and absolute abandon to the truth of their spiritual salvation and their place in eternal life.

The idea of Heaven seems to be a potential place of arrival often overshadowed by the fantasy of alternative ideas made possible by human imagination. Ecumenical ideas exist -brought about by devout, scholarly theologians – which offer competing approaches to reaching Heaven that are based in worldliness rather than God’s Word. Furthermore, the denouncement of Hell as being a real destination in God’s Word continues to have a growing audience.  it is much more comfortable to assert that Hell is here on Earth. Once the Word of God is challenged as one of many sources for man to understand the future, all kinds of human approaches to Hell become viable alternatives.  Human hope purports Hell as an uncertain aspect of the future that won’t be as bad as it is described. The worldwide deception of the existence of Hell is obviously winning as people are more focused on getting their Earthly wealth and prosperity, and living their best life now rather than getting ready for Judgement Day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ, the priceless gift of God, is Lord.

Thankfully, God’s grace is still making ways for His priceless gift to save lives. You may know someone, or you yourself may have found this “shot” in order to be a recipient of God’s gift to humans. Let any and all know that this good news is available. Here is how His priceless Gift can be yours too:

By faith you can receive His gift – which has 2 parts!
By faith, believe that Jesus Christ was born to die on the cross for your sin- past, present & future – and He was buried and rose up from the grave and now sits on the right hand of the Father making intercession for you daily.    ***He loves you unconditionally.***    As you trust Him daily in your prayers to Him  (end your prayers “in Jesus name Amen.”)  your faith will mature & your life will be enriched more than you can possibly imagine. That’s Part #1 – forgiveness of sin.
Part # 2 is the best one – you are GUARANTEED Eternal Life IN Heaven.  By faith you know that you will spend your life after this life with Him in Heaven.


Here are some verses to help u in your developing faith:
Romans 10:9– because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
 10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.                       Rom 10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.
Romans 12:1-2

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God — which is your reasonable service.
12:2 Do not be conformed to this present world,but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand,
2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.
3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received — that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures


Galatians 2:20&21 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God,who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!


Ephesians 2:8-10 (gift part #1) 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.


Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of (faith) witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,
:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

I John 1:8-10 8 If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

 

1John 5:13 (gift part #2) Assurance of Eternal Life    I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

May the grace of God wrap you in His everlasting care from this day forward. If we never meet in this Earthly life we will praise God together eternally in Heaven.
God bless you & Happy New Year.


Conqueror Ministries is always available for you to experience getting the “more” in Romans 8:37 on a daily basis.

Not Outside Then Inside………

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God gave us the cogent example of the Pharisee in the Gospels to demonstrate how human wisdom and human interpretation of God’s word leads to spiritual blindness. The Pharisees were experts in the letter of the law but they did not have a clue about the significance of Christ – whose identity originates in the Old Testament to prophets like Moses, who wrote the Torah.

Consider the lesson contained in the reaction Christ demonstrates towards the Pharisees.

Cup and Saucer
Cup and Saucer (Photo credit: Cookieater 2009) WHAT GOES INSIDE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE BEAUTY ON THE OUTSIDE

If you too are so focused on keeping your outside clean for others to think you have it all together, yet you continue to neglect God’s goodness to your spirit, through his love, forgiveness, grace and mercy at Calvary, then, like the Pharisees, you too are guilty of hypocrisy.



Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law — justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others.
 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel!
23:25 "Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites!You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too! (NET Bible)
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