Tag Archive | #Jesus Christ

Are your conversations pleasing to God?

Sep13

Question: Why do some Believers speak to people in ways that would not please God?

Answer: Some Believers don’t realize that all their conversations are important to God! Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 NKJV) If you are speaking rudely to people, cursing, or telling lies about others, are you being “salt and light” for the Lord? No!

As you study God’s word, you’ll find many other scriptures where Believers can learn about the importance of our words. For example, Proverbs 15:4 says, “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”

In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul tells the people to, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” (Colossians 4:6)

Christians must remember that when we treat people harshly with our words — spoken or written — we reflect a bad example of God’s love to others. After people witness such evil language from us, how then can we expect to come back and try to tell them about the love of Jesus Christ? How do we also witness to them, as we are supposed to do, about their need to be saved from their sins? Since they aren’t witnessing that type love from us, they may rightly see us as hypocrites!

Also, Believers need to remember that people — especially our young people — are watching them and listening to them even though they might not admit it. What are they to think if they witness a Christian always speaking angrily or negatively? They are certainly not seeing this as you reflecting the joy of the Lord!

Obviously, we aren’t always going to be happy about every situation we have to deal with. There will be times when we are going to be upset and disappointed. But even during these difficult times, we must remember to pray. Pray for God to give us the patience, wisdom, peace, and guidance we need so that our conversations continue to reflect our faith and hope in the Lord.

Again, it helps for Believers to reflect on God’s Holy Word. For example, Nehemiah 8:10 says, “…Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Also, in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he tells them: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for edification (building up), that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)

So, Believers, remember that God cares about all of our conversations! Make sure as we communicate with others, we speak as if Jesus Christ is right beside us listening…because He is!

Being thankful for NOT getting what you wanted!

Nov9

Question:  Should we give thanks for unanswered prayers?

Answer:  Yes, give thanks to God because He always answers our prayers.  Remember, His answer may be yes, no, or not yet, but He always answers.  We are reminded of this in       1 John 5:14-15, ” Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (NKJV)  Note that what we pray for must still go along with God’s will for our lives.  God’s will and our desires may not match.  That said, God very much wants us to continue to pray to Him for the things we feel we want or need.  We usually enthusiastically give God thanks when He answers our prayers with a “yes.”  Of course, when we do this, we are doing the right thing.  However, it’s very important to remind ourselves to give thanks even when God’s answer is “no.”  Believers know that while we may think we know what is best for us, God truly knows what’s best for us in every situation of our lives.  We must also know that our ways are not necessarily His ways, and our preferred timing for things to happen, is not always His timing for things to happen.

Here are two examples of God knowing what’s best for us better than wedo.  Consider the twenty-something young lady who has a strong  desire to get married and even has her eyes set on the exact young man she considers her perfect match.  He’s handsome, successful in his career, and regularly attends church.  She prays to God to bless her to get married to this fine young man.  After the two have dated for a while, the young man seems to lose interest in her and goes off to eventually marry someone else.  Our young lady is crushed, and she doesn’t understand why God didn’t answer her prayer with a “yes.”   Twenty years later, we find our young lady happily married to a wonderful man she first met in her thirties.  She is surprised to learn that the young man she prayed to marry decades earlier is now on his third divorce.  According to his ex-wives, he had been a terrible husband.  Our lady is now very happy God answered “no” to her earlier prayer.

A different example:   a middle-aged man prays to God to get a new career position that he thinks is just right for him.  He’d be working for a great company and making a much larger salary than he’s making in his current position — something especially important as he starts to get closer to retirement age.   However, this man watches in disbelief as someone else gets that prized position.  He can’t understand what he had done so wrong that God would not reward him with the job of his heart’s desire.  Later, it turns out the person taking his dream job lasts less than a year.  The company down-sizes and that position gets eliminated.  That person is now unemployed.  Our middle-aged man is happy he still had his job.  He’s also very happy that God answered his earlier prayer with a “no.”

If we are being really honest with ourselves,  most of us can probably recall times in our lives when we were very upset when God said “no” to us.  Likewise, as in these two examples, we can look back at one or more of these “no’s” and be thankful.  We now shudder at the thought of how things would be if God’s answer had been “yes.”  As believers, we know that we will never understand in this lifetime, why God answers us in the ways He does.  Also, God knows, understands, and cares when we are hurt and disappointed when He doesn’t answer all of our prayers with a “yes.”  He wants us to trust that He knows what is best and take comfort in this knowledge.  We must pray to have stronger faith and trust in God.  Then, we will be spiritually equipped for those times when we need to be thankful for NOT getting what we wanted!

(Re-posted from my 11/21/2013 Blog Post)

Helpful Links:

Focus on the Family    http://www.focusonthefamily.com

Crown Financial Ministries   http://www.crown.org

The Christian Broadcasting Network   http://www.cbn.com

World Magazine        www.worldmag.com

A Family Needs a Firm Foundation

Mar22

Question:  In these challenging social times, how do I help my children be strong Christians?

Answer:  It’s true that traditional Christian values are being challenged from every direction.  If your son or daughter attends public schools or universities, they are most likely being taught to believe ideas and ways that are contrary to God’s biblical teachings…in addition to the regular reading, writing, and math.  Most parents are not aware of this.  That’s why parents need to be very active in keeping up with what’s going on in their child’s school.  However, the bottom line is that parents cannot be with their child every minute.  Therefore, it becomes even more important that parents are teaching their children from a very early age what exactly their family believes.  Proverbs 22:6 tells us to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  This training will be their firm foundation.

Sadly, too many Christians today don’t even know themselves what God teaches us in His Word-The Holy Bible.  As Christians, we need to read and study the Bible for ourselves.  Plus, it is extremely important to attend a true Bible believing, Bible teaching church.  Be aware that many places call themselves a church, but they don’t even teach that the Bible is true.  If you are in a church like this, you and your family need to leave NOW!  Learn God’s Word!  Being strong in the Lord starts with you and your children understanding that we are all sinners in need of a Savior.  Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, is that Savior.  Once we ask Jesus to forgive us our sins, repent, and accept Him as our Savior, we can go on to grow in our faith in the Lord!  Know that we cannot strive in this world by our own strength.  God gives us His Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us through this life…until we die from this world, and move on to eternal life in Heaven!

Helpful Links:

Focus on the Family          www.focusonthefamily.com

Crown Financial Ministries  www.crown.org

The Christian Broadcasting Network  www.cbn.com

World Magazine          www.worldmag.com