Believe Right!

Believer, beware of "men of God" that are always pointing at curses as the reason for any hitch in your life. Proverbs 26:2 says: "An undeserved curse will be powerless to harm you. It may flutter over you like a bird, but it will find no place to land." Before God's Grace (Christ Himself) found us, we all deserved the curse because the curse comes with trying to keep the law (human striving at attaining godliness) in order to get right with God: Galatians 3:10- "But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”" No one can obey ALL the commands in God's Book of the Law so all of us deserved the curse. All have sinned.... But in Christ, we are not under law but under Grace- "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under...

Flustered about your imperfect prayers? Don't worry! Christ says: "This is your Father you are dealing with, and He knows better than you what you need." Matthew 6. Have you ever wondered why we cherish and prefer our kids' badly-drawn greeting cards and their amateurish hand-crafted gifts to the best designed presents in the world? It is because we are made in God's image. In Christ, we are God's greatly beloved little children. Our imperfect prayers are more acceptable to our Abba Father than those of ten thousand "prayer warriors."

No One better to interpret the Word than the Word Himself. He says in one of the most popular Bible passages- John 3:14-16: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." Christ draws a parallel between the way that the Israelites who  looked  at the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness got to escape death and the way that we get to “ not perish but have eternal life.”  His typology here is the key to understanding what  looking unto Jesus  is all about:  believing in Jesus. In Christ's words, we see how it is  only  utterly helpless sinners who p...

Prayer is communication with God that is a function of the relationship that we have with our heavenly Father in Christ. It is akin to communication between children and their parents. Some kids love to be with and chat endlessly with their parents, miss them when they are away,  never  want to upset them and are always checking in on them because they know that their parents love them, give them the proper training and correction for their profit, will sacrifice anything for them without asking them to first go and fast or sow a seed, cannot sleep when they are sick (even if the sickness is the child's fault) and will help them out of even troubles of their own making without giving them  any  terms and conditions for receiving. The kids know that they are loved unconditionally and as a result, never want to disappoint their parents. But other kids can't get away from their parents fast enough! They only talk with their parents when they need something. They exp...

Forgive in order to be forgiven? 100% God's word— but only applicable in the lives of all who are asking forgiveness or anything else of the Father  apart from the name of Jesus - those who are under Law. That pretty much covers everyone that Christ was addressing during the Sermon on the Mount where He taught His listeners how to pray The Lord's Prayer. Christ said to His disciples in John 16: 23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me...

For all who believe in Jesus Christ, God the Righteous Judge sees us as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins" - Romans 5:16- "And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.” Beloved of God, beware of “spiritual wickedness in high places” pastors whose trade is describing this truth of Grace (God's word!) as “blasphemy”/“license to sin.” Such point out sin and ungodliness in man and then promote the attainment of righteousness/godliness (be like God) by human effort aka the arm of flesh. This is the same seemingly good but deathly false doctrine that Satan used to deceive Eve in Eden. Peddlers of this false doctrine never point you to Jesus Christ the Tree of Life who gave His life to make us godly/righteous in God's sight (Romans 5:9) and to free us from ...

Beloved of God, consider Matthew 5:6, a part of Christ's Sermon on the Mount- "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." See Luke's version in Luke 6:20- " Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh." Luke's version is not referring to hunger for physical food. No one was physically hungry in the presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ who multiplied two fish and five loaves of bread to feed 5,000. Matthew and Luke are speaking of the same "hunger "- a hunger and thirst for Righteousness that can never be satisfied to God's standard by human effort at obeying the Law- "For no person will be justified [freed of guilt and declared righteous] in His sight by [trying to do] the works of the Law. For through the Law we become conscious of sin [and the recognition of sin directs us toward repentance, but provides no reme...