Naaman's Servant Girl

One of my heroes is a child. I hope she made it to heaven because I want to meet her. I don't even know her name.

"Now [raiding] bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, 'If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy'"(2 Kings 5:2,3).

If I had been captured by raiders, taken from my family, and now forced to work as an unpaid slave for some foreigner, I would hate it. Worse-Naaman was a high-ranking military officer in the dreaded Aramean army, Israel's bitter foes on their troubled northern frontier.

I would work every day in a cold rage, burying my feelings under a bland mask and plotting either escape or revenge. Instead, this little girl showed kindness to her owner. She felt sorry for him because he had leprosy and urged him to see Elisha, Israel's great man of God.

Living in the Balance of Grace & Faith

At our Gospel Truth Seminars, I always take time before meetings to talk with friends and partners. One of the most common questions I'm asked is "What do I need to do to receive the blessings of God?" It is usually followed by this explanation: "I have been praying, reading my Bible, going to church, and paying my tithes, yet I don't seem to be able to get my prayers answered."

In that question and explanation lies the root of the problem: They have fallen into the trap of linking God's response to their performance. They have not properly understood the balance of grace and faith and their relationship to each other.

By definition, the word grace means unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor. Therefore, the good news is, grace has nothing to do with you. Grace existed before you ever came to be. Another way of saying it is, grace is God's part. Faith is defined as being a positive response to what God has already provided by grace. In other words, faith is your positive response to God's grace, or faith only appropriates what God has already provided for you. Therefore, faith is your part.

Hymn Hypocrisy

Do you ever feel like a total hypocrite when you realize what is coming out of your mouth at church?

I don’t mean the words of worship and praise for God—those always sound right. And I don’t mean the words of confession of sin or the words of prayer. I am referring to the words of hymns that describe our lives as Christians.

Take, for instance, Frances Havergal’s famous hymn of personal dedication, “Take My Life and Let It Be.” The fourth stanza always makes me feel kind of sheepish (we’d blush if that were possible in this age of no shame): “Take my silver and my gold; Not a mite would I withhold.” I think of my decades of selfishness. Can you sing that stanza with a straight face and mean it?

Why Our Walk With Jesus Seems So Hard Some Days

Written by Rev. Daniel Forster

“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:19)
Somehow upon receiving the freedom that comes when we accept Christ into our lives, we come up with a false notion that following Jesus is going to be easy. Because of this false notion, many folks who decide to give their lives to Christ end up returning to the life they were saved from. The enemy plants lies in their heads – that God is not with them or that the freedom they briefly experienced was not meant for them.

All we have to do is look at what Jesus faced and come to terms with the fact that we will face these things too. It is not that God is not with us, nor is His grace is unobtainable. These lies are tools used by the enemy to deceive us. There are four things I want to share with you today, that Jesus experienced and we will too.

Stick to Your Calling

"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God.... Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." (2 Timothy 1:6,9)

Are you doing what God called you to do?

If you haven't ever thought about it before, that may sound like an odd question to you. You may be tempted to shrug it off and say, "Oh, I'm not really called to do anything. I'm not a pastor or a teacher or a minister of any kind...I guess I'm just what you might call a little finger on the Body of Christ."

Is There Such a Thing As Coincidence?

Jon Walker

“Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, ‘Would you give me a drink of water?’” (John 4:6-7 MSG)

During this week of Thanksgiving, give some thought to this question: Is there such a thing as coincidence?

In Kingdom reality, there simply cannot be. Random doesn’t happen in God’s Kingdom. Oswald Chambers says God is the Great Engineer, creating circumstances to bring about moments in our lives of divine importance, leading us to divine appointments.

Was it a coincidence that Jesus came upon the woman at the well? Was she just a random woman who walked into a discussion of God’s grace and omnipotence and then told a whole village about God’s forgiveness? Would God have left that all to chance?

Would he do any less in the details of your life?

How To Be A Sexy Christian Wife

I’m slowly developing my own philosophy on what a marriage blog should be about. I really like the Red Pill Philosophy written by Athol Kay of MMSL,

Red Pill Philosophy (Sexy Christian Wife style):

Men need to be alpha (manly, attractive, dominant, teasing, financially stable, the captain of their marriage, physically fit, entertaining) and beta (kind, servant-like, loving, good father, responsible)

Women need to be alpha (pretty, crazy into sex, feminine, physically fit, entertaining) and beta (keeps home clean, cooks meals, kind, loving, respectful to husband, submissive, good mother, responsible)

One Year After The Affair

Seven years ago today, everything changed. With four words, I cost my wife, family and so many around me what seemed like everything.

“I’m having an affair.”

With those words, my sin was exposed and life as we knew it came to an end. Over the next two days, God would crush my pride, give me a heart of repentance and lead me to an amazing Christian counselor.

In His Presence

SUSANNA WESLEY AND CHARLES WALLACE JR. (ED.)

 

13

 

0

 

0

 

272

 

Endeavor to keep a due guard over your words, that you may habitually speak nothing but what is true on all occasions. Consider what a high offence it is against the God of truth to speak falsely, either through design or inadvertence.

In telling any story or relating past actions be careful to speak deliberately and calmly, ever remembering you are in the presence of the great and holy God. Every sin is a contradiction and offence to some divine attribute. Lying is opposite and offensive to the truth of God.

Whenever you find any extraordinary assistance from the Spirit of God, either by illuminating the mind, strengthening the soul or raising the affections, be sure for some time after to keep a stronger guard upon yourself. I have often observed that after the greatest enlargements in prayer and the greatest professions of devotedness to God, we are permitted to fall into great temptations.

I humbly conceive this to be commonly for one of these reasons: (1) to try the sincerity of the mind, to show us whether or not we are in our outward conversation the same we profess to be in our retirements; (2) to humble the mind, which upon such occasions is too apt to be elated.

A New Song

Written by Barbara Alpert

Rediscover the heart of worship with today’s free lesson: Celebrating God

  “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to or God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”(Psalm 40:1-3, emphasis mine)  

God seeks to put a new song in the mouths of many; a song of victory and praise in lieu of heartache. Out of love, God seeks to touch countless lives with mercy, grace, favor, restoration, and breakthroughs beyond reckon. It’s awesome when God steps in and does the seemingly impossible. Those touched by God’s abundant love cannot help but to sing praises unto Him, the maker of new songs.

LIVE EACH DAY AS YOUR LAST

[God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:4

On that fateful Sunday morning in January 1996, Joy Dimerin’s beloved fiancé, Severino Bagtasos, was killed when a lone gunman stormed into the church that he pastored and shot him twice. Severino was killed on the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in the predominantly Muslim town of Alat on Jolo Island, in southern Philippines. He had a zeal in reaching Muslims for Christ. Joy and Severino were supposed to get married in May 1997.

“By the grace of God, I am doing well and still enjoying the ministry,” testifies Joy. She admits that feelings of loneliness and emptiness were the most difficult things she faced after her beloved Severino died. “I was afraid that I wouldn’t find a godly man like him again,” confides Joy. “I learned to see God’s purpose in my life,” Joy added. “I learned to accept whatever circumstances come my way and look at them as God’s instruments in molding me and in making me a better person. Through [Severino’s] life I learned commitment to the ministry and to prayer. Through his death, I learned to always be prepared to face the Author and Finisher of my faith. Through this tragedy, I learned to live each day as though it were my last.”

You are God’s Masterpiece

by LEWIS

You are God’s masterpiece, a work of his own hands.

No one else has a vote on who you are. You’re free to be you instead of imitating someone else. You’re free to use your unique, God-given gifts, and there’s no need to compare your gifts to the gifts of others.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them —yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. – 1 Corinthians 15:10

Discover What Grace Can Do

"And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." (Acts 4:33)

Most of us don't have any idea what grace really is. Oh, we know some basic facts about it. We know we were saved by it (Eph. 2:8). But we don't even begin to understand the real power it can release in our lives now, today!

If you want to get a picture of what grace can really do, look at what happened to the early Christians in Acts 4. They'd been threatened by the religious leaders of Jerusalem and commanded not to speak or teach any more in Jesus' Name. So, they were praying about the situation.

Roughly, what they said was this, "Now Lord, we've been threatened, but we aren't about to quit preaching and go hide under some religious rug. Just turn the power up, give us boldness, and we'll go on."

I’m Looking for my Missing Piece

“I’m Looking For My Missing Piece”

Sheldon “Shel” Silverstein had one of the more extraordinary literary, music, and art careers you will ever read about, though many people will not recognize his name or his face. He was the eccentric combination of Chicago-born Jewish kid who became a country music legend, a composer, a cartoonist, the author of children’s books, and a columnist for Playboy magazine. Quite the resume.

His two most famous works are on opposite ends of the creative spectrum. One is a country music song made famous by Johnny Cash for which Silverstein won a Grammy in 1970, a song entitled “A Boy Named Sue.” The other work is a children’s picture book he published in the 1960s titled “The Giving Tree.” Check it out at your local library.

Joni Eareckson Tada Dismayed by Robertson's Alzheimer's Remarks

By Joseph Perkins , Christian Post Contributor

A widely recognized disability advocate is criticizing Pat Robertson for his remarks.

Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, is now embroiled in a firestorm he unwittingly created when he advised viewers of “The 700 Club” that they would be justified in divorcing a spouse afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

On Thursday, Joni Eareckson Tada, founder and chief executive officer of Joni and Friends International Disability Center, a Christian-based organization based in Agoura Hills, Calif., issued a statement condemning Robertson's remarks.

Tada was “dismayed,” she said, that the host of CBN's most popular program suggested "Alzheimer's disease is a kind of death" that makes it morally acceptable to dispose of an afflicted husband or wife. “When a Christian leader views marriage on a sliding scale, what does this say to the millions of couples who must deal daily with catastrophic injuries and illnesses?” Tada asked.

WHAT GOD HAS PROVIDED

Galatians 6:3 - If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself

 Satan promotes his lies in the world by encouraging us to self-deception. We deceive ourselves when we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. "But I know who I am," you say. "I'm a child of God, I'm seated with Christ in the heavenlies, I can do all things through Him. That makes me pretty special." Yes, you are very special in the eyes of God. But you are what you are by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). 


The life you live, the talents you possess, and the gifts you have received are not personal accomplishments; they are expressions of God's grace. Never take credit for what God has provided; rather, take delight in accomplishing worthwhile deeds which glorify the Lord.


Furthermore, we deceive ourselves when we think we are wise in this age (1 Corinthians 3:18, 19). It is the height of intellectual arrogance to assume wisdom without the revelation of God. "Professing to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:22). 

What Can We Learn From Mary, Jesus' Mom?

by Jeff Baxter

The Gospel of Matthew and Luke teach us many things about the Savior's mom.  Mary's life is worthy for us to look at this Christmas season.  What can we learn from her?

First, God found favor in Mary, not because Mary was perfect and sinless, but because God's grace was on her.  We might assume that she was close to God in her fellowship, but this was not the reason for her finding favor.  Verse 28 says, ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Although Mary played a special role in the redemptive plan of God, if you know God, you are highly favored too and you can have the same kind of relationship and fellowship with God that Mary must have had.  Ephesians 1:6 uses the same word here for “favored” when it says that “his glorious grace…which he has freely given.”  Mary was a recipient of the same grace that you have received!  That is why you are highly favored. Because of God’s great grace! 

Downward Steps of Sin

by Charles R. Swindoll

Read 2 Samuel 13:1–30; 18:24–33

Tracing the downward steps in David's eroding family relationships, we now have Absalom murdering Amnon, a brother murdering a brother. "The sword will never depart out of your household, David." Here he is groaning under the ache of that prediction.

Now if that's not bad enough, after Absalom kills David's son, he then flees: rebellion. When Absalom fled, he went to Geshur. That's where his grandfather lived—his mother's father, who was a king in Geshur. He can't live at home, so he'll go stay with granddad while he licks his wounds and sets up his plan later on to lead a revolt against his daddy. And that's precisely what he does. Absalom leads a conspiracy against his father.

Later, Joab murders Absalom. The sword has still not departed from David's house.

Will we be able to see and know our friends and family members in Heaven?

Many people say that the first thing they want to do when they arrive in heaven is see all their friends and loved ones who have passed on before them. 

In eternity, there will be plenty of time to see, know, and spend time with our friends and family members. However, that will not be our primary focus in heaven. We will be far more occupied with worshipping God and enjoying the wonders of heaven. 

Our reunions with loved ones are more likely to be filled with recounting the grace and glory of God in our lives, His wondrous love, and His mighty works. We will rejoice all the more because we can praise and worship the Lord in the company of other believers, especially those we loved on earth.

What does the Bible say about whether we will be able to recognize people in the afterlife? King Saul recognized Samuel when the witch of Endor summoned Samuel from the realm of the dead (1 Samuel 28:8-17). 

Ruth - A Virtuous Woman

• References: Ruth 1-4; Matthew 1:5
  
• Memory Verses:  Ruth 1:16-17
  ; Ruth 2:12
  ; Ruth 3:11
  ; Proverbs 22:1
  ; Proverbs 31:10
  
• Dates:  1135?-1050? BC

Ruth has always been one of my favorite women in the Bible. She’s one of two women after whom a book is named and she is the only woman in the Bible specifically said to be virtuous. Not only that, but she isn’t even a Jew. She’s a Moabitess. She married a Jewish man and then watched while her father-in-law, her brother-in-law and her husband died. Then, she followed her mother-in-law back to Israel. To a country she had never been to before. She left her family, her gods and her nationality. And she traveled to a land she had never seen where she knew no one. She was a foreigner and an outsider determined to find the God of Israel.

Ruth is a picture of God’s grace in offering salvation to Gentiles. What did she see in her husband and his family that drew her to God? God blessed her devotion to her mother-in-law, Naomi. She married and had a little boy who became the grandfather of David. David’s great-grandmother was Ruth. Did he know her? We aren’t told, but I’m sure at the very least he heard stories about this godly woman. By the way, did I mention that she’s the first woman on record who proposed to her husband?

Look up the following words in a dictionary and give the definition:

• Sojourn (1:1)
• Steadfast (1:18)
• Suffice (2:14)
• Virtuous (3:11)
• Nourish (4:15)
• Virtue
• Ruthless

1. What one word would you use to describe Ruth?
2. What made Ruth a virtuous woman?
3. What is the significance of there being a whole book about Ruth?
4. What verses from this book really speak to your heart?
5. Read Ruth 2:12
   , why do you think it refers to “wings”?
6. Who is Boaz a picture of?
7. Is there anything Ruth should have done differently?
8. Look up Ruth 1:8
   , 2:20
   , and 3:10
   . How are kindly and kindness in these verses similar and how do they differ in meaning?
9. What was the name of Ruth’s first husband?
10. What was the name of Ruth’s son?
11. Who is Ruth’s great-grandson?
12. Who was Ruth’s sister-in-law?
13. What great compliment did the women of Bethlehem-Judah give to Ruth in chapter 4?
14. After all the pain and suffering that Ruth went through losing her father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband all at once and then being deserted by her sister-in-law as well, what do you think still drew her to God?
15. In what areas of Ruth’s life is the hand of God visible?
16. Here are 3 verses from Proverbs 31. Find matching verses in Ruth.

• Proverbs 31:10
  
• Proverbs 31:23
  
• Proverbs 31:31
  

Bonus Question: Where did the Moabites come from? (Read Genesis 19:37
)

Note: An ephah (2:17) is about a bushel.

Fill in the blanks in this passage from Ruth 1:16-17

“Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from ________________ after thee: for whither thou _________, I will ________; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy ___________ shall be ________ people, and _________ God __________ God: Where thou diest, will I ________ and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but ____________ part ___________ and me.”

Kate Reagan

http://www.learnthebible.org/ruth-a-virtuous-woman.html