A Piece of Clay

Are you willing to be shape by God?
In Psalm 139, David describes God as fashioning his tiny body together in the darkness of his mother's womb. [verse 13]

Genesis 2:7 records the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Even as God have shaped us since we are in our mother's womb, let us continue to submit to Him, as he mould us daily in our walk with Him - like clay in the hand of the potter.

We need to regularly read the Bible and pray for the Holy Spirit to help us understand what it says? Nothing is more important than spending time with God each day to allow him to shape us into the person he wants us to be. There is no short cut to spiritual intimacy; ever Christian needs to cultivate a lifestyle of persistent prayer and intimacy with God.

Jeremaiah 18:6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

How is your health, spiritually?

Spiritual health is not determined by how we look, but by how we live. It is not enough for us to talk about faith, we must live out our faith. The Lord calls us to be people of inner substance, not just outward appearance - thus we are to demonstrate the reality of His presence in us by an attitude of humility.

Psalm 139:23-24 records "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Even as we ask God to search us, we need to humble ourselves as God reveal to us our attitude and behavior that need to be change.

Firstly, do not harbor any BITTERNESS, as bitterness only consumes the vessel that contains it. Secondly, avoid clinging to critical attitudes, and thinking too highly of oneself.

Mark 7:21-23 "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

If we allow God to controls our inside, then we will be genuine on the outside.

Warnings !!!

The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death. - Proverbs 13:14

God has provided us with "warnings" for our protection. The book of Proverbs is filled with warnings about evil and it encourages us to seek wisdom. In Proverbs 13, the principal author Solomon, provides God's instructions for His people to deal successfully with the practical affairs of everyday life.
verse 1 - advices us to heed the instructions and rebukes of our father while verse 3 reminded us to guard our mouth. Verses 7 to 11 cautious us not to occupied ourselves with materialistic things and avoid dishonesty.

In Joel 2:12-17, God used the prophet Joel to encourage His people to pay attention to the warning light on their spiritual life. Prosperity had caused them to become complacent and negligent in their commitment to the Lord. Their faith had degenerated into empty formalities and their lives into moral bankruptcy. So God sent a plague of locusts to ruin crops in order to get His people's attention, causing them to change their behaviour and turn to Him with their whole heart.

First John 1:9 reminds us : "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

TO AVOID GOING WRONG, FOLLOW GOD'S LEADING.

TO BUILD A GODLY LIFE, LET GOD BE THE ARCHITECT AND HIS WORD THE BLUEPRINT.

The Pursuit Of Happiness

Everyone is looking for happiness, and people follow many avenues trying to find it. They look for it in money, fancy cars, self-improvement programs, parties, luxurious homes, or promoting a cause.

That's a wrong list. The right one is found in Matthew 5. Jesus taught us that deep and lasting happiness comes from being right with God. He said we are blessed, or happy, when we are :
Poor in spirit - recognizing our desperate need for God.
Mourning - realizing the awfulness of sin and being genuinely sorry for it.
Meek - demonstrating self-control, even when we are mistreated.
Hungry and thirsty for righteousness - longing to be holy and pure.
Merciful - showing mercy to others, just as God shows mercy to us.
Pure in heart - being single minded and sincere in our devotion to Christ.
Peacemakers - sharing the peace Christ offers, and promoting peace with one another.
Persecuted - being willing to suffer for Jesus' sake.

Looking for happiness? Follow Jesus' way.
[Extracted from Our Daily Bread written by Dave Branon]

HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU ARE, NOT ON WHAT YOU HAVE.

Training For Life

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. - 1 Timothy 4:7

Spiritual fitness takes much more than a relaxed approach to live a God-honoring life. In a culture marked by false teaching, along with extreme forms of self-indulgence and self-denial, Paul wrote : Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. [1 Timothy 4:7-8]

Our bodies and our minds are to be dedicated to God and prepared for His service (Romans 12:1-2). The goal is not spiritual muscle-flexing but godliness - a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Vigorous study of the Word, focused prayer, and bodily discipline are all part of the process. How well we train greatly affects how well we run our race of life.

GODLY EXERCISE IS THE KEY TO GODLY CHARACTER.

[Extract from Our Daily Bread - written by David McCasland]

Can You Hear God ?

John 10:4 .... and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.


Hebrew Chapter 12, verses 14 - 16 listed three main things that causes us to be separated from God - Bitterness, sexually immoral and godlessness. These three things causes us to be unholy; and when we are unholy, God cannot be near us and be with us. Leviticus 19:2 reminded us ..."Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy". Without holiness we cannot see the Lord and hear Him. [Hebrew 12:14]
If a Christian cannot hears from God, his life is without power.

If we are to hear God speaking to our hearts through His Word, we need to pull away from the noise of the crowd. Only when we learn to be quiet can we really understand what it means to commune with the God who cares for us.

To hear from God we need to be HOLY as God can only be found in HOLINESS.
To hear from God we must acknowledge that God is Almighty, thus we need to be HUMBLE.
To hear from God we need to have a HUNGER for HIM.

Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;

Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Proverbs 28:9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God;......."

TO HEAR GOD'S VOICE, TURN DOWN THE WORLD'S VOLUME.
GOD SPEAKS TO THOSE WHO ARE QUIET BEFORE HIM