Celebrating
Jesus
"And when one of them that sat at meat with
him
heard these things, he said unto him, blessed is
he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of
God." (Luke 14:15)
We are told those will be blessed who will eat
bread in the Kingdom of God. There is a
great celebration day coming. We can also
celebrate Jesus and the joy of our salvation as we
obey the Father's call and follow Him.
Each week many assemble to share words of the Lord
and set at his spiritual table.
Just as we may give unto others food for their
bodies we are also to share spiritual food for
their souls. As we may give to support
missions at home or aboard so others may be fed
physically, may we never neglect to also
share spiritual food with those outside our
gatherings or homes to provide spiritual food.
The true Bread of Life sent down from heaven is
the only thing which can satisfy souls. Many
have need of that which can build up the spiritual
man in preparation for all eternity.
Sometimes we must also provide for physical needs
before there will be acceptance of spiritual bread
needed for souls.
Prayers of faith are action prayers which will be
willing to help bring the answer. When we
pray for the poor, are we willing to share what we
have with them? When we pray for the lost to
be saved, are we actively involved in sharing the
gospel message with them? When we pray for
others to feel God's love who may be less lovely
to us, will we put aside our differences and love
them anyway? When we pray for God to bless others
financially to help spread the gospel message, are
we willing to help be the answer? These are
things which we must consider to be faithful
stewards of the things God has entrusted us
with.
As we celebrate Jesus, let us look around at the
many needs and not only pray about what we 'see or
hear', but see what we pray about as something we
may be the
answer to. God will place others upon our
hearts and minds when we have a desire to be
pleasing to Him. He loves us so much, and
gave his very best to us. May we give our
very best to Him and ask Him to speak to our
hearts today and always. May we seek to do
unto others as we would have others do unto us.
Blessings in Christ,
Jo Ann
J. P.'s Inspirations (c) 2001
Abiding in Christ is abiding in love.
"The greatest of these is "love".
Jesus
Made A Way
"I resolved to know nothing while I was with
you except Jesus Christ and Him
crucified." (1 Cor. 2:2)
Knowing Christ and his supreme sacrifice for us is
the most important thing we could ever focus
on. The Apostle Paul is speaking to the
Corinthians here and telling them he had not
focused on them, but on the Lord Jesus Christ and
his power. Do we have our minds set on
"knowing Christ" and seeking
Him? As the words to the song read,
"open our eyes, Lord; we want to see
Jesus." We can reach out by faith and
touch him as we seek Him in prayer and follow Him.
We should also look at our lives and examine to
see if our main focus is Jesus first. When
we look toward God regardless of the
circumstances, everything seems to fall into place
and things seem to go 'right' for us.
'Knowing nothing except Christ' will eliminate the
many hindrances that may come our way. When
others do not agree with us, problems arise,
sickness comes our way, friends or loved ones fail
us; we can resolve to "know nothing"
except Christ and the cross of Calvary. The
burden or worries that "could" or
"would be" present will seem to flee as
Christ fills our soul with his peace.
Things that may seem to irritate us can actually
become a joy to us when we focus first on
"knowing Christ" and trusting him with
all the problems of life. He will carry them
and give a peace that we cannot understand or
explain. "Knowing Christ only" in
the unpleasant circumstances of life will carry us
through them and on toward our eternal
reward. We may see the problems, but
"knowing Him" as our number one focus
gets us through life's many circumstances which we
each must walk through.
If we have a bad day, we don't have to focus on
the day but on the one who created it. He
knows all about each day of our lives as "our
times are in his hands". Let Christ
reign today in power and might. He will open
our eyes and let us behold the beauty of the cross
by His Spirit. If there is nothing new we
know, simply "knowing Christ" is knowing
'all we need' to make it through this life and all
eternity.
Be blessed today,
In Christ,
Jo Ann
J. P.'s Inspirations
You
Never Know
You never know when someone
might catch a dream from you.
Or something you say may
open up the windows
of a mind that seeks light;
The way you live may not matter at all,
But you never know, it might.
And just in case it could be
that another's life, through you,
might possibly change for the better
with a better and brighter view,
it seems it might be worth a try
at pointing the way to the right;
Of course, it may not matter at all,
but then again, it might.
Source Unknown
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