JoanG

We need to keep alert of our prayers. We need to have a constant ongoing conversation with God. We can not become lax because of the evil that is constantly around us. We need to learn what to pray for. We need to learn what our needs are and not just ask for something because we want it. This is the only way to remain in the grace of God. It keeps us from turning our hearts hard and unloving.

Prayer is the one thing that keeps us right with God. It keeps us from sinning. It helps us to keep the grace of God. It will help us to fight off all evil that is around us. To pray in the Spirit means to open our hearts, minds and souls to God. It means to pray for all those that need it. It means to go before the Lord with all kinds of things. It means to have a conversation with God on a daily and ongoing basis.

God loves us. he wants to have very strong relationships with all humans. He wants us to belong to him again. However, our sinful nature keeps us from receiving his love and grace. I have been guided by God in many ways. I have now found that the more that I listen to God, my heart becomes a lot lighter. I know that I can walk with more confidence knowing that God has my back. To get to this point, I have had to open my heart and my soul to God. I have tried very hard to walk a better walk. I have given up more control of my life to God and Jesus. I am doing things that I have never felt possible or things that I have thought I would ever do or be willing to do.

I have seen many people going through all the motions but they had very hard hearts. They actually refused to listen to people. They only thought about the money aspect. We need to know what is in our hearts. We need to know what it in our hearts and souls. We need to be honest with ourselves. I know that I have a personal relationship with God and Jesus. I don't feel that the rules of many are as important as my friendship with Jesus. Rules only keep people trapped in a cage. There is no free will or free thinking or free feeling. When we are able to put our whole being into our relationships we are more fulfilled personally. we are committed to a true relationship with that person. We have the ultimate of relationships at that point. And when we hit that point with God and Jesus, we are able to say that we really love, honor and respect them for who they really are.

Humans never really believe that there is a dark side of anything. They are constantly telling themselves that everything is going to be okay. We want to believe that we can do everything for ourselves. We do not want to have to trust anyone else. we need to help people by holding bible study classes. We need to encourage people to allow Christ into their lives. We can show them how people who turn their backs on God end up. We need to gently but firmly let them know the chaos that can and will happen.

I really feel that this corresponds to the second coming of Christ. The angels will sound a loud trumpet call. It will gather all of the believers from the four corners of the earth.

Basically, this verse is saying that the corpses will get to their feet. the earth will give birth to the dead. Resurrection in a time to sing. We will be able to rejoice. According to the New Testament, this resurrection will come when Jesus Christ comes back at the end of times.

The key of perfect peace is to lean on God for support. Allow him to take care of all of your troubles. Allow him to support you and help you with all of your life's decisions. However, when we get distracted from trusting in the Lord, our lives become chaos. We lose our way. Fear, anxiety and depression take over. The Lord, who was from the beginning of time to the end of time, is there for us. He is a strong and constant figure. He is known as the Rock Eternal. He has no beginning and no end.

The term, "he will swallow up death forever," is meant to help us to accept that the death of our loved ones is only temporary. On the last day, we will be reunited with them. It is to give us hope that they have only gone to be with the Lord in heaven. It sometimes has us believe that they have gone to a better place. Nobody wants to believe that this is all that there is. Nobody want death to be the final ending of our existence. We look for a more comforting answer and we find it in the text "he will swallow up death forever." We look to a future beyond death. We look to our eternal life with the Father in heaven. We look to another life that will have no end.

In the time of Isaiah, the one thing that everyone looked forward to was the coming of the Messiah. This, to the Jewish Nation, was to be a time of great celebration. And with a great celebration there was always a feast. The people always looked for a great ruler with great wealth, great power and great wisdom. They looked to have the best of everything when the Messiah was to come. When Jesus returns to earth again, on the last days, those that were faithful to him are going to have a great celebration. There will be dancing in the streets. People of true faith will have eternal life. There will be universal peace.

Jesus is telling us that he always exists. He was there at the beginning of time. he is here now and he will always be in the future. Jesus the son has always been with God the father.

The devil is nothing but a liar. He will cover the truth anyway that he can so that he comes out looking good. He tries to convince people that the fantasies in his head are real. He has a hard time telling reality from fantasy.

The majority of the people on earth are sinful and very disobedient to the word of the Lord. He will use the end of time as a great punishment. This will be much more intense than Sodom and Gomorrah. People do not want to think about any kind of destruction. The human mind does not seem to allow people to fear anything with a healthy effect. People seem to take everything to an extreme. I am not convinced that people as a rule really think about their own salvation. I think that they like to live in a bubble of beliefs where the world is okay and nothing will happen to them. People do not want to believe that God would destroy his best creation: Man. The fear of God is another issue. I do not feel that people now really know what it is to fear God. They have personalized him too much. I feel that they might even think that he is just a concept or something that is just there and not really thought about. There are very few people that really even honor God like he should be. They seem to forget that he is even around most of the time, unless they feel a great need in their lives for him. Prayers and thoughts about him seem to be a second thought.

We need to carry our shield each and every day to cover us from evil. We need to have the love, word and spirit from God with us at all times. There are temptations around each turn that we make. we need to pray to God for protection from evil on a constant basis. The helmet of salvation is a constant reminder that we belong to God. We are his children by grace. We have the love of God to keep us safe from the devil. This is a way to also fight the negative thought that evil can seep into our minds when we are at our weakest. The sword of the Spirit is both a defensive and offensive weapon. It helps us to defend our faith from those that wish to tear us down and it is offensive because we can use it to fight evil directly. We need to keep ourselves in the word of God. We need to know right from wrong. We need to be able to judge the truth from a lie. The only way to be prepared is to read the bible. Study it by ourselves and with others. And memorize those verses that strike our hearts and souls in a very positive way.

Sinning takes over a person's whole life. It actually corrupts their heart and soul. It causes them to lose their way in life. They lose who they really are. They lose their true identity. They actually become a shadow of a real person. A person needs to acknowledge what they have done. They need to take responsibility for their actions. They need to confess what they have done to Jesus and God. They need to realize that there is a new life waiting for them. they need to follow the example of Christ. They need to learn to pray for help. They need to break the habits and to take on a new life. Jesus is there to help us and to guide us. All we need to do is ask and learn. A person, trapped by habitual sin, can take it one step at a time. They need to be conscious of when they are about to sin. They need to be aware of all of their thoughts. They need to ask God to take away the temptations. They need to pray for help and guidance. They need to learn verses of the bible that can help to break the chain. It takes a lot of work and willpower.

A real disciple is one that not only learns the teachings of Jesus but who lives by those teachings. It is a permanent change of lifestyle for them. They try to live a sin free life. They never turn their back on the Lord. Heavenly truth is what sets a person free from the worldly place. We no longer think and feel in a worldly way. We treasure our hearts and souls more than we cherish worldly possessions. In the secular content, this statement does not have the same meaning. It deals with the truth of this world. It sets people free from guilt. It might free the innocent from jail or even a trial. But the truths are only those that are surface truths. They do not reach a person's soul.

Not everyone that calls themselves Christian have been given the salvation of God from their sins. They do not have the faith in God and Jesus that is needed. They do not really believe in Jesus or what he has done for us. They have not tried to live in the ways of love and forgiveness. They are still of this world. Because of this, when they die, they are going to be denied eternal life. As said before, people must believe that Jesus is the messiah to have received eternal life and forgiveness of their sins. Just because you come in contact with Jesus, it did not mean instant forgiveness or salvation. A person must get a blessing to be made new. I fear that I know too many people like this. Some are church elders. One is actually studying to be a minister. It really bothers me to see them in the positions they are in and without true faith to actually guide their actions in trying to lead a church.

Jesus has and is called the Light of the World. His teachings have brought about a new way of living. He lightened the rules of worshipping God. He enlightened us to the real meaning of the laws handed down by the Father. He gave us truth in the words of the bible. He showed us how to live by those words. He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. With this gift, our hearts and souls actually have grown and shine with the love of God. We glow with this grace. With him in our hearts and souls, we will never have to fear the darkness. We will always walk in the light. I now have a much lighter step. I walk in the light of the Lord. I understand more of the bible now than before. I learned how to be a true Christian. I still have doubts and fears, but I find that my heart and soul are comforted and refreshed with prayer and worship of the Lord. I know how to reach out for help that I never had before. I find it a lot easier to resist temptation from the dark one.

I believe that churches do not want to be judged as harsh or uncaring. They also so not want to be seen as the bad guys. They only sometimes care about the people that fill the pews on Sunday, than the souls that needs to be saved. However, when a church uses proper church discipline, the whole congregation can grow healthy and spiritually.

I find that my mind keeps thinking about the stagnant Christians with this question. To me, these are the Sunday worshippers. They do not burn with the passion of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and souls. They seem to be the ones that do not have real faith. They keep God in the closet from their everyday activity. To be able to share the good news of the Lord, a person has to be one with the Holy Spirit that dwells in them. They have to fill themselves with the grace of God. A person needs to pray and be open to the word of God. Once we have the Light of God inside of our hearts and souls we become a beacon. We become that light house in troubled waters. We can help people to leave the darkness behind and follow the light of the World. They can turn from evil to the good side. They can join God.

Truth and person holiness can keep us on the correct path of the Lord. We can count on our prayers in the time of personal conflict. We will be able to know the right decision more times than not. I believe the weapons are both defensive and offensive. We can use them to defend our way of lives. We can use them to defend our beliefs. But they are also offensive because we can use them to fight for the rights of others. They will help us to move forward on our paths to teach others about the word of the Lord.

I believe that those who are able to work but refuse to would not allow themselves to starve. They would eventually get up and take some responsibility in their lives. However, this rule does not apply to those who are unable to work because of medical reasons. Or those that find themselves in great need for reasons other than laziness. These can include victims of natural disasters. And in those cases the help would only be temporary. It would not be a way of life for them.

It is very hard to stand our ground in the world today. There is a lot of evil in a lot of people. There is corruption in every level of all governments. The fight seems unbearable. When we take one step forward, we get pushed back at least 10 paces. However, when we don't give up. We have a small victory. When we do one right thing in the community, we have to feel the victory. If we can make one person smile, we have had a victory. When we refuse to give into evil, we are victorious. The saints in Revelation stood up for the Lord. They took death over turning their backs on God. They did not let evil corrupt their souls.

People do not believe in things that they can not see. Everyone is taught to think of only the things that are positive. People seem to think that God controls all things and that all things are under his control. Life and death. all natural disasters. They do not see evil in anything. However, I believe that it battles the Holy Spirit in a lot of people. We need to pray to do things the right way. We need to make the right decisions. However, we have a choice to make with every thought, word and action. We can not blame the devil for our actions. We can not blame the for the evil actions that take place in the world. He does not force people to commit sin. He only makes sin look really good and self- satisfying.

Paul had a right to expect the community to support him during his stay there. He was entitled to food and shelter. However, Paul was trying to be an example of what a follower of Christ was like. He worked to pay his own way, He not only taught the word of the Lord as a primary job, he also worked as a tent maker. He wanted to show how to work for Christ and how to live a life that was a glory to the Lord.