Eilen

Satan hates the Lord. He sits and waits for us to stumble and then he pounces on us to have us fall by the wayside, from the Lord. The verse teaches us that the devil does not like to see believers on the Lord’s side. He is crafty and dangerous to our beliefs, our soul, our spirit. This tells us that our faith in the Lord must be strong. The teaching of this verse is important so as to help Christians resist the temptations coming their way and to be strong in their faith so as not to give up when faced with persecution and suffering in the name of the Lord.

We should abandon our fears to God, Who is our fortress, takes care of us and understands our needs. Our trust in Him will take away our fears. We do not have the solutions to our fears and anxieties, only God does and we tend to forget this often. We do this by praying to the Lord about our fears. I will do what St. Peter advises us to do. I will put everything to the Lord in prayer. God is the only one who knows what is in my heart and yours. He is the only one who can relieve us of our problems and fears.

We have to keep our pastors focused on their roles as leaders. The church has to constantly pray for its leaders that they be humble just as Jesus was humble and not be power-mongers. A pastor should not abuse his authority/power. Jesus does not condone such actions. Potential pastors should all go through a period of training not only in religion but also in management and counselling.

At no time should a member of a church be browbeaten into taking a leadership role. Positions should be filled by people who are willing, have the desire to do so. In this way the best is put forward by that individual. This leads to resentment and conflict between the leader and his congregation..

An elder is God’s representative as head of His earthly church. He is entrusted with God’s work in his church, community. He is the shepherd of his congregation and should tend to the spiritual as well as personal needs of the members of his flock. He is to annoint the sick and pray for healing(James 5:14) As I considered the definition, I looked at Jesus as our Good Shepherd. He cares about us, He is always there for us. He showed how much He loved us by offering Himself as a sacrifice for the redemption of our sins. An elder should be Christ-like.

What a great honor to be a partner with Christ in suffering! One should be joyful, in a humble way, to suffer for Christ. Enduring any suffering on Christ’s behalf shows our commitment to our calling to serve the Lord, teaching about Christ who died for us. Our suffering indicates our place at the side of God in His eternal kingdom. It shows our victory over the evil in the world. It makes us identify more with Christ’s sufferings and makes us a partner with Christ in His sufferings. It also strengthens our character and endurance in the fight to proclaim God our Savior.

Trying to avoid persecution and suffering for Christ’s sake would indicate not being fully committed to Christ. Suffering for Christ should be welcomed and embraced. We live in a sinful world where Satan and his minions are always at work to persecute Christians and prevent them from spreading the word of the Lord. Suffering can be a good opportunity to develop spiritually, helping Christians to see God more clearly and thus live exemplary lives spreading the glory of the Lord.. As Timothy 3:12 says ‘anyone who wishes to live a godly life, in Jesus Christ, will be persecuted’

Willingness to die is essential to healthy Christianity since it sustains our faith and strengthens us in spreading God’s word. Persecution should make us joyful, blessed and indeed filled with the Holy Spirit since we are converting lost souls to our Lord and Savior. If we aren’t willing to die, or take up our cross daily, we cannot identify with Jesus and His suffering and therefore cannot be a part of God’s eternal kingdom. “Blessed are those who were persecuted for my sake, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

God uses Christians to make Christ more visible by their personal life and sharing about Christ who died. If Christians are never persecuted, it means that they do not identify with Christ’s suffering. Suffering helps us to learn our priorities, our allegiance to God and how much we need to glorify our Father through our faith in Him.

What a great honor to be a partner with Christ in suffering! One should be joyful, in a humble way, to suffer for Christ. Enduring any suffering on Christ’s behalf shows our commitment to our calling to serve the Lord, teaching about Christ who died for us. Our suffering indicates our place at the side of God in His eternal kingdom. God is always by our side in our suffering. It shows our victory over the evil in the world. It makes us identify more with Christ’s sufferings and makes us a partner with Christ in His sufferings. It also strengthens our character and endurance in the fight to proclaim God our Savior.

Trying to avoid persecution and suffering for Christ’s sake would indicate not being fully committed to Christ. Suffering for Christ should be welcomed and embraced. We live in a sinful world where Satan and his minions are always at work to persecute Christians and prevent them from spreading the word of the Lord. Suffering can be a good opportunity to develop spiritually, helping Christians to see God more clearly and thus live exemplary lives spreading the glory of the Lord.. As Timothy 3:12 says ‘anyone who wishes to live a godly life, in Jesus Christ, will be persecuted’

God wants us to tell non-Christians about His power, grace and humility. He wants us to bring others to believe in Him. God does not want us to boast about how God is using us. Christians should do God’s work with humility. It seems to me that the boaster is just seeking internal gratification and praise. This does not seem to me to be the actions of a matured Christian.

Non-Christians do not see that what they are doing is wrong. They live in a world full of strife, evil and viciousness. They do not know God. They feel tha they do not have to give an account of their actions. Christians do not like giving an account of their actions because they are afraid of retaliation and labelling. They feel that they should give an account of their actions only to God. If we know that we have to account for what we do, we would ensure that what we do is what God wants us to do. We should live with the attitude that we, as Christians, are children og God and must live by His commandments.

Non-Christians do not serve God. They serve their own desires. They are taken up with the many distractions of this evil world. They try to get non-Christians to sin with them because they do not know the consequences of their actions. They do not think that they are sinning, only enjoying the vices of the world in which they live. We are tempted to do so, because we tend to be weak and not truly committed to God. To prevent this, they have to focus on what God wants them to do; they have to pray and read their bible.

A person who suffers physically no longer sins. This was evidenced by Jesus's death on the cross. Jesus suffered death for our sins. Jesus is sinless. The attitude helps us to renounce evil, our fleshly desires and to live as God desires. We should remember that just as Jesus’ death was to get rid of our sins, so the redemption of sins can only occur through bodily death as Jesus did for us. As a result, we must not live by earthly ****, but doing God’s will.

I was baptized when I was7 days old. In my religion we are baptized by pouring water on the head and anointing you as a child as God. A baby being baptized obviously has no understanding of the significance of being baptized. The parents and godparents of children are responsible to some extent for the child's beliefs. Pledging my faith came to me as an adult as I started to study the word of God. I always believed in God, but believing does not necessary mean having faith. I continue to work on being a true Christian.

I live in a world of evil. There is temptation everywhere. I am not strong enough as yet to block out all the distractions around me. I thank God that He is there as my savior to listen when I pray to Him about my sinfulness. I am not a bad person but I need to commune more with God and become a righteous Christian. I know that He is always there waiting for me to call on Him

It is difficult to be a witness when we are being persecuted because we fear our persecutors or are intimidated and find it difficult to convey the word of God to them. We tend to forget that there is only God whom we should fear. We forget that God is there to guide us, to protect us once we are doing His will. We need to remember that those who persecute us can harm only our body but not our soul. Focusing on Christ rather than on my fears. I am overwhelmed by what people say and do. Many times I let my fear dictate my actions.

My Church was formed 2 years ago. I find that there is to al large degree all the qualities Peter mentions but there is friction among members ever so often. We as a congregation, in my opinion, need to bond together as one church body since there are often disagreements/ power struggle among a few members on decisions that affect us as a body. The quality that is most needed is harmony. We need to always remember why we are in church, to serve God, and thus work together for the progress of our church. We have to get all members of the congregation maybe doing bible study together so that we can see God’s need for us to be more like-minded.

We are weak. We do not read God’s words. We are caught up in the sinful distractions of the world that keep us from knowing God. We have to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus. We have to give up our sinful way of life, and follow Jesus through our faith and love, wherever He leads us. We have to become disciples of Christ. We can die to sin spiritually by being partakers of the life of Christ. We are totally dependent on God for life. Without His intervention, we would be dead in sin forever. ‘Live by righteousness’ means to obey God. We must take up the cross and follow Jesus, proclaiming His resurrection. We have to oppose the evils of this world. ‘Whoever believes in the Son, has eternal life’. John 3:36.

I try very hard to understand how someone can sacrifice so much the world. This was because of a deep love for us, his children. God loves me, God wants me to have a spiritual life. Jesus took the responsibility for my sin by taking my curse (a life of sin inherited from Adam and Eve), my punishment (living in a wicked and evil world), my consequences (not obeying His commandments), not giving him the glory. He died on the cross so that I may have the opportunity of new life in His Father’s kingdom by accepting God as my Lord and Savior and living a life in Christ.

Jesus’ sinlessness is important because Jesus, as our bridge between us and God, could have only possessed this mediator status being without sin. How can a person with sin intercede with God on behalf of our sins? God does not like sin. Jesus had no sin in his life neither did He commit any. He suffered on the cross for our redemption by taking on the burden of all our sins. That is why we can be forgiven our sins if we confess them. It was only through the cross, the body and blood of Jesus that we can be forgiven our sins. God sent His Son to redeem our sins. Jesus loves us, He is merciful and forgiving. He wants us more like Him so He willing suffered to take our sins on Himself.

God made me in His image. He is my heavenly Father. He sent His Son Jesus as an intermediary between us and Him. Jesus is humble, loving, caring, forgiving. He gave His life on the cross so that I, through the forgiveness of my sins, through His body and blood, may partake of my Father’s heavenly kingdom.

As an employee ‘conscious of God’, we should forgive and show mercy and grace to all, since we as Christians receive this from God. Showing loving kindness and mercy to someone can lead to new behavior in that individual. Conscious Christians should not be a complainer since by doing so they seem to show attitudes that they are ungrateful and bitter. God does not expect this of anyone who serves Him. Instead of complaining, we, as Christians, should try to think of solutions. We should pray for God's intervention. God wants us to be active in our faith and our lives. I prayed on anything that affected me in the workplace.

God expects Christians to always do the work He expects them to do, their employer expects them to do. They have to be focused, godlike in what they do. God expects us to obey his command and His holy word. This extends to our workplace where we have to be conscientious and honest in what we do. This is what God expects of us. We dishonor God because we are not following instructions and doing what is expected of us. God does not expect us to complain but find resolutions in His name.