kenny

I think that most Christians at some stage in their lives fall into the trap of idolatry, and almost always without intent. We need to be on constant alert and guard against anything that may take our eyes of the Lord. For some it's sport others it may be friends or even their own family, and then there are all those material things, money, the love thereof; cars; fancy houses and clothes, and right down to personal vanity. These are all things that take our attention away from God and in doing so can become idols, in other words they are taking the place of Him.How much time do we actually devote to God?? It should be 100% and this is not to say you need to become a missionary, no just live your life out in accordance with His will and you will find that you can give Him glory in all that you do. Amen!!

When we submit ourselves to the will of God and are obedient to His commands,it is only then that we will find our prayers being answered. Gods word is full of revelation of His will and as we grow in faith and are led by the Holt Spirit we start to see Gods will for our lives unfold. As we allow the love of God to flow into and through our lives His will becomes all the more apparent, and living in obedience to His commands becomes a blessing in itself. Trying to live by our own rules or those of the world, to achieve our will, we find ourselves drifting around aimlessly. It is at these times that our prayers and petitions to God go unanswered When we are truly living in accordance with His will and pray for that which is His will we can be sure of an answer. The only thing to remember is that His ways are not our ways and sometimes, maybe even often the answerers we get are not in line with what we expected. But always remember that prayer in accordance to His will will always be answered in a way that will ultimately bring glory to His name and benefit us. Amen!

Often as Christians we get caught up in the ways of the world and start to rely on those in the church instead of the Head of the church. Living with the help of other people and our at own devises can only lead to destruction. The only life for the believer is in the Son Jesus Christ, and through Him others will be drawn to the light in our lives. Our eternal hope is in Jesus, and only He can supply all our needs, both now and forever.

Without totally surrendering our lives to Christ, and growing in His love and faith, we start doubting our salvation. We start falling into Satan's trap wondering if our actions and beliefs are sufficient to overcome the flesh. As doubts start to creep in we often tend to turn to legalism to try and justify our salvation. We should be asking Christ to increase our faith as did the disciples in Luke 17, and we should be living in obedience to His commandments, to love one another as He so loved us. Taking this stance brings assurance in the hope we have in our eternal future and brings glory to Gods name.

As we mature as Christians our fear of God becomes that of awe and respect for our Father and our Creator, we no longer look at fear in the light as which the world does. As we grow in Gods love, and understand that His love in sending His Son our Lord Jesus Christ to pay for the sin of all mankind, we see that He is a God of ultimate love Who must be respected for His Omniscient power and not feared because such love commands love and not fear. Christ came ,He shed His blood and rose again to conquer death and fear thereof for all who accept His free gift. In His death our fear became freedom and is now only reverential fear, an amazing feeling of respect and security in the assurance of Gods promise.

Throughout the generations man has thought and still does that he fully understands love, and that it is in his power to control it. Sadly this love is superficial and unforgiving, and it is not until one is reborn into Christ that they can and do start to experience what true love is. As we grow in our walk with the Lord, and yield to His will we will find that this gift will consume all negativity and hatred and will conquer all fears and doubts. Of all Gods gifts to us the gift of love is all encompassing and eternal, and was commanded of Jesus. When all else is gone love will remain and it is God who is this love, and in Him that our hope lies.

The fact that we have the Holy Spirit who dwells within us should be sufficient encouragement for us not to fear the things of this world. Remember the flesh may be weak,and we may suffer persecution, ridicule and even pain, but the light that is in us still burns strong, in the hope of our eternal future with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in our Fathers house.

To believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, is to believe in the word of God. He became flesh as foretold throughout the old testament, and in doing so, with His blood redeemed us. This is the foundation of the hope that we have in our salvation. Without this acknowledgement Satan knows we have no hope for salvation, and he will use any means at his disposal to lead folk astray. This is the reason for the importance of testing the spirits and also for studying the word of God, to enable us to discern among the spirits. God became flesh in Jesus Christ so that man could relate to the ridicule, the scorning, His suffering and death. In His resurrection we see His deity and our rebirth into an eternal life with the Father. Without Christ there would be no Christians, so all praise and honor be to Him who became like us to enable us to become like Him. Thank you Jesus Lord and Saviour of my life. Amen.

We don't earn Favor from God but we do receive it through Grace by acceptance. As children of God the indwelling of His Spirit leads us into obedience and truth, and God loves to bless His children when they walk in obedience to Him.

When we are able to put on hold things we may feel are important to our lives, and dedicate that time to help others in their time of need, or are willing to give freely to those brethren who are without, this is how we can lay down our lives for them. Sharing freely the love as our Lord commanded we do. In large congregations is is important to form small groups in which to fellowship and build one another up in Christ on a more personal level. It is also in these small groups that the needs and fears of others become more apparent and personal.

Over the years anger is something I have battled with, I have found that by prayer and constant reading and study of Gods word the battle is being won. Whenever I feel anger toward someone, and in some cases vent that anger toward them, I will try to always ask for their forgiveness. This is something that I have only recently started to do and I believe it is because I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit to do so. In asking for forgiveness, and this is often from people who have seriously offended or ridiculed me, it has started a process of healing in my life and I find myself being drawn ever closer to God. When anger starts to get in the way of love it starts to change our personalities and those who are not yet saved may be driven away from salvation by our actions, and this in itself can be construed as murder.

I believe Cain like many people today despised his brother because he felt that God favored Abel. When it suits them, many people tend to forget that man has a free choice, instead they feel that God has dealt them a bad hand. Sadly the anger these people feel toward others, is actually a demonstration of their anger toward their non acceptance of God, which allows sin to rule their lives Man has always demanded a free will,(countries go to war over it) it's just a pity that many don't use it where it counts most, instead they think that by ridding their lives of all righteousness, they can justify themselves, hence the fact that Cain slew Abel, and the world persecutes the believer. God sent His only Son our Lord Jesus to pay for the sins of "ALL", not just a few. I pray that for once, all of those who cry out for the privilege of self determination, will use that free will and repent of their sins, and accept the all encompassing love and salvation of our Lord and Savior. Amen!

I believe that once we are reborn of the Spirit we are " Not able to sin" in essence this means we are not able to sin without a knowledge of the fact that we are sinning. The Spirit convicts us of all that is lawlessness and therefore we are aware of our sins, it is this spiritual awareness that leads us into repentance of our sins, and into the full realization of Gods will for our lives, and the price that Jesus paid to redeem us from our sins. For this I commit my life to the Lord and constantly praise Him as King and Savior of my life. Thank You Lord for enduring separation from the Father in my stead for my sins, in Your darkest hour. Amen.

I believe that the law has been written on our hearts, and the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, so when we travel down the path of lawlessness we as Christians will be convicted of sin. When we try to discern what is sinful or not through our own efforts it is then that we fall into the devil's trap of trying to justify our sins. It is like the old story, when taking a piece of paper or a pen from your workplace, is seen as a privilege rather than theft, so which is it? If the answer is not clear then we should earnestly be praying for the Spirit to convict us of what truth is, and to make us aware of the subtle devious ways of the enemy. In order to grow and mature in our walk with the Lord we need to earnestly seek His will for our lives, and by His Spirit through His word we will be molded into His likeness. All praise be to Him who is able to keep us from all unrighteousness. Amen.

I believe that from the moment of the indwelling of the Holy spirit in ones life, the christian automatically starts to work toward becoming more Christ like. The Spirit convicts our spirit to strive for holiness. Often all it takes to see this is to step back and look at your life, from the point of your spiritual rebirth. It will amaze you how your life has changed, even if in the smallest of ways. Often Christians are expecting earth moving visual results in their lives, but we must all understand while some have these experiences,this cleansing process takes a lifetime and it will only be brought into completion when our Savior returns to take us home. Amen.

When we by grace through faith accept Jesus into our lives by repenting of our sins and freely accepting the salvation He gives through His blood, we become children of God. We are convicted by the Spirit and when we are reborn the Spirit comes and dwells within us and guides us in all truth. We become heirs of Christ and will share in His inheritance. All praise and Glory be to our Savior and king Amen.

When we surrender our lives to God and are reborn in the Spirit, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is through the Spirit that we are led into all truth, we are guided and the word of God is revealed to us through the presence of the Holy spirit. Some of us are given the gift of teaching and and through this gift we build up our brethren in Christ. As we mature in our walk with the Lord,deeper and more complex truths are revealed to us. Remember that even although we do not all have the gift of teaching, we are all commanded to go into all the world and preach the good news.

When a Christian abides in Jesus, he is experiencing the teaching and conviction of the Holy Spirit, and yearns to learn more about Christ and Gods will for his life. This can be seen in and through their lives by the fruits of the Spirit, being displayed in their lives, and the light of the Lord that shines from within. Those who reject the working of the Spirit in their lives open themselves up to attack from Satan, and their spiritual growth becomes stunted. It is in times like these that the church can be brought into disrepute.

The Holy Spirit guides us in all truth through the word of God pointing us in the right direction and constantly convicting us of what is Gods will or not. We need to take heed of these convictions and remember that it is not by power or might, but by His Spirit says the Lord. All praise be to Jesus Lord and savior of my life.

The anointing that John is speaking of is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I believe that it is the Holy Spirit along side us that convicts us of sin. Once we repent and and through faith by the Grace of God accept the Salvation of Jesus, at that point does the Holy Spirit come into our lives as our comforter and guide.

This question has been answered exhaustively, and I would just like to add how we see the spirit of the antichrist at work today. I believe that when we truly open our eyes to what is going on around us, we will see the subtle ways in which Satan is duping the world into a false sense of security. Through lawlessness,and instilling fear into the hearts of many, we can already see the world moving into a cashless society, and moving toward a one government world order. Soon people will be branded in order to purchase anything and the Church will be blamed for disrupting peace, Christians will be branded as "Religious Fanatics", if you look and listen carefully this has already begun. Credit cards are becoming more acceptable today than cash, and when one questions the way of the world in terms of the bible you find yourself being called a fanatic.

This question has been answered exhaustively, and I would just like to add how we see the spirit of the antichrist at work today. I believe that when we truly open our eyes to what is going on around us, we will see the subtle ways in which Satan is duping the world into a false sense of security. Through lawlessness,and instilling fear into the hearts of many, we can already see the world moving into a cashless society, and moving toward a one government world order. Soon people will be branded in order to purchase anything and the Church will be blamed for disrupting peace, Christians will be branded as "Religious Fanatics", if you look and listen carefully this has already begun. Credit cards are becoming more acceptable today than cash, and when one questions the way of the world in terms of the bible you find yourself being called a fanatic.

John speaks of the "luѕt of the flesh"; the "luѕt of the eyes"; and "the pride of life".I think that sometimes as Christians we just take a lot of things for granted and many of the worldly pleasures and desires become a part of our lives. Only when we take step back, do we realize that we are caught up in some of Satan's deceptive ways. We as the church, are set apart from the world and should stand out as a shining light, but when we integrate ourselves into the ways of the world, we become ineffective as disciples and end up bringing the church into disrepute.

The term used here describes the world in its fallen state where corruption and sin now rule, these things are likened to separation from God. We are commanded to love one another as Christ loves us, this being a total commitment,and there is no room for the things of "this world" in this kind of love.

I believe that John is saying that no matter how mature you are in your walk with the Lord, you can always look to the fact that Jesus through His blood payed the price for our sins, and forgave us, we can always look back to that moment in our lives when Jesus took over, and He now reigns in our lives. Sometimes going back to our first encounter with our savior, that moment when we asked Him into our lives, and we were but like children, and for many of us all things seemed to grow dim in the Light of His Glory and Grace. Going back to these times in a child like state is often all the rejuvenation and encouragement that we need. Oh to always accept like a child, may God grant us such unquestioning wisdom in Jesus name Amen.