JAMES 4:8 - BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

If there is one major thing you can do on your end to really make direct contact with the Lord, it has to be that you seek directly after Him. And when I say seek directly after the Lord, I mean you spend some kind of good quality time in His Word so you can learn all that you can about Him and His ways, along with walking and talking with Him on a daily basis, freely praying and communicating to Him on a very regular basis.

Start opening up the conversation lines between you and God with you talking and praying to Him on a regular basis, and then combine that with reading and studying from His Word so you can gain more direct knowledge about Him, and I guarantee you God will start communicating back to you and will then start to show Himself to you in a wide variety of ways.

Here are two good Bible Verses for the Day that will prove this point for you:

1. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8)

2. “… and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29)

The first verse tells us if we first draw near to God, then God will draw near to us. In other words, you initiate seeking directly after God, and then God will come back and draw near to you.

The second verse tells us we will “find” God “if” we seek after Him with all of our heart and soul. And again, we are the ones to initiate seeking after God and if we do, then God will allow us to “find Him.”

These two verses are giving all Christians a major secret – and that major secret is that we will find God and make direct contact with Him, but only if we seek after Him and seek after Him with some level of intensity on our part, as the last verse tells us to seek after God with all of our heart and with all of our soul.

Again, this is one of the main reasons we have started up this kind of website, to give people a lot of the knowledge from the Bible about God, who He is, and all of the ways He wants us to follow in this life. By seeking after this kind of knowledge direct from God’s Word, you are satisfying the conditions of the above two verses, and from there, God will start to draw near to you and start to really interact back with you in your daily walk with Him.

For many more good verses on this topic and some good commentary on how to really do this with the Lord, please go to our article titled:

“Seeking After the Lord With All of Your Heart”

WE FAIL TO SEE...

We often fail to see the potentials in others and even in ourselves because of our preoccupation with the outward appearances and actions. But within every born again person is a new creation which is waiting to be released

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

Luke 4:24, "And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country."

LUKE 4:16-30

A modern day equivalent of this verse is "familiarity breeds contempt." Those who know the most about us also know more of our faults than anyone else. As a general rule, our weaknesses will blind most people to our strengths.

However, in the case of Jesus, there were no faults or failures to bias these people. In this instance, the problem stemmed from the people's lack of perception. They knew Jesus better than most in the flesh, but they had failed to see who He was in the Spirit.

Jesus was God in all His power and majesty, yet He was clothed in flesh --a human in every respect (1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1:3). These people looked on Jesus' outward appearance and failed to see God within (1 Sam. 16:7).

Likewise, we fail to see the potential in others and even in ourselves because of our preoccupation with the outward appearance and actions. But within every born again person is a new creation which is waiting to be released (2 Cor. 5:17). All it takes is someone who believes.

Today look beyond the exterior in yourself and others and help bring into reality what we can be in Christ.

by BUMMYLA

AN URGE TO HUG

At a bus stop in Toronto, Paula observed a woman who appeared distraught and was soon crying. Not accustomed to walking up to strangers and injecting herself into their affairs, Paula was caught off balance by her own thoughts. “That woman needs a hug!” Where did the thought come from? Was it Paula's thought? She held back for a moment, almost wrestling with herself.

“Something in me just pushed at me”, says Paula, “and so I walked up to her and said, you look like you need a hug.”

Gratefully, the stranger accepted the offer. The two ladies ended up sitting together and through the conversation Paula asked what was happening in the stranger’s life that was tearing at her so.

The woman spoke of the rough times she was experiencing, mentioning her heartache regarding her children. Her son was not only on drugs but was molesting his younger sister.

Paula comforted and offered advice. One of the things she said was, “I take a paper and place a line down the centre. I put on one side all the things that are troubling me and on the other I place all the things I am grateful for. Often I find there are things I can soon move over to the positive side.”

When the two ladies parted, Paula thought she would never see the stranger again but life moves in strange ways.

Months later, Paula was out with a friend and happened to spot the stranger from the bus stop incident, in a crowd. She rushed over to say hello and when she did she was astounded by what she discovered.

The stranger was overjoyed to see Paula and was soon explaining her joy. ”That day when you saw me I had intended on going home and killing my son, my daughter and myself. Your hug changed my perspective Paula. I felt hope. I went home and I reported my son to the authorities. He was taken away where he could get help. I just want you to know that because you hugged me, I didn’t kill myself, my son or my daughter. With that first single move of getting help for my son, my life began turning around. Today my son is better and is soon to be married. Thank you so very much Paula!”

With that, two sets of eyes filled with moisture and another hug was called for!

…..Ellie Braun-Haley (ellie@evrcanada.com)) by way of “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

PLEADING THE BLOOD AGAINST A HOME ATTACK

For those of you who believe in the power of pleading the blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection, we just received a very good testimony from a woman in S. Africa.

Long story short, she received a very strong unction from the Lord one day to walk around her house and plead the blood of Jesus as a bloodline around her house. She at first was not going to do it, as the lawn had not been mowed yet and she did not like walking in the long grass.

However, knowing that she was receiving a leading from the Lord to do this, she went ahead and obeyed and walked around her house pleading the blood of Jesus so she could have His protection around her house. This was done at 18:00 S. African time.

6 hours later, which would have been at midnight, she found out the next day that her next door neighbor’s house had been literally broken into right at that midnight hour. This woman was also having a dream right at midnight of a demon called “breaking in” sitting on top of the gate leading into her house.

This woman is sure the Lord prevented these criminals from breaking into her house by the way all of this took place literally 6 hours after she had just got done pleading the blood of Jesus around her house as a hedge of protection.

This woman has given us permission to release her word-for-word testimony for this article. In our article titled, “How to Plead the Blood of Jesus for Deliverance and Protection,” we talk about pleading the blood of Jesus around your property as a bloodline. There have been documented cases of Christians having their homes spared damage from earthquakes, etc. as a result of doing this with the Lord.

This testimony is just another good example of God protecting one of His own as a result of her obeying His leading to plead the blood of Jesus around her house as a protective bloodline.

Here is her word-for-word testimony.

May God Bless you for this website and for educating us. I have a testimony to share regarding the pleading of the Blood of Jesus Christ.

I used to stay in Benoni, South Africa and I just started walking around my house pleading the Blood of Jesus. This day I did not want to go out and do it. I thought that I will just do when I pray. But I felt an urgency on my spirit to actual go outside and walk around the property and plead the Blood. The time was about 18h00 South African time, and my lawn was not mowed so I do not like walking in the long grass especially when it was getting dark, so I thought no I will plead the Blood the next day. But I had such a conviction to go out that very same day. Eventually I went out and run around the property pleading the Blood.

That same night I had a dream somebody waking me up and telling to look outside towards my gate. When I looked I saw some funny thing sitting on top of my gate, and I asked the person who woke me up what are those things sitting on my gate. The person told me that those were demons for “breaking in” that there were going to break into my house. Then suddenly I woke up and then I realized that it was a dream. When I looked at my watch, it was 24H00(midnight). I just prayed and slept.

The next morning I was told that some people broke into my next door neighbor’s house at midnight the exact time I was having that dream. I thanked God because I realized then that If I was disobedient and did not plead the Blood, it would have been me, they would have broken into my house. So people it works.

I thank you for this article because now I know more about the pleading of the Blood and will pray these prayers.

God Bless you.

Anne

When you analyze this testimony, you have to ask yourself – what are the odds that she received a leading from the Lord to plead the blood of Jesus around her house as a bloodline and then literally 6 hours later, her next door neighbor’s house literally gets broken into. Coincidence? We do not think so.

And then to have a dream at midnight, at the exact same time her neighbor’s house was getting broken into, of a demon named “breaking in” sitting on top of her gate. Again, another coincidence? We do not think so.

And then to top it off, this woman initially did not want to obey the leading to do this, as the grass had not been mowed yet and she did not like walking in the long grass, especially with it getting dark outside.

There are 3 big tells in this testimony to show that this was not a coincidence, but a real leading from the Lord to actually do this. As a result, it looked like she prevented her house from actually getting broken into by these criminals.

I know pleading the blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection is a big controversial issue in the Body right now. But for the record, we still believe in it and will continue to pass on more good testimonies to show that this form of offensive prayer really does work.

As a closing remark, this woman responded back with a little more information on how she had used this in the past with both herself and her children. Again, here is the word-for-word email she had just sent me:

Good day,

Yes, it is more than OK. It is good when we testify. It shows or demonstrate that we are grateful and thank the Lord for delivering us out of those situation, and we thank Him for His mercy and love towards us and our family.

In actual fact, I have seen the goodness of the Lord in my life and my children on many occasions. It just that after reading the testimonies on your website I became more convinced that it was because of the Blood of Jesus that I and my children have been protected from circumstances and accidents that could have claimed our lives.

I used to offer a prayer like this every night – “Thank you Lord for your precious Blood that protects us against accidents, violence and any sorts of evil.”

My younger son was once ran over by a car, in front of my very own eyes on his way to school in full view of all other people who were at the bus stop waiting for a bus. That day we all saw a miracle as the driver of the vehicle stopped the car and we were frantic looking for this child underneath this car,(because we all saw him go under and then just went over him). Then he called us on the other side, no harm came over him, not even a single scar, no bleeding, not even a single mark.

And I myself have been in a car accident, was driving and my car overturned and I came out clean, no harm came over me, A truck once ran over me and even then the Lord still kept me safe under His wings and shelter.

My elder son Thando, it will be correct to say he died and the Lord brought back……………………..Thank you for your website. Thank you Lord Jesus for shedding your Blood for me and my family.

So the Blood of Jesus is our shield. He is our Shield.

I saw your website as I was searching to find and to know more about the Blood of Jesus. I have Joyce Meyer’s book, Benny Hinn, Baxter, and I want to know more and experience the deliverance.

Remain Blessed.

Anne

If there are any of you who have a good testimony showing that pleading the blood of Jesus really does work, please post your testimony on the comment section below like this woman did.

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/home-attack/

PLEASE DON'T JUDGE ME

Samantha Reed

"You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Mark 10:21 (ESV)

I had some priorities misplaced. Suppose I'd known for some time, but didn't fully recognize them until a trip to El Salvador with Compassion International.

I met two children on a home visit. They lifted their tarp door and invited me in. Into mud puddles and dirt walls with just one bed where five rested their heads at night. One bed for dreaming dreams of being a doctor and police officer.

They filled my hands not with silver or gold, but with selfless love. Love shared in stories and smiles and what few tangible gifts they owned.

I'd come to extend gifts myself; gifts of detergent and food. But they exceeded anything I had to give. A tiny beaded bracelet smudged with dirt, drenched in love. They wanted it to be mine.

Feeling too shy to hand it to me herself, she nudged her brother. He presented it to me as if it were a royal crown and gently slid it on my wrist.

I declare, diamonds couldn't match the worth of their hearts, their gift in that moment.

The next morning as I was getting ready I felt a nudge. Give your bracelet away like those children gave theirs to you.

You see, I had another precious bracelet with me. One my dad had given me over twenty years ago. Just a simple wooden bracelet from South Africa, but it meant the world to me.

How could I part with it? I wrestled with indecision. My heart soared, anticipating the moment I'd spot a little girl or mama to give my bracelet. But then my heart sank, anxious at the thought of giving up one of my most precious treasures.

And there lay the problem. My misplaced treasure.

Please, don't judge me.

I'm embarrassed... more than that. Heartbroken. I'm sick to say I couldn't give it away. Couldn't? No; more like I wouldn't. Both bracelets journeyed back to the United States.

One bearing selflessness; the other, selfishness.

I thought I was really something, bringing gifts to those kids in the form of beans and rice, soap and smiles. Little did I know, I was the one in need.

I needed God's mercy {and I'm so glad it's available}. I needed new perspective. I don't want possessions if I'm not willing to use them to love others.

More than anything though, I needed the one thing I lacked... more love for the Lord than for my belongings. My heart held tighter to my bracelet than to what God had asked me to do. He beckoned, "give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." A seemingly simple request, yet so difficult for me to follow.

You know what the crazy thing is? I've since lost my dad's bracelet. Isn't that the way it is with earthly treasures? They're meant to easily slip through open hands and giving hearts.

I've decided I don't want to be lacking in love for the Lord or those He cares for. Next time I'm giving it all. I'm starting by opening my hands and heart and looking for opportunities today. Are you with me?

Dear Lord, You are the perfect example of giving. You gave Your Son, and He gave His very life on the cross. Thank You for giving new mercies, second chances and hearts that respond to Your prompting. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Reflect and Respond:
"Sometimes love requires the sacrifice of your possessions, your time, or some other precious commodity." ~John MacArthur

How can you respond to this beckoning by Jesus, "...give to the poor"?

Power Verses:
Matthew 6:20, "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (NIV 1984)

Lamentations 3:22-23, "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (NIV 1984)

© 2012 by Samantha Reed. All rights reserved.

Proverbs 31 Ministries
616G MatthewsMint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org

A CHOICE TO REJOICE

Song of Solomon 1:4a - "Draw me! We will run after you! The king

brings me into his apartments! We will be glad and rejoice in you!" (AMP)



One of the expressions -- quotations in my little treasure box, which I open at my daily devotion time -- reads: "Life's pain is inevitable, but misery is optional." Yes, God never takes away the free choices we have each day, week, month, year.

Another expression reads; "Every day has at least two handles. We can take hold of the handle of enthusiasm or the handle of anxiety. We have the opportunity and the free choice."

We are called; we are chosen. We can choose to be faithful to God's calls and choices for us. We can choose to drive out our negative thinking, doing, and speaking; to drive out our low self-esteem and low self-respect. We can choose to turn from bitterness, unforgiveness, and unbelief, from memories of past adverse events and failures. We can turn around and face a fresh and refreshing future with confidence in our great and perfect God.

As God's chosen children, do let us be fair and just in recognizing that as we make our choices and decisions this year, our choices and decisions turn around and make us, according to the choices and decisions we have made.

As Jeremiah 31:18b reminds us - "Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God." (KJV)

With a choice of rejoicing and gladness, we will magnify the Lord. The first person to whom He will be magnified is ourselves, and in our own lives. We would do well to read Mary's song in Luke 1:46b-55. It begins, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." (NKJV)

As we choose to run after our Lord, as we choose to be drawn by Him, we will always find reasons for gladness, rejoicing, and lasting joy in our lives. We will ever have the honour and privilege of testifying to those enquiring about the enthusiasm, hope, and joy which we emit.

We can choose never to cease rejoicing in the adoration of and blessing in the name of Jesus, making Him the crowned King of our hearts and lives.

…..Rosemary Renninson (rosemary396@dodo.com.au) by way of Eternal Ink (eternallyours8@yahoo.com) and “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

SANCTIFICATION

s you will see in the Scripture verses I will list in this article – God’s ultimate and highest aim for all of us is our sanctification in Him. God wants to make us more holy like Himself. He wants to transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to consecrate and set us apart unto Himself.

The wording in these verses is very intense. One of the verses will tell us that God wants to sanctify us completely in all three parts of our being – body, soul, and spirit. Jesus Himself tells us that He wants us to be perfect just like His Father in heaven is perfect.

When you first look at these verses, you wonder how anyone could ever begin to achieve any real state of holiness in the cursed and fallen world we all now live in. With all of the lusts of our flesh, and with all of the different types of temptations of this world, many Christians never even attempt to give God half a chance to start this sanctification process in their life. They feel this bar is simply too high to even begin to strive for in this life.

The Bible tells us that all men and women have sinned and have fallen way short of the glory of God. We are so far from the perfection that God is really wanting from each one of us, that we see no real way to be able to obtain it to any significant degree in this life. As a result, many Christians never ask or seek after God to get this sanctification process started in their life – and as a result, there is very little, if any true spiritual growth over the course of most of their lives.

However, if you will study the specific wording in some of these verses, God the Father is showing you very clearly how this sanctification process can start to occur in this life. You do not have to wait until you get to heaven to get this sanctification process started with Him.

One of the first verses I will list below is telling us that we get three specific things as a result of Jesus dying on the cross for all of our sins. We get redemption, righteousness, and sanctification.

Most Christians know about the first two – redemption and righteousness – but they either forget, or do not pick up on the third thing that we all have available to us – and that is our sanctification in the Lord!

This sanctification is a progressive process. It is not something that occurs instantaneously at our conversions. It is a progressive work done by the Holy Spirit over the course of our entire life.

The apostle Paul tells us that we have to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling. He is telling us there are things that have to be worked out – and I believe one of those things is our sanctification in the Lord – the process where God the Father begins to set us apart unto Himself and to transform us into becoming more holy instruments of righteousness for His use.

The different Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries define the word “sanctification” as follows:

The state of growing in divine grace
To set apart for holy purposes
The process of being made holy resulting in a changed lifestyle for the believer
Noted Bible scholar Jack Hayford, in his excellent book titled: “ Hayford’s Bible Handbook,” defines sanctification as follows:

“The work of God’s grace by which the believer is separated from sin and becomes dedicated to God’s righteousness. Accomplished by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, sanctification results in holiness, or purification from the guilt and power of sin. Sanctification is instantaneous before God through Christ and progressive before man through obedience to the Holy Spirit and the Word.”

To those of you who have never really sought after the Lord to release this kind of supernatural work in your life – study these verses very, very carefully. God is giving you an incredible spiritual secret that can dramatically change the quality of your life down here on this earth.

As I said at the top of this article, you do not have to wait until you get to heaven to have God start this sanctification-transformation process in your life. It can literally start right where you are at right now if you are willing to fully surrender your entire life over to the Lord and then ask Him to begin to start this sanctification process in your life.

Before I go to the actual Scripture verses on all of this, consider one last thing. Even though this sanctification process appears to be a major leap to be able to make in the Lord, realize that God will start you off with small baby steps to get this process worked into your life. Rome was not built overnight, and neither will your sanctification in the Lord.

Many in our society have no drawing towards the spiritual things of God. Their only goal in this life is to get as much of the material things in this life as they possibly can, not really caring who they hurt and run over in the process.

Many think that trying to become more holy in the Lord is “corny.” Many of these types of Christians have been labeled as being “not cool” and “goody two shoes” by their peers, by their classmates, or by some of their fellow workers in the workplace. Many of our teenagers are made fun of in their schools if they do not join the crowds in abusing alcohol, doing drugs, or engaging in premarital sex.

The ways of our God are not the ways of this world! This is why God tells us that we will become His enemies if we ever become too friendly with the things and ways of this world. This is why God is calling us and separating us unto Himself in this sanctification process that He wants to start with each and everyone of us.

To become more holy and more righteous in the Lord may not be cool with the rest of the world, but it is definitely cool with the Lord. And when everything is all finally said and done, and we have finally departed from this life and have to face God for our own personal judgments – the only thing that will really matter is what God thinks, not what the world thinks. We will all be judged by how God views things, not how the world or other people view things.

I will leave you with one last thought before going into the actual Scripture verses on this topic: If you really watch and study people – what is the one thing that most people are really searching for and seeking after these days?

Why is it that so many people are tempted to enter a life of drugs or alcohol abuse? Why are so many people committing adultery behind their spouse’s back? Why are so many business-minded people chasing after their one and only all-personal god – the almighty dollar? Why are so many people engaging with other alternative forms of spirituality, such as delving into the occult and the many facets of the New Age movement?

If you really bottom-line all of the seeking that is occurring in these areas – they are all looking for one thing – and that one thing is an incredible sense of well-being. They are all looking for that “high” that will make them “feel good.”

To those who are seeking after the almighty dollar, they are looking for that high that will give them a sense of approval and a sense of accomplishment. They are looking for all the material things that this money can buy them, thinking that all of these material things will make them feel good on the inside and completely fill the emptiness and void that is on the inside of each one of them.

To those chasing after drugs, alcohol, or illicit sexual encounters – they are looking for immediate gratification of physical, mental, or sexual pleasures. They want to feel good right now, and they will do anything they can to try and get that next high.

However, as we all know, all of the free sex, drugs, and alcohol, and all of the money in this world, and all of the material things this money can buy us, will never buy us that true state of inner happiness, that true state of well-being that we are all really searching for.

All of the material things that we can buy in this life will only keep us high for a very short period of time. Then once that high starts to wear off, we have to find something else we can buy, thinking that the next new purchase will make us feel good for a longer period of time. And then it happens again. That high starts to wane, and then we are once more looking for that next new material thing, that next new adventure that will make us feel good about ourselves.

Many people are constantly chasing the wind, but never really being able to reach it or grab a hold of it – thus always continuing to fall short of being able to reach that elusive state of well-being that will give them the love, joy, and peace they are really searching for.

Even many Christians are missing the mark on all of this. Too many Christians have become more attached to the things of this world rather than to God and the things that He wants us to get involved in. As a result, there are many Christians who are no more happy and no more fulfilled with their lives than many nonbelievers are.

Once you become saved and born again by accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior – this is just the beginning. Now God wants to start to build you up in Him and all of His ways for your life.

The first thing that God will want you to do is to be willing to enter into a full surrender with Him so He can then set you up on the divine path that He will want you to follow in this life. The next thing God will want from you is that you attempt to establish a close personal relationship with Him.

However, this will now lead us right into the next big step. Many Christians have already done both of these things, but they still feel there is something missing in their lives.

They are following God’s perfect will and plan for their lives. They know how to be led by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. They have established very good personal relationships with the Lord – but yet there still seems to be something missing in their lives and they cannot seem put their finger on it.

Where is that feeling of well-being that I should be having more of?
Where is that love, joy, and peace of mind I should be having more of?
Why is it that at times I am no more happier and no more fulfilled than many nonbelievers are?
I personally believe that the missing ingredient in many believer’s life is this sanctification process. This sanctification process is a deeper work in the Lord, and many have not entered into it either because they have never been shown how to properly enter into it, or they really do not want to go this far with the Lord.

Once you enter into this sanctification process with the Lord, it can be a bit painful at times, since God will be working with you to fully expose and prune out all of the negative qualities that He will not want have operating in your personality.

You will have to really work with the Holy Spirit in order to be able to get God to move you into this deeper realm of making you to become more holy. But for those of you who are willing to let the Lord take this next extra step with you – you will find and obtain what everyone is really searching for and cannot find these days – an incredible sense of well-being that all of the money, material possessions, drugs, alcohol, and sex will never be able to bring you in this life.

This means that God will start to transmit and impart His love, His peace, and His kindness into our personalities. And once this kind of sanctification process starts to occur, this is when you will really be able to feel and experience the sense of well-being that God initially created all of us to have in Him.

It is only when the very life of God Himself, through the Holy Spirit, starts to enter into your mind, soul, and heart will you feel that high that everyone is really looking for these days.

And the only way that you can get the very life of God to start to enter into your mind, soul, and heart is by entering into this sanctification process with the Lord. There is no other way. There are no shortcuts to this process. I really believe this is one of the main missing ingredients in many believer’s walks with the Lord.

Now I will go to the actual Scripture verses showing you that God really does want to start this sanctification process with each and everyone of us. I will then end this article giving you a simple 4 step process to get God to move you into this sanctification process if you are not afraid of it and are willing to work with Him on it.

1. We Are Now Sanctified in Christ Jesus
In the above definition from Jack Hayford on sanctification, you will note that he says that sanctification is “instantaneous before God through Christ,” but that it is “progressive before man through obedience to the Holy Spirit and the Word.”

As you will see in the first two Scripture verses I will list below, these verses are telling us that we are now “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” and that we now receive sanctification, along with redemption and righteousness, through the blood that Jesus has personally shed for all of us on the cross. This is what Mr. Hayford means by the first part of this definition in that our sanctification is instantaneous before God through Christ.

However, as you will see in several verses I will list in the second caption below, this sanctification is also progressive in nature as far as we are individually concerned. This means we have to go through a progressive process through the Holy Spirit and the Word in order to become more holy and sanctified in the Lord.

What I believe the Lord is trying to tell us in these first two verses is that we have already received His sanctification, like we have already received His redemption and righteousness as a result of being saved and born again. Here are the two verses:

“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord …” (1 Corinthians 1:2)

“But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption …” (1 Corinthians 1:30)
To think that God the Father has given us a full redemption and a full pardon for all of our sins – and then to add to this package the process of being able to be sanctified through the power of His Holy Spirit to become the saints that He wants us to become in Him – is enough to knock you right off the couch if you really stop and think what is in these three words:

Redemption, Righteousness, and Sanctification!

And to think that all of this is coming direct from the one and only Almighty God of the entire universe if we are willing to accept His free gift of eternal salvation through His Son Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross.

It really does not get any better than this – that God and Jesus would go to this type of extreme length to bring us back to Themselves – and then allow us to become partakers in this sanctification process where God the Father can then start to mold, shape, and transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ.

2. Sanctification is a Progressive Process
Now here are the two main verses that will show us that becoming sanctified in the Lord is a progressive process. The two keys words in both of these verses are “being sanctified.”

If we were all instantaneously sanctified at the moment of our conversions with Jesus, then the Bible would not be using these two words of “being sanctified.” The word “being” is telling us that this is a progressive and ongoing process.

“For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren …” (Hebrews 2:11)

“For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14)
Again, with God the Father being willing to open up this sanctification process to each born-again believer – this is really an incredible privilege and the highest of all blessings that we can receive from the Lord.

3. God is Calling All of Us to Sanctification
As you will see in the next set of verses, God is calling all of us to this sanctification in Him. These verses are all very direct and straight-to-the-point. The first verse I will list below is telling us that God wants to sanctify us “completely” in all three parts of our being – body, soul, and spirit!

When God uses the word “completely” – He is using a maximum intense kind of word. He wants to take us all the way in this realm if we are willing to yield to it and work with Him during the process.

If you really study the wording in all of these verses, you can really feel the importance that God is placing on this sanctification process, and that this is something that He wants all of His children to become a part of, not just a few of His select saints.

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

“… but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15)

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God … For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3,7)

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:20)

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

“I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness … What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” (Romans 6:19-22)
When you first read the way these verses are worded, it is very easy to become dismayed and distraught. If you are really honest with yourself, you can really feel and sense how far of a gap there is between where you are at right now with the Lord in your present level of spiritual development and how far God would really like to take you in this realm.

Many Christians, when they first read these kinds of verses, realize they are simply too far away from this type of holiness in their present state of spiritual development and they thus throw in the towel – never even attempting to give God a chance to start this sanctification process through them in this life.

This will now lead us into the next section. These next set of verses will tell you exactly how God can get this sanctification process started in your life right in the middle of wherever your present level of spiritual development may be in Him – no matter how bad you think it may be.

4. Sanctification is Done By the Word and the Holy Spirit
Study these next set of verses very, very carefully. Trying to achieve the state of holiness that God the Father would like to bring us up into is completely impossible if we try to do it through our own flesh and through our own efforts.

Many Christians are trying to achieve this state of holiness without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit helping them out. You can easily spot those who are being properly sanctified through the Holy Spirit and those who are not.

The ones who are trying to achieve this sanctification out of their own efforts and out of their own flesh do not appear to be genuine. Their acts of holiness do not appear to be coming from the heart. You get the sense they are just trying to put on a show. There just seems to be something fake and plastic about them and the way they operate. Even most nonbelievers can see right through them. There is a sense of false piety about them that does not seem to ring true.

However, with the person who is being properly sanctified by the Holy Spirit, you can really tell there is something different about this type of person. This person does not flaunt his piety, goodness, or holiness. They are very humble about it. Everything they do comes from the heart and everything appears to be done very naturally. There is no pretentiousness or sense of false piety in their actions or attitudes.

This sense of real holiness they are projecting through their personalities literally has a drawing power to it. You find yourself gravitating to these types of people. You can almost sense or see a radiance or glow about them. The love of God just radiates from their countenance. You are very comfortable in being in their presence and talking with them. You can see that their holiness is genuine and that it really is coming from the heart of God Himself.

This is why these next set of verses are so specific on how this sanctification process is done in the Lord. Bottom line – sanctification in the Lord is done by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through the knowledge that the Word will give you. In other words – it is the Word and the Spirit working together that will cause this sanctification process to begin and occur in your life.

It really is the Holy Spirit who will be the One to cause this type of transformation to occur in your personality. However, the Holy Spirit will not work without the Word. Why? Because the Word of God will give you the knowledge that you will need in order to be able to work with the Holy Spirit in this process. You have to know exactly what it is that God wants to change about you before the Holy Spirit will move to cause some of these changes to start to take place in your personality.

Example – you have to learn from the Bible what some of the specific qualities are that God will want to impart into your personality.

The Bible will tell you exactly what these nine fruits are. Then once you know exactly what they are, then you can start to work with the Holy Spirit to get more of these fruits manifested and imparted into your personality. But if you do not learn exactly what these specific fruits are to begin with by reading about them from the Bible, then the Holy Spirit will have nothing to work with and He thus may not do much with you in this realm.

All Christians have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them. The Holy Spirit is only too anxious to get the ball rolling with you in every area of your life where you may need His help on, especially in the area of being sanctified in the Lord. However, many Christians have not spent much time in the Word and they are thus lacking the “working knowledge” they will need to work with the Holy Spirit in this deeper realm. As a result, there is very little, if any true spiritual growth over the course of most of their lives.

As you can tell by the way these verses are worded, this sanctification realm is for the real seekers. The real seekers will be diving into God and His Word to find out exactly what it is God wants to do with them, and then will only be too anxious to work with the Holy Spirit during this process – having no fear of doing it, and being willing to fully submit to the Lord with how He wants to handle all of it.

These verses in particular are giving you the “key” that will open up this door of sanctification to come into your life and change it forever.

” … because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth … ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13)

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

” … elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace be multiplied.” (1 Peter 1:2)

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13)

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25)

“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever … ” (1 Peter 1:22)
Notice in the last verse it says that your soul can become purified by “obeying the truth through the Spirit.” You can only get God’s truth in you if you read His Word. Learn the truth by studying the Word of God, and then combine this with walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, and then your soul can become purified.

The verse right above it says that Jesus can cleanse and sanctify His church, which are the individual body of believers, by the “washing of water by the word.” In other words, you can be washed clean by His Word if you are willing to soak into the Scripture verses like you would soak in a bath of water to clean off. The Word of God has that kind of power in it!

The truth from God can set you free in many areas of your life – but you first have to learn what those truths are before they can start to work to set you free. And the only way to find the spiritual truths that will change the quality of your life and help set you free is by reading and studying from the Bible. There is no other way!

The first 5 verses specifically tell us it is by the Holy Spirit Himself that this sanctification process is done in your life. Put all of these verses together, and God the Father is telling you exactly how this sanctification process can be done in this life – and that is by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through the knowledge that the Word will give you.

In other words, it’s the Word and the Holy Spirit working together in a believer, who is actively seeking after God and His Word, that will get God to release the Holy Spirit to start this sanctification process within their mind, body, soul, and spirit.

How to Enter Into the
Sanctification Process with the Lord
Though all of the above may seem like a tall order in the type of world we live in today, it really isn’t. I have personally seen God do a sanctifying work in several people I know, and the changes in these people’s personality have been dramatic and powerful. They are no longer the people I used to know. They are now true saints in every sense of the word.

The Holy Spirit is powerful and He is God Almighty Himself. Once You see Him really get a hold of a believer, and then start this sanctifying work in them to make them to become more holy and Christ-like in their souls and personalities – it is truly an incredible sight to behold! In my opinion, this is even more miraculous than watching Him heal someone of a physical ailment or disease.

To those of you who would like to tread into this type of deeper waters with the Lord, but are somewhat fearful of what He may do with you – the one thing that I can personally tell you is that you can completely trust God the Father to begin this work in you. He knows you better than you can ever know yourself. Since God is totally and completely perfect in His very nature and personality, then this means He will know how to perfectly handle you with this sanctification process.

I will end this article with a very simple 4 step process that will lead you into this sanctification realm if you decide you want to give God a full and solid green light to start this process within you. However, what I cannot give you is exactly what God will be personally doing with each and everyone of you once this sanctification process starts up.

Everyone is operating at different levels of spiritual development with the Lord. Some people have more baggage to clean up than others. Some people will be more resistant to the Holy Spirit wanting to remove certain negative qualities than others will. Some will progress at a faster rate of speed than others will because they will be more honest with the Lord and will be more open to receiving revelation on exactly what it is God wants to put in them and exactly what it is He wants to take out of them.

This sanctification is a process. It is not something that will done overnight. You can trust God to perfectly handle the time frame in which He wants to operate in. He will not overwhelm you. He will give you plenty of reasonable time to work with the Holy Spirit once the Holy Spirit starts to impart revelation and knowledge to you on exactly what it is He wants to come after.

For those of you who would really like to get serious with the Lord on getting this sanctification process started in your life – here is a very simple 4 step process that will get you in if you decide you want to take the plunge.

1. Decide If You Really Want It
The first thing you will need to do is to make a personal decision as to whether or not you really want to enter into this sanctification realm with the Lord. Many Christians really do not want God to do any type of sanctifying work in their lives. The reason for this is that they know He will be coming after some of their vices and character flaws, and they simply are not willing to give up some of these vices, or attempt to try and work with Him to change certain parts of their personalities.

So the first thing you will have to do is to make a personal decision as to whether or not you really want the Lord to begin this type of deeper work in your life. This is not something that you can go halfway with Him on. This is an all-or-nothing decision.

You are either going to go all the way with the Lord once He begins to do it with you or you are not. You cannot straddle the fence post with Him on this process. If you do, then the Holy Spirit is not going to move with full force to help get you cleaned up and sanctified to the degree that God would really like to get you to in this life.

Once the Lord starts to move into certain areas of your life and personality, then you are going to have to be willing to fully work with Him on it or nothing is going to get accomplished. He has to have your full consent on all of this. God really respects your free will and He will not run against it.

If you decide you want to give the Lord a full and solid green light to begin this type of deeper work in your life after really thinking and chewing on the ramifications on what this type of deeper progressive work will entail, then you will now be ready for step 2.

2. Ask God the Father to Begin the Sanctification Process
To get God to start to move you into this sanctification realm will only require one thing – and that one thing is that you go before the Lord in serious and heartfelt prayer, and ask Him to start this sanctification process in your life through the power of the Holy Spirit. It really is that simple.

The Bible says to ask – and then you will receive. The Bible also says you have not because you ask not. In other words, all you simply have to do is ask God the Father in prayer to start this sanctification process and tell Him that you will now be willing to work with both Him and the Holy Spirit once it starts up.

Once you put this initial request on His altar, I would keep reminding the Lord to keep this sanctification process going for the rest of your life at least once or twice a year for the rest of your life. By reminding God to keep this sanctification process going on for the rest of your life, you are showing Him that you mean serious business with Him, and that you want the Holy Spirit to keep working with you in this realm as long as you are walking and breathing in this physical body. The show never stops with the Lord, and He will take you as far as you will want to go with Him in this realm.

For those of you who would like a good sample prayer to go before God the Father to get Him to start this sanctification process in your life, here is a very good sample prayer you can use:

“Father,

In the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, I now approach Your throne with a very special request. Your Word tells me that You want to completely sanctify me through the special workings of the Holy Spirit. Your Word tells me that You want to shape, mold, and transform me into the express image of Your Son Jesus Christ. Father, I now want to work in cooperation and in partnership with both You and the Holy Spirit to begin this deeper sanctifying work in my life.

Father, I now ask that You begin to completely sanctify me in both my body, my soul, and my spirit. I now give You a full and solid green light to begin this sanctification process in my life. Father, I now ask that You hold nothing back once You begin this sanctifying work in me and my life. I will now be willing to work with both You and the Holy Spirit in any area of my life and in any area of my personality that You feel needs to be cleaned up, sanctified, and made more holy.

Father, I now have full faith and belief that You will honor this request and will begin this sanctification process in my life in the way and manner You deem most appropriate at the level of spiritual development that I am currently operating at with You.

Thank You Father.
Thank You Jesus.
Thank You Holy Spirit.”

This would be the basic gist of wording this type of prayer for those of you who may have a hard time in wording some of your specific prayers to the Lord. If you can truly approach God with this type of prayer, and you are really meaning it from your mind and your heart – then God will hear you loud and clear, and He will then begin to start this sanctification process in your life right where you are standing at the moment this request is put before Him.

3. Study the Word For the Knowledge That You Will Need
If you are willing to give God a full and solid green light in which to start this sanctification process in your life – then there are now two things you must be willing to do on your end to get this sanctification process moving into full gear. You will not be a passive robot in all of this, expecting God to do all of the work for you. He will need you to do your part in all of this. This will now lead us into the last two parts that will complete what you will need to know in order to be able to work in cooperation with the Lord on all of this.

Your first part will be to study the Word on some type of regular and frequent basis. As some of the above Scripture verses have stated, it is the combination of the Holy Spirit working with the Word and the knowledge that the Word will give you that will cause this sanctification process to move into high gear in your life.

As I stated at the top of this article, you have to have the actual knowledge on exactly what it is God wants to change about you. And the only way you can get this knowledge is by reading and studying from the Bible.

Study and pull from the Bible exactly what it is that God wants to impart into your personality, and exactly what it is He wants to take out of your personality that is not pleasing to Him – and then the Holy Spirit will start to move into those specific areas to help get you cleaned up and sanctified.

It’s the Word and the Spirit working in conjunction with one another that will take you on this road to holiness in the Lord. However, your part is to get into the Word. The Holy Spirit cannot do this part for you. Many Christians do not spend much time in the Bible and this is one of the main reasons why there is not much spiritual growth occurring in their lives.

The Holy Spirit will personally guide you in this life as to how often and how frequently you will need to read from the Bible. You do not want to get into legalism and ritualism with how often and how much time you will spend in the Word. God Himself will personally guide you in all of this. Just realize that God will be wanting you to spend kind of regular quality time during the course of your life in reading from His Word, and trying to understand and assimilate what you are reading as best you can.

4. Work in Cooperation With the Holy Spirit During This Process
The last and final part to really being able to get this sanctification process started in your life is your willingness and eagerness to work very closely with the Holy Spirit once He starts to move in on you and let you know exactly what it is He wants to do. Here are a few examples of what you may expect from Him.

The apostle Paul says that God wants to sanctify you completely – body, soul, and spirit. Do not be surprised if one of the things that the Holy Spirit will move in on is any particular vices you may have that could be harming your physical body. Good examples of this would be smoking cigarettes, smoking pot, abusing alcohol, and overeating on the wrong kinds of foods.

Many Christians are addicted to smoking cigarettes. I have seen God move on quite a few of them on this particular vice. Some of them have been successful in kicking the habit, and others have not. The power of the Holy Spirit is there to help break this addiction off you, but you have to really want to have this vice removed before God will move in to break this addiction off you.

Some people really do not want to give this up for the Lord. When that happens, God will respect your free will on the matter and back off. However, I have seen Him come back in waves on that person, and every so often He keeps coming back and knocking on their doors, letting them know once more that He would really like to have this addiction removed from their lifestyle.

The same goes for those Christians who still like to smoke their pot. I have discovered there is some slack with the Lord on the cigarette thing, but there is much less slack with Him on the pot issue! Every Christian who I have known that has smoked pot, and then really came into a full surrender with the Lord, have all had the pot taken out of their lives very quickly.

Bottom line – God will be letting you know very early on which of these vices He would like to have removed from your personality and lifestyle. His divine power is there to help break these addictions off your back, but you will have to be the one to make this personal decision for yourself as to whether or not you will work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to take these addictions out of your life for good.

I have seen God break many of these types of addictions off people and they did not have to go through any type of physical withdrawal during the weaning off process. God, through the power of the Holy Spirit operating on the inside of you, has the full power to be able to set you completely free from any vices or addictions you may have. There is nothing that the power of God cannot totally defeat and overcome if you are willing to allow God to work with you in these areas.

Other areas of your life that God may want to move in on are some of your attitudes. If you are holding any unforgiveness towards others for things they may have done to you in your past – expect God to move in very strongly to try and get you to forgive these people and to let all of the wrongs they may have ever done to you into His hands. Vengeance and payback in this life belong to the Lord, not to you or anyone else! God will be righting all the wrongs ever done to you in this life. Your job is to forgive all of those who have ever hurt or wronged you and get on with the rest of your life.

If you are operating in any type of a judgmental, critical, controlling, or manipulating spirit – expect the Lord to deal very heavily with you on these issues. These kinds of attitudes and behaviors are poisonous and toxic to all of those who come in contact with them. They are all unacceptable in the eyes of God, and the Holy Spirit will be moving very strongly on you with conviction and insight to tackle these kinds of attitudes and behaviors.

Bottom line – God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will be letting you know very clearly what good, positive, and godly qualities He will want to try and “put on” into your personality, and what negative qualities and vices He will want to try and “put away.” Once all of this knowledge and information has been given to you by the Lord, then it will be up to you as to whether or not you will want to work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to get all of this accomplished.

If you are willing to work with the Lord in the specific areas that He will target – then the Holy Spirit will start to do the miraculous and supernatural work of removing all of the bad things that He will not want operating in your personality and life, and then impart all of the positive and godly things that He will want have operating in your personality and life. And once this starts to happen, God the Father will then start to transmit and impart part of His divine nature and personality right up into your mind, soul, and spirit.

God’s love, joy, peace, patience, boldness, goodness, gentleness, and kindness will all start to move up and mesh into your personality, thereby increasing your ability to be able to walk, live, and operate in these saintly and godly qualities.

When this starts to happen, you will have officially entered into a true, progressive, sanctified state – where the very life of God Himself will now be flowing through you and out of you so that you can reach others with His message of eternal salvation, and His message on how to properly live this life the way He wants His people to live it.

The Bible tells us that God wants us to become fishers of men for Him. You can become a much better fisherman, representative, and ambassador for the Lord if you are willing to allow Him to lead you into this sanctification process. Nothing will draw others to the Lord more than a Spirit-filled, anointed, and truly sanctified saint who has the fruits and qualities of the Holy Spirit operating through their personality.

This sanctification process is available to every single born-again believer. However, it is up to each and every Christian to make this personal decision for themselves. This is something that the Lord will not force on anyone due to the individual cooperation that is needed from each person to really get this process started.

Conclusion
I will leave you with one last thought on all of this. True holiness is God’s ultimate and highest aim for all of us. Getting saved and born again is just the beginning. Once you are saved, God expects you to spiritually grow and mature in your personal walk with Him.

After studying the Bible from cover to cover – I believe one of the main secrets that is jumping out loud and clear is that God and Jesus are calling us unto Themselves to become a partaker of Their own divine holiness. They are calling us out to become separate from the world and the corrupt ways of this world.

As a result of Jesus personally dying on the cross for each and everyone of us, we now have direct access to the throne of God the Father Himself. As a result of this direct access we now have with God the Father, we not only get to pray and communicate directly with Him, but we also get an open invitation to become partakers of this sanctification process where He can start to work, mold, change, and transform us into the express image of His one and only Son Jesus Christ.

God is holy – and He is calling each and everyone of us into His very holiness. God Himself can start to transmit and impart, through the Holy Spirit, some of His very own divine attributes and personality qualities right up into the middle of our own souls and personalities if we are willing to enter into this sanctification process with Him.

To those of you who would really like to try and achieve any true sainthood in this life with the Lord – this progressive, sanctification process is what will lead you in. This path and journey to holiness in the Lord is there for all who are willing to step into it and are not afraid to work with the Holy Spirit in the directions that He will want to take them in.

To those of you who are willing to take this dive into these deeper waters with the Lord, I guarantee you will find the most incredible state of well-being that you will never find in any of the material things or pursuits of this world.

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/sanctification-article/

WHERE ANGELS WALK

Lou and his young wife Edith lived on a small farm in upper Michigan, the last mail box on the line. It was a lonely tough life on the farm, but the newlyweds were happy---they had one another and their daily bread. One morning in early summer after Lou had gone out to the farthest field, a stranger rode into the farm yard. He hitched his horse to the post as most visitors did, but failed to come directly to the house. Instead he checked out the barn, the shed and all around the property first.

Edith had watched him through the window with growing anxiety. Farm families were usually very generous with those who came by, asking for help. But this stranger seemed ominous, up to no good. By the time she heard the knock, she was very frightened. She thought of not answering, but he had looked around and probably saw signs that the house was occupied. Now as he knocked again, she opened the door just a little. “Yes, what do you want?” she asked.

The stranger peered at her. “Are you alone?” he asked.

Edith’s heart sank. He was strong, this man, and he could easily break down the door. In her fright she blurted out, “No! My husband’s in the attic.” To add force to the lie, she turned and called out, “Lou! Could you come downstairs, please?” The voice of her husband responded immediately. “I’ll be right down!”

With that, the stranger turned and hurried to his horse. Mounting, he galloped out of the yard. Edith was stunned. She had thought Lou was working way out in the field. What luck that he had come in at the very moment she needed him most!

Eager to tell him, Edith clambered up to the attic. But the attic, as always, was full of undisturbed dust. No one had been up there for a very long time. And as he reported to her when he came in, Lou had been in the field all morning.

Whose guardian angel responded to Edith’s call? Maybe it was the stranger’s, hoping to keep him out of trouble!

…..Copyright 2011 by Joan Wester Anderson. Published by Joan Wester Anderson, P.O. Box 127, Prospect Heights, IL 60070 (http://www.joanwanderson.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

PROVERBS 19:11 BIBLE VERSE FOR THE DAY

In the very fast-paced world we all now live and work in, one of the things that has occurred to many people is that their fuses have really shortened up. Things that never made them mad and angry now set them off very easily.

Road rage is still a major problem on our highways, along with people losing their tempers in their marriages and in the work places. For those of you who are having a problem in controlling your temper, you may want to take a very good look at the 2 Bible Verses we have listed for today.

These 2 verses are telling us to be slow to anger, slow to wrath, and slow to speak. In other words, do not spout off and easily lose your temper at the slightest bit of provocation. Flip off the wrong guy on the highway and he may be the last person you will see alive again.

Here are these two most important verses on this issue:

1. “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and it is to his glory to overlook a transgression.” (Proverbs 19:11)

2. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19)

One of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of self-control. If there are any of you who are having a problem in controlling your temper, ask God to release this specific fruit along with His fruit of peace into your personality so you can learn how to control your bad temper.

People who easily lose their tempers are not fun to be around, as you always feel like you are walking on eggshells since you never know when they will go off next. This also creates a lot of extra tension in a marriage and family, as members of a family will find themselves starting to pull away from people who lose their tempers too easily and too quickly.

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/blog/index.php/2012/02/07/proverbs-1911/

"AND IT WON'T EVEN COST YOU A DIME"

"Don't worry. One day I'll hit it big," he said. And there sat another dreamer who, although he was already a success in life, felt that the "big one" was due him any day now.

It's the spin the of wheel, the popping and stirring of the ping pong balls that will turn their life around.

My father took part in it nearly every day and yet called it crooked and fixed. He sat alone in his little apartment at the other end of his life, ticket in hand, waiting and watching as they called out another set of losing numbers.

But this man told his wife, "Don't worry. I'll leave you set for life. You'll not have a care in the world."

She said, "I have you. I don't need anything more."

"Ah honey, you know I worked hard all my life. I gave you the best that I could. But this will make it all worth-while. I want to leave something behind for the world to remember me by," he said. Then he got in line for the state lottery.

Today was the day. This was the big one. He joked with the others in line, "Don't even bother playing. I've got the winning numbers."

He was standing in the losers line and didn't even know it.

He was a loser before he even laid down a dollar. But in life he was already a winner. The one thing that he dreamed he could accomplish, "to leave something behind for the world to remember me by," he had accomplished years ago.

You see he was a loving, caring man whose gentle spirit touched the lives of so many. He was a good husband, whose hard work and dedication made it possible for his wife of 40 plus years to stay home and raise the children.



Oh yes. The children. The world will remember him for generations to come because he and his wife had children. Their contribution and their children's children will carry their name far into the future. He made his mark. He was successful and yet in his final days he hung everything he had on six numbers.

No, he wasn't spending their retirement money.

In fact, he would only spend a dollar. But in his mind he had failed to give his wife and family all that they deserved. That was the real loss here. He was gambling his self-worth. Odds were that right up until his last breath he would never hit the big one.

Then it happened.

Right there, while he was standing in line, the man had a heart attack and died on the spot.

Imagine for a moment what his last precious seconds were like for him.



"Oh, God, not now. Don't let me fail like this. Honey, I'm so sorry for letting you down."

He finally hit it big. It truly was his day. The day he dreamed about all his life.

The fact of the matter is he didn't realize how successful he was until he crossed over and stood there looking at his life. There spread out before him like jewels and pearls scattered on the beach waiting to be scooped up, were all his accomplishments. I can see him shaking his head thinking, "Why didn't I realize how much I had all along?"

Because in this world more is never enough and success is measured in bank accounts and possessions.

No, he was no big time gambler in the world of high finance. He gambled with his self-worth and lost big time.

I discovered this years ago when a friend of mine passed away. She was an older woman who worked at the lottery machine in the local mall. Periodically when the pay out-grew big enough to temp my dreams, I would stop by to see her. She was a friendly looking lady who played with everybody's dream as the machine spit out their "winning" ticket. We had this ongoing joke that when one of us won the "big one" we would come looking for the other and go to Hawaii.

I really enjoyed talking with her. She made me feel important.

One day I picked up the paper and discovered that she had died. I knew nothing about her through all these years. But I decided to attend the viewing.

After paying respects I was introduced to her beautiful daughter. She was sobbing and suffering an obvious, great loss in her life. I took a deep breath and said, "You have no idea who I am. In fact I really didn't even know your mother's name until I saw her picture in the paper today. But I had to come by to tell you how important she was. She made people feel special. When you bought a lottery ticket from her you already won just because you met her," I said. "We always joked about who was going to hit the big one first," I stopped because I could hardly speak. I turned my head away for a moment and then said "I'm here to tell you she won. Thanks for sharing her with us."

Well, I'm here you tell you that you are already a winner. This is the day you have been waiting for all of your life. And if you are really lucky it will pay out again tomorrow and the next.

And it won't even cost you a dime. "I wish you enough!"

….. Bob Perks (2believe@comcast.net) (http://bobperks.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

HOSEA 4:6 BIBLE VERSE FOR THE DAY

These next two Bible Verses for the day are two of the most important in all of the Bible. After you get saved and born again in the Lord, that is just the very beginning of your new journey with Him. From there, God will expect you to grow in His knowledge and grace.

The Bible says we are actually transformed by the renewing of our mind, and part of that process is the acquiring of knowledge and then implementng that knowledge in our daily walk with the Lord.

We have to develop right thinking in our thought process and the only way to develop right thinking is to have the right kind of knowledge instilled into us. And the only way to get the right kind of knowledge instilled into us is to get it directly from the Bible. There is no other earthly source where we can get the right kind of knowledge to transform and renew us other than from the Holy Bible.

These next two verses will tell us the extreme importance that we seek after the knowledge of God for our lives, for without His knowledge helping to guide our lives, we can literally go into captivity and be destroyed.

These next two verses are only one-line sentences, but they are both giving us major revelation on what we should all be seeking after with the Lord. Here they are:

1. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)

2. “Therefore My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge …” (Isaiah 5:13)

Again, this is one of the main reasons we have started up this kind of website, to take a lot of the Bible verses per subject matter and group them all together per article so you can see exactly what God is trying to teach you.

God can transmit knowledge direct to you through the Holy Spirit, but the main way He is going to teach you all of His ways is through His written Word – the Bible! That is why each Christian should spend what quality time they reasonably can in the Bible, so they can acquire all of the knowledge and revelation that God would like them to have for this life.

And to think that God has all of the knowledge that He would like us to have for this life is all contained in one Holy Book! Unbelievable!

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/blog/index.php/2012/02/03/hosea-46/

BECOMING SUSCEPTIBLE TO DECEPTION

"Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, 'This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.' They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.'" Acts 8:9-11

Who or what was Simon? Some Bible scholars think he was simply a stage magician specializing in sleight of hand and illusions. Others think he called on powers from Satan. Regardless, he had certainly become popular with the people, so much so that the "all the people" ascribed "divine power" to him.

Have you ever been around someone who always tells you how wonderful they are? Simon was like that, "He boasted that he was someone great." We human beings were created with a God-sized hole in us -- the inner knowledge that there is a power (a creator) greater than ourselves. It's one of the reasons we are so susceptible to deception. Simon used this "hole" to deceive "all the people both high and low" -- so not just the desperate or the poor, and not the rich or foolish, but all of the people.

Our Scripture tells us, "They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic." We are like this as well. We look for someone who tells us they have all the answers; someone who appears to have "divine" power or appointment because they can do something uncommon. These people show up in our lives bragging and boasting about their secret knowledge and ability, and if we are not careful we can fall under their spell.

Scripture tells us there is but one man to follow and that is Jesus (Col 1:15-20 clearly defines the "supremacy of Christ"). The Bible warns us repeatedly against deception: false teaching, signs, doctrines and the like. We need to be constantly on guard against worshipping talent (athletes, film and music stars, etc.), rather than the source of that talent -- God. Is there any area of your life in which you find yourself led by someone (based on their talent, charisma, or ability) that might make you susceptible to doing something that is inconsistent with the will of God? Have you ever found yourself under someone's spell? What does it take or would it take to break free of such a person?

pocketpower.org

LEADING THE WAY

with Dr. Michael Youssef

Always Holding Somebody Up



Our society has slyly attached negative connotations to the word submission. Instead of finding joy in serving others, our minds often run to thoughts of service under a ruthless taskmaster.

However, when the apostle Paul wrote about wives submitting to their spouses, he was giving an edict of love and not a directive for one to control the other. In fact, he was issuing an invitation for husbands and wives to pursue godliness in lifting up one another. This principle applies to all of us.

Dawson Trotman, founder of the world-wide discipleship ministry called The Navigators, was a man who truly modeled his life after the Lord Jesus Christ. He died in Schroonlake, New York, of, all things, drowning—for Trotman was an experienced swimmer.

A speedboat accident left two women in serious trouble. During Trotman’s last few moments in the water, he saved both of them. He lifted the first one out and then swam toward the other one, grabbed her, and lifted her up before he submerged and drowned. The next week, TIME Magazine ran an article on Trotman’s life. The caption that ran beneath his name read, “Always holding somebody up.” In one phrase, that was Trotman’s life—holding people up.

Perhaps this is what the apostle Paul was writing about when he instructed husbands and wives to love one another and be willing to sacrifice for each other. Men must park their egos and women must serve with humility. Submission can be a difficult task but with God’s direction, you will reach your goal.

Prayer: Lord, help me uphold those around me in this day.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men…to the king, as the supreme authority.
(1 Peter 2:13)

http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/leading-the-way/leading-the-way-week-of-feb-25-11567892.html

A COMFORTING GOD

“You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle – are they not in Your book?”
Psalm 56:8
The Amplified Bible

EXPLORATION: Day 4: How God embraces me with His comfort.

“Comforting God, shelter me under your wings when I am engulfed in sadness and overcome with distress.”

Joyce Rupp

“For the Lord will comfort all her waste places. And He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her.”
Isaiah 51:3
The Amplified Bible

INSPIRATION

“I, even I, am He who comforts you.”
Isaiah 51:12
The Amplified Bible

When my Grandmother was twelve years old, her father, a marine engineer, left on a sailing trip one morning and never returned. Several months after the disappearance of the ship he was on, an empty life-preserver was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean. For my Grandmother, as well as all the other family members whose loved-ones served aboard this vessel, it was a devastating loss.

As I grew older, there was one thing about my grandma I could never understand. She never cried. No matter how sad the event – even at funerals – Grandma never shed a tear. One day, at the age when you have more boldness than brains, I went into my grandma’s office where she was busy typing and I said with all my youthful bluntness, “Grandma, why don’t you ever cry?”

She looked at me and said, “Well, Dorothy, long ago when I was about your age and my father died, I found out that tears never fix anything.” I’ll never forget those words. I thought long and hard about what my grandma said for many years – even believing, myself, that shedding tears over anything was a waste of time.

One day, after a particularly hurtful end to a very painful relationship, I happened to be visiting Grandma. As we talked about the situation, that to me was so traumatic, I began to cry. Not a little trickle of water. These weren’t small droplets on my cheeks. No, this was something unusual. I was crying huge crocodile tears. An unstoppable flood covered my face, and loud, wailing howls came out of my mouth. To my complete surprise, I looked up and saw tears rolling down the soft, wrinkled face of my dear grandmother.

She got up from where she was sitting and went into her bedroom and got the old, very used Bible that was on a table beside her bed and read me these words: “Thou tellest my wanderings; put thou my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?” (Psalm 56:8, King James Version).

Grandma took my hands and said, “Dearie, God has every one of your tears and mine in the bottle of His remembrance.” This is when I found out where all my grandma’s tears were – held in loving hands in a beautiful place where God never forgets the pain that has crushed our dreams and broken our hearts.

As The Message states, “You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book” (Psalm 56:8). God keeps a complete record. A written document. A remembrance of the tears that filled our eyes and rolled down our cheeks.

This comforting thought took on a whole new meaning for me when I read Dr. Larry Dossey’s thought-provoking book, The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things. One chapter deals specifically with the healing power of tears. Dr. Dossey notes that throughout ancient history, it was a sign of love and caring to collect tears in “bottlelike containers called lachrymatories.”

But this isn’t all I learned. Scientists have found that “tears contain more than thirty times the amount of manganese found in the blood. This suggests that tears may function to rid the body of certain toxins. Indeed, in seabirds such as cormorants and albatrosses, tear glands seem to serve this purpose; they are more powerful than the birds’ kidneys in ridding the body of toxic levels of salt.”

As I thought about the potential for cleansing as we release tears, I remembered words written by the Apostle John in Revelation where God assures us that in one of the most compassionate acts of love ever recorded in the Scriptures, He will “wipe every tear from our eyes.” Rev. 7: 17.

God isn’t going to find some stand-in to perform this comforting task. He wants to end our pain Himself. And so with the gentle hands of a loving Father, He will reach over and wipe from our faces those droplets of water that on earth have served to help purify our bodies. No need for tears because a day is coming when nothing will cause tears. No pain. No sadness. No heartache. I’m so thankful my Father has promised to wipe away my tears – forever.

AFFIRMATION

“Tears are the tips of those sorrows
we choose to let go.
And so, as I cry out to You, Lord,
I ask You to help me release
all that has been binding my heart.
As I feel yesterday’s sadness
running down today’s face,
my still moist eyes begin
to look forward to tomorrow.
And with Your grace,
I feel myself remembering
how to smile once again …”

Anne Calodich Fone

“May the God who listens to our hearts and enters into our pain bless us and all who are in need with the comfort and quiet of His gentle presence, now and always. Amen.”

Marchiene Rienstra


Your friend,

Dorothy Valcárcel, Author
When A Woman Meets Jesus
Dorothy@TransformationGarden.com

BIBLE KNOWLEDGE

Prayer Secret #1 – Your Personal Relationship With God
his, in my opinion, is the #1 secret for being able to get more of your personal prayers answered by God the Father. This particular secret is the first step you will need to take before you can expect to have any kind of major success in your prayer life with God the Father.

Here is the Scripture verse that will give us this first major prayer secret from the Lord:

“IF YOU ABIDE IN ME, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:7)

Look very, very carefully at this verse to see exactly what Jesus is trying to tell you. He is giving you two powerful pieces of revelation in which to grasp if you want to be able to get God the Father to answer more of your specific prayers. Here are the two main pieces of revelation.

1. Establish a Good, Personal Relationship With the Lord
The first part of the first sentence – “If you abide in Me” - is telling you that the very first thing that God is wanting from you in order to be able to properly approach Him for prayer is for you to establish a very strong personal relationship with Him!

Jesus is using the word “abide.” The word abide means to “continue in a state or place, to endure.” What Jesus wants from us is that we be willing to abide in Him, that we be willing to live in Him. Being willing to abide in Jesus means that we have established a very good, intimate, personal relationship with Him.

The #1 reason God created the human race was for intimate fellowship. God has this incredible love for the human race, and He wants more than anything else that we approach Him and enter into this one-on-one, intimate, personal relationship with Him.

If you really stop and think about this, what is one of the greatest joys that a person can have this side of heaven? What is the one thing that most people long for? What is the one thing that will make you cry when you see this portrayed at the movie theaters?

It is the longing for a personal, intimate, love relationship with a person of the opposite sex, the longing for a true soul mate. Why? Because that one person, more than any other person, is the one person who can really get to know you. It is the one person who can become your best friend. It is the one person who you can tell anything and everything to.

It is the most unique of all human relationships. Some have found this one true love in this life and others have not. Those of you who have found this one true love know exactly what I am talking about. Those of you who have not found this one true love at this time know the longing that you have to find this one special person.

This same longing that we have to meet this one true soulmate is the same longing that God has for all us. Except with God, this longing for us is much more intense. The fact that God would send down His one and only Son to our earth in the flesh to physically die on a cross in order to bring us back to Himself shows us more than anything else how much He really does love all of us.

The best analogy that I can give you on this is the “best friend analogy.” God wants to become your best friend, over your soulmate and over any other best friends you may have in this life. He wants to be #1 in your life and He will not settle for anything less. The Bible says that God the Father is a jealous God, a consuming fire.

Some Christians believe that if they go to church once a week, sing a few songs in church, and pay their tithe, that they are “in relationship” with God. However, God wants more than this. He wants you 7 days of the week, not just one time a week in a church service.

He wants to be able to freely communicate with you 24/7. He wants you to talk with Him just like you would talk to your best friend. He wants dynamic free flowing conversation with you on anything you want to personally discuss with Him, no matter how small or trivial it may seem to you. And He then wants you to be open to listening to anything that He may have to say to you.

What happens to some Christians is that they have not established this kind of close personal relationship with the Lord, and then when a crisis or emergency presents itself, it is already too late to try to get God to answer their prayer.

Notice that Jesus starts the first sentence out with the word “IF.” IF you have established a good, personal relationship with God, THEN you can approach Him with your prayer requests, and THEN He will answer them.

Too many Christians attempt to use God. The only time they ever approach God is when they need something specific from Him. God thus has no natural desire to answer any prayer request they may have because they have never established any kind of true personal relationship with Him.

One of the things I felt like the Holy Spirit has conveyed to me is that if you really want to be able to get God to answer more of your prayers, then you have to create a desire in God to want to answer more of your prayers.

And the #1 way that you create a desire in God to get Him to want to answer more of your prayer requests is by establishing a good, intimate, personal relationship with Him.

The Parent-Child Analogy
The analogy the Holy Spirit gave me to understand all of this was the “Parent-Child Analogy.” Imagine you are the parent and you have two small children. The one boy really loves you. He has established a true, loving, personal relationship with you. He wants to hang out with you. He comes home from school and tells you everything that happened to him that day. He tells you all the little things that may have gone right or wrong during the day. He values your opinion.

When he gets older and more mature, all of sudden he wants to hear more about you, your life, and your problems. He wants to know more about you, your past, why you do what you do and why you think the way that you do. This child is truly abiding in you, truly living in you. You feel like you and him are “one in spirit.” As you grow older, your personal relationship deepens and keeps getting better and better.

Then you have the other child. He could care less about you and your personality. The only time he will ever approach you is when he needs something specific from you. He will even go as far as to act like he cares about you, but once he gets what he wants from you, he is back to ignoring you until the next time he needs something from you.

As he grows older, you grow farther and farther apart. When he is finally able to leave home on his own, you never hear from him unless he once again needs something specific from you. He hardly ever calls or comes over.

Now if you are the loving father over these two children, which of the two will you have a strong, natural desire to help out when they may need your help on something? You will have no natural desire to help the one who has been using you over all of those years.

However, with the child who has established a true, loving, personal relationship with you, you will bend over backwards to give that child anything and everything that he may need. Why? Because he loves you for you! He does not love you for what you can do for him. He loves you for the person that you are and for the friend that you have become for him over all those years.

In fact, your love for this loving son will be so great, many of the times you will give him what he will need before he will even ask you for it. Why? Because you are so in tune with him, you will know what he will need sometimes before he will even know what he will need. Then you will want to give it to him before he will even ask you for it because your love for him is so great. You have a very strong natural desire to want to make him happy, all because of the good personal relationship that he has established with you over all those years.

It is the exact same way with God the Father! Establish a true, loving, intimate, personal relationship with God the Father and see if your whole life does not do a complete 180! Nothing will touch the heart of God more than you attempting to establish a good, close, personal relationship with Him – with you truly wanting Him for who He is, not for what He can do for you by way of material blessings.

Again – as a word of caution – God cannot be tricked or duped. You cannot try and enter into this kind of personal relationship with God in order to try and get Him to give you all of your wants and desires. Your motives must be pure!

You enter into a good personal relationship with the Lord because you want to get to know Him personally! You do not enter into this kind of a personal relationship with Him to see how much He can give you. You have to want God for who He is – not for what He can do for you. The Bible tells us to seek the face of God – not His hand.

For those of you who have truly established this kind of close, intimate, personal relationship with God, I am sure you can testify that this is truly the greatest experience that anyone of us can have this side of heaven – that this one and only true God in the entire universe can actually make direct contact with you, communicate and talk directly with you, and establish a real, intimate, personal relationship with you.

For those of you who have not really established this kind of close personal relationship with God, the one thing that I can tell you is that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. God will handle and relate to you on the level that you are currently operating at with Him. This kind of intimate personal relationship with the Lord is not built up overnight, but over time.

God can satisfy and meet the deeper longings of your soul and spirit that no human could ever reach! He can truly give you a perfect, pure, and unconditional love that no other person will be able to give you in this life.

He will be able to love you better and deeper than anyone else in your life – including the good natural love that you can get from your parents, your children, your marriage mates, and some of your better friends.

You can totally trust God because He is totally and completely perfect in all of His ways. He will not hurt you or harm you in any way. God has no dark side to His personality, so He is completely trustworthy. He is totally incapable of hurting you in any way.

Some Christians are afraid to go deeper with God in their own personal relationship with Him because they have been terribly hurt in other relationships, whether it be from their parents, their lovers, or some of their friends.

All humans are imperfect and they are thus not capable of giving you any kind of perfect true love. Since God is completely and totally perfect in His very nature and in all of His ways – then He, and only He, is the only One who can give you that perfect, pure, true, and unconditional love that you are really looking for in this life.

2. The Bible
Now we come to the second secret that is in the above verse. Note the second part of the first sentence then says, “My words abide in you.” I believe Jesus is telling us two things in this sentence.

His “Words” are literally meaning His Words. If you have established a good, loving, personal relationship with God, then He will talk to you just like you will talk to Him. And if He is talking to you, then His words will be abiding in you! This will be as a direct result of the free flowing dialogue that you will have with God as a result of having established a close, intimate, personal relationship with Him.

The other meaning to His words abiding in you is that He is referring to the Bible. If you really want to enter into a close personal relationship with God, then you have to be willing to spend some type of regular quality time reading the Bible. The Bible is the only one true source that we have down here on this earth where we can really learn all about God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

When you first enter into a true, personal, love relationship with someone, the very first natural desire you will have is that you will want to get to know everything you can about this person. You will want to know about all of their likes, their dislikes, where they have come from, and what they have been through. And the only way that you can find all of this out about them is by asking a lot of questions.

With God, the #1 way that you will learn all about Him is to read the Bible, because the Bible will tell you everything that you will need to know about Him, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit. You have to seek after knowledge about the Lord – and the Bible is the #1 main source that we have on this earth that can teach us about God and all of His ways.

Bottom Line
To summarize the revelation in the above Scripture verse in one bottom line statement:

God is looking to establish a close, intimate, personal relationship with each one of us. This is done in two ways:

1.By establishing a direct, free-flowing, and spontaneous best friend relationship with God where you commune and talk with Him on a regular and frequent basis in the exact same way you would with a best friend.

2.And by seeking after the knowledge of God – trying to get to know all you can about Him by studying and meditating on what is written in the Holy Bible.
I guarantee you that if you are willing to enter into both of these realms with the Lord, your life will never be the same again. This close, intimate, personal relationship that you can enter into with the Lord will be the door opener that will change the course of your entire life forever. The journey is there for all who are willing to step into it!

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/prayer-secret-1/