The Power of God
Greetings to our sisters in Christ.
I saw in my notes about a woman I witnessed to a while back and wanted to share it with you.
Brother Jim and I were taking our morning walk and went past one of those expensive nutrition stores and in the window I saw a 'CLEARANCE' sign on a table full of nutritional bars. I said to brother Jim that maybe we should check it out to see if there would be anything for us, so we went inside. The woman said that they were 75% off and some were buy one, get one half off and then the 75% off...she spoke to my frugal keeper at home heart :-) We found some incredible deals and she was happy to get them off the shelf and not have to toss them.
Brother Jim went outside to wait while I checked out and I had a good conversation with her, explaining that we are born again Christians, brother Jim is an evangelist, and we have given up our lives to share the gospel all over the country. I gave her a gospel card and explained how man made religion is lying to people and that we encourage people to get into God's Word. She thanked me for the gospel card and I asked her where she was from and she answered "New York, the Bronx." (For those of you who don't know, the Bronx is known as as being one of the dangerous areas.) I need to make a note that this woman is black and I say that because what she said after that was pretty powerful. She saw my surprise and smiled, saying:
"There are quite a few really bad areas but that doesn't mean people can't work hard and move somewhere else. They all have opportunities because in such a highly populated area, there are jobs all over. There's no reason they can't get out if they want to."
That stuck with me because here's a secular black woman from the Bronx talking about how people living in such areas can get out, whereas we have professed believers in Christ saying it's too hard to walk in obedience to God's Word. That means those secular people have more power behind them than those who are supposed to have the power of Christ in them!
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:27
The power of God is a transformed life.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
We, as born again believers, have the power of God in our lives and nothing should be too hard for us to do.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
Yet we oftentimes see more power in the secular world than those who claim Christ. It makes me think of the (false) teaching evangelists who have sold everything to travel from church to church preaching their (false) gospel, living by 'faith' so they say. What happens is that they are supported by other lukewarm, unbiblical so called 'christians' but my point is, they look like they have more faith than a true believer because they are taking risks that true believers are afraid to take, let me share a real life example of this.
We were out west a couple years ago and met a man (who had a wife and several children) claiming to be a traveling evangelist. They had just recently started the journey with virtually no money in their pocket, claiming they are living by faith and that God provides. (What that really means is he is mooching off all those churches that they visit as well as eating out of food pantries and homeless shelters. We read their social media updates so that's exactly what they do.) Brother Jim tried to share the gospel and biblical truth with them but they wanted nothing to do with it.
My point is that these people who are not of God, are taking more risks in this world to spread their swill, than most true believers are to preach the gospel and live holy, obedient lives. What that means is that many who claim Christ have the 'form of godliness but deny the power thereof.' (2 Timothy 3:5)
No, I'm not saying all believers should sell everything and live on the road but we do know many men, from all these years, that are either in the position or with some diligent work could be in that position to go preach the gospel, but many don't. Some don't because they fear and don't want to sacrifice whatever comforts of the flesh they have and some have wives that refuse to support them.
Today I'm going to encourage you sisters to not fear the world as our savior has overcome it. Read John 16:33. He gives us what we need, when we need it and we have His power to do His will even when the world rebels against us. If we can't count on that, what's the use of all this anyway? That woman I told you about, worked very hard to reach a goal of getting out of that place, how much will you do to reach a goal of being obedient to the Word of God?
I pray for strength for you sisters.
Have a joyous evening,
Sister Deb
I saw in my notes about a woman I witnessed to a while back and wanted to share it with you.
Brother Jim and I were taking our morning walk and went past one of those expensive nutrition stores and in the window I saw a 'CLEARANCE' sign on a table full of nutritional bars. I said to brother Jim that maybe we should check it out to see if there would be anything for us, so we went inside. The woman said that they were 75% off and some were buy one, get one half off and then the 75% off...she spoke to my frugal keeper at home heart :-) We found some incredible deals and she was happy to get them off the shelf and not have to toss them.
Brother Jim went outside to wait while I checked out and I had a good conversation with her, explaining that we are born again Christians, brother Jim is an evangelist, and we have given up our lives to share the gospel all over the country. I gave her a gospel card and explained how man made religion is lying to people and that we encourage people to get into God's Word. She thanked me for the gospel card and I asked her where she was from and she answered "New York, the Bronx." (For those of you who don't know, the Bronx is known as as being one of the dangerous areas.) I need to make a note that this woman is black and I say that because what she said after that was pretty powerful. She saw my surprise and smiled, saying:
"There are quite a few really bad areas but that doesn't mean people can't work hard and move somewhere else. They all have opportunities because in such a highly populated area, there are jobs all over. There's no reason they can't get out if they want to."
That stuck with me because here's a secular black woman from the Bronx talking about how people living in such areas can get out, whereas we have professed believers in Christ saying it's too hard to walk in obedience to God's Word. That means those secular people have more power behind them than those who are supposed to have the power of Christ in them!
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:27
The power of God is a transformed life.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
We, as born again believers, have the power of God in our lives and nothing should be too hard for us to do.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
Yet we oftentimes see more power in the secular world than those who claim Christ. It makes me think of the (false) teaching evangelists who have sold everything to travel from church to church preaching their (false) gospel, living by 'faith' so they say. What happens is that they are supported by other lukewarm, unbiblical so called 'christians' but my point is, they look like they have more faith than a true believer because they are taking risks that true believers are afraid to take, let me share a real life example of this.
We were out west a couple years ago and met a man (who had a wife and several children) claiming to be a traveling evangelist. They had just recently started the journey with virtually no money in their pocket, claiming they are living by faith and that God provides. (What that really means is he is mooching off all those churches that they visit as well as eating out of food pantries and homeless shelters. We read their social media updates so that's exactly what they do.) Brother Jim tried to share the gospel and biblical truth with them but they wanted nothing to do with it.
My point is that these people who are not of God, are taking more risks in this world to spread their swill, than most true believers are to preach the gospel and live holy, obedient lives. What that means is that many who claim Christ have the 'form of godliness but deny the power thereof.' (2 Timothy 3:5)
No, I'm not saying all believers should sell everything and live on the road but we do know many men, from all these years, that are either in the position or with some diligent work could be in that position to go preach the gospel, but many don't. Some don't because they fear and don't want to sacrifice whatever comforts of the flesh they have and some have wives that refuse to support them.
Today I'm going to encourage you sisters to not fear the world as our savior has overcome it. Read John 16:33. He gives us what we need, when we need it and we have His power to do His will even when the world rebels against us. If we can't count on that, what's the use of all this anyway? That woman I told you about, worked very hard to reach a goal of getting out of that place, how much will you do to reach a goal of being obedient to the Word of God?
I pray for strength for you sisters.
Have a joyous evening,
Sister Deb
The biblical gospel...