The servant of the Lord

The servant of the Lord is not quarrelsome. He is kindly to everyone and mild-tempered; he must be a skilled teacher, forbearing and willing to suffer. He must correct his opponents with gentleness, in the hope that God may lead then to repent and come to know the Truth, and escape out of the snare of the devil, to do God's will.

OUR IMPURITIES WILL PURIFY US

OUR IMPURITIES WILL PURIFY US

Everything that can stand fire, you shall make go through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity; and all that cannot stand fire you shall pass through water (Num.31:23).

Going through fire or water is a prerequisite to being cleansed and refined. The water is the strong, gushing rain that we experience. It is the storm that we face. The fire is the furnace that we go through.

God knows how long and how much we can stand … our perseverance, our stamina, our faith, our persistence, and our surrender. He will break us according to our ability to cope. The more difficult our testing is, the more consecrated we will become.

What caused us to be impure is what God will also use to purify us. “Your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23). Your sin will convict you. Our sin will make us feel so dirty. This will lead us to repent before the Lord, afterwhich He will let us go through water or fire.

Think about the times when you really repented before God. Think about those times when you felt so worthless, so sinful, and so dirty. Didn’t your own impurities lead you at the foot of the cross? Didn’t your own sins make you feel so convicted? Didn’t you feel disgusted with yourself? Didn’t you feel so desperate to be delivered from your sin?

This is what repentance is really all about … a feeling of disgust over our sin, desperation to be delivered, a decision to turn from our wrong ways.

And this is what our water or fire brings about in us.

+++Lisa Maki+++

Prudence

Success can be defines as the ability to minimize your errors, and the virtue that imparts this ability is prudence. With prudence, you make wise choices and wise decisions. "The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge"(Prov.18:15). You must make personal efforts to study God's Word. This way, your paths in life will be directed by the Word of God to make the right decisions that will lead you to have good success(Joshua 1:8).

This confuses the backslider

, it confuses a backslider when they turn on God. Their blessings continue to flow, they think they've made the right choice, all the time their iron is cooling off and they don't even know it. I've seen this happen many times LaTanya.......so true!!

Don't be lukwarm

wow i just caught the revelation. would you want to use a lukewarm iron for your clothes ? No, so that is why God will spit us out just like that iron we are not useful. Let me always be reminded of this. amen

Mind your own business

If God gave you an instruction, then follow it. Don't look at other people. God gave them instructions too and they should follow that. Don't go around saying...WHY AM I DOING THIS ALONE? HOW COME OTHERS ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING? Had Noah, Moses, Joseph, and all our other forefathers complained or had they focused on others instead of what God had called them to do, then we won't even be here right now. Know your calling, follow it, and stick to it. The Bible says...MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS (1Thes.4:11).

Why We Need Baptism

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ? 2 God forbid . How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? 3 Know ye not , that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed , that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died , he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth , he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin , because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid . 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you . 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord