The Power Of Conviction

If we need conviction, it lifts us out of sin and leads us back to the heart of God.

I often wonder how many human beings can get through a single day without God. If I feel that I am missing God’s presence, I can hardly stand it. I wonder how I lived without Him for many years. And all I can remember is pain and suffering.

I never want to be out of fellowship with the Lord. I must have Him to get through every single day of my life.

That’s why I’m so graft for the conviction of the Holt Spirit. He lets e know if I’m doing something that grieves God or interferes with our fellowship. He is faithful to show me if I’ve done something wrong and helps me get back on track. He convicts and convinces me, but He never condemns me.

The Bible says: “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world He gave His only son, so that whoever believes and Trusts in Him shall not parish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge or pass sentence on the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him” (John 3:16+17 Amplified).

God loves us even more than we love our children, and His love He disciplines us. I remember I hated taking privileges away from my children. But I knew they were bound for trouble if they continued to do wrong.

God has the same concern for us, but He is patient. He tells us again and again what we ought to do. He may feel us in 15 different ways, trying to get our attention.

His message of convicting love is everywhere. He wants us to listen to Him because he loves us. If we persist in our ways, He withholds privileges and blessings from us. But he does so only because he wants us to mature.

If God freely gave His Son, Jesus, surely He won’t hold back anything else we need. He wants to be with us radically and outrageously.

Every single day of our lives we need forgiveness. The Holy Spirit sets off an alarm in our spirit who recognized sin, and He gives us power of the wall of Jesus to continually cleanse us from sin and keep us in right standing with Him.

But if we are to overcome the condemnation, we can be certain it is not from God. He sent Jesus to die for us to pay the price for our sins. Jesus bore our sins and condensation on the cross. When God breaks the yoke of sin from us, He removes the guilt too. He is faithful and just to forgive all our sins and to continually cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Satan knows that condemnation insane keep us from approaching God in prayer so our needs cannot be met and we cannot enjoy Internet fellowship with Him. Feeling bad about ourselves I believe in God is angry with us only separates us from His presence. He doesn’t leave us, but often in fear and shame we withdraw from Him.

That’s why it’s so important to know the difference between conviction and condemnation. Remember if you hear conviction, it lifts you up and out of sin and leads you back to the heart of God. Condemnation only make you feel bad about yourself.

Ask God to convict you of your skin, realizing that conviction is a special blessing, not a problem. If only perfect people could pray receive answers, nobody would be praying. We don’t need to be perfect, but we do need to be cleansed of sin.

Conviction is widely necessary if we are to walk with God properly. This precious gift is one of the important way we hear from God. Don’t make the mistake of allowing condemnation to take hold of your life. Instead, the conviction lift you up to a new level with God. Don’t resist it, receive it.

What’s The Significance Of A Olive Tree?

there is an unique connection between the Jewish people and Christians. While sometimes a fierce debate. But the Bible indicates our relationship is found in the symbol of an olive tree.

The prophet Jeremiah describe your role as a green olive tree (Jeremiah 11:16). But the apostle Paul wrote to the church saying: “Forif you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree” (Romans 11:24).

Not surprisingly there are two basic righty of a olive tree, the oleaeuropaea which is cultivated and the oleauropeaeasylvestra, the wild variety.

But often gnarled, irregular trunk of an olive tree indicates its strength and durability. The trunk is often bent and hollow because of internal decay, although it continues to bear fruit. How often do we feel in our hearts that we are not worthy of such divine blessings but God by His grace uses this to bring glory of His name.

Because of the attractive grain, the wood is used in Israel for the manufacture of small souvenirs. In biblical times, Solomon was instructed to build the doors of the temple out of all the wood (Hosea 14:6).

Olive Oil

Olive oil was greatly valued in biblical times and was an important export (1Kings 5:11). The olive tree produces the most oil between 40-50 years old. The oil will use a cooking and still is, It was used for healthcare, to beautify the body for anointing. There are churches in America that use this as an anointing oil to pray over people.

The spiritual significance of olive oil is bound when the Psalmist describes how the good oil was poured upon the bread of Aaron, down on the edge of his garments (Psalm 133:2). The children of Israel considered the grace of God to be at divine oil, being poured out on them. They wore tassels upon their garments to remind them of the divine oil of God poured out upon them continuously.

Oil was also used as a source of lighting. God instructed the lighting of the menorah ( a seven branch candelabra) and other Temple lights with olive oil ( Leviticus 24:2). The menorah was lit with oil of pressed olives (Exodus 27:20). The oil was to be made out of beaten olives, to produce what is called katit oil, the olives must be squeezed repeatedly, so all the liquid from the fruit is removed. Light from the katit would be stronger because the oil is thicker since was of the olives were pressed. This reminds me of the pressing the pounding Jesus took for us, The name Garden of Gethsemane means olive press.

King David, the outstanding biblical hero described himself as being “like a green olive tree in the house of God” ( Psalm 52:8).

A wonderful site at the base of the olive tree is the young roots. Usually 10 or 12 new shoots are around the base of the tree. Those new olive shoots speak of new life. We can visualize a family seated around the table, enjoy life together. The Psalmist summed it up like this “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children are like olive plants all around your table” (Psalm 128:3).

The climax of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is found in Romans 9:11. As I mentioned how described the wild olive trees have been grafted into the cultivated tree, ‘the elder brother.’ Christians are grafted in. Paul is not suggesting we embrace Judaism but we are instructed to embrace the Jewish people and our biblical heritage. We are instructed to look to the rock from which we were cut out of the quarry home which we were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave birth. (Isaiah 51:1-2).

Heros

The famous faith chapter, Hebrews 11, lists Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham in a powerful line up of Jewish hero’s. They were blessed and anointed by God and they served with distinction.

Jesus is Jewish. Hollywood and so many artists got His complexion wrong. We may think about a Hollywood Jesus , but Jesus was a Nazarene. How easily our minds manipulate the facts?

The Bible says, “Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either” (Romans 11:20-21). Paul reminds us ‘they are beloved.’ (Romans 11: 28-29). He also said God chose the Jewish people ‘irrevocably.’ (in a way that cannot be changed). In Ancient times they were the only ones expecting “The Messiah, back then, our forebears were pagan. “Remember that you were at time separate from Christ (Messiah), excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the World. (Ephesians 2:12). We older Jewish people our gratitude for showing us the need for Messiah and for bringing monotheism to our attention.

So many people in America hate the Jewish people. But, they don’t realize that is where they come from.

God is faithful. There has been a cavalcade of christians who have historically shown the love of God to the Jewish people. Israel honors those heroes and remind them at YadVashem (The holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem).

Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone

3 Declarations That Will Change Your Attitude And Behavior.

As the old expression goes, “practice makes perfect.” Changing our longtime attitudes and behaviors can be quite a challenge, but with repetition and consistency it is possible to make a true change. And by changing our attitude and behavior, we change ourselves.

By saying these 3 declarations every morning and being confident that slowly, but surely things will change.

1. “I have the strength to take on any challenge!“

As humans, we naturally do not like being uncomfortable. Many of us will avoid discomfort at any cost. But by avoiding uncomfortable situation, we are doing a great disservice for ourselves. When we forfeit our comfort and break free from our comfort zones, we are getting ready to tackle any challenge in front of us. It is by taking on challenges that we grow as people in unparalleled ways.

It is often the most inspirational and successful role-models who have gone through the most trying and challenging of situations. Why is this? It’s because those individuals who are ready to take on any challenge, and have confidence that they will find strength needed are the ones who become what seem like super-human. But there is a secret: we all have super human strength that is part of us. Hidden inside of every individual is a super-man or super-woman waiting to be released. It takes only our will and unwavering adamancy to come out from beneath the surface.

Say to yourself every morning: “I have the strength to take on any challenge!” Say it throughout the day when uncomfortable situations that you really want to avoid arise. You are guaranteed to become truly different and a stronger person.

2. “I have the power to tackle any negative temptation!”

Sometimes the very word temptation itself sounds scary, so let’s put it into perspective. Temptation can be our old habits, flaming desires, quick thrills and speedy passions that distract us from moving in a productive direction. Whether it is pressing the snooze button on the alarm clock, or fighting an urge to be dishonest, even the most seemingly minute temptations seem to take over our minds and hearts.

The mystics teach that a moment of temptation is a moment of insanity. It’s a moment in with logic and reason have abandoned us, and the only thing controlling our actions seems to be the temptation itself. That best thing I have found to release the power of temptation is to distract myself with a positive action.

The mystics also teach us that every negative temptation that lies before us comes with the power to overcome it. Just as a temptation is real our power to overcome it is real, and this is where we have all the power in our hands to choose.

Say to yourself every morning and anytime at temptation tries to cripple you: “ I have the power to tackle any negative temptation!” Do not give up if you fail – keep trying and you will surely defeat your negative conditions.

3. “I am going to take a deep breath and Reign in my emotions.”

Maybe your child comes home sick and you have to rearrange your morning meetings and your stress level is going up. One of your children reach across the table and spilled a full container of milk. Everywhere. Your stress level has skyrocketed; and your anger rises and tears comes to you eyes. Pause – are you actually crying over spilt milk?

Little annoyances that build up during our day are often out of our control. What is in our control how we react to them. When we are already frustrated it is easy to see how a person would actually cry over spilled milk. But do you want to be that person?

Emotions are part of us and like to creep up at the most inconvenient times. But we have the power to rein them in. We can listen to them – but they should always be taken with a grain of salt, as the expression goes. Next time you find yourself about to explode or even cry over spilt milk, say this to yourself: “I’m going to take a deep breath and rein in my emotions.” Tap into your self-awareness where are you at right now? No pull yourself into a higher state of awareness, a place where you can look at your current situation and emotions from the outside. If this were someone else, what advice would you give to them? How do you think someone else would react? How would you like to see yourself react? Now do it. Take a deep breath and always remember what is important in your life.

It is difficult especially in today’s world. Use these 3 declarations every day, and as many times as you need. To change your attitude and your behavior.

Ways You Can Face Your Demons

Demons are like the ‘dementors, from the Harry Potter series. They suck the happiness right out of you, leaving you with sadness, self-doubt, and anxiety. Instead of letting this dragon control your life, you’ve got to tame it and keep the in control. Or else life becomes tough with negativities, and trust me, you don’t need negativity in life.

So next time, when I thought demon appears, Nick him sit down and battle it your own way.

Here are seven ways you can battle of your inner demons and welcome positivity back into your life:

1. Acknowledge Them

Let them be. Listen to them. Note what they are trying to tell you. Are they saying you can’t do something? Are they making you feel bad about your body? Are they making you overthink things? Well, listen to them. Confront them because they act as a signal to tell you that your own thoughts and actions are trying to stop you from achieving the achievable. Being self-aware is the first step to tackling them.

2. Concentrate On The Good Memories

When your demons are trying to pull you down, you’ve got to concentrate on your happy memories. This will help you to get back into your happy zone and would make you realize that you are capable of doing great things in life. And, that your inner demons will ultimately get tired of making you sad.

3. Cut Yourself Some Slack

Tell your inner demons, come tomorrow and not today. Tell them that you are human and you make mistakes and that you will eventually fix them.

4. Don’t Settle, Keep Fighting

The worst thing you can do is to give up. You cannot bow down to them and settle for mediocrity in life. If a certain situation demands you to quit and if you do the opposite, chances are that you will eventually defeat the demon and emerge as a winner.

5. Go For An Intensive Workout

Exercising is proven to be helpful to clear the cobwebs out of your mind. And intensive workout is a good way to push yourself and push out the demons of your mind. A bit of adrenaline rush will calm you down after a tough workout.

6. Let The Positive Emotions Take Control

Think of the demons as negative emotions. It is when you would create happy memories that you will store good memories that will become long-term memories. Therefore, it is very important that you give each emotion if you credit.

7. Tame The Dragon Or Kill It

To face your worst fear, you will have to take the dragon or worse kill it. Imagine it to be like pulling a bad tooth or taking a dive into a deep river. It has to be done or you’ll let the demon have control over you. Which you ideally shouldn’t or else they will drive you crazy.

What Do You Fear The Most?

Fear Of Death

Jesus has a deep intense desire to give you a gift so great you do not yet have the capabilities to conceive of it (1 Corinthians 2:9). But you can catch a glimpse of it in biblical metaphors and imagery and in moments when an experience of glory briefly transcends anything else here on earth.

Jesus longs so intensely for you to have this gift that He pleads with the Father to give it to you.

John 17:24 says, “Father, I desire that they also, who you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

This supreme request is the great culmination of Jesus’s prayer in John 17. This gift is the reason why Jesus manifested the Father’s name to you, and gave you the Father’s words, and guards you so you will not be lost. It is why He prays that you will be kept from the evil one and know the joy of helping others believe in Him, and experience the sanctifying wonder of knowing and living the truth.

More than any other good thing Jesus asks from the Father for you, He wants you to be with Him forever. More than anything else, He wants you to see and savor the glory that the Father bestowed on Him from eternity. For He know that nothing else you will ever experience will provide you such profound and lasting joy and pleasure (Psalm 16:11).

But Jesus’s prayer fatuous come with a sober implication, one that may make you recoil, even fear. In fact, one day you might find yourself pleading with God to give you the very opposite of what Jesus wants for you. The answer to Jesus’s prayer eventually requires your physical death. Unless Jesus returns first, you must die before you experience the forever fullness of joy in His glorious presence.

We must endure what we hate and fear most in life in order to enjoy what we love and long for most.

Yes, we hate death and resist it – and we are right to do so. God originally creates us to live, not die. Death is a curse we bear, the tragic wages of rejecting God and His kingdom (Romans 6:23).

Nowhere in the Bible does it encourage us to view death itself as a good thing. Death is not a good thing. It’s a horrible, evil thing. Anyone who has watched love ones die can attest to it’s hideousness. Death is a mortal enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26).

You may ask yourself “how is death a gain?”

If death is a gain, why does God count precious the death of His saints (Psalm 116:5)? And why do His saints even call death a gain (Philippians 1:21)! Because in that most horrible, most evil moment of the death of the Son of God Himself, death as we fear it – the extinguishing of our ,life and the seeming loss of our soul and joy was killed. Jesus conquered our great enemy when He rose from the dead (Romans 4:25; Revelation 1:18), and will ultimately destroy death forever (1 Corinthians 15:26).

In facts it’s so powerful, so complete in Jesus’s defeat of death that He speaks of it as if Believers no longer even experience it:

I an the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die

John 11:25-26

It isn’t death itself that is precious or gain to us. It’s the Resurrection and the Life, who has removed death’s sting and swallowed it up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54+55), in whom we are receiving an eternal inheritance beyond our wildest dreams (Ephesians 1:11), and in whose glorious presence we will experience unsurpassed joy forevermore (Psalm 16:11). He is precious to us. He is our great gain in death.

Stop Trying To Help God

Let God Be God

There are many songs of praise and worship that declare the glory of God. We’ve all heard the testimonies that magnify God. And Bible stories that remind us of the incredible things God has done for us, and continues to do.

Even when we have not experienced these things personally, we have heard enough stories that show how mighty God is – Yet we play God.

While we are quick to rebuff this idea that we play God. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Whose counsel do we seek when you face challenges, yours or God’s? Who is sitting on the throne of your heart: your flesh with its desires or Jesus?

2. When you achieve success, awards, money, or a host of good things, what’s the first thing you do? Do you reward yourself for all your hard work, accept the praises you get for being so smart? So charming are the many honors that this world throws our way.

3. Do you find that you often forget to thank God for things and do because you feel guilty and not necessarily for because it is what you truly want to do?

4. When you do go to God for His help, do you find it hard to wait on Him and often find yourself helping God in His answer? After all, it may take God forever to do it God’s way and you only have a limited amount of time, so you do things God’s way?

5. Do you find you justify helping God by declaring that faith without works is dead, even though you know deep down that what you’re doing may not be what the Bible was talking about?

If we are being honest, we may have answered most of these questions Yes, I know I did.

I listen to praise songs, worship God and even read my Bible but once I’m faced with real-life challenges, I tend to turn to my life experiences to make decisions instead of God’s

But God is so busy, and I’m a strong independent person who can resolve her own issues.

And when I do go to God, or try to do things God’s way, the time required and the fruit of the spirit to be exerted makes it less than an attractive option. Sometimes I find it hard to be patient or to be kind or loving and gentle. Sometimes I just want to get what I want when I want it. No matter the consequences.

Maybe you’ve said similar things. It’s very easy to take the easy route, and help God along the way.

Here’s example of what helping God looks like it scripture:

The scriptures say that Abraham had two sons,one from a slave and one from his wife. The son of the slave was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of his wife was born as God’s fulfillment of his promise. (Galatians 4:22-23).

From the above account we can see a few things:

  • Ishmael, Haggai’s son was born because Sarah and Abraham had been trying to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham by human effort.
  • Isaac was God’s own fulfillment of his promise to Abraham and came 25-years after God first told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. 25-years!
  • There’s always a difference between blessings obtained by human effort and by godly effort. For the latter, the glory always belong to God not man, can rightfully state that they did it in their power. A 90-year old Sarah could not have given birth under human circumstances.

Abraham’s account is one of the most popular Bible stories.

This story teaches us that God will make good on his promise if we trust him and wait on him.

We may believe we wouldn’t have done what Sarah did. Isn’t it funny how we think we would have done things better than the Bible characters that got it wrong?

I have realized with Sarah and Abraham’s story, how hard it must have been to want a child so badly, and the pressure and shame she must have felt about being barren. But it didn’t change the fact that she was using human effort to fulfill God’s promise.