Category Archives: Reflecting God’s Glory

Balanced Christian Life – The Obedient and Fruitful Christian in Action

Dear all,

Be strong in the Lord and His mighty power. Ephesians 6: 10

 Word:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here. II Corinthians 5: 17

Thought: https://www.navigators.org/resource/the-wheel-illustration/

Balanced Christian Life – The Obedient and Fruitful Christian in Action:

Leading a Christ-Jesus-centered and fruitful Christian life is effectively made up of living out the privileges of our new identity in Christ.

  • Balanced and rooted in God’s Word through quality quiet time.
  • Relational quality prayer time.
  • Agape fellowship with believers.
  • Never miss the element of witnessful life.

How’s your balance?

Run with Endurance

Dear all,

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Word:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)

Thought: As a disciple of Christ we are running toward our Heavenly reward. To live effectively, we must keep our eyes on Christ Jesus. Run in such a way to get the prize and run with the purpose in every step. We must have a purpose and a plan (1 Cor 9: 24-27). The essential disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and worship equip us to run with vigor and stamina.

Train diligently – Spiritual progress depends upon it.  

“Transformed souls impacting the campuses and the globe as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Have a Victorious walk in Christ

Multiply – Disciples making disciples – Pass it on

Proclaiming Jesus Wherever He Leads us!
To make ready a group of people to meet our LORD Jesus Christ.
The Journey Team

Elijah Runs before the Chariot of Ahab. Illustration for The Old Testament – Part II (Brunoff, 1904).

Spiritual Eyes

Dear all,

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15: 13

Word:

When He (Jesus) was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24: 30-32

Thought:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Cor 4:4

Prayer:

Dear God, open our eyes to see the mission fields which are ready for harvest. Help us to see through the eyes of Jesus the multitudes of people, without someone to show them the way. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

Gift of God and Faithful Stewardship

Dear all,

Be strong in the Lord and His mighty power. Ephesians 6: 10

Living for God:

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. I Peter 4: 10-11

Thought: God has given us special and unique abilities. We are called to use these gifts for God’s glory, permitting his generosity to flow through us.  When we are careful to focus on God’s glory, we can make a significant difference wherever God placed us!

In Christ, we have everything we need for salvation and for living the Christian life. Thank God for what we have received in Christ Jesus.

Proclaiming Jesus Wherever He Leads Us!

Stand firm in Christ

Have a Victorious walk in Christ

Your strength will equal your days. Deuteronomy 33: 25

The Journey Team

https://thejourneyinchrist.wordpress.com/

Never forget – Your identity in Christ.

Dear all, 

Grace and peace to you in the name of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Word:

All praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Ephesians 1:3

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Phil 4: 19-20

Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2: 11-12

Thought:

We must never forget that God is in charge of our lives. The strength of Kindness – God calls His people to show mighty kindness. 

Never forget – Your identity in Christ.

Recognizing our critics

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thought:

Apostle Paul in his instructions to the church of Thessalonica asks them to recognize three important characteristics in people; those who work hard, those who care for others, and those who admonish others. It seems sensible and practical to appreciate hard-working and caring people but it’s not easy to appreciate them when they strongly criticize us. The type of admonishment that Paul talks about is done in love where the person who admonishes someone cares enough about them to boldly warn them of their sinful ways. A simple illustration is a mother admonishing her child for playing with fire. We know she does it in love and it is for the child’s well-being. As believers, we should be able to humbly accept and live with people who admonish us, at the same time, when a situation arises, we should also be courageous enough to admonish others in love.

Word:

1 Thessalonians 5: 12, 13

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

Prayer:

Lord, help us to be humble when You or others admonish us, help us fix our sinful ways, and also give us the courage to admonish others in love. Amen.

Mastering ourselves

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thought:

In Judges 16, Samson’s lack of self-control and humility was on full display as he made a series of poor choices, sleeping with a prostitute, sharing secrets with the enemy, and being proud of his strength. Eventually, God left Him. We run the same risk when we haven’t mastered ourselves from doing what our flesh or the world wants us to do. Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 9:27 goes so far as to say that he made his body his slave to prevent himself from being disqualified as he is preaching the gospel to others. To each person, making their body their slave could mean different things, but one thing is for sure, it will push us out of our comfort zone. We should strive to push our boundaries to master ourselves for God’s glory and avoid disqualification from attaining eternity with God.

Word:

1 Corinthians 9:27

No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Prayer:

Lord, give us the strength and endurance to master ourselves. Strengthen our weaknesses for Your glory. Amen.

Godly Optimism

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thought:

As Christians, when our faith is strong, we tend to be optimistic because our hope is in the living God who holds our future. Joshua and Caleb came across a situation where they could have easily been discouraged by the nature of the land and its powerful people or by the bad report of the other spies or by the grumbling of the Israelites. Despite such circumstances, Joshua and Caleb gave a positive report and urged Moses and Aaron to proceed to the promised land. Their confidence was from the fact that God was with them, and in reality, the world will try to bring our hopes down, we also have to be confident in whatever future God holds for us and if He holds it, nothing can change it.

Word:

Numbers 14:8-9

If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us. This is a land flowing with milk and honey! Don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.

Prayer:

Lord, our hope is you, the true and living God. we want to abide in You all the days of our life. Give us the strength and wisdom to live out the plans You have for us. Amen.

Marriage: Love & Respect – True Joy and Peace, that is from God!

Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thought:

 People of the world might suggest several things for a joyful marriage. Some of them might sound good and feel good but the Bible is clear on the roles of a husband/wife in a marriage and upon following, it can lead to the best marriages in terms of true joy and peace, that is from God.

Word:
Ephesians 5:21-33 (Also refer 1 Peter 3:1-7)
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Prayer:
LORD, thank you for the institution of marriage, help us to fulfill the roles you have given us. Help us to imitate the relationship of Christ and Church in the marriage. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cornerstone

Dear all,

Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Word: 1 Peter 2:6-8
6 …“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.

Thought: In the above verses, Peter is talking about Jesus when he is referring to the stone.

For people who trust in Him, he will never be put to shame. Sounds almost impossible, but once we abide in Him, only what He thinks matters to us, the world may shame us but, for us believers, the world is not where we place our trust and hence what they think shouldn’t bother us.

The verses also mention that whoever rejects the stone, it causes them to stumble. One of the things that this could mean is that the truth can be offensive to people. Many Jews of Jesus’ lifetime were offended and rejected Him and His message. Even today, the very fact that Jesus is the only way for salvation is offensive to most non-believers, but that same message is precious to believers.

Prayer:

LORD, Help us to place our trust in You, the chosen and precious cornerstone. Give us the courage and burden to lovingly share about You among non-believers through our words and actions. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, Amen.