Category Archives: True contentment

Sharing the Gospel

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Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thought:

As believers, we are called upon to share the gospel with others.  Before we share, we should remind ourselves of the reason or motive behind this sharing. It was indeed done to spread the knowledge and love of Christ. Paul is a great person to emulate in sharing the gospel. In Acts 17 v16, he is distressed by seeing people worshipping idols and being ignorant of who God truly is. His response to the distress is to love on them by sharing the gospel Acts 17 v22-31. To understand the extent of his sacrificial and selfless love we can refer to Romans 9 v1-3 where he is willing to cut himself off from Christ so that his people may know Christ.  

Word:

Acts 17:16

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

Romans 9:1-3

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you for the love and mercies we receive from you every day. We pray that you lead our hearts to share the gospel with others in love. Amen.

Thoughts, words, and actions

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Greeting in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Thought:

Sometimes our thoughts are not often as talked about as our words or actions. In many cases thoughts will be the starting point of a good or bad thing that we may do in the future, so we need to guard our thoughts. Apostle Paul gives a good idea of how our thoughts should be: pure, true, noble, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. We should avoid sinful thoughts to stay, sometimes being too busy can also stop us from those good thoughts as mentioned in verse 8. In verse 9, He leads by example and asks us to follow either by what we have heard from him or from what we have seen from him, which essentially is his words and his life in actions respectively. Our thoughts are for us, and words and our lifestyle is for us and others to witness, but all need to align with God’s will.

 Word:

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.          

 Prayer:

Lord, give us your Spirit, to govern our words, thoughts, and actions. Amen.

Humility and Serving

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Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Thought:
As we approach the holidays, let’s remember to imitate Christ in terms of humility and serving. Though our God is mighty above all, we are here on earth to be humble and serve others, just like Jesus. We can do this only when we place more value on others rather than ourselves. Death on the cross was not only a painful experience but also an extremely shameful form of punishment. But Jesus, at the cost of His dignity and His life, did that to serve us with the hope of salvation.


Word:

Philippians 2: 3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.
 
Prayer:
Lord, help us stay humble and serve others. Prevent us from having any selfish or prideful thoughts and tendencies. Amen.

Rejoicing in sufferings

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Greetings in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Thought:
Peter writes to the early Christians during a time when they were always threatened and persecuted by the Romans. But despite that, he asks them to rejoice amidst their sufferings. The suffering that is talked about here is suffering for being a Christian. In today’s world, there are still many direct physical threats to being a Christian, but there are also indirect consequences of being a Christian, like being excluded and discriminated against for our beliefs, and loss of friendships and relationships. Even in these cases, we are called to rejoice and praise God. Why do we rejoice? because we suffer just like Christ suffered, God is always there with us through our sufferings, and our hope is in having eternity with God.

Word:
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you. 13 But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

Prayer:
 Lord, we praise You even when we are suffering for Your name. We pray for strength and comfort for all believers who are suffering and going through similar ordeals. We are grateful because, without Christ’s suffering, we would not have any hope. Amen.

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

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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

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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.

Misplaced hope? Trust God! No Matter what!

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Dear all,

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

Thought: What are the worldly things that we put our hope onto? Sports, politics, entertainment, money and even family/friends are sometimes things we misplace our hope on. All these can perish, spoil or fade. A good way to know if our hope is misplaced or not is, how we react to changes in any of the aforementioned things, say like, a closely lost game of our favourite sports team or person, a lost election of the party we hoped to win, sudden financial loss. If we lose our peace  over such things it’s time to shift our hope. How and where? It’s clearly mentioned in the word (included below).

Word: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:3-4

Prayer:

LORD, We are grateful for your mercy because you have given us a living hope through belief in Jesus’ resurrection. Help us to overcome temporary worldly things that distract us from putting our hope on You. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good”

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Dear all,

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

Word: For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:33

Thought: In Psalms 107, we see that people face different circumstances and end up in trouble. But the one thing they all did and experienced is that they called out to the LORD and He saved them from distress (verses 6,13,19,28).

Prayer:
LORD, help us to focus on you in times of problems and not on the problems themselves. Increase our faith through Your grace to overcome our fears. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen

Jesus the True Vine and we are the Branches

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Dear all,

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. II Peter 1: 2

Word:        

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15: 1 – 4.

How are we responding to this?

Thought:

LORD Jesus is our eternal refuge and gives strength to the weak, power to the powerless, and confidence in all situations. Never forget the source of our inspiration. 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalms 46: 1 – 3  

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

https://thejourneyinchrist.wordpress.com/

YouTube Channels:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheChapelBR/videos

http://www.youtube.com/c/Revelation79Channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/intlsunclass/playlists?shelf_id=0&view=52&sort=dd

“JOYFUL JOURNEY WITH GOD IS INITIATED AND IGNITED IN LORD JESUS CHRIST BY THE POWER OF HOLY SPIRIT”

Be still, and know that I am God!

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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:

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40: 30 – 31

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46: 10

Thought: 

Have quiet time each day with God and be still before Him, reverently honoring Him for who He is. Never underestimate the resurrected power of Christ Jesus in you. Trusting in the Lord Jesus is the patient expectation that God will fulfill His promises in his Word and strengthen us to rise above life’s difficulties. Retain His promises in your consciousness. This will give you the strength to overcome every challenge you face in your faith Journey.