Striving through bumpy road.....

I have seen people who overcame their situations into positive and actually glorify God. That's what God wants us to do. God is in control whether we accept our situation or not. We have to remember that we are not alone and that our spiritual lives will face both negatives and positives. We all need to focus in following God for today and tomorrow. Our spiritual outlook is to be on God and trust that God's glory that will be revealed. We have to remind ourselves that if we frequently relive our reasons for discouragements, we will lose our positive spiritual direction. Romans 8:28 basically means "Christian should always have hope" and later in Romans 15:13, "Hope comes from the Holy Spirit." We have to remember that we are not alone and that our spiritual lives should not feed on the negatives and that we need to focus on positives. God's knowledge of our discouragements is more than just knowledge; His knowledge is more personal, warm, and compassionate. He knows every pains we all are facing. Discouragements pushes us into the arms of God. We just need to cling to Him and have faith in Him. Our spiritual outlook is to be on God and trust that God's glory that will be revealed. We have to remind ourselves that if we frequently relive our reasons for discouragements, we will lose our positive spiritual direction. We need to focus in following God today and tomorrow. We just press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) In your situation as you start a new career, letting go of the past that which no longer serves your own growth and begin rebuilding your life a new foundation. Deciding who and what is affecting you positively. The Christian walk is a fight of Faith, we have to understand that living (walking) by faith, we accept purpose and plans of God however He sees fit. Faith believes them and adjusts its life to those facts and walks on that basis. (Ray C. Stedman, "What Faith Is") If faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. A.W. Tozer It is a life of FAITH, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us "go." Oswald Chambers- Quotes From "My Utmost For His Highest"(p 79) We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God's programmed may be we are there, ready. . . A ready person never needs to get ready. Oswald Chambers- Quotes From "My Utmost For His Highest" (p l09) In First Peter says: Adding to our faith in obedience goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. If we possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We Christians will have equal opportunity to be successful but not everyone would be successful according to God's will and plan. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Gal. 6:9) Memorizing is not an issue but rather the heart. With God's grace, we have the power to reach the prize of God's will. Reading Hebrews helped me understood that I am to be aware of obstacles and hindrances I would meet during my life, to throw me off balance that hinders doing the Will of God that could entangle my life easily if I do not submit myself to God's power of grace. God's grace is more than sufficient in my life that I am to fix my eyes on Jesus who is my author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith and Grace together is to "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV). What should motivate me like an athlete who trains for the Olympics to win a gold medal such self-discipline and willing to face the endurance of my life. Jesus will provide everything you need. Jesus is all we need. Have faith and God will provide according to His Will. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 But God said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Remember, God will provide all of our needs according to HIS WILL. Ephesians 1:11 In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. Ephesians 1:9 And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Worship in Spirit, Heart, and Idoltary

Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." It is our sinful nature (flesh) to have an "object" to help us worship. As long as a Christian is focusing on their sinful nature more than they are on their spiritual nature; Christian will use their human nature to worship based on works and feelings. Jas 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Bible taught me that I am to walk by faith not by sight, mood or feeling. Faith is at the foundation of all Christian living, and because faith has to do with the character of God, not my feelings about God through ANY objects, images and any form of idoltary. As a Christian, our hearts should have strong desire to serve God through the Holy Spirit. If we do that, we will be motivated to attend church, fellowship with other Christians and more importantly, I get more motivated from reading the Scriptures and prayers. When I read the scriptures and pray, God is with me spiritually. When we worship God in image, we are to "Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy." (Psalm 99:9). In the Beatitudes, worshippers instead of purity of their hearts, they have corrupted imaginings among themselves. When a desire is based on “worship”, there is a danger of idolatry. Throughout the Bible, God have warned people to be careful of idolatry because we could slip into it almost without noticing it. Idolatry is what God is saying something like this for today's Christians, "You have committed adultery by worshiping idols instead of worshiping Me. Your hearts have been unfaithful to me because you are loving yourselves more than you love Me. Your hearts longs for something from Me and that is idolatry. Worship means: All I want is your hearts alone and adore me for Who I am.” God knows every believers' hearts and God will accept any believers who truly believe His Son, who died for our sins. We worship in Spirit. John 4:23-24 (New International Version) Jesus said: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. We are to worship God from our hearts because we are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16), that God will search us and try us, and know our thoughts.(Psalm 139:23). God knows who we are by looking in our hearts, minds and souls. Like Paul said in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship." We need to seperate what is spiritual and what is flesh as we worship God because Christians are no longer "in the flesh": "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Rom 8:9). The Greek word for "dwells" is okv (oike), which means "I inhabit." "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness" (Romans 8:10). In other words, my human body is subject to death (and is already dying) because of sin, however my spirit is alive in Christ. My temorary body is decaying at the same time, my inner being is being renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16). "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Galatians 5:25. The Holy Spirit dwells in me with all the power and gifts of God, necessary to enable me to walk the noble, spiritual, Son-like life with God. Religion is a dish to be served hot; once it becomes lukewarm it is sickening. Our baptism must be with the Holy Ghost and with fire if we would win the masses to hear the gospel. Charles Spurgeon