2012 January « New Life For The Nations

DON’T LIMIT GOD

It is so easy to get in a routine and “comfort” zone in our spiritual walk. God wants us to “step out on the water” as Peter did and go beyond our human limitations. If you want to see miracles, signs and wonders, begin to reach for them with your faith.

The following poem was sent to me and encouraged me. Let this poem encourage you in your walk today.

BEYOND OUR LIMITATIONS

Lord we need to move beyond

This place that we are in

To touch your very heart, O God

To have your love within

We need to move beyond the limits

We’ve placed upon our lives

To move into more of you

Revealed through Jesus Christ

Help us to keep pressing on

As, by faith, we take more steps

To really conquer our inner selves

To know you with more depth

To be focused more on you

No matter how hard it gets for us

We need to press on through

Though Satan rises with hell’s fury

With vengeance to devour

We pray, O God, you’ll arise in us

And fight with holy power

For greater are you within us

Than the enemy of our souls

For you have power and might, O God

And your Spirit is in control!

We know the victory shall be ours

Though for now the heat is on

Help us Lord to not give up

For by this you make us strong

You will sustain us in your love

Through what we’re going through

And deliver us the other side

Victorious in you! By M.S. Lowndes

Message for January 29, 2012

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 20-21(NKJV)
One of the major areas of study is that of faith. There is a wide spectrum of belief and opinion about the proper balance of faith with other “Biblical doctrines”, some of which may be erroneous in themselves.
I am attempting to shine the light of truth on a subject the scripture says you must have in order to please God. The trick is to have faith without it being a substitute for God.
In the verse above, the word “looking” is of extreme importance. When it comes to life, what are you looking at? If we are not watchful, we can spend more time looking at circrmstances and problems than we spend looking at Jesus. I am not calling into question the things we have learned about faith and confession. Rather, I am reminding each of us that it is Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. Make Him the focus of your attention even when dealing with your problems.

WHY WE GIVE TO THE CHURCH

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (NIV)

Everything we own, everything we have comes from God. So when we give, we simply offer him a very small portion of all the abundance he has already given to us. Giving is an expression of our thankfulness and praise to God! It comes from a heart of worship. For everything we give already belongs to him! God instructed Old Testament believers to give a tithe, or a tenth, because this 10% represented the first, or most important portion of all that they had.

Believers should give according to their income.

1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (NIV)

We are blessed when we give.

Acts 20:35… remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (NIV)

God wants us to give because he knows how blessed we will be as we give generously to him and to others. Giving is a kingdom principle—it brings more blessing to the giver than to the recipient. When we give freely to God, we receive freely from God.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (NIV)

Proverbs 11:24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. (NIV)

The value of our offering is not determined by how much we give, but how we give.

—Mark 12:41-44 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.” (NIV) from notes by Mary Fairchild

Message for January 22, 2012

“The mercy seat was a slab of pure gold as wide and as long as the ark, and was laid on top of the ark, fitting down inside the crown as a sort of lid. On the ends of it, and of one piece of gold with it, were fashioned two angelic winged figures, called cherubim. These faced each other, looking down upon the mercy seat and stretching their wings out above and before them until the tips of the wings of the one touched the other’s, making a sort of covering or canopy over this symbolic throne of the invisible God. “There,” above the mercy seat, overshadowed by the wings of the cherubim, said the Lord, “I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” (Exod. 25:22). There shone the Shekinah, the glory of the Lord, according to Jewish tradition. There is some ground for this tradition in the pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness journey and in the glory of the Lord that at different times filled or was seen on the tabernacle. There on the mercy seat, on the great day of atonement, the atoning blood was sprinkled in the very presence of God. For only there in the presence of this blood could the holy God consistently commune with sinful men. “Russell Byrum,1922

It is doubtless here we get the beautiful expression, “throne of grace.” (Heb. 4:16). It was a place of mercy. Located beneath the mercy seat was the Ark of the Covenant itself. This special container held reminders of God’s relationship with His people. Because of man’s inconsistancies and lack of diligence the contents of the ark were lost. Jesus came to restore and complete all that God had promised in His first covenant. Under Jesus the New Covenant is established on better grounds with better promises.