NCarolinian

You can set something or someone aside as special or different and NOT give them the proper respect that is due their station in life. But with the word Holy or Holiness you must have both the person set apart from all others WITH sacred care, levels above respect, being administered to that person. God fulfills this role of being Holy. Long before He created humans, God was set apart and received the sacred care due Him by the angelic host. From then to this very second and beyond their are Seraphim encircling The Throne proclaiming at every new glorious characteristic of God - "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of your glory." (Isa. 6:3) . Thank you God that your character never changes. You God will forever be Holy. Several times in Leviticus ( 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7; 21:8 ) God challenges us to take on this Mantle of Holiness. The reference with the wording I want to share is Leviticus 19:2 - "Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am ho...

Are you A Friend Of The Paralyzed? Would you be so kind and considerate to take the time and energy to assist someone who is paralyzed? Would you help someone who has a limb paralyzed or perhaps their speech or the speed of their functions is paralyzed? I certainly hope so. There was a paralyzed man, helped out by most likely his friends or family and Jesus, that is documented in Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5:17-26 . Both Mark and Luke thought this particular miracle and the way it transpired worthy of inclusion in their recorded Gospels. Please take time here to pause and read these two accounts of this event. Notice that the men carrying this paralyzed man traveled to the location of Jesus. When they arrived, they were late because the place was packed in, packed out and packed around. This suggests that their journey was great and so must have been their relationship, not only because of the journey but because they would not be denied an audience with Jesus. So, with every avenue ...

The title of my previous post was The One Relationship Above Them All. This writing is The One Relationship To Rule Them All. The previous one was to convey the importance of having the relationship above all others, esteeming the connection we have with our Savior the most . This post is to encourage believers to use their relationship with Christ as an influence on all other bonds . Two major hurdles with me in this influential effort are (1) to imagine my relationship with Christ as intimate as a marriage where I am the Bride and He is is the Groom and (2) deal with His invisibility in that relationship. I can conceive Jesus as my Best Friend who will never leave me nor forsake me. Plus, my heart, mind and spirit has no problem in reconciling Jesus a s a corporate Groom for the Church.  Jesus being my Groom as an individual is a challenge.  However, all the characteristics that the marriage relationship shares is the kind of accord that I have with my Lord and ...

Life is all about relationships. If you were the only person on earth, you still would have relationship with nature, animals and things. We could keep stripping away the different relationships until it was only yourself and then you would just have existence. However, before Creation, God had perfect existence and perfect life by Himself. Yet, here we are in His Plan of Love, Life and Eternal Significance. All of the aforementioned is not only created by God and sustained by Him for His purposes, but they are also another name for God and found through Relationship with Him. In 1 John 4:8 we read God is Love. John also states in the Gospel he wrote that Jesus proclaimed, "I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life ." (John 14:6)  John also tackles the Eternal Significance of life with God and life without Him. John 3:36 says, " Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them....

God has secured your right-standing with Him through Christ's sacrificial death and His resurrection, so why are we instructed to wear a breastplate of righteousness or any garment connected with righteousness? ( Eph. 6:14; 2 Cor. 6:7; Isa. 59:17 ) Because believers have not been glorified in body, mind and spirit - yet. We still have to live daily in this God-rebellious, corrupted world and its negative influences.  In order to combat those previously mentioned things and the "devil's schemes" , we are encouraged to  " Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes."  When Paul used the word "schemes" in Ephesians 6:11 , he was conveying mind games, mind tricks and/or deceptions the devil uses against us. If I was thinking like the devil and trying to combat God I would seek to kill, steal and destroy what God holds as precious - everyone. Knowing The Truth, I would seek to lie about it in order to ...

I hope and pray that believers in Christ as a corporate body and as individuals will understand growth comes from The Lord. As a church or individual, the size of the body grows over time and both do not necessarily mature at the same speed or completely in their life. Sure we have people who come into our lives and deposit a positive word. Then we have those that come along not to far behind The Planter and encourage us in that positive word. But even after the word is planted and watered (encouraged), the growth is initiated and managed by God. Paul said in his first letter to the believers in Corinth - " I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow." (1 Cor. 3:6) Sometimes I bump God out of His growing position and try to do that on my own. If my physical, mental and/or spiritual growth goes anywhere afterward, it does not go far or contain nearly the same amount of blessings if God was The Grower or The Developer. I need, we all need to keep...

Your identity is not only who you are but whose you are. We all have outside and inside influences that contribute to who we are. The outside effects may be things like a job, wealth, possessions and so forth. The inside impact may be things like our talents, skills, attitudes, our personality and so on. We are constantly attempting to find a good and healthy marriage or niche for both of these factors to play nicely in the development of our identity.  Unfortunately, some people will not live to make a positive difference but will take up space, air and resources and then die. In fact, some people are bent on making the lives of others miserable. I know that may sound cold and disheartening, but these statements are still truth. So, it falls to those that are positive, difference-makers in life to be trying to sway at least the indifferent individuals.  For those that just don't care perhaps we can encourage them to stand for something (hopefully positive) or you will fa...

A huge danger about sin or rebellion against the things of God is that our character turns dog-like and/or pig-like. In 2 Peter 2:22 , Peter is quoting from Proverbs 26:11 and says,  “A dog returns to its vomit and a sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” When the chains of depression or the follow-through of temptation start a cycle of indulging in unholy things we become like dogs or pigs. Our spiritual nature degrades so badly and rapidly that we are numbered with these animals who are noted as creatures who enjoy returning to their own filth/vomit. Peter goes a step further than the original Proverb and states many of us are like pigs that even after being cleaned by a washing will return to the mud or sin to wallow.  What is needed is your recognition of the situation and a personal Revelation from God. Whether it be an analogy of that sin as a hot stove not to ever be touched again or God severing a cord between you and a habit or you and Go...

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see ( Hebrews 11:1 ). This means Faith is NOT Chance or Luck. Faith deals in confidence and assurance while Chance is in the realm of  the absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled. The believer in Christ is NOT to treat his/her Faith as luck, chance or a charm. Faith in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth for our Salvation should not be seen as a Gamble. When we accept the sacrifice at the Cross and the victory of the Resurrection we are not gambling by sliding all our chips on Lucky Number 7 nor gambling by placing all of our eggs in one of many baskets.  Jesus Christ is still a decision but the only smart choice for anyone to build their faith upon. All other beliefs are a gamble that is destined to lose. So, how does the believer have confidence in what they hope for and assurance about what they do not see?  First, The Word of God came in fl...

Valentine's Day is approaching. For those who have a significant other in your life, d o you remember what first drew you to them?  I encourage you to go and tell him or her what first impressed you to make a move, start hanging around or eventually pop The Question.  Silence for an extended time without a compliment or reassurance of your bond, love and  respect for the other acts as a decay on the relationship.  I hope there are many characteristics or qualities that you could name off, but I challenge you to narrow it down to your top three and tell them. Likewise, as a Believer in Christ, I think our relationship with The Lord would improve even more if we did the same recognition. This is NOT returning to your first love after falling away like Revelation 2:1-7 speaks about with the church of Ephesus. This is a remembering and vocal recognition before your beloved Savior of what drew you in the first place and honoring that grace. I encourage all o...

I earnestly hope and pray that Christ's presence is so strong and evident in my life that people say, "He Walks With The Lord". I don't know if there is something I need to do in order to achieve the level of influence Peter had on people's lives, but while I am here on earth I pray for at least that level. Imagine saying to a lame man -  “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6) - and seeing the power of God heal that man through the spoken name of Christ Jesus. While I pray for the Spirit of God to be the spoken and written, healing agent in my life for others - I would love to be so in-tune with God, like Peter, that the Holy Spirit is found even in my shadow.  "...more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might ...