NCarolinian

The fact that Jesus healed and had compassion on those that needed a miracle of some sort in their lives, be it for themselves or another in their family, before He paid the price with the flogging and crucifixion is amazing and wonderful.  Jesus solved all kinds of problems for people because of His great compassion. He healed the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute, those with leprosy, those demon possessed and those dead just to name a few conditions. Matthew says it like this - " Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matt. 9:35-36) What catches my attention is the speed at which the healing took place. Many, if not most of the curing encounters with Jesus included the word "immediately" or sense of that word to convey hea...

Christians are charged with sharing The Gospel or Good News of Christ Jesus according to Matt. 28:16-20 . But w hen will believers in Christ return to a more regular, daily flow and demonstration in God's power?   God's power must be evident in the believer's life and displayed to complement the Salvation message and one's testimony. Paul's life and his words in  1 Corinthians 2:1-5 sets a great example of executing more than The Great Commission.  Here is what Paul said to the believer's in Corinth - "And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on h...

  After a non-believer accepts Christ Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, the rest of the faith journey is spent being formed daily into the image and character of Christ until He returns to take believers home to Heaven. My hope, prayer and practice is that the way I carry myself would exude a strong example of Christ's Presence in my life, but even more-so on my personage. I yearn to emanate God's presence, nature and aura whenever I enter a room or take a walk so that people are drawn to the Holy Spirit radiating from me. Daniel, Peter and Paul. Daniel was noted by the angel Gabriel as being "esteemed" . Daniel was regarded this way not only on earth, but Gabriel tells him three times - 9:23; 10:11, 19 - that Heaven deems him esteemed. I believe this notoriety was due to his time abiding with God in prayer and having a policy of no compromise. Peter was seen as "highly regarded by people" in Acts 5:13-15 . God's healing power was displayed eve...

Did you know God has a Heavenly library? If you thought you have no privacy, you are correct. God is everywhere and His angels that surround us are not only interested spectators but participators of God's will for our lives. In addition to to this ever watchful care over our lives, God has our days numbered in a book, plus our good and bad deeds are not only remembered but recorded or written down. Our days are numbered in a book according to Psalm 139:16 - " Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Our deeds are recorded in books, plural, according to Revelation 20:12 - " And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books." The following are names of Heavenly books and where you can find them in Scripture. The Book...

Hearing is what our ear does as one of our senses to receive sounds. Listening requires the entire process of gathering and more importantly understanding the incoming sounds or words.  If there is anything we need to do quickly in this fast-paced, instant culture we live in today, it is to be quick to listen.   Scripture supports this in James 1:19 by saying, " My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." I would like to bring out three points, This instruction is good for "everyone" There is one "quick to" phrase There are two "slow to" phrases Even though James addresses his spiritual family by saying, "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:" before stating the teaching - he begins the enlightenment by including all people - "everyone" . This guidance is excellent for non-believers as well as believers. My second observation is t...

You have probably heard the saying, "Be careful when you point because you have three fingers pointing back at you." This speaks to humanity's unquenchable desire to blame. This shifting of responsibility has been around ever since The Fall in the Garden of Eden. So, what naturally flows from this nature is to assign credit incorrectly. Stone altars were erected to remember the place at which God intervened. In and of itself, the memorial is honorable, but the challenge is to not get caught up in the place, but do get caught up in God's intervening grace. Another incorrect assignment of credit can take the form of a thing. The Hebrew people created a golden calf as an image to worship while Moses took to long to speak with God. Evidently an invisible deity was hard to accept by these liberated Hebrew people even after Yahweh split the Red Sea and drowned their enemies in it. They must have wanted a tactile object for worship. But they still misplaced their credit in a...

From my observation, Jesus summoned His twelve disciples from a personality type that accepted they were imperfect and did not know everything. They may have acted like it at times, but they were teachable as compared to other kinds of people of the day like the Pharisees, Sadusees and teachers of The Law. Jesus said in Matthew 5:5 , "Blessed are the meek (or humble) for they will inherit the earth." And Paul mentions that Jesus loves to capitalize on the quality of weakness in people. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul said, "But He (Jesus) said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.' " As stated before, the twelve disciples that Jesus called to be close to Him during His ministry were not top notch scholars of Scripture with great insight on the signs of the time and expecting Jesus to fulfill the role of Messiah as prophesied. And neither were the regular scholars of the day. The individuals Jesus selected were crack...

For those who have been blessed with a good number of great realtionships, especially a wonderful wife or a terrific husband - not only was there a Blesser involved, God, but you had some kind of influence in the establishment and continuation of the relationship. I encourage you to keep it up. In Revelation 2:1-7 , Jesus is having John pen words to not only a local church, but to a dispensation or age of church history and the individual believer throughout time. In this address, Jesus tells them candidly what He "holds against" them. But He does not deliever a conviction without revealing a solution. "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." (verses 4-5) The issue: "You have forsaken the love you had at first." The solution: "Consider how far you have fallen!" "Repent" (change your mindset) "Do the things you did at fir...