NCarolinian

National radio story-teller, Paul Harvey used to lead into the second and final part of his stories with "and now, the rest of the story." Or he would wait till the end of his story and say, "and now you know, the rest of the story." I have found many Christians that Do Not read the "rest of the story" to 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 . Pastors, teachers and many others will quote verse nine 'till the Rapture, but I have never heard them continue to verse ten. Here are the verses -  "However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived' — the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit." Verse nine is -  "However, as it is written:  'What no eye has seen,  what no ear has heard,  and what no human mind has conceived'  —  the things God has prepared for those who love him". Verse ten, the one people either forg...

This world is too difficult to tackle solo.  Ecclesiastes 4:9 states, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor."  However, that same author continues to instruct -  "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:12) The two for me for a while in my life was me and God. Then the Lord placed my path across my to-be wife's path.  Proverbs 18:22 says, "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord."   I certainly can attest to that in my marriage. However, I desire to answer two questions in my marriage to Tanya and my relationship with God. How can I improve my marriage with my wife? How can I use our marriage to bring glory to God? Many Christian marriage counselors would go straight to the Ephesians 6 role descriptions for the husband and wife and begin from there. This is valid and is wonderful to keep in mind, esp...

Reconcile means to make-up for, seek peace and/or harmony concerning  a wrong that was performed by one person against another .  Humanity messed up in the beginning so bad with our relationship with God that our reconciliation is not attainable on our own efforts or strength. Though we are the guilty, the fall was so great, the peace and harmony of our relationship totally depended on God and His plan of reconciliation.  The Lord was the one who was wronged and has every right to pronounce judgment. And His judgment is already passed upon us, outside a decision to accept Christ as our Savior and lifestyle. God has an abundant amount of grace and mercy to administer to those who have faith in His free gift of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  " For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in li...

We have a stupid saying in our culture - "The devil is in the details." Why is God not selected to be in the details, even more, why is the devil? Doing the Biblical research, there is an infinite number of examples or reasons to see God in the details but allow me to highlight a couple. All the fulfilled prophecies concerning Christ's first visit are proof that God loves details and is in them.  "An article on BibleTimeLines.net expounds on the fulfillment of Christ's prophecies during His first visitation. 'There are over 300 prophecies that point directly to the Messiah. Here is an example of just 8: The time of His birth (see the Daniel 8 and 9 Timeline). He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. (Zechariah 11:12) He would be mocked. (Psalm 22: 7-8) He would be crucified. (John 3:14) He would be pierced. (Psalm 22:16) He would die with the wicked, but He would be buri...

Allow me to take a Scrooge perspective for a moment - "If all that is certain in life is death and taxes, then let me pay my dues and die. Why should I give a flip?" This kind of view is very limited, not to mention pessimistic, and only takes in the present, embracing the negative, not giving hope a chance, while accepting oblivion as the end escape. Not even the devil subscribes to nothing after death - hence the lie of it from The Father of Lies. What your view is of the afterlife will extremely influence your present lifestyle or should. We are all waiting to die but should be living in the meantime. We do not get the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years known as time - back. Therefore, we must capitalize on every opportunity that presents itself. As we live, there is no ignoring all the challenges life throws our way. But as we live, taking advantage of our opportunities, Christ promises the Holy Spirit will lead believers throughout their lives in all ...

From birth, all of us are about ourselves. Being considerate, sharing, giving, loving and bringing are not automatic qualities within us, we have to be taught them and practice them regularly. However, even when we have mastered the head knowledge on what these terms mean and seen them in action, our part in living them out can be another story. Today I would like to challenge us, me included, to not only develop our giving and bringing skills, but incorporate these so much  into our lives that we continually become better givers and bringers.  In Scripture, there is a difference between these two, givers and bringers, but both come with blessings as encouragements to adopt these qualities as lifestyles or at least part of your lifestyle. Giving many times has the expectation of receiving a return either voluntarily or directly. There are instances of unconditional giving also and those are the highest forms of giving to pursue.  An example of what I am calling voluntary ...

I think there is an expectation of sorts that at midnight on New Year's Eve, all of last year's mistakes, troubles and trials are erased and we are allowed to hit the reset button as we look ahead.  We call it a "new" year, but many times the only thing really new is just the number of the year. The same problems exist, same challenges and issues persist through the switch-over to the "new" year. What do we have to look forward to? What do we do, how do we respond when we see that the same-ole-same-ole did not go away but simply remained or changed form? What happens when our remedies, including faith, fails or does not seem to function as we believed it would? As we age a big concern to our minds, bodies and faith is healing. Whether it be the timing of the healing or the issue itself, many times the remedy leaves mores questions than answers than the challenge. We need to continue to place one foot in front of the other. The alternative is grim. Besides de...

The method of God speaking and humanity hearing and understanding God's voice and words clearly has changed over the years. From walking face-to-face in Eden, to speaking to people from burning bushes, clouds or from a visit from the Son of God Himself, to now following the prompting of the Holy Spirit's inspiration - God's voice has not changed, just the transport.  Another thing that has not changed is the effort of the enemy of our souls to either disguise, distort and/or destroy God's voice. From Genesis to Revelation, from the beginning of our lives to the end - the Accuser is trying to capitalize on opportunities to kill God's voice in your life, steal God's voice out of your life or from ever reaching your life and destroy God's voice by implementing many tactics to compete with God's voice or even usurp it. In order to know that God's Voice is under attack in your life and act on that attack, one has to know the sound of God's Voice. When...