Monday, August 17, 2015

SUPERSTITION VS FAITH



I would say that superstition is pretty much the opposite of faith or the imposter of faith. Superstition is usually born out of fear whereas faith comes from God. Faith is a gift from God. Like salvation, you can’t earn it. However, it grows, like a muscle, the more you use it.

Superstition is what people have who worship false “gods”. Often, the reasons they give for worshipping their false god is, “This is what we have always done in our family.” or “This is what my grandmother taught me.” or some such thing. In other words, their superstition in this belief is passed down from generation to generation! Isn’t that a clever trick of the devil!

Family is a strong, binding chain to superstition. The devil knows this and uses it to his advantage. We humans love our parents. Of course we do! We are totally dependent on them (or sudo parents) for the first decade or more of our lives!

And, who on earth would believe that their mother would tell them anything wrong? Whose mother is going to tell them to do something that’s really, really bad for them that could possibly send them to hell?

Right?

Not my mom! She LOVES me!

I’m not blaming it all on the moms. They passed on something they thought was good. Why? Because they are superstitious. They are afraid that if they don’t follow the tradition handed down to them, they will upset “god” and he may do something nasty, like withhold money from the family!

The devil likes to grab families by the money bags. Money is your entire subsistence, your means of survival! Money is the most important thing, right? You slave for it every day. You give your life for it so that you can put food on the table. In fact, don’t we worship money? --At least, to a certain extent?

You wanted the truth, didn’t you? Isn’t that why you’re reading this blog? If it’s too much for you, I understand. Years, thousands of years of tradition, blown up in one sentence. How can you take it?

The bottom line is, we need money to live. That’s how this planet is set up. There’s no getting away from it. Is there?   

As usual, the Bible has the answer. This is how Jesus looked at it: (I took the liberty of changing ‘th’ to ‘s’ so that those who have a tough time with old English will have an easier time.)

Luke 12:22 – 34 “And He said unto His disciples, ‘Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body what ye shall put on.  

(Take no thought? Well, at least don’t think fearfully or worriedly about it or even wonder where your next dollar is coming from. You can pray. He didn’t say you couldn’t pray about it. But, still, it should be the prayer of faith, not of doubt. And if you can get to the point where you don’t even think about what, where, how or when you’re going to eat or what you’re going to wear, all the better! It can be done!)

23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. (If you think about it, our body is a miracle machine. All we have to do is put food into our pie holes to keep it running.)

24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them: how much more are you better than the fowls?

25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If you then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? (God is in control of our lives, whether we want to believe it or not and if you don’t believe it, some day, you will find out the hard way that it’s true.)

27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith?

29 And seek not ye what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind.

30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things.

31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Put God first. Put God’s people first and their needs.)

32 Fear not little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (We have a generous God Who loves to take care of us and even spoil us! I speak from experience.)

33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupts. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

It takes faith to break the chain of family superstition! But YOU CAN DO IT, with God’s help.

 

 

Monday, August 10, 2015

Your Free Gift!

Salvation is a gift! It’s yours! All you have to do is receive it, accept it, take it! Just grab it!

I kid you not that this is the most valuable gift one can ever receive. Not only is it for here and now but it’s for ever! It’s for eternity.

It has been bought and paid for by the Blood of the Lamb.

Now, I don’t want you to think that I’m talking to you like I would talk to a little child, but, this is one thing that I believe God wants to make very, very clear and simple so that everyone and anyone can understand it. Why would He want to make it difficult?

The difficult part has been done. God had to come down here to our planet and put on our human flesh in order to actually feel what it was like to be human. Then He had to suffer mockery, insults, beating and crucifixion in order to hand us the free gift of salvation.

No muss. No fuss. He did all the work. We get to enjoy it.

So, what does salvation do for you?

Here's the short list:

 

·         Instantly delivers you from having to suffer for your sins

·         Delivers you from hell

·         Washes away all your sins-- past, present and future

·         Introduces you to a lifetime relationship with the Creator of the Universe

·         Gives you eternal life

·         Fills you with love and mercy

·         Enables you to have love and mercy on others

·         Is a sample of heaven right here, right now

·         Takes away your guilt, shame and condemnation

·         Turns the light on in your life

·         Gives you the Truth

·         Sets you free from working for the devil

·         Sets  you free from the traditions of man

·         Sets you free from yourself

·         You no longer need to depend on your own self-righteousness and so-called good works

·         Fills you with peace and joy

·         Opens your eyes to see life in a new light with new purpose

·         You are born again like a baby into a whole new world of eternal truths

·         Gives you a greater understanding of why we are here

·         Gives you a greater understanding of why you are here

·         You can receive spiritual gifts; for example, the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, visions, prophetic dreams, healing, etc.

·         You have the authority to talk to God whenever you want to

·         God’s Spirit comes into your heart to speak through you and see through you and live in you

·         Instant forgiveness is  yours for the asking

·         You receive the wonderful gift of faith

·         You are protected as one of God’s kids

·         You have an anointing of power and you can command the devil to obey you

·         With God’s help, you have power over your own spirit and can learn how to control it

·         Your life is not your own so you don’t need to worry about providing for yourself or worrying about the future

·         God wants you to ask Him for everything and anything your heart desires

·         You can claim healing because Jesus paid for healing with his stripes

·         You have your own private guardian angel to protect you and intercede for you

·         Jesus is your Intercessor between you and God so that your prayers are heard immediately

·         Prayer is your lifeline to God, given freely to you for your constant use

·         Because God gave his own life for us, He shall also freely give us all things

·         Because you are a child of God, you inherit everything that Jesus inherits from His father

·         Faith is the title deed of things hoped for

·         The joy of the Lord is now your strength

·         You have power in the spirit to fight spiritual battles and to win because Jesus has already won

·         All things are yours in Christ Jesus

·         You have a place prepared for you in heaven

·         God has created a mansion for you so that you can be where He is

·         You are cordially invited to attend the wedding supper of the Lamb where we are going to eat, drink celestial wine and be merry

·         You now have a large family of brothers and sisters who love you

·         You now have an international fellowship of fellow believers

·         Hope is born in your heart

·         Perfect peace reigns in your heart where there was chaos

·         All your cares can be cast onto Jesus

·         Every concern, every detail, every minor difficulty is taken care of by faith so you no longer own them

·         All your needs are supplied by Christ Jesus according to his riches in glory

·         Nothing will move you

·         Fear is not an issue because God is with you

·         He gives you sleep

·         You have all the promises in the Bible to claim for your own

·         You can be used of God to help others learn about salvation

·         You can be a prince or princess in the kingdom of God

·         You can call on your spiritual helpers who are all around you watching

·         You have the help of angels, the Holy Spirit and spirit guides

·         If you thirst for knowledge, you have the opportunity to learn with the Holy Spirit Teacher

·         You can have true love, the love of God

·         You can bring your whole family with you to heaven by introducing salvation to them

·         You can have Christ help you to do everything all the time just by letting go

·         You no longer need to do anything in the arm of the flesh or by your own efforts

·         You can give up all the ties that bind and all the materialism that’s a drain on you

·         You can experience the feeling of true accomplishment

·         You can experience the satisfaction of a job well done for God’s glory

·         You can learn about the history of the world

·         You can view man’s education through the lens of God’s Word

·         You can experience a fully satisfied feeling of feasting on the Word

·         You can grow spiritually by exercising your faith (Faith is a gift but it grows by hearing the Word of God.)

·         You can claim the power to break any addiction