Showing posts with label blessings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blessings. Show all posts

Friday 12 May 2017

Ability (part 7) Thought about the ability to grow as a member of the Body of Christ

Having received the ability to live we also got some talents, which may be totally different from the talents one of our siblings got.

All having received the ability to think about life also got the ability to come to see Who God is and for what purpose we are on this world. The same when we have used the ability to come to know God we have the ability to choose of Him and to serve Him according to His Will.

That ability to serve God is not based on your past, but on your faithfulness today. A person may have been an adversary of God, a big criminal, a lover of fleshy sins, but when he had come to know Christ Jesus and his God, he might have changed. In his conversion to Christianity he not only received the ability to grow as a member of the Body of Christ, sharing with brethren and sisters the love of Christ and the hope to a coming Kingdom of God.

When having hear the call of God, and having answered it positively, one can come under the blessings of the Most High. Being able to feel those blessings one is eager to follow the commandments of God and the commandments of His sent one, Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God. That son gave his followers tasks, which also still count for us today. Jesus asked his followers to go out into the world and to preach the Gospel, the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God.

There are the tasks given by Christ Jesus and the ones given by his heavenly Father. If you are faithful with the tasks God's son and the heavenly Father entrusts to you, God will enable you to accomplish it.

Don’t distinguish between big and small assignments from God. Paul saw every one as a privilege he did not deserve. Whether God has asked you to pray for someone, to minister to a person in need, to lead a Bible study, or to care for those who are sick, strive to be faithful. You will experience His enabling as you serve Him.

If you are faithful in a little, God will entrust you with more. You will be able to join Paul in praising God for having counted you faithful, putting you into His service (Luke 16:10).
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with a lot. Whoever is dishonest with very little is dishonest with a lot.” (Luke 16:10 GWord)
Even when not experienced, like Timothy was, we can do the work of God and grow in our faith and in the community, like so many before had an opportunity to grow  in their ecclesia.

Paul urged Timothy not to allow his youthful insecurity to blunt his zeal and faithfulness in doing what God had told him. Rather than arguing with those who criticized Timothy, Paul urged him to live as an example of godliness. Paul advised Timothy to live a life that was so spotless in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, and purity that his life could serve as a model for others in the church to follow. Timothy’s life was to be the evidence that God had called him. God looked beyond Timothy’s youth, timidity, and physical weakness and saw his sincere heart.

We too should take on the right attitude and show others how we are willing to give ourselves to the call we heard from God.

As you seek to follow God’s will, you may identify with Timothy.

Whatever your position at this moment, do know that by using your abilities you make it possible to grow and to develop as a Christian (a follower of Christ).
By allowing God to guide you and to enforce your abilities you shall be able to help not only yourself but also those around you who want to go with you on the same path, laid out in front of you by Jesus, the Way to God.

Just as a tender plant finds a way to grow in a hard and unreceptive environment, so the love of Jesus has the ability to emerge in a life that seems completely unresponsive to the call of the Divine Maker of all things. Giving in to God's call and doing His Will, you shall find that often you shall be able to do more than you would ever thought. This shall be possible when you allow God to demonstrate His call upon you by transforming your life into a model of godliness.

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Preceding articles:
Ability (part 4) Thought about the ability to have ability
Ability (part 6) Thought about the ability of God’s Provision Bringing Glory

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Additional reading

  1. Today’s thought “Ability to receive ableness from God” (May 11)
  2. Today’s thought “Ability to see that God is not dead” (May 12)
  3. Thought for those who think it is not necessary to do any works any more
  4. Lost senses or a clear focus on the one at the stake
  5. Worthy partakers of the body of Christ
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Friday 25 January 2013

Tu B’Shvat, the holiday of the trees

If the did not celebrate it Wednesday evening and Thursday, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of u B’Shevat, Tu Bishvat, or Tu B’Shvat (15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat) tonight.And people wondered why we should celebrate the holiday of the tree.almond blossom

The almond trees in Israel begin to shake blossoms out along their branches.
Across the globe this month Jewish communities are celebrating the holiday of Tu B’Shvat.  Many choose to commemorate the “New Year of The Trees” by planting pine trees in Israel.  Tu B’Shvat is a day that deals directly with the social inequality of our food system.  It’s a holiday that can inspire us to think about the free Gifts Jehovah God provides for humanity and it gives us the chance to think about His blessings and how we should use those blessings. This year you perhaps could also think about building community food security.


Savyon from the land of Israel
Savyon from the land of Israel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When we look around us we can see very beautiful things in nature, though many do not notice them any more.God has created the plants and given the task to the people to name them and to take care of them. God promised that all the plants would be for the good of people and would offer food for men and animal. And normally all of the seed bearing trees would bring forth fruits free for all people. Though people made it that humans had to pay for it.

"And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every plant that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it is for food." (Beréshith - Genesis - Book of the Beginning 1:29 The Scriptures 1998+)

Also in Europe and North America the inhabitants can look forward to the new time coming soon. In Belgium from tomorrow Saturday the temperatures will rise, but we can notice already the sap in thee shrubs begining once again to flow through it.  The trees are ready to bring out green knobs and to let the Voice of the Most High sound through their branches. If you look carefully around you you will see heralding
the New Year for trees. The melting snow shall provide moisture for the trees and the sap will bring forth fruit in the spring. It is the day to pray for a beautiful esrog. The custom for Jews is to eat fruits in order to be able to say the blessings on the fruits on this day. הדר עץ פרי, a fruit of splendor, is gematria העץ פרי ברא, [Blessed are you Hashem] who created the fruit of the tree (they both equal 659). Have in mind to ask Elohim Hashem Jehovah for a gorgeous esrog when saying this blessing.

In the Mishnah, where Tu B’Shvat is found, the purpose of the holiday is to make a single day in which our produce is taxed and given to the community. It’s based from a single line of Torah: “At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall lay it up inside your gates; And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied.“ (Debarim - Deuteronomy 14:28).

The Torah also says that "man is a tree in the field."We should come forth from good seed and bring forth good fruits.When we bring none, not enough or no good fruits we would be of no use.

God has plated the seed in Abraham to make Him a people. And God His Wishes shall always come true. So out of Aḇraham shall come forth the fruit of a blessed people because יהוה {Jehovah}appeared to him  and said, “I am the Elohim of your father Aḇraham. Do not fear, for I am with you, and shall bless you and increase your seed for My servant Aḇraham’s sake.”.(Beréshith - Genesis - Book of the Beginning 26: 23-24)
The Creator told His chosen people how He was to be called and that His Name and Works should be known all over the world. Those Works we can still see every day, because Jehovah God did not end Creating.


In the Land of Israel, several people are already happily celebrating Tu B’Shvat, the holiday of the trees. School children sing songs praising the Land of Israel and thanking Hashem for its fruits. Bus loads of students and families go on field trips throughout the country, and saplings are planted with great joy and spirit. And a festive meal of thanksgiving, highlighted by a cornucopia of fruits of the Land, will grace our tables on Shabbat.

  writes about this special day and looks at Eretz Yisrael. According to him without Israel the Torah is a shrunken, truncated, mini-version of the complete Torah of Eretz Yisrael. Two-thirds of the Mishna deals with laws that can only be performed in Israel. Without Eretz Yisrael, God Himself is reduced to a second-string diety, seemingly not strong enough to keep His Chosen People in the Land He gave them, for there is no greater desecration of the Name of God than when the Jewish People are scattered in exile amongst the goyim (Ezekiel, 36:20). Without Eretz Yisrael, there is no prophecy, no Beit HaMikdash, and the Divine Presence doesn’t appear in the world.

Kaliv Hasidim celebrating Tu B'Shvat in Jerusalem.
Kaliv Hasidim celebrating Tu B'Shvat in Jerusalem.
Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
The hunger in our cities resonates because everywhere we can see more poverty. We do not have to go far away form our own dinner-table to see the food crisis which is also a spiritual crisis. On this Tu B’Shvat, let’s reinvigorate the holiday’s original purpose, by doing our part to make hunger relief healthier, more respectful and more in line with our shared values.
Those who are fortunate to have an abundance of produce year-round could perhaps take time to think of those in need and provide for them.
Tu B’Shvat is an opportunity to more closely examine hunger and how to respond most effectively to ensure that hungry people have access to nutritious, healthy foods.

Read:

What’s the Point of Celebrating Tu B’Shvat in Exile?

Celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees

 
Fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables (Photo credit: nutrilover)


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Monday 21 January 2013

What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits


12  What shall I return to יהוה {Jehovah}? All His bounties are upon me.
13  I lift up the cup of deliverance, And call upon the Name of יהוה
{Jehovah}.
14  I pay my vows to יהוה
{Jehovah}Now in the presence of all His people.

Psa 50:5  “Gather My kind ones together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by slaughtering.”


My Morning Resolve

My Earliest Thought I Desire Shall Be:
“What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?
I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord [for grace to help].
I will pay my vows unto the Most High.”—Psalm 116:12-14
Remembering the Divine call, “Gather My saints together unto Me; those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice” (Psalm 50:5), I resolve that by the Lord’s assisting grace I will today, as a saint of God, fulfil my vows, continuing the work of sacrificing the flesh and its interests, that I may attain to the Heavenly inheritance in joint-heirship with my redeemer.

I will strive to be simple and sincere toward all.
I will seek not to please and honour self, but the Lord.
I will be careful to honour the Lord with my lips, that my words may be unctuous and blessed to all.
I will seek to be faithful to the Lord, the Truth, the brethren and all with whom I have to do, not only in great matters, but also in the little things of life.

Trusting myself to Divine care and the Providential overruling of all my interests for my highest welfare, I will seek not only to be pure in heart, but to repel all anxiety, all discontent, all discouragement.
I will neither murmur nor repine at what the Lord’s providence may permit, because
“Faith can firmly trust Him,
Come what may.”




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Tuesday 10 August 2010

Thursday 4 March 2010

Call unto God so that He can answer you

To Lydia
Jeremiah 33:2-3 (41 kb)
"'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'"



Thoughts
For those who think that God does not hear them. And for those who think they can not hear God because He would have disowned them .
    This was originally spoken to Jeremiah about the fate of Jerusalem. However, this promise is true in special ways for us as well. God wants us to call to him. God often waits for us to ask before he blesses us with what he longs to give us. Yet we lack the ability to comprehend and receive all the great truth about God. He is simply too big and too glorious for us to fully comprehend him and his grace.God wants us to seek him and call out to him. He wants to answer us and tell us about things beyond our human comprehension. He longs to draw us close so that we can know him. Like a scared child calls out to a loving father in the next room, we too can call on him knowing that our Father will answer, protect, and comfort us. Even more than that, our Father will reveal to us things that would be impossible for us to know without his grace.
Prayer
   
Almighty God and Abba Father, I do want to know you and to be known by you. Yes, there are things in my heart and my life that I wish were not there. But I know your grace and I am confident that you know my heart and its desire to reflect your glory, share your grace, and display your character.Father and Almighty God, you are breath-taking and beyond my ability to comprehend. Dear Father, please bewilder the world by coming on a day everyone least expects it. I do long to know you better, dear Father.Thank you for the gift of being your child and having my future secured. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Phil Ware and Marcus Ampe

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Roep tot God zodat Hij u kan verhoren

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