When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Psalms 94:19 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation
Oh boy do I know this to be true.
There have been so many times in my walk with Christ when the whole world seemed to be crashing down around me. With rivers of tears flowing down my cheeks I would call upon our Heavenly Poppa and He would calm my fears and softly, lovingly sooth my sorrows. It was like being washed clean after a hard dirty day at work or after a hard sweaty work out. That was what it was like when He washed away my anxiety and or fears.
Then, snuggling up in a nice warm comforter in a cold room. That was what it felt like when His love and comfort enveloped me like that comforter. I would be filled with joy and appreciation for being blessed with such a wonderful, loving Father.
The world outside could be going to Hell in a hand cart and I did not care. I was in the sanctuary of love with my adoring Poppa, safe, secure and loved.
Wow, what an experience that was and is.
Being a live in care giver has been the most stressful thing I have ever done. I could not go on without my loving Poppa being there with wise advice and loving arms to encourage me on.
Oh my precious brothers and sisters, we all experience stress, exhaustion, confusion, worry fear and sadness. When these dark moments encompass your soul, go to the only One that’s love can, will and does chase away the darkness with His amazing love. His name is Jesus.
Because He has walked amongst us, He understands. He loves you more than we can ever imagine.
Go to Him in prayer. Take shelter from the raging burning storms under His gentle loving arms.
When the storms are raging out side, let Jesus come inside to comfort and soothe the weary heart. Joseph a son of Jehovah
Prayer: Thank you Elohe Mauzi (Psalms 43:2 GOD of My Strength ) for blessing me with You super human strength to continue on serving You by caring for a challenging one in need of care. Thank you for Your peace and comfort to encourage me on. With the greatest of praise I extol Thee in the name of He who endured so much hardship for me, Jesus Christ. Amen
May You always be blessed with the presence and assistance of the truest Super Man. Jesus Christ in your time of need. Joseph a son of Jehovah
This article and photo @ 2021 Joseph a son of Jehovah. All rights reserved. Used only by permission of the author.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4 The Holy Bible The New Living Translation
Oh my Love, thank you that no matter how strong the storms lash at me whenever I recollect all the blessings You have generously bestowed upon me, my heart cannot but dance with joy. With each stanza of thanks Your bright light of love comes ever more powerful and evaporates the most stubborn of darkness in my heart.
And, of course, there is the greatest gift You bless me with which creates an euphoria in my heart, that is when You bless me with communion with You.
Thank you that whatever the burden is that is heavy upon my shoulders I go into a quiet place to be with You and You bless me with a lightened heart that dances a jig of gratitude for all of Your graciousness You have generously bestowed upon me and this strengthens me to continue on.
I thank you in the name of He who understands what I am going through because He has walked in my shoes, my closest confidant with whom I share all my challenges with because He understand Jesus Christ. Amen
May the light of Christs love shine brightly in your heart today and every dayJoseph a son of Jehovah
To those who are called of God, the good news in Jesus Christ is the power of God. If you are called of God, you know it. It is a matter of pure experience between you and the risen Christ. The true believer can declare, “Now I know in whom I have believed.”
C. H. Spurgeon said, “Ah! What a mercy it is that it is not your hold of Christ that saves you but His hold of you! What a sweet fact that it is not how you grasp His hand, but His grasp of yours that saves you! Jesus Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” “But we preach Christ crucified… to those who are called, both to Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23a, 24).
“To those who are the called… Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” On occasion Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
There is the general call through the preaching of the Gospel to all who will come and listen, but there is also an effectual call when the Holy Spirit speaks to the individuals and they respond by repenting of their sin and believe on Christ as their personal Savior.
The school bell rings at 8 a.m., and it is a general call for all students to be in their classroom ready to begin their studies. However, when the teacher says, “Wil, come with me. We are going to the principal’s office,” that is a special call.
When the apostle Paul said, “We preach Christ crucified…to those who are called,” it is always a special call. It is the sharp, hot arrow of God’s Word piercing into the heart bringing conviction of sin and saving faith in Jesus Christ.
The effectual call of God is when the Holy Spirit whispers your name and says, “Come to Me.” The word comes into the soul, and there is no resisting it. God speaks. Jesus said, “All that the Father has given to Me shall come.” That is the effectual call.
The believer is saved by the effectual grace of God. Saul, the persecutor of the early church, heard the effectual call of God saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Saul could go no further on his way, and a radical change took place in his heart.
Zaccheus saw Jesus coming down the road and climbed up into a tree so he could get a better view. As Jesus walked He looked up into the tree and called to Zaccheus, “Zaccheus, come down today. I must abide in your house.” Zaccheus heard his name called and he could not stay up the tree.
The effectual call of God comes as we listen to the gospel being preached, and there is the power of God drawing the person to repent and believe on Christ. It is the effectual call because those who hear it respond to God’s free grace and are saved.
The preaching of the cross is a thing of power. “I have felt it here, in this heart; I have the witness of the Spirit within and know it is a thing of might because it has conquered me; it has bowed me down,” wrote Spurgeon.
It is a thing of power that does it. It is the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Have you experienced it? I have. It is my prayer that you will respond to the good news that Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross. Can you say in your heart, “Jesus died for me. I know the blood of Jesus has washed me of all my sins. God has saved me for all eternity by His cleansing blood.”
Christ to me is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
“Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.”
This is the response to the effectual call of God. “To the rest of you who are called, I need say nothing,” Spurgeon said. “The longer you live, the more deeply Christ taught you are, the more you live under the constant influence of the Holy Spirit, the more you will know the Gospel to be a thing of power, and the more also will you have understood it to be a thing of wisdom. My every blessing rest upon you; and may God come up with us in the evening.”
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent
“God prescribes individually for each of His patients. God delights to restore each depressed soul to a sphere of increased usefulness,” J. Oswald Sanders
Maybe it is age, but I am certain The Holy Spirit has a wonderful sense of humour. He is a marvelous friend who loves to share a laugh with me. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Psalm 85:6 The Holy Bible, The New International Version
How can we have a revival?” someone ask the great evangelist, Gypsy Smith.
The wise old preacher replied, “take a piece of chalk, and draw circle on the floor. Then step inside the circle, and pray: “Lord, send a revival inside this circle.”
Prayer: Oh please Jehovah Yotsero (God our maker Psalm 139:13-16 ) bless me that You send The Holy Spirit to revive my devotion to You every day. May this attitude and behaviour be a brilliant light that guides the lost souls to You like moths to a bright light in a dark night. I humbly request this in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. Amen
Seleh- stop and think about it.
This photo and article @ Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah 2023
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.
Jesus said, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NET).
The Bible teaches us that we become a child of God only through the new birth. Those who believe on Jesus Christ become God’s children. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
By whose authority do we become the children of God? “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right . . .” It is the authority of Jesus Christ. Those who believe on Him have the right to become the children of God.
It is clearly not a physical birth, but a spiritual birth that is in mind, and it is something that is received by the person who believes in Him (1 Pet. 1:23). The initiative in the new birth is with God.
Without Christ we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin (Eph. 2:1-3). Every individual must be born again because the natural man is altogether void of spiritual life. We need divine life, and that is what God provides through the new birth.
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36, 16). He has it right now (1 John 5:13). Clearly the individual who believes on Him receives God’s kind of life (6:40). It is the teaching throughout the New Testament (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 10:9-10).
The biblical doctrine of the new birth takes all the glory and initiative away from man and gives it all to God the Father. He alone is responsible for our salvation; therefore, He alone gets all the glory. He creates the new spiritual life within us and causes us to believe on Christ. God chooses to give us eternal life (1 Jn. 3:1; Eph. 1:5; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23).
We become a child of God when God gives us His life. It is an act of God. We receive that life the moment we believe on Christ. It comes from God and is received only on the basis of God’s grace. Those who believe become God’s children. Only by receiving Christ do we gain the right to become a child of God.
How do we not become a child of God? There is absolutely nothing that man can do to contribute to his spiritual birth. This is made very clear in John 1:13, “who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” No amount of human activity, religious cultivation, or moral teaching can change the essential nature of man. Therefore, it is imperative that man’s deepest need is to be born again.
In the Jewish mind “blood” is equivalent to human life. Spiritual birth cannot come about as a result of any human process or achievement. Man is not by nature a child of God. We are by nature sinners. No human agency can achieve the new birth. All human effort is powerless and superficial in regard to spiritual life. There is nothing in our human nature or character that can bring about a spiritual birth.
“Born of the water and the Spirit” does not refer to baptism regeneration (John 3:5). From the context “water” here is referring to the water bag broken at physical birth of a baby. Water here is symbolic of a spiritual birth. From other passages of Scripture we learn that baptism is in no wise essential to salvation. It does not form one of the conditions which God requires the sinner to meet. If baptism were necessary then man would be saved by his works.
The Bible teaches we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and not of works. It is the free gift of God. “What must I do to be saved?” The Bible says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).
The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to bring about regeneration (1 Pet. 1:23). No sinner is born spiritually apart from the Word. The “children” are those who believe on Christ. Men are God’s sons only as they respond to what He does for them in Christ. They are born into God’s family when they receive His Word.
The new birth is an absolute miracle. All human initiative and effort is ruled out. Men are “born of God.” There is no other way to become a child of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit within the person. It is life in Christ and is divine in origin. The whole emphasis in this verse and in John chapter three is the activity of the Spirit of God, not human effort, works or merits by demanding the sinner to be “born again.” He excludes any possibility of human effort in salvation.
The word “believing” and “receiving” refer to the same operation of the Holy Spirit when a person ceases trusting in his own human merits and trust in Christ Jesus alone for salvation.
Are you enjoying the things of God, spiritual things, which are discerned and enjoyed by spiritual regeneration? Are you enjoying the privileges of being a child of God? In order to have spiritual discernment we must be born again (1 Cor. 2:10, 14).
The Holy Spirit gives us a new spiritual nature. When He gives us this new nature we are “born again” (2 Pet. 1:4). It is an act of God.
Because of this new birth the individual is a changed person who loves the things he once hated, and hates the things he once loved. A radical change takes place in the heart of the believer. “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new thing have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). The NET Bible reads, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away–look, what is new has come!”
SELAH! Pause – reflect- just think of that!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.
Speaking from personal experience, I know Jesus has a wonderful sense of humor and many times laugh my head off at some of the jokes He has played on me. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah
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