The Spyglass and the Binoculars.

There is two ways of looking at problems.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-31 New International Version

Remember the old pirate movies where they look through a spyglass. Is that not the way many people look at conflicts? Through one lens and that lens is their own opinion. They refuse to listen to anybody else. They speak, you listen. You speak, they don’t listen. It is called selective hearing and is the major problem in conflicts whether it is between parents and children (it is just as important for parents to listen to children as it is for children to listen to parents by the way), husbands and wives, or neighbors.

Instead it is important to look though binoculars to see the big picture. We need to sit down with pen and paper and listen to what the other person has to say and write it down. While person A is speaking person B listens without interrupting and is writing down what is said. This is then repeated with person B speaking and person A listening.

Next try to look at how and why the other person feels the way they do.

If you cannot solve the problem between yourselves it is important to get someone who does not take sides and you both trust to mediate between you. You both agree to the mediator’s decision and act upon it. It is one thing to agree to it, it is just as important to act on it.

I have met many people that it was like talking to a wall. They pretended not to hear what I was saying because they didn’t care.

What I have learned is to inform them when they are just as willing to listen as they are to talk, we can continue. Then walk away. I do not give in to them no matter how much they pout like little babies, threaten and whine. Many times that means distancing myself from them. It has cost me many friendships but I am better off without them because they were very self centered and greedy.

Now of course it is different if you are married or it is parents and children living in the same place.

When I was a teacher and a student was naughty I did not scream and yell at them. I would sit them down and talk with them. They knew what they did was wrong. Just be patient with them. Once they admit what they did was wrong then we talk about how they can make it right. After that is settled we work on them making it right. If they were naughty to another student they would apologize to them in class. When they would have a difficult time doing this, teacher was right there softly encouraging them, informing them it was the right thing to do and I know you can do it. Then I would encourage the hurt child to forgive. Teacher would then give them big huggies and inform them he is proud of them. They love and respect teachers like that. I will tell you, the children in my classes were very well behaved. That is why I always got the worst classes. But, in two months there was a complete change.

So too is it necessary for us to do this with each other.

Prayer: Please Jehovah Jireh (The Lord our provider) please provide me to have both eyes open to how to heal any broken relationship in my life. I ask in the name of He who has taught me to have eyes to see Jesus Christ. Amen.

May the sweet sunshine of Jesus’ precious love bless you today and every day.

The Call of God to Salvation

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

How can we have a revival?

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.

We Can Never Be

We can never be cleansed until we confess we are dirty. Max Lucado

Born of God

How are individuals made alive spiritually?

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.

Has a Wonderful Sense of Humor

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

Is the Challenge Of

Old age is the challenge of stop desiring for things of the earth and long for Heaven where there is no pain and no sorrow of watching friends and family leave of their eternal journey. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Born Crucified, yet Alive in Christ

The Christian life is a daily putting off all that belonged to the unregenerate old self and constantly putting on all that belongs to the new life in Christ. The cross and the resurrection extend their power and influence over the believer’s entire life.

The Christian life is constantly producing new life. This new life in Christ through His Spirit must be daily replacing within the soul what our daily crucifixion of the flesh is taking away. This new life in Christ fills the emptiness created by self-denial with some new likeness of Christ. In place of the natural affection, there comes some new divine affection (Eph. 4:17-32).

“You are dead . . . . you are risen with Christ” (Col. 3:1, 6).

The flesh will never produce a strong spiritual life that pleases God and looks and smells like authentic Christianity. The flesh will always disgrace the Lord Jesus Christ no matter how you try to dress it up in legalism.

The Holy Spirit is busy making real in the believer’s life what is already true of him doctrinally.

The believer has not only died, but is to “die daily” with Christ as long as we live in this present life because we are in “an irreconcilable enmity” between the flesh and the spirit (Gal. 5:17). We have no option but to take up the cross daily in following Christ. The flesh can only reproduce itself. It holds no possibility of a divine life. This dying to self and sin is something we do daily.

Our life-long growth in Christ-likeness is a determination to deliver us to death for Christ’s sake all that is kin to our old life before we gave our lives to Christ. It is also a commitment to put on Christ daily.

It is each believer’s responsibility to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in mortifying the flesh and therefore bring our body under the dominion of the cross of Christ.

Moreover, the Christian life is not just a life of crucifixion; it is also a new life in Christ Jesus.

“You are risen with Christ.” This is the second part of this essential doctrine of Christian living. Our progressive sanctification includes both “taking off” the old self and “putting on” the new. Since “you are risen with Christ” keep on “seeking those things which are above.”

Yes, we “die daily,” but we were also made a “new creation” in Christ and our inward person is being “renewed day by day.”

The apostle Paul wrote, “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

The daily spiritual growth of the Christian towards perfection lies always in these two opposite directions. The believer is always subjecting, repressing, and mortifying the natural man on the one hand, and nourishing, developing, and renewing the spiritual man on the other. It is not one or the other; it is both principles and activities working in conjunction with one another.

It is our responsibility to daily judge and mortify all that we find in our attitudes, behaviors and values that are in the flesh and contrary to authentic Christian living. Yes, there must be a daily denial to anything that is not Christ-like.

A negative process is never adequate to accomplish a positive goal. And no amount or kind of self-denial can make a person holier, or sinless. What is needed is the means of bringing him into more intimate fellowship with Christ. Every retreat from the life of the flesh must be followed by a deeper entering into the life of the Spirit. We take off the old man, and we put on the new man in Christ.

As we abide in Christ, we walk as our Lord walked.

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.

Flee From Those That

[We must] pray constantly for His enabling grace to say no to temptation, of choosing to take all practical steps to avoid known areas of temptation and flee from those that surprise us.
Jerry Bridges

Last Night I

The earnest prayer of the righteous has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 The Holy Bible, The New International Version

Last night I prayed that mom would be healed from an excruciating pain she has suffered for about a week. Today she she has none of that pain.

Last night I prayed that my buddy, Snowball ( my cat ) would not be a zombie because of his epileptic medicine. but his old self Today, he was his old lovable self again.

Last night I prayed to be lead to a sight that has good Biblical preaching for both mom and I to listen to. Today, I was guided to World Video Bible School . Man do they have fantastic video’s.

Last night I prayed for the Lord to heal mom of her arthritic pain and my pain in my feet. Today I was talking with a woman at the swimming pool who informed me of these great shoes at a discount store that absorb the strain when walking. I am looking forward to buying them.

Whoever says there is no God or that He does not answer the prayers of His children is either not a child of his or their faith is weak or they are baby Christians ( new Christians). Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Prayer: Thank you Jehovah Jireh ( God who provides Philippians 4:19 ) for Your gracious blessing of amazing provisions to our family. I thank You in the name of the most amazing blessing, 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.