The Gift of His

Christians should be grateful to God for the gift of his written Word, and conscientious in basing their faith and life entirely and exclusively on it.
J. I. Packer

Is Very Scary at First

Faith is very scary at first and is still challenging all of our lives. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Shone the Brightest In

It was in my darkest moments that Gods love shone the brightest in my heart. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

I Have Found That

I have found that those with a grateful heart life a much better quality of life. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

There are Those Times

There are those times that come along,
When things just don’t go right,
When fairness seems to slip away,
And wrong things fill our sight.

Sometimes it’s hard for us to see,
Beyond the hurt we feel.
It’s hard to see the blessings too,
And know that they are real.

Because the heavy loads you have
Weigh more at times like these,
I ask if I may carry too,
And offer with a “Please?”

I want to make a difference though,
To bring a smile this day,
And maybe if by writing this,
A smile will come your way.

So hold your chin up strong and proud,
‘Cause it’s the thing to do,
And know that I’ll be standing near,
Because I love you!

Your best friend

Jesus

~James O’Brien

“Christ Much and Christ More”

 Have you ever thought what it would be like if you could not die? How terrible it would be if your body had wasted away with a terrible disease and you could not die. I have conducted many funerals when loved ones have reluctantly said the deceased was better off because he was no longer suffering.

On the other hand, Francis Bacon echoed the attitude of many when he said, “men fear death as children fear the dark.” Apart from an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ no man is prepared for his encounter with death.

Moreover, death for the believer in Christ is presented in the Bible as an improvement over the very best in this life. How wonderful it would be if Jesus came for us on the very best day this life could offer when everything is going great. It would not be a terrible tragedy. The Apostle Paul’s life was full and he could write, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (Philippians 2:21 NET).

Paul did not say his death would be “better by far” because he wanted to escape this life. The death of the Christian is never portrayed as an escape or improvement on the worst of life.

The heartbeat of Paul’s life was Christ. “For to me to live is Christ and to die is better yet.” Christ was everything to Him.

H. C. G. Moule with keen insight said, “Life and death . . . look to him like two immense blessings, of which he knows not which is the better. On either side of the veil, Jesus Christ is all things to him.” The only difference will be that “on the other side” everything Paul longed for in this life “in Christ” will be more perfectly realized there.

The apostle’s desire was to “depart” and be with Christ. He had tasted the delights of God’s righteousness and longed for freedom from evil that he would never have in this life on the earth. He would know perfect freedom.

For the Christian death will be freedom from all sin, pain, suffering, persecution, cares, etc.

I am sure the apostle Paul had in mind that this freedom would mean that finally he would be like Christ in His perfect righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8). Crowned with His righteousness! It is not our self-righteousness, but our being clothed in righteousness that Christ imputes to us (2 Cor. 5:21).

We will know him as he is known. Every spiritual truth that has puzzled us in this life will be clearly revealed to us in Christ. In that day we will know as he knows (1 Cor. 13:12).

But the blessed thought, most precious of all is we will be with him. Every born again believer will be with Christ. Yes, we know him and he is with us in our present life, but oh the fullness of our knowledge of him and his wonderful, glorious presence when we are with him clothed and crowned with his righteousness!

The Psalmist said, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15 NASB).

For the unbeliever death is an eternal separation from a righteous, loving God. It is something to be feared and dreaded. However, for the believer death is just the opposite; it is also precious to the believer just as it is to God. There will be no separation from him.

Moule says it well. For Paul it was a dilemma “between Christ and Christ, Christ much and Christ more, Christ by faith and Christ by sight.” And that is our dilemma, too.

As you read these words is it true of you? Do you long to be like Christ? Do you long to see Him in all His gory? Do you earnestly desire to be perfect as he is perfect?

The apostle John said, “And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure” (1 John 3:3 NET).

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.

You Will Always

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

The last sentence pierced my heart with great sorrow.

I know someone who is suffering greatly mentally, physically and spiritually every day.

All of her life she has been a user and abuser. She loved to cause fights. She just used and abused men and women. Now, she is old and her body is all broken down and she needs help.

Jesus sent His servant home to take care of her and she did nothing but abuse him and laugh about it.

Now, she is in constant pain.

Godly men and women have tried to get her to repent and stop it but she refuses to even admit her wicked deeds. I know the Lord has spoken to her in dreams and in sermons.

Again she just ignores Him as she did the others.

Jesus’ patience has run out for her.

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. Romans 1:18–20The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

A catastrophe will strike you suddenly,  one for which you are not prepared. Isaiah 47:11 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

About three years ago her health took a nose dive and she has been suffering every day.

Yet, she still, refuses to repent.

Her son feels no sympathy for her because she showed no sympathy towards him and indeed made jokes about his suffering which she caused.

Warning: be careful of the seeds you sow tomorrow because you will indeed be eating the harvest of them.

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Galatians 6:7 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

Prayer: Thank you Jehovah Ghmolah ( The God of Recompense. Ezekiel 7:9 ) for paying back the wicked for the vile deeds which they delighted in causing the innocent to suffer. I praise You in the name of The Supreme Judge, Jesus Christ. Amen

May you have a grateful heart towards He who has given so much to you. indeovi vas ( may you live with Jesus in Latin )

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 without authors consent

It is the Courage To

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

Christian Perfection (2)

It is true that we will never be perfect in this life, but the perfections outlined by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are still those for which we should aim and that we should increasingly attain by God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We are to aim at Christ-like character.  Jesus said, “Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

How good must a person be to stay saved?

I am a sinner.  Nothing I will do will ever be perfect.  What can I do to be saved and to keep saved?  Since self-efforts will not save us, we must receive the perfect righteousness that God has provided in the atoning substitutionary death of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

Only the LORD God is perfect, and He works to perfect sinful man.

How does God work to perfect sinners?  There are three Biblical facts we must keep clearly in mind.

1.  We are sinners, and there is no denying that fact.  Sin is an offense against God, and He cannot ignore it.  Sin has to be dealt with completely according to His just standards.  This is why God the Father sent God the Son to die for our sins. Jesus bore the penalty for our sins in full, and canceled all claims of God’s justice against the believing sinner forever. God punished our sins on the cross of Jesus.  “By one sacrifice Christ has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).  Have you believed on Jesus Christ as your Savior?

How perfect must a Christian be?  The Christian believer must guide his life by the perfect, ethical standard of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, “You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).

2.  The second principle we must keep in mind is that from the moment we believe on Jesus Christ as our Savior, God begins a work in us to perfect us in this life.  At the new birth, we are given a perfect standing before God in one sense, but it is also true that we are far from perfect in our daily life.

The apostle Paul distinguishes between two ways the word “perfect” is used in the New Testament.  In Philippians 3:12 he writes, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12).  Paul has in mind here absolute perfection – God’s perfect standard, absolute spiritual maturity, fully-grown just like Jesus Christ.  It is the same idea that Jesus Christ spoke of in Matt. 5:48, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

In the next sentence Paul tells us that even though he has already been declared acquitted before God on the basis of his faith in the atoning sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, he is still in the need of practical daily work of being perfected in Jesus Christ.  “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained” (Philippians 3:13-16).

“Perfect” in verse fifteen is a relative, spiritual maturity, indicating the stages of growth, hence, perfect in growth at certain stages.  Even as an elderly Christian, Paul had not arrived to sinless perfection, but he did not give up, and make excuses for sins.  All of his guilt is covered by the payment of Christ on the cross.  The penalty has been removed, but God is still at work in his daily practice of holiness.  Paul is not getting better and better so that one day he can say he is without sin in his daily life.  God has provided for us in His saving grace a provision for cleansing of sin and restoration of fellowship in the Christian’s life (I John 1:8).

3.  Our ultimate sanctification or what the Bible calls glorification will take place when we are presented perfect just like Jesus Christ, and it will take place in the moment of our death.  God’s work of perfecting the saints will take place when we see Jesus in glory and not before then.  At that moment we will be presented to God the Father sinless and complete (1 John 3:1-3).  We never know that perfection in this life.  We will in the likeness of Christ be pure and holy in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, wisdom, humility, obedience, etc.

What God began in your new birth, He will continue to work on throughout this life until He has perfected us and presents us perfect to the Father.  What God begins, He always finishes (Phil. 1:6; Rom. 8:24-29).  God will not give up on any born again believer.  He will keep on perfecting us until the day when Christ comes for us.

May you have a grateful heart towards He who has given so much to you.

indeovi vas ( may you live with Jesus in Latin )

Seleh- stop and think about it.

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.

We are Cruel to Ourselves If

We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it.
J. I. Packer