Shield Of Defense Is Present, Evans Olang

Psalm 3:3, “For thou O Lord are a shield for me, the glory and the lifter of my head”

After talking to different people and looking at my life, I see that we are all fighting battles. This is not an occasional thing but a daily thing. It may be fought at different degrees and levels but the fact remains we are battling. Often times I sit and wonder whether what I am battling will ever come to an end. At times I feel like there is victory and then right after getting victory in one battle, another surfaces and the battle continues. If we could avoid battles, believe me, I would be the first one to avoid them yet we are not called to avoid but face them. I believe you can survive battles without offensive weapons as long as you have defensive weapons. If you just have the offensive weapons, I guarantee you will be exposed to more dangers because offensive will tackle mostly what you see while defensive tackles all corners seen and unseen.

Hands Of War, Pastor Phil Sessa

Psalm 18:34, “He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms”.

My dad was one you would call a handy man. If it was broken then my dad would fix it. As a matter of fact he had been known to create very unique ways of fixing things or building things. I recall that he always tried to build things strong and solid to keep things lasting long. However when he was a young boy he didn’t know how to use his hands in this regards, he had to learn it. One moves from not knowing to knowing through learning, and he learned to use his hands from his dad.

Silent Frustrations, Evans Olang

Ephesians 5:33, “Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband”

Often times when we travel, we sometimes bring air mattress to sleep on. When the time to go to sleep comes, we blow it up until its firm then go to sleep. I have realized many times that in the middle of the night or by early morning when we wake up, the mattress that was firm when we went to sleep is no longer firm. The mattress feels wobbly and uncomfortable; very frustrating. The next day we look for holes to seal only to repeat the same cycle as we discover there are more holes in this mattress to seal.

Behold I Am Coming Quickly, Part 2of2, Evans Olang

Revelation 22:1-21, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give everyone according to has work”

In the light of God’s word that reminds us that Jesus is coming back again quickly, why are people rejecting the real truth and establishing their own, John 3:19-21, tells us why, “19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20, For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” It’s not about what you feel is the truth but knowing the truth. You establish your own righteousness and you will continue to stay in darkness, but remember tomorrow is promised to no one.

Pastors Who Don’t Pray Are Unable to Bring Men to Greater Heights in Christ, Pastor Gregg T. Johnson

How frustrating it is to plan elaborate training seminars and intensive discipleship programs that are met with little or no interest from those we are trying to reach. How discouraging it can be to labor over a sermon, studying and preparing for hours only to have no response from those to whom it is preached. How agonizing it is to organize, administrate, plan and coordinate only to be met by resistance, criticism and rejection. Such scenarios are repeated over and over for those leaders who don’t pray.

Reads, Hears, And Keeps, Benjamen Leahey

Revelation 1:3- “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near”

As I read and as I pray, my thoughts are drawn faithfully to these topics, to the Christians responsibility. It is utter foolishness to doubt God in anyway, He is Faithful and True. But what about us? Are we faithful to Him? Is our heart given over to the Lord? Are we truly seeking God with all our heart? And this is not dead works, but the true desire of my inner being for God alone. Works always follow the one truly born of God, they don’t make you a Christian(see Matthew 7:21-24). John gives us clear teaching here, in line with James 1:22, Romans 2:13. It is not the hearers of the word, nor the readers, but the doers that are just in the sight of God.

Submitting To God’s Righteousness, Part 6of10, Evans Olang

Romans 10:3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

The bible says James 4:6. “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble”. The humble will submit to the righteousness of God. Watch this, 2Samuel 24:17, “Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel striking the people, and said, “SURELY I HAVE SINNED, AND I HAVE DONE WICKEDLY; BUT THESE SHEEP, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? LET YOUR HAND, I PRAY, BE AGAINST ME…” David was not justifying himself neither was he seeing that he was being rubbed the wrong way, he saw God serving justice over what he did and he understood that he deserved justice and that humbled him.

What Is Desired Of You? Evans Olang

Proverbs 19:22, “What is desired in a man is kindness…”

A father told his son, “if you have nothing nice to say to someone, please don’t say a thing”, he never heard from his father again, the father never had anything nice to say to or about his son. Why is it that we live in a world that shows less or no kindness? Husbands show no kindness to their wives and vise versa, kids are not kind to each other, parents are not kind to their kids, people are not kind to other people. We have murders, abortions, rapes, robbery etc because people are not kind. If everyone was kind as the bible puts it, we wouldn’t have any of these issues to deal with, we would all live in peace and harmony.

The Sure Foundation Is Christ, Part 2of2, Evans Olang

1Corinthians 3:1-23, vs. “11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” NIV

We defined foundation and looked at how possible it is to look at men’s foundation rather than God’s foundation. At Corinth, Paul had laid a good foundation “Jesus Christ and Him crucified“, instead of them building on THIS foundation, they started trying to redefine it which moved them from the spiritual growth to become carnal minded. Thank God that Paul came back to correct their understanding and thank God He is correcting the understanding of those who missed it.