Are You Modeling Jesus?

 

Do your words and actions model Jesus? In other words, do your words and actions line up with Jesus? Do you portray Christlike characteristics, or do you portray characteristics of the world? Does being extremely rude to a salesperson at the door show others that you are a follower of Christ? Did you ever think that maybe you could have planted a seed in that person’s life when you opened the door? Now that opportunity to share the Truth with that person is lost because you chased that person away. Does being rude to people at a grocery store show others that you are a follower of Christ? How would you want to be treated? Would you want someone to be rude or mean to you, or would you want someone to treat you with grace and love? There is an important verse to remember in Luke 6:31 (NLT) that Jesus shared with his followers and the crowds of people at the sermon on the mount  “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.”

That is a powerful verse - "Do to others as you would like them to do to you." And the greatest role model for us all is Christ Jesus. Throughout his ministry he treated others with love, grace, mercy, and kindness. Jesus loved even those who persecuted him and mocked him. As Christians, we need to model these same characteristics. Remember, all of us are sinners, all of us were once difficult people, and all of us do not deserve His grace.

Human relations can be difficult, but we all have our faults and shortcomings. We are all like broken vessels that have many cracks. But now, Christian brothers and sisters, we have been made new by the Master Potter. We have a chance to be used by the Master Potter to help grow the seed or to help water the seed. How? By showing love to others, by being tolerant, by showing grace to others, by being kind, by having empathy toward others, by being humble, by giving of oneself, by practicing hospitality, by being fair and reasonable, and by striving to be holy. And it has been said that the best manual on human relations - is the Bible. There are many passages in the Bible that can guide us in how we are to treat others. For example, Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Or another great verse is in Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

We are accountable to God for all of our own actions and words. How we respond to others bears witness to this. Will you practice what you read in the Bible; or will you practice what the world has taught you? What can you model that will show others how great Jesus is and might soften their hearts to want to get to know him? In Ephesians 4: 17-24 Paul testifies how we are to model ourselves as new vessels, 

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

We are new vessels now. We no longer have impurities that can weaken a vessel. We have been made new, created after His likeness. How can we, who have received forgiveness, love, mercy, and grace from God, not show godly characteristics towards others? If we do not, how can we call ourselves Christians.

As Christians, we are to love and show grace and mercy towards others, even to those who are non-believers or those who are difficult. We cannot do this on our own. We must seek God and his Word. Lean on Him. Only with His help will we be molded and shaped into followers that model Him. Perhaps in showing love and kindness towards others, hearts will be softened, and seeds will be planted, and our words and actions will show others what the Gospel message is all about - love and redemption.

Heavenly Father,

You know our hearts and minds. We who fail time and time again, yet You continue to show us love, mercy, and grace. Help us to do the same. Help us to be models that exemplify You. We humbly thank you Lord for allowing Your Son to die on the cross all those years ago. Just as Christ Jesus was nailed to the cross, so were our sins nailed to the cross. We praise You, we thank You, and we love You. 

Amen.

The Perversion of the American Church

As you will see in the following videos, many churches in America today no longer preach the Gospel, for they have been seduced by the world and led astray. They have fallen for the great deceit or the great lie. These churches are no longer recognizable as a church that serves, praises, and worships God, nor preaches sound Biblical doctrine. Instead these churches have wicked leaders that have clawed their way into the church and have cut and sliced God's Word to satisfy their needs and desires. Just as it states in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV), these leaders are preaching words to tickle ears that seduce people and feed them lies.

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

 

These Christian leaders and individual Christians have made the Church into a corrupt, wicked den of lawless followers of Satan. In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (ESV) it states how deceitful and rebellious these false leaders are, 

"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness."

These false leaders silence or cancel those who speak the Truth, or who are against their agenda, or against their beliefs. They scream racism or disinformation that helps contribute to the spreading of the serpent's great lie.  

This great lie that Satan is using to destroy the church perverts or denies Biblical Truth. As Larry G. Johnson from CultureWarrior.net states,

"Satan’s strategy is to defeat the church by subtly injecting the god of self into the church body. It is the little foxes that destroy the vine. At first he encourages a little compromise here and there. Mix in bit of disunity. Allude to the harshness and inflexibility of the Bible. Question the relevancy of the Bible and the church in light of modern problems. Concentrate the churches’ focus and efforts substantially if not exclusively on the temporal problems and injustices in the world. Attempt to discredit the truth of the Bible through science and psychology. Finally, the church elevates self above God. The new church is now consumer-oriented, and its patrons are clients to be pampered. The gospel is softened so as not to offend. Therapy replaces salvation in dealing with sin. Worship becomes entertainment. Commitment becomes optional as church attendance for many is limited to an hour or two on Sunday mornings a couple of times a month. The gospel of self-improvement is preached instead of the word of God found in the Bible."

Satan was created by God. He was a servant of God that rebelled against God, for he wanted to be God. Satan is a fallen angel and a creature of evil. He is joyless, unholy, and hateful. He is against Christians and wants to see their demise. He wants to see the fall of the Church. He wants to pervert the Church. He wants to draw people away from the Church. He wants to transform the Church into a body that is unholy, ungodly, disobedient, and rebellious to God. He wants all of mankind to perish and spend eternally in hell. 

Jesus Christ is the son of God who died on the cross for our sins. He rose on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God. One day he will return and rule over the earth. Jesus Christ is good, full of joy, holy, and he loves us. He died for our sins so that all who have been called would be saved and spend eternally with him and dwell with him on the new earth.

The greatest threat to Satan's plan is for the Church to be empowered and be obedient to Jesus Christ. If the Church lives and preaches sound Biblical doctrine, it cannot fail. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we need to share and teach the Truth and expose these great lies that these false churches, false leaders and false Christians are using to attack, infiltrate and cause a great perversion of the American Church. Awaken! Rise up and share the Gospel.

Heavenly Father,

You are almighty and faithful. You are good and loving. We thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to empower the Church. We thank you for choosing us to be your holy people. May Your will and thoughts direct us. Help us to reach those whose ears have become deaf to the Truth. Let them hear your voice as we share Your word. Destroy Satan's work and all his plans to attack Your Word. May all that we do and say bring You the glory.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

May God bless you richly this week!

Carol 

Silent Christians Part 1

In Truth Talk USA's interview podcast with Christian author David Fiorazo, he discusses the current situation going on within the church.  

By keeping silent and not sharing the Truth boldly we are now seeing chaos and lawlessness abound not only out amongst the secular world but even within churches. Church attendance has dropped, division is occurring amongst churches, there is moral decline, and false doctrine abounds within many so called Christian churches. Consequences are now stemming from our silence. We were told many a times throughout scripture what would happen if we turn our backs on God and pursue wicked ways. God’s wrath against sinful humanity is clearly unfolding right before our very eyes as it is revealed in Romans 1:18-32

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,

slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

You can learn more about the consequence of Christians being silent in David Fiorazo's book The Cost of Our Silence: Consequences of Christians Taking the Path of Least Resistance

I will share Part 2 of this video series next week. 

Grace and Blessings to you all!

Carol Moore 

Sharing the Truth

A Christian thought to ponder....

In today's troubling world, fear abounds, and there are many Christians around the world who are afraid to share God's Word for fear of being ostracized, fired from work, blocked from social media sites, imprisoned, or even killed.

You don't hear about this type of news in the media very much because that detracts from Satan's plan and Satan's agenda. This type of news might stir people up to have sympathy or support towards Christians. Satan does not want people to have any sympathy or support towards Christians.  Satan wants hatred to abound. He wants restrictions on freedom of religion and restrictions on freedom of speech. So Satan's big lie spreads like wildfire that all Christians are racist, homophobes, evil, wrong, and oppressive, creating an atmosphere of hatred and division.

Satan's world is full of lies. It is a world where people only want to hear things that will tickle their ears and not convict. It is a world where right is wrong and wrong is right.  In Satan's world, people don't want to hear anybody else's side or ever hear God's Truth. 

Christians must stand strong in their faith and trust in the Lord as we sojourn in Satan's world. When the Truth has fallen upon deaf ears, keep on sharing the Truth and continue to pray. As someone once said, “The greatest way we can show love to another person is by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.” And as it says in Mark 16:15-16, Jesus instructs us to share the Truth, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Only God knows who will be saved or condemned. 

As you share the Truth with others, you will face bad times, but keep on sharing the Truth and continue to pray. For God is with you during the good times and the bad times. He will hold you up when you face trials. He is your anchor amongst the storm. In scripture, God tells us in Isaiah 41:10, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Just as He told Isaiah to fear not, we too have nothing to fear, for God is in control, and He will strengthen us and help us. 

We share God's Word not to gain friends, not to gain rewards, not to gain social status, nor to condemn or crucify others. But we share the Truth to help the lost and misguided, to help others see that Jesus is the way, the Truth and the Life.

Heavenly Father,

You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are trustworthy and the Bringer of Hope. Help others to see how alive Your Word is and how much You love us. Help give us hope and peace when all seems dark and hopeless. Help us to be bold and to forgive those who would persecute us and even kill us. Help refresh our spirits and help our faith to grow and remain firm. 

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Pray you all have a blessed week!

Carol Moore

Struggling to Have a Heart like Jesus

stock photo by Lightstock

Struggling to Have a Heart like Jesus

A Christian thought to ponder ...

Have you ever had God speak to you through certain passages within the Bible, through a study, a devotion, a sermon, or even through a song? Usually, the message is about something you need to correct within yourself. Well, more than anything in this world, I want to have a heart like Jesus. Today, I followed a rabbit trail and discovered something amazing and enlightening. For the first time, the light clicked on, and the Lord revealed an amazing truth to me.

I have always had this emboldened image in my mind as to what a person with a heart like Jesus should be like - a bubbly, outgoing, sociable person who had an angelic glow. A person who was always giving and serving. In my eyes, I have failed in achieving to be like such a person. I thought, I will never have a heart like Jesus, for I am so imperfect. I am at a loss as to what my gifts are, and I am not sure where to serve as I am shy, I lack the gift of speaking, I lack knowledge of the Word, and I have health issues. I am dirt poor which makes it hard for me to give or do anything to help out. How can I do His will and have a heart like His when I failed in all these areas? I thought to myself, Lord God, I am not perfect, and it is way too hard of a struggle for me to become like this person.

However, the Lord uses the struggles we go through in life to shape and mold us into being just like Him. I let the enemy’s tactics that plague this world throw fear, shame, doubt, ignorance, and envy at me to bring me down and interfere with what the number one goal of every Christian should be – to have a heart like Jesus and to be Christlike in all ways. Why? Because I have been so hung up on the struggle to become like this perfect person that I forgot that there is no perfect person. Jesus was the only perfect person that ever walked on this earth. None of us will ever be perfect. If we were perfect, none of us would have to seek God for help, guidance, comfort, and wisdom. It is important for us to remember Philippians 4:13 (KJV), “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The Lord will provide us with the strength to get us through the struggles in our lives. As we depend on Him and seek Him daily through His Word and prayer, the more we will begin to be more like Him and to have a heart like His. If we lack the will and diligence and are bound and determined to have our feet in two worlds (this world and the world in which our Lord resides), we will never discover what it means to have a heart like Jesus and the enemy of this world will hold us back and will delight in seeing us fall and crumble.

The enemy knows I will never measure up. We all fall short of the glory of God. But to strive to be like Jesus and have a heart like Jesus can be shown in many ways daily and throughout our lives; For instance, it can be a smile, a hug, a touch, a prayer, an anonymous donation, providing a meal, or a helping hand. These little acts of kindness can touch someone's heart and show someone that they are thought of and loved. Sometimes we are limited in what we can do or say because of a disability, but that does not matter to Jesus. It does not mean we do not have a heart like Jesus or that it will prevent us from having one. We need only abide his commandment as it states in John 13: 34-35 (KJV), “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.”

It is important to remember that the enemy does not want us to love one another, be like Christ, or do God’s will. The enemy wants us to be torn, confused, and inflict emotional pain upon one another. The enemy’s goal is to keep us from loving like Christ. We need to guard our hearts against the enemy, seek the Lord daily and ask him to put a hedge of protection around all of our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV), “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

We will continue to walk through this world, facing struggles as we strive to be more like Christ, but if we cast our worries upon Him, obey, and do His will, He will take care of our hearts.

Father God,

Please give us a heart that overflows with love for each other. A heart that is like Yours and one that long’s for Your will and not the enemy’s will. Help us to protect our hearts from the enemy’s attacks that would prevent us from having a loving heart like Yours. Enshroud us with Your love; help us to make You the focus of everything in that we do daily. Guide us, direct us and help us in our time of need.

Amen.

Love to you all and God Bless!

Carol

Failing to Reach the Millions

Failing to Reach the Millions

The people that will be left behind during the tribulation will be people we failed to reach out to in brotherly and sisterly love. Throughout our lives, we have condemned, judged, and despised people. I am eternally grateful that my heavenly Father does not hate us, but he loves us ALL unconditionally. Just as he loves us, so should we love others, for we are to live for Christ. For if God did not love us, there would be no hope in this world, but because he loved us so much, he sent his one and only Son, Jesus, to take on the sins of this world. Jesus reached out to the multitudes of sinners, the lost, and the forsaken and gave them hope. Where many of us condemn and judge, Jesus showed mercy and love. Many of us shut the doors on people because of their past sins. We find them disgusting or vile. Yet, we do not know their true hearts nor the circumstances of their past. We see only what the enemy wants us to see. Only the Lord knows our true hearts, and He has changed the hearts of many.

Ezekiel 36:26

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Copyright © PhotoXpress

The Lord knew Paul's heart. On Damascus Road, when Christ spoke to Paul, his heart changed. After that event, Paul began a journey of sharing the Gospel with many. The Lord also knew Peter's heart, and Peter's heart changed when he followed Christ. He knew Matthew's heart, and Matthew's heart changed when he followed Christ. And why did all these men's hearts change? Because Jesus reached out to them, revealed the truth, and showed them love, kindness, and mercy. The enemy takes delight in stripping others from knowing his love and the truth. We are helping the enemy win his battle when we behave just like him instead of Christ-like.

We are ALL children of God. Because of His love, there is hope, and there is still time to reach the millions who do not know Him personally.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for loving us and for sending us your one and only true Son to die on the cross for all of our sins. As we develop a closer relationship with you Lord, I pray that you will open our eyes and hearts and reveal to us how you want us to share that truth with the millions of people who still don’t know you personally. What you sacrificed for us, there is no greater love. Help us to draw close to you and depend on you at all times and to see others through your eyes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Ways to reach out to the millions

http://persecutionproject.org/

https://www.opendoorsusa.org/

https://www.persecution.com/

http://www.bibleleague.org/

http://www.prisonministry.org/index.htm

http://hopeaglow.com/prison_ministry.htm

Pray your week is blessed!

Carol

Please Take Me Home Lord

image by Lightstock

It has been awhile since my last post. I have been working on some writings, but time has not been available to me to post them, due to school and studies. But tonight, I felt compelled to write this poem addressed to my Lord and Savior Jesus. It seems I talk to him more than anyone these days to guide me and to help me through my daily struggles. I would not have made it this far in my life without Him. Thank you Jesus for always being there for me when the fog enshrouded me with doubt, fear, hopelessness and tears.

Please Take Me Home Lord

The enemy despises me.

He hates me.

The enemy does not want me to be even present within Your great halls.

There is little comfort or compassion found within the enemy's halls,

only hateful penetrating eyes hidden behind masks

and ever changing chameleons’ visible only to Your eyes.

I yearn for Your company.

I yearn for Your friendship.

I yearn for Your kindness.

I yearn for Your love.

For there is none other,

none greater,

than You O’LORD.

Please take me home.

The enemy want's us to believe we are a hindrance to the people we love in this world.

The enemy wants our past sins to drag others down to the enemy’s gates.

The enemy wants our sins to keep others from blooming with Your glorious truth.

There are so many who are blind and innocent they do not see the enemy reaping about.

Please take me home.

For there is no other place I rather be than with You oh LORD

This world despairs me

The enemy attacks me silently

All seems hopeless without You LORD.

Please take me home.

For my home is not of this world,

my home is with You.

For you are the light that shines ever so brightly,

that dries my tears away.

You are my rock.

You are my inspiring hope.

You are the radiant truth.

You are my Savior.

Please take me home.