justification

A POWERFUL PRAYER! YET ONLY A FEW WORDS

(March 17, 2024) Brian Bell encourages…

This article is a little different from those I usually write, but it is still my aim that it will be an encouragement to us as we are getting close to Easter.

In the last week, I have been drawn to the scene recorded in Luke 18:9-14, and in particular those words in verse 13(NKJV): ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’ or as rendered in the slightly longer NLT version ‘O God be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’

If you are not familiar with this incident, the Lord Jesus tells the story of a proud Pharisee and a dishonest tax collector who go to the temple to pray.

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EVERY CHRISTAIN A MINISTER

(April 01, 2022) Charles Schwab shares that every Christian is a minister so let’s cut to the chase…

I feel led by the Holy Spirit to share here my long-term convictions about Christians taking up their God-given capacities to be vessels of God towards a whole range of needs in the lives of others.

Yes there can be challenges to Christians – ordinary Christians – when it comes to being mobilised in ministry. We will come to these in a moment.

Biblical truth
Since the Protestant Reformation (1517 AD – 505 years ago) which highlighted the biblical truth that justification – being made right with God – is a consequence of faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord (Romans 5:1), various other biblical truths have been resurrected from relative obscurity.

One such truth is that every believer has one or more areas of ‘ministry’ or service to which the Lord has called and is equipping them. We don’t get to ‘call the shots’; God determines and in such a way that we are not consulted!

The notion that ‘the priest is the minister and does everything that is central in the life of the church’ had its ‘back broken’ in the Reformation.

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DARE TO BELIEVE!

(April 23, 2019) Mike Shreve encourages us believe we are more than conquerors because of Jesus’ resurrection.

It matters little if you have had great failures or problems in your life! You are an heir of resurrection life – and that means coming back from the dead.

You may have gone through tough times spiritually, to the point where you almost felt dead mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually. But remember the bold statement Jesus made at the gravesite of Lazarus: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live’ (John 11:25). 

So, dare to believe! No matter what you have been through, reflect on what we’ve just celebrated over Easter and dare to say, ‘I believe…

  • In the cross;
  • In the blood;
  • The price that was paid;
  • That the stone rolled away by the power of God;
  • That Jesus arose victorious;
  • That he conquered death – and because he did…
  • I can be “more than a conqueror” by claiming the present-tense benefits of the One who arose victoriously for me.’

Grasp these present-day benefits of Jesus’ resurrection
Most believers view the resurrection of the Lord Jesus either through a historical or a prophetical lens!

They tend to look backward to Jesus’ victory over the grave or look forward to the resurrection of believers at the conclusion of this age.

But seldom do believers grasp present tense benefits that have come to us as a result of this spiritual conquest… here are some powerful ones: (more…)