Monthly Archives: February 2012

Sin comes like a thief

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Sin comes like a thief

A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.

Galatians 5:9

Sin works just like yeast-a little of it will spread through your whole life. A little false doctrine can compromise a whole church, just like a little bit of alcohol can compromise your ability to think and function.

The truth is that sin doesn’t announce its plan to destroy you or your life. It comes in like a thief…subtly waiting for the perfect opportunity to cause the most damage-like during times of stress and strain.

If you get the leaven out beforehand, sin cannot cause harm-it cannot destroy. How can you get the leaven out?

By making a diligent search for it! Where should we search? In the pews…the pulpit…and in our homes. Who should make the search? The deacons…the elders…the preachers…and you!

As you turn over every item, as you look in every crack and crevice, whatever is not of God or in alignment with His Word should be thrown out.

It is time to get the leaven out. Sin is not a pet…it is not cute…it cannot be managed…it cannot be counseled…it cannot be reasoned with. The only solution is to eliminate it through faith in Jesus.

Further Reading

•1 Corinthians 5:6

•2 Corinthians 6:14

•1 Corinthians 5:9

God Bless

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled

Matthew 5:6, “Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

MATTHEW 5:1-9

In the natural world, people eat even when they aren’t hungry. Many of us can prove that by turning sideways and looking at ourselves in the mirror. But in the spiritual realm, only those who are hungry can get fed. One of the worst things that can happen to us is spiritual complacency.

Being hungry for the things of God is one of the best things that can happen to us. Most people don’t feel that way. They would rather have the feeling of being full. But Jesus promised us that fullness would follow hunger. No hunger, no fullness.

Therefore, what many people hate is actually a sign of spiritual health. Longing for more of God is a healthy sign. No one hungers for God on their own. That is not the nature of man. No man hungers for God unless the Spirit of God is drawing him (Jn. 6:44).

Hungering for God doesn’t cause God to move in our lives, but it is a sign that God is already at work in us. We should praise God for spiritual hunger and be encouraged. He doesn’t make us hungry and then let us starve. He does so in order to fill us with His blessings and love. We need a hunger that will never be satisfied until the marriage supper of the Lamb.

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They’re ordinary people Who love God from the heart

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They’re ordinary people Who love God from the heart

Steve was just an ordinary guy. He quietly served in a church I attended years ago. He helped prepare communion, shoveled the church sidewalks in the winter, and mowed the lawn in the summer. He spent time with teenage boys who had no fathers in the home. I often heard him telling people at church in his quiet way how good the Lord was to him. During prayer meeting he didn’t talk much about himself but would ask us to pray for those he was telling about Jesus’ forgiveness and love.

A verse in John 10 about John the Baptist makes me think of Steve. People said of him: “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man [Jesus] were true” (v.41). John didn’t perform miracles as Jesus did. He didn’t talk about himself but came to “bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe” (1:7). He said of Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). My friend Steve bore witness of that Light as well.

Our aim, as followers of Jesus, is to do the same—to “bear witness of the Light.” We’re just ordinary people, serving God in our little corner of the world. With our quiet deeds and words, let’s point others to the Light! —Anne Cetas

Just what do Christians look like?

What sets their lives apart?

They’re ordinary people

Who love God from the heart. —D. De Haan

Christians are ordinary people who are committed to the extraordinary person of Christ.

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Jesus saves

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Jesus H. ChristJesus saves!

John 3:17 says: “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Here we see the entirety of the purpose of everything that Jesus did. What did He do? He came to save. He did not come to condemn, and He did not come to sentence anyone. Not then, and not now. He does not come to enforce a sentence upon us or to heap upon us the reward of a wrong that has been done away with. Jesus comes for our greater purpose, the purpose of God. He comes to save. Everything Jesus does has to do with salvation – even a rebuke, even an instruction, even the cleansing of the temple. All of these things have to do with salvation. We will look in the coming days at what Jesus did, and all of the things that are related to the salvation He gave to the world and to us.

Jesus saves!

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Empowered by the Holy Spirit

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Empowered by the Holy Spirit

“Do not be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

(Ephesians 5:18)

Do you ever feel like the Christian life doesn’t work for you? Do you feel it’s just too hard? If you answered “Yes,” read on.

D. L. Moody was talking with a friend one day about this very problem. Placing an empty drinking glass on the table before his friend, he said, “Tell me, how can we get the air out of this glass?”

His friend immediately replied, “You could remove it with a pump.” Moody reminded him that the resulting vacuum would shatter the glass. The friend thought hard before admitting he was stumped. Moody then brought a pitcher and filled the glass with water.

“The air is now removed,” he said. “In the same way, it doesn’t work to try forcing the sin out of our lives; more sin just rushes in to replace it. But being filled with the Holy Spirit does the trick.”

The key to living the Christian life is not the result of trying to act like a Christian. That only leads to frustration. The secret is developing your relationship with God empowered by the Holy Spirit. As God’s Spirit fills us, and as we come to better understand who God really is, our lives are changed—from the inside out. Right behavior is merely the end product.

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I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth

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“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?  My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2”

The Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you.  Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day.  On the sixth day they’ll gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

God meets daily needs daily!

You look at tomorrow’s demands, next week’s bills, next month’s calendar.  Your future looks as barren as the Sinai Desert.  “How can I face my future?” you ask.

God tells you to look up!

Trust Him.  Make it your day changer.  Give your attention to what God is doing right now.  Don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  Mark 7:37 says, “God has done it all and done it well.”

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Don’t be drawn away by the lust of the flesh.

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Lust

Lust (Photo credit: Leonard John Matthews)

Don’t be drawn away by the lust of the flesh.

Proverbs 6:24-29 “To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress.

25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.

26 For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

27 Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned?

28 Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared?

29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;”

It has become the plague of the 21st century and the strategy by the devil to destroy the family. Marriage and the family is ridiculed and scorned on by the world and Children of God need to make a stand against the wave of sexual perversion that has us sweeping the world. The kingdom of God needs men with backbone and moral integrity that will take their place as priests in the home and not be drawn away by the lust of the flesh.

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God is more than able to give you what you need and more. He is able to make you rich!

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God is more than able to give you what you need and more. He is able to make you rich!

Follow the Directions

by Pastor Andre Butler

Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and

cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when

thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that

take, and give unto them for me and thee

Mathew 17:27

Look at this example of how God is able to provide with abundance, even

for paying tax. Jesus told Peter to take a hook, throw it in the

water, take the first fish that took the hook, open his mouth, and find

four days wages.

Notice two things. First, God gave this fish specific directions. The

fish had to go down to the bottom of the sea, eat the gold coin, swim

over to the shore, and wait. When the hook came, he had to jump on it.

Secondly, Peter had to be obedient to God’s specific instructions.

When you start worrying about how and what’s going to happen, you take

your focus off God and start looking for the person you think God’s

going to use. Forget the how—just know Who! God is more than able to

give you what you need and more. He is able to make you rich!

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Sons of God

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Sons of God

You received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,” Father.

Romans 8:15, NIV

What makes you and I  think we can do without a personal prayer life? It’s through prayer that we come into a personal, intimate relationship with our heavenly Father.

Do you long to have a closer relationship with God, but you don’t feel worthy? Are you convinced you are a nobody and therefore would never be accepted, much less welcomed, into His presence?

Praise God! Our entrance into His presence is not based on our own worthiness but on the worthiness of Jesus Christ! When we enter God’s presence in Jesus’ name, we are as accepted by God as Jesus is, because God counts us as His own dear children!

Jesus invites you and I, in His name, to come into His Father’s presence through prayer, crawl up into His lap by faith, put our head on His shoulder of strength, feel His loving arms of protection around us, call Him “Abba” Daddy, and pour out our hearts to Him.

Blessings

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The Wages of Sin. Death!

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1980s (mid) - Eve - tree - pigtails - 0033 (Photo credit: Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos (ClintJCL))

The Wages of Sin

by Bishop Keith A. Butler

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto

the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and

unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3:19

This verse records the actual death sentence that doomed Adam and

Eve-and you and me-to physical death one day. Death, sickness, disease

and lack were never included as parts of God‘s perfect plan for man.

These are the sad by-products of sin, of Adam’s fatal choice to seek

knowledge and identity outside of and separate from God’s plan.

God never intended for a single human being’s body to be put into the

ground. He created us to live eternally-every our physical bodies. As I

understand it, the cells of the human body appear to be designed to

live forever. Scientists have long been puzzled as to why they

gradually run out of energy and die. The answer is in God’s Word in the

Book of Genesis.

It even appears that the animals in Eden never died-or they didn’t

until God had to kill two animals and use their skins to cover the

nakedness of Adam and Eve after they sinned. Those innocent animals

died to provide a covering for Adam and Eve’s shame and nakedness. This

incident marks the first appearance of the blood sacrifice of innocents

as atonement for the guilty, and it drives home the horror of the wages

of sin.

Prayer for Today

Father,

You are the all-powerful, all-wonderful, almighty Savior of the world.

Thank you for redeeming me from the power of sin and death and for

giving me life eternal through your Son. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Think on These Things

* Daniel 12:2

* Ecclesiastes 3:20

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Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit

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Immature Elm seeds.

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Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream…. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-9

We cannot separate actions from consequences. Why, then, do we allow our culture to tell us that we can plant seeds of one kind and bear fruits of another? The world tells us that we can plant seeds of promiscuity and carelessness and bear fruits of beauty, happiness and even love. But the results are disease, unwanted pregnancy and unhappiness.

Root and fruit are inevitably intertwined.

Isaiah 32:17 says, “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.”

One of the surest ways to change your life for the better is to stop sowing seeds that bear bad fruit! Plant seeds of righteousness and put those roots in your life. Unlike the culture around us, the Bible takes a very clear position on right and wrong.

Ask Him to guide your actions so you will produce good fruit that is pleasing to God.

Further Reading

•Jeremiah 6:19

•John 15:4

•Galatians 5:22-23

God Bless

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The key to success or failure lies in doing things at the word of Jesus

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The key to success or failure lies in doing things at the word of Jesus

AT THY WORD

Luke 5:5, “And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”

LUKE 5:1-11

Peter and his companions had been working hard all night. Their efforts had not produced even one fish. They had given up and were headed home. But Jesus told them to try it just one more time.

It would have been easy for Peter to reject Jesus’ command. After all, Peter had been a fisherman all his life. Jesus was just a preacher. What did He know about fishing? Yet something, or rather someone, caused Peter to try just once more.

Many people are like Simon Peter and his partners. They have done all that they know to do and yet they’ve come up empty-handed. This breeds a despair and hopelessness that causes many people to quit trying. Yet, just one word from Jesus could make the same tasks that have been unproductive on our own bear great fruit.

The key to success or failure lies in doing things at the word of Jesus. Peter said, “at thy word I will let down the net.” God‘s words always get results.

Today, make sure your efforts are directed by God and you will experience the results that have eluded you in the past.

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How long will you slumber, O sluggard? It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it

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How long will you slumber, O sluggard? It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it

READ: Proverbs 6:6-11

How long will you slumber, O sluggard? —Proverbs 6:9

While studying the book of Proverbs in my small-group Bible study, our leader suggested that we change the description of a lazy person from a sluggard to a slacker (6:6,9). Ah, now he was speaking my lingo. I immediately started thinking of all the people I consider to be slackers.

Like the men and women who fail to teach and discipline their children. Or that guy who refuses to help around the house. Or those teenagers who neglect their studies and play Internet games day and night.

If we’re honest, we’re all susceptible to this. What about being a “prayer slacker” (1 Thess. 5:17-18), or a “Bible-reading slacker” (Ps. 119:103; 2 Tim. 3:16-17), or a “non-exercising-of-our-spiritual-gift slacker” (Rom. 12:4-8), or a “non-witnessing slacker”? (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).

If we are not doing what we know God wants us to do, we are certainly spiritual slackers. In fact, when we refuse to obey God, we are sinning.

Listen to these challenging and convicting words from the book of James: “It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (4:17 NLT). Let’s not be spiritual slackers. —Cindy Hess Kasper

When we know what God wants us to do,

But then we refuse to obey,

We’re ignoring the voice of the Lord,

And sinfully choosing our way. —Sper

We may make excuses for not obeying God, but He still calls it disobedience

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Ask And Watch God Arise

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Jesus H. ChristAsk and Watch God Arise

Matthew 8:6-7 says: “And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.” Here was a centurion, not even saved, not born again. It doesn’t even say he was a Jew, and yet he asked Jesus for help. He told Him he had someone dear to him who was not whole, someone who was not well. The servant was vexed, tormented, taken captive, and broken. Jesus immediately, without any questions or reservations said, “I will come and heal him.” Jesus wants to make people whole. He wants to come to your home and make you whole. I don’t know if you are broken financially, emotionally, relationally, in marriage, or in body, but Jesus is saying to you right now, “I will come and make you whole.” All you need to do today is just think how simple it was for the centurion. Make it as simple for you today. Say to Him, “Jesus, come and heal. Come and bless. Come and repair. Come and deliver.” Whatever you need, fill in the blank for yourself. Ask, and watch God arise.

He will come!

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At the end of every trial – lies the blessing of God

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The Lord Wept

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At the end of every trial – lies the blessing of God.

James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

When temptations, trials and tribulations come into your life you need to be resolute, standing firm, knowing that at the end of every trial lies the blessing of God and the manifestation of His promises over your life.

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Worry Changes nothing

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Worry Changes nothing

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  Matthew 6:26-27

Let’s make a list—“The Advantages of Anxiety”

Let’s start our list with worry helps our health.  Lose sleep and live longer.  A nervous stomach is a happy stomach, isn’t it?

We can even plan days of worry.

Monday—stress over the economy

Tuesday—list the reasons we could be unemployed by year end.

Let’s face it!  Worry has no advantages.  It ruins health, robs joy, and changes nothing!  Our days stand no chance against the terrorists of the “Land of Anxiety.”  But Christ offers a worry-bazooka.

Remember how he taught us to pray?  “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength.  Live one day at a time.  Make it a day changer!  God’s Word says: “He will take care of everything you need!”

Choose to make every day a great day!

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Obeying God’s Instructions

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Obeying God‘s Instructions

by Pastor Andre Butler

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said

unto Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand,

there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my

word.” And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, “Get thee

hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith,

that is before Jordan.” And it shall be [when you’ve done what I’ve

told you to do], that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have

commanded the ravens to feed thee there-

1 Kings 17:1-4

God’s ability to get wealth to you is dependent upon your obedience to

Him, even on the receiving end. God prepared a miracle for Elijah, but

God gave him very specific instructions: get out of here, go east, and

hide by the brook Cherith. Only God could have gotten provisions to

Elijah in the middle of a famine. Cherith may have been the only brook

with water left. Only God could have known that.

Sometimes people think that wealth and blessings will only get to them

when God uses other people to put money in their hands. No, God may put

an idea, concept, or insight in your heart as a vehicle to get the

money to you. If you know the idea is from Him, ask him what the next

step is, and take that step. Obedience is the master key to receiving

God’s will.

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Walking with God

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King James Version of the Bible

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Walking with God

Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You.

Psalm 143:8, NKJV

Every morning that I’m home, weather permitting, I walk with two friends for two and a half miles. We have to abide by two basic rules when we walk, or we can’t walk together. The first rule is that we must walk at the same pace. The second rule is that we must walk in the same direction. The same two rules apply when walking with God.

To walk at this pace means that we are living our lives in step-by-step obedience to His Word. To walk in the same direction means that we surrender the direction of our lives to Him. The only way we can know His pace and direction is to prayerfully read His Word.

What adjustments do you need to make so you can walk with God? Adjustments in your daily and weekly schedule? Adjustments in your attitude and ambition? Adjustments in your personal habits of prayer and Bible reading? Make sure you are not too busy for daily prayer and Bible reading or you will get out of step and lose your sense of direction.

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The power of choice has a good side and a bad side to it

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The power of choice has a good side and a bad side to it

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it

was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,

she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her

husband with her; and he did eat.

Genesis 3:6

The power of choice has a good side and a bad side to it. It is simple:

You enjoy the good benefits every time you make a good choice and you

suffer the negative consequences every time you make a bad choice.

Adam knew better than to violate the one limitation God gave him, yet

he did it anyway. In that moment, another principle was revealed as

well: The higher you rise in any organization, family or society, the

more people will be affected by your choices-for better or for worse.

No matter how much we demand it, dream about it or wish it wasn’t so,

God’s plan for man does not allow us to live in a vacuum. He created us

to weep together, rejoice together and experience birth and death

together. This is what it means to be a human being created in the

image of the triune God who is One.

Prayer for Today

Father,

Thank you for your forgiveness and for your grace which redeems the

years the locusts have eaten and gives me hope and a future. Thank you

for placing me in a family and in the body of Christ. In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

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God Is The Only One That Can Promote You

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God Is The Only One That Can Promote You

DRAWN BY God’s POWER

Mark 1:37, “And when they had found him, they said unto him, All [men] seek for thee.”

MK. 1:35-39; LK. 4:42-44

This is an amazing statement. Jesus‘ ministry was only a few months old and the masses of people were already seeking him out.

This is even more astonishing when you realize that Jesus had not used any of the conventional methods of publicity. In fact, Jesus had already rejected publicity during His first ministry in Jerusalem (Jn. 2:24-25). There was no natural explanation for Jesus’ success.

God is the one who promoted Jesus. And He used supernatural means to do it. It was not the slick techniques of Madison Avenue that brought the crowds–it was the awesome manifestation of God’s power.

Just the day before, Jesus had cast the demon out of a man at the synagogue in Capernaum (Mk. 1:21-28). This caused the whole city to gather at Peter‘s house and Jesus healed every one of them (Lk. 4:40).

Jesus’ display of the miraculous power of God was the spark that the Holy Spirit used to light a fire in the hearts of these people. Jesus had this power because of His intimate relationship with His father. It is no accident that He was praying while all men were seeking Him.

As you seek to touch others with the new life that you’ve found in Christ, let God confirm His Word with the miraculous manifestations of His power through you

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