Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil

Luke 11:4 says: “”And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”  When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil”, we know that prayer invites God into our battles. Prayer also invites us into the place where God can deliver us. It brings us to the place where God’s hand is waiting to be extended. His hand is strong with deliverance and healing, and in the place of prayer it can be released. Many times when we don’t pray, God is bound and separated from our problems. It’s not that He wants to be separated, but when He is without our prayer to invite Him in, He is automatically separated. The phrase, “lead us not”, does not…

Know therefore that the Lord Your God, He is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations

Deuteronomy 7:9 says: “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” This verse talks about “thy God”, not just the God of Abraham, not just the God of Isaac, not just the God of David, but your God. He is your personal God. He is the God that has delivered you. He is the God that loves you. He is faithful. Please understand that God is faithful. This means that whatever He has declared, He will bring to pass. He will never, ever turn His back on you when you…

Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.

—Psalm 119:97

READ:Psalm 119:97-104

BibleGateway, an online Bible resource, looked at the viewing habits of some of their 8 million monthly visitors. They found that John 3:16 was the most-searched-for verse in 2010.

I don’t think it’s surprising that it would be number one on the list. It tells us that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to rescue us from our sin and give us everlasting life. Number 10 on the list is Jesus’ commission to His followers to spread that good news: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:19). Also in the top 10 are Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28 about God’s good plans and purposes for His people.

The Scriptures are filled with truths to search out and share. In Psalm 119…

Healing Is God’s Will

Matthew 8:2, “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”

MATTHEW 8:1-4

Leprosy was a hated disease and its symptoms are described in detail in Leviticus 13:1-46. This leper believed Jesus could heal him, but doubted His willingness to heal him. Jesus showed him His willingness to heal, and since He is no respecter of persons, He established a precedent for us (Rom. 2:11). This leper did not know God’s will concerning healing, but this is not the case with us. The Word of God is the will of God, and it reveals that it is always God’s will to heal.

Isaiah 53:5, makes it clear that when Isaiah said “with his stripes we are healed”, he was speaking of the physical healing of our bodies. Jesus provided for…

Don’t Tolerate Temptation! Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:7, NKJV

Temptation, whether in the form of a serving of birthday cake when you’re fasting or the bed of your neighbor’s spouse, intensifies through toleration. The toleration leads to a preoccupation of thoughts, and it’s not long before we reach out to touch it. At that point, there is almost no turning back.

What temptation have you tolerated, thought about, touched, and toyed with? “It’s just one more glass of wine.” “It’s just a little harmless flirtation.” “It’s just a magazine at the checkout counter.” “It’s just one date.” Watch out! If you tolerate it, think about it, and toy with it, you are just a step away from actually doing it. So . . . instead of tolerating sin, turn from it NOW!

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In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
Ephesians 1:7

Imagine crowding into a small house to hear Jesus speak and standing on your tiptoes to see over the heads of the people in front of you.

All of a sudden a hole opens in the roof above your head and a man on a cot is lowered down. Jesus forgives the man’s sins and heals him miraculously (Luke 5:17-26).

The friends of the crippled man in this passage do a lot to get Jesus’ attention. They carry him to the house where Jesus is teaching.

Since they can’t get close enough to Jesus, they climb onto the roof and lower the man down so that he can be healed. If you read the passage carefully, you see that it wasn’t all the work they did to get…

Believe in The Name of Jesus Christ

There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12, NKJV

Although God is the Creator of us all, there are two conditions you and I must meet before we can be called God’s children. One is that we must receive Jesus, or open the door of our hearts and invite Him to come in. The other is that we must believe in His Name.

Believing in His Name means we must be willing to commit our lives to all that He is as represented by His Name. And His Name is Lord Jesus Christ.

The qualification for being a child of God by believing on His Name means much more than just head knowledge. It is not just giving intellectual assent to the fact that the Name Lord Jesus Christ is the label…

SPIRITUAL FITNESS

Matthew 5:29, “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

MATTHEW 5:23-30

Is Jesus advocating dismembering of our bodies? Quite the contrary. He is drawing on the universal drive within every person of self preservation to make a point. If you value your body highly enough that you would never sacrifice one of its parts, then you should esteem your spiritual well being much higher.

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, man’s priorities have been misplaced. Great effort is put into preserving our physical life while our spiritual condition is often overlooked. It constantly gets put on the “back burner” while we tend to more urgent matters of this life.

Yet our physical…

Sin Against Brothers

… there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
1 Corinthians 12:25

Being a Christian doesn’t prevent you from sinning-it just gives you the power to resist and overcome it through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 3:23 tells us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It doesn’t matter if you attend church faithfully, if you’re a pastor or if you’re the pope-everyone sins and everyone needs the forgiveness of God.

Christians in the church at Corinth were cheating and sinning against their brothers and sisters. Church members were taking advantage of other members, even though they were supposed to be demonstrating God’s love to a lost world.

Paul rebukes them for these things in 1 Corinthians 6:7-8. There can’t be true fellowship when there is church division.

You’ve been blessed to be a blessing

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed (Galatians 3:8).

One of the everyday conveniences that has a great impact on our lives was invented in 1879 by Thomas Alva Edison. Many other who previously tried gave up because of the seeming difficulty involved. However, Edison persisted. He had a strong resolve to be a blessing to the world. Today, after he is long gone, not only is he remembered as an astute scientist whose immense contributions have ushered in many more inventions, he is also renowned for giving the world one of its finest and most important inventions – the incandescent light bulb!

Imagine what the world would have been like without lights. This is what the Bible refers to as…

Follow God‘s Lead
by Bishop Keith A. Butler

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:6

You may say, “What’s the problem with making a few decisions on my own
here and there?” The problem is that God’s Word says, “There is a way
which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death” (Proverbs 14:12). The big difference between directing things
yourself and allowing God to direct you really shows up when things go
wrong.

If you are on God’s path and trouble comes your way, you can go to
God’s Word and declare, “I am standing on Your Word and obeying Your
will, Lord. I am doing what You said, and I am expecting by faith that You will do what Your Word says.” You can stand on the Word, and having
done all, keep standing…

Holy fraud

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel (Proverbs 20:17)

Any gain made from deceit, fraud and lies will be short lived. Initially, it will appear as an increase but later it will leave you plundered. Some believers exploit fellow believers. This is a great evil because any wrong you do to your brother or sister in Christ is done to The LORD! Today, many people find it difficult to tell the truth. For, instance, when asked to go and buy something for the church, they will not rest until they make profit for themselves. Some of those who maintain church equipments will present certain equipment as write off, receive money for another one only to refurbish that which was condemned. They then go on to use it either for themselves or put it out for sale. Who…

SALVATION BEGINS NOW

MATTHEW 6:10, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

MATTHEW 6:9-13

We do not have to live a beggarly existence here on this earth and just wait till we all get to heaven to begin to experience the benefits of our salvation. Jesus told us to pray “thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” In heaven, He will “wipe away all tears from our eyes” (Rev. 21:4), so here on earth we can pray and believe to receive “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1:8). Healing, prosperity, and all the other benefits of heaven are ours here on earth to the degree that we can believe and receive them.

It is God‘s will to deliver us from this present evil world. The Lord didn’t save us from our sins…

Divorce

Leave and Cleave

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall
cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2:24

Divorce is one of the greatest indictments against the Church of Jesus
Christ in our generation. You would think that with all of God‘s
promises and heaven’s resources at our disposal, the Church would
manage to do better than “match” the world’s divorce rate.

The problem is all too familiar: We failed to follow God’s plan for
marriage. It is clearly spelled out in the Bible, and those who
following his plan to “leave and cleave” will tend to succeed, while
those who don’t follow won’t succeed.

The Bible says a man is supposed to leave his father and mother. If
Mama is still trying to hold onto a man with her apron strings, he has
to cut them…

If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)

God’s call is unto rest and peace! When He called on erstwhile blind Bartimaeus, it was obvious that certain good things were about to follow. First, after tat call, Bartimaeus threw away his garment of sorrow. Then, He asked him what he wanted. As soon as he mentioned his need for healing, h got it instantly. He said he was tired of darkness and light suddenly came. The same fellow who had been dependent on people, begging daily suddenly became financially empowered and was able to cater for his needs. Lastly, the same people who hated him for nothing, and had asked him to keep quiet, were the same…

For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17)

Is it possible to be full of joy when faced with temptations or hard times? Emphatically yes! As a matter of fact, there’s no better time to express the joy of the Spirit that’s in your heart than in the face of adversity. You were created by God to be joyful at all times. Therefore no matter the challenges or trials that you face, express joy in the Holy Ghost; it’s a demonstration of your faith in the Lord.

James 1:2-3 says “……count it all joy, when ye fall into diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” This means that you must be exuberant with praise to the Lord in spite of them. This kind of attitude sets the forces of heaven…

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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness

Naming Your Sin

That you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.

Matthew 9:6, NKJV

Only God in Christ has the power to forgive sin. But you and I must confess it to Him personally, specifically, and honestly if we want to receive forgiveness. God promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NIV). That word confess means to call sin by the same names that God does, to agree with God about your sin.

You and I often play games with the names we call sin to make it seem less like sin. For example, we…

You Are A Victor

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:26
Too many people want to blame God for the bad things that happen in this life. You hear a lot of people say, “If God is in control, He’s
not doing a great job. If He is in control, then why is He allowing
earthquakes to shake our cities and kill thousands? Why does God allow
floods and hurricanes? Why does God allow war, poverty, child abuse,
and murder?”
But God gave the authority of this planet to man. He made man the “god”
of this world because every created thing on earth was subservient to
him. He also gave mankind the power of choice with the opportunity…

Self Righteousness

The Best Sinner

Matthew 5:20, “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

MATTHEW 5:17-22

What did Jesus mean? Since the Pharisees fasted twice each week, does this mean we have to fast three times each week? Since they paid tithes on everything including spices, does this mean that anyone who fails to tithe is doomed to hell?

No! Definitely not. The Pharisees’ righteousness was based on their actions. Jesus is advocating a righteousness that is based on faith in what He did for us.

Trusting in our own actions will never grant us access to God. We may be better than others, but who wants to be the best sinner that ever went to hell? We have all sinned and come short…