Responding to Thorns

 

Responding to Thorns By Michael Youssef, Ph.D. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." (James 1:2)       Just as the apostle Paul experienced a thorn in his flesh, you may be experiencing a thorn right now.       Thorns aren't easy. As strong as Paul was, he begged God three times to remove his thorn. Yet he was still able to turn his weakness into an opportunity to bring glory to God. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong"(2 Corinthians 12:8-10).       We are always ready to brag about our own strengths and successes. But how often do we talk about our weaknesses and how God helps us overcome them? How often do we share about the strength of God's continuous power in the midst of our suffering?       Do you see your setbacks as a doorway for God's power to work in your life? Be open with God. Are you wrapped up in your problems? Has your thorn caused deep disappointment in your life? If you are still holding on to pain, resentment, or hopelessness, seek God's healing in your spirit. Allow Him to turn your scars into stars so that they may reveal His glory.       Prayer: God, help me to see my trials the way You see them. Show me how You want me to respond to them. God, I pray that You would be glorified through my trials. Amen.

__._,_.___

The Shocking Youth Message by Paul Washer

The JESUS Movie

Samson and Delilah Movie

Abraham Movie

Book of Genesis

Life of Joseph

Life of Moses

Jeremiah - romanian subtitle (Full Movie)

Life of Esther

Solomon - Romanian Subtitle (Full movie)

The Gospel of John - Part 1 and 2

ST.PAUL MOVIE

KING DAVID'S MOVIE

If My Words Abide in you

RENEWING YOUR MIND

RENEWING YOUR MIND                                                                                    

1.      The carnal and the spiritual mind

2.      Perceiving God in the spirit

3.      The Mind that is ‘set’

4.      Ability to discern good and evil

 

Every person in Christianity is in a constant war with the enemy and the battlefield is the mind. Mind is the place of storage for imagery. Whatever we have seen in the world is captured in the mind in the form of images. When a thought begins in the heart, the mind shows all the images related to that particular thought. We get influenced and will decide based on those images. So the mind plays a very important role in our lives and Satan controls it every day. There are two kinds of minds. One is the spiritual mind and the other is the carnal mind. The spiritual mind follows the dictates of the Spirit of God, while the carnal mind follows the dictates of the things of the world (Satan). A carnal mind is filled with all the desires, interests, and memories of every incident that is associated with the people and the things of this world. When any person comes to God and surrenders his life to God, he will be born again into the Kingdom of God.The person is born again in the spirit.The Bible describes 3 kindsof people based on their mindsets: 1. Psukikos  2. Sarkikos 3.Pneumaticos.Psukikos is an unrenewed man: He is not born again. The Bible speaks about Nicodemus (who is Psukikos)in the Book of John who was a preacher in a synagogue. He was religious man and didn’t know God’s things in his spirit. He has a carnal mind that connects him to the things of the world. Sarkikos is a renewed man: He is born again but is not renewed in his mind. He follows his carnal mind of this world. He is led by the flesh. His desires, interests are all connected to the things of this world. He expects God to grant all his desires. Though these people are renewed in the spirit they have a carnal mindset. Pneumaticos is a renewed man with a renewed mindset. He has a spiritual mind that always connects with the things of God and walks according to the direction of the Holy Spirit in His life. He has renewed his mind with the word of God. According to Romans 8, those who set their minds on the things of the Spirit are called spiritually minded and those who set their minds on the things of the flesh are called carnally minded people.

 

God is Spirit and He moves in the spirit zone. He doesn’t move in the carnal zone (not according to what the mind speaks) He communes with the spirit and gives instructions in the spirit. Therefore the person who is not renewed in the spirit (born again) and in the mind doesn’t understand the things of God. This is because he lacks ‘perception’ of what is happening in the spirit zone. Perception is recognizing through the five senses. We can perceive God through the experience He gives in these 5 senses. Since God’s language is spiritual, we are not supposed to follow the language of the mind ( the carnal mind ).The Spirit language begins by the obedience to the Word of God that is brought by the Holy Spirit into our hearing ( John 6:63). The Word that the Spirit of God gives has life because the word is Jesus(John 1). When we hold on to that word, our thinking is surrounded and is sealed: Our mind becomes inactive to the things of this world.. When the mind is inactive the heart also becomes inactive to the things of this world. The mind can be made inactive when we prepare not to connect to our self (honor, pride, interesting things, habits, desires etc...) Romans 8:5 says “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Our mindset defines whether we are carnal or spiritual. Most of the time (99.99%), we are carnal. Very seldom we act spiritual. But when we do the word, and have a definite accountability to it, we will begin to recognize the areas of flesh. When we change them, we will begin to grow spiritually. The word of God produces faith. The measure of faith in us decides the things that we are going to get in this world from God. As we do the word, we grow in faith. For Eg: David was 12 years old when he killed a lion and a bear. At that time he neither had the training nor the faith to rule a kingdom. David became the King of Israel only at the age 30. So, he was trained for a period of 18 years to sit on the throne and connect to God spiritually to rule Israel. But if our faith is not a product of the word, it doesn’t produce anything in our lives. We get things in our ability and spiritualize it that God has blessed us.

 

In any particular instance, what comes out of us is the self. Every reaction in us, is a result of the programmed self. This is called the mindset. Our mindset exposes our lifestyle. It is set according to what we have accumulated from the things of this world. This programmed mind     (mindset) forces us to act to any situation rather than finding solutions. This mindset has to be changed else we live life of confusion and defeat. If we have to find solutions we have to change our mind. David had to make war with millions of people ( a war where one man has to fight with 10000 men ) The situation is practically impossible, and is of sure death. But David won all his battles. He didn’t connect to the mind. He sensed the move of God in his spirit. The spiritual strength inside him made him to move ahead. The Battle was won spiritually where God fought on behalf of David. The first area of victory was his mind. David got himself trained how to stop his mind and listen to the spirit because God instructs in the spirit. He has a new mind that is formed with the world and its influence is more powerful on him rather than his old mindset. The spiritual mind has overpowered the carnal mind.When we walk with this new mindset, we walk in the light. As the Bible says in I John 1 : 7 says “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Therefore we have to change our mind to experience God.

 

When we stay in the renewed area we have a treasure of experiences that God gives. So the people who are not renewed either in the mind or in the spirit don’t understand the things of God. The Bible calls him as ‘natural’ man. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. “ Discernment is to perceive things in depth.  Discernment helps us to recognize depth of the good and bad inside and around us: the good that remains forever, the good that changes to deception, the good that stays for a few years and becomes demonic, the depth of the evil etc.. Once we reach the level of discernment we can easily recognize how God moves. Proverbs 15:21 “Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly.” The meaning of destitute is lacking or having nothing. People who fall short of discernment make foolishness (following the carnal mind) as their joy. Hebrews 5: 14 says “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” The food is the Word of God. When we obey the word of God, the word sharpens our senses to discern good and evil. The blessing that comes on a spiritual man is “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” And they are all revealed to man through the Holy Spirit.

 

God’s things are always spiritual and things of the world are carnal. Therefore do not conclude according to the things of this world, but renew your mind with the word and develop a spiritually mind so that you will be led by the Holy Spirit, will begin to discern the things of God, will be victorious spiritually in this world and will experience life, and peace in every situation in your life.

Waiting on God

 

Waiting on God By Pastor Charles F. Stanley Waiting on God is an important spiritual discipline in our walk of faith. King David's life teaches us about the value of following the Lord's plan and the danger in moving ahead of Him. When David was a young shepherd boy, the prophet Samuel anointed him as Israel's next king. Yet he did not become the ruler for many years. Waiting for the Lord to place him on the throne was made more difficult because the current king, Saul, turned against David and repeatedly tried to take his life. Despite the opportunity to take matters into his own hands and kill his enemy, David held back. He wouldn't allow anyone else to attack Saul either (1 Sam. 24:1-7). He waited on God and was greatly blessed for his obedience. King David also knew what it was like to move ahead without the Lord. One year he chose not to join his troops in battle, even though that was one of his duties (2 Sam. 11:1). During the time he stayed home, he noticed Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and he coveted her. Acting upon his desires, he conceived a child with her and then tried to cover up his sin. What a mess he made of his life. Instead of following the Lord's plan and being blessed, he experienced divine chastisement and much heartache. As believers, we want to obey the Lord, but there may be situations when intense desire propels us forward without waiting for His direction. Like David, we will experience the blessing of obedience or the heartache of disobedience. Be sure to seek out God's plan before you act.

__._,_.___

THIS IS ONLY A TEST

:

"Faith that cannot stand the trial cannot be trusted with the prize!" THIS IS ONLY A TEST By Pastor Dorsey E. Marshall Jr. "Every detail works to your advantage and to God's Glory." 2 Corinthians 4:15 MSG       Do you remember how irritated you got, when your favorite television show was interrupted for thirty seconds by a test of the Emergency Broadcast System? Those interruptions remind me now of the trials and "tests" that come in our lives today. They are unexpected, unscheduled, and usually unwelcomed, because they always come at the worst possible time. However, life's trials don't just last for thirty seconds and disappear. No, they can last for days, weeks, or even years. They, often, leave us clueless as to why they actually come. Trials can make us feel helpless, but the good news is there is something we can do when these trials come. We may not have control over the trials that come, but we certainly have control over our response to them. The trials that we face are critical to our spiritual growth. As the natural body develops and grows because of negative things it goes through, the spiritual body also develops and grows by our response to those trials. When a child is learning to walk, that child is hit with some unexpected falls. This is something he has never done before, and is quite clumsy in the learning process. Typically, that child refuses to quit his attempts at this new, untested, venture. He will get up again and again, until he masters this part of his life. Nothing can or will stop a child from moving forward. As much as we would love to avoid these trials, we are stretched, developed, and proven through these painful falls we make. Tests lead to testimonies. It takes a lot more heat to produce gold than it does tin. So, which do we want to be? Pressure or tests are part of life, and how we handle our tests determine whether we are promoted to the next level or not. The overcoming triumphant Christian life is not in problem-free living, but in promised-filled living. One of the greatest evidences that you are near your promised land ... is giants. The greater the test, the greater the testimony, the deeper the grief, the fuller and more complete is the comfort. The more serious the sickness, the greater is the healing. The higher the walls of adversity, and opposition, the greater are the supply of strength to overcome them. When the devil sends something big your way, just say, "God must be up to something big!" LET US PRAY: "Father, I know this is only a test; help me to stay strong, In Jesus' Name, Amen!"

__._,_.___