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Showing posts from January, 2020

A Perfect Heart

What is the characteristic of a "Perfect Heart"? Someone has a "Perfect Heart" when they love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and fully committed to Him. In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “If you really love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments." [John 14:15 AMP] This sounds more like a promise, If you really love Jesus, obedience will be the fruit of that love. Once you love Jesus with all your heart, it will no longer be a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. The love of Jesus will keep you away from the sinful nature of the flesh. As long as we are alive in this world we are going to handle temptation of sin. If you feed your spirit with the 'Word of God' consistently, realizing the love of God becomes easy. The Parable of the Sower we read about four kinds of soil, but it is really talking about four different conditions of heart in the real world. Knowing the Word of God and taking action on what your hear...

Self-Control, a gift of God's Wisdom

The desires of the senses are such that when we strive to quench them with fulfillment for a moment they seem to subside but then they come back with redoubled intensity. The sensual desires  are eliminated not by their fulfillment but by self-control. Self-control comes by making a firm decision at the time of temptation. It is a real struggle. In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul compares this process to that of an athlete. Every athlete who goes into training and competes in the games is disciplined and exercises self-control in all things. They do it to win a crown that withers, but we do it to receive an imperishable crown that does not wither. Therefore, I do not run without a definite goal; I do not flail around like one beating the air (shadow boxing). But I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave. [1 Corinthians 9:25-27] We have five senses in our body through which we experience the world around us. They are necessary, but if ...

Self-Confidence without Pride and Arrogance

Our beliefs must be based upon the truth that God is all powerful and ever-living and we are tiny speck of dust in the universe. This is the reality. We read the glory of God in the Book of Job, Job's reply to Bildad as follows, 7 “It is He who spreads out the north over emptiness And hangs the earth on nothing. 8 “He wraps the waters in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once], And the cloud does not burst under them. 9 “He covers the face of the full moon And spreads His cloud over it. 10 “He has inscribed a circular limit (the horizon) on the face of the waters At the boundary between light and darkness. 11 “The pillars of the heavens tremble And are terrified at His rebuke. 12 “He stirred up the sea by His power, And by His understanding He smashed [proud] [c]Rahab. 13 “By His breath the heavens are cleared; His hand has pierced the [swiftly] fleeing serpent. 14 “Yet these are just the fringes of His ways, The faintest wh...