Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15
God’s gifts to men are many and great (as we can read in Psalms 68:35; 127:2-3; 146:7; Proverbs 2:6-7; Matthew 7:11; John 14:27; Acts 5:31; 14:17; 15:8; 17:25; Romans 5:17; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 7:7; 12:7-11; Ephesus 2:8; Philippines 1:29; 2 Timothy 3:16 and James 1:5, 17). But no doubt Paul has in mind here the greatest and most indescribable gift of all (See John 3:16; Romans and 8:32; Isaiah 9:6.) And he refers to this gift so that believers might better understand what giving is all about and learn to give as our almighty dear caring Heavenly Father gives us so abundantly. Here is a brief summary concerning the truth about the giving of believers.
Being able to give is a great gift of God, God’s grace working in their hearts and lives ( See 2 Corinthians 8:1; Romans 12:6-8).
Giving is a privilege believers should seek (2 Corinthians 8:4).
Giving is a test of the sincerity of our love and obedience no giving indicates no love, little giving, little love, much giving, much love (2 Corinthians 8:8).
Giving is the nature of God ( 2 Corinthians 8:9).
Even very small gifts are acceptable to God, if the heart is right ( as we can read in 2 Corinthians 8:12; Mark 12:41-44).
Giving helps to bridge the gap between those who have plenty and those who are in need (See 2 Corinthians 8:13).
Giving is service to God’s people ( 2 Corinthians 9:1).
Giving should be with freedom and cheerfulness ( 2 Corinthians 9:5, 7).
Giving will bring its reward ( 2 Corinthians 9:6, 8-11, 14).
Giving is a great source of thanksgiving and praise to God ( 2 Corinthians 9:11-13).
Here are some other great bible study references on giving to God and to others; Exodus 35:5-9; Leviticus 7:12-13; 27:30; Numers 18:21, 24; Deuteronium 14:28-29; 15:10; 2 Sam 24:24; 1 Chronicles 29:3, 5, 9, 14; Psalms 37:26; Proverbs 11:24-25; 19:17; 22:9; Ecclesiastes 11:1-2; Malachi 1:7-8, 14; 3:8-10; Matthew 6:1-2, 19, 20; 19:21; Luke 6:38; Acts 20:35; Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 6:18-19; Hebrews 6:10; James 2:15-16; and last but not least 1 John 3:17.
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our almighty, dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe, and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and His truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
“John 8:36′
Man was made in the unique image and likeness of God to be like Him in functionality and act like Him throughout His precious devine character. He is the Lord of Lord’s, King of Kings who reigns over every creation on earth as it is in heaven. Man was reduced to a slave. He was enslaved by sin, limited by the curse, and he lived in toil and hardship. Adherence to the Law could not save man because it was rendered weak by the sinful state of man. Being morally upright and doing good works cannot free man from the power of sin and its consequences.
No one had the power to save man except God; He came into the world as a true infinite loving righteous man and beloved Son of God, so that humanity can be eternally set free from the claws of sin and its captivating power. Salvation from the oppression of sin can only be affected throughout the mighty glorious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. True liberty can only be experienced by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ intimately throughout His marvelous righteous Word and His truth fulfilling Holy Spirit. Affiliation with a religious sect cannot guarantee true freedom, you can only encounter truth fulfilling salvation by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ in you’re life.
Sin no longer has dominion over every truth believer who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; they cannot be compelled by it. They have been liberated to serve God in Spirit and in truth. They are set FREE from the hardships and struggle as a result of the curse and can enjoy all of God’s abundantly blessings. As a result of their faith, they become true inherited children of God. This is true FREEDOM through our Lord Jesus Christ…
Prayer:
Dear Lord almighty Heavenly Father, I am so very thankful for the work of Your of you salvation that has released me from the dominion of sin onto a life as truth inherited child of God. I am very grateful for the privilege of being joint and emerged through Jesus Christ. I pray for Your grace to work out my salvation and never let me return to the servitude of sin. Help me always to remember that I have been set free from all curses, failures, and limitations in my life so that I will no longer be limited by evil’s lies. I live a life of victory against sin and every blessing associated with my place as a child of God, thank you for hearing my prayers and for all the wonderful things that you make me receive so abundantly every single moment of the day. I pray this throughout the mighty wonderful name of Jesus Christ, Amen…
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings, through Jesus Christ, our almighty, wonderful, dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the middle of the sea, Though its waters roar and are in turmoil, though the mountains shake with its surging. Selah Psalms 46:1-3
“Strength”– as we can read in Psalms 18:1; 28:7; 73:26. Not armies, not fortifications, not human strength or tactics, but God Himself is our refuge, strength and help of His people. If we are in God, the mighty and eternal refuge, who or what can harm us Psalms 23:4? And why should we fear as if we were not in Him? Believers don’t need to fear, even in natural disasters such as are described here, or in the upheaval of nations and societies. These are sometimes symbolized in the Bible by mountains and bodies of water or floods, as we can clearly read and study in the books of Isaiah 17:12; 59:19; Jeremiah 46:7-8; 47:1-2; 51:24-25; Daniel 2:35 and Revelation 17:1, 15.
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe, and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. “Romans 15:1-7′
The Roman church was made up of Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, slaves and free people, strong and weak in faith, so people had difficulty with accepting one another due to the differences and biases. Christ, however, received all and served all. We, as followers of Jesus Christ, must follow His example and do the same. We are to receive each other with our differences.
Accepting means sharing food and activities with others, avoiding racial and economic discrimination, and welcoming people into our homes as well as into our hearts. Even though we may differ in opinions about many small matters, it is undeniable that we are all servants and children of God Almighty. As Jesus Christ has received us all with our imperfections to promote the glory of God, so should we to treat each other in a similar manner for a same purpose.
Let’s be the unifying power within the body of Christ and accept one another despite of our differences. Let us all join together in glorifying our wonderful almighty dear caring Lord and Saviour for the miraculous things that He has done for us and the many dear hearts and souls in the world.
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty, dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and His truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Yes, you will look diligently for his place, and it will not be. But the meek will inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Psalms 37:10-11
Meekness is not weakness. In fact, it is great strengthof Jesus Christ character that He desires for us to receive and use every moment of our day. It is the great quality of the mighty wonderful beloved Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (as we can read in Matthew 11:29; 21:5 and 2 Corinthians 10:1), and we see what it means by looking at His life. Meekness is consistent with the character of a spiritual soldier mightily fighting the battle for truth and opposing sin and satan (as we can read in Ephesians 6:10-17).
Meekness is a person humbly accepting the circumstances into which God has brought to him or her. It is to be willing and honoring in continues desire with God in the midst, to be slighted or despised without rage and retaliation (as we can read in 1 Peter 2:21-23). The meek are those who submit to God’s desirable will, God’s rule over them, and endure what must be endured for His sake (compare Matthew 26:39, 42 and John 18:11). The meek bend their necks to bear Jesus Christ’s yoke and are desire to learn from our Lord Jesus Christ (as we can read in Matthew 11:29 and Luke 9:23).
Such people are the spiritually strong of the earth now, the blessed ones who will inherit the whole earth later. The greedy and the grasping, the self assertive, the self willed seekers after power and property and prestige will have no part in this earth when God gives it to the meek. Compare Psalms 37:1, 11. The whole Psalms above shows the difference between those who are meek and those who are not.
How is meekness to be obtained? The same way the other spiritual qualities are obtained, they can be produced only by the truth fulfilling of the Holy Spirit as we yield to God. He does this by giving people a proper view of themselves and of others, and a proper attitude towards God, our almighty dear caring Heavenly Father.
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty, dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received reconciliation. “Romans 5:11′
Paul emphasizes that, since everything he has said so far is true, we can truly rejoice in God through our almighty dear caring Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In addition to the fact that we have been justified and will not be subject to God’s wrath for our sin. We have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross.
We are saved by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross of Calvary. It is entirely up to Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross that He has paid the full price for our sin that reconciles us back to God. Trusting in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross provides us with peace with Him and makes us blameless in His eyes.
Thanks to our almighty dear caring Lord Jesus Christ sacrifice on the cross, we have the great assurance that God is with us. We have been created anew in Jesus Christ and positioned in Him in such a way that when God looks at us, He sees Jesus Christ’s righteousness imbued within us. We should never forget the enormous cost that was paid in order to restore us to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, for He alone deserves all the honor, praise and glory forevermore… Amen…
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty, dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
“Our Father” See references at Matthew 5:16. God’s children are to have God centered prayers not self centered ones. And we should approach Him as our loving dear caring Heavenly Father who is ready to listen to us and help us as we can clearly read in Matthew 7:9-11. When we pray we are to think clearly about the One to whom we are speaking. The words “in heaven” indicate majesty and greatness and transcendence. The almighty dear caring Heavenly Father is the great sovereign creator of the universe, the all powerful reigning God who can hear every prayer and do all things according to His precious divine will and great purpose.
“Hallowed be your name” name means God’s devine nature and character, who and what He is. The desire that God be honored on earth should be the very first concern of every disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. This must come before personal requests, not merely in prayer, but in life as a whole. Their prayers, desires, deeds and words should all be for God’s glory, just as Jesus Christ’s were as we can read in (Matthew 5:16; John 8:29; 17:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:31). Is it not probable that many of our prayers remain unanswered because in our asking we do not put God’s honor first in our thoughts and desires?
“Hallowed” means to be considered holy. Our almighty dear Heavenly Father is the absolutely holy one, and those who pray to Him should keep this in mind. We should always want God’s name to be honored and glorified in our own lives, and among the people with whom we associate. Also, perhaps, this is a prayer that God Himself will hallow His name, that He would bring about conditions among men that they would recognize the holy nature of the one and true divine God, that He would cause people to respect and honor Him. Compare Ezekiel 36:23. And see references on God’s holiness at Leviticus 20:7; Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 15:4.
“Your kingdom come” this concern also has to do with God, not with personal needs. But if God’s kingdom (Matthew 4:17) has already come, and Jesus Christ’s disciples are in it, why should they pray that it might come? It has come now only in a hidden, spiritual sense in the hearts of His people. This prayer may express a desire for the spread of His kingdom in the world, that more and more people would submit in their hearts to God’s rule. Or, more likely, it may be a prayer for God’s kingdom to come openly and be manifest in all the earth (as we can read in Matthew 16:27-28; 25:31; Luke 21:31; 22:18, 29, 30; Acts 1:6 and Revelation 11:15; 20:4-6). In this case it would be like praying for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 22:20).
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Is it not true that the will of God in heaven is done perfectly, immediately, heartily, joyously, faithfully, constantly? That is how we should want things in the whole earth, including in ourselves as individuals, in our families, and our churches. This prayer will have its complete fulfillment only when the prayer before it is fulfilled. Now everywhere in the earth the divine will of God is either unknown or resisted, disobeyed and despised. As individuals who pray this prayer we should make it the great concern of our life to know and do the will of God ourselves as we can read in Colossians 1:9; 4:12; Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 John 2:17; 5:14 and Revelation 2:26.
“Our daily bread” after first praying for the great matters that have to do with God, disciples may turn to requests for their own needs. Bread here signifies the necessities of life. Observe carefully that Jesus Christ did not tell us to pray for riches, or even for many days’ needs to be given in advance. Disciples are to recognize that their day by day life on earth is totally dependent on God, and look to Him in faith to meet their needs as we can read in the (Matthew 6:25-33) This does not mean that disciples are to stop working and beg God for their food. See 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and 1 Timothy 5:8. They are to work, but at the same time to recognize it is God’s grace and not their mere working which keeps them supplied. Should the rich, and those who always have large supplies of everything they need, pray this prayer? Certainly. They too need to recognize that they are dependent on God for everything, and that what they have today can be gone tomorrow. As we can read in Proverbs 23:5.
“Forgive us our debts” compare this with Luke 11:4, where the wording is “forgive us our sins”. Why has Jesus Christ given us the same prayer in different words? Perhaps He meant the word “sins” to indicate things we have done, actual trespasses, sins of commission, and the word “debts” to signify what we have failed to do, sins of omission. However that may be, by comparing Matthew with Luke here we can see that debts toward God too are sins. We owe God perfect love and perfect obedience, and come short in our payments. The prayer Jesus Christ taught us is not complete without confession of sin. Keep in mind that this is a perfect example of the kind of prayer that all of His disciples should make, not only then, but throughout this whole age of grace. From this we judge that Jesus Christ did not think that any of His disciples would reach a state of sinless perfection on this earth, that any of them would ever be completely beyond the daily need for forgiveness. It is plain that if day by day we need to ask for forgiveness, then day by day, either in what we do or in what we fail to do, or in what we think or desire, we are guilty of sinning and need forgiveness. Jesus would not tell us to ask for something we do not need, that did not relate to us.
On our proneness to sin and need of forgiveness see Matthew 7:11; Romans 7:18, 21; Galatians 5:16-17; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8; 1 Kings 8:46. On forgiveness see references on Matthew 6:14,15; 9:5-7; 12:31; 18:23-35. Observe that we have a right to pray for forgiveness only if we forgive those who have offended us. If we do not forgive them, than we shouldn’t except nor think that God should forgive us.
“Lead us not into temptation”– God does not tempt men to sin. Temptation comes from Satan and from one’s own heart (as we can read in Matthew 4:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; and James 1:13-14). We must understand that we are dependent on God alone to keep us safe in time of temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
See David’s prayer in Psalms 141:4, Surely a prayer God delights to answer. God does try men (see references at Genesis 22:1 and Psalms 66:10-12), but that is a different matter. When we pray this prayer we are asking God to act according to His will, and so we are not asking Him to keep us from all trials. We are asking that He lead us not into temptation, that He would not lead us, who are so sinful and weak, in such a way that we fall into the hands of Satan the tempter.
One more fact we should very well understand. It is quite possible to pray like this and at the same time have a secret desire to be overcome by temptation and to sin. This, of course, is insincere and hypocritical praying, and in such a case we should not think that God is obliged to answer us and keep us from falling. But when we pray this prayer in the right spirit, we are setting ourselves against all temptation and sin, and against the desire to be tempted. And this we must do to be successful aligned in our spiritual life.
“Evil” this could also be translated “the evil one”, meaning satan. It refers to any kind of evil, from any source. The prayer to “deliver us” is the reverse of the previous request about temptation. This is something God will surely do for the trusting, prayerful disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ would not teach us to pray for something it was not God’s divine will to do. In this prayer Jesus Christ desires us to acknowledge that God alone can deliver us from evil within or without or from satan, that we cannot be delivered by our own strength and wisdom. In this whole prayer we see the relationship which must exist between God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. God is the almighty One, the loving Heavenly Father who supplies everything needed; the disciple is weak and needy and must look to God for everything. God is to be honored, His divine will be done. All the disciple can do is ask “give”, “forgive”, “deliver”. Jesus Christ is making abundantly clear our on our dependence on a loving God.
“Yours is the kingdom, Amen” a very fitting conclusion to this prayer, or any prayer. See other references on prayer at Matthew 7:7-12; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-8; Romans 8:26-27; Ephesians 1:17; Philippines 4:6-7; Colossians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Hebrews 11:6; James 1:5-8; 5:16-18; 1 John 5:14-15 and Genesis 18:32.
Much LoVe, Joy, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
“Treasures”– a word indicating all that men love and count as treasures, whether money or property of some sort, or anything else. The attitude which people should have toward such things appears also in other Scriptures as we can see in the passages of Luke 12:16-21; 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19. “Moth”, “rust” and “thieves” speak of the perishing nature of worldly possessions. They may be here today and gone tomorrow. If they are not gone tomorrow we may be; and what are we laying up in heaven which will endure forever? Observe that the Lord Jesus Christ strictly forbids His disciples to lay up treasures here. Therefore to do so is disobedience to His instructions (and therefore sin) as well as foolishness…
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty, dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
The “God of hope” means the God who inspires hope in His people and fulfills it. The hope is of final salvation as we can read in (Romans 5:2-5; 8:23-25). It is produced by God’s Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. Peace and joy are also produced by God’s Holy Spirit as we can read in (Galatians 5:22). They are natural elements of God’s kingdom (Romans 14:17). They were both promised by Jesus Christ to His obedient disciples as we can read in (Romans 14:27; 15:12). Our wonderful, almighty dear caring Heavenly Father desires believers to be filled with His glorious goodness. Only then will they behave towards others as they ought, praise His glorious fulfilling name, and live for His glory as they ought. As Believers we should learn to reject anything which robs us of our peace and joy or dims our hope.
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our wonderful, almighty, dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout, His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. COLOSSIANS 1
“I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.” as we can read in “Psalms 71:16′
THE tears and sorrows and battlings in strife against the world, the flesh, and the devil are all very necessary in the present time. We should neither hope nor expect to be crowned as victors without passing through such experiences. In the battle we learn not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. We learn of our own weaknesses and imperfections.
Walking closely with our almighty dear infinite loving Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to keep our garments unspotted from the world. We can learn also to trust His grace, and that “our sufficiency is of God.” We can learn that “greater is He who is on our part than all they that be against us.”
We can learn that the victory that overcometh the world is neither the strength and perfection of our flesh, nor merely the strong resolution of our minds, but the latter helped and strengthened by Him who assures us that His strength can be perfected in our weakness.
It is here that we learn that all things are working together for good to them that love God as we can read in “Romans 8:28′
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the LORD and depart from evil. “Proverbs 3:5-7′
The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace. “Numbers 6:24-26′
Much LoVe, JoY, Peace and Blessings through Jesus Christ, our almighty dear caring Lord, Saviour and Redeemer, in who we faithfully abide, trust, believe and abundantly do receive throughout His marvelous righteous Word and truth fulfilling Holy Spirit.
