The Passionate Believer

"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  - John 14 vs 6, ESV Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. There is no other way for salvation except through Jesus Christ the Lord. If there were any other options then why would God "give his only son" (John 3 vs 16) as a sacrifice for our salvation ? Therefore Jesus isn't one of many ways to God as some would believe. He is the only way. "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.." (1 Cor. 1 vs 18) During the times of the early church the message of the cross was scandalous and to speak of it was taboo. The definition of the cross for the unsaved world at that particular time only meant condemnation, the cross was for criminals. Therefore it was foolishness to those who did not believe, as it is foolishness to so many today. Everything brings us to the cross. We find judgement at t

Have you ever heard someone say, “As a man thinks, so is he” and wondered what it means? I have heard it many times and it did not make much sense to me especially when I looked at how it was interpreted. And there are times that I listen to a teaching and it just flies over my head. I do not understand it and I do not see how it flows with the rest of the Bible. I want us to look at that statement today and see where it is coming from and try to understand its context because context matters friends. So, where does that statement come from? It comes from the King James Version which translated Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee”. But you can see that that is not the complete statement since it is starting with the conjunction ‘for’ which joins what was said and what is being said. The full context of that verse is this: “Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desir

The Secret of Prayer is Praying in Secret “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” [Matthew 6:6-8]  Everyone loves to pray because prayer is the doorway to receive things from God. And we are barraged almost daily with encouragement to pray coming even from known non-believers or non-practicing Christians because almost everyone knows the Christian language of prayer and prayer requests and the formula, “In Jesus name” at the end. We are not only bombarded with these but today’s believer thinks they need to bombard Heaven with many prayers, yes, even chain prayers so as not to give God rest. He has to hear and answer their prayer no matter what. I am r

Grace and Peace from God Our Father and our Lord Jesus  Scripture: John 4 v 23 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Psalms 100 Shout for joy to the lord all the earth worship the lord With gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. God is seeking true worshipers. For true worship.It is critically important in worship to know who we are worshipping. Let us define two words: Hebrew word for worship  is 'Shachah' Shachah Means  To prostrate oneself,  To crouch to fall flat;  to stoop;  to bow down; Reverence and to honor and respect by kneeling down. The Greek word for worship is 'Proskuneo' It simply means to Bow down , to reverence; to adore;  to proceed from the right attitude; it means admiration; Devotion and extravagant respect. Worship is God cen

"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say tha

"Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.   When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground." ~ John 18 vs 4 - 6 (ESV) These verses describe the events that took place the night Jesus was arrested. I want to zoom in on verse 6 that tells us how the opponents of Jesus responded when he said to them "I am he." The Bible makes it quite clear that that at his response of 'I am he', 'they drew back and fell to the ground'. Did they respond in this manner maybe because of his tone of voice or his posture. All these could be part of the answer but there is more. In the greek, Jesus doesn't say 'I am he', that's in our english translations. The greek renders it as "I am". In saying 'I am', Jesus claims equali