Renungan Harian - House Of Peace

The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out. Proverbs 20: 5. It has been said that to be careful what you ask for you just might get it. The Bible says; ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7. What a blessing to know that whatever you ask for you will receive it as long as it is in line with the word of Jesus Christ. Did you know that we have powerful tools we can use which is our speech, and minds. The Bible tells us over and over again that if we ask for anything in Jesus name we shall receive it.

Lets look at James 3:4 it says Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are drive by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. It says at Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 17:20 it says A man of perverse heart does not prosper; he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.

It is also mention in 1Peter 3:10 For, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Wow!!! Is that wonderful or what to know that Jesus listens to your prayers. Now look at Mark 11:24 it says
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that you Father in heaven may for give you your sins.

Do you remember the fig tree? You can read it at Matthew 21: 18, but look at Matthew 21:21 Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea; and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Now look
At Ephesians 3:20 it says Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

We all need to know; By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not make out of what is visible. Hebrews 11:3 Take a look at Matthew 12:36 it says But I tell you that men will have to give account of the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. At Proverbs 28:23 it says He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue. So please build up a strong faith in Jesus Christ, and keep praying and asking in Jesus name.

Love Always,
Your Sister in Jesus Christ
Mellody Davis
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Often as Christians we face a nagging fear. “What if I am not saved?”

The question is uncomfortable, unnerving, and for many it is downright terrifying! For some, the question itself is a nuisance. “Of course I am saved,” they tell themselves. They accepted Jesus Christ, all is forgiven and now they can live their Christian lives pretty much as they please. If this is you, you need to reconsider.

Others will take the question differently. If this question is downright terrifying to you, we need to talk, or it will paralyze your faith and destroy your walk and testimony. You are going to have to get past being paralyzed or you will end up like the man who hid his talent saying to the Lord in the last day, “I knew you to be a hard man….” The end result was not pretty!

It is time to get past the fear of not being saved. It is time for you to be free to walk in your calling boldly. Lets get started…

“How do I know I am saved?” Lets take this question head on. The question itself is based on a false premise. There are so many shades of meaning in the word “know” that come into play. Sometimes we can “know” something that is false. That will not make it true.

The Bible gives ample evidence that there are people who will “know” they are saved, only to find out they are not! I do not wish to be one of them. Do you?

“Am I saved?” is a question that needs to be asked.

Here are some people who think they are saved but are not. Jesus warns that in that day MANY will say, “haven’t we cast out devils and healed the sick in your name?” His reply in the Day of Judgment? “Depart from me you who work iniquity, I NEVER knew you!”

These people operated in the power of the Holy Spirit. That was not denied. But they did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. They were busy building their own church empires. They were not “laying their lives down for the brethren” as they claimed. They were carnally minded in a spiritual mission. Jesus warns, “the pharisees seek the praise of men, therefore they have their reward.” That it. Its over when its over.

Is this you? Are you doing the work of God for a paycheck? If so, In doing the work for a paycheck, is your judgment being impaired because you are afraid to alienate your financial base? Have you generated income streams and publicity schemes to “promote the gospel,” but find yourself being the recipient of adoration and loving it? These are warning signs. Ignore them at your eternal risk!

Am I saying you cannot be genuine if your living comes from the Gospel? No. Paul says it is fitting that those who preach the Gospel should live off the Gospel. However, doing so in modesty and integrity are key. If you have had to sell of a portion of conviction, or integrity to maintain your position as teacher and evangelist or pastor, take heed.

There are others who are not using the Gospel as a career or path to stardom

For many “Am I saved?” is the million dollar question! It is the core of their conflict! The devil says you are evil and unloved and God doesn’t even WANT to save you or accept you. Well, the good news is that 1 – its the devil speaking to you, and 2 – he is “a liar and the father of it”, says Jesus Himself! Now, if the devil is telling you God does not want you, and has not accepted you, what does he gain, if in fact the devil already has you??? As we have seen, often the opposite is true. The devil tells people they are saved when they are not – and so, your question is magnified . . .

Here is the Biblical answer my friend. A doubting heart will not “know for sure” you are actually saved until Jesus calls your name and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord!” Jesus anticipated the need for His people to be assured of salvation when He said, “Fear not little flock (insert your name here), it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Think on this for a moment….. God is not stingy with His blessings. The Father, delights in giving you His Kingdom! God takes great joy in giving you and I the greatest gifts! We don’t have to read the fine print to Him to persuade Him to give us His Kingdom. If you are struggling with fear, Matthew 6:33-34 is a tonic for your soul and a map for your feet.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Seek first the Kingdom of God AND His righteousness. Do not be paralyzed with fear. Go on your way with God. He will be faithful for the rest.

We ‘know’ we are saved by faith. Our faith is not in our ability to ‘feel’ saved. Our faith is in God. He tells us what we must do to be saved (repent and believe and be baptised for the remission of sins and you shall be saved.) Do those things.

When unbelief and doubt come in, tell them to go back out because your Father says you are saved because you believe in Jesus Christ and have devoted your life to being about His business. Then, simply assume you are a son or daughter of the Most High God and act like it in your dealings with God, with others and with yourself.

The truth is (don’t hit me :) ) “How do I know I am saved?” is a very self-centered question. Take the focus off self, and place it on the Lord. Your life is His mess to clean up, not yours!

When doubt comes in be very clear in addressing it, saying, “Whether I am saved or not, I will serve Jesus Christ my Lord and Him only will I serve!”

Then simply serve Him, serve Him, serve Him. Be about the business He puts in front of you day in and day out. Be diligent in His Word to hear His voice. Be open and honest in prayer. God will take care of the rest. Stop looking over your shoulder and put your hand to the plow, looking forward. Let God clean up the mess you left behind and don’t be condemned in it. God will take care of you and the assurance will just be there in due season.

If you have chosen Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Master, be encouraged and be BOLD! Ask God for boldness. Read Psalm 103 before you go to sleep tonight and meditate on it. God loves you. He always has. He always will.

Psalm 103:10-18
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
We know we are saved by faith, not sight nor feelings. When we obey the Lord, we know we will have our reward. Now go on! Lets be about our Father’s business and enjoy the journey. He will never leave you nor forsake you in it, for faithful is He who has begun a good work in you to complete it unto the end. Even so, “Come Lord, Jesus”.
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“And they overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11).

Your testimony is about what you have experienced – what you have seen and heard.
A real Christian can talk about their experiences with God through Jesus Christ. We
as Christians are called to a relationship of real communication with the Son of God.
God comes to live inside us. Things change. God deals with every person in a
different way. The more Christians that come forward and talk about how God has
intervened in their life, the more people will begin to realise that God is for real,
miracles do happen, and prayer works. This will inspire others to seek God and turn
from their sins so that they too can know the peace and satisfaction that comes to a
person who truly gives their life over to God.

Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the end of the earth.” To be a witness to Jesus is to speak and communicate the things
that you have seen and heard in your life, that happened because of Jesus. Its the
Holy Spirit who makes Jesus real to us, and makes Jesus real through us.

God’s plan is for people to hear the good news that Jesus Christ payed for their sins,
and conquered death for us through rising from the dead. After believing, people
should go on to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and then testify to others what
God has done for them.

One of the greatest testimonies was from a power pagan emperor who came to know
that the God of Israel was indeed God over all. King Nebuchadnezzar actually said in
an announcement that went across the whole known world:

“I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has
worked for me.” (Daniel 4:2).

Like Nebuchadnezzar, we should seek to glorify God all over the world. Now, with
the advent of the internet, it is possible to do this all over the world with very modest
resources. I want to encourage YOU to do your part in spreading the fame of our
God by writing down your story and sharing it with us all through the medium of the
internet. I have done this myself and my story, although not especially dramatic, has
reached thousands of people around the world and continues to provoke responses
from readers in the form of e-mail messages. I personally have collected scores of
testimonies from all over the world, many of which can be read on my Christian testimonies page.
Many people are getting challenged and uplifted by this. You too can share your
story with the world through this site and others with a similar purpose. You can
reach people that no one else can reach.

The Bible says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His
deeds among the peoples!” (1 Chronicles 16:8). If you have been rescued by God
from your sin and the consequences of it, one of the ways you can express
thanks to God is by telling others of what happened. Writing your story down
will equip you to share it verbally with others, and will enable you to reach at least
one person per day for the rest of your life for the Lord.

Other Considerations on Sharing your Testimony

If you have really drawn near to God, you will be like Peter, who said, “For we
cannot but speak of the things we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20) even when
he was persecuted and threatened on account of his testimony, and the power of the
name of Jesus that he was operating in. The most important thing to testify of, though,
is not physical miracles, as wonderful as they are, but the way God has redeemed
your soul – bought you out of the hand of the devil for himself. The Bibles says in
Psalm 107:2, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed
from the hand of the enemy”. Its a wonderful thing when we can honestly testify
that we now know God has forgiven our sins. If God has redeemed you, then you
should say so – publicly. And one of the best public forums today for this is the
internet.

What if your testimony is not so great?

Your testimony does not have to be super dramatic or unusual to be effective. Not
everyone can relate personally to a sensational testimony. If on the other hand your
testimony is weak because you can’t point to a change in your life, could it be that you
have not really consecrated your life to God properly? Are you trying to living with
one foot in God’s Kingdom, and the other in Satan’s?

The Bible says, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor
covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of
Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of
these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
(Ephesians 5:5,6).

Is your heart still in love with this present age, this world system? If so, it would be a
great time to decide to live for God and to get serious about it, because none of us
are guaranteed a tomorrow. Perhaps your testimony is weak because you have not
given attention to the wonderful truths concerning the Holy Spirit and overcoming
Satan that can be found in God’s Word. I have begun to explain these things on my
site elsewhere, for example, here. God wants your testimony to be strong, so you can
live unashamed before God and men, and give honor and glory to God. He wants
your life to show forth His power – what He can do. And God has done absolutely
amazing things for people in all kinds of trouble, who were messed up and without
natural hope. Some testimonies of how God helped such people can be found on this
site.

If God has worked powerfully in your life, please share it so others can benefit. It will
remind you of how God has worked and it will encourage others to believe in God. It
may be the means by which another precious person comes to a saving knowledge of
the Lord Jesus. So do it. Begin to write down your story.

How to Organise your Testimony

If you read Acts 26:1-29 and Acts 22:1-21 you will see two examples of how the
apostle Paul gave his testimony in the midst of great pressure, where his destiny hung
in the balance. Paul talked about his early life, before meeting Christ – both the good
and the bad points. Then he talked about how Christ revealed Himself to him and his
response. In Acts 26 (where he was not interrupted) he is able to spend more time
talking about his life since his conversion. Its good to devote about 40% to “Before
Christ”, about 20% to the conversion experience, and about 40% to “After Christ”.
People want to know what kind of a difference Christ made in your life. Be honest
and authentic. Don’t try to make it look better than it is, or to make your past sound
worse than it really was. God will bless a testimony that is truthful. People are usually
pretty good and spotting phony things. Don’t be like the American poltician who
reputedly told voters how important religion was to him, and how his favorite verse
was John 16:3 when he probably meant to have said John 3:16. You’ll get a laugh if
you read what John 16:3 actually says.

PRACTICAL POINTS

PLEASE DON’T WRITE YOUR TESTIMONY IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
Use lower case, its much more attractive. Try to break up the main sections or
thoughts into different paragraphs. Use short sentences and a simple, unaffected style.
It makes it easier to understand. Aim to point out the effect that meeting the Lord had
on your soul, after you surrendered to Him. Share how you felt. Don’t use religious
words and biblical phrases that people untrained in the Bible are not familiar with.
Even a lot of church people don’t understand a lot of the biblical phrases, or the
meaning of words. Try to make your testimony clear for someone who has no
knowledge of God or the Bible, and as you write it, put yourself in their shoes.

How to Publish your Testimony

Besides e-mailing your testimony to me and others who may wish to publish it on their
sites, it is really a great idea to get your own free home page. These can be obtained
in many places. You can make slightly different versions of your testimony and set it
up at multiple home pages. You can also include on your site other information that
relates to you. You might wish to write about your hobbies, your family, or your
interests. If you have knowledge of something in life that others may benefit from,
consider making a page or two about it and publishing that – people will find that
information and some of them will come to your testimony. Make sure every page on
your site links to your testimony. Then submit your pages to http://www.google.com
and other places. If you want to invest some money consider getting a domain name of your
own, because this may get you better listings. Its definitely worth it to reach more
people for the Lord. Try to get reciprocal links with other Christian testimony pages
because it will bring more traffic in for your page too. All this does require a bit of
effort but it is not as difficult as it sounds. Consider investing a few hundred dollars to
get a professional to do it for you if you want to do something really nice but don’t
have the technical expertise. At the very least, type your testimony in, and e-mail it to
me. You could also try recording it on a tape. Audios can also be published on the
internet.

I encourage you to do this today. You can always upgrade and improve your
writing but the main thing is to do it. You will then have something which God can
take hold of and use for His glory. Then register on this site and create a blog post with your testimony so it can be published. I do publish most of the testimonies I receive. God
bless you.
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A century ago crosses dotted the landscape across America. Today many churches do not display the cross on their buildings and city governments have tried to ban the cross on public property. Our founding fathers would be chagrined to see this happen. It’s the cross that made the difference between victory or defeat, hope or hopelessness, eternal life or perdition. History is divided by B. C. and A. D. There are those who want to do away with that significance but it is the cross that made the difference.

The gospel is the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Paul declared, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Recently a missionary was asked by a young man what the difference is between the Red Cross and the Christian cross. Likewise, many throughout the world and in America are ignorant of the power of the cross.

In almost four decades of ministry I’ve stood in many cemeteries throughout America. This Memorial Day I’ll once again remember those who have died to preserve our freedom and walk by the graves of many of our loved ones. When I think of the thousands who have died, there is only one assurance of hope – The cross made the difference for multitudes.

On the cross the perfect man, the Son of God, gave himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Peter wrote, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (I Peter 2:24 NRSV). An early church father, Ambrose, wrote, “O the divine mystery of the cross! Weakness hangs on it, power is freed by it, evil is nailed to it, and triumphal trophies are raised towards it.”

Some today say that the cross is not necessary. They are dead wrong – the cross made the difference. The Word of God tells us, “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22 NKJV). D. L. Moody, a great preacher of over a century ago, said, “You must be saved by God’s plan. It was love that prompted God to send His Son to save us and shed His blood. That was the plan. And without the blood what hope have you? There is not a sin from your childhood – from your cradle – up ‘til now that can be forgiven, unless by the blood. Let’s take God at His Word . . . Without the blood no remission whatsoever . . . That’s what Christ died for. If a man makes light of that blood what hope has he? How are you going to get into the kingdom of God? You cannot join in the song of the saints if you don’t go into heaven that way . . . You must accept the plan of redemption and come through it.”

Recently Dottie Rambo, one of the greatest and most prolific gospel song writers of all time, went home to her eternal reward. What was the theme of more than 2,500 of her songs? Jesus and His cross was her glory. In her song “I Will Glory in the Cross” she wrote, “I boast not of works nor tell of good deeds. For naught have I done to merit His grace. All glory and praise shall rest upon Him, so willing to die in my place. I will glory in the cross, in the cross. Lest suffering all be in vain. I will weep no more for the cross that He bore. I will glory in the cross.”

This Memorial Day, no matter what you may be facing, remember – the cross made the difference. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
by: Cliff Sanders
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