Nikka

The condition for the promise of God meeting all our needs is, that we become cheerful givers. The promise in 3 parts: And my God; will meet all your needs; according to hos glorious riches in Christ Jesus. The limit? The extend to which God will meet our needs is relative to the scale of his bank account, not ours!. This promise means that when we get to heaven, we will be able to put pour rewards at Jesus' feet in the form of crowns: The crown of righteousness: 2 Tim. 4:6-8 The crown of life: James 1:12 The crown of glory: 1 Peter 5: 2-4 The crown of the imperishable: 1 Cor. 9:24-27 What a glorious day that will be!!!

All through the Gospels we read that it is more blessed to given than receive. The key is to give cheerfully, not only monetary but also of your time and resources. If we give to receive something in return, it is considered a duty rather than a gift. God "gave" His Son because He loved us.....just think about it if God did this to receive something in return from us, then it surely would not have been an act of love but duty. We need to see it the same way. Paul obviously understood this fact and because the Philippian Church gave so much to Paul, Paul knew that they were filling their heavenly account, their treasures in Heaven. So, give cheerfully without expecting anything in return.

Paul lives for His redeemer, his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He learned to be content, that the outward rewards (e.g.wealth) doesn't mean anything. He had so much happen to him, that he learned to be content to be alive and to work for His Master. That is contentment, nothing else matters. Once we understand, that we only live here on earth for a whisk of time (100 years??) as compared to eternity, nothing matters. So , should we not focus, like Paul on the eternal treasures??? Contentment does not undermine ambition, far from it. Because of this revelation, we are much more eager to be ambitious for the cause of Christ, to bring the Gospel to the people around us. I have learned through study and understanding and knowledge, what is important in life. Nothing matters at all, only Christ. We cannot be anything else but content. We have Christ, what more do we want?

It seems that the modern trend of ministries, these days has to do with "living an abundant" life. It seems they take one verse out of the Bible (John 10:10) to tell us that God want us to have an abundant life. There is a constant demand for money, because if we don't give, we will become poor. It seems that God blesses us through abundance and when you are poor God is obviously not blessing you. Totally devastating in my belief. Paul tells us to praise God at all times, in abundance AND also when in need or being poor. Money doesn't mean anything to GOd, the heart is what counts.

Every thought, positive or negative starts in the mind. Paul wrote to the Romans (Rom.12:2) "be transformed by the renewing of your mind". Let God change you! God will help you to renew your mind. If we think positively all the time, (sometimes not easy but with effort it can be achieved) the brain cells will change in your favor and it is the beginning of the renewing of your mind. Put a BIG STOP to any negative thought, stop it before it takes root, before satan has the power to keep you in the negative, in the lie.

A relationship is never a one-way street, it is a two-way street. How can we communicate with God by "asking","begging" and not listen? No father will give his child everything he asks for, it always takes 2 people to discuss something or ask for favor. If we don't listen to God's answer, we will never have peace of our mind because we will always doubt if God actually heard us. God gives us peace of mind as soon as we connect with Him. Peace in this world starts with each individual. If we don't have peace of mind, the world will not know peace either. Peace can be achieved, definitely, if we start with our-self first and reach out to others and show them how they also can achieve peace. It is such a treasure to have peace of mind. It is a free gift and God is waiting to give it to us freely. Just trust Him.

When we pray and petition for a specific issue, we need to thank God already for the fact that He has answered our prayer. It is an act of faith to say "thanks" in advance. It shows that you trust God for answering your prayer as you thank Him in advance. Prayer is a 2-way conversation, be quiet and listen to His answer and then thank Him

Rejoicing is action. It is not a feeling. I have learned if I don't feel like rejoicing, I start acting as if I am rejoicing and it suddenly spills over in rejoicing. It is totally a revelation if you understand this. Try it and it will give you a whole new outlook in life and it become a real habit.

To make disciples and followers of Christ, it is important to keep on confirming we are citizens of His Kingdom. People need to see our allegiance and trust in Jesus, it's the only way to reach people for Christ and discipleship. We keep our eyes on Jesus (Peter did when he walked on the water Matt.14:27-30) to make sure Satan has no entry into our mind and take us off course. I believe the church pulpit is not a place for politics. We need to be proud of the country we live in, but our ultimate citizenship is Heaven. Let's focus on that and if we don't, we risk to have to close the door of our churches.

Paul was unshakable in his faith for Jesus. He just LOVED His savior. When you have that kind of love, you can't stop talking about it and urge others to do the same. It became part of his life and it can be part of our life. People need to see and experience our example of service and want to have what we have.

I was a teen when I got the call to serve this Jesus. There was a period when I was busy raising children and working that Jesus "seemed" more distant, but even then, reading my Bible and teaching my sons was important. I had many experiences of Jesus being very close. I can honestly say that I have "seen" and heard Him so clearly. I have heard His voice and I know I am in the race and will persevere to the end. I have been really blessed in my life and I thank God daily for His blessings and His favor. I love my Lord! I had a new call about 7 months ago and I am just so happy that God uses me to promote His Kingdom.

We need to be diligent to focus on Christ. Like everyone else, many things happen in our lives that we need to forgive and I have been able to forgive. My goal is to be unoffendable, so you forgive as you go along. Not easy at times and it's only with GOd's help that we can forgive.

During WWII, I started to understand "faith" through my parents. their faith was unshakable and that's why I am alive today. My relationship with God is very personal. I speak to God all day long, through mini-prayers. I love my Lord and I totally agree with Paul: To live is Christ, to die is gain (Phil.1:21). I am not morbid, I love life. There is so much to do. The harvest is so huge and I try to convey my feelings about Christ to everyone I meet. I surely am a Jesus follower.

If we believe in righteousness through the law, we are in bondage. It means that we have to do good and follow the law to be righteous, so we become righteous through works of our own doing. Righteousness through faith, is, after confessing our sins and accepting Christ as our Savior, believing that He died for our sins, we become righteous by the shed blood on the Cross. We cannot become righteous on our own deeds; Jesus came to abolish the law, He fulfilled the law, therefore, we have been saved by grace, by His love for us. It may be difficult to understand for a new believer, or sometimes even for older believers, because of our upbringing, we have tunnel vision. We go by what we were taught. We need to study and through study this becomes very clear. It will also be difficult to understand if we trust a legalistic church or belong to a legalistic church. It is difficult for the one who is "stuck" through old beliefs. We need to renew our mind and then it all becomes clear. I know I am righteous by faith. Abraham was righteous by faith. The law was not established in his time. (Romans 4:4; Genesis 15:6)

Compared to the grace of God, everything in this world is meaningless. We seem to forget that this world belongs to God. He created us because He loved us and wanted us, everything else is rubbish. Compared to others, my upbringing was good, filled with the love of God and servitude to our "neighbor". But did I understand it then? NO. It is during our journey that we see the grace of God and revel in it more and more. Nothing is important, except God. To live is Christ, to die is gain! (Phil.1:21) Paul isn't boasting about his past, and ride on these coat-tails. He makes us understand that our past doesn't mean anything; today is what counts, how we live and how we can glorify God