JustJeff

Worrying about his future the rich fool puts away much that he may never live to spend and preoccupies his thinking about his money. Jehovah Jireh is our Provider and we are to depend upon Him day by day. Not only is that faith but security as well as He will always prove Himself true. In addition, we must seek the Kingdom of God before all things. This was one of the key messages of the Sermon on the Mount.

We need to ask forgiveness from God at every prayer time because we are continually in sin, whether physical, mental or spritual. If we don't beg His forgiveness He will not hear us and since He commands that we equally forgive those that we have grudges against we are in sin if we do not. We cannot be forgiven by God if we are in sin. It would be a contradiction to expect anything of Him.

Pride keeps us from asking anyone for help. Personally I always waited until desperation struck before I could gather the courage to ask for aid. With God, man always credits himself for His successes, when he is on the mountain top. It is in the valley that he calls to God for all his needs. I work for the Lord and haven't drawn a paycheck for over 16 years. Our whole ministry operates this way and it is by faith in Jehovah Jireh that we succeed. He gives us all of our needs, and often our wants as well. He is a loving Father who gives us all our talents to survive and it is He who deserves the glory when we succeed.

As it was when God was with the Hebrews in a pilar of cloud by day and fire by night. As His glory made Mt. Sinai unapproachable to sinful man, so shall it be when He establishes His Kingdom here on earth once again. For now it is within us by His Holy Spirit and the Word. For these dual purposes we pray "thy Kingdom come". As to "thy will be done", we are praying for a world of righteousness, of love wherein Adonai will be the ruler of all the nations and we shall all live in shalom, peace. For our part, we must consecrate ourselves while we are sanctified by the Word, the blood and the Holy Spirit. We must be ready when He comes!

When we live our lives in the Spirit, that is not living to the **** of the flesh and the sinful lifestyle it creates, we are hallowing our lives. It is important to emphasize that we do not live in sin though we will all sin and fall short of the glory of God. The work of crucifying the flesh does make the difference. It is when we intentionally sin after coming to the Lord that we shame Him. The way I consecrate myself in prayer is to confess that I am a sinner and ask for forgiveness.

Prayer is about faith. The faith that the Father hears His children, listens carefully and responds. Prayer is about talking to God when there is no one else who can help or listen. Prayer is about trusting and loving the God of all creation, letting Him know that there are those of us who believe in Him and need Him to survive.

Secret prayer is an opportunity to demonstrate true faith, meditate on your toughts and be alone with God. Corporate prayer is so cool when done in the spirit of unity with one mind and one accord. On the other hand, when done for show it is empty and phoney. Flowery prayers say a lot of nothing. Prayer needs to be to the point to have meaning. Our God is a serious God and He wants to hear value.

This all aligns with the doctrine of loving your neighbor as yourself. The poor shouldn't be judged as to why they are or how they became poor. Nor should one lift up ones self because they may be better off. Rather, it would be beneficial to give as one is able, through a Christ centered non-profit that does do works to glorify God. I myself serve the Lord and have given Him my life. I live equally with those the ministry serves, the poor and needy. It is not a life that is satisfied by what I have, but a life that keeps me closer to the Lord because of what I lack. I owe Him much more and often ask what more can I give?

This section is about pride. Holier than thou members of the church who feel by their wealth and /or status they are better than everyone else and therefore, in God's eye before everyone else. They are more interested in everyone else noticing them than the Lord. Greedy Christian organizations turn this into competition between their members in order to raise money. It only serves to humiliate those who have little to give, causing those to flee.

Verse 48 is about becoming a mature Christian. The analogy about a narrow road not only indicates that few will make the Pearly Gates but that we're on a journey as well. As with life, we should grow and become more mature. I have witnessed people who believe that we can become sinlessly perfect and watched that doctrine destroy them as they become delusional about their spiritual condition. They actually got to the point where they developed a mandate to convince others of their perfect state. Sadly, they were blind guides. Verse 48 > 45 is about love which is the true perfection here. We should strive to be complete in our love. We are to love everyone.

Actually I feel that God's love is tough love. Historically He had to use a heavy hand many times in an effort to bring His people back to Him. He did because He loves us. He also did this to defend and strengthen His commandments. In an inner city mission, which is the ministry where the Lord has placed me, we deal with some pretty tough characters. We have worked with career criminals, drunks and stoned men and women totally out of control, knife wielding youths and more. I don't believe Jesus put us here to be martyred at the hands of a disillusioned kid but rather to love and give them an opportunity to gain life at the feet of Jesus. Unfortunately every once in awhile you have to use a rod to spare the child.

Jesus would be a Pharisee.

Jesus often used hyperbole or exaggeration to drive home His wise sayings. When you are teaching it is often necessary in order to get people to pay attention. The common factor in verses 39-42 is love. The Lord wants us to love our neighbor as we do ourselves, even if our neighbor happens to be our worst enemy. I don't believe He intends for us to get our tailends whooped or to give all of our possessions in order to show love as He does expect us to be able to rule with a rod of iron. The point here is that we are to do the right thing out of love. That is compassion and is the greatest way to win over your adversary.

The purpose of the eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth law was to allow for an individual to even the score, no more, no less. This was to be determined before two or three witnesses therefore it was judged making it a judicial process.

To say yes, yes and no, no is to be straight forward, to the point. While such manner of speaking can cause people to react negatively, as sometimes the truth hurts, we are known as honest people. Christians should be credible, dependable when there is a need for honesty in a world of liars.

We are to give love, that is compassion and understanding. It is best to pray with the couple and take them to the scritures. Let the Word do His job.

I don't see anything here about being lead by the Holy Spirit. Jesus lived at a very different point of time in the history of the world. A close examination of the Muslim countries would give us a better understanding of the view in which women were held when the Lord walked amongst us. I feel that God is love and as such responds to us in our current time. The Holy Spirit channels His thoughts about situations that we are going through and directs us. When we are obedient the resolution is satistfactory to the Lord and will have a postive result for the recipient as well. We are in a time of internet arranged marriages, inter faith marriages, no marriages, hasty marriages and marriages for all the wrong reasons. My thoughts on Gods reactions to remarriage are not His. The only thing for me would be to pray and wait on Him, not to judge others.

The disciples reaction was because they were Jews and still under the law not having received the Holy Spirit. Secondly, they didn't believe that men could restrain themselves from the commands regarding adultery that Jesus issued.

The law was given by Moses simply because of hardened hearts. Man was going to do what the flesh desired so the law provided a form of protection for the woman to receive back her dowry and to remarry with someone who would truly love her. Clear in Genesis 2:24 God intends for us to have one spouse. When something becomes one with another they should be permanently unseparable. This is what Jesus wants of us.

Insofar as being Christians in order to enter into one flesh when married nothing could be father from the truth. When God made the statement that the two would be one flesh Christians nor any other system of belief existed. It applies to all of mankind. One flesh is a term used to describe the melding together of the human spirit. It is a natural occurance that happens when sexual relations occur. In my opinion, whether in a formal marriage cerimony or not, God created us to mate so when we have a sexual relationship we are joined together so, everyone who gets married the first time is joined together. As a matter of fact, if you've have ever fornicated you will find that you are still joined together with the person, right?

Jesus believed, as did Rabbi Sammai that marriage could not be broken unless adultery was involved. Deut 24:1-4 seems to indicate that God allowed Moses to give a "get" or writing of divorcement for any reason. This might be because of the vast number of people that Moses had to shepherd or simply because God understood that they were under the law and could not keep it. The Lord was speaking spiritually. When married by God husband and wife become forever spiritually entwined and a joint temple of God. Fornication defiles that temple and it is destroyed. Unless both husband and wife wish to rebuild it Jesus allowed a way out. I believe that people bound together spiritually have a far better chance of making their marriage work because priorities are different. Jesus knows that and He voided Deut 24:1-4 by fulfilling the law.

James 1:12-15 is the summation of Jesus' discourse on ****. If you dwell upon a desire long enough the temptation will eventually prove too great to resist. The end result is spiritual death, that is conceived sin that will separate you from our Beloved. How awful! How much more serious can it be? I have to go through the fire in crucifying my flesh, for the rest of my pilgrimage here. The only hope is in Jesus and that by His strength I will learn to allow the Holy Spirit to have dominion over my spirit, overriding the sinful flesh and, sending the agape love of Christ to all. Since my God given instincts are fully functional and as I have committed myself to Christ as in Matt 9:12, it is a battle in an incredibly promiscuous society.

Is it ok for a delivered alcoholic to have "a little nightcap" ? How about a delivered drug addict a "taste"? Any addiction requires deliverance and then, abstinence. In any other approach that makes concessions you will find temptation that may be to great to take a chance. Are you willing to go back to your former self and destroy more lives, including yourself?1Peter 2:11 was intended for this situation. In 2 Cor 6:17 the Spirit admonished us not to touch the unclean thing. For those of us who have been sexually addicted we need to realize that the price of our freedom has been paid at a great price. How can we risk it all by allowing ourselves to be tempted? We cannot. It is necessary to flee temptation and not tempt the devil. It's the price we have to pay for our liberty.

A pornographer is a person that views the opposite sex as nothing more than an instrument of pleasure. To make matters worse, it is an addiction which means demon possession for those willing to believe in such. Addictions are unsatiable meaning that eventually you will destroy your relationship with your mate if that person is not likeminded and it will lead to increased sexual perversion and infidelity. The enemy has used prostitution and sex against God since day one. Almost every pagan idol illustrated in the Old Testament represented a sexual intstrument and fertility which was worshipped for protection of and increased production of crops. Ritual prostitution was practiced in pagan temples and the acceptance of it by Israel at various times over the ages lead to God's punishments. To this day using a prostitute is a sin against your own body, which is the temple of God (1 Cor 6:15-20). A person who has been used by a pornographer has been silently raped and forever changed as a result.

Anytime a desire becomes an obsession we've arrived in the forbidden fruit zone.