Did you know that God has a plan, a purpose for your life?

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

Yes, it is true. God has a great plan, a purpose for your life. God wants you to succeed and not fail. You were not created to fail, no matter what has happened in your past or what it appears like now. God’s plan has always been for good, meant to prosper you, a plan to give you hope and to give you a future. His plan never included evil that was meant to harm you. How awesome is that! Did you know that you are called and set apart for a heavenly purpose?

“But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were less than nothing; now you are God’s own. Once you knew very little of God’s kindness; now your very lives have been changed by it” (I Peter 2:9-10 TLB).

Read more …

Believe that no matter what you are going through, the Lord is with you!

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Moses, when he was a hundred and twenty years old and forbidden to go over the Jordan, told the children of Israel to “be strong and of good courage; not to be afraid” as they prepared to go over the Jordan into the Promised Land, led by Joshua.

“And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither
“forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8). “...as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Joshua 1:5).

Read more …

Not long ago we spoke of Paul’s assignment to inform others of the mystery of the gospel and to make clear, the good news of this gospel (Ephesians 6:19). Paul wanted us to clearly understand that his knowledge in “the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:3-4) was by revelation from God, so that he could inform, proclaim fully, and make clear the truth concerning Jesus the Christ through the revelation of the mysteries, which were kept secret since the world began. The one thing we found amazing was the fact that there were many untruths circulating around about the person of Jesus the Christ in Paul’s day as he was making clear the mystery of the gospel. The problem for Paul was that there was another force going about preaching another gospel, different from the one that he was preaching. In a letter to those believers at Corinth, he spoke of his concerns.

Read more …

There are many spirits mentioned throughout scripture that have been associated with mankind, some of them good while others are bad. Scripture clearly states that God gives us the good spirits and does not give us the others, yet we find those spirits, which we receive not from God, affecting or influencing our lives. We hear of this war that we are all involved in, where “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12), and though we normally do not think of our opponents in these terms, could altering how we view them give us an advantage in this spiritual war that we are engaged in?

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7 NKJV).

Read more …

Paul had an assignment to inform others of the mystery of the gospel. He had to make clear without fear the good news of this gospel (Ephesians 6:19). Paul asked those at Ephesus to pray for him that God may give him the right words so he could explain clearly to others what the mystery of the gospel was. Although he was in prison in Rome at the time he wrote to the saints in Ephesus and the faithful in Jesus Christ, he asked that he might continue to open his mouth and speak boldly. He had an assignment to make known the mystery; a hidden truth kept secret since the beginning of time but now revealed to the apostles and the prophets.

“As I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:3-4). “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak” (Colossians 4:3-4).

Read more …

There appears to be some question as to the love that God has for his creation. So many believers, as well as many non-believers, have this impression that God, in some way, is completely responsible for all the bad that is seen the world through. Many share the belief that God, whom some see as this unfair dictatorial deity, uses such events to either punish his creation, to teach his creation some type of lesson, or for some other kind of purpose only known to him. However, the truth of the matter is that God, who is love, truly loves his creation and would never do anything to harm it.

Read more …

As we conclude, lets us open our mind and open our heart so that we may see and hear the truths that God is trying to reveal. Because the Church has redefined “the sovereignty of God” to mean, “God is in total control and that nothing happens but that which the will of God allows to happen,” many believers and non-believers as well, have been led to believe that God is somehow responsible for all the tragedies that occur in the world. They believe God is somehow responsible for the daily struggles that so many go through every day, such as depression, fear, worry, anxiety, confusion, doubt, discouragement, low self-esteem, poverty, sickness, and death. They have been taught and truly believe that everyone suffers these things because this is “the will of God.” That old cliché, “God will not put more on you than you can bear,” appears to fall in line with the teachings that God is responsible for the things that happen to us. We must note that the Old Testament scriptures are more likely to be used to support this argument because the New Testament portrays God as a very willing healer and life giver. Most people are familiar with the story of Job and how God has been portrayed in that story. But more importantly, they are all familiar with one of the most often repeated statements that originated from that story by Job.

Read more …

Let us continue our efforts to set the record straight about this misrepresentation surrounding “the sovereignty of God” perpetrated by the Church. Again, the Church has redefined “the sovereignty of God” to mean, “God is in total control and that nothing happens but that which the will of God allows to happen.” From our previous commentaries, we found that the devil, who is referred to as “the god of this world, the prince of this world, and the prince of the power of the air” (II Corinthians 4:4; John 12:31; John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2) is actually in control of this world’s system. We also know that Adam delivered this control over to the devil (Luke 4:5-6). The problem is that this misrepresentation has given many a false impression of God and has turned many away from God, all because they believe the redefined “sovereignty of God” definition. We have even coined the phrase, “an act of God” to use whenever there is a tragedy, a disaster, or a catastrophic event that we cannot explain by any other means.

Read more …

We know that in trying to set the record straight, we probably created more controversy than we actually resolved and more questions than we were able to answer. We wanted to correct a misrepresentation involving “the nature of God” as well as the misunderstanding and confusion surrounding “the sovereignty of God” and “the will of God.” We realized it would not be an easy task given the fact that the Church has perpetrated the misrepresentation so long that it has become a natural part of the religious culture and given the limitations of the formats we were using. Social media is a great tool to reach the world with the good news of the gospel, but the limitations associated with many social media platforms limit the amount of information that can be conveyed at any single given instance.

Read more …