Tag: charity

Posted in Christian, Christian Service, Evangelism, Life Inspiration

The Mathematic Equations of the Apostle Peter

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on The Mathematic Equations of the Apostle Peter

Let me preface this by the statement, “I hate all things math.” It makes me feel less than average that my brain cannot comprehend and compute the simplest of problems. I praise God for computer programs like QuickBooks, even though it too frustrates me because I have to put in the decimal point myself. True story. I am that person. I have been looking around A-Level maths online tuition in KL area to improve my math skills. Praise God that there won’t be math in Heaven! I don’t actually know that but I do know that God was opposed to counting, just ask King David. And Heavenly multiplication isn’t complex, It’s simply adding to the church any number, the more the merrier! I love God’s math! It’s also not numbers at all, but rather the multiplication of life edifying behaviors that will add sweetness to your life and less heartache. 

Today, I have heartache. There’s and issue in the secular world that has drama written all over it; and I don’t need it. I desire peace. I think I’ll play the song “Peace be still” on the guitar when I get done writing. It causes me to remember, if Jesus can calm the angry waves, He can calm a situation in my life. Amen? Amen! It’s basic mathematics in the life of a child of God to have peace in their life, but when the world get’s involved, that’s when it become complex.  

Grace and Peace Be Multiplied

2 Peter 1:1-11 KJVS

[1] Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: [2] Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 

Grace and Peace be multiplied, not by anything I can do, but through the knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. No other people are required in this equation to create peace in my life. Whether or not someone else is creating havoc is irrelative if I stay focused on Him and allow Him to calm the storm. That’s good preachin’! But it doesn’t take the other people out of the problem, and it won’t guarantee that I won’t have an upset stomach at days end. But I can still have peace as the answer even if the problem doesn’t get solved because I have knowledge that the world doesn’t have.

The Subtraction of Corruption

[3] According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: [4] Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

I can have grace and peace through Christ as well as confidence given to me through power and strength not possible in the life of someone who doesn’t know Christ. They may have confidence in themselves coming out their ears, (I know those people) but that also puts the pressure on themselves to perform. I have confidence in Christ, which not only takes the pressure off of me, but allows me to glorify Him through my reaction to the conflicts around me. I have His (Christ’s) divine nature within me (added on my day of salvation) that helps me to handle life’s problems. Now, for the record, I sometimes ignore that addition in my life and choose rather to react in the flesh which is the subtraction of the Holy Spirit’s guidance which most always ends with a bad grade and a poor example to anyone watching.

The Addition of Fruit

 [5] And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; [7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. [8] For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. [10] Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

I want so very badly to have fruit in my life. The one common denominator that prevents it is myself. I don’t always have faith, my virtues are sometimes lacking, my knowledge is limited by the lusts of the flesh that desire worldly entertainment, and my sisterly kindness is sometimes overshadowed by human frustration. I sometimes ignore the call, choosing rather to shut myself off from the world because the world will hurt me. 

Below are a few tidbits I’ve discovered in life and found through Noah Webster’s 1828 definitions.  

Faith: Forsaking all, I trust Him.

Virtue: Voluntary obedience to the truth.

Knowledge: We can have no knowledge of that which does not exist. God has a perfect knowledge of his works. Human knowledge is very limited, and is mostly gained by observation and experience.

Charity: Love. The highest exercise of charity, is charity towards the uncharitable. 💖

It is these acts in the life of a Christian that will create a party in Heaven.

 [11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I love a good party! I especially love the thought that there will be no division in Heaven! Glorrrraaaaaay!!!

Posted in Christian Service, Christmas, Life Inspiration

Do you need to regroup this Christmas?

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on Do you need to regroup this Christmas?

chick regroup

Christmas. What a wonderful, magical, depressing, jolly, agitating, sentimental, disastrous, lovely, argumentative, splendiferous season. I’m blessed to be part of a church family that together focuses on the Christ of Christmas throughout this season with special nights and programs that slow me down. I’m afforded and blessed as well to have time of my own to regroup my thoughts and wrap myself up with the Holy Spirit of God rather than scotch tape and frilly paper. But even so life gets messy.  My mind races and my to-do lists pile high and this morning even with all the blessings in my life I need to regroup and remember three things about the season I’m in. I’m glad you’re here with me and I’m praying that you and I can regroup for Christmas.

2 Corinthians 8

The Grace of Christmas

1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

Paul speaks to the church of Corinth about the testimony of grace belonging to the church of Macedonia. I wonder this morning if I’m hogging all the grace for myself this Christmas. The  grace of God that I’ve experienced through awesome times in the Lord with my Church family, that I wouldn’t trade for the world, were needful experiences but were confined to the walls of Victory Baptist Church. The church of Macedonia’s grace was outside the walls of the sanctuary and evident in the community. My Grace needs relocated.

The Gravity of Christmas

2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

Although America is in a mess spiritually, I’m still free to worship Jesus and tell the story of His love, I have food on my table, a home, car, I have stuff… abundant stuff. I don’t get the gravity of actual needs that so many experience 365 days a year. Christmas for them will be another day without even so much as the fundamentals in life. This was where the church of Macedonia was at, in trials and deep poverty yet rich in liberality. The church of Macedonia gave as if they were rich believing that every need they had would be provided for. My gravity (importance) needs redistributed.

The Gift of Christmas

3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

The power of the church of Macedonia came from their willingness to give beyond what was possible. The gift of Christmas has always been sacrifice. The world is in love with the Babe in the manger, but the Babe was just the beginning of the story of God in the flesh, who became the final sacrifice and atonement for sin. The gift of life that I’m given is more than the ability to breathe, it’s my ability to serve. What a gift! For certain Macedonia was sharing the gift of the gospel, but they didn’t stop there. They knew their world needed Jesus, but perhaps before they could receive Him, they needed nourishment for the strength to go on. Yes, my community needs Jesus… but they may need their gas bill paid, or their lights turned on, or a turkey on the table for Christmas.

My Gifts need re-gifted.

Thank You Heavenly Father for the countless gifts I’ve received. Keep my eyes open, my heart willing and my hands ready to serve this Christmas.

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Things that Restore a Relationship

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on Things that Restore a Relationship

#thingsthatdestroysarelationship

Trending today on twitter ~ things that destroy a relationship

I find it somewhat odd that most everyone wants a great relationship with those they love but the media caters to anything but. Television, social media, print media and most all other forms of media have a fascination with promoting the worst of the worst. It’s a most definite trend for people young and old to make their heartaches known to the world on social media and then in the next post tell the world to mind their own business. What irony! And the end result of all that ranting is more heartache and a destroyed relationship, the very thing they didn’t want.

So… how do we not destroy our relationships?

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.

The greatest of the three is love, but love alone is not enough to keep from destroying a relationship else many couples would still be together; all three are crucial.

Faith

While a foundation in the faith of Christ Jesus is key to any good relationship, I have unfortunately witnessed many Christians with lousy relationships, in many of these cases I’ve seen that a relationship moving too fast destroys the entire relationship. Somewhere between “I do” and “I’m done” they lost faith in one another. I don’t throw stones; I may have the 33 year wedding anniversary tee shirt but it’s got some holes in it. But as I grow closer in my relationship with Christ, what I discover is my relationship with David grows closer too! We haven’t always been perfect, or anywhere close, but there are some things that have kept us together, and faith in each other is one of them.

Mariam Webster’s definition of faith is:

1)     Allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty. A fidelity to one’s promises,  sincerity of intentions

2)     Belief and trust in and loyalty to God: belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion; firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust.

3)     Something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

Can you see why it’s so important? Allegiance, fidelity and a sincerity of intentions… that’s what we all want! But we’re human, we let each other down, break our promises and sometimes our sincerity is about as real as a signature at the bottom of a letter to “To Whom it may concern.” I speak truth, do I not? But when faith in God comes into the picture we learn to trust Him to help us trust each other and it’s that “strong conviction” that will keep a relationship together in the toughest of times.

Hope

1)     To cherish a desire with anticipation; to desire with expectation of obtainment

2)     To expect with confidence: trust.

3)     To hope without any basis for expecting fulfillment

Sometimes that’s all we have. Faith appears to be gone, the “I love you’s” are no longer spoken, but we hope (a cherished desire) that a certain relationship will be mended. It would be a sad world without it. With it we can dream and imagine of that day when our relationship with that person is restored and whole again and with faith God can align all the circumstances for that very thing to happen. I have that “tee shirt” too.

Charity (love)

The greatest of these. And why is it the greatest? Because it is the foundation of both faith and hope.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have the ultimate relationship with both Him and those we love. He gave His Son for an example that we might understand loving people takes sacrifice.

How do we not destroy a relationship? We continually take an honest look at ourselves first and in so doing we’ll see that we’re messed up too. If Christ can give His life on the cross for us, surely it’s not too much to ask for a little compassion and understanding from us toward our family and friends.

#ThingsThatRestoreARelationship