Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
Take up Your Cross!
The phrase "Taking up your cross" or "This is my cross," is a phrase used loosely amongst many in today's Christian church. It is a phrase however, that is used out of context of the true meaning of the phrase of the phrased as used by Jesus. Today people apply this phrase to say something like, " Oh, I am a paraplegic. This is my cross that I will have to carry for the rest of my life." This phrase is given to mean many other types of illnesses, deformities, pains etc. "This is the cross that I have to bear."
When Jesus said to His disciples to take up your cross, none of them according to scripture were burdened by any ongoing maladies.
A Biblical definition of what it is to take up your cross is given in 2 Cor. 4:8-11. I like the New Living Translation to this passage because it paints a clear picture of the suffering a true disciple goes through because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles …Mehr

WHAT IF JESUS HAD NEVER BEEN BORN
(taken from www.thewordswithin.org)
Gal 4:4-7
4But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
NKJV
Many of us have seen the movie shown every year called “It’s A Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. His character’s name was George Bailey. In this movie, George, as a young boy, dreams of seeing the world. But this dream never came true. Instead he inherited the family business. In this show his uncle misplaces $8,000. After a frantic search, George is heard saying; “I wish I had never been born.” His reasoning was that, he would be better off dead than alive.
As the movie continues, George is given the …Mehr

(Quelle: www.katholisch-leben.org)
Wahre Jüngerschaft
Was ist ein Jünger?
Kurz gesagt ein Schüler oder ganz einfach jemand, der dem Beispiel eines Lehrers folgt und sich dessen Lehren zueigen macht.
Jünger gab es auch schon im Alten Testament, wo sie Propheten gefolgt sind:
“Ich will diese Warnung sorgfältig bewahren und die Lehre in meinen Jüngern wie mit einem Siegel verschließen.” (Jes 8,16 – Einheitsübersetzung)
Auch in 2 Kön 2,7 lesen wir von “Prophetenjüngern”.
In ähnlichem Sinn sind auch Verse wie Sprichwörter 4,1 (Einheitsübersetzung) zu verstehen: “Ihr Söhne, hört auf die Mahnung des Vaters, merkt auf, damit ihr Einsicht lernt.” Wenn wir ins Neue Testament sehen, so hatte zum Beispiel Johannes der Täufer Jünger: “Am Tag darauf stand Johannes wieder dort und zwei seiner Jünger standen bei ihm.” (Joh 1,35 – Einheitsübersetzung) Aber auch die Pharisäer hatten Jünger: “Sie veranlassten ihre Jünger, zusammen mit den Anhängern des Herodes zu ihm zu gehen…” (Mt 22,16 – Einheitsübersetzug) …Mehr

(Quelle: www.katholisch-leben.org)
Wahre Jüngerschaft
Was ist ein Jünger?
Kurz gesagt ein Schüler oder ganz einfach jemand, der dem Beispiel eines Lehrers folgt und sich dessen Lehren zueigen macht.
Jünger gab es auch schon im Alten Testament, wo sie Propheten gefolgt sind:
“Ich will diese Warnung sorgfältig bewahren und die Lehre in meinen Jüngern wie mit einem Siegel verschließen.” (Jes 8,16 – Einheitsübersetzung)
Auch in 2 Kön 2,7 lesen wir von “Prophetenjüngern”.
In ähnlichem Sinn sind auch Verse wie Sprichwörter 4,1 (Einheitsübersetzung) zu verstehen: “Ihr Söhne, hört auf die Mahnung des Vaters, merkt auf, damit ihr Einsicht lernt.” Wenn wir ins Neue Testament sehen, so hatte zum Beispiel Johannes der Täufer Jünger: “Am Tag darauf stand Johannes wieder dort und zwei seiner Jünger standen bei ihm.” (Joh 1,35 – Einheitsübersetzung) Aber auch die Pharisäer hatten Jünger: “Sie veranlassten ihre Jünger, zusammen mit den Anhängern des Herodes zu ihm zu gehen…” (Mt 22,16 – Einheitsübersetzug) …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
Are You Prepared?
WHAT A DAY, THAT WILL BE
WHEN MY JESUS, I SHALL SEE
O' WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY THAT WILL BE
[Words & Music: Jim Hill, Ben Speer Music ICG]
These words from the Hymn have played many a time in my mind as of of late. I sing these words over and over, never tiring of them, because I long indeed for the day, when my Jesus I shall see.
The world is a stage Elvis Presley once said in a song many years ago. The chess board is set, the pieces are moving, it is only time before the things of this world will fall, as does the king and queen on the board. All the things in the political, and economic world are pointing to a collapse of this worlds system. Most of the world is aligning itself against Israel as prophesied in scripture. When this happens, a one world government along with a one world religion and a one world currency will be put in place by the Anti-Christ empowered by Satan himself. All this also is prophesied in scripture. Whether …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
Knowing God Through Zechariah (Part 1)
In 520 BC, Israel’s condition was somewhat similar as it is today
She was a small nation without a temple & surrounded by powerful enemies in need of spiritual renewal
Let us review briefly Israel’s history.
In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar with his Babylonian army invaded Israel. During this invasion they took the finest young men back to Babylon.
Those who remained behind continued living as before.
In 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar returned to quell the futile revolt of some Jewish dissidents. At this time many were killed and again many were taken away. At this time again, Neb. Installed a 21 year old king named Zedekiah who was a descendant of David. All remained peaceful for about 10 years until in 587 BC Zedekiah persuaded by false prophets made an alliance with Egypt to fortify Jerusalem, thus breaking his agreement of loyalty to Babylon. Thus angered, Nebuchadnezzar returned again laying siege that lasted some 18 months. …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
How is your walk with God doing these days?
Scripture tells us that Enoch walked with God. Gen. 5:24 What does it mean to walk with God? How does one walk with God?
When you are Friends with someone, you usually spend lots of time with them. You will often like doing many things that they also like doing. And you will spend a lot of quality time doing things together. To develop a friendship with someone you need to spend time walking and talking with them as well.
However in order to become Friends with someone you need also to earn their respect. That is, the way you behave will show them if you are a man of integrity. A man of integrity is a man whom is honest, trustworthy, reliable etc. You will never earn ones respect if you are a liar, cheat, unreliable, dishonest etc.
What is integrity after all you may ask? You could say that Integrity is to ha good moral values, to be righteous, honest, trust worthy, reliable, to always do what is right. I …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
PEER PRESSURE
What is peer pressure? Peer pressure is a strong feeling of pressure being felt from someone, or a group of people of your own age group, that influences you, pushes you towards making decisions to do the same as others are doing, whether good or bad. When these pressures come, you feel a strong desire to make a choice to either follow or do the same as others or to say no and not follow what others are doing.
One type of peer pressure is known as spoken or direct pressure. This type of peer pressure happens when someone asks you, or suggests you do something in which you are forced to make a choice to either say yes or no. To do as others are doing, or to say no, and not follow and do as others are doing.
Here are a few examples of spoken peer pressure which happens often all around very often. Suppose for example someone asks you to break some windows at an abandoned warehouse just for fun. They might say something like; “If you don’t …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
What is Faith?
The Israelites Escape Egypt - The last Plague
Last week you looked at the plagues that God inflicted on Egypt to demonstrate His power and show them that He is God.
What were the Plagues God sent to the people of Egypt?
-Turned the water (Nile River) into blood
-sent swarms of frogs, lice and flies
-all the Egyptians cattle, horses, sheep, camels and donkeys died -The Egyptians plagued with Boils -and then a hail storm -a swarm of locuts who would eat the crops ( vegetables) - and three days of darkness This week we will look at the last Plague. In all of the plagues thus far, were the people required to do anything to keep safe from the plagues? No, they were not. God sent the plagues only to the Egyptians\ Up to this point the people of Israel were protected from the plagues and the Israelites were not required to do anything or to have any faith that God would take care of them. All they had to do was sit back and watch. They watched …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
As for Me and My House
All throughout scripture we are admonished to discipline ourselves to live a godly life, not a worldly life. Yes, we live in the world, but the ways of the world, (the ways of the ungodly), are not the ways of God. They lead to destruction. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23 KJV
The author of the Proverbs reminds us that, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12 KJV
In fact the proverbs are replete with comparisons of the ways of the righteous and the ways of the unrighteous. They are replete with the ways of good and evil.
We would do well to meditate upon the scriptures. To meditate on the scriptures is to stop. To consider, think, weigh in the balance of its words, upon the Word of God.
To meditate upon scripture is not trhe same as the pagans who meditate in a trance like state, in an …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
The Walk of The Believer -Ephesians 4:1-3
What does it mean to walk the “Christian Walk”?
You have probably heard it said; “Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk as well.” This phrase is common in many areas of society, whether it be in our jobs, at school, in sports, or whatever. What it means is if you are going to participate in such and such, do whatever it is you are going to do in such a manner that you bring honour to whatever it is you are involved in. Don’t go at it half way, give it your best shot, do the best you can do at whatever it is you are involved in. It is all well to talk big saying I am real good at….. But do your actions back up your mouth? As a youth I often heard it said that talk is cheap, which is another way of saying something like, your actions don’t back up your mouth.
In the Christian life, we also should back up our mouths with our actions. There are many nominal Christians out in the world who are good at talking …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
Feed My Sheep
I recently watched a movie about a church which had grown quite large, not only in attendance, but also financially. It had become not just a church, but a business with shareholders etc. With this huge growth it had visions of spreading globally so that the sermons and other outreach programs could be viewed world wide. It had visions of doing the Lord’s work by dumping big money into big projects to help lots of people at one time.
All this sounds wonderful, but it was a lost church. Much like some of the churches written in Revelations by the apostle John. Jesus said that they were rich in many ways, but they were also very poor, because they had lost their first love. The church in the movie looked great from the outside attempting to do the work of the Lord. It was a big church, with a big congregation, a big steeple on top, televised all across the nation and to other countries. Oh sure it was rich, but Jesus would say it was poor …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
An Attitude of Gratitude
Have you noticed these past many years, that the newest generation, I call the "Me" generation, seems to be a "thankless generation." I am not painting all as thankless, but there does seem to be a prevalence of this kind of attitude. Just watch wherever you go for a few days and see if this is not so. Many from the bygone days are also thankless. It always annoys me when you do a good deed for someone, and they can't be bothered to say thank you.
Perhaps the reason for this attitude is because God has been taken out of the schools, courts etc It's a wonder than "In God We Trust." has not yet been removed from American money.
Well, I suppose that would explain why there are so many thankless people out there. After all, if God is no longer welcome in our countries, the natural tendency to have a good attitude also went out the door with God. We need not look too far to see that the morals that came with the first settlers to …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
Don't Give up the Fight!
I would like to encourage you all the more to continue and not give up the fight. We can never understand why God allows us to go through tough long fights, and why He just does not clean us up and change us in a snap.
We may never know those answers on this side of eternity. But this we do know about Him. He is all knowing, omniscient and His love for us is beyond any standard that we could measure His love for us. He wants us to stand beside Him and He wants us to continually rely on Him for all our needs, emotionally, spiritually and physically. He has told us that He will supply all our needs. We need not question Him but all we need to do is to trust Him at His Word.He never lies and His Word is truthful.
Ps. 33:4; Ps. 119:160; John 17:17; 1 Thes. 2:13
It is hard to trust anyone else and even Him at times, because our inner old man always is fighting the newer man that He is changing us into.
Remember to that we have a foe …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
Governing (Bridling) the Tongue James 3:1-12
(Watch Your Words)
There is a story about a woman in an Indian village that maliciously gossiped about another lady and her family in the village.
A day came along when she realized that she was totally wrong about this lady & her family & had a change of heart.
She went to the wise man of the village and asked what she could do to undo the damage that she had done.
The wise man told her to go home & kill all her chickens & then pluck all the feathers from the chickens and put them in a bag.
After doing that, she was to go back & see the wise man, but on her way back to see him, she was to scatter all the feathers that she had plucked. The lady left & did all she was told to do. When she got back to the wise man he told her to now go back & pick up all the feathers that had been scattered. Needless to say, the woman was rather confused by this strange command. Because by now the wind would have scattered all …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
Hope
When I think of the word "hope", I think of the word: “maybe." Why, because the word hope paints the desire for something wished for, but may not happen. My dictionary defines the word hope as; "to want or wish for something with a feeling of confident expectation." Synonyms for the word hope are expectation, optimism. All of the words give me a slight negative connotation, like "maybe".
Do you see what I mean? When I think of the word hope, I think of an expectation of something that may happen, but may not. Which brings me back to the word maybe. Maybe’s synonyms include the words feasibly, perchance, and possibly. All of these words give me the feeling of a 50-50 chance, or a 25-75 chance etc. If I were a betting man, which I am not, those kinds of odds don’t exactly leave me with a feeling confident of expectancy. These odds are like the weather forecast often. The weather report may say there is a 50 or maybe a 45 % chance of rain. Well, if …Mehr

Taken from www.thewordswithin.org
The Walk of The Believer -Ephesians 4:1-3
What does it mean to walk the “Christian Walk”?
You have probably heard it said; “Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk as well.” This phrase is common in many areas of society, whether it be in our jobs, at school, in sports, or whatever. What it means is if you are going to participate in such and such, do whatever it is you are going to do in such a manner that you bring honour to whatever it is you are involved in. Don’t go at it half way, give it your best shot, do the best you can do at whatever it is you are involved in. It is all well to talk big saying I am real good at….. But do your actions back up your mouth? As a youth I often heard it said that talk is cheap, which is another way of saying something like, your actions don’t back up your mouth.
In the Christian life, we also should back up our mouths with our actions. There are many nominal Christians out in the world who are good at talking …Mehr