The Chess Board of Faith

Christians nowadays are playing Russian Roulette...
With their questionable Faith acting like on a stage play;
Living like a Saint only on Sundays...
Playing in the Devil's playground on weekdays!

The Saints are now seen in the Temple of Hypocrisy...
Teaching the Word but living with the World in trickery;
There are wolves amongst the chosen sheep's of God...
Walking freely on the ground of Gilead!

Beware of those who said they are of God;
But their fruits are rotten on the tree of triad;
The Devil...the lies...the mockery...
True believers of Christ are seen through their fruits in Trinity!

The hands of the Devil are working too...
Grabbing those who are weak and doubtful with their Faith;
Snatching those who are sleeping with sin...
The King of the Damned is plotting without disdain!

The hands of God is cradling you...
But you choose to turned your back and to let go;
From the clasped of righteousness and Holiness...
You choose to participate and play on..

**Copy Written All Rights Reserved (c) Erah Oalind/Rhea Alidon 2014**

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ. 

Divine Illumination

TEXT: PSALM 119:17-24

Key Verse: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18). 

Charles H. Spurgeon said: “We would be abler teachers of others, and less liable to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, if we sought to have a more intelligent understanding of the Word of God. As the Holy Spirit, the Author of the Scriptures alone can enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly ask His teaching and His guidance unto all truth.”

“When the prophet Daniel sought to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, what did he do? He set himself to earnest prayer that God would open up the vision. Therefore, if you desire to be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,” remember that prayer is your best means of study. “Like Daniel, you shall understand the dream and its interpretation when you have sought God. You may force your way through many barriers to understanding with the leverage of prayer. Thoughts and reasoning are like the steel wedges which give a hold on truth, but prayer is the lever which forces open the treasure hidden within.”

The essence of this divine illumination propelled the psalmist in our text today to, among other things, offer a supplication to God for Him to open his eyes to behold wondrous things out of His law. The psalmist knew that God’s mind, which is revealed in the Scriptures, was deeper than the deepest ocean. Therefore, he prayed earnestly to God to show him the light in this strange and dangerous world of darkness.

A natural man, by nature, is blind to the things of God. There are wonderful things which God has hidden in the Scripture from the casual readers of the Bible. Yet, the same Bible passages give eternal life to those whose eyes are opened by God. He is ready to reveal more of Himself to you. But are you ready? Seek His face now in earnest prayer and He will bring divine illumination upon your life.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God’s word is the fountain of living waters to the sincere seeker. 

See more at: <<daily manna>>. Feel free to share and leave your comments and reactions. We would love to hear from you. God bless.

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ. 

The Secret Place

Come with me to the secret place, where I have found rest and contentment. In this secret place, everybody is welcomed. There are no persona-non-grata. Howbeit, the owner of the secret place might leave you wandering around or unattended to, if you are found wanting.

Many times you must have heard people talk about strong room or secret room. Better still, you are a friend to someone, who always resists your suggestion or attempt to use a particular spot in his house. Or you are a daughter or son from a wealthy background whose father or mother will yield to any request but one -- the secret place (the secret place in this context does not necessarily mean a diabolical room. It can be for any other purpose). If you are or not, you'll know that serious conditions are always attached to such spots.

Please don't be scared from following me to my own secret place. My own secret place is devoid of such stringent conditions. Anybody can come, at any time, at any day. You don't even need anybody to follow or guide you. You can always find your way there on your own. So fear not!

The secret place is indeed very secretive. It is you alone to your own fate. Nobody will question you why did you do that, why did you do this. But be warned, whenever your attitude fail to measure up to desired standard, the owner of the secret place might be deaf ear to you. Hence, exercise some form of courtesy.

What and where is the secret place? Who own the secret place? The word of God is the secret place. You can only find it when you go to the presence of God Himself. And of course, God is the owner of the secret place. So we are clear, isn't it? Shall we? Join me let's go together.

Knowing Him

Read the Scripture: Philippians 3:9-11

"I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death Phil 3:10"

Paul says he is quite ready to give up the usual status symbols of the Christian for the personal knowledge and friendship of Jesus Christ. This is not an academic subject. This is not a course in Christology or on the person of Christ. This is not knowing about Christ. This is knowing Him. As Paul Rees says, "Knowing about has value; knowing has vitality." This knowledge the apostle is talking about is not simply a casual contact now and then. You don't get to know your friends that way. The friends you know best are the ones you have spent most time with, or at least you have gone with through deep experiences.

This knowledge of Christ comes by continual sharing of experiences together. It comes by the two of us, Jesus and I, living our lives together, moment-by-moment sharing experiences. It comes by gazing on the face of Jesus Christ as he appears in the pages of scripture. It comes by allowing every circumstance to make us lean back on his adequate life, hiding nothing from his eyes, by bringing every friendship and every loyalty to his gaze, for his approval or disapproval, by walking every day reckoning upon him to be with us. That's the secret of a successful ministry.

That is exactly what Paul says comes of knowing Christ. First there is that "power of the resurrection." It is a risen Lord who dwells within us, and we have that power which is able to do in us "above all that we ask or think, according to that power which works in us." This is the power of Christ's resurrection. It is power that is perfectly adequate for every possible circumstance. It is confidently acting in full assurance that he is acting with us simultaneously, and that risen power is ours!

The second thing that stems from this knowledge of Christ is the "participation in his sufferings." The remarkable thing about the sufferings of Christ is that they are always for someone else, never for one's self. This is that compassion we all earnestly long for. It doesn't come by trying. It comes by knowing him; by simply entering into what he is to you. That makes you compassionate. This is the primary reason why Christians suffer. Not so much for you, but for others. Have you ever noticed that when a Christian gets desperately sick and he takes it as an opportunity to manifest the grace of Christ, that Christian becomes the center of victory and hope and blessing to everyone who visits him?

Then the last thing is, "becoming like him in his death." What does that mean? The death of Jesus Christ was the end of the old life of sin and self-pleasing. We know that there was no sin nor self-pleasing in his own life, but on that cross he was made to be all that we are, sinful and self-pleasing, and then it was put to death. The cross was the end of that. That is liberty, because for the first time if we accept this as being true, we are set free from our selfish, ease-loving, luxury-seeking. We are free to be real men, real women-uncluttered, if you like. Unbound, delivered, no longer constantly concerned about what happens to us, but only concerned about what happens to Christ.

What a ministry this is! What a marvelous ministry among people the apostle Paul had. Yet it is freely offered to every believer in Christ. I must stress, this is not achieved by trying, struggling, striving. It comes as a by-product of knowing Christ.

Copyright Raystedman Ministies | www.raystedman.org

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

I Gave My Life For Thee

I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,
That thou might ransomed be, and raised up from the dead
I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee, what hast thou given for Me?

My Father’s house of light, My glory circled throne
I left for earthly night, for wanderings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me?
I left, I left it all for thee, hast thou left aught for Me?

I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitterest agony, to rescue thee from hell.
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me?
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, what hast thou borne for Me?

And I have brought to thee, down from My home above,
Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love;
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me?
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, what hast thou brought to Me?

THE TRUTH MEDIA

..building the body of Christ.

The Challenge Of Faith

“Faith is the (substance) substantiating of things hoped for”.

"Substantiating" means that I have a certain power or faculty that makes that substance to be real in me.

... Of course we cannot substantiate Divine things with any of our natural senses; but there is one faculty which can substantiate the “things hoped for”, the things of Christ, and that is faith. Faith makes the real things to become real in my experience. Faith ‘substantiates’ to me the things of Christ. Hundreds of thousands of people are reading Romans 6:6: “Our old man was crucified with him”. To faith it is true; to doubt, or to mere mental assent apart from spiritual illumination, it is not true.

Let us remember again that we are dealing here not with promises but with facts. The promises of God are revealed to us by His Spirit that we may lay hold of them; but facts are facts and they remain facts whether we believe them or not. If we do not believe the facts of the Cross they still remain as real as ever, but they are valueless to us. It does not need faith to make these things real in themselves, but faith can ‘substantiate’ them and make them real in our experience.

Whatever contradicts the truth of God’s Word we are to regard as the Devil’s lie, not because it may not be in itself a very real fact to our senses but because God has stated a greater fact before which the other must eventually yield.

... As soon as we have accepted our death with Christ as a fact, Satan will do his best to demonstrate convincingly by the evidence of our day-to-day experience that we are not dead at all but very much alive. So we must choose. Will we believe Satan’s lie or God’s truth? Are we going to be governed by appearances or by what God says?

So whether I feel it or not, I am dead with Christ. How can I be sure? Because Christ has died; and since “one died for all, therefore all died” (2 Cor. 5:14). Whether my experience proves it or seems to disprove it, the fact remains unchanged. While I stand upon that fact Satan cannot prevail against me. Remember that his attack is always upon our assurance. If he can get us to doubt God’s Word, then his object is secured and he has us in his power; but if we rest unshaken in the assurance of God’s stated fact, assured that He cannot do injustice to His work or His Word, then it does not matter what tactics Satan adopts, we can well afford to laugh at him.

“We walk by faith, not by appearance” (2 Cor. 5:7, mg). You probably know the illustration of Fact, Faith and Experience walking along the top of a wall. Fact walked steadily on, turning neither to right nor left and never looking behind. Faith followed and all went well so long as he kept his eyes focused upon Fact; but as soon as he became concerned about Experience and turned to see how he was getting on, he lost his balance and tumbled off the wall, and poor old Experience fell down after him.

All temptation is primarily to look within; to take our eyes off the Lord and to take account of appearances. Faith is always meeting a mountain, a mountain of evidence that seems to contradict God’s Word, a mountain of apparent contradiction in the realm of tangible fact—of failures in deed, as well as in the realm of feeling and suggestion—and either faith or the mountain has to go.

They cannot both stand. but the trouble is that many a time the mountain stays and faith goes. That must not be. If we resort to our senses to discover the truth, we shall find Satan’s lies are often enough true to our experience; but if we refuse to accept as binding anything that contradicts God’s Word and maintain an attitude of faith in Him alone, we shall find instead that Satan’s lies begin to dissolve and that our experience is coming progressively to tally with that Word.

==Written by Watchman Nee ==

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

To Live Or Die?

Text: Philippians 1:19-26

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! Phil 1:21-22"

The Christian view of death is given in just four words in this passage: "with Christ, far better." That sums it up. But before we look closer at that, it's important that we see what this man's view of life is, because these are not the words of a man who is sighing after heaven but resigned to living on earth. This is not the utterance of someone who is fed up with living and couldn't take life any longer so now the only hope is that heaven is close at hand. For Paul, to live is Christ, and that is exciting! Living, he says, means fruitful labor, in which I can take the greatest delight. The prospect of continuing to live is not an unwelcome prospect here, in fact he says "I hardly know which to choose", both prospects are so enticing and inviting. The Christian is not so neurotically desirous of death that he no longer wants to live. We sometimes give the wrong impression. We sing these wonderful songs about the glory up there but sometimes, unfortunately, Christians leave the impression that this is really all they're living for is what comes at the end.

The Christian does not live with some unutterable longing to escape, to evade life, to run from it. No! Paul is not at all saying that! He says, "to live is Christ" — I love it! And evidently the Spirit of God tips the scale here in favor of life, so he goes on to say, "convinced of this I know that I shall remain, and continue with you all" — because you need me and I will have the joy of coming to you again. But facing the possibility of death does not mean he is tired of life, but that death can only mean a more wonderful and deeper companionship with Christ. That is what makes life worth living. He says, "to die is gain", and you can only say that if you are prepared to say, "to live is Christ"!

What do you think is really living? What kind of circumstance do you have to have before you can say "Oh, now I'm really living"? What do you substitute for "Christ" in these words of Paul? "To me to live is money"? Then to die is to lose it all, isn't it? "To me to live is fame"? To die is a name in the obituary in the paper and never have it there again. "To me to live is pleasure"? To die is to go out into an unknown. "To me to live is health"? To die is to lose my health. You see the only thing that makes sense in life is to say with the Apostle, "for me to live is Christ," because then you can say "to die is gain." The truth about the Christian faith is that heaven begins down here.

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

Adversity Means Advance

Text: Philippians 1:12-15 

 

"Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. Phil 1:12"

 

Paul is in jail in Rome, writing to his friends far across the sea in Philippi. He manifests a reaction that inevitably makes the world sit up and take notice. He understood that adversity means advance. The manifestation of this kind of attitude is a test of Christian maturity. The Christian who has become well enough acquainted with the God of the impossible whom he serves, knows that even through apparent defeat, God still is able to work. Such a Christian has begun to grow up in the Lord. He recognizes that in God obstacles are really opportunities, and nothing can really imperil the gospel. That is an amazing declaration when you think about it. Nothing that is intended to defeat ever brings defeat, that God works His way despite the obstacles, and all obstacles only serve ultimately to spread Christian faith.

I ran across the story of a Swiss French pastor who was imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II. He said this: "I was not able to stand firm except by remembering every day that the Gestapo was the hand of God — the left hand. The worst of tyrants will only end by accomplishing Christ's will."

That is the glorious mark of Christianity that has made it an invincible force through all the centuries. Here is Paul, under arrest, chained day and night to a Roman soldier, unable to leave the house or the city of Rome. Imagine what this must have meant to the restless, surging spirit of this man. God had sent him out under His commission that was to take him to the very ends of the earth.

It must have been easy for Paul to be discouraged. There is no doubt he was tempted many times to feel sorry for himself and to wonder why God would ever let this kind of thing happen to him when all he was trying to do was fulfill God's will. Do you ever feel that way? It must have been easy for him to chafe under these circumstances as month by month goes grinding on and there seems to be no change. But as we read the letters that come from him out of those days there is not one word of complaint. Instead there is a marvelously triumphant spirit, and an expression of confidence. Why? When he was tempted he undoubtedly fell back on what he knew about his God. In other words, in the face of temptation to fret and chafe, he believed God.

Earlier he had written to these very Roman Christians with whom he was now meeting. "All things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose." He believed that! Even though the immediate hour didn't bring relief, he believed Him, and out of that confidence he could see that even those things that seem to be against him are working out the purposes of God.

Copyright| Ray Stedman Ministries | www.raystedman.org

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

Fear Not, I Am With Thee

“Fear not, I am with thee“;
Blessed golden ray,
Like a star of glory,
Lighting up my way!
Through the clouds of midnight,
This bright promise shone,
“I will never leave thee,
Never will leave thee alone.”

No, never alone,

No, never alone;

He promised never to leave me,

Never to leave me alone;

No, never alone,

No, never alone;

He promised never to leave me,

Never to leave me alone.

Roses fade around me,
Lilies bloom and die,
Earthly sunbeams vanish—
Radiant still the sky!
Jesus, Henna-flower,
Blooming for His own,
Jesus, heaven’s sunshine,
Never will leave me alone.

Steps unseen before me,
Hidden dangers near;
Nearer still my Savior,
Whispering, “Be of cheer“;
Joys, like birds of springtime,
To my heart have flown,
Singing all so sweetly,
“He will not leave me alone.”

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.

God Can Heal You

TEXT: LUKE 13:11-22

Key verse: “And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God” (Luke 13:12,13). 

Dr. Will Mayo, one of the founders of Mayo Clinic Minnesota, United States of America told a story of some patients who were miraculously healed. He said: “We knew they could not live. But I have seen a minister come to the bedside and do something for them that I could not do, although I had done everything in my professional power, but something touched some immortal spark in them and in defiance of medical knowledge and materialistic common sense, that patient lived.” 

That was the healing power of God. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, who came to give life in abundance, manifested His healing virtue upon the woman with the spirit of infirmity. When He encountered her, He loosed her from an eighteen-year infirmity. Not even the hypocritical upbraiding of the ruler of the synagogue, who took offense that the woman was healed on the Sabbath day, could dampen Christ’s compassion for her. If men could feed their animals on the Sabbath day, why would this long-suffering woman not be healed on the same day?

Much to the joy of the crowd, Christ illustrated the benefits inherent in the kingdom of God with the grain of mustard seed, which could grow into a great tree, with branches spread far and wide, and providing succour for needy birds. Similarly, He spoke about leaven, which, when used for baking bread, could permeate a bowl of flour and turn it into a big meal. Such is the influence of the grace of God in the lives of men.

Jesus cares for you. He is interested in your spiritual, physical and material well-being. He saves from sin, heals all sicknesses and diseases and delivers from all infirmities. Whatever affliction you may be suffering today, whatever infirmity, sickness or disease you may have been coping with all these years, Jesus is able to take it away. Pray to Him and you will not be disappointed.

THOUGHT FOR THE YOU: God heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.

-See more: <<Daily Manna>> and feel free to share and leave your comments and reactions.

THE TRUTH MEDIA

...building the body of Christ.