Quotes

The Heart's Intention

 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

This was the words Samuel heard when he had to anoint the new King of Israel!  Look closely at what is happening in the world today... or lets even narrow it down to relationships.  There is so many fights and arguments and most of these are the result of a simple misunderstanding.  See we as humans look at acts, deeds, what the flesh is doing... but we forget that there is a heart and intentions behind everything being done!  We do not know the thoughts of the person next to us... and fact of the matter is, we all think differently.  In this way someone can have good acts but do it with evil or impure intentions.  In the same case someone can act offensively... yet he or she did so without the intention to offend and with a pure and upright heart.

Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

God does not look at what we as humans see but he searches the heart and intentions behind it.  That is why God is also the one judging and not us.  Maybe its time we start stepping into line instead of accusing ans speaking outside of our pay grade!  We are dealing with a living God here and the last thing we want to do is falsely accuse any of His children for what you do unto them you also do unto Me! (Matthew 25:40).  So when someone acts in a certain way, lets always and under all circumstances... expect the best of intentions behind it.  Lets love one another and keep from judging but accept everyone the way they are. 

Christ's Check

A man told a story of how his son was on his way to collage.  This son had a request however.  He asked his dad if he can also have his name on his parent's credit card.  Now this means their son will have full access to the entire households funds.  The reason for his request was not to party or to buy up property... but it was for emergencies.  For in in case his car broke down, he will have the finances to fix it even thou he is far from home.  Trusting that he will use the authority responsibly the added his name to the credit card as well.  This is exactly what Jesus did!

1 John 3:1 "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him."

We are sons of the living God.  The creator of everything we see around us is our Father and we are in His bloodline and His genealogy!

Romans 8:17 "and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We have authority on earth granted to us by the blood of Christ.  Bear in mind that it has been given to us by grace and therefore it is not our legal right to demand it!  Like the story... the son had to use this authority in the way that represented his father... and since we know that our God is life and light, we aught to use our authority in the same manner... to build up and no to restore!

Testimonies

Healed from Deafness, Fibromyalgia and Other Diseases

Lars, BEd - Coffs Harbour, Australia

Hi, My name is Lars and I would like to tell you how God miraculously healed my friend Rebecca from a whole list of diseases, including deafness, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, tinnitus, and rhinitis.

Rebecca went to school with Claudia and Billy, who had been Christians for a long time in our Assembly. Shortly after getting to know them Rebecca’s parents told her to not get involved with them, because they thought that they were part of a cult, which didn’t stop Rebecca though and a good friendship developed between them. Over the years they lost touch though, as Rebecca had moved to Dunfermline by the time she was 19, in order to study.

At that time she was deaf in her right ear: She suffered from congenital sensory neural hearing loss. The doctors had discovered it when she was 4 years old, and by the time she was in her teens she had to start wearing a hearing aid. She was diagnosed with fibromyalgia when she was 14, although she had suffered from it as well as many other health conditions for some time before. Some of these include: chronic fatigue syndrome, TMJD (jaw joint pain), epicondylitis (tennis elbow), patellofemoral syndrome(housemaid’s knee), irritable bowel syndrome, tinnitus, and rhinitis.

At 19 she was already so sick that it became impossible for her to live a normal life

Until Rebecca was 19 she had managed to live with her health the way it was. It was always a struggle but somehow she still managed to go to school, go to work, and have a social life. But then, not long after moving to Dunfermline she became really sick. The pain became so severe, and the tiredness so overwhelming that she could hardly get out of bed. Soon it became impossible for her to live a normal life. The pain and tiredness became so debilitating that her studies suffered and she struggled to cope with her part time job. On top of this she had developedglossopharyngeal neuralgia, which is when an artery and a nerve lean on one another at the back of the brain; this caused such excruciating pain, it was as if being stabbed directly through the left ear into the head. There were occasional good days when she could go out for a small walk, however most of the time she was bed-ridden.

If you have suffered with any of these health conditions or similar ones you will understand the extreme pain and discomfort she was in. In order to cope with the pain she went to hospital for steroid injections and was also taking many different types of strong painkillers and sedatives including tramadol (morphine based) and diazepam. Additionally, she was also taking strong anti-inflammatory drugs such as arthrotec, which gave her stomach ulcers. With regards to the glossopharyngeal neuralgia, the doctors wanted to operate: opening up her skull and putting a tiny piece of cushion in between the artery and nerve in her brain. This was to try and eliminate the pain altogether, and there was an 80% chance that the operation would be a success.

she felt trapped and being cut off from the world

By this stage she had lost all her ambitions, felt trapped and being cut off from the world: She did not have a social life anymore, had to give up her studies and her part time job, too. The doctors said she would never get better and she went and saw a psychologist because of the depression and desperation she was in. Her daily thoughts consisted of “How can this be?” “What did I do to deserve this?” and “Is there any point anymore?”

When she was at her lowest she was plagued with permanent thoughts of suicide. She had to move back in at her parents’ place, as she could no longer live by herself anymore. That’s when she started crying out to God and wanted to get in touch with her friend Claudia again. A couple of weeks after being back at her parents place she bumped into Claudia, who then eventually invited her for to come along to a church meeting. This was where I met Rebecca for the first time. Rebecca told us how much at home she felt with us and due to her sickness it was another few weeks before she could come again. During this meeting we talked about the power of God and that God wants people to be healthy and expects his followers to pray for the sick. We read many scriptures like MARK 16:15-20,ISAIAH 53:5, MATTHEW 4:23, and HEBREWS 13:8 and explained them.

The power of God healed her from EVERYTHING!

Many people received prayer in that meeting and Rebecca asked for prayer for her glossopharyngeal neuralgia she suffered from. We laid hands on her and prayed in Jesus’ name (MARK 16:18). She was initially still in pain, as if somebody stabbed through her ear, but the moment she stepped outside as she left the meeting the pain completely went; for the first time in 3.5 years and to this day the pain has never come back. She realised that God is real and came back the following week, despite her parents threatening her to chuck her out if she went again. We happened to have a prayer night that Friday and led Rebecca through the Scriptures about how to be saved. We looked at Scriptures concerning baptism by immersion and Rebecca then asked to be baptized, which we did straight away in the upstairs bathtub . Afterwards we looked at some Scriptures about receiving the Holy Spirit (ACTS 2:4, LUKE 11:13), and we then laid hands on her and asked God to fill her with the Holy Spirit. As a result she then started to speak in new tongues and was born again.

We then laid hands on her again and asked God to heal her completely, from the whole list of health problems she suffered with, including the deafness in her right ear and God healed her immediately, from everything! Straight after I talked into her right ear she almost jumped up because it was so loud. The whole right side of her world had become alive with sound! She was no longer deaf and got rid of her hearing aid. The fibromyalgia had gone as well and all the pain she had suffered for years had just disappeared. She said she just felt like running, as she was so full of energy. To top it all off that night, for the first time in a long time she managed to sleep.

Love in Christ,
Lars
 

In His Footsteps

Have you witnessed a little boy walking on the beach with his dad.  It is interesting how the little boy wants to walk in his father's footsteps.  Sometimes he will have to really stretch his steps to fit into that of his dad's but he will go through effort to do so since his father is his role model.  God made us sons by the blood of Jesus Christ.  With this in mind we know that we are in a Godly bloodline

John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father."

It is amazing that this is what Jesus preached!  Think of the miracles, signs and wonders!  Think of the difference Jesus made in the people's lives that he touched.  The question is how do we start, and where?

John 5:19 "So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise." 

 Jesus did nothing on His own accord but was in all circumstances absolutely obedient.  We have an entire book filled with testimonies of who and what God is.  Following in His footsteps will have an impact on the people and things around us much further than our minds can perceive.  Lets love like our God loves and lets act the way our God acts.  In this we can be an example to the believers and without a word said... we can live the gospel we so steadfastly preach!

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