kingdom

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). If you are like me, as you read the description of the Spirit’s fruit in Galatians 5—the character qualities manifested by the Holy Spirit—you are likely to throw up your hands and cry, “That’s an impossible standard!” But that’s the point! You can’t bear the fruit of the Spirit in your own strength. These character traits can be manifested in you only by the Holy Spirit. He can fill you daily with His presence and power. It is in yielding ourselves to God—readily admitting that in our own power we are not loving, not joyful, not at peace, not patient, not faithful, not kind, not good, not meek, not self-controlled—that He […]

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun” (Psalm 37:5-6). If we are living by the Spirit, then we will know how to respond to life when it turns upside down. We won’t give up when things get rough or we feel disillusioned. Instead, we will remain faithful to the course God has set before us. When David faced a tremendous threat from his enemies, he cried out to God, and the Lord answered him. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5) If David had abandoned all self-control, his enemies would have overthrown him. Instead, he waited on God’s deliverance. He knew that the Lord was his Rock and Redeemer. The […]

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). God wants to hear big prayers that seek to bring Him “renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations” (Jeremiah 33:9). Yes, God does want to hear our small prayers. He wants us to reveal our hearts to Him and share our concerns and hopes. Yet the prayers that seek to glorify God, to honor Him, to further the work of His Kingdom, to transform the hearts of nonbelievers, to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ, and to reveal His majesty—those are the prayers that are most powerful. God responds to a heart that is truly devoted to Him and in awe of Him. God knows every inner corner of our hearts. We do not fool Him by saying we want something for His glory when secretly our motivations are selfish. We do not fool Him […]

“Repentance for the poor in the spirit, for they are the angels of the heavens” (Matthew 5: 3) Poverty is not a common denominator. The difference that exists in it is far from God, and we do not know the nature of human beings. We are the poor souls in the spirit of the Holy Spirit. We cannot choose sincerity and penetration in the realm of personal interest without being poor in spirit. It is not possible to get rid of it, but it is possible to get rid of it. p> ِّنَّ الانكسار الذي نختبره عندما نقص خلاص المسلم على الدوم ، وعندما ننضج في اليمان And when we enjoy the life of our worlds, we return to the one and only source and the source of all blessings in our life, our hearts are filled with joy and happiness. Prayer: O Lord, I know that I do not list things without you. Thank you for your superiority over […]

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14, NKJV). Today, there are professing Christians who believe that being a good person is the path to salvation. They do not feel like they need someone to save them because their sins are nominal. It is enough that they attend church and have never committed “major” sins. They are perishing as they believe a lie. The Bible says that every one of the 7.9 billion people living today was born with sin. This sin was passed along to us genetically from Adam and Eve—the root of a sin system that exists in every person. Like Adam and Eve, we want to do things our way. We want to stay in charge of our lives while paying God lip service. We justify our sin and minimize its consequences. We hide from God and others in our shame. Instead of confessing our sin and turning to a […]

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Read Luke 19:1-10. There is a word that’s central to the Christmas story that many don’t want to hear. That word is sin. But Scripture is clear: Jesus came to save us from sin (see Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; 1 John 3:5). Today our culture doesn’t want to talk about sin. But to give in to culture’s demands to ignore the word sin would be scandalous in light of what Scripture says. Sin is not a toy; it is a tyrant. It has the strength of death, and its power has not lessened in all of human history. That is why the ultimate deception is to deny the existence and power of sin. Sin is real, and we are powerless to free ourselves from its grasp. But praise God He sent His Son on that first Christmas to bring us the only cure for sin: […]