Don't get distracted but endure

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12

As believers we must be continuing in our faith so that we may grow and mature in it (see my blog on maturing here). To continue in our faith we must endure temptation which means we may suffer and it may be long suffering but whatever it is we must endure, we must not get distracted by the temptation, we must not give into the temptation but we must endure it. It may be hard but there is a reward for enduring the temptation which surpasses the hardship of the endurance. This reward is the crown of life and it is promised to those who love him.

As believers who love Christ this verse can be helpful in times of suffering which requires endurance - just imagine receiving the crown of life promised by the Lord to you because you love him and endured temptation for His name's sake. Let us pray the to the Lord that we will not fall into temptation but rather we would endure it for His name's sake. Take time out to understand this prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and then when you're ready pray it to God who will hear you in Heaven do not pray it as a repetition but pray it out of a genuine heart to do His will.

God bless you,

Jaleen :)

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Good news: yes, YOU can be saved too!

THE FALL (sin separates man from God)

1. Adam was the first human being and together with his wife Eve they sinned against God by going against God's command and we all were born into sin from this point. (see Genesis 3:6)

2. We are all sinners and we all willingly sinned we loved it (see John 3:19)

3. Our sin separates us from the loving God (Romans 3:23)

            

 THE GOSPEL (the good news)

1. God because He is full of love gave his only begotten Son who payed the price for every sin that we ever committed and will ever commit.

2. If you repent (turn away from pursuing sin and start pursuing Jesus) and believe in Jesus by faith you will be saved. (see John 3:16)

3. And to them who receive Him, Jesus gave you the right to become sons of God! (see John 1:12)

There was no other way for us to be saved no way and God did not have to provide a way rather out of his love and his abundant grace and mercy gave His own son for us.You have been given a free ticket to life will you accept it or reject it?

The choice is yours.

God bless you,

Jaleen :)

The storm of life

24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. Luke 8:22-25

In Luke 8:22-25 the disciples encounter a storm, despite the fact that some of them were  fishermen which means they had been at sea many times, the disciples were described as being in jeopardy. (see Luke 8:23) See it doesn't matter how experienced we are at things sometimes experience doesn't cut it. We cannot control the waves and turn of every point of our lives as much as we think we can or as experienced as we think we are we will always fall short. For example, if you have an athlete who is competing in a sport lets say racing, they are experienced in this area, they train, they eat well, they get enough sleep and then the big day comes it only takes one unfortunate event such as an injury to destroy all their efforts and the situation becomes a disaster. You see no-one can plan the direction of their life. No one can eliminate all their weaknesses likewise no-one can control the storms of life only Jesus can, its not about us controlling the storm our way no matter how much we know or think we know by experience (i.e. to remove the injury) Jesus brings calm in a completely different way and by a different approach and that is by faith in Him not what we see and it is only Jesus who is capable of producing a great calm from a raging storm. (Luke 8:24)

When we trust Jesus through whatever we are going through (life) by faith and give Him our all, He will produce a great calm even if the way does not seem most favorable, remember as believers we live by faith and not sight. (see 2 Corinthians 5:7)

God bless you

Jaleen :) 

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Consistency

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 

Matthew 4:1-2

I know something that I struggle with is consistency and its not good to be inconsistent. As believers we are called to be consistent in our faith to endure trials, resist temptations, to be fervent in prayer and to continuously rejoicing.

Jesus demonstrates the perfect example of consistency in Matthew 4:1-11.

Throughout His life, Jesus is consistent in prayer, teaching, love, perseverance and faith just to name a few. Even though He came to earth fully human He was perfect and consistent in every way. This passage shows that He was consistent in overcoming temptation, consistent in God and consistent in faith. He was not overcome by evil but consistently overcame evil with good, as we are called to do (see Romans 12:2). When you feel inconsistent or as if you are not worth enough there is only one person we need to look to and that is Jesus. Maybe you are thinking but how? In a world jam-packed with all its evil wordly desires that are the opposite of what God requires how can we keep our eyes focused on Jesus. By prayer and spending time rooted in his word. Instead of seeking all the wordly desires which will never fill you spend time with God. Read devotions, listen to sermons that truly preach the Gospel and have thier foundation in the Bible, but most importantly pray God is full of grace and mercy waiting for you to come with loving arms but don't take this for granted there comes a time when He is coming back to judge, he is loving and has been patient with you. (see 2 Peter 3:9) Its your choice let Jesus in, believe in Him today. Time is running out.

God bless, Jaleen.  

 Please make time to watch this youtube sermon 

 God speaking through His servant I was really convicted by it and God wants you to be saved from the wrath to come.

Click here for more about Christianity or if you want to be saved!

Are you Maturing?

11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:11-14

To grow and mature in our faith and our walk with Christ as believers in Jesus we need to be actively practicing what we have learnt from God's word and applying it to our lives. The first stage we make is to accept the foundations of God's word to become a believer and that is the great Gospel (see John 3:16) in doing this we then live to serve God. The Holy Spirit guides us and shows us our need for Christ and shows us truths about Him. To grow as believers we need to feed of the word and keep applying it to each and every area of our lives. An analogy which helped me was this: Imagine a new born baby it must keep feeding off its milk to grow and as it does so it gets an appetite for the milk. This principle can be applied to us as believers, the more we read and feed of the word applying it to our lives the more we will grow and get a spiritual appetite for God's word. (see 1 Peter 2:2-3) We need to replace worldly desires (jealousy, malice,lying etc) that stunt our growth (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-3) with God's word and the application of it to our lives. Discernment is key for distinguishing between what is right and wrong and if you feel you don't have this quality then pray to God to give you wisdom and discernment. Let us come to God for forgiveness confessing our sins and asking him for wisdom and discernment so that we can use them to bring glory to God in our lives and fulfill his will. (James 5:16)

Be blessed,

Jaleen :)

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Lessons from a dream

I had a dream today (16th Sept 2014) and I just felt the LORD showed me a lot of things. God told me to share this so I jotted some of the things down and then backed it up with Scripture as led by God.

1. Bad company will ruin your walk with God which can make you backslide and hinder your walk with God and if you are not moving forward in your walk with God you are treading a dangerous path so pray about striving towards God and for any obstacles to be removed from your life.

1 Corinthians 15:33 
Do not be misled. "Bad company corrupts good character."
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2. Don't take for granted what you have been given it can all be taken away in a matter of seconds. Make up in your mind you will serve God because He is the only one who doesn't change. I know this can be hard, but our circumstances and emotions should not determine our walk with God. (This one convicts me so much!)

2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be prepared in and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction.
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3. Test all things and use God's word to guide you. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you and to convict you of the things that don't please Him and follow His leading as it is true and sincere and derived from the word of God.

Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Galatians 5:16
So I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
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4. Read and remain in the word of God because all God's laws are true and sincere.

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in all righteousness
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5. Stand up for Jesus even if you are standing alone, do not try to please the crowd because this leads to idolatry and leads to putting people before God. Evil days are among us but reject evil and stay firm in the faith.

Ephesians 5:16
making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.

Matthew 7:21
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
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6. Flee from lust and useful passions. This isn't easy because it seems as the majority of the world are promoting lust and engaging in sexual activity and it can be hard for teens and young adults especially but we are called to be different. And I want you to be encouraged by the verse below and the fact that this world is SO temporary and God is so faithful He will keep you if you let Him keep striving to Him and keep praying to Him, He hears every one of them.

Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and only few find it.
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Jaleen :)
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Feeling far from God?

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

For Christians who have been saved through Christ the verse above can be the most comforting and reassuring when going through many trials, attacks and tribulation as I know it has been many times in my own walk. God's love can protect us from anything it is so wonderful to know that no matter how unloved or far from God we may feel His love has the power to exceed it all. God's love has been shown to everyone in the world since the beginning of time and He has given every being an opportunity to be saved from sin. It doesn't matter how big our sin is Jesus already knew all the sins you would commit in your lifetime as He came to earth to give his life as a living sacrifice for us all, yes that includes you. (see Romans 6:10) But how will we react to this opportunity? The Bible gives us two ways we will either accept and believe by faith that Jesus has washed all our sins away and stop serving sin by doing so we will cross from death to life (see John 5:24) or we will reject this offer and be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. (see Revelation 20:15) There is no middle ground you cannot be in the middle, you are either saved or not, there is NO lukewarm stage that is to not be saved. (see Revelation 3:16)

You can be saved though by believing by faith in Jesus Christ that his sacrifice was enough to cleanse us from our sin and then turn away from our sin to serve Christ - repentance and belief (see John 3:16)

As Christians though who have these beautiful promises that we can never be separated from God we must not use this as an excuse to be lazy, we need to keep drawing near to God in prayer despite the attacks and we must be careful because we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (see Phillipians 2:12) so that we do not get distracted or deceived and lose our way. (see Matthew 24:24)

A helpful verse for me to remember is though I am free to make choices. Not everything is beneficial (see 1 Corinthians 10:23) and the best thing is to be in God's will and led by the Holy Spirit.

Be encouraged,

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Don't look back!

But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:26

In this passage Lot, his wife and his two daughters were told to flee from the wicked Sodom and Gomorrah by two angels because the Lord was going to destroy it (see Genesis 19:13)

When I was reading this chapter the other day God showed me something I didn't realize before. How many times we look back at past sins or our sinful past in general and think that we are missing out or whatever else could have been if we continued in our sin when we clearly know that the end of that path is destruction? But this is a tactic of the enemy. When God has instructed us to do something, we may have to change seasons and a change definitely takes place as we transfer from sin to God. So why are we still looking back as if we want to walk back in our old ways of life? We cannot make progress with God if we are still longingly looking at our sin even though we might not boldly declare to participate in it we need to make sure our hearts are not clinging onto sin but are grasping onto God by faith in the sacrifice that Christ made and all that He has achieved for us. We need to be rejoicing always in our new way of life and in the fact that Jesus has bought us eternal redemption. (see Philippians 4:4-8) If we still want sin or hold onto it we cannot be for God. (see Matthew 6:24)

It is so important to be content in God and to be walking with Him daily, renewing our minds too so that we do not give into sin and temptation. God is faithful and He promises to help us always. (see 1 Corinthians 10:13)

So let us pray for a heart that desires what God desires and that what breaks God's heart would also break ours. Let us pray that we will stay in God's will and let go of any sin no matter how pleasurable it is to us and for the Holy Spirit to govern our thoughts and actions forevermore, in Jesus' name, Amen.

God answers prayer and He answers it in a loving way (see Matt 7:9-11)

He is a loving and patient Savior who doesn't want anyone to perish which is why He has given us this moment to repent. (see 2 Peter 3:9) We don't know if tomorrow will come today is the day for repentance (see James 4:13-17) But time is running out you must repent now and you will be saved. (see John 3:16)

Love in Christ

Jaleen :)
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Why does God seek His own glory?

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalm 22:3 KJV

Because God is unique and all glorious and totally self-sufficient, He must be for Himself if He is to be for us. God is without flaw, He is not self-seeking or selfish. On the contrary, He is perfect in every way He humbled and gave Himself as a ransom for us out of pure love and in order for there to be a way for us to be saved (see Acts 4:12).  We have to believe that He is sufficient which He is. So because He is totally sufficient and perfect in every way he deserves all our glory. Our LORD God Almighty is a God of truth and He cannot lie or deny the truth, He is truth and so He must receive all our glory because He is the only source of complete righteousness and truth and the only source of joy. Put it this way if God gave up His glory to another it would not be right because there is no other who can excel Him or can even come near to His love, power, grace, mercy and truth. Because God is love He must pursue the praises and hearts of his people so that He can redeem them because He is truth and the only way he is fully deserving of our praise. So let us give Him all our praise and thank Him for his great love and for everything He has done for us with a thankful heart and instead of thinking why does God seek His own glory we should rather be marveling at the fact that the God of the universe inhabits praise from mere men on earth such as myself!

Be encouraged,

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

What does it mean to love money?

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

I've read this passage many times before and thought to myself I have never really loved money. But something God revealed to me is that loving money isn't always loving the paper money or the coins the love of money is love for the things it buys such as possessions, security. Anything that money can buy that you seek security in rather than God or his word is the love of money. We need to be seeking God to be our all instead of pleasures and things which I know I struggle with at times. The love of money comes when we are not content with what we have (see Heb 13:5, Ecc 5:10) so let us be content with what we have and look at all that God has given us with thankfulness. Remember that all that is on earth is certainly passing away and that earthly wealth will mean nothing when Christ comes again (see Matt 6:19-21) because He will come in the twinkling of an eye (see 1 Corinthians 15:52) and we must be ready and found to be doing what Christ called us to do and not be found sleeping spiritually. (see Mark 13:36) .
Your soul is the most valuable thing on this earth and until you give your life to Christ you don't realize its value because this earth is passing away and we don't want to get so caught up that we lose sight of why we are here. Everyone has a purpose in Christ and until you stop chasing after everything else, nothing will change. Let us seek God first in all that we do and willingly draw near to Him in prayer and in Jesus' name asking for a content heart and a renewed mind (see James 5:16)
Be encouraged,
Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

What really matters?

33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33

15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

Sometimes in my Christian walk I wonder get annoyed when something isn't changing in my life when I have prayed about it a lot. What I am learning though is that what is most important is not what happens now in my physical life but it is where I am in my spiritual life. What God led me to in scripture was Mark 2.
In Mark 2:1-12 A paralyzed man comes through the roof to be healed by Jesus. Jesus saw the faith he had in Him yet Jesus, out of love, didn't heal him of his physical needs first because that was not as important as his spiritual condition. The most important thing that the paralyzed man needed to know was that he was that Jesus had come to forgive his sins. (see Mark 2:5) To prove that He had authority to forgive sins he then heals the man. (see Mark 2:10) But the latter is not more important than the first thing that Jesus did which was to forgive the man of his sins which is the greatest gift anyone could give.
So today instead of focusing on all the bad things and struggles in life, let us give thanks, worship and praise to God for giving us forgiveness which enables us to have a new life which is hidden in God and will be so much better than this life! (see 1 Corinthians 2:9)
Be encouraged,
Jaleen x
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more