Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: faith

  • Who’s House?

    Who’s House?

    I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness. – Psalm 84:10b ESV 

    Is your house a house of your God? Is your home a dwelling place of righteousness? Is your soul filled with the Holy Spirit of God?

    OR

    Do you build by emptiness of faith a house from which you must flee for a soul which cannot hide?

    Psalm 127

    1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

    2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
    to enter the courts of the Lord.
    With my whole being, body and soul,
    I will shout joyfully to the living God.

    3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
    at a place near your altar,
    O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!

    4 What joy for those who can live in your house,
    always singing your praises.

    Interlude

    5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
    who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
    6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
    it will become a place of refreshing springs.
    The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

    7 They will continue to grow stronger,
    and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

    8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
    Listen, O God of Jacob.

    Interlude

    9 O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield!
    Show favor to the one you have anointed.

    10 A single day in your courts
    is better than a thousand anywhere else!
    I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
    than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

    11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
    He gives us grace and glory.

    The Lord will withhold no good thing
    from those who do what is right.

    12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    what joy for those who trust in you.

     

     

     

  • Slow of Heart to Believe

    Slow of Heart to Believe

    Are we slow of heart to believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ Jesus?

    In an early encounter with two of His disciples (followers), Jesus, our risen Lord, accuses gently:

    “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken …”

    – Luke 24:25 KJV

    Does this from our Lord resonate in your twenty-first century ears?

    A commentator on what Jesus told these two disciples from the Prophets remarked (certainly tongue-in-cheek) that he could never forgive Cleopas for not telling Luke which passages from the Prophets Jesus used. I, too, could only speculate; but would point us to some scriptures we might resist in our Bible reading. It is with more ‘WARNINGS’ to the churches I would like to direct our reluctant eyes ‘slow of heart to believe.’

    the_seven_churches_of_revelation

    • Ephesus – you have abandoned the love you had at first…
    • Smyrna – Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
    • Pergamum – you have some there who… practice sexual immorality.
    • Thyatira – teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality…
    • Sardis – “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die…
    • Philadelphia – I know that you have but little power… I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
    • Laodicea –  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

    AS WE, would so easily dismiss the cautions of Jesus to the seven churches of Revelation; so, too, the disciples were ‘slow of heart to believe’ all the Prophets had warned God’s disciple nation: Israel (and also Judah).

    NOTE: The following scriptures are King James Version:

    Isaiah 3:8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

    Jeremiah 2:11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

    Hosea 4: Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

    Perhaps, hearing with open ears and seeing scripture with eyes uncovered, you may see in much scripture how the Messiah, the Christ, must suffer and die.

    Hear (even after His resurrection) and consider in closing Psalm 49, thinking of the incarnate life of Jesus.

    Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

    Both low and high, rich and poor, together.

    My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

    I will incline mine ear to a parable…

    They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

    None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

    (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)

    That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption…

    But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me…

     

    Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

    And having said this he breathed his last.

     

  • A Flicker of Faith

    A Flicker of Faith

    Proverbs 24:20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.

    Beloved brother; dearly beloved sister:

    I know you have been ‘lukewarm‘ in your belief in Christ. You have been lukewarm in your faith in Jesus. You have been cold in your heart for His church and unthankful in your daily life.

    Your offering has been stingy (if you have even returned any of what is already His).

    And your prayer?  … Probably as infrequent as my prayers so often become.

    The flame of His light dimly flickers in the fruit of your witness. You resist the fire of His Holiness each time the Lord calls you to repentance.

    Yes… at times, we are lukewarm for the risen Lord, Christ Jesus. At times, we fail miserably in our Christian… our christian… our not-so-Christlike mortal life.

    The Light in You

    Luke 11:33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

    34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

    36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

    John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

    5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

    Has the Lord’s light left your heart?

    OR do you answer our risen Lord’s voice at the door of your heart saying: ‘Repent, beloved?’

    Jesus seeks the lost. He welcomes the return of the prodigal christian.

    For to the church at Ephesus, the risen Christ also revealed through John:

    Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent…

    7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

    To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’