Call To Comfort Others

A CALL TO COMFORT OTHERS

 

When we read (2 Cor 1:3-11) we see the Apostle Paul offering some good advice on how to express comfort and encouragement to anyone going through a time of loss. When we know someone who has recently endured the loss of a loved one through death, or some other tragedy, this is a good passage to turn to. Bible scholar W. E. Vine, who wrote "Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words", says the Greek word that is translated as "comfort" in this passage means "A calling to one's side". Paul uses this word several times in this passage, for example in verse 7 we read "We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us". So in other words when we take time to share in another person's suffering, we can also share in the comfort we both will receive from God, as Paul expresses it so well in verse 4. "He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us".

 

I recently read a line someone had written, "God comforts us so that we can comfort others". And this is certainly a true statement that we find repeated often in scripture, because our God is defined by the Apostle John in his first letter (1 John 4:8) as [Agape] the Greek word for "love". Actually there are two Greek words that are both translated into English as love. They are [Agape] and [Eros] and have a completely different meaning, [Agape] is the word used for God, but [Eros] is used for sensual or erotic love, the word that the world uses to express love. Sometimes the word used to express the true meaning of Eros is taken from it and is "erotic". It is much used today in our sinful society, and shows the weakness of English as a language compared to either Hebrew or Greek.

 

Our God wants to comfort us in any trouble we might find ourselves in at times, because He loves us with His unending unconditional Agape love. And this is the kind of love and concern for others that He gives us once we become part of His Eternal family when we place our faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ. When anyone who does this is "born again" as Jesus told Nicodemus he must be in (John 3:1-8). At that moment Father God adopts them into His family, and they become citizens of heaven, and a member of the "the Holy city, the New Jerusalem" that John saw coming down from heaven to earth as recorded in (Rev 21:1-4), our eternal home!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                       26/05/14                                                                           

The Heart of The Gospel

THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL

 

There are many "Religions" in our world, and one of the greatest "fallacies" is that Christianity has been included in the list of the other False Religions in the world such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, to name a few. And they all have a "Holy Man" that their particular religion is named after, which is usually known as their "founder", and they also have a "Holy Book" that explains the details of what you must believe to become an active part of their religion. And the purpose of most religions is to find a way to please their particular "god" or founder, so they can go to their concept of some "eternal home" when the die. The reason I say that Christianity should not be included with the others, is simply because it is not a "Religion" as such, but is the only way to have a "Relationship" with our Creator through His Son Jesus who is called the "Christ", or "Anointed One". And what sets Him apart from the other Holy Men is the fact that He is the only person who died but arose again from the grave and continues to live after He was crucified as a common criminal on a rough Roman Cross some 2000 years ago on a place called "Mount Calvary".   

 

That explains the basic facts about other false religions like Islam for example that actually have a person they call a lesser Prophet to Mohamed that some people believe refers to Jesus. But Mohamed is still regarded as "The Prophet" which is to be worshipped according to their god Allah. Islam has often been called a "peaceful religion" but even a short look at history does not confirm this, it is actually based on a history of wars and murder. One thing they are definitely strong on it the belief the Allah never had a son called Jesus, who died on the cross. If indeed He ever did live and was killed on a cross, apparently they believe that he must have just fainted and recovered in the cool tomb or something. The fact that Jesus lived as a historical person, and died as the "Lamb of God", was buried and three days later, and arose from the tomb He was laid in by friends, is a well recorded historical fact.

 

This is what I refer to as being the "Heart of The Gospel", and sets Christianity apart from any of the other "false religions". There have been many songs and hymns composed about the Cross, and the affect that His death and resurrection has had on the world is an undeniable fact that we as His followers can declare to this "fallen world"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                        30/04/14                                                          

The Rest of The Lord

HEART MATTERS

 

I thank God for the daily devotional called Our Daily Bread (ODB) that is published by RBC Ministries. Today May 06, 2014, the writer was Poh Fang Chia who is a fairly new name to me. The topic for today was "Heart Matters" and the scripture it was based on was (Prov 4:20-27) and it was loaded with information about the physical organ we call our heart. Things I had never heard before, such as "Our hearts pump at the rate of 70-75 beats per minute. Though weighing only 17 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day". Those are amazing statistics, information that we often take for granted; truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made. See (Psalm 139:13-15) in the NLT version for details. However when the "heart" is mentioned in scripture it is usually not referring to our "blood pump", but to a "spiritual heart", which is considered to be "the center of our emotions, thinking, and reasoning". It could be thought of as the "command center" of our life. I'm sure that is what the writer of this chapter of Proverbs had in mind.

 

Just read (Prov 4:14-27) again carefully, and see how the word "heart" is used, and you can see clearly that he is not referring to it as a pump for our blood.  In the NLT version that I use, in verse 23 it reads "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life". That verse alone tells us that we need to be thankful to God for His Word that can help us to keep our hearts in alignment with His every day. We can gain rest and security from scriptures like (Psalm 91:1-8) for example, along with many more Psalms. Then in (Matt 22:37) we read one of the places where Jesus describes the greatest commandments. "Jesus replied you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments". NLT Our brother Poh Fang Chia included a poem,

 

"Dear Jesus, take my heart and hand, and grant me this I pray;

That I through your sweet love may grow, more like you day by day".

 

Then he finished with "To keep spiritually fit, consult your Great Physician".

 

I consider this some good advice!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                06/05/14

Heart Matters

HEART MATTERS

 

I thank God for the daily devotional called Our Daily Bread (ODB) that is published by RBC Ministries. Today May 06, 2014, the writer was Poh Fang Chia who is a fairly new name to me. The topic for today was "Heart Matters" and the scripture it was based on was (Prov 4:20-27) and it was loaded with information about the physical organ we call our heart. Things I had never heard before, such as "Our hearts pump at the rate of 70-75 beats per minute. Though weighing only 17 ounces on average, a healthy heart pumps 2000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels each day". Those are amazing statistics, information that we often take for granted; truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made. See (Psalm 139:13-15) in the NLT version for details. However when the "heart" is mentioned in scripture it is usually not referring to our "blood pump", but to a "spiritual heart", which is considered to be "the center of our emotions, thinking, and reasoning". It could be thought of as the "command center" of our life. I'm sure that is what the writer of this chapter of Proverbs had in mind.

 

Just read (Prov 4:14-27) again carefully, and see how the word "heart" is used, and you can see clearly that he is not referring to it as a pump for our blood.  In the NLT version that I use, in verse 23 it reads "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life". That verse alone tells us that we need to be thankful to God for His Word that can help us to keep our hearts in alignment with His every day. We can gain rest and security from scriptures like (Psalm 91:1-8) for example, along with many more Psalms. Then in (Matt 22:37) we read one of the places where Jesus describes the greatest commandments. "Jesus replied you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments". NLT Our brother Poh Fang Chia included a poem,

 

"Dear Jesus, take my heart and hand, and grant me this I pray;

That I through your sweet love may grow, more like you day by day".

 

Then he finished with "To keep spiritually fit, consult your Great Physician".

 

I consider this some good advice!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                           06/05/14                                                                                  

Internalizing The Crown

INTERNALIZING OUR CROWN

 

As a citizen of God's Kingdom here on earth we have certain privileges and responsibilities. Isaiah states it well in (Is 32:17) AMP "And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever". Therefore, we must embrace the ongoing and costly process of "internalizing" our crown in several key areas. 1/ Joy and personal freedom; we can not fake it, either we have it or we don't have it. Fake joy is nothing less than a "hidden agenda". Real joy involves freedom from fears, habits, and all kinds of unhealthy attachments. If it is missing, do something about it! 2/ Contentment without strain; living in contentment means resting in a state of peace, happiness, and satisfaction regardless of our circumstances, and do not be afraid of the process.

3/ Increase in prosperity; this includes spiritual, intellectual, financial, and social prosperity. Some seeds sleep in the hope of spring coming to bring them new life. God wants to develop our ability to think, reason, and act. When we internalize the crown, we grow spiritually and socially, and in every area of our lives, and the culture changes. 4/ Fulfillment; God satisfies, and like joy we can't fake fulfillment either, we have it or we don't have it. Certain secular or religious voices can disturb our peace and fulfillment, so we must learn to "abide in Christ". 5/ Generosity; we find ourselves wanting to give rather than to receive, and to become "lenders" rather than "borrowers" and part of the answer, and not part of the problem. Jesus said is better to give than to receivee. 

6/ Relational maturity; this involves every kind of relationship, but especially marriage. They say that lids are not needed on crab buckets, because if one crab tries to escape, the other crabs grab him and pull him back! Internalizing the crown delivers us from the "crab bucket" mentality! 7/ Proclamation, evangelism; an internalized crown of life teaches us to rule, and we discover an increasing desire to share what we have learned with others. People then become important and not just souls to be won to Christ and added to a church roll.

 

The above information is taken from Bob Mumford's book called "Mysterious Seed" reading # 82, on page 210-11. This book by Bob was published in 2011, and explains in more detail the truth presented a few years before in his series of teaching called the "Agape Road". It is available in both DVD and CD format from his website, and I highly recommend it as an excellent tool to help someone who has just come to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, to understand what a "changed life" of being a follower of Jesus is all about. This teaching by Bob is the best overall explanation of what is involved in coming to know Jesus personally, as the one and only perfect sinless "God/Man" who alone was qualified to forgive our sinful lifestyles!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                                                                    27/11/13

Jesus Will Never Let You Down

JESUS WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN

 

Our Daily Bread (ODB) for today April 24, 2014 was written by Joe Stowell and was called "Never Let Down", from which I got the idea for a title to this article. When Jeremiah wrote the book called Lamentations, in chapter 3:22-24 we read "The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, the Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in Him!" NLT I'm not sure if Jeremiah had God the Father or Jesus the Son in mind when he penned these words, but it really doesn't matter because both are referred to as Lord! And we know that when we come to understand what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, and accept Him as Lord and Savior, Father adopts us as his child and gives the Holy Spirit as His gift to us. So, it is safe to say we can apply these verses to ourselves!

 

Having just come through the Resurrection Season including Good Friday, and 3 days later Resurrection Sunday, the truth about Jesus becoming the "Lamb of God" who died for the sins of the human race is fresh in our minds. In (Exodus 34:5-7) you can read God's own description of Himself given to Moses to record in scripture. Here we have 7 character qualities of God that Bob Mumford calls the "7 fold DNA of God", which are 1/ compassion, 2/ graciousness, 3/ slow to anger, 4/ mercy, 5/ truth, 6/ faithful, and 7/ forgiving. Since Jesus is the "Living Word of God", and He told His disciples "If you have seen me you have seen the Father", so they are really one and the same Divine Person. See (John 17:20-21) for the unique relationship Jesus has with His Father, and we through Him have the same relationship of complete "unity".

 

There are many other scripture passages we could refer to that make similar claims about the fact that Jesus will never let you down. He is a faithful "Brother", who is the True "Elder Brother" to all truly born again children of God. We get a good look at Him as our "Good Shepherd" in (John 10:1-21), and also in Psalm 23 written many years before Jesus was born by King David. Just try "Meditating" on scripture passages like these, and see what it does for you! I will guarantee that you will be forever changed into a different person as you dwell on His character, and realize that in Father's eyes you and Jesus are one and the same to Him! There is a little chorus we often sing.

"When He sees me, He sees the blood of the Lamb. He sees me as worthy, and not as I am. He sees me in garments as white as the snow, for the Lamb of God is worthy, and He loves me this I know". It is important that the Father sees us through the blood of Jesus that was shed for all sinners like us on the "Old Rugged Cross". Hallalujah!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                                25/04/14