God is My Source!

Abraham, remember, had two sons: one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. The son of the slave woman was born by human connivance; the son of the free woman was born by God's promise. This illustrates the very thing we are dealing with now. The two births represent two ways of being in relationship with God. One is from Mount Sinai in Arabia. It corresponds with what is now going on in Jerusalem—a slave life, producing slaves as offspring. This is the way of Hagar. In contrast to that, there is an invisible Jerusalem, a free

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Are you waiting for something to happen? Maybe you are waiting on others or on circumstances that will bring about a beneficial change to your life. Yet, you feel that things are not happening fast enough. What can be done to speed things up? You could put pressure on those you are waiting on, but that often results in strife. And we want to avoid strife and maintain good relationships with those we are depending on. There is a better approach we can take when things are happening fast enough in our lives. That is, if we want others to make

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For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven...A time to keep, and a time to cast away. Ecclesiastes 3:1,6

Clutter, it is everywhere. It is in our homes, in our relationships, in our ministries and even in our minds. Clutter is all that extra stuff that we accumulate over time. We had intentions of what to do with the stuff when we acquired it, but we never got around to using it like we thought we would. Or we have taken on some recurring tasks or responsibilities that really are not producing the

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Obedience to God is a vital element in living with God as our source. What does it mean to be obedient? In the Old Testament the word meaning to obey is sama  which means ‘to hear’. Thus, we must be effective in hearing God and his word so that we will understand his principles and commands and respond appropriately. If we are not taking the time to listen and meditate on his word to us, then it will not be possible for us to obey. And if we are not obeying his directions to us, then we cannot expect to

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Fruit! Producing fruit was a fundamental purpose of the Lord Jesus’ life. As Peter later summarize Jesus’ activities, “...how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Yet, producing fruit that brought glory to God was not only Jesus’ passion in life but also in his death as Jesus explained to his disciples in John 12:

The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Most assuredly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat

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Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, But he who gathers by hand makes it grow.Proverbs 13:11

Did you get caught up in lottery hysteria and buy lottery tickets last week? But you did not win did you? So was it a good idea to participate? No, it was not a good decision at all. Those who purchased lottery tickets were taken in by a deception of easily winning a huge sum of money. But if one calculates the odds of winning it is not difficult to conclude that changes of winning are highly unlikely. Lotteries also are a deception that

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...neither be grieved; for the joy of The LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10 Occasionally we come into contact with a fellow believer who is miserable with his or her life. Why is that? Why would people who have received the forgiveness of their sin, the gift of eternal life and future home with God in heaven allow themselves to be overwhelmed with discouragement? It is because this person is focused on the wrong things. Those Christians who are miserable with their lives often focus on the things they do not have or the way people are treating them. But rather than

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and in him you are made full...Colossians 2:10

Wholeness, everyone one is seeking it. All over the world people are aware that something is lacking that would make their lives complete and they are preoccupied with trying to fill those empty aspects of their lives. Some turn to alcohol, drugs or immorality. Many seek wholeness through materialism or relationships. And others try to attain wholeness by lying, stealing or killing. Yet they go unsatisfied because true wholeness is not something we can attain through outward activity. Rather, it is something which first must be accomplished on the inside of

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This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; so that you may approve the things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ; Philippians 1:9-10 As believers we have the ability to perceive things beyond the normal five senses; we have the ability to perceive within our spirits hidden qualities, sources and attitudes about events or individuals and even the foundations and motivations of circumstances taking place in our lives. The scripture records occurrences when Jesus received spiritual insights such as in Matthew 16:8,

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For to me to live is Christ...Philippians 1:21

What is the biggest obstacle we face in living for God, overcoming our difficulties and reaching our destiny in life? It is self; our propensity to follow and gratify our own sinful nature. All sin springs from selfishness and selfishness is an underlying  principle that governs our world.

This tendency towards selfishness can be traced back to the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve immediate developed a sense of self after eating fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “The LORD

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