You have poor and rich relatives, how do you treat them? When a poor person denies himself some privilege and gives it to the rich or rich-looking person, it is wrong. Obeying parents is not showing favoritism. Obeying leaders and showing them due respect is not favoristism. Special treatment of some over others devalues humanity and places value on wealth or whatever else we consider important enough if a person had it.
What can go wrong with your relationships? How will you feel when there is divorce and break up? How do you get secured against break up or against the pain of break up? Have a plan that doesn’t force the other person to be your friend and doesn’t harm them for rejecting you. That plan is what we call self-control.
Do not let your hearts be troubled by the burning of schools, wars, death, geopolitical activities, etc. Just believe in God and also in Jesus. Do not let your heart be troubled by who started which disease and who wants to clear people from the earth. Do not let your heart be troubled by which president visited which religious leader. Do not be unsettled and alarmed. Our only focus is readiness. Are you ready?
Speaking unknown languages is not a biblical tradition. The few times speaking in tongues is mentioned in scriptures it refers to speaking known existing languages. The only reference to speaking an unknown language is in 1 Corinthians 14 where it is condemned by Paul. The practice of speaking unknown languages masquerading as speaking in tongues began in Corinth. The Apostle condemns it in 1 Corinthians 14. Otherwise, speaking in tongues according to the Bible is to speak existing languages,
Naturally we would not pray. Naturally we would not study the Bible. Naturally we would not want to attend worship. Naturally we would prefer the forbidden pleasures. If we just depend on our natural pull, we would drift away from God never to return. It is not natural, you must resolve to do it!
God encourages the people through the prophets. God tells them not to despise the small progress that they are making, Zechariah 4:10. Our life is a totality of the small steps we take daily. Success is not one giant step. Success is an accumulation of many small steps. Do not despise the small steps you are making, they will add up and make sense someday. For now, keep on making the small steps.
Acting before is being pro-active as opposed to being reactive. Acting before it’s too late is good for our spiritual life. Acting before is also good for other aspects of our life. Act before, the keyword is before! … If we learn to act before the worst happens, we will be excellent in all we do…. Is life hard? Gather together in worship. Are you stressed? After doing everything you can and should do – gather together in worship. Is it a money problem? Do what you must but gather together in worship. Gather together! Gather together! This is a call to worship in preparation for the coming crisis of the day of the LORD!
Do you feel and think you have gone too far from God? Do you feel your sins are too much and forgiveness may be difficult? God has a message for you. Tomorrow may be too late to repent and return to God. The right time is now. Even now…
Abandoning your marriage for an undefined fling? Abandoning a savings plan to gamble and bet? Abandoning the hard-tested road for a shortcut to wealth that ends up being a mirage? Abandoning a safe journey in order to race with other vehicles whose owners and destinations you don’t know? Abandoning healthful living to satisfy a sugar tooth and unhealthy diets? What you abandon and what you prefer reveals that your commitments are either shallow or solidly deep.