For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. or scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (Rom 5:6-11).

Greetings Brothers and Sisters, grace and peace to you in the name of God our Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. I thank God for you and the opportunity He has given me to share His word with you. I only hope that God opens your eyes of understanding so that you can incorporate His word into your life. Help me Lord God as I share your word concerning the verdict resulting from your Judgement. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.[xyz-ihs snippet=”asynchronous”]

Have you ever had to go to court to answer charges that were made against you? Maybe you feel you were falsely accused, or maybe you feel as though you were the one that was wronged. either way going before the judge to settle all differences would be the final disposition of the matter.  Maybe you have never experienced it personally, but maybe you have asked yourself what if I had to go before the judge and you think of the different scenarios you could face in this situation. Can you imagine being adjudicated in a court of law and facing a possibility of receiving the death penalty? Imagine this you are in court and the Judge has made His decision The judgment is guilty, the verdict is death. First, you go into shock, you know that you are receiving that which you deserve. You thought you could get away with it, but now you realize that there is no way out of this predicament. You want to live you ask the Judge for mercy, just one more chance. You realize you are powerless, just like a man in quicksand the more you struggle the faster you go down, your mind is darkened, your life is degraded. Sin is your way of life, you have missed the target God has set before you. Not because you are not a good shooter but because you purposely missed it. You understand that you deserve  God’s wrath. To put it plainly we are God’s enemies. This is a very dangerous position to be in with an awesome and powerful God, who is able to do anything He wants to do, being accountable to no one but Himself.[xyz-ihs snippet=”auto-ads”]

The Judge of all the earth had mercy on us before He created the world, knowing all things completely past, present, and future.  God in His great love and mercy planned to provide the life of His son to pay the price and take the penalty handed down demanded by the law, in order to pardon us for the sins committed. God planned to exchange the righteousness of His Son for our unrighteousness. God planned to take our sin and impute them to His son, and take His Son’s righteousness and impute it upon us. This was not an impulse from God, nor was it plan B in case plan A  don’t work. It was God’s only plan. God’s Son came, shared His plan, told all who want Him the Son of God to take their place and pay the penalty what was required of them. He will be our sacrifice and we will be His people.[xyz-ihs snippet=”asynchronous”]

God wants us as His people to bear fruit. He wants us to grow as Christians (Matt 21:18-22). God wants us to be doers of the words, not just promises as the two brothers Jesus spoke about (Matt:21:28-32). If you live on the property of the landowner and He sends His Son to conduct business with you, it would be very wise of you to receive Him with respect and honor. (Matt 21:33-46). God is having a banquet and you are invited all you have to do is put on the right garments, the ones that are given to you, not your own (Matt:22:1-14). Be a good citizen in your present country and a good citizen in Heaven (Matt 22:15-22). God wants us to be ready for Him when He returns. God wants us to be ready and to stay ready. God wants us not to slack, we don’t know if there is a delay or not, nor should we stop doing what God wants us to do (Matt 24:36-5:13). God wants us to use what He has given us to help others come to Jesus. God does not want us to receive the knowledge He given us and waste it or to keep it for the sake of having it (Matt 25:14-30).

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My friends remember Paul’s words, while we were still without power, unable to do anything to save ourselves from the retribution to come as payment for our sins, Christ died for us. While we are still sinners, deserving of death, and fire and hell, Christ died for us. Christ took our place, Christ paid the penalty demanded by the Holiness and the righteousness of God. God must punish sin, His righteousness demands it, His holiness demands it, His very Nature as God demands it. God love the creatures that He created so much that He gave the life of His son as payment for our sins so that we will live and be restored to a right relationship with Himself. While we were still His enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. God the Judge of the entire universe the highest court that exists, reverses His own just verdict and sentences His own Son, not to just serve time for us, but also to be executed in our place. We have been justified, declared to be not guilty by the Judge of the universe. Not based on our innocence, but based on Christ paying the price for us. We are saved from the wrath of God and the doom that the unsaved will endure later. We are reconciled to God, We are changed from enmity with God to friendship with God. The Action is on God’s part but needs an acceptance on our part. Brothers and Sisters, I hope this message encourages you and builds you up in the Lord. My friends if this message help you understand God’s great love for you, choose Jesus today. Thank you, Lord Amen.  If this message help you in any way Blog my post[xyz-ihs snippet=”FBsdk”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Botton”]

God Bless You

Rev. Reginald Stevens

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Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? 

“If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all” (Philippians 2:17).

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Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him? I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ‘Well done.’ ”

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It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased …” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket—to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted—not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Fb-sdks”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Botton”]

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My Utmost for His Highest

Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition copyright © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

United States publication rights are held by Discovery House Publishers, which is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512

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The Discipline of Hearing

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“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops” (Matthew 10:27).

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Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. Songbirds are taught to sing in the dark, and God puts us into “the shadow of His hand” until we learn to hear Him (Isaiah 49:2). “Whatever I tell you in the dark …”—pay attention when God puts you into darkness, and keep your mouth closed while you are there. Are you in the dark right now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? If so, then remain quiet. If you open your mouth in the dark, you will speak while in the wrong mood—darkness is the time to listen. Don’t talk to other people about it; don’t read books to find out the reason for the darkness; just listen and obey. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else once you are back in the light.

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After every time of darkness, we should experience a mixture of delight and humiliation. If there is the only delight, I question whether we have really heard God at all. We should experience the delight for having heard God speak, but mostly humiliation for having taken so long to hear Him! Then we will exclaim, “How slow I have been to listen and understand what God has been telling me!” And yet God has been saying it for days and even weeks. But once you hear Him, He gives you the gift of humiliation, which brings a softness of heart—a gift that will always cause you to listen to God now. [xyz-ihs snippet=”Fb-sdks”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Botton”]

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My Utmost for His Highest

Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition copyright © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

United States publication rights are held by Discovery House Publishers, which is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512.

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The Devotion of Hearing 

Devotion Of Hearing

https://fromtimetoeternity.com/?p=3062&preview=true

“Samuel answered, ‘Speak, for Your servant hears’ ” (1 Samuel 3:10).

Just because I have listened carefully and intently to one thing from God does not mean that I will listen to everything He says. I show God my lack of love and respect for Him by the insensitivity of my heart and mind toward what He says. If I love my friend, I will instinctively understand what he wants. And Jesus said, “You are My friends …” (John 15:14). Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not have deliberately disobeyed it. But most of us show incredible disrespect to God because we don’t even hear Him. He might as well never have spoken to us.

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The goal of my spiritual life is such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me (see John 11:41). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God all the time through the devotion of hearing. A flower, a tree, or a servant of God may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing, is my attention to other things. It is not that I don’t want to hear God, but I am not devoted to the right areas of my life.

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I am devoted to things and even to service and my own convictions. God may say whatever He wants, but I just don’t hear Him. The attitude of a child of God should always be, “Speak, for Your servant hears.” If I have not developed and nurtured this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times. At other times I become deaf to Him because my attention is to other things—things which I think I must do. This is not living the life of a child of God. Have you heard God’s voice today?

God Love you and He cares for you so much that He sent His Son to redeem you to Himself. God so Love the World that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believe in Him will not perish but shall have life eternal.  If you believe this congratulation. Let me know, blog me. [xyz-ihs snippet=”Fb-sdks”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Botton”]

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God Bless You

Reginald Stevens

Are You Listening to God?

https://fromtimetoeternity.com/?p=3060&preview=true

“They said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die’ ” (Exodus 20:19).

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We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God—we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them—not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.

“You speak with us, … but let not God speak with us … .” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”

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Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Fb-sdks”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Botton”]

My Utmost for His Highest

Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition copyright © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

United States publication rights are held by Discovery House Publishers, which is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512.

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Is Your Mind Stayed on God?

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“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

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Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22).

Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ …” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature—the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons.

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You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God. 

“We have sinned with our fathers … [and] … did not remember …” (Psalm 106:6–7). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.

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My Utmost for His Highest

Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition copyright © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

United States publication rights are held by Discovery House Publishers, which is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512.

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Is Your Ability To See God Blinded?

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https://fromtimetoeternity.com/?p=3056&preview=true

“Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things …” (Isaiah 40:26).

The people of God in Isaiah’s time had blinded their minds’ ability to see God by looking at the face of idols. But Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, he made them begin to use their power to think and to visualize correctly. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature and will realize that it is holy and sacred. We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades if we will only begin to use our blinded thinking to visualize it. 

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The real test of spiritual focus is being able to bring your mind and thoughts under control. Is your mind focused on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Is it your work? Is it your idea of what a servant should be, or maybe your experience of salvation and sanctification? If so, then your ability to see God is blinded. You will be powerless when faced with difficulties and will be forced to endure in darkness. If your power to see has been blinded, don’t look back on your own experiences, but look to God. It is God you need. Go beyond yourself and away from the faces of your idols and away from everything else that has been blinding your thinking. Wake up and accept the ridicule that Isaiah gave to his people, and deliberately turn your thoughts and your eyes to God. 

One of the reasons for our sense of futility in prayer is that we have lost our power to visualize. We can no longer even imagine putting ourselves deliberately before God. It is actually more important to be broken bread and poured-out wine in the area of intercession than in our personal contact with others. The power of visualization is what God gives a saint so that he can go beyond himself and be firmly placed into relationships he never before experienced.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Fb-sdks”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Botton”]

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My Utmost for His Highest

Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition copyright © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

United States publication rights are held by Discovery House Publishers, which is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512.

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Are You Exhausted Spiritually?

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“The everlasting God … neither faints nor is weary” (Isaiah 40:28).

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Exhaustion means that our vital energies are completely worn out and spent. Spiritual exhaustion is never the result of sin, but of service. Whether or not you experience exhaustion will depend on where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep,” but He gave him nothing with which to feed them (John 21:17).

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The process of being made broken bread and poured-out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other people’s souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you completely —to the very last drop. But be careful to replenish your supply, or you will quickly be utterly exhausted. Until others learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus directly, they will have to draw on His life through you. You must literally be their source of supply until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and sheep, as well as for Him.

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Have you delivered yourself over to exhaustion because of the way you have been serving God? If so, then renew and rekindle your desires and affections. Examine your reasons for service. Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded in the redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually look back to the foundation of your love and affection and remember where your Source of power lies. You have no right to complain, “O Lord, I am so exhausted.” He saved and sanctified you to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that He is your supply. “All my springs are in you” (Psalm 87:7).[xyz-ihs snippet=”Fb-sdks”][xyz-ihs snippet=”Botton”]

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My Utmost for His Highest

Copyright © 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. Original edition copyright © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

United States publication rights are held by Discovery House Publishers, which is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512

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