Biblical Texts

Alex and Brett Harris host this conference that dives into their book, “Do Hard Things.” This book combats the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, by weaving together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life and map a clear trajectory for long-term fulfillment and eternal impact. Click below to purchase “Do Hard Things” from Christianbook.com: tinyurl.com

The Bible, it contains so much knowledge. There are so many wide ranges of topics covered in this book that will definitely give you a real knowledge about the bible. Most Christians know they should read Gods word. They understand that it is Gods message to them, and He expects them to read it. The one year Bible Reading Plan for Beginners takes into account the great number of people who do not have a strong background in the word of God. Some of the web sites are offering this free daily email bible to the users. This plan gives you a stepping-stone so that you do not have to read straight through every word of scripture the first time.

The wisdom of Christian Bible shows us the way to be a good parent and how we can do our best to raise our children. The Bible is truly a Christian gift given to us to use for our parenting guidance, and serves as our daily reference with the examples are that were set for us by our Father in Heaven in the Old Testament. We need to pray for spiritual strength and ask our Father for lots of patients as parents. Then also teach and set a good example with the guidance of the Christian Bible to live our lives by, we will have become a father that our children will be proud to emulate when they in turn become a parent themselves.

There are so many web sites are offering these devotions in the form of e-mail on a daily basis. First of all, we need to select the web site. Simply, you can type the words like the free daily Christian bible email, free daily email bible, free email bible in any search engine. You need to select the best one for your needs. After that you need to enter your email address and scroll down and select the devotion sections you want as the email message. Some of the websites which offers bibles in many forms and language so that you will get the bible in your language also in the form of audio.

Whether we want to admit it or not we all use self talk but sadly for most of us that self talk is very negative and results in bringing unhappiness into our lives. Negative self talk can lead to low self esteem, create a myriad of health problems brought on by needless anxiety and stress and also will result in causing us to under achieve in life.

Our brain is very powerful however if we just let it run in auto-pilot continually rehashing negativity into our lives we will continue to experience the things we don’t want. We need to make a conscious effort to train our brains to be more positive.

There have been numerous tests performed to prove how powerful both positive and negative self talk can affect our lifes. Various studies taken over a wide variety of sports and age groups have proven that winners demonstrated positive self talk prior and during the event while the losers were negative self talkers. Positive self talk leads to positive feelings and more confidence while the negative self talk leads to feelings of inadequacy, low self esteem and a lack of confidence.

Consider for a moment how you feel when someone calls you stupid or useless. What about when someone is sarcastic towards you or makes fun of you? If you have ever been bullied by someone do you remember how poorly you felt at the time? The thing is these events are nothing compared to the sarcastic bully of negative self talk. You can always avoid other people who make you feel bad but you can’t avoid yourself and studies once again have proven that the negative things you say to yourself have a far more negative impact on your life then anything you hear from someone else.

If you truly want to improve your life then you need to break the shackles of the negative self talk that only serves to enslave you in bondage by unleashing the power of positive self talk into your life. You have to start by being aware of the wrong thoughts and making the choice to change things. Once you make the choice you can start changing your life for the better.

Did you know the Bible encourages us to speak to ourselves?

Ephesians 5:19
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord. None of us can escape the day to day grind of life but all of us can change our attitude to life while doing so. For example when washing the dishes at night we can complain how the kids used every bit of cutlery in the drawer and how much time it takes and so on or we can sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs while doing it. It doesn’t matter what it is we can make melody in our hearts to the Lord. Which was the more positive?

As you can see from the above mundane example changing to be more positive doesn’t have to be hard work. Read more of the Bible and take on board the wonderful things it says about you. You are not hopeless or stupid or useless. You are victorious in Christ. You are a son or daughter of the living God. You are more than a conqueror. You are the beloved of God.

Bette Dowdell

A fellow-attendee at a Bible study I attend, a self-professed mature Christian, said her sister had always been a Christian. While the sister had been a Buddhist and a few other religions from time to time and currently lives a life high in hedonism and low in integrity, she has always been a Christian.

Well, what kind of nonsense is that? Christians live their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit, whos not the least inclined to tolerate such things, let alone endorse them.

Where did we go off the tracks to reach this dismal idea? Let me suggest three things:

1. We got all caught up in the Sinners Prayer as if saying the proper words made the difference. No folks, its not the words, its the heart. Did your heart turn toward God when you said the words or were you just buying fire insuranceor perhaps get-off-my-back insurance?

2. We wildly misunderstood the idea about no longer being under the law and decided anything goes! Once Ive said the magic words, Im good to go! Party down! Live at a lower level than the law required? No problem!

Well, no. The idea is weve moved beyondand abovethe law. The law was about muscling your will power into doing the right thing. Thats why Paul talks about being wretched under the law; try as he mightand he was one determined dudehe failed. Will power, despite the name, doesnt have much power. If thats all you have, you cant make it.

Anyone who understands Christianity knows its humanly impossible.

3. Because the real power that brings us to love, joy, peace and all the other goodies doesnt come from us; it comes from the Holy Spirit who moved in when we turned our heart toward God.

But youd never guess we have this power in us, our birthright, as it were. Most Christians have no idea because nobodys told them, and working with the Holy Spirit doesnt just happen.

Sermons about the Holy Spirit lean heavily on such things as talking funny and falling downnot about the power to defeat our sins and habits. Not about learning to recognize Gods voice in us. Not about having a strength beyond our own to make us more than conquerors. Talk funny if youd like, but if thats all you have, you dont really have anything.

The churchand its memberscheats people when it fails to speak the whole word of God. Its not about mouthing some pious words. Or assuming Christianity threw aside all the rules and now lacks any level of rigor. And its certainly not about some bogus notion of being able to live a Christian life on will power alone.

Such nonsense trivializes God, and Christ paid far too high a price for that.

Did you hear the one about the sheep and the goats?