Best free Easter clip art!
March 14, 2008 
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Free Christian resources has just released a great post highlighting the best websites to find high quality, free Easter clip art.
Weekly devotion - Speak to the sources - not the problem
March 3, 2008 No Comments »
‘DRY BONES, HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD…LIVE…AND KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.’
EZEKIEL 37:4
Bones in Hong Kong
Photo by David Sawyer
When Ezekiel obeyed God and proclaimed, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord…live …and know that I am God’ the Bible says: ‘The bones…came together …lived, and stood up’ (Ezekiel 37:7-10 TLB). There is a lesson here for us; only the living Word of God can:
a) create order out of the chaos in our lives
b) give stature, strategies and strength to the church, which is the Body of Christ in the earth
c) unite the dry bones of division and discouragement. Without it we have ‘form,’ but no force and no fire!
You will notice that when Ezekiel prophesied initially, although the bones came together, ‘there was no breath in them’ (v8). So at that point He ceased talking to the dry bones and went directly to the source - the wind, which represents God’s Spirit, saying: ‘Breathe upon these slain, that they may live’ (v9). You will never experience a divine visitation or a supernatural solution by looking to flesh and blood; that kind of experience comes only from God Himself. When you need His help, you must go directly to the source!
Today if you are struggling with financial pressures, health issues, addictions, or relationship problems, you need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. Job said, ‘The breath of the Almighty gives me life’ (Job 33:4 NIV). So call ‘time out,’ get alone and pray, ‘Holy Spirit breathe on me.’
This article was provided courtesy of UCB, from The Word for Today publication. Free issues of this daily devotional are available in the UK and Republic of Ireland, or from the website link below.
PO Box 255, Stoke-on-Trent,ST4 8YY.
http://www.ucb.co.uk/biblehelps
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Tags: Christian, The Word for Today, weekly devotion
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free Christian resources redesign
March 3, 2008 No Comments »
free Christian resources has undergone a big overhaul recently. Firstly it has moved its domain to ‘www.freechristianresources.org’, and secondly it has been given a sparkly new home page.
Below is a picture of the new homepage, so if you are interested in finding high quality free Christian resources check it out!
Weekly devotion - By degrees
February 25, 2008 No Comments »
‘WE…ARE BEING TRANSFORMED…FROM GLORY TO GLORY… BY THE SPIRIT.’
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 [NKJV]
By degrees
Photo by txpotato
Are you able to evaluate your progress without getting discouraged or feeling condemned? Can you look at how far you still have to go, yet be able to appreciate how far you have already come? Where you are now, is not where you are going to be. You must have a clear view of the finish line or you will never get out of the starting gate. In the Amplified Bible Paul states that God changes us from one degree of glory to another. Notice, the improvement takes place by degrees, not giant leaps! ‘But why do I keep falling?’ you ask. Why did you keep falling after your first birth? Because you were not born wearing walking shoes! No, you had to learn, and at first you stumbled more than you walked. The truth is, some of us just grow up faster than others.
We are too hard on ourselves; we would grow faster if we relaxed more. We cannot live by our feelings in these matters. Satan will make sure we frequently feel like ‘an unredeemable mess,’ or that God is not working in our lives. That is a lie! We must learn to live by God’s Word, not by how we feel; for His Word states that as long as we believe, He is working in us. Listen: ‘The Word of God…is effectually at work in you who believe, [exercising it's superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it]‘ (1Thessalonians 2:13 AMP). So rise up and announce, ‘God is at work in me today, changing me by degrees.’
This article was provided courtesy of UCB, from The Word for Today publication. Free issues of this daily devotional are available in the UK and Republic of Ireland, or from the website link below.
PO Box 255, Stoke-on-Trent,ST4 8YY.
http://www.ucb.co.uk/biblehelps
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Prayer in crisis - Life in Christ
February 20, 2008 No Comments »
In a time of crisis should we immediately turn to prayer? Is prayer the answer to all our problems? Martyn Lloyd-Jones says:
Therefore, in a situation of difficulty and of crisis, the first thing we must do is to make sure that we have grasped the New Testament teaching. I do not want to be controversial, and I am particularly anxious not to be misunderstood, but if I may put it in a phrase, in order to call attention to what I have in mind, I would say that in a situation of crisis the New Testament does not immediately say, ‘Let us pray’. It always says first, ‘Let us think, let us understand the truth, let us take a firm hold of the doctrine.’ Prayer may be quite useless and quite void. The bible has a great deal to tell us about prayer and as to how it should be made. Prayer is not a simple thing in one sense; it may be very difficult. Prayer is sometimes an excuse for not thinking, an excuse for avoiding a problem or situation.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones,”Life in Christ”: Ch 1′ The Christian and the World’
He then goes on to suggest that often when we have been in difficulty we pray to God to deliver us rather than putting something right in our lives as we should have. Instead of facing our troubles as we knew we should have, we prayed. By praying in crisis we may have the appearance of being spiritual, when actually we are using prayer to avoid a difficult situation.
This is a provocative statement and if taken at face value could be seen as limiting the power of prayer. However when read in the context of the chapter it is actually an astute observation of how we can take something good, powerful and spiritual (prayer) and then use it in the wrong way to make it impotent and worthless.
Can prayer be a waste of time?
At best praying in these situations will simply be a waste of time. What are we praying for? We already have the answer to our prayers, we just need to act! At worst though, it could be much more damaging and demotivating.
Japanese prayer
Photo by kalandrakas
Firstly, the crisis may worsen because we may not take action quick enough to solve the crisis at hand. Worse though, it may lead to many of what we assume are unanswered prayers. We ask why God does not help us in our crisis when he already has! We wonder why our prayers are not answered when they already have been! This is the crux of why these prayers may be “quite useless and void”. We may be praying for something that God has already given us the power to solve, but that we are too scared, worried or lazy to confront.
Now of course, this is not to say we do not pray for God to help us have courage in a crisis, to help us be righteous and strong when it seems so difficult. But this is a different prayer. This is facing up to the problem and admitting our own weakness rather than using prayer as an excuse to avoid an issue.
Prayer is not first and foremost and opportunity for us to bring our shopping list of wants and desires to God so that He can tick them off. If it becomes this, then there is a risk that our prayer will become, even if only partly, a waste of time .
This is a challenging argument. We should not hide behind prayer but use it to bring us closer to God. We should not use prayer as an excuse to stop thinking, but as a source of strength. Above all we should not abuse the gift of prayer, but cherish its awesome power.
This study is part of a series based on the reading of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ “Life in Christ”.
For further posts, please visit the “Life in Christ” page on this website, or go to the “Life in Christ” category.
“The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
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