The believers's only comfort in life and death is that we are not our own. We belong to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that lives within us.  The Spirit gives us power to live life abundantly; it is a an unshakable supernatural power. It is a power that raises and lowers  mountains. It breaks the boundaries of life and death that holds us captive to defeated existence. Have the divine Father? Have the exalted Christ? Have the gift of the  Holy Spirit? If yes, then you have divine power!

Praying for Your Pastor

(adapted from lduncan)

Because I have a family that loves me more than I deserve, when ever you pray for me pray the following:

Pray -

1. That Professor Dennis would know and love the living God, would have a saving interest in Christ, being purchased by His blood, and thus would be bound to the Lord by the indissoluble bond of the Holy Spirit.

2. That Professor Dennis would know, embrace and ever more deeply understand the Gospel and be shaped by it in life and ministry.

3. That Professor Dennis would be useful servant of the Lord, that he would know and love God's word, God's people, and God's kingdom; that he would be used to build it up and so that it prevails even against Hell's gates.

4. That Professor Dennis would study, practice and teach the Word of the Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

5. That Professor Dennis would love to pray, because he loves to commune with his God, and that he would be a man of prayer, characteristically.

6. That Professor Dennis would be ever dependent upon and filled with the Spirit; and that he would possess true Spiritual wisdom.

7. That Professor Dennis would be holy unto the Lord. That his tongue and heart would be wholly God's.

8. That Professor Dennis would be kept from pride, and especially spiritual pride. That the Lord himself would be gracious to slay pride in him, and that Professor Dennis would endeavor to always be putting pride to death, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

9. That God would give Professor Dennis guidance as to where to focus his efforts in ministry.

10. That He would protect Professor Dennis from himself, from the enemy of his soul, and from all earthly enemies.

11. That no decision which Professor Dennis ever makes or desire that Professor Dennis ever pursues would restrict his ability to pour his whole soul into the Gospel ministry.

12.That many would be converted and many built up under Professor Dennis' ministry, to God's glory alone.

13. That the Lord would bless Professor Dennis' wife, Chanelle, with holiness and happiness, Gospel assurance and Gospel rest.

14. That God would make Professor Dennis a loving and faithful husband and father.

15. That Professor Dennis would be a godly husband to his wife, and love her self-sacrificially,

16. That Professor Dennis would be a godly parent to his children. That they would love God, their parents and the church.

17. That Professor Dennis would be a testimony in the home so that his wife might be able to respect him when he is in the pulpit, and so that Professor Dennis will be able to feed her soul, along with the rest of the congregation.

The fool says in his heart that there is no God (Ps 53:1a). The heart of a person is the seat of the intellect. Yet, the providence of God tells us that, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice (ESV Proverbs 12:15)." Listen to what one of our Christian forefathers has pronounced:  

The person blind to the One is utterly blind to everything; but he who sees in the One contemplates all things. He abstains from the contemplation of all things and at the same time enters into the contemplation of all things while remaining outside what he contemplates.

- St Symeon the New Theologian

This is a profound statement. It has caused me to reconsider the wisdom of God as laid down by the biblical writers of the Old and New Testament. It prods me to reinvestigate the conventional wisdom of our church elders. We can learn a lot from our Christian ancestors.

I'm not sure yet, but it appears that the attempt to reform the modern church by current reformational leaders is possibly a feverish attempt to rehash the modern church. I will unpack this statement later.

My good friend told me that St Seraphim of Sarov once said the following:

God is fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. And so, if we feel in our hearts coldness, which is from the devil — for the devil is cold — then let us call upon the Lord and He will come and warm our hearts with perfect love not only for Him but for our neighbour as well.

Dearly beloved, believers in Christ Jesus, during this coming Lord's Day, ask yourself does God warm your heart. At the thought of our Lord Jesus Christ in his marvelous works for his wonderful Church, do you feel your heart warm up?

Listen, how is your thought life? Are you watching too much of the wrong stuff that causes spiritual decay? Although there are countless forms of entertainment and recreation, too much fruitless entertainment can cause spiritual decay. Just like eating too much candy can cause tooth decay, so can too much listening to and watching entertainment cause lethargic spirituality.  Believers understand that God has created us as bodily and spiritual creatures; we are essentially dichotomous creatures. St Mark the Ascetic once said the following:

A young calf starts to wander afresh after grazing, and it eventually finds itself stranded among frightful chasms. So it is with the soul, for thoughts gradually lead it astray.

I believe that it is because you can move to only one space at a time.  Theophilus of Antioch once said the following:

By God you speak, O man: His breath you breathe yet Him you know not. And this is your condition because of the blindness of your soul and the hardness of your heart. But, if you will, you may be healed. Entrust yourself to the Physician, and He will touch the eyes of your soul and of your heart.

How do you cope with a significant other, when together the two of you are on two different trajectories in life? 

There is never a truly right time to do something, the only right time is now or never. Nevertheless, the results are open for interpretation.

What is a "white lie?" It is supposedly a "harmless lie." Is it really harmless. It is ". . . a lie not intended to harm, but told in order to avoid distress or embarrassment (Encarta Dictionaries)." Do not spurn the grace of God, my child, and do not lie by denying the gift of Christ. What did our gracious forefathers think?

Blessed John, in the Historia Monachorum said the following:

For a lie is something alien regardless of whether its matter is grave or light. And if one lies with the intention of attaining some good, it is nevertheless not praiseworthy, for the Saviour said that a lie 'cometh of evil' (Mt 5.37).

Comments are encouraged.

I cannot persuade myself that without love to others, and without, as far as rests with me, peaceableness towards all, I can be called a worthy servant of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Son of God from eternity. St Athanasius once said,  "The Son of God became the Son of Man in order that the sons of men, the sons of Adam, might be made sons of God. The Word, who was begotten of the Father in heaven in an ineffable, inexplicable, incomprehensible and eternal manner, came to this earth to be born in time of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in order that they who were born of earth might be born again of God, in heaven. ... He has bestowed upon us the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that we may all become sons of God in imitation of the Son of God. Thus He, the true natural Son of God bears us all in Himself, so that we may all bear in ourselves the only God."

Today is the card that you have been dealt, know cope with it. When death comes knocking at your door like his, take it like Jesus. Do not become a specimen for a satanic society.

According to some dictionaries, humility is  "modesty or respectfulness." It may be defined as "the quality of being modest or respectful (Encarta Dictionaries). Humility is the mark of a true believer in Christ Jesus because we know that our true nature is marred by sin as a result we are surely deserving of the death that Christ received on the cross; yet, for the sake of his Son, God has cleansed our sins from us. He no longer reckons us with our sins.

The eyes of your mind is the spiritual awareness of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. "Life up the eyes of your mind to the light of the Gospel of Transfiguration, that you yourself might be transfigured as your spiritual intellect is made new. If this happens, you will draw down divine rays from on high and will be conformed to the image of the glory of the Lord, whose face shone on the mountain as radiant as the sun. "

- St Gregory Palamas

Do not use your freedom in Christ as a license to indulge in assorted licentiousness.

"The office of ruling must be tempered with such great art of moderation, that the minds of subjects, when demonstrating themselves capable of taking right views in some matters, are given freedom of expression, but freedom that does not issue into pride, otherwise, when liberty of speech is granted too generously, the humility of their own lives will be lost."

- St Gregory the Great

The secret of a successful life is so simple: Do something beautiful for God. Find a need and fill it. Find a hurt and heal it. Find a problem and solve it. Never, ever, ever compromise your integrity for the sake of others.

Abba Antony once said, 'Whoever sits in solitude and is quiet has escaped three wars: those of hearing, speaking and seeing. Then there is only one war left in which to fight, and that is the battle for your own heart'.

- Apothegmata Patrum (Latin ed.)