Family and Life Christian Counsel

14/02/2019

Good verses to store away in our hearts and minds

The battle we face may be more about what is unseen than what is seen. God's given us His Word, powerful and true, so we can stand against the enemy's schemes...

15/11/2018

Powerful word on intentionality of God!

When you marvel at the wonders of creation, do not marvel at the processes of chance but at the creativity of God.

13/11/2018

Most of us have spent our lives fighting the bulletproof tanks of pride with a pea shooter. Here is what you actually need to kill it.

13/11/2018

If we fully believed what God has promised in the Bible, anxiety would have no place in our lives.

13/11/2018

The never-ending rewards of heaven give us never-ending reasons to love others today.

13/11/2018

What does saving faith feel like? Like water to a thirsty soul. Like finding a treasure you cannot live without.

13/11/2018

Even though we are not saved by works, none of us will make it to heaven without actively killing our sin. Either we kill our sin or it will kill us.

13/11/2018

Six part series on Battling Unbelief...excellent

Much is at stake in our fight against unbelief. Without love, holiness, and sin-killing, no one will see the kingdom of God.

04/11/2018

This is so vitally important in our lives. This goes hand in hand with Romans 5:2-5!

It is truer in suffering than anywhere else that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

23/10/2018

A great word today on Marriage

When Christ redeems marriage, he does not dismantle loving headship and willing submission. He restores it.

30/09/2018

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17)
When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Join me in this battle! Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. Unbelief in the promises of God is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, Paul said in Ephesians 6:17. The shield by which we quench Satan’s fiery deceits is faith (verse 16) — faith in that very word of God. So take up the shield in your left hand and the sword in your right hand, and let us fight the good fight of faith.

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace.

Devotional excerpted from Future Grace, page 61

27/09/2018

The Bible gives us an amazing glimpse into the soul of Jesus the night before he was crucified. Watch and learn from the way Jesus fought his strategic battle against despondency or depression.

1) He chose some close friends to be with him. “Taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee” (Matthew 26:37).

2) He opened his soul to them. He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38).

3) He asked for their intercession and partnership in the battle. “Remain here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38).

4) He poured out his heart to his Father in prayer. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39).

5) He rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

6) He fixed his eye on the glorious future grace that awaited him on the other side of the cross. “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

When something drops into your life that seems to threaten your future, remember this: The first shock waves of the bomb in your heart, like the ones Jesus felt in Gethsemane, are not sin. The real danger is yielding to them. Giving in. Putting up no spiritual fight. And the root of that sinful surrender is unbelief — a failure to fight for faith in future grace. A failure to cherish all that God promises to be for us in Jesus.

In Gethsemane Jesus shows us another way. Not painless, and not passive. Follow him. Find your trusted spiritual friends. Open your soul to them. Ask them to watch with you and pray. Pour out your soul to the Father. Rest in the sovereign wisdom of God. And fix your eyes on the joy set before you in the precious and magnificent promises of God.

Devotional excerpted from Future Grace, pages 307–308