From the Heart by B.Demaere

  There is Now No Condemnation “Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe Him as personal Lord and Savior] “(Romans 8:1 Amplified) For many years, as a Christian I could not relate to this verse because I was still living with guilt.   I must have been living my Christian life in the chapter 7 and still under the Law.   No Christian should live under the Law and yet many do because many feel a constant guilt being under Satan’s trap.   If you live your life in chapter 7 you will feel guilty but once you cross into this chapter 8 and live by the Spirit, the condemnation is gone. There is a need for more teaching in the Church about guilt and conviction.   You can be convicted by the Spirit about your sins, but you can feel guilty about them as well. When you live by the Spirit, he will head your life if you are honest with him about your sins.   If you are hiding from him, you are in trouble.   Confes

  The Cross: Defeat or Victory To many the Cross has been portrayed as a defeat, but not to God.  It means victory over death and sin. To some people, anything that looks like a threat is a defeat, but not to God or God’s peoples at least it should not be.   I believe these verses speak of Jesus at what would be his Crucifixion much later: Isaiah 50:4-9   (I will write down only the verses that means the most of what I want to say) Verse 5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.                                          Verse 6 I offered my back to those who beat me,                                                       My cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;                                                        I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting                                           Verse 7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,                                                        I will not

  Sibling’s Rivalry (Luke 10:38-42) Attention We all seek it whether it be from parents or peers and even from our own boss.   We are natural boasters.   There is a mature way to seek attention and a bad way.   Even from God, many people in the Church seek it by works or duties and its all by grace.   We get ourselves so windup for glory and then fall on our faces in defeat because we have missed the mark.   That is the actual meaning of sin: missing the mark.   Life could be a lot simpler if we well! Focused. Martha and Mary You can see that these two, with Jesus in their home were competing for attention from the Lord.   After all, it’s not every day you have Jesus sitting at your table and yet we do in our own way have him with us.   Only this time he was there physically.   I could have pictured Martha being busy and noisy with pots and pans saying to herself or out loud, “Look at me Jesus, I am here cooking you a meal, am I not special?” But Jesus calmly enjoyed his time tea

  Love surpasses Religion (Luke 7:36-50) Simon, the Pharisees had welcomed Jesus in his house.  After all, it made him look great in the eyes of his peers and his disciples.  A woman of poor reputation, probably an adulteress or prostitute came in the house.  (God often uses ‘sinners’ to test religion’s authenticity and this situation is no exception).  This woman opened her heart to Jesus and poured all the love she had for him.  It was worship at its highest degree.  She knew who Jesus was and she didn’t care about her own reputation anymore.  She had none left.  She had probably spent all her love on men to no avail.  Now she fell empty of self at Jesus’s feet with the most expensive perfume she could find.  She had made lots of her money through prostitution and now she was not willing to use it on herself but on Jesus the only one who could save her soul.  What are you using your money on?  What was this Pharisee using his money for?  But she was using her money to exalt Jesus. 

  As I looked, I saw a great storm coming toward me from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light.  The fire inside the cloud glowed like gleaming amber.  From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, except that each had four faces and two pairs of wings.  Their legs were straight like human legs, but their feet were split like calves' feet and shone like burnished bronze.  Beneath each of their wings I could see human  hands.  The wings of each living being touched the wings of the two beings beside it.  The living beings were able to fly in any direction without turning around.  Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back.  Each had two pairs of outstretched wings---one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body.  They w

  Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time.  He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God.  He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.  So he went and preached to the spirits in prison---those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.  Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.  And this is a picture of baptism which now saves you by the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection.  Baptism is not the removal of dirt from your body; it is an appeal to God from a clean conscience. Now Christ has gone to heaven.  He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers are bowing before him. If you guessed that the solution to the quiz was Psalm 112, you are absolutely right.  I made it more difficult by not including the 3 first words: "Praise the Lord" which would have give it away as a p

  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—-the kind he will accept.  When you think of what he has done for you, is that too much to ask?  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a person by changing the way you think. Then you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. The Apostle Paul here puts the emphasis on self before speaking about the gifting given to each one to minister. He says, first of all, I plead with you, that means that what he is asking is not supposed to be overlooked.  It's important! It is not obviously the giving of 'living' bodies.  Of course, God wants 'living' bodies and not dead ones.  We know two things from scripture,  1) God is pleased by our faith: "God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith." (Hebrews 11:2)                              Verse 6: "So you s

I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other friends who have never known me personally.  My goal is that  they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love.  I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself.  In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am telling you this so that no one will be able to deceive you with persuasive arguments.  For though I am away from you, my heart is with you. And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ. The historic background of Paul's life is that he was probably born in 5 AD and became a believer at the age of about  28-30 years.  Here in 60 AD when he writes this letter he is around 60 years old and agonizing in prayer for people he had known only while living in Ephesus. My question is then, how much more stronger must

So put away all falsehood and" tell your neighbor the truth" because we belong to each other.  And "don't sin by letting anger gain control over you". Don't let the sun go down  while you are still angry, for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil. I used to be very angry and now I have mellowed out quite a bit, just ask my wife and children.  It is also called not having a filter, you know? The kind that filters your words.  Keeping your mouth shut at the right time can keep you out of trouble and not say the stupid thing you really want to say at that time is also a good idea. Anger is very destructive and like a tornado it leaves a path behind it of unhappy customers, friends and family.  It also brings a lot of loneliness.  Who really wants to be around someone who is angry all the time. So that's what the words, "don't sin by letting anger gain control over you" mean, keep cool.  You can be angry but also think of your actions afte

Great crowds were following Jesus.  He turned around and said to them, if you want to be my follower you must love me more than you own father and mother. wife and children, brothers and sisters---yes, more than your own life.  Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.  And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me. But don't begin until you count the cost.  For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money  to pay the bills?  Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. And then how everyone would laugh at you.  They would say, 'There's the person who started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!' Salt is good for seasoning.  But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again?  Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for fertilizer.  It is thrown away.  Anyone who is willing to hear should li

This is more like a study to do on your own if you like.  Here I just give you pointers and I know you will be blessed if you do it with me.  We start with Jesus in the Temple, clearing it from all its commerce. He said, " The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called  a place (house) of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" Now in Isaiah 56, we see that 'house of prayer' is mentioned twice.  In fact chapter 56:1-8 should be carefully studied for in verse 1, it says: "Be just and fair, " says the Lord, "Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you. In verse 7-8 it says: I will bring them also  to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and I will fill them with joy in my house of prayer.  I will accept their burn offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.  For the Sovereign Lord, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others too, besides my peopl

Listen! The Lord is not weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf.  He can hear you when you call. But there is a problem---your sins have cut you off from God.  Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.  Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin.  Your mouth is full of lies, and your lips are tainted with corruption. No one cares about being fair and honest.  Their lawsuits are based on lies.  They spend their time plotting evil deeds and then doing them.  They spend their time and energy spinning evil plans that end up in deadly actions.  They cheat and shortchange everyone.  Nothing they do is productive; all their activity is filled with sin.  Violence is their trademark. I just came across this passage last night and the Lord spoke to me through it.  "Don't be surprised when evil comes your way after many prayers and supplications.  I can hear you but sin is in the way.  I can't do anything." To the