From the Heart by B.Demaere

Promises to Keep Devotional by B.Demaere: Prayer and Beyond (Colossians 4:2-6) : Devote yourselves in prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Don’t forget to pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunit...

Devote yourselves in prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Don’t forget to pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to preach about his secret plan—that Christ is also for you Gentiles. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.  Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation  be gracious and effective so that you will have the right answer for everyone. According to the www,http://reverso.net  dictionary Alert mind antonyms: careless, heedless, inactive, languid, lethargic, listless, oblivious, slow, unaware, unconcerned, unwary. So our mind have to have that kind of caring and active alertness with a thankful spirit. The main goal throughout Paul's ministry was to preach and pray for his ministry but also to involved people who would back him up but not only that, he would expect them to pray for him with an alert mind and thankful heart

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power.  Let heaven fill your thoughts.  Do not think only about things down here on earth.  For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. I have a question:  Is he talking to an individual or to a whole church as a gathering?  The letter is clearly to a church. Maybe he is also talking to individuals. Our focus should be always on Christ and on the realities of heaven.  How often do we consider our lives here on earth as the real life because we can see it and feel it?  We are not to think only about earthly things but also about our real life with Christ in heaven.  This is the life of surrender because we died with Christ.  Our thought patterns and desires are all devoted to Christ lik

Promises to Keep Devotional by B.Demaere: I want you to know how much I have agonized for yo... : 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 perso...

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

Promises to Keep Devotional by B.Demaere: The "incredible" god of Spinoza vs God : Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation.  Christ is t...

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation.  Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth.  He made the things we can see and the things we can't see---kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities.  Everything has been created through him and for him.  He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. I originally was going to speak about the following epistle after Ephesians, but decided to go with the epistle to the Colossians. Then someone had send me a post on Facebook about Einstein, one of the most intelligent man that ever lived.  The article spoke about Einstein being asked by his students, if he believed in God and he would answer that he believed in the god of Spinoza, who was a Dutch philosopher.  The god of Spinoza was an imaginary god who spoke self-denying words of what the real God could have said.  Interesting! Let's see what wo