The Revelation of Jesus

How beautiful it is to know that Jesus wants a relationship with us.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ (5) from Abundant Living Faith Center on Vimeo.

Charles Nieman

Are you ready to be narrow minded? When your heart hears this video you will be different.
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New Creature

What a wonderful thing to know that in Christ we are a new creation. We aren’t a cleansed creation, nor are we a washed creation, but we are a brand-spanking new creation. The author of 2 Corinthians says, the "...old things are passed away and behold all things are made new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) It doesn’t matter where you came from. God could have found you in an alley, a bar, running away from home, doing things that you wish you could forget …it doesn’t matter. To God, you aren’t that person anymore.

Perhaps one day while talking to Him you might ask, “Remember when…?” and he will reply, “Nope...Is there something you want to tell me?"

Wow! Thank you, Jesus. It was because of His gift that we can look at ourselves in a mirror and see a completely new person. You are not only absolved of your sins and dark past you have been made a new creation. Now, we get to start all over again. Isn’t that awesome? Throughout the world people celebrate New Year's because it is a way of beginning again–starting a new year afresh and brand-new. But for us it isn’t just a time of year–it truly is a new life-start.

So what should you have as “New Life Resolutions”? I know you probably are thinking of a couple of things. But before we get too far down the list, let’s look at what the Word of God has as indicators for our new existence. Paul writes that we should be "imitators of God" and Peter says "be holy as I am holy." Now I realize that these command can be a pretty tall order, but I have a secret for you. It can be done. You see Jesus (even though he is the Son of God and was born from a virgin) lived a blameless life. “Yeah, yeah,” you’re saying to yourself, “but He is God.” (Ephesians 5:1, 1 Peter 1:16)

Well, yes He is, but if you are referring to whether He was able to do the seemingly impossible by living blameless because of his deity, well you’re wrong. In Philippians 2:5-8 it clearly says that Jesus didn’t hold on to who He was, but let it go so that He could come down to earth as a normal man. So that means He was able to walk blameless with no “special” powers to help Him. Walking blameless isn’t impossible; you and I can do it, because Jesus could do it. But perhaps walking blameless may be a big first step as a new creation, right? I mean, my baby girl didn’t try to run until she could walk and she didn’t attempt that until she could crawl.

Jesus told us that we should love one other as He loves us. That’s a good start, I think. It’s not too hard and definitely not too easy. (John 13:34) Just start each day focused on the love God has shown to you and then start walking with the intent to share that same love with everyone in your path. If you fail, then pick yourself up and begin walking again. We all stumble as we start walking. But the idea is to get up, dust ourselves off and stumble less.

For more info please log on to http://contemplationsgabrielgrimes.blogspot.com/

Location:Pacaritambo,Lima,Peru

Forgivness

“To err is human; to forgive is divine,” Alexander Pope once said. But that point-of-view absolves us of our responsibility, doesn’t it?

The command to forgive is not one relegated to those who are holy but to all who desire to walk as Christ. If we haven’t been exercising the forgiveness “muscle” it can be very difficult to simply–forgive. There are innumerable amounts of offenses that happen to us in our everyday life. From the time we wake up in the morning to the time we lay our head back down on our pillow at night we have been assaulted by our family, other drivers on the road, our clients, bosses, co-workers, a waiter, the dry cleaners, school, teachers….and the list goes on and on. But Jesus told us to forgive.

It’s interesting that He didn’t suggest that we forgive, nor did He give us any option in the matter. He simply told us to do it. In the Lord's Prayer, He prays to the Heavenly Father, “...forgive us our debts as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” WOW! Have you thought about how you forgive? When you forgive do you forget like God says He does in Jeremiah 31:34 “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Or do you file away the fault and bring it up later in a fight or discussion?

You may be saying right about now, “Boy, Gabriel, you’re rough. It’s impossible to forgive and forget, especially if you’ve been hurt like I have.”

But in all honesty that really doesn’t matter. We can’t go through the Bible and pick and choose what we think we can or can’t do. The Bible isn’t tailor-fitted to accommodate our lives, but on the contrary we should aim to modify our lives to fit the Bible. If Jesus said that we must forgive than that is what we have to do. And He never asks us to do something impossible. Scripture tells us that with God, "...all things are possible." So if He told us to do it [forgive], then He has given us the ability to accomplish it.

The Bible mentions in several verses that there is a correlation between how we forgive and how God forgives us. Matthew 6:14 says it very plainly “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” But the idea is not to scare anyone into forgiving! It should sprout from your heart. Romans 5:5 says that "God has poured out His love in our hearts." So we DO have the capacity to love as God does. And God is very forgiving. In John 3:16, it shows us just how much He loves the world, and to what extent He will go to save us…not to condemn us. 2 Peter 3:9 says He isn’t slow but patient because He doesn’t wish that any should perish. That’s the kind of love that is in us.

Now, granted, when we forgive, Satan is quick to remind us of an offense, if we have to live or work with that person. It's in that moment we must speak back to Satan and remind him we have forgiven and then refuse to meditate on the memory of the offense. Follow up with prayer for that person. Do what God would do…love him or her. If you do it from the heart and with a sincere desire to become more like Christ, then the devil will lose his ability to push your buttons.

It isn’t easy, but the good things in life seldom are. Come and join me as we become more and more like Christ, walking as ambassadors of the Heavenly Kingdom .

For more info please log on to http://contemplationsgabrielgrimes.blogspot.com/

Location:Pacaritambo,Lima,Peru

Are We Missing Something

I was listening to a certain speaker talking about a verse that I had heard all my life, but this time I heard something that I hadn't heard before. The verse was certainly the same but something went off in my heart. So I went to my bible and checked it out. What I heard was right there in the verse. Let me show you my revelation.

John 3:8
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” NKJV

Jesus was talking to Nicademus and explaining the way to eternal life but in His explanation, Jesus makes this interesting statement regarding the wind. The way I have always heard it was the following: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So are the things of the Spirit." Did you catch the difference?

It's not simply the "Things of the Spirit" but everyone who is born of the Spirit. That's you and me, right?! I know that this may sound weird but we should "be like the wind".

Remember when the peolple wanted to stone Jesus and He just turned and walked through the crowd? (Luke 4:28-30) That is how we should be walking. It is a special walk that hides our actions and our plans from the evil one and those who would do us harm. It protects us and keeps us. It's like it says in Psalms 91 (the secret place of the Almighty)...

But it also means that our actions and our ideas aren't always conventional. They come from God and those who aren't born in the Spirit will not understand them nor will they understand how they are so prosperous, and accepted by others.

Let's walk in the Spirit and walk like the wind.

Saturday market day

Every Saturday my wonderful wife prepares a list of vegetables, meat, and spices that we need at the house to prepare our meals for the week.

It's a comforting time of easy shopping in the local market that reminds me of shopping in the Mercado de Delicias Chihuahua. The chatter of the people and the vendors shouting out their "better" prices mixes with the zapping sound of the butcher's saw cutting through the bone of someones order. The smell of fruit, and vegetables float through the air playing with the smells of spices and pots of boiling chicken soup.

People from all walks of life mill around through the market with their shopping bags full of groceries hanging off their arms. A young man in a three piece suit, a woman with all her jewelry walking with her elderly mother holding her arm, a maid in her uniform sharing the walk spaces between the vendor's stands.

El mercado de Monterrico.









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