The Insights

“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” John 1:12 [RSV] God is more interested in your character than in your comfort. God is more interested in who you are becoming than in what you are acquiring.  And God gives us a checklist in His Word. James 3:14-17 [NIV, with emphasis] “If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition... such ‘wisdom’ is of the devil... The wisdom that comes from God is pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, impartial and sincere.” Be more like Christ. The additional test parameter to determine if God is speaking is: Is it consistent with my experience of God? Is what you are hearing consistent with your experience of God? John 10:3 “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they kno...

And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. (Deuteronomy 28:2) Some people have very low expectations of what God will provide for them materially. They trust Him to feed and clothe them, but they don't trust Him to feed and clothe them very well! Somehow they've gotten the idea that God's an old miser who will do little more than put rags on their backs and beans on their tables. But that's not what Jesus told us. He said in Matthew 6 that God would clothe us better than He clothed Solomon. That one statement alone proves that God wants to do more than just meet our basic needs. He wants to bless us abundantly. I know that from personal experience. A few years ago I came home and found two expensive automobiles parked in my driveway. They'd been given to me to use by men who'd been blessed by the Lord through my ministry. I was baffled. "Lord," I said, "I d...

“In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.”   Ph. 2:5 [NCV] Test #6 for determining God voice is: Does this make me more like Christ? God’s goal is to make us like Christ Jesus and God will not say anything that will make us less like Christ. Take note of all the Scripture references I have given these past few days. These tests are not made up. They are rooted in God’s Word and you can build your faith on God’s Word. “In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.” One sure way to achieve this is, 2Cor.10:5 [GW] “We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.” Is the thought, the idea, the inspiration, or revelation obedient to Christ? Taking thoughts captive is something we must do on a day-to-day basis. Nobody is exempt, not even pastors. I started playing golf recently so when my brother who also plays golf came to visit, I invited him to play with me. We are very competitive in my family. I mean we eat and drink competiti...