I Am What I Am.....By The Grace Of God!!

The key in this often used cliche is “by the grace of God” – Paul of course had a checkered past before his conversion; having had a partisan spirit towards the persecution of Christians. He met the One who he had been persecuted, and in a moment (you could say in the twinkling of an eye) he became God’s mouthpiece to the gentile world.

Paul writes in 1Corinthians 15 v10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.“

Paul is always quick to point out how fortunate he has been, to be given the ministry which he so faithfully upheld throughout his life – in the verses prior to v10 of 1Corinthians 15, he declares the gospel, by which we are saved, and proceeds to explain all the eyewitness accounts of those that had seen the resurrected Christ. He of course places himself last in this list, making the claim that “he is the least of the apostles” & “of one born out of due time“

Paul laid no claim to greatness or superiority towards others of his own accord, but because of the grace of God, he laboured more abundantly than the aforementioned eyewitnesses.

God’s grace can do wondrous things; it can save the most wretched of sinners from damnation, and in the context of 1Corinthians 15 v9-10, it can be the greatest motivation we need to accomplish great things for God ourselves…….AMAZING!! 

Doth This Offend You?

At some point in our walk with God, we must come to terms with the Word of God (hopefully sooner rather than later).

It is amazing sometimes how we as Christians can pick and choose what bits of the bible we want to accept and what bits we want to reject! We have no problem quoting John 3 v16 but we shudder to mention Genesis 3 v16 in the same breath…..you know…in case those scary feminists hear us right?.

Romans 1 v16 is a chest-thumping verse commonly heard, but I doubt I can say the same for Galatians 1 v8……

It does not even stop at verses though! There can be whole chapters and books of the bible we would rather glaze over, because of fear of isolation from our peers (who cares by the way). Where do we draw the line?.

In John chapter 6, Jesus Christ in his very direct and unapologetic way confounds the wisdom of the Jews’s perceptions of the Manna which rained from heaven to the children of Israel.

Jesus goes as far as saying that he himself is that bread which came down from heaven; as if to make his point even more poignant (if that was even possible) he proclaims that “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you“.

Of course our Saviour was not teaching cannibalism as he proceeds to correct the murmuring disciples in verses 60-63.

The remark of the disciples though is what I want to focus on in v60.

“Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hardsaying; who can hear it?”

After listening to Jesus; the incarnate Word of God speak to the crowd, the disciples were challenged with Christs’ words, proclaiming that these were “hard sayings” to the ears of the listeners because it challenged them and took them out of their comfort zone.

Jesus made no apologies for speaking the truth and funnily enough responds with the memorable quote of “doth this offend you?” in v61 to his disciples. Jesus was not afraid to speak God’s Word, even in the face of opposition and the realization that he was about to lose many of his so called disciples because of his“hard sayings“. He still spoke the Word of God boldly. Is it any surprise then that John 6 v66 is the verse where he is deserted by many who had followed him up to that point?.

Having seen this exodus of his previous followers; he then turns to his original 12 and says to them “Will ye also go away” in v67.

The response of Peter for me is where I believe Christ wants to meet all his disciples. Peter replies with these words “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life“.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, at some point we have to come to terms with the Word of God. Just as how Peter and the other disciples were backed up in a corner to show where their faith rests on. The same should be for us today. Do we believe God has the words of eternal life? If we do then, let us boldly stand for God and his Word. All of It! Amen!!

Some Will, Some Won't!

Have you ever wondered why some Christians won't attempt anything remotely substantial for God? After reading the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21 v28-32. The only conclusion I came to is that "some will, and some wont!"

Jesus tells the parable of two sons who were given clear instructions by their father to go work in his vineyard. 

The first son was reluctant to work, but afterwards came to his senses and did as his father had asked him "I will not: but afterward he repented, and went"

The second son initially showed promise! But decided not to go work in the vineyard "And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not"

Jesus Christ finishes this parable by asking the listeners "Whether of them twain did the will of his father" - the answer clearly being the first son. The parable was spoken to contrast how the scribes and pharisees rejected the teachings of John Baptist un-repentantly, but the publicans and harlots gladly received the teachings are were saved

"For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him"

The parable itself can be interpreted though for Christians who have been given clear instructions to go "work" in the vineyard of our heavenly father. Let's say the command is the great commission "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"

This command is clear, but the response by all Christians will be one of two things! Some will obey and do, and some won't obey. There could be a plethora of reasons behind their decision but it will always be that some will and some wont.

I have come to two conclusions from this simple truth; and they are these.

1) Thank God that we are not saved by our "works" but rather by the blood of Jesus Christ. Reason being if we were justified by our works, then we all would fall short, even if we were to obey every command of God, we will fall short of perfection every single time. Jesus Christ on the other hand did all that was required of him, and died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The works we do show our love for our father, but do not justify us in is sight and they never will. Only Jesus Christ can justify us through faith.

2) Don't be downcast when you see Christians around you not wanting to do anything for God, but you yourself are trying to live a righteous life or trying to preach the gospel to others. God know's and see's the everything and someday we all individually as believers will have to stand before God. This will not be for judgment of our sins, since we have been declared righteous already, but rather it will be to give an account of how we lived our lives here on earth. Whether we spent out time laying up treasures in heaven or spent our time building up wood hay and stubble here on earth.

Having Meaningful Friendships & Keeping Them

I don't claim to be an expert in "friendships" since I myself am prone to taking the FB route of friendships and just speaking to people online, but never approaching them in real life and actually getting to know the person! I am getting better at it though by the grace of God. 


In this post, I wanted to share from a biblical point of view what are the right and wrong ways to establish friendships. I might not be an expert but God is an expert and he has given us his Word :)

How to have meaningful friendships 

• A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. - Proverbs 18 v2

To have a meaningful friendship - first YOU must take the initiative and show yourself friendly to others. It is no good saying to yourself that others must come to you first. A person that has friends is usually the one who is open to initiate and cultivate friendships without waiting for others to initiate.

At times we are drawn to Christians who are in our own social class and we shy away from other Christians who we see as "different" to us. This kind of mentality will give you the friends you want, but not necessarily the friends you need.

Jesus was known as the friend of sinners! He identified with those who were socially unaccepted or unpopular i.e. the publicans. In Mark 15 it is said of Jesus that he was numbered with the transgressors. Jesus knew about being friendly...in fact he is the friend who sticketh closer than a brother.

If you want meaningful friendships, then FIRST be friendly to others; the more you do so the more God will bring the right Christian friends to you who will stick with you through good times and bad times.

How to keep meaningful friendships

• My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. - Job 6 v15-17

Alright! So to have friends you must be friendly to others. In order to keep friends though....you must NOT do what Job's friends.

It is out of the scope of this devotional to go into the story of Job's friends, but Job himself summarized them in chapter 6 v15-17 as "fair-weather friends"

If you want to keep good friends then you have to be a friend to others not only when things are going well for them, but when things are going bad as well.

When the heat is turned up on your friend, still love that person and stand by them and be a friend through hardships.

Proverbs 17 v17 says "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

True biblical friendships are hard to come by. A friend who is there for you through hardships and who loves you is a real blessing indeed. In order though to have these kind of friends you must first be that kind of friend to others.

May we follow the LORD's example found in scripture about having and keeping friends.


Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. - John 15 v13

God bless

KJV Verses, A Graphics Resource

Here is a graphics resource I wanted to share for KJV verses. I use these as my desktop rotating backgrounds, and have also used them on my facebook group: Post a Bible Verse for the Day. You have to be careful, as some of the real older graphics are not KJV. Here are a few examples:

Women & Soul-Winning

It’s rather easy to get the impression that soul-winning is a male endeavor! A casual reader of the Bible or a nominal Christian today might think that going out there and winning the lost is a task placed solely upon the shoulders of men.

The task of reaching the lost with the gospel though is a God given role to every single born again believer, male and female without exception. Allow me to expand!


The original great commission given by Jesus Christ was to his disciples which were his church when he was on Earth! Christ was the head of that church, he taught them the Word, they prayed together, sang psalms, he sent them out two by two soul-winning, he reproved rebuked and exhorted them…all the hallmarks of what a great new testament church should be was present in Jesus Christ’s ministry to the disciples.


Some of his last parting words to his disciples, before he ascended up to the Father is what we commonly know today as the great commission.


“Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” ~ Mark 16 v15


Now we know that Christ is the head of every single scriptural church today.


This truth is made crystal clear in the beautiful picture of marriage.


“……..Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject into Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing………..” ~ Ephesians 5 v22-24


Much like how every good marriage is a picture of Christ and the church, the same with every scriptural church....Christ is the head of that church and the pastor is known as the under-shepherd to the one Great Shepherd Jesus Christ.


So the command to preach the Gospel to every creature is to every single scriptural church standing today and ever will stand.


Churches are made up of mixed multitudes of people both male and female, if ever a church hopes to reach as many people as they can with the Gospel then it’s going to take the combined efforts of all believers not just men.


We read in the book of Acts 1 how there were gathered about 120 believers! Many who were women and it states so within the context.


These are the same believers who were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 who went out and got about 3000 people saved.


This was a fulfilment of the prophet Joel’s words when he said “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants hand handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy” explained by Peter in the Acts 2 narrative


3000 people could only be saved with the combined efforts of all the believers working together being filled with the Holy Spirit. God is no respecter of persons he will use both men or women to save the lost, all he needs is a willing vessel.


Remember the Samaritan woman in John 4? When she was saved by Christ, she went out with the good news and got other people saved.


I believe in women preachers (not behind the pulpit preaching! God forbid) but out there in the harvest where the labourers are so few! In the highways and hedges and door to door with the news of glad tidings.


We read many times in Paul’s writings how he wanted the women that laboured with him in the Gospel to be looked after, he praised the efforts of god fearing women like Phebe, Priscilla, Mary, Julia, Chloe, Euodias, Syntyche, Eunice and Lois etc who helped him and who were bold enough to open their mouths and give people the Gospel.


God is not restricted by numbers or whether your male or female, he is though restricted when believers make excuses and are not willing to put in the work or the time for the Gospel.

 The magnitude of winning the lost is a lifetimes work, a work that is so important, that it should be impressed on every believers heart.

The Mission Field!

The mission field is a synonym often used to describe the areas where the Gospel has had little exposure. Our thoughts immedietly go to the far east of China or Israel, or to the many areas of Africa. No doubt these places need diligent missionaries and evangelists. In fact I hope to God that godly men and women with a heart for these places rise up and go take the Gospel to those people.


The Gospel is for everyone, because in the sight of God all men are without excuse. they shall go to hell if they die in their sins. God is no respector of persons, the Jew or the Greek. The only people He favours are those who are washed in the blood of Christ. For everyone else, there are these chilling words.


He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. ~ John 3 v36


So the burden of reaching the lost far and wide is prevalent indeed and should occupy our hearts, as God's people, because we know the truth. The Bible says "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; "


What I wanted to say though is this. The mission field needn't necessarily be hundreds of miles away though. Right where we live wherever we are, there are lost people all around us.


The world we live in happens to be a culturally diverse place, speaking of my home town of London, you do not have to travel far to reach people from every walk of life. I believe in the notion of "six degrees of separation" in that between you and another person in the world there is a gap of six people. You want to reach the world? why not reach the people around you and right where you are.

Rob Bell Exposed!!

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. ~ 2Timothy 4 v1-4

Error Exposed In The King James Bible!

Well, who knew that it would come to this, but I've stumbled across multiple errors throughout scripture; I share this information with you guys because I want all of you to know the errors as well. 

I've listed the scriptures below along with the reference to the errors I've found

Honoring The King James Bible (2)

I find it funny that many people have a hard time believing that God preserved his Word for us. Is anything too hard for the LORD? said God to Abraham, concerning his barren wife becoming pregnant.

Here is a thought I wanted to share you today. 


I was reading through the book of Nehemiah last week, and the inspiration for my next article on honoring the King James Bible came to me. This inspiration is found in chapter 9 of the book.

The chapter pretty much is arranged in a way which resembles a typical Sunday service at your church. It starts with the children of Israel gathered together, then it proceeds to the people reading the book of the law of the LORD, followed by praise and worship to God.

Now the next part is what I particularly want to focus on, From verse 5 of chapter 9, all the way to the end of the chapter, the Levites which numbered a total of 8 stand up and sound out a discourse very similar to Stephens own discourse found in Acts 7.

As I was reading this, what stood out to me was the whole nature of this service from the Levites to the people. The context of the discourse was from God calling out Abraham, to Judah returning back to Jerusalem from their captivity. This covers a large amount of history if taking into account Abraham lived around 2000 bc and the Nehemiah lived around 400 bc.

Now the first five books were penned down by the human author Moses, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,  Moses as we know it, lived around 1500 bc, which is roughly 500 years after Abraham lived. 

Anyone who has even skimmed through the Bible (let alone read it) know that SO much history is covered from those dates given above, and recorded for us in the Word of God to read. We know in that space of time Israel went through the leadership of Moses to Joshua to Judges, to Kings to the kingdom being split and Israel being destroyed by the Assyrians, to the tribe of judah being taken into captivity for 70 years by the Babylonians and returning in the reign of the Medes and Persians. 

YET still, in all that space of time, God's Word was preserved for the Levites to open up and read in the ears fo the people, and the discourse mirrors exactly the events recorded in the first five books of Moses, which in turn is reiterated by Stephen in his discourse in Acts.

WHAT AM I TRYING TO SAY? it's simple :) better yet let me write one verse out of many of God's promise to preserve his Word.

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. ~ Psalm 119 v160

CONCLUSION, God preserves his Word even through turbulant history, wars, persecution, trials, imprisonment, exile and the rise and fall of nations and empires.

God bless

Honoring The King James Bible (1)

2011 marks the 400th year of the King James Bible (AV)

In celebration of this, I thought I would write some short notes discussing the preservation of God’s Word using examples from um…God’s Word lol.

If time permits I should be able to write a new note every few weeks or so, we’ll have to see…

My first analysis today is found in the book of Jeremiah. (I recommend everyone read this phenomenal book, (one of my personal favourites)).

It concerns the conversations with Jeremiah and Baruch the son of Neriah found in chapter 36.

Allow me to set the scene.......

The prophet Jeremiah has been preaching to the people of Judah for many years now, warning them of the coming judgement from the Lord, It’s now the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah who was a very righteous godly king, but Jehoiakim followed not the ways of his father, but plunged Judah into more wickedness further kindling the wrath of God.

In chapter 36 we find Jeremiah bound in prison, but even there the LORD visits him and commands him to take a scroll and write down all the Words that he is about to speak, so it can be a book to be read in the ears of the people.

Jeremiah then calls Baruch the son Neriah to record all the words he speaks which he received from the LORD into a book to be read out in the ears of the people.

What is the lesson here? It’s simple!!

GOD’S WORD CAN BE PRESERVED down the line!!

The Bible says in 2Peter “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

In the case of Jeremiah, he received it directly from the LORD (1st inspiration), he then tells Baruch all the words he was told by the LORD(2nd inspiration) and that becomes the book which is read out by Baruch in the ears of the people (3rd inspiration)

In no way was God’s Word less inspired when Baruch read it out than when Jeremiah directly received it from the LORD.

In the same chapter, the book even gets destroyed by the king because he was offended at the Word of the LORD, but the LORD commands Jeremiah again to write down the SAME WORDS he spoke to him before in another scroll

“Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.”

CONCLUSION

The King James Bible was diligently translated out of the Greek and Hebrew languages into the lingua franca of the world, English!!  and even from one language to another, it’s still God’s Word.

He promised he would preserve it forever and we hold the Words of God in our hands today. It’s still just as powerful, it’s still just as hated, it’s still the truth and it’s still inspired as it was when God first spoke the words and they were penned down by 40 different authors spanning thousands of years.

Jesus put it this way “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”

So yeah, this is my first article, I hope it brought my first point across, in that God’s Word was penned down by different people, yet it remained God’s Word.

So yeah um God bless :)

My thoughts on the King James Bible.

I don’t claim to be a scholar when it comes to the Word of God – but I believe every Word of it. I can’t speak Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic (or any other foreign language for that matter), but I can speak English. I can’t read any language except for English. I’ve never taken any classes or sat through any discipleship courses about the Bible – so I guess technically I am unqualified and ignorant in the scholastic sense of this topic.

I’ve never studied the original texts. I’ve never seen the ancient scrolls. But I’ve read history. I’ve talked to hundreds of people. I’ve heard countless sermons. I’ve prayed many earnest prayers. I’ve asked many, many questions – and I’ve received many, many answers supporting both sides of the issue.

I’ve read about Christian martyrs – both in history and in our present day – people who gave their lives defending and hiding the Bible so that we could have it today. In essence, God used the willing and acceptable sacrifice of their lives to preserve His Word down through the ages.

Who am I to place the King James above the original texts – the inspired, perfect Word of God? Without those texts, we would not have the Bible in the English language at all. God breathed the original Scriptures to men who did not speak English – in fact, they spoke several other languages. One cannot honestly place the King James above the original texts – whether we can find them or not.

Do I condemn or look down on people who use other translations of the Bible? No. It is their choice what they read, study, and meditate on. I prefer a Bible that is complete in doctrine. Do I believe that people can be saved if they use other translations than the KJV? Of course; to say otherwise would be very foolish. Salvation is a faith and grace thing (free gift); not a read and do thing (works-based).

Let me take this opportunity to admit that I have struggled with my position on the Word of God. I have wondered if perhaps I am mistaken for believing that one English translation of God’s Word is superior to all the rest. “Surely, the translators had good intentions…”

But good intentions aren’t enough.

I didn’t understand how one group of people could get it “so right” and another group of people get it “so wrong.” I didn’t understand why one set of translators understood it to mean one thing, while another group got something similar, yet so different out of the same job. I didn’t understand how people could take the ancient texts and derive the NIV, NASB, ESB, the Message, NKJV, the Living Bible, the NLT, and a host of others from it. All containing a similar message, but making seemingly slight changes resulting in changed doctrine. I began to question which one got it right…

That’s when I realized that I was going about this the completely wrong way. I’m not going to understand it all. I’m not going to be able to “reason” it into my mind. It’s a faith issue. By faith, I accept and believe the Bible is God’s inspired, holy, perfect, and preserved Word.

I believe the King James Bible is the preserved Word of God for the English-speaking people. Not for the Spanish; not for the Swedish; not for the Jews… but for the English. I believe my God is big enough to do that for His people. Again, I’m not at all fluent in any language other than English, but even I know that things cannot be translated word-for-word from English to another language. There are going to be differences.

Based on my above statement, many people will label me as one of two things: closed-minded or open-minded. I’ll leave that for you to decide. I’m still figuring it out for myself. So be gentle, I’m still learning… and I have a long way to go.

I’m not brain-washed. I’m not compromising my stand by any means. But I want to know more. I want to be able to give an answer for myself, instead of going about it in the “he said, she said” way. That’s why I continuously study this topic; that’s why I’ll keep reading and learning – because I want to dig deeper and know more than I already do. I know I’ve overlooked several points in this post about the matter – it was intentional. This article was not meant to be an exclusive commentary on the Word of God. This is just scratching the surface – my personal and preliminary thoughts and wonders on the matter.

If you have any articles, books, or links that you could share – feel free to do so over at Grow UP! under the home post. The same goes for any questions or thoughts you wish to share.

God Bless,
Heather Joy
www.growup318.com