Partakers Christian Podcasts

Think Spot 13 May 2013

Think Spot - 13th May 2013

G’day and welcome to Partake! Welcome also to Monday and our Think Spot together! C. Bronte once said “Life appears to me to be too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrong.”

Many people nurse a guilty conscience owing to holding onto animosity or wrongs done to them or having done wrong things to others. As a consequence, their life is filled with turmoil and bitterness. You may well be like that – I don’t know!
What I do know is that your conscience is the faculty which is sensitive to right and wrong, and judges your actions and attitudes. Everybody has a conscience and all are sensitive to spiritual truths, whether they are immediately aware of it or not.

According to the Bible, a clear conscience is essential for inner peace and joy, confidence in prayer, good health, effective service, .right relation-ships, effective witnessing, making right decisions, and victory in spiritual battle. A clear conscience is the inner joy and peace of spirit which results from having all personal wrongs made right with those whom a person had offended - either God or someone else.

However- many Christians carry around guilty consciences due mainly to unconfessed sins, affecting relationships with God, other people and themselves. If left unchecked, a conscience which is guilty, slowly grows 'dead', cold and silent. That is until such time that the guilt has been assuaged and put right.

If at the moment you are burdened by a guilty conscience, ask the Holy Spirit to show you clearly what is affecting your conscience. Then decide, at any cost, to clear it up in the power of the same Spirit. He will help you! Pray to the Father and ask forgiveness, (1 John 1:9), and fully accept His love and forgiveness. If there is anyone else involved, then you will also need to ask for their forgiveness (Matthew 5:23-24).

Ask the Father to help you go, and the Spirit will help you, because one of the hardest things in the world to say is: “I was wrong! Please forgive me."
Your conscience can be cleansed because of what Jesus did on the cross!

Hebrews 9:14 says “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

Go into this week, ready to serve the living God, being confident that the Holy Spirit living within you, empowers you, is transforming you and desires that your conscience be clear. He will help you overcome if you ask!

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Thursday Ponderings

9th May 2013

Concerning Discernment!

If you listened to last weeks Thursday Ponderings about judging, you will have heard some strong warnings against judging others. However we are encouraged to judge in the sense of using discernment.

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Luke 12:57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?” John 7:24 “Stop judging by mere appearances, instead judge correctly!” and 1 Corinthians 2: 15-16 “The person with the spirit makes judgements about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgements, for who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

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Jesus tells Simon that he has judged correctly in Luke 7:43. Hebrews 5:14 says that solid food is for the mature Christian who by constant use have trained themselves to discern what is good and what is evil. Discernment is listed as a gift of the spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:10, so it is clear that judging in a discerning way is supposed to be part of a Christian’s life.

So what is the key? It is the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had the delicate balance. He knew what was in people and was realistic about sin but He did not come to condemn. John 3:17 is clear about that. Jesus said God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world. His motive in discerning sin in people was always one of love. So next time you go to judge, ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit and wisdom as to whether you should open your mouth. If you have a judgmental though which is condemning ask for forgiveness.

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Think Spot

Think Spot - 6th May 2013

G'day and welcome to Partake! Welcome also to Monday and our Think Spot together! We have the start of a new week! Its Monday! How and in what circumstances are you trusting God? How did Jesus Christ trust in the Father? Jesus knew that the Father was going to bring Him back to life after his death on the cross. Jesus trusted the Father in this area of His life, just as he did in all aspects of his life. How are you doing? Do you have concerns and areas of your life where you need an assurance that God the Father will help you?

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Here are some simple steps which may help you maintain a trust in God. 1. Pray, casting all anxiety on God. He cares for you because you are His personal concern (The great apostle Peter, one of Jesus' closest friends wrote this in 1 Peter 5v7 "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.") 2. Accept and thank God that His peace has filled that area (Another great apostle, Paul, wrote this in Philippians 4v7 says "Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.") 3. Learn to be content whatever your circumstances are, resting in God (Paul goes on in Philippians 4v11-12 "Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.") 4. Allow the Spirit to control your mind for life and peace (and again from the pen of the apostle Paul, this time in Romans 8v6 "So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.") 5. Trust God to fulfil your every need (Matthew records these words of Jesus in Matthew 6v32-33 "but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." ) 6. Obey and follow God's commands to love God and love others (Jesus is recorded in Matthew 22v37-40 "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.") 7. Be prepared to be obedient to the Father, in supplying the needs of others you meet and therefore showing you love God and other people! One way to show you are trusting and loving God is to be the answer to the prayers of somebody else and showing that love to them! Ask God to show you, how you can help somebody else in need this week and showing your love. Go in peace this Monday, into this week, knowing God is worthy of your trust! God will take care of you, but not always in the way you expect! Expect Him to allow circumstances and situations to arise where you are to trust Him fully! He will help you if you ask! After all, He knows you better than anybody! And don't be afraid to help somebody else because by doing that, you show you are loving and trusting in God! Father, I pray that You would help us to trust in You and that You would supply our needs, calm our concerns and help us to love You and others more fully. I ask this through the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside all those who have peace with you. Amen

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Friday Prayers

Friday Prayers

3 May 2013

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O God,

You are the unsearchable abyss of peace,

the ineffable sea of love,

the fountain of blessings,

and the bestower of affection,

Who sends peace to those that receive it;

open to us this day the sea of Your love,

and water us with the plenteous streams from the riches of Your grace.

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Make us children of quietness,

and heirs of peace.

Kindle in us the fire of Your love;

sow in us Your fear;

strengthen our weakness by Your power;

bind us closely to You

and to each other in one firm bond of unity;

for the sake of Jesus Christ.

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Thursday Ponderings

2nd May  2013

About Judging Others!

There are warnings against judging people. Matthew 7:1- 2 ’Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.’ So it is not safe.

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Matthew 7:3-4 and John 8:7 say we are not qualified to judge. ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? Jesus said, ‘let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’ (woman caught in adultery, which by law was punishable by stoning to death).

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Romans 14:4 tell us that it is not our business to judge. ‘Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?’ 1 Corinthians 4:5 tells us not to judge because it is not relevant ‘Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.’

How are you doing when it comes to judging and not judging?

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