Friday 17 May 2013

QUIZ TIME...#1

Attempt the questions you can answer and provide the answers in the comment space below. Let's see your knowledge of the Bible...

 
1. What was the name of the angel who visited Mary to tell her that she would have a baby and he was to be called Jesus?

2. What were the names of the first man and woman that Jesus created?

3. What was the name of the man who owned an arc and took the animals in two by two?

4. How many commandments are there in the Old and New Testament Bible respectively?

5. What is the name of the Oldest man in the Bible?

6. How many loaves of bread did Jesus have to feed the five thousand?


7. What is the name of Jesus' Cousin?

8. In one of the bible parables, Jesus talks about a seed that is planted that starts off very small but eventually, through care, grows bigger and bigger representing human life. What was the name of this parable?
 

9. What is the name of the disciple who betrayed Jesus?
 

10. What did Jesus come to earth to save us from?
 




#Bible Characters Name Search



Wednesday 15 May 2013

God's Children : God's Glory

Matthew 5: 16 "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven"

    When a child accepts Christ as his/her personal Lord and Savior, God puts His Spirit in that child to change his/her old ways of living into a new one that is pleasing to God. God's Spirit is given to us to plant seeds of good living and good works into our lives as Jesus said in our Text "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven". That is to say we should live our lives in accordance or in obedience to the Spirit of God in us that all men (which includes our parents, brother, sisters, friends, neighbors, teachers and everyone else) will see that we belong to God and because of our good behaviors and lifestyles they will be very happy and grateful to our heavenly Father that changed us from our old bad ways and habits into this bright and beautiful one.
    Now, what are those things that we can do or show before "all  men" will see and glorify God? I'll tell you, In Galatians 5:22-23 the Bible says "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self control; and here there is no conflict with the law". When you  have Love in you, you'll know how to forgive people when they offend you and those who don't like you either. Proverbs 10:12 say "...Love overlooks insults". Having Joy in your life keeps you happy at all times even when things are bad, also, having God's joy in us gives us inner strength to do anything we want to do that is right just as the prophet Nehemiah says in Nehemiah 8:10 "...for the Joy of the Lord is your strength". Peace from God's Spirit keeps us calm even in difficult situations for example when exams are approaching or when trouble comes our way, God's Spirit whispers to us that all is going to be fine if we can trust in God to take care of our needs. Patience helps us not to be worried when things delay or when we think our needs are not being met when we need them. Kindness and Goodness from God's Spirit makes us do kind and good things to people who are around us like giving food to poor people, sharing our toys, giving out our old clothes, buying for others good things and saying kind words to each other which people see. Faithfulness from the Holy Spirit helps you to be loyal to your friends and family even in difficult times instead of abandoning them like evil children will do and also to help us keep and fulfill the promises we make. Furthermore, Gentleness and Self-Control giving by the Holy Spirit helps us to take everything that comes our way daily with ease and calm. Having the gentleness of God's Spirit won't allow you to speak angrily or rudely to others even when you are upset or angry, having self-control from the Holy Spirit helps you to say No! to peer pressure i.e when friends pressure you to do wrong  for example, a class mate wants you to steal test questions from your teacher or to steal answers from someone else. Self-Control also will help you not to retaliate back and to forgive those that hurt you even when people want you to take revenge.

   Finally kids, know that our daily life, attitude and behaviors should reflect the fruit of the Holy Spirit so that God will be glorified by others when we act as the Word of God says for we are created for God's glory. We as God's children are also a source of God's glory. God Bless You.



Government and Authorities

Romans 13:1-3 "Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it’s God’s order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you’re irresponsible to the state, then you’re irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear"

Hello Kids!
     Have you ever seen the President of your country? a governor of a state? a Mayor, a Senator, a local government chairman, a minister or maybe a member of the force (soldier or a policeman)? Do you know that God placed them there? In our opening text above, Apostle Paul is telling us that "we should obey the government, for God is the one who has put them there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power. So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God..."
 
    The government are the people that have been placed in power by God to oversee the effective handling of the country's resources so that everyone that is a citizen of the country or even a foreigner can enjoy the resource God has given to us. Even the Policemen on the street and around the corner are good people because they help us to keep away evil and bad people from our society. Continuing down on our text, Verses 3-7 says "For the Policeman does not frighten people who are doing right, but those doing evil things will always fear him...the policeman is sent by God to help you, but if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for he will have you punished for he is sent by God for that purpose..." So you see here that from the Bible, our military men and women, policemen and women are sent by God to control evil in the society, though some of them might be doing wrong and bad things because they let Satan enter their minds, we are to pray for them just like Apostle Paul told Timothy in II Timothy 2:1 "...Pray much for others, plead for God's mercy upon them; give thanks for all He is going to do for them." Yes, that is what we should do whenever we see or hear that government officials or authorities (President, Councilors, Mayors, Governors, soldiers, policemen etc) are doing bad things, it does not tell us to insult or hate them but pray for them as God's children just as Ecclesiastes 10:20 says "Never curse the King, not even in your thought..."

   Finally kids, next time you see a government official, policeman or police woman, soldier man or woman, just politely smile and greet them cheerfully because they are also doing God's work apart from earning a living for their families. God Bless You.


MY SPOKEN WORDS AND MY UNSPOKEN THOUGHTS

Psalm 19:14 "May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O lord my Rock and Redeemer"

The above verse says"...pleasing EVEN to You, O Lord..." that is to say our thoughts and words should not only be pleasing to us as children of God but more  so, be pleasing to God our creator.

Have you ever wondered if your words and silent thoughts ever matter as a child of God? Do you know that people can identify if you are God's child or a child of the devil from the words you say and you can only say words from the abundant thoughts in your head. Not only can we be identified by the words we speak but God is going to judge each of us by the words and thoughts in our hearts. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36b "...you must give account for every idle word you speak" and He said further in verse 37 that "your words reflect your fate (destiny) then: either you will be justified or condemned by them". Apostle James writes in James 3:5-6 " so the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do...the tongue is a flame of fire...". What that means is that our tongue with which we use in talking needs to be controlled or  it can lead us to great danger and also can be used in identifying the type of persons we are as I mentioned ealier on. Proverbs 23:7a says "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." because in Matthew 12:35, Jesus further confirms it b saying "A good man out of the treasures of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasues of his heart bringeth forth good things".

    From these few massages we can see that we should change our thoughts and our words to be in line with the word of God as we are identified by our words and judged by both our words and our thoughts but the a good step in doing that is to avoid or cut off from friends that influences us negatively just as in 2 Timothy 2:16 warns us to "steer clear of foolish discussion which lead people into sin of anger with each other" and also 1 Corinthians 15: 33b "... if you listen to them, you will start acting (thinking and speaking) like them". But what if we have been speaking and thinking evil? What do we do?  Like the Psalmist, we need to say this prayer he did in Psalms 19 :12b-13 "Cleanse me from hidden faults and keep me from delibrate wrongs, help me to stop doing them...". So in other to start as a good child of God, we need to ask God to cleanse us first of all from all evil thoughts, words and actions then we should ask the Holy Spirit our friend to help us put an end to it so that out spoken words and unspoken thoughts would be pleasing even to God. We can also pray for our friends and relatives we know are guilty of such so that they can control the way they think and talk in line with God's way and we can all be One Big God's family when we get to Heaven! God bless you.