Christian Pen Pals

By Jeffrey Hardwick Have you ever tried to earn love? Do you believe you deserve unconditional love? The good news is love is neither earn-able nor deserving. Imagine freely receiving love without having to do something to earn it. God loves you based on WHO you are not on what you do. When you came out of your mother's womb, your family loved you because you were part of their family. They did not love you because you DID something for them. True love is based on relationship not works. You were created to freely receive God's love not based on anything you could do to earn it, but solely on who you are. Once you understand these life changing truths, you will be free from trying to perform and earn God's love. There is NOTHING you can do to be worthy enough to receive the free, unconditional love from God. He does not require anything on your part to love you. He simply loves you because He is Love. His nature is to love you no matter what you do, think, believe, say or d...

by Rachel Paxton Oh, the terrible two's. As a mom of twin toddlers, I wasn't particularly looking forward to my boys turning two. As their third birthday approaches, I now realize that it wasn't really as bad as I had been expecting. I don't think temper tantrums can ever be eliminated completely, but there are some things you can do to minimize and sometimes even avoid them. One of the best ways I have found to avoid a toddler tantrum is by giving my boys choices. When you give your toddler a choice, he feels like he has some control over the situation, and is much less likely to throw a fit to get his way. This solution does have a catch, however. When you are giving your toddler a choice between two options, don't offer him anything you don't want to give him. At this young age, they don't yet understand that you are in fact getting them to do what you wanted in the first place. Yet, they think it was their idea. (You have to be sneakier about ...

What is God's Call for You? Have you struggled with trying to figure out what is God’s call for your life? Do you wonder if you are in the right career or if you are doing the right things? I remember vividly while in high school trying to figure out what to major in when I went to college. I was tormented with picking the wrong major. I desperately wanted to be in God’s will. I remember saying God if you will just put a note on my pillow then I will know what to do. Guess what, I never got the note on my pillow. What I did not understand then, but understand better now is God can use me in whatever I do. God was not going to narrowly focus my career path. He wanted me to use the talents and gifts he gave me. He also wanted me to use my own decision making skills to pick a major that fit with my gifts. When I look back over my career and various jobs I can see how God used me in each job to glorify him. Even the jobs I did not like very much God used me and blessed me with certain ...

by Rachel Paxton Everyone is raving about Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They are one of the most useful creating tools created to date. Visitors to my web site have shared their favorite uses for their "magic" erasers. If you haven't tried them yet, you better find out what you're missing! Appliances: - Removes build-up from the bottom of a non-stick iron - Cleans stainless steel finish appliances Bathroom: - Removes hairspray build-up from brass doorknobs - Cleans bathtub and/or shower - Removes permanent marker from countertop - Removes hard water stains from shower door Doors: - Removes pen, crayon, markers - Cleans wooden door frames Furniture: - Removes craft paint and marker from mahogany bed and dressers Kitchen: - Cleans old formica kitchen countertops - Removes tarnish from old silverware - Removes coffee stains from formica countertops - Removes grease and grime from stove - Polishes stainless steel sinks Office: - Removes marks from metal filing cabinets - Re...

Christian Pen Pal Ezine If God testify against us, who can testify for us? If God’s opinion of man’s sinfulness, his judgment of man’s guilt, and his declaration of sin’s evil be so very decided, there can be no hope of acquittal for us on the ground of personal character of goodness, either of heart or life. That which God sees in us furnishes only matter for condemnation, not for pardon. It is vain to struggle or murmur against God’s judgment. He is the Judge of all the earth; and he is right as well as sovereign in his judgment. He must be obeyed; his law in inexorable; it cannot be broken without making the breaker of it (even in one jot or tittle) worthy of death. When the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the soul it sees this. Conviction of sin is just the sinner seeing himself as he is, and as God has all along seen him. Then every fond idea of selfgoodness, either in whole or in part, vanishes away. The things in him that once seemed good appear so bad, and the bad things so very ...

God's Way of Peace by Horatius Bonar, D.D. CHAPTER I. GOD’S TESTIMONY CONCERNING MAN God knows us. He knows what we are; he knows also what he meant us to be; and upon the difference between these two states he founds his testimony concerning us. He is too loving to say anything needlessly severe; too true to say anything untrue; nor can he have any motive to misrepresent us; for he loves to tell of the good, not of the evil, that may be found in any of the works of his hands. He declares, them “good”, “very good”, at first; and if he does not do so now, it is not because he would not, but because he cannot; for “all flesh has corrupted its way upon the earth.” God’s testimony concerning man is, that he is a sinner. He bears witness against him, not for him, and testifies that “there is none righteous, no, not one;” that there is “none that doeth good;” none “that understandeth;” none that even seeketh after God, and still more none that loveth him. God speaks of man kindly, but se...

"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me" -John 5:39 The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Old Testament when He said, "the Scriptures.. .testify of me." Speaking of the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis-Deuteronomy),Jesus said that Moses "wrote of me" (John 5:46). After His resurrection, Jesus met two of His disciples and encouraged them by saying, "All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me" (Luke 24:44). When you read the Old Testament, look for promises about Jesus Christ - He is the Seed who crushes Satan's head; He is the Lamb of God; He is the Prophet we must listen to; He is the Priest who offers Himself up to God; He is the King who rules His people. In the New Testament, the Gospel has come and commands us to believe in Christ, the One that God promised in the Old Testament and ...

IV. The last general head proposed was: To make application of the subject. Is it so, that the gospel, as a word of salvation, is sent to every sinner that hears it? Then, 1. Hence see the kindness of God in Christ to sinners of mankind. Why hath he made such a difference between sinning men and sinning angels? There was never a word of salvation sent to angels that sinned; no not one word; "They are reserved in chains, to the judgment of the great day"; but it was sent unto mankind; "To you, O men, do I call; and my voice is to the sons of men"; "To you is the word of this salvation sent." 2. See what a valuable book the Bible is, which contains this word of salvation. O Sirs, how ought we to search the Scriptures: for, in them we think, and think aright when we do so, that we have eternal life and salvation conveyed to us? Why, they testify of Christ: and we ought especially to search out the words of eternal life; the words of salvation that lie there. ...

HOW TO FACE YOUR FUTURE SECTION 10 - JAMES 4:13-17 (James 4:13) Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; The bible doesn't condemn making a legitimate profit. The bible talks a lot about planning too. This man has planned everything. His purpose, the place, the progress. He's got all the bases covered. What's wrong here? James says the first common mistake we make is planning without God. There's not a single mention of God in this entire business plan. He knew what he wanted, he knew how to get there, but he didn't check it out with God first. Make no misunderstand the bible talks about planning. No man goes out and builds a house without first considering how much it's going to cost. And the book of Proverbs says over and over again that if I don't plan I'm a fool. It's wise to plan, he not talking about planning, he's talking about presumption ...

III. To the third general head proposed, viz., To speak of the sending of this word. Here it may be enquired, from whom, by whom, to whom it is sent; and for what purpose? 1. From whom is it sent? Why, it is a word of salvation sent from the God of salvation, to whom belong the issues from death; and it carries the impress of himself upon it. As the word is God's word, so it is of God's sending, "He sent his word and healed them," Psalm 107:20. 2. By whom is it sent? It is not sent by angels, but by men; "We are ambassadors for Christ," II Corinthians 5:20. It is true, God sent his word first by Christ, "He so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, might not perish, but have everlasting life," John 3:16. Then Christ sends it by men, that we may not be afraid at his appearance, as Is-rael were of old; "We have this treasure in earthen vessels," II Corinthians 4:7. 3. To whom is it that he sent...

II. The second head proposed was: To speak of the word of salvation, which I may do by answering these four questions. QUESTION 1: What is the word of salvation? ANSWER: Not the law, but the gospel; this is that which is the power of God to salvation, Romans 1:16. Whatever discovers Christ, and salvation through him, is the gospel. QUESTION 2: Why is it called the word of salvation? ANSWER: Because it discovers salvation; it describes salvation; it conveys salva-tion, as a charter does an estate, or as a testament does a legacy; it offers salvation; it establishes a connection betwixt faith and salvation to all sinners of mankind, for, "He that believeth shall be saved"; and because it is the organ or instrument by which the Spirit applies salvation. QUESTION 3: How does the word operate in the hand of the Spirit, when believed unto salvation? ANSWER: It operates as seed cast into the ground: it operates as rain and dew; "My doctrine shall drop as the dew, and distil ...

I. We shall speak a little of this salvation, and consider what it supposes, and what it implies. 1. What this salvation supposes, namely, misery. Our miserable state by nature is a state of alienation and estrangement from God. We are without God, and are alienated from the life of God; aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. It is a state of enmity; for, "The carnal mind is at enmity against God"; we are in actual rebellion against him. It is a state of darkness and ignorance; we are destroyed for lack of knowledge. A state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the world, and divers lusts; we are fettered and imprisoned, led captive. It is a state of impotence: we are, by nature, without strength; we cannot so much as ask deliverance: "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves." It is a destitute state, a pit wherein there is no water; a comfortless state, a bewildered state, a cursed and condemned state; for "He that believeth not, is con...

BE WISE ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS Background Passages: Proverbs 12:16,18-19; 14:17,22,29; 15:1,18; 16:28,32; 17:9,14,17,19; 20:3; 19:11; 22:24-25,25:15; 26:21; 28:23 Lesson Passages: Proverbs 12:18; 28:23; 15:1; 25:15; 12:19; 16:28; 17:9; 14:17,29; 15:18; 20:3; 16:32; 19:11; 22:24-25; 12:16; 17:14,19; 26:21; 14:22; 17:17 BIBLICAL SETTING 1. Choose Your Words (Proverbs 12:18; 28:23; 15:1; 25:15; 12:19; 16:28; 17:9) 2. Control Your Temper (Proverbs 14:17,29; 15:18; 20:3; 16:32; 19:11) 3. Consider Consequences (Proverbs 22:24-25; 12:16; 17:14,19; 26:21; 14:22; 17:17) OUTLINE 1. Choose Your Words Carefully (Proverbs 12:18; 28:23; 15:1;25:15; 12:19; 16:28; 17:9) 2. Cultivate Patience (Proverbs 14:17,29; 15:18; 20:3; 16:32; 19:11) 3. Consider Consequences (Proverbs 22:24-25; 12:16; 17:14,19; 26:21; 14:22; 17:17) KEY VERSE: Proverbs 17:17 BIBLICAL TRUTH God expects His people to build and to maintain healthy relationships with one another. LIFE IMPACT To help you work wisely to build and maintain h...