kosarajuraj

We all need friends. We need people in our lives that will love us where we are and help us get to a place of higher living. We need friends that will hold us accountable to God's standards - friends that sharpen us. The Bible makes a compelling point about this type of friendship. “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend [to show rage or worthy purpose].” (Proverbs 27:17, AMP). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible says of this principle: “We are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with.   And directed to have in view, in conversation, to make one another wiser and better.” When we have a friend that sharpens and we become a friend that sharpens, our lives are enriched.   Think about what our churches, our neighborhoods, our marriages, our work places, and our lives would look like if we all had this type of friend in our lives. Helen Keller said it beautifully: "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking...

Each of us is called to be like Jesus. That’s what it means to share His holiness. We are called to share His nature – to personify our Lord in love, character, wisdom, and power. This is why God saved us. He justified us so He could mold us into the image of His precious Son. Then the world could see the glory of God – live and in person – through us. Is there any higher calling? Is there any more grand and noble purpose? What a privilege to be called into God’s family. And just as our general call is to unveil Christ to the world, our specific call is to unveil Him within our particular spheres of influence – our relationships, vocations, neighbourhoods, and gifts. God uses trials in the believer's life for several reasons. They purify us (Malachi 3:3-4, 1 Pet 1:6-9. Psa 66:10) by making us rely more on God and His grace. James tells us trials increase our patience (James 1:3,4,12) and God uses them to glorify Himself (1Pet 4:12-16). Paul sums it up well when he stat...

General Omar Bradley said this about our generation: •    We know more about war than about peace. •    We know more about killing than about living. •    This is our 20th Century’s claim to progress – knowledge of science outstrips capacity for control. •    We have too many men of science, too few men of God. •    The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. •    We are a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. Our world is filled with horrors. Sometimes the answer seems to be to lock the doors and wait for all that is wrong to just go away. Unfortunately, that is no way to live. In such a horrifying time, we need to draw upon the courage of the Lord to meet the world head-on. God will instill in us the power to conquer our fears and enjoy this life as the gift it was meant to be. He will also lead us in ways that we can work together...

  Buddhists believe that enlightenment can be found through the eightfold path. Muslims follow the five pillars of Islam. Christians live their lives trusting that Jesus is the unique Son of God who died for their sins. We’re all convinced that what we believe is correct, and we stake our futures on it. But it’s faith just the same; none of us has absolute proof. This might surprise you, but atheists live by faith, too. They operate in the belief that there is no creator, no higher moral law, no divine judgment, and no afterlife. They can’t prove any of these things.  In fact, most people in the world believe that denying them goes against the evidence as well as human experience, and therefore requires even higher levels of trust. So everybody lives by some kind of faith-that is, beliefs and actions that are based on something they consider trustworthy, even though they can’t fully prove it to be true-and usually their beliefs run pretty deep. Therefore, if we’...