Have you ever wondered why the devil has worked so hard to distort the meaning of Christmas? How Santa Claus, decorations, foods, parties, and gift-giving have taken the place of celebrating Jesus’ birth in the secular world? The most common theory is that it started as a Roman pagan festival called, “Saturnalia or Mirthas,” worshiping the agriculture god Saturn. The festival was first celebrated for one day and eventually grew to seven days, during which people would party, gamble and give gifts to each other.  The gift-giving custom continued in celebrating Christmas and while it was nice, it has become a huge source of profit for stores, as their commercials have made Santa Claus, Christmas trees and decorations more important than Jesus. The enemy succeeded in moving the public focus from the birth of Jesus to buying, giving and receiving gifts, and parties with traditional, expensive foods and drinks. Maybe you too were thinking that secular advertising erased Christ from the name of the celebration, when they started calling it X-mas. Well actually in Greek, the letter “Chi,” that looks like Latin letter “X,” has been used for centuries as a Christian symbol and starts the name of our Savior, Χριστός (Christos). But I still do not consider it right to replace the name of Christ with a Greek letter and for sure many non-believers prefer it for seeming to remove the name of Christ.
 
Many historians say that the first documents mentioning celebrating Christmas, date from the 4th century, when the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine declared Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire and decided that the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ needed to be a major yearly celebration.
 
The Calculation hypothesis, first proposed by the French priest and historian Louis Duchesne in 1889, says that December 25th was chosen for Jesus’ birth date because it was nine months after a date chosen as Jesus's conception by the Catholic church, March 25th, the Roman date of the spring equinox, according to “Wikipedia.” Other historians are saying that Emperor Constantine decided Christians should celebrate Christmas while pagans were celebrating their pagan god Saturn, so that it would unite in the same feast, around the winter solstice, so 25th of December seemed the right date for it. But was Jesus born on the 25th of December?

• Luke 1:26-27 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

 
Based on what the Bible says about time of the birth of Jesus, we know that the 25th of December could not be the right date. Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah was from the order of Abijah, which was the 8th priestly division according to 1 Chronicles 24:6-19, and served in the Temple of God during the tenth week of the priestly cycle. That week starts on the second Sabbath in the Jewish month of Sivan, which in our calendar is approximately from mid-May to mid-June. Soon after Zechariah returned from his Temple duties Elizabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist. And since six months later, the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive Jesus, that had to be in the month of Kislev (December). With the nine months that are needed for a normal pregnancy, since December leads to the conclusion that Jesus was born around the month of Tishri, which is mid to late September.
 
Besides all this, in the early days of United States, the Puritans banned celebrating Christmas, believing that celebrating birthdays would offend God. They considered that all martyrs, including Jesus should be celebrated only for their death. Celebrating Christmas has also been banned in various places and times throughout the earth, for many different reasons.
 
So, what should we do as Christians? Should we celebrate Christmas? The Bible urges us to praise the Lord at all times. In considering that, should we not praise our Savior and celebrate His birth?

• Psalms 34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

 

• Psalms 30:11-12 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

 
This is a personal choice that each person must make. Certainly, even if the date is wrong, how could it be wrong to celebrate the arrival of the Savior of all mankind?

In conclusion, Satan tried to steal God’s glory and get mankind to worship him instead of God, since he rebelled in heaven and he has never stopped. By getting people to focus on Santa Claus and even the Easter Bunny, and all kinds of distractions, he tries to exclude Jesus from Christmas, as well as Easter. But as long as we love our Lord and we do our part in telling the truth and worship the only true God, the Creator of the whole universe and Father of our Savior Jesus Christ, we can make a difference and help as many people as possible to find and follow the only real God that deserves all our worship, love and adoration! Only Jesus died for every single one of us, paying the penalty for our sins! Hallelujah, thank You Lord Jesus!

Carmen Pușcaș
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So many of us, born-again Christians do not realize that our Lord wants to strengthen us in the midst of trouble, empower us when we are weak, and give us the courage to move further when we feel like we cannot take another step. Most of us are taught that a good Christian has a firm faith, is always on top of things and is never overwhelmed by problems or pain. But everyday life has its ups and downs and whoever says they always live on the top of the mountain is not telling the whole truth. It may seem that it is true for a while, but deep inside every single believer is a human being that has their own set of fears, pains and failures.
 
Can you name one person from the Bible (excluding Jesus), that was always victorious, never suffered or wasn’t mistreated by others? Maybe you might say that everyone recorded in the Bible sinned, so they had to suffer for their sins. Yes, and this is also true about us. Jesus was the only one who never sinned and fulfilled His Father’s will. But even Jesus had His share of pain caused by fellow men, even before the supreme suffering at the cross.
 
So, if in the Bible we do not find super-believers that always lived being strong and victorious, why do we think we should? Why do we think that when we struggle and go through hard times, that it is because we do not have enough faith, are not as strong us we should be or that God abandoned us? Let’s look at the apostle Paul. From the time he became a Christian, life was not easy, as we can see from what he wrote about his tribulations in the following verses:

• 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool--I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness-- 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

 
Certainly Paul understood pain and suffering, and many might say he was not always on top of things. But from God’s perspective, Paul’s life was successful, as he was doing what God called him to do, and he was trusting God in all his troubles. Paul never seemed to doubt God’s love, even when he went through so much. In the next chapter, Paul said that “fourteen years ago I was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2) where he received an abundance of revelation, and he understood that all the troubles he had to face helped keep him humble. First Paul did what we would all do, he prayed. And he did not pray just once, but three times for the Lord to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” which he called “a messenger of Satan.”

• 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 
 
Paul prayed three times for deliverance from the thorn, and the answer was not what he had believed for, but it teaches us an amazing truth! Paul, as all of us would, asked for the pain and suffering to stop, but the Lord’s answer changed everything! God actually said that even when we go through very hard times, His grace is there for us, and we are not alone as our Heavenly Father is always with us! And then, He continued saying, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So if we want to mature spiritually, to truly benefit from God’s power, we have to go through times when we are weak. While all goes well, and we seem to have it all together, and consider ourselves strong and powerful, we tend to think that we do not need God’s help. But when we are weak and hurting, everything changes. Suddenly we become very needy, and we cry out to the Lord to deliver us from trouble. Paul was no different. And then God told him he was not alone in the trial. And the Lord wants us to recognize that His presence is with us always, including in hard times, whether we feel it or not, He never leaves us nor forsakes us (Deuteronomy 31:6). The Lord is always with us, so we better allow Him to manifest His presence while we hurt, and we truly need His strength.
 
This does not mean that we should not pray for the Lord to take away our trouble, or fix the cause of our pain, while we go through hard times! Our Lord is a loving Father and He hears us. But there are times when His answer does not come as we want, like it happened with Paul, and we need to remember that what God told Paul, is also true for us! God has a certain measure of glory prepared for His children according to what they are facing. How can we know that? Let us read again what Paul wrote next: “… Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b). And at the end of verse 10, Paul wrote, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” The apostle learned this firsthand. He experienced the power of God in His life and that strengthened him to face all the imprisonments, beatings, starvation, and all that he went through during his ministry, and we can read about in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28.
 
We can all experience the power of Jesus in our lives while facing hard times, if we do not simply pray for deliverance from what hurts us, but we pray something like, “Nevertheless Lord, please be with me in this trial, strengthen me to handle it as You will, help me grow in loving and trusting You in this situation, because in weakness Your power is made perfect in me! Please help me see the good You do for me in this hardship and the strength I have in You in this weakness so that the coming victory will be way more precious! Help me become whatever You planned for me to be and live my life fully dependent on You!” When we truly surrender it all unto our Lord, His power and glory will manifest in our lives. By submission we get out of the way and make room for what God wants to do.

• 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.   But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

 
God does not look for mighty Christians to use, He uses the weak so He can shine through them! Whenever we feel like we are at the end of our strength, if we continue in faith, we can experience God’s miracle. The enemy would do anything to make us believe we are defeated, abandoned by God, for sure that God does not love us anymore, that’s why He did not deliver us from the trial and so on. But it is not true! This is not the end, we are not defeated, even if we feel like giving up. If we will then call on the Lord, He can then say, “It is alright My child, I’ll take over from here, and you will make it, because My power is made perfect in weakness.” When we come to the end of ourselves, we know for sure that we can continue on, only because of God’s grace and strength! The Lord deserves all of the glory! Then we can boast more gladly as Paul did, about our weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on us! This is the path to success and spiritual growth as we become stronger with every trial we face.
 
Our Lord wants us strong in Him, able to move and act based on His empowerment and not in ourselves, so that we give Him all the glory. But living based on who He is in us and following His direction fully, pride has no place in our hearts. And we all know that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5b). Let us not be afraid of anything, because our Lord is our strength and as long as we follow Him and want to fulfill His will, we will never be alone or defeated by our weaknesses.


Carmen Pușcaș
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As much of society becomes less agrarian, we lose so much. The connection between mankind and the soil leads to much wisdom. Many biblical parables and stories, involve simpler times, when people were more connected to the weather, the soil and people lived with the lack of modern conveniences. People were dependent on lamps and lanterns for light, wells and other natural water sources for much of their water needs. Even the value of shade from the sun, is often missed by people who spend much of their lives indoors.
 
It would be good to take a moment and reflect on some of what is important that gets missed nowadays. One such subject is seeds. One cannot get a new plant from an immature seed. The seed literally must come to its full end, before new life can come from it. In other words, it is just as Jesus said about a grain of wheat.

• John 12:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

 
For new life to come, part of the process is death. It is the same with becoming born-again. Unless we die to the flesh, our evil side, the spiritual birth cannot happen.
 
Another important lesson comes from almost all living fruit and vegetable plants. As a plant matures, it makes blooms which turn into fruits or vegetables. And the process continues, new growth, new blooms and new results. For plants that live continuously year after year, they need pruning to help the process. Consider the following verse.

• John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

 
When we become Christians, we must stay closely connected to the Lord, as He is the vine and we are the branches. The verses in John 15 are reflective of grape vines, and these vines need to be pruned every year. Each new season, the grapes mostly come from new growth. The Gardner prunes and directs the vines thus directing the plant energy, making the best produce. This is a great lesson for us. Similarly for me, I think of growing tomatoes. Where we live, the climate allows us to grow them all year sometimes. They stop producing when it gets too hot, but if we prune them back in the fall, they start to grow again, and we can get more harvest from them. The tomatoes, whether in spring or fall, only produce from the new growth.
 
We must stay intimate with the Lord and grow in our relationship with Him. Being pruned is not pleasant! But it is the only way to continue to produce the kind of life that comes from growing in Christ. The branches that do not cooperate with the Gardner (Father God) wither or end up removed. So we must do our part and stay close to the Holy Spirit and let Him direct and grow us forward.
 
It is a natural tendency to be like the 3rd scenario with the Sower and the seed. In this case, the ground receives the seed and the plant springs up but gets choked out by thorns. The thorns represent the pitfalls that come against us all. These thorns are the “cares of this world,” the “deceitfulness of riches,” the “desires for the pleasures of life” and the “desires for other things” that choke the plant out and the fruit never comes to maturity.
 
In order to be the one that produces, we must be like case number four. They hear the Word and understand it, they accept it and with good and noble hearts keep it and grow to fruition. They bear fruit with patience, 30/60/100 fold.
 
We must receive not only the Gospel, but the truth of God’s Word for our lives as the Holy Spirit gives us understanding. We must care enough to stay on track and not get caught up like case #3. The busy-ness of life, the lure of prosperity and the pleasures of this world can make a heart grow cold toward caring about the Lord, His truths and ways and even caring about the souls of others. The Bible says a person who calls themself a believer but fails to live it, has forgotten where they came from. This is where pruning becomes vital, a matter of life and death. We must yield to the correction of the Lord and be revived! A plant cannot live and produce if the soil is poor, or it struggles for light and water. We are no different.
 
Salvation is a gift to us but we must die like the seed and be born-again. We must bear the fruit of the new life in Christ by cooperating with the Holy Spirit and staying intimate with the Lord. We must stay pruned and fresh, and resist the pitfalls of this world. And when we fall, we must get back up again, by the mercy and grace of the Lord, and continue on. And care for others as ourselves.
 
The more we connect to nature, observing the way God created flora and fauna, and considering the way all life functions, the closer we get to our Creator. There are many similarities between us and the rest of God’s creation, proving that we have the same amazing Creator. By staying still outdoors and watching what goes on around us, we not only learn valuable lessons, but we truly relax, become smarter, and get back to the true values, the ones that really matter.  Glory to God for the amazing beauty of His creation!

E Cockrell and Carmen Pușcaș
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In order to please God, we need to learn to surrender everything unto Him and remove all that He does not like. The devil always tries to trick us into returning to our old sinful habits. Of course, the enemy does not want us to do what is good, he wants to lure us into doing the familiar sins that we used to commit. Thankfully, when we learn to surrender it all to the Lord, we can live right for Him. The above verses talk about leaven, which is the descriptive term for a rising agent used in making bread, not only in ancient times, but it is still used today. The old leaven represents the little things that in time would produce the growth of sin in us.
 
The old leaven is whatever sin we had in our lives, especially the habitual kind, that was daily or frequently, that if we are not careful, can spring up again and cause us to fall back into our old bad ways. This is something the Lord is warning us about through these verses to the Corinthians. As His Word says, “For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
 
We need to decide to stop doing what we used to do. We need to learn what pleases God and what doesn't. And we find it all in His Word. He teaches us everything we need to know about His will, His desires, how we are supposed to be, how we are supposed to behave, how we are supposed to talk, and what is good or bad for us to do. We do not want the old leaven anymore in our lives. We want to become a new lump, one that is sincere, that is truly God's, that doesn't have anything to do with our old nature or our bad old habits.
 
The Holy Spirit is always present to help us change. So let us learn to always ask for the help of the Holy Spirit when we study God's Word so that we understand what we read, so that we grasp the truth that God has for us, so that we change, renewing and transforming our minds, hearts, attitudes and behavior.
 
When our minds are renewed and we change the way we think, our value system changes and then we understand what we need to pursue or not, then the more we’ll follow the direction of the Lord, and become more of who God wants us to be. Also, we need to resist the devil when we are tempted to sin and not go back to what we used to do. And we can resist the devil by being strong in in our faith, and if we are truly being led by the Holy Spirit, we can then keep our carnal nature under control.

• Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

 
The Lord says to bring our bodies as a living sacrifice, so when we decide to become a living sacrifice for God it's a good thing, but to do so, it is not a one-time decision, but a continual one, sincerely keeping a clean heart and the flesh crucified. Even Paul said, "but I discipline my body and bring it unto subjection," in 1 Corinthians 9:2. He said it because he was fighting with his carnal nature also. He knew what he was talking about, because when he wrote it, he had already been practicing it for decades. The quicker we learn what God likes and dislikes, and walk more obediently with Him, the better off we are. We are called to a new life, a new life in Christ.
 
In this new life God's nature, God's love, God's peace, God's joy should be seen in our lives. And because the Holy Spirit came to indwell us, we have His fruit also. And His fruit is peace, love, joy, self-discipline, goodness, kindness, meekness. All this amazing fruit is in us because of the Holy Spirit but cannot manifest if we continue to allow our flesh to rule. Like when we go through a hard time, we start to be irritated and upset and even angry or start to say what we shouldn't. This is when we allow the soul to increase and grow, to the detriment of the spirit. The more our soul grows, the weaker our spirit-man becomes.
 
Our purpose is the opposite. We need to keep our spirit-man growing, allowing the Holy Spirit to occupy as much of our heart as we can. But this cannot happen if we continue to do things the fleshly way, if we continue to live as we used to. We have to grow spiritually by reading, studying and learning the truth of God's Word where we find everything we need to know in how to live right for God, to please Him, and to be as He wants us to be. As we do so, we become more lovable to others also.
 
It's true that those who do not love God, are not too happy to be around us, but they have the chance to see what God can do in someone’s life, and hopefully find they may want to change also. When we surrender everything to the Lord, we become truly free, because we give up self-rulership, and Jesus becomes our true Lord. We want Him to guide and teach us in all that we need. By allowing God to change our heart, we become a new person that can help others to change also.
 
The light of Jesus will shine through us, if our hearts are full of Him. And that's what we are after. We want the light of Jesus to be seen in us. We want our eyes to sparkle with joy, the joy of salvation. We want to learn to rejoice in the Lord always, no matter what happens in life. It is profitable to surrender everything to the Lord. It is for our benefit to do so.  When we realize that we need help, because self-rulership is bad rulership, the good news is that we have a way better alternative. By allowing Jesus to be our true Lord and learning to follow His directions and leadership, our lives become better and closer to what God intended for us to have. Thank You Lord!
 
 Carmen Pușcaș

For all of us who love the Lord, we know there are times when it is not always easy to pray or be confident that God hears us.  But the truth is, that God does many things beyond our knowledge, when we pray. And we know this is true when we look back and consider what God did as a result of our prayers, even if we were clueless to what was happening behind the scenes at the time. The Lord hears our sincere prayers. But He decides how He answers, not us.
 

• Psalms 6:9 The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.

 

• Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

 
Prayer replaces the plans of the devil with the plans of God, and changes what happens in the spiritual world. As we read in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” This spiritual war is continuous and never stops, we must fight the good fight of faith relentlessly, and prayer is one of the most important parts of it. Prayer brings light in the darkness, and God's kingdom into the natural world from the spiritual world.
 
True, sincere prayer changes the spiritual atmosphere, casts out demons and destroys evil. Why? Because when we pray in faith and trust that God hears us and stand on the authority that we have in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of darkness loses its power. We are more than conquerors in Jesus and because of who He is in us and who we are in Him our prayers are effective and efficient. If we only knew how powerful sincere prayers are! It does not matter how thick or heavy the darkness is, if we pray fervently, God’s light will start to dissipate the darkness, and the Holy Spirit will give us the revelation we need.
 
Prayer affects, impacts and changes things even if in the natural everything seems to be the same at the time. The power of prayer is not in how much we pray, or in vain repetitions, but rather in how much our prayers are in accordance with the Holy Spirit and God's principles.  
 
In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we are urged to “pray without ceasing.” Is it because God does not care about our prayers, after all, He is sovereign, and He only does what He wants, or because He has given us the powerful weapon of prayer so that we can bring His will on earth and live victorious lives in Him? Yes, God is sovereign, but His permissive will can be changed through prayer, and He wants us to call upon Him. He wants us to seek His will and long to live for Him so much, that He gladly gives us the desires of our hearts.
 
We must realize that prayer does not change what God in His sovereignty has determined as His will about certain things, so prayer is meant to achieve what God has already pre-purposed or for-ordained. But for it all to happen, we must pray. If we do not pray, the change that God wants to bring in our lives, our area or even nation, may not happen. Because God has given us free will, He withholds many of His desires and plans due to a lack of prayer, waiting until someone prays.
 
Prayer is not all about us, just asking God for all we need and want! The effective prayers that get the best results are the ones that ask God to fulfill His desires rather than ours! God has not given us the institution of prayer so that we can merely pray for our own purposes, but He has given it to us so that He can accomplish His plans and purposes through our prayers. Through prayer God allows us to receive His wisdom and guidance. This does not mean we should not ask the Lord to supply our needs, but we should not stop there. We need to follow God’s direction as He knows everything and can lead us the best, and when we follow Him step by step, then we have real success and live the best lives. We do not always have to know the impact of our prayers, but we must believe that we do not pray in vain and that God will answer and His timing and responses are the best.
 
We often do not know what we are asking for when we pray for God’s will to be done. But we can know for sure that His will is always the best for us. When we pray for God’s will and His answer surprises us, we might think it is something we do not like or want, but for sure we will benefit from it, because He loves us.
 
Prayer can be considered spiritual warfare as we ask God to overthrow the devil’s plans and implement His. The evil one will always try to stop us and if he cannot, he will do his best to discourage us to continue praying. He might come with thoughts like: “Don’t you see that God does not care? You’ve prayed for so long and nothing has happened yet. Your prayer is just a waste of time.” But no matter how the enemy tries to stop us, we must keep praying and not doubt. If the enemy succeeds in making us doubt that God cares and hears our prayers, even if we continue to pray, we must remember that doubtful prayers are in vain. The prayers of faith are the ones that receive results.
 

• James 5:16b The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 

 
When we pray, we must recognize that we as humans are weak and depend upon God’s omnipotence. We must realize that we can do nothing in our own strength, and we trust that our Almighty God wants to listen and answer our payers, acting in our behalf. Leonard Ravenhill once said, “A man who is intimate with God is not intimidated by man. A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.” While there are so many reasons to fear in the world we live in, it is good to know that a close relationship with God is the antidote for fear. And while we feel driven to pray we know our hearts are hungry for more of God, and when we don’t, we need to get back to where we should be.
 
In prayer we need to stop being self-focused and surrender everything to the Lord. Through prayer and relationship with God we change. We start to love God’s Word and desire what God desires. As a result, we start to think according to God’s truth, we stop following the desires of our carnal nature and we start to see life from a more biblical perspective. The first form of spiritual warfare begins inside of us as we start to rule over our carnal nature, which is only possible with God's help. True prayer is done through the Holy Spirit, who holds the answers to all our questions and problems we can ever have.
 

• Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

 
In conclusion, prayer is the essence of spiritual living and is like our spiritual breath. Our spirit cannot breathe if we do not pray. It is communication with The One who is our everything and we know we cannot make it without spending time with Him. How could we belong to God and not have a relationship with Him? And prayer draws us close to Him. Prayer is not only asking, but it is also thanksgiving, praising, honoring and adoring our Father. Prayer is not something we can live without as Christians, nor something that we should do as a duty. Prayer should be an intrinsic part of our lives all the time, and we pray because we desire to communicate with our Lord. Just by telling the Lord that we love Him, thanking Him for His goodness and love, we pray. The more we seek Him, the deeper our prayers are and the more we enjoy God’s presence and love. Thank You Lord for the communication we have with You through prayer and for the truth of Your Word, as both reveal more of who You are and who we are in You.

Carmen Pușcaș

​After being a believer in Christ for a number of years, I have come to realize one of the main ways we as Christians get into trouble. When we do not pay careful enough attention to what we allow ourselves to think about, it can be a slippery slope. All temptation starts with a thought, whether it results from something we see, hear, think or feel. How we respond to life is everything. If we allow an improper thought to develop, we are choosing the wrong path. No temptation becomes sin automatically. It is not a sin to have a bad thought cross our mind, but it can become one if we allow it to stay. The more we allow improper thoughts, or thoughts of temptation to develop, the more likely it is to turn into sin. But if we guard our thoughts and take that thought captive and stop it in its tracks, as 1 Corinthians 10:5 says, victory can be ours.

• James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

 
We need to realize where temptation comes from. It is not God that tempts us, but temptation comes from the areas that we are weak in. Over time the enemy has learned what works on people and even personally on each of us, in what we can be tempted with. What is tempting for one is not necessarily tempting for another. Sin is not birthed instantly, but is the result of not taking control of what we think, and allowing ourselves to imagine doing it, or thinking about the pleasures or benefits we would get from it. This means we have time to stop temptation before it becomes sin. When something triggers an emotional feeling that has the potential to become sin, we must submit it to the Holy Spirit, filter it through God’s Word and resist it before it takes rulership, and emotions get out of control.

• James 4:7-8a Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

 
If we allow our imagination to see ourselves committing a sin and even find pleasure in it, it becomes harder to resist the temptation. The truth is that most sin has short term pleasure and even possible short term benefits. But In reality, it all comes with bad and costly effects in the present and eternally. There are many testimonies of people that were involved in all kinds of sin, addictions and wrong doings, and later admit that they were never truly happy or fulfilled, and that the pleasure they were experiencing was short lived, followed by a bitter taste and even depression.
 
We need to realize the biblical truth that there is no temptation greater than the strength we have in Jesus to conquer it!

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

 
If God’s Word says that the strength we have in Jesus is greater than any temptation we encounter, and that He has already prepared a way of escape for us not to sin, this is the absolute truth. God never requires anything of us that He does not equip us for or provide all we need to accomplish it. Because He wants us to win every battle with all temptation, God gives us the strength and weapons to overcome. But we must be willing to fight! The One who lives in us, Jesus Christ, is greater than the enemy who is in the world (1 John 4:4). In Jesus we have already won, because He defeated the devil at the cross. Because of Jesus we can escape from every single temptation, but we need to do our share.
 
Many think calling on the Lord is enough to overcome a temptation. But the fact is that we are the ones who must do our part. Our Lord cannot take our place, but in His Name, we have His authority to fight, and our victory is secure. We must be the ones to take control over our own thoughts and feelings, and submit them to Jesus, as we are taught in the following verses.

• 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

 
We are in a continuous spiritual war while living in these bodies, and in this war, we do not fight with regular, physical weapons. One of the weapons that God prepared for us is His truth, which pulls down every stronghold. We all know what our weaknesses are and what tempts us. We need to learn what God’s Word says about the areas we struggle with and have the truth of the Bible working in us. By knowing the truth we can conquer temptation, as we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and not the lust of the flesh. We are not simply sinners whose sins were forgiven. When we became born-again in Christ, we were delivered from the bondage of sin.
 
By guarding our eyes, ears, thoughts and feelings we can become more of who we should be in Christ Jesus. We can become more pleasing to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit who live in us. Jesus lived to please the Father. How wonderful it would be if we did the same. Sometimes we want to be better Christians just to be our best. But is that the same as wanting to please the Lord? Let us live to please the Lord and not allow sin to damage us or anyone else that our sin would impact. Let us guard our hearts and minds and refuse space to allow sin to be birthed. Let us keep learning the Word of God and allowing it room in us to shape and mold us and keep us truly walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
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• For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. - ​Galatians 6:8-9 ​

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When Jesus came and laid down His life for us, everything changed spiritually. The following is a short list of some of what happened, but there is no doubt that there is much more than what is recorded here.

Jesus Christ made it possible for us to have true reconciliation with God and to be able to have a right relationship with Him.

• 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

 

• 2 Corinthians 6:18 "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty."

 
The Lord made it possible for us to be born-again.

• Titus 3:5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

 

• 1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

 
Jesus made eternal life and heaven possible for us.

• John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

 

• 1 Peter 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

 
He made it possible for us to become the temples of the Holy Spirit which had been impossible for all who lived before Jesus came and sacrificed Himself for us.

• 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

 

• Luke 23:44-45 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

 
God made us heirs through Christ Jesus.

• Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

 

• Galatians 4:6-7 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

 
Christ paid the debt for our sins that we could never pay.

• Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

• Romans 3:23-26 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

 

• Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

 

• Hebrews 10:19-20 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

 
Jesus set us free from the condemnation of our sins.

• Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

 
God loved us even when we were far from lovable, even grossly unlovable.

• Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

• Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 
The Lord set us free from a sinful nature.

• Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

 

• Romans 6:22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

 

• 2 Peter 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

 
Jesus Christ overcame the devil, so we can be free too.

• Hebrews 2:14-15 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

 

• Ephesians 6:11-12 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 
Jesus died for our griefs, sorrows, transgressions iniquities and made peace possible and our healing.

• Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

 

• 1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

 
God made the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit possible for us.

• Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

 

• 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

 
The Lord made adoption possible for us, grafting us into the olive tree, making the Old Testament promises available for us.

• Romans 11:17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,

 
Through Christ, we were brought out of darkness into His marvelous light.

• John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

  

• 2 Corinthians 4:6 For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 
Jesus made it possible to be delivered from fear.

• 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

 
Jesus Christ brought us real life!

• John 10:10b “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

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One of a Christian’s goals is to have a heart that is sensitive to God's voice, His desires, His requirements, to what He teaches and His directions, and especially to His plans for each of us. Unfortunately, we are not always sensitive, and it is possible that in certain areas of our lives, we may become insensitive or even hardened.
 
We can be zealous for the Lord and yet be amazed when God does something for us that we never thought He would do. You may have thought that only a person who lives in sin, who has nothing to do with God, and does not love Jesus, could have a hardened heart. And indeed, we have the example of Pharaoh of Egypt while keeping the people of Israel in slavery. Most of us know about the ten plagues that were struck on the Egyptians, because Pharaoh would not let the people go. The plagues that God sent upon the Egyptians, were the result of Pharaoh’s hardened heart, and God used the situation to show His power and be recognized by the Egyptians and set His people free from Egyptian bondage to be able to leave and worship their God.
 
We often fail to understand that a hardened heart is the result of profoundly not knowing the truth of God's Word. The heart loses its sensitivity when we do not understand how wonderful God is, how deeply He works in our lives, and how great and unlimited His power is to help, transform, grow, and strengthen us.
 
On the other hand, the sensitive heart rejoices in the presence of the Lord, hears clearly and quickly what the Lord has to say, and is ready to respond obediently to whatever God asks of it.
 
In chapter 6 of the Gospel of Mark, we read about the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish that fed five thousand men, plus women and children. The Lord Jesus looked up to heaven, prayed, blessed, and broke the loaves and fish, put it all in baskets for the disciples to distribute to the hungry multitude. And not only was there enough for each person, but they were all satisfied “and they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish” (Mark 6:43). It was an extraordinary miracle, and God does not waste anything. The Lord wanted these crumbs to be gathered precisely to demonstrate His power and show how great this miracle was. The miracle of multiplication took place before the eyes of the disciples, because from those baskets each disciple had to feed hundreds of people (each one had to feed at least 500, if there were only a thousand women and children in addition to the men), and each disciple had only one basket that he carried in his arms. There must have been a great multiplication that took place after Jesus divided the 5 loaves and 2 fish into the first baskets and filled them, and it had to be that the Lord continued to multiply the food as the disciples kept distributing it to the people, because there was food enough for everyone to eat and be full. Afterward, as the Lord had them pick up the leftovers, the original baskets were still full!
 
Later when the apostle Mark relates the miracle of Jesus walking on the sea, the Holy Spirit led him to write that the disciples did not understand the miracle of the loaves, because their hearts were hardened.

• Mark 6:51-52 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.

 
The disciples did not understand the miracle of Jesus and even Peter walking on the sea (Matthew 14:29). They struggled for hours with the strong wind that was against them and the waves that filled their boat with water, and when Jesus came to them walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and were afraid. Peter had the courage to get out of the boat and walk with Jesus on the water, but it was enough for him to realize what he was doing to start sinking. However, because he reacted correctly and cried out to Jesus, the Lord saved him immediately! And from the apostle John's account we learn something extraordinary:

• John 6:20-21 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

 
It was enough for Jesus to get into the boat for the disciples' torment to end. Through their effort in fighting the wind and waves they covered only half the distance in many hours, but when Jesus joined them, they immediately arrived at their destination! This is a wonderful lesson for all of us!
 
However, even after the second multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord told the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the disciples did not understand the spiritual meaning of the warning and thought that it referred to the fact that they had forgotten to buy bread. Jesus was actually showing them that their hearts were hardened:

• Matthew 16:9-10 “Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?”

 
It took several warnings from the Lord for the disciples to understand the meaning of the Lord's words. When they reviewed the miracles of the multiplication of the loaves in their minds, their hearts began to be more sensitive to understanding the Lord's messages and the miracles He could perform.
 
To become sensitive to the works of the Holy Spirit, we need to meditate on the miracles performed by the Lord and ask Him to reveal His power to us. By doing so, the Word we read becomes our personal truth, alive and working in us, which helps us become more and more like our Lord. To benefit from all the blessings that the heavenly Father has prepared for us, we must be one with Him, seek Him with all our hearts and desire to know Him more. How could we have fellowship with someone we do not know? Fellowship is bilateral, we give and receive, and have something in common. According to “Strong’s Lexicon,” the original Greek word frequently translated “fellowship” is “koinonia” which “refers to the deep, intimate fellowship and communal participation among believers, as well as their shared relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It encompasses the idea of sharing in spiritual blessings, mutual support, and active partnership in the faith.” 
 
This connection, communion, and fellowship in which we praise the Lord, seek to know Him more intimately, and share with Him our most intimate feelings, desires, anxieties, burdens, traumas, disappointments, frustrations, offenses, resentments, and all that concern us, transforms our hearts. Whether we have this fellowship through the study of Scripture, through praise and worship, or through prayer and conversation, the result will be a sensitive, malleable heart that the Lord can mold to be pleasing to Him and for our greatest good.
 
Carmen Pușcaș

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. - Psalms 18:2

​There is a song that says, “on Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” And surely it is the truth. No matter where one lives, the political seas are in turmoil. And life is fleeting. One minute your life is just beginning, and before you know it, you are much closer to the finish line than where you started. It seems to happen so fast.
 
The most important choice any of us can make in life is choosing to follow Jesus. And continue faithfully until our life is done. In so doing, not only will we live a blessed life, even during times of stormy seas, but it will be a witness to those around us, pointing those who will see to Christ, and for those heaven-bound, they will be encouraged and strengthened. It is not that we as believers live perfect lives, it is that believers do their best to please and honor the Lord and when we fail, we repent and get back up. This is the testimony of God living in us and us in Him.
 
To be moral is a nice lesson most people learn in life or even in church. But Jesus changes us from the inside out. We do not want to sin from our innermost beings. If there is only mental morality, then the heart has not been born-again, which is 100% necessary to make it to heaven and also needed to start the true relationship with the Lord.

• John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

 
We must choose Jesus and accept His pardon for our sins. There is no other way. And then we must continue our lives with Him as our Lord. We must grow in His Word, in faith, in our prayer life, in keeping a heart of intimate gratitude and worship. To live the true Christian life means to be anchored in the Lord. Jesus taught with a parable about a wise man and a foolish one, the foolish one built his house on the sand and the wise one built on the rock. And Jesus said that when the rain, floods and wind came, the wise one’s house built on the rock stood and the foolish one’s fell greatly.

• Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

 
If the world would have its way, we would have no time for the Lord. We must make the time and keep our thoughts and actions centered on Him daily, filtering all the challenges through His Word as we have learned it and with prayer. When times are great and fun, as well as when times are pressured and difficult, we must stay centered on the Lord. I cannot do it for you, and you cannot do it for your loved one. Each of us must do it ourselves. By being anchored in the Lord, we can face the stormy seas and when the ones in the other boats are watching, they will see us not being blown around recklessly and see the hand of the Lord in our lives. It is critical for the young ones around us to see this, so that when it happens for them, they will know how to be victorious too.
 
There are so many bad examples in this world. Educational systems that lead children away from the Lord, teaching them to doubt the Bible, creation, and any truth that God has ordained. Leaders that commit crimes and get away with it. Social media with all kinds of input, gaming and wasting life away, and all manners of addictions. But! If they see Christians living good lives and repenting when we err, receiving God’s grace and sharing it with others and holding fast to our faith, it will make a difference. Some will get it and some won’t because of the conditions of their hearts, but we must live in a manner where Christ and His principles are seen.
 
Praise the Lord for the Holy Spirit. He is the voice of the Lord inside of us and the provider of the power we need to live the Christian life. Without Him we can do nothing. The fleshly nature is inherently evil and the only good it brings is by force and with selfish motives. But thanks to being able to be born-again by repenting of our sins and receiving the pardon Jesus paid for with His blood and then giving our life to the Lord, we can have the lordship of the evil, stony heart removed, and Jesus can reign on the throne of our new hearts. This is life and life more abundantly and the place for the wise person to anchor. Thank You Jesus.

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E. Cockrell