Richard Ellis Talks

"And our God shall supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) Part of the process of trusting God means being content with our needs, and being generous with everything else, freely giving to others in need!

Because of the inevitable sin in our lives, we deserve death, our own blood shed. And yet it's death that's saved us. The blood of Christ is the only thing that can cover us to make us clean. May we seek to be covered in His blood, so that we can find the forgiveness of our sins because of the sacrifice that He made on our behalf!

God calls us "out of darkness into His marvelous light".  That doesn't mean that believers are never going to do dark things again (after all, we're still human with an original sinful nature living in a fallen world), but we can get back in the light, because the Light is in us, and shining through us!

People may look at believers as though they're "out to lunch" for believing the Gospel, but when their lives fall apart, they seek out those same believers who've reflected God's peace and hope throughout their own challenges. When someone confides in a believer with a crisis, it just could be a "divine appointment", with an opportunity to share not what we think, but what God thinks, and the hope that's found in Him.

Picture if you will... God's angels at the ready, waiting to be "dispatched" by Him to provide answers to our prayers according to His will. But that can only happen if we, well, actually pray! When we continually walk with the Spirit, we need to be ready to immediately respond in obedience when He prompts us to pray.

One of the most difficult parts about following Christ is that the majority of the time things don't change overnight. Even after making the decision to follow Him, the same struggles will still be a battle to face day in and day out. So when we stay focused on Christ, He gives us peace, joy, and strength to face those battles and overcome!

Information: Knowing things about God. Transformation: Knowing God. See the difference? Yes, it's extremely important to study His Word, but it's just as important to ask God - through prayer - to reveal His nature and His will to us as we study Scripture.

There are monuments set up to honor and remember soldiers who gave their lives for our country's freedom, and it's important for us to remember them. Jesus gave His life for our eternal freedom, and even though that battle for our soul continues, because of Jesus' ultimate and victorious sacrifice, if we choose to receive His gift, the war has already been won!

So there's a window of one's spiritual "life-growth" that sits between being a brand new believer (a baby Christian who can only intake the basics - the milk), and being a mature believer (an active, growing Christian who can handle the meat): and that's the "adolescent" believer (who is perhaps "testing their independence"?)

The devil is patient. He'll wait and wait, catching a person off guard, enticing them with some fleshly desire, in order to put distance between that person and God. However, a believer has the power of the Holy Spirit within who can guide and lead us away from these traps of the enemy!

Mentorship - discipleship - is key when it comes to being the Church, because without it, all we have are a bunch of born again baby orphans with no one to look after them! Every Christian is commanded to make disciples who will grow, then becoming capable of making more disciples.

Being smart and being wise are two very different things! We're all surrounded by bad advice anywhere we look, yet God promises to give us wisdom if we seek it. When we follow His direction for our lives, we become useful to Him for growing His Kingdom by reaching others.

When Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the mountaintop, He unveiled His glory, as witnessed by some of the disciples. That glory-light of Christ that shined through Him that day is inside every Christ follower! And if we allow His light to shine in and through our lives, He can use us to bring others to Himself.

It's aptly called a "two-edged sword", but we can grind down the discouraging and demeaning side of the tongue if we invite God to be our language filter! Let's use words to build each other up, rather than tear each other down.

The believer's Great Commission, given by God Himself, is to share the Good News of hope, forgiveness, and eternal life to all the world. But the enemy's great commission is to steal, kill, and destroy as many people as possible. Let's always be mindful of this ongoing spiritual battle!