Talking about miracles...

Well, it seems that God is moving a lot around the world nowadays.
I have heard of awesome miracles, and that is great.

Anyway, I may go to a conference in may, were it is expected to many miracles will happen (including great healings). Maybe I will talk more about miracles then, when I get some first-hand experiences.

Scientific Proof that God does exist!!!

I have found a scientific proof that God exists!!... Well, sort of. It works for me, at least.
In fact, there are many things that have happened in my life, which assure me of God's existence, and of the existence of the supernatural. Including the fulfillment of God's promises to myself, the increased knowledge of the Bible and its reliability, and seeing God working in my life many times... not only on the short term, but on the long term (that is much more impressive!).
BUT what I am talking about here is something else, something that gives an additional proof:
It is God answering my prayers, when I pray a lot!!! It doesn't fail, not a single time.. I can SEE and WITNESS His hand. The only problem is that I have to pray a lot, usually, to get that kind of results. Well, He does hear my prayers, even if I do not pray a lot. He is gracious and merciful. But I am talking here about difficult situations, which require sometimes more prayer. Yes, yes, it is not easy to pray a lot, not always. But that is another problem. Maybe there is still a lot I need to learn, or to understand. But that is not the point here. The point is that sometimes unbelievers point out that prayer doesn't work, as a justification for not believing in God. But, guess what? Prayer DOES work, as I have stated. If I pray a lot, ALWAYS an answer comes, or at least something that shows me clearly that God is working.
Therefore, in conclusion, here is my scientific proof that God does exist. I have witnessed this time after time; enough times as to rule out (totally and completely) the "just chance" factor.
Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness.

Intercesion until getting victory!!!

How to get your prayers answered?
Sometimes we just pray a little, and expect to receive the answer. Jesus, on the other hand, said we have to be persistent with God!Sometimes, there are important issues for which we need God's answer, or God's intervention. For that cases, there is an answer, but not necessarily just a small prayer (although it could be, that depends on many factors, including the level of your faith)
In fact, if you have been born again, you can persist into asking God (like the prophet Daniel did, for 21 days in his case) what you need - in must be according to God's will and his Word, of course - until you know in your spirit it is "done".
There comes a time when you know that your prayers have been answered, because God shows that to your spirit (I am not talking about emotions necessarily, but a conviction God gives to your heart). Once you get that, you know the answer is coming, EVEN IF EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE THE SAME. From that on, just thank God for his answer, and you will see His power in your life.

More on the subject of prayer. I have found that praying is a must for a successful Christian life. There is a lot that could be said about prayer, but I will just give a number of tips which could help your prayer life.

1. Be humble before the Lord. Ask Him to help you to come into His Presence.

2. Be diligent. If you set a time apart to pray each and every day, you will find it to be easier and easier to accomplish. (it is said that a habit developes after 21 repetitions. So, dont despair until you have done that!)

3. Be Honest, and aware that He is hearing you. God already knows everything about you. It is for YOUR own sake that you pray, not for God's sake. Just talk to Him as you would talk to a good friend (respectfully, of course).

I hope this helps.

Obedience to God's Will

There is one thing that cannot be stressed too much: obedience. I mean, obedience to God, to God's Will.
Just think about it: God is perfect, He is love, He loves us. So, His Will will be the best we could ever do! We have also the promises from God that:

His Will is good, perfect, acceptable. Rom. 12:2: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God".

It would be something we can accomplish. He doesn't ask us to do anything that be wouldn't be able to perform! 1 Cor. 10:13: "... but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

This shows me that whatever He wants me to do, it is not only doable, but also the best for me and the ones surrounding me!

Problems may arise when we make poor decisions, and we may suffer the consequences.
Even in such a case, God is very merciful, and we can ask for his mercy, guidance and grace. He may even use everything for the good... but we should learn the lesson from that experience!

So, we should be obedient to God's will. Remember that it will ALWAYS align with the Bible and its spirit. (I say that, in order for you to avoid deception).
Sometimes it may seem to be contrary to what we think would be the best, but let us not be guided by our limited opinions, or by the circumstances, because we are to be guided by faith, not by sight (1 Cor. 5:7). We have to be sure that it is in fact the will of God, of course. But once we are sure, let us not be stopped by anything or anyone! With His help, we can accomplish God's will every single time, and in a Christian way. It may take time, patience and faith, though. But the success is guaranteed, if we abide in Him.

From my experience, when I have followed God's will (either what I know from the Bible, or a personal guidance from the Holy Spirit), it has been a blessing, even if the circumstances seemed otherwise. On the other hand, when I have failed to do it (maybe because of the circumstances, or because of what other people may think or feel), I have experienced big troubles. Sometimes the struggles have lasted months, or even years! I have learned a lot, that is for sure; I could even think about this verse sometimes: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Rom. 8:28). God is so good, that He can even use our mistakes to work for good! Yes, but... it would be easier (and many times much less painful) just to follow God's Will from the beginning on.

There are many examples in the Bible about this. I will only mention Jer. 42 and 43. There the Israelites ask Jeremiah the prophet what to do. He told them to remain there, and NOT to go to Egypt. BUT the Israelites were afraid of the King of Babylon (circumstances!). Well, they know him, and they know he could be cruel. They acted on their fear, rather than on Jeremiah's words, which were God's will. Ultimately, their decision to go to Egypt lead them to be destroyed.

It is not a nice example, but shows us that God has a reason for what He asks us to do, weather we can understand the "why" right away or not.

Let us look for God's will, and follow it obediently!

Prayer and God's Presence.

God said to Moses: "And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." (Ex. 33:14); and Moses told the Lord: "And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." (v.15).

I have already said that the Bible is our final authority. Yes, but, whence comes that authority? It comes from the fact that the Holy Spirit has inspired it. It is God's Word, God has already spoken to us through the Bible.

But it is NOT the case that God is not able or willing to talk to us nowadays. The fact is that, although He has already spoken to us in the Bible (and it is a great blessing for us), sometimes we need to know what is God's perfect will for a particular situation. Or maybe you need help to make a wise decision. The fact is that, according to the Bible: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom 8:14). So, if a Christian is a son of God, then he or she is able to be led by the Spirit. I am not going to talk right now about God's guidance (maybe in a later post I will do it), or how to discern when it really comes from Him. But, may it suffice by now to say that we can be lead by the Holy Spirit; but it will always conform to the Bible, never against it.

What I am talking about now is about God's presence. I have already shown that without it Moses didn't want go anywhere! What is God's presence? Anyway, God is omnipresent, that means He is everywhere! Yes, BUT we are talking about the "manifested" presence of God. His presence gives us peace, guidance, love, understanding. That is what God gives us when we are in a good relationship with Him. It is not just a "feeling", but it is great when we can feel it. The Bible says: "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." (Psal 16:11) (I underlined it for emphasis).

How do we "enter" God's presence? Through PRAYER. Praying with the good attitude. A prayer which means you depend on God, you submit to Him.

Prayer:
Characteristics:

1. According to God's will (as it is written in the Bible, and according to what we know He wants from us)
2. He is the Lord. We trust and obey Him.

But, what may hindrance the prayer to be effective? I mean, that we may not receive an answer, or God's presence.

See, we all need answers from time to time to our prayers. And we all need God's presence, so that we may be comforted, guided and more. But SIN can hindrance that, or a lack of understanding.

I will continue with this subject latter.

Understanding and Teaching the Bible.

We know that the Bible is the final authority for us Christians, and it is always a blessing for us. But, how many times we lack the desire or the time to study it?

When I was a new Christian, it was amazing for me to have had an encounter with Jesus Christ. I just tried to find out the "truth" for so many years... and now I had discovered it! It was not easy, I still had many questions, but the way God take me to Christ was awesome.

From the beginning on I understood that I had to read the Bible, and try to understand it, in order to get rid of all the lies I have learned elsewhere. Of course, I wanted the truth, and only the truth, so, I began to pray and read the Bible.

I was looking for the best way to read the Bible. A friend had told me that she used to read seven chapters from different books a day (besides that, I was aware of a program for reading the Bible in one year, reading four chapters a day). I wanted to ponder different opinions, in order to choose the best program for me. So, I asked another friend from the church his opinion. I was surprised, because he never told me how many chapters he read a day, or which program he adhered to. He just talked about the Bible and other related issues. I think that he wasn't reading his Bible regularly, like many other Christians, as I have found out. Don't get me wrong. I know him, he is a good Christian.

However, even good Christians have problems. And that is probably one of the reasons we struggle with so many issues during our Christian life. We need to have Bible teachers who love and are passionate for the Lord and for His Word. In fact, we need to be passionate for the Lord and for His Word ourselves!

There are some practical steps we can take in order to help us to accomplish that:

1. Take an hour or whatever time is suitable for you apart, and use it for praying, reading and meditate in the Bible.

2. It would be better, if possible, to do that early in the morning (When I do that, it is always a great blessing for me! I usually have a better day, too).

3. While reading the Bible, take into account the context of any passage, specially for that verses which are difficult to understand. (There are books on this subject, too).

4. Use the help of books, biblical dictionaries, etc. Do always remember that the Bible is the ultimate authority, though.

5. Pray to God, that you can understand His Word. Ask Him to help you to live according to His Will daily.

Remember that you will reap what you saw. Start to invest into your spiritual life (if you have not do that so far)! Spend time, and invest in valuable resources, if you feel they can be helpful.

On the other hand, if what you want is to teach the Bible and be effective, I have found this book about Bible teaching, "Teach the Bible to Change Lives". The author has been teaching the Bible for more than 20 years. I think it is worth to give it a try, specially if you are in the ministry.

I hope this article helps you to have a better relationship with God.