Greetings from Pakistan.

I am from Pakistan. I have studied your web site, and I found it the most wonderful site to get right to the True Word of God. I found that all your material is full of knowledge concerning development of religious faith. Living in Pakistan we Christians is to face many obstacles to get the access to the word of God. Most of the people in Pakistan are not capable to understand the English language and they are hungry of the God’s words. It’s because our national language is Urdu.

My suggestion for you is to create your material in my language of Urdu and Punjabi also. It will bring lots of blessings of the Word of God for the Pakistani and Indian Urdu and Punjabi speaking people. For that purpose I as a translator will bring your material into Urdu languages and into Punjabi language as well. Although it will take your low expenses as well, as fund for the Word of God to reach out to the deserving people. As a translator I will take the expenses that will be spending just for the Word.

In Christ,
Mehwish
Email : life4lord76@yahoo.com

There is a table spread for us
It is a royal banqueting table
It is there for the taking because we are His

Blessings
A

Thanks Etienne

This just brought me back to:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith– that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
(Philippians 3:8-10).

Partakers of His Suffering

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. . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . —1 Peter 4:13

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” ( 1 Peter 4:19 ), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”

Wat ek dink ons almal kan se is dat ons almal meer simpatie vir mense het as tevore (is dit liefde?). If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others – God is so wys en in beheer J

This is a relationship of unity. We partake from one another also but need to be connected with Jesus. As the life-sap oozes through our veins from the vine (Jesus), every branch connected to the vine partakes of the vine with no effort and produces fruit.

The pruning cleanses the branch by cutting away all dead and blocked veins allowing the life-sap to reach the whole of the branch enabling it to bare more fruit.

We read in the Bible:

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
(Deuteronomy 8:3)

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
(Matthew 4:4)

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
(Luke 4:4).

This eating of the word is very important.

David knew how to do it also:

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
(1 Samuel 30:6)

Here is a few from Psalm 119:

…sweeter to me are Your Words than honey on my lips…

..I hunger and thirst for Your Word…

…preserve my life according to Your Word…

That is why Jesus said that some words are spirit and life:

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. These words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
(John 6:63).

To partake in the bread, ie Jesus, who is the living bread (John 6:35) and who also is the living Word (John 1, specifically verse 14) one of the key things we should do is we have to speak with His words. This means that we have to get His Word inside us, giving practical meaning to what Jesus says about ‘Him in us and us in Him’ (as Jesus commands in John: John 14:6,7; John 14:20,21; John 15:5-8).

Add to this the account in Genesis of Creation, specifically that God spoke and it was so. We also know that it is not what enters into our mouths that makes us impure but that which goes out through our mouths. This reinforces the fact that the Word gives life and if we then partake in Jesus’ body through speaking His words we then become able to obtain eternal life.

How do we do this practically? We already know this: Through fellowship (‘where two or more of you are gathered in My Name…’), through prayer, through reading and hearing the Word constantly, and obviously doing by following His example.

Partaking now means for me to spend time constantly with Him so that I may know Him and that He, through Jesus in me, lives in me. If I spend so much time with Him, and always reading the Bible, then I will become like He (renewing of my self) and be able to live according to His Will, which will give me eternal life and freedom to live to His Glory and His Glory alone.

Let me rephrase: Partaking means to ‘live’ His Word in everything we do and that can only be done by spending time ‘in’ His Word.

Does this make sense????