Ed Christian's World

The Tree

The Tree of Life was sealed up from the sight of man. It disappeared. And yet it’s not gone. It’s in our midst. It’s come back to us in the form of a tree.

The cross is the Tree of Life in disguise. It starts out looking like the Tree of Good and Evil, but it ends up being the Tree of Life. When you partake of the cross, it seems as if you’re partaking of death.

You take up your cross, die to self, surrender. But really, you’re partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life. The cross seems tough–to love your enemy, to forgive, to sacrifice yourself. But when you partake of it, it ends up bringing life. The fruit of the Tree of Life; you die to self, you come alive, your tears have turned to joy.

Don’t be fooled, the cross only looks hard, but every time you partake of it, it’s going to bear you fruit. Love and joy and peace and faithfulness, gentleness, and goodness; for the cross is none other than the Tree of Life in disguise.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Galatians 5:22

Seek to be a giver of kindness and love for others. Look for ways to reveal God’s love and don’t expect anything in return.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

How The Devel Prepares You For Your Ministry….

In the gospel it says that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested of the devil. God works all things for good. He uses all things, even evil, for good; for good purposes. Even the enemy is used.

Jesus was going to be tested by evil. It was that Jesus would come out of it approved for ministry. So really it was all part of preparing Jesus for His ministry. So God even used the devil to prepare Jesus for ministry.

So, too, in your life you will be attacked by the enemy. But God is using and will use all these things, even the attacks of the enemy, for your good.

He will even use it to make you grow, conform you to His image and prepare you for the ministry and the calling that He placed you for.

So when you go through that trial, that test, remember it’s not an accident. It is there for your good, pass the test, and it will prepare you to fulfill the calling that God gave you.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Accept every challenge today as a test, as a way to be proven worthy to rise in your calling. Use the test to grow stronger and trust deeper in God’s plan for you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Gospel of The Rosy Cheeks…

The word “GOSPEL” is Jewish. Gospel music, Gospel preachers, Gospel choirs, Gospel recording artists, all Jewish- all from Israel. The word for Gospel in the New Testament in the Greek is, Euangellion but it is the translation from the Hebrew word that appears in the Hebrew scriptures.

In the book of Isaiah it says; how lovely are the feet of those who bring glad tidings to the poor, glad tidings means good news or Gospel. The Hebrew word is “Besorah”, the original word for Gospel. It means “fresh and rosy cheeked.”

If you aren’t fresh in God, then you’ve gone away from the good news. Every time you hear the Gospel it has to be fresh. The Besorah has the power to make you fresh and new. Your life will be renewed, your love, your joy, your zeal, your prayer life, your work, your family, everything will become fresh and new as the Gospel. You will become rosy cheeked.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16

Begin your day with a fresh message from the Good News of the Gospel. Receive good news anew and afresh, from the Word of God.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Burning Your Bridges…

There’s a story of a famous battle where the general ordered the destruction of his ships so that there would be no turning back for his army. They could not turn back; they could not retreat. They realized that they had no ship to go back to so they had to go forward and fight all the way.

You need to have the same attitude. When you go forward in God, you have nothing to lose. God commanded the people of Israel to go forward through the Red Sea. They had no alternative, mountains on one side, the Red Sea on the other, and the Egyptians with Pharoah’s army behind them, Had they retreated they would be faced with certain death.

In the same way, you have to enter the battle to win. David ran towards Goliath in the name of the Lord. God wants a people who have nothing to lose. Burn your ships, burn your bridges of the past; move forward in faith and love through the Spirit of God. The only thing we have is what lies ahead.

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

Destroy any paths leading to your past and make a clean break. Be fearless and focused on the Kingdom that is ahead of you and the One who holds the keys to your future.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Authority Over Your Thoughts…

A lot of believers think that their thought life has a life of its own and beyond their control. Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians warned them that the weapons of their warfare were “not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations and every high thought.”

Holding every thought captive is not a natural process but supernatural. And the Holy Spirit will anoint you to do it. Have you ever noticed that when you walk, your legs are moving without you really thinking; you just move along?

This doesn’t mean that your feet are out of your control. Rather, it’s just a habit. So it is with your thoughts. You may think that your thoughts go on without you, but that’s just the force of habit. You have control over what you do with your mind.

Take responsibility for your thought life; take every thought captive and make a choice to take control over your thoughts. The more you do it, the more your mind will follow. Do you have a godly thought life? It’s your choice, it’s as simple as moving your hand.

For the weapons of nour warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

Take your thoughts captive. Take any thought that’s not of God be taken down and replaced by one that is.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Importance of Somewhere Else…

It says in the Gospel that when the disciples came to the Lord, they said unto Him “everyone is looking for you,” then He answered, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby so I can preach the Gospel there also.”

His last command to the twelve disciples was to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. Behold I will be with you even to the ends of the earth.”

During His ministry on earth, Jesus went everywhere He could go because He knew that the Gospel had to be preached to all the world until the end would come.

You need to have the same heart and to allow the Spirit to move within you to do the will of God. God is on the move. You have to move as well. Don’t be bound in what is comfortable. Be prepared to move forward. Don’t fear, for God is with you wherever you go.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Move away from your comfort zone today and move towards growing deeper in your faith. Open yourself to the mission that the Holy Spirit has for you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Prison Praise…

A prison is a dark and miserable place. And yet one night, in one particular prison, the prisoners heard singing, songs of joy. They must have wondered what all that singing was about. Paul and Silas were put in prison for preaching the Gospel. And yet even in prison they weren’t afraid.

For they knew that in the presence of God there is joy. And as they were singing in the middle of the night, the power of praise illuminated the darkness and a great earthquake struck the prison and the prison opened up.

The guard was awakened; he feared that all the prisoners were gone. But Paul said “we are all here.” The guard then asked Paul, “What should I do to be saved?” Paul answered “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and your house.”

So, no matter what situation you find yourself in, even in the darkest of circumstances, praise God. Let your light shine, make a commotion of your joy. Start a disturbance of faith. Begin an uproar of righteousness and cause an explosion of light to enter in.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. Acts 16:25-34

Be that source of light to scatter the darkness. Don’t be afraid to cause a holy disturbance of praise and joy – and shake the lost from their shackles.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Better Than Demons…

In the Gospels, Jesus commanded the unclean spirits to depart and they obeyed Him. On many occasions the disciples saw the Lord cast these spirits out and yet at the same time, He often had to correct the disciples’ doubting and unbelief.

As believers we’re always hearing the Word of God and yet when we hear we often do nothing about it. Yet, in the Gospels the demons heard His voice and immediately departed. We are the friends of God and yet many times we argue with Him, and struggle to obey His word.

God is calling you to do something great according to his purpose. Don’t ignore Him. There’s a blessing in obedience to the Word of God. The songwriter illustrates obedience in this song “Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”

Obey God without delay. Don’t ignore Him. Don’t rationalize His word away. Follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and a blessing will await you.

When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:27-39

What is God telling you to do? Don’t ignore it any longer. Just do it. And you will be blessed.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Priestly Bath…

The priests of God in the Old Testament. In order to enter the priesthood, they had to take off their old garments and take a holy bath. After being cleansed in the ritual bath, they were then given the garments of the priest to minister unto the Lord.

You are called by God for a great purpose. So you too must take off the old garments; put away your old ways, old ideas and old habits and be willing to put on the new in God, for we were created in His image.

You can’t do what God wants you to do unless you are willing to go through the process of renewing yourself in the things of God. Your ministry is waiting, your priesthood is waiting; it’s calling you.

In order to serve as a priest in the service of God, your garments are important. Take off the old, put on the new. Dare to let the past go and get on with fulfilling your calling. Ring out the old and ring in the new.

 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. Matthew 9:16-17

Live in a spirit of renewal. Prepare yourself to be used for great and mighty things. Put off the old clothes that hinder your calling and step into the new.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Disciple’s Continual Response…

The Gospel of Matthew says the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee; he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their fishing nets into the sea. He said to them “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

The men immediately left their nets and followed Jesus. Have you wondered why they immediately left their nets to follow Jesus? In John’s gospel, Jesus appeared to Andrew first. He was told to follow Him; then Andrew went to tell Simon his brother about Jesus.

So this wasn’t the first calling for Andrew, but the second – and it would be the second that would change their lives. A true disciple does not say “yes” to God once but again and again.

So don’t live your life on yesterday’s yes but give him your yes daily; your hineni, your “Here I am Lord, send me.” Make a choice to follow Him daily.

The continual and progressive yes will change your life as if it was the first call because a disciple of God, when called of God, must always be as if it is for the first time.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:18-20

Open your day with your Hineni prayer. Say yes to His will and say yes to His calling, to a new calling, and to rise to new and higher ground.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed