Elaine Campbell

 'Examine yourselves, whether ye be in faith; prove your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates' (2 Corinthians 13:5)? Christ died on Calvary for all humanity that we might live and be with him forever. However, it's only those who believe in Him and accept His gift of salvation by faith shall have eternal life. As believers, we need ever so often, to examine ourselves and think critically about our lives, whether we are walking with Christ. Paul instructed the Corinthians to really examine themselves, to see if they were truly in the faith; and to be honest about their own soul. We too need to look inwardly and examine our own lives spiritually, whether we truly believe in Jesus, as we say we do. Are we doing or aligning our will to the will of God? How do we conduct ourselves before God and each other? To whom do we put our trust, God or man, or other things? It behoves us to truly examine where we are in Christ and to see if Christ is in us.

 '...The Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation' (Psalm 149:4). Those who are humble, the Lord will find pleasure in them, and rejoice over them to do good. The Lord does take pleasure in his people, therefore as believers we must take pleasure in him. For those who are humble or meek, he promised to beautify with salvation. They feel their need of His salvation, which He graciously bestowed upon them. We must seek to worship the Lord with the utmost exultation, because He is God and worthy to be praise. The God of love does take pleasure in all his Children, but those who are meek as Jesus was meek and lowly while He was on earth,  are exceptional. He beautify them with joy and peace; gladness and contentment, holiness, and they bow prostate at His feet with joy and thanksgiving as they praise their Sovereign King. Christ himself will adorn them with good works, sanctified and restore them to the image of God, lost as a result of sin. Let

 'He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die' (Proverbs 19:16). The Bible says, 'If you love me, keep my commandments' (John 14:15). All who keep the commandments of God will have eternal life with Christ. This is the whole duty of man to fear God and keep his commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The commandments will not save us, but points us to the One who can. For those who despised the way of the Lord; doesn't seem to care in which way they walk, but chose to walk in the ways of their own heart, and seek to do evil will die. Such people shall die the second death, which Christ himself took for all at Calvary to save us. Obedience to God's Word and command will guard and keep our lives; it will protect and keep us from eternal death. It is God who direct the affairs of our lives, and his desire is for us to reverence and to be loyal to him. Therefore it behoves us to keep His commandments and do His will. Let

 'I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you' (John 14:18). Jesus is awesome and full of compassion. He loved his disciples and wanted them to understand about His death and resurrection; that He would be going away for a while. He knew they would be confused and devastated, so he hastened to comfort them. He said, 'Let not your heart be troubled: Ye believe in God, believe also in me...I go to prepare a place for you...I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also' (John 14:1-3). He also promised another Comforter, that he can abide with them forever. What a merciful and loving Saviour! He went further to say he would not leave them comfortless; but will come to them. He was like a father to them, as He and the Father are one. Therefore, He promised not to leave them fatherless, or as an orphan. But will come to them. Speaking of His death and resurrection He said that in a little while the world would not see him no more

 'When you passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when though walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee' (Isaiah 43:2). God is faithful and true and his promises are sure. He promises to be there when you go through deep waters; through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown; or through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up nor will the flames consume you; because He is the Lord your God, your Saviour. In your most difficult times, God will support you and give you strength and deliver you out of danger without harm. When we go through the storms of life, God said, we should not fear or let our hearts be troubled, for He is with us, we should not be dismayed for he is our God. We are redeemed by the precious blood of Lord Jesus Christ, and whatever life throws at us, the Lord promised never to leave us nor to forsake us. We need these wonderful promis

 'The Lord shall preserve thee from evil: He shall preserve thy soul' ( Psalm 121:7). The Lord our God is our protector and will keep us safe from dangers and harm, from the evil that surrounds of which we are fearful. We need to understand that even though we may experience difficulties, hardship, pain and grief, Jesus is still keeping us, but will one day take away every hint of pain and suffering forever. No matter how difficult our lives might be today, God is with us now and forever and our future is secure in his loving and gracious hands. We therefore have a responsibility to be in a saving relationship with God; to know and believe in Christ our Saviour and Presever. Christ our Lord will keep us from all influences of evil and in evil times. He will protect and cover us under his wings where we can safely abide. He is the keeper of our souls and promised to preserve it from the dominion of sin. We will not be puffed up with pride, but be kept in the love of God. When th

'Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness' (Isaiah 41:10). Fear is not of God but of the Devil. He is the true instigator of fear, and  loves when we are afraid, making us subject to him. His aim is for us to take our eyes off Jesus, so we will mistrust him. We see in the Scriptures, when Peter was walking on water towards Jesus with his eyes on him, that he had confidence in the presence of Jesus, but when the winds got boisterous and he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. That's what the Devil wants us to do; to take our eyes off Jesus that we will be in constant fear and be doomed for eternity. However, God is saying to you, "Look at me! Fear not - don't be afraid or scared, my presence is with you and will always be with you." He is encouraging you not to be dismayed or distress. Why? Because He is your God and

 'Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil' (Ephesians 6:11). Paul is encouraging us to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. To put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:10,11). God has given his people, that is, those who trust and believe in Jesus Christ, His Son, tools to work with and to utilise for our good. Satan, that old serpent, the devil, is like a roaring lion seeking all he may devour. He has a plan to destroy us, and to let us  doubt God's fidelity towards us. The battle is raging, and even though its between Jesus and Satan, as God's children we are caught up into it. Jesus has already won the battle with his victory at the cross. Satan knows his time is short on this earth and is making every effort to get as much people on  his side for the great battle when Jesus return. We must understand that this battle is a spiritual o

 'In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you' (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Sometimes it seems easier for us to keep asking something of God than it is to thank him, especially in the difficult times. But here in the Scriptures, Paul is encouraging us to give thanks in everything. That is, in all  circumstances we come across, we should give thanks, because it is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us. In this messed up world of sin, God is still in control and is sustaining us. Therefore, we can rejoice  in Him always because of His eternal love for us. Inspite of the difficulties we might face on a daily basis, there is so much we can give God thanks for. We can thank Him that we are alive; once there is life we have hope. We can thank God that His love never fails us and for his faithfulness.  We thank God that all things work together for our good when we belong to him (Romans 8:28). Thank God for supporting us spiritually, when our tria

 'Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength' ( Isaiah 26:4) In a time where there is so much confusion and uncertainty, God is calling us to trust Him always. He is our everlasting strength - the Rock of all ages, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is our refuge and strength in every trial we face, and our everlasting Rock in every raging storms of our  lives. He is our peace in the midst of perplexity, and our fortress in times of trouble. He caused all things to work together for good. All our blessings; temporal or spiritual, comes from God and gives us cause to trust him forever. Christ our solid Rock in ages past and ages to come, is our righteousness and in Him we find shelter in the time of storm. We can truly trust God at all times and in everything. He is able to give us victory over sin and temptation, to bear us up under affliction and to help us withstand the spiritual attacks that may come our way. It is a good thing to put our confidence

 'There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made  perfect in love.' (1 John 4:18). God is love and his love is immeasurable. It is perfect and unchangeable and expels all fear. God cares for each of us and will never leave us in doubt about his wonderful love. Human love is flawed; it keeps a checklist of our sins and short comings. The amazing thing about God is that he keeps no such list. His love casts out our fear and our guilt. When your heart condemns you, just remember God is greater than your heart. So let us pay attention to God's love, His grace and His forgiveness. When you feel unforgiven it is a right thing to question your feelings, but dare not question God. His Word gives light when you're in darkness, hope when you're in despair, joy in the time of sadness. It out-ranks self-criticism and self-doubt. Nothing foster confidence like a clear grasp of God's grace, and nothing foste

 'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God' (Isaiah 50:10). Our trust is in the Lord and when we fear and obey him, we will not walk in darkness, but in his light. In fearing the Lord we reverence and worship him in awe, because we know who he is. The question was asked in the passage of Scriptures, "Who is among you that feareth the Lord? The answer, "We must obey the voice of his servant."  There was another question asked, "Who is it that walketh in darkness and hath no light?" "Let him trust in the name of the Lordvand stay upon his God.  Can we identify with all those who feared the Lord and obeyed the voice of Christ, the Lord's servant?  Let us seek to fear God and to hear his word and to submit to his ordinances and his will; So we might not find ourselves walking in darkness, having no light.  I

 'For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens;  God himself formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord' (Psalm 45:18). It was by the Word of the Lord that the heavens and the earth were created. There wasn't then and isn't now, any other gods that has the power to create, but the living God. It is He himself who formed the earth, made it, and established it. The earth was void without form and out of such nothingness, God created a beautiful paradise for man and beast to inhabit. Our God is omnipotent and is indeed the Lord of everything. It was the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, working together in oneness; who formed, made and established the earth. They are worthy of our praise and thanksgiving. As our Creator, we have obligation to God. Our duty is to fear God and  keep his commandments . We must serve, obey God and give glory and honour to him. We must seek to look after ea

 'Blessed is that man that make the the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies' (Psalm 40:4). Happiness comes from the Lord. When we are happy in the Lord we will trust and obey him. Trust in God brought great happiness for David, who knew he could rely on God. It is the same for each of us who puts our trust in God. We must refrain from taking advice from those who are arrogant nor those who follow lies or foolishness.  We must never spread lies against one another, this is clearly of the Devil, the father of all lies. He tempted Eve to sin in the Garden of Eden by lying to her, that she would die from eating the forbidden fruit. We ought to commit  ourselves to the Lord and do His will. You might be going through your own storms, fiery furnaces, the cares of the world may be getting you down; but when we trust God and wait patiently upon him, he will deliver you. We must seek not to honour those who are proud, or bow down and do them reve

 'For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father' (Ephesians 2:18). It is through Jesus that we have access to the Father. It doesn't matter what culture we were born into, or which part of the world we are from; we are all sinners and salvation is only found in Jesus, who gives us the Spirit to live within us, and grant us access to the Father. As sinners we are all separated from God and deserve to be. But through his mercy and grace we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ.  As believers, we have nothing to brag about, because we still are unworthy, but saved by the precious blood of the Lamb - Christ. We are to be kind to others, especially those of the household of faith, to lift them them up and strengthen them. We should not act like we are better than others, since we have been saved by the same God. The Jews made that mistake with the Gentiles of which Paul spoke against. We have to remember, it is only by grace through faith in Christ's re

 'For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death' (Psalm 48:14). It is amazing how God works and is concerned about his people, even those who are wayward. He loves and care for us regardless of us being sinners. He is interested in what is happening in our lives; in our homes; our school; our work and in our communities.  He promised never to leave us nor forsake us. He is our God for ever and ever, and will be our guide unto death. What a beautiful promise! All we have to do is trust His name. God doesn't change at anytime, it is us who change. We change our allegiance to God and hand it over to Satan, who has no real interest in our lives. Christ is God manifest in the flesh, who died for us to grant us eternal life. We need to look to Him for resurrection and eternal life. We must seek to let God, through the power of the Holy Spirit fill our souls with joy, comfort and peace that passes all understanding.  This God we are talking about,

 'And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life'  (1 John 2:25). For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). God has promised us eternal life, and whatever he promised can be trusted completely. It is only through Jesus that we can attain eternal life. It is not something we earned, but is a gift from God, which he has promised when His people truly believe in His Son Jesus Christ. This promised through Christ was made before the foundation of the world. If man sinned, the Son of God would come down from heaven, and  give his life for ours, so we could have eternal life in Him. Christ promised this in the Gospel to all who would believe on him. It is only salvation by grace that could warrant us this promise of eternal life, and not salvation by works. When we have fellowship with the Father and the Son, the hope of eternal life is certain. Let us

 'So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations' (Psalm79:13). God not only created us as his Children, but died for us too, and provide, care and sustain us. But those who are considered His people, have chosen His covenant grace and are the sheep of his pasture. He leads them by the still waters and provide good pasture for them. As believers, and God's people, we should give Him thanks forever; as long as we live on this earth and in the time of eternity when Jesus comes, to praise him generation after generation. We ought to recognise the Lord as our Shepherd, and see ourselves as His sheep and become totally dependent upon Him. We should declare our thanks and praises forever; for who He is and what he has done for us. By faith we should anticipate a better and brighter future with God, where we shall continue to praise and worship Him. Regardless of the turmoil and violence going on around us,

 'Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge' (Proverbs 19:27). In life we have instuctions from parents, teachers, employers, government, religious leader, about how we should behave, what we should do and how. However, the greatest instructions comes from God in his Word. Anytime we cease to listen to the instruction given by God, we will err from the word of knowledge - the word of the living God.  God's word of grace, wisdom, and knowledge, give knowledge of who He is, his salvation and Sovereignty. We need no other Word, but the Word of God, the instructions in it gives life to the soul. Worldly instruction will ruin us, therefore, we need to guard our ears against such. Let whatever we say and do agree with God's Word. 1 Corinthians 15:33 states, "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." There are evil people in this world and there are false teachers who are all working under Satan's inf

'Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work' (2 Thessalonians 2:17). The world is in turmoil, men's hearts are failing them for fear, even in the midst of a deadly pandemic, political and religious wars. Some people still do not believe that Jesus exist or that he is coming back soon. But He is! We have to pray earnestly to God the Father and God the Son to comfort and strengthen our hearts. The Thessalonians had many trials which caused them to be overwhelmed, so they needed God's strength to stabilise them and live out their faith in words and deeds that would bring honour to him. As believers,  God  has given us the power to  face our trials with great confidence in Him;  to be able to encourage one another by speaking kind words and carrying out good deeds.  This is the time when we need to earnestly pray for each other that the Lord will encourage our hearts and establish us in every work and in all we say. Let us take the time to read, learn

 'Let all your things be done with charity' ( 1 Corinthians 16:14). Love is of God and He is love! He first love us so we may be able to love him and each other. Paul is stating that love (charity) is very important  to our wellbeing, therefore we are to let all we do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 13 demonstrates how sincere our love for each other should be. Christ himself bids us to love each other as He loved us (John 15:12). We are also told to love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). A call to love is often seen as difficult, but it reminds us also how much God loves us. His love is incredible and amazing! And he wants us to experience that incredible and life changing love from Him and those around us. Let us as believers, seek to grow in our Christian faith and walk in spirit and truth, and live lives that will only honour God.   Paul was admonishing the Corinthians believers to do everything with charity. He is also speaking t

 'Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools' (Ecclesiastes 7: 9). There are two types of anger; righteous and unrighteous anger. Righteous anger doesn't lead to sin, nor have to justify anything, but sets one under the control of God. On the other hand, unrighteous anger reveals a lack of self-control and ungodly attitudes towards one another, and even God. We have been warned by the preacher to not fly into an angry rage or harbour resentment towards God or man. There are serious consequences of harbouring anger in our hearts; without God in our lives, life becomes meaningless. This type of anger is not pleasing to God, and we must take  note and  learn that anger reside in the bosom of fools. Let us therefore, refrain from the spirit of unrighteous anger and learn to live godly lives, worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Sometimes in our lives, circumstances and trials happened and we feel frustrated and impatient and do an