Elaine Campbell

 'Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart' (Proverbs 3:3). Here we have the counsel of King Solomon, that we should always value loyalty and kindness. These are important qualities we should adorn like a necklace is around one's neck. Throughout our Christian experience, we should love God wholeheartedly and constantly and be dependable on what God wants for each of us. Let us learn to trust God with wholeness  of heart, to be always loyal and kind to all those we come in contact with; then we will find favour with God and man and earn a good reputation. We ought to sympathise with fellow Christian in their troubles;  to forgive one another; to put on bowels of mercy and compassion; hold steadfast to the Gospel truth and never depart from it; encourage each other in the faith; and God will favour and reward us. Let us be steadfast in our love and be faithful in all our endeavours. We ought to bin...

 'And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee' (Psalm 39:7). What is it one should expect of life? Sinners in a world of sin, have no hope except in Christ. Life without Christ ends in eternal death. Our days are numbered, seventy years are alloted to us, but we know not how long we have on this earth. The Psalmist looking at man, says that at our best state is altogether vanity. If we trust in the Lord, expecting all good things from Him, we do well. Everything under the sun is vanity, but in Christ we hope, and in Him alone. Whatever our state of mind, we need to surrender all to Christ and totally trust Him who is able to see us through. David saw the condition of the world and that men were only deceiving themselves, as they allowed the things of this earth to cloud their minds. He began to search his soul and appeal to God and his own conscience. We too in our time, see the condition of this world. Where sin is concern it's no different from in David's time,...

 'And having food and raiment let us be therewith content' (1Timothy 6:8). To be content is gain! The Scripture says godliness with contentment is great gain. Here we see Paul speaking from personal experience about contentment - to lack or be in need. As believers, our goal should be to focus on having daily essentials and living for God, not wealth and luxury. When we desire wealth or money, we can easily fall into temptation. In saying this, nothing is wrong in acquiring wealth. We see  people in the Bible who did have wealth but kept their focus on God. It is God who we should seek first and everything else will be given us by Him, as our needs be. Paul States in Philippians 4:11 that, he has learned to be content in whatever state he may be. He knows how to be full and how to be hungry and to suffer need. Whatever God as entrusted to us, we need to be satisfied. If God has provided us with the basic necessities of having food and raiment, let us be content and give thanks...

 'Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation' (Psalm 68:19). God is our Burden-bearer, who doesn't get weary or sick; and is never tired of bearing our burdens. But we also have to be willing and allow Him to bear our burdens, by casting them on Him. We live in a world of sin, where we experience sorrow, pain, grief, stress; we endure distress and are emotionally and physically drained from all the pressures of this world. There is a solution to all of these burdens we carry - Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. He daily bears our burden as we give them all to Him. The presence of the Lord is among his people and his benefits are not few. The Scriptures says they are loads! Even if the Lord allows us to be burdened with sorrow, he gives us sufficient strength to sustain it. When others oppressed or distressed us, we have no need to fear, for the Lord will rescue us from such burdens. The Scriptures says that the Lord's yoke is...

 'I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me' (John 6:57). Jesus is the living bread from heaven. All who believe in Him, that He was sent by God, can have eternal life. Just as how we have to eat the physical food for it to do good to our bodies; belief in Christ is something we take inside of us - spiritual faith; that will lead us to have eternal life. Therefore, Christ declared himself as the "Bread of Life." When we feed on Him it will do good to our spiritual life. Christ said that, he lives or dwells because of the living Father who sent Him. Indeed It was the Father who sent Him to be the propitiation for our sins. Here we see Christ speaking of a loving relationship between Him and the Father, and implying that's the relationship He wants to have with us. When we abide in Christ, He will abide in us and that abiding relationship will lead us to eternal life. As we feed on Christ, that i...

 'Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; (Isaiah 44:8). When we know God and see Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour, we should have no fear neither be afraid. God had revealed all in the Scriptures about His Son Jesus Christ, from the Old Testament to the New Testament and we see have heard and seen the fulfilment. God had revealed to His people all that would happen aforetime and had declared it. Christ's disciples had the opportunity to see and to  hear from his mouth, things to come and the fulfilment of that which was declared before hand. They were called to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and other parts of the world. We are also called to be witnesses in this dark world of sin. There is no other God then, as there is no other God now beside the God of Creation. We should not excuse our ignorance, in not accepting or being satisfied with...

 'Now if we be dead in Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him' (Romans 6:8). All who have died with Christ, shall also live with him. In baptism we died with Christ on a spiritual level and are resurrected to a new life, being born of the water and of the Spirit. Everyone who is in Christ, must believe he or she will live with him in eternity at His Second Coming. We must understand that when we put our faith in Christ and died with Him, we are no longer a slave to sin. Let us offer ourselves as instrument of righteousness, rather than allow our bodies to be used for sin by the Devil. As believers, it is our obligation to obey God and not continue in sin, but give ourselves totally to the Saviour, who has  taken the shame and death due to us at the cross. Let us accept the righteousness of Christ, that will lead us to eternal life in Him, and seek to become more like Him. By faith we must believe that we shall be alive with Christ presently and eternally. As Chris...