When I was praying the other day, this phrase dropped into my heart, "prayer keeps you from pride". As I was pondering on these words, I suddenly realised that the opposite is also true, "pride keeps you from prayer". [Sigh...] I know too well what that means - from experience!

Prayer Keeps us from Pride

Prayer has a way of humbling us because praying means that we acknowledge our need for God. It means recognizing that we are not able to face situations on our own; that we need help from above.

Many people in this world call themselves Christians. Many attend various churches. Many read their Bible and pray, some also fast regularly. Many give financially to the church or various charities. Many are involved in church activities or serve in a ministry through evangelism, helping the poor or using their talents in all sorts of ways for God.

These are all wonderful and commendable things. But what actually defines a Christian? People may call themselves Christian, but what does it mean to be a true Christian, according to the Bible?

Recently I was listening to someone preach. They mentioned in their preaching the reasons why - according to them - Jesus had to come to this earth and die. To my astonishment, among the few reasons they stated, sin was nowhere to be found!!! I know they were not being purposefully deceitful, but it shows how much blindness has come upon the church these days. If there is one thing we should never forget, it is from what utter helplessness and misery the Lord rescued us! The sin of mankind is THE reason why Jesus came into this world and died.

This post could also have been called "the way we want others to see us" or "how we love to be seen in a good light" or something along these lines; but I thought "Show and Tell" was shorter and sweeter... It is about what we SHOW others and what we TELL others about ourselves through what we do. I was reading Matthew 6 recently and it became clear to me that it was all about that beautiful image of ourselves we like to project to other people.

This the powerful testimony of Dr Nabeel Qureshi, who was Muslim and converted to Christianity. He was a great Christian apologist who sadly passed away recently, in September 2017, at the age of 34 after a year long battle with stomach cancer. He is the author of the bestseller "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus".

(Please read "The 2 Sides of God" before reading this if you haven't as this is part 2)

So the Old Testament reveals God mainly as a holy God and the New Testament reveals Him mainly as a God of love in Jesus Christ. Because He is holy, He is a righteous Judge who has to punish our sins. But because He is also love, He comes down to earth as a man and receives the just punishment Himself on our behalf, so we can be forgiven and cleansed by His blood.

Thanks to the price paid on the cross, we are now back in fellowship with a holy God and we have access to His presence. We are proclaimed "not guilty". Our debt to God has been paid! If it stopped there,

God reveals Himself in His Word as a personal God who has a clearly defined character. He does not change and He always acts according to who He is. Like the 2 sides of a coin, His character is made up of 2 main aspects as is alluded to in Romans 11:22.

"Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God..."

God's goodness flows from His love and God's severity flows from His holiness. So let us say that heads is "love" and tails is "holiness".

The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:8 that "God is love". This is who He is, not something that He has. He does not possess love, He is pure love.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
(Romans 10:13)

"There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
(Acts 4:12)

There is only one name given by God to save people, and this name is Jesus Christ. There is no other name today, there was no other name yesterday and there will never be any other name tomorrow, anywhere, that can save mankind. No Buddha, no Allah, no Krishna, no Guru of any kind, no one else...

Once upon a time God created the world, a beautiful world... He made the seasons and provided us with the endless cycle of seedtime and harvest time. Like God said at the time of creation: it was good. This system of sowing seeds and reaping harvests was working well, allowing humans to grow various crops that were beneficial to their health and in harmony with their environment. And it went on for thousands of years, until one day... man invented genetic engineering!...