Point of Wisdom: Pray With a Psalm in Your Heart

It can sometimes be hard to know what to talk about with God in prayer. Some Scripture-based counsel to a struggling individual can help you too.

Source: Photos.com

He described himself to the pastor and me as a former hippie who had been off the drugs for several years. But he and his wife explained that the hallucinogens' effects were still badly slowing his mental processes. We could see that from our conversation.

My part was as a ministerial trainee participating in this pastoral visit with a young couple who had lived hard and wild during the hippie movement years of the 1960s. The man now loaded freight on ships in the Thames River near London. He had muscles for the work but wished that he still had the muscle in his mind.

She had many questions about the Bible and God's way, but one main question plagued his thoughts: " How do I pray? I can't think of much to say. " There were tears in his eyes. He really, truly wanted to know how to talk to God.

No Halfway Covenant

article by Frank Dunkle

If your parents are true Christians, does that make you one? Or is more required of you? This was an important question for the Puritans of early America. And it remains an important issue today.

Source: George Henry Boughton, Pilgrims Going to Church, 1867

Are you a true Christian? Do you need to join a church to be one? Does your parents' relationship with God make a difference in your own relationship with Him?

To explore this, let's first consider an interesting piece of early American history. In the mid-1600s, several ministers in New England held a special conference to discuss youth and the church. They developed a doctrine called the "Half-Way Covenant." We'll briefly examine this concept in addressing a vital issue for today.

Just what makes a person a true Christian? Are the children of true Christians automatically true Christians also—or is more required?

Puritans purify

To understand the Half-Way Covenant and why it matters to us, we need to know something about the Puritans. As Protestants in England, they were pleased that King Henry VIII had effectively separated England from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s. However, they believed that neither the king nor the Church of England did enough to remove unbiblical practices from their worship. They wanted to purify the church, which is why they were called "Puritans."

Some Puritans thought they needed to separate altogether from the religious authorities of England and the rest of Europe, so they came to America to settle New England. They were determined to study the Bible and to obey it fully. (Those who settled Plymouth Colony in 1620 were Separatists who later became known as the Pilgrims. The Puritans who arrived the next decade to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other settlements were not initially as inclined to Separatism, but they eventually moved in that direction.)

Esther Wahome - Kuna Dawa

Jesus Christ biography

Synopsis

Jesus Christ was born in 2-6 BCE in Bethlehem, Judea. Little is known about his early life, but as a young man, he founded Christianity, one of the world’s most influential religions. His life is recorded in the New Testament, more a theological document than a biography. According to Christians, Jesus is considered the incarnation of God and his teachings an example for living a more spiritual life. Christians believe he died for the sins of all people and rose from the dead.

Profile

Most of Jesus’ life is told through the four Gospels of the New Testament Bible, known as the Canonical gospels, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are not biographies in the modern sense but accounts with allegorical intent. They are written to engender faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the incarnation of God, who came to teach, suffer and die for people’s sins.

Jesus was born between 2 and 6 BCE, in Bethlehem, Judea. His mother, Mary, was a virgin who was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter. Christians believe Jesus was born through Immaculate Conception. His lineage can be traced back to the house of David. According to the Gospel of Matthew (2:1), Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, who upon hearing of his birth felt threatened and tried to kill Jesus by ordering all of Bethlehem’s male children under age two to be killed. But Joseph was warned by an angel and took Mary and the child to Egypt until Herod’s death, where upon he brought the family back and settled in the town of Nazareth, in Galilee.

There is very little written about Jesus’ early life. The Gospel of Luke (2:41-52) recounts that a 12-year-old Jesus had accompanied his parents on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and became separated. He was found several days later in a temple, discussing affairs with some of Jerusalem’s elders. Throughout the New Testament, there are trace references of Jesus working as a carpenter while a young adult. It is believed that he began his ministry at age 30 when he was baptized by John the Baptist, who upon seeing Jesus, declared him the Son of God.

After baptism, Jesus went into the Judean desert to fast and meditate for 40 days and nights. The Temptation of Christ is chronicled in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (known as the Synoptic Gospels). The Devil appeared and tempted Jesus three times, once to turn stone to bread, once to cast himself off a mountain where angels would save him, and once to offer him all the kingdoms of the world. All three times, Jesus rejected the Devil’s temptation and sent him off.

Sheikh Dr. Hamisi Hussein - Yesu ni Mungu 1

Sheikh Dr. Hamisi Hussein - Yesu ni Mungu 2

Sheikh Dr. Hamisi Hussein - Yesu ni Mungu 3

Yesu alibadilisha mwenendo wa historia

Tembea sehemu yoyote ulimwenguni. Ongea na watu wa dini yoyote. Haijalishi jinsi walivyoshikilia tabaka za dini zao, kama wanajua chochote kuhusu historia, watakubali kwamba hakujawahi kuwa na mtu kama Yesu wa Nazareti. Yeye ni mtu wa ajabu mno kuliko watu wote wa enzi zote.

Yesu alibadilisha mwenendo wa historia. Hata tarehe kwenye gazeti lako la leo inathibitisha kwamba Yesu wa Nazareti aliishi ulimwenguni karibu miaka 2,000 iliyopita. Maandishi kwa Kiingereza "B.C." yanasimamia nyakati kabla ya kuzaliwa kwa Kristo; vilevile maandishi "A.D." yanasimamia nyakati baada ya kuzaliwa kwa Kristo.KUJA KWAKE KULITABIRIWA

Mamia ya miaka hata kabla ya Yesu kuzaliwa, maandiko yaonyesha wanabii wa Israeli wakitabiri kuja kwake. Agano la kale, lililoandikwa na watu wengi katika muda wa miaka 1,500, lina unabii zaidi ya 300 kuhusu kuja kwa Yesu. Yote yaliyotabiriwa yalitendeka, pamoja na kuzaliwa kwake kimiujiza, maisha yake matakatifu, kufa na kufufuka kwake.

Maisha aliyoishi Yesu, miujiza aliyotenda, maneno aliyosema, kufa kwake msalabani, kufufuka kwake, kupaa kwake mbinguni - yote yathibitisha kwamba yeye hakuwa mwanadamu peke yake bali alikuwa zaidi ya mwanadamu. Yesu alisema, "Mimi na Baba tu umoja" (Yohana 10:30), "Aliyeniona mimi amemwona Baba" (Yohana 14:9) na, "Mimi ndimi njia, na ukweli, na uzima; mtu haji kwa Baba, ila kwa njia ya mimi." (Yohana 14:6).

MAISHA NA UJUMBE WAKE HUSABABISHA MABADILIKO

Tazama maisha na mvuto wa Yesu wa Nazareti, Mesiya, katika historia yote na utaona kwamba yeye na ujumbe wake huleta mabadiliko makubwa katika mataifa na maisha ya wanaume na wanawake. Popote mafunzo yake yalipoenea, utakatifu wa ndoa, haki na sauti ya wanawake imetiliwa maanani; shule na vyuo vikuu vimeanzishwa; sheria za kulinda watoto zimeandikwa; utumwa umeachishwa; na mabadiliko mengine mengi yamefanywa kwa manufaa ya wanadamu. Maisha ya watu binafsi yamebadilishwa kiajabu. Kwa mfano, Lew Wallace, jemedari aliyejulikana na mwandishi shupavu, alikana Mungu yupo. Kwa miaka miwili, Bw. Wallace alisoma kwenye maktaba zilizo bora sana kule Ulaya na Merikani, akitafuta habari ambazo zingeangamiza kabisa dini ya Kikristo. Alipokuwa akiandika sura ya pili ya kitabu hicho, alijikuta ghafla ameanguka magotini na kulia kwa Yesu akisema, "Bwana na Mungu wangu."
Kwa sababu ya ushuhuda usioweza kukanwa, hakuweza kuendelea kukana kwamba Yesu Kristo alikuwa mwana wa Mungu. Baadaye, Lew Wallace aliandika kitabu kilichoitwa "Ben Hur", moja wapo ya vitabu shwari vilivyo andikwa katika lugha ya Kiingereza kuhusu nyakati za Kristo.

Vile vile, marehemu C. S. Lewis, profesa wa chuo kikuu cha Oxford, alikana kwamba Kristo alikuwa pia Mungu kwa miaka mingi. Lakini, yeye pia, kwa hekima za ukarimu, alijinyenyekeza mbele za Yesu kama Mungu na Mwokozi baada ya kusoma ushahidi usio na pingamizi kwamba Yesu pia alikuwa Mungu .

Yesu wa Nazareti ni nani kwako? Maisha yako ya hapa duniani na pia ya uzima wa milele yatategemea jibu lako kwa swali hili.

Dini zote zingine zilianzishwa na wanadamu na zinategemea falsafa za kibinadamu, kanuni na pendekezo za tabia. Ondoa waanzilishi wa dini hizi kutoka idhini na tabaka za kuabudu, na machache sana yatabadilika. Lakini ondoa Yesu Kristo kutoka Ukristo na hakuna chochote kitakachobaki. Ukristo uliopendekezwa kwenye Biblia siyo falsafa ya maisha peke yake, wala siyo tabaka na njia za kimila za kuabudu. Msingi wa Ukristo wa kweli ni uhusiano wa kibinafsi na Mwokozi na Bwana aliyefufuka na anayeishi.

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