Emmaus Family Message from P G Vargis
PG&Lilly Vargis
A letter from a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For any one doing any kind of ministry in the body of Christ and who wants to improve and excel.
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(Part-1)
After interacting with literally tens of thousands of people through coaching and doing prophetic outreaches, I have noticed an interesting pattern:
Satan attacks you in the area of your strength and future calling.
You will see this in the lives of people in the Bible. David was called and anointed by the Prophet Samuel to be the next King of Israel, but no one recognized his authority. And even after he took down Goliath, he went through a difficult time of running from King Saul who tried to kill him for years (1 Samuel 21-31).
God used David's time of running and testing to bring him into a place of maturity spiritually and emotionally. God will use difficult times in our lives to reveal and heal our weaknesses so we can help others who are suffering.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV
It is important to understand that God does not bring sickness or difficult times upon us. You are not being punished by God if you are suffering. These things come from the enemy because God is pure love (see 1 John 4:8).
Where Do Bad Things Come From?
Jesus tells a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a field in which good seeds were planted. After they began to grow, it became obvious that there were weeds growing in the field as well (see Matthew 13:24-28).
"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 'An enemy did this,' he replied.'" Matthew 13:27-28 NIV
God Wants to Bless You
"Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit." 3 John 2 NLT
It is God's will for you to be healthy, whole and blessed. But sin, stress and overloaded lifestyles with little margin for rest can weaken our bodies, emotions and relationships. God will use the attacks of the enemy to strengthen you and bring you into spiritual maturity.
We will need to fix any skewed views of God and understand who God really is! It will require you to break through unbelief and move from understanding just the facts of the Bible to a place of living it out daily. We can learn to live our lives each day in God's presence by walking in the Spirit (see Galatians 5:16).
God is Revealing Your Destiny
Remember that God will use the attacks and difficult times to refine us. Satan attacks us in the areas of our future victories. If you are being attacked in your body, emotions, relationships or finances, then I have good news for you. Why would satan work so hard against you unless you pose a threat to darkness?
As you get through these difficult times you gain authority in the spirit and God will use your suffering to bring repayment and blessings.
For a number of years, I have been going through terrible afflictions against my body, emotions and finances. I have nearly died more than once. God is bringing healing to all these areas of my life. In the past few months I have gotten healed of Lyme disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (that had me isolated), anxiety and panic attacks to name a few.
In the midst of this I have learned a lot about healing, restoration and God's love and grace. This is the time that God wants to heal and restore our bodies, emotions and relationships. This is to position us for a coming revival that will require us to have strength and greater authority over the enemy.
This is the season to move forward into your life calling like never before. Blessings
Doug Addison
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Part II -
"When we shift from personal purity to personal happiness, we lose biblical hope because we are not focusing on God´s agenda, we are focusing on our own."
-N T Wright
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Your brother in Christ,
P g vargis
PG&Lilly Vargis
A letter from a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For any one doing any kind of ministry in the body of Christ and who wants to improve and excel.
=============================
(Part-1)
Ten Top Tips for God's Messengers
Billy Graham is still alive but he has already spoken his last words as a messenger of God to the world. These are the words that he will speak at his own funeral! He will speak to the people via a recorded message, reminding them that there is life beyond the grave and calling everyone who hears to put their faith in Jesus.
Ever since God called him to be his messenger in 1934, at sixteen years of age, he has been a faithful messenger of the gospel. He has spoken to over 200 million people in person about Jesus. He has been a friend and trusted adviser to ten American presidents. His lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, has topped 2.2 billion. He has been determined to make the most of every opportunity, including his own funeral, to pass on God’s message to the world.
‘My messenger’ is the way John the Baptist is described by God (Luke 7:27). You too can be God’s messenger. Jesus speaks of ‘the message about the kingdom’ (Matthew 13:19). In the New Testament, ‘the message’ is a synonym for ‘the gospel’ (see Acts 2:41; 4:4; 10:44 and so on). Our task is both to hear this message and to declare it to others (1 John 1:5).
PSALM 37:32-40
1. Stay close to God
If you want to hear God’s message, you need to ‘wait passionately for God, don’t leave the path’ (v.34a, MSG). ‘The spacious, free life is from God, it’s also protected and safe. God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil – when we run to him, he saves us’ (vv.39–40, MSG).
Lord, help me to stay close to you, staying on your path and hoping in you.
2. Seek Peace
God’s messengers must be messengers of peace; ‘For there is a happy end for the man of peace’ (v.37b, AMP). God’s messengers should not be stirrers or seek to bring unnecessary division. Rather, be a person of peace. Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matthew 5:9).
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
LUKE 6:37-7:10
3. Do not judge
Jesus says, ‘Do not judge’ and ‘Do not condemn’ (6:37). ‘Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticise their faults’ (v.37, MSG). Jesus’ famous story about trying to take a ‘speck of dust’ out of someone else’s eye when we have a ‘plank’ in our own eye is a challenging one (vv.41–42). It is far easier to see the faults in those around me than to see my own shortfalls and weaknesses. If we live this way, we will always be falling out with others.
I need to pay more attention to my own faults and the areas where I need to grow. Only then can I help reconcile others to God in their struggles. When you treat others with the same patience God shows you, you are much more likely to get on with everybody else and recognise the validity of other people’s ministries.
Lord, help me to remove the ‘planks’ from my life and to extend grace to those around me.
4. Forgive others
Jesus said, ‘Forgive, and you will be forgiven’ (v.37b). Forgive people even if they are not sorry. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred and the waste of energy. The forgiveness that God gives you should be a virtuous circle that overflows into your relationships with others.
Lord, thank you that you have forgiven me. Help me to forgive others, regardless of whether they are sorry or not.
5. Give away your life
As we saw yesterday, generosity is at the heart of Christianity. In this passage Jesus reiterates that message: ‘Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back – given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity’ (v.38, MSG).
Lord, help me to reflect your generosity in my attitude to others. Help me to look for the good in others, to forgive, and to give.
6. Hitch your wagon to a star
‘Hitch your wagon to a star’ was the best piece of advice I was given when I was looking for a place to train as a pastor. Jesus says, ‘The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher’ (v.40). As I looked at Sandy Millar, I knew that he was the ‘star’ that I wanted to be like. Therefore, I wanted to train under him because even though I felt I would never equal the wisdom and gifting of my teacher, at least I knew what I was aiming for.
That is why I often read biographies of people like William Wilberforce, Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham. Their examples enrich us and inspire us to aim higher. Of course, Jesus ultimately is the only star. Hitch your wagon to him.
Lord, thank you for the heroes of the faith who have gone before me, and for the leaders that you have put in my life. Help me to learn from them and to aim higher in my walk with you.
7. Guard your heart
Jesus says, ‘Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their hearts, and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in their hearts. For out of the overflow of one’s heart the mouth speaks’ (v.45). If you want to be God’s messenger you have to fill your heart with his message, his presence and his love. Billy Graham always used to say he liked to speak ‘out of the overflow’.
Lord, help me to guard my heart and store up good within it. As David prayed, ‘create in me a pure heart, O God’ (Psalm 51:10).
8. Obey God’s Word
Superficially the two houses looked the same. But the one that collapsed had no foundation (Luke 6:49). Jesus said, ‘If you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation’ (v.49, MSG).
The difference between the two is that the wise person hears the message and puts it into practice (v.47). It is not enough to study God’s message. Live it out. Knowing God’s Word and obeying it should be the foundation of your life.
Lord Jesus, help me to listen to your words and to put them into practice in my life.
9. Be under authority
All authority comes from being under authority. The centurion recognised that Jesus’ authority came from being under authority, just as his own authority as a centurion to give commands came from being ‘under authority’ (7:8).
Your message today will have authority if you are under God’s authority and are led by his Holy Spirit. This authority does not belong to you: you are authorised by God to be his messenger. The apostle Paul spoke of being an ‘ambassador’ of the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Lord Jesus, thank you that you have authorised me to be your messenger. Help me to be a faithful ambassador of the gospel to those around me.
NUMBERS 22:21-23:26
10. Finish well
According to the New Testament, Balaam’s life is a counterexample. He is cited as an example of a false prophet: ‘They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. ‘But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey – an animal without speech – who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness’ (2 Peter 2:15–16).
It is a warning against ignoring the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Three times the angel of the Lord tried to stop Balaam going with Balak. But Balaam was determined to go in spite of the fact that the angel of the Lord was trying to stand in his way and said to him, ‘I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me’ (Numbers 22:32).
Balaam had set out to accept a fee for giving Balak the oracle he wanted to hear. Yet, we see in the passage for today that at one stage in Balaam’s life he had tried to do the right thing. He said, ‘I must speak only what God puts in my mouth’ (22:38; see also 23:8,12,26).
Balaam’s life is a warning that even those who are used by God can get themselves into a mess. It is an encouragement to keep on doing what Balaam, at one point, set out to do – to hear God’s message and pass it on to others. Be faithful and finish well.
Lord, help me to be your faithful messenger. I want to be sensitive to the guidance of your Holy Spirit, to follow where you are leading and to stay faithful to the end.
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Part II -
MARTIN LUTHER……If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm.
For when there is no battle for the gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning.
MARTIN LUTHER……The Devil fears the word of God, He can't bite it; it breaks his teeth.
MARTIN LUTHER……If I profess with loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except that little point which the world and the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.
Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.
PG&Lilly Vargis
A letter from a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For any one doing any kind of ministry in the body of Christ and who wants to improve and excel.
=============================
(Part-1)
An Attitude of Genuine Thanksgiving
Paul had an attitude of genuine thanksgiving: "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak" (Colossians 4:2-4).
Here's a man in his sixties who has been preaching for years asking for prayers for a clearer delivery. There was no pretense with Paul. No degree of success or number of years in the ministry gave him a false sense of ultimate accomplishment. He knew he had not yet arrived. He was convinced his preaching could be improved. And so with a genuinely thankful heart, he entreated his fellow believers for their prayers. Can you see the power of that kind of attitude? Very refreshing.
No wonder the man had such lasting impact for Christ. His secret bled through every one of his letters. He had learned to be content in all things. But we can't leave the ink of these truths to simply sit and dry on the page. We must embrace the same secret for ourselves if we are to have the same lasting impact. Some personal reflection is in order.
Let's turn the spotlight away from the man housed in Rome back then and focus it on you and your life, wherever you find yourself right now. Are you making a difference in the lives of those closest to you by the way you respond to your circumstances? Are others inspired by your faith, or are they discouraged by your fears? Are the attitudes of unselfish humility, joyful acceptance, strong determination, and genuine thanksgiving evident in the way you respond to circumstances? Maybe it's time to make some changes. Let's see if I can help.
Start by refusing to let your situation determine your attitude. When your attitude overshadows your situation, transformation really begins. As we saw in Paul, the power to transform stubborn attitudes of fear and bitterness, anger and defeat, comes from Christ. The Lord our God stands ready to pour His strength in you. He alone has the power to deliver you from those relentless foes and send you soaring.
Keep an attitude of genuine thanksgiving.
The power to transform stubborn attitudes of anger and defeat comes from Christ.
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Part II -
The Tireless John Wesley
Whatever this man had, he gave every ounce of his fiber to it. Under his direction, the Methodist church, the real founder of it, made the gospel a social one where Christians were expected to be salt and light and getting the salt out of the shaker and the light out from under the basket, being the chief advocate for as an abolitionist while fighting slavery when it was not popular to do so. This great man of God preached over 40,000 sermons, gave away more than 30,000 pounds (today, that is around 100 thousand dollars), and rode over a quarter of a million miles on horseback. He once bemoaned about growing old and sorrowed over sleeping in until 5 AM!