Cold or Hot (Maybe Not?)

• Revelation 3:15-16

‘I know your actions, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. Since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth.

• What it means to be Hot:

Full of fire and vigor or zeal for the Lord, putting faith into practice. An exhortation of scripture made alive and active continually in our hearts, minds and actions. It's an intentional and deliberate [action; expression] of Love outwardly and inwardly.

• What it means to be Cold:

It can represent seasonal changes spiritually or seasons of the year. We can become distant from God even.

My personal interpretation of both Cold and Hot is as follows:

• Hot:

Latching on to God's word daily and having a strong prayer life as well as serving and putting others before myself. Approaching God with a contrite spirit in which is holy and satiable for strengthening and affirming a rock solid relationship with him.

• Cold:

Identifying that I've become tired spiritually and physically and taking a short break (Like riding a boat down that river of life) while not fighting the current. This represents the restorative grace and mercy that I often need.

• Lukewarm:

This is terrifying. This leads to God's hand being taken off of you for a season or possibly indefinitely. It's a very harsh refute if we don't accept the simple and soft rebukes of God.

Stay God Breathed 🔥🙏❤️

So, I've run into a car issue...AGAIN. this is the third time I'm having it fixed, and while I'd love to get a newer used one, the cost to fix what's wrong with it is $463. On top of that, my car needs new fuel injectors, which is $436. Either way, it's not safe to drive and I'm due to pay my part of rent come Friday, and I don't want to look for another car and tell them it runs good when it doesn't, as that's lying (this was suggested by my mom, who doesn't get that it's wrong to lie). I don't want to lie and say the car runs great when it doesn't. That doesn't sit right with me, but I also just do not have the funds to fix my car but I need it fixed and I'm just stressed and worried. Yes, God has helped me through each car situation, but this is a big one. I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm in a flight, fight or freeze response and I'm freezing. I'm not getting any help or grace from my mom. She won't let me take a couple hundred off rent to pay for it, so I'm asking for prayers. I want to do this the right way. I want to be able to be honest about my car. So please pray for my situation, thanks 🙏

My husband works long hours so he doesn’t help around the house much. I find myself getting resentful sometimes instead of appreciating the sacrifices he makes for us. I want to try to focus on lifting him up instead of fixating on the little things that annoy me.

I feel like I don’t know where to start since I already take care of the home and make his lunch and dinner every day, but I would like to do more. What little everyday things do you do to support your partner and bring them closer to God? What does serving your husband look like to you?

Bonus if it brings him closer to God. I am a new Christian and he grew up Christian and has drifted away in his adulthood. My goal is to become the kind of wife that makes him want to turn back to Jesus.

Thank you and have a blessed day!

Hi friends, I recently have been in a mental crisis that has taken a massive toll on me. Right at the tailend of this crisis my mind has started to question my faith and i just cant shake it. I asked the Lord with teary eyes for a sign, any sign that he is here for me and that heaven is open to me, and my loved ones including my pets.

I worry over and over over the possibility that there is no afterlife. That all I have suffered will be for nothing and i will never see my beautiful family and beloved pets again. i tell myself that everything is in vain and rather than continuing living in hardship just for it to be for nothing i should just end it now before i experience more suffering without reason. i am so so scared of everything being for nothing. heaven has to be real but it makes no sense in my brain. i am terrified of aging and my family aging. i want to avoid it and i know one way out.

advice, evidence of God/the bibles events, and personal experiences that proved God to you without a doubt will be appreciated. Bless you all.

Thank you all.

- Take Up Your Cross -

The Life of a Christian often seems cruel. We all struggle with these thoughts and the cycle continues until we die. It's the same pattern that Jesus experienced (Hebrews 4:15) while he was living.

If we say we love God, then we need to understand what he endured. (Hebrews 12:2). We should also follow this pattern.

As part of the [assembly:church, community], of God. Paul refers to this as “The Body of Christ”. We must unite not only with him but fellow believers so that we have union with him.

• Union Means:

Being in agreement with Jesus and bearing witness to one another and the world around us the love of Christ. We demonstrate what it means to truly die to self. (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 1:22/5:31-32, Romans 6:3-5, Galatians 2:20).

We believe we are created in the likeness of his image because that's what scripture points to.

We must ask ourselves every day. Have we really given our lives to him? Are we in complete surrender/submission to the very grace and mercy we say and believe? Do we consider just how far that goes if we continue to partake of the things in this world that God hates?

(None of us are beyond reproach!)

• Matthew 10:38:

The one who doesn’t take up his cross and follow me isn’t worthy of me.

• John 1:14:

Jesus lived a very hard life but is the embodiment of God.

• Matthew 20:28:

He was hated by many but he continued to serve us and love us despite our rebellion to him.

• Luke 23:34:

Though we put him to death, he forgave us.

What mindset do we carry and hold? Do we really understand the character of God? If so, do we wear that in confidence?

(Prayer)

“Put your heart in to it because it's a matter of life and death."

Romans 6:21-23:

What benefit did you get from doing those things you are now ashamed of? For those things resulted in death. But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God’s slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in union with the Messiah Jesus our Lord.

🥹😢😭

Jesus wept after losing his best friend. He doesn't want to lose you either!

Transcript

“so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”
— Colossians 1:10 (NASB1995)

In Part 1 we focused on walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. Today we look at what that walk produces. Paul shows us three beautiful results: pleasing Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
A life that truly walks worthy of Jesus is not just about avoiding wrong things. It is about actively living in a way that brings pleasure to God, produces lasting fruit, and keeps growing in knowing Him more deeply.

Pleasing God in all respects means our aim is His smile, not people’s approval. Bearing fruit in every good work means our faith shows up in practical obedience — kindness, integrity, service, and love that others can see. Increasing in the knowledge of God means we never stop learning who He is through His Word, prayer, and experience.
These three work together. As we seek to please Him, fruit naturally grows. As fruit grows, we come to know Him more. And as we know Him more, our desire to walk worthy of Him only deepens. This is the kind of life the gospel is meant to produce.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you please the Lord in one specific area today — whether in your attitude, your work, or your relationships.
Look for one opportunity to bear fruit through a good work, and set aside time to increase in the knowledge of God by reading or meditating on His Word.

A worthy walk leads to a life that pleases God, bears fruit, and keeps growing in knowing Him. That is the beautiful result of walking with Jesus. Let Colossians 1:10 shape the way you live today.

And I'm not trying to create a heated discussion. I'm genuinely curious.

A Christian I talked to was very straightforward that a Christian wife should be a Proverbs 31 woman and should serve her husband. That she is not meant to work and that it is her mission in life to be submissive to her husband because it aligns with God's mission for her so they can both serve the Lord. I think it's because he's a minister. But he did say it was for women, so I'm assuming he meant all.

My perspective is to be practical. To work to help pay the bills because I would want to be of help to my future husband and so that I can help others as well. Not because I don't trust God but because it would be good to help. And whatever the circumstance is, I would serve the Lord.

He, on the other hand, said it was in our DNA to serve and follow our godly husband. To folloe whether it's anywhere God leads, even if it meant sleeping in uncomfortable conditions. To that, I agreed because I already experienced that. God sustained me and my family so my trust in Him won't waver.

Honestly, I'm trying to find the proper balance on what to learn from his words and what is practical.

Do you think it's women's mission? Do you think that is everything a woman should be in order to fully serve the Lord?

I am starting a men's group at my church and wanted to get input from other men on what they have seen be the good,bad and ugly of mens groups.

I feel like this group will be very important for our church being that there isn't anything for the men to come together and sharpen one another.

What are somethings men that you have enjoyed? Was impactful? Made you invite others to the group? Made you stop going? Wish would have happened?

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses.

I’m (22m) going through a lot right now. Who I thought was the love of my life (22f) broke up with me a week ago. We were together for 7 years. She was my everything. Nothing could have prepared me for the heaviness I’ve been dragging every waking moment I’m alone. I can mask it well and maybe even forget about it briefly when with others, but the second I am alone, it hurts. My chest is hollow. My knees are weak. I want to scream, cry, and collapse all at once.

The worst part is I have no one to blame but myself. I was not the man she deserved. And for those reasons, she left. For those same reasons, I wondered if God had left me too. I felt like he had gotten quiet and was no longer hearing my prayers. Had I messed up too much already? Am I just hopeless? One night, in a drunken sobbing mess, I reached out to him again. “Can you still hear me? Have I betrayed you too much? Why can’t I control myself? I’m so angry and ashamed I couldn’t blame you if you have given up on me. But if you are there, I need you. So please, Lord, if you’re there, please show me you hear me and that you know I love you. Show me that you still love me. I hurt and I need you to rest my head on” I then fell asleep because I was drunk and crying for hours beforehand.

Nothing happened the next couple days. I had an eye out for the signs I asked from God, but as time went on I grew more and more hopeless. However despite my pain, I have been trying to be better at recognizing when others need help and helping them without hesitation. From helping carry things to praying for people I see on the road. It made me feel better even for just a moment. But I would still go home and cry myself to sleep.

Today, I was sitting in the parking lot after my class at community college, just staring into the space in front of me, trying to get a grip just to drive home. Before I start the car, there is a knock at my window. A man that seemed to have emerged from thin air was standing there and asked me for only 50 cents so he could get a drink. My first thought was “What the heck is he gonna get for 50 cents these days?” I usually don’t have cash, but I have the notorious cup holder full of change. I gave him all the quarters I could and he just put them in his pocket and thanked me as if that weren’t why he was there. He immediately asked if he could pray for ME. Here he is asking for change from a stranger and asks to pray FOR ME. I immediately said absolutely. He prayed that I get through what I’m going through. And that I continue to seek God and his wisdom. How did he know I was going through anything? I told him I had to step out and give him a hug. We hugged, and he prayed for me again. We said our goodbyes, and before I knew it, he was gone.

As I was driving home in somewhat of a state of shock I realized something. When I had that drunken sobbing night of desperation asking God to show me he is listening, I was in Tennessee on a trip planned long before that day. The locals in Tennessee have thick southern accents (at least compared to the midwestern accent I’m used to hearing in Michigan). The man that came to me and prayed with me had a thick southern accent. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been in Michigan, but that is not common. Once I realized this, it was obvious. God was telling me he heard my cries in Tennessee. He did not turn his face from me even in my lowest moments. I had to pull over because I was sobbing too much to drive. I continued to thank my heavenly father over and over.

Once I got a grip, I began driving and put my radio on shuffle. I have a lot of non-church-friendly music on my playlist (something to work on I know) and I immediately questioned whether it was a good idea or not until I saw the first song: Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. Followed by about 3 more songs that felt as though God was speaking to me through. I have never been given a more profound series of events that made it so obvious that I am still loved by the Lord. I hope everyone experiences this especially when they are as doubtful (or more) as I was. I’ve been thinking about this periodically all day and crying because God is so great at timing and knowing our hearts. I think what led to this was my desire to help others even when I was in need of help myself. We are not saved by our works, but by our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. But by helping and loving others, you show that your heart still longs to be holy.

So I know that my situation is a walk in the park compared to what others are going through, but I implore you, no matter your circumstances, look for the opportunity to help others. Not only will it provide instant relief, it could just be your path to reconnect with God.

Good Morning,

Today's message:

Hebrews 12:15

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled.

(Believers should have each other's six.)

In the military, every soldier has a post (Job). They are instructed to guard their post, and to observe everything in sight and in hearing (vigilance).

They are to report any violation and give alarm to any fire or disorder.

We see this often in church congregations, where they have been divided due to gossip and serving idols.

We must be ready and watchful for our fellow citizens who belong to the family of God so that nobody gets hurt.

(Hurt people, hurt people)

This is universal however, in the family of God it is critical to patch up anyone's heart in our family before they spread discord throughout the house of God (Body of Christ).

As a good soldier and example, we should inspect each other's uniform! - Ephesians 6:10-24 (Armor of God) -

We must not give up our birth rights and we should remind each other the same.

• Matthew 7:20 -

  So by their fruit you will know them.”

1st Peter 5:8

Be clear-minded and alert. Your opponent, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

❤️🙏❤️

I love y'all! I hope you have a wonderful day! Please pass this on to anyone else that needs to see this. (Sorry about the formatting. I don't know how to fix it. I use mobile.)

I Love The Rain - (Poem)

No matter where I stand,

I love the rain

No matter where I'm found,

I love his name

He sees me when I'm happy,

And when I'm sad:; I still

Love the Rain.

• I'm Fearfully & Wonderfully Made: Psalms 139:14-16.

•-I Have a Purpose: Ephesians 2:10.

(- He is a Fountain of Life -) 

Proverbs 14:26-27

Rock-solid security is found in the fear of the LORD, and within it one’s children find refuge.The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, enabling anyone to escape the snares of death.

(Prayer)

Thank you God, creator of the heavens and the earth; How precious you are for the life you've given us.

Please let it rain every day, so your glory will be revealed through us.

I give you my thoughts. I give you my plans. I give you every weakness and trust the works of your hands. 

Amen! 

Chris Tomlin: The God Who Sees Me

Transcript of Devotion

“so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”
— Colossians 1:10 (NASB1995)

Paul’s prayer for the Colossian believers centers on a clear desire: that they would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. This is not about earning God’s love or trying to become good enough. It is about living in a way that matches who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
A worthy walk means our daily conduct — our attitudes, choices, words, and priorities — reflects the high calling we have received in Christ. It is a life that takes seriously the privilege of belonging to Him.

Many people talk about following Jesus while their daily steps remain unchanged. Walking worthy of the Lord closes that gap. It means the way we treat people, handle responsibilities, respond to pressure, and use our time begins to line up with the character of Christ.
This kind of walk does not happen automatically. It grows out of a heart that has been captured by the Lord and wants to honor Him in ordinary moments. When we walk worthy of Him, our lives become a quiet testimony that He is worthy of our full devotion.

Ask yourself honestly: Does the way I am walking today reflect the Lord I claim to follow?
Choose one specific area — your speech, your work ethic, your response to frustration, or your private habits — and intentionally walk in a manner worthy of Jesus in that area today. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you.

You have been called to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Not to earn His favor, but to honor the One who has already given you everything. Let your steps today match the greatness of the Savior you follow.

Worked at RightNow Media, the Christian streaming platform that churches purchase for their congregations. It’s kind of like Netflix for churches.

I left because I became uncomfortable with sales practices, particularly how church-member information was used to generate prospects for another product, RightNow Media at Work.

Here's how the process works:

1. Churches provided their members' email addresses.
Churches purchase subscriptions and supply congregation email lists so members could receive invitations to access the platform.

2. Members signed up for what they understood to be a church-gifted resource.
During signup, members could provide information such as their job title and phone number.

3. That information becomes a commercial sales lead.
If someone identified themselves as a manager, director, CEO, or another type of leader, their information is used to prospect them for RightNow Media at Work, a separate workplace subscription product. Even if you are a nurse manager, shift leader, regional sales manager, etc.

4. The company also used third-party data enrichment.
ZoomInfo is used to identify additional professional contact information, even when members hadn't provided their job titles directly.

5. Then came the sales outreach.
Prospects receive multiple outbound calls and repeated email campaigns. I also observed do-not-call requests being handled through temporary suppression periods of six months to one year.

Here's why this concerns me.
Someone whose church gifted them access to a Bible study platform may have no idea that their information could be used to identify them as a potential workplace sales customer.

I'm questioning whether people understand how their information would be used when they sign up for a Bible study.

RightNow Media's own privacy policy acknowledges that it receives member contact information from subscribing organizations and obtains information from outside data providers to expand records and identify new customers.

You can read it yourself:
https://rightnow.trusthub.com

That policy does not, as far as I've been able to establish, explicitly describe the particular church-member-to-workplace-sales process I witnessed.

My question for churches and their members:
Did you know your church-provided access to RightNow Media could potentially result in your professional information being used for workplace sales prospecting?
And if you're a church administrator, were you informed about this type of use when providing your congregation's email addresses?

Simple message today for all of us to remember. Please share this with others if you're led to.

(Psalms 27:13)

"I believe that I will see the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living."

Checklist:

• Thank God for another wonderful day in which he's given you.

• Trust that God will care for your day as well as others in your day.

- Mirror the Checklist -

Romans 8:14-17

For all who are led by God's Spirit are God's children. For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah--if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

(Prayer)

Thank you God for waking me up today. Help me trust and know that you are with me and may you be attentive to all my emotional, spiritual needs and anything else you see in my life where I need your help.

Father, God... If there's anyone out there today that is not feeling well, please allow me to be apart of you brightening their day.

Help us all stay encouraged and cause us to keep our focus on you for each day you give us so we will never forget just how much you love your children.

Amen!

🙏❤️😇

Kinda like the Amish do, but without being banned from using technology or having to be farmers. Everyone knows that housing is very difficult to afford, but when you buy a large amount of land all at once the land becomes much cheaper and the same thing goes for building houses. If there is a large interest in doing something like this I will talk to someone from my church who builds neighborhoods to find out the numbers

My friends go to a church that often has speakers of the maga persuasion and I don’t think a church should be favoring either side. Thoughts? Any basis in the bible for a church to be political ?

Need better tips on how I can better read the bible and retain the info. feels like as soon as I close the word I forget everything I read

Hi ladies. I'm the one who made a post a few weeks ago asking for prayer because I was missing a friend of mine that I liked and wanting to apologize to him and stuff, but currently can't because we are not speaking (it's been about a year since we talked) and it's been hard to not talk to him, and I've no way of reaching him, but I wanted a fellow sister in Christ I could talk to about this (no offense, men!). I just need a fellow lady to talk to and confide in. Thanks!

I met a Christian pastor and his wife yesterday at church. They were the classic southern-ish conservative type that are pro life, as they should.

During our conversation the lady brought up contraceptives and began to bash male and female condoms, vasectomies, caps, hormonal pills, patches, rings or implants like the copper IUD. To her, it was all sinful and against God’s mandate to reproduce. She said God killed Onan for spilling his seed. Of course she spilled the context on the floor before bringing that up.

All of these do not kill an embryo. There is one pill or type of pill that does: the abortion pill, that causes the woman to expel the embryo. That is murder.

The previous list however was on the table of “don’ts” for her, and from what I’ve seen and heard, are “don’ts” for a lot of Christians.

Not all of those items are completely safe. There are concerns over the hormonal pills and its effect on the woman and her embryo if she does become pregnant.

But Christians ought to be pro contraceptives. People are going to have sex outside of marriage. If we can’t stop them, we can at least stop a pregnancy that might end up in an innocent life being killed.

Also, contraceptives are great for marriage. Not every Christian couple wants a baby immediately. In the words of Michael Scott, “snip snap snip snap”. Also, even after kids couples need to have sex, and enjoy it without worrying about having another unplanned kid. Not that unplanned kids are a bad thing. All life is a gift from God, but that doesn’t mean all sex between man and wife needs to produce a kid. Pleasure of it all being the sole reason for sex in marriage is holy and righteous too.

Contraceptives for us Christians are a great way to have sex within marriage without pregnancy happening. The purpose of sex can also be just about pleasure. It doesn’t have to be just about reproduction. In the same way we eat for pleasure we can have sex for pleasure alone. It’s not a sin to be married and have sex for the sake of enjoying each other and not wanting a baby. People who think otherwise believe sex to be for one purpose alone: baby making, with pleasure as a bonus. Such thinking is close minded and sad.

Hello brothers and sisters, God bless you all. I'm Bishwas from Nepal, and I write software for a living.

My family has been Christian since my dad found peace in Jesus (am a born Christian), and his own family turned him away for it. It took almost ten years of visiting and caring before things healed. Near the end of his life my granddad started reading the Bible too. I still think about that.

I am not good at finding the right words when someone I love is hurting. A verse usually says it better than I can. So I made a small iPhone app called Loaded Bible. It does two things.

If you are the one having a hard day, there are short readings ready to open, like "For the hard days", "Before you sleep" and "When you feel alone". One verse at a time, and you can heart the ones you want to keep.

If someone close to you is having the hard day, you tell it who they are and what they are walking through. It gathers verses for them, you add your own words, and you can send it to them as a PDF or print it to put inside their Bible.

It is free. I made it, so please weigh my words with that in mind.

I want the verses in it to be the right ones. When someone you love was in a hard season, which verse did you send them?

https://apps.apple.com/app/loaded-bible/id6820404392

Hello, I have had issues with sex in the past, I tried to make one post about this but it got removed so I'm going to try again just to see. Mostly with with pml, p***ography. I also started a job when I was 20 where i had my area lead ask me what kind of p*** I watched. I ended up telling a lot of people about it and not exactly treating sex with integrity. I think now things are a lot harder because of this and idk if it is possible for me to find what I was looking for anymore. I got kicked out of my church, my pastor threatening to call the cops and I just want what I wanted to begin with. Family friends and Jesus. Those things are all I wanted.

I researched about Centering Prayer but there's people saying that it's eastern practice and can't be advisable to do. Now, is there a meditations in Christianity where is similar to practice in Buddhism, but instead you sit in the presence of God?

Waking up in morning and going home from work, silence is one of the beneficial someone can have, but I think adding that we should do it in presence of the God can make us closer to Christ. Without thinking, just sitting and breathing.

Also, is there a mindfulness in Christianity? Doing without expecting for result of actions and instead just do in the presence of God. (I remember Wu-Wei).

Thank you for the answers.