United Pentecostal Church Mannheim
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Message from the Monthly Flyer from August 2011

Examine yourselves...

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?; unless indeed you are disqualified. 2.Corinthians 13:5

Paul writes to the Corinthians that they should examine themselves, to see whether they are standing in the faith. It is not a pleasant task to examine yourself, especially when we diligently take a deep look into ourselves; and the Lord requires that improvement be made of several things in our daily life.

In order to examine whether a person is still standing in the faith, it is necessary that a past experience with God has taken place. The actual challenge is to realise whether spiritual progress is evident in your own life. Therefore, it is important to pose serious and honest questions as in the following:

• Have I grown in my prayers and studies?
• Has my worship improved?
• Am I producing spiritual fruit (see Galatians 5:22-23)?

The three questions are a very small extract from the list of questions which Christians should ask now and again. Namely, to be in faith means to go forward, to discover new spiritual areas, and to be ready to change as according to God's will.

Stability comes when you bind yourself to the truth, whereby, growth takes place through storms, changes, time, and when you overcome different things. Examine yourself, and let Jesus lead you as you do so. Do not look for security in the opinions and books of others.

As a Christian, it is not necessary that we have to fail first of all in an area of our lives, before we ask God to cleanse our hearts and renew our spirit (see Psalm 51). We could save ourselves a lot of trouble and many setbacks if we would allow Jesus to use His "searchlight" in our lives; and if we would not hinder this process of searching taking place, just because we do not want to change. Let it be as according to the following:
"But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:.." (Eph 4:15) sw


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