Category Archives: Sunday School

How you begin and conduct your fast will largely determine your success.You have to plan to make your time with the Lord more meaningful and spiritually rewarding.

Set Your Objective

Why are you fasting?Is it just as a tradition of the church or Is it for spiritual renewal, for guidance, for healing, for the resolution of problems, for special grace to handle a difficult situation? Ask the Holy Spirit to clarify His leading and objectives for your prayer fast. This will enable you to pray more specifically and strategically.

Through fasting and prayer we humble ourselves before God so the Holy Spirit will stir our souls, awaken our churches, and heal our land according to 2 Chronicles 7:14. Make this a priority in your fasting. Read the rest of this entry »

We must learn to not react. This is just a corollary of “turn the other cheek.” When somebody says something hurtful, or somebody does something hurtful, what is it that’s being hurt? It’s our ego. Nobody can truly hurt us. They might cause some physical pain, or emotional pain. They might even kill our body. But nobody can hurt our true selves. We have to take responsibility for our own reactions. Then we can control our reactions.

There are a number of different levels to this principle. On the most blatant level, if someone hits you don’t hit them back. Turn the other cheek – that’s the Lord’s teaching. Now, this is hard enough. But there is a deeper level still. Because if somebody hits you, and you don’t hit them back – but you resent them, and you bear anger and hatred and bitterness against them, you’ve still lost. You have still sinned. You have still broken your relationship with God, because you bear that anger in your heart. Read the rest of this entry »

It is a teaching of the holy Fathers that with the creation of the angels we have the emergence of the first Church. And it can be seen in the writings of the Fathers of the Church that the angels too are members of the Church. Moreover, God the Father is the creator of “all things visible and invisible”. Among the invisible are listed the angels, who sing in praise of God. In the book of Job this witness is preserved: “when the stars were born all the angels in a loud voice sang in praise of me” (Job 38,7).

Thus, before the creation of the sensible world there were angels, who sang in praise of God for the creation. And, to be sure, this means that the angels were the first to be created by God. Read the rest of this entry »

1.       In 2 Corinthians 9:8, we’re told, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” Reading this carefully, we learn that God is able to make all things right. No matter how hopeless or futile a situation may be, if we understand this scripture we understand that God is able to take even the worst details of the worst situation and turn it into abounding grace. Why are we struggling with our pitiful attempts that continue to fail us when God is so fully capable of handling it so that we can “abound in every good work?” The answer to that is because we are cherry picking our trust in God. Read the rest of this entry »

My brethren, count it all, joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

Trials, the world’s oppression, take place with God’s permission. The issue is not trials per se, but our response to them. Properly received, trials reveal where our hearts are. They help to increase faith, which cannot remain static, but must grow or die. The Godly reaction to trials is joy and perseverance. Though difficult circumstances are from the Evil One, to be angry at circumstances is to be angry with God, who permits them. Sometimes, the only solution to our trials is patience — so let’s explore this! Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to temptation, sometimes there are practical steps or activities  that we may do to avoid or alleviate the problem. If we are tempted by being in  a certain place or with certain people, we can obviously choose, if at all  possible, to not go to such a place or be with such people.

In the case of sexual temptation we need to stand in the truth that we know about God and about what is truly fulfilling as far as sexual activity is concerned. The fact that we can use scripture to help us when we are tempted has already been mentioned.

In John 8:32, Jesus says,

“You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Read the rest of this entry »

I Showed this video to  my Sunday School Class this week and it was so well received that i had to publish it on this blog. Enjoy!

Make every effort and be hard working, so when your enemy attacks you, he will find you busy away from him, not finding room for him in your heart. Being idle is fatal venom; it is the moth for virtue, and the mother of all heresies and the evil fantasies.

It is the virus of all evil and sin, which brings temptations and causes the vile thoughts. Laziness eliminates the strength of the soul and causes restlessness and rejection from the spiritual deeds, and it weakens the fervent worship, which results usually from putting off the fervent of the spirit and the earthly deeds, and forgetfulness of the beneficence of heaven. Read the rest of this entry »