• Home
  • Our Story
  • Our Vision
  • Ministries
    • Ecuador
    • Ellen Coble - Intl Campus Connections - Intl Students
    • Rwanda/Vetter
    • Ukraine
  • News
  • SHIELD
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Thank You
  • Privacy Policy
ZMission

Blog & NEWS

Keep loving one another fervently

12/13/2018

0 Comments

 
1 Peter 4.7-9 ESV  The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
8  Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
9  Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Life is short. The time you have with family and friends and in this world, is short. Even if the end of this age is not in the next few months, years or decades, our time on earth is short, like a vapor that appears for a moment and then is gone. Therefore, seeing that our time on earth is so short, we should live lives of self-control and be sober-minded for the sake of prayer.  Prayer is a vital aspect of having healthy relationships with people.  There are fleshly motivations, self-centered perspectives, as well as active and intelligent demonic forces that seek to destroy fellowship between people and with God.  So we must live self-controlled, sober-mined lives for the sake of good prayer, focused prayer and effective prayer.  An important part of having good fellowship with God and people is having a good prayer life.

Loving one another earnestly means our relationships can survive a multitude of sins, because love covers a multitude of sins.  This does not mean that we condone sin, but it means that our relationships with others can survive the reality of sin, with which we all have to battle.  Without earnest, sincere and authentic love, relationships will be poisoned by the reality of sin.  No one is perfect, though we strive for perfection.  If we expect others to be perfect, to never sin, to never disappoint us, to never hurt us, to never misunderstand us or misinterpret our motives or our words, then relationship will suffer, and possibly disintegrate.  Why are there so many broken relationships?  Why so many broken friendships, broken marriages, rifts between parents and children, siblings and church members?  Probably because sin is a malady that affects us all, and unless we learn to love one another fervently, this reality of sin, this poison of sin, will destroy relationships.  If we learn to love one another earnestly, relationships can survive and even thrive in spite of our continuing struggle to overcome selfishness and the messiness of human frailty.

​We should show hospitality without grumbling, and this is more than just having people over for a drink or a meal.  Hospitality is sometimes thought of as entertaining, throwing a party, or having friends over.  It may be that in a superficial way, but remember that hospitality has the word “hospital” in it.  Showing hospitality means to help people in the midst of their pain, to minister to people in the midst of their weakness and infirmity, to help people find strength and healing in their struggle with injury.  If we think of hospitality as that of working with a patient at a hospital, we will probably be far more patient with those we live around, live with, and are called to love.  Most people have suffered some kind of trauma in their lives, somewhere along the way, whether in childhood, in a work setting, among friends, or even at church.  Many people live in a state of emotional or spiritual or relational handicap due to these hurts and traumas either from the past or in the present.  If we can approach our relationship with people with kindness and understanding, a listening ear, a compassionate heart, and ideally with words and actions that can help bring healing to the heart and mind, then we will experience a deep fellowship with others as we become a conduit of the love and healing that God can bring through us.
0 Comments

Rid yourselves of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander

12/9/2018

0 Comments

 
“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” 1 Peter 2.1
0 Comments

"Put on the whole armor of God"

1/30/2018

0 Comments

 
Whether we like it or not, and whether we know it or not, we are all in the midst of a serious and dangerous war.  It is a war for our souls. If we do not realize that there are strong spiritual beings, intelligent forces at work to destroy us, to damage us, to undermine our lives, our minds, our hearts, our relationships, and our eternal destiny, then we will be casual or completely unaware and complacent about these active threats to our well being. 

So how are we to respond to this?  Are we to live in constant fear?  No, we are commanded by Jesus to not be afraid.  Fear is a destabilizing force, and we do not operate effectively if we allow fear to have a place in our lives.  Jesus said  “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me." (John 14.1)

But we should respond in vigilance, working hard to put on the whole armo
r of God, so that we are prepared for the opposition of evil spiritual forces that will seek to destroy us through lies and threats.  We must choose to trust God and be equipped with the full armor of God.

​Remember: "Put on the whole armor of God." Ephesians 6.11

0 Comments

Armor of God: Have your feet fitted with "The Preparation of the Good News of Peace."

1/23/2018

0 Comments

 
When I woke up this morning, I felt the Lord was telling me it was time to get up and seek Him.  It was still dark and everyone else was still asleep.  Just a few seconds later, walking on the wooden floor, I got a splinter in my foot.  Ouch! I was hobbled, and couldn't walk very well.  It was amazing to me how such a small piece of wood could prevent me from walking very well, and I knew my top priority needed to be getting that splinter out of my foot. I also knew I was going to need a bright light and some very precise tweezers to get this debilitating piece of wood out of my foot. So I got my phone with it's bright LED light, and I got my good tweezers, and went to another room where I could operate on my foot and restore my ability to walk normally.  

As soon as this happened, it seemed the Lord was telling me how critical it is that we have 
fitted our feet with the preparation of the good news (the gospel) of peace, as it says in Ephesians 6.15, as a critical part of the whole armor of God.  As ministers of the good news of peace, we need to be well prepared to proclaim the same.  If we are not prepared to teach, to speak, to proclaim the good news of peace with God through the work of Christ on the cross, which gives us access to God, then we will not be able to accomplish all that God wants us to accomplish for his Kingdom.  We will not be able to go the places God wants us to go.  Can you imagine an member of the infantry, a soldier, wearing no shoes?  It is likely that a soldier wearing no shoes would be in great danger of being eliminated by the enemy.  He would not be able to make much progress as his feet would be vulnerable to even the smallest irregularities on the terrain.  He could be quickly hobbled by his own weight as his feet stepped on a sharp stone, a stick, or some other object on the ground.  A soldier that had the most sophisticated weapons in the world, if barefoot, would quickly become immobilized and in danger of elimination or severe injury.  At best, he would probably have to hide somewhere, outside of the active battle zone, so as not to be killed or severely injured.  He would likely be ineffective at completing his mission, and his very life could be in danger.

Think of it: If we want to be serious about taking the Good News of peace to those who do not know the love of Christ, we must have our feet well fitted with the preparation of the Good News.  We need to have the equipment on our feet, infantry boots, that are strong and resistant to unexpected irregularities and foreign objects on the ground, things that could damage the feet and make forward movement difficult if not impossible.  We need to be able to explain the good news of how Christ makes us righteous as we put our faith in his perfect sacrifice on our behalf and his resurrection from the dead.  We need to be prepared to answer people's questions.  We need to find out what it is that we fear about speaking and proclaiming the Gospel, so that we can be prepared to face those fears and overcome them.  We need to get a bright light, letting the Spirit of God search our hearts, to show us what are the ways that we are ill-prepared to speak and share and the Good News?  Then we need to remove any source of pain in our feet, anything that is hindering us and our ability to keep moving out with the Good News of the peace of God that is available to all through Christ.

There is a command to obey here: "Have your feet fitted with the preparation of the good news of peace." Ephesians 6.15

0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017

    Categories

    All
    Access To God
    Africa
    Agreement
    Armor Of God
    Arsenal
    Authorities
    Authority
    Behavior
    Believe
    Blamelessness
    Blessing
    Blog
    Boldness
    Calamity
    Calling
    Call Of God
    Challenges
    Children
    Church
    Comfort
    Comfort One Another
    Command
    Commands Of Christ
    Command To Obey
    Compassion
    Comprehension
    Confidence
    Contentedness
    Correction
    Cost Of Discipleship
    Covid 19
    Covid-19
    Curtis Sergeant
    Deceit
    Difficulty
    Discernment
    Discipleship
    Do Not Fear
    Doubt
    Dufatanye Organization
    Economy
    Effectiveness
    Encouragement
    Endurance
    Envy
    Eternal Life
    Excellence
    Faith
    Fear
    Fear Not
    Fellowship
    Fruitfulness
    Fruit Of Righteousness
    Gentiles
    Glory
    God Of Israel
    God’s Call
    God’s Calling
    God’s Character
    God’s Choice
    God’s Compassion
    God’s Dominion
    God’s Eternal Purpose
    God’s Gifts
    God’s Glory
    God’s Glory
    God’s Goodness
    God’s Grace
    God’s Help
    God’s Help
    God’s Justice
    God’s Love
    God’s Love
    God’s Manifestation
    God’s Mercy
    God’s Miracles
    God’s Peace
    God’s Peace
    God’s Power
    God’s Praise
    God’s Presence
    God’s Presence
    God’s Promise
    God’s Protection
    God’s Protection
    God’s Provision
    God’s Revelation
    God’s Works
    God The Father
    Good News
    Good Works
    Gospel
    Grace
    Greatness
    Greet One Another
    Grief
    Hardship
    Harmony
    Health
    Heaven
    Helping The Poor
    Honor
    Honoring God
    Hope
    Hospitality
    Humanitarian Aid
    Humility
    Hunger
    Hypocrisy
    Idolatry
    Inheritance
    Insults
    International Students
    Jesus’ Authority
    Jesus Christ
    Jesus’ Command
    Jesus’ Command
    Jesus’ Gifts
    Jesus’ Peace
    Jesus’ Promise
    Jesus’ Victory
    Jesus’ Works
    Joy
    KEY
    Kindness
    Knowledge
    Leadership
    Life Calling
    Life Plan
    Like-mindedness
    Love
    Love One Another
    Malice
    Martha Vetter
    Medical Care
    Medical Need
    Ministry In Action
    Mission
    Mystery
    News
    Obedience
    ObeyGC2
    Obey God
    One Another
    Peace
    Persecution
    Poor
    Poor And Needy
    Power
    Praise
    Praise Report
    Prayer
    Prayer Answered
    Prayer For Help
    Prayer For Protection
    Prayer Need
    Prayer Request
    Prayer Scripture
    Prayer’s Effectiveness
    Prayer’s Promise
    Prayer’s Promise
    Pray The Word
    Pray This
    Preaching
    Projects
    Promise
    Promise Of Prayer
    Prosperity
    Protection
    Purity
    Purpose
    Rebuke
    Refuge
    Rejoice
    Relationships
    Relief
    Repentance
    Rest
    Restoration
    Resurrection
    Revelation
    Reward
    Rhoda
    Righteousness
    Rulers
    Rwanda
    Sabbath
    Safety
    Salvation
    Scripture
    Scripture Arsenal
    Scripture Memory
    Scripture Praise
    Scripture Prayer
    Scripture Promise
    Scripture Warning
    Security
    Seek God
    Self Control
    Self Sacrifice
    Servanthood
    Service
    Shout
    Simplicity
    Singing
    Single-minded
    Slander
    Sobriety
    Speaking
    Spiritual Warfare
    Stability
    Steadfastness
    Stories
    Strength
    Suffering
    Sympathy
    Take Heart
    Teaching
    Tender-heartedness
    Tenderness
    Thanks
    The Church
    The Day Of Christ
    The Glory Of God
    The Gospel
    The Great Commandments
    The Great Commission
    The Holy Spirit
    The Kingdom Of God
    The Kingdom Of Heaven
    The World
    Thoughts
    Training
    Trials
    Tribulation
    Trust God
    Trust In The Lord
    Truth
    Understanding
    Unity
    Warning
    Weakness
    Wisdom
    Witnessing
    World Mission
    Worship
    Your Authority
    Your Calling
    Your Enemies
    Your God
    Your Hope
    Your Identity
    Your Life
    Your Redeemer
    Your Rewards
    Your Strength
    Your Struggle
    Your Victory

    RSS Feed

the Zinzendorf Mission (a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization)  | 203 E Main St #1439 | Jamestown NC 27282-9828 | USA | Tel. +1 828 209-8097  [email protected]
​a ministry of the first century church

  • Home
  • Our Story
  • Our Vision
  • Ministries
    • Ecuador
    • Ellen Coble - Intl Campus Connections - Intl Students
    • Rwanda/Vetter
    • Ukraine
  • News
  • SHIELD
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Thank You
  • Privacy Policy