Category Archives: Christian Living

Christian Living, Faith, Jesus, Obedience, Salvation

Being A Disciple of Christ

“Summoning the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it.””  (Mark 8:34-35)

Christians, today, want and demand an easy religion which demands nothing of them, except to come to church every time the doors are open, tithe, and go home. We live as if Jesus did not call us to live in immediate, radical, costly obedience to His commands.  We want a Christian life that does not involve risk or uncomfortableness.  This mentality is contrary to what Jesus called all Christians to do in today’s verse of Scripture.

Jesus tells us that a true believer and follower of His will deny himself of the plans, dreams, and aspirations he has for his own life, in order to live and die for His sake, and the sake of the Gospel.  This is the mark of one who is truly saved.  How dare us believe that we are to be spared from any suffering, or death, when our Lord Jesus was not!  Do we really feel entitled to a Christian life devoid of any suffering, or death, for the sake of Christ, and for the sake of the Gospel?

“If Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”  (C.T. Studd)

Are you a disciple of Christ? Then your life is the only thing worth giving to Him, for His sake, and for the sake of the Gospel.

Christian Living, Doing Good, Uncategorized

Conquer Evil

“Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.” (Romans 12:21 HCSB)

It appears as if evil is out of control in our world today.  We hear and see more and more of it, and it seems as if we and people around the world have succumbed to it, accepting it as if there is nothing that can be done about it.  We seem to have the “if we can’t beat it, we must join it” mentality.

But evil can and must be conquered and defeated in our society and in the world.  God, through the Apostle Paul tells us that in today’s verse of Scripture. Let’s take a closer look at it.

  1. “Do not be conquered by evil” – means that, as Christians, we do not have to be conquered by anything, much less evil.  In Romans 8:35-37, God, through the Apostle Paul, tells us that “we are more than conquerers.”  Therefore, if we do evil, it’s because we allow ourselves to be conquered by evil; we give up the fight against it and join it. There are many so-called Christians who believe that the way to fight evil is by accepting it, in the name of “love”. Accepting evil is in itself evil, and can never be love.  Evil cannot defeat, or conquer itself.  There has to be a greater force that conquers it.
  2. “but conquer evil with good.” – God is telling us that the only way to conquer evil is by doing what is good, even as we face evil.  As Christians, we are “not to repay evil for evil,  or insult for insult (1 Peter 3:9; italics added).”  Here’s what Jesus has to say to us:  “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28; italics added).” Christians, this is the way that Jesus wants to use us to conquer evil in this world; He wants us to take His love and goodness to the entire world, beginning where we are.

The problem is that few are the Christians who are willing to do what is good to conquer evil, because they fear what evil is going to do to them for their efforts.  

But God tells us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment (2 Timothy 1:7; italics added).” So we, through the power of Christ who lives in us, have the power to overcome and conquer evil and do what is good to all people.

So, what will you choose to do?  How will you make a difference in your community and the rest of the world?  Will it be for good, or for evil?

*** If you are someone who wants to do what is truly good and make a difference in this world, you cannot do it on your own, you need the power of God’s love and goodness living in you.  Think about it.  God is calling you to Himself, right now.  If you are interested in knowing how you can have God’s power in your life, message me. I’d love to help you. ***

Christian Living, Doing Good, Encouragement, Faith, Jesus, Love

Love

“He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39 HCSB).””

If you are a Christian, please join me in this prayer, and then in obedience to this prayer.

Lord, today I’m going to need your help to love You with all my being, in such a way that I live in immediate, radical, costly obedience to Your Word, and love others the same way I love myself.  You don’t command me to see if people are worth my love, You command me to love others the same way You have loved me, even though I’m totally unworthy of Your love.  Fill me with Your love so that I can share it with all people, all the time.  May it be so, Father.  In Jesus’ name.

Have a glorious day, everyone!

Christian Living, Faith, Hope, Jesus, Obedience, Salvation

Life and Death

“The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36 HCSB)

There are those who read this verse and immediately think that God is cruel, and without love, or compassion for people as He claims to have.  Most people who believe this way do not understand God because they have very little, or no knowledge of God.  What’s most troubling is that there are many who call themselves Christians who have this same mindset and have no idea of the danger they are in.  So, let’s break down and understand this verse.

  1.  “The one who believes in the Son…” – the word “believe”, here, means much more than a simple intellectual conviction that Jesus exists, and that He died on a cross, and rose from the dead.  God, in James 2:19, tells us that even the demons believe in Jesus, and even shudder in fear of Him.  This does not mean that demons are going to heaven.  The belief that this verse speaks of is a complete, unconditional surrender of our lives to the lordship of Christ in such a way that we strive to live in immediate, radical, costly obedience to His commands; not out of obligation, or as a “stay out of hell card”, but because we understand what He has done for us.
  2. “has eternal life,” – eternal life in heaven with Him is our reward for surrendering our lives to Jesus, and submitting ourselves to His Lordship, in such a way that we strive to live in immediate, radical, costly obedience to His commands.
  3. “but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life;” – the person who outright refuses to surrender his/her life to the lordship of Christ, and refuses to live in immediate, radical, costly obedience to His commands. this person will not see eternal life in heaven with Jesus.
  4. “instead, the wrath of God remains on him.” – God’s wrath remains on us because we choose to live our lives in rebellion against Him, which is what’s in our nature to do.  We don’t want to surrender our lives to anyone, or anything, unless it satisfies our lusts, and desires for the things of this world – “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:15-17).”

Here is what we need to understand about God, folks.  God does not hate anyone.  On the contrary.  God loves us all enough to give us the choice to surrender to Him and live according to His will and purpose, or to live according to our will and desires.  But, He also loves us enough to warn us of the consequences of not living according to His will and purpose.

God sends no-one to hell.  We send ourselves to hell by the choice we make.  With every choice we make, we also choose the consequences we will suffer.

In Christ’s love,

Phil

Christian Living, Doing Good, integrity, Love, Obedience, Strength

Love One Another

“Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:11-12 HCSB)

Church, how else is the world going to know Jesus if the world doesn’t see and hear Jesus in us?  Are we ashamed to speak and act like Jesus?  Then why aren’t we doing it?  I know what some of us are saying, right now, “Of course I’m not ashamed of Jesus, how dare you question my love for Him!”  And some of us are even adding an excuse to it, saying, “I just don’t want to offend anyone!”  We seem to have forgotten that Jesus, our Lord and King, has given us a command:

 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35 HCSB).”

How can we, the church, love others outside the church, when we can’t even love one another, in the church?  How can we even call ourselves Christians when we are indifferent to the suffering of our Christians brothers and sisters?  One of the saddest things I’ve ever seen is a church budget.  We spend thousands of dollars caring for buildings and programs, and just a few dollars, in comparison, for the overall care of our own brothers and sisters in need.  Where we, the church, spend the most money is where our hearts are.

I would rather be hated by the world for my love for God and others, than be loved by the world for my indifference.  Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me and others, so I will love Him and give myself for Him and others in return.  I will love Him, and others, even if it costs me my life, because I would rather be loved by God and hated by the world, than to be loved by the world and hated by God.

So, church, how can we love one another as the Lord has commanded us to do?  It’s simple, just find someone in your congregation that is need of love and care, and love and care for them.  Supply their needs without expecting anything in return.

Church, if there is no benevolence fund for your congregation in your budget, isn’t it time to change that?  Isn’t it time to be an example to the world of what it looks like to love one another?  If we want our world to change, change has to begin with us.

Christian Living, Encouragement, Faith, Hope, Love, Peace, Salvation, Trust

Got Peace?

“You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You.” (Isaiah 26:3 HCSB)

Many of us Christians do not live in God’s perfect peace.  Instead, we choose to be self-sufficient, completely setting God aside.  We have made up our minds to depend wholly on ourselves.  We’ve looked at our Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent God and said to Him, “Step aside, God, I’ve got this. I don’t need you.”

Then, when things don’t go the way we thought they would, we’re too prideful to admit we made a mistake.  We are quick to blame others, including God, for our mistakes and the consequences we’re suffering.  Even though we may be part of a higher socio economic class, we still have no peace because we have put our faith in money, which we know we can lose in the blink of an eye.  Jesus said:

 “No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money (Matthew 6:24 HCSB).”

God expects every one of His children to put the full measure of their faith and dependence in Him, just as new born babies do their parents.  He alone is our “Good, Good, Father.”  No one else can match His great love and care for us because we are His.

Here’s is how we can have that “prefect peace that God offers:

  1. Put the full measure of your faith and dependence in Him alone.  Do not try to be self-sufficient.  You are not Omniscient, Omnipotent, nor Omnipresent.
  2. Strengthen your faith and dependence in Him by staying in a constant posture of prayer, and by reading His Word, every day!
  3. Stay busy obeying what God reveals to you through prayer and the reading of His Word.  Worry more about that, than anything else.

Father in Heaven, I lift up the person who is reading this, to You.  I pray that they will humble themselves before You, go to Your throne of grace and pray, seek Your face, and turn away from their selfish pride.  I ask that You will increase their faith and help them put the full measure of their faith and dependence entirely in You.  Grant them peace.  May it be so, Father.  In Jesus’ name.

In Christ’s love,

Phil Covone

Blessings, Christian Living, Evangelizing, Hope, Needs, Obedience, Promises

But First…God owes us nothin

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” (Matthew 6:33)

We all want God to supply our every need, especially when it comes to our basic, everyday necessities.  I mean, we all know that God is love, right?  He is also our “Good, Good Father” who wants to take good care of us.  So, why shouldn’t we ask and He give us what we need and want?

Well, the answer is in today’s verse.  Did you see the answer?  Let’s look and see what it tells us.

1.  “But seek first…” – this implies that there is a condition to God’s blessings.  We need to be seeking to do something for Him, first.

2.  “the kingdom of God…” – we are to be seeking to grow God’s kingdom.  What this means is that God wants our first priority to be growing His kingdom by sharing the Gospel of Christ wherever we are and make disciples of those who put their faith and trust in Him (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).

2.  “and His righteousness,” – our other priority is to strive each day to live according to the moral standard He has set for us to live by.  God is not going to reward us with everything we need when we are not doing what He has commanded us to do, first.

3.  “and all these things will be provided for you.” – as long as we are working to grow His kingdom and striving to live according to the moral standard He has set for us, then God will supply our every need.  This requires the full measure of our faith in the fact that God is faithful, and that He never lies.

God is not our personal “Genie in a Bottle” that is bound to giving us everything we need and/or want.  He will not let us take advantage of Him.  Remember this, God owes us nothing; we owe Him everything.  Just do what He says, then watch what He does.

In Christ’s love,

Phil

covoneministries.com

Christian Living, Faith, Satan's Attacks, Tests, Trust, Uncategorized

“Holy Death”

A family, friends of ours, lives in a typical neighborhood in our city that is surrounded by temples to the “holy death” (one of them is pictured above).  On the outside walls of the temples they paint images of a skeleton and build shrines around it so that passers by can stop and worship and pray to it, as seen in the above photo.  People pray to the “holy death” for protection from death, and for the “holy death” to avenge the death of family and loved ones at the hands of others.  This practice was started by narco-traffickers, and sex-traffickers, who are warring against each other, and against police.

People also call upon the “holy death” to commit acts of evil against family members who have wronged them, or who have chosen not to remain under Roman Catholic rule.  Our friends are Evangelical Christians and their families have turned against them.  Some of their family members have called upon witches and witch-doctors to cast evil spells on them in order to force them back into Roman Catholicism.  Every night, one of their daughters sees shadows roaming around her bedroom.  She prays out loud asking God to remove the evil spirits, which He does, and she can finally sleep.  One afternoon, her mother was putting clothes on the line to dry.  Before she got finished, she went in the house for something and both she and her daughter saw some of the clothes being pulled off the line, but there was nobody there doing it.  They prayed together and the evil spirit left.  This is very common.

Some of you may be wondering how the Roman Catholic Church, in Mexico, feels about worshiping and praying to the holy death.  The fact is, even though they would never admit it, the Roman Catholic Church sanctions and encourages it, as you can see in the picture below.

santa-muerte-1

Through all of this, though, our friends have remained faithful to the Lord and have never wavered in their faith, even though they are surrounded by evil and are being persecuted by their own families and friends.

God tells us:

“In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12 HCSB).”

Friends, this is why God has us in Mexico.  He has sent us here to share the Good News of Christ with this very spiritually dark country.  Please pray for us and this precious family as we continue to do battle against evil, every day.  In Christ’s love, thank you.

Please visit our website: covoneministries.com

Christian Living, Fear

Ashamed or Rejoicing?

“But if anyone suffers as a “Christian,” he should not be ashamed but should glorify God in having that name.” (1 Peter 4:16)

The name “Christians” was originally used by heathens to ridicule those who were Christ followers.  The word “Christian” literally means, follower of Christ.  So, then, the Christian religion was not about learning and following a series of doctrines, but about following Christ, the Messiah, in words and deeds.  When a person was called a Christian it was because they spoke and acted like Jesus.  The heathens had no idea that what was meant to offend, became a badge of honor.

Today, it appears as if many of us who call ourselves Christinas in private and around other Christians, prefer not to known as Christians in public because they fear ridicule and persecution by present day heathens.  There seems to be shame associated with being a Christian.  We willfully and intentionally try to hide the fact that we are Christ followers from everyone who is not a Christian to the point that we blend in with the heathen.

But in today’s verse, God, through the Apostle Peter, teaches us a great lesson.  He teaches us that if we suffer ridicule, or persecution, for being Christians, we should not be ashamed, but be proud and glorify God because we bear the name of Christ.  We should rejoice in the fact that we are deemed worthy to be “dishonored” and suffer on behalf of Christ’s name:

“Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name.” (Acts 5:41 HCSB).”

Jesus taught us Who the only Person is we should fear and why we should fear Him:

“And I say to you, My friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will show you the One to fear: Fear Him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the One to fear! (Luke 12:4-5).”

So, then, are you ashamed to be known as a Christian?  Do you fear ridicule, persecution, and/or death at the hands of heathens? Or are you proud to bear the name of Christ?  If you are ashamed, then you don’t know Him.  If you want to know Him, let me know in a comment below.

In Christ’s love,

Phil Covone

Awareness, Christian Living, Encouragement, Satan's Attacks, Temptation, Tests

Temptation

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Wow!!!  What a powerful, and encouraging passage of Scripture, especially for us Christians.  Contrary to popular belief, even among Christians, there is no such thing as a superhuman temptation that can overpower us, and force us to summit to sin.  That is great news, is it not?  God, through the Apostle Paul, teaches us a great lesson about temptation.

First, let’s define temptation. Nelson’s Bible Dictionary defines temptation as “an enticement or invitation to sin, with the implied promise of greater good to be derived from following the way of disobedience.”  Notice that temptation is nothing more that an enticement or invitation to which we have the power to decline.  What makes it so hard to resist is the promise of something “good” for our disobedience to God.  Always remember that Satan is the great tempter (Matthew 4:3: 1 Thessalonians 3:5), and the father of all lies (John 8:44).  So, if Satan is enticing us to do something that is wrong in God’s eyes, and promising us something good for doing what is wrong, IT’S A LIE!!!

There are five very important things we are able to take away from today’s passage of Scripture:

  1. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity.” – Paul reminds the Corinthian church, and us, that there is no such thing as a superhuman temptation that can not be resisted by humans.  There is no need for us to trow our hands up and give in to temptation.
  2. “God is faithful.” – when we are tempted, God is always there for us.  He “never leaves us or forsakes us”, especially in times of trouble.
  3. “He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,” – God will not allow Satan to tempt us beyond what we are capable of resisting.  God knows the full measure of our strength.  Therefore, He will not allow Satan to tempt us beyond what we are able to resist.
  4. “with the temptation He will provide a way to escape…” – God not only controls how hard we are tempted, He also provides a way to escape temptations.  When we’re in a dark theater we can be comforted in the fact that if something happens, there are always lit exit signs that will help us escape danger.
  5. “so that you are able to bear it.” – so that we are able to resist it.

So, what are our God given defenses against temptation?

  1. God’s Word –  God demands immediate, radical, costly obedience to His commands.   The Psalmist says, “I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you (Psalms 119:11).”  Jesus fought Satan’s temptations by quoting Scriptures (Matthew 4:4-10).  We must make time to study God’s Word: “Oh, how I love thy law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies (Psalms 119:97-98).”
  2. Prayer – The night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus prayed and commanded Peter to pray so that he would not fall into temptation (Mark 14:38).”  In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray that we would not be led into temptation (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4).”
  3. Common sense – We must not put ourselves in situations that will exploit our weaknesses.  If gambling is a weakness, do not go to casinos or places where where betting games are offered.  If alcoholic beverages are our weakness, we must stay out of places that serve alcoholic beverages…we get the point, don’t we?

So now that we are well equipped to fight and overcome Satan’s attacks (Ephesians 6),

  • How will we obey what we’ve learned in today’s lesson?
  • With whom will we share what we learned in today’s lesson?
  • With whom will we share the story of our salvation, and the story of what Jesus did for us?

In Christ’s love,

Phil Covone