Archive for the ‘ Die daily ’ Category
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8, NASB
When we submit to God, we are drawn closer to Him, and we continue drawing near to Him through prayer, reading Scripture, meeting with other Christians, and serving others.
And we will see our character change in the process.
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Mark 8:34-35, ESV
God’s primary concern is not our happiness and comfort in this life.
God’s primary concern is His glory through the salvation of His people. That frequently takes sacrifice and suffering, as our greatest example (Jesus) gave us through the cross.
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
2 Corinthians 7:1, ESV
This is sanctification.
Let the Father change you through the Holy Spirit ever more to be like Christ. Repentance literally means “change your mind”. It takes a changing of the way you think to change your actions.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
1 John 3:16, ESV
Our greatest example showed true love: sacrificing everything for the good of others.
How well are you doing this?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Jude 1:20-21, ESV
Do not merely go to church.
Cherish your salvation!
Read your Bible!
Serve others in love!
Because He loved us enough to come and die for us. We ought to be ready to do the same for Him.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13, ESV
Love is sacrificing for others. Your time, your energy, your possessions, your dignity, even your life.
For God. For others. Even for those who hate you.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14, ESV
We make mistakes. We have sinned against God and others.
But He has redeemed and forgiven us. We are no longer bound to what and who we were. We serve Him to glorify Him. Our past can help, not hinder.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
1 Peter 5:6, ESV
As the saying goes, He is God, and you are not.
But, amazingly, God lowered Himself to our level to become a man, to bring about our forgiveness and reconciliation, that we may be made like Him.
Submit to His will and His way, and He will lift us up.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5, ESV
We can try doing all sorts of things for God, but if we are not first found in Christ it will all be useless.
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:6-8, ESV
How easily we get caught up in our worries, wants, and walking. (Being indifferent. Alliteration is fun.)
These times are active rebellion against God. We should pay for the Father to give us the strength and wisdom to overcome in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
a simple man of God 