Archive for the ‘ Religion ’ Category
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:7, ESV
Jesus is not promising a “Name-It-and-Claim-It” kind of wishful thinking.
Jesus is following through on what many other parts of the Bible, including His own words, promise: When your character is becoming so in tune with His and you are living by the Holy Spirit, then you will ask for things according to His will.
And then your requests will be given.
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.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27, ESV
The One who has overcome death and the grave, conquered sin and violence, and sustains the Universe itself has given us peace.
Fall on Christ. It will break you, but you will be made whole and find His peace.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7, ESV
When we trust God for everything, give Him all the glory and credit for everything, we will find that nothing can faze us.
“Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.”
Jeremiah 32:17, NKJV
Why do we struggle to trust God?
If He can create literally everything, and He is able to raise people from the dead, walk on water, and make a few loaves and fish feed thousands, surely He can handle each of our situations in life.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6, ESV
The easiest way to alleviate or even avoid stress and anxiety is to continually turn to God, thanking Him even for what makes us uncomfortable or brings us pain as well as the good.
Be careful what you say and protect your life. A careless talker destroys himself.
Proverbs 13:3, GNT
We see evidence of this verse throughout our culture today. How many people have to apologize for a quick response that is insensitive, rude, or flat out wrong?
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10, ESV
We are wicked, unclean people unable to purify ourselves.
God is able, through the power and grace of Jesus’ redemptive blood!
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
John 5:24 ESV
When John later said “There is no fear in love” (1 John 4:18), he was reminding us that faith in Christ means we no longer need fear punishment and harsh judgment. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ literally saves us.
Today is my 18th Re-Birthday! [For more details, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Yep. 18 years ago today I succumbed to Jesus’ bear hug of forgiveness and grace. My faith is now legally an adult in most of the world.
Do I feel accomplished?
Honestly, I will always know there is more to do until the day I no longer need to number my days (Psalm 90:12), for The Wisdom of God made flesh has been made fully known to His Creation.
Rather, I am beginning to feel the pressure of time. I was a teenager when entering the Christian fold, so I am only in my mid-30s. However, the Lord has been teaching me to number my days (ask those who know me best! There are stories!), so I can see “missed opportunities” and periods of disobedience in my past. I see faces of people I could have been “That person” to.
Yet, these should not be seen as regrets … at least of I truly believe my sovereign Lord truly is sovereign. Rather, these are moments to glean from and push forward.
I think Paul put it best.
. . . and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 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. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Philippians 3:9-16, ESV
Therefore, I finish as I have in the past:
. . . by quoting Jude (3):
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Let us celebrate our common salvation and share this faith with our fallen world!
a simple man of God 