Posts Tagged ‘ daniel m klem ’
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV
We are victorious in Christ.
But lest we get boastful and arrogant, we must remember that this promise primarily speaks to our victory over demonic powers and ultimately death itself!
For this we thank God daily.
I know (for most of you, at least) that you read ” the opposite of love” and think “is hate.”
I disagree. (And if you already know what I think about this, please hold your comments until the end. Thanks.)
Hatred comes from one of two places.
The first is loving something/someone so much that you want to protect that love. Anything that interferes with or threatens that bond or the well-being of the object of love is rightfully hated.
“do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”
Zechariah 8:17, ESV
As a reminder, this does not mean we hate people. People are acting out from the real problem: sin, the evil within.
We hate the sin. (We can have another conversation at another time about the saying “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Also, another another conversation can be had about jealousy.)
What is this?
I will ask a few questions to get us there:
Hopefully you see it now!
Fear leads to all kinds of craziness, such as avoiding others, making mistakes, hurting others, and even hatred.
This is not to say that fear always leads to hatred. Hatred can come from misplaced love (loving self or something more than is good) or ignorance (both innocent and willful ignorance). This is a mixture of the first source of hatred and fear.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
1 John 4:18, ESV
Loving others frees us of hatred and the fear of what they may do to us.
Love also frees us of the fear of God’s punishment for our sin, but only when we see the truth that He loved us and showed it by coming as a man to sacrifice Himself for the forgiveness of our sin. This is also what empowers us to love others. (1 John 4:19)
It is also what reminds us that, while we are born into and perpetuate the sin of Adam and Eve, we are freed from that sin.
And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
1 Chronicles 29:13 ESV
We must always – ALWAYS – remember to thank God and give Him praise for all He has done and is doing and will do.
In fact, get in the habit of thanking God before asking God.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
If only we better understood God’s grace and power, we would be unstoppable in changing this world.
Live a weak life. Good will move through you better.
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 20:24 ESV
Our fullest calling in and greatest meaning to life is to glorify the Father by sharing the gospel of His Son with our fallen world.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 3:1, ESV
Through Christ we are adopted into the family of God, for the Father sees His Son when He looks at believers. We know Him through the Holy Spirit who shows us the Son.
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
3 John 1:2, ESV
We should encourage each other and lift each other up.
Especially, we should encourage each other to strengthen our souls through reading Scripture, prayer, and communal worship.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1, ESV
We do not have a blind faith. We have the historical, prophetic, and biblical evidence, with the ultimate proof of our faith being the real and physical death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17, ESV
We learn from each other, so do not give up meeting for church or groups. Encourage each other, rebuke each other, and share truth with each other. (Hebrews 10:23-25)
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.
a simple man of God 