"But God Demonstrates His Love Toward Us..."

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

    Consider for a moment: Who would you be willing to die for? Your spouse? Your children? A sibling? Maybe even a dear friend and sister in Christ? …Now, how about that drunk guy who hit your car? How about a woman who cheated on her husband and abandoned her kids? How about Jeffrey Epstein or Paul Bernardo? That changes things, doesn’t it?

    People would be quick to label the act of giving up one’s life in order to preserve the life of a good and righteous person as something ‘noble’ and ‘noteworthy’, but God did something more – something much more noble, much more noteworthy – He provided us with a Saviour and a sacrifice when we were still sinners, when we were still in the same category as that drunk guy, the adulteress fornicator, as Epstein and Bernardo – that is how much God loves us!! – He provided Light to us so that we could escape the darkness of sin (John 8:12, 12:35-36, 46)!!

    God gave His only begotten Son to give us opportunity to have everlasting life and not perish in our sins (John 3:16). His desire is for all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4), not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) – God loves us all that much!!

    The truth of God’s immense and all-encompassing love is clearly shown to us in the very giving of His Son, and Jesus’ love for His Father and for us is made known in His willingness to sacrifice Himself for us (John 15:9-14)!! God wants us to comprehend His love (Ephesians 3:14-19) so that we will appreciate His abundant gift of Light and life and not ever desire to go back into the darkness (Hebrews 10:35-39, 2 Peter 2:20, Luke 17:32)!

    God loved us that much!! God continues to love us that much!!

    So, let’s determine to live a life worthy of His love by humbly seeking Him, studying His word to increase our knowledge of the truth and do all we can to reflect His marvelous light into the world around us so that others may also come to repentance!!

You can do it! So can I!!

"But God..." - How God Turned Our Lives from Hopeless to Hopeful!

    If the Lord wills, I would like to take a few weeks to look at the amazingly wonderful, hope-stirring bible verses that express how God, because of His great love for us, gave us a Saviour and changed human life forever!!

    Through Jesus our lives can be changed from death to life, from bondage to freedom, from darkness to light, from hopeless to hope-filled and glorious!!

    I hope you will join me as we look at the verses that give us all the more reason to be joyful and full of thanksgiving for our great and loving Father!

    Let's begin!

“And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead.” (Acts 13:28-30 NKJV)

    “But God raised Him from the dead.”

    That one sentence, that one solitary statement, changed everything for us! That one declaration of fact is the ultimate proof that Jesus was indeed the Son of God because – God raised Him from the dead!

     When God raised Jesus from the dead:

• Jesus was proved to be His Son (Acts 2:32-33, Romans 1:4)!
• Jesus became the firstborn from the dead, never to die again (Colossians 1:18, Acts 13:34-35, Revelation 1:18)
• Jesus’ words, everything He had spoken, were proved true (Luke 9:22, 24:46-47)
• The prophets were proved true (Acts 2:16-32; 13:32-34)
• Jesus became our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5-6), our Advocate (1 John 2:1), and our eternal High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16), who makes intercession for us (Romans 8:34)!
• We are justified (brought back into favour with God) and have access to forgiveness of our sins (Acts 10:40-43, Romans 4:25; 8:31-33, Ephesians 1:7, 1 John 1:9-2:2)!
• He proved He has power to raise us up too (1 Corinthians 6:14, 2 Corinthians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)!

    Consider this beautiful passage:

 “…if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:14-20 NKJV)

    When God raised Jesus from the dead He changed our lives forever! We can have confident faith in every word, command, and instruction spoken by Jesus. We now can have access to God, access to His help (Hebrews 4:16) His forgiveness (1 John 1:9), His comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) and His peace (Philippians 4:6-7). Because God raised Jesus from the dead, we can believe it, and have faith to obey Jesus’ commands and have hope to be raised in the final Day to life eternal (John 5:25, 28-29, Romans 10:9-13, Ephesians 1:17-23, 1 Peter 1:20-21)!!

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15 NKJV)

The Blessings Found in Fearing the Lord

“The LORD is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will hear their cry and save them.” (Psalm 145:17-19 NKJV)

     In fearing the Lord – reverencing Him as Almighty and fearfully respecting Him by obeying His commands – we can attain true knowledge, true wisdom, and spiritual understanding that shows us the path to Life. On that path we will find freedoms (Galatians 5:22-23, “against such there is no law”) as well as boundaries, both of these God has lovingly provided so that we can do good works and avoid the snares of the devil.  When we respect God as Creator and Sustainer of all, put our trust in Him, and begin to rely wholly on Him, we will discover the wonderful refuge that is our God, a shelter in the time of storm and the only place where all help and blessings are found! 

     God desires that you fear Him, fully understanding who He is and who you are before Him. He created mankind to seek Him and find Him (Acts 17:26-17). He preserved His word over all these centuries so that you could read/hear His Truth. Please fear God enough that you seek out HIS word, HIS truth, stop allowing yourself to be satisfied with man’s interpretation of His word (Matthew 15:9, 2 Timothy 4:3-4)! If your church adds anything to, or takes anything away from, God’s word, it is no longer God’s word – and that is a dangerous position to side with (Revelation 22:18-19) – respect God enough to find a church that teaches and adheres to His pure truth! There you will find people who take refuge in God and declare thanksgiving to Him during troubles and in times of joy, fully appreciating His loving care in their lives each day!! Those who fear God will be nourished and strengthened by His word (John 15:4-5, 1 Peter 2:2), they will be abundantly satisfied with His blessings of every good thing (Colossians 2:3, Ephesians 1:3-14, Psalm 68:19)! It is worth every effort and every sacrifice!

"Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.” (Psalm 34:9-10 NKJV)  

 

You can do it! So can I!! 

From wherever you are right now – BEGIN!  

The LORD Takes Pleasure In Those Who Fear Him

“He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of man. The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.” (Psalm 147:10-11 NKJV)

The Lord takes pleasure in those who are willing, even in their strength of mind and body, to humble themselves and bend their knee to His majesty; those who, even though blessed with great physical ability, understand who God is and who they are before Him, choosing reverence over revolt.

“No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” (Psalm 33:16-19 NKJV)

We build our lives in such a way so as not to worry. “As long as I have ______, I’ll be okay.” We tell ourselves this, filling in the blank with “family”, “friends”, “money”, “health”, “control”, etc. Great empires rise and fall, mighty men can be weak, even strong horses have limited ability and soon grow tired, none of these can deliver a soul from death, none can cause food to grow in famine. But God can.

If we live humbly and reverently before God, making use of the “today” He grants us by seeking further knowledge of Him (and discovering more reasons to respect Him), obeying His commands (and realizing that His way truly is the BEST way), and by doing good and shining our light to guide others toward Jesus (because it is only through Jesus that hope is found, 1 Peter 1:3-4), then we can come to the point where we no longer place trust in our physical blessings and instead we can happily state, “As long as I have God, I’ll be okay.”

“Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You.” (Psalm 33:20-22 NKJV)

From wherever you are right now - BEGIN!

(Photo Credit: Cait Fairchild)