To be Christian means to be like Ruth not like Mike! We are united with Jesus by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), we cling to Him, we leave our old identity and become a new creation in Christ (Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24). At the end of the day, we say goodbye to the darkness of sin and live in the light of His kingdom (Ephesians 5:8–14). The Sovereign Lord becomes our God, and His people become our people (Ephesians 2:19–22). We give up our old way of living for ourselves; we take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34)! Be encouraged my beloved brothers and sisters because like Ruth, we too have a Kinsman Redeemer and His name is JESUS CHRIST.
The Bible reminds us of two important truths about God’s gift of salvation. First, it reminds us that it is a costly gift. Think about this for a moment; suppose you wanted to express your love for someone by giving them a very extravagant gift. What would you have to do? Well, you’d first have to go to the store and buy it—and the finer the gift, the more it would cost you. To your significant other, it’s a free gift, but it wasn’t free on your part!
The same is true with God’s gift of salvation. To us it’s free, but it cost God the life of His Son. The reason is because on the cross Jesus Christ became the final sacrifice for our sins. He paid for our salvation with His blood. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
On a side note: the Greek word for gift is Dorea (do-reh-ah’) , meaning “a free gift.” This word lays particular stress on the gratuitous nature of the gift—it is something given above and beyond what is expected or deserved.
For some, the second Biblical truth is easier ‘read’ than done. Like any other gift, God’s gift of salvation doesn’t become ours until we accept it. Just as we can reject or refuse the gift someone offers us, so we can also reject or refuse God’s gift of salvation.
Now, if I am speaking to you and you are on your faith journey and you’re still on the fence about Jesus, I pray by faith you would accept His ‘dorea’ into your life today.
Lord, today, make my heart like your heart and my thoughts like your thoughts! Hands down with knees bent, this a powerful declaration to make at the start of each day!
It’s not a coincidence that God’s blessings manifest in our lives when we seek to know His heart and thoughts (aka His will, plan and purpose). The more a person learns and knows about the Lord, the more he or she will long for Him and declare with the psalmist, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1, NLT).
The ‘spiritual’ heart is the nature of a person, and to know the ‘spiritual’ heart of someone is to know that person’s innermost character, feelings, or inclinations (see Proverbs 4:23 and 16:1). As mentioned above, the heart of God is the essence of who He is, what He desires, His will, and His purposes. If we truly want to bring this declaration into daily frution we must begin by opening up the Bible and also spend time in prayer. These are the only two vehicles that will help us understand and know the heart and thoughts of God.
Let’s not forget that we have to climb higher in order to begin to understand God’s ways (heart and thoughts). Isaiah 55:8-9 very candidly reminds us that, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
So, if we want to truly know God’s heart and thoughts we must seek to understand them through prayer and reading the Bible. Look at it this way, the Bible reveals God’s heart and prayer reveals His thoughts.
Spending time with the Lord in prayer assists in knowing His heart and thoughts. Just as a child must spend time with his father to know him personally, so we also must spend time with God in prayer to know Him more deeply. The first part of James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
My brothers and sisters, spending time alone with God in word and in prayer will encourage a deeper relationship and create a greater intimacy between us and God, in which our hearts and thoughts will become more focused and aligned with His!
My brothers and sisters,our past is a place of learning, not a place of living. God encourages us to, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” (Isaiah 43:18). Why is the Lord against us dwelling on the past? In short, the reason God doesn’t want His children focused on the past is because He knows by doing so it can cause us to get stuck where we are.
Let’s be honest, when our focus is on the past, it becomes too easy for us to feel sorry for ourselves, focus on past regrets, and to think that our best days are behind us. Worst of all, dwelling on our past can make us feel unthankful/ungrateful for all of our past blessings in our lives, especially the blessings we have in the present.
In the next verse (Isaiah 43:19), God goes on to say, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Now, if we put these two verses together, we see that the Lord wants us to resist dwelling on the past so that we can “perceive” the “new thing” He is presently doing in our lives, not to mention the things He is has already planned to do in the near/distant future. God fully knows that if we are unreceptive to the brand-new things He’s about to do, then we might delay or prevent them from coming to pass.
I encourage you not to miss the excitement that is in the Lord’s tone within these verses. He knows that what He has in store for us is far better than anything we could think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). The Living Bible translation put it this way, “But forget all that – it is nothing compared to what I’m going to do!” (v. 18)
At the end of the day, yesterday ended last night and there is nothing you nor I can do to bring yesterday back. So, on behalf of the Lord that holds yesterday, today, and tomorrow in His hands, I urge you today – “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is!” (Isaiah 43:18-19 MSG)
Pray with me:
Father God, I don’t want to miss out on any of the wonderful plans You have for my life. Teach me how to resist dwelling on the past in ways that will cause me to get stuck. Show me how to constantly move forward into the better things You have for me up ahead. Guard me from self-pity, feelings of regret, and unthankfulness, and help me to maintain an attitude of gratitude at all times. Thank You that as I keep my eyes of faith open, I will be able to perceive the new things You have in store for me! In JESUS name, amen!
I know this is an old circulated post and I am not sure if these were his actual last words, but I do believe they are words to consider living by!!
Steve Jobs died as a billionaire, with a capital of 7 billion dollars, at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer, and here are some of his last words…
“At this moment, lying in bed, ill and remembering my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth I have are insignificant in the presence of imminent death.” You can hire someone to drive you a car, make money for you – but you can’t hire someone to carry the disease for you. As we get older we get smarter, and we slowly understand that when a clock is worth $30 or $300 – they both show the exact same time. Whether we drive a $150,000 car, or a $2000 car – the road and distance are the same, we arrive at the same destination. If we drink a $300 or $10 bottle of wine, we be just as drunk.
Five facts that can not be denied:
Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. – So when they grow up they will know the value of things and not their price.
Eat your food as a medicine, otherwise you will have to eat your medicine as food.
The one who loves you will never leave you, even if he has 100 reasons to give up. He will always find one reason to hold on.
There is a big difference between being a human and being.
If you want to go fast – go alone! But if you want to go far – go together.
LET ME ADD THIS* If you don’t know CHRIST, today is the day of your salvation!! All the money in the world will NOT buy you an admission ticket into heaven! Salvation in CHRIST is a free gift that was paid for by His blood on the cross! So if that’s you, I humbly invite you to open your heart to CHRIST today and remember, you’re see not waiting on God…..God is waiting on you!
My brothers and sisters, my word of encouragement for you today is to keep looking up! Why? Well, in the book Acts 1:6-11 Luke said this, “6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” 7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”
The men of Galilee aka the disciples responded to the two white-robed men (who some believed to be Elijah and Moses) correctly and this too should be our response when someone ask us, “Why are you standing there staring into heaven?
At the end of the day, Revelation 19:10 says, “The essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus and Apostle John follows-up with this profound photogenic imagery, “Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war” (Revelations 19:11).
The kingdom of God is near and now more than ever it behooves us to keep looking up because Jesus our Lord and Savior is about to make some noise!
The words that we speak to ourselves and others have emotional, physical and spiritual implications. The “tongue” is used throughout Scripture in both literal and metaphorical ways, especially in Psalms, Proverbs, and James. The tongue is a “small part of the body” (James 3:5), yet Proverbs 18:21 says it “has the power of life and death.” This holds true whether we’re speaking of spiritual, physical, or emotional “life and death.”
Encouragement often comes through spoken words. So does discouragement. Proverbs 12:18 says, “Reckless words pierce like a sword.” Emotional wounds cut deep so what we say can have a profound effect on others both postive and negative.
Physically, a judge or jury, by simply saying a word, can cause a person to be killed or to live. Words often save lives: a doctor advises surgery, a weatherman issues a tornado warning, a counselor gives hope to a suicidal person. Additionally, murders are often initiated because of arguments or verbal confrontations. Think about it, in the sense of causing adverse action, the tongue does indeed have the power of life and death.
Lastly, from a spiritual implication standpoint Jesus said that “the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him” (Matthew 12:35). Isaiah places words on par with actions for displaying a sinful heart (Isaiah 59:2-3). “Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36). Let me be clear, in our own strength we are utterly unable to “tame the tongue” because “it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8). However, a tongue under control is a mark of the Spirit’s power. Apart from accepting Jesus’ atonement on the cross (salvation), we will be judged according to our words: “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37).
At the end of the day, we are commanded to control and tame the monster behind our ivory bars [tongue]. We are instructed to “keep [it] from evil and from speaking lies” (Psalm 34:13). This is includes ourselves, others, and obviously God. My brothers and sisters, our speech should consistently honor the Lord: with the tongue “we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers [sisters], this should not be” (James 3:9-10).
So the real question of the day is are you going to speak life…..or death? I pray we all choose the former and not the latter!
Even when our circumstances look hopeless, in Romans 12:12 God calls us to,” be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”
Paul’s charge to be “rejoicing (joyful) in hope” refers to possessing a celebratory confidence in an expectation being fulfilled. Such was the experience of Abraham: “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations” (Romans 4:18, NLT). Abraham looked forward with joyful expectancy to the fulfillment of God’s promise. King David also rejoiced in hope, steadfastly anticipating the Lord’s salvation: “I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let Your faithful one see decay” (Psalm 16:8–10).
Additionally, Paul linked the experience of rejoicing in hope to “groaning as in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22, NLT). An expectant mother endures the agonies of labor, but not without the joyous expectation that, after her travail, she will hold her precious baby in her arms. We “groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a forshadow of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His undeserving adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. Romans 8:23-25 put it this way, “If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” At the end of the day the Bible encourages us to rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; 2 Corinthians 13:11), this is applicable to promises He has in stored for us on earth and the promises He has in stored for us in heaven.
Praise and glory be to God my brothers and sisters; we can rejoice in hope as we read Scriptures, which “give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled” (Romans 15:4, NLT). We can look forward “with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed” (Titus 2:13, NLT).
We all get caught up in our feelings and if you don’t please drop your secret in the comment section. When we get caught up in our emotions it’s difficult to see the road in front of us. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 the apostle Paul says, “We live by faith, not by sight.”
In other words, Paul is really saying that we are not called to walk by feelings (emotions), we are called to walk by faith.
Unfortunately, it’s very common to think that, as inspiring as the phrase sounds, walking by faith would make a person unintelligent, sheltered, and aloof. However, the truth walking by faith means being perceptive, resilient, and engaged.
On the face of it, to “walk by faith, not sight” sounds fairly unintelligent. It sounds like you’re ignoring what you can see right in front of you and trying to force yourself to believe something that probably isn’t true. In most cases when you mix in false emotions with this thought process typically the outcome is not good.
Yet far from being merely an emotional psych up, faith throughout the Bible is connected to serious-minded confidence (“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for,” Heb. 11:1, NIV) and increased knowledge (e.g., Rom. 14:1-2). As we zoom out and look at the context of Paul’s “Walk by faith, not sight” verse (2 Cor. 5:7), we see that Christian faith is based on beliefs of which “we are convinced” (2 Cor. 5:14, NIV). The verse before and the verse after 5:7 each say that “we are confident.” This is because Christian faith leads to greater bedrock confidence in the living God—and not too easily evaporated elation (excitement) over what turns out to be a mirage.
Contrary to what some think, walking by faith doesn’t mean turning off our brain, it means to be spiritually perceptive of reality as it is and to view life through this eternal perspective. It also means that we look beyond to the unchanging orbs of reality rather than trying to navigate our way through life using shifting clouds (feelings/emotions) as our point of reference.
At the end of the day, to walk by faith, not sight means to face difficulties with resilience, knowing that God uses the outward tough times we experience in life to inwardly grow Christlikeness in us (2 Cor. 4:16–18)!
Despite the battles I face in my life, I choose to spread the Gospel message of Jesus Christ because I’m extremely grateful for God’s saving, matchless, and unlimited grace! I pray that your day and week is also filled with God’s saving, matchless, and unlimited grace!
4GIVEN 