Ok, I have two very diverse images I want you to think about today. The first is that God is limitless. Isaiah tells us that God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and stretches out the heavens like a canopy… that His throne is heaven and His footstool is earth. (Isaiah 40:22 & 66:1) While the second image is of God’s very intimate and personal relationship with all Believers…of us actually becoming a dwelling place for His Spirit to live in. (Ephesians 2:22 & I Corinthians 3:16) To the world, this is a total contradiction…but to the Believer, it’s what our faith is built on.
Tag: daily inspirational blog
Luke 21:1-4 ” As He looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the Temple Treasury. He also saw a poor widow putting in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ He said, ‘This poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’ “
You may think you’re stingy with your money…but I know something else of yours that you’re even more tight-fisted with…it’s your time. We all act like our time is more precious than others. And when asked to volunteer, our stock answer usually is, “Sorry, but I just don’t have the time for that.” I can dare say for the most part we are more selfish with our time than with our money. But in II Corinthians 8:12 it talks about giving generously and having the desire and willingness to give what you have, not what you don’t have. We’ve all been given the same amount of hours in the day…but it’s what we do with them that will make a Kingdom difference in this hurting world.
Revelation 1:5 ” To Him Who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood…”
God’s love was revealed in Christ Jesus who came to set us free and break off the chains of sin that bound us so tightly. This sacrificial shedding of Christ’s blood was necessary to atone for our sins and is the only way we can come back into a right relationship with God the Father. For you see, true freedom can only be found in Jesus.
Psalm 112:4 ” Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.”
In those times of obscurity and uncertainty there is only one light to seek out…for it will illuminate and give you the spiritual perspective you are searching for. It’s God Word. Not man’s word written about it, or feel good flowery prose that tend to water it down. No, the enlightenment you are seeking can only come from God’s Word and spending time in the Bible. Psalm 18:28 promises that God will turn my darkness into light, but I have to be willing to go to the source of that light…His Word.
Revelation 12:17 ” Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
The battle for the human soul is real. It’s been going on ever since Satan got booted out of the Garden of Eden…and he hasn’t been happy about it since! But we need to remember that his power over us is limited, for it tells us in Revelation 13:7 that he, (the beast), was given power to make war against the saints. The control Satan has on earth was granted to him by God…and it is only by God’s permission that he can function here on earth. So if you think about it… as Believers, with the indwelling Holy Spirit living inside us, we too have the same authority over Satan…for it says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. ” (I John 4:4)
Psalm 68:20 ” Our God is a God Who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”
For some of us, we’ve had the experience of being spared from death. Maybe it was in a serious car accident, or a critical illness, or some other dire situation that happened. But what we do know is we should of died, but God instead showed us mercy. And when we look back with gratitude and thankfulness for what God did…we can start to appreciate the awesome power and sovereignty of our Lord. And as the writer of Psalm 56:13 declared, “For You have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”
Galatians 3:22 ” But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.”
We are all sinners. We are all caught up like fish in the net called evil. There is not one among us that is righteous…for we are all bound over to disobedience. But we have a Savior…His name is Jesus, who came to save us from our sinful life and give us hope. For when we put our trust in Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel…that promise spoken about in this Scripture is made alive in us…the wonderful promise of eternal life in heaven through His Son, Jesus.
Habakkuk 1:3 ” Why do You make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.”
The Prophet Habakkuk’s name means, “the wrestler”, and here he is wrestling with the question of why God would allow evil to seemingly go unpunished. But that same query has been echoed down through the ages by both Believer and unbeliever…”Why doesn’t God do something about evil?!” Even today, we can look around and see the oppression and despair of the innocent and weak, while violence and wickedness seems to be winning over the streets everywhere. So just like Habakkuk, we wrestle. We grapple with Scripture like II Peter 3:9 that reminds us that God isn’t slow in keeping His promises for He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. We contend with the idea that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways, not our ways.(Isaiah 55:8) But at the end of our wrestling match we need to remember… He is God and we are not…nor will we ever control His hand or even begin to understand His plan.
Galatians 1: 13-17 ” For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God , who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.”
We all have a past…those B.C. years (Before Christ) when we were far away from God. But for some, their “But when God” conversion is a radical encounter. Saul had a similar divine appointment on the road to Damascus when his idea of God was turned upside down. His radical conversion was a 180 degree turn from his past…showing that with God anything is possible, and that no one is beyond the reach of our Heavenly Father.
Hebrews 2:14-15 ” Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
Jesus Christ took on flesh and walked among us…fully man, yet fully God. For death is the destiny of every man. (Ecclesiastes 7:2) Yet Jesus came to earth to give us freedom and victory over death. “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (Hosea 13:14) So we no longer need to fear death…for Jesus came to set us free.
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