What is your life built on? Maybe its education and career, or your family name, or self-made success. Conversely, it may be built on a shaky base, like a house of cards ready to fall at anytime. For our lives to be firmly established we need a “Jesus” shaped foundation. We are all part of God’s family, built on the precious saints that have gone before us, with Jesus as the solid foundation.
Tag: theology
I Peter 3:9 ” Do not repay evil with evil or insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
Most of the time when someone gives us a snide remark or an unkind,hurtful comment, we become offended. Anger rises up, and we feel slighted, disrespected and belittled. At that very moment, the Lord is asking us to stop our inclination to confront and trade insults with the person…and instead, to be kind. We are called of God to bless rather than curse, to show integrity in the face of intentional wrongs, and to rise above petty annoyances…that we might acquire favor.
Genesis 26:18 ” Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham.”
The enemy had stopped up the wells and rendered them useless, so Isaac had re-dug them, that the wells might provide water for their animals and people. The enemy can also stop up our well of salvation…taking away our joy, and drying us up Spiritually. Is it time to re-dig the wells in your life so that the Living water can once more flow?
I Samuel 10:6 ” The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.”
God touched Saul as he turned away from Samuel after hearing these words spoken…and he was changed in an instant. He looked the same, walked the same, and probably even talked the same, so what did God do to make him a different person? The Lord changed his heart, and we too become a different person after God touches our hearts. Our lives are transformed into another person…the likeness of Him.
I Kings 17:14 ” For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.’ “
Elijah had prophesied a drought which the region was now in the grips of when he came upon this widow gathering sticks. He not only audaciously asked for a drink of water but he asked for bread. The widow replied that all she had left was a handful of flour and a little oil to make a meal for her and her son…that we may eat it and die. So what Elijah asked her to do next was completely beyond comprehension for the poor woman. “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make bread for me.” This is where the widow had to look way beyond her circumstances and believe Elijah that there would not only be bread enough for her and her son today, but for many days to come. Has the Lord been asking you to do something that is frankly beyond what you can imagine? Do you have the courage like this widow to believe, but not only to believe, but to actually do it?
Galatians 5:1 ” It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
You have been set free…for many it may sound good, but the reality of their current situation is far removed from it. They may even feel completely barred from freely possessing and enjoying life at all. But Jesus came into this world to set us free, and if you’ve accepted Him into your life, you will know the truth, and that redemptive revelation of who you are in Him will liberate you. The situation may not change…but you will change within it.
Isaiah 44:22 “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
Just as Boaz was the Kinsman Redeemer for Ruth, Jesus has redeemed us by giving His life as a ransom for many. He only asks that we turn from where we are going, back to Him, and in doing so He will completely blot out our willful disobedience and rebelliousness. They will be gone like a vapor and we will be fully restored to Him.
I Corinthians 2: 4-5 ” My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”
God doesn’t need our eloquent speeches or superior thinking wisdom when talking to someone about Jesus. He simply needs us to allow the Holy Spirit to direct the conversation. This chat can be simple and heartfelt without pretentiousness or force. Because,if you think about it, it’s not about you at all…it’s about them trusting in the saving power of Jesus.
Psalm 40:6 ” Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.”
When a slave had fulfilled his servitude, but wanted to remain in the household, they would pierce his ear with an awl against the doorpost. This was a sign that he was now a permanent slave, staying by his free will. The Lord doesn’t desire animal sacrifices and offerings from you, what He wants is the total surrender of your heart and life to Him. The pierced ear of the permanent slave was an outward sign of an inner commitment to his master… have you made that same commitment to your Master?
Ephesians 3:17-19 “…and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power together with all saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
I don’t believe we can even start to comprehend the love of God…it transcends all understanding. But if Jesus is dwelling in our hearts, that love is already established in us through Him. And what is well rooted will flourish and grow. So while we may never be able to fully grasp the depth of His love for us, we will be made complete in it.
Safetypinlove 