We Are Blessed

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. 

Ephesians 1:3-4

Think about this:  God chose you before the foundation of the world.  He knew you before you were born and He knew that you would be blessed with every spiritual blessing.

God knew that you would respond to the call of Jesus to come and be redeemed.  

And, because of this, we are holy and blameless before God.  

We are thankful.

Hallelujah! 

Acquire Knowledge

 

The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Proverbs 18:15

Every now and then we find ourselves in a situation which we know nothing about and have no idea what we should do.  When this happens I think. "I am in a foreign country. I don't know the language or the customs. And, I have no clue what to do."  

But, you know what?  God sends people into my life that can help guide me through and who don't judge, but just care for me in my time of need.   

God puts people in our path who will help us. We just need to be humble enough to accept help and be grateful. 

Justice For All

 

Justice is turned back,

And righteousness stands far away,

For truth has stumbled in the street,

And uprightness cannot enter.

Isaiah 59:14

Who cares about all the people who get locked up in prison?  Who cares if they are guilty or innocent?

In the United States the plea bargain is the tool of choice to make sure suspected criminals are locked up, without a trial and regardless of whether or not they are guilty.  Most defendants are charged with multiple crimes, whether there is evidence of their guilt or not, and then the prosecutor suggests that if the defendant pleads guilty to a few of the charges, the rest will go away. The prosecutors’ logic is that plea bargains save money because the government does not have to pay the cost of a trial.  I am not sure what a trial costs, but it costs about $30,000 a year to lock a person up in a state prison. 

As rampant as injustice is in the United States, it is worse in other parts of the world.

We pray that uprightness will enter into the justice system around the world, and those men and women who face prosecution and persecution will receive justice.

The Lord Surrounds His People

 

Those who trust the Lord

Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

So the Lord surrounds His people

From this time forth and forever.

Psalm 125:1-2

God does not call us to abandon us.  He is always with us and cares intimately for us.  His care goes beyond anything we might expect from mankind.

We trust the Lord and the Lord surrounds us and protects us.  We are His and He is on our side.

Redemption Is Ours

 

But what does it say?  “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  

 

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Romans 10:8-11

God’s plan for man’s salvation is a simple one.  We do not have to do penitence or give a million dollars or shave our heads. 

All we need to do is to confess Jesus is Lord and believe God raised Jesus from the dead. 

Redemption is ours for the asking and it is free.

We Are Good Enough

 

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.  Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

 

1 Timothy 1:15-16

Paul, the apostle, wrote this.  He was previously known as Saul and his occupation was persecuting Christians.  In fact he held the coats of the people who stoned Stephen (Acts 7:58).  Saul was an evil person.  Right up to his conversion, he terrorized Christians (Acts 9).  He was so evil that he had a tough time selling himself as Christian after accepting Jesus as his Savior.   

Paul preached that if God would save a man as evil as him, then God would save anyone who asked. 

When we ask Jesus into our heart and lives, we are forgiven.  And, that settles it for eternity.  We are all good enough.

 

And, all of this is because God loves us. 

A New Spirit

 

And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. They will be My people, and I shall be their God.

Ezekiel 11:19-20

This promise was given to the people of Israel, and it is still for us today.

When we come to Jesus, God creates in us a new spirit. He softens the hardness of our hearts, and leads us in His ways. We become God’s people and He becomes our God.