We Rejoice Because He Loves Us

1 Peter 1L3-9 KJV; We cannot see Jesus as we see the world; yet, we rejoice because by faith we know that he loves us.

Forgive As God Has Forgiven You

Ephesians 4:30-32

Rest In Him

The Voice Of The Lord

 

PSALM 29 KJV

Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.

He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.

The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.

The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.

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How majestic is the voice of the Lord!  By His word he created all things. He says it and it is so. All glory belongs to Him who is above all things. Rejoice in the Lord who gives us both strength and peace that we might endure all things.

God's Peace - Pr. J. 

Take Up Your Cross And Follow

"And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.

And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.

But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

                                                                            (Mark 8:28-36 KJV)

No... no... no... We cannot and should not have to endure death. We should have to endure trials. We should not have to struggle! 

Yet, we do. We do and we will. God's will for Jesus was not to have a life of ease. He was destined for death; to die so that we might live. Life is a struggle and if you think that it should not or will not be one then you probably are following a false god down a very wrong path. 

These false gods would have us strive to gain the worldly things and in the process we may, as Jesus said, lose our souls.

Life is not easy so you may as well take up your cross and follow Jesus and when you do know that the Christ is with you on the journey. That road, although it may feel like death is drawing near leads to life everlasting. That is the will of God for you. 

As St. Paul drew closely to his own earthly death he wrote these words to his fellow missionary and evangelist Timothy:

"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:"

                                                                                        (2 Tim 1-7)

St. Paul took up his cross and followed Jesus. He endured afflictions even as he continued the work of an evangelist. He finished his course when he was executed for his faith in Christ. 

He was willing to give up a life of luxury in this world and reside as a prisoner of the government so that he could proclaim the Gospel according to the will of God. He was willing to give up his body. But, he was not willing to give up his soul as he entrusted it to the love of God in Christ Jesus.

God help us to endure all afflictions and fight the good fight of truth found in Jesus the Christ.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Believe, Hope, Endure All Things

 

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (1 Cor 13:6-7 KJV)

Yesterday was a very good day. I had succumbed a couple of times to believing the worst might come about. Fortunately, I had been able to continue to believe that God had His hand in it and would work everything for the good. It could have ended up horribly; but, it did not. I will continue with endurance to hope and rejoice that God will see all things through to His glory.

It seems as though this past year more and more people have succumbed to rejoicing in anything bad. A lot of people have been lifting up what is bad as good and attempting to destroy what is good. In fact, some will make up stuff to make the world around them and people they dislike seem even worse than they could possibly be. For too many people this past year has been a year of opportunity to devise chaos. People have been rejoicing to see the downfall of others. That rejoicing in causing others to fall is a grievous iniquity, especially when attacks against them are totally unjustified and done only for the purpose of personal gain or glory.

Slander is a grievous iniquity. May God help us to always seek the truth and rejoice in that. May God keep us from slandering others to benefit ourselves.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Endure The Truth

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 

                                                    (2 Tim 4:2-4 KJV)

The time has come when people will not endure sound doctrine. They will not endure sound anything. Lies are preferred over truth as long as those lies promise them what they think might make them  happy in this world. In other words, if the promises, whether promised with integrity or not, give them hope in worldly things then they will follow after those who give them false hope. 

May God open the ears and eyes and hearts of all people to know the truth and strive for the kingdom for all people rather than what will appease their own lusts.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Wait On The Lord

Psalm 27:11-14 KJV

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. 

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Way too often we try to get those things, including the outcomes, that we want. We want what we want and we want it now. But, those things that we desire are not always what we need or what is best for us. It may seem like too much hardship or struggle to have to wait to work things out the right or the best way so we rush things and the end does not always end up the way that we anticipated that it would end.

Things may feel hard; but, there are times when we must endure and trust in the Lord to see us through. The Lord know what is good for us. Wait on him. He will open the doors that are meant for you. 

Do not make rash decisions to try to get what you want. Be of good courage and wait on the Lord and you will see the goodness of the Lord.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Servants Of All

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. 

                                                                                (1 Cor 9:19-23 KJV)

As servants of Christ we become servants to all. Servants of God do not lift themselves up above others. The only one they lift up is God. When we lift ourselves up over others, we make ourselves into a god; a false. Christians do not idolize or worship any man or woman. 

Paul did not consider himself to be above others; although he could have as he had stature in the world of that time both as a Jew and as a Roman citizen. He considered himself a servant of God; a servant sent to deliver the message of Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead for all who would believe in him.  He delivered the message of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah.

We are created equal, each with his own gifts. None is greater than another. We do simply what we are called to do, use those gifts for the gospel's sake. In order to share the Gospel it is most helpful not to be lording our lifestyles over another's. It is most helpful to humble ourselves and meet people where they are.

There is only one God. He is the only one that we lift up. We do not idolize politicians, media celebrities, sports figures, religious personalities, or anyone else. That would be idolatry. And, we definitely need to ensure that no one is making a false idol out of us!

So save the applause and say Hallelujah, all praise to the living God, Amen!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Attitude Like Christ

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 15:5-6 NIV)

Jesus did not die for just you or just me. He did not put himself before us when he was tried and crucified. He could have left the area. Instead, he went to Jerusalem knowing what would happen. He could have tried to defend himself. But, he did not. He was not acting to protect himself. He was acting to save us.

Likewise, Paul encourages the Christians in Rome and us to have the same attitude of mind that Christ Jesus had for others; for us.

May God help us to always consider the good of others before our own personal desires so that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified.

God's Peace - Pr. J