Category: Bible

Scripture for Wednesday, January 25 (1/25)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, church, Death of Jesus Christ, Inspirational, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 25, is James 1:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it ~ he will be blessed in what he does.”

A lot of people do not understand that there was the Law of Moses with over 600 commands in the Old Testament, and the Law of Jesus with very few commands in the New Testament. Colossians 2:14 says Jesus nailed the old Law to the cross. Jesus’ new law is one of freedom from all the requirements of the old law.

Do we really believe this? Some people dip back into the Old Law of Moses to bring back those old forms of worship (musical instruments, separate priesthood, etc.), or to bind people to regulations that are no longer binding (tithing, burning candles, etc.).  That has all been nailed to the cross. But how are we supposed to know unless we read the Old Testament ~ not just the stories, but also the commands? Like the commands to stone for adultery, etc.

Then we can understand.

Let us truly let loose of the Old Law of Moses and cling to the “perfect Law that gives freedom” in Christ.

Then let us bow to Him in gratitude for doing this for us, and say “Thank you.”

#LawOfMoses, #Tithing, #Priests, #Music, #LawOfGrace, #NewTestament, #OldTestament

Scripture for Monday, January 23 (1/23)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, blessings, Daily, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, prayer, Scripture, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 23, is Romans 1:23 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

campbell-cover-kindle-lg-medium“….and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”

Do you ever wish you could see God, touch God, look God in the eye? Everyone has. And we may wonder why we can’t.

If this were the case, then God wouldn’t be God. He wouldn’t be omnipresent (present everywhere). He would only be able to listen to one prayer at a time, and the rest of the world’s prayers would go unheard.

Let us be grateful our God is so great that He cannot be limited. He is so great He cannot be pictured. He is so great that He fills heaven. He is so great that He fills our hearts and our souls.

#Omnipresent, #Omniscient, #GodIsEverywhere, #Prayer

Scripture for Sunday, January 8 (1/8)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, faith, Inspirational, Life of Christ, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 8, is 1st Peter 1:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 4-FOLK HERO-COVER“Though you have not seen him, you love him! And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him! And are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy!”

This was written by Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles, when he was old. Peter had seen Jesus for himself. He was an eye-witness.

After Jesus returned to heaven, it was the job of the apostles to tell people about him and repeat his words. They spent the rest of their lives doing just that. Oh, the joy they found when people believed, even though they had not seen him; and not only believed, but loved.

Thank God, these apostles wrote the New Testament so we would never have to guess what Jesus was like and never have to guess what his words were, even after the apostles died. In fact, we have the advantage because we do not have to wait for an apostle to come visit us and tell us. We can read about Jesus for ourselves over and over as many times as we like right in our home.

Yes, we have not seen Jesus. Yet, with his life and words before us, we believe. And we love. What inexpressible and glorious joy!

#Faith, #JesusUnseen, #Witnesses, #Apostles, #Gospel, #NewTestament, #Bible, #Love, #Joy

Scripture for Friday, January 6 (1/6)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, church, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 6, is Titus 1:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“An elder mu00-cover-kindle-medium-newst be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless ~ not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, nor pursuing dishonest gain.”

This is quite interesting. God does not leave us to guess what the qualifications of a church leader are. We don’t have to have conferences or synods to decide on qualifications for this office because God has already given them.

Something surprising here is that the word elder is used interchangeably with the word overseer (sometimes also translated bishop). The word elder comes from the Greek word presbyter. The word overseer/bishop is from the Greek word episcopos. Elder and overseer and bishop all are the same in this passage referring to the same office!

Here’s something else interesting about the elder/overseer/bishop: The word pastor comes from the Greek word for shepherd. In Acts 20:17, Paul sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus to talk to them. When they arrived, he said, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds [pastors] of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.”

Do you see the overlapping of the same office being called by different names? It’s kind of like father and papa being the same.

Titus 1:6f uses elder and overseer for the same office. Overseer is the same in Greek as bishop. Acts 20:17 uses elder, overseer, shepherd (pastor) for the same office.

In our daily life, we have different words meaning the same person; such as father, parent, head of the house, dad, breadwinner, papa ~ all names for the same position in the family.

So, too, for the family of God ~ the church ~ all these words overlap as names for the same office! And the qualifications for this office are found in our scripture for today, Titus 1:6f. Indeed, how interesting!

#Elder, #Bishop, #Overseer, #Pastor, #Office, #ChurchLeader, #Shepherd

Scripture for Thursday, January 5 (1/5)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, faith, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 5, is Colossians 1:5 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the Word of Truth, the gospel.”

Does your faith have its ups and downs? Is it strong sometimes and weak sometimes? Do things sometimes go so wrong that you have trouble having faith in God? You can still hope. Do you grow angry at God sometimes?  You can still hope. During such low times when faith does not come easy, you can still hope. Hope is the springboard of faith.

And stay close to the Word of Truth, for John 14:17 says the Comforter is the Spirit of Truth, and John 17:17 says Truth is the Word of God.

When your emotions are pulling you down, rely for a little awhile on only your logic, your intellect, until your emotions heal. Some day they will.

So keep on hoping ~ the springboard. And some day it will return to being faith.

#Faith, #Hope, #Doubt, #Emotions, #Logic, #

Scripture for Sunday, January 1 (1/1)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 1, is John 1:1f, 14a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

000-BOOK 1-STAR SONG-PRINT COVER-Small“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning….The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Genesis 3:8 says God walked on earth in the Garden of Eden. When Jesus came, God once again walked with us. But when Jesus left, did he leave us with no one to walk with?

Jesus said in John 14:17 that he was going to send another Comforter ~ the Spirit of Truth. And in John 17:17 he said God’s Word is Truth. So, just as Jesus was the Word that people could watch, the Spirit is the Word that people can read.

We do not have to guess what God is wanting us to do. We have it written down to read, and consider, and contemplate, and re-read as many times as we want.

If you have a Bible in your home, why not read it through in a year beginning today? There are suggested schedules on the internet. Or you could even divide up the number of pages in your Bible by 365 to know how many pages to read each day.

Just remember, every time you get out your Bible and read it, once again God is walking with you.

#WalkWithGod, #GodInFlesh, #Jesus, #Holy Spirit, #Bible

Scriptures for December 30 & 31 (12/30 & 12/31)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Heaven, Holy Spirit, InspirationalLeave a comment

0-cover-kindle-new-mediumThe Scripture for today, December 30, is Matthew 12:30, as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”

You mean we can’t just drift along just showing up at church services and that is all? We must gather people to him. It’s important that we do so. Are we doing it? Or are we too afraid?

Deep down inside, most people fear that, if we bring Jesus into a conversation, people will do us great harm and become dangerous enemies. Although in some countries of the world this is true, in most it is not. But still, we quake at the thought of bringing up Jesus to our friends, and even to strangers.

It can be done. Give it a try. If it were your soul, would you want someone to at least try to save you? Dare to be a gatherer today.

Cover-Kindle-smallThe scripture for today, December 31, is Luke 12:31 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“But seek his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well.”

Do we actively seek God’s kingdom? Or do we drift and feel like God should feel obligated to take us into his kingdom and into his heaven? Do we feel like we’re “not so bad”, so God would be bad to not take us into his kingdom and into his heaven?

Heaven is God’s home, not ours. God has a door into his home, just like we have a door into our home. God is not required to open that door to just anyone, just like we are not required to open our door to just anyone.  We cannot just show up at the door and smile and assume he will let us in, any more than people who knock on our door and smile can assume we will let them in.

We let people into our home who we have gotten to know and whose motives we trust. Have you given God a chance to get to know you and trust your motives? Are your motives to enter heaven, God’s home? Do you even like God?

This life we live on earth is not our permanent life or residence. This is just the foyer to our eternal home. Do we live like the earth is all there is?

#GoodWorks, #Drifting, #Heaven, #Lukewarm, #Kingdom, #Church, #TrueChristianity, #DayOfJudgment

 

 

 

 

Scripture for Sunday, December 18 (12/18)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Heaven, Inspirational, Scripture, worshipLeave a comment

Scripture for Tuesday, December 13 (12/13)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, faith, healing, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, ScriptureLeave a comment

The scripture for today, December 12, is 2nd Corinthians 12:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“The things that mark an Apostle ~ signs, wonders and miracles ~ were done among you with great perseverance.”

This is so interesting. These are not things that mark Christians in general, but the Apostles. (Acts 1 lists qualifications of an apostle.)

Jesus told his Apostles that, when they taught the world about Jesus and baptized them, miracles and signs would accompany the believers (Mark 16:17). The miracles and signs followed conversions of believers by the Apostles to whom he was speaking.

Acts 3:6f and 9:40f involved healing by the Apostle Peter, and Acts 20:9f involved healing by the Apostle Paul which they performed to prove their words were the Words of God. 

In Acts 6:5-6, the Apostles laid their hands on seven men to serve the church in a special way. Of those men, Stephen performed miracles (6:8) and Philip performed miracles (8:5-7), both to prove their words were the Words of God.

In Romans 1:1,11, the Apostle Paul said he wanted to visit the Christians in Rome so he could impart some spiritual gift. In 1st Corinthians 1:6-7 the Apostle Paul said he imparted spiritual gifts to Christians in Corinth. 

We have no examples in the New Testament of anyone other than an Apostle passing on the power to perform miracles. Even the writings of the “Apostolic Fathers” in the late 1st and early 2nd century say things like “Even down to those times there were a few miracles being performed including raising the dead.” 

Yes, the reason for the miracles was to prove the words of the miracle performer were the Words of God (which had not yet been written down). It was this way with Jesus, and this way with his Apostles. Now that we have the New Testament (Jesus’ and his Apostles’ teachings in written form) we no longer need the miracles. 

They were “marks of an Apostle.” The miracles including, healing, renewing the maimed (making limbs grow back), and bringing people back to life. All of them. 

Interesting, isn’t it?

(We sent you the scripture for the 13th yesterday, so today is the scripture for the 12th.)

#Miracles, #Apostles

Scripture for Monday, December 12 (12/12)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, December 13, is Ecclesiastes 12:13 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

When the King James Version was published in the early 1600s, they italicized all words that were not in the original language of the Bible. The word “duty” above was not in the original. Translators inserted it to help us understand the original. But perhaps, in this case, it did not help. Fearing God is the whole of man ~ not our duty, but our essence.

Fearing the Lord is a gift. Isaiah 11:2 predicted regarding Jesus: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him ~ 

“…the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,”

“…the Spirit of counsel and of power,”

“…the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

Solomon had tried everything to find happiness, as he explained in his book of Ecclesiastes ~ Pleasure (ch. 2), hard work (ch. 3), advancement (ch. 4), riches (ch. 5). None brought him true happiness.  Eventually, he concluded that only one thing can bring that happiness deep down inside where no one and no situation in life can touch it ~ God. God is the whole of man ~ if we let Him be.

Why? Ecclesiastes 3:11 explains it richly: “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” Another way to view this is “There is a God-shaped emptiness in the heart of man.” 

Fill your mind with the Word of God. Then God will fill your heart and being, and make you feel full.

#Wisdom, #Understanding, #Happiness, #Fulfillment, #HardWork, #Wealth, #Emptiness, #God, #Bible, #Stuff, #Prestige, #Fame