Category: death

Scripture for Wednesday, April 5 (4/5)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn church, Daily, death, faith, Inspirational, persecution, power, Satan, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, April 5, is Micah 4:5 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”

Nations rise and fall. Nations come and go. Nations are founded upon terror and aggression, or peace and democracy. Some nations follow religions which declare that peasants are peasants as punishment for previous lives, so must remain peasants. Some nations follow religions chosen by their national governments and must be followed upon pain of death.

But as strong as various nations seem to be, as much power as they use on their citizens, they do not last forever.

Instead, there is a forever nation ~ the nation of God, the kingdom of God. No matter what nation someone lives in, they can have “dual citizenship”. And by being a citizen of God’s forever kingdom, they will walk in it forever and ever.

 

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Scripture for Tuesday, April 4 (4/4)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, death, faith, forgiveness, governments, Inspirational, judging, persecution, power, prayer, Satan, truth, worshipLeave a comment

Update on our brother being threatened for his faith.  He received a phone call from the one who has been threatening him, this time demanding $50,000.  This happened to him four years ago when he was cornered in an alley and threatened with imprisonment for becoming a Christian if he did not pay $50,000.

He sent his family into hiding where they changed locations every night. (Kidnapping children and demanding $50,000 is common there among the Taliban, Al Quida, ISIS, etc. If you do not pay, they either kill the child or make them slaves the rest of their life.) He went to yet another province to hide and draw attention away from his family. He sold his house and they escaped to India. He could not find a job, so their only choice was to finish raising their children in a UN immigration camp or return home.  They returned to a different city and I think he paid them a periodic bribe after that.

He had only been a Christian a year at that time. This time he has been a Christian five years. When they called and demanded $50,000 yesterday, he refused to talk to them and hung up the phone.

Keep praying for this mighty warrior for the Lord.

BTW, his son has had to drop out of university and go into hiding with the rest of the family, so he has asked me for many Bible materials to study.  About a year ago when he was 19, he told his father, “I want to be a preacher some day. I know they will kill me, but that’s what I want to do.”

 

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLDThe scripture for today, April 4, is Psalm 4:4 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“In your anger do not sin.”

This seems like an impossibility. After all, when people get angry, don’t they lash out at other people? And yell and call them names? And show their temper? Maybe even throw a few things? After all, that’s the only way to get across to the other person that you are really angry.

Not so. If a child, for instance, does what s/he was just told not to do, we become angry. Angry at the dangerous consequence of their action. Angry at not doing something to make that child a better person.

We can choose to lash out at the child wildly so that our emotions mask our words. Or we can choose to talk calmly and explain the dangers that child was put in because of that action, or the missed opportunities. We can even punish a child without losing our temper. We can calmly but firmly tell them what their punishment is.

It is the same way with adults. If we lose our temper and shoot daggers with our eyes and rant and rave, all these things distract people from our words. Are we wanting to punish them or reconcile? Aren’t our words of explanation more important than the emotionalism and yelling? If we were hurt, just say so. If they hurt themselves, just say so.

While we’re at it, not all words help. Name calling does not help. Name calling is done when we choose not to explain how we feel.

Name calling locks the other person in and sets them up for future failures between us and them. Losing our temper during anger gets us off the issue and into sin.

Let us try to remain calm and then explain the problem in tones that the person who has angered us can truly listen to and learn from. If you have trouble doing this, practice when you’re alone. It will teach us to remain calm when we’re angry so we can explain how we feel, not how bad the other person is. When we are angry, we must not sin.

 

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#anger, #ire, #irrationality, #yelling, #shouting, #beating, #accusing, #scorning, #hating, #selfishsness, #ego, #patience, #feelings, #calm, #punishment, #hurt, #pain, #NameCalling, #failure, #temper, #sin, #consequences, #solution, #reconciliation

Scripture for Saturday, April 1 (4/1) & Update on Threatened Brother

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn church, Daily, death, faith, governments, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, judging, persecution, power, prayer, Satan, Saved from hell, worshipLeave a comment

Update on our brother in the Middle East whose life has been threatened:  He is in hiding, but decided not to flee to the mountains. If/when caught, he will stand and defend his faith.  In the meantime, he has sent his wife and children away and notified his oldest son to contact me if he is imprisoned or killed. Keep praying mightily for your brother. 

Note what the scripture is for today.  I wrote it ten years ago.

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-MediumThe scripture for today, April 1, is Ephesians 4:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Jesus sometimes offended people. His apostles sometimes offended people. Specifically, the Apostle Paul sometimes offended people, and as he wrote he told people how to get to heaven God’s way instead of man’s way (which is impossible anyway).

But did it stop the Christians from telling people about the way to escape hell and go to heaven? Never. They loved people so much, they were willing to take insults and persecution and imprisonment and even death in the hopes that their persistent love would eventually lead to people becoming Christians and being saved from eternal hell. They knew their calling as Christians.

How about us today? Do we live a life worthy of our calling as Christians by standing up for Jesus and reaching out to the lost, regardless of the cost? Or do we cower and use the excuse, “Once people see my godly life, they will ask me how to be saved”?  How many times do the lost really do that?

Let us stand tall as brave soldiers of the Lord. Let us march into enemy territory and do everything we can to snatch the lost out of the jaws of Satan.

No matter what they do to us.

 

#martyrdom, #faith, #preaching, #teaching, #SavingSouls, #SpreadingTheWord, #PowerOfGospel, #cost, #CountingCost, #persecution, #prisoner, #DefendingChrist, #JawsOfSatan, #heaven, #hell

Scripture for Thursday, March 30 (3/30)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, church, Daily, death, good works, Inspirational, judging, power, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, March 30, is John 3:30 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“He must become greater; I must become less.”

This is John the Baptist speaking. He had a great following. People “were constantly coming to be baptized” by John (3:23). He had it made! But at the height of his popularity, he said, “I will be stepping down soon.”

Can you do this? Are you at the height of your popularity, perhaps at a club, an organization, church? Could you step down if someone more qualified than you came along? Or will you say, “I started this _______, and I was here first, so this is my project!” ?

Let us constantly look at our motives for doing good ~ whether selfish ambition or love for others. 1st Corinthians 13:1 says that, even if I offer my body to be burned and do not have love, it benefits me nothing.

Jesus warned, “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Father in heaven, help me look at myself the way You do.

 

 

#ego, #pride, #selfishness, #ambition, #credit, #acclaim, #power, #recognized, #praised, #applauded, #popular, #StepDown, #reward, #humility

Scripture for Wednesday, March 29 (3/29)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, death, faith, Inspirational, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, March 29, is Luke 3:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“…the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi….”

Who in the world were these five men: Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat and Levi? Some were named after famous Jews, but no one in this list was famous himself. In fact, nothing else is said in the Bible about any of these men. They’re just a single name in a single but long list.
Who were they that they earned even one brief mention in the Bible?

They were ancestors of Jesus on his human side. What else? They were born and survived long enough to have sons. Not important at the time? No, but eventually it was.

We read obituaries and sometimes wonder about our own. Our whole life reduced to born, married, had a job, had children, died. That’s it. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just another one of billions in the world having come and gone.

Hold on! Maybe not!

Maybe your life, as ordinary as it seems now, will someday serve a greater purpose through a descendant or someone you become friends with. In a later generation ~ maybe ten or twenty generations from now ~ someone may do something extremely important for souls of the world. And it was made possible because of your “unordinary life” way back in the early twenty-first century when you survived one day at a time. So, keep on keeping on!

 

 

#survival, #alone, #lonely, #ordinary, #obituary, #list, #generations, #life, #value, #name, #unimportant

Scripture for Tuesday, March 28 (3/28)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, death, faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, judging, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, March 28, is Mark 3:28f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

This is confusing to many because we aren’t sure what it means to speak against the Holy Spirit. Jesus clarifies it in John 14:17 where he said he was going to send to us another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. And in John 17:17 he said God’s Word is Truth ~ the Bible.

If we refuse to believe what is in the Bible, then we are going to refuse to believe in a Savior and refuse to repent of sins. These things are unforgivable because we have no belief in Jesus or the existence of sin, and no remorse.

Have you ever tried reading the Bible through in a year? It will fill you with an amazing amount of knowledge and understanding, all from the Holy Spirit.

 

 

#blaspheme, #HolySpirit, #Bible, #Scripture, #Counselor, #WordOfTruth, #SpiritOfTruth, #Truth, #Sin, #Savior, #Heaven, #Hell

Scripture for Sunday, March 19 (3/19)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, death, faith, governments, healing, Inspirational, judging, persecution, power, prayer, Satan, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

0-Mefiboset-KINDLE MediumThe scripture for today, March 19, is Habakkuk 3:19 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

”The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”

The little book of Habakkuk was written during a period when the leaders were oppressing the poor. Habakkuk complains to God, “Why do you tolerate wrong?”. God answers that he’s getting ready to put an end to it. Not satisfied, Habakkuk pretty much asks the same question again. God tells him to put in writing a prophecy of what God plans to do to the oppressors.

Wow! God’s really going to do that? Habakkuk’s faith is renewed. His faith is strong again. So, strong he feels as though he is “on the heights.”

Everyone grows impatient when leaders are doing wrong. But we must understand that we see just part of the problem and that God is waiting until the right time to put an end to it ~ a time when people are so desperate with helplessness that even unbelievers can’t help but know God intervened.

So, when times come in your own life that everything seems to be going wrong, read the little book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament and know that God is still in control.  He has not forgotten you. He has special plans for you.

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Scripture for Thursday, March 16 (3/16)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, blessings, death, Death of Jesus Christ, faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, March 16, is John 3:16 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 Many people have heard there is such a scripture as John 3:16, but they do not know what it says. And among those who do know what it says, many do not understand what Jesus dying on the cross has to do with going to heaven.

It is important for us to read the entire Bible so we can understand the isolated scripture

s we hear or read. There was a song written several years ago called, “No Man Is An Island.” No scripture is an island either. Just as every person influences other people in some way, every scripture influences other scriptures.

The meaning of John 3:16? Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is [spiritual] death.” Jesus, the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God, died spiritually and physically in our place for our sins, so that we would not die forever. Jesus paid the wages (the debt) to Satan for us. Jesus redeemed us (bought us back out of hell). Such an amazing scripture ~ John 3:16.

There are other amazing scriptures in the Bible. Give them a try.

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Scripture for Sunday, March 5 (3/5)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, Death of Jesus Christ, faith, forgiveness, healing, Heaven, Inspirational, Satan, Saved from hell, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, March 5, is Titus 3:5 in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

God is perfectly good and cannot dwell with imperfection. How, then, can we ever live with him in his heaven?  After all, as hard as we try, we cannot be perfect. But God loved us so much that he solved our dilemma. He sent his Son to live that perfect life that is impossible for us to live.

Then, his perfect “Lamb of God” took our punishment for our sins by paying the fine. Romans 3:23 says the wages of sin is death ~ physical death (separation from this world) and spiritual death (separation from God). Jesus took all of God’s anger, terrors, rage, fury saved up from the beginning of time and about to burst ~ all hurled down on sin to destroy it. That would have destroyed us, but Jesus took it all for us. And that included being completely separated from God. At the worst of it, Jesus cried out to God, “Why have your FORSAKEN me?” That’s when Jesus died spiritually for awhile. It was we who deserved to be forsaken by God.

Sin and its power now destroyed, God said if we do as Jesus did and follow what he said, he will consider us perfect also. Such amazing, amazing love!

And this washing mentioned here. It is interesting that here is the “washing of rebirth”, for in Acts 22:16 it says, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins” and in Romans 6:4, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism in order that…we too may live a new life [rebirth].”  God took care of the hard part. He gave us the easy part.

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Scripture for Monday, February 27 (2/27)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, death, faith, healing, Inspirational, judging, prayer, Satan, Thanksgiving, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, February 27, is Jeremiah 2:27 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Mefiboset-KINDLE Medium“ ‘Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,’ declares the Lord.”

People sometimes blame God for bad things happening in their life that are no fault of their own. They don’t really want to blame God because they want to think God loves them. But there is no one else to blame. No one else to blame? Oh, yes, there is. There is Satan. We tend to forget Satan is out there too. It is Satan who causes bad to happen, not God.

Is that what you’ve done lately ~ blame God for bad happening, then rebel against him? Or do you know someone who is going through many problems not of their doing or choosing? Are they blaming God and rebelling against him? Help them. Remind them of Satan.

People want to blame someone. They will be relieved to be reminded that Satan exists. Now they can put the blame where it belongs.

Let us not blame God for the bad. Instead, let us thank Him for the good.

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#problems, #troubles, #tragedies, #blame, #accuse, #charge, #love, #Satan, #curses, #blessings