Monday 7/23 ~ Have you been kidnapped and held for ransom?

The scripture for today, July 23, is 1st Corinthians 7:23 in the New Testament of the Bible.

“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.”

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailWho were you bought from? Satan. God told Adam and Eve the day they sinned their soul would die. Satan is the source of death. When we sin, he holds us hostage.  I Timothy 2:6 says Jesus paid the ransom to free us from Satan.  “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

God loved you so much, he put his words in a human body. Why? Hebrews 2:14 says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.”

Then God told the world through his Bible that, if you will believe this really happened and follow his will for you, he will consider you perfect through the blood of Jesus and eligible to enter his perfect home ~ heaven.

But it is not automatic. Romans 6 speaks a lot of who we are slaves to and how to break those chains and come under the umbrella of what Jesus did for mankind.

You were bought a great price ~ the blood of Jesus Christ. On Sundays ~ the day he came back to life and overcame that terrible soul and body death for you ~ where are you? Who do you worship?

~~BUYlink for featured book:  amzn.to/Shadow-Death

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Saturday 7/21 ~ How about teaching your teachers?

Our scripture for today, July 21 (7/21), is Matthew 7:21ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Acts of the Apostles-Cover-Thumbnail“Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ “

There are hundreds of denominations/sects out there all contradicting each other. It’s impossible for them all to be right. We cannot all be on different roads going to the same place. We cannot all be pleasing God if we decide opposing things please him.

We can never rely on what someone else says just because they look and act holy and say all the right holy words and phrases and pray such holy-sounding prayers. We must never rely on our religious leaders to tell us what to believe. Shall we take their opinion or God’s opinion?

Romans 10:1 in the Bible mentions some people who had a lot of zeal for God, but were lost because it was not according to the proper knowledge.

Well, how do you get God’s opinion? Read the Bible for yourself! Use a concordance (lists every word in the Bible and every scripture with that word) and look up your chosen subject.  Then, having found the truth, why not go back to the religious leaders in love and try to teach your teachers? Some just might listen to you.

~~BUYLINK for BOOK:  amzn.to/Acts-Of-Apostles

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Friday 7/20 ~ Who paid the ransom?

The scripture for today, July 20 (7/20), is Ecclesiastes 7:20 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”

Many people believe if we don’t murder or steal, and if we help people poorer than ourselves, and aren’t mean to our family, God will have no choice but to let us into heaven. But it only takes one sin to be a sinner

God ~ who is Perfect Goodness ~ cannot dwell with sin. Mankind has never figured out a way to be perfectly good.

God said in the Garden of Eden that the moment we sin, our soul dies. Satan holds us for ransom. I Peter 1:18-19 says, “…knowing that you were not ransomed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

Jesus became that perfectly good person (Hebrews 4:15) ~ that perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29). Then he paid the terrible ransom to free us from Satan. But, it does no good if we do not believe he did this. We cannot despise Jesus and say he is too demanding. Our part is the easy part.

All he asks is that we love him, thank him, worship him, follow his examples and his all commands (there aren’t many). Then Satan can no longer hold us hostage. God the Father will consider us perfect too. Then we will be accepted into heaven.

–Buylink for BOOK:  amzn.to/Shadow-of-Death

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Monday 7/9 ~ How long did you say it was?

The scripture for today, July 9 (7/9), is Deuteronomy 7:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-REV-Cover-No Logo-KINDLE-lg-thumbnail“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

Our amazing God! He loved our great great grandparents and He will love our great great grandchildren. The average age of having children is 30. Therefore, if we took this literally, 1000 generations would be 30,000 years. In that case, we’ve only just begun.

If taken figuratively, 10 to the Jews meant all-inclusiveness, and 1000 is 10 x 10 x 10 or all-inclusiveness times all inclusiveness times all-inclusiveness. This means God will love us all inclusive years, times all inclusive years, times all inclusive years ~ for eternity!

And God gives everything we ask of him if it is good for us. All he asks in return is for us to give the little bit that he asks of us ~ faithfulness and keeping his few commandments. Then he will help us escape this world for his world. What a small price for us to pay and what grand arrangement!

~~~BUYLINK to eBOOK and discount PAPER:  http://bit.ly/RevelationLoveLetter

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Tuesday 7/3 ~ Gear up and take that leap!

The scripture for today, July 3 (7/3) is Acts 7:3 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Thumbnail” ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ “

This is part of a speech by Christian Stephen soon after the church began. He was reminding the Jewish leaders how God told their ancestor Abraham to leave his religion, home and family, and move to where God had something special for him ~ to begin the Jewish nation and religion.

But when Stephen got to the part where now God wanted his audience to leave the Jewish religion and move on to a still better one ~ the Christian religion ~ they were outraged. They were not like Abraham; they did not want to change. So, not liking the message, they killed the messenger. These religious leaders stoned Stephen to death.

It is hard to change. It takes a great big “leap of faith.” But when God does the recommending, we can know he has something special in mind for us. So gear up and take that leap!

~~~BUYLINK for eBOOK and discount PAPER;  http://bit.ly/stephenmartyr

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Friday 6/29 ~ I know what I believe is true because…

The scripture for today, June 29 (6/29), is John 6:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

365 Dat by Date-Front-Thumbnail“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent.’ “

Yes, it is true that the gift of salvation is just that ~ a gift, a free gift. And it is true that you cannot be good enough to earn salvation, because you don’t know how to be sinless, and heaven can only accept the perfectly sinless.

But at the same time, James 2:18 says “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” In other words, there are things you need to do to obtain salvation. You have to believe there is a gift for us somewhere, walk over to it, reach out, and grasp it.

Repenting is a work. And Jesus himself said believing (faith) is a work.

And how do you go about obtaining faith? By believing what other people tell you to believe? Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing/reading the Word of God ~ the Bible. It is going directly to God’s Words to find out for yourself. It takes a little bit of work to read through it. But then, you can know that what you believe is really what God said.

~~~BUYLINK for eBOOK and discount PAPER:  http://bit.ly/Daily-Scriptures

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Monday 6/25 ~ You may not understand but God does

The scripture for today. June 25 (6/25) is Matthew 6:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Thumbnail“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

Do you sometimes wonder how God can allow people to starve with such a promise as this?  Try to remember the Big Picture.

Remember the Jews being in slavery in Egypt for 400 years? They must have prayed thousands of times to be freed, but most died still in slavery, believing their prayers never had been answered. God had a greater plan for them ~ a plan to give them time to multiply from the original 70 people who went to Egypt to the over 3 million who left Egypt.

So, too, God has a Master Plan for each person and each nation. It is your assignment to hang on and keep believing in Him and that which you do not understand. That means you may have to sacrifice something important to you for a future generation. It may even mean sacrificing your life for a future generation.

You may not understand, but God always does.

~~~BUYLINK to eBOOK and discount PAPER:  http://bit.ly/stephenmartyr

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Thursday 6/14 ~ Are you willing to collect the wages?

The scripture for today, June 14 (6/14), is Numbers 6:14 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“There he is to present his offerings to the Lord…a year-old ewe-lamb without defect for a sin offering… “

A lot of people don’t understand what Jesus dying on a cross has to do with going to heaven. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death” ~ both physical and soul death. It is Satan who pays us our wages.  In Old Testament times, God intervened and allowed people to kill a perfect animal in their place whenever they sinned. But it was only a temporary fix because it is impossible for us to be perfect.

Finally, God the Word came to earth as a human, and John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God (John 1:29). Jesus was perfect; that is, he never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). Then he took the wages of sin from Satan and died as the perfect Lamb of God in our place ~ both physically (separation from people on earth) and spiritually (separation from God the Father). He even went a step further and miraculously came back to life!

Then God said, If you’ll believe and imitate Jesus, I will consider your debt paid in full and consider you perfect too (Romans 6). Then I’ll bring you back to life in heaven. How amazing! 

And, by the way, since he came back to life on Sunday, that’s what makes Sunday so special. It’s an I’m-sorry-you-had-to-die-for-my-sins Day.  It’s the “Do-this-in-remembrance-of-me” Lord’s Supper Day.  It’s a Gratitude Day.

~~~BUYLINK to eBOOK and discount PAPER:   http://bit.ly/ShadowDeath

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Tuesday 5/29 ~ Are you being persecuted?

The scripture for today, May 29 (5/29), is Acts 5:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Hero Alone-COVER-KINDLE-LgThumbnail“Peter and the other apostles replied, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’ “

There are many countries in the world today where a person is beaten, imprisoned and/or killed for believing in Jesus Christ or owning a Bible. They must stay in the background and try to remain relatively unnoticed in order to survive. But their faith continues unabated, even amidst their fears. The church has survived persecution for 2000 years.

Even if they’re not killed, they are by-passed for promotion at work or fired, they are harassed when out shopping, they are threatened in public transportation, they are turned down for a good education, and they must tolerate derision just walking down the street or waiting at a bus stop. But their faith continues unabated, even amidst their fears.

Such events are usually covered up by their governments and news media, and the good people of those countries never know it is happening. There are various newsletters on the internet about the persecuted that you can sign up for. One is at

http://www.persecution.org that sends news as soon as it happens. Let us daily hold up these brave souls in our prayers ~ those who obey God rather than men.

In eternity, God will deal with the persecutors.  In eternity, it will be to God the persecuted will turn to, not men.

 

~~BUYLINK for eBOOK and discount PAPER:  http://bit.ly/HeroesAlone

Tuesday 5/15 ~ They’re disappearing

The scripture for today, May 15 (5/15), is Ecclesiastes 5:15 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Titus-Cover-Lg Thumb.jpg“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.”

As most people enter their senior years, they finally understand this verse. In their youth, they struggled to get jobs and status and things. Some accomplished it and some didn’t. But in the senior years….

when health is gradually declining….

 the world is passing them by….

 and they are sitting in their chair most of the time

….the main thing people look back on is what difference they made in their world, and how they did or did not help people important to them.

Often in their senior years when their income goes down and they are….

living only on a small pension…

and unable to keep their big house, and fancy car, and impressive stuff

….they realize they are still the same person inside regardless of what they own.

Ask a senior what they want for a birthday present. It is not likely to be things. It is likely to be time spent with a loved one or something special given to someone in need.

What about you?  How much time are you spending on things?

~~~BUYLINK for ebook and discount paper:  http://bit.ly/Bk8-TitusAristocrat