Category: faith

Scripture for Thursday, February 2 (2/2)

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

The scripture for today, February 2, is Matthew 2:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

000-BOOK 1-STAR SONG-PRINT COVER-Small“[the Magi/Wise Men] asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

There are people who believe the “star of Bethlehem” was in the east. But the star wasn’t in the east; the wise men (Magi) were in the east.

Many believe the star led the wise men the whole way. But Matthew 2:9 & 10 says, “After they had heard the king [Herod], they went on their way, and the star they HAD seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

The wise men saw the star while they were in the east and headed in the direction it came from. After they were in Jerusalem, the star reappeared ~ the star they HAD seen in the east. They rejoiced when they saw the star again, not because it had been with them the whole time, but because it had reappeared.

There are so many things about the Bible that we have heard all our life and just assume are true. Investigate things for yourself. Never take a teaching about the Bible for granted. You are smart. Check things out yourself.

#Bible, #Trust, #Gullible, #Naive, #Examination, #WiseMen, #BethlehemStar, #Christmas, #Herod, #Orient, #Magi

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, faith, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, Life of Christ, prayer, Thanksgiving, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, February 1, is Mark 2:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 5-FLOOD GATES-Cover-Print“A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.”

Just think of it. Jesus coming home. The place where his family lives. The familiar places he’d seen walking around town in earlier years. The familiar faces. Hearing a voice in a crowd and recognizing it and automatically knowing s/he is a neighbor. Being able to walk through a market almost blindfolded because the same shops are in their same places selling their same goods.

Has Jesus come home to your heart? Is it familiar to him? Does he recognize you? When he hears your prayers, does he automatically know who you are? Can he walk beside you as you walk through life, knowing the places you will be visiting? Does he live with you?

When he is in your heart, is he home?

#Jesus, #DailyLife, #Stranger, #Familiar, #Friend, #Home, #Heart

Scripture for Sunday, January 29 (1/29)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, faith, good works, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, prayerLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 29, is Colossians 1:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy which so powerfully works in me.”

Wow! Hyper-active Paul, Paul who preached even while in jail, Paul who always went back to preaching after he’d been beaten and told not to, Paul with the A-type personality said he got all that energy from Jesus Christ (see verse 28).

Who provides your energy? It depends on what you are being driven to do. It depends on what consumes you. It depends on what you’re spending your time doing. It depends on what is on your mind all the time.

Think about it today. On what things do you use the energy of Jesus?

#Energy, #Power, #Selfishness, #ATypePersonality, #Selfishness, #GoodWorks, #Souls, #Others

Scripture for Saturday, January 28 (1/28)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, faith, forgiveness, good works, healing, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, judging, prayer, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 28, is 1st Chronicles 1:28 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.”

Are you a parent with a grown or nearly-grown child who is going in the wrong direction? Have you tried everything you can think of, and nothing is working? Do you know in your heart that you have been a good example and things shouldn’t have turned out as they have?

Abraham has been called the Father of the Faithful. Yet he had one son who followed Jehovah ~ Isaac ~ and one son who followed idols ~ Ishmael. Certainly, Abraham tried everything he could to “talk some sense” into Ishmael. Certainly, he prayed earnestly for Ishmael. So what went wrong?

Just as God has given each of us free will, our children also have free will. Just as God will never force us to follow him, we cannot force our children to follow God. You did not refrain from having your children because they may have difficulties in their life, and neither did God. And when our children rebel and break our hearts, imagine what God goes through when we rebel and break his heart.

Who knows? Perhaps your child will return to God some day in your old age, or even after you have died. If your child deep down has a good heart, that is enough for God to work with. Keep hope alive.

#Children, #FreeWill, #Families, #Adolescence, #Astray, #Hope, #Teaching, #Training, #BrokenHeart, #GodsHeart

 

Scripture for Tuesday, January 24 (1/24)

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

The scripture for today, January 24, is Jude 1:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

REV-Cover-Kindle“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy ~ “

God is perfect, and so cannot dwell with faults and imperfection. We have faults. Romans 3:23 says everyone sins. And Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. But God always has wanted us to live with him. What a dilemma!

God solved our problem at great expense. He sent His Son, Jesus, to earth who lived the faultless life for us. Then God offered His perfect Son, His only Son, Jesus, to die in our place.

After that, God told the world that He would consider us “without fault” vicariously through Jesus. He’s already paid the penalty for our sins. All we have to do is believe He did and follow his instructions to keep us out of hell.

How amazing ~ God’s love for us!

#Crucifixion, #Sin, #Punishment, #Wages, #Forgiveness, #Heaven, #Hell, #Satan, #Jesus

Scripture for Saturday, January 21 (1/21)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, death, Death of Jesus Christ, faith, healing, Inspirational, judging, persecution, SatanLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 21, is Job 1:21 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

changes-in-worship-cover-medium“ ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ “

Job had every reason to turn against God. In one day his entire wealth was stolen from him, nearly all his servants were killed by an invading army, and all his children died in a storm. Why hadn’t God protected him if he loved him so much?

We often forget that Satan exists also. Just remember, whatever Satan does, God can undo.

On a physical level, Satan is the accuser (Revelation 12:10), but God is the forgiver. Satan can cause us to get sick, but God can heal. Satan can cause us to die, but God can bring us back to life. Satan can make us miserable in this world, but God can take us to a better world.

Shall we leave God to fight Satan alone? We were made in his image.  And how do we fight Satan? Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

On a spiritual level, sometimes we are not only separated from material things but sometimes we are forced to be separated from other Christians. What can be the result? God’s kingdom arises in yet another place. James wrote to the Jewish Christians “scattered among the nations” (James 1:1). Peter wrote to “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered.…” (I Peter 1:1).

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” There’s more….

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
Neither angels nor demons,
Neither the present nor the future,
Nor any powers,
Neither height nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation
Will be able to separate us from the
Love of God
That is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:37-39)

How can we be “more than conquerors” unless we have something to conquer? How can we have “victory in Jesus” unless we have something to be victorious over?

Each of us has periodic assignments from God. What bad thing has happened in your life lately? That is your assignment.

Or, must Jesus bear the cross alone?

#Troubles, #Trials, #Problems, #Loss, #Death, #Tragedy, #Lament, #Conquer, #Assignment, #Satan, #God, #Overcome, #Love, #Desertion

Scripture for Friday, January 20 (1/20)

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

The scripture for today, January 20, is 2nd Peter 1:20f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Isn’t this interesting? It’s a definition of prophecy. Prophecy is Scripture. It isn’t just telling the future. It’s telling the mind of God. Sometimes in the Old Testament God warned his people that if they did so-and-so, this would happen, but if they did such-and-such, that would happen.

But ultimately all prophecy was telling people how much God loved them and wanted them, in the long run, to be happy. The Old Testament has much of that in it, and all the New Testament does. It is your Creator’s Words.

You are so blessed that you do not have to guess what is on God’s mind. Many other religions have to guess ~ Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on. But you have God’s very own words in black and white to read over and over whenever you like ~ prophecy which is Scripture.  

Read it. Absorb it. Love it. It was written by the Lover of your Soul.

#Bible, #Scripture, #Prophecy, #WordsOfGod, #HolySpirit, #MindOfGod, #Truth

 

Scripture for Thursday, January 9 (1/9)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, faith, forgiveness, good works, Inspirational, judging, persecutionLeave a comment

 The scripture for today, January 19, is James 1:19a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-COVER-KINDLE“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

There was a book published a few years ago entitled, Hurt People Hurt People. Have you ever wanted to say something like, “How dare you think you know how bad I feel!” or “How dare you think you understand the  ordeal I went through!” or “How dare you treat me like that!”?  Those are accusing words. And what do they accomplish?

We may feel justified in explaining how bad we were treated by someone. But, in reality, it makes the hurt keep going and going and going…. Perhaps this is a cycle you’ve been in for a long time with someone. Who is going to stop the cycle?

Satan is the accuser (Revelation 12:10).  God is the forgiver.  Even Jesus forgave his killers. When we have been hurt, let us be ready to listen to the other person’s hurt instead of accuse. And in the process, “bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

#Sympathy, #Anger, #Accusing, #Listening, #Hurt, #Forgiveness, #Humility

Scripture for Tuesday, January 17 (1/17)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, faith, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 17, is James 1:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 4-FOLK HERO-COVER“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Do you sometimes feel slighted because other people get more gifts on special occasions (or even between special occasions) than you do?

No need to feel that way. Christians get the goods ones. Christians get the perfect ones. We get them all! And our heavenly Father will never stop showering us with those “good gifts,” those “perfect gifts.”

These gifts are good and perfect because they are forever gifts. And what can be better than that?

#gift, #present, #gratitude

Scripture for Sunday, January 15 (1/15)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, faith, good works, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 15, is Galatians 1:15f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles….”

Isn’t this amazing! God knows before you are born what you will be doing for him later in life. He does not force you to do so, for we have free will. God knew Paul’s future ~ that he would become a Christian. So he set him apart to preach among the Gentiles (non-Jews).

God knows ahead of time whether you are willing to obey what he tells you to do in his Bible and not what other people tell you to do. If you are willing, then he has work set aside for you.

You may not think your life has been very exciting. You may be waiting for God to give you a big important job to do for him. But the truth is, you ~ in your seemingly mundane life ~ may already be doing what God set aside for you to do.

Never underestimate yourself and what God can accomplish through you by his grace.

#Foreknowledge, #Assignment, #ChristianLife, #Birth, #LifeWork, #GraceOfGod