Tag: salvation

Friday 3/9 ~ Open the door to the mystery and step inside

On By In church, Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, Saved from hell, victory2 Comments

The scripture for today, March 9, is Ephesians 3:9f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

07-SHADOW-ChildsCartoonSmall“To make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ever wonder why God created the world? Here it is:  The “mystery”.  The” mystery” can be discovered by making a chart each time “mystery” appears in the Bible along with who understands it and who does not.

The “mystery” as expanded upon in this letter to the church in Ephesus, is Jesus paying the ransom for us sinners and setting us free from Satan.  It is complete and full forgiveness.

Who does God desire to explain this “mystery” to? Rulers and authorities in heavenly realms ~ angels, demons, and Satan. You see, angels don’t seem to get it, and Satan does not want anyone to be forgiven.

Satan spends a lot of time and energy convincing people good is bad and bad is good. He doesn’t want to be the only one going to hell. And he wants to prove he is stronger than God. But even when Satan is successful and we sin, God just negates it and forgives us. There is nothing that Satan can do that God cannot undo. That enrages Satan.

Oh, the grand “mystery”.  It is God’s love demonstrated by the death and resurrection of his Son so we can be set free. This “mystery” is revealed through the church who has believed it. Open the door to the “mystery” and step inside. God is there waiting for you.  And he is smiling.

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Scripture for Sunday, October 8 (10/8)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn good works, Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hellLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 8 (10/8), is Romans 10:8f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Indeed, the word is in our mouth through confession of our faith in Jesus, and in our heart for truly believing it and not just saying it.

Some say we are not saved by works, and it is true in the sense that we cannot go around doing so many good works that God will feel obligated to take us into his home. We can never be good enough because we still sin and those sins need to be washed away.

In the sense that we do not have to do anything to be saved, it is not true. Jesus took care of that impossible part. But for our part, he said faith is a work: “Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent’ ” (John 6:29).

To many faithful Christians, there are times in our life that faith is indeed hard work. We are beset with so many problems that we begin to wonder, “Does Jesus really care, as he claimed?”.

Let us continue to work at our faith. We will have our ups and our downs. Sometimes our faith will be strong and sometimes weak. But remember, even when we doubt God, God never doubts us.

Scripture for Tuesday, October 3 (10/3)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, judging, Saved from hell, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 3 (10/3), is John 10:3ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 8-ComeFlyWithMe-Cover-Medium-New“The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out….I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”

First of all, we use the term saved/salvation so loosely, we tend to forget what we are being saved from. We are being saved from hell! This is not a minuscule matter.

Second, how do we avoid hell? Through Jesus! This is the only way.

How many of us have been to funerals where the deceased was preached into heaven? So many people believe they are “good enough” or “not too bad” and so God would be horrible to not let them into heaven. Such people will climb in through windows so to speak into heaven as the “thieves and robbers” Jesus referred to.

But heaven is God’s home, not ours. He has a gate into it, just like we have doors on our house. Just like we are not obligated to open the gate or door into our home to just anyone, God is not obligated to open his gate to just anyone. Our door and God’s gate are there for a reason.  Let us enter heaven through the gate ~ Jesus.

Then God will smile and say, “Welcome home.”

Scripture for Thursday, September 28 (9/28)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, Heaven, Inspirational, prayer, Saved from hell, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 28 (9/28), is Hebrews 9:28 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

campbell-cover-kindle-lg-medium“So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Waiting is hard to do. We wait for relatives to arrive at our house for a visit. We wait for our next promotion. We wait for babies to be born. We wait for enough money to buy new clothes.

But what about waiting for something that we have never seen? Waiting for something we believe in by faith? Waiting an entire lifetime?

All the more reason to keep our eyes on the Word, our activities in good works, and our hearts on our Creator and Savior. It’s a long spiritual walk. But just keep walking, and keep walking, and keep walking until some day in the distant future you walk right through the gates of heaven.

Then, when you look back from eternity, you will say, “The wait wasn’t so long after all.”

Scripture for Saturday, September 16 (9/16)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, good works, Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hell, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 16 (9/16), is 1st Corinthians 9:16 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

The Apostle Paul said this. An Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, said almost the same thing in 20:9: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in! Indeed, I cannot!”

Are we so full of the Word of God that we have to share it?

I knew a lady once who took several church bulletins with her every Sunday. Then during the week, if she heard a conversation at a bus stop, she’d interrupt them and say, “I couldn’t help but overhear you. Perhaps God in your life would help.” Then she’d hand them a bulletin. She’d do the same thing at a fast-food place like McDonald’s, or in the waiting room of a doctor. She could not hold it in. She had to share, even if it was with strangers.

Today, tell someone God loves them. Some people have never been told that. Some people need to hear it again. And you?  Do you need to tell it because you cannot hold it in?

 

Scripture for Monday, September 4 (9/4)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, death, Heaven, Inspirational, judging, prayer, Saved from hell, Scripture, truth3 Comments

The scripture for today, September 4 (9/4), is Daniel 9:4 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands….’ “

A lot of people in the world think that God should feel obligated to take them to heaven. After all, they are fairly good, and better than some. God couldn’t possibly in all good conscience turn them away.

Yet, their entire life they resent God. Mostly they don’t like his commands; they don’t want anyone telling them what to do or not do. Or they claim to love God but create their own commands that just aren’t in the Bible, making themselves God.

Ultimately, heaven is God’s home, not ours. He is not obligated to invite anyone into His home. Besides, only perfection can live with God who is perfect. It only takes one sin to make us an imperfect sinner.

So how do we become perfect? That’s where God’s awesomeness is demonstrated. By following Jesus who was perfect and never sinned, and obeying Jesus’ few commands, God considers us perfect by proxy.

If we don’t have time for God, he doesn’t have time for us. If we don’t heed God’s Words, he doesn’t heed our words. It’s so simple to understand. Do we believe it?

 

Scripture for Saturday, August 12 (8/12)

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

The scripture for today, August 12 (8/12), is John 8:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-THEY MET JESUS-Medium-front cover“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ “

Jesus had only about six months left to live. He knew the religious leaders were after his life out of jealousy. Before going to Jerusalem, he told his brothers, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me” (John 7:7). Knowing people were wanting to kill him, he slipped into Jerusalem after everyone else got there (John 7:10, 14). Then suddenly he appeared in the middle of the Temple complex ~ the size of many football fields. He knew he was safe as long as there was a crowd.

Jesus answered some private questions, and then “he cried out, ‘You know me! You know where I am from!’ ” (John 7:28). They knew he was born in Bethlehem as predicted.  Still, they denied it.

Every day of this feast, a priest would ceremonially pour out some water to represent the water that poured out of the rock when the Jews wandered in the wilderness. But on the last day, the priest did not do this, for it represented their ancestors finally arriving in the Promised Land. It was on this last day of the feast that Jesus “stood and said in a loud voice…  ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him!’ ” (John 7:38f)

First thing the next morning at dawn he returned to the Temple court.  Maybe it was a beautiful sunrise. When the sun was up and the crowds returned, he shouted something else to everyone, “I am the light of the world!” (John 8:12).

He had compared himself to the water ceremony of the day before, and now he was comparing himself to the new dawn. There he was. God the Son crying out to humanity. Come to me! I am doing everything I can to help you! Won’t you come? Please listen to me! Please come! I can save you from hell!!!

Such stubborn love.

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#light, #water, #darknesss, #thirst, #safety, #salvation, #hell, #heaven

Scripture for Friday, July 21 (7/21)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, church, faith, forgiveness, healing, Heaven, Inspirational, judging, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

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

changes-in-worship-cover-medium“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 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.

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#denominations, #sects, #divisions, #opinions, #miracles, #ReligiousLeaders, #religions, #zeal, #misguided, #misinformed, #lies, #knowledge, #concordance, #truth, #teachers, #leaders, #Bible, #worship, #salvation, #heaven, #hell, #enthusiasm, #church

Scripture for Thursday, June 29 (6/29)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, blessings, faith, governments, Inspirational, ScriptureLeave a comment

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

Cover-Kindle-small“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 we cannot be good enough to earn salvation, because we don’t know how to be perfect, and heaven can only accept the perfect.

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 we need to do to obtain salvation. We 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 we go about obtaining faith? By believing what other people tell us to believe? Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing/reading the Word of God ~ the Bible. Faith in the right thing is the result of going directly to God’s Words to find out for ourselves.

It takes a little bit of work to read through the Bible. But then, we can know what we believe is really true.

 

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#faith, #belief, #work, #free, #gift, #salvation, #Bible

 

Scripture for Monday, May 1 (5/1)

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

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

0-Luke-Slave&Physician KINDLE Cover“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Of course, if we do not have faith in Jesus, we will not obey any of his commands. He said in John 15:14, “You are my friends IF you do what I command.”

Some people say we are not saved by works, and this is true in the sense that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and the wages we earn for sinning is soul death (Romans 6:23).

But faith does lead to works. In fact, Jesus himself said that faith/belief itself is a work (John 6:29). And James 2:18 says we prove our faith by works.

Yes, it is a beautiful thing that we are saved by the Grace of God and the Death of Jesus. That was their part. Our part is to believe it, accept it, and actively follow it.

That, too, is beautiful.

 

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#just, #unjust, #holy, #unholy, #faith, #grace, #works, #death, #life, #heaven, #hell, #salvation, #condemed