Thursday 4/5 ~ It cannot control your heart, your spirit, your soul

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

00-LUKE-KINDLE Cover-Thumbnail“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 which must be followed upon pain of death. Some nations deny religion completely and destroy anyone who believes anyway.

What kind of nation do you live in? As strong as your nation is, it cannot control your heart, your spirit, your soul. As strong as your nation seems to be, as much power as your government uses to control its citizens, it will not and cannot last forever.

Always remember, there is a forever nation ~ the nation of God, the kingdom of God. No matter what nation you live in, you can have “dual citizenship”. And by being a citizen of God’s forever kingdom, you will walk in it forever and ever and…

Tuesday 1/2 ~ Your soul is getting along well

The scripture for today, January 2 (1/2), is 3rd John 1:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

inside-cover-medium“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”

Our health may be bad, our finances in an upheaval, our home damaged by wind or water, our job about to be lost. But we can still smile.

We can still rejoice that our “soul is getting along well.”

When problems come into our life ~ and they do ~ remember the most important thing is your soul. No one and no thing can touch your soul as long as you are safe in the arms of Jesus. So when problems do come, you can still with confidence rejoice that your “soul is getting along well.”

Scripture for Monday 12/11 ~ Tired? Let your soul rise up

The scripture for today, December 11 (12/11), is Romans 12:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

Sometimes we get physically tired and our spiritual zeal wanes along with it. We just want to rest. Well, while we rest, we can always become prayer warriors.

When you see friends, ask them, “How was your week/day/month?” Don’t ask them how they are, for they will probably reply, “Fine.” But if you ask how their week has been, that gives them something to talk about. They’ll tell you of things they have been doing. Regardless of  what they say, reply, “May I pray for your success in….” or “I’d like to pray for your….”

What the world needs is prayer. Many people have never in their entire life heard someone tell them, “I am praying for you.” Be the first. Open up their lives to the love of God.

Prayer is powerful, especially when you are not praying for yourself all the time, but rather are praying for others. Do you have a prayer list? How many are on it besides yourself? Ten? Fifty? A hundred? Five hundred? Is that too many to cover? Not at all. How long does it take to read 500 names in earnest, sincere prayer?

You may say, “But just mentioning a name is so meaningless; it’s too simple. God expects me to explain all I know about this person’s problem and then do some begging.” No, he doesn’t; not with everyone. Prayer is so very, very powerful, that just mentioning a person’s name will bring this person before the very throne of God.

Then, even when you are tired and lack physical zeal, your soul can rise up with spiritual fervor to heaven itself.

 

Scripture for Tuesday, August 22 (8/22)

0-BK 4-FolkHero-Cover-Kindle-medium-newThe scripture for today, August 22 8:22), is Jeremiah 8:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”

There is a very beautiful African-American spiritual of unknown origin that many of us have sung. You may be able to hear it sung a cappella here: http://bit.ly/1PfHxrI

Here are the words to that compelling spiritual:

There is a balm in Gilead
 To make the wounded whole;
 There is a balm in Gilead
 To heal the sin sick soul.

 Sometimes I feel discouraged,
 And think my work’s in vain,
 But then the Holy Spirit
 Revives my soul again.

 If you can’t preach like Peter,
 If you can’t pray like Paul,
 Just tell the love of Jesus,
 And say He died for all.

 

Have a blessed day.

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Scripture for Friday, August 11 (8/11)

The scripture for today, August 11 (8/11), is Romans 8:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living IN YOU, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives IN YOU.”

But how do we know the Spirit is IN US? Death literally means separation. Physical death means separation from this body on earth. Spiritual death means separation of our soul from God who is Life. Whenever we sin, our soul dies. It happened to Adam and Eve who didn’t think God meant it when he said, “In the day you eat of the fruit, you will die.” They could no longer walk and talk with God in the garden because they were now separated from him, spiritually dead. With that eventually also came physical death.

There are certain spiritual laws that cannot be broken. For example, it is impossible for God to lie. It is also impossible for God to sin. Therefore, God cannot co-exist with sin. We sin. Another law is that sin demands death. For centuries, God allowed mankind to sacrifice an animal in their place to take their death punishment. But it was just a temporary fix. Finally, he sent the Word in bodily form to be sacrificed in our place and take our death punishment. Now, all we have to do is be IN JESUS which is accomplished by baptism: Galatians 3:26 says this.

What is the role of our spirit? When we die, we say our spirit has left our body. So, as long as we are alive, it means our spirit is still IN US We are not conscious of our spirit being in us; we just know it is because we are still alive. In the same way, when we become Christians God’s way (not man’s way), God’s Holy Spirit enters us and is IN US; Acts 2:38 says so. This is when we become spiritually alive; Romans 6:3-4 says so.

We are not overtly conscious of God’s Spirit being IN US, but we know it is true because our soul is now alive. Forever alive.

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Scripture for Sunday, July 23 (7/23)

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

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

Where were you bought from?  Hell.  Romans 3:23 says everyone sins and falls short of the glory of God. God, who is perfection, cannot dwell with us. It would be like light dwelling with darkness. It cannot be done.

But God loved you so much, he figured out a way to make you sinless and escape hell. He sent his son, Jesus, to live that perfect life that is impossible for you to live.  In the Garden of Eden, God said, “The moment you sin, you die.”  Yes, our souls die. Now, Satan holds us for ransom. Who can possibly pay it?  Only the perfect Jesus can and did. He took the blame for all your sins onto himself and died spiritually and physically in your place to buy you out of hell.

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 too. Until that happens, you are a slave to what men tell you to do ~ and of Satan and of hell.

You were bought at a great price ~ the blood of Jesus Christ.

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Scripture for Thursday, July 20 (7/20)

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

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-Medium“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. But mankind has never figured out a way to be perfectly good. Remember, what we earn with even one sin is death (Romans 6:23). So, in Old Testament days, God allowed people to kill perfect animals as a substitute for collecting the wages for our sins ~ temporarily.

Then Jesus came. He became that perfectly good person (Hebrews 4:15) ~ that perfect Lamb of God (John 1:29). Then he died in our place to collect our wages of death for our sins ~ permanently. Now all he asks is that we love him, thank him, worship him, follow his examples and all his commands (there aren’t many). Then, God the Father will consider us perfect too.

Then we will be accepted into heaven.

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Scripture for Wednesday, June 21 (6/21)

The scripture for today, June 21 (6/21), is Romans 6:21ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sometimes we do things we are ashamed of and decide God would be too ashamed of us to accept us as his child. But God can get rid of the shame, for he can forgive so completely that it is as though we never did those things.

Some people bristle from the phrase “slaves to God” or even slavery at all. But we’re all slaves to something ~ a big car, high position, beauty, a hobby, chasing after the opposite gender, reading, eating, music, sports, etc.  

In the Garden of Eden, God said the moment we sin, we die.  Death means “separation”, and in the case of sin, it means separation from God. God allowed us in Old Testament times to kill a perfect animal in our place, but we had to keep doing it throughout life. Then Jesus came as our perfect Lamb of God and allowed himself to be killed in our place.

The wages—death—were collected by Jesus, then he threw those wages away by coming back to life. We earn death, but eternal life is a gift.

Have you claimed your gift?

 

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Scripture for Thursday, June 8 (6/8)

The scripture for today, June 8 (6/8), is Romans 6:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”

We all want to live with Christ, but how do we die with him? Earlier in this same chapter, God inspired the writer to say this: “We died to sin….don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead…we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:2-4).

So, just as Christ did a physical action to die for us, we do a physical action to die with him. And just as Christ’s physical death overcame spiritual death, so our physical action overcomes our spiritual death. Then we are born again, or as this verse says, we “live a new life”

Some say this is water salvation. But it is no more water salvation than the cross was wood salvation. We live in a physical world and God has us sometimes do physical things in order to obtain a spiritual outcome. Our singing praise songs is a physical thing, but it is no less spiritual in its outcome. Our eating the Lord’s Supper is a physical thing, but it is no less spiritual in its outcome.

Have you died with Christ?

 

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Scripture for Saturday, June 3 (6/3)

The scripture for today, June 3 (6/3), is Romans 6:3f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life….because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

Oh! Baptism does all that? Some people say no, but God says yes. Indeed, in baptism we obtain a new life ~ are born again. And in baptism we are freed from sin ~ forgiven. Look at it this way: Just as Jesus died carrying our sins on himself, we die to our sinful nature ~ the part of us that sins and doesn’t care. Then just as Jesus was buried in his tomb, we are buried in our watery tomb. And just as Jesus came up out of his tomb the Savior, we come up out of our tomb the saved ~ with a “new life” and “freed from sin.”

Everything works together beautifully ~ hearing, believing, confessing, dying to sin, being baptized. What an honor and privilege we have been given to imitate what he did for us! And for these reasons!

 

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