Therefore, prepare your minds for actions, be self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13 We just got done celebrating the birth of Jesus. His whole purpose for his birth was to be the sacrifice for our sins. He is our hope as we wait for His return. As we wait for His return, we need to keep our minds prepared. We need to be mentally alert. One stays mentally alert when we stay in God’s word, memorizing God’s word. We have to be obedient to God’s Word. We need to discipline in the ways of God’s…
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Rejoice With Suffering
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that sufferings produce endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5 Who wants to rejoice in our sufferings? Most people complain and whine about their sufferings. Have you ever rejoiced in your suffering? Have you found joy in our sufferings? I don’t pray for sufferings, trials, etc. However, I do stop and realize through that time; God is teaching me something. Our attitude can help with the suffering. If you remember…
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Put Your Hope In God
Why you downcast, O My Soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my savior, and my God. Psalms 43:5 Life can be hard. It can be depressing. People can zap all your joy out of you. Life experiences can weigh heavy on you. This can make a person’s soul feel down. We can get stuck there. However, we have to keep our hope in our Triune God. We have to trust in His plan for our life. He is not out to get us, to harm us, to hurt us. He is there to mold us, form us, to grow…
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Hope For The Future
“For I know the plans I have for you.” declares the Lord. “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 God’s will is on most Christians’ minds. We want to be obedient to his will. This thought seems to come to Seniors of high schoolers and college students. What should we do with our life? Where does God want us to be? I have a journey quite far in this life, and this verse has been a guiding post. I have gone through twists and turns to this life’s journey. I keep coming back to this verse…
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Hope
Therefore, since we have such hope, we are very bold. 2 Corinthians 3:12 Hope means a feeling, expectation, and desire for a certain thing to happen. What is your hope founded on? Bold means lack of hesitation or fear in the face of risk or danger. Paul-based his hope on the new covenant. His hope was in Christ Jesus. He refers to the gospel of the law in the earlier verses (You may want to read 1 Corinthians 3:1-10). Paul had confidence in the gospel of Christ. This was the ministry of the Spirit. He had confidence in eternal life through Christ. This was the ministry that showed…
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The Blessing of Divine Protection
He fills my life with good things. Psalm 103: 5 When you had an opportunity to serve others, did you turn it down because you were afraid of the risk? Do you fear things you can not control if you say yes to helping others or serving in a new ministry? Do you know what the root of this fear is? This fear stops us from doing what God has called us to do. I completely understand. When we serve others in any area of our lives, we are bound to get hurt. This is life. Yet, we have to remember to get back up…
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This Is My Commandment:Love Each Other
This is my command: Love each other. John 15:16-17 Have you ever realized that almost all lessons from God come full circle, back to love? I have. The bottom line to our life, the one commandment that God wants us to follow and do, is to love one another. How well are we really following this command in today’s society? Here comes the risk of grace. God went out on a limb to make us apart of His branch with the hope that we will bear fruit. When we should love others, we are showing the world that we are God’s disciples. There is…
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Appointed To Go
“I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit,” John 15:16-17 Today will focus on the verse above. Jesus revealed the purpose behind your “chosen-ness.” We all have a “go appointment.” How it looks for each of us will be different. We will go, where we will go, and what we’ll take with us will vary. The one thing we do have in common as Christ-followers is that we are appointed to go. The fruit we will bear in this appointment. Proverbs 11:30 says this: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise…
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Remaining In God-His Words Remain In You
“But If you remain in me and my words remain in you, . . . John 15:7 Do words matter to you? When people give you a compliment or a negative word, does it stay with you? Well, when we study God’s word, the bible, His words will remain in us. They take root and remain in us when we commit His word to memory when we sing His words, when we meditate on His words when we dig deeper to study His words when we hear His words through sermons, podcasts, and books. His words remain in us when we uplift others with His words. His word remains when…
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Hannah: Part Two
The Lord instructed Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to consecrate himself to the Lord, he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins. He is not to eat anything produced by the grapevine, from seeds to skin, during his vow. “You must not cut his hair throughout the time of his vow of consecration. He must be holy until the time is completed, during which he consecrates himself to the Lord; he is to let the hair of…