LEAVING EVERYTHING BEHIND
Even today, there are still “tax collectors” among us who hear Jesus say, “Follow Me.” and, by grace, they leave it all behind to follow the One, True Savior.
Posts that reflect the biblical concept of choosing life (God’s Word) over death (the way of the world).
Even today, there are still “tax collectors” among us who hear Jesus say, “Follow Me.” and, by grace, they leave it all behind to follow the One, True Savior.
Before delving into my thoughts for this new year, I strongly urge you to read this passage (Luke 8:36-50) carefully and consider what is being said and all that transpires. The story, in brief: – Jesus is invited to dine with one of the Pharisees. – A woman sits at Jesus’ feet, weeping. = She …
Sadly it’s too easy for us to think of Jesus as a ‘superman’ of sorts (which is a terrible analogy any way you cut it!). When it comes to some of His miraculous works and His encounters with demons, we readily label Him “fully God”; whereas, other times, when He is troubled, or pensive, we see Him as “fully man”.
Luke’s gospel account is unique from the other 3 gospels in that it expresses the emotional depth surrounding Christ’s incarnation. So many people were directly affected by His birth: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Anna the prophetess, and Simeon the Godly priest who served at Jesus’ dedication, and they all show up in Luke’s account. One …
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:14 Boy, do we love the words of the heralding angels on the night of our Savior’s birth! Peace on earth! Peace. We all need it, want it, and desire it deeply. Regardless of who we are, …
It wasn’t that God thought the Jews better than the gentiles (non-Jews); in fact, God’s intent from the very beginning was for the Jews to carry His message to the entire world. As the Jews failed to follow through on their calling, Jesus–being Jewish–served to fulfill God’s intent. Like the Jews, we–living in the present day–were also far off. We were separated from God by our sinful natures. We could not approach God on our own. Thanks be to God that we live in an age when Salvation (Yeshua) has come to all.
I do believe the “secret” to quick prayers is being “prayed up”, having been before our God in daily conversant, earnest prayer. God is ever attentive to the prayers of His righteous ones.
Anyone who lives righteously and with integrity, who thinks of others before themselves, and seeks to honor God in all of their day to day dealings – that person will not be upended, they will not be defeated spiritually and they will live in God’s house for eternity.
As we become more enlightened to God’s Word and begin to see Who God is, and we ourselves experience the faithfulness of God of which the Bible speaks, our hearts desire to be faithful to Him grows. For most it is a gradual process.
Positive emotions are so easily derailed by things that grate us the wrong way. Much of the time the reason our happiness is stolen is due to our expectations not being fulfilled. In order to have spiritual happiness we must acknowledge and fully depend upon our God. Without a permanent relationship with God we can never be eternally happy.
In the 8th chapter of the much-loved book of Esther, the Jews—who had been marked for annihilation—have received an edict allowing them to defend themselves against any aggression at any cost.
The English Standard Version of the Bible reads like this: “there was radiant happiness and joyous honor”.
It’s hard to imagine what this phrase means to us today, especially since….READ MORE
When does God’s plan becoming less-than in our eyes? When do we determine that His plan for our lives just I isn’t good enough? What makes us think that we have a better idea?
Every believer will find themselves sitting by the brook of Cherith at one time or other. It is a great opportunity to sit and wait on the LORD. We are so conditioned to push ahead, and keep trudging along, desperate to “make things happen”. When much of the time God is calling us to wait on Him to move.
We are all equal. But, it’s not until we turn to Christ will we become truly free. People can rally and protest, shout slogans and raise fists all they want but nothing will change that truth.
The flat-out truth is, the best any human can do is speculate on another person’s motives. Heck, we can’t even decipher our own motives much of the time!