April 12 – Holy Tuesday - Faith Believing

“And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours..”  Mark 11:22-24 (ESV)

This is Passion Week leading to Easter Sunday. We are considering events that happened in the life of our Lord just before He was arrested, tried illegally, and sentenced by Pilate to die on a cross. It was for us that He allowed all the events to happen. Many events of those few days and much of what Jesus taught that week are recorded in Scripture. Let’s look at one found in the Gospel of Mark. It was Monday morning that Jesus looked for fruit on a fig tree as he left Bethany to go into the City of Jerusalem. There was no fruit so Jesus said there would never again be any fruit on that tree. The next day, Tuesday, as they were passing that way again Peter noticed that the fig tree was all withered from the ground up and amazed he mentioned it. Jesus' reply teaches the disciples about the power of real faith without doubt. Jesus was anxious to have followers who truly believed in God and who expect God to answer their prayers. Let's keep his promise and with faith believing pray according to His will expecting God to give us what we ask for.  

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November 13 – Sovereign Over Our Reason

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” - John 6:40 (NASB)

God is sovereign in everything. No power, no authority, no entity, angel, demon or person supersedes God’s sovereignty. What God decrees, is. What God says holds true. When God inspired the writers of the Bible, the words written were God’s chosen words. God chose what to record and what to proclaim both the good (righteous), the bad (unrighteous), and the ugly (unredeemable evil) events recorded were so because God wanted them on the record. Today’s verse emphasizes human responsibility in our salvation process. As we saw yesterday’s blog, that though God is sovereign, He works through faith, so that we as persons must believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. We must believe that He alone is the way. Only He offers the only way of salvation (John 14:6). However, even faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Although many try, rationally harmonizing the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man with our intellect is impossible humanly. Thankfully it is perfectly resolved in the infinite mind of God. Let’s not disbelieve God’s sovereign word because we can’t rationally reconcile it perfectly. Accept that God can do even what we cannot understand.

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May 30 –Victorious Overcomers

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” – 1 John 5:4-5 (ESV)

We again find a promise in the first letter by the apostle John written to the believers in the surrounding churches. As the pastor/teacher to the congregation in Ephesus, his concern was for all those who believed in Christ and who were beset by false teachers and pressures of the world. Christians who truly believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior need to know that they are overcomers of evil. They need to know why and how they are overcomers. This promise tells us. Those born of God, everyone who is a child of God overcome the world. Jesus has made that possible and a fact in our lives. It is said very clearly right here, “this is our victory and we have overcome the world because of our faith.”  Then, as John has done throughout this letter he emphasized by saying it again more forcefully. Take this as for each of us. Who overcomes the world? Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Unless a person believes that Jesus is who He said He was, they are out. But those who do believe Jesus, have already overcome the world in Him.

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March 29 – I AM The Resurrection and The Life

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,  and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” - John 11:25-26 (ESV)

This passage records Jesus’ lesson on life, death, and resurrection. Lazarus, a friend died and was in the tomb for four days. Jesus hearing Lazarus was near death delayed going to Bethany.  By the time He and is disciples arrive it is too late – at least according to Martha first and Mary later. Their home was now a house of mourning.  Jesus missed his opportunity to save Lazarus from this death. Both Mary and Martha tell Jesus that their brother would not have died if Jesus had been there. Jesus promises that Lazarus will rise again. Martha agrees believing Jesus is talking about eventual resurrection of all believers.  Jesus states that He is Himself The Resurrection and The Life. “Do you believe this?” He asks Martha.  Yes, she confirms her faith that Jesus is the Christ. These awesome promises are for us⸺Now!. They cause immense joy to erupt within our hearts and banish all fear of death. We who believe in Christ, physical death is only temporary, we are alive spiritually in Christ. This is the promise of eternal life that is ours after our bodies die. And, we are promised new bodies like unto Christ’s resurrection body.

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November 11 – One and Only From Eternity

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  - John 3:16  (NASB)

This verse is probably one that is most familiar to many people.  It is used to attract people to consider what God has done for us.  God gave us what was most precious and closest to Him – even part of Him. That is the “so loved” part.  The familiar word “begotten” means the Son was/is God's one and only. He was/is one of a kind.  We who believe are children of God, He has adopted into His forever family, but Jesus, our Savior was with the Father from eternity past,  “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”John 1:3 This is who God gave to the world, out of love for the world, in order that we in the world would have the chance to believe and not perish.  In place of our sentence of death we are given new life, eternal life. In this family of faith, Jesus is the first fruits of the new life.  It was created in Him for Him and given by Him to us.  That's a packed promise. 

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July 25 – It's True – Hear and Believe

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”  John 5:24 (NASB)

In today's selected verse we have words spoken by Jesus to remind us that He came to make it possible for us to have eternal life.  When we believe His word, we receive that life even while we continue in our bodies and their temporal state.  Jesus reminds us that His teachings, while He was here on earth, are very important in bringing us eternal life and leading us along in faith.  We need to remember what Jesus said in our verse about our position today.  By faith in Jesus we now have eternal life and we have crossed over from death to life.  Let's be sure we live that way today.  If we are alive with eternal life we live for today looking forward to living forever because of the promise of Jesus in our verse.  Read it again and rejoice that if we have believed in His word, we have also passed out of eternal death into eternal life.  

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July 25 – Passing Out Of and Into

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”  John 5:24 (NASB)

We choose this verse especially because of the last words.  Jesus used these words because He knows what a big difference comes to us when we believe in God and in His Son Jesus.  Jesus said that when we believe we cross over from death to life –  He was speaking about our eternal state.  When we cross a river by boat or on a bridge we can look back and realize that we are now on the other side. In most places the difference may not be so great but just think of the great difference between eternal death and eternal life.  When we believe in Jesus a tremendous change takes place because of this promise.  Our lives are transformed and while our present bodies may die, our souls will live forever in God's presence – if we have believed in Him.  Now that's a promise we can hold onto and  treasure in our hearts.

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April 24 – No Disappointment. No Distinction.

“For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;” Romans 10:11-12 (NASB)

Our great God is the one in control of this whole universe.  He has given us all life, no matter where we were born, no matter what our racial background is.  Now that we are living here on this earth, He looks for something from us to determine how He treats us. We read here how we must put our trust in Him – and when we do we will not be let down. We also read here that He blesses those who call on Him. So God's blessing is His special response to the ones who call on Him in faith and trust through belief. Racial and ethnic distinctions make no difference to God and should not make a difference to us. God does not make distinctions that way.  But faith does make a big difference. Let's not miss out on what God has given us. Instead, let's look to Him today because that is where blessings from Him come to us. His promise is we will not be disappointed. 

April 7 – Light Not Darkness

“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” John 12:46 (NASB)

We who have accepted Jesus as our Savior can testify to  the change that came  into a life where we did that. But even after becoming a child of God one can experience dark hours.  There might be times when the prospects look dark for some reason or another. So we turn to this promise from the Lord to remind us that even if things look dark at times we can trust our Lord to let His light shine on us and bring us through the trying hour.  While we live here on this earth we don't need to surrender to the threats of darkness that surround us. We have the promise of Jesus and from Jesus that those who believe in him do not remain in darkness and do not live in darkness but in light, His light. 

March 27 – Holy Tuesday - Faith Believing

“And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours..”  Mark 11:22-24 (ESV)

This is Passion Week leading to Easter Sunday and we are still thinking of the events that happened in the life of our Lord just before he died on the cross for us. Many events of those few days are recorded in the Bible and much of what Jesus taught that week is recorded. We are looking at one found in the Gospel of Mark. It was Monday morning that Jesus looked for fruit on a fig tree as he left Bethany to go into the City of Jerusalem. There was no fruit so Jesus said there would never again be any fruit on that tree.  The next day, on Tuesday they were passing that way again when Peter noticed that the fig tree was all withered he was astounded and he mentioned it. Our verses today have Jesus' reply as he teaches the disciples about the power of real faith without doubt. Jesus was anxious to have followers who truly believed in God and who expect God to answer their prayers. Let's keep his promise and pray with faith believing.  

February 5

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46 (NIV)

When Jesus Christ was here on earth He made many statements to explain why He had come. Our verse today is one of those statements. It is true that Jesus did a lot of teaching when He was here on earth to give those who heard Him new insight into spiritual truth. Many of His teachings were recorded and have been preserved for us in the Bible. Where we read His teachings our eyes are opened to see things in a new way. Yes, Jesus is still a Light fo us who have believed in Him. His teaching in the Bible gives us new insight often. And, we must not forget that He is living in us and His light is shining in our hearts and minds each day. Do we not have times which otherwise would be dark but are not because His light shines on our way.