How He Loves Us 

 

It’s so easy to let worldly problems and concerns get in the way of our spiritual lives, to forget how great it is that we can even call ourselves Christians.  Maybe because G-d’s love for us is so much greater than we can understand, because we can't see it, wee totally forget.  But G-d is the one definition of love, and Yeshua died for us, not for animals, He does love us! 

 

And it’s only because He loves us so that we have nothing to fear at all.  No matter what problems we are facing, He, G-d is always in control.  His plan is unfolding with each passing moment, and though we don’t always understand it fully, He is making everything work for good.  I do wonder why but also am glad G-d let us know anything about His plan at all.  He is our Creator and so certainly doesn’t have to explain Himself to us. But when we do think about it, He humbles Himself to work with His us and maybe plants and animals too, I don't really know.  G-d's love is so great that He wants us to live in Him and do His work, in other words, be a Christian and let it show!  Though He is so much higher above us, He doesn’t treat us as slaves.  He doesn’t even treat us as servants.  He actually calls us friends (John 15:15)!  And through our Lord are not only friends, but sons and daughters...

 

It’s so easy to lose sight of all this, especially when things are difficult.  Sometimes it feels like we’re going to fall down under the weight of our own self.  But Yeshua tells us not to worry, to trust Him.  The burdens of this world can be heavy, make us feel like the whole world is on their shoulders, but Yeshua died to forgive our sins which rolled our burden away.  He wants us to rise, to take away all of our pain and suffering and give us His yoke, but He can’t if we’re too focused on ourselves.  Yeshua is calling us to fix our eyes on Him so we can be filled with His love and peace.  Yeshua is desperately seeking for us to open our hearts to Him so that they can be filled with Him (John 3:16).  He wants to take away all the darkness and be one with us, put us in His light.

So let us give thanks for such great and incredible love, for a love that couldn’t be stopped by death and so can’t be stopped by anything else we experience in this world and for a love that is pursuing us with every breath we take with an intensity unlike anything else.  We should all be grateful for so great a Savior and respond to His love!  Let us go and be filled with His love, act on it as he acted to teach us.  Do it all because G-d loves us!

Our God is Greater - Chris Tomlin

Whom Shall I Fear [God of Angel Armies] [Lyrics]

 

We have a G-d who encourages us. He is One who "knows how we are formed,'' and "remembers that we are dust'' (Psalm 103:14 NIV). Therefore He has compassion on us. He makes His compassion known by giving us encouragement. It comes in a variety of ways. Like one of my favorites, Jeremiah 29:11 says that they are plans not bad, or not of evil but good fortune, to give us good fortune and hope.  That is enough to go right there, but I'll also tell you no matter the temptation, G-d is right there.

 
There is no doubt that we need encouragement from G-d to overcome temptation. One way to be encouraged is to see what happens when we try to say no to the devil. The Bible does not speak much about this.  But there are two quite different stories that reveal to us the ministry of angels in this regard.
 
The first reference is found in Matthew 4:11. Here it says, "Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.'' The second reference is found in Luke 22:43. It says, "An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.'' 

The first instance is Yeshua overcoming temptations with The Word then being comforted by angels.  Like after being baptized He was placed on a mountain top and tempted by satan and when satan said, "all this could be yours if you just bow down and worship me."
You'll notice in both instances, whenever Yeshua was tempted, He used Bible scripture as a way to say "no."

The second one is found in I King 18:40 and 19:4 In an act of vicious religious intolerance, Elijah ordered 400 priests of Baal executed. Ahab went to Jezebel, telling her that Elijah had "executed all the prophets with the sword." She swore to kill Elijah within the next 24 hours. Elijah fled for this life to Beersheba, went into the wilderness, and "prayed that he might die." He said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!"

Rather than him kill himself while Elijah had fallen asleep that night an angel came to rescue him, rise Elijah up into a great chariot of gold as he was a great man.


Think about that.  You also have an angel army to protect and comfort you!

Yes, keep traveling because misery does love company.  I know that myself.
Now here.

My Dad and his wife were just here a while ago visiting.  While visiting the topic of there home and outside their home came up, their décor one might say.

They mentioned how the inside is basically the same but they had been doing some gardening for select vegetables and flower blooms.  She was telling me that she used very much "weed away" chemicals from Lowes but weeds still came up and were killing some of the plants, she had to pick the weeds every day, or the whole garden would die.

That's like a parable in the Bible.  Yeshua says that there is really someone out to get you.  Don't start the, "Oh my G-d's."  It's the people who really don't want you to belong to Christ.  Someone who cannot have you so wants to make your life very bitter and painful as long as possible.

If he cannot make misery for you, make you miserable, he'll make misery and try to suck you in and keep him company.

(see Matt. 13 for detail)

 

The apostle Paul's teachings on the importance of unity in the body of Christ are too often overlooked or ignored by believers in Jesus who often suffer from division and strife in their churches and in the church as a whole. Start by asking yourself what it means to have unity in the body of Christ. Can you think of real-life examples? What would you say is the state of the body of Christ in your church and in the church in general as far as unity is concerned? These same questions can be asked in a group Bible study, a private study or during a Children's Bible study.  Either will work in this case.

After you think about your answer to those questions a couple times, you're ready to see how the apostle Paul taught on this vitally important topic. In 1 Corinthians 12:14-22, he says, "For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath G-d set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be feeble, are necessary."

Essentially, Paul makes a comparison between natural body parts and spiritual body parts (members of the church) to explain the importance of unity in the body of Christ.

Paul makes mention of specific parts of the body such as the eyes, ears, hands, and feet in correlation with spiritual body parts. However, the message still might not be fully grasped. Let's take a look at how the parts of the body of a person in a building when a fire breaks out cooperate to save the entire being. We will see the extreme importance of unity in the natural body and compare it to unity in the body of Christ.

Somebody is alone in a building when a major fire breaks out. Smoke is smelled; the nose has done its job in the need to ensure that the body survives. Now the body must get up and get out of the burning building, the threat to its life. It stands up and runs because the legs and the feet do their job. They do what the nose couldn't do, but the body is running because the nose smelled the smoke.

As the body runs to save itself, it has to see where it's going. The eyes are at work to guide the feet and legs as they run. The body reaches a door leading to the outside--to safety. The nose, eyes, legs and feet are now depending on at least one arm and one hand to grab the door knob and turn it or to push it to open it. The various parts of the body all worked together for the rescue of the entire being. The nose didn't try to do the job of the eyes and the eyes the job of the hands, because each member of the body was designed to do a specific job as part of one unit.

Although this is a very simplified example of how the parts of such a complex body operate, the message is one of cooperation and relationship. The concept is very much the same when considering the necessity of unity in the body of Christ. The members of the body of Christ are true, "born-again" believers in the Son of G-d. One very unfortunate mistake is often made by some Christians with good intentions to be obedient to the scriptures that command unity in the body of Christ.  That can make for a number of difficulties within you and the body of Christ, church, as a whole.    

Unity in the Body of False Prophets/Teaching

There is also a great unity in false prophets and so many times just unified wrong teachings.  Something we can't help, the Bible says to stay away from the wrong prophets but false teaching, at least a little of, can be found in just about any church you can walk in to.  The church is united but there are those that refuse to change some teachings.

SHEPHERD BOY - ray boltz

“Now, this is going to hurt just a little bit.” Most of us heard these words. Sometimes it does hurt “just a little bit.” Usually it hurts more than the medical specialist let on. Because if he said, “This is going to make you want to scream like crazy we’d yell “stop!” I’ve lost count of the number of times it’s hurt much more than just a little bit and I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.

Suffering comes. It’s inevitable in our world that is filled with sin. But consider this for a moment: Suffering does not have to be accompanied by fear.

Imagine knowing something was about to hurt more than you were prepared for but you felt a complete lack of fear. No fright, nerves, anxiety, or dread. No trembling, cold sweats, apprehension, dread, hesitation, or worry.

How is it humanly possible to know pain or suffering will come, yet not feel fear? It is not–not humanly possible. Only through the presence of the Holy Spirit can we ever feel peace in the middle of pandemonium. Only through our relationship with Jesus,  can He provide serenity instead of shock, tranquility through the trembles.

Chronic illness could leave us with immense anxiety every day. We can worry about everything from getting through our plans of the day, simply getting around, the side effects of medication, the bills that continue to arrive in the mail, disappointing those we love, and the list goes on. Don’t surrender over to the fear or it can not just overwhelm you, but envelop you.