Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Left to ourselves, we would never come to the conviction of the truth unless the Holy Spirit opened our ears and allowed the truth about Jesus to pour into our hearts. We hear with our ears, but also with our hearts. If we carry anger or bitterness or unforgiveness, we hinder the Holy Spirits work in our lives. That pipeline to our heart plugs up. The…
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. The book of Isaiah is rich with prophecies about the coming Messiah written over 600 years before Jesus’ birth. Here God promises to divide the spoils of war with many because Jesus poured…
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. If we are in Christ, then we are new creatures. We have new gate-keepers. We no longer obey Satan’s demands. We have new life and new abilities. We have power to resist Satan’s temptations. We have a new Master—Jesus. Our old master, sin, has been rendered a fatal blow. In order to please God, we need to yield to His grace….
While I pulled weeds the other day, I thought how this act held a close parallel to sin in our lives. If we allow little sins to remain, they grow bigger and harder to remove, just like weeds. After about a half hour, my back told me, “I want to quit now. It’s too hot out here to keep this up.” “But I’m only half finished,” I said. “Keep at it.” After another half hour, I said, “Lord, do I…
Early last Thursday morning, I sat to write. This came tumbling out. The first lines are a quote from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20) Today’s World Men call themselves women and instruct us to accept what God condemns.* Abortionists pose as health-care providers who reduce God’s unborn creation to…
Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all their (our) sins into the depths of the sea. Our God is a God of compassion, of mercy. He loves us deeply with a love that never lets us go. This scripture tells us that He is going to bring our bondages, our perversity, depravity, and guilt under His foot. In other words, He captures the things that put us…