Making a Statement

Pray that these would be true in your life and in mine every day, and strive for them with everything you have.  It is worth the risk.

• The eternal, spiritual world is more real to me than the physical earth. (Jn 14:17, Rm 8:10, 1Co 2:13, Gal 3:14, Eph 6:12, Col 2:17)
• I have peace in my heart at all times, because I have been given victory in all things through the resurrection. (Ezk 37:26, Jn 16:33, Rm 5:1, 1Co 15:57, Eph 2:14, 2Th 3:16, 2Pe 1:2)
• The power of prayer is greater than any other force I will ever encounter. (Dt 4:7, Ezra 8:23, Ps 102:17, Jer 29:12, Mt 21:22, Mk 11:24, Js 5:16)
• I am more secure in the blood of Jesus Christ than I ever will be through my relationships, finances, or living conditions. (Mt 6:31-33, Rm 8:38-39, He 6:19, He 13:5, 1Pe 1:2-5)
• I would rather suffer so that the good news would go forth than be free of suffering and keep my faith to myself. (Acts 5:41, Php 1:12, 1Pe 4:13, 2Ti 1:8, 2Ti 2:8-10)
• The knowledge of Christ crucified is of greater value to me than any worldly wisdom I could ever attain. (Jn 17:3, 1Co 1:25, 1Co 2:2, 2Co 2:14, Php 3:8, Col 2:2)
• I live by a gospel that is not merely of words that must be taken on chance, but by a gospel of power that is active and real. (Rm 15:19, 1Co 1:17, 1Co 2:4, 1Th 1:5, 2Pe 1:16)
• My prosperity is given to me so that I might use it to share God’s message, and not so I can live well in this life. (1Ki 11:30-31, 1Ch 29:16, Mk 10:21, Acts 2:45-47, Rm 12:8, 2Co 9:11)
• I am still alive because God has anointed me with a purpose that is more important than any purpose I could ever adopt on this earth. (Acts 17:26-27, Acts 20:24, Rm 8:28, 2Co 1:21-22, Eph 1:18, Eph 2:10, 1Pe 2:9)
• The Way of Jesus is made known to everyone I know by my actions, my attitudes, and my conversations. (Mt 5:16, Jn 3:21, 1Th 1:5, 2Th 1:4-5, Ti 2:11-12, He 12:14)
• I live entirely free from guilt and shame, because while I remain in a physical body, Christ lives on my behalf in my spirit. (Rm 8:11, 2Co 3:17, Ga 2:20, Ga 5:1, He 10:22, 1Pe 2:6, 1Pe 3:18)
• My joy is constant and overflowing, because it is dependent not on my present circumstance but on my eternal Savior.  (Jn 17:13, Rm 14:17, Rm 15:13, 1Th 5:16-18, He 13:8, 1Pe 1:8)
• I will spend eternity sitting at the right hand of God as a co-heir with Jesus to the glory of the Father. (Rm 8:17, Rm 8:30, Ga 3:29, Eph 3:6, 2Th 1:12, 2Th 2:14, Ti 3:7, He 2:11)
• God has equipped me with gifts of the Spirit that are so supernatural and rooted in love that they leave the world awestruck and hungry for more. (Lk 11:13, Acts 2:4-7, 1Co 13:1-3, 1Co 14:12, He 2:3-4, 1Pe 2:12)
• I would both live and die for the most sinful person on the planet if it would unite them with Jesus. (Jn 13:35, Rm 5:6-8, 1Co 9:22, 1Co 10:33, Php 2:3, He 13:16)
• There is no worry or fear in my life, because the love of God provides, protects, and prevails for me in all situations. (Ps 23:4, Ps 44:3, Mt 6:31-33, 1Co 15:57, Php 4:19, 1Jn 4:18)
• I have no good in me of my own accord, but am made worthy to stand in the presence of the Lord Almighty by the blood of Jesus Christ. (Rm 5:8, Rm 5:19, Eph 2:8, 1Ti 1:15, He 10:10, 1Pe 3:18)  I am worth the King of the universe giving His life for, not because of anything I’ve done, but because He said I am!

“You Chose Wisely…”

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…”
Ephesians 1:11

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Colossians 3:12

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you…”
1 Thessalonians 1:4

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9

God does not simply ALLOW people into His kingdom.  There is no one who is part of the body of Christ who wasn’t expected, or who God had to make room for.  Each one of us is CHOSEN, and each one of us has a PURPOSE in the Kingdom.  God had (and always will have!) a REASON for choosing you.  And even if it feels like there is no visible or tangible evidence of God’s purpose or reason in choosing you, remember…sometimes the INvisible and the INtangible things are the most POWERFUL, and serve in the ways closest to the spiritual workings of the Holy Spirit.

Live your life with confidence that there is something God has chosen YOU, over everyone else in the world, to do, and that you are an important and vital part of the body of Christ, because…

God does not choose poorly!

Sunday school Alumni

Very rarely do I hear any pastors preach from the most common Bible stories anymore – those stories are apparently only suitable to Sunday school.  I am just as guilty of this, I am incredibly disinclined to speak on the teachings found in stories like Jonah and the Ark, the fall, or David and Goliath.  Why is that? Is it perhaps because these stories seem childish to us, because they were taugh to us when we were children?  Is it maybe because these stories seem old, and there is nothing more to be drawn from them than what has been already?  Do these stories seem to simple, with not enough deep insight to wring out of non-descript verses?  Are they too plain?

I think that they are not too plain – they are too clear.  While the “moral of the story” seems obvious to us, it is for that reason that we avoid it; we don’t want to make the sacrifices those characters made, we don’t want to give up what they gave for the sake of the kingdom, we don’t want to have to face the trials that they faced (which we KNOW are in our lives, but hope that they might go away if they’re ignored).

These “most popular” Bible stories may seem childish, old, and simple.  Yet we need faith like a child (Lk 18:16), we need to be reminded of what we know more often than we need to be taught something new (1Ch 16:12), and devotion to Christ is a simple and pure thing (2Co 11:3).