Be Ready to Explain Your Hope

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; ¹⁶having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. ¹⁷For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1 Pet 3:15-17)

According to this passage of Scripture, we need to be ready to share with people who ask us the reason for the hope that is within each one of us. The Bible actually tells us the answer for this in Colossians 1:27. Christ within us—the hope of glory. The life of Christ within us is our hope.

That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, that you may answer words of truth to those who send to you? (Pro 22:21)

We need to answer all questions with “words of truth” according to this Proverb. It is interesting to note that when Paul was being questioned by King Agrippa, Paul said: “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.” (Ac 26:25) Paul was speaking “words of truth” and reason. According to John 14:6, Jesus is the Truth and Paul was telling the King all about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Paul spoke words of truth.

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (Col 4:6)

We cannot say that we don’t know how to answer. Our answer is Jesus Christ and His story as the Redeemer of all mankind. Hallelujah!

Secrets: Hidden Things Coming to Light

All human beings—no matter what nationality, race, or creed—have secrets. Some secrets are fairly harmless and others are very serious, and yet other secrets are actually very dangerous. Most of us fall into having the “fairly harmless” category of secrets.

One important thing to know is that God promises to uncover secrets and hidden things. One way or another, all dark and secret things will be exposed by the Lord. Those of us who follow Jesus Christ need to know this truth and to live in the light of it.

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God. (1 Cor 4:5) The word counsels means advice, information, or instruction.

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Heb 4:13) The Lord our God sees everything and knows even the thoughts and intents of our hearts. (Heb 4:12) Even the content of our hearts will be revealed. That’s a sobering thought.

In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ²For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. ³Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. (Lk 12:1-3, underscoring added)

We all have challenges, desires, disappointments, and heartaches. Most human beings have areas where they are weak, and they may occasionally fail and sin. In all of these things, the Lord cares about us, and wants to help us. As the Bible passage above reminds us, our innermost secrets—which may have been whispered in the dark—will one day be heard by all.

A daily review, before the Lord, is the best way to deal with everything: sins, challenges, secrets, disappointments, etc. Bring it all to the Lord at the end of each day, and ask His forgiveness for sins, and His help and wisdom with problems and heartaches. Seek His hope and grace to carry you through disappointment and heartache.

Above all, whatever secrets you have, share them ALL with the Lord now. Ask Him how to deal with them, and follow His guidance. If you’re having difficulty in hearing from the Lord, go to a wise, mature, and trustworthy brother or sister in Christ, and request their wise input.

We must all learn to live honest, holy, and productive lives that will bring glory and honor to the Lord. Learning how to bring our secrets into the light of the Lord’s love and mercy is an integral part of holy living. Our loving God supplies us with the grace and the ability to accomplish this goal. May God richly bless you.

An Open Heaven

There is much discussion in Christian circles and among the highly educated about the concept of “an open heaven.” I can’t say that I have definitive answers for us, but I always like to open the Bible to read what God is saying about every topic.

The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. (Deu 28:12)

This passage of the Bible gives us the idea that “opening heaven” to a person means that they shall experience God’s plentiful blessings, favor, and prosperity.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. (Mal 3:10)

The verse above discusses opening the windows of heaven to pour out ABUNDANT blessings upon each one who gives generously to the Lord’s work, church, and people.

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. (Lk 3:21)

The Scriptures tell us that at the time of Jesus’ water baptism, as Jesus prayed, the heaven above Him was opened! The Bible goes on to say:

And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Lk 3:22)

When I ponder Luke 3:21-22 along with John 1:50-51, I start to draw some basic conclusions for myself. Let’s read the verses in John:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (Joh 1:50-51)

This section of Scripture is actually a record of Jesus speaking, and Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

The “Son of Man” refers to Jesus Christ, Himself.

My conclusion from studying these Bible verses is that the person of Jesus IS our open heaven, and all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord live under an open heaven. All praises to God most High!

SPECIAL ARTICLE: Hope in the Midst of Crisis

In the midst of this worldwide health crisis known as the Corona virus, it’s important that we recognize that we believers have a hope that the world does not know. It’s at times like these that we must hold onto our faith, and be a light in the midst of darkness.

Let’s consider some Biblical truths:

. . . according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹²in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. (Eph 3:11-12)

Our Father God accomplished His eternal purpose through Jesus Christ by giving mankind the gift of salvation. In Jesus, through Him and by Him, all who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, have been given access to our Father God; and as a result, we may have full confidence in our relationship with Him. Hallelujah!

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. (Heb 10:35)

So do not abandon your assurance and faith in Jesus Christ and in His salvation. Hold onto your faith; take a firm grasp of your salvation and never let it go!

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (1 Joh 5:14-15)

This is a precious promise from God for us TODAY. We know that when we ask for something that agrees with the will of God, He hears us AND He gives us the specific answer for which we have asked.

You may ask, “How do I know if it’s God will for me to be healthy and well?” Here is how you may KNOW:

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 Joh 2) This passage would not be in the Bible if God did not want us to be healthy.
My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. (Pro 3:1-2) God shares His wisdom with us that as we hide His Word in our hearts, it will add long life and peace to us.
It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones. (Pro 3:8) God is again telling us that His Word, sown into our hearts and minds, will give health to our physical bodies and strength to our very bones.
For I am the Lord who heals you. (Ex 15:26c) The Lord declares that He is our Healer! If it was not His will for us to be healthy, He would not declare Himself to be the Mighty One who heals us.

Believe in and rely upon these supernatural words of power from God. Place your faith in Him and in His Word. Be unshakeable and stubborn in your faith in God, dear brothers and sisters! Hope in Christ who is our health, our strength, our life.

Rewarded for Your Works

We don’t often think of this, but the Scriptures tell us that the Lord rewards people for their good deeds. What a kind, generous, and loving God we serve.

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. (Mt 16:27)

. . . who “will render to each one according to his deeds” . . . (Rom 2:6)

. . . knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. (Eph 6:8)

Just think of it: WHATEVER good that we do for anyone else, the Lord says that we will receive the same from Him. This is the best source of motivation that anyone could hope for! It is the promise of a blessed reward.

When you pay for someone’s gas who’s in front of you; when you help an elderly friend by cleaning their home or taking them grocery shopping; or any of the thousands of other kind and good deeds that you could perform—ALL be rewarded. Don’t worry! God has no problem with keeping track of each and every one of us, and our good deeds.

The Lord knows the number of hairs on our heads (Mt 10:30; Lk 12:7), and He cares about everything that concerns each one of us. He is our protector. (Deut 20:4; Ps 91:7; Heb 13:6)

The Lord doesn’t forget His promises to us. He keeps each and every one. And we can be confident that the Lord will keep this promise of giving us His rewards. Praise God!

. . . knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col 3:24)

Our Need for Improvement

This article is a reminder for each of us to focus upon our own, individual need for improvement rather than to look around at other people’s failings.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? (Mt 7:3)

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. (Lk 18:11)

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. (Joh 8:7-9)

As human beings, we have a tendency to look at other people and compare ourselves to others. Most of the time, we do that when we want to see ourselves as “not being so bad.” Other times, we look around at the circumstances of other peoples’ lives and we feel jealous. It is not good to compare ourselves to others; it is what the Bible would term as foolishness.

As the verses shown above demonstrate, we should never focus on other people. (2 Cor 10:12)

Also, there are a number of Scriptures instructing us to avoid comparing ourselves. (Exo 20:17; Mt 7:1-2; Joh 21:22)

Rather, we should focus upon Jesus Christ and yearn to follow in His footsteps. As we focus upon Christ, He will shower us with His love and encouragement. He will give us a purpose and a plan for our lives, as well as all of the grace and mercy that we will ever need to fulfill that plan. (Jer 29:11; 32:19; Pro 16:4; 19:21; 1 Cor 2:9)

Let us trust the Lord Jesus to transform us in His own way, in His own time. We are His workmanship, and He will see the work through to its completion. (Eph 2:10; Phil 1:6) Just trust Him and trust His plan for you! God bless you.

Be Generous

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (Lk 6:35 NIV, underscoring added)

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. (Pro 19:17 ESV, underscoring added)

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. (Ps 112:5 ESV, underscoring added)

Justice means fair play, impartiality, objectivity or neutrality. The Scripture verse shown above (Ps 112:5) talks about a person who deals generously, lends to others, and conducts his affairs with justice. All of these character traits are traits of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our example. (See Phil 2:5; 1 Pet 2:21)

The Lord challenges us to test Him with our generosity just so that we will learn that we cannot out-give God! (Mal 3:10-12) It is the only area in which the Lord has instructed us to test Him. Just ponder that for a little while . . .

The Lord demonstrated His love for mankind by GIVING His only begotten Son to become our Savior. That was sacrificial love and sacrificial giving on God’s part, and anyone who is a parent understands that completely.

The focus of this article is about the call to believers to be generous—to live a generous lifestyle. And it’s crucial for us to understand that God the Father gave generously, and Jesus Christ gave generously, also.

And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Ac 20:35)

When we live a generous lifestyle while here on earth, in obedience to our heavenly Father, the Lord sees it and He places treasure in heaven aside for us as a reward. (Mt 6:19-21) God is most pleased when we share what we have with others, especially with those who are needy. (Mt 10:8; Heb 13:16)

Live generously and with joy! We believers are being transformed daily into the image of Christ, and this is simply one way in which we may cooperate with the Lord in our own transformation. (See Rom 8:29-30; Phil 2:13; 3:21; Col 3:10; 2 Cor 3:18) Blessings upon you!

Narrow is the Gate

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mt 7:13-14)

“For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Mt 22:14)

. . . strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” (Act 14:22)

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. (Joh 15:18-20)

The term “narrow gate” conveys its meaning rather well. A narrow gate allows the entry of fewer people at one time, than does a wide gate. A narrow gate doesn’t allow a person who is heavily burdened with packages to get through very easily.

When Jesus said, “Narrow is the way which leads to life . . . “ He was pointing out that the Christian walk is not as easy as it may seem. Jesus was warning people that following Him would lead to grief and to serious challenges of life.

“Difficult” is from the Greek word thlibo, which means: “To press (as grapes), press hard upon; a compressed way; narrow straitened, contracted” way (New Testament Greek Lexicon, http://www.biblestudytools.com).

As Christians, we must continuously keep our eyes on the goal of spending eternity with our Savior, Jesus Christ. In John 15:18-20, Jesus tells His followers that the world will hate them even as it hated Him. And since Jesus was persecuted, we should expect the same treatment.

These are tough realities and truths that Jesus was setting before everyone who chooses to follow Him. However, no one will be able to say that they haven’t been told the entire truth about following Jesus.

Jesus loves us and wants us to follow Him; and He pours out His love, mercy, and grace upon us to empower us to do just that. We must remember to add our own willpower and determination to this endeavor by choosing continuously to persist in following Jesus Christ. Let’s glorify the Lord throughout our lives.

His Unfailing Mercy

Our God is a God of unfailing mercy. Hallelujah!

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (Lam 3:22-23)

Nevertheless in Your great mercy, You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
for You are God, gracious and merciful. (Neh 9:31)

Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? (Ps 77:8)

And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. (Lk 1:50)

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7)

All of the Bible verses shown above attest to this truth; and there are many, many more Scriptures concerning God’s mercy than those that I’ve chosen to share with you here.

This is extremely important to us (human beings) because we tend to fail frequently in our efforts to live holy, obedient, godly lives. When we sin, we know that we can confess our sins, and God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 Joh 1:9)

By the unfailing mercy of God, His perfect salvation covers and obliterates ALL of our sins: past, present, and future. The only requirements on our part are that we live obediently to the Lord and His Word; continue in a loving relationship with our Savior; and that we never renounce Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Despite the distractions of daily life, we must remember to focus on the goodness of God and His continuing, unfailing mercy upon us. By His mercy and grace, we are enabled and empowered to bring Him glory and honor through our testimonies and our lives. May His Name be exalted forever.

Children of Promise

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— ²⁵for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— ²⁶but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. (Gal 4:21-26, emphases added)

That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. (Rom 9:8, emphasis added)

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. (Gal 4:28)

Children of the Promise is another way of saying “children of God.” (see Rom 9:8 above) But what, exactly, is the significance of this for us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior?

One thing to note is that the Bible says that we become children of the promise when we’re baptized into Christ through water baptism.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Act 2:38-39)

This teaching is verified in Ephesians 3:

. . . that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel . . . (Eph 3:6)

Upon our acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and our water baptism into Christ, we become Children of Promise—children of God! Hallelujah!

For you are all sons [children] of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:26-29, explanatory word inserted)

Being Children of the Promise means that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ! Glory to God! (Rom 8:17)

This means that we are entitled to all of the blessings that Jesus earned for Himself by living a sinless, perfect life in loving obedience to His Father while He lived on earth. In accepting Christ as Savior and being baptized into Him through water baptism, we become qualified to receive this vast and rich inheritance! Rejoice, O children of promise!

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You are the Deciding Vote! In your life, you can make decisions that will help you and bless you.

Month: March 2020