Having Bible knowledge and understanding is great, however if the scriptures are not living and active in our lives, it is all in vain (Hebrews 4:12-13). The life application selections contain thoughts provoking, real life challenges that will prayerfully transform us to be more like Jesus in our spiritual journey. James 1:23-27 challenges us to not just merely listen or read the scriptures, it says “But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” Do not miss your blessings my friends!
For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.
In my opinion, Apostle Paul’s conversion is one of the most mysterious and complex experiences of all the apostles who were called to follow Jesus (Reads Acts Chapter 26). As I continue to learn about Paul’s incredible journey with God through his writings such as this week’s scripture, it makes me think of the consumption of unhealthy food. Paul’s ambition was initially driven by the world standards (power, education, influential life, jealousy, etc.).
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
As I read this passage, it took me back to a dark moment in my life that God turned into a miracle. It was late winter of 2004, I became extremely sick and was hospitalized for 10 days. My symptoms were out of control and there were no answers. But God! He allowed my doctor’s eyes to open beyond her norm. My doctor was determined to learn the root cause of my infection. While she was meditating and staring at my x-ray, she told me that out of the corner of her eyes she saw something on my x-ray which prompted her to turn my x-ray backwards and upside-down. While I was resting one late afternoon feeling like this could be the end of my earthly journey, a knock came on my door and a young man said, “Ms. Dastine, your doctor called and ordered an emergency x-ray." I replied that I had already done the x-ray. He said, “this time she wants us to take it backwards." I did the x-ray, and they found the infection was hidden behind my lung in a very unusual spot. I started targeted therapy with some strong antibiotics and here I am today. The story did not end there. After I was discharged from the hospital I went for my follow up visit with my doctor, with a smile on her face she said we thought we were going to lose you, but I could not accept that. I knew it was God who allowed her to discover the root cause of the infection because He was not done with me yet.
After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits--- to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
God's plan is for everyone to get the opportunity to be redeemed. As humans, we are all spiritual beings who God desires to bring back into his eternal glory. I have always been amazed by the fact that Jesus went to minister to the spirits who were imprisoned by God because of their disobedience (Genesis 6:5-8). Reading this passage, God opened my eyes to see the incredible power in the mission that Jesus left his disciples which is “to Go and make disciples of all nations" (Mathew 28:16-20). When Jesus was made alive after his death, he went to minister to the Spirits of the dead from long ago. Jesus did what he knew no mortal men could do to start the completion of God's plan. Through the power of his second life after he was made alive, he started his ministry to restore and revive the world where humankind initially broke God’s heart. The passage says in Genesis 6:6,9.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
I often hear some parents say my child was a mistake and they did not plan to have a child out of wedlock. Or a parent going as far as telling a child you are a mistake, or I was not ready for you! Yes, in our disobedience to the word of God and living under the authority of the flesh (sinful nature- Romans 8:6-8), we make mistakes. And, even in our disobedience God blesses us with rewards. Children are rewards, they are not the reason your life is not what you want it to be. Stop blame-shifting our sinful decisions onto our children!
It is not that we are competent in ourselves to count anything as having come from us; on the contrary, our competence is from God. He has even made us competent to be workers serving a New Covenant, the essence of which is not a written text but the Spirit. For the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
When was the last time that you read and meditated on the Old Testament? Unless we understand what was before us, it is likely we will take the present for granted. In order to understand the depth of the scripture above, I had to study what Paul meant by ‘written text or Letter’ in his writing. I learned the written text is referenced to Sha’ul, that is written text engraved on stone tablets that was known to bring death because it proclaimed the guilt of the people.
Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Have you ever gotten to a point in your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ where you feel weak and empty? This passage was given to me on a day that I needed the reminder that my weakness and hunger or feeling of emptiness is the result of my lack of fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. David was in a very vulnerable situation when this Psalm was written because he was facing what could have been his death. Yet, he credited his victory not to his clever decision but to the fact that he feared the Lord. Who or what do you fear in your life? Could it be failures, success, yourself, rejection or anything or people that you perceive as the authority over your life. The promise in the Psalm is if we choose to fear God above all things, we will lack nothing. This verse brought me to Jesus encounter at the well where he exclaimed the water that he offers is "a spring of life." Life can be very scary in this world, and we might even be tempted to conform according to our society. Let's remember to fear our Lord who promises us eternal life (John 14:6) and who "...hold the keys of death and Hades" (Revelations 1:17-18).
