Living By The Word

Choose You This Day Whom You Will Serve… ( February 28, 2023) “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.  B ecause narrow is the gate and d ifficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Life can be seen as a series of choices that we must make, some relatively insignificant and inconsequential and others that monumentally will determine our earthly legacy and our eternal destiny. Living in a world befallen with sin and its lethal consequence, our physical bodies will eventually submit to the inevitable reality of death and crumble into dust, but our souls are immortal and imminently bound to spend eternity in one of two places, the paradise of heaven or perdition of hell, depending upon whether or not we have a relationship with Jesus Christ! You may wisely choose to believe it or foolishly reject its absolute, everlasting truth, but the Bible is the i

                                         Bringing Down Jericho’s Walls ( February 27, 2023)  “ And the  Lord  said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”  (Joshua 6:2) The battle of Jericho, the first city conquered by Israel after crossing the Jordan River and occupying the land of Canaan that God had promised the Jewish people as an everlasting inheritance, is one of the strangest military conquests in human history. The resounding victory at Jericho was achieved supernaturally because the Israelites, under the command of Joshua, trustingly obeyed God’s uncanny instructions. Joshua exercised his faith and followed to the letter the L ORD ’s radically unconventional, but highly effective military strategy. The fledgling young nation chosen by God to reveal Himself and His Word to the world marched around the city once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day. Then, with the piercing blast of the trumpet and the

  “For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:11) As the budding blossoms and other early signs of spring’s renewal of life begin to manifest their God-given beauty, I rejoice in my spiritual rebirth as a new creation in Jesus Christ, not just for a season but for all eternity! To be a child of God and to know that by His grace through faith in Christ, I will live forever in my Lord’s presence in a glorified body just like His is the most beautiful thing imaginable! Praise and thank You, Jesus, for this certain hope that I have in You, and You alone! Amen! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

                                  God Delivers Us from Satan’s Temptations ( February 23, 2023) “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Whether we have professed our faith in Jesus Christ and been saved by God’s grace or, through unbelief, remain lost in our sins, we all face temptations that appeal to what the Bible calls “ the lust of the flesh.” (1 John 2:16) Scripture also tells us that these fleshly lusts are not of God, but are a product of a world that is temporarily under the devil’s dominion. Skillfully executing his strategy of deceit, Satan seeks to tempt us in an effort to exploit and expose our sinful human nature and to bring out the absolute worst in us! “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Our

                                                Moved by Compassion ( February 22, 2023) “ But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? ” (1 John 3:17) As Christians who have been commanded to love one another and to love God above all, we must be people of compassionate hearts. We are called to follow the example of Jesus Christ whose great compassion was reflected in His miraculous acts of healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out demons from those who were possessed. We too must be moved by human compassion, humbly committing our time and resources to help meet the needs of the many that are less fortunate whether or not we are personally experiencing seasons of calm or storm in our own lives. Jesus, for instance, had learned of the beheading of his beloved cousin John the Baptist, the Jewish religious leaders were plotting to kill Him, and He was keenly aware of the sufferi

                                                         The Curse ( February 21, 2023) “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17) We live in a perilous world torn by sorrow, suffering, and strife and locked in the grips of a deadly curse resulting from the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. When the first man Adam accepted his wife Eve’s invitation and ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin orchestrated by the serpent corrupted a once perfect paradise over which God had given his human creations dominion. Using deceit to introduce doubt into Eve’s mind, the devil cunningly seized from Adam the title deed to the earth and Satan and the ground were cursed. The father of lies, the devil deceptively usurped man’s domination over the earth and became what the Apostle Paul called “the god of this world.”  (2 Corinthians 4:4) However, that is an ominous title that Satan will ulti

                                Faith Is the Victory that Overcomes the World ( February 20, 2023) “These things I have spoken to you, that   in Me you may have peace.   In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer,   I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) We live in an evil world now ruled by Satan and mired in the deadly grips of sin that separates us from a righteous God who first loved us and created us in His own image to have dominion over the earth. Deceived by this formidable demonic foe who seeks our defeat, mankind rebelled against God, allowing sin and death to enter what our Creator had conceived as a perfect eternal paradise. Thankfully, however, as children of God, Scripture declares, “ You are of God, little children…and have overcome…because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ”  (1 John 4:4) The good news is that as faithful followers of Jesus Christ, we can take refuge from the troubles, trials, and tribulations of this fa

  I love Jesus because He first loved me and died to redeem me of my sins and secure my eternal salvation!

  ‘He Gets Us’ organizers hope to spend $1 billion to promote Jesus. Will anyone care? This year’s Super Bowl will feature a $20 million pair of pro-Jesus ads promoting the idea that Jesus ‘gets us,’ part of the larger ‘He Gets Us’ campaign. Organizers hope to spend a billion dollars in the next three years to redeem Jesus’ brand. He Gets Us social media posts. Courtesy images January 26, 2023 By  Bob Smietana Share Tweet Share (RNS) — The first time she saw an ad for “He Gets Us,” a national campaign devoted to redeeming the brand of Christianity’s savior, Jennifer Quattlebaum had one thought on her mind. Show me the money. Daily religion news, straight to your inbox. Subscribe today. Email Address First Name Last Name A self-described “love more” Christian and ordinary mom who works in marketing, Quattlebaum loved the message of the ad, which promoted the idea that Jesus understands contemporary issues from a grassroots perspective. But she wondered who was paying for the ads and wha

                                              God’s Unmerited Favor ( February 17, 2023) Then Jesus said,  “Father,   forgive them, for   they do not know what they do. ” (Luke 23:34) One of the most difficult commands that Christians must keep is to forgive people who have wronged and hurt us deeply. Yet forgiveness, the surrender or release of our human animosity toward those that have trespassed against us, is absolutely essential in order to maintain healthy personal relationships with God and each other. As Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him, even as He suffered the punishment for their sins, we must pardon those who have sinned against us. If we expect God to forgive our transgressions toward Him and humanity, we must freely forgive. Our salvation is founded on our forgiveness by a God of grace. I heard the amazing true story of a young woman who’d been violently raped and beaten beyond recognition before managing to jump from the burning apartment

Jesus Is Willing ( February 16, 2023) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23). During His earthly ministry, Jesus went about doing good deeds…healing the diseased, casting out demons, and raising the dead. Scripture says, for example, that after delivering His famous Sermon on the Mount, Christ, followed by great multitudes, came down from the mountain and was confronted by a leper who worshipped Him, pleading “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Jesus responded by reaching out and touching this social outcast saying, “ I am willing; be cleansed.”  Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:1-3) This biblical passage shows the deity of the incarnate Christ in action in human history and speaks to us of Jesus’ continuing willingness to heal every individual of the deadly virus of sin that has infected the whole of mankind. Jesus was willing to offer mercy to this unfortunate leper because of his faith, and the unmerited favor of H

  Just Another Day ( February 15, 2023) “ One person esteems  one day above another; another esteems every day alike. ” (Romans 14:5) Thank you sincerely for the much-appreciated birthday greetings that you are sending! Yes, it’s my 72 nd birth anniversary, but to me it is just another day, each of which is a gift to be cherished and lived fully, not for one’s own glory, but for the glory of God! Certainly, for me and every other sinner who has entered into a personal faith-based relationship with Jesus Christ and been saved by the grace of a merciful God, this day and every day we are given is a precious day, but just another day to be committed into God’s capable hands in order that it might be lived in a manner that pleases Him, produces good fruit in our lives, and returns to Him the praise, gratitude, and worship that only the Almighty deserves. Believe me, I am thankful not only for the bounty of His many blessings but for the hardships and trials that He uses to shape me i