Month: February 2022

Weekly words of encouragement

Sweet Words For Our Soul – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. Psalms 119:103, 111 (NIV) The Psalmist did not have the words of Jesus, yet the Old Testament law was a sweet joy to him. How much sweeter are the words of Jesus and his Apostles? How much more joy do we have in the words of mercy and love that fulfilled and perfected the Old Testament law? Jesus said, “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:3, NIV). And “you are the light of the world” (Mt. 5:14, NIV). And “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Mt. 6:20). How more blessed can we be? We are the poor but we are the light of the world and we have an eternal treasure in Continue Reading →

new earth

Dwelling On The New Earth

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One day God will create “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1, ESV). This New Earth is the consummation of the kingdom of God that Jesus brought to earth. This is what we now desire more than anything and the goal toward which God has been guiding his people for the entire history of humanity. It is very important to dwell on this new creation because this is the destiny that we live for every day; it is the end that makes sense out of everything we do and experience, and it gives us strength for Christformation. It is the context for our entire lives. In this life we are fighting the good fight, dying to self, practicing sacrificial love for others and living as outsiders in the world. God has been purifying us, filling us, Christforming us and making us one with him. In our next life Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

God’s Words Anchor Us Forever – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. Psalms 119:89-90 (NIV) In this life so much of what surrounds us is temporary. People come and go. Ideas come and go. Congregations come and go. Our favorite things come and go. We have no permanent anchor in this world. But truths and promises that God has spoken are permanent. They are eternal in the heavens, never changing and always good. His words are for our benefit and we can rely on them because God is faithful through all the generations of humanity. Our society may change for the worse and try to convince us that it is a waste of time to pursue holiness, but God’s words do not change and pursuing holiness will gain us far more than anything that can be gained on Continue Reading →

approval blameless

Are You Aiming For A Blameless Life?

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Scripture declares that “we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13, NIV); we “eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (1 Cor. 1:7, NIV). Are we eagerly awaiting the return of Christ? Do we love his future appearance? Master teacher Walter Hilton (d. 1396) eloquently expresses how much he values desire for Jesus (though he was not specifically referring to his coming): Certainly, I would rather feel and have a true desire and a pure longing in my heart for my Lord Jesus, even though I should see nothing of him at all with my spiritual eye, than have without this desire all the bodily penance of all men alive, all visions or revelations of angels appearing, songs and sounds, savors or smells, burnings and delights felt by the body—in short, all the joys of Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

The Treasure Of God’s Commands – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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The law from your mouth is more precious to methan thousands of pieces of silver and gold. Psalms 119:72 (NIV) The Psalmist was referring to the laws that Yahweh gave Israel through Moses. Elsewhere, this Psalmist refers to them as precepts, decrees, commands and statutes. These laws were worth more than a fortune in gold and silver. Yahweh’s laws allowed the Psalmist to live an upright and fruitful life, in contrast to many others around him. Yahweh’s truths gave the Psalmist blessing (119:1), counsel (119:24), hope (119:43) freedom (119:45), knowledge (119:66) and good judgment (119:66). They kept him from worthless things (119:37). How much more valuable are God’s commands under the New Covenant! Jesus taught us how to live a fruitful and fulfilled life in a painful and hostile world. He taught us how to walk in the Spirit and put his Spirit inside us so we could follow his Continue Reading →