Category: Uncategorized

Mark 2:5

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

Encouraging Words

So much for our salvation and walk in Christ being a personal thing. As Americans, we pride ourselves on being independent individuals. We talk about our “personal” relationship with Christ. Yes, Jesus does reach into each of our lives and leads us on our journey to Him, however, it requires the entire community of the faithful to help us along our journey. Here we see a young man healed of his physical malady because of the faith of his friends. This is the kind of friend that I want to be to those in my life and these are the kind of friends that I want in my life. Glory be to God!

John 5:30

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Encouraging Words

Wow! I don’t think I have read any other verse that so clearly encapsulates the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Here He is saying that He is fully human because as a human the only way that He can be righteous is to conform His will to the divine will of God. As a human, He had to do this continually. As God in human form, He could have forced His humanity to do this, but then that would not have been Him exercising His human free will. Why is this important? Because if I am commanded to be like Christ and to grow into His image, then I must have a human model whose footsteps I can follow. I too can choose to conform my will to God’s and become righteous. I too can choose to be like Christ. I must do this every moment of my life. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Psalm 97:10 (96:10 LXX)

You who love the Lord, hate evil;
The Lord keeps the souls of His saints;
He shall deliver them from the hand of sinners.

Encouraging Words

Sometimes it feels like the whole world has succumbed to the evils that the scriptures so clearly warn us about. Businesses have become so greedy and treat their employees like commodities and use deception to convince their customers to buy more. Debauchery is rampant across the entertainment industry. So many wars are being waged in the name of God, but in reality are against God. And the list goes on. So where are the encouraging words? If I love god and continue to strive to live my life His way, in the image of His son, then He will keep my soul. He will deliver me from the hand of sinners. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Genesis 5:2-3

He made them male and female, and blessed them; and the day He made them He called his name Adam. Now Adam lived two hundred and thirty years, and begot a son according to his form and image, and named him Seth.

Encouraging Words

God purposely created mankind in His image and gave us the ability to walk with Him. Even though mankind fell from God’s presence in the garden of Eden, God continued to bless us with the ability to have children and raise them to know Him. His presence never left us!

Genesis 4:25

Again Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a son, and he named him Seth, saying, “God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

Encouraging Words

Even at the beginning of the creation and development of mankind, our Lord weaves the portrayal of Christ into the fabric of life and the scriptures. Abel, who pleased God with his sacrifice, was ultimately killed out of jealousy and unwillingness to repent. And out of death God raises up a new son for Adam and Eve. A son whose lineage produces the very lineage of God. The early church fathers taught that Seth was a typification of Jesus who was also put to death out of jealousy and an unwillingness to repent. Jesus rose up from the dead giving mankind a new lineage to eternal life. Glory be to God.

Proverbs 5:1-2

My son, hold fast to wisdom
And incline your ear to my words,
That you may guard good thinking;
And I command you with the perception of my lips.

Personal Challenge

My salvation through Christ and my justification and sanctification in Him is not a onetime event in my life. I am commanded to be diligent in my pursuit of Him and His wisdom and to be militant in protecting my thoughts and passions as I follow in His footsteps through the journey of life that He is leading me on. My salvation is a process that He and the Holy Spirit continually work out within me. Glory be to God!

Mark 2:27-28

And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

Encouraging Words

It is so easy to see how many beliefs get off on the wrong track to salvation and relationship with the living God by focusing on rules and laws. These are more tangible and, therefore, easier to claim as what we must obey in order to know God. However, the truth is that all of the rules and laws of the Old Testament were established to point us to Jesus and our need for Him. They are there to show us that we cannot be in a relationship with a righteous and holy god without a righteous and holy Savior leading the way. Glory be to God!

John 20:29

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Encouraging Words

What a blessing and a privilege to be accounted amongst those who have believed without seeing. As my life has progressed through this believing without seeing, God has revealed Himself over and over again. That is where additional blessings are poured forth. Glory be to God!