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2 Chronicles 32:7-8

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of the king of Assyria, nor before all the nation with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him are arms of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to save us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Encouraging Words…

Who is our Lord? The creator of everything! The Lord of Lords! The ruler of the heavenly hosts! The Almighty! Knowing and believing this empowers us to take on the strongest enemies and worst situations with confidence and assurance that we will prevail. It does no good, however,to just believe this. We must act on this belief and walk through life with the assurance that we have more on our side than the opposition in any situation. Glory be to God!

Luke 11:23

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

Personal Challenge…

Am I living my life in such a way so as to show people who Jesus is and that He loves them? Am I setting aside my personal agenda, my political agenda, my ethnic agenda, and just pushing out His agenda? If I am doing anything, saying anything, that takes someone’s eyes off of Jesus then I am working against Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Encouraging Words…

It is taught in the Orthodox church that we sin because we are afraid to die. If we go back to the first sin, it was all wrapped around death. If I am afraid that someday I will die then I will do whatever I can to get as much out of life as I possible can. And in doing this I feed my passions, turn my back on God, and trample on my neighbor. However, Jesus tells us that He came to destroy death, which He did in His incarnation, sinless life, death, and resurrection. Because of His work we too can seize this promise that He made to Martha…we shall never die. Through Christ we will live forever! Through Christ we can choose to sin no more…and when we do He will be there to cleanse us and forgive us. Glory be to God!

Daniel 3:28 (3:95 LXX)

So King Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed is the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His Angel and saved His servants who trusted in Him; for they altered the word of the king and handed over their bodies to be burned, so as not to serve and worship any god other than their God.

Personal Challenge…

Oh to be able, and willing, to live a life like these three young men were willing to live. They were willing to respectfully refuse to follow the decree of the most powerful man in their world. They did not do civil disobedience, or rebel aggressively, or anything of that sort. They willingly submitted to the consequences of saying, “No!” to this ungodly law and willingly walked into the fiery furnace. Do I trust my God that much? Do I love those around me that much? Am I willing to stand firm on the teachings of Christ and those who have gone before us even at the cost of my own life? To not be rebellious and resistant, but submissive in love for my God and my neighbor? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Isaiah 58:9-10

Then you shall cry out, and God will hear you. While you are still speaking, He will say, ‘Behold, I am here. ‘ If you take away your fetter and the pointing of the finger, and the word of grumbling, and if you give bread to the hungry from your soul, and satisfy the humble soul, then your light shall rise up in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as midday.

Encouraging Words…

When we live righteous lives, or at least strive to, we are promised that God will hear our prayers immediately. Makes sense because the more we live our lives God’s way the closer we are to Him. What does it take to live our lives this way? To love the Lord our God with all of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. And, to take care of the needs of our neighbor above our own. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner and help me to grow in your image.

Daniel 3:16-18

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “We have no need to answer you in regard to this thing. For there is a God in the heavens, whom we serve, and He is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us from your hands, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image you set up.”

Personal Challenge…

We can hold on to the truth that our God will always deliver us from the challenges here in this earthly life. Sometimes it is a miraculous deliverance such as with these three young men and the fiery furnace. Sometimes it is by taking us home to Himself as the church has seen with so many martyrs through the ages. But in all cases, no matter how big or how small the challenge, the situation, or the enemy, what always comes through as most important is our willingness, our commitment, to stand firm on that hope that we have within us. The hope that no matter what is going on in our lives God is with us. The hope that no matter how big or how powerful the obstacle is that God is bigger and more powerful. He is the all knowing, ever present, loving, merciful God and that He holds us in the palm of His hand. Glory be to God!

Matthew 5:17

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Encouraging Words…

So…is it not the law by which we are judge? Is it not the prophets that kept pointing out to us how far we were missing the mark…God’s mark? Then if Jesus declared that He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets is it not possible to conclude that the judgment that so many Christian faith practices say we fall under have been fulfilled by Christ? Jesus claimed that He came that we might have abundant life, that He was victorious over death. Maybe we should stop looking at God as some angry, judgmental Father and see His true character…Love. Glory be to God!

John 15:19

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If 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.

Personal Challenge…

Part of dying to the world is recognizing that as soon as we do this we will become enemies of the world. The world does not want to let us go. The world does not want us attracting others away from it. This means that when we choose to separate ourselves from the world things will heat up and we will begin to see just how much the world hates us. If we are not feeling this heat then maybe we have not really left this world behind.