Revelation 22:17

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Encouraging Words…

What a wonderful way to end the written scriptures. The Holy Spirit and the bride of Christ pleading for His return and at the same time knowing that all of us who are tired and weary, broken and thirsty, can come to Him to drink in the water of life freely. We know that He delays so that more can find Him and know Him and His love for them. Glory be to God!

Luke 12:8-9

Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

Personal Challenge…

Am I living my life in a way that confesses/professes Jesus Christ as the Son of Man and Lord of creation? Or am I keeping it to myself out of fear of humiliation or retribution. To be confessed as a child of God’s before the angels and God requires a life lived full of being out there with our love for Christ and professing everyone’s need for Him. A light under a bushel quickly goes out. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Encouraging Words…

In the Orthodox church we have entered into our pre-Lenten season. Right around the corner is Lent and our time to prepare for Pascha (Easter), the celebration of our Lord’s victory over death by His own death. This will be my third Lent and each year the spiritualness of this season becomes more apparent. This is a time of repentance and mourning, looking back and looking forward, and a time that the enemy doesn’t want us to partake in because it can draw us closer to our Lord. This passage by Paul is such a vivid reminder that no matter what is going on in our lives our Lord is always with us and that nothing can separate us from His love. Glory be to God!

Isaiah 57:15

The Lord, the Most High who dwells on high forever, the Holy One among His saints, whose name is the Lord Most High, who rests among His saints, and who gives patience to the fainthearted and life to the broken-hearted…

Encouraging Words…

God is not some distant, uncaring, “man upstairs” nor is He a fickle, judgmental ogre that so many make Him out to be. He does dwell on high, far from where we mortals can reach, but at the same time He dwells amongst us, His saints. He encourages us, comforts us, gives patience to the fainthearted, and life to the broken-hearted. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit loves and cares for His children, His creation. Glory be to God.

Psalm 23:6 (22:6 LXX)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord to the end of my days.

Encouraging Words…

How do we define goodness and mercy? If we use the vocabulary of the world we will come with a list of blessings in our lives that are far different than if we use the vocabulary of God’s heavenly kingdom. His goodness and mercy are eternal, they cannot be stolen from us or lost and they do not decay. It is important that we allow our mindset to be changed by the work of our Lord (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) so that it can be shifted from temporal desires and achievements to spiritual ones.

Numbers 12:3

(Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men on the face of the earth.)

Personal Challenge…

Interesting that God would slip this parenthetical comment into the midst of all that was being written about what Moses was doing for the people of God. Our vision of Moses is often the Cecile B. DeMille character played by Charlton Heston…bold, virulent, and commanding. It is easy to slip into this mindset and expect that people who do great and mighty works for God are anything but meek. But isn’t this the kind of person God wants us to be…meek and humble before our God and our fellow man. This does not mean that we are not strong when He needs us to be, but that strength must come from a heart filled with humility. If we live and operate this way, just as Moses did in his life, then any great and wonderful acts that God performs through us are His acts not our and therefore point to Him and not us. A hard lesson to take to heart when we live in a time that pushes us to look out for our own desires. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Isaiah 30:15

For thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel:“When you return and groan, then you will be saved and know where you were. When you trusted in vain things, vain was your strength, and you did not will to listen.”

Personal Challenge…

When we go through our lives trusting in the things of the world (material wealth, recognition, knowledge gained, etc.) then all that we will achieve will be vain and will turn us further way from our God. However, when we return to Him in a spirit of repentance, seeking His forgiveness, He will save us from the vanities of temporal life and set us on His path of righteousness. Only then will our eyes be opened to see the vanity that we were entrapped in. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,
And there is good understanding in all who practice it;

Encouraging Words…

Why is it that so many people make the pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding their god? Is it possible that it is because the true God is all wisdom, all knowledge, and all understanding and that if we pursue Him, first by fearing, respecting, and holding Him in awe, then we will receive His wisdom, His knowledge, and His understanding? The enemy, the prince of this earth, knows this and throws up the smoke screen of earthly intellectualism distracting us from the God and leading us down his path way from God. Let us stay the course by fearing God and receiving His wisdom and understanding.

Psalm 9:10 (9:11 LXX)

And let those who know Your name put their hope in You;
For You, O Lord, do not forsake those who seek You.

Encouraging Words…

Our life here on earth is often portrayed as a journey. In a journey we are always pressing on forward toward our destination. The psalmist reminds us that the destination of our journey of life is our lord. We are to always be pressing on toward Him, seeking Him, and pursuing Him. The promise here from our god is that we will find Him, He will not forsake us, and that our hope can and should be placed in Him.

Genesis 3:11-13

Thus He said, “Who said you were naked? Have you eaten from the one tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” Then Adam said, “The woman You gave me, gave me of the tree, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Personal Challenge…

We were created in the image and likeness of God. Not only at the very beginning of mankind with the creation of Adam and Eve, but every time God knits together the fabric of a newly created child He creates that child in the image and likeness of Himself. We are not created with total depravity within us because that is not part of God’s image. We are born into a broken and fallen world, and not the Garden of Eden, but nonetheless we are created in His image. Part of that image is the ability to chose between right and wrong, to sin or not to sin. It is possible to make the right choices and not sin. Jesus was fully human. He lived in this fallen world just like all of us. He dealt with trials and tribulations and temptations and desires like all of us. And yet, in all of His humanness He chose not to sin. He lived the perfect human life, the life that all of us were created to live. He is our example.

This passage fascinated me today and led me to consider the teaching of total depravity. Adam chose to eat the fruit that Eve gave him, and then when confronted with His sin blamed it on Eve. Eve blamed her choice on the serpent. Is this not also what the doctrine of total depravity does? Because of it I can say that I can’t help myself because of Adam’s sin, because of the belief that I am totally depraved. The truth of the matter is that I sin because I choose to, I see the fruit as more attractive than God. If I start here, then my confession and repentance is more real and genuine.