Verse of the Day

  • September 18, 2013

    We are living a life at war…


    2 Corinthians 10:3-6

    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

    Encouraging Words…

    Even though I am constrained by my physical body to live in this temporal world, by the power of God I can not only be aware of the spiritual world around me, but I can tap into His power and authority to fight the battles in both worlds and be victorious for my Lord. Through Him, and in Him, I can be used to glorify and magnify Him. It is not me doing this, but Him…all that I am is a clay pot for His use.

  • September 17, 2013

    Our journey through the wilderness…

    Luke 4:1

    Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

    Encouraging Words…

    Just as the wandering in the desert by the nation of Israel typifies Jesus wandering through the desert after His baptism, so to does this act by Jesus typifies our lives as His children. Upon our baptism and receipt of the Holy Spirit, He starts our journey through this desert wilderness called life. Once adopted by God, we are no longer a citizen of this world and as we live our lives more like Christ’s the less we fit into this world. What a blessing it is that we have the Holy Spirit to lead us through this wilderness. Glory be to God!

  • September 16, 2013

    Jesus…leading the way.


    Luke 3:21-22

    When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

    Encouraging Words…

    Wow! These short two verses are packed with so much of our teachings in the church. Jesus does not need baptism, but in doing so He accomplished many things: 1) He affirmed John’s ministry as the forerunner; 2) God, the Father, proclaimed Him as His beloved Son and the Holy Spirit confirmed that; 3) He gave us, His children, the example of being baptized; 4) He prefigured His own death, giving baptism its true meaning; 5) He sanctified the waters by entering them and preparing them for our baptism; 6) He fulfilled so many of the types in the Old Testament pointing to Him (Moses and the Red Sea, the ark crossing the Jordan, and many others); and 7) He opened heaven to our world, which had been separated from God through sin. This event was also the greatest and clearest public manifestation of God as Trinity in human history. But of great importance to us a followers of Christ, the words spoken by the Father also apply to us who are baptized in Christ and who live our lives faithfully, as our sonship is bestowed through our adoption into His family. “You are my beloved son/daughter, in you I am well pleased.” Glory be to God!

  • September 15, 2013

    Putting our treasures in proper perspective…
    Matthew 19:21

    Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

    Personal Challenge…

    It is so easy to read this passage and dismiss it because we read it as Jesus dealing with wealth. It goes much farther than this. What am I holding on to as higher value than Jesus? Is it my position at work or in the church? Is it my stuff that I have accumulated? Is it my pains from my past that I let control me? Is it my social, political, or other world view that I value more than God’s view? Is it my knowledge and worldly wisdom that I have accumulated? Is it my pride and arrogance? I am being told here to let go of, give up, cast off, everything that stands between me and the cross. This must be a willing casting off and not one done out of duress. And the closer I get to Christ the more personal these items that I need to cast off become, even to the point of total self-sacrifice. But the command does not stop there…I am to follow Christ, willingly, wherever He leads me. He will take me places where I do not want to go, for in these places I will discover more that I must cast off. However,if I desire to know Christ intimately and become like Him, this is the process that I must follow.

  • September 14, 2013

    1 Corinthians 1:18

    For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

    Encouraging Words…

    Today in the Orthodox Church we celebrated the Elevation of the Precious and Life giving Cross. Without the cross there is no life. Without the cross there is no restoration of God’s creation. But why does God do things the way that He does; elevating the humble, giving us life through the death of His Son, and many other things that appear to be contradictory to our way of thinking? And that is the answer right there. God does not do things the way that we would do them. And we do not do things the way that God does. The early church fathers taught that God is humble. How could the God of all, the Creator of all, be humble? I cannot answer that, but I can point to His acts of humility… becoming His own creation, being born in a manger, living a lowly and humble life, giving up His life on a cross. So it becomes clearer that He is humble because He humbles Himself. And this makes no sense to us. This is why the message of the cross is foolishness to those who do not know Him. But once we truly meet Him and become His, this message becomes more dear and our hearts begin to yearn to follow Him, to take up His cross, to become humble as He is humble, to love others more than ourselves, to become like Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

  • September 13, 2013

    2 Corinthians 4:7-10

    But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard- pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

    Encouraging Words…

    I love plants, plants in the garden, plants in pots, plants all around the house. In this love I have the opportunity to work with earthen vessels, clay pots. By themselves they are very fragile and easily broken. Filled with the incorrect material they can still be very fragile. But filled with the right material they can take a lot of “abuse” and still hold their precious package. God uses us in the same way. We are earthen vessels, fragile and easily broken. But when we are filled with Christ and the Holy Spirit we are transformed. We can be hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, but by the grace of God and because of His power and not ours we can make it through this not crushed, not forsaken, not destroyed. Glory be to God! It is because of Him and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that we can magnify God through our trials and ordeals as well as our accomplishments and successes.

  • September 12, 2013

    Mark 1:35

    Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

    Personal Challenge…

    Once again, Jesus does not tell us what we are to do, but He demonstrates it by doing it Himself. Here we have Jesus, a part of the Godhead, committing a significant part of His day to prayer and solitude  He is God and yet He shows us that it is imperative to spend time alone with God the Father…lots of time. Jesus was also fully human, which means He had temptations and spiritual attacks coming at Him all of the time. Is it possible that one of the key contributors to His being able to submit His human will entirely to God and not sin was because of the time that He spent in prayer and solitude? If so, then wouldn’t this also be of benefit to me? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

  • September 11, 2013

    1 Peter 5:8-10

    Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

    Command with a Promise…

    We do not live in a singular universe. We live both in the physical and the spiritual realms all of the time. We are commanded to be serious about this, to live our lives sober and vigilant, looking for the attacks from the spiritual realm that flow into the physical realm. We cannot resist our enemy and be steadfast in our faith without focusing on both of these realms. And even if we do this there will still be suffering, but if we persist the promise is that we will be perfected, established, strengthened, and settled in our Lord. Glory be to God!

  • September 10, 2013

    2 Corinthians 5:17

    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

    Encouraging Words…

    “Behold, all things have become new.” What a powerful promise. In Adam I was a victim to death. In the New Adam, Christ, death has been defeated, i have been set free from the bondage of death and sin, and I can lead a new life, a full life, a sinless life. Even though I still choose to sin, in Christ my sins are forgiven, I am renewed and cleansed through Him. Glory be to God!

  • September 9, 2013

    2 Corinthians 5:14-15

    For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus:that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

    Personal Challenge…

    Our belief as Christians is so different than all other religions. We are not just commanded to live our lives a certain way, to meet a set of rules and requirements, but we are shown by the example of our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, what sacrificial living is like. He died so that we might live. He gave His all for us. My challenge is to follow in His footsteps and die both for Him and for my neighbor.