God has defeated Satan through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through this overwhelming victory, God has also empowered you to overcome any temptation to sin and has provided sufficient resources for you to respond biblically to any problem of life. By relying on God’s power and being obedient to His Word, you can be an overcomer in any situation.
Category Archives: Hope
Christ Our Redeemer
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Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:14-15
The small group that my wife and I participate in is currently studying the statements of faith that our church affirms. As I began preparing for a study on the statement related to Christ, I thought it would be appropriate to walk through it here since the Christian world will be celebrating Easter in a few days. It’s a brief but great reminder of what we are celebrating and is as follows: “We believe in Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious death, burial, bodily resurrection, His ascensions to the right hand of the Father and His personal future return in power and glory.”
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Our old history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.
Looking Upward
Is God Enough For You?
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And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
I was recently included in an invitation to participate in an activity. For various reasons I declined; any one of them had sufficient merit to opt out, but together, the choice was self-directing. A few days after the initial invitation, a second was received. It came on a rather busy day and not wanting to forget to respond, I sent a brief message indicating my choice. Rather quickly, I received a reply questioning my decision which was followed by a volley of emails that indicated offense for both my choice and my means of communicating it. The end result was yet another hurt and a broken relationship that increased my desire to withdraw from most people and especially pull away from the Christian community.
One of the difficulties for those dealing with life’s trials and/or the ongoing challenges of chronic illness is the focus. We all face various circumstances that disappoint and frustrate us giving rise to the need of confidantes to whom we share our thoughts and occasionally vent. However, when our thoughts become self-absorbed, we lose our perspective and cause damage in our vital relationships.
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Jesus tends to his people individually. He personally sees to our needs. We all receive Jesus’ touch. We experience his care.
I’m Stuck
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I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:1-3
In 1995 I had a grand mal seizure and was put on seizure medication without a thorough investigation of the circumstances. We would learn later that I did not need it. Problematically, if you take seizure medication and don’t need it, it can cause seizures. Consequently, for the next nine years I endured petit mals or absence seizures. The first one occurred after my wife and I returned home from a dance. While we were talking with our children, Marie noticed that my expression changed to a vacant stare. In order to avoid alarming our children she moved close to me, took my hand, lead me to our bedroom and had me sit down. In a few moments I returned to normal function. Through experimentation and discussion, we learned that while I could not initiate movement or speech, I could be led by others and I could nod faintly in response to yes or no questions. However, for the most part I was immobilized and temporarily stuck in a very confining world. As I think about those seizures, I’m reminded of times when I’ve been stuck in life. Usually, I’m immobilized by one of three things: fear, fatigue or indecision. Can you relate?
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Trials should not surprise us, or cause us to doubt God’s faithfulness. Rather, we should actually be glad for them. God sends trials to strengthen our trust in Him so that our faith will not fail. Our trials keep us trusting; they burn away our self confidence and drive us to our Savior.
No matter what storm you face, you need to know God loves you. He has not abandoned you.
Your Consolations Delight My Soul
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“If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. If I should say, ‘My foot has slipped,’ Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” Psalm 94:17-19
I was preparing to go to yet another funeral this morning and was looking for peace within my own heart. In this case, it was not a close friend, but rather the husband of someone I admire and have great affection for. His widow is a dear soul and a godly woman who has been so kind to me that I ache for her. We also have various connections with some of her children through church and business dealings. In fact, her son is one of the morticians that helped with both of my parents’ funerals. In short they are a family that I have great respect for as they regularly exhibit both kindness and integrity. With that on my mind as I spent time with God this morning, He brought Psalm 94 to me…or more specifically, verse 19 and reminded me that this is one of those times to trust Him to be all that we need. While the context of the psalm speaks to “evil doers”, the basic message still applies to all of our circumstances. Consider each verse carefully.
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Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man – His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God – when we present our bodies a living sacrifice.