Do You Believe?

Many years ago, Michelle and I spent Easter in a poverty-stricken village of Romania. Those who believed in our living, loving Lord had a tradition of greeting each other with "Christ is risen, He has risen indeed!" 

Like our Romanian brothers and sisters, I praise God for dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead three days later. I Peter 2:24

Do you believe?

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Food for Thought....

Image by Duncan Brown (Cradlehall) via Flickr

One principle that the resurrection teaches us is that God will always finish what He started. No matter how dark it looks, no matter how long it's been, no matter how many people are trying to push you down; if you will stay in faith, God will always take you from Friday to Sunday. He will always complete what He started in you! I Cor. 15:3-4

Miracles Still Happen...

Image by GlacierTim via FlickrIn Bible Study this morning I learned about three miracles. However, these miracles were not from the stories of the Bible. These were present day miracles.

The first one was shared by one of our Bible Study members who had been diagnosed with cancer five years ago. This past week he received a clean bill of health from the doctors at MD Anderson. He shared that the type of cancer he had is diagnosed in more than 16,000 men every year and that 11,000 of those diagnosed pass away. Praise God for healing my friend!

The second and third miracles surprisingly made it to the front page of The Post and Courier today. One headline read "Get Up and Walk" and tells about a man who had a degenerative disease that progressively got worse. By 2005 he was wheel chair bound and could not walk. In 2009 this Christ-follower heard a voice in the night that told him to "Get up and walk." He did and has been walking ever since. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

The third miracle's headline "Surviving a tornado" tells about a man who emerged unharmed after a violent storm flattened the church around him.  Detailed accounts of this story on local news stations shared that he tried to get out of the church but could not find the key to unlock the door, so he knealt and prayed for God's protection. After the storm had destroyed everything around him and moved on, the locked door opened providing the man an exit. He was unharmed. Praise God!

Psalm 91:15 says "He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
         I will be with him in trouble;
         I will deliver him and honor him."

I know from personal experience that our living, loving Lord performs miracles all the time. He's done many miracles for me over the years. In fact, recent events in my life are a testament to what He has done for me. Jer. 33:3 and Ps. 34:1

So what about you? Do you believe in miracles?

Do You Know How Much He Loves You?

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should have Eternal life and not perish. John 3:16

I learned this Bible verse as a child. And throughout the years I have seen it posted on banners at football games and quoted on billboards along the roadside.

This verse is a common thing that people encounter all the time. But have you ever paused long enough to think about what it means?

I look at this way…

God, the creator of the universe and everything in it, loved the world.

The world –meaning He loves you and me, and everyone.

Gave His only Son to come to earth as a human and fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. His Son, Jesus, grew up and lived among us.

Then, at the age of 33, Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead three days later.

Why? He was a symbolic sacrifice for us to demonstrate how much God, our Father and creator, loves us.

Think about that for a moment. God loved us SO much that He would sacrifice His only Son to show us how much He loves us. Let that sink in and think about how GREAT that sacrifice is and what it says.

Now here’s the catch. This sacrifice was made so that whoever believes in it should have everlasting life.

This means that if you believe with all your heart and soul that God did this for us, you will go to heaven when you die and live there for eternity.

But it is more than just believing. You see the demons believe in this sacrifice and know that it is true – but they live for themselves, doing whatever they please.

To have assurance of eternal life with the Lord in heaven one must believe in Jesus and His resurrection AND build a personal relationship with Him.

So let me ask you… if you were to die today, can you honestly say that you’d go to heaven?

If you’re not sure, let me encourage you to pause and ask the Lord to come into your heart and reveal Himself to you. If you really mean it, He will and I promise you that your life will be changed forever.

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"A blessing is not always easy, painless, simple, comfortable or expected. A blessing often comes, wrapped in the mystery of darkness. But I am learning this truth - anything that makes us cry out to God can be counted as a blessing." From Girlfriends In God 

Read Matt 14:22-33