I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Living Within the Hope of God
Have you ever accidentally seen the end of a movie first? Knowing the ending probably shapes the way you understand the rest of the story.
Well, if you skip to the last few chapters of the Bible, you'll be skipping over a lot of really good stuff—but you'll also see how God will one day make all things right again. He will restore things that are lost, repair things that are broken, heal things that are fragmented, and ultimately make everything new. He will wipe away every tear and heal every broken heart.
That promise for the future should shape the way we live today. As Psalm 30:5 says, there are times in life that are filled with sorrow and grief. These are very real seasons that every person will experience.
The promises of God give us hope to endure difficult seasons. We know that even though things are broken and sorrowful right now, they won’t always be like that. One day God will restore things to how they are supposed to be.
As the Psalmist says, weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. That “morning” might not be tomorrow morning, or even a morning next week. But one day, God will come with a bright new morning in which everything will be just as He wants.
Until that time, we are tasked with living faithful lives to God while holding tight to the promises and hope that He gives us. Scripture is filled with other promises that God gives us to hold onto in various seasons of our life.
Take a moment to think of a few of God’s promises that are true for you today. Meditate on them. Let them fill you with hope as you follow after God.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...
