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.
A Transformed Person
Have you ever felt like you needed to have a do-over? If so, you’re in good company. Peter did as well.
Peter was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, invited by Jesus Himself to leave his life as a fisherman and join Him during His ministry on earth. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, Peter followed Him to the sham trial. The people in the area were openly and aggressively hostile to Jesus. Imagine what that must have felt like, to be surrounded by people who may choose to treat Peter the way they were treating Jesus at that very moment.
In Matthew 26 and Luke 22, we see that Peter chose to keep a low profile. He wanted to go unnoticed by the angry mob. That didn’t work for long, though—three different people recognized him as a follower of Jesus and asked him about it. Each of the three times, Peter denied ever knowing Jesus.
If we skip ahead in Scripture, though, we find Peter doing the exact opposite. In Acts 2, Peter is standing in front of a big crowd, filled with people who may persecute him. Rather than denying knowing Jesus, he proclaims the secret to life: repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and receive the Holy Spirit.
This is risky. What will people think? What if they turn on him the way that they did Jesus? Yet, he was bold anyway. He was a transformed person compared to who he had been earlier in the story.
How did Peter transform? He was restored by Jesus. He also received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Two major things happened between these passages of scripture: Jesus visited Peter, and with grace, restored him. Secondly, the Holy Spirit came down from heaven for the followers of Jesus. With the Holy Spirit came power, empowering the believers to live bold, transformed lives (Acts 2).
Many of us face moments like this: moments where the right answer is boldness for Jesus, but the easy answer is to keep our heads down. What will people think? What will they do?
Here’s some great news: we’re never alone. We don’t have to be bold on our own. The Holy Spirit is with us every day, giving us the power to be bold and transformed. We can walk out our newness each day with His help.
You can start today. Boldness is now. The Holy Spirit is ready to walk with you.
“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the ...
A God Who Stays Close
Psalm 121 is a psalm of protection, sung by travelers making their way to Jerusalem on a religious pilgrimage. As they journeyed through difficult terrain under the blazing sun, this song reminded them where their true help came from: the Maker of heaven and earth.
In verse 5, the psalmist writes: “The Lord is your shade at your right hand.” For a weary traveler in the Middle East, shade was life-saving. The sun wasn’t just uncomfortable, it could be dangerous. So, shade meant relief, protection, even survival. That’s the kind of watchful care God offers. The Lord is right beside you: “at your right hand.”
His protection is personal and present. He’s not watching over you from a distance; He’s close by—actively guarding you from the elements that would otherwise wear you down, drain you, make you delirious, burn you, or even kill you.
In Psalm 121, we see a God who keeps watch day and night, who never slumbers, who guards our lives in all our coming ...
