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 Heart That Follows God
When we plant apple seeds, we expect an apple tree to grow. It’s the seed and the roots that decide what kind of tree grows in the soil.
Similarly, when we belong to God we expect goodness and righteousness to grow in our lives. It is the fruit of our actions that tells us what kind of seeds we’ve planted.
One of the ways we can identify the work of God in our life is by watching what type of fruit we produce. A sign of a growing and godly life is a heart that desires to live and act in accordance with God’s Word. Only someone who has spent time with God will produce that type of action in their life.
John cautions us to be mindful of what type of fruit our lives produce. When we truly belong to God, and we spend time with Him, our lives will naturally produce goodness and right living.
The goal is not to be prideful about how many good deeds we do, but instead, to cultivate a heart that wants to selflessly do good to others in the name of Jesus. We may not be perfect, but our hearts should desire to follow God.
Take a moment to think about your thoughts and actions over the past week. Do they reflect a heart that has been in a close relationship with God? Think of some steps you can take to create regular rhythms of spending time with 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...
