Rest in the Arms of Jesus!

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Don't you know?

Haven't you heard?

The Lord is the eternal God,

Creator of the earth.

He never gets weary or tired;

his wisdom cannot be measured.

The Lord gives strength

to those who are weary.

Even young people get tired,

then stumble and fall.

But those who trust the Lord

will find new strength.

They will be strong like eagles

soaring upward on wings;

they will walk and run

without getting tired.

Isaiah 40:28-31

If I work at accomplishing the things that need to be done in my life, every day I get tired. Being tired is a part of the human condition, it is not like God! God does not get tired, but we do. But God understands getting tired because Jesus walked in the flesh on this earth and He experienced what it is like to be tired.

God gives strength to those who are weary! Each day when you rest and sleep your physical strength is renewed and restored. And each day when you rest in the arms of Jesus your Spiritual strength is renewed as well!

Sometimes I get tired and weary in the middle of the day and I find a place to take a nap for a few minutes. Usually, that is just what I need to regain my strength and keep working. Sometimes I also get spiritually tired in the middle of the day and need to take a "Spiritual Nap" as I rest in His arms. I just settle back and let the beautiful thoughts of my Lord put me to sleep. And then I awake renewed and ready for whatever will come next.

"Lord Jesus help me to rest in Your arms today as I receive the strength that can only come from You. Thank You Lord Jesus. Amen."

The Whole Truth!

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God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth, which is,

 

There is only one God,

and Christ Jesus

is the only one

who can bring us

to God.

Jesus was truly human,

and he gave himself

to rescue all of us.

1Timothy 2:4-5

There it is. The WHOLE TRUTH in only one verse is an amazing claim. When you are a witness in court, at least in the United States you must affirm that you are telling the truth, THE WHOLE TRUTH, and nothing but the truth!

Of course every Word in the Bible is truth, but the Bible itself claims that 1 Timothy 2:5 can be called THE WHOLE TRUTH. Let me read it again.

"There is only one God, and Christ Jesus is the only one who can bring us to God. Jesus was truly human and he gave himself to rescue all of us."

Those 31 words touch every part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope that you have in Him. So if you are looking for a useful verse to memorize and recall when you tell others about Jesus I would highly recommend 1 Timothy 2:5. When you grasp those words you will have THE WHOLE TRUTH in 31 words!

"Lord Jesus, give me opportunity today to share these 31 words with someone who does not know THE WHOLE TRUTH about You and what You did for all of us! Thank You Jesus for giving Yourself so You can bring us to God. Amen!”

Become a Bible Story!

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Your strong faith in the Lord is like a breath of new life. How can we possibly thank God enough for all the happiness you have brought us? Day and night we sincerely pray that we will see you again and help you to have an even stronger faith.

I Thessalonians 3:8-10

It is such an encouragement to hear the stories of men and women around the world whose faith is strong and growing! The Biblical accounts of the lives of those who came to believe in Jesus are in some ways the "prototypes" of faith! They believed and saw in their lives the power of God move in mighty ways.

One lie of Satan is that our faith cannot be like that today. So we look to Bible stories about faith, but do not expect the same things to happen to us. We live our lives trying to imitate Bible characters, believing that we do not have the internal power to live like them. We accept that our lives are different somehow from theirs and that what was available to them is not available to us!

I just want you to know that Satan's lie has been exposed. A dear friend of mine has written a book called "Miraculous Movements - How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims Are Falling in Love with Jesus." Jerry Trousdale details the true stories of men and women who are experiencing the same things that you can read about in the Book of Acts!

Jerry and I have been friends for sixty years and I was privileged to spend three weeks traveling with him as he collected the stories. I listened to story after story and saw the joy on their faces as they told of God's great power in revealing Jesus to their hearts.

So here is my encouragement and commitment. I want to encourage you to seek to have a life of faith equal to any you read about in the Bible. And I have committed my life to Jesus to do the same thing! Instead of simply being amazed at how God is moving in others around me, I want to be amazed at how God is moving in me!

"Lord Jesus, may my faith in You grow today, so that I will know that the power working in me is from You and You alone! May my story be worthy of encouraging others to believe in You as well. And may You be glorified forever! Amen."

Just Like Joe Palooka!

 

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The Scriptures say, “God commanded light to shine in the dark.” Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.

We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us. We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up. In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again.

2 Corinthians 4:6-9

One Christmas my brother and I got a "Joe Palooka" punching bag. It stood about four feet tall, was plastic, filled with air and had sand in the bottom and had a picture of the cartoon boxer Joe Palooka printed on it. Whenever you knocked it over, which was quite easy, it would stand back up again and just dare you to hit it again! Because of the sand in the base of the toy it would not stay down when you knocked it over!

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit, then you are a lot like that Joe Palooka punching bag! In times of trouble Satan and those who serve him give it their best shot to take you out of the match. But because of the Holy Spirit in your life, you bounce right back up and are ready to take another one!

My Joe Palooka punching bag never started the fight, but it would never give up. You could not keep it down. That is also the way it is with Christians. No where in the Bible does it say that we are to go to war with unbelievers. But it does say that Satan goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to destroy. If you follow Jesus you will be hit and hit hard. You will be knocked down, but that is when the power of God in you will be seen by everyone around as you bounce back up and stand tall for Him!

"Lord Jesus, I so often feel like a punching bag for Satan and the world around me. I am attacked on all sides, but because of Your Spirit in me I can bounce back up every time! Help me today to trust even as I am being hit that I will bounce back up and stand tall because of You. Praise Your Name forever. Amen."

Does Your Hope Show?

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Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life.

Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope.  Give a kind and respectful answer and keep your conscience clear. This way you will make people ashamed for saying bad things about your good conduct as a follower of Christ.

1 Peter 3:15-16

When I began to attend elementary school, now 61 years ago I had lots of new things to learn and to be careful about.

Now this may sound silly in today's world, but it was very important that no one ever saw my underwear. I was very careful to keep my shirt tucked in so that not even the edge of the elastic band was visible. As I remember it, someone seeing my underwear would be extremely embarrassing!

Some Christians treat the hope that is in them like their underwear. They want no one to see it! And if someone does catch a glimpse of their hope they are embarrassed.

Your hope is very personal, and it does provide the foundation for everything else in your life, but you have no reason to keep other people from seeing it. Let your hope be seen in everything you do and say. Don't try to keep the hope that is in you from the eyes of other people. When they see your hope they will ask you about it, and you can tell them about Jesus Christ!

"Lord Jesus, give me the courage to let my hope of Heaven and in You be seen by everyone around me today. Give me an opportunity to speak to someone about You and the hope that is in me today! Amen."

Only What He Saw God Do!

Jesus told the people:

I tell you for certain the Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing, and he does exactly what he sees the Father do. The Father loves the Son and has shown him everything he does. The Father will show him even greater things, and you will be amazed. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants to.

John 5:19-21

I have read these verses before, but I don't think I have ever pondered, for very long what it means for Jesus to say that He only did what He saw God do! Every action Jesus took, every Word He spoke, and I'm sure that even every intent of His heart came straight from what He saw in His Father!

Jesus was so intimately related to God that He cried out on the Cross because the Father had turned away from Him. Jesus had a dependency on the Father that if it were a human relationship the "experts" would have deemed it unhealthy.

If you are as dependent on Jesus as He was on His Father you will also be judged by these same experts to be a fanatic follower. If you only do the things that you see Jesus do and you only speak the words that you hear Jesus speak then your heart will be seeing the world as Jesus saw it and your life will make sense to God!

"Lord Jesus, I want to depend on You just like You did on the Father! Show me what You have done and what You are doing today so that I might always do Your deeds and speak Your Words! Thank You Jesus! Amen."

You are God’s Light Bulb

 

The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.

John 3:19-21

As a follower of Jesus Christ are you doing things for God or is God doing things through you? There is a big difference.

When you do things for God you want His approval and you want the reward that might come from pleasing Him. But when God does things through you He is using you as His vessel to accomplish His will on this earth! You are then the light of the world but God Himself is the electricity in your light bulb!

Thomas Edison did not invent electricity. Edison simply created a way of allowing the world to see the light that electric power makes. Christians have no power of their own to show the world the way to Heaven. The light of the world is Jesus Christ, but you are the light bulb through which His power is displayed!

When a light bulb is disconnected from the source of power it is perhaps the most useless of all items! The same is true for a follower of Jesus. When you are disconnected from Jesus Christ you have no way to be the light of the world!

"Lord Jesus, help me today to stay plugged in to You so that I may shine in the darkness of this world with the light that only comes from You. And may You be praised forever! Amen."