The Love & Justice of God

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”- 2 Peter 3:9

A Pastor from Ohio gave a wonderful sermon on the love of God for His People.  He talked of how our Father gives us our whole life, every second, to make the right choice:  Jesus Christ.  Some of us may know, love and serve Jesus from a very young age.  Some of us may choose Jesus at a very old age, at the very last second.  We may even choose Jesus right before we die  But we both go to Heaven.  Because our Father loves us so.  Although one note of caution:  We may die younger than age 90, so we may not want to wait, lol ?

But as Merciful as God is, He is also Just.  After all, if God were not Just as well as Merciful, who would follow Him?  The Gospel Coalition had a good definition of the Wrath of God:  “the Holy action of retributive justice towards persons whose actions deserve eternal condemnation”.

As human beings, we don’t like to think of God’s Justice or Wrath.  We would rather focus on God’s Love and Mercy, but to do so exclusively is to put ourselves, and those we love, at risk.  God’s Justice and Wrath is a real as His Love and Mercy.  For our own sake and for the sake of those we love, we need to focus on both. 

There are people, who despite God’s generosity, will refuse to ever Follow Jesus.  There are also people, who will refuse to follow the Roadmap that God has given us for our lives, the Holy Bible.  But there are consequences for those choices, as their should be.  And that is where God’s Justice and Wrath comes in.  We see it in the Old Testament; we see it in Revelations; we see it throughout the Bible.  The Wrath of God will come for those who reject Jesus Christ.  And whether people choose to believe this Truth matters not, because God’s Wrath will come.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” – John 3:36

Choose wisely…

Have Courage!

From Worth Devotionals:

“My Friends, have the heart of a lion!

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

There’s an old adage, “Have the heart of a lion!” Hearing it, we think, “courage”. This recalls a quote I once heard; “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened”. I doubt there’s a single hero story in which the fearless leader fails to inspire the righteous determination of his army or people. The voice of the captain resounds through the ranks evoking the fierce cry of every warrior ready to face death or worse, for the cause. Courage truly is contagious.

Of course, so is fear. And no matter how great or small our sphere, we are all, each and every one of us, people of influence. If, individually, I stand and face every fear with the boldness of a lion, I cannot fail to embolden others to stand courageously with me.

But true courage will depend on righteousness; and those who are righteous live by faith; and faith comes by hearing, and hearing, through the word of Christ, that is, Divine revelation. So, real lion-like courage will come direct, by faith, from the Lion of Judah, Yeshua our Lord.

My Friends, live by faith, be righteous in Messiah, and you may be the lion that leads, inspiring a pack that follows! Courage is infectious… spread it far and wide!”

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah
Palm Beach, Florida

Personal Note: I have been starting my day with Worthy Briefs and Devotionals for almost 20 years. They really do help start my day on the right track-with God 🙂

You can sign up for Worthy Devotionals here: Worthy Network

In The Hands Of The Potter

God shapes us and we shape our children. It’s a much a part of the circle of life as birth and death. The question is, what will we shape our children to be. Will we shape them to live Godly lives filled with the Holy Spirit. Will we show them how to Follow Jesus to Heaven?

If we truly love them, we will 🙂

Heaven: The True Melting Pot :)

The world’s largest population is said to be Chinese.  China and India have the largest populations in the world.  Both Africa and South America have larger populations than America.

And while Following Jesus can be more difficult in some of these countries, many people will and many of them will be in Heaven.  For Jesus loves us all!  ?

How Blessed are we that we get to meet them all and spend eternity together! 🙂

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit :)

At Jesus’ request, God sent the Holy Spirit to help us

“There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit.  There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord.  There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people.”

The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all.   To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge.  To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing.  To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides.” – 1 Corinthians 14: 4-11

There are also Fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are also Gifts: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-2

We were never meant to walk alone.  We were meant to walk with the Holy Spirit ?

The Gifts of God

God gives us great Gift! Gifts such as life, the world we live in, love, faith, courage…The list is endless.  People have asked me before, “Where do I get my Faith?”  It comes from God.  It’s nothing I did, I asked Him for faith and God gave it to me.    Ask Him, and He will give it to you too. For Faith is a Gift?. 

Jesus Himself knew that it would be hard to put our Faith in something we can’t see, which is why He understood Thomas’ struggle so well and was so patient with Him.  Jesus will be patient with us too, because He loves us. 

Jesus gave us many Gifts.  One of His very best gifts is that He gave us a path back to God and a way to Heaven ?.  And He taught us how to live ?

One note, if we are given the Gift of Faith, or indeed any Gift, we need to remember to say Thank You ?  And we need to use the Gifts that God give us.  For like any Gift, if we do not use it-we will loose it.

At Jesus’ request, God also sent the Holy Spirit to help us. More on that tomorrow 🙂

“Overcoming My Goliath”

Amen 🙂

“Courage comes from knowing I am walking with the Lord”. 

David killed Goliath because he walked with the Lord.  His strength came from God.  We all have battles in life.  Battles can be physical as in a war, but they can also be mental or spiritual.  We were never meant to fight them alone, because alone we are not strong enough.  But “With God, All Things Are Possible” ?.

“Rise up for the battle is the Lord’s”

Amen! And thank God it is 🙂

Building Others Up!

“Strong people don’t put others down.  They lift them up.”-Michael P Watson

A friend sent me this quote this morning.  What a great reminder ?

Jesus lifts us up.  And reading the Bible, it’s clear that Jesus not only Loves us-He likes us too.  When He was on earth, Jesus enjoyed His time with us!  And remember, we are made in God’s Holy Image ?

There are some great Bible verses about lifting others up and not putting them down:

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”- Romans 12:10

“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” – Romans 15:2

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” – Phillippias 2:4

“What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” – 1 Corinthians 14: 26

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”–1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

Clearly, God wanted us to “build each other up”.  And one of Christ’s greatest commandments was to love one another ? So loving each other and building each other up are good choices 🙂

And there is someone else we need to learn to build up and love-ourselves!

There is an old saying, “God does not make junk”.  Trite, but true ?.  As human beings, we have a tendency to run through a list in our minds of all the things that we have done wrong or failed to do. But how often do we run through a list of what we did right or what we actually did for others?

God wants us to love each other, but He also loves us!  Maybe we should too ?