ALIVE IN CHRIST

 

ALIVE IN CHRIST Ephesian 2:1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. From The Message Bible

GOD DOESN'T SHARE HIS GLORY

GOD DOESN'T SHARE HIS GLORY I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. Isaiah 42:8 Christian music veteran Michael W. Smith stated that "the Lord doesn't share His glory with anybody," warning worship leaders to avoid celebrity culture and keep the focus entirely on God during the worship service. Smith said he's concerned about what happens when the person leading worship becomes more visible than the God being worshiped. “I just think we have to be careful that this thing is not celebrity-driven,” Smith told The Christian Post. “We can all say, ‘Well, oh, we’re doing it all for Him.’ But you watch social media, and it’s just a little me-focused.” Perhaps, he added, modern worship has also “lost the reverence.” Applause and attention can distract artists and cause them to lose their sense of reverence. Leaders should "kind of disappear" instead of building a personal performance platform. Smith says he prays to be clothed in humility before taking the stage. If we really want to experience God's Presence during worship, Christians needs to take this advice to heart also. When we come to worship God in humility with a prepared heart, He is more than willing to meet with us. You can read more at the Christian Post website: CLICK HERE

 

DO NOT WORRY

 

DO NOT WORRY Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 Learning not to worry is a lesson everyone should master. Worry wastes our energy, strength, and focus. It makes us unfit for our responsibilities. It dishonors God, who has promised to care for us if we do His will. Plus, worry is pointless—it doesn’t fix anything. The Bible gives many lessons on worry, but none is clearer than Paul’s instructions on how to overcome it, in Philippians 4:6. First, we are told simply not to worry. “Do not be anxious about anything.” There’s no room for exceptions. We are not to be anxious about anything. What should we do with the things that cause us anxiety? We should take them to God in prayer and leave them in His hands. If we do this, the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds from anxiety. Learning this lesson will benefit us greatly in every aspect of life. By J.R. Miller

WHY CREATION GROANS

 

WHY CREATION GROANS Watch a lion sprint across the plains and your pulse tightens. A gazelle collapses in the dust while the predator takes its prize. People see that violence and accuse God of cruelty. Atheists wave these moments like ammunition, claiming suffering disproves the Creator. But Genesis declares a different story. Lions were not designed to hunt. Every beast originally ate plants. Their strength and beauty reflected majesty, not murder. The hunt is not evidence against God. It is evidence of a world that has been wounded by sin. The same accusation rises when cancer enters the picture. Cells multiply without restraint. Bodies weaken. Families pray through tears. Atheists shout that this proves a loving God cannot exist. But cancer is not part of God’s original design. It is a biological consequence of a spiritual catastrophe. Adam’s rebellion did not just break fellowship. It broke physics. It broke genetics. It broke creation itself. Romans 8 says creation groans. Cancer is one of those groans. It reveals that something is wrong and it is not God who failed. It is man who sinned and rebelled against Him. Here is the truth atheists cannot outrun: Pain and death do not disprove God. It proves that humanity knows deep inside that death is unnatural. Their outrage is not evidence of a universe without purpose. It is evidence that their soul remembers Eden. Every tear cried over cancer, every cry raised at the sight of suffering, every moral objection against death is a silent confession that the world was meant to be different. And God promises it will be different again! Christ did not come to explain pain. He came to conquer it. He absorbed the curse and rose victorious, proving He alone holds authority over life and death. And the story does not end with survival. It ends with restoration. Scripture promises a day when creation itself will be healed. A day when predators will be peaceful. A day when disease will have no breath left. A day when mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, and all the redeemed stand together in a reunion that crushes sorrow forever. No wheelchairs. No hospitals. No funerals. No fear. Only life overflowing in the presence of the King. Revelation 21:4 says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. That is not fantasy. That is the destiny of those who belong to Christ, and creation itself aches for that day. Biblical Creation on Facebook Used with permission.