Is Changing My Life Just Some Empty Hope?

Can our hope to get our lives right ever be more than just a hope?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3.

IN HIS GREAT MERCY

God is full of mercy, and to call it great mercy is an understatement.  He has shown mercy to every living person every day, allowing us all just to live and breathe.  His mercy must be the focus of our hope and not our own efforts.

HE HAS

This is the past tense of what has been done.  When God promises something, you can be assured of it.  So, "In his great mercy, he has given," suggests it is here today.  Salvation, new life, and heaven are not just a future dream but for those who have received it- it is present now.

GIVEN

Something given is not something earned.  This Bible verse says salvation and the new person we become are given away by God.  Salvation and this new birth are not a payment or reward that we earn by anything we can do, or else it would not be a free gift.

NEW BIRTH

God gives us more than heaven. He also gives us a new birth, a new identity; who you are is now ready and able to change.  Because we have a new birth, we can turn from the things that led to death and have success over things that ruined our lives.  We can turn around and be the people God meant for us to be.

INTO A LIVING HOPE

Our hope in Jesus is not some far off, maybe so- maybe not, a vain thing; it is something that is living, current, active, and engaged.  Our hope in Jesus is real.

Jesus did what no one else could do.  He died to pay for our sins.  The resurrection proves he has the power of life and power over death, that the judgment has been paid for, and it proves God is satisfied with what Jesus did on our behalf.  If he can rise from the dead, we can trust absolutely in his promise of eternal life and new birth.

When you come to Jesus, you come to the one who makes us new, and we become who and what we are meant to be.  God has given the gift, but he does not force it on us, he offers it, and each of us must decide to receive it.

If you want to know more about receiving God's offer of free salvation, see the tab above.

(c) Adron 8/17/15

Do We Have Some Spiritual Light Within Us Or Do We Need To Do Something To Get The Light

Are we brought into this world with an inner light that will guide us to God, or is there something we have to do to get spiritual light?

"Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light..." John 12:36.

Jesus was teaching the crowd that he would soon die for them. They did not understand that he would suffer for the sins of mankind. He was warning them that soon he would not be with them.

BELIEVE IN THE LIGHT. If you are going to walk in the light, you must believe in it. "Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). We must believe in him.

WHILE YOU HAVE THE LIGHT
Jesus was not going to be with them forever. Their opportunity to know him was limited. A person who has not trusted Jesus as Savior may have the opportunity for now, but procrastinating may cost eternity in heaven.

BECOME CHILDREN OF LIGHT
Jesus says we have to become children of light because we are not naturally that way. Jesus said, "Unless you become as little children, you will not see the kingdom of God" (Matthew 18:3). Children come from the parents; they are not self-generating. We cannot self-generate our light. God makes us children of light once we believe.

BELIEVE
Jesus asks us to believe in the light. This is not just some mental acknowledgment of facts but an act of putting your trust in him like a person who trusts the fireman to carry them down the ladder out of a blazing building. We must trust that Jesus' life and death did pay for our sins and will to bring us into fellowship with God.

Until we believe in Jesus, we will still be walking in darkness.

To learn more about trusting Jesus as your Savor see the tab above for the gospel.

(c)Adron Dozat 2/20/14

Should I Give Up Trying To Find God?

We look for God and feel we gave it a try but have not found Him so maybe we should quit. Is there a reason we should keep on looking for God?

The Bible says yes...
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13.

YOU WILL
This verse teaches a positive and affirmative truth that it will happen; your search will not be in vain, you will find the only True God.

WITH ALL YOUR HEART
We must search for Him with sincerity, honesty, and integrity. We must search for him with a passion of spirit and diligence of mind.

To search like this is to:

     * Not give up the search.
     * Be willing to give up things for the search.
     * Be willing to go out on a limb to find the prize.
     * To be willing to pay a price.
     * To consider the other promises in scripture about finding Him.
     * To set aside opinions and be open to the truth in His Word.
     * To resolve that no matter how long it takes to continue the search.

TRINITY
There is a trinity in this verse, a threesome of the word, "ME." Our search for the Divine One is not a search for a vague consciousness, or a universal force, or a higher state of mind, but a person with a self-identity; a person who can say "Me, I am the one you are looking for."

That he says me three times gives the hope that we won't just find a teaser or a hint or become acquaintances with The Almighty but we will find all of him He holds nothing back, he is willing to be known completely.

A PROMISE
These words in scripture are a promise from the Lord for those who seek him. He is making an offer that is like a guarantee. The Word teaches that God does not lie nor does he break a promise. He is saying to you that he will be found if you keep on seeking him.

If you want to find out more click on the tab above titled: The Gospel.


Footnote: Some feel the threefold use of the word me, as individual references to the trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

© Adron 8/8/13

How To Become A Child of God.

Can we become a "Child of God?" God is our father because we are his creation but we feel there is more.

The Bible Says...
"Yet to all that received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God."  John 1:12, NIV.

RECEIVED
If something is received it is the result of a decision that prompts an act of acceptance or inviting something or someone in. Received is in the past tense denoting that it is something that had happened, there is a fixed point in time where the one who chooses to receive did so.

HIM
One would think that The Lord wants us to receive his instruction, his religion, higher teaching or mystical experience, no God asks us to receive a person.

BELIEVE
To receive is explained by believe, a belief firmly established in heart and mind; this belief is to trust without a doubt.

BELIEVE IN HIS NAME
It is not enough to just believe in the historical facts of Jesus' life, or to believe in his teachings; we must believe in him. We put our trust in him and what he did for us when he died on the cross for our sins.

HE GAVE
God does not reward salvation to us like a paycheck; instead, he gives salvation, it is given without our payment. he made the payment for us by dying on the cross for our sin.

RIGHT
A right is a social-political attribution.  It is supported by the authority of government. Here we have the ultimate right- the right to be a child of God, and it is conferred by the ultimate King. There is no higher authority and no appellate court that can overturn his decree.

YET TO ALL
The right to become one of his children is offered to all, there is no one excluded from the offer. No matter what we have done or how bad we have been the offer still applies to all. All we have to do is to receive the gift.

If you are interested in knowing more about becoming a child of God visit the tab above titled: The Gospel

(c)Adron Dozat 5/23/13

What did Jesus say about Going to Heaven?

What did Jesus teach about going to heaven?  We have a record of his comments on the subject in the conversation Jesus had with a religious leader named Nicodemus as recounted in the Gospel of John chapter 3.

"Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surly he cannot enter his mothers womb and be born."
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying 'You must be born again.'" John 3: 3-7, NIV.

We would think that Jesus would have said something straightforward, like obey the ten commandments. Or always follow your conscience, or give alms, or give up the world. Instead he says something counter to our natural thinking.

He says this emphatically; he starts with "I tell you the truth," he repeats, "I tell you the truth," then ends with, "you must..." There is no doubt that this being born again is the imperative of Jesus's teaching about salvation.

There is no salvation, no going to heaven, without being born again. We had no control over our physical birth it just happened to us. So also we cannot make ourselves be born again. It is something God will do through the Holy Spirit. We cannot earn it or merit it but we can receive it.

In this famed conversation with Nicodemus Jesus summarized the Gospel of salvation and explained what being born again is about, he said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16


To see other translations of this verse and notes from respected commentators follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

____________________________ 

Thank you for visiting this blog. I hope these thoughts are helpful for you.

You can find more like this in the most helpful post list on the left sidebar.

Adron

Use the buttons below to share this with your social networks.

Do All Ways Lead To God? What did Jesus Say?

Some people say all religions lead to God, or that God can be found in one of a number of ways. Many say that you can find God your own way and the next person can find God their own way. Still others say all paths lead to God.

Jesus is universally acclaimed as a great if not the greatest teacher. If that is so we should consider what he said on the subject, but we must be ready for a surprise.

"I am the truth, the way and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6, NIV.

The God of Love sent his son, Jesus, to come and be the way we are not able to be ourselves. Jesus lived a perfect and beautiful life that was totally acceptable to the Father. We could not live the life Jesus did because we have guilt and sin; sin not only holds us back but puts a barrier between us and God. The death he died on the cross was as our substitute for we were the ones who deserve punishment for our guilt and sins. Out of love he willingly gave his life to pay for our wrongs. The Father accepted the death of Jesus on our behalf and we see that approval in the resurrection. Christ did what no one else could not do- satisfy the judgment against our sins, so he is the only way.

We come to the Father through Jesus. This is to leave behind all the things that put that barrier between us and God, things for which Christ died on the cross, (this is called repentance), and put your faith in the person and work of Jesus. Faith needs expression; some people express this faith in a prayer. Tell Him that you need forgiveness of your sins and you trust in his promise to accept the substitute of Jesus for your punishment.

When we come to the Father through Jesus we are free from judgment since Jesus took our sins, but we get the life of Jesus in us, the beautiful life he lived is now our life, our death became his death and his eternal life becomes our life.

To learn more about finding forgivness for your sins click on the tab The Gospel above.

Adron

____________________________ 

Thank you for visiting this blog. I hope these thoughts are helpful for you.

You can find more like this in the most helpful post list on the left sidebar.

Adron

Use the buttons below to share this with your social networks.