Take Heart!
1 Peter 1:3-9
3 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, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
There's so much here to get out of this, so if you look through these verses and find more than I'm talking about, that's awesome, and I sincerely hope that you do, for the Word of God is a living breathing thing, ever new and ever working in us for our benefit and his glory.
Take heart. Don't give up. There are times in our lives when our past assails us, when Satan's lies hit us hard and dirty, hurting us where even our worst worldly "enemy" would not go. And as seen in the sixth chapter of Ephesians (the armor of God) we have the means to fight back. But I'm not worried about that.
What hurts and scares me the most is when some (sometimes me) refuse to fight against those lies. Some of my worst moments, looking back to my past, where when I didn't fight back, when I just gave in to the lies and let them rule me.
In Genesis 4:7 God tells Cain that sin crouches at his door (to his heart/soul), that it desires to have him, but that he must master it.
According to the wonderful, beautiful, awesome truth in the verses from 1 Peter that I put up, we are born again into a living hope, into an inheritence that will never fade, that by faith we are shielded in God's power...
WE SHOULD NOT FEAR!!!!!!!!!!
AND WE SHOULD REJOICE!!! These wonderful verses of God's love for us makes me think of Philippians 4:4-7...
"4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
There's just so much here, and the more I try and think about what else to say, how else I might make this sound more concise and easier to follow...I realize that I just need to leave it at this.
Sometimes, no matter what anyone says, no matter how right everything sounds, we're still afraid, we're still hurting...
...and that's okay. As long as in that moment we turn to God, and give him our hurts and our fears.
Don't act like the death and ressurection of Jesus was a lie. He died so that we might be free from sin. We need to make a choice. Are we going to trust in the Lord, or are we going to live in fear and self pity?
So "be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
I am a child of God. I am an heir. I am more than a conqueror. I am declared blameless and clean and to be of great worth, though often to my shame (knowing I deserve non of it). But I WILL NOT call my savior a liar by refusing to believe in him and in his redemption of my soul.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life, and even though I am woefully imperfect and alone deserving only death, he says I am of worth, worth knowing, worth delighting in, worth dying for...
I am worth loving. And so are you. So rejoice!!!
3 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, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
There's so much here to get out of this, so if you look through these verses and find more than I'm talking about, that's awesome, and I sincerely hope that you do, for the Word of God is a living breathing thing, ever new and ever working in us for our benefit and his glory.
Take heart. Don't give up. There are times in our lives when our past assails us, when Satan's lies hit us hard and dirty, hurting us where even our worst worldly "enemy" would not go. And as seen in the sixth chapter of Ephesians (the armor of God) we have the means to fight back. But I'm not worried about that.
What hurts and scares me the most is when some (sometimes me) refuse to fight against those lies. Some of my worst moments, looking back to my past, where when I didn't fight back, when I just gave in to the lies and let them rule me.
In Genesis 4:7 God tells Cain that sin crouches at his door (to his heart/soul), that it desires to have him, but that he must master it.
According to the wonderful, beautiful, awesome truth in the verses from 1 Peter that I put up, we are born again into a living hope, into an inheritence that will never fade, that by faith we are shielded in God's power...
WE SHOULD NOT FEAR!!!!!!!!!!
AND WE SHOULD REJOICE!!! These wonderful verses of God's love for us makes me think of Philippians 4:4-7...
"4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
There's just so much here, and the more I try and think about what else to say, how else I might make this sound more concise and easier to follow...I realize that I just need to leave it at this.
Sometimes, no matter what anyone says, no matter how right everything sounds, we're still afraid, we're still hurting...
...and that's okay. As long as in that moment we turn to God, and give him our hurts and our fears.
Don't act like the death and ressurection of Jesus was a lie. He died so that we might be free from sin. We need to make a choice. Are we going to trust in the Lord, or are we going to live in fear and self pity?
So "be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
I am a child of God. I am an heir. I am more than a conqueror. I am declared blameless and clean and to be of great worth, though often to my shame (knowing I deserve non of it). But I WILL NOT call my savior a liar by refusing to believe in him and in his redemption of my soul.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life, and even though I am woefully imperfect and alone deserving only death, he says I am of worth, worth knowing, worth delighting in, worth dying for...
I am worth loving. And so are you. So rejoice!!!
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