We are told to love

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Psa 44:22  Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

In the old testament and in the new testament those who would be God's are NOT promised a happy life. The promise is eternal life, not happy temporary life.  Christ our example- SUFFERED.  Why do we honestly believe we shouldn't suffer? We believe that, we really believe that. We wake up believing we deserve happiness. We go through our lives feeling the heavy weight of depression upon us and we look for cures to it. I'm not saying people don't need cures for depression, drugs and therapy etc, I would never say that, I've sought help myself. I'm saying that we feel this weight and want cures but truthfully we aren't promised cures beyond the hope we have for eternal life.  And we shouldn't be upset because we aren't promised happiness, we are told what we need to do to survive- over and over we are told.  WE are to believe, we are to think on these things--

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

We are told to LOVE- to think outside of our self needs/desires.  If we cared more for others needs/desires than our own, just how different our lives might be.

Yet we insist we need to be treated with respect- our version of it. We insist we need to be thought well of. We insist that others shouldn't put us out. We rebel against others treating us wrongly- again our version of it. One person's seemingly selfish need, might just be our selfish refusal to meet that need. Their need might be genuine and not at all selfish, but we see it differently and we rebel against that. We get upset because we are put out from our own desire/need.  Truly we need the power of the Holy Spirit working in us if we hope to at all be selfless, to truly love others, to truly love God.  

All by His grace and mercy, HIS LOVE, not ours.

We are truly sheep meant for the slaughter in so many ways, yet we rebel against this truth. Satan would have us continue to rebel, to never quite give up ourselves in favor of others. Others will never be worthy of our unwavering, unquestioning obedience, yet this is exactly what is needed.

We belong to God, may God use us according to HIS service, not our own self-serving.  Please, FATHER GOD, please bless us with YOU and the power of the Holy Spirit to do all we cannot do, which is so much.

By YOUR LOVE.

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever.

Amen.

We can only separate ourselves from Christ

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

It is NOT possible for any one or any thing to separate us from our Savior.  We can ONLY separate ourselves.

This is truth.

We separate ourselves when we choose not to believe, when we choose to take our hope off Christ and place it elsewhere.

Tribulation.

Distress.

Persecution.

Famine.

Nakedness.

Peril.

Sword.

These things may rob us of this life, but it cannot rob us of eternal life- the life we will share with our Savior upon His return.

There are a lot of people who want these things to separate us from the love of Christ.  They expect these things to reveal that Christ doesn't love us. They tell us that if Christ really loved us He wouldn't let us suffer.  They believe that we should imagine that we are better than our Savior. 

Joh_15:20  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

We were never promised eternal life, with eternal blessings in this lifetime, in a life living in a world ruled by Satan. Our hope is in eternal life with Christ AFTER He returns to take us to heaven with Him.

By His grace alone we are saved. By His grace alone do we hope even when everything is falling apart around us.

Please, Father in heaven, we would be YOURS.

Through the mercy and grace of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Now and forever…. Amen.

When we say we believe

Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Our Savior at the right hand of God making intercession for us.

Christ who died so we could have the hope of life.

Who needs intercession?

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(Dictionary)

Intercession. 1: the act of interceding. 2: prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another

verb  interceded, interceding.1.to act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition 

2. attempt to reconcile differences between two people or groups;mediate

*

We NEED intercession.  We need our Savior to pray for us, to petition for us, to entreat for us. We need our Savior to interpose for us because we are in trouble. We need to be RECONCILED to God through our Savior.

We can understand this because we have been blessed to have the knowledge of what it means to intercede for others. Even if we don't have personal knowledge of interceding for someone who doesn't deserve intercession, we know of situations where people have.  We can comprehend. Through Christ we can know our need.  And we need to comprehend our need. If we don't know we have this need how can we seek help?   Do we ever seek help without knowing what we need help for?  How can anyone ask for help if they don't know they're in need of help? As soon as we ask for help we are comprehending we cannot help ourselves.

When we say we believe, we are admitting our need of a Savior. We are saying we believe in being saved and that Christ our Savior is the One who can save us.  When we say we believe we are saying we believe in the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. We are believing in the message of the gospel. We believe in the kingdom of heaven. We believe in life everlasting. We believe that our Savior will return and when the last trump sounds all the dead in Christ shall rise, and all the living will rise as well to meet Christ in the air!  When we say we believe...we have HOPE.

We believe that we have an Intercessor with the Father. We believe that our Savior intercedes for us, letting His spilled blood and murdered body pay the death for our sins!

By the grace of God may we believe and allow our Savior to intercede for us!

All by HIS LOVE!

Amen!  

Our Greatest Need- Eternity in Christ Jesus

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Freely give us all things.

Only, the 'all things' pertains to eternal life.

God is not a genie who grants wishes, not even the most sincere, solemn, heartfelt wishes. If our hope is life eternal then we have been freely given all things that matter, a SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. 

We can't think of the temporary things as eternally important. 

We can't take our desire to have a pleasing life now and make it more important than our eternal life.

Each day truly has enough evil in it all its own and a lot of that evil has its roots in our selfish, self-serving desires.  And we can try to convince ourselves that our particular desires aren't selfish at all, but we'd be lying to ourselves. 

Our needs should first be our eternal life.

This  life and all its needs are secondary to eternity.

By the grace of God may our lives here be lived for eternity.

All in the love of Jesus Christ our LORD.

According to His Purpose

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

This is a very special verse. I hesitate to say this because so many people, me included, don't comprehend how it could be true but it is true. God's word is truth.

Are we called according to His purpose?

Do you love God?

What's it mean to love God?

Do you give your allegiance to God? 

Do you trust God?

These are all very valid questions. 

If we LOVE God, we trust God.  If we trust God, we believe God.  We KNOW beyond doubt that even when the worst of the worst is going on in our lives, that some how beyond our comprehension it will be for good as God accounts good in the realm of eternity, not in this temporary time we have here and now.  This is TRUTH!

God's purpose is love, and for us to believe in that love, for us to trust in that love.

We are called according to His purpose, we love God. We know that in this temporary life we will  have extreme hardships- possibly physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or all of these.  All of what we are called to endure no matter what it is, all of it will somehow far beyond our ability to comprehend, work together for good.

Please, Father God, we would love You and be Yours in all things!

Please.  Let us be Yours now and forever.

Amen.

The Spirit- Believe

Infirmities.

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Our infirmities….

From G772; feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady; moral frailty: - disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.

Moral frailty.

Who among us isn't afflicted greatly with moral frailties?

Continuing from yesterday….

We are infirmed. We are diseased. We are sick. We are weak. We are so incredibly infirmed- spiritually, morally infirmed.

The SPIRIT alone can help us with our infirmities.

The SPIRIT makes intercession for us.

Truly in our sin sickness we don't really know what we need to pray for. We have to trust in the Spirit to intercede for us and pray for us.

I love when Jesus prayed for me.

Yes, for ME.

JESUS, our Savior prayed for me!

Joh 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word

That's ME! I'm believing on Jesus through the word!  Jesus prayed for me!

And He did this too--

Joh_15:26  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me

He sent the SPIRIT of Truth to me!

The Spirit that was sent to us is to be all that we cannot be through our infirmed weakness, not able to even know what we need to pray for.

We KNOW our need. We recognize our infirmed state. We believe in our Savior, we believe in the Father, we believe in the Spirit.  

We are Christ's.

We must believe!

By the grace of God we must believe!

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

BELIEVE.

The SPIRIT will pray for us.

We believe, help our unbelief.

By the mercy, love, the grace of our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

Now and always!

Amen!

Our Infirmities

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Our infirmities….

From G772; feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady; moral frailty: - disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.

Moral frailty.

Who among us isn't afflicted greatly with moral frailties?

Tonight I'm afflicted with a sinus headache so hopefully, prayerfully, tomorrow we'll study this much more in-depth.

In the name of our Savior, by His grace and mercy always!

Amen.