6 ways to revive your relationship with God

Life gets busy and sometimes, in the middle of trying to stay afloat, we drift away from God.

Here are some ways to help you find your way back to Him:

Talk to Him

Just as with any other person in your life, communication is essential to strengthening your relationship with God. When you are saying your prayers, close your eyes and picture Him right next to you, listening sincerely to everything you are saying. Talk to Him as a child would talk to their parent. He is there to listen to all of your questions and concerns and to provide you with guidance. Talk to Him as often as you can. He is there for you not only in times of need, but in times when you just want to talk. Praying connects God with His children.

Obey Him

Obey God’s commandments. None of us are perfect. If we were, we wouldn’t be here in the first place. We grow and develop through this life so we may be reunited with God in the end. The least we can do for Him is to try our best to obey His commandments. We should be kind and honest toward others and attend our church meetings as much as possible. In obeying God’s will, we become brighter and stronger in spirit, integrity and mind.

Study the scriptures

Scriptures are meaningful and beneficial study material when we want to strengthen our faith and relationship with God. They allow God to speak to His children. Scriptures also give a glorious account of spiritual moments throughout time. The stories in the scriptures are dealing with similar circumstances to what we are facing today, at least in principle. Learning about others who have had their faith and patience tested can give us courage to prevail through our own times of trial. Making time to study the scriptures each day can fully revitalize your tired soul.

Listen for Him

Though we may talk with God often, we may not be opening our ears to hear His answers and guidance. When you are finished praying, don’t quickly turn on the loud movie you were watching or immediately climb into bed for the night. Take time to stop, look, and listen for God’s answers to your prayers. Sometimes you may not be receiving an answer to your own prayers, but God may prompt you to be an answer to someone else’s. Make sure you listen as much as you speak with Him. Communication goes both ways.

Show gratitude

Show your Father in Heaven that you are grateful for all of your blessings. We receive blessings, and sometimes we are quick to ask for more before we take the time to thank Him. Say a prayer of sincere gratitude. Being grateful for God’s hand in your life will make you more appreciative of His constant presence and your purpose here on the earth. Being gracious goes hand in hand with expressing humility.

Be mindful

Be mindful of God's presence in your life. Though it may seem like He is far away at times, He is not. He does not ever leave your side. It is easy to get so caught up in the happenings of the world that we forget to look for God's presence in our lives. In these moments, try to be grateful and aware of how much He has blessed you and continues to bless you each day. Being humble and showing sincere love and respect for God can bring even the most deadened relationship with Him back to life. Cherish your relationship with your Father in Heaven. He is the greatest ally and guardian you can have throughout your life.

Religious violence

Religious violence is undergoing a revival. The past decade has witnessed a sharp increase in violent sectarian or religious tensions. These range from Islamic extremists waging global jihad and power struggles between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the Middle East to the persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and outbreaks of violence between Christians and Muslims across Africa. According to Pew, in 2018 more than a quarter of the world's countries experienced a high incidence of hostilities motivated by religious hatred, mob violence related to religion, terrorism, and harassment of women for violating religious codes.

The spike in religious violence is global and affects virtually every religious group. A 2018 Minority Rights Group report indicates that mass killings and other atrocities are increasing in countries both affected and not affected by war alike. While bloody encounters were recorded in over 50 countries, most reported lethal incidents involving minorities were concentrated in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Hostilities against Muslims and Jews also increased across Europe, as did threats against Hindus in more than 18 countries. Making matters worse, 55 of the world’s 198 countries imposed heightened restrictions on religions, especially Egypt, Russia, India, Indonesia and Turkey.

How is it that religions - which supposedly espouse peace, love and harmony - are so commonly connected with intolerance and violent aggression? Social scientists are divided on the issue. Scholars like William Cavanaugh contend that even when extremists use theological texts to justify their actions, “religious” violence is not religious at all - but rather a perversion of core teachings. Others such as Richard Dawkins believe that because religions fuel certainties and sanctify martyrdom, they are often a root cause of conflict. Meanwhile, Timothy Sisk claims that both hierarchical religious traditions (such as Shi´ism) and non-hierarchical traditions (such as Buddhism) can both be vulnerable to interpretation of canon to justify or even provide warrants for violent action. 

With notable exceptions, interfaith efforts to prevent violence and promote peace suffer from a credibility problem. Part of the reason for this is that religious groups frequently adopt a ‘thousand flowers bloom’ approach to peace-building – fielding multiple activities without solid evidence of their effectiveness. According to Catherine Osborn, interfaith institutions can be effective, but success often comes down to the extent to which religious leaders can work with the ‘internal policers’ within their communities to cool down hotheads and prevent escalation. In the end, religious groups must hold themselves to the highest standard. This requires, at a minimum, doing no harm. It also means being accountable about what strategies work, and which do not.

A related challenge is that most interfaith measures to promote peace and reconciliation are seldom documented, much less evaluated. As a result, the persistent and patient support provided to high-level policy initiatives goes unrecorded, with other organizations often quick to take the credit. A number of today’s most successful arms control and peace-building norms are the fruit of interfaith dialogue, even if this is not always acknowledged. This gap could be bridged, however, by developing partnerships with universities and undertaking robust monitoring and evaluation. This way, interfaith groups could better understand what aspects of the peace architecture are working, and which activities to discard.

Finally, religious groups and the interfaith community could usefully get more proactive about peace-making. This will require leaving the safe zone of like-minded religious organizations and engaging more fulsomely with international agencies and the business community. Religious leaders should also become more literate with new technologies, not least social media, finding ways to promote positive values both on- and offline. And successful instances of interfaith cooperation - including through powerful networks like Religion for Peace - need to be better marketed. This is because signals and symbols of collective action across religious divides are needed more than ever in our disorderly and fractured world.

For millennia, every religious tradition has either fallen victim to or sanctioned violence. Consider Saint Augustine and Saint Aquinas who laid the foundations of the 'just war' doctrine in the cases of self-defense, to prevent a tyrant from attacking, and to punish guilty enemies. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and others have long invoked violence in the name of religion. In some cases, as when state and religion are intertwined, mass violence may arise. Unfortunately, the risk of sectarian violence is unlikely to go away: more than 84% of the world's population identify themselves with a religious group.

Violence inspired by religious intolerance is easier described than defined. It spans intimidation, harassment and internment to terrorism and outright warfare. Usually it arises when the core beliefs that define a group’s identity are fundamentally challenged. It is ratcheted-up by ‘in-group’ communities against other ‘out-group’ communities, often with the help of fundamentalist religious leaders. Some researchers such as Justin Lane refer to the sense of threat among insiders as "xenophobic social anxiety", which - when combined with political and cultural exclusion and social and economic inequality - can escalate into extreme physical violence.

Religious leaders are often criticized for not doing enough to stem religious violence. By not publicly condemning every act of extremism, entire faith communities are presumed to be somehow complicit. This is unfair. Indeed, there are millions of people of faith who are actively involved in helping the poor and marginalized and fostering reconciliation in the aftermath of war. They may be mobilized through their churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, or work through international humanitarian agencies and missions overseas. While regularly accused of fanning the flames of sectarian violence, religious leaders are frequently trying to do the opposite, including mediating peace agreements and promoting non-violence.

In an era of turbulence and uncertainty, interfaith action may offer an important antidote to religious violence. Religious communities can and do offer a reminder of the core principles of our common humanity. While not the exclusive preserve of faith-based groups, the conscious spread of values of empathy, compassion, forgiveness and altruism are needed today more than ever. The persistent calls for patience, tolerance, understanding, face-to-face dialogue and reconciliation are more important than ever given today’s spiralling polarisation and the dangerous anonymity provided by social media.

In fact, ecumenical groups have played a behind-the-scenes role in some of the world's most successful peace efforts. High-level mediators like Archbishop Desmond Tutu helped lay the groundwork for peace agreements, from mediating between rival South African factions in the 1990s to averting a bloodbath in Kenya in 2008. The World Council of Churches and All African Conference on Churches have also played a role in mediating peace agreements since the 1970s. Italy’s Sant-Egidio has supported interfaith dialogue and campaigns to prevent and resolve conflicts and promote reconciliation from Albania to Mozambique. And groups like Islamic Relief, among others, have long supported mediation and reconciliation activities in war-torn communities.

Faith-based groups have also frequently led the way in shaping international treaties and social movements to make the world safer. While far from the media headlines, Quakers, for example, have helped launch treaties banning landmines and other weapons of war, supported the development of protocols to outlaw child soldiers, and instigated action on conflict prevention, peace-building and human rights. While religious groups have adopted varying positions toward capital punishment, many of them are unified in their opposition to the use of torture, advocate for banning nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, and support grassroots campaigns to promote human rights and reconciliation.

A Christians Role in the midst of pandemics.

The world that we took for granted just a few weeks ago has ceased to exist. Our country is a nation that has long been known for, and has celebrated, freedom of movement. We are a people on the move. We are in an almost constant state of interaction with others, be it in restaurants, bars, theaters, gymnasiums, stores, businesses, schools, or sporting events. Now, suddenly, that movement has ground to a halt. We have become a people in self-imposed house arrest. And as city, state, and federal governments are warning, if we do not voluntarily cease unnecessary social interaction, then the government is prepared to enforce our isolation. Our world has drastically changed. The only question is whether that change is short-term, long-term, or permanent.

In an almost unprecedented display of governmental authority, church attendance has been severely curtailed. Authorities have directed that all gatherings be limited to fewer than 10.  Church worship services have ceased altogether. The overwhelming majority of churches are cooperating with these directives. So, even within the church, virtual communities have become the only communities that we have.

How are Christians to respond to a world caught up in the midst of a pandemic?

The Church Fathers

You may be surprised to learn that we can find help in our search for answers from the early church fathers. For we are not the first generation of believers to face that question. In fact, less than 150 years after Christ’s resurrection a devastating pandemic swept across the Roman Empire, one of a series of plagues that killed millions.

The first great pandemic, referred to as the Plague of Galen, was during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. It began in 165 AD and lasted 15 years. The cause may have been the first appearance of smallpox in the Western world. So devastating was this pandemic that by the time it was over between a quarter and a third of the empire’s entire population had died. Aurelius wrote about the plague, describing caravans of carts and wagons hauling away the dead. Entire cities and villages were abandoned. The emperor himself joined the casualties when he died of the plague in Vienna in 180 AD.

Then from 250 to 262 another plague, the Plague of Cyprian, struck the empire. This time the culprit may have been measles. When striking a previously unexposed population, both measles and smallpox can be quite deadly. At its height 5,000 people a day died in the city of Rome alone.

Keep in mind that when these plagues first hit only a few generations had passed since Jesus walked the hills of Galilee. Christianity was still in its youthful, vigorous, formative, years. How did those early believers respond to the pandemics that they faced? What can we learn from their example? Their own writings offer testimony to what they believed and how they acted on those beliefs.

In his Easter letter in 260 AD Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandria, wrote a lengthy account of the efforts of local Christians to nurse plague victims, often at the cost of their own lives.

"Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life supremely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom"

The heathen behaved in the very opposite way. At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.

Galen lived through the first epidemic during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. What did he do? He got out of Rome quickly, retiring to a country estate in Asia Minor until the danger receded.

He goes on to note that Galen’s response “was not seen as unusual or discreditable at the time. It was what any prudent person would have done, had they the means.”

What accounts for the dramatic difference in the pagan and Christian responses? I am reminded of what happened during the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers. As thousands ran from the towers, firefighters and police ran towards them. Stark points to the contrasting belief systems of paganism and Christianity as the explanation:

This difference in pagan and Christian morality was noticed by the pagans, even by those who hated Christians. Tertullian claimed, “It is our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look how they love one another!’”

Even more striking is the testimony of those pagan opponents themselves. Stark relates the account of the Roman Emperor Julian, a bitter opponent of the Christian movement:

Julian launched a campaign to institute pagan charities in an effort to match the Christians. Julian complained in a letter to the high priest of Galatia in 362 that the pagans needed to equal the virtues of Christians, for recent Christian growth was caused by their “moral character, even if pretended,” and by their “benevolence toward strangers and care for the graves of the dead.” In a letter to another priest, Julian wrote, “I think that when the poor happened to be neglected and overlooked by the priests, the impious Galileans observed this and devoted themselves to benevolence.” And he also wrote, “The impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well, everyone can see that our people lack aid from us.”

Lessons to be Learned

As we are confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, what lessons can we learn from the example of these early Christians?

First, we should face this and every crisis that comes our way with courage. Fear has no place in the life of a believer. We affirm that God is in control. At times like this our actions either demonstrate the sincerity or the falsehood of those declarations. Our marriage vows include the phrase “in sickness or in health.” Our commitment to God demands no less.

By this I don’t discount completely the positive role that fear can play in our lives. If a rabid dog approaches your fear response to that threat can save your life. What I speak of is the kind of unreasoning, paralyzing, despair-provoking fear that robs us of all hope, peace, and confidence in a future.

Second, COVID-19 does not release us from our obligations as Christ followers. Our discipleship is not contingent upon circumstances. The Golden Rule was not suspended. That means that hording or fighting over that last roll of toilet paper at Walmart is not only socially unacceptable behavior, but also blatantly unchristian conduct that must have no part in us. Generosity continues to be an obligation.

Third, the Christian life is one of sacrifice. That goes double in times like these. Christ commands his followers to take up their crosses daily. We must be the ones who set the example for others. We may be called upon to sacrifice our comfort, our personal resources, our money, or maybe even our health and safety.

Fourth, with sacrifice comes an element of risk. We are promised eternal life. We are NOT promised an earthly life free of sickness, discomfort, or pain. Nor are we promised long life on this earth. In fact, sometimes to be obedient to Christ means risking our very lives.

So as we face this crisis together, we continue to pray. We continue to worship, if only in our homes or remotely via the internet. We do our best to model the kind of prudent actions that our medical authorities have urged us to take. We don’t engage in foolish risks. But protecting ourselves is not an ultimate good. So if you are qualified to donate blood, for instance, then for the sake of others you assume the small but real element of risk that donating blood entails. The coronavirus is not the only problem that people continue to face today, and those everyday needs must continue to be addressed. People still need their daily bread, and as Christians we may need to take extraordinary actions to help meet those needs.

In recent news there was an example of where a willingness to sacrifice and risk can lead the Christ follower:

Las Primicias.

“Honra a Jehová con tus bienes, y con las primicias de todos tus frutos; y serán llenos tus graneros con abundancia, y tus lagares rebosarán de mosto” (Proverbios 3: 9 y 10).

Si personalizo la lectura de este Palabra: “ Si honro a Jehová con mis bienes y con las primicias de todos mis frutos; serán llenos mis graneros con abundancia,  y mis lagares rebosarán de mosto”.

Dios dejó en Su Palabra la fórmula para que seamos prosperados, para que alcancemos la provisión que Él tiene para nosotros sus hijos, y que también de este forma su Obra crezca y se fortalezca. Es a través de las ofrendas, diezmos, primicias y pactos (votos).

Se nos dice que honremos a Dios con nuestros bienes. Lo hacemos cuando diezmamos y ofrendamos, o cuando hacemos voto o pacto especial con Dios. Pero hay un énfasis en el texto en las primicias. 

¿Qué son las primicias? Fue la primera relación que tuvo el hombre con Dios. Luego de recibir lo que la tierra le daba, reconocía la soberanía de Dios trayéndole lo primero y lo mejor de ella. 

·         Se demostraba así la fe en la sobreabundante provisión de Dios.

·         Era símbolo de dependencia. “Lo que tú me diste es la que hoy te traigo”.

·         Era símbolo de que nada es nuestro y todo pertenece al Señor.

·         Era la manera de manifestar lo que después la Ley estableció como el primero y más grande mandamiento: “Amarás al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón, con todas tus fuerzas, y con toda tu mente”.

Consagrar los primeros frutos y lo mejor de mis cosechas era demostrar que en mi corazón estaba primero Dios. Ese corazón agradaba a Dios y eso lo bendecía.

Vamos a Génesis 4: 1 – 5.  No existía aún la Ley ni el sacerdocio, pero los hombres se acercaban a Dios con sus ofrendas. Abel lo hizo con sus primicias. Trajo de los primogénitos de su ganado lo más gordo de ellos para Dios. O sea, trajo lo mejor. Caín al parecer hizo  sólo ofrenda, si el cuidado de traer los primores de su cosecha.

A Dios le agradó la ofrenda de Abel, y Dios lo enalteció.

Consagrar las primicias a Dios era una señal de amor y fe que agradaba a Dios (Ex. 22:29).

 

Algunos ejemplos.

What are the biggest challenges facing Christian teens today?

What are the biggest challenges facing Christian teens today? There certainly are many. I compiled a top 10 list from surveys that have been done but also from my experience over the last few years working with and counseling teens. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Personalizing/living out your faith
2. Living in an anti-Christian culture
3. Sexual purity pressures/temptations
4. Identity and self-image issues
5. Divorce and family issues
6. Negative media influences
7. Busyness
8. Absent father figures
9. Lack of discipline
10. Materialism

These are issues that teens have all dealt with to some extent at some time or another. The bad news is that these issues won’t go away. As we mature and grow in our faith, we gain experience and ammunition in battling them, but as long as we live in this fallen world, these issues, challenges or problems will always be there. 

it’s interesting that Paul gives us principles in this letter to deal with several of these issues. Remember that Paul wrote many letters as he was facing some pretty big challenges of his own being imprisoned in Rome. Even in his chains, his focus is on God, and on his role as an apostle of Jesus Christ and on his commission to spread the gospel.

We start by seeing that God’s purposes are often accomplished through our problems. Paul didn’t focus on his chains but instead on the advance of the gospel. Paul was able to see God’s purposes even through his problems. It may be helpful for us to ask this question: “How will this trial or difficulty that I’m going through right now help me to present the gospel to someone?” That’s a pretty radical thought, isn’t it?  The sharing of the gospel should always be our goal. Paul was compelled to preach and did so to the many palace guards that were chained to him around the clock. The result was that the message of Christ was spreading throughout the entire imperial guard. We then see that courage is contagious and that other Christians were being emboldened by Paul’s bravery. We finish by looking  and how clearly the message of Christ was what was most important to Paul.

We are all going to face problems. Today’s teens are surrounded by them. The good news is that with an upward shift of our perspective, off of our circumstances and onto God’s purposes, we will be presented with opportunities that we may have never otherwise had. But we need to make sharing the gospel our goal, take courage from other Christians and not get caught up in what other people are doing but rather focus on the message of the cross of Christ going forth. May that be the objective and ambition of our lives.

God bless you

Johnny Mendoza.

Blessings to all, and happy holidays. For those of you who are unable to listen on the Web at RADIOREDENCION.COM, you can also call in@
7127709420, and listen live.
Trust me it will be a blessing to your life.
Remember our program every Friday @3pm

Blessings to all, and happy holidays. For those of you who are unable to listen on the Web at RADIOREDENCION.COM, you can also call in
@ 7127709420, and listen live.
Trust me it will be a blessing to your life.

Remember our program every Friday @3pm.

Estaremos en vivo alas 3pm con
www.radioredencion.com

If you missed last weeks, program on www.radioredencion.com tune in now live. For some of last week's recording. Stay blessed.

Unamos Por favor oración urgente , porque el grupo islamico radical, acaba de tomar Quaragosh, la ciudad cristiana mas grande de Irak. Hay cientos de hombres, mujeres y niños cristianos que estan siendo decapitados. Se está pidiendo cubierta de oración desde ese pais. Por favor toma un minuto y ora por ellos. Pasa el mensaje a todos tus contactos,que no se corte la cadena. Nos han pedido oración
por favor.!!
🙇 pásalo a otros.

Join us today at 3pm on www.radioredencion.com.

We will be transmitting live on the Web. Every Friday at 3pm on www.radioredencion.com

Estaremos transmitiando en vivo por la web. Todos los viernes alas 3pm @ www.radioredencion.com

Another day, other opportunity.

I love mornings, they are another way of our heavenly father saying, I've given you another opportunity at life. Yesterday's mistake should be today's victory. Stay positive, and focused my brother's, and sister's.

Christian family values

Building our families upon a solid foundation of Christian values and principles will give them security and power. This may seem like a daunting task, but if we follow the admonition of one ecclesiastical leader I heard speak, it makes things a little more doable. Simply step up.

Start with a basic principle or action and then step up as you get comfortable.

1. Read and study the scriptures

This is a great place to start because within these pages lie the truths that we need to raise our families with. All the lessons are in there. It is a great workbook, guide map and source of comfort.

Read scripture alone. Read as parents united in desire to rear a righteous family. Read scripture as a family. Setting aside a specific time each day will make this task easier. Do it for three weeks and you've developed a habit.

2. Prayer

Once you have developed the habit of studying scripture, add prayer to it. Here is a great pattern to follow:

Address God, our Heavenly Father.
Give thanks.
Ask for strength and the righteous desires of your heart.
Pray for each member of your family by name.
Close in the name of your Savior, Jesus Christ, acknowledging that it is through him that prayers are answered.
Be quiet for a few minutes and listen for answers.
3. Faith

Plant a seed of faith and watch it grow through obedience to the commandments.

4. Repentance

Realize that you and your family will always make mistakes and that no one is perfect. Teach your family the principle of repentance and about the forgiveness and freedom that comes from it.

Once you are comfortable and have developed these habits, move on to the acquisition of other Christ-like attributes, one step at a time.

Our good deeds

Our good deeds are not messured by how much we do, but by thee intentions we do them with.

JM

Grace, and Mercy.

What is the difference between the love, mercy, and grace of God? We read in Ephesians 2:4,5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).” This is such a wonderful scripture because it combines all three: Paul says that God is rich in mercy, and because of His great love for us, He saves us by grace.
What is the love of God? Well, God is love. Before anything was created, God was love. Love is the nature of God; it is what is called an attribute of God. But the interesting thing is that the love of God never saved a sinner. The love of God caused God to move in the direction of mercy and grace; it caused Him to exercise mercy and grace.
What is the difference between mercy and grace? Dr. Chafer very exactly expresses it: “Mercy…is that in God which duly provided for the need of sinful man.” God is rich in mercy. Why is He rich in mercy? Because He is love. And because God is love, He, by mercy, provided for the need of sinful man. But mercy didn’t save man. Again, I quote Dr. Chafer: “Grace is that in Him which acts freely to save because all the demands of holiness have been satisfied.” God today is free to act in grace. You are a sinner who cannot provide anything for God. You haven’t anything to offer to Him. But grace means that God can come to you, a lost sinner, and say, “I am love, and I am rich in mercy. I love you, and I have provided by My mercy a Savior for you.” Now if you will trust Him, “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
There is a fine distinction here between these words. Salvation all stems from the love of God, but God does not save by His love or His mercy. After all, our God is holy, and the Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16). You see, God did not so love the world that He saved the world — He didn’t do that. God so loved the world that by His mercy He provided a Savior for the world, and He can now save by grace.
There is something else here that is important to see. Salvation is not only the expression of the love of God, but it is also an expression of His justice and righteousness. We not only need John 3:16, but we also need Romans 3:26: “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” In order to justify you when you trust Christ, God has to be righteous and holy and just. He cannot simply open the back door of heaven and slip you in under cover of darkness. You and I are not fit for heaven. We are alienated from Him. We have no fellowship with Him. Communication broke down in the Garden of Eden, and He is the one who renewed it. Because He must be just and righteous, His mercy provided a Savior, and it was because He loves you. He can be righteous and do this — “that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

Reaching Your Destiny – Who Does It Depend On?

When God calls you, it is always to do something that will probably seem impossible or too big for you. Remember, Jeremiah certainly thought that when he was confronted by an incredible task.

We can see his reaction when he said: “Ah, Sovereign LORD, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” Jeremiah 1:6.

I have heard many Bible teachers responding to objections with the following argument: “Don’t worry, just respond to the call and the rest is up to God. Carrying out your calling does not depend on you, it all depends on God”

Well, that is only partly true. In fact, this concept taken by itself is close to a fallacy. A few years ago church went through a phase where in some circles almost all you heard was “believe it, confess it and you will have it”.

But there is a BIG missing ingredient in this theory This missing ingredient actually turns these theories into dangerous proclamations that have hurt many people who tried to follow them.

Missing Ingredient:
What is this missing ingredient?

Well in Jeremiah chapter 1:11-12, we find God telling asking Jeremiah what he saw. Jeremiah responded to the vision saying, “I see a branch of the almond tree”. God responds: in verse 12 saying: “You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.” (Amplified version of the Bible).

Then in the book of James, we are clearly told “Faith without works is dead”. (James 2:17). This means that faith is ACTIVE, not passive.

We are called to a walk of faith with God. Since real faith is active, this means our walk with God will be full of ACTION. This journey of faith will take us to our destiny as we respond by faith to the impressions God puts in our hearts.

So what is the missing ingredient? ACTION.

A true walk of faith is a journey of action. There will be no fulfilling of your destiny without ACTION. (Remember, in the last article we mentioned that God is asking us to trust and obey. “Obey” is an ACTIVE verb.)

Partnership.
Our faith walk is a partnership. Successful partners walk together with each of them pulling 100% of their weight. The great advantage of walking in partnership with God is that when you put your 100%, God also puts His :)

Of course the outcome of that is we can end up achieving great things that are far beyond our natural ability. This is because the strength of His 100% far outweighs the strength of our 100%.

Nevertheless, a true partnership is a TWO sided contract. Both partners play a part, not just one of them.

There IS one thing He expects you and I to do and that is to be ALERT and ACTIVE.

Jesus told His disciples to watch and pray – that word “watch” is translated from a greek word which means to be alert.

So does our destiny depend on us or on God?

God has already planned our destiny, and provided EVERYTHING we need to reach it. Our destiny is good and probably far beyond our wildest dreams. In Jeremiah 29:11, God reassures us that His plans for us are good and full of prosperity.

Now it depends on you and me to take what He has given us, use it and start moving towards our destiny or calling.

Jesus

When was Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected? Did He really die on Good Friday and come back to life on Easter Sunday?
Jesus Christ said He would be in the grave for three days and three nights. How can you count that from Good Friday afternoon to Easter Sunday morning?

Answer:
When was Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected?
Source: DesignPics
In Matthew:12:38, some of the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to prove He was the Messiah. But Jesus told them that the only sign He would give was that of the prophet Jonah: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (verse 40).
But how can we fit "three days and three nights" between a Friday-afternoon crucifixion and a Sunday-morning resurrection? This traditional view allows for Jesus to have been entombed for only a day and a half.
Some believe that Christ's "three days and three nights" statement does not require a literal span of 72 hours, reasoning that a part of a day can be reckoned as a whole day. Thus, since Jesus died in the afternoon, they think the remainder of Friday constituted the first day, Saturday the second and part of Sunday the third. However, only two nights—Friday night and Saturday night—are accounted for in this explanation. Something is obviously wrong with the traditional view regarding when Christ was in the tomb.
Jonah:1:17, to which Christ referred, states specifically that "Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." We have no basis for thinking that Jesus meant only two nights and one day, plus parts of two days. If Jesus were in the tomb only from late Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, then the sign He gave that He was the prophesied Messiah was not fulfilled.
Let's carefully examine the details from the Gospels. When we do, we uncover the real story of how Jesus' words were fulfilled precisely.
Two Sabbaths mentioned

Notice the events outlined in Luke 23. Jesus' moment of death, as well as His hasty burial because of the oncoming Sabbath that began at sundown, is narrated in verses 46-53. Verse 54 then states, "That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near."
Many have assumed that it is the weekly Sabbath mentioned here, and that Jesus was therefore crucified on a Friday. But John:19:31 shows that this approaching Sabbath "was a high day"—not the weekly Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) but the first day of Unleavened Bread, which is one of God's annual high, or Sabbath, days (Exodus:12:16-17

; Leviticus:23:6-7

). These annual Holy Days could—and usually did—fall on days of the week other than the regular weekly Sabbath day.
This high-day Sabbath was Wednesday night and Thursday, since Luke:23:56 shows that the women, after seeing Christ's body being laid in the tomb just before sunset, "returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils" for the final preparation of the body.
Such work would not have been done on a Sabbath day since it would have been considered a violation of the Sabbath. This is verified by Mark's account, which states, "Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices [which they would not have purchased on the high-day Sabbath], that they might come and anoint Him" (Mark:16:1).
The women had to wait until this annual "high day" Sabbath was over before they could buy and prepare the spices to be used for anointing Jesus' body. Then, after purchasing and preparing the spices and oils on Friday, "they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke:23:56). This second Sabbath mentioned in the Gospel accounts is the regular weekly Sabbath, observed from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
By comparing details in both Gospels—where Mark tells us the women bought spices after the Sabbath and Luke relates that they prepared the spices before resting on the Sabbath—we can clearly see that two different Sabbaths are mentioned. The first, as John:19:31 tells us, was a "high day"—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—which, in A.D. 31, fell on a Thursday. The second was the weekly seventh-day Sabbath.
Sign of the Messiah

After the women rested on the regular weekly Sabbath, they went to Jesus' tomb early on the first day of the week (Sunday), "while it was still dark" (John:20:1), and found that He had already been resurrected (Matthew:28:1-6

; Mark:16:2-6

; Luke:24:1-3

).
When we consider the details in all four Gospel accounts, the picture is clear. Jesus was crucified and entombed late on Wednesday afternoon, just before a Sabbath began at sunset. However, that was a high-day Sabbath, lasting from Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset that week, rather than the regular weekly Sabbath, lasting from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
He remained in the tomb from Wednesday at sunset until Saturday at sunset, when He rose from the dead. While no one witnessed His resurrection (which took place inside a sealed tomb), it had to have happened near sunset on Saturday, three days and three nights after His body was entombed. It could not have happened on Sunday morning, because when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb that morning before sunrise, "while it was still dark," she found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty.
We can be assured that the length of His entombment that Jesus gave as proof He was the Messiah was exactly as long as He foretold. Jesus rose precisely three days and three nights after He was placed in the tomb.
Because most people do not understand the biblical high days Jesus Christ and His followers kept, they fail to understand the chronological details so accurately preserved for us in the Gospels.

The 7 Promises Of God to Man

We are all accustomed to promises. We are also accustomed to seeing them made and broken. Anyone who has lived for a number of years would certainly never lay claim to having kept every promise made. There are many reasons why this is true. Sometimes we forget, sometimes we are negligent, and sometimes it may be due to circumstances beyond our control.
A brokenhearted young lady will often say, "But he promised to marry me". And the answer comes back: "Yes, but I changed my mind". People do change their mind, and they do break their promises.
What about the promises of God? How certain are they? The Apostle Paul, in writing about the promises of God to Abraham, addressed the church at Rome with these words: "For the promise that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham or his seed through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith . . . therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed" (Romans 4:13, 16). God's promise to Abraham was first spelled out in Genesis Chapter 12. It was repeated in Chapter 22. Verse 18 reads: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice".
Now a promise is of no more value than is the ability of the one who makes it to carry through. It also includes willingness to do so. God did carry through with Abraham. Paul points out in Galatians 3:16, that it was through Christ God intended to fulfill the promise to Abraham. Also in Acts 13:32-33, the Apostle says: "And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again."
The contour of Jesus' life, while living on earth, was shaped by his trust in the power of the promises of God. When Jesus said: "I am that bread of life", John 6:48, "I am the light of the world", John 8:12, "I am the resurrection and the life." John 11:25, He did so fully realizing that He had been empowered with this right by the Father who had promised to raise Him from the grave. There were more than 500 brethren at one time who bore witness to the fulfillment of this promise according to I Corinthians 15:1-6.
What can be said about God's promises to us?

He has promised to supply every need we have. The Bible says: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". That's Phillipians 4:19. Now notice, God has obligated Himself only to the extent of our needs. That would include food, clothing, shelter, companionship, love, and salvation thru Jesus Christ. It would not include the multiplicity of luxuries that we have come to think of as needs.
God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. (II Corinthians 12:9). in fact, He has made provision for our salvation by His grace through faith. Read Ephesians 2:8. It is through an obedient faith that we have access into the grace of God according to Romans 5:2.
God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. Instead, He assures us that a way of escape will be provided. This promise is recorded in I Corinthians 10:13. Jude wrote: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present your faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude v 24). Darius, King of the Medes, said to Daniel, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee" (Daniel 6:16). He did deliver Daniel from the den of lions.
God has promised us victory over death. He first resurrected Jesus by way of assuring our resurrection. Peter said: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3,4). Later on he adds: "but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57).
God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully (Romans 8:28). It may be difficult for us to see and understand how this is accomplished at times, but God has promised it, and He will deliver.
God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins will be saved. (Read Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38).
God has promised His people eternal life (John 10:27,28). In closing, let me appeal to you to live so that the promises of God will be yours.