Through the Encouragement of the Scriptures We Might have Hope

Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Jew and Gentile hope in the Lord Jesus!
Romans 15:8-9 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name."
Romans 15:12-13 And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope." May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
The believer's mission!
Romans 15:21 but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."
God's word!
Heb.4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Scripture is breathed out by God and can not be broken!
John 10:35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came--and Scripture cannot be broken--
2 Tim.3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
Read and believe!
John 5:37-47 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
Lord, Your Word is good! Have mercy on heard hearts so they may hear and believe! Amen

God's Servant for Your Good

Romans 13:4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
Laws of the land are set up by the people with the underlying theme being, to keep order in society. God has all authority! He has given man authority to govern and to keep society peaceful by means of laws.
Romans 13:1-3 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval
1Tim. 2:1-2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
Be very careful when you vote for someone who will make laws for our country. The anarchists are trying to bring down our lawful society with laws that do not keep peace in society. The lawbreaker goes unpunished under the guise of civil liberties! If you break the law, you forfeit your civil liberties and your freedom! Be very prayerful in matters of society because the devil will use any means to create havoc! Whether our governing authorities want to admit it or not, all knees will bow to the Christ the Lord! Christ is the ultimate ruler over all!! All power in heaven and on earth is His! God bless America!
Romans 14:11 for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
Phil.2:10-11so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Matt.28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Lord, I ask for Your healing power on this nation. Forgive us and heal our land, teach us obedience to your Word. Lord, thank You for Your Word which teaches us to be like You. Bless our officials and keep their hearts on your Word. Bless our law enforcement who keep peace in society and shake the foolish judges who disregard Your Word. Bless the wise judges who seek after Your Word and Your justice. In Jesus name and by His power, Amen.

Our Life/ Toil and Trouble

Life is very fleeting! It is but a blink of the eye to the Lord!
Ps.90:10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Life is a gift! How are we using God's gift? We were chosen by God to receive this gift, it is not a coincidence that we are here! It is by God's power and His divine will! He will lift us up or bring us low! God's gift of eternal life is forever!
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Divine mercy!
Romans 11:32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
From Him, through Him, and to Him!
Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
First sin consequence!
Gen.3:17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Job 14:1 "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.
Hold fast to the Lord!John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
We are in Christ!
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Lord, thank You for Your precious Word! Amen

The Man of Your Right Hand

Ps.80:17-19 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name! Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
The Son of Man is Christ! He came for God's purpose! To bring salvation to all who would believe on Him, through faith, that He was/is able to cleanse all unrighteousness! That, through Him, we could be reconciled to a holy God. That, we being unworthy, would be made worthy, in Christ alone!
Ps.83:18 that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.
God's Word is good!
Ps.86:4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
God's Word holds the key to eternal life for all!
Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:9-10 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Father, for Your glory and by Your power, save the lost! Amen

Are You Registered?

Ps.87:6 The LORD records as he registers the peoples, "This one was born there." Selah
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary states"The church of Christ is more glorious and excellent than the nations of the earth. In the records of heaven, the meanest of those who are born again stand registered." Did you catch that? You can be down right mean, repent and be forgiven. Awesome, we all stand forgiven at the foot of the Cross!! Heaven keeps records, Christ is the only way God has made for salvation.
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
God has mercy and compassion on whom He will choose!
Romans 9:15-18  For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Are you seeking God? His Word says in 1 Chr.28:9 "And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever."
Lord God, let us be found worthy through the blood of Christ! Amen

This Body of Death

Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Do you ever think about the bodies connection between death and life? At birth, we occupy the body which the Lord has given us for our brief time here. At death, we(the soul) departs the body the Lord has given us and go into eternity. I am speaking of the eternal soul which was designed by God for everlasting life! In the original Greek, the word is yuxhn which translated means psyche, which means breath of life (the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing) or an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death. This is amazing to me, that the Creator of the universe meant for us to be with Him for eternity.
Matt.10:28  And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
There is a war going on between our spiritual mind and our body of flesh.
Romans 7:14-25 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Satan is defeated and Christ is King!! 
John 12:31-33 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
John 14:30-31  30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.Stand firm in your faith! John 16:11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judgedCol.2:8-15  See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Jesus is the victor!!Matt.28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Rev.1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Father, You do have the breath of life! People will try and deny You but they will be without proof or excuse. Amen

Rest for Weary Souls

Rest for weary souls, through prayer and abounding in God's Word!
Jer.31:25 For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish."
Ps.119:28 My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!
Ps.73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Is.40:28-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Matt.11:28-29 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. From before, birth we have been hid in Him!Ps.71:6 Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you. You rescue us!Ps.71:20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. Lord, there is no heart that can truly want to know You and not find You. You are there for those who wholeheartedly seek You! Your Word is a blessing to me! Amen