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Hebrews 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
No person, be they a priest, bishop or any other person, ever made things perfect other than Jesus Christ Himself.
It was our Lord and Saviour who ushered in a new era where the debt for our sin would be paid for by someone else – Himself.
That gives all of mankind hope for an eternal future with God; a future where we can live together forever, not as mortal humans, but as immortal people with Jesus.
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James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
We all have doubts and we all make wrong choices at times. That does not exclude us from God. Keeping it to ourselves and continuing to follow those bad choices leads us away from God – that keeps us from God!
Admitting to mistakes and asking for forgiveness is the sure way of coming back to God because He is waiting for us to do so.
He knows we do things wrong and He knows we will continue to do so; but His love never stops and His welcome is always there, waiting for us to return!
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James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
If you do not actively try to resist the devil, you will be surprised how easily he does get into your life…
Just going along as if nothing is going to happen will allow him to step into your path and tempt you off in many directions before you realise it.
We do face a battle every day, and unless we engage in it every day by submitting to God’s ways, we will find out there is already a winner for that day.
Start your day today on the right foot by submitting to God first of all!
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Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
There are far too many evil things happening in this world for us to ignore the fact there is evil present; but that does not mean we have to give in to it and follow its ways!
Christ first commanded us to not get caught up in evil but to try and spread good instead; the apostle echoes those words reminding us not to be overcome by it but to put it in its place with good acts.
If we try to ward back evil with good; God will continue to back us up in our endeavours to do so. He wants good to shine through so people can have hope and see there is a better way than evil!
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Acts 7:60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
I’m not saying we should all allow ourselves to be stoned to death – far from it – Christ has called us to be effective witnesses to Him.
But when we are berated, shouted at, called names, or whatever, we should stand firm in God’s Word, stand firm in showing others the love of Christ in the face of all that is going wrong in our lives!
Be different. Be the change. Be more like Stephen!
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Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
What does this world teach you about your enemies? To hate them, curse them, ignore them, do bad things to them… The opposite of what Christ teaches us!
Christ wants us to be different to the world otherwise the world will see no difference between Christians and the rest of the hateful world!
Don’t teach people to hate others but rather teach them to reach out to others and show them Christ’s love toward them!
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Leviticus 19:34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
We do not all have strangers living in our homes, but we do have people from all around the world living in places together nowadays.
Right from the beginning God has made sure we know we have to treat all people the same, no matter what part of the world they are from or what persuasion they are of, in any way!
God simply says, “love all people!” Yes, that can be hard, He did not say it was an easy task – but He does want us to do our best to love all people!
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Luke 10:29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
When the Good Samaritan asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life, He did not get the response he may have hoped for.
Christ does not give us eternal life because of anything we have done or can do; He gives us eternal life because we believe He will give it to us when we come to Him and ask His forgiveness for the things we do wrong.
If we want to do what Christ has asked of us, then we need to step out of our comfort zones and head for the people who need our help rather than those we wish to help out.
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Jeremiah 9:15 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
God does not sit back and watch as people go about denying Him and going after other gods instead; He will do something about it!
What He does, may not fall in line with what we think God should do for us as the all loving God; He may well make us stop and think about what we are doing.
If He has to go to extremes to attract out attention before we totally lose our way, then we should not be surprised when He allows bad things to encroach in our lives… Be prepared for an honest and just response from God!
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Job 9:18 He would not let me catch my breath but would overwhelm me with misery.
Is it ok to blame God? Is it ok to be upset with Him?
We sometimes have to face some pretty horrible things in life, just because that is life… but should we blame God?
We need to be able to blame someone or something in order to work through our troubles; we need someone strong to take on that mantle. God is willing and able.
Take things to God, whether you blame Him or are upset with Him, speak to Him… and wait and listen for His answer.
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Job 8:12 While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass.
Bildad, one of Job’s friends, was a wise man and he tried to reconcile what had happened to Job through earthly understanding; but I love the way he compares people to reeds trying to grow.
While they have water by the river, they thrive. But as soon as the water dries up, they wither faster than other grasses because they have grown so dependent on the water.
When we depend totally on Christ, suddenly not having Him would cause us to wither faster than others.
Keep Christ in your life and keep close to Him!
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Proverbs 21:13 Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.
When we see someone is in need, we should be stepping forward and showing them what Jesus would do – we should be helping out in ways we can.
We may not be able to right the wrong or to fill the need but showing support and love will go a long way to comforting people who are in need; it may also highlight their need to other people who are able to fill the need.
God will allow us to see need – how we react to that need is our choice under God’s guidance. Allow Him to open your heart to need.
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Proverbs 21:12 The Righteous One takes note of the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.
Righteous people may well be able to spot unrighteous people, and the other way round; but without full judicial process, we do not have any rights to bring them down.
We live in a world which is supposed to be governed by laws. If we go about breaking the law to uphold what we think should be upheld, then we are nothing more than them.
Allow God to bring the people who work against Him to justice and show them Jesus’ ways instead.
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Proverbs 21:11 When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.
When someone does not know they are doing wrong, being put right or punished will bring them round to knowing the laws.
When someone does know they are doing wrong, being put right or punished should also bring them round; but pride often gets in the way and we object or react.
The person who listens to rebuke is the one who is going to learn from their mistakes no matter what standing they have in life!
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Deuteronomy 13:11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
After true judicial process should come justice according to the judicial process.
All of us would continue to go off the rails if there were not some recompense for the things we do wrong; after all, it would be easier just to continue doing wrong!
God wants us to know there are consequences for the things we do wrong. Sometimes the fear of the consequences is the only thing which will stop us – and God knows that.
Follow God’s Laws and not your own desires.
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Deuteronomy 13:9 You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people.
Many take things out of context and use religious writings to justify murder or other crimes; this is not the case with God’s Word!
God does not say we can go kill people just because they have done things wrong – there must be full and proper judicial process first of all.
If you take it on your own hands to carry out what you see as justice, then you are alone in doing so; always make full and proper use of all laws.
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2 Kings 17:9 The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns.
Have you noticed how you will normally try to hide things which you know are not right?
Just because we may be able to hide something from another person, does not mean we can hide it from God!
The Israelites showed us time and again how they tried to secretly do things, but God saw through their ways and reminded them of the fact each time!
When they continued to do things wrong, God stepped up and made changes!
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Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
The potter will work with clay to make different items, some for use with rubbish whilst others will be kept for the very best company!
The potter makes the decision based on his experience, what is required and what he can achieve with his clay.
God is our potter. He has final say how we are made and how we are used. He does know what is best and knows how to get the very best from any of us.
But He also gives us a choice – will be allow Him to work properly with us?
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Acts 11:16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
The disciple remembered Jesus’ words when he saw the people being filled with the Holy Spirit.
God was allowing these people to be submerged in the Holy Spirit and raised up into a new life with Him.
John baptised people by dunking them in water as a sign they were being buried from their old lives and raised into a new life with Christ.
Accepting Christ as Lord and Saviour can be taken personally in many ways; but all show a willingness to leave the old behind and live with the new!
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Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
Note how God used every opportunity to reach everybody. Even though Peter was preaching to the people of Israel, the Gentile also heard the message. They were convicted by the same message as the Jews!
God does not give one message to one people and another message to others – the same message goes out to all so we can all share in Christ.
We have one Father, one Son and one Holy Spirit – and even they are one (though we may find it hard to understand).