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Morning

bloodofthelamb:
It is brother, our lives revolve around Him.

yes oo

Evening

bloodofthelamb:
Dear Lord Jesus,

I thank thee for thy patience at work in and through me. I also thank thee for thy endurance at work in the life of my brothers and sisters in faith.
Before I forget, thank you Lord for this edifying write up written by Paul Ellis and shared by Jiggas.

You welcome my brother.... It's all about Christ Jesus...

There are nearly two dozen New Testament scriptures that speak of enduring or holding fast to the end. The wrong way to read these scriptures is to think, “I must sweat and strive and endure or be disqualified from the kingdom.” If the Christian race is a marathon, it begins at the finish line. Christ has already endured which is why, in him, we can have peace when troubles come.

So why does the Bible contain so many exhortations to endure? Because you and I have a great need for endurance, and God has promised to supply that need (along with all our other needs) according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Php 4:19).

It is essential that you see God as your need-supplier, otherwise you will get distracted by scriptures like this:

There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. (Rev 14:11-12, NIV)

The New International Version Bible makes it sound like your salvation is contingent upon your endurance and commandment-keeping. In other words, you’d better follow the rules and show some moral fiber when faced with persecution.

This is bad advice! Live like this and you’ll be as restless as those who worship the beast. Let’s look at that scripture in a literal translation:

Here is endurance of the saints: here are those keeping the commands of God and the faith of Jesus. (Rev 14:12 YLT)

John is saying, “Do you see it? Under this incredible pressure from a corrupt world system, the saints are enduring. Those who trust Jesus are staying faithful in the face of persecution.” John is not saying, “This calls for…” but “Here it is! Look! See what God is doing – he is keeping his saints!”

We don’t endure to become Christians; we endure because we are Christians – because Christ is in us and he is the all-time Overcomer and Endurer. As John says, it is the “faith of Jesus” that makes this possible.

It may not be in your nature to endure but rest assured it is in his nature, and as you allow him to express his life through yours, you too will endure to the end. Keep your focus on Jesus and you will be amazed at what you can endure.

The circus of endurance

Have you ever read how the first-century Christians endured horrific persecution. Can you imagine what it must’ve been like to be rounded up with other believers and sent to the Roman circus to face the lions? Can you imagine sitting in the holding cell waiting for your turn to be torn and devoured?

In my natural flesh I would have been climbing the walls trying to get out. Or perhaps I would be curled up in the fetal position trembling with fear.

Yet when you read about these Christ-followers you’ll find that many actually volunteered for the circus. Like Paul, they considered it an honor to share a martyr’s death with Christ. In other words, when the pressure came they found within themselves the supernatural steel of Christ’s endurance. They literally had Christ’s courage.

It’s the same today. I know of Chinese pastors who have thought nothing of going to prison. If you know anything about Chinese prisons you will know that’s not normal to be untroubled by such things, and yet they are. They endure the unendurable because Christ empowers them.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (Jas 1:2-4)

In Christ you already lack nothing but you won’t know you lack nothing until you’ve been tested by the trials of life. It is only when you have gone past the point of your own strength and found your heavenly Father, strong and smiling, that you begin to realize that when you are weak, you can be strong indeed.

It is not a joyful thing to be persecuted. The joy comes in discovering through the trial that the faith God has put within you is purer than gold.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Pet 1:6-7)

The trials of life are not to see whether we can manufacture the Right Stuff for Jesus, for we can’t manufacture faith at all. Saving, enduring faith is a gift from God. The purpose of life’s trials is to show you that God’s gifts are awesome!

The marvelous gift

The faith he has given you – Jesus’ faith, remember – is not brittle but strong. You might not know this but when the trial comes you will and then you will rejoice. You will marvel like John and say, “Look! Here now is endurance of the saints!” You will marvel like Paul and say, “I am not discouraged. Even though on the outside it seems everything is falling apart, on the inside God is revealing his amazing life” (2 Cor 4:16).

What is the endurance of the saints? What is the secret to survival in a hostile world? It is the faith of Jesus working in those who receive it.

Understand that patient endurance is a fruit (Gal 5:22). You absolutely cannot produce the patience you need to endure life’s toughest trials so don’t even try. As branches we’re not called to produce fruit but to bear the fruit that he, the Living Vine, produces in us. Our part is to abide in the Vine – to rest in him, to trust him, and to quit trying to make it happen apart from him.

Our part is to behold Jesus who has already endured and marvel with gratitude as he continues to endure.

https://escapetoreality.org/2017/11/23/the-endurance-of-the-saints/

Hai

bloodofthelamb:
Amazing grace!

Yes oo my bro!!

Eveni

Hai

jiggaz:
morning

haiii

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. (Eph 1:3, GNB)

You may know that you are blessed in your new life, but you may not know that 100 percent of your blessings come as the result of being one with Christ. Let us consider some of these blessings, starting with salvation.

1. Salvation
What exactly is the basis for your salvation? It is your union with Christ. You are not saved because you said the magic words of a sinner’s prayer. You are saved because you are one with the Lord and his saving life is your life. Paul said he endured all things so others may “obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:10).

We mislead people when we sell salvation as a ticket to heaven. It’s not that it’s wrong, it’s just woefully incomplete. Salvation is not about being put into a lifeboat but being put into Jesus (Ephesians 1:13). Besides, those in lifeboats aren’t really saved. They still need to be rescued. This is why Christians with a lifeboat mentality are anxious and fearful. Bobbing around in the ocean of their insecurity, they have no assurance that they are actually saved. Perversely, they fear Judgment Day more than the average sinner. Not us. We are as secure as the Savior himself. We fear no condemnation because there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).

2. Holiness
How is it that we dare to call ourselves a holy people? It is because Jesus is holy and we are in him. Paul said of the most misbehaving bunch of Christians in the Bible that they were “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor 1:2). So were you. When did this happen? It didn’t happen when you attended that holiness retreat. It happened when you were dipped into the Holy One by the Holy Spirit. Some Christians act holier-than-thou, as if there were levels to holiness, but there’s only one level and it’s his level. Jesus is your holiness. You don’t have to sweat your way to sainthood for you are already numbered among the saints in Christ Jesus.

3. Righteousness
Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21, GNB)

How can we presume to call ourselves righteous? Because the vine is righteous and he shares his righteousness with his branches. How could he not? Since we are inextricably joined together it is meaningless to speak of one kind of righteousness for the vine and another for the branches. We are just as righteous as he is.

These New Testament revelations exceed the wildest dreams of the Old Testament prophets. Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke of the righteous One and foresaw a righteous Branch (Is 24:16 and Jer 23:5, 33:15). They could not imagine that the Branch would become a vine reproducing itself in millions upon millions of little righteous branches. They saw the coming Christ but not the coming Christians who now carry his life and nature and who have been made the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

The blessings of our union are many and I could keep going. Indeed, I will. Like Paul, my prayer is that you will have “a deeper understanding of every blessing which we have in our life in union with Christ” (Phm 1:6, GNB).

4. Freedom
How is it that we can live free from the demands of the law? The Gentile believers who walked in this revelation scandalized the Jews of the first century. “Who are these Johnny-come-latelies who dare to claim all the blessings of the law while ignoring all of its curses?” We are the happy branches of a vine who fulfilled the law on our behalf. It’s really not that complicated. Since the vine is blessed, his branches must be blessed too. How could it be otherwise?

5. Authority
What about our authority? On what grounds can we call ourselves the head and not the tail? What right do we have to speak to storms, cast out demons, and heal the sick? All together now—it is because we are wedded to the One who holds all authority in heaven and earth. Our bodies may be here, but we are seated together with God in heaven in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6).

We read that Jesus sits waiting for his enemies to be placed under his feet (1 Cor 15:25). We also read that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet (Rom 16:20). So under whose feet is the enemy going? His. Ours. All of the above. Since we are in union with the One who has defeated the enemy, we are already victorious in Christ Jesus. Our part is to stomp.

6. And many more…
The list of benefits goes on and on. We have forgiveness in him. We are perfect in him. We are reconciled through him. Peace, joy, provision, and everything besides, comes to us through our union with Jesus Christ.

For in union with Christ you have become rich in all things … (1 Corinthians 1:5, GNB)

Do you see it yet? You are mightily blessed because of your union with the Lord. Your needs are not met through prayer, fasting, and Bible study. Neither are they met by sowing into this ministry or signing up for that class. Whatever your need, your abundant supply is found in Christ Jesus.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

The purpose of union
The blessings of our union with Christ are many and wonderful, but they pale in comparison to the ultimate purpose of union, which is to share in his life. Why did God make us? It was so we could participate in the abundant and overflowing life found within the Godhead. We were created to love and be loved and to enjoy fellowship with the One who made us.

For your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is his name … (Isaiah 54:5)

In a word, it’s all about Jesus. Jesus is both the means for our union and union’s true object. Life without Jesus doesn’t satisfy and doesn’t last. Only in him do we live and move and have our being.

Jesus came to give us abundant life, and that life is found in him. Again, we can miss it when we seek the gifts independently of the Giver. Eternal life, for instance, is not more of the same old, broken-down life we inherited from Adam. It is a wholly new life that comes from knowing God and walking in the new way of the Spirit.

When Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20), he was rejoicing in his co-baptism and resurrection with Jesus. Paul understood there is no real life outside of Christ and those who seek to live independently on the basis of their own wits and resources ultimately lose their true selves. But when you abandon yourself totally to him, then you discover who you really are. Then you really live.

Extracted from chapter 4 “Union,” The Gospel in Ten Words.

https://escapetoreality.org/2018/01/04/the-many-benefits-of-union/#prettyPhoto

jiggaz:
afternoon

hai

Morning

On the night he rose from the dead, Jesus instructed his disciples to preach a new message of unconditional forgiveness.

Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46–47, NKJV)

The message of grace and forgiveness was for all nations, but it was particularly for the Jews. “Beginning at Jerusalem,” said Jesus, as though he knew there would be some who would deny grace to his killers. “God’s grace is for all, but those in Jerusalem get to hear about it first.”

Then, before he ascended to heaven, he said it again. “Be my witnesses in Jerusalem …” (Acts 1:8b).

There is a reason why Jerusalem is considered the birthplace of Christianity and it is not just because Christ died there. By the Lord’s command Jerusalem was the first place evangelized with the gospel. By the Holy Spirit’s direction, Jerusalem was the location of Pentecost. And by the apostles’ obedience, Jerusalem was the birthplace of the church.

Jesus did not wash his hands of Jerusalem. Nor did he tell his apostles to give the city a wide berth. Instead, he designated the city Mission Field Number One. The apostles did what he asked, and their teaching spread all over Jerusalem. The result was nothing short of miraculous. The city that had rejected the Lord began to change, and the number of Christians in Jerusalem increased greatly (Acts 5:28, 6:7).

Jerusalem had rejected Jesus, but he never rejected Jerusalem. The Jews had spurned him, but he continued to woo them to himself. Not even death would hinder his relentless love.

As for the city, so for the temple.

The cross and the temple stood in opposition to one another, yet Christ’s cross came down while the temple stayed up. That building, so hostile to the Lord, did not tumble during the earthquake that accompanied his death. Nor was it consumed by heavenly fire when he rose from the grave.

When the Lord needed an apostle of grace, he recruited a hate-filled Pharisee. And when he needed a venue for the early church, he chose the courts of the most anti-Christ building in the world (Acts 2:46, 3:11, 5:12, 42).

Where did the apostles perform their first miracle? It was at the gates of the temple (Acts 3:2).

When an angel released the apostles from prison, where did he tell them to preach the gospel? At the temple (Acts 5:20).

And after the apostles were flogged and ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus, where did they daily continue to preach the good news of Jesus Christ? (Acts 5:42). You guessed it.

This is grace, and this is what God does. He redeems and repurposes. He takes those things that are opposed to him and turns them around for good.

That the Lord would choose this building and this city to demonstrate his goodness and power speaks volumes to the graciousness of a good God who does not treat us as our sins deserve.

https://escapetoreality.org/2018/02/14/jesus-for-jerusalem/

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Boom

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Janeyinspires:
I'm good.Hope you are,too?

yes i am...

Xxxx

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Alright

Bb

jiggaz:
morning...

jiggaz:
Morning

teeent

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