Every year we celebrate New Year and Christians celebrate it too. There is a verse in the Bible which say " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold , all things have become new." this was written by apostle Paul through the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit as recorded in II Corinthians 5:17.
For Christians and Christians to be, can we seek to renew Jesus Christ in our lives this coming New Year ?
If you do , do you want it saved ? What happen when we die ? We will leave our pictures behind but what will happen to us ? The Bible says we have souls or each of us has a soul.
The Bible says the soul that sins will die. What is sin ? Sin is disobedience or violation of God's laws. The Bible says all have sinned. So all will die. That is the bad news. But there is a good news.
Jesus Christ died for us. He paid for our sins by His obedient life. He is the only one qualified to save our souls. What shall we do then ? Repent or confess our sins and believe in Jesus Christ and we will have eternal life.
What does believe mean ? Believe means we do what Jesus says or commands. But we are sinners , how can we obey ? We first admit our bankrupcy of God's righteousness and when God sees our broken and repentant heart He will pardon us through the sacrifice of His Son and He will give us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
God convicts us of our sins through the Holy Spirit. From man's viewpoint we are given the capacity to choose God or not. Meanwhile there is a debate whether God chose us or we have free will.
But the crucial question is do we love God and obey Him ?
In our times of grief, loss, sorrow, pain, death, disaster etc. we may be tempted to ask "where is God ?"
Maybe we should ask where are we when Jesus was fighting for our souls at the cross,while Jesus was in tremendous pain and anguish etc. A battle He fought victoriously so that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Since Jesus experienced that death, we too may have to experience a much lesser degree of that which are nothing to be compared to His suffering.
Let's remember the words of our Lord, in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I (Jesus ) has overcome the world.
Difference between kneeling down and sitting down on the floor
Sometimes when i am weak and tired i feel like sitting down on the floor. But is it better to kneel ? Kneeling is often associated with praying but we can pray sitting down too.
I found from kneeling position it is easier to get up. Try it. Could it mean God gives us faster recovery ?
When i was young i had desires which i never fulfilled because i had to work to support my family and myself. But now that i am retired and i tried to go for them i realized they were no longer right for me as a Christian.I have to change to new desires based on the Bible.
But even new desires or wants turn elusive. Because they could compete for the devotion to God and if they do we could deny ourselves of those to concentrate or focus on Jesus.
First pray to have the Spirit of Jesus. Second endure suffering like Jesus endured suffering. Check the fruit of the Spirit as written in Galatians 5:22 like love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness,kindness, faithfulness, and self control and pray for all the fruit of the Spirit be in us one at a time.
As Christians we are destined to be like Jesus and we can start while we are on earth.
As humans we all get old but as Christians though we get old preferably we should strive to finish strong in the Lord. Since we can only talk to people about loving the Lord so much, internally we should try to finish striong.
There is no retirement in the Lord. As to how we can finish strong, look at what fit us more. Our God is a prayer answering God, so let us ask Him.
We learn by doing or applying what we know. This is true in secular and in our Christian life.
Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever hear these sayings of mine, and do them, I will liken him unto a wise man whcih built his house upon a rock:
And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not ; for it was founded upon a rock.
When we read, study and apply the words of our Lord Jesus then He tells us what will happen.
