Born Again

1 Peter 1:3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Praise God that we are born again because of his great mercy.

blinded.

Psalm 139:23-24

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting."

"The heart of man is full of sin and corruption, and that corruption is of an exceedingly darkening, blinding nature. Sin always carries a degree of darkness with it. And the more it prevails, the more it darkens and deludes the mind."

-Jonathan Edwards

Usually the first thing I pray in the morning, as soon as I wake up, is a prayer of praise and magnification to God. I think my second prayer immediately following that prayer will now be for God to reveal sin in my life that I am blinded to.

haggai 1

Has anyone done any reading of Haggai lately? I know, it's not a commonly read book. I have grown to love it recently.

It a great book that shows God's sovereignty and man's sinfulness.

After God had allowed the children of Israel to return home to Israel from captivity in Babylon, they began to rebuild. However, they got caught up (once again) focusing on themselves by ignoring God's temple that sat in ruins, while they rebuilt and detailed their extravagant homes.

Check out what God says:

Haggai 1:2-4

"Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD." Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

God basically says: "oh, so you guys say that it isn't time to rebuild my house... i see... so, you're saying it IS time to relax in your own ornate houses..."

How often do we say what the Israelites said. "God it isn't time for me to do that yet." "God, the time isn't right to serve in that way yet." "I'll do that God, but not yet" or even "I'm waiting on a word from the Lord on that..." but at the same time we plan out our vacations, we focus on projects for school or work, we budget for our family or personal life. Did we wait on a "word from the Lord" regarding those things?

Hey, I'm not pointing fingers, I'll be the first to admit that I do this myself.


Let's act today!

his glory revealed.

Psalm 19:1

"The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

I made this video after seeing photos taken from the hubble telescope.

Love Your Enemies

Matthew 5:43-48

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

God says that you treat enemies the same way you treat friends and family. Impossible? Of course. But not when we have the fear of the Lord. When we know that God's power is greater than that of our enemies, when we know that he is just, and when we know that he loved us while we were his enemies, then we are free to be simple servants who imitate and obey the Father. He blesses the righteous and unrighteous with rain and food, and so we too should bless.

To love this way, we need both power and discernment. We need power because we are incapable of loving the way Christ has loved us. We need discernment because it is sometimes difficult to know what form love should take.
-Edward Welch

Build your house on the rock

Matthew 7:24-27

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

a heart for reading often.

Psalm 1:2

"but his delight is in the law of the Lord,and on his law he meditates day and night."

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"[the godly man] makes God's law not only his task, but his recreation"

-Thomas Watson (speaking about Psalm 1)

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What I have found helpful is buying a pocket size Bible (old and new testaments). I take it wherever I go, so that whenever I have downtime, am on break, waiting in a line, or arrive early somewhere, I can read the Word.