live2bless

In Matthew 10:39 we read where Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” What was Jesus referring to by either finding or losing ones life? One way of looking at this is by associating finding ones life with self regard, and losing ones life with self disregard. Let me put it this way, perhaps the only justifiable reason for thinkin...

In Hebrews 3 and 4, the writer draws our attention of the unbelief of the Israelites by with they forfeited entering into the Promised Land. Even though Caleb and Joshua gave them a positive report about conquering the land, the people did not share the faith in God that Caleb and Joshua had, so the good news meant nothing to them Hence we read in Hebrews 4:2 — “The Good News was preached to us ju...

In 1 Corinthians 10:31 the apostle Paul makes this summery statement as to how we are to live our lives. He writes, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Lets’s ask several questions about that glory. First of all, What is the glory of God?  I suggest to you that it is his self-sacrificial nature of helpfulness. Absolutely everything about God is helpf...

1 Kings 18:21 the prophet Elijah goes head to head with the 450 prophets of the false god named Baal. But before doing so he confronts the people. “Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” If those were the options at that time, what are our options now? It seems to me the choice we must...

In Psalm 16:7-8, David writes, “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Someone has pointed out that, “The term right hand in the Old Testament indicated a valued, honored, and even intimate position. If you sat at the right hand of someone, then that was the best seat in the...

In 1 Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul dealt with what he saw as problems in how the Corinthian church was practicing the Lord’s supper. He points out that because they were failing to rightly honor each other in communing together, God was disciplining them. They were weak, sick, and a number had actually died as a result. So, he calls them each to examine themselves and writes in verses 31 and 32,...

Psalms 27:4 (CSB) “I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.” Consider what strikes me as the obvious relationship between desire & motivation. The more I want something, the more motivated I will be to do whatever it takes to experience it or acquire it....

Jeremiah 29:13 reads, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” How do we know when we are seeking the Lord with our whole heart? Three things come to mind. 1) It is when we are wholeheartedly trusting in him. That is, we are giving him all our concerns and trusting him to solve them in his way and in his time. 2) It is when we instantly act on his guidance or counsel as...

I realize that the Scriptures have quite a bit to say about the importance of seeking rewards, or what the apostle Paul calls, “the prize”. Listen to what he wrote: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV) 24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get...

Let’s face the truth head on. We are to blame for any wrong we do. We cannot be substituted out.  We are the guilty party and that’s that. Still worse is that the wrong done cannot be undone — it cannot be made to disappear. The violence, the horror, the damage done cannot be taken back or reversed. That is the truth. But suppose we are the ones suffering at the hands of foolishly evil behavi...

In Galatians 4:19 (NIV) the apostle Paul writes to the Galatian believers, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you...” Jesus was formed in Mary to what end? To be presented to the world as God’s Messiah — His ultimate Answer to every conceivable human weakness, sin, or problem. What was happening in her was not ultimately just for her. She wa...

Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV) reads, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” Allow me to repeat this quote that I’ve shared before, written by Celeste de Blasis “There are people who live lives little different than the beasts, and I don't mean that badly. I mean that they accept whatever happe...

1 John 4:7 reads, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” Let’s take a moment to define what God’s love is, and the definition that I think best expresses its meaning is this: self-sacrificial helpfulness. Now consider this: because God is love, where self-sacrificial helpfulness is, God is. Now think of how near he i...

Let me share with you what for me is one of the best, if not the best quote I’ve ever read on prayer. It is written by theologian and philosopher Peter Kreeft. He writes, “I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those prayers were destined to affect we would be so paralyzed with awe that we would be unable to get up off our knee...

Allow me to share some thoughts with you that came to me rather spontaneously. I wrote them down in order to reflect on them and perhaps you’ll find them helpful too. If not, set them aside. Who you will be around other people is being decided by your routine thoughts during your times alone. If you would be a blessing and bring Jesus’ loving and healing power to bear on everyone and everything yo...

In Exodus 20:5 we read, “You shall not bow down to them [other gods] or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God." Did you know that God is jealous over you? You may wonder why? What’s behind it? Well, to start with, He loves you so much He wants to see you overflowing with incommensurable peace and joy. However, He alone is that peace and joy to us, for He created us for Himself. Cons...

I had a wonderful thought occur to me yesterday regarding God’s silence. In various passages of Scripture God's silence is seen as something undesirable. For example, in Psalm 83:1 the Psalmist writes, “O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.” Also, Psalm 109:1, “O God of my praise, Do not be silent!” No doubt we can all sympathize with such prayers. For my own pa...

In Matthew 5:8 we read that Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Here a question to consider: Can everything you are doing in your life be ultimately explained by a single motive? From what I gather in the use of the greek word translated “pure” in the New Testament, that is its meaning. When all we do flows from an ultimate, single intention or motive, namely, to pl...

In Isaiah 41:13 we read that the Lord says, “I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Every temptation is, in a sense, rooted in fear to where we are vulnerable to start trying to make something happen right now instead of relying on God to meet our needs, desires, interests, or to solve a problem. And as soon as we’re not completely...

Psalm 145:9 declares, “The LORD is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made.” It seems to me that one of the greatest errors in biblical interpretation is to make a distinction between God doing something “for His sake” that is, for His benefit, and his doing something “for our sake” — for our benefit. That distinction implies that God could treat something he has created in less...

1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV) “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” To understand something of the cost of our redemption, I’m persuaded we have to start by knowing what sin is at its core. To get there let...

Romans 13:8-10 (NIV) 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no...

At the heart of all we do to help others experience the love of God, must be this: “submit yourselves, …to God...” .  Why? Because Jesus himself said that he did nothing of His own accord, He did only what He saw His father doing. So with us. When it comes to anything we do to help others open up to God, unless Jesus has spoken or acted we must not speak or act. Anything short of this and we...

Luke 4:8 — “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” The extent to which I am worshiping the Lord is evidenced by the amount of helpfulness flowing through my life. The more I sense the preciousness of the people I meet each day, the more attentive I am to help them, the more I can be assured that I am worshiping God. Worship is an offering of one’s whole self to God in the sense of offering...

We read in John 15:22-24 (NIV) something that Jesus said regarding the spiritual leaders of his day. He says, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have...