Hello John and Doves,
It's easy to get caught up with
the 'news' and all the trials and tribulations of
life.
You are a light in this dark
world - let it shine! Your future is assured!
Paul inspires and encourages us
- and reminds us of why we are here and what our future
is. In his letter to the Corinthians, he writes:
For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were destroyed, we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens.
For we live by faith, not by
sight. We are confident, then, and would prefer to
be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So
we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body
or away from it.
For while we live in these
earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we
want to die and get ride of these bodies that clothe
us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that
these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
And God has prepared us for this very purpose and
has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.
For we live by faith, not by
sight.
We are confident, I say and
willing rather to be absent from the body and to be
present with the Lord
For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his
due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
And even if our gospel is
veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The
god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so
they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 5
For God, who said, "Let light
shine out of darkness", made His light shine in our hearts
to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ..
For we grow weary in our present bodies, and we
long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not
crushed;
Perplexed but not in despair.
Persecuted, but not forsaken;
Cast down, but not destroyed.
Through suffering, our bodies
continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life
of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
Corinthians 4
"The knowledge of Christ's glory
as the image of God is a powerful treasure. It is
worth more than all other knowledge in the universe.
Paul writes that God has stored this priceless treasure in
fragile, vulnerable clay jars, meaning himself and his
friends. It's only by God's power in them that they
have not already been shattered by their suffering.
Paul writes that they have been afflicted,
perplexed, persecuted, and struck down - but they have
not been crushed, driven to despair, abandoned, or
destroyed. They carry in themselves Christ's death
in the sense that they suffer as He did and for His
sake, but they also carry Christ's life as evidence that
His power is at work in them. (2
Corinthians 4:7-12)
Paul knows and is telling us that
"no matter how hard the circumstances of this life
are, the glory of eternity far outweighs and outlasts
anything that can happen to us now."
As our trials and tribulations
increase - as the birth pains around us intensify -
remember, that the things we see around us are
temporary. The things we can not see are eternal. We
were warned by Jesus and the prophets about this time.
As we long for that day when
those in Christ rise to meet Him in the air - "Be
on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighed down
with self-indulgence, drunkenness and with the
worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly
catch you by surprise." Luke 21:34
Jesus will never leave nor
forsake us - He is always with us.
We are all here for such a time
as this. God has been preparing us our whole lives
for this time, for what we are living through now and for
what is to come.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance