Post by Tom Green on Feb 9, 2007 23:43:00 GMT -5
RELATIONSHIPS
The relationship that we have with our heavenly Father, and the relationships that we maintain among ourselves, are not to be taken lightly. The Scriptures speak to both of these relationships in regard to both responsibility and hope!
We can trust in our relationship with God...
I am expecting the Lord to rescue me again, so that once again I will see his goodness to me here in the land of the living. Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you! Be brave, softhearted, and courageous. Yes, wait and he will help you. Psalms 27: 13-14 TLB
Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him.
Lamentations 3: 23-25 TLB
Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 TLB
I will instruct you (says the Lord) and guide you along the best pathway for your life I will advise you and watch your progress. Psalms 32: 8 TLB
He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord! Trust in the Lord God always, for in the Lord Jehovah is your everlasting strength. Isaiah 26: 3-4 TLB
God calls us to love, support, and encourage one another...
God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death. In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too. Mark 5: 1-2 TLB
Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and prayerful always. When God’s children are in need, you be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, it they need lodging, for the night.
Romans 12: 10-13 TLB
And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up. That’s why whenever we can we should always be kind to everyone, and especially to our Christian brothers. Galatians 6: 9-10 TLB
God calls us to forgive others...
Stop being mean, bad-tempered, and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as god has forgiven you because you belong to Christ. Ephesians 4 : 31-32 TLB
Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father. Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him. Ephesians 5: 1-2 TLB
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins too. Mark 11: 25 TLB
Remember that the man I wrote about, who caused all the trouble, has not caused sorrow to me as much as to all the rest of you -- though I certainly have my share in it too. I don’t want to be harder on him than I should. He has been punished enough by your united disapproval. Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise he may become so bitter and discouraged that he won’t be able to recover. Please show him now that you still do love him very much.
2 Corinthians 2: 5-8 TLB
RESPONSIBILITY
God calls us to live a responsible life in order that we might receive the fullness of His blessings as well as to be used in service to others. Learning to become more responsible takes dedication, commitment, and trust in the perfecting work of the Holy Spirit. Becoming a responsible person brings blessings to our lives, as God entrusts us to be effective witnesses of His love.
All have sinned and are not good enough for God’s glory, and all need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free form sin through Jesus Christ. Romans 3: 23-24 NCV
Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. Everything is clear and lies open before Him, and to Him we must explain the way we have lived.
Hebrews 4: 13 NCV
A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance. Blessed is the man who reveres God, but the man who doesn’t care is headed for serious trouble. Proverbs 28: 13-14 TLB
Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame!
Hosea 4: 4 NLT
So each of us will have to answer to God. For that reason we should stop judging each other. We must make up our minds not to do anything that will make another Christian sin. Romans 14: 12-13 NCV
if anyone thinks he is important when he really is not, he is only fooling himself. Each person should judge his own actions and not compare himself with others. Then he can be proud for what he himself has done. Each person must be responsible for himself. Galatians 6: 3-5 NCV
Remember, too, that knowing what is right to do and then not doing it is sin.
James 4: 17 TLB
You have had enough in the past of the evil things the godless enjoy -- sex, sin, lust, getting drunk, wild parties, drinking bouts, and the worship of idols, and other terrible sins. Of course, your former friends will be very surprised when you don’t eagerly join them anymore in the wicked things they do, and they will laugh at you in contempt and scorn. 1 Peter 4: 3-4 TLB
Your love must be real. Hate what is evil, and hold on to what is good. Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give each other more honor than you want for yourselves. Do not be lazy but work hard, serving the Lord with all you heart. Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times. Share with God’s people who need help. Bring strangers in need into your homes. Wish good for those who harm you; wish them well and do to curse them. Be happy with those who are happy, and be sad with those who are sad. Live in peace with each other. Do not be proud, but make friends with those who seem unimportant. Don not think how smart you are. If someone does wrong to you, do not pay him back by doing wrong to him. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. Do your best to live in peace with everyone. Romans 12: 9-18 NCV
Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others. Be good servants of God’s various gifts of grace. Anyone who speaks should speak words from God. Anyone who serves should serve with the strength God gives so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4: 10-11 NCV
So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wiser: make the most of every opportunity you have for going good. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to. Ephesians 5: 15-17 TLB
To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. Matthew 25; 29 NLT
RESTING IN THE LOVE OF GOD
God ministers to broken and aching hearts in a variety of ways. The Holy Spirit touches our lives through:
ASSURANCE...
See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called His children -- think of it -- and we really are! But since most people don’t know God, naturally they don’t understand that we are His children. 1 John 3:1 TLB
That is why I am suffering here in jail, and I am certainly not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to safely guard all that I have given him until the day of his return. 2 Timothy 1: 12 TLB
COMFORT...
But even so, you love me! You are holding my right hand! You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel, and afterwards receive me into the glories of heaven! Psalms 73: 23-24 TLB
My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them away from me. John 10: 27-28 TLB
FAITH...
Yet there is one ray of hope: His compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. Lamentations 3: 21-23 TLB
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and He will. Psalms 37: 5 TLB
HOPE...
Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of -- infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. Ephesians 3: 20 TLB
“For I know the plans I have for you,“ says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29: 11 TLB
Now we can look forward to the salvation God has promised us. There is no longer any room for doubt, and we can tell others that salvation is ours, for there is no question that He will do what He says. Hebrews 10: 23 TLB
Come to me and I will give you rest -- all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. Wear my yoke -- for it fits perfectly -- and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; Matthew 11: 28-29 TLB
PEACE...
So now, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in His promises, we can have real peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Romans 5: 1 TLB
“I am leaving you with a gift -- peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the worlds gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
John 14: 27 TLB
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God you needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7 TLB
TRUST...
As part of the act of faith by which a person establishes a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, trust is placed in the ability of Jesus Christ to restore the broken relationship between God and sinful man. Once Christ has been received as Lord and Savior, the believer begins to develop the confidence and trust in God to fulfill all the promises which Scripture makes to the maturing Christian.
We can trust God because He always tells the truth...
He has given us both his promise and his oath, two things we can completely count on, for it is impossible for God to tell a lie. Now all those who flee to him to save them can take new courage when they hear such assurances for God; now they ca know without doubt that He will give them the salvation he has promised them.
Hebrews 6: 18 TLB
God will continue to be true even when every person is false.
Romans 3: 4 NCV
We can trust God because He loves us...
We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him. And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too. We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first. 1 John 4: 16-19 TLB
Many sorrows come to the wicked, but abiding love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. Psalms 32: 10 TLB
We can trust God because He is in control...
May the God of peace himself make you entirely pure and devoted to God; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept strong ad blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back again. God, who called you to become his child, will do all this for you just as he promised. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24 TLB
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him They are the people he called, because that was his plan. Romans 8: 28 NCV
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “ plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29: 11 NIV
We can trust God because He will help us in times of trouble...
In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown you efforts with success. Don’t be conceited, sure of your own wisdom. Instead, trust and reverence the Lord, and turn your back on evil; when you do that, then you will be given renewed health and vitality. Proverbs 3: 5-6 TLB
But remember this -- the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. Many others have face exactly the same problems before you. And no temptation is irresistible. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it. 1 Corinthians 10: 13 TLB
SEXUAL PURITY
The struggle that we encounter with immoral sexual thoughts and/or practices teams from the very fact that we are sinful by nature. There is victory, however, in the grace of God! Once sexual immorality is confronted and confessed, we can rely on the power of God for strength in the midst of temptation.
God calls us to accept recognize and accept responsibility for our wayward sexual tendencies...
Be decent and true in everything you do so that all can approve your behavior. Don’t spend you time in wild parties and getting drunk or in adultery and lust or fighting or jealousy. But ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you live as you should, and don’t make plans to enjoy evil. Romans 13: 13-14 TLB
Don’t you know that those doing such things have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who live immoral lives, who are idol worshipers, adulterers or homosexuals -- will have no share in his Kingdom. Neither will thieves or greedy people, drunkards, slanderers, or robbers. 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 TLB
Dear brothers, you are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for they fight against your very souls. 1 Peter 2: 11 TLB
honor your marriage and its vows, and be pure; for God will surely punish all those who are immoral or commit adultery. Hebrews 13: 4 TLB
God calls us to confession...
Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take you Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Psalms 51 : 10-12 TLB
O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. Psalms 51: 1-2 TLB
A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance. Proverbs 28: 13 TLB
Admit your faults to one another and pray for each others so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. James 5: 16 TLB
But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. (And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.) 1 John 1: 9 TLB
God cleanses and strengthens us through His grace...
Now change your mind and attitude to God and turn to him so he can cleanse away your sins and send you wonderful times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord Acts 3: 19TLB
“Come, let’s talk this over!” says the Lord; “no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!” Isaiah 1: 18 TLB
All day and al night your hand was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “ I will confess them to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalms 32: 4-5 TLB
So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; Ephesians 1: 7 TLB
But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin. 1 John 1: 7 TLB
(c) 2005 John Thurman
The relationship that we have with our heavenly Father, and the relationships that we maintain among ourselves, are not to be taken lightly. The Scriptures speak to both of these relationships in regard to both responsibility and hope!
We can trust in our relationship with God...
I am expecting the Lord to rescue me again, so that once again I will see his goodness to me here in the land of the living. Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you! Be brave, softhearted, and courageous. Yes, wait and he will help you. Psalms 27: 13-14 TLB
Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him.
Lamentations 3: 23-25 TLB
Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 TLB
I will instruct you (says the Lord) and guide you along the best pathway for your life I will advise you and watch your progress. Psalms 32: 8 TLB
He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord! Trust in the Lord God always, for in the Lord Jehovah is your everlasting strength. Isaiah 26: 3-4 TLB
God calls us to love, support, and encourage one another...
God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death. In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too. Mark 5: 1-2 TLB
Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and prayerful always. When God’s children are in need, you be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, it they need lodging, for the night.
Romans 12: 10-13 TLB
And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up. That’s why whenever we can we should always be kind to everyone, and especially to our Christian brothers. Galatians 6: 9-10 TLB
God calls us to forgive others...
Stop being mean, bad-tempered, and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as god has forgiven you because you belong to Christ. Ephesians 4 : 31-32 TLB
Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father. Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him. Ephesians 5: 1-2 TLB
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins too. Mark 11: 25 TLB
Remember that the man I wrote about, who caused all the trouble, has not caused sorrow to me as much as to all the rest of you -- though I certainly have my share in it too. I don’t want to be harder on him than I should. He has been punished enough by your united disapproval. Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise he may become so bitter and discouraged that he won’t be able to recover. Please show him now that you still do love him very much.
2 Corinthians 2: 5-8 TLB
RESPONSIBILITY
God calls us to live a responsible life in order that we might receive the fullness of His blessings as well as to be used in service to others. Learning to become more responsible takes dedication, commitment, and trust in the perfecting work of the Holy Spirit. Becoming a responsible person brings blessings to our lives, as God entrusts us to be effective witnesses of His love.
All have sinned and are not good enough for God’s glory, and all need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free form sin through Jesus Christ. Romans 3: 23-24 NCV
Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. Everything is clear and lies open before Him, and to Him we must explain the way we have lived.
Hebrews 4: 13 NCV
A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance. Blessed is the man who reveres God, but the man who doesn’t care is headed for serious trouble. Proverbs 28: 13-14 TLB
Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame!
Hosea 4: 4 NLT
So each of us will have to answer to God. For that reason we should stop judging each other. We must make up our minds not to do anything that will make another Christian sin. Romans 14: 12-13 NCV
if anyone thinks he is important when he really is not, he is only fooling himself. Each person should judge his own actions and not compare himself with others. Then he can be proud for what he himself has done. Each person must be responsible for himself. Galatians 6: 3-5 NCV
Remember, too, that knowing what is right to do and then not doing it is sin.
James 4: 17 TLB
You have had enough in the past of the evil things the godless enjoy -- sex, sin, lust, getting drunk, wild parties, drinking bouts, and the worship of idols, and other terrible sins. Of course, your former friends will be very surprised when you don’t eagerly join them anymore in the wicked things they do, and they will laugh at you in contempt and scorn. 1 Peter 4: 3-4 TLB
Your love must be real. Hate what is evil, and hold on to what is good. Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give each other more honor than you want for yourselves. Do not be lazy but work hard, serving the Lord with all you heart. Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times. Share with God’s people who need help. Bring strangers in need into your homes. Wish good for those who harm you; wish them well and do to curse them. Be happy with those who are happy, and be sad with those who are sad. Live in peace with each other. Do not be proud, but make friends with those who seem unimportant. Don not think how smart you are. If someone does wrong to you, do not pay him back by doing wrong to him. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. Do your best to live in peace with everyone. Romans 12: 9-18 NCV
Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others. Be good servants of God’s various gifts of grace. Anyone who speaks should speak words from God. Anyone who serves should serve with the strength God gives so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4: 10-11 NCV
So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wiser: make the most of every opportunity you have for going good. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to. Ephesians 5: 15-17 TLB
To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. Matthew 25; 29 NLT
RESTING IN THE LOVE OF GOD
God ministers to broken and aching hearts in a variety of ways. The Holy Spirit touches our lives through:
ASSURANCE...
See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called His children -- think of it -- and we really are! But since most people don’t know God, naturally they don’t understand that we are His children. 1 John 3:1 TLB
That is why I am suffering here in jail, and I am certainly not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to safely guard all that I have given him until the day of his return. 2 Timothy 1: 12 TLB
COMFORT...
But even so, you love me! You are holding my right hand! You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel, and afterwards receive me into the glories of heaven! Psalms 73: 23-24 TLB
My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them away from me. John 10: 27-28 TLB
FAITH...
Yet there is one ray of hope: His compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. Lamentations 3: 21-23 TLB
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and He will. Psalms 37: 5 TLB
HOPE...
Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of -- infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. Ephesians 3: 20 TLB
“For I know the plans I have for you,“ says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29: 11 TLB
Now we can look forward to the salvation God has promised us. There is no longer any room for doubt, and we can tell others that salvation is ours, for there is no question that He will do what He says. Hebrews 10: 23 TLB
Come to me and I will give you rest -- all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. Wear my yoke -- for it fits perfectly -- and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; Matthew 11: 28-29 TLB
PEACE...
So now, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in His promises, we can have real peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Romans 5: 1 TLB
“I am leaving you with a gift -- peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the worlds gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
John 14: 27 TLB
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God you needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7 TLB
TRUST...
As part of the act of faith by which a person establishes a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, trust is placed in the ability of Jesus Christ to restore the broken relationship between God and sinful man. Once Christ has been received as Lord and Savior, the believer begins to develop the confidence and trust in God to fulfill all the promises which Scripture makes to the maturing Christian.
We can trust God because He always tells the truth...
He has given us both his promise and his oath, two things we can completely count on, for it is impossible for God to tell a lie. Now all those who flee to him to save them can take new courage when they hear such assurances for God; now they ca know without doubt that He will give them the salvation he has promised them.
Hebrews 6: 18 TLB
God will continue to be true even when every person is false.
Romans 3: 4 NCV
We can trust God because He loves us...
We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him. And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too. We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first. 1 John 4: 16-19 TLB
Many sorrows come to the wicked, but abiding love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. Psalms 32: 10 TLB
We can trust God because He is in control...
May the God of peace himself make you entirely pure and devoted to God; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept strong ad blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back again. God, who called you to become his child, will do all this for you just as he promised. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24 TLB
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him They are the people he called, because that was his plan. Romans 8: 28 NCV
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “ plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29: 11 NIV
We can trust God because He will help us in times of trouble...
In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown you efforts with success. Don’t be conceited, sure of your own wisdom. Instead, trust and reverence the Lord, and turn your back on evil; when you do that, then you will be given renewed health and vitality. Proverbs 3: 5-6 TLB
But remember this -- the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. Many others have face exactly the same problems before you. And no temptation is irresistible. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it. 1 Corinthians 10: 13 TLB
SEXUAL PURITY
The struggle that we encounter with immoral sexual thoughts and/or practices teams from the very fact that we are sinful by nature. There is victory, however, in the grace of God! Once sexual immorality is confronted and confessed, we can rely on the power of God for strength in the midst of temptation.
God calls us to accept recognize and accept responsibility for our wayward sexual tendencies...
Be decent and true in everything you do so that all can approve your behavior. Don’t spend you time in wild parties and getting drunk or in adultery and lust or fighting or jealousy. But ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you live as you should, and don’t make plans to enjoy evil. Romans 13: 13-14 TLB
Don’t you know that those doing such things have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who live immoral lives, who are idol worshipers, adulterers or homosexuals -- will have no share in his Kingdom. Neither will thieves or greedy people, drunkards, slanderers, or robbers. 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 TLB
Dear brothers, you are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for they fight against your very souls. 1 Peter 2: 11 TLB
honor your marriage and its vows, and be pure; for God will surely punish all those who are immoral or commit adultery. Hebrews 13: 4 TLB
God calls us to confession...
Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take you Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Psalms 51 : 10-12 TLB
O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again. Psalms 51: 1-2 TLB
A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance. Proverbs 28: 13 TLB
Admit your faults to one another and pray for each others so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results. James 5: 16 TLB
But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. (And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.) 1 John 1: 9 TLB
God cleanses and strengthens us through His grace...
Now change your mind and attitude to God and turn to him so he can cleanse away your sins and send you wonderful times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord Acts 3: 19TLB
“Come, let’s talk this over!” says the Lord; “no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!” Isaiah 1: 18 TLB
All day and al night your hand was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “ I will confess them to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalms 32: 4-5 TLB
So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; Ephesians 1: 7 TLB
But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin. 1 John 1: 7 TLB
(c) 2005 John Thurman