THE RESURRECTION – OUR LIVING HOPE AND GREAT EXPECTATION!

 

1 Peter 1:3 (New International Version) – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

1 Peter 1:3 (New Living Translation) – All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation…

 

Throughout history, there have been many who doubt that Jesus lived and walked the Earth; some others accept that Jesus did live and preached the gospel but he died and did not resurrect. These claim that Christianity is a fraud and the claim to resurrection of the dead to a new life where death has no power is fake news!

I sympathize with all who hold these views. Truly the chief claim of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the messiah who died for our sins and rose from the dead after three days, is quite incredible, beyond belief, and a miracle of great power too good to be true.

To accept that the resurrection happened is to accept that JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD to who we will all give account of how we lived our lives on Earth. Many people just don’t want to accept that we will give account of our lives – with the righteous rewarded with bodily resurrection to a new life, where disease and death have no power.

To us, followers of Jesus, his resurrection is a guaranty of our own future resurrection – because Jesus rose from the dead, ‘now, we live in great expectation’ that we will rise from the dead to be like him, and be with him. To us, followers of Jesus, death is not the final word, glory be to God in the highest, hallelujah!   

Happy Easter – its a season of great joy, as we look forward with great expectation to our own resurrection to a new life, where death has no power over us, Amen!

 

Image: The empty tomb (Source: Wikimedia) 

MILK AND HONEY – Part 1

Exodus 3:7-10 (New Living Translation)

Then the LORD told him [Moses], “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey… Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me… You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”

Would Israel have followed Moses, if his message to them was ‘I will rescue you out of Egypt and take you into bondage to the Canaanites‘. I doubt it!

We all hope for a higher quality of life, free of poverty, suffering, and oppression.

This is why the most popular message from the Bible to a large number of professed Christians today, is the gospel of milk and honey. The gospel with the message that God wants to rescue us all from Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey.

Egypt has come to represent everything evil and oppressive in our personal lives, family relationships, and societies in which we live in. Everybody has a ‘Egypt experience‘, moreso in poor countries in Africa, Asia, and South America.

So the gospel of milk and honey has many followers rightly desperate to get out of poverty. If poor countries were to become as wealthy as rich countries today, some think the gospel of milk and honey might not be so attractive.

Until then, the Church and her gospel of milk and honey provides hope to many poor and suffering people, telling them that though their governments are failing them, heaven won’t, and God will bless their hard work with good success.

May the Lord lead us into ‘well watered lands’ flowing with milk and honey, Amen! 

Read – Pray – Share!

 

Image:  Milk with honey, By Nandhinikandhasamy – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40029266

 

HEALING BY REMOTE CONTROL

Proverbs 3:5-8 (God’s Word Translation)

Trust the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths smooth. Do not consider yourself wise. Fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. [Then] your body will be healed, and your bones will have nourishment.

In high school, I never cared much about my health. I was young, very well-fed, and strong. I could do whatever I wanted with my body. As a young adult, I was involved in work that required long hours of standing, long walks in the forest, and short hours of sleep in rough places. I could do all of this, get up the next morning, dust my body, and off I go to punish the body some more.

Now entering middle age, my body does not seem to recover as fast anymore from bruises, aches, pains, and short hours of sleep. I watch my steps when going up and down stairs, and when on wet surfaces. When it snows, I don’t want to go to the office, pick the kids up from school, or go grocery shopping. My health and concern for my body is now a top priority issue on my mind every day.

Consequently, the words of Solomon above have taken on a huge significance in my life as I have gotten older. How can it be that trusting in the LORD, giving ear to his counsel to turn away from evil, results in healing for my body and nourishment for my bones? What kind of technology and medical practice is this? My rational scientific mind fails to see the connection between faith and healing.

Then I asked myself ‘how come I can press the remote control and watch any program or movies I like on TV?’ To be honest I can’t fully explain how the remote control works. I know there are experts out there who can break it down for me to understand; but to me and billions of people around the world, it’s like magic, it’s like spirit in motion, when using the remote control to navigate the TV.

If God be given due respect as creator of all things including our bodies, then it is not too much to acknowledge that God must have a remote link with our bodies, such that at his word, our physical bodies including our bones receives nourishment, which our eyes just cannot see.

I know for that when I fast and pray on a regular basis, I am able to stay off junk food; I sleep better and physical activities seem lighter to perform. My energy levels stay high without need for energy drinks. There must be truth and power in this Bible passage, and it’s available for you too. Trust in the LORD, turn away from evil, and experience healing by remote control for your entire person.

 

Image: Christ heals the daughter of the woman of Canaan. Etching by Simpson after Samule Wale [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons]