“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. 3. With joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation.”
The twelfth chapter of Isaiah is a song of praise, as well as a prophecy of the trustworthiness of God. Verses 2-3 give us a glimpse of Isaiah’s personal faith and hope. (Let us pray that it will be contagious.) Isaiah declared that the Lord Himself was his salvation. He also declared that because of this, he would not be afraid. As I read my Bible this morning, this was an encouraging word to me in this troubled day. We need to put our faith and trust in the Lord and not be afraid. Isaiah lived during the Assyrian invasion that captured the northern tribe of Israel and was threatening the southern tribe of Judah. Isaiah encouraged Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and helped give him the courage to face Assyria, and to see the Lord save Judah – which was what happened. The same Lord will give us the courage to face our own problems and fears. The Lord will lead us over, around or through our problems and fears. Isaiah declared that “the Lord, the Lord is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation.” We need to really put it in our minds and hearts that the Lord Jesus Christ will give us the strength to overcome whatever we need to overcome. In the Lord Jesus Christ we have strength greater than our own. Where did David find the strength to face Goliath? Did he trust in the strength of his sling shot and five stones? Here is what David said to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45: “You have come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord almighty….” David found his strength from the same source that we can use, that is in the strength of the “Lord Almighty.” Isaiah’s message to his fellow Israelites promised that: “With joy you will draw water from the well of salvation.” It is in God’s salvation and strength that we find joy. It is a well of joy that will never run dry. In John 4:14, Jesus told the woman at the well, and us, that: “Whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst.” No matter what we face, we know that the Lord will be with us. I have found in my own battles with fear that His presence is enough. There is strength and joy in knowing that He is present with us in all that we face in life. This is true for you! Let’s join Isaiah and trust in the Lord in His salvation, strength and joy. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
“For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
Philippians is mostly a positive letter to a church that sent Paul a monetary gift while he was imprisoned in Rome. The prevailing problem in Philippi, and other churches, was a group called “Judaizers,” who were teaching that in order to become a Christian one had to first be circumcised and become a Jew and live according to the law. That is why Paul wrote, “For we are the circumcision,” meaning that a Christian is right before God, not because of circumcision, but because of his faith in Christ. We are not saved by keeping rituals and laws. We are not saved by becoming religious, but by putting our faith in Christ. In the rest of the verse, Paul tells what this means. Instead of circumcision and law, we “worship God in the Spirit.” We were convicted of our sins by the Holy Spirit and convinced that Christ could be our Savior by the Holy Spirit. The Gentile Philippian Christians were made right with God, not by what man could do, but by what God could do. Circumcision served its purpose in indentifying men who belonged to God through their relation with Abraham, but since Christ’s death, burial, resurrection and ascension, faith in Him was the key. We don’t worship God from the standpoint of the law, and by what we do, but by the Spirit of God who has changed us from within. It is not through being religious and following ritual that we are saved but through the resurrected Christ. We worship God, not just as one who sits in heaven, but as one who lives in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. It can be that the rituals of worship serve their purpose in giving guidance and substance to our worship, but it is the Holy Spirit who makes the worship meaningful and life-changing. Instead of rejoicing in our accomplishments, “we rejoice in Jesus Christ.” In all of his letters, Paul makes it plain that our salvation did not come from what we did, but from what Christ did on the cross. We rejoice in Christ because it was He who gave us new life and a new lease on life. It was Christ who changed our lives. We were not changed because we “turned over a new leaf.” Someone once said that the only thing that you get when you turn over a new leaf is the other side of the same leaf. We rejoice in Christ because by our faith in Him we will be given abundant life here, and will live with Him eternally in heaven. People who depend on their initiative and their own religiosity to draw close to God rejoice in what they have done. Rejoicing for Christians is not in our accomplishments, but in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Instead of putting “confidence in the flesh,” in what we can do, we put our confidence in Jesus. What Paul means by writing that “we do not have confidence in the flesh,” is that we do not put our confidence in our religious achievements, but in Christ as we are led by the Holy Spirit. A good example of this is given to us through the Pharisees in the New Testament. They actually thought that they were righteous based on what they did by keeping rules and regulations that over the years went much further than the Ten Commandments, and actually became laws of men. In essence they were “measuring themselves by themselves.” They were following rules that they made up. We are led by the Holy Spirit. This means that we are not putting confidence in the flesh, but our confidence is in God. We need to remember always that it is not by human compulsion that we are led to live the right kind of life; rather, we are led by the Spirit of God. It is not what we have done, but what Christ has done that makes us right before God. Bro. Joe Hebrews 12:25-29: "See to it that you do not refuse Him Who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven? 26. At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. 27. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29. for our God is a consuming fire."
We are caught in the tension between "things," which we need, and eternal things which we need even more. If we are not careful, we will put too much emphasis on earthly things instead of eternal things. We need to remember that there is nothing on this earth that is eternal. (I am referring to "created things.") We are proud of our stately buildings and great institutions, but they will all vanish when God removes the "things that can be shaken." We are proud of our possessions, e.g., cars, houses, jewelry, etc., but they will vanish too. We think that there are things that we cannot do without, but that is not true. We are warned not to be possessed by our possessions. That was the problem with the "rich young ruler" in the New Testament. He wanted eternity, but he wanted to hold onto that which was not eternal. Jesus was trying to teach the young man, and us, that the greatest thing that we can do is to serve God, even if it costs everything that we have. There is nothing that we possess that can save our souls. There is nothing that we possess that can take us to heaven. It is only through the unseen God that we can be saved and go to heaven. I'm not saying that our possessions do not count. In fact, we are told to be good stewards of what we possess. We are not to keep them only to ourselves merely for our own selfish use, but to share them as best we can. What I am saying is that our possessions are not eternal, and will vanish. Let me use the example of trading cars. We get "trading fever" and that car seems to be the greatest thing in all of the world and we just have to have it. We buy it, drive it and smell it's newness. Before we know it, time has gone by and we relegate that treasured possession to the used car lot, or the junkyard. The joy that it brought was only temporary. Everything on this earth is only temporary. One day God will "shake" the heavens and the earth, and only what is eternal will remain. We have a difficult time convincing ourselves that everything on this earth is temporary. In affluent America, we seem to think that things will go on as they always have, and that we will always have the things that we want. It is almost as if people will sell their souls to have more and more. I am certainly not against people having things and getting ahead in life. I’m grateful for that part of our lives in America. What concerns me is that we increasingly seem to be ignoring the things that are eternal. For example, the Bible is a perennial best seller, but it is definitely not the most read. It has not been my intention in this article to make you feel guilty for owning “things.” I mainly want to remind you, as well as myself, that we should not be owned by what we own. I want to hitch my star to that which will not fade away. I have done that by trusting Jesus as my Savior. I hope that you have too. Bro. Joe “Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
You probably already know what happened on the Mt. of Transfiguration. Jesus took Peter, James and John to Mount Tabor, which is the traditional site for Jesus’ transfiguration. Jesus was transfigured before these three apostles, which means that they caught a glimpse of His heavenly light, and appearing with Jesus were Moses and Elijah. Wow! Can you imagine seeing Jesus and two of the greatest Old Testament prophets at one time? Like Peter we would have been in awe, and we might have wanted to say something profound and meaningful. However it came out as rather inane and insipid. Jesus just ignored it for the inane expression that it was. It reminds me of a story I heard one time about an airplane that was about to crash. Someone said, “Quick somebody do something religious.” A Baptist preacher was on board and he took up a collection. That collection probably did as much good as what Peter said. Peter was in awe and building tabernacles was about the most religious thing that he could think of. Peter needed to learn, and did in time, that following Jesus is not about religion or being religious. What is it about? Following Jesus is about a personal relationship with Him. Certain people make fun of us when we say that Jesus is our personal Savior, but that it is what being a Christian is. Jesus has promised to be with us when we are worshiping Him. Jesus is not like an idol that we come together to worship. He is our Savior who comes to the place of worship with us. The “woman at the well,” in John 4, mentioned that the Samaritans worshiped God there where they were standing, and that the Jews said that the place of worship was in Jerusalem. Jesus said that the Jews were right, but that the hour was coming when “true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The woman wanted to argue about religion, Jesus wanted to discuss relationship with the seeking Father. Following Jesus is not about religious observance as much as it is about fellowship with fellow Christians. Of course, there are observances that are important. The writer of Hebrews reminded us not to “forsake the assembling of our selves together.” But why did he write this? He explained why: “But exhorting (encouraging) one another.” We meet together with each other under the power of the Spirit of Christ and we encourage each other in Christian worship and service. Our observances are constant reminders of our need for Jesus and our need for fellowship with each other. When we attend worship together, we are not “doing something religious;” rather, we are ministering to each other so that we can be encouraged to witness and minister to the world around us. Following Jesus is not about doing religious things that make us feel like we are serving God; rather, it is about actually serving Him on a daily basis wherever we are. Jesus has empowered us by the Holy Spirit to serve Him and that is what we are to do. I think sometimes that instead of serving Jesus, we try to build “tabernacles” to Him, and think that this is what satisfies Him. What satisfies Jesus is saving us, empowering us to serve Him, and enabling us to spend eternity with Him. Jesus doesn’t want our “tabernacles.” He wants us. Bro. Joe “Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications. 7. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him; and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him.”
In Psalm 28, David was in distress because of His enemies, and he reached out to God. Verses 6-7 give a summary of what David concluded, and he told us some things that we need to know about God in the midst of our own struggles. In verse 6, he reminds us that God hears our prayers. Indeed, He hears the cries of our hearts as we cry out to Him each day. We can absolutely be assured that God will hear “the voice of (our) supplications.” What is your need right now? He will hear your prayer. I can’t imagine not reaching out to Jesus in prayer. In verse 7a, David reminds us that the Lord is our strength and shield. Sometimes we forget that the greatest strength that we can have is spiritual strength, which will come to our rescue much more effectively than physical strength. We need to practice leaning on God’s strength. The shield that we have from God is the shield of faith. In describing the armor of God in Ephesians 6, Paul wrote: “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Why would we not take our fears, needs and struggles to the Lord in prayer? Why would we not lean on His strength and take the shield of faith? All that the Lord has to offer is at our disposal. Why not take advantage of all that He offers for our lives? In the latter part of verse 7, David tells us what the result of God’s hearing our prayers and giving us His being our strength and shield should be. First, it should result in our hearts trusting in Him. We should trust Jesus from within the deepest part of ourselves. What strength this will bring into your life if you will just put your trust in Him. No one needs to teach you how to do this – just do it. Like David, you will find that you will be helped. Second, we will have cause to “greatly rejoice.” I do not know why we aren’t as joyful as we should be. I am amazed at myself sometimes, because I find not myself not rejoicing in all that the Lord has done, is doing and will do in my life. Let this be a reminder for both of us!!! Third, it should result in praise to His wonderful name. Because David was a musician, one of hiss greatest means of rejoicing was in song. The Lord should put a song in our hearts as well. Just cut loose today and praise Him in whatever way you can. Don’t you agree that these we are things that we need to know about God? Bro. Joe “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house (temple); his hands shall also finish it; and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. 10. For who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”
Many of the Israelites were disappointed because the temple being rebuilt by Zerubbabel was not as large as Solomon’s temple. Zechariah wanted them to know that the size of the new temple was not important. The point is that small things are as important to God as large things. This includes people and churches. Let’s look at the importance of small things. It is true that small things are often of great importance. Evidently, scientists know this, because the microscope was invented to combat small germs that can cause great harm. Naturalists know this, because they know that great oak trees grow from small acorns. Do you remember what Jesus said about the tiny mustard seed? Firemen know this, because they know that large fires often are the result of a tiny spark. In the same way, small churches can do great things for the Lord. Individual Christians might seem inconsequential to the world, but we can accomplish great things for the Lord. After all, we serve a great God who can take small things and use them mightily. Do you remember David and Goliath? Do you remember that Jesus started His church with twelve men who were small in the eyes of the world? Do not consider yourself too small to serve our great God! Did you know that Jesus knew the value of small things? In Matthew 10:29-31, Jesus spoke of the tiny sparrow. If God looks out for small sparrows, surely He cares for us as well. At least Jesus thought so, for He said: “You are of more value than many sparrows.” In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus spoke of a widow who put only two mites into the treasury. This appeared to be a small gift, but Jesus didn’t think so. Here is what Jesus said about it: “Verily I say unto you that this poor widow has cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury, for they all cast in out of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus took a little meal of five small loaves of bread and two fish and fed 5,000 people. Small things become large things in the hand of Jesus, and that includes you and me. We need to know the value of small things. You might think that you are only one small, inconsequential person, but the Lord who valued the widow’s mite and five loaves and two fish, values your life, and your input, as well. You might think that your church is only a small church and not able to do great work for the Lord. Remember that the God of your church is as great as the God of the largest church in the world. The Jesus who fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish is the Jesus of your church! You can do great things right where you are, if you will put yourself at His disposal. Do you get the point? As a small temple was not a detriment to God’s work among the Israelites, small people and small churches are not a detriment to His work. Small things are useless only when we are content to do small things!!!!! Bro. Joe “You do not have to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He is with Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Tomorrow go out to face them, for Yahweh is with you.” (HCSB)
Judah’s king Jehoshaphat was very concerned, along with the people of Judah, because a coalition of Moabite and Ammonite troops were coming to fight and destroy them. Jehoshaphat took the matter to the Lord in prayer and 2 Chronicles 20:17 is the answer that he received. The words, “You do not have to fight this battle" stood out to me. How many times have we come upon hard times in our lives and we were trying everything that we could do to overcome and could not? This was because we forgot two basic truths that the Bible teaches us: (1)“You do not have to fight this battle.” (2) “Yahweh is with you.” We think sometimes that the only resources that we have are those immediately at hand. We think that the main things that we have are our intellect and our strength and we can overcome. Frankly, there are things that God expects us to handle, but more often all He wants is for us to depend on Him and know that He will fend for us. The first thing that Jehoshaphat and Judah were told to do was to “stand still.” This means that they were to quit trying what they had at hand and contemplate on what God could do. This is good advice for us as well. When we are going through trying times we need to stand still and get alone with the Lord and put our total dependence upon Him. The psalmist gave us some of the same advice in Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Someone is reading this right now who is struggling with things in his or her life that seem impossible to overcome. Hear the word of God: “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” “Be still and know that (He is) God.” Stop struggling and trust. I know that is more easily said than done, but it is the best way. The second thing that they were told to do is to, “fear not, nor be discouraged.” If we believe that God is standing in the gap for us, we do not need to be afraid. However, if we have fear in our hearts, we just need to ignore that fear and just trust that God will prevail for us. If He lets us go through the valley that we dread, He will be with us and sustain us through it. If He takes us out of the valley that we dread, we will need to remember that He was with us. I can’t promise you that God will deliver you from everything that you face that is tough, but I can promise you that He will deliver you through whatever it is. Either way, you are the winner for it. So do not be afraid and do not be discouraged, for God has not forgotten, nor has He forsaken you. Stand still and trust in His power, love and grace. The third thing that they were told to do is: “Tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.” The battle is the Lord’s, but He expects us to obey Him and do our part as He delivers us. What we need to do when we face seemingly hopeless things is to stand still, trust God and then go do whatever it is that He tells us to do. He will not lead us astray. He will not forsake us in the middle of the battle. He will not forget that we are trusting in and depending on Him. Remember, Judah won a great battle that day against a superior foe because they stood still, depended on God and went out to do what He told them to do. The battle is the Lord’s and the victory is ours. Praise God! Bro. Joe “The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal…”
There are people who say that they will not believe in anything that they cannot see. This means, according to our text, that they are putting their belief in that which is temporary. This is illustrated for us by the things that we see going on around us. A building, for example, can be a landmark in a city, but it can be torn down and, voila, it is gone. In fact, things are not meant to exist forever. “Here today and gone tomorrow” is true of people and things. According to Paul we need to put our faith in that which is unseen, but not just anything that is unseen. Let me point out what I mean: Let’s begin at the top – God cannot be seen, yet He really exists, and has existed for eternity. The psalmists often referred to God as being “from everlasting to everlasting.” This is another way of saying that God has always existed, though He is unseen. Simon Peter understood the importance of this, when writing about people who were undergoing trials because of their faith in Christ in 1 Peter 1:8: “Whom having not seen, you love; in whom though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Paul addresses this in 1 Timothy 6:15-16: “Which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate (king), the King of kings and Lord of lords: 16. Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” In fact, the Bible teaches that no human being can see God in all of His glory and live. I think that we can say with great accuracy that God is not temporary, but eternal. We can rejoice in the fact that God revealed Himself through Jesus, but we still have to believe to see what He can do in our lives. Another important aspect of the Christian faith that is unseen is faith itself. In Hebrews 11:6 the writer reminds us that: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This is another way of saying “believing is seeing.” There are a lot of things that we cannot see, yet we believe. Take the wind for example. We cannot see the wind, but we can certainly see the effects of the wind. Ask anyone who has ever lived through a hurricane. I’ve never heard anybody say that they didn’t believe in the wind because they could not see it. All they have ever seen is the effects of the wind. An unbeliever might argue that he or she has not seen the effects of God. This is only because he or she does not want to see the effects of God. The Bible points out in more than one place that nature reveals the effects of God. The orderliness of the universe speaks of His existence. But the greatest effect of God that we can see is what He has done in the lives of individuals. When I was involved in prison ministry, I met men who had been hardened criminals, but they had accepted Christ in a prison Bible study and were changed from hardened criminals to saved individuals. Some of them knew that they would never be released from prison, but they continued to serve the Lord in the prison setting. Besides that I can see the effects of God in my own life. I certainly wouldn’t blame everything that I do, say, or think, on God, but I know that I am different because of my faith in Him. There is one more unseen thing that I want to share with you that reveals God to us, that is, that no one has ever seen love. We have seen love in action, but we have never actually seen an entity called “love.” We have certainly seen the effects of love in God’s supreme act of love as revealed in John 3:16, which you probably know by heart– if not look it up. John pointed out the same thing in 1 John 4:9: “In this was manifested (revealed) the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." We who believe and see can take comfort in what Jesus said to “doubting Thomas” when Thomas saw Him: Jesus said to Thomas...“Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” This includes all of us – rejoice. Bro. Joe “And there came there certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. 20. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch.”
What does a football team do after they lose a game? Do they get together in the locker room afterward and declare to never play football again? No! They pick up and go again. They go out the next week and practice even harder. This is sort of like what Paul did after he had been stoned (Had rocks thrown at him in order to kill him. just saying) and left for dead. One would think that Paul would have surmised that this “Christian thing” was just too dangerous. That’s not what he did. He got up and kept going. In fact, they went back to the cities they had preached in and even went to Lystra, where Paul had been stoned. There is a good lesson for us here. We need to learn to “get up and keep going.” When we are going through periods when it seems that nothing will ever go right again, we need to take that as a challenge and go forward instead of quitting. I know that life can hand us some hard blows, but even the hardest of blows cannot keep us down if in our hearts and minds we do not intend to stay down. When I was seventeen-years-old, I quit high school, at the end of the tenth grade, and went into the Navy. Needless to say, I did not feel like a great winner, but something was awakened in me, which eventually proved to be the Lord, and I stopped being a “high school dropout” in my own mind, and started to go forward. It certainly was not “ever onward” from then on, but I recovered from it. Without Jesus it would never have happened, and I would probably be dead now, having drowned in self-pity. The Lord gave me a good swift kick where I needed it, and awakened me to a better life. If we want to get up and go again, we have to believe that the Lord has a purpose for our lives. If I hadn’t discovered that truth in my life, I would have quit. The Lord got hold of me, and in spite of my innate sorriness, led me on. None of us are here by accident, for God has a purpose for everyone. Including you! Bro. Joe 3. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 4. In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust, I will not fear what flesh (people) can do to me.
Notice that the psalmist wrote: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee…” This was an admission by David that he would be afraid, and that when fear came upon him, he would not be ruled by it but would trust God. If you remember, David had a lot to be afraid of. King Saul chased him all over “kingdom come” trying to capture and kill him. Saul was very serious in his pursuit. David would have been more than a human being if he could face a daily death sentence with no fear at all. Then there was the problem with his son Absalom. When David was older, his son Absalom took over the kingdom. He did not ultimately succeed, but in the process David was again under a death sentence. It is no wonder that he said, “When I am afraid I will trust in thee.” Get this down good: fear is not a sin. Some great general, whose name I can’t remember said that “courage is fear that has said its prayers.” Another great general, whose name I also can’t recall, said while waiting to go into battle: “Afraid? Me Afraid? If you could see my knees shaking right now, you would know that I am afraid.” When does fear become a sin? It becomes a sin when it takes over our lives. There are people who are literally afraid of life. They can’t enjoy life because they are afraid of what life might bring. Life can bring all sorts of things, but we need not fear them. In our text, David gave the key to facing life without being ruled by fear. First, he wrote that when he was afraid, he would trust God. I am glad that I believe in a God who loves me, has my best interests at heart and will lead me through anything that I might face. If you don’t believe in the God who you can trust, I would not join you in your misery. If I thought that the only tools that I had to face life with were the tools at my command in this world, I would be very afraid. When you are afraid, you can trust God. He will lead you through, over, or around whatever life brings. I have certainly had dreadful moments in my life, and at times I was afraid that they might defeat me. But God has delivered me through them all. (Notice that I wrote “through them all,” not “around them all.”) The same can be true for you. Trust God! Second, David wrote: “In God I will praise His word.” When we are afraid, we can turn to the Bible for comfort. I have favorite scriptures that I turn to when all else seems to fail. In fact, the text used in this blog is one of my favorite texts to turn to in times of fear. Another is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I can turn this text into, “I can go through all things that life brings through Christ who strengthens me.” Jesus told Paul: “When you are weak then I am strong.” (Not a direct quote) Jesus invites us to lean on His strength as we face the difficult times of life. His grace is always sufficient for us. What are you afraid of today? Reread the text at the top of the page and rejoice. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|