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Is There Anything Too Hard For God?
I realize many of you are having a difficult time now in your life and things may not be going the way you would have hoped. Cheer up and rejoice, whether you believe it or not. God is at work behind the scenes. He is connecting all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of your life into a glorious bigger picture. He is making all things work for your good. So hold on and do not give up hope, just trust and believe, and God will surely bring you through your storm successfully. God Loves us too much to leave or forsake us.
"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27 (KJV)
President Obama, with hands together, saying let us pray for our country and the world!
The Poorest Person is not Someone without Money. It is the Person Without Jesus.
The Cross, Easter, and Jesus
St. John 11:25-26
In the Cross, we see what God has promised to do for those who believe in Jesus Christ. But what happened to Jesus will happen to all believers. He suffered, and He arose. We will suffer, and we will rise.
The cross represents our commitment to the Lord by following His example and obeying His word. There will be times when the cross will seems heavy, but most of the time we will hardly notice the burden. Jesus walked right up to the cross and took on the sins of world. We owe Him everything, including our very own existence. A true disciple gladly gives up all that he has in exchange for an unending life of joy and happiness with God. The joy He offers, no sadness or loss can diminish. The Cross of Christ leads to Victory and Freedom from sin and death. The cross was a real and live illustration of love. This is the true meaning of Easter!
Easter is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter never fails us, even in the worst of times, amidst destruction, death, and despair. Easter arrives as surely as daybreak, boldly proclaiming the message of renewal and hope. The world was never and will never be the same again after the resurrection. Jesus’ blood stained linen wrappings and the empty tomb ushered in a completely different era of a brave new beginning. The message of love, faith and hope still echoes across the globe, amid the devastation by earth equates, war, poverty, violence, prejudices, hatred, dehumanization, and suffering through this we must realize that without God, everything becomes impossible. Easter declares: "With God, all thing becomes possible."
This means hope to our world; hope transcends our limitations and triumphs over our worst fears. Easter symbolizes the kind of tragic optimism, which cannot be crushed by all the forces of darkness including death.
Jesus explains to us why it is so important to follow Him. Nothing is more important to God than our eternal soul, neither riches nor pleasure nor intellectual pride. If we are not willing to deny ourselves, we are not true followers of Christ. Nothing should be more important to us than God. Jesus knows that no human being is qualified to follow Him until they have first died to self.
Jesus knows that humanity cannot live until they have died and been raised to life again. Jesus therefore bids us to die to self right away, so that He may raise us from the dead by His Indwelling Spirit and place us immediately upon the correct path.
In Jesus, humanity was able to see goodness and love demonstrated even toward those who persecuted Him. Sin was overcome through a love that gave all. This is the meaning and the message of the cross, the message we too are to take to our world.
Jesus did not come to merely tell us how to live, or even to merely to show us how to live. He came to be our Life. Jesus allowed people to see what God is like. He not only taught truth, He lived it.
As Christians, we should be driven by our love for Jesus Christ to get involved in the lives of others. This is what Jesus did when He died on the cross. Anytime a believer suffers in order to obey and serve God, he is losing his life that he may gain it. Jesus says in St. John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though He were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
©By: Dr. Christopher D. Handy, PhD
The Seven Last Words of Christ
The First Word-"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)
Soldiers have just driven nails through his hands and feet and hoisted him up by those nails. He does not fear those who kill his body; he pities them and prays for them. If they knew how much this hurts, they could not do it to anyone. They are unwitting instruments of the higher purpose that brings him here.
The Second Word-"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)
But physical torment takes its toll. He suddenly discovers that he cannot hear the still, small voice; he has lost his two-way communication with God. His lifeline is not working, so he must face the narrow gate of death alone.
The Third Word-He said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" (John 19:26-27) Not quite alone. He looks down. Which hurts worse: the pain of being crucified, or the pain of a mother watching her son being crucified, or the pain of a boy whose beloved teacher hangs bleeding before his eyes? He understands their pain in the midst of his own, and tells them to care for each other.
The Fourth Word-"I thirst!" (John 19:28)
Time passes slowly. His spring of living water runs dry. He reaches the end of his strength. This is the moment the Tempter has been waiting for: through the voices of cynical men, Satan tries again, as he did in the wilderness: "If you are the Christ, prove it! Save yourself and impress the people."
The Fifth Word-"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)
But a dying thief says, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." What the cynical voices suggest is not the way to prove he is the Christ. His kingdom is not of this world. He ignores them and reassures the thief.
The Sixth Word-"Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46)
Like a trusting child, he turns to the Father and takes the next step. He has bound himself by love, to both God and the human race. Soon he will begin his long-term ministry by demonstrating the fact that human beings survive physical death. Then he will continue to draw to himself, and thus to heaven, everyone he can ... for as long as it takes ... until whosoever will has come.
The Seventh Word-"It is finished!" (John 19:30)
He has defeated the Tempter again. Despite the agony, he has rejected temptation and cared for those around him. His temporary duty on earth is complete. He has shown the way God wants us to live. He has demonstrated the fact that faith and hope and love cannot be destroyed by anything men can say or do.
When you feel forgotten and abandon, always remember God will never forget or abandon you, for He will fulfill His promises in your life. Be encouraged and never give up hope, because God loves you too much to give up on you.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Five Things God Wants You To Remember In Trying Times:
1. You are never, ever alone.
"Be strong. Be brave. Be fearless. You are never alone." Joshua 1:9 (KJV)
2. Nothing takes Him by surprise.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (KJV)
3. When you are weak, He is strong.
“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” Isaiah 40:29 (KJV)
4. He is the God of new beginnings and second chances.
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23 (KJV)
5. His Love never gives up on us.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (KJV)
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