Tag Archives: The apostle Paul

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P. – That You May Know

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Death—something to be avoided at all cost. People pray against it. They thank the Lord when He watches over their loved ones and keeps them safe. But everyone knows eventually (unless Christ returns first) that everyone will die. Do you still have hope? Yes, indeed!

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 15:57

In the apostle Paul’s day, some people claimed there was no resurrection. Paul said if there was no resurrection then even Christ didn’t rise from the dead. He then exhorts, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (I Corinthians 15:22) And John adds, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” (I John 5:13-14)

Pray now, knowing the same God who raised Christ from the dead will answer your prayers in the name of Jesus. Intercede for a spiritual revival in this country and that many people will be saved. And thank the Heavenly Father for your present victory and eternal hope in Christ.

Recommended Reading: I John 5:1-15

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Facing Our Past

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Our Daily Bread

Acts 9:20-30

He tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. —Acts 9:26

Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, spent 40 years helping people hear and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he died in April 2012, one newspaper article carried the headline, “Charles Colson, Nixon’s ‘dirty tricks’ man, dies at 80.” It seemed surprising that a man so transformed by faith should be identified with things he did as a politically ruthless presidential aide decades earlier before he knew the Savior.

The apostle Paul’s conversion and his early Christian witness were greeted with skepticism and fear. When he began preaching that Jesus is the Son of God, people said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose?” (Acts 9:21). Later when Paul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples, they were afraid of him (v.26). In years to come, Paul never ignored his past, but spoke of it as evidence of the mercy of God (1 Tim. 1:13-14).

Like Paul, we don’t need to parade our failures or to pretend they didn’t happen. Instead, we can thank the Lord that through His grace and power, our past is forgiven, our present is changed, and our future is bright with hope for all He has prepared for us. —David McCasland

Transformed by grace divine,

The glory shall be Thine;

To Thy most holy will, O Lord,

We now our all resign. —Burroughs

Only Jesus can transform our life.

Bible in a year: Isaiah 41-42; 1 Thessalonians 1

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Not the End

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We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:8–9

What happens when a Christian dies? The simple answer is that he or she goes immediately to heaven. There are no stopovers. There are no suspended states of animation. There is no soul sleep. No, a Christian goes straight into God’s presence. The apostle Paul wrote that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (see 2 Corinthians 5:8). This is clear in the Scriptures.

Those who have put their faith in Christ will go to heaven one day. There are two basic ways we will get there: through death or the Rapture. We don’t know whether we are the generation who will be caught up to heaven in the Rapture, which Revelation 20 calls the first resurrection: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power . . .” (verse 6).

Referring to this event, Paul wrote, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ ” (1 Corinthians 15:53–54).

This means the believer doesn’t have to fear death. This means that a Christian never dies. The soul lives on. That will never die.

Of course, when we lose a loved one, we grieve like anyone else does. But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We know where our Christian loved ones are who have preceded us to heaven. In a technical sense, someone isn’t lost if you know where he or she is. We know we will be with our loved ones in Christ once again. Death is not the end.