My memory verse this week:
"But you dear friends, build yourself up in your most holy faith, and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life." - Jude 1:20-21
NTC Days 62-63
Revelation 17-22
Hallelujah! At the end of this New Testament Challenge, I can think of no better word!
If you keep reading through Revelation and don't get bogged down in the scary imagery and symbolism, you get to God's promises...it's not just good triumphing over evil...it's GOD triumphing over evil! You know the end of the story...God wins! HALLELUJAH!
Last Sunday, my pastor talked about the way that John (God) chose to end the last book of the Bible...his message to us...Jesus says, "I am coming soon." John says, "Amen. Come Lord Jesus." What a perfect way to end His message to us...with his promise of wonderful things to come.
God is sending his son, our Savior back into our world again and he WILL fight off the evil that has overtaken the world. He is more powerful and he WILL win. When he does, in the end, heaven and earth will merge and we will again be in perfect relationship with our creator God. God says he will make everything new again and there will be nothing impure or shameful or deceitful in the perfect world. HALLELUJAH!
Saying Hallelujah so much makes me sound pretty religious, doesn't it? A friend who reads my blog told me recently that I have been pretty "Jesus-y" lately. Perhaps a little too "religious" for some, I suppose.
But these last 63 days ( even though I didn't quite make it every day) I have immersed myself in God's word and have forced myself to study and write about what I was reading and how it made me feel. I still have many questions, and yes, some doubts, about what I read. But I feel so much closer to a God who wants what is best for his creation. He created us, and gave us the freedom to choose him or not...he gave us the freedom to make our own choices and we have chosen ourselves over him so many times, that we have allowed our greed to cast a blind eye to the evil that has crept up on us and has overtaken us.
How else can you explain all the horrible things that happen in this world? In the news this week we have heard over and over about the Penn State tragedy. A man in power did unspeakable things to young boys and many turned their eyes away and let it continue. What kind of person does that to children? There is evil in this world...I HAVE to hang on to my most holy faith that whatever dark, evil and unspeakable things that happen in this world...God's love and Christ's mercy will triumph over that evil and we will one day live in a world where there is no evil. If you don't have that faith, how do you crawl out of bed each morning and face the news, the hurts, the tragedies that occur every day???
Reading God's word every day doesn't make me a judgmental bigot who looks down on those who don't believe what I believe! Reading God's word every day opens my heart to the people in this world...it makes me stronger and more capable of loving the unlovable...it makes me want to help those in need and helps me find ways to help others...it gives me HOPE!
HALLELUJAH! Thank you God for this amazing experience! Please help me to continue to find ways to immerse myself in your word so I can continue to find strength, peace and hope in You. Please help those reading these words to find that same strength, peace and hope as well, so they can crawl out of bed each morning and reach out to the people in their lives with love, and more and more people will want to know you and hear the hope that comes at the end of the story! HALLELUJAH!
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