No one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. § The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. § We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. § Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
John 10:29; 2 Tim. 1:12; 4:18; Rom. 8:37–39;
Col. 3:3; James 2:5; 2 Thess. 2:16–17
The perfect law of liberty.
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free … Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin … Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage … For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” § Having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. § For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. § I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts.
James 1:25; John 8:32, 34, 36;
Gal. 5:1, 13–14; Rom. 6:18; 7:2; 8:2; Ps. 119:45
After the long journey of life, we are going to look up and see heaven. We’re going to hear voices lifted in songs of praise. We’re going to see the glory of God radiating from within, and we’re going to long for home. But we will be forbidden to enter. Heaven is closed to us because we are too dirty in our sin to enter it.
However, because Jesus found us in our hopeless, helpless state and offered us His hand at the Cross, we can be welcomed into heaven. If we accept His offer and put our hand of faith in His, He will walk with us hand in hand, not only through the remainder of our journey, but through the gates of heaven that will be opened wide for us. We will be as welcomed and accepted in heaven as He is, solely because of our relationship and identification with Him. Praise God! Jesus is the One, and the only One, Who makes heaven available to the sinner, not only through the cross, but also through His resurrection.
To do righteousness and justice is more
acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? § Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. § To love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually. § Mary … sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word … “One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Prov. 21:3; Mic. 6:8; 1 Sam. 15:22; Mark 12:33;
Hos. 12:6; Luke 10:39, 42; Phil. 2:13
The spirit will return to God who gave it.
The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. § There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. § The first man Adam became a living being. § The spirit of the sons of men … goes upward.
While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord … We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. § With Christ, which is far better. § I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Eccl. 12:7; Gen. 2:7; Job 32:8; 1 Cor. 15:45; Eccl. 3:21;
2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Thess. 4:13–14; John 14:2–3
In the beginning there was no dawn to end the night,
no sun to warm the day,
no moonlight reflected in the swirling water,
no horizon,
just a never-ending night!
God didn’t leave our environment in a murky, dusky twilight. “God . . . separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night'” (Gen. 1:4,NIV).
While the light described was literal, it has wonderful analogy and personal meaning for you and me, because light in the spiritual sense represents the truth, clarity, spiritual understanding, and discernment we receive from God’s written Word. So . . . read your Bible and turn the Light on!
Through love serve one another.
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. § Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. § Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. § Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. § Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Gal. 5:13; 6:1–2; James 5:19–20; 1 Peter 1:22;
Rom. 13:8; 12:10; 1 Peter 5:5; Rom. 15:1
The dust will return to the earth as it was.
The body is sown in corruption … It is sown in dishonor … It is sown in weakness … It is sown a natural body. § The first man was of the earth, made of dust. § Dust you are, and to dust you shall return. § One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure … Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them.
My flesh … will rest in hope. § After my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God. § The Lord Jesus Christ … will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. § So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Eccl. 12:7; 1 Cor. 15:42–44; 15:47; Gen. 3:19;
Job 21:23, 25–26; Ps. 16:9; Job 19:26; Phil. 3:20–21; Ps. 39:4; 90:12
