Jesus loved everyone with the same unconditional and perfect love to the very end. Not for a single moment did He turn away from those for whom He came into the world. Only the Son of God could remain so loving and free from any desire for revenge after all the evil and injustice He endured. Jesus knew exactly the purpose for which He came into the world:

• John 12:46–47 “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.”

The purpose of Jesus was very clear from the beginning, and He fulfilled it perfectly! He did everything to show us His love and the love of the Heavenly Father, overturned the value system of the world, and brought us the Kingdom of His love. He came and accomplished the most wonderful plan for the salvation of humanity despite the rebellion and stubbornness of human nature.

John, the apostle of love, presented most clearly throughout his Gospel how much Jesus was rejected by God's own chosen people. Here is just one very conclusive verse:

• John 1:10–11 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

The world easily recognizes those who are like it, and it would seem that this alone should have made everyone in Jesus’ time realize that He was different. He was not like them—He did not behave like them, think like them, boast, or act pridefully. He did nothing for His own benefit, harmed no one, did not chase money or fame. On the contrary, He listened to everyone, healed all who came to Him, made only righteous judgments, always spoke what the Heavenly Father gave Him to speak, and made time for anyone—whether a royal official or a beggar, woman, man or child. Anyone had access to the Son of God. He never said He was too tired or too busy.

And because, as we read in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” we know that He receives us into His presence whenever we need Him and helps us when we cry out to Him. He has the same perfect, complete love for each of us and will never change.

The Jews rejected Jesus and fought against Him because He disrupted their plans, and they were losing their privileges and power. They did everything they could to remove Him from their path. But only when “His hour had come” were they able to take His life. Even then, they did not understand that Jesus came into the world precisely to die for humanity! The religious leaders did what their father led them to do, as Jesus said in the following verse:

• John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Jesus had at His disposal legions of angels. He could have destroyed all those who mocked Him, insulted Him, and ultimately tortured and killed Him in the most painful way—by crucifixion. But He loved them to the end. And on the cross He prayed for His executioners: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

We see no trace of evil or desire for revenge in Jesus. He behaved perfectly, without sin, to the very end. If it had not been so, the devil would have found something of his nature in Jesus, and He could not have risen to give us His righteousness and eternal life. Because the sins He died for were not His own, death could not hold Him.

• Acts 2:24 Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

Precisely because even the most terrible suffering could not change Him, we could be redeemed! The plan of salvation for humanity succeeded perfectly! Through Jesus, man can be restored to the image and likeness of God through the new birth and be with the Lord forever.

If we live with the purpose of becoming more like Jesus and pleasing the Heavenly Father, we can remain strong in faith and full of the Lord’s love regardless of what we go through. Why? Because the purpose of our lives is not to have everything go well, to fulfill the desires of the flesh, or to gain success, wealth, and fame. Our purpose is heavenly—it is about what the Lord desires for us and fulfilling His will as best as we can. And when we have this purpose, God strengthens us and gives us the power to stand firm in faith and be filled with His love.

And to see even more clearly how completely and perfectly Jesus fulfilled the purpose for which He came to Earth—namely, the salvation of humanity—let us look at the final words He spoke on the cross:

• John 19:28, 30 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ […] So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

The original Greek word translated “It is finished” is tetelestai, from the verb teleó, meaning: “to finish, to complete, to accomplish, to carry out a mission or purpose.” Its root, telos, also means “to bring to a close, to finish, to end” (according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance).

This word was used in Jesus’ time when a transaction was completed—when a debt was fully paid. In a legal context, it was used by judges when a sentence had been fully served, once and for all, and the person was set free. In a military context, it signified triumph and victory after winning a battle.

Considering all this, we can conclude that Jesus was, in essence, declaring on the cross:

“The debt for your sins has been fully paid. The punishment for your sins has been completely satisfied once and for all. The victory has been won over death, sin, and the devil.”

Jesus finished the work of salvation, redemption, and reconciliation with God the Father for all who believe in Him and follow Him. Through His death on the cross, everything has been secured for every single one of us. He made new birth possible for every believer and a new life filled with the power of the Lord and heavenly blessings.

Thank You, Lord Jesus!


Carmen Pușcaș

There is a saying, and even a song, that says that the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley. The God we praise and trust when everything seems good and “going right” is still God when everything seems upside down and hope is hard to find.
 
When hard times come or we face dilemmas that seem unfixable, we sometimes get the “why’s.” We say things to the Lord such as, “I don’t understand God” “Why did You let this happen?” “Why is this happening to my loved one?” “Why is this happening to me?” If you never wondered why or never asked or blamed God with any of the “why talk,” you might be a robot or an angel. For the rest of us, we are human and it is a natural response. But we must stop and question the tone of our “why’s.” And then how do we handle it?
 
As human beings, the need to blame someone is intrinsic. It is a deep part of the fleshly nature, the carnal nature that we are all born with. From our very beginning, Adam and Eve did it in the Garden of Eden. Firstly, Adam blamed God and Eve for his sin.

• Genesis 3:11-12 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"  Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

 
We see that he was blaming God when he said that. And then Eve. And finally, Adam admitted that he did eat it. And then it was Eve’s turn.

• Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

 
Eve admitted that she ate it too, but after blaming the devil and his deception. It is our nature to blame and make excuses. And when things go wrong, this can really take root. For those of us who believe that God is real and that He is in control, it is easy to blame Him, or to want to know why, when things seem hard or terrible. No matter how tough the going gets, we must not lose our “fear of the Lord.” This means reverential respect. We can wonder or ask the Lord questions, but we better do it respectfully. To disrespect the Lord is sinful and wrong, and as Christians we should never do it. And blaming Him is the wrong way to go about it. We must remember that He gave us all free will. We are free to mess up, and the rest of mankind is too. If we weren’t, it would be different. Free will is expensive for us, individually and corporately, and our mistakes and sins hurt God too. Even human parents hurt over seeing their children make mistakes. We cannot even fathom how God feels. He is not like us in the way that we had to learn for ourselves, and now our children have to learn too. But Hallelujah, He is God and Creator who turns all of it for as much good as possible. He is the Redeemer.

• Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

 
When things are rough, we must trust the Lord even more. We must trust that He has a plan. We can know that just as it was for Joseph, who was beaten and sold into slavery by his brothers, and even falsely accused and imprisoned, that God will turn the wrongs for good. Joseph hung in there. If he ever got depressed or weary, it is not recorded. But it is recorded by his actions, that his faith stood and carried him through. Most of the time, we have limited vision about our circumstances. Thankfully, God has the bigger vision and plans.

• Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

 
It is okay to not understand things, or feel hurt or frustrated. The thing is, what do we do next?  The easiest thing to do is sin. We could choose to have a pity party, be angry or frustrated with others or ourselves, blame God or many other unhelpful or sinful choices. The thing to do is to take the hurts and frustrations and give them to the Lord. Humbly cry out. Seek Him and His direction. He faithfully helps those who do. There have been times that situations looked so bleak and I was trying to persevere and things got even bleaker. But I kept crying out to the Lord for help and He turned the darts of the enemy back on them, and He helped my hurts as only He could do. Sometimes, things are way past the brain. When the heart travails, it can be deepest kind of pain. And God understands and cares and wants to help us if we would only let Him.
 
As Christians, we have the greatest resource, our Father. And instead of losing our composition, we must move past the troubles and trust the Lord and His wisdom. He never said that there would not be fires or floods but He did say He would be with us in those times, Isaiah 43:2. We can wholeheartedly trust the Word of God.

• Psalms 34:17-19 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

 
Much is also said in the New Testament about such matters. The disciples and the early church lived through some of the hardest times in history.

• 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

 
We could have the greatest education and equipment, but without a good attitude, how far would we get? Many say, attitude is half the battle. So if you are going through a little pressure testing, or time of what would be despair but for the Lord, let us take a deep breath and give (or re-give) our situations to the Lord, forgive ourselves or others, and leave the judgment to the Lord and law enforcement and press on through or past the circumstances. I will close with the verses that Paul wrote after the ones above.

• 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Eli Cockrell

When Jesus came, what was He seeking? What was His mission? Certainly it was not politics, or reaching a certain height in the eyes of the religious establishment. We all know that Jesus came to lay down His life for all of us, so that we could be saved, but He didn’t come just for that, He came to save us and so much more.
 
Jesus came so that we could not only be saved from the eternal punishment of sin, but to bring us into relationship with the Father. Becoming a believer is not just believing that Jesus exists, even as the Son of God and that He died on the cross for the sins of the world. It is believing it personally, repenting and accepting His Lordship. When we go from spiritual darkness to being spiritually born-again into His light, everything changes. It may be that someone is reading this and has had only faith. Faith is good but until one is truly born-again, one is not there yet. We must turn from self-lordship, receive the pardon that God offers through Jesus and then live for Him.
 
At this point, Jesus comes into our heart by the Holy Spirit.
 

• John 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
  

 
Every day with Jesus is a day in the abundant life of being a true Christian. Father God sent Jesus to us, to be God with us.
 

• Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel (which means, “God with us”).

 
From the Garden with Adam and Eve, to today and forevermore, God wants relationship with us! Throughout the entire Bible, there are verses stating how God wants to be our God and for us to be His people. This is the true heart of God. Following this blog, there is a list of some of these verses.
 
In order to be our God and for us to be God’s people, when we start this new life in Christ, He comes to live in our heart. God is spirit and so are we, even though we live in a physical body. Our inner man, or our spirit, is often referred to as the heart. And it is a spiritual relationship, it is a heart relationship.
 

• John 7:37-38 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

 

• Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

 
Father God, with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, want to be intimate with us. God wants to live in our heart and provide for us, spiritually and also for whatever we need in this life. It is a joy and not a burden. We are not a burden to God. It is His pleasure and the purpose we were created for! And one does not have to be worthy of God’s love and grace. Jesus is worthy and His grace is all we need. The devil comes to many and tries to discourage with condemnation and unworthiness lies. We were condemned in our sins and never worthy. It is a fact. So send him away. God’s love and grace are all we need! With Jesus as our Lord and the strength and direction of the Holy Spirit, we can live victorious lives. We can have the abundant life God wants for us. Can we do it right 100% of the time? No, but, we never give up and the Lord keeps molding and shaping us!
 
As we grow in our walk with the Lord, the fleshly nature loses out more and more and the godly nature, wins more and more. This is the life of a believer. It is so important to live in grace and not in bondage. We choose not to sin, not out of fear and torment, but for reasons such as pleasing the Lord and wanting to do better. While sin and the flesh steal true life and are costly, choosing right brings the abundant life and joy. Consider the following verse about King David.
 

• Acts 13:22 And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.'

 
Many know that God spoke of David having a heart after His, but how many see the rest of this verse? David’s heart was to do God’s will.  And so does the heart of a born-again believer. As believers, our focus is no longer self-oriented, but Christ-oriented. We go from being in tune with and trying to satisfy fleshly desires, to being online with the Holy Spirit and seeking to hear and please the Lord. Everything changes.
 
It is a joy to live in cooperation with the Holy Spirit! Every day is a new day in our walk with the Lord. All the challenges that come in a day, are met with the Holy Spirit as our guide. Hallelujah, we are not alone and we have the best Help to meet life’s challenges. The Holy Spirit is all-knowing, unlike us who only see in part. By seeking His help, we have supernatural help. He knows where the enemy lurks and keeps us from his tricks. He helps us with everything from difficult decisions to picking the right vegetables at the market. All this is available for those who draw close to the Lord and seek His guidance.
 
The joy and peace that is available for the believer who prays and worships is beyond the comprehension of the lost. When we live “in” the Lord and not just “for” Him, the life flow that comes from Him is in us. The Word of God becomes a lifeline for a believer. The Bible is not revealed to everyone. For the true Christian that is hungry for His Word, the Lord does not disappoint. He reveals His Word as we feed on it and it sustains us. It guides and the truth of it exposes the lies of the enemy and this world.
 
Praise the Lord that He did not create us as angels or robots! Praise the Lord that He created us as humans for fellowship with Him forever. Praise the Lord that we are His! He blessed us with a beautiful world and tons of blessings. It is up to us to choose the Lord and follow Him with all our hearts. We have so much to be thankful for. A true sign of a believer is thankfulness. Well, kindness and gentleness are too. And love. The fruit of the Spirit sustains us and is also a blessing to others. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and guide us, the more His fruit manifests through us, the happier we are and more of a blessing to those around us. This is the abundant life and a life lived in intimacy with God.
 
 
 
“Our God and His people” verses:
 
Genesis 17:7-8, Exodus 29:45-46, Leviticus 26:11-12, Isaiah 7:14, Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 32:38, Ezekiel 37:27, Ezekiel 43:7, Zechariah 8:8, Zechariah 2:10-11, Zephaniah 3:17, Matthew 1:3, John 1:4, John 14:23, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Hebrews 8:10, Revelation 7:15, Revelation 21:7
 
Revelation 21:3,7 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. […] He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.
Lamentations 3:22-23

The man Jeremiah, as God’s prophet, went through the fire. His assignment was not one that many would like to have been given. But he was obedient. He lived through the judgment and fall of Jerusalem and the Hebrew nation. He spoke the truth as the Lord commanded and it was not wanted to be heard by most. Even of the righteous ones, they preferred to flee to Egypt than obey the Lord. And they still suffered in their choice.
 
The Book of Lamentations is attributed to Jeremiah by most. It is an expression of utter grief and mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. The holy city and temple were the last of the fall of Israel in the north and Judah in the south. This book laments over the loss of the city, temple, and people, and their devastation, famine, and exile, while struggling with the judgment of their sins. And despite the despair, it emphasizes hope and trust in God's enduring mercy and faithfulness, showing that even through suffering there can be repentance and eventual restoration.
 
God’s mercies are new every day. No matter what happens in life by our own demise or by the effects of others’ choices, there are always new beginnings, new seasons. Life is not the sum of the secular world’s idea of success. A successful life is one that is lived with Jesus as Lord and lived with continued growth in Him. There will always be ups and downs. But as Christians, we get back up and follow after the Lord again. The more we are renewed in His Word and grow in life’s circumstances, the better. And as we love Him and love others, being His light in this world so that others may join in His family too, this is successful living. The eternal outlook is the one that lasts. A million years from now, no one will remember how perfectly appointed our homes were or how much money we made and all the comforts we had. But for every soul that makes it to heaven, that God used us to help them find the way or stay on the path that led there, it will matter for all eternity. Every cup of water given in Jesus’ Name and even the smallest acts of kindness done for the right reasons, matter to the Lord.
 
It is so wonderful that we can always pick ourselves up and repent if needed, and the Lord will help us. God never needs a plan B, C, or any other, “next” plan of “what to do now.” He knows the end from the beginning, and He knew it all when He called you and I out of this world. He chose us, and He is faithful. His love is pure and nothing can compare to His provision when we are His and rely on Him.
 
Jeremiah endured the loss of his home and his country, and he endured hateful persecution of his ministry, to the point that he has been known as “the weeping prophet” by many. He was falsely accused by the religious establishment of being a false prophet, when he was truly being obedient to the Lord and desperately telling the truth, trying to warn them of impending doom. To many, Jeremiah’s ministry might seem like a loss. But their blood was not on Jeremiah’s hands. He was obedient to the Lord. And Jeremiah’s hope was in the Lord to the end. He knew the Lord’s mercy was without fail.
 
When going through difficult times, as many of us are, Lamentations 3:21-40 is very encouraging. There is hope even in the hardest and worst of times. Be encouraged. No matter what happens next in this life, it will be no surprise to the King of kings and Lord of lords who is our provider and savior. Be encouraged child of God, His love and mercy are ours forever. Our strength may fail but His never does, and His strength is always available for those who rely on Him.
 
Eli Cockrell

Have you ever wondered why the devil has worked so hard to distort the meaning of Christmas? How Santa Claus, decorations, foods, parties, and gift-giving have taken the place of celebrating Jesus’ birth in the secular world? The most common theory is that it started as a Roman pagan festival called, “Saturnalia or Mirthas,” worshiping the agriculture god Saturn. The festival was first celebrated for one day and eventually grew to seven days, during which people would party, gamble and give gifts to each other.  The gift-giving custom continued in celebrating Christmas and while it was nice, it has become a huge source of profit for stores, as their commercials have made Santa Claus, Christmas trees and decorations more important than Jesus. The enemy succeeded in moving the public focus from the birth of Jesus to buying, giving and receiving gifts, and parties with traditional, expensive foods and drinks. Maybe you too were thinking that secular advertising erased Christ from the name of the celebration, when they started calling it X-mas. Well actually in Greek, the letter “Chi,” that looks like Latin letter “X,” has been used for centuries as a Christian symbol and starts the name of our Savior, Χριστός (Christos). But I still do not consider it right to replace the name of Christ with a Greek letter and for sure many non-believers prefer it for seeming to remove the name of Christ.
 
Many historians say that the first documents mentioning celebrating Christmas, date from the 4th century, when the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine declared Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire and decided that the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ needed to be a major yearly celebration.
 
The Calculation hypothesis, first proposed by the French priest and historian Louis Duchesne in 1889, says that December 25th was chosen for Jesus’ birth date because it was nine months after a date chosen as Jesus's conception by the Catholic church, March 25th, the Roman date of the spring equinox, according to “Wikipedia.” Other historians are saying that Emperor Constantine decided Christians should celebrate Christmas while pagans were celebrating their pagan god Saturn, so that it would unite in the same feast, around the winter solstice, so 25th of December seemed the right date for it. But was Jesus born on the 25th of December?

• Luke 1:26-27 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

 
Based on what the Bible says about time of the birth of Jesus, we know that the 25th of December could not be the right date. Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah was from the order of Abijah, which was the 8th priestly division according to 1 Chronicles 24:6-19, and served in the Temple of God during the tenth week of the priestly cycle. That week starts on the second Sabbath in the Jewish month of Sivan, which in our calendar is approximately from mid-May to mid-June. Soon after Zechariah returned from his Temple duties Elizabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist. And since six months later, the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive Jesus, that had to be in the month of Kislev (December). With the nine months that are needed for a normal pregnancy, since December leads to the conclusion that Jesus was born around the month of Tishri, which is mid to late September.
 
Besides all this, in the early days of United States, the Puritans banned celebrating Christmas, believing that celebrating birthdays would offend God. They considered that all martyrs, including Jesus should be celebrated only for their death. Celebrating Christmas has also been banned in various places and times throughout the earth, for many different reasons.
 
So, what should we do as Christians? Should we celebrate Christmas? The Bible urges us to praise the Lord at all times. In considering that, should we not praise our Savior and celebrate His birth?

• Psalms 34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

 

• Psalms 30:11-12 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

 
This is a personal choice that each person must make. Certainly, even if the date is wrong, how could it be wrong to celebrate the arrival of the Savior of all mankind?

In conclusion, Satan tried to steal God’s glory and get mankind to worship him instead of God, since he rebelled in heaven and he has never stopped. By getting people to focus on Santa Claus and even the Easter Bunny, and all kinds of distractions, he tries to exclude Jesus from Christmas, as well as Easter. But as long as we love our Lord and we do our part in telling the truth and worship the only true God, the Creator of the whole universe and Father of our Savior Jesus Christ, we can make a difference and help as many people as possible to find and follow the only real God that deserves all our worship, love and adoration! Only Jesus died for every single one of us, paying the penalty for our sins! Hallelujah, thank You Lord Jesus!

Carmen Pușcaș

So many of us, born-again Christians do not realize that our Lord wants to strengthen us in the midst of trouble, empower us when we are weak, and give us the courage to move further when we feel like we cannot take another step. Most of us are taught that a good Christian has a firm faith, is always on top of things and is never overwhelmed by problems or pain. But everyday life has its ups and downs and whoever says they always live on the top of the mountain is not telling the whole truth. It may seem that it is true for a while, but deep inside every single believer is a human being that has their own set of fears, pains and failures.
 
Can you name one person from the Bible (excluding Jesus), that was always victorious, never suffered or wasn’t mistreated by others? Maybe you might say that everyone recorded in the Bible sinned, so they had to suffer for their sins. Yes, and this is also true about us. Jesus was the only one who never sinned and fulfilled His Father’s will. But even Jesus had His share of pain caused by fellow men, even before the supreme suffering at the cross.
 
So, if in the Bible we do not find super-believers that always lived being strong and victorious, why do we think we should? Why do we think that when we struggle and go through hard times, that it is because we do not have enough faith, are not as strong us we should be or that God abandoned us? Let’s look at the apostle Paul. From the time he became a Christian, life was not easy, as we can see from what he wrote about his tribulations in the following verses:

• 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool--I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness-- 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

 
Certainly Paul understood pain and suffering, and many might say he was not always on top of things. But from God’s perspective, Paul’s life was successful, as he was doing what God called him to do, and he was trusting God in all his troubles. Paul never seemed to doubt God’s love, even when he went through so much. In the next chapter, Paul said that “fourteen years ago I was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2) where he received an abundance of revelation, and he understood that all the troubles he had to face helped keep him humble. First Paul did what we would all do, he prayed. And he did not pray just once, but three times for the Lord to remove his “thorn in the flesh,” which he called “a messenger of Satan.”

• 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 
 
Paul prayed three times for deliverance from the thorn, and the answer was not what he had believed for, but it teaches us an amazing truth! Paul, as all of us would, asked for the pain and suffering to stop, but the Lord’s answer changed everything! God actually said that even when we go through very hard times, His grace is there for us, and we are not alone as our Heavenly Father is always with us! And then, He continued saying, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So if we want to mature spiritually, to truly benefit from God’s power, we have to go through times when we are weak. While all goes well, and we seem to have it all together, and consider ourselves strong and powerful, we tend to think that we do not need God’s help. But when we are weak and hurting, everything changes. Suddenly we become very needy, and we cry out to the Lord to deliver us from trouble. Paul was no different. And then God told him he was not alone in the trial. And the Lord wants us to recognize that His presence is with us always, including in hard times, whether we feel it or not, He never leaves us nor forsakes us (Deuteronomy 31:6). The Lord is always with us, so we better allow Him to manifest His presence while we hurt, and we truly need His strength.
 
This does not mean that we should not pray for the Lord to take away our trouble, or fix the cause of our pain, while we go through hard times! Our Lord is a loving Father and He hears us. But there are times when His answer does not come as we want, like it happened with Paul, and we need to remember that what God told Paul, is also true for us! God has a certain measure of glory prepared for His children according to what they are facing. How can we know that? Let us read again what Paul wrote next: “… Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b). And at the end of verse 10, Paul wrote, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” The apostle learned this firsthand. He experienced the power of God in His life and that strengthened him to face all the imprisonments, beatings, starvation, and all that he went through during his ministry, and we can read about in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28.
 
We can all experience the power of Jesus in our lives while facing hard times, if we do not simply pray for deliverance from what hurts us, but we pray something like, “Nevertheless Lord, please be with me in this trial, strengthen me to handle it as You will, help me grow in loving and trusting You in this situation, because in weakness Your power is made perfect in me! Please help me see the good You do for me in this hardship and the strength I have in You in this weakness so that the coming victory will be way more precious! Help me become whatever You planned for me to be and live my life fully dependent on You!” When we truly surrender it all unto our Lord, His power and glory will manifest in our lives. By submission we get out of the way and make room for what God wants to do.

• 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.   But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

 
God does not look for mighty Christians to use, He uses the weak so He can shine through them! Whenever we feel like we are at the end of our strength, if we continue in faith, we can experience God’s miracle. The enemy would do anything to make us believe we are defeated, abandoned by God, for sure that God does not love us anymore, that’s why He did not deliver us from the trial and so on. But it is not true! This is not the end, we are not defeated, even if we feel like giving up. If we will then call on the Lord, He can then say, “It is alright My child, I’ll take over from here, and you will make it, because My power is made perfect in weakness.” When we come to the end of ourselves, we know for sure that we can continue on, only because of God’s grace and strength! The Lord deserves all of the glory! Then we can boast more gladly as Paul did, about our weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on us! This is the path to success and spiritual growth as we become stronger with every trial we face.
 
Our Lord wants us strong in Him, able to move and act based on His empowerment and not in ourselves, so that we give Him all the glory. But living based on who He is in us and following His direction fully, pride has no place in our hearts. And we all know that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5b). Let us not be afraid of anything, because our Lord is our strength and as long as we follow Him and want to fulfill His will, we will never be alone or defeated by our weaknesses.
 

Carmen Pușcaș
 

As much of society becomes less agrarian, we lose so much. The connection between mankind and the soil leads to much wisdom. Many biblical parables and stories, involve simpler times, when people were more connected to the weather, the soil and people lived with the lack of modern conveniences. People were dependent on lamps and lanterns for light, wells and other natural water sources for much of their water needs. Even the value of shade from the sun, is often missed by people who spend much of their lives indoors.
 
It would be good to take a moment and reflect on some of what is important that gets missed nowadays. One such subject is seeds. One cannot get a new plant from an immature seed. The seed literally must come to its full end, before new life can come from it. In other words, it is just as Jesus said about a grain of wheat.

• John 12:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

 
For new life to come, part of the process is death. It is the same with becoming born-again. Unless we die to the flesh, our evil side, the spiritual birth cannot happen.
 
Another important lesson comes from almost all living fruit and vegetable plants. As a plant matures, it makes blooms which turn into fruits or vegetables. And the process continues, new growth, new blooms and new results. For plants that live continuously year after year, they need pruning to help the process. Consider the following verse.

• John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

 
When we become Christians, we must stay closely connected to the Lord, as He is the vine and we are the branches. The verses in John 15 are reflective of grape vines, and these vines need to be pruned every year. Each new season, the grapes mostly come from new growth. The Gardner prunes and directs the vines thus directing the plant energy, making the best produce. This is a great lesson for us. Similarly for me, I think of growing tomatoes. Where we live, the climate allows us to grow them all year sometimes. They stop producing when it gets too hot, but if we prune them back in the fall, they start to grow again, and we can get more harvest from them. The tomatoes, whether in spring or fall, only produce from the new growth.
 
We must stay intimate with the Lord and grow in our relationship with Him. Being pruned is not pleasant! But it is the only way to continue to produce the kind of life that comes from growing in Christ. The branches that do not cooperate with the Gardner (Father God) wither or end up removed. So we must do our part and stay close to the Holy Spirit and let Him direct and grow us forward.
 
It is a natural tendency to be like the 3rd scenario with the Sower and the seed. In this case, the ground receives the seed and the plant springs up but gets choked out by thorns. The thorns represent the pitfalls that come against us all. These thorns are the “cares of this world,” the “deceitfulness of riches,” the “desires for the pleasures of life” and the “desires for other things” that choke the plant out and the fruit never comes to maturity.
 
In order to be the one that produces, we must be like case number four. They hear the Word and understand it, they accept it and with good and noble hearts keep it and grow to fruition. They bear fruit with patience, 30/60/100 fold.
 
We must receive not only the Gospel, but the truth of God’s Word for our lives as the Holy Spirit gives us understanding. We must care enough to stay on track and not get caught up like case #3. The busy-ness of life, the lure of prosperity and the pleasures of this world can make a heart grow cold toward caring about the Lord, His truths and ways and even caring about the souls of others. The Bible says a person who calls themself a believer but fails to live it, has forgotten where they came from. This is where pruning becomes vital, a matter of life and death. We must yield to the correction of the Lord and be revived! A plant cannot live and produce if the soil is poor, or it struggles for light and water. We are no different.
 
Salvation is a gift to us but we must die like the seed and be born-again. We must bear the fruit of the new life in Christ by cooperating with the Holy Spirit and staying intimate with the Lord. We must stay pruned and fresh, and resist the pitfalls of this world. And when we fall, we must get back up again, by the mercy and grace of the Lord, and continue on. And care for others as ourselves.
 
The more we connect to nature, observing the way God created flora and fauna, and considering the way all life functions, the closer we get to our Creator. There are many similarities between us and the rest of God’s creation, proving that we have the same amazing Creator. By staying still outdoors and watching what goes on around us, we not only learn valuable lessons, but we truly relax, become smarter, and get back to the true values, the ones that really matter.  Glory to God for the amazing beauty of His creation!


E Cockrell and Carmen Pușcaș

• Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. - 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
  

 
In order to please God, we need to learn to surrender everything unto Him and remove all that He does not like. The devil always tries to trick us into returning to our old sinful habits. Of course, the enemy does not want us to do what is good, he wants to lure us into doing the familiar sins that we used to commit. Thankfully, when we learn to surrender it all to the Lord, we can live right for Him. The above verses talk about leaven, which is the descriptive term for a rising agent used in making bread, not only in ancient times, but it is still used today. The old leaven represents the little things that in time would produce the growth of sin in us.
 
The old leaven is whatever sin we had in our lives, especially the habitual kind, that was daily or frequently, that if we are not careful, can spring up again and cause us to fall back into our old bad ways. This is something the Lord is warning us about through these verses to the Corinthians. As His Word says, “For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
 
We need to decide to stop doing what we used to do. We need to learn what pleases God and what doesn't. And we find it all in His Word. He teaches us everything we need to know about His will, His desires, how we are supposed to be, how we are supposed to behave, how we are supposed to talk, and what is good or bad for us to do. We do not want the old leaven anymore in our lives. We want to become a new lump, one that is sincere, that is truly God's, that doesn't have anything to do with our old nature or our bad old habits.
 
The Holy Spirit is always present to help us change. So let us learn to always ask for the help of the Holy Spirit when we study God's Word so that we understand what we read, so that we grasp the truth that God has for us, so that we change, renewing and transforming our minds, hearts, attitudes and behavior.
 
When our minds are renewed and we change the way we think, our value system changes and then we understand what we need to pursue or not, then the more we’ll follow the direction of the Lord, and become more of who God wants us to be. Also, we need to resist the devil when we are tempted to sin and not go back to what we used to do. And we can resist the devil by being strong in in our faith, and if we are truly being led by the Holy Spirit, we can then keep our carnal nature under control.

• Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

 
The Lord says to bring our bodies as a living sacrifice, so when we decide to become a living sacrifice for God it's a good thing, but to do so, it is not a one-time decision, but a continual one, sincerely keeping a clean heart and the flesh crucified. Even Paul said, "but I discipline my body and bring it unto subjection," in 1 Corinthians 9:2. He said it because he was fighting with his carnal nature also. He knew what he was talking about, because when he wrote it, he had already been practicing it for decades. The quicker we learn what God likes and dislikes, and walk more obediently with Him, the better off we are. We are called to a new life, a new life in Christ.
 
In this new life God's nature, God's love, God's peace, God's joy should be seen in our lives. And because the Holy Spirit came to indwell us, we have His fruit also. And His fruit is peace, love, joy, self-discipline, goodness, kindness, meekness. All this amazing fruit is in us because of the Holy Spirit but cannot manifest if we continue to allow our flesh to rule. Like when we go through a hard time, we start to be irritated and upset and even angry or start to say what we shouldn't. This is when we allow the soul to increase and grow, to the detriment of the spirit. The more our soul grows, the weaker our spirit-man becomes.
 
Our purpose is the opposite. We need to keep our spirit-man growing, allowing the Holy Spirit to occupy as much of our heart as we can. But this cannot happen if we continue to do things the fleshly way, if we continue to live as we used to. We have to grow spiritually by reading, studying and learning the truth of God's Word where we find everything we need to know in how to live right for God, to please Him, and to be as He wants us to be. As we do so, we become more lovable to others also.
 
It's true that those who do not love God, are not too happy to be around us, but they have the chance to see what God can do in someone’s life, and hopefully find they may want to change also. When we surrender everything to the Lord, we become truly free, because we give up self-rulership, and Jesus becomes our true Lord. We want Him to guide and teach us in all that we need. By allowing God to change our heart, we become a new person that can help others to change also.
 
The light of Jesus will shine through us, if our hearts are full of Him. And that's what we are after. We want the light of Jesus to be seen in us. We want our eyes to sparkle with joy, the joy of salvation. We want to learn to rejoice in the Lord always, no matter what happens in life. It is profitable to surrender everything to the Lord. It is for our benefit to do so.  When we realize that we need help, because self-rulership is bad rulership, the good news is that we have a way better alternative. By allowing Jesus to be our true Lord and learning to follow His directions and leadership, our lives become better and closer to what God intended for us to have. Thank You Lord!
 

Carmen Pușcaș

For all of us who love the Lord, we know there are times when it is not always easy to pray or be confident that God hears us.  But the truth is, that God does many things beyond our knowledge, when we pray. And we know this is true when we look back and consider what God did as a result of our prayers, even if we were clueless to what was happening behind the scenes at the time. The Lord hears our sincere prayers. But He decides how He answers, not us.

• Psalms 6:9 The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.

 

• Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

 
Prayer replaces the plans of the devil with the plans of God, and changes what happens in the spiritual world. As we read in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” This spiritual war is continuous and never stops, we must fight the good fight of faith relentlessly, and prayer is one of the most important parts of it. Prayer brings light in the darkness, and God's kingdom into the natural world from the spiritual world.
 
True, sincere prayer changes the spiritual atmosphere, casts out demons and destroys evil. Why? Because when we pray in faith and trust that God hears us and stand on the authority that we have in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of darkness loses its power. We are more than conquerors in Jesus and because of who He is in us and who we are in Him our prayers are effective and efficient. If we only knew how powerful sincere prayers are! It does not matter how thick or heavy the darkness is, if we pray fervently, God’s light will start to dissipate the darkness, and the Holy Spirit will give us the revelation we need.
 
Prayer affects, impacts and changes things even if in the natural everything seems to be the same at the time. The power of prayer is not in how much we pray, or in vain repetitions, but rather in how much our prayers are in accordance with the Holy Spirit and God's principles.  
 
In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we are urged to “pray without ceasing.” Is it because God does not care about our prayers, after all, He is sovereign, and He only does what He wants, or because He has given us the powerful weapon of prayer so that we can bring His will on earth and live victorious lives in Him? Yes, God is sovereign, but His permissive will can be changed through prayer, and He wants us to call upon Him. He wants us to seek His will and long to live for Him so much, that He gladly gives us the desires of our hearts.
 
We must realize that prayer does not change what God in His sovereignty has determined as His will about certain things, so prayer is meant to achieve what God has already pre-purposed or for-ordained. But for it all to happen, we must pray. If we do not pray, the change that God wants to bring in our lives, our area or even nation, may not happen. Because God has given us free will, He withholds many of His desires and plans due to a lack of prayer, waiting until someone prays.
 
Prayer is not all about us, just asking God for all we need and want! The effective prayers that get the best results are the ones that ask God to fulfill His desires rather than ours! God has not given us the institution of prayer so that we can merely pray for our own purposes, but He has given it to us so that He can accomplish His plans and purposes through our prayers. Through prayer God allows us to receive His wisdom and guidance. This does not mean we should not ask the Lord to supply our needs, but we should not stop there. We need to follow God’s direction as He knows everything and can lead us the best, and when we follow Him step by step, then we have real success and live the best lives. We do not always have to know the impact of our prayers, but we must believe that we do not pray in vain and that God will answer and His timing and responses are the best.
 
We often do not know what we are asking for when we pray for God’s will to be done. But we can know for sure that His will is always the best for us. When we pray for God’s will and His answer surprises us, we might think it is something we do not like or want, but for sure we will benefit from it, because He loves us.
 
Prayer can be considered spiritual warfare as we ask God to overthrow the devil’s plans and implement His. The evil one will always try to stop us and if he cannot, he will do his best to discourage us to continue praying. He might come with thoughts like: “Don’t you see that God does not care? You’ve prayed for so long and nothing has happened yet. Your prayer is just a waste of time.” But no matter how the enemy tries to stop us, we must keep praying and not doubt. If the enemy succeeds in making us doubt that God cares and hears our prayers, even if we continue to pray, we must remember that doubtful prayers are in vain. The prayers of faith are the ones that receive results.

• James 5:16b The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 

 
When we pray, we must recognize that we as humans are weak and depend upon God’s omnipotence. We must realize that we can do nothing in our own strength, and we trust that our Almighty God wants to listen and answer our payers, acting in our behalf. Leonard Ravenhill once said, “A man who is intimate with God is not intimidated by man. A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.” While there are so many reasons to fear in the world we live in, it is good to know that a close relationship with God is the antidote for fear. And while we feel driven to pray we know our hearts are hungry for more of God, and when we don’t, we need to get back to where we should be.
 
In prayer we need to stop being self-focused and surrender everything to the Lord. Through prayer and relationship with God we change. We start to love God’s Word and desire what God desires. As a result, we start to think according to God’s truth, we stop following the desires of our carnal nature and we start to see life from a more biblical perspective. The first form of spiritual warfare begins inside of us as we start to rule over our carnal nature, which is only possible with God's help. True prayer is done through the Holy Spirit, who holds the answers to all our questions and problems we can ever have.

• Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

 
In conclusion, prayer is the essence of spiritual living and is like our spiritual breath. Our spirit cannot breathe if we do not pray. It is communication with The One who is our everything and we know we cannot make it without spending time with Him. How could we belong to God and not have a relationship with Him? And prayer draws us close to Him. Prayer is not only asking, but it is also thanksgiving, praising, honoring and adoring our Father. Prayer is not something we can live without as Christians, nor something that we should do as a duty. Prayer should be an intrinsic part of our lives all the time, and we pray because we desire to communicate with our Lord. Just by telling the Lord that we love Him, thanking Him for His goodness and love, we pray. The more we seek Him, the deeper our prayers are and the more we enjoy God’s presence and love. Thank You Lord for the communication we have with You through prayer and for the truth of Your Word, as both reveal more of who You are and who we are in You.
 

Carmen Pușcaș
 

After being a believer in Christ for a number of years, I have come to realize one of the main ways we as Christians get into trouble. When we do not pay careful enough attention to what we allow ourselves to think about, it can be a slippery slope. All temptation starts with a thought, whether it results from something we see, hear, think or feel. How we respond to life is everything. If we allow an improper thought to develop, we are choosing the wrong path. No temptation becomes sin automatically. It is not a sin to have a bad thought cross our mind, but it can become one if we allow it to stay. The more we allow improper thoughts, or thoughts of temptation to develop, the more likely it is to turn into sin. But if we guard our thoughts and take that thought captive and stop it in its tracks, as 1 Corinthians 10:5 says, victory can be ours.
 

• James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

 
We need to realize where temptation comes from. It is not God that tempts us, but temptation comes from the areas that we are weak in. Over time the enemy has learned what works on people and even personally on each of us, in what we can be tempted with. What is tempting for one is not necessarily tempting for another. Sin is not birthed instantly, but is the result of not taking control of what we think, and allowing ourselves to imagine doing it, or thinking about the pleasures or benefits we would get from it. This means we have time to stop temptation before it becomes sin. When something triggers an emotional feeling that has the potential to become sin, we must submit it to the Holy Spirit, filter it through God’s Word and resist it before it takes rulership, and emotions get out of control.
 

• James 4:7-8a Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

 
If we allow our imagination to see ourselves committing a sin and even find pleasure in it, it becomes harder to resist the temptation. The truth is that most sin has short term pleasure and even possible short term benefits. But In reality, it all comes with bad and costly effects in the present and eternally. There are many testimonies of people that were involved in all kinds of sin, addictions and wrong doings, and later admit that they were never truly happy or fulfilled, and that the pleasure they were experiencing was short lived, followed by a bitter taste and even depression.
 
We need to realize the biblical truth that there is no temptation greater than the strength we have in Jesus to conquer it!
 

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

 
If God’s Word says that the strength we have in Jesus is greater than any temptation we encounter, and that He has already prepared a way of escape for us not to sin, this is the absolute truth. God never requires anything of us that He does not equip us for or provide all we need to accomplish it. Because He wants us to win every battle with all temptation, God gives us the strength and weapons to overcome. But we must be willing to fight! The One who lives in us, Jesus Christ, is greater than the enemy who is in the world (1 John 4:4). In Jesus we have already won, because He defeated the devil at the cross. Because of Jesus we can escape from every single temptation, but we need to do our share.
 
Many think calling on the Lord is enough to overcome a temptation. But the fact is that we are the ones who must do our part. Our Lord cannot take our place, but in His Name, we have His authority to fight, and our victory is secure. We must be the ones to take control over our own thoughts and feelings, and submit them to Jesus, as we are taught in the following verses.
 

• 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

 
We are in a continuous spiritual war while living in these bodies, and in this war, we do not fight with regular, physical weapons. One of the weapons that God prepared for us is His truth, which pulls down every stronghold. We all know what our weaknesses are and what tempts us. We need to learn what God’s Word says about the areas we struggle with and have the truth of the Bible working in us. By knowing the truth we can conquer temptation, as we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and not the lust of the flesh. We are not simply sinners whose sins were forgiven. When we became born-again in Christ, we were delivered from the bondage of sin.
 
By guarding our eyes, ears, thoughts and feelings we can become more of who we should be in Christ Jesus. We can become more pleasing to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit who live in us. Jesus lived to please the Father. How wonderful it would be if we did the same. Sometimes we want to be better Christians just to be our best. But is that the same as wanting to please the Lord? Let us live to please the Lord and not allow sin to damage us or anyone else that our sin would impact. Let us guard our hearts and minds and refuse space to allow sin to be birthed. Let us keep learning the Word of God and allowing it room in us to shape and mold us and keep us truly walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
 

• Galatians 6:8-9 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.