BUT GOD! And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been…

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. —Ephesians 1:4-5 Remember the joy of your child or children when they were born into your family? Nothing really compares to the wonder of a child being born, to see them take their first breath and to hear their cry for the first time. It is also true when a person is born into the…

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. —Galatians 6:3 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. —Galatians 6:10 When was the last time you did something for somebody out of love of God and people? Why didn’t you help that follower of Jesus when you saw they had a need and you could have helped with it? Did you really think what you were doing was more important than helping that person in need instead— whether they were a follower of Jesus or not? Sure,…

Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? —Galatians 4:15 Are you and I full of joy because we know Jesus and we are part of His church? Do we have a grateful spirit toward Him and His people— about life in general? Do you think much of the person who shared the gospel with you and are so full of joy for that person that they took the time and effort to do so? Are you grateful for that person? Have you ever shared that gratitude toward them for their being faithful to God in sharing the gospel of our Lord Jesus with you? We who follow…

Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith… So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith… Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith… But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ… For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on…

Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached…

Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. —II Corinthians 13:11 Do you have joy— a rejoicing or delighting in experiencing God’s grace? Are you an encourager of others? Is your life being lived in harmony and peace with others? If these things are true, then the God of love and peace is with you! If you are not experiencing joy— a rejoicing or delighting in experiencing God’s grace— what is keeping you from doing so? Resolve it! If you are not being an encourager of others— why not? Encourage someone today! Are you…

And I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins. You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure. —II Corinthians 12:21 “I’ve been on a roller coaster for the past two years,” says Leigh Moyer, 31, of Philadelphia. In 2003, she lost 25 of her 155 pounds by diligently counting calories and logging daily sweat sessions at the gym. Four years later, busy with graduate school and her job at a software company, Leigh blew off her workouts and stopped monitoring her portions… and shot up to 175. “It was so sad, so frustrating,” she says. “I let…

But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. —II Corinthians 11:3-4 These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his…

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. —II Corinthians 10:3-5 Military weaponry has advanced in leaps and bounds. The technology is truly astounding. For example, “DARPA is working on multiple projects to study the capabilities of hypersonic flight. Several years ago, the agency conducted hypersonic test flights with an HTV-2 bomber; in 2011, the bomber prototype reached a top speed of Mach 20…