WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVE US— I JOHN 4:19 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might…

HEART’S FOCUS And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. —Jeremiah 3:15 Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.” —Jeremiah 4:18 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. —II Thessalonians 3:5             Shepherds, who are after the heart of our Lord, “will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”  They not only feed with knowledge alone, but they give understanding in how to use or apply that knowledge which brings transformation.  If people are…

NONE ARE “ON THE FENCE” “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” —Jeremiah 1:5 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the…

THE COMING NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. —Isaiah 65:17 “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. —Isaiah 65:25 For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. —Isaiah 66:22 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence…

JERUSALEM WILL BE THE PRAISE IN THE EARTH You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. —Isaiah 62:6-7 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with…

SOLID FOUNDATION IN THIS FADING WORLD Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. —Isaiah 59:14 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste. —Isaiah 60:12 It is so sad that the obvious truth is not obvious to so many today.  Justice is turned back as many get away with atrocious crimes.  Righteousness seems far away and truth surely has stumbled in the public square and uprightness is not allowed to enter.  Wickedness seeks to rule the land.  From the human standpoint, it is a sad…

BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER! …for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. —Isaiah 56:7 “It is written,” he said to them, “’My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” —Matthew 21:13 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” —Mark 11:17             The temple in Jerusalem was always meant to be “called a house of prayer for all nations.”  Today, the western wall of the last temple, the temple in…

HIS WORD WILL ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSES For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. —Isaiah 55:10-11 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had…

A DISCIPLE OF JESUS! The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. —Isaiah 50:4             Disciples of Jesus, that is what we are called to be.  Too many times people turn out to be a disciple of this personality or that personality or of this denomination or that denomination or of this local church or that local church.  We need to make sure that we are a disciple of Jesus and listening and learning from what He has to say to us.  Is my faith in…

JESUS HAS ALWAYS BEEN, WILL ALWAYS BE AND IS CALLING YOU! Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. —Isaiah 48:16-17             Jesus did not just appear and start His existence 2000 years ago as a babe in Bethlehem.  No, Jesus— “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was…