1/ When life throat punches us and we default to asking God “why is this happening”, we can find the answer right there in Judges 3 – He wants to prepare you for battle. He wants to develop the muscle in us to fight the good fight and finish the race strong.
Really smart guys like @hubermanlab are starting to realize it actually takes MORE faith to be an atheist.
What happened to him after he started believing in God and praying defies science and it's straight out of the Bible.
You know what shook me when I was Muslim?
The story of Hosea. God tells a prophet to marry a woman He knows will betray him.
She does. She runs to other men. She ends up enslaved, sold, used up, worthless to the world.
And God tells Hosea to go BUY HER BACK.
To pay money for his own wife who cheated on him, and love her again. Hosea 3.
I thought it was the most humiliating command in the Bible. Why would any man do that?
Then I realized I was the wife.
I gave my heart to everything but God. I chased other masters. I sold myself cheap. I made myself worthless.
And God looked at me, the betrayer, and didn’t say “you’re not worth it.”
He said, “Name the price. I’m buying her back.”
That’s the Gospel. God doesn’t wait for the unfaithful to come crawling back clean.
He pays to redeem them while they’re still dirty.
Islam told me to make myself worthy of God.
Hosea showed me a God who pays to redeem the unworthy.
The cross was Him naming the price.
Praise the Lord.
I love the scene from “The Return of the King” where Aragon is desperately outnumbered. He looks fear right in the eye and finds the strength to inspire his men against what seems like an almost certain defeat against the massive forces of the enemy.
https://t.co/Wuu3SJkC2t
The two thieves crucified with Jesus represent humanity's ultimate choice.
The unrepentant thief died in his sin, rejecting salvation even at the end.
The repentant thief, however, shows that it is never too late to turn to Christ in faith. His simple plea for mercy was met with the promise of paradise, proving that salvation is a free gift.
This teaches us that genuine repentance, even in our final moments, leads to eternal life.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him... -Colossians 1:15-20
Navigating uncertainty, setbacks and waiting periods can be an opportunity to ask God what He is teaching you through this season.
https://t.co/exdwukpVoI
Get ready!
#heartstone