DEVOTION
2 TIMOTHY
RISEN SAVIOR
2 Tim 2:8-10
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
NIV
How many people do not believe Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? What good would any faith be in a dead person? I cannot understand people who have a faith based upon a dead person. The gospel I believe in is based upon a God who raised his son from the grave and that son ascended in physical form into heaven. I sure am not suffering in chains because of my faith, in fact, many others believe as I do and I have the freedom to believe as I do. I praise God for giving me this freedom by designing my life in America. I could have been born in some country that imprisons, tortures, and even kills Christians. So I am not in chains, I am not considered a criminal because of the gospel I believe in. But even so, if I were in chains of a different sort, chains binding my spirit, chains which prevented me from speaking out the truth of God, speaking out the gospel message, God’s word would not be hindered. His plan will always prevail. His plan is not dependent on any one person, on me, to be spread all over the world. If I were in spiritual chains, he would use others. He still does use others anyway and with more power than me. He uses others who have a louder voice, a greater influence on society than I do. He uses others who are far more aggressive in their efforts to spread the good news than I am. Yet he still uses me in the ways he has designed to use me. I may not be some well-known, big named preacher, but I am his servant, and he uses me within the community he has directed me to. My spirit is not in chains, I am able to share his word with those he brings in contact with me. I am free, I have been set free from the bondage of sin and am a free man able to speak up for my Lord, my Lord and Savior who was raised from the dead and who stands before God the Father making intercession for me all the time. I am free to speak out loud the fact that in order to obtain salvation, in order to escape the second death, in order not to perish, all a person has to do is acknowledge and accept Jesus Christ raised from the dead, as their Lord and Savior. How simply is that? I think it is far easier to believe in a live God than a dead one. What can a dead person do for anyone? He cannot save them from anything, but then maybe they do not expect to be saved from anything. Maybe they think this is all there is, and after this there is nothing. Maybe they believe we people are no different than any other living thing, which we just evolved from slime and will return to slime. Not my life! No at the all! I know they is a living God, one who cares and provides for me. I know Jesus is alive and well and at the right hand of the Father. I know because he has intervened in my life, done miracles beyond the comprehension of human understanding in my life, both spiritually and physically. I know he is alive, because I have actually heard his voice. I know he is alive, because I have felt his Spirit soaring within me. I serve a risen Savior!
2 TIMOTHY
RISEN SAVIOR
2 Tim 2:8-10
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
NIV
How many people do not believe Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? What good would any faith be in a dead person? I cannot understand people who have a faith based upon a dead person. The gospel I believe in is based upon a God who raised his son from the grave and that son ascended in physical form into heaven. I sure am not suffering in chains because of my faith, in fact, many others believe as I do and I have the freedom to believe as I do. I praise God for giving me this freedom by designing my life in America. I could have been born in some country that imprisons, tortures, and even kills Christians. So I am not in chains, I am not considered a criminal because of the gospel I believe in. But even so, if I were in chains of a different sort, chains binding my spirit, chains which prevented me from speaking out the truth of God, speaking out the gospel message, God’s word would not be hindered. His plan will always prevail. His plan is not dependent on any one person, on me, to be spread all over the world. If I were in spiritual chains, he would use others. He still does use others anyway and with more power than me. He uses others who have a louder voice, a greater influence on society than I do. He uses others who are far more aggressive in their efforts to spread the good news than I am. Yet he still uses me in the ways he has designed to use me. I may not be some well-known, big named preacher, but I am his servant, and he uses me within the community he has directed me to. My spirit is not in chains, I am able to share his word with those he brings in contact with me. I am free, I have been set free from the bondage of sin and am a free man able to speak up for my Lord, my Lord and Savior who was raised from the dead and who stands before God the Father making intercession for me all the time. I am free to speak out loud the fact that in order to obtain salvation, in order to escape the second death, in order not to perish, all a person has to do is acknowledge and accept Jesus Christ raised from the dead, as their Lord and Savior. How simply is that? I think it is far easier to believe in a live God than a dead one. What can a dead person do for anyone? He cannot save them from anything, but then maybe they do not expect to be saved from anything. Maybe they think this is all there is, and after this there is nothing. Maybe they believe we people are no different than any other living thing, which we just evolved from slime and will return to slime. Not my life! No at the all! I know they is a living God, one who cares and provides for me. I know Jesus is alive and well and at the right hand of the Father. I know because he has intervened in my life, done miracles beyond the comprehension of human understanding in my life, both spiritually and physically. I know he is alive, because I have actually heard his voice. I know he is alive, because I have felt his Spirit soaring within me. I serve a risen Savior!
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