Oh, how great is Your goodness,
which You have laid up for those
who fear, revere and worship You,
goodness which You have wrought
for those who trust and take refuge
in You before the sons of men!
(Psalm 31.19).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
(I. John 4.18).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
We know that we live in Him and He in us, because
He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and
testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior
of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the
Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we
know and rely on the love of God for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God
in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so
that we will have confidence on the day of judgement,
because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear
in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear
has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not
made perfect in love.
(I. John 4.13-18).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest
named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division
of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of
Aaron. Both were upright in the sight of God’ observing
all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.
But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and
they were both well along in years.
Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving
as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom
of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled
worshipers were praying outside.
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side
of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and
was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid,
Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear
you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and
delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be
great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented
drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many
of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he
will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the righteous- to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man
and my wife is well along in years.”
The angel answered, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and
have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now
you will be silent and not be able to speak until the day this happens,
because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their
proper time.
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why
he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak
to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept
making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this
his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained
in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days
He has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.
(Luke 1.5-25).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power, love and sound mind.
(II. Timothy 1.7).
HALLELUJAH! THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
THE GREAT REST
“And it shall be in that day that the Root of Jesse
shall stand as a signal for the peoples,
of Him shall the nations inquire and seek knowledge,
and His dwelling shall be glory
(His rest glorious)!”
(Isaiah 11.10).
“Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still holds
and is offered today, let us fear to distrust it
lest any of you should come short of reaching it.
For indeed we have had the glad tidings (The Best News Ever)
proclaimed to us just as truly as they (the Israelites of old
did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came
to them), but the message they heard did not
benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith
(with the absolute trust and confidence in God’s
power, wisdom and goodness) by those who heard it,
neither were they united in faith with the ones
(Joshua and Caleb) who heard (did believe).
For we who have believed ( trusted in and relied on God)
do enter that rest in accordance with His declaration that
those who did not believe should not enter when He said,
As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest;
and this He said although (His works had been completed and
prepared and waiting for all who would believe) from the
foundation of the world.
For in a certain place He has said this about the seventh day:
And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.
And they forfeited their part in it, for in this passage He said,
They shall not enter My rest.
Seeing that the promise remains over (from past times) for
some to enter that rest, and that those who formerly were
given the good news about it and the opportunity,
failed to seize it and did not enter because of
disobedience,
Again He sets a definite day, Today, and gives another
opportunity of securing that rest, saying through
David after so long a time in the words already quoted,
Today, if you would hear His voice and when you
hear it, do not harden your hearts.
This mention of a rest was not a reference to their
entering into Canaan. For if Joshua had given them rest,
He (God) would not speak afterward about another day.
So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete
Sabbath-rest reserved for the true people of God;
For he who has entered God’s rest also has ceased
from the (weariness and pain) of human labors,
just as God rested from those labors peculiarly
His own.
Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and
strive diligently to enter that rest (of God,
to know and experience it for ourselves), that no
one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief
and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell).
For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power
(making it active, operative, energizing and
effective); it is sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of
life and spirit, and of joints and marrow, exposing
and sifting, analyzing and judging the very thoughts
and purposes of the heart.
And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight,
but all things are open and exposed, naked
and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.
Inasmuch as we have a High Priest Who has already ascended
and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand
and sympathize with our weaknesses and infirmities and
liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been
tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.
Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near
to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor
to us sinners), that we may receive mercy (for our failures)
and find grace to help in time for every need.”
(Hebrews 4.1-16).
“All things have been entrusted and delivered to Me by my
Father, and no one fully knows the Son except the Father
and no one fully knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son makes Him known.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and
overburdened, and I will cause you
to rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls
For my yoke is wholesome and My burden is light and easy to be
borne.”
(Matthew 11.27-30).
THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOREVERMORE!
LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written: ” For Your sake we are killed
all day long; we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than
conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death
nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come,
Nor height nor depth, nor any other created
thing, shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
( Romans 8.35-39).
PRAYER AND MEDITATION POINTS
Pray and meditate on the following:
1) The love of God is found fully expressed
and experienced in Christ Jesus or Lord.
2) Nothing can ever separate us from His love.
PERFECT LOVE
Whoever confesses that Jesus is
the Son of God, God abides in him,
and he in God.
And we have known and believed
the love that God has for us.
God is love,and he who abides
in love abides in God, and God
in him.
Love has been perfected among
us in this: that we may have
boldness in the day of judgement;
because as He is, so are we in
this world.There is no fear in love; but perfect
love casts out fear, because fear involves
torment. But he who fears
has not been made perfect in love.
We love Him because He first loved us.
(I. John4:15-19).