Tag: christianity

This month I began a study of First Thessalonians. Today, I was blessed by these words of Paul to his friends at Thessalonica,

 ‘We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”     [I Thessalonians 13]

Paul, remembered before God, the faith of the Christian believers at Thessalonica, and he was encouraged by their triad of faith, hope, and love.

Their goals of faith, love, and hope, all all characteristics, we should all strive to have as Christians. First,

1. Their work was produced by faith in Jesus Christ.

My faith journey began when I gave my heart to Jesus on my 9th Birthday, January l9, 1953. At the end of my mom’s Good News Club, my twin brother and I told our mom we wanted to be saved. She prayed and we prayed and we were born again. Ephesians 2:8, described what happen in two brothers that day.

“For by grace are you saved through faith, not by works but by the gift of God.”

For 72 years, I have lived by faith, not perfectly, but by leaning on the Lord, believing, “faith is the victory, that overcomes the world.” My acrostic for FAITH has been, “Forsaking All, I Trust in Him,” for:

…“without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” [Hebrews 12:6]

These believers at Thessalanicia not only produced work by their faith in Jesus,

2. Their Labor was prompted by their Love for God

When, by faith, we first trust in Jesus, we experience the awesome love of God as stated in John 3:l6:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:l6]

Then after we are saved, we are called to labor prompted by our love for God. What a glorious privilege and calling it is for us share the good news of the Gospel here and around the world, because,

“We love him because he first loved us. If a man says, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” [I John 4:l9-20].

May we like these be New Testament believers, strive to to have “work produced by our faith in Jesus, our labor to be prompted by our love of God, and to have:

3. Their endurance, inspired by Hope, Given by the Holy Spirit.

When we become a Christian, we discover God has a road map for our lives.

Jeremiah 29:11, are the Words of God, saying,

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

After 81 years, I can testify, through these years, God has given me a futureGod gives a future, through hope by the Holy Spirit. Hope comes in the good times, but also in the bad, when we suffer loss.

On August 6, 2025, my beloved 50-year-old son, Mike, went home to be with the Lord. Even though my heart was broken, God, through His Spirit, gave me hope from His Word:

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. [I Thessalonians 4:l3-14]

May we all be remembered, like the Thessalonians, that we demonstrated in our daily living, the foundational Christian virtues of faith, love, and hope.

Thus, Faith begins when we accept Jesus and is essential to please God.

God’s Love is bestowed on us and as a result, we have the privilege to share that love to others.

And Hope gives us added endurance, even in loss, to,”Hold On, Pain Ends. We live in anticipation for a glorious future, and “What a day that will be, When our Jesus we will see. And He takes us by His Hand, and leads us to the other side.” [Jim Hill]

Dear friend,

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”[Romans l5:13]

Friends, share with others, Faith, Hope, and Love. https://youtu.be/qG5kzHyfUHQ?si=pDkzppC0gjqe_zsG

This week, I had the privilege of memorizing Romans 28-30. What amazing, encouraging verses.

Romans 8 was written to Roman Christians experiencing great tribulation and persecution by the wicked, ungodly Roman government. Paul gives these mistreated believers renewed hope in these three verses.

ROMANS 8:28

Paul begins with Romans 8: 28, the fourth most popular verse in the Bible, which gives us the precious promises that,

“…all things work together for them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

The story of Joseph, in the Book of Genesis, clearly demonstrates Romans 8: 28. It was bad when Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, and later cast into prison with false charges. But God took the bad and turned it around for His glory. That bad became good when Joseph became the second highest ruler of Egypt, and was restored again to his father and his brothers.

Many years after he was sold into slavery by his brothers, he stood before his brothers and told them,

“…do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” [Genesis 45:5]

Romans 8: 29-30

These three verses, like “Gold on a chain,” verses 29-30 give five additional promises of marvelous things we will experience, as God works all things together for our good.

Romans 8: 29-30

We were foreknown by God. [29]He set His love on us in eternity past, setting us apart, foreknowing all that would happen, and no matter what, one glorious day, His grace will lead us home.

We were predestined to be like Jesus, before the foundation of the world, to be, “conformed to the image of His Son.” [30] If walk with Jesus, and live a Godly life, those who see us, will not say, “What a great person he is,” but, seeing Christ Image in us, will proclaim, what a Great Savior He serves.”

We are Called by God. When I was nine years old, God convicted and called me to Jesus. [30] On my 9th Birthday, kneeling beside my mom, after her Good News Club, I prayed the sinner’s prayer, and on that day, a “new name was written down in glory.”

Isaiah 43:l, God declares, “I have called you by name; you are mine.”

We are “justified, “[30] just as if we had never sinned.” When we are saved, God moves a willing person from the state of sin [injustice] to the state of grace [justice]. Jesus, “was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification. [Romans 4:25]

We are Glorified: This awesome word, “Glorified,”in the past tense, means God determined in eternity past to liberate our bodies from sin and decay, and shortly, we will share in the glory of Christ. Our resurrected bodies in that new heavens and earth will experience deep fellowship with God for all eternity; that’s, “glorification.”

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Romans 8:28-30 is God’s promise to His Children that “all things will work together for good, for them who love God, and who are called according to His purpose.” “O what a Savior!”Hallelujah!”

Praise God and rejoice in your salvation as Twila Paris sings, “All things work together:” https://youtu.be/utAUKqYQcB4?si=vwWclCUruJY7i8c7

Every day, when I wake up, I marvel at the goodness of God giving me 8l years of life on this beautiful earth. At 81, here are two things I desire the most:

TO KNOW JESUS

At 9, my mom won my twin brother and I to Jesus. Now, 73 years later, my greatest desire is to know more about Jesus, through His Word, in prayer, in creation, and in the lives of those He helps me to love and encourage. The words of this song, “More of You,” speak my heart’s desire in the sunset of my life:

“More of You, more of You

I’ve had it all but what I need Is more of You.

Of things I’ve had my fill, But yet I hunger still;

Empty and bare, Lord hear my prayer, For more of You.” [Gaither]

Paul, the beloved Apostle from a Roman Prison, speaks my thoughts in getting to know Jesus:

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, even made conformable even to His death.” [Philippians 3:10]

TO GO TO HEAVEN

As an advanced senior, my second greatest desire is to go to heaven, to see the “Pearly White City,” built by the Hands of God. How I long to see my son Mike, my son who passed away August 7, 2024, my mom, dad, my brother, and many friends of yesterday, that “great cloud of witnesses, “on the other side. Homecoming Day is just around the corner, and “Heaven, I hope to win.”

Soon and very soon, I’ll see friends and loved ones. But most of all, I will see and kneel before the One who outshines them all, my best friend, JESUS.

“What a day that will be, When my Jesus I shall see.

When I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace.

Then he’ll take me by the hand, and lead me through the Promised Land.

What a day, glorious day that will be. [Jim Hill}

Beloved friends, know this: “The length of our days is in your hands, O Lord. What counts, though, is not how long we live but how we spend those days. Give us wisdom to know how short, how fleeting life really is.” [Joni Eareckson Tada]

Are you discouraged? “Does the place you labor seem so small and little known?” Is all the negativity in this world keeping you downhearted and sad?” Well, here’s some good news, some great news, some glorious news!!

Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 15, that when Christ died and rose again, the “sting of death was removed,” and, “death was swallowed up in victory.”[54-57] Paul concludes in this encouraging chapter, in verse 58:

“Therefore, my dear Brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you, always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

I believe Paul is saying to discouraged, downhearted believers, “Never give up! Oh, Never Give In! Knowing death has been swallowed up in victory, (1) “stand firm [and] let nothing move you, (2) Give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, and (3) Know, your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Easter Sunday, my Pastor said it this way: “That since Christ is risen and we will rise too, we can give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. We can be people of supreme confidence, firm and immovable, even by death and its pressures…”

“…We can jump right into a life of labor for the Lord because it won’t ever be in vain or to no purpose. The hope of the Gospel energizes us to labor diligently in our vocations, serving our family and neighbors wholeheartedly. …” “

“…Because Easter has changed your expectations about life after death, because it has changed your outcome from defeat to victory, you now go about life in a better way, a more confident way, a hope-filled way.”

[Pastor Eric Melso, Living Hope Lutheran, 5/4/25]

Fellow Believers, rejoice with this Good News! “Never Give Up, Oh, Never Give In!”

Now join in with Signature Sound as they sing: “Never Give Up, Never Give In https://youtu.be/xG_6nG-BhLo?si=Yn2chnhq7LVYxDCB…