a spiritual exercise for your encouragement
we've asked our small group (as some of you blog readers know) to encourage one another this week through verses of Scripture, and i thought it would be good to share this exercise with you.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. ~Romans 6:11
as this is such an important command for us, i thought we could practice together remembering what it means to be "alive to God in Christ Jesus". specifically, i'd love to see comments posted with verses about the promises of Christ which are now true to us because we are in Christ Jesus (i.e. the blessings we have b/c we are in Christ, the privileges we have b/c we are His children, etc.).
Here are two I found this morning:
2 Corinthians 19-20: For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
Ephesians 2:14-18: For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in His flesh the law with is commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
posted by Ramona @ 4:43 PM
2 Comments:
look for a forthcoming post on my blog regarding this verse. as i've learned from lecturing and being a student, it always helps to have examples of the theory i'm trying to learn or teach.
thanks for your encouragement!
I was hoping to come back after a few days and find a ton of encouraging verses and comments to read. Instead, I now realize that for that to happen people will have to contribute. So here goes.
I was looking at John 16, which is full of Jesus saying things like "I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices" and "They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God".
Yet even in the midst of such dire words, Jesus was quick to continue with other words. Things like "You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy".
(I thought that was especially appropriate for Ramona.)
Perhaps more relevant to the here and now:
I was looking at Matthew 7 where Jesus says "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
I think we can be encouraged that God has our best interests in mind and is looking out for us. Things may not seem to be really awesome right now, but God's got you covered.
-DC
(Sorry, that was a bit rushed)
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