Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 23 – How to Save a Life
"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.'" -Mark 8:34-35 “Here's one of life's best-kept secrets: If we try to fulfill ourselves by ourselves, or to realize our dreams on our own steam and our
Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 22 – See for Yourself
In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. -Psalm 22:4-5 This Psalm is a continuation of the Psalm (Psalm 22:1) we read on Day 18 where David was expressing his sense of total abandonment from God. In this part of the Psalm he seems to be saying that if his ancestors trusted God and found him faithful, he will also see
Holy Week – Day 7: New Life
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -Galatians 2:20 How are we supposed to view our present life of faith? This passage tells us to look at our present lives as servants of the Lord Jesus. Just as Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried, and then raised to new life,
Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 21 – First Things First
by TJ Bates Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. -Matthew 7:7-8 So does that mean I can ask for a new Jaguar and get it? Hardly. In fact, if my house is straightened up, I wouldn't even ask for it. "Let's put it this way: When the Spirit
Holy Week – Day 6: Good Friday – What’s Good About It?
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. -Isaiah 53:5–6 Our human minds can’t even begin to grasp the enormity of the price Jesus paid for us on the cross. If we did,
Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 20 – Here for a Reason
I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me. -Psalm 57:2 So does that mean that I have a purpose for being here? It isn't just an accident that I'm here? Is God going to help me find and fulfill that purpose? "Not only do we have a purpose in being here, but God himself will fulfill it in and through us. It's not as if we're given a purpose at birth and then told that
Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 19 – Rejoice!
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7 There he goes again—the ever-optimistic Paul! Rejoicing while in prison! How does he manage to do that? "He [Paul] was
Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 18 – When We Feel Forsaken
by TJ Bates "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?" -Psalm 22:1 Have you ever felt forsaken by God and asked this question when praying? Isn't it comforting to know that David felt that way as well? And we know that from reading his other Psalms that he was never really forsaken at all. We read in Your 100 Day Prayer: "What we need to keep
Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 17 – Living Our Purpose
Do I have free will, or am I a puppet with the strings being pulled by God?
Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 16 – Wait in Hope
by TJ Bates via Theology Mix "We wait in hope for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name." -Psalm 33:20-21 As we continue with the 100 Day Prayer, we, too, are waiting and hoping. But are we waiting and hoping in the same way the psalmist is? Dr. Snyder explains what the psalmist is saying in this verse: “The psalmist waits, but he waits for a sure thing. The word
