spiritualsnippets.com

Seeing life's events in the light of God's Word.

Oct 29

No More Night

by Brenda Poulos

 

31572084353_d8ff121a37

 

Revelation 22:5– “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

 

 

When I was a youngster, we often played outside with the other kids in our neighborhood. We’d stay out until it started getting dark and our parents would call us inside for supper.

Yes, when the light started to fade, we knew our play time was nearing an end.

The most enjoyable times in life go by much too quickly, don’t they?

But the Bible tells us that an eternal place is being prepared for each of his children who know him as Savior. In heaven we will have unimaginably wonderful experiences that will never end.

No pain or suffering. No boredom. No hunger. No pain.

We will have friendships and laughter.

We won’t need to go to church, because we will live constantly and consciously in God’s presence.

Luke 6:23 says we will “Rejoice…and leap for joy, because great (will be our) reward in heaven.”

And although many of us will know the happiness of having our parents there with us, they won’t be calling us in when it gets dark…

for Jesus, the Light of the World, will be there.

Biblical lessons Encouraging words Uncategorized

Leave a comment »
Oct 22

What Will It Cost?

by Brenda Poulos

16523737936_e91de3e464

Luke 14:28- ““Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”

 

Nothing is ever simple when my husband and I begin a new home renovation, but things go a lot smoother when we can keep “surprises” to a minimum.

That begins with a construction budget. If we leave something out of the original “to-do” list, it can cause sleepless nights later on.

“Counting the cost” in most basic terms is simply good planning. But, I’ve found this concept is applicable to other aspects of our lives, too.

The cost of a lie could be a lost friendship or job. Maybe it leads to contempt of court and jail time.

See the point?

The “cost” of certain actions may be loss of trust or imposed financial penalties. The cost of eating that extra brownie will be measured in pounds and inches.

I’m contemplating actions right now that need to be considered carefully. The affects are sure to be far reaching. The scripture above cautions me to take it slow, count the cost in terms of family dynamics and financial responsibilities, and take it to the Lord in prayer.

Have you a weighty decision to make? Have you counted the cost?

 

Biblical lessons Encouraging words Uncategorized

1 Comment »
Oct 15

The Double Whammy

by Brenda Poulos

14439809762_73c6bd32af

James 4:17- “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

 

If you had it to do all over again, what would you do over again?

Or, what would you not want to do over again?

Lies? Unkind thoughts? Cheating?

What about things you didn’t do? Things you wished you had…

Regrets.

James 4:17 reminds us that it is not only the wrong things we do that are sins, but also the good things we know we should do, but don’t.

Although I have committed my share of overt sins, it is those acts of kindness or promptings by The Holy Spirit to help others that I haven’t acted on that sadden me most.

Oh, sure, I have my reasons for not heeding the prompting of the Holy Spirit. For instance, I might reason that I didn’t give money to a homeless man on the street corner because he looked like he might just use it on drugs. Or, I didn’t fill a bag of clothing for the Veterans because what I had to give wasn’t appropriate for the season.

But, The Holy Spirit tells me that my responsibility is to be obedient. His reasons for nudging me might be to meet someone else’s physical or financial need. Or it could be that his request is about me exercising my faith, believing that he knows what he is doing.

It is my job to simply be an instrument to make that happen—

The Hands and Feet of Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biblical lessons Encouraging words Uncategorized

Leave a comment »
Oct 8

Are You Here, Again?

by Brenda Poulos

32692542294_9b4b6e1640

 

Ephesians 1:13- “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”

 

Think back to the moment in time when you accepted Jesus as your Savior.

I can still feel the exhilaration, the freedom, the joy.

It was an indescribable feeling. Nothing else has ever compared to it.

But, I kept going back.

That’s right. I needed the assurance that this was real—that God wasn’t going to change his mind…that I really was saved.

So, each week, when our pastor gave the invitation, I would walk to the front of the church and meet him at the altar. I saw the quizzical look on his face. He smiled with understanding.

Finally, he called me into his office for a conversation about salvation and explained why I could be assured of it…why I could be confident that I was, indeed, “really saved.”

Yes, salvation IS wonderful. It IS the best news ever. It IS amazing.

But, we don’t need to get saved, again, week after week. We don’t need to constantly pursue that initial feeling we had when the weight of sin was lifted from our shoulders.

We can rest in the assurance that faith in Christ brings.

Biblical lessons Encouraging words Uncategorized

1 Comment »
Oct 1

No More Fear

by Brenda Poulos

 

34546589820_68bb61a969

 

2 Corinthians 5:1-“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

 

3:00. Time to walk the dog.

We do fine on the first lap around the neighborhood. We meet and greet several others, then go on our way.

It’s not long until Baxter slows down.

When he falls behind, I give a tug on his leash.

The other neighborhood dogs run circles around us, walking proudly out in front of their owners. Baxter is quite a few steps behind me, now. I’m coaxing him along—leading him down the block.

Once home, he curls up on the sofa for his third nap of the day.

Yes, at seventeen, our faithful friend is feeling his age.

Every living thing ages, including pets and humans. We slow down. Sleep more. Eat and socialize less.

We tend to like staying home in familiar surroundings, often in our P.J.’s and slippers.

One day, realize we’re ready. Ready to go home.

We embrace the next phase: joining our Lord and our loved ones in heaven.

We claim the Biblical truth: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We don’t fear death because we have the assurance of many scriptures, like the one above.

We claim victory over death because Jesus conquered its hold on us when he defeated Satan at the cross. Our acceptance of eternal life through Christ erases our fear of death and we rejoice as we arrive at our heavenly home.

Biblical lessons Encouraging words Uncategorized

Leave a comment »
Blog at WordPress.com.