The Overwhelming Importance of Believers Knowing and Understanding Jehovah God’s Great and Unconditional Love for Them!

15 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Romans 5:8.          But God commendeth (demonstrated) his own LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Oh boy, it’s Saturday; our lazy-day Saturday where we can do anything we want! Now isn’t that a wonderful feeling? It surely is! Except for those who might have young children or old parents to look after. (smile) But otherwise, we can laze the day away, in bed, on the couch in front of the TV, or just sit in our favourite chair and read a book we’ve been dying to read for ages, but could never find the time during our hectic work week. And thankfully I did get to laze away some of the morning hours in bed. But one thing we must not forget to do though, is offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer, with all sincerity and truth. (smile) 

So please pray with me: ‘‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

And it’s oh so wonderful when we spend time with or ask the Father to help us get to know Him better, because it’s only through greater knowledge of and intimacy with Him, that we’ll ever be able to handle the ups and downs of this strife-filled and angry world. And as I always remind us, our heavenly Father desires nothing more than His human creation seeking to spend intimate time with Him, for that’s one of the reasons He created us in the first place; so that we could commune deeply together. And there’s’ nothing that warms the cockles of His heart like us coming to Him seeking closeness and sincere time with Him. 

And if you don’t believe that God truly LOVES us and wants to be a major part of our lives, then tell me why He’s done all that He’s done for us, when He was not required to do so, especially after our sinful rebellion against Him? But He did it because He created us to spend communal time with Him and He LOVES us more than any of His other creations. Just think on these scriptures nuh, and tell me if what I’m saying isn’t true. 

Hear this first one from Bruh Paul to the church at Rome: ‘For  when we were yet without strength, in due time (at the right time) Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure (perhaps) for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth (demonstrated) his own LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom. 5:6-8) Now that’s one of my favourite scriptures, because it shows how much God really LOVES us, in that He didn’t wait for us to come to Him, like most other supposed gods would, but He came to us through the birth, death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus Christ. 

And I like how this commentary explains it. ‘The saying highlights a contrast between a “righteous” person, who follows the law, and a “good” person, who is seen as noble and selfless. The passage immediately uses this idea to explain that while it is rare for someone to die for a “good” person, God showed his LOVE by having Christ die for “ungodly” people, demonstrating a higher level of LOVE and sacrifice.’ 

And why not eh, since as He tells us in Isaiah: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ (Is. 55:8-9) Therefore it’s not surprising that our magnificent and magnanimous God would do such and unheard of thing like sending His sinless Son to die for bunch of abominable sinners, placing the whole weight of their sin on His shoulders, so that He could reconcile them back to Himself as the righteousness of God in Christ, because of Christ’s payment for their sin. 

Only someone who truly LOVED someone else would ever dream of doing such a heartrending act. But as Jesus said to Nicodemus when he came searching for answers: ‘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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through him might be saved.’ (John 3:16-17) 

Now friends, that’s what true LOVE looks like; sacrificing one’s own heart for an undeserving other. And that’s why Jesus expects those who claim to be His disciples, His followers, to follow His example and sacrifice themselves for others, as He so expressly specifies in the gospel of Luke. ‘If any man will come after (follow) me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.’ (Luke 9:23) That shows that following Jesus is a daily thing. We need to do just like He did, that’s follow the will of His heavenly Father. 

And He said it out loud and clear: ‘For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.’ (John 6:38-40) Yes my faithful brethren, it could not be any clearer than that: The will of the Father, is that everyone who believes in Jesus receives eternal life and will be raised up on the last day. 

And as Jesus said to Martha, shortly before He raised her brother Lazarus from the dead: ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead (may die), yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?’ (John 11:25-26) 

Now that’s a question we would all do well to seriously consider and ponder on this rainy lazy-day Saturday in the middle of November 2025, because our eternal destiny hinges on it. Much LOVE!

…if one reads the scriptures…there’s no doubt of God’s great LOVE for mankind…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

The Remarkable Benefits Believers have Received from the Death and Resurrection of Jesus! Part 2.

26 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

John 11:25.         I am the resurrection, and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead (may die), yet shall he live:

Ah friends, it’s Thursday, the penultimate day of our work week, and it looks like we’ve gotten through the recent heat wave without too much damage! Thank the Lord! And with a li’l rain falling in the early morning hours, and some falling outside right now, it’s helped to give us a cool, but somewhat cloudy day. And as we promised yesterday if God spared our lives, we would continue looking at some of the numerous benefits that His death and resurrection brought us.

Remember, yesterday we read this commentary that gave us a brief insight into some of those things: ‘‘Christ’s death and resurrection offer believers forgiveness of sins, new life, and the hope of eternal life, among other benefits. His sacrifice on the cross atones for our sins, while his resurrection conquers death, granting believers new life and the promise of eternal life.’ And we went through some of the relevant benefits and scriptures.

Today, as time and space permit, we’ll do a few more starting with one we touched on briefly yesterday. That’s reconciliation, or reconnection to God. That’s a major benefit, because our sins had separated us from our heavenly Father, and Christ’s dying and taking them, brought us back into communion with Him. And this passage of scripture touches on several of the things Christ’s sacrifice did for us. And one thing we should note is that it all happened because of God’s great LOVE for us.

Bruh Paul writes: ‘But God commendeth (demonstrated) his LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now (having been) justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, being (having been) reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (reconciliation).’ (Rom. 5:8-11)

Yes friends, in that passage we see God reaching out to us, although we were enemies, to provide reconciliation, salvation and justification through the death and the shed blood of His son. And what is salvation? Salvation is the saving grace of God, as Bruh Paul writes to the Ephesians. ‘For by grace are ye (you have been) saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship (creation), created in Christ Jesus unto (for) good works, which God hath before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them.’  (Eph. 2:8-10)

And the gist of all that is simply that we are saved by the grace or undeserved divine favour of God, it is a gift of God, and we cannot earn it, no matter how hard we try. The fact is, we do good works because we’re expected to once we’re saved. We don’t do good works to be saved. And that’s something we all ought to understand, because many of us still believe doing good works will get us into heaven! Unfortunately it will not. Only faith, or belief in Christ Jesus will do so.

As Jesus said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, before He raised him from the dead. ‘I am the resurrection, and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead (may die), yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?’ (John 11:25-26) Now that’s a very crucial question! For belief and faith in Christ is the only way we will ever experience eternal life. His death paid the atoning price for our sins. ‘For he (God) hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ.’ (1 Cor. 5:21)

And ‘the righteousness of God’ is another benefit we received from Christ’s death and resurrection. Earlier on we talked about being ‘justified by his blood” that’s another benefit. So what’s justification, and what’s the righteousness of God? They are both intertwined, as this commentary explains: ‘Justification is God’s declaration that a person is righteous, not because they are inherently righteous, but because Christ’s righteousness is imputed to them through faith.’ Yes friends, all that we are, all that we have is because of Christ and applied to us because of Him. We have been made righteous, justified, reconciled and sanctified because of His work on the cross.

And sanctified simply means been set apart to do God’s work for a sacred purpose. It’s the process of being made more like Jesus Christ in character and conduct. And it’s a lifelong journey, not a one time event. It calls to mind this verse: ‘Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus.’ (Phil.1:6) Meaning that once God begins changing you into the image of Christ, He will not stop until Christ returns, or He takes you home.

Ah mih people I know it’s difficult to take in and understand all that Christ has done for us, but as the Lord changes us into His image, and we work with Him to do so, we will grow in spiritual maturity and understand more and more, as He raises us from glory to glory. So there’s no need to worry, once we keep God first place and follow the guidance of His Holy Spirit.  And to show His goodness and mercy, God has bestowed on us what we call our Thursday Blessings. Undeserved blessings  to do His earthly work. So, let’s declare and thus activate them right now!

As one strong and sincere voice: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment!

I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection! I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to, will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and every day! Amen!’ 

And having made that declaration, it’s now our bounden duty to use those blessings to help others, just as generously as God shared them with us! Much LOVE!

…unless we have Christ…we have nothing at all…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien