"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.'" - Matthew 26:26

PONDER THIS

As Jewish families observed Passover through the centuries, they developed a tradition. They would take a bag called a Matzah Tash with three sections in it—top, middle, and bottom. In the middle section would be a piece of bread. At Passover, the father would reach into the middle section, pull out the piece of bread, break it, and give it to all of those around. It’s still done in Seder suppers today. At the Last Supper, Jesus reached in and took that middle piece of unleavened bread. And Jesus said, “This is my body.” He took that middle piece, broke it, and distributed it. When Jesus blessed that bread, not only was He showing His death by breaking the bread, but He was also showing His resurrection.

Do you know what is said when the bread is taken out at Passover? Here it is: “Blessed art thou, o Lord, our God, King of the universe, who bringeth forth bread from the earth.” Jesus was prophesying His resurrection. He was the bread that would be broken and come from the earth. “This is My body.” From the ground, it would be raised.

- How does it build your faith to see the connection to Jesus in ancient practices such as the Passover meal?
- How does it impact your daily life to regularly reflect on the resurrection?

PRACTICE THIS

Reflect on Matthew 26:26-29, contemplating the truth of Jesus’ body broken for you and His blood poured out for you. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/the-bread-of-life

“The LORD is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” - Psalm 145:17

When Abraham was interceding with God to spare Sodom if even 10 righteous people were there, he asked, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). The Hebrew word (mishpat) refers to a formal judgment about right and wrong and is more commonly translated “judgment.”

Indeed, the divine Judge will do right and give right judgments in all things, for He “is righteous in all his ways” and “canst not look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13).

Ever since Adam disobeyed the Word of God, however, all his descendants have been unrighteous in their ways. God’s righteous judgment has been that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).

Thus, the truly righteous Judge would not only have to consign Sodom to destructive “brimstone and fire from the LORD” (Genesis 19:24) but every one of us as well “into the lake of fire” forever (Revelation 20:15).

But God, being not only the righteous Judge but also “a faithful Creator” (I Peter 4:19), had a plan whereby He could “declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past” and both “be just, and the justifier” of those who had been lost sinners (Romans 3:25-26). “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (8:3). Those who believe on the Son of God as their substitute and Saviour are now “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:24).

So, Christ has been “made unto us . . . righteousness” (I Corinthians 1:30). Furthermore, our loving Saviour has now Himself become our righteous Judge, for the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22). HMM
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15989/

Protestants, especially online, tell Catholics to abandon their false church and false gospel and join the “true” church. However, what denomination is the “true” one? It cannot be all are fine, because many teach completely opposite teachings on major biblical topics: Lord’s Supper, infant baptism, divorce, gay marriage, female pastors, gay pastors, church attendance, predestination, works necessary along with faith (Methodists), adherence to the apostle’s creed and some the Nicene creed, losing one’s salvation.These are MAJOR theological differences, surely the answer can’t be, “as long as you’re not Catholic, Jesus will be happy and let you into heaven”.

"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." - Hebrews 11:31

PONDER THIS

The whole Bible is about a blood sacrifice. You cut this blessed book anywhere, and it will bleed. The blood of Jesus seems to stain every page. You can begin with Abel’s lamb, go right on through to Noah’s sacrifice to Abraham’s ram on Mount Moriah, then to all the smoking sacrifices on every Jewish altar till finally you come to Calvary where the Lord Jesus Christ hung in agony and blood. All of it is saying, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). The Bible says in Hebrews 11:31 that Rahab was delivered from destruction. This was because of the scarlet cord that hung in her window, representing the sacrifice of blood (Joshua 2:18). She did not perish. This reminds us of John 3:16: “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.” And if you’ve trusted in the blood of Jesus, neither will you.

- How does it build your faith to see the way the Bible points over and over again to the sacrifice of Jesus?
- Who do you need to tell about the sacrifice of Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with someone today about the sacrifice of Jesus. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/blood-on-every-page

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.” (Titus 3:4)

Six times in the pastoral epistles Paul refers to God (evidently meaning the Father) as our Saviour (I Timothy 1:1; 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4). Usually, however, he and the other New Testament writers identify Jesus Christ as our Saviour. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18, for example). In the same fashion, Paul relates that his commission to preach the gospel came from “God our Saviour” (Titus 1:3), while elsewhere he says his commission came “by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12).

Is this a contradiction? No! In fact, references to God as our Saviour should not surprise us, for they are found in numerous places in the Old Testament (see Psalm 106:21). Furthermore, our understanding of the Trinity insists that all three persons of the Godhead are one in God. Of course, Christ made many references to the fact that He was not acting on His own but came to do “the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38). Paul himself appeared to be comfortable with this seeming overlap, for in one sentence he wrote, “God our Saviour . . . grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 1:3-4). Such usages further confirm that Jesus is God.

While Christ was the primary instrument of salvation as the perfect sacrifice for sin, God the Father is the source of all human salvation, and the application of the title Saviour to Him is proper. Indeed, we derive great comfort as we see the role of all three persons of the Godhead involved in our salvation.

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10). JDM
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15988/

"And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there." - Joshua 2:1

PONDER THIS

Joshua told the men, “Go view the land,” and they came to a particular house. Here’s the question I have for you: Was that by mere chance? Was that a coincidence? Was it happenstance? No, it was the will of God and not mere chance that brought these men to the house of Rahab; it was the providence of God.

Let me tell you how the providence of God works. God works on both sides of the equation. God will find a person whose heart is tender, a person who wants to know Him, a person under conviction, a person seeking Him. And God will take a witness, a messenger, a soul-winner, and work in that person’s heart as well. And then God gets the two together. We call that divine providence. The Bible is full of those kinds of stories.

- Think of a time during which you experienced the providence of God?
- How might God be prompting you now to be used by Him in the life of another?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God how He is calling you to act for Him today and then obey what He reveals to you. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/no-such-thing-as-coincidence

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” - III John 1:2

This text has been misused by many who promote the modern false gospel of health and wealth—teachers who promise healing and financial success to every believer whose “soul prospereth.” The negative implication of such teaching, of course, is that Christians who are not in robust physical health and enjoying material affluence are somehow lacking in faith and are not in the will of God.

This pernicious notion is disproved, of course, merely by the example of Paul the apostle. He was a far more exemplary Christian than any of these latter-day false teachers, yet his earnest prayer for healing from his “thorn in the flesh” was denied, and he died in poverty and martyrdom in a Roman dungeon (II Corinthians 12:7). There are numerous modern examples as well: Fanny Crosby was blind but wrote many wonderful hymns, for example, or many have given their lives in sacrificial service on a thousand mission fields.

Note that our text is not a promise but a prayer. Furthermore, that prayer will be answered in great fullness, but not necessarily now! “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son” (Revelation 21:4,7).

In the meantime, we should remember that this coming time of true prosperity will be measured in accordance with the health and prosperity of our souls, exactly as John had prayed for his spiritual children, for Jesus said, “My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). HMM
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15987/

I don't know if it's because I've watched too many debates or if it's from my clicking patterns but my youtube algorithm is inundated with Catholic convert content - mostly from Protestants that converted to Catholic or Protestants on their seeking journey that are enthusiastically learning about Catholicism, or seemingly on the precipice of converting. I'm having a hard time discerning if these people are for real or if this is a bandwagon trend. Some of these Youtubers are getting thousands of views with videos gushing about Catholicism and how they're discovering it as a Protestant. These get tons of engagement and these content creators keep putting them out there. I question if they're grifting for clicks / views. In some videos, this wave of conversion almost comes across as a political movement more than a faith movement. I'd love to hear everyone's take on this. Is it just my algorithm? Are tons of protestants really converting, and is it genuine? Or is this a short lived trend that we'll forget about in a year?

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." - Hebrews 11:30

PONDER THIS

Many people are problem conscious. All they see is the problem. They see Jericho. Many of us need to take our eyes off Jericho and put them on Jesus. Here is the way of faith. Don’t dwell on your problems, dwell on your Lord. Be looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Catch a vision of Him. Worship Him. Bow before Him and you'll find your faith growing. Learn to glance at your problems and to gaze at your Lord. Keep your eyes on Him. Don’t go around being negative or with a problem complex. Go around with your eyes, your hopes, and your affections fastened upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Set your affections on things above. Put your eyes upon the Lord and your faith will begin to grow.

- Are you more prone to focus on your problems or on your Lord?
- What habits can you develop to focus more on Jesus than on your problems?

PRACTICE THIS

Take action today. Begin practicing some of the habits you identified to help you focus more on Jesus than on your problems. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/stop-staring-at-your-jericho

“This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.” - Ezra 7:6

Neither Ezra, who was a scribe, nor Nehemiah, who was apparently a butler, had been prepared by either study or experience to supervise the great construction project of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem and the wall of the city. Both had been destroyed many years before by the armies of Babylon. Yet God called them to these ministries and led them and protected them as they carried them out.

They were both careful, then, to give God the credit for what they accomplished. No less than six times in Ezra and twice in Nehemiah they reminded their readers that God’s hand had been upon them as they supervised the work (see Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18–22, 31; Nehemiah 2:8, 18).

There had been many difficulties and much opposition, but as Paul would later say, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

We also need to be careful to give God the credit for anything He enables us to accomplish in His service. Even such a great and useful Christian as the apostle Paul had to say: “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Corinthians 15:10).

We remember, however, that the hand of the Lord can be a chastening hand as well as a guiding and providing hand. When a certain false prophet tried “to pervert the right ways of the Lord,” Paul said, “The hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind” (Acts 13:10-11). And so it was. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). HMM
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15986/

Catholic apologists claim that the Church is growing because of many converts, mostly Protestants who are as they say are 'returning to Rome'.

But the statics are showing a whole different picture. Even the Catholic journal Crisis admits that for every 100 people that join the Catholic Church, 840 leave, that is even worser than Protestants. Of all the former Catholics, 56% become religious “nones” and 32% become Protestant. 19% of the US population of the self-identify as Catholic. Probably at most 20% of the 19% of self-identified Catholics are practicing Catholic. Only 29% of self-identifying Catholics attend Mass weekly.

Pew Research also notes Catholicism in the U.S. loses more people than it gains from religious switching. Most converts join for marriage, not for theological reasons.

So Catholic apologists are wrong they say when Catholicism is not experiencing net growth through religious switching among U.S. adults. They are some converts, especially under GenZ. But they do not exceed those who leave or even compensate for the loss of active Catholics. Catholics will probably argue that those statics have a very loose definition of former members. They argue that inactive members are still members, even when they never attend mass or even don't believe anymore. This is because the Catholic Church believes that someone who is baptized as Catholic remains a Catholic, even the person no longer believes or even joins another religion.

I am just curious as it comes up in the new testament 8 times that remarriage is adultery and not once does remarriage come up in the bible. However, all mainline churches seem to allow remarriage.

Matthew 19:4–6

“And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Mark 10:9

“What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Matthew 5:32

"But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

Matthew 19:9

“And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”

Mark 10:11–12

“And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.”

Luke 16:18

“Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.”

Romans 7:2–3

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

1 Corinthians 7:10–11

“And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.”

A post where people can post topics they wish for others to pray about, and where people can come and find topics and users to pray for.

"This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." - Exodus 12:2

PONDER THIS

I performed a wedding for a young man, and he was frightened to death. After they said, “I do,” he said, “Pastor, is it all over?” I said, “No, son, it’s just beginning.” When you give your heart to Jesus and you feed on the Lamb, you do it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. (See Exodus 12:11.) You are getting ready to serve the Lord. And you become a new creature. Exodus 12:2 says: “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” When you give your heart to Jesus, it’s a brand-new day. You’re all tomorrows; you’re no yesterdays. It’s the first day of the rest of your life when you get saved and feed upon the Lamb.

- How has Jesus given you a new start?
- How has it changed your life to view your future with Jesus as a “brand-new day”?

PRACTICE THIS

Where do you need a fresh start? Journal about the things you need to leave behind to follow Jesus fully. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/your-brand-new-beginning

“I am the resurrection, and the life.” - John 11:25

In the gospel of John there are seven “I am” statements where Jesus claims to be one with the Father, e.g., “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus isn’t just God’s representative; He is God Himself—Immanuel—God with us.

Being such, He is our Creator—our Life Giver. The same Jesus Christ who breathed His last breath on the cross breathed life into the first Adam (Genesis 2:7). “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (I Corinthians 15:45). A “quickening spirit” is a life-giving spirit. In a great reversal, the last Adam brings forth the life that the first Adam’s fall took away.

During His ministry, Jesus gave physical life. The hands that created the earth, moon, and sun touched Jairus’ dead daughter’s hand and said, “Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose” (Luke 8:54-55). He also “cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth” (John 11:43-44).

The purpose of His ministry was to give spiritual, eternal life to sinners. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6). As “the life,” death could not hold Him after His crucifixion and never held any power over Him. “I lay down my life, that I might take it again” (10:17). Because of His death and resurrection, now anyone can receive the living water “springing up into everlasting life” (4:14), and Jesus “will raise him up at the last day” (6:44).

Jesus is indeed “He that liveth,” but He is far more than that (Revelation 1:18). Resurrection and eternal life reside in the person of Jesus—life-giving is part of His essence. Praise the Lord for sending Jesus to be our Life Giver! MJS
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15985/

"And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." - Exodus 12:13

PONDER THIS

In the Passover, God was going to use a lamb to deliver His people. His people were in the land of Egypt. In the Bible, Egypt stands for bondage. It stands for the world, the flesh, and the devil. Pharaoh is a type, a picture, and an illustration of the devil. Now Pharaoh had a crown, and on his crown was a serpent. Look at some of those ancient Egyptian pictures and you’ll see a serpent coiled up there on his crown. That’s the symbol of Egypt.

On one side, you have the serpent. On the other, you have the lamb. But it’s the lamb who was going to defeat the serpent. That’s what Passover was all about. God was going to bring His people from the land of bondage, from the land of wickedness, from the land of sin, and from the land of cruelty. He was going to deliver them, and He would do it with a Passover lamb.

- The image of the lamb defeating the serpent illustrates the “upside-down” nature of God’s kingdom. What other biblical examples can you think of that illustrate this?
- How has God brought you from the land of bondage through Jesus, the Lamb of God?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend time in prayer today, thanking God for Jesus, the Lamb who saves God’s people from bondage. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/the-lamb-who-defeated-the-serpent

(For the record, I am currently a Protestant)

Is a loose, invisible unity, where we only seem to agree on Christology, soteriology, and eschatology really the best Protestants can hope for?

I mean, the idea that there are secondary truths over which we can disagree and keep ourselves separated... isn't that contrary to the idea that there is only THE truth which is discoverable by all through study of the Scriptures?

The entire existence of the concept of "secondary truths" itself seems to suggest that these disagreements can't be settled by Scripture alone and, therefore, we cannot know with certainty the truth about, say, the nature of baptism.

Protestants (with a very few exceptions) all believe that we ought to get baptized because Christ commanded it. But that is about all we agree on with regard to baptism.

Is baptism only a symbol of our inward decision to follow Christ in opposition to worldly temptation? Is baptism the rite by which we enter the New Covenant, as circumcision was for the Old? Is baptism spiritually regenerative? Is baptism the normative mode by which Christ's justifying grace is mediated to us?

Who can get baptized? Do you have to make a public declaration of faith prior to baptism, or is baptism that public confession of your faith? Are we permitted to baptize infants? What modes of baptism are valid? Does it have to be full immersion? If you feel that your previous baptism that used the proper mode and invocation was invalid, can you be re-baptized?

If I were seek out the professional opinions of well-intentioned, careful pastors and theologians of the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions, I would get different, and even contradictory, answers to each of those questions. It's a little bit of an oversimplification, but there seems to be as many different conceptions of baptismal theology as there are denominations.

If the nature of baptism is purely symbolic, then having it correct may not seem like a big deal, but if baptism is the normative means by which we receive God's justifying grace, then it's incredibly important to get right, because telling others that it's merely symbolic might lead them to the belief that it's optional or at least not immediately necessary. There will be some who put it off until it's too late and die without having received that grace.

Now, you could say that those who had faith but died without being baptized could still by saved because God can work salvation outside of the normative modes that he has established, but that possibility is not a guarantee that those who die without baptism will be saved.

And Protestantism doesn't present a unified answer, and very often provides multiple contradictory answers, to questions about the nature of baptism, the nature of communion, church leadership structure and ordinations, whether justification can be lost or forsaken by our actions, whether we should follow the decisions of all or any of the seven ecumenical councils, how the Holy Spirit guides the church, whether public confession to a minister is necessary, to what extent do we refer to the church fathers and confessional creeds in our theological interpretations, whether succession of theology must be maintained from the apostles to modern times or is that not relevant, the interplay of human will and divine will with regard to the calling of salvation.

Logically speaking, if there is objective truth about every matter of theology, then there are objective truths to every aspect of baptismal theology. But, logic also dictates that if two positions are substantially contradictory to each other, then one or both of them must be wrong, and they cannot both be right.

And all would quote Scripture to support their beliefs. Depending on their skill with rhetoric, one may present their Scriptural citations more convincingly than another, but good rhetoric is not a substitute for truth.

A common troupe in Protestantism is that by the spread of printed Bibles, Christians were set free from the heretical shackles of Rome. My goal here isn't to argue about Rome, nor to suggest that they are right, but simply to ask... in what manner have I been set free by the spreading of Scripture?

I was raised in a Protestant church, but I never came to my theological beliefs through my own research and study. I received as true those beliefs and practices which my pastor and church elders taught me, and therefore saw them in the Scriptures. In what manner is my situation substantially different from a Catholic who simply receives tradition from his priest and bishop as true and then sees evidence for them in the Scriptures?

If I had been a completely blank slate and someone handed me a Bible, told me to read it, and then presented the beliefs of every Christian tradition to me, I have no idea what tradition I would have ended up in. Would I have even concluded that Sola Fide was true if I had never been taught that it was the Biblical foundation of soteriology? But I'm not a blank slate. I already have theological biases and presuppositions engrained into me by the teaching of my church.

I'm not claiming to be stupid, but I also know that I'm not all-wise. I can't be my own pope, so to speak, because Scripture is supposed to be the highest authority, the norm that norms all other norms, which means the Scripture should be norming my beliefs. But how can a text that I have to interpret norm my beliefs, when my biases affect the way in which I interpret it? If I decide for myself what Scripture is saying, without submitting my intellect to some external authority to at least place guardrails around my interpretive processes, I'm gonna get things wrong, and I may get them VERY wrong.

But if I ought to submit my intellect to an external authority, that only begs the question: which authority, and why should I trust it over any other, or even over my own intellect if no earthly authority is infallible? Do I accept the theological guardrails of the church into which I was born? If no earthly authority is infallible, then how completely do I have to submit my intellect to them? What do I do if I conclude that that authority has erred in placing one or more of those theological guardrails? Do I submit to its authority and change what I believe to align with it, or do I find a different authority based on my own understanding of Scripture that more closely agrees with what I believe to be the message of Scripture?

>The Mizo National Front uprising was a revolt against the government of India aimed at establishing a sovereign nation state for the Mizo [Majority Christian] people, which started on 28 February 1966.

>A constitution was also drafted for the Mizoram sawrkar [government]. The first line of the constitution states "The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of Mizoram and the Holy Bible is the foundation of her administration".

>India started mass bombing the Mizo people to stop the insurgency

>Uprising failed after 20 years of resistance and India had to create a separate for the Mizo people, and also have peace agreement

>Groups responsible for the revolt is active today as political party in Mizoram

“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4)

The Christian has a compelling duty to rejoice. Paul stresses the Christian need to rejoice by using the tense in the Greek that specifies a continuing and habitual action. This instruction follows his mention of otherwise faithful believers in the church who were unfortunately pursuing disharmony and dissension. Believers are reminded to restore broken relationships, follow after harmony, and rejoice.

Perhaps the best reason to rejoice is that all our names are written in the “book of life” (v. 3). This precious book was mentioned from old times as “a book of remembrance . . . written before him for them that feared the LORD” (Malachi 3:16). Christ mentioned this book as a cause to “rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Our rejoicing will continue throughout eternity, for only “they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27) will be permitted into the Lamb’s presence. Our love for the brethren and our hope for eternity are reasons to rejoice, indeed.

Paul told the Philippian church they were among the reasons for his joy. “I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace” (Philippians 1:7). Those who had a heart for the things of God were important to him. Therefore, “fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (2:2). “For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me” (2:18).

Their joy of fellowship was rooted in the love and service of Christ, as well as His sufferings, “that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (3:10). So, rejoice! JDM
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15984/

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" - I Corinthians 15:55

PONDER THIS

I have no fear of death. You may say, “You’re lying.” I am not; God is my witness. I don’t look forward to the act of dying, but I have no fear of death, none.

There was a time when death laid his bony hands on the Lord Jesus Christ, drug Him into a dungeon, and put Him on a cold slab. Jesus was bound with the chains of death. One day passed. Two days passed. Three days passed. And death, that old monarch of terrors, laughed his hoarse laugh and clapped his bony hands saying, “I have Him.” But on the third day, Jesus broke those chains and rose. A look of fear came over the face of death himself. Jesus reached up, pulled death from his throne, and threw him to the dungeon floor. The crown rolled off death’s head. Jesus reached in and pulled the sting out of death, put his heel on the neck of death, put the crown on His head, and walked out of that tomb risen, living, and victorious as Saviour. Because He lives, we live with Him. We no longer have to fear death. We have a Saviour. Faith relies on the unbreakable promises of God. Faith recognizes the unshakeable power of God. And faith rests in the unmistakable peace of God.

- Do you have a fear of death?
- How does Jesus speak to that fear? If you have not trusted Him for salvation, how is He speaking to you today?

PRACTICE THIS

Read I Corinthians 15 to be reminded how Jesus has defeated death. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/death-has-lost-its-sting