Hello dear readers.
I hope this day finds you well! If not, may you have the grace to get through it well –but what is grace?
We all need grace! Have you ever wondered, “Why do bad things happen –Why do people get sick and die?”
We all need grace, but do we deserve grace –or, is Grace a gift? Do you have to work for a gift; perhaps earn it or buy it? Not really –if it is a true gift! A gift is free and given because of love! God’s grace is free and given to us because of His love for us! And, with any gift, we need to take it … and it is by faith that we believe in the love that gave the gift!
Let us begin with prayer!
Father I thank you that you always hear my prayers and I thank you for your grace! We praise your wonderful Name! I ask you Father to open our hearts to hear your message to us in the way you know we need. Jesus thank you for being near and thank you for the gift of grace and the power of the Holy Spirit! In Jesus Name, Amen.
Why do bad things happen? Why do people get sick and die? Why do people hurt each other –why is there so much sadness in the world? To answer that –we have to go back a long, long time ago and learn about when Sin Entered the World!
We can learn, believe and know that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).” And, everything was good!
Day by Day, God Created a beautiful and perfect place for us to live in (with everything we could ever need; or want –and it was good and ready to live in)!
On day 6 God Created animals!
And, now God’s Creation was ready! But, Ready for what -you may wonder? The simple answer is to live and have a relationship with God … for God to know you and for you to know God!!!
Why would God go into such detail to make the world so beautiful and complete with all the ingredients to meet our every need? The answer is because of God’s love for you and me!
Here’s a question I hear sometimes: If God loves us so, then why would God allow sin to enter into the world? If you can think of what your life would be like without the choice to love God, Can you really imagine a rule that you had to love God? God loved us so much that He gave us a free will to choose to love Him.
On day 6, in addition to the animals, God also Created someone very special to Him –Adam -the 1st man!
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7 KJV).”
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day (Genesis 1:31).”
And, you probably know the rest of this story? God made Eve from Adam’s rib!
20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man (Genesis 2:20-22).”
“Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame (Genesis 2:25).”
IN THE BEGINNING, there was no shame and everything was good! And, of all the wonderful gifts God gave to Adam, the most precious gift that God gave to man was of Himself!
God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden! But then, Adam and Eve disobeyed God. They hurt God and mankind; and sin entered the world.
God didn’t make a bunch of rules and regulations to live with Him! God only gave Adam one rule to obey! We do have a free will; so God has given us a free will to love Him –still today!
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die (Genesis 2:15-16).”
God walked and talked with Adam in the garden!!! Now, when sin entered the world –yes, indeed things changed!!! Sin did bring eventual and inevidiable death to all things –We do in fact die! Yet, the worst death happened immediately! Sin brought a spiritual death to mankind, which is a separation from our Holy God! But God still loved Adam and Eve! God had a plan of restoration to LIFE with God, by HIS Grace, and because of HIS great mercy and love for us!!!
And, I don’t want to leave this place yet in talking about how God walked with Adam in the Garden –until I share this message / promise to you that is from God’s Word; and that is for you and me to know too!
Sin entered the world through Adam and separation happened between man and God, but God made a promise to send a Savior to the world!
“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people (Leviticus 26:12).
Now, are you ready to dive into God’s Word?
“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17, NLT).”
And now for such a wonderful Scripture!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8 (ESV).”
If you believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, was buried and 3 days later rose from the dead, then you are saved by God’s grace! God didn’t make His plan of Salvation complicated either, because of His love for us!
Now, Confess your sins and sin no more … Perhaps you wonder, but how???
Jesus makes us free from sin!
The Holy Spirit helps us say no to the “want to” sin nature that we are born into from all the way back to when Adam’s eyes were opened to realize He was naked, when the 1st man disobeyed God and sinned!
Now, our purpose is telling about the miracle God did for us through Jesus! Once we have been saved by Grace, we can go and tell the good news of Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
Jesus is Alive and God has sent us a helper, the Holy Spirit, because God also has a plan for you:
reading on from Ephesians 2:8, sometimes people get confused about grace: 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesian 2:9).
I will stop right here! Father, I pray that this message has inspired someone to believe and be saved from the penalty of the sin that has come into this world … to believe that Jesus took that punishment on the cross for them! I pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire many to reach to Jesus for their purpose! I ask the Holy Spirit to reveal this truth to the hearts of those who have not believed in Jesus to seek the Truth from you that you have written to us about Your Son, Jesus. For those of us who have believed that Jesus took the punishment in our place and for us –not that we deserved this gift, but by grace –We are saved through faith … and Jesus can make us free from sin; I pray that we please you and bring honor and glory to your Name sake! Father, I ask you to reveal this understanding to those in need of your knowledge that, because of Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey you, it was man who sinned against you; and now in this world we have knowledge of good and evil and we need Jesus. I pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the beauty in the goodness in your WORD (living and written). I pray that many will seek to know the character of the trinity; and the power of God that is in the Holy Spirit, whom overshadows that “want to” sin nature that is tempted from the unholy spirit. Amen.
Why do bad things happen? Because sin entered the world! However, there is HOPE in Today!
What is Grace? A gift from God because God so loved the world that HE gave His one and only Son. That if you just believe, you shall not perish, but have everlasting life!
Thank you Jesus for living in me! I pray that you draw near to those reading, so that they too can know (and experience) that your love is for all who will believe!
Love in Christ,
Karen Rowe
Hope in Today Ministries, Inc (I prayed, “How can I tell a million people what I know about Jesus?” And God showed me that I had a ministry and HE called it “Hope in Today”! Praise God!
God revealed things to me (I prayed, “God what do you want me to do?” And God revealed to me that I was not ready yet –that I had to learn! For over Ten years (and still counting), I read the Bible with God as HE taught me about HIS love through His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit!
Then, I prayed, “God if you are serious about me writing a book, then I will go inside and get a pencil and piece of paper and I will write the words that you want me to say.” I wrote 2 pages that day –God Gave me the beginning the end and He was with me through it all! Just like He promised –and He called this book, “The Train Whistle, Sounding the call of God’s Love!”
www.hopeintoday.com The links to how to get your copy of this book are on the footer of the Hope in Today Ministries’ web page! But we also gift this book if you have a need –or know someone who wants to believe and grow in faith! Ask me & see what God’s Grace will do: karen@hopeintoday.com
PS: As I was searching Scriptures Today, I found something wonderful! Next time, perhaps I will share my testimony about when the “Streams of Water come up out of the ground!” Or, if you have questions, please feel free to write me!
From Genesis 2:5-6 “5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.”
See my testimony in The Train Whistle, Page 46 “However in just a few more steps and immediate to my left miraculous streams of water just came up out of the ground and formed a total of nine arches that were completed in three patterns. Nothing in this world could imitate what God had done! …Then years later, I find in the Bible (Genesis 2:6)!
