Bible Verse of the Day Friday June 24th 2022

 Acts 3:19-20 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.

Every so often, we may find ourselves veering off the pathway of our walk with Christ Jesus. Stimulating and Uplifting times come when we surrender our hearts and lives to live for God, following His will and way instead of the worldly highway. Our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus has promised He will be with us every step of our lives as we live for Him (John 14:15-21). He will make His home with us until the day He returns and takes all His Children home for eternity.

When God offers forgiveness, He thoroughly cleans our slate. Luke was talking to the Jews on an individual basis here, not the nation of Israel in general. The forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life are offered individually. We sometimes hear that we need to bring our country back to God. This movement would be a great mission to cause a revival that the world has never experienced. However, God’s plan is for the followers of Jesus to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, winning souls for Christ one soul at a time (Acts 1:8).

The only way to get onboard the gospel train headed for eternity is to accept what Jesus did on the Cross on our behalf. We must first admit that we are a sinner (Romans 3:10), and no work can save us, not even Baptism. Then we must place our faith and trust in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. When we do that, God will fill us with the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct our every step. At that point, we have a choice. The amount of surrender we give to God is the amount of the Holy Spirit that will be made available to us. If we decide we want to ride the fence between Jesus and Satan and give only fifty percent of ourselves to The Holy Spirit, He will provide us with fifty percent in return. On the other hand, if we surrender our heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit fully,100 percent, the Holy Spirit will be ours completely, 100 percent.

Repentance is not some feeling of regret or grief about what we might have done against God. Repentance is the act of turning around; it is a complete and total reversal of our lives. Repentance is not an act of changing our ways but changing our minds. When a person repents and changes their minds about sin, there will naturally be a change of lifestyle. The reason for this is sin, and its worldly ways will no longer be fun or desirable. Because sin brings condemnation, this is known as being under conviction.