September 5st
By Riqui Ricón*
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one
who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by
believing in me will never die. Do you believe
this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied,
“I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” (John 11:25-27 NIV)
How beautiful
it is to know that God loves
you so much that He preferred
to give up His own Son, to pay for all your sins, rather than lose you.
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 KJV)
But even more
beautiful than knowing that God loves you so much is to BELIEVE it, to have full assurance
of it, for to the one who believes, ALL things
are possible.
The key to the
Gospel, the Good News, lies in your faith—that is, having the certainty that
God’s will for you has always been good, pleasing, and perfect. Before time existed, He already loved
you and it has always been His desire
to have you by His side. He designed and created the universe to share
it with you, so His purpose in calling you into existence is, obviously, to
have fellowship with you!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will. (Ephesians
1:3-5 KJV)
You were created to enjoy God’s
company and also for Him to enjoy you. So, because of that purpose
and the love God feels for you, He solved
the problem of sin and the
death that sin produces, and He solved it once and for all by giving you the
Eternal Life of His own Son through the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to
holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans
6:22-23 NIV)
Do you realize?
It’s about the Eternal Life of the Son of God! And only the Lord
Jesus can give it to
you.
Therefore doth my Father love me, because
I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my
Father. (John 10:17-18 KJV)
Your
adversary, the devil, has tried by every possible means to diminish the Power of Eternal Life before your eyes, so that you think and
believe it is just a mere
religious concept, vague
and undefined. But this is NOT so, and today is a good day to reflect on it. Eternal
Life is the very Life of Christ
Jesus. Only God is
Eternal (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). So Eternal Life is
an exclusive attribute
of the divinity of Jesus.
My
sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. (John 10:27-28 KJV)
Jesus conquered death and has extended an invitation to you to be part of His Family, so that you may be a true and
legitimate Child of God, Born Again.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may
have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10
NIV)
Now, the truly amazing
thing about the Gospel is that all this was purchased
for you and is available to you through faith.
And this, faith,
is nothing more than believing the Word of God.
Believing that God does not lie and that everything He says is Truth.
Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through
Christ Jesus the law of the
Spirit who gives life has set you free
from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2 NIV)
This is so true that Jesus, the Son of God, the Lord and Savior
of all humanity, affirms to
you categorically today:
I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and
whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Eternal Life has been granted to you!
Everyone who believes
that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God. (1 John 5:1a NIV)
By your faith, by believing God and believing His Word, you have been born of God!
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable,
through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23
NIV)
By your faith, by believing God and believing His Word, you are now a Child
of God, Born Again, made Eternal by the Word of God!
Also, elsewhere, Scripture says: “I will put my trust in him.” And again he says, “Here am I, and the
children God has given me.” Since the children have flesh and blood,
he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the
power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held
in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews
2:13-15 NIV)
Sin and death have been defeated
by Christ Jesus! He did it out of
love for you, to free you from that slavery caused by the fear of death.
You can stop being afraid of death because death has no hold on you anymore.
You are Eternal!
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. (John 3:16
KJV)
I cannot
stop insisting that in the Bible, which is the Word of God and does not lie, it is very clear that God’s
purpose for your life is not for you to be lost forever in the condemnation of
hell, but to have Eternal Life.
And doesn’t having
Eternal Life mean Living Forever?
Then, why should you be
afraid of death?
Or is God lying?
God is not a man, so
he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken
and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not
carried it through? (Numbers 23:19 NLT)
Someone might answer me, “I’m not afraid
of death but of the unknown.”
“Excuse me!” I would reply, “You know the Truth.”
Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” (Mark
12:24 NIV)
So, do not be
mistaken! God has all the Power, all the Authority, and all the Love to give
His own Life for you and to forgive
you and justify you and adopt
you and make you His Child.
Born Again and Eternal!
It is written!
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able
to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans
8:37–39 KJV)
It is because of all this that,
no matter what problem, circumstance, or illness you are facing today,
the Word of God declares
that Now you are more than a conqueror through Him who loved you,
Christ Jesus!
Let us pray aloud:
Beloved
Heavenly Father, I thank You for loving me since before the foundation of the
world. Thank You for having prepared for me a way of salvation, a living and
perfect way through the death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. Jesus
Christ, You are my King, Lord, and Savior. You have transferred me from
darkness to Your marvelous light, granting me Your own Life. Thank You Lord
Jesus, because of You I am Eternal. Together with You, I will live forever! I
will never die! Heavenly Father, I believe and receive this Eternal identity as
Your Child. I accept the price that was paid for it! So, if You are for me, who
can be against me? If You did not spare Your own Son, but gave Him up for me
out of love, how will You not also, along with Him, graciously give me all
things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? God, You
Yourself are the one who justifies me. Who then is the one who condemns? Christ
Jesus, You died for me; more than that, You, Lord, are the one who was raised
to life, who is also at the right hand of God and is also interceding for me.
Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? To all these evils Your
Word refers, saying: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are
considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” For Your sake we are killed all day
long; Yet, in all these things I, (your name
here), am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me. For I am convinced
that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God that is
in Christ Jesus my Lord. So, Abba! Father! I am Yours, and in Christ Jesus I
have already overcome, for greater are You, Holy Spirit, who lives in me and
with me, than he who is in the world. Father,
all and every one of Your Promises
are in me, yes and amen! I submit to You, my God and Father, I submit to
Your Word, I resist Satan and he has to flee from my life. I
do not receive doubt, nor fear, nor sickness, nor poverty,
nor anguish, nor depression. I am healed! I am free! I am prosperous! I am
blessed! In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Important Note:
How do I become
a Child of God? How do I establish a relationship with the
Almighty?
Just say the following prayer aloud, putting
all your attention
and heart into what you are saying to God:
Lord Jesus, I believe that You
are the Son of God. That You came into this world, born of the virgin
Mary, to pay for all my
sins, and I have been a sinner.
Therefore, today I say that I accept. I accept Your sacrifice on the cross! I
accept Your precious Blood shed to the last drop out of love for me! I open my
heart to You and invite You in because I want, Lord Jesus, that from today
and forever You be my only and sufficient Savior, my God, my King, and
my Lord.
Thank You, Almighty God, because with this
simple prayer and profession of faith I have passed from death to Life, I have been transferred from darkness
to Your marvelous Light. Today I have been Born Again! God, now I am Your
Child! Now You are my Father! I will never be alone again! I will never live
defeated again. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Three Recommendations:
What just happened by you
recognizing Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life, according to God's Word, is that you have been Born Again. No longer
as an ordinary human being, subject to the law of sin and death, but now as a
legitimate and authentic Child of God, Born Again, exactly like Jesus Christ, who is now your Older Brother. Therefore,
I give you these three, very important, recommendations:
1.
Pray. Praying is talking with God. So, find a quiet
place where you can begin talking to Him about everything. Do it out loud, and you will notice
how God always responds to your heart.
2.
Read and meditate
on the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God, so get a Bible
and start reading
and meditating on it. How do you begin? It’s very simple. Depending on the day,
look up the reading program “The Bible in
One Year” and do the corresponding readings. You can get this program at: Through The Bible In One Year
(palabradehonor.org). You will notice that the program is set up so you can
print it as a booklet.
3.
In prayer with God, your Father, look for and join a
Christian church or congregation where the Word of God is taught based on the Good News, which are the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Ricardo C. Peredo Jaime © 2020
Reading and Meditation on the Word of God
Do these daily readings, and by the end of one year you will have
read the entire Bible.
September 5 John 11:1–27 / 2 Chronicles 10–11 / Psalm 75
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a man named
Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany,
the village of Mary and her
sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose
brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped
his feet with her hair.)
3 So
the sisters sent word to
Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard
this, Jesus said, “This sickness
will not end in death.
No, it is for God’s glory
so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So
when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,
7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short
while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you
are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who
walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at
night that they stumble,
for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus
has fallen asleep;
but I am going there to wake
him up.”
12 His
disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”
13 Jesus had been speaking
of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and
for your sake I am glad I was not
there,
so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also
known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of
the disciples, “Let us also go,
that we may die with him.”
Jesus Comforts the Sisters
of Lazarus
17 On his arrival, Jesus
found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and
many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort
them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha
heard that Jesus was coming,
she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22
But I know that even now God will give you whatever
you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother
will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last
day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes
in me will live, even though they die; 26 and
whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe
this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied,
“I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Israel Rebels Against
Rehoboam
10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him
king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat
heard this (he was in Egypt, where
he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and
all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the
harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and
we will serve you.”
5 Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people went
away.
6 Then King Rehoboam consulted
the elders who had served
his father Solomon
during his
lifetime. “How would you advise
me to answer these people?”
he asked.
7 They replied,
“If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be
your servants.”
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who
had grown up with him and were
serving him. 9 He asked them,
“What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say
to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10 The
young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke;
I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge
you with scorpions.’”
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam,
as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” 13 The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made
your yoke heavy; I will make it even
heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”
15 So the king did not
listen to the people, for this turn of
events was from God, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken
to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused
to listen to them,
they answered the king:
“What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents,
Israel!
Look after your own house,
David!”
So all the Israelites went home.
17 But as for the Israelites who were living
in the towns of Judah,
Rehoboam still ruled over them.
18 King Rehoboam sent out
Adoniram,[a] who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to
death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel
has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
11 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem,
he mustered Judah and Benjamin—a hundred and
eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against
Israel and to regain the kingdom
for Rehoboam.
2 But this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man
of God: 3 “Say to Rehoboam son of
Solomon king of Judah and to all
Israel in Judah and Benjamin, 4 ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against
your fellow Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my
doing.’” So they obeyed the words of the LORD and
turned back from marching against Jeroboam.
Rehoboam Fortifies Judah
5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built up towns for defense in Judah:
6 Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth Zur, Soko, Adullam, 8
Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim,
Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon
and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. 11 He strengthened their defenses and
put commanders in them, with supplies of food, olive oil and wine. 12 He put shields and spears in all the
cities, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his.
13 The priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel
sided with him. 14 The Levites even
abandoned their pasturelands and property and came to Judah and Jerusalem,
because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD 15 when he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat
and calf idols he had made.
16 Those from every tribe of Israel
who set their hearts on seeking the LORD, the God of
Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their ancestors.
17 They strengthened the kingdom
of Judah and supported Rehoboam
son of Solomon three years, following the ways of David and Solomon
during this time.
Rehoboam’s Family
18 Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David’s son
Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab. 19 She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah
and Zaham. 20 Then he married
Maakah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza
and Shelomith. 21 Rehoboam loved
Maakah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In
all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty- eight sons and sixty
daughters.
22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maakah as crown prince
among his brothers, in order
to make him king. 23 He acted
wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the
fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and took many wives for
them.
Psalm 75
For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not
Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph.
A song.
1
We praise you, God,
we praise you, for your Name is near;
people tell of your wonderful deeds.
2
You say, “I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge with equity.
3
When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.[b]
4
To the arrogant
I say, ‘Boast no more,’
and to the wicked,
‘Do not lift up your horns.[c]
5
Do not lift your
horns against heaven;
do not speak so defiantly.’”
6
No one from the east or
the west
or from the desert can exalt themselves.
7
It is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another.
8
In the hand of the LORD is a cup
full of foaming
wine mixed with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.
9
As for me, I will declare
this forever; I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
10
who says, “I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”
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