Day Spring E-Cards
Our Grand-Son on Halloween playing
"Woody" in Toy Story
"Howdy Partner"
New Life in Christ
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The word
all includes me and every
person who ever lived. Because
of Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden
of Eden, we ALL
were born in sin.
Romans 6:23 says, "For
the wages of sin is death."
That means the (penalty) of sin
is death (eternal separation from
God with hell as our destiny).
But God had a wonderful plan that
we wouldn't have to be separated
from Him. The next part of that
verse says, "But the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. We can receive that
gift and have everlasting life.
John
3:16
"For God so loved the world, (all
humanity) that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life."
God's free gift of eternal life
is available to those who believe
that Jesus, God's Son, paid their
death penalty by dying on the cross
for their sins. If by faith
I believe in my heart that Jesus
died for my sins, was buried, and
rose from the dead, then I too could
have eternal life in heaven.
Acts
16:31
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved."
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 What
joy we had during the Christmas Season.
Our family all came together; there
was laughter, music, and good food to
eat. And it was all in honor of
our Lord's Birthday. Jesus is the reason
we celebrate Christmas! But I especially
loved when it came time to give our
gifts to one another.
There is something
special about giving gifts. Jesus said
that it is more blessed to give than
to receive, and to watch our children
and our grand-children as they opened
their presents and to see the excitement
upon their faces was a special treat
for me.
But Christmas has
now come and gone, and so have many
of the things that remind us of the
Holiday season. The wreaths on
the windows have been neatly stored
away, and all the decorations have been
taken down until next year. And by the
looks of things around us, you can't
even tell that only a little while ago,
it was Christmas.
 Some
of our grandson's favorite toys are
a couple of the characters from the
movie, "Toy Story". This pass year,
for Halloween, Brendan dressed up like
one of the characters in the movie,
Woody, a toy that would talk and say,
"Howdy Partner". And this Christmas
he received Woody's rival, Buzz Light-Year.
In the movie, the
scene takes place in a young boy's bedroom
at a time when no one is around, and
all the toys in the room come to life.
These toys were
at one time his favorite toys, but many
of them had been played with so much
that they were either worn out, or broken.
Others went unnoticed and were never
played with any more. As the movie plays
out, it is his birthday, and at his
birthday party he tears into all the
packages hoping to find the newest toy
that he had been hoping for.
After
a lot of disappointment of unwanted
gifts, he finally opens the last package
where he finds, “Buzz
Light-Year”. A new space
toy that is the latest craze on television
with flying wings that pop out, a laser
wrist light, and a proclamation, “To
infinity and beyond”. I think all of
us can relate to the excitement and
joy that comes from receiving a new
gift, especially if it's something that
we have been hoping for.
But
as the story depicts, these toys at
one time were greatly desired and wanted,
but after a time become broken and set
aside. Many of them are left alone
in the bottom of the toy box to be replaced
with something new. Often times
the old toys begin to pile up and become
discarded or thrown away as trash. Many
of them get stored away in the garages
and basements of our homes, and years
pass by and our children grow up and
they no longer desire to play with these
toys anymore.
We
know that toys cannot come to life when
no one is looking, nor do they have
feelings and emotions because they are
no longer desired, but the fact is,
"we do"......
Many of the hurts
and the rejections that we feel are
real. Maybe at some point in time, you
too have been hurt, abandoned, or mistreated.
There are people today who find themselves
in the same place as the toys in this
movie, feeling all alone, unwanted,
undesired, and unloved. It may
be someone has toyed with your affections,
used you or even abused you, and then
cast you off without any regard to how
you feel, or what it has done to you.
People say and
do things to us that really hurt!
And oft times in our own bedrooms, when
no one is around, when no one is looking,
we break down and cry, letting out all
the hurts and frustrations that have
been bottled up inside of us.
Maybe it has left
you feeling all alone, and too hurt
to trust anyone? You begin to
feel like you don't fit in anywhere,
and your too afraid to let anyone get
close to you. You're really just afraid
that you will end up getting hurt just
like before. Or maybe you feel like
no one else knows or understands what
you're going through.
 There
is someone today who does understand.
He went through many of the things that
you are struggling with so He knows
what you are going through.
He was spit on
and rejected, He knows what it feels
like to grieve and to sorrow, and He
knows what it's like to suffer
pain. He was ridiculed, and made
fun of, yet He opened not him mouth
in his own defense.
He was physically
tortured, his body bruised and beaten,
and then nailed to a cross, while they
sat and watched him suffer and die.
His name is Jesus.
So does Jesus care
about what you are going through?
Does He care when your heart is broken
and your life is torn apart? Does
He care when others have violated and
abused you, and then want nothing to
do with you? Yes friend, Jesus
cares about you. Christ came into this
world to give His life for yours and
mine.
Through His death
on the cross, He paid the highest price
for your life, so that you could know
the love He has for you. It is the greatest
gift that God could ever give to the
world, and like our grandchildren at
Christmas, all you have to do is receive
it. He is waiting for you with
arms wide open to surrender to him all
those things that you have been carrying.
He is the healing that your heart and
mind so desperately needs and wants.
Jesus is seeking
you out today and wants to win your
trust. He only wants to love and help
you. His love will break through
all of your fears and hurt. You've probably
been looking and longing for this real
love for a long time. It can be yours.
Jesus is waiting for you to come to
him. He wants to comfort you, and be
your healer.
Isaiah 61:1-2 So you see Jesus is the healer of broken
hearts and broken lives. He is the one
who sets free the prisoner and the captive
from out of all their bonds. The Bible
says that He is a restorer of paths
to dwell in.
 It's
by falling into the arms of the One
who gave his life for you, that all
the hurts of your past can be healed.
He is waiting for you to surrender them
all to Him. It's in the warmth of His
embrace that you can let go of the darkness
with all its torments and fears, and
allow the Light of His Presence to flood
over you, healing you and restoring
you to the person God has made you to
be.
Your life is of great value and of
a great price to Him, and His death
upon the cross proves just how much
He loves you. So you can trust
Him today to come into your life, He
will give you a new heart, and a new
life, and a reason to live. He says
in His word, I will never leave thee,
neither will I forsake thee.
Copyright © Rev. James Lewis
2010 Webmaster
All rights reserved.
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