#christian

[gnomeish]

[petes]

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

[suziesfaith]

i am now closer to God that i’ve ever been sooo i’ve decided to post a few tips how to heal your relationship with Christ:)

1. read the Bible. even one verse is enough. look up „Bible verses for [mood/situation]” on pinterest, pray for wisdom and then read it!

2. engage in christian community. find christian friends - there are groups on fb, creators on tiktok, discord servers etc etc. ofc you can also look for irl friends! i am going to a biblical academy organised by my church today<3

3. pray. God already knows, so don’t avoid talking about difficult topics! if you have a trouble praying, i’d recommend analysing with Jesus what you’re grateful for, what you’re sorry for and what you ask for. that’s the core of my prayer.

4. watch a christian series or a movie (The Chosen my beloved!)

… more tips coming soon ┊͙ ˘͈ᵕ˘͈

[lovechristianity]

[dailyeffectiveprayer]

A prayer for faith. 🙏

[walkthroughtheword]

Loving God we are so grateful for your blessings! Your mercy gives us new life and new hope each day. Your forgiveness allows us to have freedom. Your wisdom directs our steps. We lift you up in praise today! We honor your name! You are holy, mighty, and everlasting. Thank you for loving us and saving us! We pray this all in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

[godslove]

[david-goldrock]

So I was in a christian gifts shop for the last hour (no particular reason) and talked with the seller for the entire hour. She helped me a lot with understanding the new testament and the christian belief, and we talked about her faith for awhile.

And then... She gave me a beautiful bible. For free, as long as Imma read it (you can bet imma read it, through and through), explained how to use it with the references and all, and asked for my name to pray for me

I'm not crying, you are crying

[reformedfaith]

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

[twiggy-in-pink]

[tinyladofladdies]

what is the Gospel?

history . .

there is one God in 3 persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God existed before anything else did; He created all things perfectly, including human beings, who He made in His image (Genesis 1:1, 26-28, John 1:1-3). God is the only holy, perfect Being in existence, and He created us to know Him forever.

God created humanity to partner with Him in ruling His perfect creation, however, humanity quickly fell into rebellion when adam & eve listened to temptation from satan, the serpent. the serpent twisted God's Word and adam & eve trusted in their own judgement rather than God's and listened to their selfish desire to define good and evil for themselves instead of letting God show them what was holy & good (Genesis 3).

adam & eve were cast out from God's perfect garden, severing ALL of humanity's relationship with God and separating us from His presence. because of this original sin (disobeying and distorting God's Word), all of humanity is born in a sinful state. the serpent, too, was cast from the garden and since the original sin, has been influencing the world into more and more evil, temptation, and distance from God. however, God promised that there would be a Descendant from eve Who would crush the serpent's head and defeat him (Genesis 3:14-15).

the sinful state of humanity causes all of us to be separated from God from birth and into eternity; sin cannot coexist with utter purity & holiness (Romans 6:23, 8:7-8).

God stayed faithful in taking care of humanity even despite our separation from Him; He made promises to abraham, isaac, and jacob, and their descendants (the jewish nation israel named after jacob), that they would be God's people and He would be their God (Genesis 22:17, Jeremiah 32: 38). He promised to multiply them, making them a countlessly large nation, to set them apart from the other nations to show the world what God is like (Deuteronomy 7:6), and to send them a Savior who would restore all things and bring justice (Isaiah 9:6). God gave them His Word and fulfilled every promise to them; He rescued His people many times from oppression and the downfall of their own mistakes, yet not even His holy people could stay obedient to God. God gave them His law (found in the 5 books of the Torah) to show His people how to be holy (set apart) and to show them who He is and what He values; in order to be worthy to enter God's presence, there would be animal sacrifices and sanctification rituals (Leviticus 16:21) in order to atone for the sins of Israel (God's people), yet none of His people were perfect and kept rebelling against Him.

God started sending prophets into the world, spoken to by His Holy Spirit who divinely inspired the Word of God (the entire Bible), to warn Israel of the gravity of their sins; soon, if God's people would keep participating in evil and turning away from God, they would be exiled from all of the peace and possessions God had promised them and fulfilled them with.

the prophets spoke of Jesus, who, centuries later, fulfilled every single prophecy spoken of Him . .

The Good News . .

Jesus is God, described as the Son of God and the Word of God become human; Jesus took on human flesh yet stayed completely sinless (Hebrews 4:15). He gave His life in the place of all of humanity, not just Israel, in order to extend God's grace, salvation, and presence, to anyone of any background who would repent and call upon Him (Hebrews 2:17, Galatians 3:8).

"The Gospel" means "the Good news."

to repent, means to completely turn around.

atone, means to make amends.

Jesus became the sacrificial lamb (symbolically) in order to fulfill the law of sacrifice that God's people used to participate in in order to enter God's presence (John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:19); because Jesus is God and was the only One holy enough to perfectly atone, this means that Jesus' sacrifice not only fulfilled every law and prophecy, but humanity finally had the chance to be in right-standing with God (1 Timothy 2:5). this means, that instead of being enemies of God, being estranged or distant from God, we now have the right to become God's children, His people, and His friends (Romans 5:10, John 1:12). to repent of our sins, means to pray to God our Father and confess our sinful nature, our rebellion, and the things we have done that have hurt our relationship with God as well as hurt ourselves & those around us. by confessing, we ask for God's forgiveness, we confess who Jesus is and what He did for us, and through this, we receive the Holy Spirit who testifies that we are God's children and Who seals our salvation in Heaven for eternity (Romans 8:16, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

Jesus came to earth as a human, yet also 100% God; He lived a perfect life, started His ministry at 30 years old, baptised, healed, drove out demons, and taught of God's character, Word, and Kingdom. Jesus was persecuted by the nation of Israel in order to fulfill the prophecies, He died on a cross, was tortured and killed in our place, and after 3 days He rose from the dead, to fulfill every prophecy (Mark 8:31). in Jesus' death and resurrection, He defeated our sins, He defeated the enemy (satan), and He defeated death. setting us free, giving us eternal life and forgiveness from the Father if we repent and believe that this is Who Jesus Is.

in Jesus, there is forgiveness, peace, healing, joy, & hope (Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Peter 1:3). God heals, God saves, God loves, His Spirit guides and reassures every believer and Jesus completely sets us free; no matter what you have said or done, no matter how much seems to hold you back, Jesus breaks every chain and meets us where we are, however, He loves us too much to leave us as we are. Jesus gives us the ability to live the life of righteousness (right-living) that God intended for us that we were not able to fruitfully & fully do without Jesus and without God's active help. for all time, God has kept His promises and His Word, He has kept His covenant with those He chose to be His people, and while those people always failed, Jesus never has and never will; Jesus fulfilled our side of the covenant, He paid the price that had to be paid for our sins, and in doing so, we can now have relationship with God for eternity, we can now partner with God in loving His people and doing the work of His Kingdom. God is always near, always present, and desires to help you, heal you, and save you.

there will be more Bible verses below that specifically address salvation & repentance; if you need more context or have more questions, this is a safe space to do so. <3

Acts 4:12 — Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 — Jesus answered, "I am the way, the Truth, and the life. no one comes to the Father except through Me."

Acts 2:38 — Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 3:16-17 — For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

Romans 8:38-39 — 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 us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9-10 — If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Hebrews 7:25 — Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.

Luke 5:31-31 — Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Acts 3:19 — Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Mark 16:16 — Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Romans 10:13 — for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 3:23 — for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Acts 22:16 — And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:23‬ ‭— For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

◌🌊🐚Ꮚ°˳´ creds . .

dividers: roseraris

[kingdomreigns]

[momentsbeforemass]

God listens to you

There are times when the Bible shows us the heart of God. Today’s Gospel is one of them.

When the crowd asks Jesus, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?” Their words are laced with vanity, with cynicism.

They’re not like the father who’s desperate to have his son healed. Who cries out to Jesus, “Lord, I believe – help my unbelief!”

What they’re really saying is, “Impress me. Entertain me.”

So where the do we see the heart of God in this? We see it with how Jesus responds.

Jesus isn’t distracted by their vanity. Or their cynicism.

Jesus doesn’t tell them to come back with an honest request, when they have the courage to actually say what they mean.

Instead, Jesus hears the desperate need that they’re hiding behind that veneer of vanity and cynicism. He hears what they are afraid to actually say.

Jesus hears their fear of what other people will think. He hears their fear of disappointment – of having someone fail them or betray them. Again.

Jesus responds not to their words, but to their needs. To the hidden, heartfelt plea that they’re afraid to even put into words.

This is the heart of God.

God loves us so much that He gives us what we need, not what we say we want.

God doesn’t turn us away because of our prayers, or how we pray, or our attitude, or what we ask for.

God loves you so much that He doesn’t listen to what you say. God listens to you.

God sees through all of the externals, even in our prayers, to answer not what we asked for, but to answer our needs. To answer us.

God understands our prayers better than we do.

Today’s Readings

[lovechristianity]

[dailyeffectiveprayer]

Dear God, I ask for wisdom and guidance. From the simplest to the most difficult decisions, I look to You for direction. May everything I set my hand to bring You glory. I trust in Your greatness and I believe that You can turn any situation around for my good. In Jesus Name, amen. 🙏

[orthodoxadventure]

Indeed, humanity's survival depends more on these small acts of goodness than grandiose deeds. It is not the absence of monumental goodness that leads to mankind's downfall, but rather the scarcity of these minor acts of benevolence. The edifice of great good rests upon the foundational bricks of small, everyday kindnesses.

Archbishop John (Shahovskoy) of San Francisco