Five Bible Verses on God's Timing

1. Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven

We know this verse that God's timing is perfect. Everything is done by his will and nothing happens by accident. There is a season for everything. There is a proper time for everything that happens whether on a global scale or in our personal lives. We know from Revelation that these things are planned and prophesied about. There is no error in any of it. Every single thing oh the Earth is done properly by God's plan! This is the basic starting point from where we must look.

2. Habakkuk 2:3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end-it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Here we see Isaiah hearing the message from God that he must wait for a vision. This vision was concerning Christ and the destruction of the church. Once again we see that Isaiah must wait for the appointed time to receive the vision. We see that in the vision is no lie. It is all truth. We get a good lesson about our lives here in Habakkuk. We often pray and pray for things to change in our lives. I know I often have. Such a simple message, yet so vital at the same time: If it seems slow: wait for it! We must wait on the Lord for his time for us to receive it. We can't know exactly why we must wait for a certain time. But we could probably assume that we will be more willing to receive it in the future. Our pride as humans often gets in the way of changes that ought to happen in our lives. Sometimes even after we want a change we can't seem to quite get to the point where we make the decision to change. And even then sometimes we make the decision to change yet we don't have the willingness in our hearts for that change to actually happen. Wait on the Lord and pray endlessly! This is what I did in a time of trouble. I had to wait a long time, years in fact, praying everyday for that change. But eventually it came, when I had had enough.

3. Isaiah 40:31 But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Once again we see in Isaiah that if we wait patiently on the Lord he will renew us in his timing. We are given some great imagery here. They shall mount up with wings like eagles! How glorious an image! They will be strong, as they can run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. It's a reward for our patience and trust in God. We often must wait in sin and destruction for some time for things to get better. Sometimes God will leave us without the strength to overcome a sin because he wants to teach us something. Remember God is always crafting our souls into better Christians, this is why we are taught to rejoice in our trials, for they make us better people.

4. Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

It's hard to be a good person sometimes. It's extremely hard early in our faith after being reborn in Christ. It doesn't always feel good to do the right thing. We have to listen to that voice of the holy spirit telling us that we ought to do the right thing. In our current culture of instant gratification this is often a strange concept to people. Many people will come into their new Christian life and do good, but very quickly they become disheartened because the excited high of it fades away. This is true, and it does. But in the long run our entire lives are changed by doing good. We weed out things in ourselves that cause us sadness and regret. God changes us through his grace. Along that path we become more and more loving. Eventually it feels great to do good things. We must not give up early on! This is often an exercise of forcing ourselves to do right thing after right thing, which is hard. But we know from God's promise here that we will reap good things. We will reap good things in this life, and eternal life in the next.

5. Matthew 24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Once again we see that one who holds strong to the rock that is God will be saved. This is often reminded to us in the book of Revelation, which predicts future events. We must not backslide in our faith. It's crucial to continue forward on this journey. We see time and again in scripture that God loves us and will give us good things if we just persevere on this journey. Is it easy? Not at all. Is it worth it? It's worth more than all the gold in the Federal Reserve. It's worth more than all the money and praise in the world. It's value is incalculable!

Five Bible Verses on Faith

1. Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

So what is faith? Where does it come from? How do we keep it? Let's start in Romans 10:17. Faith comes from hearing. This may seem simple but in these modern times most people are conditioned so it's very hard for them to hear. Attention spans are extremely short. Anything that doesn't offer instant gratification is thrown out as useless. On top of all of that there is a huge stigma about God and the Bible. People instantly shut off when approached about it. Hearing or being able to perceive the word of God is getting very difficult for non-believers. This is due to the media and popular opinions about Christians being hypocrites. The best way to show is by example. People can warm up to hearing very quickly. In this verse we learn that we hear through the word of Christ. We learn from the life of Christ!

2. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

In Ephesians we are told that by grace only are we saved. We are given the gift of faith in Christ, but naturally we can accept or refuse it. It is only by the grace and love of God that we are even offered this gift. By taking the gift of faith and wearing it, we are saved. There is no amount of works we can do to atone for our sins! We could do all the great works in the world and it wouldn't be enough. There is no one that may boast about their works. They do not repay the sin of our lives. We should still do good works for this pleases God, but it does not exonerate us from our sins. Christ's death on the cross paid for our sins. They are all washed away once we accept Christ.

3. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

We all know the incredible story of Noah's ark. But do we really understand the message? Noah was told by God to build the ark. Did Noah say, "Well.. I'm gonna need to see some hard evidence." No! He trusted that God was telling him the truth and went to the work of building the ark. This shows complete faith in God. We see that in reverent fear Noah obeyed God. This is a wonderful thing! Today we are all so muddy minded. We weigh the pros and cons, we make charts and graphs and all kinds of nonsense to decide what to do next. Noah didn't check the sky for clouds, he just started building! And we are told Noah by obeying God condemned the world. We often see in the New Testament that those who take on Christ no longer belong to the world. In the Old Testament as well when one obeyed God in faith they were then of God and not of the world.

4. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

This is a great message in Hebrews. Without faith there is nothing we can do to please God. Faith in the very beginning of our spiritual relationship. And it prevails through the whole journey. It's so obvious yet how many Christians sometimes question if God even really exists? I know I did often early in my journey. The more we seek out God the more apparent he becomes in the world. We must believe that God exists! We must also believe that he does reward those who seek him out. I have personally seen this in my life during the beginning of my true awakening to Christ. Within weeks everything in my life changed from negative, with few positive results to so many gifts being showered down on me. God was answering me saying "Yes, this is right Justin!"

5. John 20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

In this passage from John we see one of the many times we are reminded that belief in Jesus the Christ is our way to salvation. The New Testament gospels were very much written to constantly remind us of that fact. We as humans often fail to remember these things, and get distracted with worldly endeavors. So not only should we believe in God and his good works, we must also believe in Christ. We must believe that Christ paid the debt for our sins. And that this was done for all time. We then have salvation through Christ.

Five Bible Verses on Hell

1. Revelation 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

This is an interesting quote from Revelation. We are told exactly who will be going to the lake of fire and sulfur. And it's interesting that it's described in such visceral terms as "fire" and "sulfur." So we know that cowards, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, sexual immoral, sorcerers, those who hold other gods, and liars will receive this punishment. It is referred to as the second death. What does this mean? Well the first death is our physical death. The death of our bodies. And the second death? Should we face it, it is the death of our spiritual selves.

2. Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

We should never fear corrupt governments, or criminals or even terrorists. For they have only the power to kill the body. That is meaningless, for our physical bodies will pass away eventually anyway! What is important is our spiritual selves. So ought to fear God, as he has command over our souls. We are not to fear the demons or Satan. They do not have the power to destroy our soul. The only power they are allowed is what power God gives them.

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

We see in Romans 6:23 that what we earn from our sins is death. Spiritual and physical death. We do not earn our place in the next life. It is a gift from God. Eternal life became possible for all who want it with the sacrifice of Jesus, the lamb of God. So when we ask ourselves what will all our sinning lead to? Well, assuming we confess and repent, God will forget them all. If not, then we will face judgement by them.

4. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

The passages I've encountered about hell are very cryptic. Thessalonians refers to eternal destruction which is almost a complete contradiction of terms, but there it is. We get an interesting glimpse into the idea of hell here. We learn that hell is far from the presence of God. The presence of God is always with us here, and will be much stronger in the next life on the new earth. Being away from the presence of God is unimaginable, but it does not sound fun. We would be away from his glory and all his love. I imagine it would feel quite empty. Let me emphasize just for a minute that the fear of hell should not be the driving force in our spiritual journeys. That will lead to nothing but more sin. It is by an exchange of love, between ourselves and the creator, that we are sustained through this journey. So don't let all of this talk of hell make you turn your back on that love.

5. Mark 9:43-48 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'

This is a memorable passage from Mark. We are told that if our hand causes us to sin, cut it off! Many take this very literally. But I believe it is more symbolic of removing the negative parts in our personalities. Jesus is explaining just how vital it is that we not sin. We might as well rip off our hand or foot to avoid damnation! It's an important message about righteousness. We know that through Christ all things are possible, and that if we earnestly seek God he will add all good things to our personalities. There is no need to fear hell, we are in Christ. Christ loves us, and protects us.

Five Bible Verses on the Holy Spirit

1. John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

The passage in John refers to the holy spirit as "the helper." We learn that this helper comes through Jesus Christ. After Jesus ascended to heaven the apostles were sad because they wanted him to stay and teach them. He told the disciples that they would receive the holy spirit. Through the holy spirit they would recall the word of God. In fact in this passage we are told the holy spirit teaches us all things. So the holy spirit acts as a reminder within us of the love of Jesus.

2. Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This passage from Galatians tells us something of the things that the hoiy spirit gives us. It gives us peace and love, as well as joy which are great positive things that help our overall well being. We receive goodness, faith, gentleness, and self control. These things are positive character attributes that make us better people. I've often felt the holy spirit changing me through these wonderful gifts. As humans our minds are full of all kinds of strange and impure thoughts. When we get into the word of God and attend a church that speaks to us, we give power to the holy spirit to work more fully in our lives. We are told that there is no law against these wonderful things that are added to us freely through Christ.

3. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

In Timothy we learn that God gave us this spirit and that it is very powerful. In it resides great love. We also learn that the holy spirit is where our self control comes from. This yet another passage that reminds us we are not to be afraid. I find more and more in the Bible passages that constantly tell us fear is not what God wants us feeling. Yet in our culture we are constantly provoked into fear by news and media. This is not the way of God! We must remember that there is nothing we need to fear in all existence when Jesus lives within us. He protects us. And even if the worst happens, we will be able to handle it.

4. Acts 2:33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

The book of Acts was written by St. Luke, and one of the key purposes in Acts was to show that holy spirit at work. We are told here that Jesus, the right hand of God, which when referred to as such denotes power, poured out the holy spirit on the disciples. The disciples continued to perform the miracles that Jesus performed after Jesus ascended. So we see here that they miracles were explained as acts of the holy spirit. In fact the very act of proclaiming the word was considered to be act of the holy spirit speaking through the apostles.

5. John 14:15-17 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Here Jesus refers to the laws of Moses, but also refers to his commandment which was to love one another. Jesus said he would go to God and bring them the helper to be with us. It is referred to as the spirit of truth because all truth comes through the holy spirit and the word of God. We learn that the rest of the world who does not know Christ cannot receive the holy spirit. But all who have Christ, then receive the holy spirit and it dwells in them.