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So then, it does not depend on the person who wants it nor the one who runs, but on God who has mercy. Romans 9:16 Dear Lord, I praise You for giving me a new heart and for gifting me with my faith to believe in Jesus. Nowhere in Scripture does it say anything about "inviting Jesus into your heart." I didn’t invite Jesus into my heart, rather He gave me a new heart. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Salvation is truly all a gift by Your grace. It wasn’t like I was ‘more spiritual’ or wise enough to believe in Jesus and choose eternal life, for then I would have something to boast about within myself. Rather, repentance and faith are gifts because YOU chose me and loved me before the foundation of the world, according to the purpose of Your will, to the praise of Your glorious grace (Eph 1:4-5, 1:11-12, Eph 2:8-9, 2 Tim 1:9, John 6:44, John 15:16, Galatians 1:15, Rom 8:28-30, Rom 9:16, Mat 22:14, Acts 13:48, Rev 13:8, Jeremiah 1:5). I am not saved because of anything I did or because of any merit in myself, but I am saved because of who You are. You are good, kind, and rich in mercy. So then, it does not depend on the person who wants it nor the one who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans 9:16). You had compassion on me. You looked down upon me with mercy, and you gifted me with my faith in Jesus. AMEN! "The greatest act of mercy God performs is giving the gift of faith." ~ RC Sproul Lord, I praise You for your mercy. I praise You for all that You are. You are perfect, holy, just, righteous, loving, merciful, and gracious. Salvation is all by Your grace, and that is oh-so humbling and You are so, so praise-worthy! Not only does Your grace save me, but Your grace sanctifies me, as I renew my mind in the truth of Your Word. Your grace is both a saving and a living grace. As the Holy Spirit does His sanctifying work in my heart and leads me into all truth, help me to delight in You so that You may give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). Lord, I desire for You to give me more holiness. I certainly can't become more like Jesus in my own strength. Like every other good thing, growing in holiness is all by Your grace. More Holiness Give Me More holiness give me, More strivings within, More patience in suffering, More sorrow for sin, More faith in my Savior, More sense of His care, More joy in His service, More purpose in prayer More gratitude give me, More trust in the Lord, More pride in His glory, More hope in His Word, More tears for His sorrows, More pain at His grief, More meekness in trial, More praise for relief. More purity give me, More strength to overcome, More freedom from earth-stains, More longing for Home. More fit for the Kingdom, More used would I be, More blessed and holy – More, Savior, Like Thee. – Author: P.P. Bliss, More Holiness Give Me All glory belongs to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In His Name, I pray, amen. even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. 5 In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, 6 to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:4-6 Hey Guys, So a new thing I'm doing is playing hymns on the piano. I started posting on YouTube a few days ago and connected it to my website here. If you ever feel like listening, feel free to visit my Music Page or subscribe to my YouTube Channel. So far I have one subscriber lol. Let's go for two! So I recorded this hymn on the piano to go with the above devotion: More Holiness Give Me. (This is the first time I'm doing this so hopefully that link takes you right to that piano video on my website). Otherwise, you can just go to my Music Page if you feel so inclined. There's not too much posted as of right now, but stay tuned! I've been loving playing hymns. Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). The Lord has not been giving me MY desires. He's been planting HIS desires in my heart, and I believe this is one of them...playing hymns on the piano for His glory. I want to be a good steward of the gifts He's given me and use them to point people to Jesus. For me, it's the truth in the lyrics that really makes the melody sing. That's why I love playing them. It's all about the Truth. There's nothing as sweet, loving, and beautiful as Jesus. Maybe one day I will be able to have a decent singing voice too, if the Lord wills! (With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible). Matthew 19:26 I'll also be posting some classical stuff too like Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, etc, and I hope to revisit some Bach too because I just learned that Bach was a follower of Jesus. I love that Bach will be playing piano for eternity! Ok, I can just keep rambling and typing away so I'm gonna go now :) You know how I can get haha. Love, Jenna

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 Confessing Jesus as Lord Chosen and loved before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5), faith in Jesus is a gift by God's grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), and God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:5). It's not what we do that sets us free from the bondage of sin. It's what we believe in our hearts that sets us free, and only Jesus can set us free. Our speech and our actions will naturally reflect what's deep down in our hearts, whether that's love for God and others or love for self and the world. (See 1 John 2:15-17 for definition on the term 'world' in this context). Paul said,“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved (Romans 10:8-10). And Jesus said, "For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart" (Matthew 12:34). "What's down in the well comes up the bucket. What's down in the heart comes out of the mouth." - Steve Lawson. We will confess with our mouths what we believe to be true in our hearts. We will confess Jesus as Lord if we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, since His resurrection is the supreme validation of who He is as God. So if Jesus is down in our hearts, Jesus will come out of our mouths. We will declare Him. We will share Him. We will discuss Him. Jesus said, "Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before people, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33), (Timothy 2:11-12). Not ever speaking up for Jesus is equivalent to denying Him. Therefore, if someone never makes a peep that Jesus is Lord, it only reveals that their heart doesn't really know Him as Savior. (Scripture talks about a final, permanent denial of Jesus, not a temporary failure of a true believer like Peter). Jesus is Not a Kept Secret We are never to keep Jesus a secret. There is no such thing as a private faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus makes it clear that if we don't confess Him before others, He won't confess to His Father that He knows us either. True faith is a public faith. True faith is a spoken, verbal faith. Our faith ought to be the most public thing about us, regardless of personalities or insecurities, extroverted or introverted, bold or shy. Being convicted about the magnificent truth in Jesus should far outweigh and transcend our personalities, personal preferences, and the manner in which we like to socialize. No matter what personality we are given by God, where we're at in the Christian walk, true faith in Jesus is a public faith (Romans 10:9), whether we speak of Him in front of an entire audience or we quietly share Him one-on-one with a close friend. I'm not talking about making some grand public announcement that Jesus is Lord (although that would bring glory to Jesus too), but I'm talking about simply acknowledging that Jesus is Lord with our mouths in front of other people, as Scripture clearly states. In the end, no matter who we are or what insecurities we have, the Lord will give us the grace to verbally confess Jesus as Lord in front of others if He is truly down in our hearts. Obeying Jesus as Lord “The driver on the highway is safe not when He reads the signs, but when He obeys them.” AW Tozer We who confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead will naturally follow and obey Jesus too, by the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts. We won't just profess to know Him with hollow words and then by our actions deny Him (Titus 1:16), (1 John 2:4). That's just playing the hypocrite. We don't obey God to be saved. We obey God because we are saved. Reasons why we obey God: • We obey God because we trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:5) • We obey God because we trust that Jesus paid it all. Jesus was our Perfect Substitute. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again, so that by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, we may have eternal life. (2 Corinth 5:21, 1 Peter 3:18, Isaiah 53:5, 1 Corinth 15:3-4) • We obey God because we trust His Word, His goodness, mercies, faithfulness, righteousness, justice, and character. (Psalm 119) • We obey God because we want to. (Psalm 119) • We obey God because we have the Holy Spirit, our Helper who will be with us forever. (John 14:16) • We obey God because His grace is sufficient and enables us to do so (2 Corinth 12:9-10) • We obey God because we have been born again and adopted into His eternal family. (1 Peter 1:3) • We obey God because He knows us and we know Him. (John 10:14) • We obey God because He is our loving and compassionate Father. (Psalm 103:13) • We obey God because we are His children. (2 Corinth 6:18) • We obey God because He has transformed our hearts and given us a new nature in Christ. (Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinth 5:17) • We obey God because in our new natures, we now hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6) and hate the sin we once practiced and loved before our conversion. (Psalm 97:10) • We obey God because we know that once we are saved, we are always saved. We are eternally secure. We know we can never lose our salvation. (John 10:28, Eph 1:13-14, 4:30, John 6:39) • We obey God because we love Him..because He first loved us (John 14:15, 21, 5:10) (1 John 5:2-3, 2:3-6, 1 John 4:19) • We obey God because He gave us the greatest gift imaginable: eternal life and to be with Jesus forever. How could we ever return to living in sin and disobedience after being given something as extraordinary as Jesus Himself? (John 3:16, Eph 2:4-9) • We obey God because Jesus is in our hearts. (Rom 10:9) Mere external acts of obedience, sacrificial deeds that are done without love, and working for our salvation and thinking we are earning God's favor through our "good deeds" is legalism. On the other hand, heartfelt obedience to God's Word by God's grace is evidence that we believe in Jesus and belong to Jesus. The Litmus Test Those who claim Jesus with their mouths must also display these three characteristics through their actions as genuine Christ followers: 1. Trusting in sound doctrine and a proper view of Christ, which naturally flows from true faith 2. Obedience to God's Word, which naturally flows from true faith 3. Love for God and other believers, which naturally flows from true faith Those who are truly born again have been given a new nature from God, which gives evidence of itself. Displaying these byproducts of true faith is all by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by our own human willpower. Obviously, we will have far from perfect obedience, but our lives will be marked by a pattern of obedience to God's Word and a practice of righteousness rather than sin. Furthermore, believers are able to discern and reject false teaching by the Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth (John 16:13) because we are grounded in the truth of sound doctrine. Lastly, our love for God and our fellow believers will flow from loving and obeying His Word, and we will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). When these three things, true faith, obedience, and love sing together in harmony, they produce joy, holiness, and assurance of salvation in the believer and constitute the litmus test of a true believer. The single most responsible thing we could ever do in this life is to examine ourselves to make sure Jesus is truly in our hearts; the Biblical Jesus and not a wimpy jesus of our own making and imagination. Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5). The best way to examine ourselves is not by comparing ourselves to other Christians but through the lens of Scripture. The Book of First John was written to believers to help us know that we truly believe in Jesus and have eternal life. (It is a book of joy for the believer because it gives us assurance of our salvation)! It's very important to examine ourselves from time to time, but we must never get so fixated on ourselves that we take our eyes off Jesus. For every look we take at ourselves, let's take ten long gazes at Jesus, the Light of the world. Check out my other latest blog, If You Love Me... 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous, 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he is born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother (1 John 3:7-10). "Our faith and works are merely reflections of the salvation we have received, not a contributing factor to it." Sinclair Ferguson "Hearing the Word without doing it, professing it without practicing it, singing 'Jesus is King' and pleasing myself is an indication of the fact that I have never truly trusted in Christ." Alistair Begg

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 Dear Lord, It is so sweet to trust in Jesus. Help me to take You at Your Word and rest upon Your promise of eternal life as I go about my day today. Help me to remember the amazing news of the Gospel throughout my day. Help me to set my mind on things above where Christ is seated, not on earthly things (Col 3:1-2). Help me to keep an eternal perspective as I do my daily tasks, work heartily for You, and fix my eyes on heaven. When I fix my eyes on heaven, I am fixing my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Help me to live more fully in the moment, as I carry out my day in the light of eternity. Help me to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14) and to not get so caught up in the worldly cares that can so easily entangle me. Help me to see my sins, confess them and repent of them, and trust in Jesus. Help me to bring You glory in all that I do, say, and think. Give me the grace to be humble, gentle, and loving, like Jesus. I praise You for my faith in Jesus. He is precious. He is my Supreme Treasure, my Savior, Lord, and Friend. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made (Psalm 145:8-9). I have nothing to fear, past, present, or future because Jesus will be with me to the end and throughout all eternity. God loved me so much that He sent His beloved Son Jesus to die on the cross and save me from my sins and the eternal wrath to come. In three days, Jesus Christ rose again from the grave so that by grace through faith in Him, I may live forever in Him. AMEN! What a joy that truly is! Give me the grace to love Jesus more. Give me the grace to share Jesus more. Give me the grace to praise Jesus more. Give me the grace to rejoice in Jesus more. Give me the grace to trust in Jesus more. Lord, in all things, I need Your grace. All glory belongs to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This I pray in Jesus’ name, amen. 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus Just to take Him at His Word Just to rest upon His promise Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord" Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him How I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus Oh, for grace to trust Him more I'm so glad I learned to trust Him Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend And I know that He is with me Will be with me to the end Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him How I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus Oh, for grace to trust Him more – Louisa M.R. Stead Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9 I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me. John 10:14

And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Dear Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I praise You for saving me from my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life in Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I praise You for who You are. You are holy and perfect in all Your attributes. You transcend Your creation and rise above all things. You are The One True God, the God of Scripture. You are three Persons in One, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are the God of the universe, and there is none like You (Jeremiah 10:6). And You are full of mercy and truth (Psalm 86:15). The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have conspired together from before the foundation of the world to save me from my sins and gift me with eternal life in Jesus. May my praise and devotion to God be extended equally to the three Persons of the Godhead. God the Father I praise God the Father who planned my salvation (Eph 1:4). I praise the Father for choosing me before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:5,11). The Father chose to save a people through His Son and to make His magnificent plan of redemption known to the universe (Eph 1:9-10). The Father works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11), so I can stand confident and be assured in Him that His plan to save me is grounded in His perfect wisdom and will. The Father drew me to come to Jesus, by His grace. I could have never come to faith in Jesus without the Father who drew me to Him (John 6:44). My faith in Jesus is not by my own doing but a gift by His grace (Eph 2:8-9). Amen! God the Son I praise God the Son who purchased my salvation with His precious blood. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of my trespasses (Eph 1:7). Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22). He was the Perfect Substitute, and He offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time (Heb 10:12). In Christ, I am saved and blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3, 4,7). Jesus saves willingly, freely, and completely through His perfect life, death, and resurrection. Jesus loved the church and gave Himself up to save and sanctify her because He loves, nourishes, and cherishes her (Eph 5:25-29). The Son set His love and affection on the people the Father planned to save. Jesus purchased my salvation with love and joy. Amen! God the Holy Spirit I praise God the Holy Spirit who protects my salvation. When I first put my trust in Jesus, I was immediately sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Once the Holy Spirit was poured into my heart sanctification began, and He became the guarantee of my salvation (Eph 1:14). Once saved, always saved. I am eternally secure by God’s grace, and I will never perish. No one can snatch me out of His hand (John 10:28). The Holy Spirit is my Helper who teaches me all things (John 14:26), guides me into all truth (John 16:13), and will be with me forever (John 14:16). He leads me away from error, gently convicts me of sin, and slowly but surely sanctifies me to conform me to the image of Christ. He is my Comforter and Advocate (John 14:26), and He prays for me according to the perfect will of God (Rom 8:27). God the Holy Spirit prays for me on a constant and continual basis as I live my Christian life, and when God prays, His prayers are always answered. When I don't know how I ought to pray, the Holy Spirit knows how to pray for me (Romans 8:26-26). He also prays for me that I may confess Jesus to others. He gives me the courage and the divine compulsion to speak of His Name with conviction. He helps me share the gospel so that others can come to Jesus and be saved too, by God's grace. Amen! All glory belongs to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8:6 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one. John 10:28-30 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. John 14:9-11 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You for loving me and choosing me before the foundation of the world; for blessing me in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (See Ephesians 1). I praise You for setting me free in Jesus, by the gift of Your grace. Thank You for my repentance and faith in Jesus, the greatest gift besides Jesus Himself. The ultimate freedom is the freedom from the bondage of sin and the gift of eternal life, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, Lord to all and Savior to all who believe in Him. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). God Bless America Not only has God saved me from my sins and gifted me with eternal life through faith in Christ, but He’s given me a free country to live in. And it's all for His purposes, my benefit, and His glory. God bless America and praise God I get to live here! Purely by His grace, God let me live in a country where I have the freedom to own a Bible, the freedom to go to church and worship with other believers, and the freedom to proclaim His Word and share the Good News. How blessed am I to have such freedom and access to God’s Word and the preaching of it. More Precious Than Gold The written Word points me to the living Word, Jesus Christ. Scripture is the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15-17). From Genesis to Revelation, the entire Bible points me to my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Author and Perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2) The Holy Scriptures are right at my fingertips, just a click away, and I’m able to hold them in the palms of my hands. What a gift it is to be given the Instructions Manual of how to live this life and how to find eternal life. I've tried living life without the Instructions Manual. Lemme tell you, it's a mess trying to navigate and build a life without the Book that's supposed to go along with it. What a gift it is that God worked His divine grace in my heart and drew me to open His Word to tell me about Jesus. What a difference it makes to read the Instructions Manual and walk in wisdom. For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and all that you desire cannot compare with her (Proverbs 8:11). How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver (Proverbs 16:16). Grace Upon Grace It's so tragic that the Bible is illegal in so many countries. (See list below) In 52 countries, the Bible is either A. difficult/dangerous to obtain, B. illegal or highly restricted, or C. strictly illegal and only available through covert smuggling. Why do some get access to God's Word when others don’t? That’s a question I don’t have the answer to. All I know is that I am to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). I am simply to praise Him for His grace, for I know it’s nothing I did to earn God’s favor. It’s not like I deserve to live in a free country or own a Bible. And I certainly don't deserve eternal life. I don’t deserve these good things because I'm “good.” I'm not good, and the Bible tells me so (Romans 3:10). Rather, it’s because God is good and rich in mercy. (Ephesians 2:4-8). It’s simply a gift by His grace to allow me to live in a country where I can freely read and learn about Jesus, from the very mouth of God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16). And it’s in those Scriptures where God first gave me the gift to believe in Jesus. So faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). It’s truly all of grace. My freedom is all of grace, temporarily in the USA and eternally in Christ. Just grace upon grace. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:14,16,17). As believers, we receive grace and then more grace. We are served grace on top of grace, and in place of that, even more grace. Jesus is full of grace, and those who follow Him get showered with His grace. People are killed for concealing God’s Word simply for personal use. The Bible is so precious that people will risk their lives to keep the Word of God in their possession. And here I am living in the USA, with the freedom to own as many Bibles as I please. But one is all I need. To say I am blessed is an understatement. I know I am totally undeserving, and for whatever reason, God had mercy on me. He gifted me with my faith and an eternal home in Christ. On top of that, He gifted me with an earthly home to freely grow in Christ and share Him with others. The greatest act of mercy that God performs is giving the gift of faith.” — R.C. Sproul The Ultimate Freedom It’s not what I do that sets me free. It’s what I believe in my heart that sets me free. May my heart be filled with Jesus as I fill my mind with the Word of God. Jesus lived the perfectly obedient life I could never live. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to His Father’s will to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:7-8). Jesus willingly suffered and died on the cross for me and all who would ever come to faith in Him. On Calvary, Jesus took the full wrath and punishment I deserved upon Himself. He paid it all when right before He died He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Jesus defeated death and in three days He rose from the grave, so that by grace through faith I may live and reign with Him forever! There is no greater freedom than that which is found in Jesus. He is my Supreme Treasure (Philippians 3:7-8). He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). I could be living under a dictatorship, in a jail cell somewhere, or even bound up in chains, but with Jesus in my heart, I would still have the ultimate freedom. Dear Lord, If it is Your will and it brings You glory, may You allow me to live in a free country for many more years to come. May You protect the US from the evil one who tries to take away my freedoms by calling good evil and evil good and distorting the Truth. May You help me to continue sharing the gospel and proclaiming Your Word, even as the world grows more and more hostile toward God and the Truth. No matter what the future may hold or what trials this country may face in the coming years, I know there is nothing to fear because Jesus is in my heart. Help me keep my eyes focused on Jesus, by keeping my eyes focused on Your Word. All glory belongs to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Romans 6:22 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 1 Peter 2:16 List of 52 Countries There are 52 countries where the Bible is either A. difficult/dangerous to obtain, B. illegal or highly restricted, or C. strictly illegal and only available through covert smuggling. Check out the map here: https://www.persecution.com/bibles/ 1. Afghanistan 2. Iran 3. Kazakhstan 4. Kyrgyzstan 5. Maldives 6. Mauritania 7. North Korea 8. Saudi Arabia 9. Somalia 10. Tajikistan 11. Turkmenistan 12. Uzbekistan 13. Yemen 14. Algeria 15. Bhutan 16. Brunei 17. China 18. Cuba 19. Djibouti 20. Eritrea 21. Kuwait 22. Laos 23. Libya 24. Malaysia 25. Morocco 26. Oman 27. Sudan 28. Tunisia 29. Bahrain 30. Bangladesh 31. Central African Republic 32. Columbia 33. Egypt 34. Ethiopia 35. India 36. Iraq 37. Jordan 38. Kenya 39. Lebanon 40. Mali 41. Myanmar (Burma) 42. Nepal 43. Niger 44. Nigeria 45. Pakistan 46. Philippines (Mindanao) 47. Sri Lanka 48. Syria 49. Tanzania 50. Turkey 51. United Arab Emirates 52. Vietnam

Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in You I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8 Dear Heavenly Father, When I wake up, I want to know that You are God and I am Yours. (Psalm 100:3). When I wake up, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When I wake up, I want to thank You, praise You, and rejoice in You. When I wake up, I want to come into Your presence with a song-filled heart, ready to start my day on a joyful note (Psalm 100:1-2). When I wake up, I want to be Your joyful and obedient servant, trusting in You wherever You may lead, lifting up my soul to You. When I wake up I want to be reminded of Your steadfast love and promises, found in Your Word. Help my waking words be “Good morning, Lord"... "I love You, Lord"... "Help me today, Lord"... "I need You again, Lord"... "Strengthen me, Lord"... "Bless the work of my hands, Lord"... "Help me be a blessing to others today, Lord"... "Help me stay focused on You, Lord.” Lord, Let my mind not be set on earthly things but on things above, where Christ is seated. (Colossians 3:1-2). Help me not to focus on the things that are seen and temporary but on the things that are unseen and eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Help me fix my eyes on heaven, as that reality is what helps me live fully in the moment. Help me go about my day by being reminded who Jesus is and what Jesus did for me. Jesus is my Lord and Savior. God sent His beloved Son Jesus to save me from my sins by dying on the cross for me. In three days He rose again from the grave so that by grace through faith, I may have eternal life in Him. Lord, help me keep that glorious truth in the forefront of my mind and in everything that I do today. Help me take my eyes off myself and fix my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Lord, Help me go through my day with an eternal perspective. Help me to walk carefully and be wise, making the best use of my time today (Ephesians 5:15-16). Help me be generous with my time, talents, and resources. Help me count others more significant than myself as I look not only to my own interests but also to the interest of others (Philippians 2:3-4). Help me love You with all my heart, mind, and soul, and help me love my neighbor as myself (Matthew 22:37-38). Lord, I confess that with all these things, I am so weak and I fail. I fail to keep my eyes on You. I fail to remember the gospel throughout my day. I fail to deal gently, patiently, and humbly with others. I fail to see the log in my own eye before helping my brother or sister with their speck. I fail to love You and love others as I ought. But I know my weakness can lay ahold of Your strength. “A weak faith can lay hold on a strong Christ.” - Thomas Watson. Your grace is sufficient, and Your power is made perfect through my weakness. May the power of Christ rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). I cannot do any of these things on my own, but with You, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Help me with all these things by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me. Because of Jesus, I have overcome the evil one. He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Lord, strengthen my faith today. Help me trust in You with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. Help me submit to Your ways (Proverbs 3:5-6). Help me be humble like You. Help me be gentle like You. Help me love like You. All glory belongs to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:14

For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Matthew 9:13 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:12-13). The “righteous” are respectable and moral people in the eyes of the world. They are righteous in their own eyes, but not in the eyes of God. The “sinners” are the outcasts of society who are often judged and looked down upon by the world. Sinners know they are unrighteous, and it's these people whom Jesus comes down to earth to save. It's these people whom Jesus clothes in His perfect righteousness, by grace through faith in Him. While Hell is filled with a lot of moral, righteous people, Heaven is filled with a lot of sinners who are forgiven in Jesus. Poor in Spirit Jesus is The Doctor and The Great Healer for those who are sinners. They are the ones who know they are spiritually sick and in need of a cure. They are poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). Poor in spirit is the opposite of self-sufficiency. The poor in spirit speaks of those who have humility and recognize their own sinfulness and total dependence on God. Their pride and self-confidence are gone, and they stand empty-handed before God, knowing they are undeserving of eternal life. The poor in spirit know there are no saving resources in themselves. They don't trust in their own self-perceived goodness, personal merit, or good works to save them. Rather, the poor in spirit trust in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ to save them. Proud in Spirit The “righteous” are “those who are well” and don’t think they need a doctor. They are proud in spirit. These are the Pharisees who are blind and self-deceived by their own spiritual condition. Jesus doesn't mean that they are truly righteous but that they believe the lie that they are righteous. The Pharisees believe in their own merit and good works to save them. When we take out the irony from Jesus’ statement, it might sound like this, “I haven’t come to call those who believe they are good and who trust in their own good works to save them. I come to call those who know they are sinful and in need of a Savior.” The Pharisees are hardened in their willful unbelief and spiritually blind to the truth in Jesus. They claim to see, even though they walk in darkness. In Scripture, blindness is symbolic of spiritual darkness. It’s the incapacity to discern or comprehend the Gospel Truth. Although we have the human responsibility to obey God's command to repent and believe in the gospel, only the grace of God can open the eyes of the blind. Those Who Don't See & Those Who See Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains" (John 9:39). • Those who do not see - This refers to those who know they are sinners and are in spiritual darkness • Those who see - This refers to those who are the “righteous” and think they are in the light but are in spiritual darkness. If the Pharisees recognize their own spiritual darkness and cry out to see the Light, they would no longer be guilty of willful unbelief. They would be granted repentance and faith by God’s grace. Unfortunately, they are content in their blindness. Tragically, they think their spiritual darkness is light, and this further hardens their hearts in their rejection of the Messiah, the only One who can save them. They choose themselves instead of Christ. ‘I desire compassion and not sacrifice’ is another statement Jesus says against the Pharisees. They believe they obey the Law perfectly through their vigorous religious rituals, ceremonies, tithing, and sacrifices. However, if they are truly righteous, they would display the fruits of love, kindness, and compassion to the social outcasts of the world. Mere external acts of obedience, while the heart is full of hypocrisy are detestable to the Lord. (Isaiah 1:10-15) The Truth Changes Us When doctors help the sick, they must come into close quarters with their patients. They must connect with their patients on a personal level in order to see them, understand them, and be able to heal them. This is also with Jesus when He calls sinners to Himself. It’s His compassion, thoughtful attention, and love that draws Him to come down to where they are and meet them in their place of need. He stoops down into the dirt and mud of the earth to dwell with sinners, listen to them, teach them, and heal them of their condition. (Hebrews 2:9, Phil 2:7). On the other hand, the Pharisees show their religion by keeping perfectly clean on the outside while their hearts are full of hypocrisy. Jesus says,“Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean (Matthew 23:27). It’s the inside that Jesus wants to clean for us. It's our hearts that Jesus wants to transform. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7). Jesus tells sinners to come just as we are, but He doesn't intend to leave us that way. Jesus didn't come to affirm us in our sins. Rather, He came to save us from our sins, call us to repentance and faith in Him, renew our minds in the Truth, and transform our hearts to live for the glory of God. The yoke of pride is hard and the burden of self-sufficiency is heavy. But Jesus says His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith Philippians 3: 8-9 "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, Matthew 11:5 Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “The question is not, “Do you know you are a sinner?” The question is this, “As you have heard me preach the Gospel, has God so worked in your life that the sin you once loved you now hate?” Paul Washer

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1. The Fall of Man Where God puts a period, Satan puts a question mark. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5). The fall of man in the Garden of Eden is the most tragic event in the history of mankind. All that is wrong, both small and big, personal and global; all that is immoral and evil; all that is broken and incomplete; all that is loss, pain, and fear; all that is gossip, slander, jealousy, hate, vengeance, and regret; all that is pride, hypocrisy, selfishness; all that is manipulation, confusion, cheating, and lies; all that falls short of the glory of God comes from this one event. The fall of man in the garden defines the world in which we live today. It's the very reason for decay and death itself. It's the reason why we look to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ as the Light of the world and our ultimate Hope, Joy, and Treasure. Satan's Game Plan The setting is the Garden of Eden, the opponent is Satan (which means adversary), the easy target is Eve, and the game plan is deception. Satan’s goal is to construct a lie that Eve believes to lure her into her own spiritual death. He poses what seems like an innocent question at first but is really manipulation.“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). This is the very first question of the Bible. Before this, there were only answers. As the main part of his strategy, Satan lies about the character of God and the Word of God. He lies about God's goodness and authority, twists God's Words, and aims to destroy God's truth from Eve, in which he succeeds. Disguised as an Angel of Light Scripture says that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44). Ever since the garden, Satan's strategy has been lies and deception. He disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) but he's really an angel of hell. He disguises himself as the proclaimer of truth, but he's really the father of lies. (John 8:44). Satan wants to get us to believe that he is the truthful one while God is the liar. Throughout all the centuries, Satan's tactics have not changed. His deception may have been subtle to Eve, yet it’s not so subtle to us in this age. We experience an assault on the truth nearly every day through the Internet, news, and social media. This whole world is full of layers and layers of deception. As believers, we are called to be discerning. Scripture commands us not to believe every spirit but to test every spirit (1 John 4:1). The only way we can grow in discernment and be able to detect lies and deceitful spirits is by saturating our minds with Scripture on a daily basis. "A life fed on fiction is a life of fiction. A life fed on divine fact will become a life of divine fact." CH Spurgeon. Planting Seeds of Doubt Satan tempts us to believe we have a right to question God and a right to doubt that He's telling us the truth in His Word. He also tempts us to believe the lie that we can even become our own gods, knowing good and evil. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5). This is the point where everything begins to fall apart. The assumption that we have the right to question God and to render our own judgment on what God commands is where we begin to self-destruct. Satan plants a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind by the subtlety of his question. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). Satan tries to get Eve to first distrust the character of God because if she can't trust His goodness, how is she going to obey His Word? His question is devised to set Eve on a path of questioning God that will soon spiral out of control. Questioning God leads her to doubt God, to distrust God, then to ultimately disobey God and obey Satan instead, which throws the whole human race into sin. Through the subtlety of Satan's question, he implies that God is really not that good. If God was really good and really loving He would have never put such a restriction on her like that. How dare He? Satan implies that if God really cares about Eve, He would let her eat from every tree in the garden. By how Satan strategically words his question, he plants the idea in Eve's mind that God is actually quite restrictive, unfair, and even cruel. Alongside that, he gets her to believe that it's Satan who is really generous. It's Satan who promotes and allows freedom while God is the One who's all about control and bondage. All Sin Follows the Same Pattern From the garden up until now; the same goes for the world we live in today. It's a very slippery slope the second we think God is against us and not for us. Satan wants us to believe that God’s Word is subject to our own judgment. All temptation begins with the idea that we have the right to make our own evaluations of what God has already clearly said. All sin follows this same pattern. It’s a very simple yet clever plan, and it’s where all sin originates. We think we have a right to question God when confronted with a lie or temptation. Then we think we have the right to doubt Him, both His goodness and His authority. Then we believe we have the right to distrust Him altogether and trust in ourselves instead, making ourselves into little gods. This inevitably leads us away from God and His goodness and into disobedience to His Word, where only sorrow and regret await us, whether earthly or eternal. The Greatest of All Lies Satan’s greatest of all lies is to tempt us to think there is no final judgment. He tempts us to believe there is no hell or eternal suffering. He tempts us to think it's ok to continue living comfortably in our unrepentant sins. He tempts us to come up with our own definitions of faith in Jesus, God's grace, and true love. He tempts us to trust in our own minds and to create our own standards of these terms, rather than trusting what Scripture says and taking God at His Word. He tempts us to keep our Bibles closed and create a jesus of our own imagination. He tempts us with legalism and a gospel by works. He tempts us to abuse God's grace with following easy-believism Christianity. He tempts us to disbelieve in the existence of God altogether while tempting us to believe we came from monkeys and baboons over billions of years. With his many paths of lies, Satan’s final goal is to lead us away from Jesus, the Light of the world, and into the outer darkness of eternal suffering. Scripture, the Sword of the Spirit Scripture is the sword of the Spirit. We can only triumph over lies if we read our Bibles. We can only come to know Jesus as He is revealed to us in Scripture. We can only grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus as we keep our eyes on His Word. May we believe in God. May we trust His goodness. May we trust His clear, authoritative, and sufficient Word that all point us to the Light of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 Dear Heavenly Father, The whole human race fell into sin, but You so mercifully provided a way for me to live forever through Your Son, Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect life I could never live, suffered and died on the cross for my sins, and in three days rose again that by grace through faith in Him, I may live forever! Lord, give me the grace to live for the One who died for me. Help me trust in You with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). All glory belongs to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen! And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. John 14:15 Scripture Says... If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15) He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. (John 14:21) If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10). This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, (1 John 5:2-3) We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:3-6) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32). If We Love Him... Jesus says that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. These “commandments” involve the entire scope of Christ's revelation, not just the Ten Commandments. They encompass all of Jesus’ words in Scripture, which are God the Father’s words too (John 14:23-24), and they are not burdensome. Therefore, loving Jesus is not a mere feeling since biblical love is not an abstraction but an action (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Rather, loving Jesus is an active, abiding, and continuous relationship of following and obeying Him as our loving Master.“We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). When Jesus speaks, we do well to listen. When Jesus repeats Himself, we do well to listen even closer. In John’s Gospel, three times Jesus emphasizes the need for keeping His commandments as evidence of our love for Him and the Father. We are not saved by anything we do or by keeping a list of rules through mere external acts of obedience (which is legalism). But we are saved by grace through faith alone, which produces a love for God. Saving faith and true love for Jesus are inseparable from heartfelt obedience to His will. Of course, we will have far from perfect obedience with how fallen we are, but the habit of practicing righteousness through the process of sanctification is evidence that we have the Holy Spirit living within us. It is the Holy Spirit who gently convicts us of sin and helps us walk according to God’s will through faith. Right after Jesus makes the statement “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” He adds, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever” (John 14:16). Jesus knows that to keep His commandments in this fallen world, it will require God's grace in the form of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our hearts. We can't do God's will or keep His commandments by our own human merit or willpower. That's impossible. Rather, our obedience and good works are expressions of the faith and love we have for Jesus, which is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). This is consistent with the teaching of James 2:14-26 that true saving faith manifests itself by works produced by God in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. If We Abide in His Word... So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32). Furthermore, Jesus says if we abide in His Word, we are truly His disciples. When we abide in His Word, we prove to be His disciples. The word, "abide" here means to habitually hold fast to Jesus' teachings and persevere in obedience to Scripture. The word “truth” here speaks not only that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and to the Gospel Truth but also to the teachings that He brought to us in the Scriptures. Trusting in Christ as Savior ( His person and finished work of redemption on our behalf) goes along with submitting to Christ as Lord (abiding in His Word). Believing in Jesus is not just a one-time occurrence or intellectually agreeing with the historical facts of the gospel. It is a daily walk and lifelong commitment to trust in Jesus. A genuinely saved follower of Jesus will know, understand, and habitually walk (abide) in divine truth, which brings freedom from the bondage of sin. Only those who believe and receive the truth of who Jesus is as the Way, the Truth, and the Life are set free and in turn “abide in His Word” or keep His commands. The only way we can detect and fight the lies of sin is by trusting in Jesus, which produces a love for God and the truth of His Word. Believers can struggle with sin in this life and still be saved, but a believer cannot go on freely practicing sin or believing both sin and God are good. We will either serve one or the other but not both (Romans 6:16). It’s not what we do that frees us from the bondage of sin. It’s what we believe that sets us free, and our actions will naturally reflect what's in our hearts. May we love and treasure Jesus in our hearts, for it's Jesus who sets us free. Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You for Your saving grace! I praise You for gifting me with the Holy Spirit. He is my Helper who will be with me forever (John 14:16). He guides me into all truth and helps me keep Your commandments. Help me to trust in You with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding. In all my ways help me submit to You, as You make my paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). All glory belongs to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ Name I pray Amen. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 2 John 1:6 He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, But he who is careless of conduct will die. Proverbs 19:16

Many are called but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14 The Good Shepherd While western shepherds herd their flocks of sheep with sheepdogs, eastern shepherds use the distinct sound and simple call of their voice. In Jesus’ days, sheep were very attuned to the voice of their shepherd. This gave multiple flocks the ability to mix in a pen overnight and separate in the morning. When different flocks commingled, occasionally a sheep from one flock might get mixed up or wander away (for a little while), but never indefinitely. Eventually, the lost and wandering sheep would hear its shepherd’s voice and come back into the flock. Or the shepherd would go out to find his lost sheep and bring it home safely. This is what Jesus does for His children. For once we like sheep had all gone astray (Isaiah 53:6) and were lost. But Jesus called us, and we responded. We heard His voice, not by our own human intellect or merit, but by His grace. It's a gift to be able to recognize Jesus' voice and follow Him. We have been given the gifts of repentance and faith so that we may turn from our sins and trust in the Good Shepherd for eternal life. Will Not & Cannot The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:3-5). In this figure of speech, Jesus explains why so many will not respond to the gospel call. It's because they are not part of His flock. Therefore, they cannot respond. Furthermore, they cannot respond because they will not respond. In John Chapter 8, Jesus says to the religious, self-righteous Pharisees, 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me...47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” Truth is Foreign to Many Simply put, the Pharisees don't believe Jesus because they don’t belong to Him. The truth sounds foreign to them because their nature is to believe lies. Even though they profess God to be their Father, in reality, they belong to another father. They belong to Satan, the Father of Lies. In this world, there are only two kingdoms, two families, and two roads. There’s the Kingdom of Light with the children of light traveling on the narrow road, and there’s the Kingdom of Darkness with the children of wrath traveling down the broad road. There is no middle road, no grey area, and truth has always been in the minority. (See Matthew 7:13-14 below) Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters (Matthew 12:30). Those who will not respond to the gospel call are spiritually blind but proudly think they can see. (See John 9:39). They are both self-deceived by their own pride and doubly blinded by the deceptive world system, devised by Satan. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). Both their unwillingness and inability to respond prove their hardness of heart (John 12:40). God's Sovereignty & Our Responsibility Furthermore, only God can give sight to the blind and soften hearts through the saving knowledge of Jesus. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). God is sovereign, yet we aren’t robots! We have our human responsibility to open our Bibles and obey God’s commanded will. The more we read God's word, the more we will know His will. And we know that His will begins with obeying the command to repent and believe on His Son Jesus. God’s divine sovereignty and our human responsibility are two truths that run parallel to heaven. They cannot be intellectually harmonized on this side of eternity. They both are true! Many Are Called Jesus says, Many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). In this verse, the call is extended to all who hear the saving gospel message. Many hear it. Few respond. Those who respond are the "chosen," or God's elect, which He chose before the foundation of the world and predestined for adoption to be His children (Ephesians 1:4-5). Matthew 22:14 expresses the balance between human responsibility and divine sovereignty. The "called," who reject the gospel invitation, do so willingly. Therefore, there is zero injustice in God for their exclusion from the Kingdom. The "chosen" enter God's kingdom only because of the grace of God in choosing them and drawing them to eternal life. We Don't Want Fair, We Want Mercy Whenever we say that God isn't fair in electing some and not others, we don't want fair. Fair would be sending us all to hell. What we want is mercy. Scripture says, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. (Romans 9:18). It's a sobering truth, and one that I have wrestled a lot with. But in the end, it's what the Bible says, and it's just the way the chips fall (in His perfect justice, for His purposes, and all for His glory). But praise the Lord, we serve a merciful God! We can go to a loving God and beg Him to open the eyes of the blind to the light of Jesus. We serve a merciful God who hears every prayer and tear we cry. What a comfort that is! Prayer is part of God's sovereign plan in saving His people. That's so beautiful to me. With all that being said, if you truly follow Jesus, you won the Lottery of all lotteries, my friend. You have the Peace that surpasses all understanding. You possess the Joy of all joys. Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. AMEN. His Sheep Hear His Voice Those who belong to Jesus hear His voice. They recognize His voice and obey His call, by His grace. As believers, while we are attuned to Jesus’ voice, we will at the same time run away from the voice of a stranger. False teaching to a believer sounds like sour notes on a piano because our ears are attuned to biblical truth, by the Holy Spirit. The only way to detect and reject lies is to know and love the Truth, by being in the word and praying daily in heartfelt devotion. True sheep may fall into false teaching for a season, but eventually, the Holy Spirit will always guide a lost sheep out of counterfeit Christianity and away from false gospels and new-age jesuses, and back to the biblical Jesus; back to the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep on the cross and rose again, that by grace through faith in Jesus, we may have eternal life! “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; Isaiah 40:11