Are you fat?

Since the New Year's Resolutions, many have been trying to drop a few pounds, and now that Spring Break season is here, and people are thinking about their swim suit body.... The last thing they want to do is be fat.

But you're suppose to be a FAT Christian!

(F)aithful - Believing God, His Son, and His WORD, and exercising your faith to do more...

(A)vailable - Are you available to God, or too busy on your own agenda?

(T)eachable - A most valuable trait in both the secular and spiritual world. Can the Holy Spirit move you up an onward.

Or are you stuck in old fleshy habits. Are you a good follower, are you open to being a Discipler? Your ID?

Are you FAT?

Ever been held captive?

Here’s an article from God’s Daily Promise I thought was interesting. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to save that which was lost (us), but that He would also lead the captives free from that which imprisons them.

Have you ever struggled with a sin that ensnared and held you captive?

Have you ever been imprisoned?

Don't forget about those in prison. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, as though you feel their pain in your own bodies.

Hebrews 13:3 NLT

Tell me how much you know of the suffering of your fellow men, and I will tell you how much you have loved them.

Helmut Thielicke

Solidarity in Suffering

At any given time, many of God's saints are in prison. The prison may be literal, or it may be a product of circumstances. It can be financial debt, a broken relationship, a physical ailment, or any other consuming situation.

A huge problem in the church is when Christians look at their imprisoned brothers and sisters and assume that God has not favored them. Paul probably experienced such a phenomenon. We read his prison epistles and marvel at his suffering for the cause. But many of his contemporaries may not have marveled. They may have seen his trouble as a sign of God's disfavor and wondered why someone with so much potential had fallen to such depths.

God's prisons are full of His loved ones. He uses those experiences mightily, as He did with Paul, Joseph, John the Baptist, John the disciple, and numerous other biblical examples. In fact, many of those whom He used in powerful ways have experienced an imprisonment, captivity, or loneliness ordained directly by Him.

Are you in prison? You are probably not literally behind bars, but your circumstances may make you feel as if you are. Don't despair; it will not last. It is ordained by God and is designed either for your current witness or future usefulness. He is refining you and molding you into His image, the exact likeness of His crucified Son.

Adapted from The One Year® Walk with God Devotionalby Chris Tiegreen, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), entry for April 22.

Dead or Alive?

We know that when people told Jesus that He was too late, and that a girl was already dead, He told them that she was only asleep. Then they laughed at Him.

Then He raised her from the dead. And they stopped laughing, and started praising God.

God considers people who don't belong to Him through faith in Jesus as being already spiritually dead. But considers saints who have physically died to be alive to Him.

Here's some verses on the death of a believer.