{"id":766,"date":"2019-04-14T20:30:36","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T20:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glitterandgraceteens.com\/?p=766"},"modified":"2020-09-24T01:57:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T01:57:04","slug":"blessed-assurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/?p=766","title":{"rendered":"Blessed assurance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we begin Easter week, I want you to take time to reflect\non what God did for you. God\u2019s love is so indescribable that it\u2019s hard for me\nto put into words how great He is. His love is gracious and merciful. His love\nis holy and unconditional. His love is sacrificial. And His love is eternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus came to this earth as God in human form. God could\nhave stopped at the creation of the world and never looked back. He could have\nnever created mankind or animals or even the world that would one day turn against\nHim, but God had a plan. God knew and still knows what we can\u2019t see. It\u2019s hard\nfor me to imagine why God would send His Son to this world to die such a horrific\ndeath on the cross; however, God knew that this was the way of atonement for\nthe sins of mankind. His sacrificial love is His ultimate gift to you. God\u2019s\nlove is indescribable because it\u2019s hard for us to fathom a love so strong. Our\nminds are not meant to be able to understand the depths of God\u2019s reasoning, but\nwe can put our trust in Him and know that His love is never-ending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you celebrate Easter, celebrate the things that you know about\nGod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross\nfor the sins of this world. (John 3:16)<\/li>
  2. The same Jesus that performed miracles and\nhealed the blind, was sent to die on a cross because the people chose for Him\nto die over a known criminal. (John 9, Matthew 27:16-26)<\/li>
  3. Jesus was brutally beaten and died on the cross\na horrific death. (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19)<\/li>
  4. When Jesus died, He cried out, \u201cFather, forgive\nthem, for they know not what they\u2019ve done.\u201d (Luke 23:34)<\/li>
  5. Jesus\u2019 body was placed in a borrowed tomb and guarded\nby soldiers. (Luke 23:50-56)<\/li>
  6. Three days after Jesus\u2019 death, He rose again!\n(Luke 24) <\/li>
  7. There were multiple witnesses that saw Jesus\nafter He rose again. (Luke 24)<\/li>
  8. Jesus is alive and He\u2019s coming back again.\n(Matthew 24:36, Rev. 1:7, 1 Thess. 4:16-17, Rev. 22:12-13, John 14:3, Matthew\n24:31-33, Rev.1:8, 1 Corinth. 15:52, etc.)<\/li>
  9. God has a plan for each of our lives. (Jeremiah\n29:11, Phil. 1:6, Romans 15:13, Proverbs 19:20-21, Proverbs 3:5-6, etc.)<\/li>
  10. Where you spend eternity is a choice that you\nhave to make. 1) You can choose to reject Jesus Christ, live for yourself, and die\nin a sinner\u2019s Hell. 2) You can choose to accept Christ, lay down your life for\nHim every day, follow His will over your own, and spend your eternity in\nHeaven. (Romans 3:23, Romans 10:9-10, Rev. 22:17)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    To me, the choice is simple. Eternity is a long time to live\nwith the fact that you made the wrong decision. Deciding to follow Christ is\nthe best decision you will ever make. I can\u2019t promise that your life will be\neasier, you\u2019ll get everything you\u2019ve ever dreamed of, or you\u2019ll miraculous be\nhealed from whatever your ailment may be. God is not a magic genie that grants\nyour wishes or simply hands out \u201cget out of Hell free\u201d cards. Instead, God is a\nGod of salvation. He gives you the choice to choose Him or choose this world.\nHe won\u2019t make you follow Him, but you can choose to, no matter the cost. What I\ncan promise you is that if you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,\nyour life will be changed, and you can rest assured knowing that your sins are forgiven,\nand you\u2019ll be with the Lord in Heaven one day. Salvation is the beginning of a\nlife spent with Christ. When your salvation is secure your sanctification,\nservice, and love for the Lord will grow as your grow closer to Him. Your life\nwill no longer be meaningless and just a short time of worthless gain. Your life\non earth, after salvation, becomes a mission field for you to serve Christ,\nshare His love with others, and enjoy the peaceful assurance that you are a\nchild of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Easter is a time to remember the death, burial, and resurrection\nof Jesus Christ. It is a time to put everything else aside and reflect on the\nOne who matters most. Above, I listed 10 things that we know about Jesus Christ;\nhowever, that short list is only the beginning. God\u2019s given us His word so that\nwe can learn more about Him and grow closer to Him every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Easter is 1 day out of 365 days in a year that people slow\ndown to celebrate that Jesus is alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I challenge you to remind yourself daily of what Jesus has\ndone for you and others in this world. Take time to spend with God reading scripture,\npraying, and growing in your walk with Him. Never stop celebrating His greatness!\nShare Who you know with those around you and be a positive influence in this\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I hope you all have a blessed Resurrection Week and most\nimportantly, I pray that each of you know where you will be spending eternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re reading my blog and you don\u2019t know if Christ is in\nyour heart, I encourage you to reach out to me or someone you know and ask for\nprayer, for help, and for assurance that your eternity is sealed. Asking for\nhelp is better than living a life not knowing where you\u2019ll end up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Years ago, a person I knew passed away. The hardest thing\nfor me was not that they had died and left this earth, but that I didn\u2019t know\nif they were saved or not. In my heart, I would guess that they were not saved\nby the life that they lived; however, I am not the Judge. My heart was broken as\nI looked back on all the times, I could have shared Christ with them. I could\nhave showed them Christ\u2019s love by not worrying about what others thought and\nstanding up when someone else said the Lord\u2019s name in vain. I could have turned\n\u201cHow are you?\u201d into a chance to tell my testimony and how blessed the Lord had\nbeen to me. The \u201cI could have\u201d statements could go on forever, but they won\u2019t\ndo me any good since that person is gone. I pray that at some point in time\nthat person received Christ as their Lord and Savior, but this is something I will\nnever know. I will always live with the regret that I never took the time to\nshare Christ with them. Don\u2019t live the same regrets just because you\u2019re worried\nabout what someone might think of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My biggest fear is losing someone I love and not knowing if\nthey are spending eternity in heaven or hell. An even greater fear is losing\nsomeone and knowing that they\u2019ve rejected God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    No matter how many church services you attend, how much money\nyou give to missions, or how many worship songs you know word for word, none of\nthat will get you into Heaven. Being a \u201cgood\u201d person won\u2019t save you either. The\nonly way to insure your salvation is to 1) accept Him into your heart 2) admit\nthat you are a sinner 3) ask for forgiveness 4) believe that that God sent His Son\nto die for your sins 5) and know that 3 days later Jesus rose again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To believe in His Name is to receive Him as your Savior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIf you confess with\nyour mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him\nfrom the dead, you will be saved.\u201d Romans 10:9<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Celebrate the resurrection by knowing that He\u2019s in your\nheart!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    May God bless you and show you His Grace every day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As we begin Easter week, I want you to take time to reflect on what God did for you. God\u2019s love is so indescribable that it\u2019s hard for me to put into words how great He is. His love is gracious and merciful. His love is holy and unconditional. His love is sacrificial. And His … Continue reading Blessed assurance<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weekly-devotions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/slide-02-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1200&ssl=1","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":769,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions\/769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}