In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he writes:
“I passed on to you was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He was raised on the third say, just as the Scriptures said.” (1 Corinthians 15: 3-4, NLT)
“But tell me this – since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God – for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there was no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of you sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if your hope in Christ is only for this life, we we are no more to be pitied than anyone in this world.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest for all who have died.
So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given a new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when He comes back.”
Excerpts from the Apostle Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer in his letter to the Philippians.
“Every time I think of you, I gave thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard until now. And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation – the righteous character produced in you life by Jesus Christ – for this will bring much glory and praise to God.” (Philippians 1:3-11, NLT)
The Apostle Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth as written in his letter to the Ephesians.
“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with the inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should , how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will become complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through His might power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3: 14-20, NLT)
I haven’t posted since October 3rd. A lot has been going on. On the following Monday, the water pump went out on my Toyota Solara. The good news is that I bought it new in 2006 and 120,000 miles later, this is the first time I have had any problem with my car. Fortunately, God has blessed my husband with the gift of repairing foreign cars. Due to a back injury, about 25 years ago, he had to quit his job as a mechanic. He continues to do maintenance and repair cars in the family, with the aid of a back brace.
Solaras come with a V6 or V4 engine. Mine is V6. With a bigger engine, there is less space to place things like water pumps. It took us four days to remove enough parts from the engine compartment to remove the timing belt and water pump. The thermostat was on the opposite side of the engine and more things had to be removed to get to it.
I quickly became the helper. After multiple trips back and forth to the basement, I quickly learned how to identify and find ratchets, wrenches, sockets, socket extensions, three different kinds of vice grips, screw drivers, a torque wrench, two types of magnets on sticks and a mirror on a stick, to name a few. Each day, I set up the air compressor, and learned about the different types of impact drills and ratchets.
Changing a water pump is like doing surgery. My husband would ask for different tools to do a specific job. I learned how to remove bolts and nuts in hard places that required an extension or a very small, ratchet that held in the palm of my hand to reach tight spaces. It took as long to replace the water pump and put all the parts back together again. Oh, and we had to remove the front right tire and place a jack and raise the car up high enough to wedge as steel beam underneath the car, since we obviously did not have a hydraulic jack to lift the car in the air.
Through a lot of prayer for God’s guidance for my husband repair the car without any injury, after eight days, the job was completed with only one minor skin abrasion on my husband’s arm.
On Oct 13th, we had a doctor’s appointment about an hour away from home. On the way back home, the right rear tire blew out. By God’s grace, we were able to turn around and drive a very short distance to our son’s home. Again, by God’s grace, our daughter-in-law was off work that day. They had the tools we needed to remove the tire from the car. Our son came home from work and assisted his dad in removing and putting on the spare tire. Again, by God’s grace, we called our local tire shop. They had the exact tires ( we need to replace both rear tires) we need in stock and told us if we came on over the could put the tires on immediately.
On the way home we stopped to get some lunch. This turned out be take out lunch because our car was leaking water with antifreeze in it, meaning something was wrong with either the water pump or thermostat. Again, by God’s grace, the man parked next to us, had a loose flannel shirt in his truck. He took off the hot radiator cap without any problem. The restaurant provide a gallon jug of water to fill the radiator. We were able to make it home.
We had lunch to allow the car to cool down. Again by God’s grace, my husband found the problem quickly. It was a rubber ring that had split in half, causing the leak from a pipe to the thermostat. Again, by God’s grace, a local auto store had the proper rubber ring. The next morning, he put on the rubber ring, added more water and antifreeze to the radiator and we went for a drive to check it out. Problem solved. No more problems.
The next day, we had to go to another doctor’s appointment about an hour away. Again no problems. God is good! Even though it took about 10 days for the car to be fully repaired, if we had taken it to a repair place for replacement of the water pump, timing belt and gaskets, it would have cost over $1000.00.
I will close with Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT) “Now all glory to God, who is able, through His might power to work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”
(Chapter 43 title – The Savior of Israel) “From eternity to eternity I am God. No on can snatch anyone out of My hand. No one can undo what I have done.” (Isaiah 43:13, NLT)
(Chapter 44 section title – Restoration for Jerusalem)”Pay attention O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I, the Lord made you, and I will not forget you. I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to Me, for I have paid the price to set you free.” (Isaiah 44: 21-22, NLT)
(Chapter 45 title – Cyrus, the Lord’s Chosen One) “For I a the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped your battle though you don’t even know Me, so all the world from east to west will know there is not other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I create the light and make the darkness, I send good times and bad times. I, the Lord am the One who does these things.
Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together. I, the Lord, created them.” (Isaiah 45: 5-8, NLT)
