ALIVE TO GOD
Today’s Reading: Romans 7
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion on the right-hand side).
The Arch of Titus is a first-century honorific arch located on the Via Sacra in Rome, just to the southeast of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in 82 AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian, shortly after the death of his older brother Titus, to commemorate Titus' victories, including the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Arch of Titus has provided the general model for many of the triumphal arches erected since the 16th century. Perhaps most famously, it is the inspiration for the 1806 Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, completed in 1836.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Romans 7:24-25a
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Jesus said in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Yesterday’s blog dealt with the word “reckon,” which means “consider it a fact” that we who believe are crucified, dead and buried with Christ. Therefore, the old sin life has no power over us. There’s a horror story here. The Romans would, from time to time, chain a dead rotting body to a living prisoner. Imagine carrying that around. The sin life is one of unbearable stench and disease. Who is our Deliverer from sin…from this “body of death”? The answer is found in verse 25. He is “Jesus Christ our Lord!” He lived a pure and holy life, and He lives within the believer. Therefore, we have all we need to be free from sin as long as we surrender our all 24/7!!! Amen!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Dear Lord, as You’ve helped me to remember Galatians 2:20 each morning for years, please keep it coming…”I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me.” Please Lord, give me the grace and the consistency to keep quoting (mostly under my breath) and believing 100% this powerful motivator for holy living, confessing it as fact! Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
My son, David Reynold, is a professional photographer. His award-winning photography blesses us each day here on 100words.ca. When he was a young boy and had done something worthy of punishment, I would send him to his room to await my arrival. I’d find him on his knees, begging God to make him a good boy, and to help him to not do the wrong thing ever again. One time, I noticed that he looked at me with one eye, the other covered with his hand, in order to see how I was reacting to his prayer. When I smiled, he knew he had disarmed me. I would emphasize the error of his ways and forgive him as he and I both knew God had already done. In recent years he has led amazing world missions projects, raising millions of dollars for missions, and overseeing those projects on the ground. He and his wife Kathy are currently leading a unique God-birthed initiative in Uganda. Thanks David Reynold Mainse for helping your Dad make this blog unique among blogs by your excellent photography. I love you.
Yours for a life lived in abandon to God,
David
P.S. For some reason I feel compelled to put the pictures below on the blog. Three days after the birth of our great-granddaughter, Jadice Elizabeth Patterson (she is 2 now), my other son, Ron (the grandpa), took a picture of her in the same pose as her 3-D ultrasound (taken at 30 weeks gestation). I can’t understand how pro-choice people, many of them people of good will, could approve of the one baby being ripped apart in the womb, yet so caring and nourishing toward the newborn. Canada has absolutely no laws protecting the life on the left (see photo below). This is truly sad and just plain evil! The sin in our human hearts must break the heart of God.
Jadice Elizabeth Patterson today at two years old.
WOW!
What powerful pictures today (it is obvious that Ron is also an excellent photographer).
Thanks to Reynold for his pictures to assist our study of the Bible and he and Kathy are in our prayers for God’s protection and blessing in Uganda.
Shalom,
Graham.
2012 Holy Land Yellow Bus.
I’d love to hear more of what Reynold and Kathy are doing in Uganda. He is an amazing photographer. Beautiful baby – before and after birth! The doctor explained to me that she could arrange for me to abort our 4th baby. So glad I did not. He is incredible. And later, we adopted a 5th!
Praise God u kept your baby boy Doreen. I can understand abortion if done in the early, early stage. In my lifetime I’ve seen children in all stages of their wee lives badly, badly treated. I’ve felt deep sorrow and powerless to help them and never saw anyone else step up to save them. Abortion to me is a dilema. Dealing with social services can be a nightmare.
God bless u Doreen and thanks for sharing.
At what age does life stop being precious?
I agree Jadice is a beautiful little girl both of you Ron, and Renold are very good
taking pictures.
Lianne Hogg
Its such a real way of seeing a baby in the womb or outside the womb a baby is a baby real human being Praise be to God Let them live to be a blessing I had 7 children and would never even think of aborting a beautiful gift from God God help us
the pictures are beautiful and im glad you put the babys pictures on God Bless these little ones I Jesus name Amen
Two very potent images today- the first one a mental image of sin being like a dead corpse tied to our backs. For now on when I feel burden by my old sin nature that image will help me realize I don’t have to carry my dead self around, because of what Jesus did on cross and on Easter morning, I can let him lift that dead sin nature right off me– for I am free of it, if only I will believe it.
The second image is the visual one of a precious child in the womb and out. The only difference between a child in the womb that is allowed to be born and the one that is not, is one is wanted the other is not. The one that is wanted is nurtured and care for, their arrival is full of excitement, and if God forbid something happens and they are loss before birth, they are mourned. The unwanted child is murdered and society allows it, justifying it by selling the lie, the unborn child isn’t really a child yet.
And it is so sad because every unwanted child is wanted by someone, there are options, and as a society we should make these options easier, and abortion more difficult, then perhaps the scales will tipped back in favor of pro life.
Enjoyed the interview of Caroline Leaf on your programming. What a delightful lady and so driven by her talent to study how and why our brains work the way they do. Will purchase her books when I can.
Great study today, again.
Blessings fellow saints.
Great photos Reynold and I congratulate you and Cathy on your mission work in Uganda. (I must dig out my photos in Rome taken 45 years ago, Wow!). Also Jadice is a sweet little girl. I am still sharing the story of little Mary telling the story of Jonah. Both are so precious and I agree with your thoughts David.
Beautiful pics… May our Lord Jesus bless you this day…
I came across this message of LOVE today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9RDfv5OAZQ
Wow!!! Thank you for sharing this with us, David! Amazing example of God’s love in his gift of Adam Wright and his father, Jeffrey Wright–what a remarkable family!! A perfect example of how we are teachers to each other–on every level. When we slow down to breathe through God’s love, we let go of the fear of everything else, and gain so much more than we ever expected. Praise God through whom all blessings flow!!!
Wow! Had to send that one out to others. Thank you. It will bless many.xo.
very beautiful David. Thanks for sharing.
So sad that so many beautiful children have been murdered and tortured both inside the womb and outside the womb…The Lord’s heart must ache for each of them!
Thank you for sharing the pictures David; thank you Ron for being so sensitive to God’s love, what a beautiful Grand-daughter you have!! thank you Reynold for the in depth picture of the Arch of Titus, you truly are an award winning photographer.
yes, “yours for a life lived in abandon to God” that well describes you David Mainse!!
I also quoted Galatians 2:20…crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live in Him and “the old sin has no power over me/us”.
somedays I just shake my head and ask “what is going on Mr Mainse?” Did Mr. Mainse not post on a blog how he met Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada! I could go back and find that blog! How come Mr Mainse does not send the pictures of his great-grandchild to Mr. Harper! I am so angry that Canada does not protect children! I am so angry that Canada, the country I love so much and was born in has completely lost all respect for children, the elderly and those who cannot help themselves! Talk about sin! Big time! There are days when I weep out of control because of the horrible acts that are being done against the most vulernable in our society! I am so ashamed! However, I am only a tiny, tiny speck in this country and people like Mr.; Mainse could play a big part in encouraging our governments to change their policies! Yes, Canada is completely out of step with God’s Word! I feel there are double standards and I also believe that millions of people don;’t really understand what has happened to our beloved country! I recently met someone who was so upset with the way their elderly parents were being treated, and this person said “I thought our country believed in God! To look after children, the elderly and those who cannot look after themselves” she went on to say “What the H— happened to the morals in this country?” All I could do was give a hug and I said “you are 10 years behind what is going on!” More now than ever Canada and the United States need our prayers and I have been praying for the Holy SPirit to call, gather and enlighten people to the Gospel, to sanctify and preserve them in the One True Faith! Well, that’s it for me. I get very stressed out and the world is broken! Yes, God knew that and He sent us a SAVIOUR, His Son Jesus Christ, Yes, asking Jesus into our lives and repenting of our sins and receiving His total forgiveness is what is going to change the world! I end up saying this almost every day, Yes, the world needs to know the Love of Jesus Christ and it has to start with one person at a time, and I need to start today and I encourage everyone else to do the same. someone once said that they can reach as many people as they can touch at the ends of their fingers (10) and than they said, yes, 10 at a time. Blessings to all, P.S. please keep my friend Shawn in your prayers! He is upgrading all his Emergency Responder Certificates! I know that he will pass with flying colors!