1 Peter 3:15

 "Instead you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it."

This is the verse the Lord placed on my heart in the middle of the night.  The Lord is up to something but I have no clue what.  For example weeks ago I listened to a podcast about how the Lord speaks to us through dreams.  What I ingested from that podcast really stuck with me.  I'm noticing I'm dreaming more lately and waking up with people on my heart to pray about so I'm spending time in prayer during the night.  But last night this verse from Peter woke me up.  I knew it was 1 Peter and the verses that came to me was 3:5, probably because I'm more familiar with Proverbs 3:5.  I was just off by one number so again this says to me the holy spirit is up to something so I'll write, even though I don't feel like it. 

Years ago I blogged about this verse.  What I write today will be different from what I wrote years ago but what has not changed is my unwavering belief in Christ Jesus, that He came to this earth in human form but completely God.  He came to die for our sins and rose again on the 3rd day so that we may have eternal life and not only eternal life but a relationship with God.  What was once broken, God redeemed. On a personal level I've seen God do the impossible.  I've experienced Romans 8:28.  When Mike lost his job years ago, I witnessed Mike break into pieces and watched as God rebuilt him, blessing him during the journey and using other believers as messengers to help guide us along the way.  He will fail us or abandon us (Hebrews 13:5).  That's not to say what we went through was easy but now that were on the other side of it, I'm very thankful for that hard time; "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance" James 1; 2-4.  Sometimes I wonder what it must be like to be an athiest because personally I find this world decaying so fast.  An athiest believes this life is it.  Since they believe there is no God, then we all die as rot in the ground, with no hope of anything better.  This world is full of disappointment, broken promises, death and violence.  Our minds and hearts were never meant to consume so much hate but thanks to social media, my heart is often very heavy.  When I witness a terrorist attack or learn of a young 26 year old woman who was set on fire traveling home from work on a Chicago train while bystanders watched and did nothing.  When Charlie Kirk was murdered for all of social media to witness.  When the news reports on jewish people being gunned down at the start of Hanukkah I'm reminded my only hope is in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.  He promises that He will wipe every tear from my eye.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4).  How I long for that, especially the older I get.  I spent years wondering what my purpose is and the more I see the evil in the world I realize my purpose since the beginning has been to be a light in a very dark world; to love as many people as possible and point them to Jesus because He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).  

When it really comes down to it and if someone were wanting me to prove the existence of God and Jesus, I'd point them to Lee Strobel's book, "The Case for Christ."  And after that it really comes down to faith.  We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Jesus told Thomas after his resurrection, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29).  I live in complete anticipation and again unwavering confidence that I will stand before God one day and give an account of my life (Romans 14:12).   Sure that scares me a little bit because I'm a sinner and I know how wretched I am but what scares me more is to stand before a holy God without Jesus.  It's because of the cross that I can stand before God one day, living in perfect harmony with Him for all eternity.  Thanks be to God for the greatest gift ever given, Jesus.