Update On Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani (husband of Fatema Pasindedih and father of two boys - Daniel, 9 and Yoel, 7) was arrested over 2 years ago on charges of apostasy - he converted from Islam when he was 19. and will not recant his commitment to Christianity. Iranian courts have found him guilty and condemned him to death.


Congress may be voting today on House Resolution 556, which condemns the Iranian government for their decision to execute this man, and calls for his immediate release.


GOOD NEWS: Iranian Pastor Youcef is still alive as no execution order has been issued as yet. International pressure seems to be working (a little) on the Iranian authorities


BAD NEWS: Pastor Youcef is still in prison with this judgment still hanging over him. The Iraian government usually acts quickly in death penalty cases, and he could be executed at any time - without further notification or appeal.


Please keep praying for this brother in Christ, and his family:

Fox News on Pastor Youcef

7 Things To Help You Walk Into Holiness

Here are 7 things that will give you faith and courage to walk away from sin. God calls us to:

Be holy for I am holy

1Peter 1:15

This seems like an impossibility, but the Lord would never ask us to do something if it was impossible. These are just a few things that might make sense to you as you seek to be more and more like Him:

1. We need to understand what happened when we were saved and baptized. We were buried with Christ when we were baptized - we must remember that we are a new person:

Romans 6:1-6 Read all these verses, but here is verse 6 (NLT) Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

2. We need to present ourselves (body, soul and spirit) as a living sacrifice before the Lord - each day:

Romans 12:1 (Message) So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.

3. We need to repent quickly if we do slip up. It is important to know that holiness is not so dependent on a flawless record, but a cleansed life. The longer we live with sin, the harder it is to walk away from it:

1John 1:8-9 (Message) If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins - make a clean breast of them - he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.

4. We need to recognize that our old lives are dead - we have the greatest hiding place ever - we are hidden in Christ and are safe from our old ways and temptations if only we could completely depend on Him:

Colossians 3:3 (Message) Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life - even though invisible to spectators - is with Christ in God. He is your life.

5. We need to have a heart of integrity - God watches over those who act with integrity and will save them from sin. In Genesis 20 God kept Abimelech from sin because of his innocent heart:

Genesis 20:6 (NLT) "Yes, I know you are innocent," God replied. "That is why I kept you from sinning against me; I did not let you touch her.

6. We need to become serious about the areas of our lives and character that are prone to failure. We all have weaknesses, but we don't have to give in to those weaknesses. Job made a covenant with his eyes, that he would not look lustfully on a woman:

Job 31:1 (NLT) I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman.

7. We need to be worshipers - One of the greatest truths of worship is that we will become more and more like the one we look at and worship. Change is not a one-time event, but a process that results from worshiping and beholding Him again and again. We can be transformed into the same image as our holy God:

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

How interesting that He calls us glorious - even in our present (unholy) state. The Lord is patient with us as we go on this journey into holiness.

Another posting on the Bride of Christ - presented as SPOTLESS before the Lord: HERE
Look HERE for 3 attributes of holiness

The Scale Of The Universe

The blog First Thoughts linked to an interactive show on the scale of the universe by Cary Huang. I thought it was powerful in the way it shows who we are in God's universe.

I recommend that you check this out today:

http://htwins.net/scale2/

Amazing God 4

This is my last set of six declarations from the book of Job, where the Lord describes His awesome creative power in the light of Job's suffering:

Job 39:25 He put strength in the horse

and clothed its neck with beauty

and thunder (power).

He filled the horse with courage in war

Job 39:26-30 He created the hawk and the eagle

who fly and live by His design

Job 40:9 His arm is strong

and His voice is like thunder

Job 40:10 He is robed with majesty and splendor;

glory and beauty

Job 40:15-24 He created huge animals

and gave them strength.

Only God can come near them

Job 41:1-34 He has all power over the devil

Rev. 4:11

"You are worthy, O Lord,

To receive glory and honor and power;

For You created all things,

And by Your will they exist and were created."

Rev. 5:13

And every creature which is in heaven

and on the earth and under the earth

and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,

I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory

and power Be to Him who sits on the throne,

And to the Lamb, forever and ever!"

Amazing God 1: HERE

Amazing God 3

Another 6 from our list from Job 38-4. This list has 24 things that God has done in His creation. He is showing Job that He has everything under control:

Job 38:34-35 He commands the rain

and lightening with His voice

Job 38:36 He is the source of all wisdom

Job 38:37-38 He can count the clouds

and start the rain when the earth is hardened

Job 38:39-41 He can hunt like a lion and the raven

Job 39:1-4 He knows when all the creatures

give birth and how they grow

(I'm sorry, I cannot be held responsible for posting

waaaay too many cute animal pictures)

Job 39:5-18 He created the wild animals to be free and He designed their intricate ways

(Again...there is no way that I can stop posting these fabulous animal pics)

Psalm 104:24(NLT)

O LORD, what a variety of things you have made!

In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your creatures.

Amazing God 4: HERE

Amazing God 2

Continuing our look at Job 38-41 where the Lord speaks to Job about His creative power. There is a list of about 24 areas where He lists the things he has done. I am listing all 24 - 6 at a time:

Job 38:22 He has a treasure house for snow and hail.

Imagine this - every snowflake throughout all the ages

has been designed and stored in God's secret storehouse!

Job 38:24 He sets the course for light and wind

Job 38:25 He sets the course for lightning

Job 38:26-27 He waters all the earth

and causes things to grow

Job 38:28-29   He created all the waters and ice

Job 38:31-33 He commands the stars

and constellations

Psalm 8

(New Living Translation)

O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth!Your glory is higher than the heavens.You have taught children and nursing infants to give you praise.

They silence your enemies who were seeking revenge.

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers --

the moon and the stars you have set in place --

what are mortals that you should think of us,

mere humans that you should care for us?

For you made us only a little lower than God,

and you crowned us with glory and honor.

You put us in charge of everything you made,

giving us authority over all things --

the sheep and the cattle and all the wild animals,

the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,

and everything that swims the ocean currents.

O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth!

Psalm 8

(The Message)

God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.

Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;

toddlers shout the songs That drown out enemy talk,

and silence atheist babble.

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,

your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings.

Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,

Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?

Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,

bright with Eden's dawn light.

You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,

repeated to us your Genesis-charge,

Made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild,

Birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.

Amazing God 3: HERE