Paul is a character from the Bible known for his boldness, joy, and faith in Jesus Christ but he was also known as Saul. He had a hunger to spread the gospel of Christ and proclaim the truth wherever he went. Paul was human, like myself and yourself, and he also had a not-so-pleasant past. Paul, before he was crucified with Christ, was a murderer. He was so much against the Christians who proudly spoke about the resurrection of Jesus that he himself said,

He begins with the bold statement: 'Sin is no longer your master.' This signifies a dramatic shift in the spiritual status of anyone who has placed their faith in Christ. Before salvation, sin held dominion over us, controlling our thoughts, actions, and desires. But now, through God’s grace, sin has lost its power to enslave us.

Sin is the reason why Jesus came to earth, to die for us and grant us freedom from it. Through His sacrifice, we became righteous. Our righteousness as Christians does not originate from ourselves, as I explained in yesterday’s devotional, and it's a blessing that our salvation is not based on our own strength. If it were, we would constantly find ourselves striving to earn forgiveness during moments of weakness.

Grace, as shown in Jesus, is God’s unearned favour. It’s not about what we can do to make ourselves right with God; it’s about what God has done for us through Jesus. Where the law demanded perfection, grace says, “I know you can’t do it on your own, but I’m here to help you.” Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law or lower its standards; He fulfilled it completely.

What does your Bible reading schedule look like? Do you engage with Scripture daily, or is it more of an occasional practice? For Christians, reading the Bible should be a top priority, something we aim to do every day without fail. When we miss a day, we should strive to make it right the next. As the verses in Psalms and Joshua suggest, we must meditate on God’s Word day and night.

We all have something we’re praying to God for whether it’s a job, a relationship, marriage, children, financial improvement, healing, peace, guidance, protection, or countless other things. Often, when we pray, we expect God to make His answer very clear so we know our prayers have been answered. Sometimes, God does answer this way, but other times, He doesn’t. Sometimes, He answers in stages, not instantly, so that we may learn to appreciate what we are praying for.

We all have our own fears and concerns, and some of these fears may seem so overwhelming that they could shape the course of our lives. You might be afraid that you’ll never find a good job, meet the right person, or have children. Sometimes, these fears lead to guilt, making us wonder if they’re consequences of sins we’ve committed in the past. In some cases, they could be, but many of these fears can be overcome.

Life isn't always pleasant, and it often brings challenges that weigh us down. Many times, people only turn back to God when things get tough or when they’ve made mistakes. Why is it that we so rarely seek God when things are going well, or before making decisions that could lead to consequences we never wanted? If we claim to be His followers and children, we should learn to run to Him first.

In this verse, the Apostle Paul shares a deeply personal revelation he received from God. Paul had been struggling with a ‘thorn in the flesh’ , an unnamed affliction that caused him significant distress. He prayed three times for God to remove this thorn, but the answer he received was not what he expected. Instead of granting Paul relief by removing the thorn, God spoke these powerful words to him:

Despite greed being a problem and something that a lot of people have in their hearts it is one sin that is very tolerated. This is because money is seen as the answer to all our problems and “there is nothing that money cannot buy.” When you look at it from a worldly perspective this might be true but at the same time even from the worldly perspective money cannot buy love, trust, peace and all that.

Living life has its battles and living the Christian life has battles that are more difficult to overcome than any other. This is because as Christians we must obey God in everything we do. Though we might know this, we will always be flawed and mess up in our walk with Christ. God knows we are not perfect, but not being perfect is not an excuse for us to live in disobedience.

Today’s verse is a hard-hitting one because it’s one that very few of us want to listen to because it encourages us to be joyful even when everything else in life seems to be crashing down. I know it doesn’t make sense why God would say such a thing especially if you are experiencing deep pain from a very painful experience.

Life comes with a lot of hardships, tribulations and so many other challenges that seem impossible to face and they can give us a lot of fear, worry, anxiety, depression, stress and anything else along those lines. These things then take away our joy, peace, trust, faith, hope and many other good things that the Lord provides for us and wants us to partake in.

Trusting in the Lord requires a great deal of willpower and effort from us, His children. Being a follower of Christ is not an easy journey, as we will face many hardships and struggles in this life, but Christ should always be our main focus. Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, and that is something we cannot earn or achieve through our own efforts.

Today's devotional is about living by the Spirit, specifically the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, whom Jesus Christ promised to send to us to help and guide us as we live in anticipation of His second coming (John 15:26-27).

Many people today want all the blessings and benefits that the Lord promises to those who follow and trust in Him but very few actually want a relationship with Him. Today's devotional is about living righteously and why we should strive for it.

As Christians, we know that a relationship with God is a central aspect of our faith. But sometimes, it can be hard to know how to deepen that relationship because of life, circumstances, trauma, and so forth. It is very easy to focus on the negatives rather than the positives because that is how our human nature is, but the Holy Spirit has given us self-control as one of His fruits.

This article will address all three arguments using scripture to draw a conclusion. It's not intended to shame any group of Christians or non-believers. The goal is to tackle the topic and establish a standard of truth from the Bible.

'Do not judge lest you be judged' is a very common statement that some Christians and non-believers like to use, but what does the Bible say?

Struggling with sin is part and parcel of being a Christian because when you give your life to Christ, you'll be surrendering yourself in your sinful state to God in order for Him to make you right with Him. Getting into right standing with God means admitting that you are a sinner and accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior from damnation.

Music is a very important part of our lives, and the types of music created vary from culture to culture, but the listeners can all be the same. As Christians, there are certain things we are encouraged to abstain from, and there are some things that we are not.

The Bible gives us an answer to this question, but it is not straightforward to anyone, especially to those who haven't taken the time to read and study the Bible. However, I'll do the best I can to explain it to you.

Lying is probably, if not, the most common sin among Christians and non-believers alike. The reason I say so is not simply because people lie every time or most of the time they speak, but because lies have a much deeper impact than we could imagine. A lie can destroy trust, love, and faith. It can also destroy a business, a church, a relationship, a family, an organization, or any other example you can think of.

While there are young Christian couples who want to get married with good intentions and for good reasons, there exists the total opposite on the other side of this topic. Many Christians want to get married for the right reasons, while some mainly seek marriage to gain the freedom to have sex without it being a sin. Scripture does encourage this, but it is not in the way we tend to view it. So let's talk about it.

Some Christians have disagreements about the deity of Christ and whether He should be respected and worshipped as God. Some denominations claim that He is the Son of God, while others claim that He is a special servant or an angel, and still others claim that He is God the Son who also lived as a human being on earth. I will address some of the arguments and claims about Jesus being God and answer the pressing question: is Jesus God?

It is common for people to misuse the 'do not judge' statement when someone calls out another person’s sin or comments on a situation. The Bible has many passages about judging others and God’s judgment upon us. Another thing is that many people are familiar with the 'do not judge' verses but are unaware of the 'do judge' verses.

The word of God is the word of life, meaning it is the word of our lives be it with the secular things that we do at work or the spiritual things that we do at the church and in fellowship.

Ongoing sin can discourage us from our relationship with God because it makes us think or believe that we are not truly born again. Every Christian struggles with a form of sin for some it might be chronic and for some, it might be minimal.

Pain comes in different ways from varying circumstances and it can be very difficult to deal with it. Sometimes we might feel shame for asking for help or comfort from others because they might not relate or be able to help.

There are many valid reasons why we would be anxious about the future, maybe you are going to propose and you do not know whether she will say yes or no. Or maybe you are waiting for a response from a school or job to which you applied and there hasn’t been a response in a long time or it has even surpassed the promised time to expect a response from them.

Whenever we face situations that create fear in our hearts we lack peace and get a lot of worries and that is not good for us. But when we turn to God and choose to put worry aside God will take away the fear and give us peace which brings joy and the power of self-control to choose the way God expects us to abide by.

When you face hardships and challenges in your life, who do you turn to? What is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you choose to handle the matter yourself or do you run to God and ask for His intervention? It is humanly logical for us to immediately take matters into our own hands but the question is, what do you do when you fail to handle it on your own? Do you call for reinforcements?

God forgives and He takes good care of the ones who choose to obey Him. We are not perfect and we will find ourselves in moments of weakness but it is not the end of the world. Turn to Christ and keep your eyes focused on Him and He will come to your rescue. This however is not an excuse to fall short and sin against Him. Choose to love Him and obey Him and keep your faith in Him always.

When we seek God first and put our trust in Him, He will not hesitate to come to our rescue. When all these fears started growing in my neighbourhood my faith and trust in God started growing too because I know very well that in every single thing that happens on Earth no matter how great or small it may be God has the final say in it.