Fri, 11 Oct 2024 03:05:19 -0700WeeblySun, 20 Oct 2013 17:33:53 GMThttp://answers.stephenrajkumar.com/answers/so-i-will-save-you-and-you-will-be-a-blessing“…..So I will save you, and you will be a blessing.” Zechariah 8:13

When I came across this verse I understood two things clearly
1. We need someone to save us.
2. We cannot be a blessing to others by nature (Someone has got to make us a Blessing!).

Inarguably, we know that GOD is the person who can save and make us a Blessing. Who is this God? Bible and many other historic and theological scriptures confirm that this God is none other than Jesus! Now, coming to the crucial question, will he make us a blessing for nothing? Or is it a reward for obedience to His word? 

Undoubtedly every Blessing mentioned in the bible is followed by a command. Here is a command which is vital to make every human being’s life meaningful.  Zechariah 8: 16, 17 (NIV) says,

Do’s
These are the things you are to do: “Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgement in your courts;” 

Don’ts
“Do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD.

These are  simple commands one has to follow to be a blessings to others! Pour out your heart to your creator and ask him to make you a blessing today!

God Bless You!

Stephen Rajkumar]]>Sun, 15 Sep 2013 12:06:24 GMThttp://answers.stephenrajkumar.com/answers/14-questions-that-changed-my-life1.   Did I evolve from monkey? Or someone created me? 

Genesis 2:7 says "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." 

Genesis 1:27 says “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

2.   What’s the purpose behind my creation? 

Genesis 1:26, (NKJV) "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;  let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' "  

3.   Hmmm…well… but what happened to this plan of God? I don’t seem to be ruling the world! 

Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 3:4-7 "Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”

4.   Then, did God punish mankind for disobeying? 

Genesis 3:16 -19 “To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat from it, Cursed is the ground because of you;    through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

5.   Hmmm…So what’s my problem now? 

I John 3:4 explains "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is 
lawlessness"
In I John 5:17 we read "All wrongdoing is sin," 
James 4:17 says "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." 
Romans 14:23 says “and everything that does not come from faith is sin."
In Proverbs 24:9 King Solomon writes "The schemes of folly (thoughts of foolishness) are sin"

6.   You mean SIN came in to existence and I am a SINNER? 

Bible says in Psalm 51:5 (NIV), "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." 

Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.”

Romans 3:23 (NIV) says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"  

Isaiah 64:6 says "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags ..."

Romans 3:10-12 says "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Ecclesiastes 7:20 says "Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins."

7.   What if I say I am sinless? 

We read in I John 1:8 that, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

"A holy man is not aware that he is holy...As soon as we begin to talk about how holy we are, we are not holy anymore." - A.W. Tozer
8.   Do I have to be sinless?

Yes, the bible says in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death..."  If we continue to live in Sin, the only high reward we can reap is Death!

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 we read “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

9.   What’s the gain if I am sinless? 

The second half of the same verse Romans 6:23 says”.....but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." If we hate sin and turn to Jesus then we can inherit Eternal life!

10. Oh! How can I be saved? I am a sinner :(

Acts 4:12 says “For there is no deliverance through any other person (except Jesus), nor has any other name (other than Jesus’) on earth been given by which we must be saved.” 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For you have been saved by (God's) grace through faith (in Christ); and this did not come from you - it is God's gift. Nor did it come from what you have done, lest anyone should boast.”

 John 3:16 says “For God loved the world so much, that he gave His only beloved Son, in order that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life”
Acts 16:31 says "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." 

Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,    but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy."
I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

 In Acts 2:38 we read Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
  
Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

In II Corinthians 5:17 we read, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!”

Salvation Prayer: 

Jesus died for your sins, and that is His free gift to you. But for you to be saved, you have to accept or receive the gift. The way to do this is to pray like this: "Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I want to receive the gift you offer--that you will erase my sins so that I can be acceptable to God. I may not even totally understand this yet, but I know in my heart that I have done or thought bad things, and I don't want to be apart from God. I want to have eternal life with you and I want you to live in me and help me to learn about you and your plans for my life. I now turn away from my sins and will try, with your help, to keep myself away from sinning again. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me." If you prayed this and meant it, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are saved.

11. How can accepting Jesus save me from eternal condemnation? 

II Corinthians 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

I John 3:5 says, “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin." 

Ephesians 1:7 says "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace."

Romans 5:18 says, “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.” 

In I John 1:7 we read, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

We read in I John 1:8 that, 'If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us', what is this truth? In John 14:6 Jesus answers “I am the way, the truth and the life". John 8:32 weread “….and the truth will set you free."

12. How can I hold on to this free gift – Salvation?

Now that you are saved, ask God each day to help you to be obedient to Him. Read His Holy Word, the Bible. Spend time in prayer to God each day. Tell Him your troubles and ask Him for help. If you don't go to church, start going. Find a good church that believes that the Bible is God's Word. (Not all churches believe this, avoid those churches.) God wants you to have a close relationship with Him and these are some of the best ways to accomplish that. 

Psalms 119:11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Romans 8:13 explains "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."

Psalms 139:23-24 says “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Philippians 2:12 “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,”

13. Do I have to share this gift with others? 

Matthew 28:19, 20 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." 

Acts 10:38 says “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” So in Matthew 10:8 we read, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

14. What’s the future? 

I Corinthians 15:55 explains that we win death! "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

II Timothy 2:12 says “if we endure, we will also reign with him”.

In I John 3:2 we read "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 

John 14:1-3says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." 

Romans 8:16-17 says, "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."]]>