Doulos Training School

Doulos Missions International now offers discipleship training online through the Doulos Training School (DTS).  Please visit the DTS online at Doulos Training School to find out more about how you or someone you know can participate.

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. Partner with us online by giving to DMI.

How to Find My Latest Content

Did you know that I have over thirty blogs containing over one thousand posts? You can find all that content on Writing for the Master. But the latest content will always be shown on my monthly e-magazine, the Old News That's Still Fresh. That's how I make you aware of new content that I've posted on one of my blogs. And there is typically a new edition published on the first of each month, unless I haven't posted anything new. But in case you've missed any past editions, you can find links to all my editions of the Old News That's Still Fresh at this link.

God's Love Revealed: How He Turns Our Greatest Needs Into Opportunities to Know Him

"God is love." That may be one of the simplest statements in the Bible, but it contains an almost unfathomable truth: God is love.

Yet there is something about God's love that can be difficult for us to fully appreciate. God is invisible. We cannot see Him with our physical eyes, and because His love is not always immediately visible either, we can easily take it for granted, fail to recognize it, or simply not understand how amazing it really is.

But God doesn't merely tell us that He loves us. He shows us. And I believe this helps us understand something important about why God allowed humanity to fall and why He permits us to live in a fallen world.

God Gave Us Free Will Because He Wants a Relationship With Us

God made mankind in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). One important aspect of that is that we are personal beings who possess a will. God Himself has a will, and He created us with the capacity to make genuine choices. That matters because God desires a genuine relationship with us.

A computer can be programmed to say, "I love you," but it doesn't actually love. It simply does what it was programmed to do. God didn't create us that way. He didn't want humanity to be a collection of pre-programmed creatures who could do nothing except obey. He wanted us to be capable of knowing Him, trusting Him, choosing Him, and loving Him.

But giving humanity genuine freedom carried risk. If we have the ability to freely love God, we also have the ability to reject Him. And that's exactly what happened.

God Allowed the Fall-But He Wasn't Surprised by It

God could have prevented Satan from tempting Eve. He could have stopped Adam and Eve from eating the forbidden fruit. He could have intervened. But in His sovereignty, He allowed them to exercise the freedom He had given them. And God already knew what would happen.

The Fall was not an unexpected disaster that forced God to come up with a backup plan. God's plan of redemption existed before the foundation of the world. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4-6: "He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace."

Think about that. Before creation, God already had redemption in mind. Before Adam sinned, God knew. Before Satan tempted Eve, God knew. Before humanity experienced the consequences of sin, God knew. And before the cross, God knew.

The Fall did not catch God off guard. He knew that giving humanity free will carried risk, and He already had a plan to redeem fallen humanity through Jesus Christ.

Sin Brought Shame, Fear, and Hiding

Genesis 2:25 tells us that Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame. Then came Genesis 3. After they disobeyed God, we read: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked."

Their physical condition hadn't changed. Their spiritual condition had. Suddenly, they experienced shame. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Then, when they heard God in the garden, they hid.

God called out: "Where are you?" Of course, God knew where they were. He wasn't asking because He needed information. He was calling them out of hiding.

Then God asked Adam: "Who told you that you were naked?" God already knew the answer. But He wanted Adam to think about what had happened. Why was Adam suddenly ashamed? Why was he afraid? Why was he hiding? What had changed? The answer was sin.

Before the Fall, nakedness was accompanied by innocence and no shame. After the Fall, sin brought shame, fear, alienation, and hiding. And yet, even in this darkest moment, something remarkable happens: God comes looking for them. They ran from God. God pursued them. They hid. God called. They sinned. God began dealing with the consequences while simultaneously unfolding His redemptive purpose.

Our Need Can Become an Opportunity to Experience God's Love

This is where I believe we can begin to see something beautiful about God's dealings with us. We can know intellectually that God is merciful. But there is a difference between knowing that God is merciful and experiencing His mercy.

We can be told that God is our helper. But when we're helpless and cry out to Him, we discover what His help means. We can be told that God is our refuge. But when we're afraid and run to Him, we experience Him as our refuge. We can be told that God is gracious. But when we realize that we have nothing to offer Him, His grace becomes incredibly precious. We can be told that God forgives. But when we recognize our own sin and receive His forgiveness, we discover something about His heart that we could never understand merely as an abstract concept.

This is one reason the circumstances of a fallen world can become opportunities for us to discover the depths of God's love. Pain. Heartache. Troubles. Trials. Afflictions. Failure. Weakness. Need. None of these things are good in themselves. But God is so sovereign and so good that He can use even these things to draw us toward Himself and reveal His character to us.

He can show us mercy. He can heal. He can deliver. He can rescue. He can help. He can give grace in our time of need. And when we experience His love, something happens: We love Him more.

John says: "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19 God's love comes first. We experience it. We respond to it. And our relationship with Him deepens.

God Can Turn a Negative Into a Positive

One of the most encouraging truths in Scripture is that God can take something genuinely negative and bring something genuinely good out of it. Joseph expressed this beautifully when he told his brothers: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." Genesis 50:20

The ultimate example, of course, is the cross. The crucifixion was an act of terrible injustice and evil. Jesus, the innocent Son of God, was rejected and put to death. Yet God used that very event to accomplish the salvation of the world. What appeared to be defeat became victory. What appeared to be tragedy became redemption. What appeared to be Satan's triumph became God's triumph.

This is the kind of God we serve. He can turn a negative into a positive. That doesn't mean everything that happens to us is good. It means that God is so powerful and so sovereign that the things that are not good cannot prevent Him from accomplishing His good purposes.

That's why Romans 8:28 is such a powerful promise: "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him." Paul doesn't say that everything that happens is good. He says that God works in all things for good. The negative does not get the final word. God does.

Grace Means God Gets the Glory

And this is why salvation is by grace. Paul says: "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

We cannot save ourselves. We don't earn God's love. We don't rescue ourselves from sin. God does it. He gives us grace. He gives us forgiveness. He gives us salvation. He gives us adoption. And because it is His work, the glory belongs to Him.

Ephesians 1 says that God predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ "to the praise of his glorious grace." Think about the extraordinary exchange taking place. We bring our sin, weakness, failure, and need. He gives us mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, adoption, and life.

What a great deal! We get to be loved. We get to be saved. We get to experience His goodness. And He gets the glory.

From Him, Through Him, and To Him

This brings us to Paul's magnificent conclusion in Romans 11:36: "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen."

Everything ultimately points back to God. Our salvation is from Him. Our salvation is accomplished through Him. And everything ultimately returns to Him in glory.

God's love is the beginning. God's grace is the means. God's redemption is the result. And God's glory is the ultimate purpose.

Heaven Testimony of Camille Gent

When Camille Gent died of heart failure and septic shock in 2013 and went to heaven, she was sitting on the steps leading up to the throne of God the Father, where Jesus was seated on His throne beside Him. After she had been enjoying herself for quite a while, here is what happened next. She says:

Then I look over at the Father and he's on his throne and he says, "You having fun yet?" 

"Yes, this is amazing. I can't believe I'm here." 

"Cuz now you got to go back."

Right when He said that—it’s so hard to explain—this huge crystal heart came down, and it looked just like this big crystal heart. As soon as it got close to me, it fell on the ground and shattered into a million pieces right below me. I remember at the time knowing it was representative of my heart at that moment. I was looking at it when it fell and looking down at the mess, then the mess disappears.

And I look up, and I see the Father Himself standing up from His throne. When He stood up from His throne, I said, "No way does the Maker of everything care if I’m hurt." And He starts walking toward me. I have to tell you that I have never seen anything more humbling and beautiful than Him like that. But the amazing thing is He has since told me, "I do that with all of my children. They just don't see it when we're brokenhearted."

So He’s walking up to me, He grabs me by my right hand, and we start walking...

The Father grabbed my hand, and I remember looking down at His huge feet—He had the biggest feet. We took three steps, and as soon as we took those three steps, we went from heaven into outer space itself. I remember we were hovering over the earth, and I have never seen anything so beautiful, almost like the earth in orbit. It was so amazing. 

I asked Him a few questions, but the first question I asked was, "Why do we have to do this? Why do we have to do this?"

He knew what I meant—I meant coming back, because I was so upset that I had to return. I said, "Why do we even have to do this, anyway?"

And He said, "That's easy. It's to love."

So I came back thinking that's my mission: is to love. And how do you love most? Through knowing Jesus Christ and serving as He was a servant. That's how I show my love, by serving and by doing—telling people the truth because, again, the truth sets people free.

What a Great God

When we step back and look at the whole story, we see something astonishing. God created us in His image. He gave us free will so that genuine love and relationship would be possible. He knew that freedom carried risk. He knew the Fall would happen. And yet, before the foundation of the world, He already had a plan to redeem us through Christ.

When humanity fell, God came looking. When we were ashamed, He showed mercy. When we were guilty, He offered forgiveness. When we were helpless, He gave grace. When we were lost, He came to rescue us. And when we encounter suffering and difficulty, He can take even those things and work them together for good.

Why? Because God is love. He loves to show His love. He wants us to know His love. He wants us to experience His mercy. He wants us to receive His grace. And He wants us to love Him in return. The God who created us for relationship with Himself has made a way for fallen humanity to be reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ.

So yes, the world we live in is fallen. Yes, sin has brought pain, shame, suffering, and death. But sin does not have the final word. Suffering does not have the final word. Satan does not have the final word. Death does not have the final word. God does.

And His final word is redemption. His final word is grace. His final word is love. And when everything is finally brought to its appointed conclusion, we will discover that it was all—from Him, through Him, and to Him.

"To him be the glory forever. Amen."

What a great God. What a great salvation. What a great love.

Related Worship Song: I wrote a worship song and produced a worship video about this very subject called Brought Our Hearts to You, which I would like to invite you to watch.

Attribution notice: Scripture take from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Image generated using AI. This article was written by Len Lacroix with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Brought Our Hearts to You, The Blessings of Being in Christ. Does Being Saved Make All Your Problems Disappear?, The Love of Jesus, Having the Love of God in Your Heart, Compelled by Love, One Thing, Seven Things That Accumulate Building Materials in Heaven, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Transformed From Glory to Glory

Second Corinthians 3 reveals one of the great truths of the Christian life: God does not transform us primarily through greater effort, but through a deeper vision of Christ. Paul contrasts the old covenant with the new and shows that, under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, believers are given new life, an unveiled view of Christ's glory, and are progressively changed into His likeness.

The Christian life begins with an instantaneous work of God—we become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). But it does not end there. From that moment forward, God begins a lifelong work of transforming us into the likeness of His Son. 

In this post, I'd like to focus on four aspects of the new life in Christ that help us understand what it truly means to be "transformed from glory to glory."

A New Heart - God changes who we are.

The first aspect of the new life in Christ is a new heart, whereby God changes who we are. In 2 Cor 3:3–6, we come to learn that the Spirit writes God's law on our hearts, which is a key aspect of the new covenant. Christianity is not merely external obedience but an inward work of the Holy Spirit. True transformation begins on the inside. As Paul says, "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (v. 6).

A New Vision - God changes what we see.

The second aspect of the new life in Christ is a new vision, whereby God changes what we see. In 2 Cor 3:7–16, Paul teaches us that Christ removes the veil that blinds unbelieving hearts. Only through Christ can we truly see God's glory. Transformation begins with revelation.

A New Freedom  - God changes how we live.

The third aspect of the new life in Christ is a new freedom, whereby God changes how we live. In 2 Cor 3:17, it says,  "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Freedom is not a license to sin but freedom from sin's bondage and from condemnation. The Spirit liberates us to know, love, and obey Christ.

A New Likeness - God changes what we become.

The fourth aspect of the new life in Christ is a new likeness, whereby God changes what we become. This is found in the climax of Paul's third chapter in 2 Cor 3:18, which says, "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 

We behold Christ with unveiled faces. As we gaze upon Him through Scripture and by the Holy Spirit (eg., prayer and worship), we are changed into His image. This transformation is progressive—"from glory to glory"—as the Spirit conforms us more and more to Christ. Beholding His glory, we are transformed from glory to glory.

Many Christians instinctively think:

Try harder → become holier.

But Paul reverses the order:

Behold Christ → become like Christ.

This keeps the focus on God's grace rather than self-effort. We are not transformed by striving to manufacture holiness, but by continually fixing our eyes on Christ, whose glory reshapes us from the inside out through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Closing Words

The movement of 2 Corinthians 3 is beautifully simple, as the graphic below shows us:

This chapter teaches that seeing leads to becoming. The Holy Spirit gives us new life, removes the veil from our hearts, and enables us to behold the glory of Christ. As we continue to gaze upon Him, He progressively transforms us into His likeness until the day we share fully in His eternal glory. 

The Christian life can be viewed through three complementary passages:

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 — We are made new.
• 2 Corinthians 3:18 — We are being transformed.
• Romans 8:29 — We will be conformed to the image of His Son.

From beginning to end, God's purpose has never changed: to make His children like Christ. We don't become like Christ by taking our eyes off Him and focusing on ourselves. We become like Christ by fixing our eyes on Him. The Holy Spirit removes the veil from our hearts so that, by continually beholding the glory of Christ, we are progressively transformed into His likeness from glory to glory. The longer we behold His glory, the more we reflect His glory.

Attribution notice: Scripture take from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. This message is based on four keys points made in Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3 summarized with assistance from AI tools.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like my worship music video of a song I wrote called From Glory to Glory. You may also enjoyed my article on 2 Corinthians 4 called Having an Eternal Perspective, The Blessings of Being in Christ. The Love of Jesus, Having the Love of God in Your Heart, Compelled by Love, One Thing, Seven Things That Accumulate Building Materials in Heaven, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Having an Eternal Perspective

In his second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul wrote about the eternal perspective we all must have in life. Things are not as they appear and there are hidden things we must focus on, since that reality stands in stark contrast to what we see in the natural realm. 

Here are five key truths from 2 Corinthians 4 about these hidden things:

1. Hidden Light

The gospel's true light is unseen by the spiritually blind (v. 3-6). 

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ."

The gospel is openly proclaimed and faithfully handled; if people remain blind to it, the fault lies not in the light but in spiritual blindness. 

2. Hidden Power

God's power is unseen within frail earthen vessels (v. 7).

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

Believers are merely earthen vessels, so every spiritual success clearly displays God's power rather than human strength. 

3. Hidden Life

God's sustaining life is unseen amid visible suffering (v. 10-12, 14). 

"...We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you... because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself."

Though Christians are afflicted, persecuted, and outwardly wasting away, God continually sustains them, and Christ's life is manifested through their weakness. 

4. Hidden Glory

The coming glory is unseen but outweighs present affliction (v. 15, 17). 

"All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God... For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."

Present sufferings are brief, purposeful, and "light" compared with the immeasurable, everlasting weight of glory they are preparing for God's people. 

5. Hidden Eternal Realities 

Therefore, believers should fix their eyes on eternal realities rather than temporary appearances (v. 18).

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Faith fixes its gaze not on seen things—which are temporary and passing—but on unseen realities, which alone are eternal and therefore worthy of our greatest attention and hope.

Conclusion

Each point in 2 Corinthians 4 contrasts present appearances (human weakness, suffering, blindness, temporary affliction, visible things) with God's unseen, eternal reality (His power, sustaining grace, coming glory, and everlasting kingdom). The chapter's unifying message is:

Live by faith in eternal realities rather than by sight of temporary appearances. May the Lord help us all to have this essential eternal perspective.

Attribution notice: Scripture take from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. This message is based on five keys points made in Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Corinthians 4 summarized with assistance from AI tools.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Transformed from Glory to Glory, The Blessings of Being in Christ. Does Being Saved Make All Your Problems Disappear?, The Love of Jesus, Having the Love of God in Your Heart, Compelled by Love, One Thing, Seven Things That Accumulate Building Materials in Heaven, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

The All-Powerful Blood of Jesus

Dear friends, 

In the Old Testament, Moses was commanded to take the hyssop branch, dip it in the blood of the animal that was sacrificed to God, and use it to sprinkle the blood. 

For example at Passover, he was instructed by God to "Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe..." (Exodus 12:22)

Moses also commanded the the priests to sprinkle blood for the cleansing of lepers and houses, as part of cleansing rituals using the hyssop plant, as well as scarlet yarn and cedar wood (Leviticus 14:4-6, 49-51).

Likewise the apostle in Hebrews 9:19-21 references Moses using hyssop, water, and blood to sprinkle the book and the entire tabernacle, emphasizing its role in ritual purification. In every instance, it was a sprinkling of the blood that was used, which is a small thinly distributed amount.

I would like to ask you how much of Jesus blood do you think is necessary to wash a man's sins away and save his soul or to protect a believer from harm, such as when we plead the blood of Jesus. 

Just One Drop

I am certain that the blood of Jesus is so powerful -- infinitely powerful -- that just one little drop of His blood is all it takes. That's enough to wash away a person's sins and to apply to anyone when pleading the blood over them or oneself. 

This truth emphasizes the infinite, superabundant power of Christ's sacrifice to redeem all humanity from sin. Many theologians, notably St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), suggest a single drop was sufficient to save the entire world, making it a symbol of absolute, total salvation. 

Derek Prince taught this, too. He said, "There is more power in one drop of the blood of Jesus than in the whole kingdom of satan." He quoted Leviticus 17:11:"For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls." And he said, "It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. So the life of God is in the blood of Jesus. God’s own life, the life of the Creator. Our human minds have no way to calculate the potential of that statement."

Here is Derek Prince's sermon on this subject, called "There's Infinite Power in One Drop of The Blood of Jesus". The link here starts the message right at the part where he made certain key points, but the whole sermon is worth listening to. It's very instructional, including about the Lord's Supper (Communion).

Scriptures About the Blood

The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin, when we walk in the light as He is in the light. We have been justified by His blood, and our Lord Jesus has freed us from our sins by His blood. Here are some verses that say so.

"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." (1 Jn 1:7)

"Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!" (Rom 5:9)

"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood..." (Rev 1:5b).

That word "freed" means "loosed"; it comes from the Greek word luo, meaning "break, destroy, dissolve, loose, melt, put off." 

"In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." (Heb 9:22)

"They overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." (Rev 12:11).

Songs About One Drop of Blood

Many song lyrics have this theme like the following excerpts from some songs:

Excerpt #1

One drop of blood

Fell to the scales

It covered my transgressions

And all the times I failed

The enemy was mighty

He came in like a flood

He was defeated by one drop of blood 

Excerpt #2

One drop of blood, oh yes!

One drop of blood

He can save your soul

With one drop of blood

On the Cross He died

For our sins, He gave His Life

And with one red drop

You can be made pure white

One drop of blood will cover all your sins

Clean up your heart and give you peace within

Excerpt #3 - One Drop of the Blood (Hymn by William Augustine Ogden 1841-1897) Link to full lyrics.

One drop of the blood,

From Calvary's brow,

Will cleanse me within,

And free me from sin,

And make my soul e'en whiter than snow. 

Excerpt #4 - One Drop of Jesus' Blood by Kent Phalen, Sandy Bloemer, & Scott Nelson.

One drop of Jesus' blood

All my sins were gone

Though they were as scarlet

He cleansed me from them all.

The holy crimson flow

Covered me that day.

One drop of Jesus' blood

Washed all my sins away.

Excerpt #5 - There's Power in the Blood, by Lewis E Jones (1899), full lyrics here.

There is power, power, wonder-working power

in the blood of the Lamb;

there is power, power, wonder-working power

in the precious blood of the Lamb.

 

Closing Words

In closing, I hope that this message today has encouraged you, edified you, and helped you to really grasp the infinite power of Jesus' blood. I trust that now you will have a whole new perspective on this marvelous truth, which will impact your life, as well as the lives of countless others that you share this with or minister to.

Attribution notice: Scripture take from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Image may be subject to copyright, used per the Fair Use Act for educational and commentary purposes only.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Blessings of Being in Christ. Does Being Saved Make All Your Problems Disappear?, The Love of Jesus, Having the Love of God in Your Heart, Compelled by Love, One Thing, Seven Things That Accumulate Building Materials in Heaven, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Thoughts Directly Affect Your Destiny

I want to encourage you today that everything begins with thoughts, so we need to be careful to have godly and uplifting thoughts. The apostle Paul wrote: 

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Phil 4:8). 

Everything you see in the natural realm began with a thought. Your smartphone began with someone having a thought to create such a device and now you have it in your hand. Your motorcycle or other form of transportation began with a thought, and so did the ideas of the internet and of email communications.

A thought becomes a word.

A word becomes an action. 

An action becomes a habit. 

A habit becomes a lifestyle.

A lifestyle becomes a destiny. 

It all begins with a thought. Since there is a direct correlation between our thoughts and our destiny, let's train ourselves by the grace of God and the renewing of our minds through the power of the Holy Spirit to think thoughts that please the Lord, according to His Word. 

Jesus said that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." (Lk 6:45). This teaches us that spoken words reveal whether a heart is filled with goodness or evil, as the mouth inevitably overflows with what is stored within. Therefore, whatever the heart is full of will directly determine your destiny, and whatever you fill your mind and thoughts with will ultimately become your future.

Closing Words

A practicing neurosurgeon named Dr. W. Lee Warren has written a book called The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery: Connecting Neuroscience and Faith to Radically Transform Your Life, which explains how it is possible for you to make structural changes to your own brain so it’s healthier and less prone to depression, anxiety, grief, worry, and other issues that make you unhappy and keep you bound. It shows how modern neuroscience has now proven that what I have taught in this article is true, and gives you practical keys to doing what he calls self-brain surgery to change the way your brain is wired. 

This is a life-changing truth that has been in Scripture for thousands of years. I would like to encourage you to check out the following two podcasts in which Dr. Warren was interviewed, one on 100 Huntley, and the other was on Dr. Ben Carson's Common Sense program. Or you can read a brief synopsis of those interviews in the following two articles of mine called Renewing the Mind: The Intersection Neuroscience and Scripture and Rewiring the Brain: Connecting Neuroscience, Faith, and Healing.

Attribution notice: Scripture take from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. 

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like  Neurosurgeon Explains How to Break Addiction, Renewing the Mind: The Intersection Neuroscience and Scripture, Rewiring the Brain: Connecting Neuroscience, Faith, and Healing, Does Being Saved Make All Your Problems Disappear?, The Love of Jesus, Having the Love of God in Your Heart, Compelled by Love, One Thing, Seven Things That Accumulate Building Materials in Heaven, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.