THE GIVER OF LIFE...NOW AND FOREVER

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up.”

1 Samuel 2:6

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Different reasons to praise the Lord God Almighty resonate throughout the prayer of Hannah found in the second chapter if 1 Samuel, a prayer she speaks after dedicating her only son, Samuel, to the Lord under the guardianship of a priest named Eli. As we come to verse 6 in this prayer, we perhaps find the most fundamental reason that we should give the Lord our fullest measure of adoration because it is He that blesses us with life…not just now but for eternity. Look again at her words here:

“The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up.”

Indeed, the Lord “makes alive” for He is the great Giver of life…the Author of all mankind. We’re only here today because the Lord wished for it to be so. As Christians, we belong to Him and are His children forever, so much so that there will come a day when He will bring an end to this earthly life and our bodies will be brought “down to grave”.

Now, consider that this scripture was written in Old Testament times at the tail end of the period of judges and long before Jesus came on the scene. If these words were a comfort and blessing to people then - knowing the Lord was in complete control - how much more are these words a comfort and blessing to anyone who believes in Jesus as Savior. For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, the One who would walk among the people of earth before dying on the cross at Calvary, raised from the dead by His Father God three days. And after that victory over the grave, Jesus ascended into Heaven where He sits in honor and glory and power at the Father’s right hand. All those who place their faith and trust in Him will receive the same triumph over death and the grave, not perishing but gaining everlasting life (John 3:16).

“The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up.”

And so the Lord ordains this life we have now and the eternal life to come but in between, He also ordains our opportunity to serve Him and help others come to find their own salvation through Him. It’s to be our life’s work this side of Heaven to help anyone who has not believed in Jesus to receive Him as their personal Savior, knowing that He willingly paid down His life for them and paid the penalty for sin that they deserved.

Friends, let us never cease to send up prayers to the Lord, prayers that fully extend an endless stream of praise and thanksgiving towards the One who is loving and compassionate, the One who makes us alive now and after death comes, the One who is the Giver of life…both in the present and for all eternity.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.