October Newsletter
Greetings an welcome to this
month’s newsletter!
Ah! Don't you just love the crispness
in
the air as fall approaches? I
sure do! Cool
nights and comfortable days,
that's for me!
Well, this month the topic is
passion. We
purchased The Passion of the
Christ as soon
as it came out, as I am sure
many did, and
it got me to thinking. Or should
I say that
God inserted the thought process
for this
month’s newsletter! PASSION.
We all have
it for one thing or another.
Passion, when
properly directed, can be an
awesome thing.
No greater a passion was there
than Christ’s
for us. In this day and age,
the doctor whose
passion it is to go into underdeveloped
countries
and treat the people is God given.
Passion
which turns to perversion and
immorality
is the devil taking advantage
and using it
for his gains. Please though,
don’t let your
passion die for fear of the devil
getting
a hold of it!
Many of you who read this are
bodybuilders
or into fitness in one way or
another. It
is your passion. The exercising,
the feeling
of moving the weight or running
the road.
The endorphin rush, the pump.
I had a passion,
a deep one. To lift weights;
bodybuilding.
When I was saved, I lost that
passion. I
thought God was removing it from
me so as
to take me out of the bodybuilding
world.
I was wrong. God knew what was
best for me.
The passion I held for bodybuilding
was of
the world, not as a Christian;
that wouldn’t
do. For almost two years I didn’t
train,
but read the Bible and learned
more about
God, Jesus and myself. Then one
day, my passion
returned, only it was deeper
than before.
I had a fever to train! Now I
had purpose!
This was how God wanted to use
me and I am
so thankful to be used. Jesus
did so much
for me, it is the least I can
do and it will
never be enough. One other thing
I am grateful
for is that my wife understands
my passion
for training and has become a
cheerleader,
a diet monitor, a physique critique
- she
will be honest and tell me what
needs work
- and it is truly appreciated!
I am truly
blessed and thankful for her.
Jesus is passion personified.
God loved us
so much that He sent His only
Son down to
earth to be a sacrifice for us.
(John 3:16
- For God so loved the world
that he gave
his one and only Son, that whoever
believes
in him shall not perish but have
eternal
life.) Jesus had passion to save
the world,
to bring the good news (Matthew
9:35 - Jesus
went through all the towns and
villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the
good news of the kingdom and
healing every
disease and sickness.). The title
of Mel
Gibson’s movie says it all: The
Passion of
the Christ. Can you imagine?
At any given
moment, with the wave of His
hand, He could
have stopped it all! As they
drove the nail
into His flesh, He didn’t stop
them; such
was His love, His passion for
us. Are we
worth that? I ask you. You don’t
really have
to answer, He already did. Yes,
you are worth
it. I have done this for you.
I weep when
I pray now and ask for God to
forgive me
for my sins. How bad am I that
even for five
minutes I can’t keep a bad thought
out of
my head. Think you can do it?
Go out for
a drive in your car and don’t
get angry once
when you’re on the road. Can’t
do it. I try
every day! Thank God, literally,
that it
is through Jesus and His passion
that we
can get into Heaven. (John 14:6
- Jesus said
to him, "I am the way, the
truth, and
the life. No one comes to the
Father except
through Me.")
We’d never make it on our own.
And now our prayer
And now our prayer. God, when
our passion
gets sidetracked, please guide
us back in
line. Watch over us as we walk
in the world
on a daily basis, but are not
a part of it.
Let us be good examples as Christian
warriors,
holding true to your words and
passing along
the Good News each day. In Jesus
name, Amen.
Until next time all! Go with
God and Lift
that iron!
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