Bibles for America (BfA)

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Memorial Day and the Price of Freedom

May 27 2019

Memorial Day and the Price of Freedom

A graceful sweep of white pillars gives shape to the World War II memorial in Washington, DC. At its center stands Freedom Wall, holding a field of 4,048 sculpted gold stars. Each star represents 100 Americans who died in the war; together they commemorate the more than 400,000 Americans who lost their lives. In front of the wall, engraved in granite, are the words, “HERE WE MARK THE PRICE OF FREEDOM.”

These symbolic stars are reminiscent of the gold stars displayed by families of fallen service men and women during the Second World War. The gold stars on Freedom Wall vividly bear witness to the fact that the ultimate price for freedom is paid both by those who serve and by their families.

In our nation’s capital, and in bustling city centers and quiet green parks across our country, stand monuments dedicated to great military leaders, service members who performed acts of valor, and singular moments of victory. Occupying their places of honor, these monuments proudly display the gratitude of a nation, and movingly bring to mind our solemn obligation to never forget those who gave their lives so we could live ours in peace and security.

On this Memorial Day, as we honor all U.S. service men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion, we also remember the countless personal monuments hidden from public view—the empty seat at a family dinner, the folded flag above a mantle, the memories that well up in a mother’s heart during quiet moments of reflection.

Behind the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice stand the living, resilient legacies of their loved ones’ service—the mothers and fathers, the husbands and wives, the siblings and children. In them we find our bedrock of patriotism, the continuing thread of our nation’s character, and an unbroken line of love and sacrifice for this country.

These family members understand the true price of freedom, as did their fallen loved ones, for they are the ones who have paid it. They carry on with solemn pride and resolve, despite unthinkable loss. America endures because of the sacrifice our troops have made to maintain our freedom, and because of the unending sacrifice their families continue to make.

Today, we at Bibles for America salute you, and we pray for you.

We know that our organization can exist because some have paid the price for freedom. This Memorial Day, we’d like to specially invite military service members and their families to order a free New Testament study Bible at biblesforamerica.org/free-bible.

From all of us here at BfA, thank you for your service.

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An Effective Way to Enjoy Christ’s Riches

May 13 2019

An Effective Way to Enjoy Christ’s Riches

Can you imagine being incredibly wealthy yet not knowing how to access your wealth?

This may be our case spiritually speaking. In Ephesians 3:8, Paul uses a wonderful phrase: the unsearchable riches of Christ. Jesus Christ is unsearchably rich in who He is and in all His accomplishments, and He wants us to enjoy all He is and has. Although in fact the riches of Christ are for us to enjoy, in experience we might feel as if we’re quite lacking, even spiritually poor, because we don’t know how to access all He wants to be to us. It’s like having a huge bank account and not knowing how to withdraw a single dollar.

So how can we access the riches of Christ? One very effective way is to call on His name. By calling on His name, we can enjoy everything that is in Him, and all He is.

Romans 10:12-13 show us the marvelous benefits of calling on His name:

“For the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him; for ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, He is rich to us, in our experience. He’s rich to us as patience, love, kindness, endurance, peace, righteousness, holiness, and so many other positive things. And when we call on His name, we can also be saved from many negative things in our lives, like anxiety, fear, depression, anger, impatience, worldliness, and so on.

Note 1 on calls in verse 13 in the New Testament Recovery Version tells us calling on the Lord is the secret to enjoying all of Christ’s unsearchable riches:

“Calling on the name of the Lord is the secret not only to our salvation but also to our enjoyment of the Lord’s riches. Beginning with Enosh, the third generation of mankind, and continuing all the way down to the New Testament believers, God’s chosen and redeemed ones enjoyed Christ’s redemption and salvation and all His riches by means of this secret (see note 211 in Acts 2).”

Now we know how to access the riches of Christ: simply by calling on His name! We don’t need to compose a formal or elaborate prayer. We can simply call, “Lord Jesus!” Calling on His name gives us access to all His riches!

Cross-reference “d” in Romans 10:12 on call directs us to many verses related to calling on the name of the Lord. Just two of these verses reveal to us how we can experience love, peace, and God’s nearness by calling on Him:

“But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

—2 Timothy 2:22

“I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my breathing, at my cry. You drew near in the day that I called upon You; You said, Do not fear.”

—Lamentations 3:55-57

Note 1 of Romans 10:13 (quoted above) also references note 1 of Acts 2:21, which traces the history of those who called on the Lord throughout the Bible, beginning from Genesis. Surely the Lord was rich to them as they called on His precious name.

All of the verses and notes above are quoted from the Holy Bible Recovery Version. We encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament here and read that substantial note on Acts 2:21 for yourself. It’s well worth taking the time to read, and even to study it. You can look up the verses it cites to get a fuller view of the matter of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus as seen in the Word of God.

The Lord Jesus is rich to all who call upon Him!

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Is it Possible to Pray Without Ceasing?

April 29 2019

Is it Possible to Pray Without Ceasing?

In 1 Timothy 2:8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17 the apostle Paul exhorts us believers to do the seemingly impossible: “pray in every place” and “pray without ceasing.”

How is it possible to pray without ceasing? After all, many matters require our attention during the course of our day. We have to work, go to school, tend to our children, and so on. Did Paul mean we should drop our responsibilities and spend all our time in prayer? Surely not. But he also wouldn’t tell us to do something that wasn’t possible. So how can we pray in every place, and even unceasingly?

Prayer is one of the greatest blessings we as believers enjoy. Through prayer, we can come to our Lord to commune with Him in a personal way. The matter of prayer has many aspects. For instance, we previously discussed how important it is for us to have dedicated times for prayer, and even to go to a private place so we can pray without any interruptions.

On the other hand, praying in every place without ceasing is another aspect of prayer. And it’s actually possible, and even necessary, to have both these aspects of prayer in our Christian life.

How to pray without ceasing in every place

If we stop to think about it, what’s the one thing (physically speaking) we all do without ceasing, every second of our lives? We breathe. No matter how busy we are, we breathe. No matter what we’re doing, we’re breathing simultaneously. We don’t need to stop our other activity, no matter how strenuous or occupying it may be, in order to breathe.

Breathing sustains our physical life. In this way, breathing is a wonderful analogy for prayer; prayer is our spiritual breathing, and it’s absolutely necessary to sustain our spiritual life. We breathe in the divine life through prayer.

Realizing prayer is our spiritual breathing helps us understand how it’s possible for us to pray everywhere, all the time. But practically speaking, how do we do this?

One simple way to practice this kind of prayer is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. We see how calling is equivalent to breathing in Lamentations 3:55-56:

“I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice; do not hide your ear at my breathing, at my cry.”

This verse shows us that calling on the name of the Lord is our spiritual breathing. And just like physical breathing, calling on Him is something we can do in every place, all the time.

Persevering to pray without ceasing

Unlike physical breathing, which comes to us naturally and automatically, praying without ceasing by calling on the Lord takes some exercise on our part. Note 1 on 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the New Testament Recovery Version explains what it is to pray unceasingly:

“This is to have uninterrupted fellowship with God in our spirit. It requires perseverance (Rom. 12:12; Col 4:2) with a strong spirit (Eph. 6:18).”

Day by day, we need to persevere to build up a habit of praying without ceasing. We can exercise our spirit to constantly call on the Lord, wherever we are, even in the midst of carrying out our responsibilities and going about our daily life. We don’t need to go to a particular place or stop what we’re doing in order to breathe spiritually. While we’re driving, taking a test, working, or doing mundane chores, we can breathe Him in by calling upon His name, whether loudly or quietly.

Sometimes, we may realize that we haven’t been breathing spiritually as much as we should have. But we don’t have to be discouraged. We can simply begin to exercise our spirit again. As we exercise more and more to pray by calling on the Lord, this spiritual breathing will become spontaneous and regular throughout our day. Eventually, we’ll begin to pray without ceasing in every place.

Thank God for this wonderful way to pray!

We hope you’ll be encouraged and strengthened in your prayer life by reading some of our other posts on prayer: Private Prayer in an Age of Distraction; How Is Prayer Our Spiritual Breathing?; 8 Helpful Points for Breathing in God through Prayer; and 5 Spiritual Exercises You Can Practice through Prayer.

You can read more notes on 1 Thessalonians in the New Testament Recovery Version by ordering your free copy here.

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