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Abide in Me
Post date: 2024-04-05Autor: BCP
Jesus says: “Abide in Me, and I in you.” (Jn 15:4) He is in us. He is with us. “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20) But we are not with Him. That’s the problem! He is in me but, in fact, I am not in Him, and so I do not rely on Him.
Reflection on Heb 13:8
Post date: 2024-04-04Autor: BCP
Before Jesus raised Lazarus, who had been dead four days, Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus said to her: “Your brother will rise again.” She said to Him: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life.”
If we have Christ, in Him we have everything
Post date: 2024-04-02Autor: BCP
The Word of God says: “We were buried with Christ in baptism and also raised with Him.” (Col 2:12) This is not a literary expression or poetry. This is reality! How we were raised with Christ and how we received a new life is a mystery. There is nothing to think about. Scripture says so and therefore it is reality. God’s Word says: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” and “We are a living temple of the Holy Spirit”. If we are in a state of sanctifying grace, all that Jesus obtained for us at Calvary and all that belongs to Him He gives to us, so it is also ours. If we give ourselves to Him and are united to Him, then if we have Christ, we have all things in Him. St Paul says: “In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Skrze víru se máme otevřít realitě Kristovy smrti i Jeho vzkříšení
Post date: 2024-03-30Autor: BCP
Boží slovo také říká, že skrze křest jsme byli ponořeni do Kristovy smrti. Skrze víru se máme otevřít realitě Kristovy smrti, která přemáhá hřích, ďábla. V okamžiku své smrti Ježíš dává svého Ducha do náruče Otcovy. V Kristově smrti je velká moc, která vítězí. Potom přichází vzkříšení, nový život. V různých situacích našeho života máme vcházet do Kristovy smrti. To znamená vážně hledat Boží vůli a dávat v konkrétní situaci na první místo Boha. V té chvíli se zříci svého dobra, své pravdy, své zkušenosti a upřímně přijmout Boží vůli, Boží pravdu. To je spojeno se zapřením sebe. A potom v té situaci může Bůh svojí všemohoucností znovu udělat zázrak vzkříšení.
Word of Life – Heb. 13:8 (31/3/2024 – 14/4/2024)
Post date: 2024-03-30Autor: BCP
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
What is the greatest blessing?
Post date: 2024-03-27Autor: BCP
The greatest blessing is when God gives us the grace to be evil spoken of, unjustly suspected, reproached and humiliated for His name’s sake. The Lord Jesus trod this path before us, because He loved us. He was completely innocent. Yet He forgave and prayed for everyone.
Jesus wants mature people
Post date: 2024-03-27Autor: BCP
Jesus wants mature people. He can do more with one mature person in a year than He can do with hundreds of immature people in 200 years. The mark of maturity is actually the degree of dying to self with Christ. The essence of this death to self is in humility, in completely renouncing at every moment one’s own will, one’s own good, one’s own ideas or desires, and accepting everything out of love for Jesus. People who are completely forgotten, buried, those who have died with Christ, mature souls, who have offered themselves as a sacrifice to Jesus – it is their sacrifice that decides the future of nations.
Think about what your cross is every day
Post date: 2024-03-23Autor: BCP
Truly we know neither the day nor the hour, and nothing is more certain than death. Therefore, we have to redeem the time. How? By a living faith, by daily practising humility, that is, constantly renouncing our own wishes, good plans or intentions. Let us not stick to our own opinion, but bring everything to light, and humble ourselves every time we act spontaneously on our own. However, when others do something wrong, we should not condemn them but, again, humble ourselves in spirit: “Lord, I am twice as bad. I’ve made the same or even greater mistake so many times. And mine was a banal one that this person would never make.” Let us accept the concrete hardships as a cross to carry. Every day we should take a few moments to reflect on what our cross is – not abstract but concrete.
Reflection on Heb 11:6
Post date: 2024-03-16Autor: BCP
This verse is part of the well-known chapter 11 of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is preceded by the following five verses: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.” (Heb 11:1-5)
Word of Life – Heb. 11:6 (17/3/2024 – 31/3/2024)
Post date: 2024-03-16Autor: BCP
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
The greatest suffering in hell is the separation of the soul from God
Post date: 2024-03-12Autor: BCP
The truth about hell is indeed very serious and is linked with our salvation. If we take seriously the eternity of hell, we are also aware of the seriousness of the entire teaching of Christ about salvation based on this fact – Christ came into the world, God became man to deliver us from the bondage of the devil, to deliver us from hell and to give us a new life – eternal life.
Word of Life – Heb. 9:27 (3/3/2024 – 17/3/2024)
Post date: 2024-03-03Autor: BCP
"People are destined to die once and then face judgment."
Reflection on Heb 9:27
Post date: 2024-03-02Autor: BCP
The next verse 28 reads: “So also Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” The proverb says: A wise person thinks about the end, that is, death. But it is not enough to think about death, we must also think about eternity, which can be either happy or unhappy. The condition for a happy eternity is to keep our faith in Jesus Christ, because the Scripture says: Whoever believes in Him will be saved.
Word of Life – 1 Cor. 1:18 (18/2/2024 – 3/3/2024)
Post date: 2024-02-17Autor: BCP
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
Reflection on 1Cor 1:18
Post date: 2024-02-17Autor: BCP
In this chapter, the Apostle Paul addresses the question of human and divine wisdom. He writes: “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the word preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1Cor 1:20-25)
Reflection on 1Cor 11:31-32
Post date: 2024-02-04Autor: BCP
These words in Scripture are related to receiving the Lord’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion, but they also have a deep meaning as such. We need true self-criticism not only when eating of the table of the Lord, but during the day we also need to stand in God’s light and truly call our sin sin, laziness laziness, envy envy and touchiness touchiness. The essential thing in the relationship to God is truthfulness, and truthfulness is connected with the humility and courage to admit our sin, to admit that we were deceived or not vigilant. Our ego will always find an excuse, a priori rejecting the objective truth that convicts us.
Word of Life – 1Cor 11:31-32 (4/2/2024 – 18/2/2024)
Post date: 2024-02-04Autor: BCP
“For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
Word of Life – Isa. 50:5 (21/1/2024 – 4/2/2024)
Post date: 2024-01-20Autor: BCP
“The Lord God has opened my ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.”
Word of Life – Isa. 9:1 (7/1/2024 – 21/1/2024)
Post date: 2024-01-06Autor: BCP
“The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”
Word of Life – Acts. 2:38 (24/12/2023 – 7/1/2024)
Post date: 2023-12-24Autor: BCP
"Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."