Grace Archives - By This Verse

Trusting God Sincerely & Taking Refuge in Him

March 24, 2021June 7, 2017 by Jun P. Espina

In Psalm 34:8, we find God continually inviting us to His boundless love and grace. “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Making God your shelter in this life has an added incentive of blessedness. The “Lord is good” if you will just decide to “taste and see” the experience. Sincerely trusting God and taking refuge in Him by faith open the door of Heaven’s blessings. This inwardness we venture to call as faith experience only starts to develop after hearing and meditating upon God’s blessed promises. “For this reason,” wrote the apostle Paul, “we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” (1 Thess 2:13) Sincerely trusting God, therefore, is only possible if you hear the Word of God and it begins to perform “its work in you who believe.”

Christ’s Promised Eternal Life Versus Salvation by Works

February 13, 2020June 1, 2017 by Jun P. Espina

Eternal security is one teaching our Lord affirms firmly in His Word. Teach it, and you will produce real born-again Christians. In John 6:37 Jesus made this truth so clear that “the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” And in John 10:28 He said, “and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. ” Once saved, always saved! But Christ’s promised eternal life won’t fit into the framework of man-made Theology that was conceived and intended to glorifying man and giving him the honor for striving to attain immortality through his good works.

Christian Holy Week Observance Examined Biblically

April 2, 2021April 14, 2017 by Jun P. Espina

One significant question is that if we are real born-again Christians, do we need to celebrate or observe the Holy Week? In just a mouse click away, we could google dozens of the list of religious holidays (or holydays?) The Jewish religion, Islam, Catholicism, Seventh Day Adventism, among other religious groups observe “holidays requiring absence from work beyond existing Statutory Holidays.” What is the meaning of the Christian Holy Week observance among the Catholics and other Christians denominations?

Broken Spirit Leads to God and Faith in Jesus Christ

February 15, 2020March 17, 2017 by Jun P. Espina

broken spirit leads to god contrite heart

We are closer to God only when we seem broken inwardly — in the spirit. It is the meaning of Psalm 51:17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Hence, trials are necessary for a balanced life! They are God’s will for us to believe and humble ourselves before Him. They are divine mechanisms to remind us of our dust origin. God is near to those experiencing a broken spirit and having a contrite or repentant heart.

Positive-mindedness: A Christian Trait and Strength

February 15, 2020November 16, 2016 by Jun P. Espina

>We need to be positive-minded in life. It is God’s will for us. Our natural tendency, however, is to be pessimistic. Only a few people are optimistic naturally. It is one explanation why only 10% become successful.

Grace Plus Faith in Christ Needed to Live Forever

February 15, 2020October 4, 2016 by Jun P. Espina

God’s love continues to overshadow our hearts and beings even if we deliberately ignore or reject Him. Termed as God’s common grace or undeserved love and kindness that is not salvific in form, He provides rain or the sunshine to both believers and unbelievers; to the righteous as well as to the unrighteous.