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WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. AN INVITATION TO YOU: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/Second_Chances.mp3 ___________________________________________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, December 27, 2021, and this is Episode #39 of Series 2021. This is our last episode for this year. This episode is titled Second Chances. For most of us, a new year means a new beginning. All of us, at one time or another, need a new beginning. We need to start over. We need a second chance. Whether we need to recover from a mistake, a broken relationship, a job loss, the death of a loved one--whatever the case, we all need a new beginning once in a while. Where does the concept of a new beginning come from? Have you ever wondered?  As I think about the close of 2021 and the opening of 2022, I am reminded that new beginnings--second chances--are God's idea. How do I know? The Bible says so. In the Book of Revelation--a book that so few people read, although it is one of the most amazing books in the Bible--the Apostle John wrote this in chapter 21, verse 1: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared."   Did you know that, one day, this earth, as we now know it, will no longer exist? The Bible tells us that it will be destroyed by fire because it has been corrupted by the sin of man. But God will create a new heaven and a new earth for those who follow Him. What an exciting promise! God is in the business of Second Chances. It is not for nothing that He is called the Redeemer. A redeemer is one who buys back, who restores, who gives second chances. The greatest second chance in the history of the human race occurred when Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby, grew up, and died on the Cross at the age of 33 to save every human being who would ever live on earth.You see, Jesus didn't have to do that. He had given Adam and Eve authority and dominion over the earth, to rule over it. But by disobeying God, Adam and Eve forfeited that dominion to Satan. Now, Satan rules over the earth. He is the reason for all the evil that humanity has suffered throughout the ages. When Jesus died and rose from the dead, He took back the authority that Adam and Eve had handed over to Satan. But only those who are born again--in other words, only those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord--can operate in that authority over Satan. The rest of the world cannot because those who have not accepted Jesus Christ have not accepted their second chance.    You see, Jesus is our Second Chance. In dying for our sins, Jesus gave Himself to pay for our sins. He gave us a second chance to be restored to what God originally intended for us: a life in eternal union with Him, free of every evil.   Today, Jesus is offering you that second chance. Will you accept it? I urge you to do so. You may never have this opportunity again. Jesus is coming back soon to take with Him all those who have accepted their second chance. Won't you be one of them? Pray this prayer with me now so that you can be: Lord Jesus, I thank You that You are the God of Second Chances. I thank You that, even now,