Preferential Treatment

Friday, May 30, 2014, 8:57 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “In Faithfulness He Leads Me.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read James 2:1-13 (NIV).

No Favoritism

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

When you think of someone showing favoritism, what comes to your mind? Favoritism – “the unfair practice of treating some people better than others; the showing of partiality” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/favoritism). It doesn’t have to necessarily be a rich/poor thing. Any time we give preferential treatment to one person or to one people group over another, in a manner not consistent with the word of truth, while showing discrimination towards the other group, whether the less fortunate, or not, we are guilty of sinning. We should be completely consistent in all that we do, and not be hypocritical.

For instance, if I have a house rule, and if I enforce that house rule consistently, but then someone comes into my house to whom I wish to make a good impression, or to whom I would choose not to offend them, because I want them to like me, and so I excuse them or make allowances for them, then I am guilty of showing favoritism. Or, if I am in the practice of doing something regularly in my relationships with others, but there is someone I want to treat in a different way, because I want that person’s acceptance or approval or friendship or whatever, and so I alter my normal practices in order to please just that one person while I still treat others in the same manner as usual, then I am guilty of showing favoritism and discrimination, and thus I am sinning. As well, I should never give in to the pressure to treat one group of people better than others or to alter my normal practices just out of consideration of one particular people group while still treating others just the same.

When we give in to showing favoritism to one person over another, or to one people group over another, we dishonor the group of people who we end up treating as less. In this case spoken of in this passage of scripture there was an additional charge, though. The people they were potentially treating as less were those who were the poor (humble; deprived; lowly) in the eyes of the world, i.e. they were already the despised and the rejected. Yet, the people to whom they may have been showing favoritism were actually those who were exploiting the lowly, humble and/or deprived. Exploit – “to make use of meanly or unfairly for one's own advantage; to make use of that which helps you unfairly” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exploit); to abuse; misuse; take advantage of someone; and/or to manipulate. So, they were possibly mistreating the already ill-treated, and they were exalting and supporting those who were guilty of taking advantage of others via manipulation, deception and/or harsh treatment. Wow! What an indictment!

Practical Examples

A Biblical example of this immediately comes to mind. Peter had been called of God to minister to the non-Jews of that time. Jesus spoke to Peter in a vision three times to help Peter to realize that he was not to treat Gentiles as though they were less than Jews. So, Peter obeyed God and went to the Gentiles and spoke God’s words to them, and many came to faith in Jesus Christ. But, then some of the Jewish leaders possibly leaned on Peter about his associations with the Gentile Christians, or else Peter just feared their possible rebuke against him because of these associations, and so Peter withdrew from fellowship with the Gentile believers in order to gain acceptance from the Jewish leaders. These leaders were, in fact, guilty of harsh treatment toward the Gentile believers by trying to force them to be circumcised and to keep certain laws as an additional requirement for their salvation.

A practical example of how this is being played out in today’s church is that many who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, being set free from man-made religion to follow Christ, have gone back to following the teachings and philosophies of human beings in place of following the truth of God’s word, and they do so often under the influence of church leaders who are convincing them that is the right way to go. Many of these church leaders, though, are just like the Judaizers of Paul’s day, for they try to force everyone who comes into their fellowship to follow their customs, i.e. their man-made visions and teachings. This “forcing” is often accomplished through lies, deception, manipulation and guilt trips. As well, many of these leaders are being taught to willfully “filter out” those who hold to the true gospel of salvation and to the truths of God’s word, and they try to convince others to do the same.

So, if we, the body of Christ, reject the truth of the gospel in favor of following these leaders and their man-made religion, and we join them in their hypocrisy, and we join with them in filtering out and/or rejecting those who have chosen not to follow this man-made path, and we join with them in their harsh treatment of those who follow the true gospel, and who hold to the truths of God’s word, such as Peter was guilty of doing, then we are guilty of showing favoritism and of discrimination, and thus we are guilty of sinning, too.

Yet, God is faithful. He will comfort the comfortless. He will minister to the oppressed and those afflicted by those who would despise them and who would reject them because they stand for what is truth and they choose not to bow to the gods of men. We must continue to walk in the ways of the Lord, to follow him wherever he leads us, to open eyes that are blind, and to free the captives, even if it gets us mistreated and/or hated and rejected in return. We must continue to show God’s love to his people by telling them the truth – to expose these false leaders of the people who would lead them away from the truths of God’s word to follow the mission and visions of human beings, and by continuing to teach what is truth, in accordance with God’s holy word. And, we must trust our lives and our future into God’s ever capable hands, believing that he has a plan and a purpose for it all and that he will accomplish his purposes in all of our lives through these trying times.

To God be all the glory, honor and praise! Great things He has done, and is doing, and will continue to do on the behalf of ALL his children. Amen!

In Faithfulness He Leads Me / An Original Work / March 20, 2013

Based off Various Scriptures

(Ps. 26:3; 86:11; 91:4-5; 111:7-8; 119:73-76;

Is. 25:1,4&9; 42:6-7; Hos. 2:16-20)

Teach me Your ways, Lord, and I’ll walk in them.

Give me a pure heart. I’ll fear Your name.

Your love is always, ever before me.

Continually I’ll walk in Your truth.

You will cover me with feathers.

Under Your wings I’ll find refuge.

My Lord’s faithfulness will be my

Comfort and my shield.

The works of His hands are faithful and just.

Trustworthy are all of His precepts.

Your hands have made me, and they have formed me.

Give understanding of Your commands.

I have put my hope, O Lord, in Your word.

Your teachings, O Lord, are righteousness.

Lord, in faithfulness You have

Afflicted me so I may learn of

Your unfailing love and comfort

And Your truthfulness.

You are my husband; You have betrothed me

In love, compassion and faithfulness.

O Lord, You are my God, I’ll exalt You.

In faithfulness You’ve done wondrous things.

You’ve been a refuge for those who’re needy;

A shelter in storms; shade from the heat.

This is the Lord, we trusted in Him,

Let us be glad and rejoice

In His salvation which He

Provided through the Lamb.

Open the blind eyes; free all the captives.

Tell them of Jesus: “Be born again!”

http://originalworks.info/in-faithfulness-he-leads-me/

Pure Joy!

Thursday, May 29, 2014, 8:16 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “May Christ Be Seen in Me.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read James 1 (NIV).

Faith Tested

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything…

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him…

I think that, in our natural selves, that is one of the hardest things to do, i.e. to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. That just goes against human nature. Yet, praise Jesus, because of his grace to us in saving us from our sins, and because we have been given new lives in Jesus Christ, and his Spirit now dwells within us, we can rejoice, even when going through some of the darkest times in our lives. We do this through submitting ourselves to God, believing that he cares and that he is completely sovereign over every aspect of our lives. And so we trust our lives into his care, believing him to work all things for the good of us who love him; who have been called according to his purpose (See Ro. 8:28).

As we trust him more and more, he increases our understanding of the purpose of our trials. They are what help us to grow in our walks with the Lord Jesus, so we become mature. They humble us, too, so that we are not easily given over to pride.

Believe, Not Doubt

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do…

I believe that one of the biggest reasons we may begin to give in to doubt is that we get our eyes off of Jesus and we begin to fear the opinions and/or rejections of humans. We pray for wisdom. God gives us the wisdom. We act on it. Then someone says something to us that begins to work in our minds. And, so we begin to question God and/or ourselves. There are times, I believe, when we need to question ourselves, because maybe we were listening to the flesh and not to God, nonetheless, if we have prayed, and God has assured us of what we are to do, and we have trusted him, what good are we if we keep going back and forth all the time? At some point we need to just know God did answer us, he gave us the wisdom we asked for, and so we just need to trust him with the results, believing he knows what is best. We need to commit our lives into his hands, and we need to not allow ourselves to be so easily swayed by the opinions and/or potential rejections of humans.

Dragged Away

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

We should not blame others for our own failures. Some people blame God. Others blame the devil. Still others cast fault on other humans. This whole “blame game,” though, is used as a ploy to keep us from taking personal responsibility for our own sins. A common teaching today says that, once we have been regenerated of the Spirit of God, we are truly good at heart, so if we sin, it is because the devil made us do it, or something to that effect. If we can convince ourselves that fundamentally we are good, and thus if we sin it must be someone else’s fault, then we will never conquer the sins in our lives which so easily entangle us, because we can always convince ourselves that it really wasn’t us that did it. Wow! Satan is such a deceiver! The Bible does not teach this, though. Over and over again in the New Testament believers in Jesus are called upon to take personal responsibility for their own sin – to forsake it; throw it off; get rid of it!

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. ~ Ro. 8:12-13 NIV

Every Good Gift

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

God does not tempt us with evil. No! He gives good gifts to his children – his grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, compassion, and freedom from sin. He is truth and he is love, and he never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We can always count on him. He is completely faithful. He died so we would be free from the control of sin over our lives, and he will daily help us to resist Satan and to draw close to him.

Quick to Listen

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

James is writing to believers in Jesus Christ. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven of our sins, Christ’s righteousness is credited to our accounts, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are made alive in Christ Jesus to now walk in his righteousness and holiness. Yet, we still live in flesh bodies, which means we still have the propensity to sin, only now Jesus Christ has set us free from the control of sin over our lives so that, through him, we can now say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age (See Tit. 2:11-14).

But, it is not like Jesus just comes into our hearts and now makes us puppets on a string and that we no longer have the ability to make our own choices. Each day we must choose to serve and to follow him or to revert to following after our own flesh. This is why we are given so many instructions in the NT on how to live godly lives. So, we must daily choose to resist Satan and his temptations, and we must yield to our Lord, follow his word, and do what he says. Yet, we do all this, not in the power of our own flesh, but in the power of the working of the Spirit in our lives. Then, we can learn to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because daily we are submitting to our Lord, yielding to the Spirit, and we are trusting in the Lord with our lives and with our circumstances. When we come up against difficult situations, we pray for wisdom and peace, and we choose to obey God.

Listen and Do

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

I believe that one of the greatest reasons Christians give way to sin, don’t live in victory, go nowhere with their Christian lives, and just kind of float through life doing their own thing with little regard for God and for his truths is that they fail to apply the knowledge that they take into their minds. They read and/or study the word of God, but then they walk away and forget what they read, if they are even taking in his word at all. We can’t just spend a few minutes in personal devotions each day thinking we have now met our obligation if we don’t apply to our lives the things we are learning. When Jesus speaks to our hearts, and he puts a finger on something in our lives (like looking at ourselves in a mirror), but then we just walk away and forget about it, it makes the exercise of reading his word kind of pointless, right? Why bother at all if we have no intention of doing what he shows us? The whole object of time spent in the word should be for us to learn, and then to apply what we are learning to our lives, i.e. for us to do what it says. I can tell you that it is really awesome when we do what the word teaches us! There is no other way to live!

A Tight Rein

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James has a lot to say about the tongue. Wow! This is so true! We must yield to the Holy Spirit in this. I pray regularly that the Lord, who knows the words on my tongue before I even say them, would speak to my heart before I speak, and he does, so that I don’t say some of the things that cross my mind that should not be said. Yet, when he prompts us, we must listen. We can totally undo our testimonies for Christ if we try to speak his grace and then have what is sinful come out of our mouths, too. Yet, we must also ask that he show us what is in our hearts, because scripture teaches that out of our hearts our mouths speak. Sometimes we need to first allow the Spirit to clean up some things that are in our hearts so that they don’t come flowing out of our mouths when we are put under pressure.

We should put our faith into practice, too, by ministering to the needs of others, and by not allowing ourselves to get caught up in the trappings of this sinful world. Scripture teaches that we are to come out from the world of sin and to be separate. We should take this seriously, and not try to blend in with the world in order to be accepted.

Open My Heart / An Original Work / July 2, 2013

“Be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil” (Rm. 16:19b).

Open my heart. Let Your truth in.

Make of me a servant, pure within;

Sing of Your praise all of my days.

Let Your Spirit transform all my ways.

Jesus Christ died on a cross to

Save me from my sin.

“Repent of sin. Be cleansed within.

Obey all of His commands today.”

“Why do you doubt? Why do you fear?

Jesus Christ will wipe away your tears.

He cares for you. He feels your pain.

Die to sin, and life with Him you’ll gain.

Follow Him where’er He leads you.

Talk with Him each day.

Then you will know what He has planned

For your life before your world began.”

“Come unto Me, weary in heart.

Let My love and grace to you impart.

Believe in Me. Trust in My care.

Take your burdens to the Lord in prayer.

He will meet all of your needs,

And give you peace within.

Rejoice in Him! Tell of His love.

He will give you comfort from above.”

http://originalworks.info/open-my-heart/

Everything That Hinders

Wednesday, May 28, 2014, 6:30 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Hebrews 12 (NIV).

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…

The Hindrances

The great cloud of witnesses, I believe, is described in Hebrews 11, i.e. they are the greats of the faith who believed God and who did what he said. They serve as examples to us of what it means to have faith, and also what it means to persevere. It is almost as though they are standing there watching the race we are running, and they are cheering us on.

We can’t run the race God has marked out for us, though, if we are weighed down by the cares and trappings of this world. One of the big hindrances to his followers running this spiritual race with perseverance, which he has been showing me, is today’s flesh-driven church here in America, and their modernized version of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The church in America is in a serious state of spiritual decline, I believe. The teachings of Christ, the prophets and the apostles are being replaced with books written by mere humans, many of which barely touch on the scriptures but rather follow after the philosophies, psychology and humanistic thinking and reasoning of this sinful world. The gospel has been diluted to make it more appealing to the people of this sinful world and it has been altered to make it less offensive so that more people will want what it has to offer. It is then dressed up to make it look like the real thing, when, in fact, it has little substance to it at all. It cannot hold water, much like a broken cistern. It promises its hearers the hope of eternal life in heaven with God, but it cannot back up its promise, for the promise is empty, shallow, and is based on a false premise, i.e. on a lie (a false image).

Oh, people of God, we need to be so discerning unlike any other time in the history of our nation(s), I believe. So many lies, deceptions and manipulations of truth now exist within evangelical Christianity that we will not be able to discern truth from lies unless we are grounded in the word of truth and we are following after God wholeheartedly with undivided devotion. We can no longer take such a casual approach to our relationship with Jesus Christ as many have. He needs to be our “all in all.” We must trust him with every aspect of our lives, walking daily in his footsteps, allowing him to guide and direct our path. And, we must test everything that passes itself off as truth against the word of truth so that we don’t fall prey to the evil schemes and plots of the devil to lead us astray from the purity of our relationship with Jesus Christ and from the purity of his word and that of the gospel.

Fixing Eyes on Jesus

… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

To fix our eyes on something means to fasten, secure or position our thinking and reasoning on the object of our attention. It means to focus our thoughts, attitudes, affections and attention securely in place on Jesus Christ, having turned our eyes away from other things – the distractions, cares, trappings and sinful attitudes, thinking and behaviors of this world.

We can’t stay focused on Jesus, though, if we are allowing our minds to be distracted or to be drawn away from him by so much junk this world has to offer us. We can’t run a race if we don’t keep our eyes set on the goal, i.e. if we keep getting sidetracked, and we keep stopping along the way to check out other stuff or to wander off for a while on other paths. So many people I have talked with say they want victory over sin but they feed the sin by the things they daily take into their minds and hearts, and by their lack of time spent at the feet of Jesus listening to him speak and then in doing what he says. Sometimes we end up shooting ourselves in the feet, and that is a hindrance to our running the race, too.

So, for us to fix our gaze (our undivided attention) on Jesus Christ, so that we can run the race of the Christian life God set out for us to run, we must throw off these hindrances and the sins which easily entangle (ensnare) us and which take us captive to do their will. This means that we must be willing to allow the Spirit of God to examine our hearts and to show us the lies we are following after, and how we are playing with sin by the things we take into our eyes, minds and hearts, and to show us what he requires of us in the way of thought, deed, word and action. And, then we must be willing to get rid of those things in our lives which serve as hindrances and as weights and which keep us from persevering in what God has called us to do.

Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He is the author (creator) of faith, which he gives to those who willingly surrender their lives to him to follow him wherever he leads. He is also the one who grows and matures us in our faith, refines and sharpens our faith, and he is the one who brings our faith it to its completion at his return for us. Not only are we saved by his grace in him dying for our sins, but we are also saved through the faith he provides for those who come to the cross and who are willingly crucified with him to the lifestyles of sin and self which once ruled their lives (See Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6-8; Gal. 2:20; Tit. 2:11-14; Ac. 26:16-18; 1 Jn. 1-5, et al).

He died, not just so we could go to heaven one day, but he died so we would be free of the control of sin over our lives in the here and now, and so we would be free to walk daily in his righteousness and holiness. This is the goal of our faith that we would put away from our lives everything that hinders us from walking by faith in Christ’s righteousness and holiness, and that we would live lives pleasing to God in his power and strength within us.

He Endured the Cross

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart…

What was the joy set before Christ for which he willingly endured the cross? I believe it was the salvation of our souls, for that is the purpose for which he died. Yet imagine with me, if you will, this imagery here. What do you think Jesus saw when he looked into the future that brought him such joy? Do you think he saw people who made a profession of faith but who continued to flounder in their sin? Do you think he looked past all that and only focused on the time when we would all be with him in heaven? I don’t think so! He didn’t die just so we could know the joy of eternity with him in heaven, as wonderful and awesome as that will be. No! He died so that “those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Co. 5:15). I believe that is what brought him joy, seeing us set free from the control of sin over our lives, and seeing us walking with him daily by faith, by his grace, in obedience to his word, living holy lives pleasing to him.

We are to reflect on him who endured such opposition from sinful humans so that we do not grow weary and lose heart. So, what kind of opposition did he face from sinful humans?

He faced much rejection. He was hated, persecuted, abandoned, denied, beaten, mocked, spat upon, falsely accused, called of Satan and thought to be crazy, too, even by his own family members. And, then they hung him on a cross to die, although he had done no wrong. He was not Mr. Popularity and everyone did not love him as many try to imagine. He was not just a good deed doer who went around making everyone feel good. He confronted people in their sins, and told them that what they were doing was evil. He warned them of judgment, called them to repentance, and told them the cost of following him, and that he was the only way to heaven. And, many who had been following him turned away from him never to follow him again because they said his teachings were too hard. He healed the sick, raised the dead, comforted those who were hurting, spoke tenderly to the oppressed, and chastised the hypocritical leaders. Some loved him for a time, but then turned away. Many hated him. Others loved right up to the moment of crisis, but then deserted him.

So, if we are to reflect on his life, and on the opposition he faced from sinful humans so that we do not grow weary and lose heart, what do you think that should look like? I think the point is that as we are growing into the likeness of Christ and we take on more and more of his character and do the things he did, and say the kinds of things he did, that we should expect to be treated in much the same manner as he was treated, too.

If everyone loves us, I would begin to ask myself “Why?” Jesus said we would be hated like him, so if we are not hated, maybe we got this whole Christian life thing wrong. Maybe we have bought into this modern self-driven Christian lifestyle that follows after the ways of this world and the teachings and reasonings of humans, and we are not truly listening to the voice of Jesus and following him wherever he leads us. Maybe we are too concerned with everyone liking us and less concerned about the salvation of souls. Maybe we are like the church in Laodicea which was neither hot (on fire for God), or cold (completely disinterested), but we are lukewarm (just kinda hanging out and doing our own thing but showing some interest in Christ and his teachings, too). And, so God is calling out to us, the church in America, to repent of her sins of adultery and to begin to follow Christ and his ways. Where are you today? On fire for Jesus, completely disinterested, or do you have one foot in the world indulging in its pleasures and one foot in Christ, but not overly committed?

Laodicea / An Original Work / April 29, 2011

Based off of Revelation 3:14-22

Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.

You hear Me calling, you hear Me calling. I’m calling you.

Will you not answer? Will you not answer? I’m calling you.

If you but follow, if you but follow, I’ll answer you.

Won’t you give Me your heart and your soul,

So I can cleanse you and make you whole?

Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.

If you will answer, if you will answer, I’ll come to you.

I stand at your door, I stand at your door. I’m knocking there.

Will you not listen? Will you not listen, while I’ll be there?

If you’ll but open, if you’ll but open your hearts to Me,

I’ll come within you, I’ll come within you, you’ll sup with Me.

Won’t you buy from Me some gold and salve?

These costly treasures are yours to have.

Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.

If you will answer, if you will answer, I’ll come to you.

Are you contented, are you contented to be lukewarm?

Will you not have Me? Will you not have Me? Of this I warn –

If you don’t hear Me, if you don’t hear Me, and so obey,

I will spit you out, I will spit you out without delay.

So why not heed this your final call,

And give to God absolutely all?

Laodicea, Laodicea, I’m calling you.

If you will answer, if you will answer, I’ll come to you.

http://originalworks.info/laodicea/

We Have Confidence!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014, 4:29 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “My Jesus, My Savior.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Hebrews 10:19-39 (NIV).

A New and Living Way

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I will not attempt here to go into all the Jewish history and to explain all the parallel symbols between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant because I am no theologian. So, I will take a more simplistic approach than that. Jesus Christ, God the Son, left heaven, came to earth, and took on the likeness of human flesh, but was without sin. He lived out his life on this earth from birth to death at the age of 33, I believe. The last three years of his life was spent in public ministry. He chose 12 men to be his close disciples and companions to go with him wherever he went, i.e. to go wherever the Father took him. He preached repentance, for the kingdom of heaven was near. He healed the sick and raised the dead. He fed the hungry. He comforted the hurting. Yet, he also confronted people with their sin, called them to repentance, and challenged them with what it means to truly follow God with their lives. His sermons were not feel-good messages. In fact, at one point, many who had been following him deserted him because they said his message was too hard.

Many hated him because he told the people the truth about their sinful attitudes and behaviors. Many of these who hated him, or perhaps I should say the primary ones who despised him were the religious leaders of his day in Judaism. They hated him because they were jealous of him, because he challenged them with their hypocrisy, and because he served as a threat to their positions of power and rule among the people. This led ultimately to Jesus’ arrest, trial, beatings, and crucifixion, although he had done no wrong. Yet, this was all part of God’s plan for his life on this earth, and for our lives, too.

He became our sacrificial Lamb on the altar of sacrifice for our sins so that we could be forgiven of our sins, have the hope of eternal life with God in glory, and so we would escape the flames of hell. Yet, he did so much more for us than just that! He died so we would be set free from slavery to sin, so we would be transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God away from lifestyles of sin, and so we would be free to walk daily in his righteousness and holiness.

Since Jesus Christ did all this for us, we can now draw near to God through sincere faith in Christ and in what he did for us on the cross, and we can be cleansed of our sins and be given new lives in Jesus Christ. We can be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that we can receive forgiveness of sins and have a place among those who are being sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus (See Ac. 26:16-18). What this means is that, by God’s grace, and in the power of the working of the Spirit within us, we can die to once enslaved us (sin, self and Satan), we can be radically changed in heart and mind, and we can live completely new lives in the power of the Spirit within us – lives which are dead to sin but alive to God (See Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6; Gal. 2:20; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 Jn. 1-5).

Embrace Unswervingly

Then, once we have been given these new lives in Christ Jesus, and we are following him now wherever he leads us, we need to hold (embrace) unswervingly (steadfastly) to the hope we profess. And, the hope is not just that one day we will get to be with God in heaven, but it is the hope that we can walk in freedom from the control of sin over our lives day by day here on the earth, and it is the hope that we can walk in the Spirit day by day in Christ’s righteousness and holiness in singleness of purpose and devotion to Jesus Christ who is now the LORD of our lives, now living holy lives pleasing to Him! Amen! And, there are many, many words of instruction and encouragement in scripture on just how to do that in the power of the working of the Spirit within us, as we cooperate with and submit to God’s work of grace in our lives.

Not only should we walk in faith in Christ and live lives pleasing to him, but we should encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to also live lives worthy of the calling they have now received. We do this through sharing scripture, spiritual songs, and words of godly counsel with them, as well as through acts of kindness and compassion. As we begin to grow in Christ and in our relationships with him, we share with others what God is teaching us, and how he is helping us to grow strong in faith. And, we walk the walk and not just talk the talk. This also helps to strengthen us in our own faith. We comfort the hurting, and encourage the timid, and we help the weak, yet we do this as Jesus did, not in our own flesh, and not with fleshly remedies, either. We never use flattery, lies or deceptions in order to make others feel good about themselves. That is not love or kindness. We speak the truth in love, because we care, and because we want others to grow in their walks with the Lord, and to not be led astray to what is false, and to not be captivated by sin again.

We Need to Persevere

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

…So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,

“In just a little while,

    he who is coming will come

    and will not delay.”

And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith.

    And I take no pleasure

    in the one who shrinks back.”

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

In 1 John we read that if we claim to have fellowship with Christ, but we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. It also teaches us that no one who lives in Jesus keeps on (in willful continuous) sinning (active rebellion against God). It does not say we will never sin again, but that sin should no longer be our master, i.e. that we should not deliberately keep on sinning. If our new lives look the same as our old lives, only maybe just cleaned up a little here and there, then maybe we don’t really have new lives. Certainly none of us is perfect, but that should never ever be used as an excuse for willful and continued sin. We should now want to please our new master Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God… For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

So, if someone has sold you a line of goods that tells you that all you have to do is pray a prayer and you now are guaranteed eternity with God in heaven, but they don’t tell you that faith in Jesus Christ means death to sin and self, and a transformed life in Christ Jesus, walking daily in his righteousness and holiness, then stop believing them, and start trusting in the true gospel of your salvation. Humble yourself before God today, repent of your sins, let the Spirit transform you in heart and mind away from sin and self to a walk of obedience in the Spirit, and begin your new journey with God, walking daily in fellowship with Jesus Christ. And, then preserve in your walk of faith with the Lord, don’t look back, when you sin, repent, and keep trusting the Lord, and don’t ever go back to the life you lived before.

My Jesus, My Savior / Michael W. Smith

My Jesus, My Saviour,

Lord there is no one like you,

All of my days, I want to praise

The wonders of Your mighty love.

My comfort, my shelter,

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship You...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqSQvoinDE4

Going Astray

Sunday, May 25, 2014, 7:44 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “My Jesus, I Love Thee.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Hebrews 3-4 (NIV).

To Fellow Believers

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest… Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

When we read this passage, we might be tempted to think the writer is speaking to non-Christians, because otherwise some of what is said here might mess with our theology, but he is writing to fellow believers in Christ, who share in the heavenly calling. We are to fix our thoughts on Jesus, i.e. we are to think determinedly about him in all things in life.

We have a phrase we use here in the southern U.S. to describe the fact that we are getting ready to or we are in the process of doing something. It is called “fixin to.” Certainly that is one aspect of fixing our thoughts on Jesus, but it is also to “fasten, secure or to position” our judgments, philosophies, planning, opinions, and reasoning on Him; founded upon Him.

So, what does that mean exactly? Well, it means he should be in our thoughts when we wake in the morning, as we go throughout our day, when we relax or do whatever we do in the evenings and when we go to bed at night. And, it isn’t just that he should be in our thoughts, but he should be foremost in our thoughts, attitudes, reasoning, decisions, etc., including we should determinedly regard him and his values in whatever we choose to take into our eyes, minds, and hearts, and in all our attitudes, thoughts and behaviors.

He is the faithful Son who is over God’s house, the church, Christ’s body. And, we are his house IF we hold firmly to our confidence (conviction and trust) in him and in the hope of our salvation from sin, i.e. IF we persevere in our faith to the end (Cf. Jn. 8:31-32; Ro. 11:17-24; 1 Co. 15:2; Col. 1:21-23; Heb. 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; I Jn. 2:24-25).

What? I thought God’s gift of salvation to us was free and unconditional? Now you are telling me that I am his house only IF I hold firmly to the end of my life the trust and faith I had in him from the beginning? Is this really what it says? Let’s keep reading and see.

Sinful, Unbelieving Hearts

So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice,

    do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion,

    during the time of testing in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested and tried me,

    though for forty years they saw what I did.

That is why I was angry with that generation;

    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,

    and they have not known my ways.’

So I declared on oath in my anger,

    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end…

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Wow! This is some really tough stuff, and not everyone agrees on what this all means, yet we can’t just write it off that he is speaking to non-believers or to professors of Christ only. And, I don’t have all the answers, either. I know what the scriptures teach about salvation, though. I know it is a free gift. I know we do nothing to earn or to deserve it. We are not saved by any of our own righteous acts, for our righteousness, outside of Christ, is as filthy rags. I know that scripture teaches, as well, that, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ that we are sealed with his Holy Spirit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Yet, I also know that faith is not just an emotion, feeling, belief, doctrine or religious practice. Faith in Christ means that, by his grace, we appropriate (assume or adopt) to our lives what he did for us in dying on the cross for our sins. Jesus died so we could be forgiven of our sins, have the hope of eternity with God in glory, and escape the punishment of hell. Yet, he also died so we would be free from slavery to sin through death to sin and self, and so we would be free to now walk in his holiness and righteousness (See Eph. 4:17-24; Ac. 26:16-18; Tit. 2:11-14; Ro. 6-8; Gal. 2:20; 1 Jn. 1-5; & 2 Co. 5:15, et al).

Yet, I also know the parable of the seed in which the seed (the word) was planted in four different types of soil. The first type of soil (heart response) was to not believe, and the fourth was to follow Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. I don’t believe there is any dispute over those. Yet, the second type of soil, i.e. heart response to the gospel is one who receives the gospel with joy and enthusiasm, but over time it gets choked out because their faith was superficial, i.e. it never really took root. So, were they, for a time, numbered among the holy brothers and sisters? And, what about the third type of soil (heart response)? It sounds a whole lot like the second one, but yet it is distinctly different. Perhaps this could be speaking of one who is a believer but who has forsaken his first love (his pure devotion to Jesus Christ) or who has wandered off from the truth or who has been led astray.

Again, I don’t have all the answers, but what I do know is he is talking to Christians and to those who call themselves Christians and he is telling them that genuine faith in Jesus Christ – remember we are also saved by faith – is the kind that endures, because it is of the Spirit. So, maybe the author here – really God – knows some of these brothers and sisters have not truly been born of the Spirit and that their faith is just superficial. And, so he is warning them that true faith – the kind that saves – is the kind that is enduring. Or, maybe we can be saved, and have the hope of eternal life, but then turn away from it never to return. Many of the scripture references in this first section under the discussion of “IF,” appear to say just that, i.e. that we can be in the vine, but we can be cut off due to unbelief. How can we be cut off if we are not believers to begin with though?

The Take Away

So, what can we take away from all this? Clearly we are being encouraged to focus our thinking (reasoning, values, beliefs, theologies) on Jesus Christ. And, we are given a picture here, as well, of genuine, believing faith. It is the kind that perseveres and endures to the end. So, if it doesn’t last, then probably it was not real faith to begin with. As well we are cautioned and warned against hardening our hearts to the Spirit’s voice. Can true believers in Christ do that? Most certainly! That is why the Spirit gets grieved and quenched, because believers, who have the Spirit within them, ignore his voice and go their own way. This is why Jesus Christ is jealous for his church with a godly jealousy, because he saved us to be his very own. So, this warning is for all of us, not just the superficial followers of Christ.

As well, we are to encourage one another daily, as long as we have today, so that none of us may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Obviously, this is possible for genuine believers in Jesus Christ. We can still fall back into sin. We can still ignore the voice of the Spirit within us and go our own way. We can still choose to follow the flesh instead of the Spirit, and we can choose to forsake our “first love” to follow after “other gods,” i.e. after the things, pleasures, philosophies and sinful lifestyles, attitudes, behaviors and thinking of this world. That is why there are so many warnings in scripture to the believers to flee all those things and to follow Christ in single-minded devotion. We encourage each other by these warnings, cautions, speaking the truth in love, and by nurturing, discipling and cheering on our fellow believers in the faith so we don’t fall back on the “same old.”

So, what does this all mean for us? Well, for one it means that God takes sin seriously, even after we come to faith in him. He doesn’t wink at our sin, our rebellions, or our straying from him. He loves us. He died for us so we could be free from all that. And, he wants us to repent of our adulteries against him and to make him our “first love” once again. If we choose to go it alone, and we choose to ignore him, we won’t have his peace, his counsel, his protection from the evil one, his healing mercies, his comfort and joy, etc. We will always be discontented in some way or another, because we know what we are doing is not right. We will miss out on many of his blessings he has for our lives, and we won’t be able to bear much fruit for his kingdom. And, we will miss out on so much God has for us!

It also means we could be depending on a lie for our salvation, thinking that all we have to do is pray some prayer and we have our ticket into heaven and now that we are under grace we are free to do whatever we want without guilt. That is not what scripture teaches. But, it does warn us against not shutting off the Spirit’s voice, not hardening our hearts in rebellion against what we know is right, not testing God’s grace and patience, and being careful that we don’t end up with sinful, unbelieving hearts that turn away from God. Love for God means we obey him, we listen to him and we follow his lead. Do we love God?

My Jesus, I Love Thee / William R. Featherstone / Adoniram J. Gordon

My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;

for thee all the follies of sin I resign. 

My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;

if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. 

I love thee because thou hast first loved me,

and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;

I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;

if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. 

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,

And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow,

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now. 

It Teaches Us

Friday, May 23, 2014, 5:26 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “Were it Not for Grace.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Titus 1-2. When I got to Titus 2:11-14 (NIV), I knew these were to be the central verses I was to focus on today:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

A Common Misnomer

There is a common misnomer which is spreading across evangelical Christianity today which teaches that God’s grace does it all and that nothing is required of us. In fact, those who are proponents of this false notion lead people to believe that the Spirit, who now dwells within them, lives Christ’s life out through them, seemingly with no cooperation or submission required by the believer himself. Yet, the only way this could happen is if Jesus possessed us and took over our bodies so that he rendered us as mere puppets on a string, no longer able to make any of our own decisions, nor able to choose right from wrong, because he just does it all. Let me explain what I mean by all that.

By Grace through Faith

While it is true that we are saved by grace, by Christ’s atonement for our sins, and that this is not of ourselves, not of human effort, lest any of us should boast, we are also saved through faith (See Eph. 2:8-9). Faith, biblically speaking, is not just a feeling, an emotion, an experience, or a belief. Faith is putting into action what we say we believe (See Heb. 11; Jas. 2). For example, let’s look at Ephesians 4:17-24 (NASB):

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

So, what is this saying? First of all, it tells us that our salvation is a way of life, not just a belief in something, and not just forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternity in heaven. This way of life comes from the truth that is in Christ Jesus. What is this way of life? When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we lay aside our old self (our former way of life), which is being corrupted in accordance with lustful and deceitful desires, we are renewed in the spirit of our minds, and we put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. We do not do this in our own flesh. This is not adding works to faith. This is faith! This is the working of the Spirit in our hearts and lives in regeneration, but we must surrender, submit and cooperate fully with that work. We must no longer live like we did before we were saved, when we were excluded from the life of God, indulging in impurity and greed, but, forsaking our former lives of sin, we must now walk in Christ’s righteousness and holiness, meaning we must cooperate with God’s work of grace.

Not Carte Blanche

This goes right along with this passage in Titus 2. God’s grace is not just a get-out-of-jail free card, and it is not carte blanche (free rein) to now do whatever we want, thinking that God’s grace covers it all. The purpose of Christ’s suffering, and death on the cross for our sins, was not just so we would be forgiven our sins and have eternity with God in heaven. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. What this means is that he came to transform our lives away from living in sin to lives given over to walking in his holiness. In other words, he died, not just so we could go to heaven one day, but he died to free us from slavery to (the control of) sin while we still live on the face of this earth. He died so we would be free, as well, to walk in his Spirit, no longer obeying the lusts of the flesh, but walking in obedience to his commands – all in his Spirit, and not in our own flesh.

God’s grace teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. This is his grace! If Jesus did it all and nothing is required of us – no submission, surrender or cooperation with his work of grace in our lives – then where does that leave us? It leaves us still just floundering around in our sin, living for ourselves, and not much different at all from those who make no claims to salvation at all. No, the purpose of his grace is to free us from all that, but we have to willingly go with God, allowing him to change our hearts, and to make us new. We have to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions. This means we have to make a conscious decision of our own wills to forsake sin and to follow Christ. This is faith! Jesus paid the price for our sin so we could go free. How can we live in it any longer? (See Ro. 6) If we want to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, it begins with saying “No” to what once enslaved us.

Daily we must choose to say “No,” for we will still be tempted to sin. And, sin isn’t always just the big stuff like lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, greed, murder, etc. The Bible says that love does no harm to its neighbors. It also says that if we know the good we should do, but we don’t do it, that is sin. Sin, for instance, can be to take credit for something that God did, allowing all the glory to go to us instead of to him. It can be as simple as when someone remarks to us that our day was “made” because of the things of this world, that we agree with what was said rather than giving glory to God for making our lives complete. It can be to depend on other things to meet needs within us that God wants to meet, trusting in ourselves or other humans or the things of this life instead of in God, or fearing the opinions of humans, and so going along with the crowd so we are not rejected, etc.

Are We Saved?

So, are we truly saved if our new lives look just like our old lives? I believe this is a very important question, because many who profess Christ, because of a decision they made at some time in their lives to “receive” Christ, believe they are saved, and thus it doesn’t matter what they do because they think that when God looks at them that all he sees is Jesus and so he is happy with them. But, is that true? Well, it is true that we are not saved by anything we do in the flesh. No amount of good deeds will ever outweigh our bad deeds. If we can’t, in our flesh, obey the commands perfectly, we are condemned without faith. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. So, the only way we can be saved is by God’s grace, via Jesus’ shed blood on the cross for our sins, and through faith, which I believe is also a gift from God, but one we must appropriate to our lives. So, again, can we truly be saved if our new lives look just like our old lives?

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? …

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Ro. 6:15-23

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ…

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ~ Ro. 8:5-14

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. ~ 1 Jn. 1:5-7

I am so thankful that God’s grace did not just give me forgiveness of my sins, and did not just give me the hope of eternal life in heaven for when I die, but that his grace set me free from slavery to (the control of) sin while I still walk the face of this earth. It is wonderful to be able to walk in freedom and to no longer be controlled by the flesh. Amen!

Were It Not for Grace / Larnelle Harris

Were it not for grace

I can tell you where I’d be

Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere

With my salvation up to me

I know how that would go

The battles I would face

Forever running but losing this race

Were it not for grace

Complete in Him

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

I went to lunch with my husband Rick today. We went to Panera Bread. They had my favorite summer salad back and my favorite potato soup, and to top it off, I got as change my last quarter needed for my (50 U.S.) states collection. The cashier who waited on me said something about my day being made complete, or something like that. I have known her many years now.

I smiled back at her and said, "Even if I didn't have any of those things my day would still be complete because I have Jesus." She nodded and smiled in agreement.

A few hours later I was sitting in a dentist chair to get 2/3 of a bridge removed and to get a rotted and dead wisdom tooth extracted. Although dead, the tooth hung on for dear life. It did not give up without a fight, but eventually it yielded to the pressure applied to it and it came out. Nearly all throughout this procedure, which was still painful, The Lord had this song, or one very similar to it, playing through my mind:

I’d Rather Have Jesus / Rhea F. Miller

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;

I’d rather be His than have riches untold;

I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;

I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand

Than to be the king of a vast domain

And be held in sin’s dread sway;

I’d rather have Jesus than anything

This world affords today.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;

I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;

I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame;

I’d rather be true to His holy name

Now thinking back on it, I can't help but feel there is a spiritual lesson to be learned here, as well as I believe that my experience at the dentist’s office ties together with my experience at the restaurant.

I got everything I wanted at the restaurant and more, but I would rather have Jesus than to have all the pleasures this world can offer me. Also, if I did not have any of those things, my day still would have been complete because Jesus is my all sufficiency, what I have in him is eternal, and the things of this life are passing away. As well, sometimes we, like my tooth, hold on to what is dead and decaying in our lives, and so we have to go through pain and suffering, sometimes, in order to get us to let go of what is dead so that we can learn to be satisfied with Jesus and to truly desire him more than anything else.

I love how Jesus teaches me biblical truths through the ordinary things of life sometimes.

  

To the Word

Later on in the day I read 2 Timothy 3, which fit perfectly with what the Lord Jesus was teaching me through my real-life experiences. These are the verses that stood out to me:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people…

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NIV)

We are not to be partakers with those who make money/possessions, pleasure and self/selfishness their gods. This does not mean we cannot have possessions or that we are not to enjoy all good things God has provided for us. What it does mean, though, is that these things are not to be what we live for and strive for with all our energies and passions, and they should not be what complete and satisfy us, thinking that the more we have the happier we will be. If we are not just as happy without the things of this world, then our hearts are in the wrong place. Jesus should be our all sufficiency, and if he is all we have, we should be satisfied.

If he is not our sufficiency, and we are loving self, pleasure and the things of this life, making them our gods, then these things need to be uprooted out of our lives, like that rotted and dead tooth was uprooted out of my mouth in the dentist chair. The tooth did not come out willingly. It was deeply engrained in the bone around it, so it had to be cut out and then pulled out, i.e. it had to be surgically removed. I am still feeling the effects of that surgery today. And, that is true of our lives, as well. If we are holding on to the gods of this world and we won’t give them up, because we are deeply rooted in them, God may have to surgically remove them from our lives, i.e. through much pain and suffering.

Instead, our lives are to be given over to God, willing to suffer for Christ and the sake of the gospel. We should continue in the teaching of Jesus Christ and that of the apostles, i.e. in the true gospel of salvation. We should find our wisdom in the word of God, not in the teachings of humans. It was a “wisdom” tooth that had to be extracted because it was dead and rotted, i.e. representing not the wisdom of the Spirit, but the wisdom of the flesh. I can testify that, over the years, God has had to extract human wisdom out of my life many times over so that he could teach me his truths and his ways, so that I would walk in his truth and not in the ways of humans and in the ways of this world.

So, my prayer today is for all of us that we would be willing for God to show us any areas of our lives where self, pleasure, money, possessions and/or worldly wisdom has become our gods, and to see where they are deeply engrained in our hearts and lives, and to willingly allow the Spirit of God within us to remove those things out of our lives, as we cooperate fully with His work. And, then my prayer is that we would make Jesus our all sufficiency so that we would find our completeness and our satisfaction in him, and not in the things of this life. And, I pray that we would drink at his table instead of at the table of humans, and that we would learn from him what he has for us, so that truly we are complete in Him.

A Good Soldier

Wednesday, May 21, 2014, 7:44 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “Were it Not for Grace.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Timothy 2 (NIV84).

Be Strong

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. ³ Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. ⁵ Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶ The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. ⁷ Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are like soldiers in an army, only this is a spiritual army, i.e. it is God’s army comprised of Christ’s followers, his body – the church. Our commanding officer is Jesus Christ. Thus, we need to have singleness of purpose and mission in following Jesus and his word, and to not allow ourselves to get entangled in the affairs of this earthly life. In other words, we are not to allow ourselves to get caught up or twisted with the things of this world, i.e. with its culture – philosophies, values, practices, behaviors, principles, and/or beliefs, etc. The Bible instructs us to come out from the world and to be separate (different), and to touch no unclean thing, for there is no fellowship between light and darkness (See 2 Co. 6:14-18; cf. Jas. 4:4-1-10; 1 Jn. 2:15-17). For, “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” ~ 1 Jn. 2:17

We are in a spiritual battle. Daily we must put on our spiritual armor – faith, truth, the word of God, righteousness, our salvation, the gospel, and prayer (See Eph. 6:10-20). We have an enemy whose goal it is to completely destroy our individual lives and testimony for Christ, and the life of the church, whether from within or without; whether through severe persecution or through a great deception. Most assuredly he does not want the gospel to go forth, so he will do all within his power to stop it. So, we need to have on our spiritual armor so that we can fight off his attacks, and so we can respond correctly to false doctrine, deception and/or persecution; persecution which is aimed at those who are holding firmly to the foundation of the prophets and the apostles and to the truths of God’s word.

Our enemy will do everything he can to try to get us to compromise our faith and to accept teaching which is false, diluted, and made comfortable for the listeners, and which has multiple seats of authority over it, not one of them Christ. He will try to convince us that serving the Lord Jesus with singleness of mind and purpose is not normal and that we need to engross ourselves in the culture. He will try to convince us that there is truth in numbers, and thus we should go the direction nearly everyone else is headed. Yet, if that direction is away from truth and toward what is false, then what have we gained? If the direction is away from following Christ to following after man (flesh), then what have we gained? Such a move will only block (hinder) people from coming in through the true gate, Jesus Christ. And, many will be lost for eternity.

As One Approved

¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. ¹⁶ Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. ¹⁷ Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

²⁰ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. ²¹ If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

There has been a major shift (move) in doctrinal position, practice and beliefs that has taken place in evangelical Christianity in recent years here in America, and perhaps in other countries, as well. The shift has been away from the foundation of the prophets and the apostles, i.e. away from the foundational teachings of Christ’s word, and toward following after the visions, mission, philosophies and values of this sinful world, i.e. that of human beings. Many within the church have forsaken the truth to follow after lies. They easily believe what sounds good to their ears without checking it out against the word of truth. If it has scripture contained within it, they assume it is truth, when in many cases it is not. Although my experiential knowledge of this shift has largely been localized, from what I read, this has spread like gangrene across the country, and maybe even across the world.

This shift, though, is not just away from scripture to follow after humans and humanistic teachings, but it is a force that has exerted itself from the top down – the force being Satan and his powers of darkness, which he exerted upon the top of the “food chain” in evangelical Christianity, and it has moved its way down through the ranks. This is HUGE! It is global and it is widespread! And, it is turning much of today’s church toward eastern religion, mysticism and the blending of religions all into one global religion, i.e. this is the ultimate goal.

Little by little lies, deceptions and manipulations of scripture have worked their way into the church via this dark force and going down through the “food chain.” These things were introduced quietly, subtly and cleverly so as to largely go unnoticed. As the church embraced the first offering, more was introduced, and then more and more, until the church, for the most part, barely resembles the body of Christ anymore. Some call this movement Emergent, while others call it Emerging. “Emerging” means: “newly created or noticed and growing in strength or popularity: becoming widely known or established” (merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emerging). “Emergent” means: “arising unexpectedly; newly formed; rising out of something” (merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emergent). Whatever name you give it, the result is the same. It is a move away from the truth of God’s word to following the teachings and philosophies and values of humans. It is spreading like gangrene, and it is VERY DANGEROUS because it is destroying the church from within and it is teaching a different gospel than the one taught by the apostles.

One possible resource is: http://www.gotquestions.org/emerging-church-emergent.html

Flee and Pursue

²² Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³ Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. ²⁴ And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. ²⁵ Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

So, we must make sure we are not getting caught up in all of this and that we are not being led astray away from truth to what is false. We need to be diligent in correctly handling the word of truth, not that we will always get everything 100% right, but that we will have discerning spirits and we will make it important to test everything we hear and are beginning to believe against the truths of scripture to make sure we are not following what is false. We must make sure we are standing on the word of truth and that we are not defending what is of man, and what is false, because we didn’t take the time to carefully examine it against the word of truth. Just because it sounds good and looks good does not mean it is good. It may be rotten to the core but disguised to look and sound right. We need to pray, test, and then we need to rid ourselves of all that is dishonoring to God.

There is a common thought among those who are following after this emerging (changing) church, which makes itself culturally relevant, and with regard to those who are serving as good soldiers of Jesus Christ with singleness of devotion, desiring to please their commanding officer, and who are workmen who make it their goal to correctly, though not perfectly, handle the word of truth. They accuse them of being Pharisees, legalists, intolerant, bigots, self-righteous, holier-than-thou, and of operating in the flesh instead of in the Spirit. Yet, for those who are truly serving their Lord Jesus with this singleness of devotion, nothing could be further from the truth. They know more than anyone else that if it were not for the grace of God in their lives that they would be wandering aimlessly, going nowhere, and following humans and the flesh, for truly those who follow the teachings of humans over the teachings of scripture are the ones who are operating in the flesh of man.

So, this is an encouragement for all of us to flee the evil desires of our youth and to pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. So, again, I encourage you to test everything you hear against the word of truth and that you not follow some teaching just because it sounds good. Be diligent in serving your commanding officer with single-mindedness of devotion and purpose and make it your goal to correctly handle the word of truth and to take your stand on the truth of God’s word. This is war! Satan is playing for keeps. And, his goal is to turn us away from truth and to get us to buy into the lies. So, we need our spiritual armor daily in place so that we can fight off Satan’s attacks against our lives, against the gospel of Jesus Christ, and against the word of truth, so that we do not fall into Satan’s trap and become captive to doing his will.

Were it Not for Grace / Larnelle Harris

Were it not for grace

I can tell you where I’d be

Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere

With my salvation up to me

I know how that would go

The battles I would face

Forever running but losing this race

Were it not for grace