I used to be the really sensitive type, convinced that people, places, and properties could make me mad.
Yet then I read about the fruits of the Spirit in a different "spirit":
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
"Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5: 22-23)
These are "fruit of the Spirit" -- they are all in one, composite "fruit", not "fruits", and they are borne out by the Spirit, not by me!
It's not my job to produce love, joy, peace, but to rest in the righteousness which I have received from Christ. The next verse explains this crucial element:
"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Galatians 5: 24)
We are His now, and thus we have no need to look at ourselves, and wonder if we are pleasing to God:
"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 6)\
So, if love, joy and peace are a supernatural byproduct of abiding in Christ, then why do Christians, like me, get angry so easily?
I believe it has to do with the fact that many of us still walk around with a sin conscience, one that still worries about offending God or doing something wrong.
Yet in Christ, we have been purged from this conscience:
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9: 14)
To the degree that we believe that we must think, say, or do things a certain way in order to please God or to maintain our standing before Him, then to that extent we grow easily hurt and unforgiving.
Yet what is the root of forgiveness? Paul explains:
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4: 32)
When you rest in the everlasting forgiveness and righteousness of God the Father, forgiving others, no longer taking offense at others, is a snap, a release that blesses you even more!
A sense of sin makes us sensitive. A sense of righteousness and grace make us strong and stable!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
More than "Not Junk"-- A New Creation!
I remember one lady in the Celebrate Recovery group that I used to attend.
She was always telling people: "God Don't Make Junk."
Just like that, yet that kind of talk did not make me feel more prized as a human being. I still felt that I was not measuring up. I was still looking at myself.
Then I read Colossians:
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Colossians 3: 1)
Why do we keep our eyes on Him? Because as He is, so are we in this world(1 John 4: 17)
Here is a list of all that God has made Jesus to be for us:
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1: 30)
Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and thus we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Righteousness means that before God we are fully justified, made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are not supposed to be evaluating or esteeming ourselves in any way. Our standard, our standing, is wrapped up in Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father:
"For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
"Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope." (Acts 2: 25-26)
We rest because we know and believe that He lives and reigns in us and through us and over the entire world. Nothing can beat that!
God does not make junk, but we must be born again (John 3: 3). Through His love, we become sons of God (1 John 3: 1)
Indeed, God does not make junk -- but we are called to life and that more abundantly, to be transformed into a new creation:
"For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, what matters is being a new creation." (Galatians 6: 15)
In Christ we are more than "not junk" -- we are a new creation!
She was always telling people: "God Don't Make Junk."
Just like that, yet that kind of talk did not make me feel more prized as a human being. I still felt that I was not measuring up. I was still looking at myself.
Then I read Colossians:
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Colossians 3: 1)
Why do we keep our eyes on Him? Because as He is, so are we in this world(1 John 4: 17)
Here is a list of all that God has made Jesus to be for us:
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1: 30)
Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and thus we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Righteousness means that before God we are fully justified, made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are not supposed to be evaluating or esteeming ourselves in any way. Our standard, our standing, is wrapped up in Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father:
"For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
"Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope." (Acts 2: 25-26)
We rest because we know and believe that He lives and reigns in us and through us and over the entire world. Nothing can beat that!
God does not make junk, but we must be born again (John 3: 3). Through His love, we become sons of God (1 John 3: 1)
Indeed, God does not make junk -- but we are called to life and that more abundantly, to be transformed into a new creation:
"For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, what matters is being a new creation." (Galatians 6: 15)
In Christ we are more than "not junk" -- we are a new creation!
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Rest in His Righteousness to Release His Grace
I loved reading this verse:
"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." (Psalm 110: 1)
David had a vision of this divine honor for the Son of God early in the Psalms, as well:
"I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope." (Psalm 16: 8-9)
Peter quoted this verse on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was released onto the world. We are no longer pressed in our own efforts to be obedient, but now through His grace do we live:
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. " (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
This grace we receive as we rest in His righteousness:
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 21)
The grace of God reigns through righteousness, but not our own:
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" (Philippians 3: 8-9)
This righteousness is a gift, and one that He gives us to keep on receiving from Him (Romans 5: 17)
Receive the gifts of righteousness and grace, and watch Him reign in your life!
"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." (Psalm 110: 1)
David had a vision of this divine honor for the Son of God early in the Psalms, as well:
"I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope." (Psalm 16: 8-9)
Peter quoted this verse on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was released onto the world. We are no longer pressed in our own efforts to be obedient, but now through His grace do we live:
"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. " (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
This grace we receive as we rest in His righteousness:
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 21)
The grace of God reigns through righteousness, but not our own:
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" (Philippians 3: 8-9)
This righteousness is a gift, and one that He gives us to keep on receiving from Him (Romans 5: 17)
Receive the gifts of righteousness and grace, and watch Him reign in your life!
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Relationships Have Rules -- In Covenant He Rules for Us
I have never found the element of "relationship with God" adequate to describe what happens to someone who is born again.
Of course, we from being alienated from God, dead in our trespasses, to entering full sonship with God the Father:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
"To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4: 5-6)
We receive this adoption through the Holy Spirit:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. " (Romans 8: 15)
The relationship between a Father and his child is based on much more than rules, though, but one of identity:
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
The Jewish leaders of the New Covenant ministry had to lay down some "guidelines" when they began bringing in Gentiles into the Body of Christ. They did not deem it right or righteousness to lay on them the laws of Moses:
"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" (Acts 15: 10)
In fact, those laws are now within us, an internal leading through the Holy Spirit:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
In the New Covenant, God does everything, and we receive His grace by believing that all our sins are forgiven. In this covenant, more than a relationship, He rules in us.
Of course, we from being alienated from God, dead in our trespasses, to entering full sonship with God the Father:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
"To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4: 5-6)
We receive this adoption through the Holy Spirit:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. " (Romans 8: 15)
The relationship between a Father and his child is based on much more than rules, though, but one of identity:
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
The Jewish leaders of the New Covenant ministry had to lay down some "guidelines" when they began bringing in Gentiles into the Body of Christ. They did not deem it right or righteousness to lay on them the laws of Moses:
"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" (Acts 15: 10)
In fact, those laws are now within us, an internal leading through the Holy Spirit:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
In the New Covenant, God does everything, and we receive His grace by believing that all our sins are forgiven. In this covenant, more than a relationship, He rules in us.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Law Fulfilled -- Love Perfected
"Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he
is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Our love is made perfect because Jesus has made us sons of God in Him.
Let's start with the love:
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)
This love not only wipes away our sins, and keeps cleansing us from our sins (1 John 1: 7).
This love also transforms us from dead in our trespasses to sons of God:
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3: 1)
In Christ, there is no condemnation (Romans 8: 1), and we are hid in Christ (Colossians 3: 3), therefore, whenever judgment is headed our way, established in righteousness we trust that no weapon will prosper against us (Isaiah 54: 14, 17).
Then we can understand the next verse:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)
This perfect love surrounds us, provides for us in everyone, but most importantly, has taken away from us the curse of death:
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15: 55)
This love perfected has perfected us:
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 14)
This perfection pertains to our conscience:
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9: 14)
Thus, no matter what judgment may be used against us, by Satan or mankind, we are free from bondage because in Christ's perfect love, the law has been fulfilled and rendered inoperative against us (Ephesians 2: 13-15)
Our love is made perfect because Jesus has made us sons of God in Him.
Let's start with the love:
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 10)
This love not only wipes away our sins, and keeps cleansing us from our sins (1 John 1: 7).
This love also transforms us from dead in our trespasses to sons of God:
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3: 1)
In Christ, there is no condemnation (Romans 8: 1), and we are hid in Christ (Colossians 3: 3), therefore, whenever judgment is headed our way, established in righteousness we trust that no weapon will prosper against us (Isaiah 54: 14, 17).
Then we can understand the next verse:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)
This perfect love surrounds us, provides for us in everyone, but most importantly, has taken away from us the curse of death:
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15: 55)
This love perfected has perfected us:
"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 14)
This perfection pertains to our conscience:
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9: 14)
Thus, no matter what judgment may be used against us, by Satan or mankind, we are free from bondage because in Christ's perfect love, the law has been fulfilled and rendered inoperative against us (Ephesians 2: 13-15)
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Taking Thought? -- Under Law
The Law is a burden which man cannot bear:
"And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." (Luke 11:46)
Jesus has come to give us rest from our own dead works of trying to earn His righteousness:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. " (Matthew 11: 28)
and
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14)
Through His Blood, through His Finished Work, we enter the Promised Land of rest:
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)
Now, Jesus has contrasted seeking and receiving His righteousness with taking thought:
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? . . .
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 25, 33-34)
If Law is about us achieving our own righteousness, then it follows simply that taking thought is a result of trying to keep the law.
If we worry, we are presuming that God will not come through for us in whatever needs we may have. Yet the Bible teaches otherwise:
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)
and
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)
Let Him rest you, receive His grace, and trust that He has everything under control.
"And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." (Luke 11:46)
Jesus has come to give us rest from our own dead works of trying to earn His righteousness:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. " (Matthew 11: 28)
and
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14)
Through His Blood, through His Finished Work, we enter the Promised Land of rest:
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)
Now, Jesus has contrasted seeking and receiving His righteousness with taking thought:
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? . . .
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6: 25, 33-34)
If Law is about us achieving our own righteousness, then it follows simply that taking thought is a result of trying to keep the law.
If we worry, we are presuming that God will not come through for us in whatever needs we may have. Yet the Bible teaches otherwise:
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)
and
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)
Let Him rest you, receive His grace, and trust that He has everything under control.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Forget Good and Evil: Choose Life!
"And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2: 9)
What did God place in the midst of the Garden? The Tree of Life, who is a picture of our Lord Jesus:
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
and
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
Unfortunately, the tendency for Eve, and for all of us, is to focus on rules instead of the Ruler:
"And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." (Genesis 3: 2-3)
What a minute. . .God placed the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden, not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God even set out the choice very clearly for the Israelites:
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:" (Deuteronomy 30: 19)
Notice how God did not advise the Israelites to choose "good", but rather to choose "life".
God does not want us to focus on the Law, the knowledge of Good and Evil:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3: 20)
and then
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Corinthians 15: 56)
Instead, He wants us to focus on His Son, who has given us Himself as our life (Colossians 3: 4):
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3: 1-3)
He freely gives us all things, from the Kingdom of God (Luke 12: 32) to the gifts of righteousness and grace (Romans 5: 17).
Focus on His righteousness, which we have received in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21), and right and wrong, good and evil, will be made manifest to you without any trouble (Hebrews 5: 12-13)
What did God place in the midst of the Garden? The Tree of Life, who is a picture of our Lord Jesus:
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
and
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
Unfortunately, the tendency for Eve, and for all of us, is to focus on rules instead of the Ruler:
"And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." (Genesis 3: 2-3)
What a minute. . .God placed the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden, not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God even set out the choice very clearly for the Israelites:
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:" (Deuteronomy 30: 19)
Notice how God did not advise the Israelites to choose "good", but rather to choose "life".
God does not want us to focus on the Law, the knowledge of Good and Evil:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3: 20)
and then
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Corinthians 15: 56)
Instead, He wants us to focus on His Son, who has given us Himself as our life (Colossians 3: 4):
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3: 1-3)
He freely gives us all things, from the Kingdom of God (Luke 12: 32) to the gifts of righteousness and grace (Romans 5: 17).
Focus on His righteousness, which we have received in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21), and right and wrong, good and evil, will be made manifest to you without any trouble (Hebrews 5: 12-13)
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