Saturday, August 31, 2013

His Kiss is Grace and Truth for You

"Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." (Psalm 85:10)

Grace and truth came (singular) by Jesus Christ (John 1: 17)

You cannot have truth without God's grace, and without God's grace, we have no hold the truth that sets us free (John 8: 31-32)

Righteousness and peace kissed at the Cross, where God satisfied His Divine retribution for the sins of men, and gave to all mankind the Gift of righteousness (Romans 5: 17) and peace (Ephesians 2:14)

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine." (Song of Solomon 1: 2)

Solomon is a type of Jesus Christ, our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9: 6). Beyond the erotic connotations, the spiritual depth of this book guides every member of the Body of Christ to see themselves lovingly covered with righteousness and peace, which we joyfully receive from the Holy Spirit (Romans 14: 17)


Another type in the Bible should prompt us to see "kiss" as the union of our right standing and perfect provision in Christ:

"And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded." (1 Samuel 20: 41)

David, "Beloved" in Hebrew, represents Jesus Christ, and Jonathan, which means "God is Gift", embrace each other to signify their alliance, that David the true anointed king would receive the allegiance and support of Saul's son, Jonathan, even though his father was trying to kill the Shepherd-King.

When we allow Jesus to cover us in His righteousness, when we receive His peace, we find the love and joy that sustains us and blesses us.

Today, let Jesus kisses of grace and truth, of righteousness and peace, cover you today!

Friday, August 30, 2013

Man's Greatest Need Met in Christ Jesus.

Man's greatest need is not money, not power or prestige, not even life.

Man needs acceptance. The bigger word, the more imposing word, is righteousness.

We were meant to be in God's likeness. We walk around trying to create this likeness through our efforts and affiliations.

Yet only through Christ can we be received back into the image, the likeness, the family in which we were made.

Man's greatest need is acceptance. We need to know that we are OK. We need an identity that is stable, certain, which shores us up and supports us. This identity has to be eternal, since God has placed in us eternity.

God has provide the Way, through His Son Jesus Christ, that we may have the life, and that more abundantly.

Man's greatest need is acceptance, or righteousness.

Jesus told His hearers during His earthly ministry about the importance of righteousness:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33)

This righteousness is more than a good standing; it's the perfect standing which Jesus has now, resurrected in full glory at the right hand of the Father:

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" (Ephesians 2: 6)

and

"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)

and of course:

"17Herein 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 acceptance, the eternity, the eternal security and certain that we seek, we find in Christ.

Man's greatest need: eternal acceptance. God's solution: Christ Jesus.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

We Have Access to the King at All Times

In order to stay in power, King Louis XIV created a grand scheme which would empower his friends while impoverishing his enemies. He distracted the nobles with busy tasks and steps in order to get his favors. Many denominations give the impression that we must do, say, think, or have certain things in order to access God. No falsehood could be more pernicious:

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4: 16)

If we are saved by grace (Ephesians 3\2:4, 8), then anything that we need we also receive by grace. Our "job" is to rest in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4: 11), that through Him all our sins have been forgiven (Colossians 2: 13), and that through Him we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1: 3)

The real issue for us, and the source of distraction for Satan, is that he wants us to look at ourselves, convince us that we have to do things, find things, or spend ourselves, much like the nobles of King Louis' day, in order to get what we need.

Yet we have not so received Christ:

"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)

God is not some distant monarch whom we have to bribe in order to receive form him. Because Jesus Christ died on the Cross for us, becoming sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21), we can now call him: "Daddy!" Even evil parents responds to the needs of their children. God gave His own Son for us, so we can know and believe in His Love (1 John 4: 16), that He will freely give us all things with Him (Romans 8: 31-32)

Do not try to think, feel, say, or do anything in order to come before God. Rest in the eternal truth of His love, that all your sins are forever forgiven (1 John 4: 10), that before Him God does not see you in your mortal body, but alive in Christ (1 John 4: 17)

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

See Jesus in His Word -- Do Not Worry About Feelings

Jesus Christ holds this entire Universe together (Colossians 1: 17-20) and He is closer than a brother (Proverbs 18: 24). He promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13: 5).

The problem for too many of us is that we live in the realm of our senses instead of receiving Himself and His Kingdom by faith. Some skeptics may counter our need to walk by faith by charging that God should manifest Himself to our senses. Paul explains why this cannot be:

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11: 3)

God cannot recreate the world for us so that we may believe, for in the Beginning He called all that He made "good" and therefore cannot go back on His Word.

We have to accept by faith that Jesus Christ died for our sins because Jesus died "once for all" (Hebrews 1:1-3). He cannot die a second time, lest he minister an injustice.

Besides, our feelings merely respond to whatever we are thinking, and so instead of getting balled up in fixing our feelings, we are called to renew our minds through the Truth of God's Word:

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12: 2)

We walk by faith, seeing what is invisible:

"By faith he [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." (Hebrews 11: 27)

Moses can serve as an example for all of us who live the world of men dead in their trespasses(Egypt) to enter the Promised Land. As long as we look on Jesus, we are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

What we see with the eyes of our understanding (Ephesians 1: 17-18) cannot be effect by how we feel. Rest in your righteousness, stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord (Exodus 14: 13), and let Him bless you.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Go to Church to Know More of Christ's Love

Paul the apostle wanted every believer to receive by faith that Christ Jesus lives in us (Ephesians 3: 16-20). He is our new life. Paul wanted every believer to be established in His love, no matter what was happening, for better or for worse.

This love is more than some sentiment:

"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)

Jesus did not just die for our sins, but His death completely removed all our sins once and for all and forever. Many people do not have this revelation. I was one of them.

The perfection that people look for in other people really reflects their own attempts to find perfection. Jesus completed a perfect work in us:

"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 14)

We are perfected in our conscience, in that no longer should we have a sense of sin about us, and therefore we have no reason to judge others. When we focus on how imperfect we are, we badger everyone else for not measuring up (to this perversion Jesus spoke when he preached: "Judge not, lest ye be judged" (Matthew 7: 1)) When we rest in our righteousness in Christ, then we in turn are transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18) and we then receive the grace to love other people (1 John 4: 19)

We do not go to church to get closer to God, because Christ lives in every believer by the power of the Holy Spirit (Colossians 1: 27). We do not go to church in order to be righteous, for that was accomplished once and for all through the Cross (2 Corinthians 5: 17, 21). We go to church to know Him more and to receive more of His love.

We thus go to church in order to receive exhortation to continue in the good works which He has placed within us to do:

"24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." (Hebrews 10: 24-25)

The preceding verses in the same chapter establish the basis for the rest:

19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Grow in grace and knowledge of God's complete work in your life, rest in the truth that everything is covered for you. You can then approach Him with full assurance of faith, and then you come to church to celebrate and get excited about doing great things for Him.

The problem for me, among many people in the Body of Christ, is that we are looking for love from people -- only the Love of God can satisfy us, and this love is forever demonstrated to us by the blood of Jesus, which speaks better things than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12: 24)

Monday, August 26, 2013

Grow in Knowledge and Share Christ's Love in Church

"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1: 18)

Many believers in the Body of Christ are not happy in their church communities. They go to church week after week, but they do not change one bit. They still struggle in this life. They find themselves overwhelmed with their circumstances and themselves.

Too many people go to church trying to get something for themselves.
 
Paul's first prayer to the Ephesians was for them to know Him more:

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1: 17-18)

Church is about knowing Christ, which was also Peter's prayer to his readers: "Grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord" (2 Peter 3: 18)

When we know Him, we find ourselves (1 John 4:17). Paul outlines in the second chapter of Ephesians everything that He has done for us because of the death and resurrection of His Son. We are no longer dead in our trespasses, we are seated in heaven places. We have received the adoption of children, and He has prepared the works which He wants us to beforehand to do.

In the third chapter, Paul expounds on an even more important revelation:

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 16-19)

We do not got to church to learn how to live, or to get simple insights into life's little problems. We go to church so that we can receive more grace and knowledge of the Lord, for Christ is our life (Colossians 3: 3-4), and He gives us life and that more abundantly (John 10: 10).

Go to church to learn more about the Head of all Creation, and Let Him be the head of every area in your life.

 

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Your "Job" - Believe on Jesus as You Understand Him More

"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 37-39)

Do you believe this?

That is your job, you know:

"33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33)

Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1: 30)

Then there is this "command":

"29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

Yet there is more to this:

"18But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." (2 Peter 3: 18)

How do you know Jesus? John outlines three stages of understanding:

"12I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake." (1 John 2: 12)

Many Christians only know that Jesus died for their sins. Too large a number assume that He only died for our past sins, and some live as if He has not paid for any of them.

"I write unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." (1 John 2: 14)

Some believers growing in their understanding of His Victory, and they see Jesus as their conqueror, as the one who has overcome all obstacles, all enemies, all the wiles of the enemy. They know that they are strong because of His Word in their lives. Still the focus is on themselves.

"I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning." (1 John 2: 12)

When we have a total revelation of Jesus, that He is everything, the Author and Finisher of faith (Hebrews 12: 2), that Jesus is throughout and greater than time (yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrew 13: 8), then you are walking in maturity of God's love for you in Christ.

That's your job, Beloved!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Start and End with God's Perfect Love

"1There 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) Any fears that we have in our lives begin and end with our limited or expanding knowledge of God's love for us.

Growing in grace (2 Peter 3: 18) means that when we fail, we rest in the knowledge that God's love for us remains strong, and constant.

More importantly, God's love takes us from worst to first, all of the time.

Consider the three parables in Luke 15.

The Good Shepherd, which represents Jesus, forsakes the "ninety-nine which need no repentance" to seek, save, and celebrate the one who was lost, yet allows himself to be found.

The same is true with the woman, representing the Holy Spirit, who scours desperately for the lost coin out of ten, then calls her neighbors to rejoice.

Of course, the third parable illustrates the lavish love of God the Father, who not only permits the "prodigal" son to take his "share" of the inheritance, then waste the substance and suffer want, but rejoices with promotional grace and joy when the son returns.

The "perfect love" of God our Father, or rather our "Daddy" is greater than we can ever imagine. Point of fact, we never quite understand how good his love is until we start to see how bad we have it on our own.

Yet for so long, Christians will resist running and resting in God's goodness, preferring to help themselves to their own efforts, relying on their own devices, only to exhaust what they have on their own, and trust God to see them through:

"And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched." (Luke 8: 43-44)

The woman with the issue of blood had spent all that she had, but when she chose to believe on Jesus, she was not only healed, but made whole of her plague.

In the same instance, every believer grows in grace to the extent that we believe more in His love for us. For this reason, Paul prayed:

"16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3: 16-20)

The last thing that we must do, but the first that will make all things possible, is to gain a greater understanding of God's love for us:

"18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Diligent to Rest, Graced to Do Great Things

"The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want." (Proverbs 21: 5)

We are called to be diligent in all that we do, right?

What is the priority for every person?

Jesus tell us:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33)

His righteousness is a gift which we keep receiving (Romans 5: 17) through the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).
This righteousness is based on all that Jesus has done, and so instead of our striving, we are called to believe on Him whom the Father sent (John 6: 29) to die for us and save us from our sins and give us eternal life (John 3:16)

Instead of striving for righteousness, we are to make every "effort" to rest in His righteousness:

"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4:11)

Instead of looking for more things to do, we are called to receive more of God's grace in our lives, to see Him more and more at work in our lives (2 Peter 3:18)

If we want to see plenty in our lives, let us first stop trying to get right with God (for no flesh can glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1: 29), then we begin to rest and receive His righteousness and grace in our lives (Romans 5 :17), and this grace labors within us to do great things (1 Corinthians 15: 10)

Thursday, August 22, 2013

The New Covenant is at Work at All Times

The New Covenant is as follows:

"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)

We can trust that God is moving on our behalf, working in our lives, because He promised to do so.

What enforces this New Covenant? That God does not remember our sins, because He has provided a propitiation, or "mercy seat" for our sins through Jesus Christ:

"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2: 2)

Some think that Jesus died for all the sins of the world, only, that His sacrifice only covers people and places.

In the previous chapter, John explains the total and eternal sacrifice that Jesus has provided for us:

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7)

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us, right now and forever more.

This blood speaks forth better promises, too:

"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12: 24)

Jesus is (present tense) the mediator of the new covenant, our High Priest forever (Hebrews 5: 6), who lives an unending life (Hebrews 7: 16).

The keeps on cleansing us, the High Priest keeps on ministering for us, and thus the New Covenant is in full force forever, at work at all times in our lives!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Sloth is Unrest -- Grace is Rest that Leads us to Work

"As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed." (Proverbs 26:14)

"hinge" in this verse can also mean "ambassador" or "birth pangs".

The context certainly speaks of "door", but the creaking, or the pain associated with hearing a door creak, may also suggest that the sluggard does not enjoy true rest while in bed.

A better translation of this passage would read:

"Like a swinging door on a creaking hinges, so does a slothful man toss and turn on his bed."

The root of sloth is not a sleepy man, but a spirit filled with unrest.

This unrest in man stems from the sin nature, the condemnation which weighs on every son of Adam.

If we believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, then we leave our dead state in our trespasses, and we live in righteousness. (Romans 5: 17)

Remove the condemnation from our lives, and thus we enter the rest from trying to earn God's favor and blessings in our lives.

For a long time, I believed that if I did not get worked up about doing anything, then I would not do anything.

On the contrary, to the degree that we do not rest in the "Finished Work" of Jesus, to that extent do we suffer anguish in our minds, and thus we will find ourselves stuck in bed, and refuse to do nothing.

To the degree that we believe that Jesus Christ has taken care of everything in our lives, that He is actively working in and around us, then do we find that the grace to do and be and have all that God wants us to have explodes within us, and we go out and serve.

Jesus does not want anyone of us to labor in pain or frustration.

The Proverbs records that all labor is profitable:

"In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty." (Proverbs 14: 23)

One of the last prayers in the New Testament declares God's love and wishes for us:

"2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)

Grace and Truth are one in Christ (John 1: 17), and the more that we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, the more that we walk in truth, and thus we prosper in all that we do.

Do not live in shame because you have lived a slothful life. Rest from any sense of sin and shame, and the more that you understand God's grace in your life, you will be empowered to get out there and work.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

In Christ, No Fear of Lions, or Sloth

"The slothful man says, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets." (Proverbs 26: 13)

Another key element in Proverbs points to fear as the primary reason why people do not go out and work. Why does the slothful man say "a lion"?

These passages will explain what a lion represents, or more specifically a "roaring lion":

"Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." (Isaiah 5: 25)

In the Book of First Kings, God sent a lion to devour a man of God who refused to obey His commands to the fullest. Here is the final scene:

"And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. 25And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt." (1 Kings 13: 24-25)

A lion roaring is a sign of judgment, an omen of condemnation.

In Christ, we need never fear punishment for our wrongdoing:

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8: 1, NIV)

This condemnation, the fear of God and His wrath, is the greatest fear in our lives:

"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)


If there is any roaring, if it sounds as if some lion is out there rearing up to tear us up, we need to know who is really out there:

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" (1 Peter 5: 8)

How are we supposed to be "sober and vigilant"? Peter explains in the previous verses:

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5: 6-7)

Slothful people are full of cares, like the man in the Proverb who fears the lion in the streets. Casting all our cares on Jesus, who is our rest, enables us to brush off the roaring tremors of Satan and step forth into the blessings and rest of all the good things that God the Father has prepared for us.

Know who you are in Christ, for He is your life (Colossians 3: 4) rest in His Finished Work, and then as He labors within you (Philippians 2: 13; Colossians 1: 29), get out there and be the blessing which God has made you to be!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Sloth is About Condemnation

"The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets." (Proverbs 26: 13)

Every scripture must be read in light of the Finished Work of Jesus Christ. Christ and Him Crucified, He is the central theme of all Scripture. The principle of First Mention can give us greater insight into this passage.

"Slothful" is first mentioned in the Book of Judges:

"And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land." (Judges 18: 9)

Just as in Proverbs 26: 13, it is fear which causes people to be slothful.

This fear is based on unbelief, for unbelief prevented the Israelites from entering the Promised Land the first time:

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." (Hebrews 4: 1)

and then

"9There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)

Jesus Christ is our Sabbath Rest:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)

The original Greek reads: "And I will rest you." He gives us Himself, and through Him we have this rest.

Rest is more than physical rest, but the rest from trying to earn God's grace and righteousness and peace in our lives. We do not work for our salvation, but receive it by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

In fact, the one work that Jesus wants us to do is to believe on Him:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

Sloth is a result of unbelief, that we do not believe that Jesus Christ has saved us from death and wishes to bless us all the more.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Vigilant by Seeing our Righteousness in Christ

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" (1 Peter 5: 8)

When I read this verse, I used to think that I had to be on my guard, making sure that the Enemy did not try to attack me, or doing something that would harm me or my prospects in my life.

Scripture clearly tells us that nothing can harm us, that the Enemy is already defeated:

"8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." (John 16: 8-11)

and

"And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 15)

So, the Enemy is judged and disarmed.

Then what are we supposed to be "watching"?

The previous verses in 1 Peter explain:

"6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5: 6-7)

What does it mean to submit to God? Look to the previous verse:

"5Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5: 5)

As if to make sure that we do not miss the importance of this truth, the verse appears in the fifth chapter of the fifth verse -- and "five" is the number of grace.

God's unmerited favor provides all things for us. The less that we rely on our works in the flesh, and the more that we diligently, vigilantly receive His grace and righteousness (Romans 5: 17), then we are undevourable!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Ask God for the Answers that You Need

"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires." (Genesis 41: 16)

Instead of seeking answers from other people, let us look to the Lord God, who lives in us by the power of His Holy Spirit:

"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. . .the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2: 20, 27)

In fact, Christ is made unto us first as wisdom (1 Corinthians 1: 30), from which we then receive all other things.

When Joseph had interpreted Pharaoh's dream, he said:

"And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?" (Genesis 41: 38)

It was never Joseph who had answered the Pharaoh's question, but it was the Holy Spirit.

Job confirms this truth about the Holy Spirit:

"But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding."
(Job 32: 8)

Beloved, today you have the Spirit of God within you. You do not need anyone to teach you anything about God's will for you, for under the New Covenant, we all know the Lord, for He has placed His laws in our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8: 10-12).

Rest in the Holy Spirit's righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans14: 17), and His peace will rule in your heart to tell you what to do and where to go (Colossians 3: 15)

Friday, August 16, 2013

In Christ, We Need Never Fast

"And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast." (Matthew 9: 15)

I used to read this passage, thinking that the party, the rejoicing, the celebration of the Bridegroom would one day come to end for all that live in Christ and have received His salvation.

The Bible teaches that we are all married to Christ (2 Corinthians 11: 3). Another scripture makes our union with Him certain and unshakable:

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13: 5)

"I will never, in no wise ever leave you."

We have this blessed assurance also shared with us in Paul's Epistle to the Romans:

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 38-39)

When Jesus said "when the bridegroom shall be taken from them", he was speaking of his death, uttering a sarcasm of sorts, just as God said to His people Israel:

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." (Isaiah 49: 15)

Yet just as God has not forgotten the Jewish people, all the more we do rejoice today, because Jesus Christ lives and reigns forever, and lives in us!

Heaven and earth will pass way, but His Word will not. The celebration that we have in Christ, that all our sins are forgiven and that we are justified in every way (Acts 13: 38-39) is more than cause for rejoicing, for His death is our life and all good things with it.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Do All Things Through His Spirit of Grace

"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4: 6)

What "Spirit" does Zechariah speak of in this verse? He explains later in his prophecies:

"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (Zechariah 12: 10)

Every person who believes on Jesus Christ has been adopted into the family of God:

"That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel" (Ephesians 3: 6)

So, because we are in Christ (Galatians 3: 29), then we are of the house of David, and we belong to the New Jerusalem, too (Galatians 4: 26).

This Spirit of Grace is accorded to all of us because of what Jesus Christ did for us at the Cross:

"Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." (Acts 2: 33)

We do all things by the Spirit of God working in us:

"But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." (1 Corinthians 12: 11)

and

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" (Titus 3: 5)

It is the grace of God which makes us who we are, and which gives us the power to all things which God wills within us to do (Philippians 2:12-13):

"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)

Let His Spirit work within you, and thus through Christ, you can do all things (Philippians 4: 13)

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

How to Answer Attacks: Submit to His Grace

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4: 7)

Submitting to God -- that is how we resist the devil, that is, stand up to the devil, and he flees from us.

What does it mean "to submit"?

The previous verses provide the answer:

"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (James 4: 6)

When we receive the grace of God, that through the favor of God, we are established in all things, then we are submitting to God.

The grace of God is what it is all about, that everything in our lives is a blessing from Him, not of ourselves.

We do not earn these blessings, otherwise the grace of God would not be grace:

"4Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans 4: 4-5)

This so humbles us, that apart from Jesus Christ, we can do nothing (John 15: 5), but we are dead in our tresspasses because of our flesh (, but we receive His life by grace through faith (Ephesians 2: 4-8)

When we receive more of Him, then we are resting in His grace, and the devil can do nothing to harm us:

"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." ({Ephesians 6: 16)

When we are established in righteousness (Isaiah 54: 14), which we have because Jesus Christ became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5: 21), then we need not move on our own, as if God will not move in our lives:

"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: 32)

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Boast in the LORD's Victory, not Your Effort

"And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent." (1 Samuel 17: 54)

Most of us all love to reminisce about our victories, to take pride in all that we have done. Sometimes, we relive the glories of the past so that we can face a difficult present or an uncertain future.

David the Shepherd Boy who later became King did not trust in his own effort to take down Goliath:

"David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee." (1 Samuel 17: 37)

"The LORD will deliver me." Our victories are in Christ, not in ourselves.

"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8: 37)

This love is more than some sentimental feelings, but a witness through the Cross that all of our sins are forgiven:

"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)

Returning to the account in 1 Samuel 17, Goliath of Gath was covered in brass, from head to toe, a type of condemnation and of the Enemy who reproaches us. David "The Beloved" represents Jesus Christ, whose death has made us Accepted in Him (Ephesians 1: 6).

Just as David defeated Goliath and brought the giant's head back to Jerusalem, so too Jesus defeated a greater enemy, Satan, at Golgotha.

David brought the head of Goliath to Jerusalem to prove the victory. David did not prove his victory, since he left his armor in his tent. Armor represents our own efforts, our own attempts to provide and defend ourselves.

David was rejoicing in the LORD's victory:

"And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands." (1 Samuel 17: 47)

Every day, rejoice in the victory which you have in Christ, that all of your sins have been forgiven (Colossians 2: 13), and that you have received His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5: 21). His forever-victory has nothing to do with us, for we are saved by grace received by faith (Ephesians 2: 4). Jesus' victory gives us victory every day:

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." (2 Corinthians 2: 14)

Monday, August 12, 2013

Not Your Might, But His Spirit

"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4: 6)

No power on earth can overcome the sin of man, which has separated man from God, yet His love brings us to Him through the Spirit, and nothing can separate us from Him:

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 38-39)

This love is on display for us now and forever because of what Jesus did at the Cross:

"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)

Jesus Christ did not just die for our sins -- all of them -- but He sits at the right hand of the Father justifying us every day (Romans 8: 33-34), and His blood keeps cleansing us of all our sins (1  John 1: 7).

There is nothing that we can do, because there is nothing left to be done:

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" (Colossians 2: 13)

"All your trespasses." For more information on "our part", look at the binding clause of the New Covenant:

"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 12)

God will not remember our sins ever again. The New Covenant has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with His Spirit:

"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:" (Ezekiel 11: 19)

The same Spirit writes God's laws on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8: 10-11) and convicts us of righteousness (John 16: 8-10)

Not our might, but by His Spirit do we know, believe, and receive all things.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

His Rest Answers All Things

"Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?" (Ruth 3: 1)

Rest is our first priority:

"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4:11)

What is rest? Rest has to with our ceasing from our own works to earn God's righteousness and favor.

Rest is not about "doing nothing", but rather about a Spirit of Peace living within us.

Actually, the Bible defines the source of rest:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)

Jesus Christ is our rest, for the verse would be better translated as "I will rest you."

He is our rest. Our life is not bound up in struggling on our own, but rather resting in His grace, and letting His life live through us:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)

He is our life:

"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 3-4)

More to the point, His laws are now at work within us, and we have an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ, because He has been  made the final sacrifice for our sins (2 Corinthians 5: 21):

"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)

Righteousness is the gift that we keep on receiving through Christ Jesus, and He is in us ("Colossians 1:27).

As long as we keep growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18), then we are evermore entering into his rest.

Jesus has promised all things for us through His righteousness:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. " (Matthew 6: 33)

Rest in His righteousness, and all will be well with you!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

God's Grace Turns "Bitter" to "Better'

"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;" (Hebrews 12: 15)

What makes people bitter? They work so hard for something, only to find that what they were working for was not worth working for, or whatever they worked for they did not get, or someone else got the same thing without working for it.

When we try to earn anything on our own, we fall from grace (Galatians 5: 4), for grace is a gift which God so freely gives to us through His Son:

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)

and

"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He 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)

This bitterness can also give rise to "defilement" or sexual problems. In many cases, sexual addictions and perversions really stem from a sense of gnawing outrage or resentment.

Case in point: Luke 15 and the parable of the Prodigal Son, when in truth the whole parable is about the Generous Father.

When the younger son returns from poverty and humiliation, his father covered him from head to foot with grace and glory. From the stench of pigs of stinking rich, the father not only restored but promoted his son, who was dead and became alive.

The older son was not happy at all about any of this:

"And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:" (Luke 15: 28-29)

Imagine that: the older son, who has the prized standing of first born and chief inheritor, and he was working for his father. His next indictment reveals the depths of his bitterness:

"But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." (Luke 15: 30)

Jesus never relates that the younger son wasted his substance with "harlots". The older son has a perverted mind, a sexual problem because of his bitterness, because instead of resting and receiving the grace of his father, he felt that he had to work for it, that he could earn it through his efforts.

The older brother worked so hard for the Father, yet the Father gave everything so lavishly to the prodigal son, who returned under the dubious pretense of serving the Father as a hired servant.

If you have any bitterness in your life, let the grace of God make you better. You cannot perfect yourself to earn God's favor. Instead, believe that Jesus Christ is your righteousness, receiving his standing before the Father, and let Him lavish you with His love, grace, and goodly gifts.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Christ is Already at the Center: Just Believe It

"Christ, be the center of our life, of our world, or our church."

This song, and others like it, exhort members of the Body of Christ to make Christ Jesus the center of their lives.

Jesus Christ is at the center of the Universe:

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1: 15)

He represents God the Father to all of us ("He who has seen me has seen the Father"
(John 14: 9)

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" (Colossians 1: 16)

"And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (v. 17)

Jesus is "before", which indicates that He takes preference above all things.

"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (v. 18)

Jesus is the head of the Church, or otherwise there would be no church.

"19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." (V. 19-20)

Everything that we need, we find in Jesus, for He is the "fulness" of all things. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, God has reconciled the world to Himself, but every person must "believe" in Him (John 6: 29)

We do not put Jesus in the Center, for He is already there. We are called rather to "believe" that He is there, that we grow in grace and knowledge of Him at the center of all things, and allow Him to be first.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Magnify the LORD by Receiving His Righteousness and Grace

"Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:" (Genesis 19: 19)

Unlike his Uncle Abram, Lot walked by sight, not by faith. Though the Bible informs us that Lot was righteous (2 Peter 2: 7-8),he lost everything because he chose to "vex his soul" with the filthy behavior of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Yet God's grace still falls on the righteous, for though a righteous man may fall, he will never be utterly cast down (Proverbs 24: 16).

When Lot saw the mercy, the grace, that he received from the angels who came to rescue him, he summoned the boldness to flee not to the mountain (which represents the law), but to a town nearby:

"20Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar." (Genesis 19: 20-22)

Because Lot was accepted, the angels permitted  him to flee to the city, and the city was preserved for Lot's sake. This city, which means "little", became Lot's safe haven

This picture in the Bible shows us the power of God's grace in our lives, and how we can "activate" it further. Lot is a picture of the believer who has trusted in his own efforts, who has frustrated the grace of God in his life because of self-righteousness (Galatians 5: 4). When we receive a greater revelation of God's grace, that God does not force us to endure the total consequences for our poor choices, then we magnify the Lord in our lives. When we make ourselves "little" and occupy ourselves completely with God's grace through His Finished Work at the Cross, we enjoy more of God's provision in our lives.

Peter instructed every believer to "grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord" (2 Peter 3: 18). God wants us to "magnify" him. We do not strain to seek God, but we magnify the Lord when we rest in His grace and righteousness, making it all about Jesus, and making ourselves less.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Jesus is Magnified in His Finished Work


"And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." (Joshua 3:7)

Joshua, whose name means "savior", is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He replaced Moses, who represents the law. The law can lead us in the wilderness, but the law cannot take us into the Promised Land of grace and righteousness (Hebrews 4: 1-11). Only Jesus can do that.

"11And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people. 12And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them: 13About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho." (Joshua 4: 11-13)

The Israelites passed over the River Jordan, which represents our death in Christ, and when the crossed over, the entered the Promised Land, which represents our resurrected life in Christ.

"On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life." (Joshua 4: 11-14)

Unlike Moses, who had to beg the LORD for grace and signs and  miracles to keep the Israelites in line, Joshua led the Israelites over the river, and that one act alone granted him respect for the rest of his life.

Joshua was magnified when the Israelites crossed the River Jordan. Just as Joshua would be magnified in leading the Israelites across the Jordan River, so too Jesus our Lord and Savior is magnified because He died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and justifies us to this day.

Every time that we rest in the mindset and revisit this truth, that in Christ, all our sins are forgiven, Jesus is glorified.

To believe on Jesus Chris, that through Him all our sins are forgiven, is to live out the abundant live, to work out  our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2: 12).

The more that we allow His Work at the Cross to occupy our thoughts, the more that we reject fearful thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow, the more that we "hasten" to enter the rest (Hebrews 4: 11), the more that Jesus is glorified.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Commanding or Explaining how to "Know Him" is Unkown for a Believer

"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)

Not as a ritual, not as a requirement, but as a recognition receive that wonderful gift of righteousness and grace (Romans5: 17) which God the Father gives to us because of the death and resurrection of His Son for all our sins, and thus granting to us the righteousness of God which we could not earn through our obedience (Acts 13: 38-39).

There are no "steps" to knowing God. In fact, the more that we rest in the truth that all our sins are put away, sent away forever, the more that we will know the Lord. Yet to this day, there are preachers and teachers who are outlining steps to know or experience God. The Holy Spirit is a constant witness in the lives of every believer, that we are righteous (John 16: 10) children of God (Romans 8: 15) who appear before God in Christ (1 John 4: 17)

We know God not in what we do, but rather in believing that He knows us: "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" (Galatians 4: 9)

When we know that God knows us, we are drawn away from ourselves, focusing on the things that we must do, and instead we receive from Him all things, since His work has enforced the New Covenants. He will be to us a "God" and we are to Him a "people". More than a relationship, God establishes a covenant with us. We do not have to do "anything" to know Him accept believe on Jesus, (John 6: 29) who He is and what He has done.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Magnify Him by Magnifying His Redeeming Love

What does it mean to magnify the Lord?

It means that we "satisfy ourselves" with His mercy (Psalm 90: 14).

The issue is not about "seeing" with our eyes, because God is invisible to our physical senses, for what is invisible is eternal (2 Corinthians 4: 18).

We are called to see with the eyes of our understanding, our complete minds, all that Christ Jesus has given us, has done for us:

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power." (Ephesians 1: 17-19)

Paul later prays that Christ would dwell in our hearts by faith, that we would be grounded in God's love and see it from every angle. This love is not a feeling, nor is this "love" something that we do, but rather the love that God demonstrated for us at the Cross:

"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)

It means that we keep receiving the Work which He did for us at the Cross (Romans 5: 17)

When Lot magnified the Lord and His mercy, not only did he escape from Sodom and Gomorrah, but he fled to a tiny town named Zoar, which was protected from the fiery wrath of God because of Lot's presence (Genesis 19: 19-24).

The more that we take in the totally of all that Jesus did for us, that we make Him a bigger sacrifice for all our sins, for our past to make it a glorious future (Colossians 2: 13), that He is outside of time making the most of all our troubles (Psalm 106: 48), that we cast more and more of our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5: 6-7), the more that He is magnified.

When we receive that Jesus Christ put away all the sins of the world, not just ours, but also the sins of the Israelites which were condemned at length in page after page of the

When we acknowledge the presence of sin in our lives, yet we yield our bodies to God the Father, when we allow every thought to brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, then we allow Him to be magnified.

Nothing of ourselves, and all of Christ. He is our life (Colossians 3: 3-4), and through Him we receive the righteousness of God in Him who loved us and gave His life for us (Galatians 2: 20-21)

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Declare His Righteousness

One of the common sayings among grace preachers is "I am the righteousness of God in Christ."

I do not need any more reasons to look at myself, even if it is to see that I am righteous.

I want to see more of Jesus, and through the righteousness imparted to us, we no longer have to look at or look over ourselves:

"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)

Peter then writes that God is watching out for us, not ourselves:

"For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." (1 Peter 2: 25)

and then

"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)

The focus in on Christ, not ourselves, for He is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1: 30), and in Him alone are we made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5: 21)

The New Covenant is based entirely and eternally on Jesus Christ and what He has done:

"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)

This New Covenant is now in effect because God remembered all the sins of all the world in His Son, Jesus. Now, we can receive his grace and righteousness as gifts unending (Romans5: 17), and thus we bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10: 5)

Declare His righteousness. Praise Him saying:

"You took away all my sins. You have made me righteous."

When you say "I am the righteousness of God in Christ", the focus ends up on us all too often, or we say these things in order to get rid of ugly sentiments. Focus on Jesus, and the things of this world will prove undaunting, including your flesh.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Without Christ our Wisdom, there is no Knowledge

"And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure." (Isaiah 33: 6)

Wisdom is a person, Jesus Christ.

"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)

God made Light, or Wisdom, before he made anything else:

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." (Genesis 1:3)

and

"The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

"I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." (Proverbs 8: 22-23)

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13: ) is from everlasting to everlasting, and He is our wisdom.

Yet even the older academics who challenged church dogma, they recognized that an order, a structure, a certainty existed outside of our thinking and feeling.

There can be no knowledge without Light, without the true Source, the Logos (John 1: 1) which was and is and is to come.

To discredit the beginning of all things is to discredit any exploration of things that are, or of things to come.

The older academics declared: "Credo ut intelligam" -- I believe that I may understand.

Belief is not "blind faith" but accepting what already exists, because to prove something which is obvious will then render one oblivious.

The wisdom of God is greater than the knowledge of men. In fact, men can know nothing what His wisdom to begin with, which has been since the beginning.

Friday, August 2, 2013

You are Not Bitter, Because Christ Makes you Better

One other thing that I have learned in my walk in Christ. I would try to get rid of "bad" thoughts or "bad" feelings.

Those thoughts are no longer our thoughts:

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 11)

We are alive in Christ:

"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 3-4)

And He lives in us:

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

"Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" (Colossians 1: 27-28)

This same Jesus lives and works in us, too:

"Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. " (Colossians 1: 29)

If you "feel" better, remember that Christ makes us better:

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)

and

"1Behold, 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. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)

Do not focus on what you have or do not have,  but know and believe that in Christ you have all things, and He will make you better wherever you have lost or  suffered lack.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

He Has Washed our Hearts

"O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" (Jeremiahs 4: 14)

When reading the Old Testament, every believer must bring every thought and supposition into captivity to Christ Jesus.

Because of His death on the Cross, He has given us Spirit (Romans 8: 15), who writes on our hearts and minds His laws (Hebrews 8: 10-12). We receive a new heart, a soft heart, a heart filled with Good News which declares to us righteousness, peace, and joy.

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." (Ezekiel 36: 25)

First, God challenges the Israelites to cleanse themselves, and they cannot.

Then He promises to do it themselves.

It is very important to believe all that the prophets told.

We have been sprinkled from a guilty conscience because of Jesus' blood:

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews 10: 22)

Jesus Christ has washed our hearts. Let us rejoice in the Work that He has Finished (John 19: 30)