Thursday, July 2, 2020
Working or Changed?
If you have to work really hard to be what you should be then you are doing your good deeds and the right attitude in the flesh.
When Christ changes our heart He creates in us a brand new clean heart. Our kindness does not have to be forced or worked at, it comes as naturally as breathing.
If you find yourself working hard to be kind to someone then you may have to go to God and ask Him to make you a new heart.
Psalm 51:10
"10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me."
When Christ changes our heart He creates in us a brand new clean heart. Our kindness does not have to be forced or worked at, it comes as naturally as breathing.
If you find yourself working hard to be kind to someone then you may have to go to God and ask Him to make you a new heart.
Psalm 51:10
"10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Peace Maker or Peace Keeper, One is of God the other of the Devil
There is a big difference between the "peacemaker" and the "peacekeeper." The peacemaker gets to the root of the problem to fix it. The peacekeeper will compromise important things to make only an appearance of peace, nothing actually gets fixed.
The peacemaker has a difficult time in our culture today because the culture is bent on sweeping everything under the rug pretending the problem does not exist. The dirt is still there just unseen.
Or the culture likes to change the definition of terms to make the offensive things sound like positive things.
This just may be the hardest time for a Christian to be alive. When in the company of the world we expect the unbelievers to be unable to understand Biblical matters. But now we have many people who say they are Christians unable to understand things from a Biblical perspective. They will even argue and fight to defend sin as though it did not sin.
Even if a Christian knows the truth of right from wrong they will be offended that we spoke it to someone who chooses to be offended by our words.
Many people now, Christians as well as pagans, are offended at the slightest hint of disagreement or correction. The Christian now either walks on eggshells all the time to be accepted or they are rejected by most people for not walking on eggshells.
Ephesians 4:25
"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."
John 8:32
"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:44
"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
2 Timothy 2:15
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."
The peacemaker has a difficult time in our culture today because the culture is bent on sweeping everything under the rug pretending the problem does not exist. The dirt is still there just unseen.
Or the culture likes to change the definition of terms to make the offensive things sound like positive things.
This just may be the hardest time for a Christian to be alive. When in the company of the world we expect the unbelievers to be unable to understand Biblical matters. But now we have many people who say they are Christians unable to understand things from a Biblical perspective. They will even argue and fight to defend sin as though it did not sin.
Even if a Christian knows the truth of right from wrong they will be offended that we spoke it to someone who chooses to be offended by our words.
Many people now, Christians as well as pagans, are offended at the slightest hint of disagreement or correction. The Christian now either walks on eggshells all the time to be accepted or they are rejected by most people for not walking on eggshells.
Ephesians 4:25
"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."
John 8:32
"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:44
"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
2 Timothy 2:15
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."
God Wouldn't Want You to Suffer? HUH
Next time you hear someone say: "God wouldn't want me to be unhappy, just show them this in God's Word. Then ask them to show you a scripture that says that God doesn't want His children to suffer.
God the Father did this to His own son!
Isaiah 53
53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripe we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors."
Then reflect upon this passage from God:
John 15:18-19 "18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.…"
Then this one is important too:
James 1:2-8
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
And these two!!!!
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
And one more:
Hebrews 12:7-9 "…7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?…"
Think about it!!!
God the Father did this to His own son!
Isaiah 53
53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripe we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors."
Then reflect upon this passage from God:
John 15:18-19 "18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.…"
Then this one is important too:
James 1:2-8
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
And these two!!!!
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
And one more:
Hebrews 12:7-9 "…7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?…"
Think about it!!!
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