God's Blessing!
Numbers 6:24-26
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’
I was reflecting upon this verse today, pondering it's deeper meaning. The verse is clearly showing that the Lord is the one working in us giving us what we need.
"Lord lift up HIS countenance upon you, giving you peace."
If we are to be cleansed and changed it will only be through the power of Christ in us, anything we attempt on our own is fleshly and will fall short of God's true change, a change deeply transformed by Him in our spirit.
As our spirit is changed, then too will our mind follow after.
Romans 8:28
"28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Again in the Romans verse we see that God works things in us as well as in the world. He will not work in those who resist Him, but He will work mightily in those who want to be changed by Him.
Jeremiah 33:3 "'Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'"
James 4:3
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”
Isaiah 59:1-2
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities (sins) have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that He will not hear."
Hebrews 13:20-22
"20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."
He brought us up from the dead, He created the eternal covenant with us through His blood, He is working in us and He gets all the glory.
Ephesians 2:8-10
"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
We are not saved by our works, nor are we kept by our works! We are saved by grace and kept by His grace.
Hallelujah!
Monday, May 26, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
We Are Not Alone, What We See Really Is Happening
Don't be discouraged when in company of people who claim to be believers, show little Christ like love for one another. This is the state of the apostate church. Matthew 7:21-23
As a believer, have you wondered why you are ignored or tolerated in the company of others, whether in the church or among family members?
It is because the self indulgence of this culture does not allow room for others, unless those others enhance their personal experience.
Do not worry when those who are in your presence show little or no interest in the things you have to say or what you are doing in your life, this is normal for our society. It does not mean that you have nothing to offer, it only means that everyone, as a whole, is focused on the enhancement of their own life experience.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
I have encountered many believers in our day who will say the right thing when asked or prompted to respond, but have little desire to speak of the Lord unless induced. I have to believe, that a person who has to be induced or prompted, is walking superficially, really has little or no interest in the things of the Lord, but responds in a way that they think will please the one who introduces the subjects of Christ and His principles.
I am convinced that many believers have been drawn to facebook and other social media for two reasons, one is to bring the gospel to the lost and the other is to connect with other believers who are feeling the dearth of fellowship and acceptance.
As believers we know what real love looks like, we feel a sense of the absence of it, but because it is so rare, we tend to question whether or not we are not seeing things correctly.
2 Timothy 3 helps us to remember that we are living in the times that are described there, we are not seeing things incorrectly, we are just having a hard time believing we are actually living in the times described there.
May the Lord comfort each one who seeks the Lord with His words. Yes love is rare, yes true Christianity is rare and yes we are not alone, there are others who are seeing what we see!
As a believer, have you wondered why you are ignored or tolerated in the company of others, whether in the church or among family members?
It is because the self indulgence of this culture does not allow room for others, unless those others enhance their personal experience.
Do not worry when those who are in your presence show little or no interest in the things you have to say or what you are doing in your life, this is normal for our society. It does not mean that you have nothing to offer, it only means that everyone, as a whole, is focused on the enhancement of their own life experience.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
I have encountered many believers in our day who will say the right thing when asked or prompted to respond, but have little desire to speak of the Lord unless induced. I have to believe, that a person who has to be induced or prompted, is walking superficially, really has little or no interest in the things of the Lord, but responds in a way that they think will please the one who introduces the subjects of Christ and His principles.
I am convinced that many believers have been drawn to facebook and other social media for two reasons, one is to bring the gospel to the lost and the other is to connect with other believers who are feeling the dearth of fellowship and acceptance.
As believers we know what real love looks like, we feel a sense of the absence of it, but because it is so rare, we tend to question whether or not we are not seeing things correctly.
2 Timothy 3 helps us to remember that we are living in the times that are described there, we are not seeing things incorrectly, we are just having a hard time believing we are actually living in the times described there.
May the Lord comfort each one who seeks the Lord with His words. Yes love is rare, yes true Christianity is rare and yes we are not alone, there are others who are seeing what we see!
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Wanting To Be Changed By Christ Brings Growth
How do we become born again?
I am born again because when I realized I was a desperately wicked person on my way to hell, I began to become ashamed of myself. I asked the Lord to save me, however as a new believer I learned later, through the reading of God's Word and asking God to show me things in it, that He had to do the changing in me.
As time went on I also realized that all my efforts to change myself were as water running through a sieve, I became frustrated at myself. It was during all this that the Lord showed me the futility of trying to effect my own change, and He made it clear that I must pray and ask, only then would change me.
My heart became joyful, if became easier and easier to confess, because I knew the more I confessed the more I would grow. What a blessing it was when I realized that Christ does all the work in me. I don't do and say the things I used to when I was a new believer, He still works in me on other things that need to fall off.
Psalm 51:10
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."
Luke 6:45
"45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."
Hebrews 10:22
"let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
Our spiritual growth will be in direct proportions to how much time we spend in the Word while seeking God's heart for truth.
May people read the Bible every day, some even teach their children, but if they do not do so asking for wisdom and desiring to be changed, they will not progress past infancy in their walk.
Our walk is not about knowing what the truth is, it is about knowing and being changed continually.....growing through it.
1 Corinthians 8:1
"Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies."
I am born again because when I realized I was a desperately wicked person on my way to hell, I began to become ashamed of myself. I asked the Lord to save me, however as a new believer I learned later, through the reading of God's Word and asking God to show me things in it, that He had to do the changing in me.
As time went on I also realized that all my efforts to change myself were as water running through a sieve, I became frustrated at myself. It was during all this that the Lord showed me the futility of trying to effect my own change, and He made it clear that I must pray and ask, only then would change me.
My heart became joyful, if became easier and easier to confess, because I knew the more I confessed the more I would grow. What a blessing it was when I realized that Christ does all the work in me. I don't do and say the things I used to when I was a new believer, He still works in me on other things that need to fall off.
Psalm 51:10
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."
Luke 6:45
"45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."
Hebrews 10:22
"let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
Our spiritual growth will be in direct proportions to how much time we spend in the Word while seeking God's heart for truth.
May people read the Bible every day, some even teach their children, but if they do not do so asking for wisdom and desiring to be changed, they will not progress past infancy in their walk.
Our walk is not about knowing what the truth is, it is about knowing and being changed continually.....growing through it.
1 Corinthians 8:1
"Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies."
There Is No Formula or Mantra For Prayer
Christ gave us one model for prayer to teach us how to pray, only one and it was not complicated. Here it is: Matthew 6:9-13
"9 “Pray, then, in this way:
"‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’"
God never intended for us to have a mantra or formula to pray. If we put into practice the elements He gave us in Matthew 6, then we will have Holy Spirit led variety in our words with passion in our hearts, nothing else is needed.
"9 “Pray, then, in this way:
"‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’"
God never intended for us to have a mantra or formula to pray. If we put into practice the elements He gave us in Matthew 6, then we will have Holy Spirit led variety in our words with passion in our hearts, nothing else is needed.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Changed from the inside out!
Changed from the inside out!
Often we hear the phrase "so and so converted to
Christianity." This is an inaccurate phrase, in terms of true
Christianity, many can convert to Christianity without becoming born again. In
fact this is the state of our apostate church today.
When we become born again, Christ transforms us into a new
creation, we are no longer the old and will never return to it......it is done
away with entirely.
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have
come."
We no longer think as we used to think. What used to be
attractive to us before becomes ugly and unappealing to us. The things that
used to embarrass us, such as righteousness and holiness, become desirable to
us.
Our thoughts continually gravitate toward the Lord
throughout the day. When a dilemma or situation arises we are compelled to ask
the Lord about it. When we have had a blessing of any kind our senses thank Him
for it.
Being Christians is not a club or church we join, it is a
state of being brought on by the Lord in response to our desire to be free of
our sin and pleasing to Him. He changes our spirit, something no man can do for
himself.
The gratefulness we feel because of what He did for us leads
us to want to obey His principles. When we disobey them, we are grieved and
must confess them quickly to restore the lost fellowship with Him.
When will those who are pretenders realize that becoming
born again is not a club we join or lifestyle we embrace? Being born again is
something Christ does to us that completely changes us from the inside out.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
God Created The Differences
When we accept one another with all our warts and personality flaws, then is when we can truly love.
Those who accept and even embrace the differences in the genders as enhancing one another are those with good marriages.
God made the genders different for a reason, they are complimentary to one another as long as neither spouse considers their gender better than the other.
We can even tease one another about our differences, enjoying them, as colorfully adding to our life experience.
When no one takes themselves too seriously, then we can be free of all pretense and fakery.
When we realize we have warts even admitting them, we will not be inclined to elevate ourselves above anyone else.
This is not a discussion about sin, but about personality and gender variety.
God made such beauty in the world, the flowers are all different shapes and colors. So too, He made all manner of personality and two very different genders, when we mix with one another, we have a richer life experience than if everyone were the same.
Perhaps humility is the element that allows us to accept one another!
Definition of Humility : "a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness."
Those who accept and even embrace the differences in the genders as enhancing one another are those with good marriages.
God made the genders different for a reason, they are complimentary to one another as long as neither spouse considers their gender better than the other.
We can even tease one another about our differences, enjoying them, as colorfully adding to our life experience.
When no one takes themselves too seriously, then we can be free of all pretense and fakery.
When we realize we have warts even admitting them, we will not be inclined to elevate ourselves above anyone else.
This is not a discussion about sin, but about personality and gender variety.
God made such beauty in the world, the flowers are all different shapes and colors. So too, He made all manner of personality and two very different genders, when we mix with one another, we have a richer life experience than if everyone were the same.
Perhaps humility is the element that allows us to accept one another!
Definition of Humility : "a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness."
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Pretending To Be Born Again!
Pretending to be Born Again
One cannot be saved by grace through faith alone and be working to keep what they did not earn by work.
The problem comes when those who think they can lose their salvation don't understand that Christ does all the work in us. We have no ability to be what we should be. God never forces anyone to become saved, nor does He force us to obey the Holy Spirit Who lives in us.
When He seals us with the Holy Spirit we become born again never to be lost again.
We have been changed into a new creation, the old man of sin in our spirit is gone and has been replaced by the new Holy Spirit.
Our flesh is not perfect, but our Spirit has been regenerated.
Romans 7:4-12
"4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.
9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good"
When Christ changes us into a new creation, we then become His child and His project in continual sanctification (cleansing).
Ephesians 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."
Hebrews 10:14 "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are (being) sanctified (cleansed)."
We must understand that we do not keep ourselves. Christ saves us, cleanses us and keeps us.
Those who would say that we still have a free will to walk away, do not understand that we don't want to walk away. When we chose to confess our sinfulness and trust Christ for all things, He then began to give us what we want, and that is to be changed into a new creation, never to return to the old.
When someone walks away from Christ they were never born again. They came to Christ on their own terms, not choosing to be changed by Him, but wanting all the perks they think He has for them, without thought of wanting to be controlled by Him.
Those who still want to hold onto their own power, are operating in the flesh rather than the Spirit.
There are those who believe one can lose their salvation but don't think they will ever walk away, they are so in love with Christ. To these people I say, perhaps in your heart of hearts you know you cannot walk away because of Christ Who lives in you, but you have been listening to the teachings of men rather than seeking Christ for the answer to this dilemma.
A born again blood bought believer will never excuse their sin as under grace, they will be ashamed and eventually flee it.
1 John 3:9 "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
Proverbs 8:13 ""The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate."
Those who do not confess and turn the other way, who live in sin without conscience even defending their sin, are not born again. They are pretenders and rebellious in their hearts. They fall under the category of Matthew 7, if they do not repent and turn.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’"
God says to these pretenders "I NEVER knew you."
If there is no desire within your heart to be under the control of the Holy Spirit or to be changed and growing, then you are probably not saved and need to ask the Lord to save you.
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