Pretending To Be Born Again!

Pretending to be Born Again

Often I am grieved that so many people who claim to be believers are trusting in their own human effort to keep a salvation they claim they got through faith in Christ alone.

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We have been changed into a new creation, the old man of sin in our spirit is gone and has been replaced by the new Holy Spirit.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.

43 Years And Still Going!

43 Years and Still Going

My husband and I just celebrated our 43rd Wedding Anniversary. We went to Sizzler for dinner and spend a quiet evening together.

Thankfully we have both grown leaps and bounds in all those years.

I was 18 and he was 22 when we tied the knot. I praise God that He orchestrated things in our life that no human could have concocted. We were not believers when we married, over time the Lord presented us with many challenges that showed us our need for Him.

I became born again first and ten years later my husband did too. We did not always lives as we should, nor did we understand give and take in the beginning. Our love was emotional and dependent, after we became born again the basis for our love changed, it became deeper and more Christ like after our salvation.

For those who think that a couple must be madly emotionally in love to make a marriage work, do not understand God's kind of love or human nature.

It is impossible to "feel" gooy toward anyone forever. There comes a time when the challenges appear, children, illness and other things that divert our attentions, making us tired, irritable and selfish if we let them. We become "accustomed to the other spouse", the fantasy wears off and real life begins.

If a couple goes into marriage knowing that there is no way out, that this union is for life, then they are more likely to work out the troubles rather than bail out of them.

Our marriage has been wonderful, not because it was perfect or without challenges, but because we walked through them with Christ. Before we were believers it was very hard, we were taught all the wrong attitudes about marriage, and focused on useless things.

After becoming born again our perspective changed entirely from those useless things to the deeper purposes of God. It took spankings from God and broken hearts to see our need for change.

I feel sorry for those who claim their marriage has always been wonderful, they are not helping the young people who need to be taught to expect difficulties and how to address them.

Christ is the answer to all of life!

Even if one of the spouses is not born again the one who is saved, can live at peace in a marriage such as this, when they are continually in God's Word and resolving to confess their own things while seeking to be transformed into whatever God wants them to be.

Of course there is the warning God gives not to marry unequally, however there are many marriages such as our, where one person becomes saved after marriage while the other spouse remains unsaved.

A believing spouse cannot expect anything from an unbeliever, they don't have the power to live as they should. Those who are born again must focus on God cleansing themselves, and pray for God to do His Work on their unsaved spouse.

AND, no, I did not do all the right things after I became born again! I pushed, shoved, badgered and prayed. One day I gave up and confessed to the Lord that I was trying to do the job of saving my husband myself, and that I was going to let go and let Christ.

Shortly after I prayed these things, God saved my husband. Christ in me, was saying to me, "When you are ready to stop playing God, then I will begin My work." What an amazing lesson and blessing that was.

God is a wonderful God and will never leave an earnest humble prayer go unanswered, when we pray in His Will.

Hallelujah!!!

I must share how deeply God worked in my husband and myself over the years.

One night we were sleeping lightly because it was a warm night. My husband turned to me in a half dazzed state shocked and excited and said, "listen, listen." I began to wake up and tried to hear what he had, and I did. It was a sound much like a trumpet.

Rodger said to me, "is that the trump of the Lord, are we going up now."

I turned to him with excitement, he grabbed my hand and we laid there with anticipation of what might be coming next. He wanted to be sure we were going up together.

We realized after a few minutes that it was the sound of the fog horns from the ships on the river. After realizing what we were hearing we were silent a few minutes and then we laughed. We were so disappointed that it wasn't the rapture, but reveled that we believed it so completely that we were ready to go!!!

I guess that's when you really know you believe in something!

Let God Be Our Defender

Let God Be Our Defender

We don't fall in and out of love, it is developed over time through sharing everything, all the joys, all the hardships, all the struggles of illness. Love is a choice, when we choose it, then the feelings begin to appear, even if they were not there to begin with. Every child of God knows what this is like.

Those who hold bitterness and anger in their hearts, develop vengeful spirits that eat away at their soul until there is no joy left. They clamor after happiness and business in an attempt to overpower the lack of joy, but the pleasure is only for a moment, it is not lasting and ends in sadness.

There is nothing to gain by falling into the trap of hate that only brings continual misery.

When we choose love, determining to act in loving ways in spite of how we feel we have been wronged, then we gain the joy that comes from obedience to God and even begin to care for others as we should.

The world is full of misery, hate and injustice, we see it all around us. Those who have trusted Christ and choose not to return evil for evil, have learned the valuable lesson of trusting God to see all that happens to us, we have no need of revenge, He is our protector.

Our bodies and emotions may be ravaged, but our spirit and our soul cannot be harmed. The greater the resolve to obey God in His sort of love, the greater joy and peace we experience.

Our emotions tell us to withhold love from those who harm us, but God says this;
Romans 12:14 "Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not."

Our emotions tell us to seek revenge to teach the wrong doer a lesson, but God says this; Romans 12:19 "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord."

Our emotions want to hang onto anger, keep the fires of malice burning, but God says; Ephesians 4:26 "BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,"

We cannot be what we should in our own power, we must seek God in all situations to work in us the attitudes and actions that He wants us to have. Then we will be victorious, not because we are so good, but because Christ will work it in us when it is needed.

Psalm 9:10 "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You."

Time Passes So Quickly!

When we got married in 1971, my husband drove away from a gas station that was in the middle of no where because he thought it was gouging. That station was selling gas for 39 cents a gallon when all the other stations were selling for 25 cents a gallon. When it went to 50 cents a gallon I was aghast. When it was going to go to one dollar a gallon, I told my husband, "if it does that I will stop driving." HE said "no you won't, you will pay it and keep on driving." He was right, here we are 43 years later with prices at almost $4 a gallon and I am still driving, however I consolidate my trips and do far fewer miles. My how time flies when your having fun, LOL?

Do Not Allow Others To Steal From You!

Fools Folly

The Fools Folly                                                                                  

One way to know a person to find the fruit, is to challenge them on something they are wrong about and watch what comes out. A calm loving Spirit controlled person will not lash out and attack, but will ponder while answering with reasonable contemplation.

Those who lash out and attack because they are challenged walk in serious pride.

One of the next steps that occur when a prideful person is challenged is the tactic of manipulation through personal attacks, bringing into question our character when our character was not the subject addressed.

Ignore those who are ignorant, do not answer a fool according to their folly, but expose their evil and move on.

1 Corinthians 13:28 "But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignored."

Proverbs 26:4 "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or you will also be like him."

John 3:20 ""For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."

God Will Keep Every Promise!

God Will Keep Every Promise

Malachi 4:1-6
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Final Admonition

1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

3 You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts.

4 “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”