Thursday, July 21, 2022
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Glorying in Christ Alone
Perhaps we will leap for joy when we realize the miracle we are living in these last days before the tribulation. I shared this with a brother in the chat this morning.
Yes, imagine communicating across the world in a matter of seconds with someone we have never met in person, it's a miracle for us in these last days to have fellowship with believers.
I cannot begin to know how this whole internet science works but I know that it could only be allowed by the power of God designed for these end times when we are experiencing a dearth of fellowship in our own communities.
Many believers are expressing their frustration at finding a Scripture-believing church that actually seeks the word of God to obey Him.
So many people do not read their Bibles but feel empowered to repeat whatever their favorite preacher says without ever examining it to see if it is truly Biblical.
The internet has allowed us to find through the help of the Holy Spirit believers across the world, communicating with them from our own living room in real-time.
I wonder if those who mock social media understand this is a miracle from God and if used for Him it is a blessing far beyond what the writers of the Bible could imagine. Perhaps if the mockers really understood God's purpose for the internet and believers they would stop their mocking and get busy preaching online.
Not all of us can be well-recognized preachers, most of us are nobodies anyone would know or remember but we can still obey God and speak His truth in our own little sphere on the internet.
Remember too that God loves to use the unimpressive things and the unimpressive people to carry out His command to go into all the world.
We need not try to elevate ourselves hoping to become someone special, it is only when we know we are nothing and Christ is everything that we can glorify Him while paying little to no attention to ourselves when it comes to notoriety. Personally, I am happy being a nobody, it comforts me that I don't look to impress anyone, it makes me free to say and be whatever God wants me to say and be as well as protects me from the temptation of pretentiousness.
1 Corinthians 1:27 "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;"
Next time someone tells you that you are nobody special say; "Thank you, I know that I am nothing and that Christ is everything." There is no better place to be spiritually than being nothing while Christ is everything to us and in us.
John 3:30-35
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 “He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
32 What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony.
33 The one who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is true.
34 For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly.
35 The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand."
When we glory we glory in Christ and not ourselves or anyone else.
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Monday, July 18, 2022
Love and Forgiveness Foundational
Love and forgiveness are foundational to Christianity. If someone does not understand the workings of love and forgiveness they will not be able to live the Christian life as God intended.
Christ told us to confess our sin to be cleansed by Him. 1 John 1:9. He commanded us to operate the same way with our fellow man. We confess to God our sinfulness and a desire to be changed by Him and in response, He forgives us and changes how we think which changes how we live.
We confess our sin to the one we have offended and the one offended forgives to restore the relationship. When we confess our sin against another person it is an expression of a desire to change our behavior toward that person. When there is no confession of sin and no desire to change there can be no reconciliation with the offended party.
Our culture as a whole does not understand God's forgiveness or the need for confession to be reconciled. We have been taught by psychologists and would-be relationship experts in the church that we are to short-cut God's model of reconciling a relationship by leaving out important steps that remove guilt, cleanse from sin and restore trust to a relationship.
When a false Christian attempts to love and forgive they derail a relationship merely appearing to fix something broken when in fact, the relationship remains broken even growing worse because the necessary steps to reconciliation were not taken God's Way.
Why does our culture take shortcuts in forgiveness and love? The reason is simple since the culture is dedicated more to temporary personal feelings than they are to facts and authentic fixes they misinterpret God's word to fit their feelings. Did you know it is selfish to forgive an unrepentant sinner? Yes, I said that, when the purpose for forgiving becomes our own personal feeling of pride about how good we think we are, we are of no use to the offender in his cleansing and regeneration.
When we short-cut the gospel to make people "feel" good about themselves, either to feel good about themselves for forgiving prematurely or feel good about ourselves for making the sinner feel better about himself, we have acted selfishly.
Rather than to take the necessary difficult task of honesty and truth for reconciling with human relationships and reconciliation to God, through explaining the steps needed for repentance that lead to relationship reconciliation we have left a sinner without hope and those watching thinking no one ever has to confess their sin and never has to be sorry to gain heaven.
There is only one way to reconcile with God, which is to confess our sinfulness and desire Him to change us into a new creation.
There is only one way to reconcile with another human being and that is to confess our sin against them and desire to be forgiven by them. If there is no confession and no sorrow there is no forgiveness to reconcile.
There are those who would say "I forgive them but I can't be friends", that's because there has not been authentic forgiveness, there has been no confession or desire to change the behavior so there is no reconciliation.
To forgive God's way is the way of love.
Psalm 141:5
"Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked."
Immunity to the Devil's Tactics
We can become immune to the arrow of the devil merely by knowing his tactics and that has nothing to do with you.
If you have done something wrong the Holy Spirit will tell you. However, the devil will attempt to make you feel guilty about doing what God told you to do. You will be judged as bad for doing what is good.
We cannot change a toxic person, we can inform them, assess their response, and decide if this person is willing to change their behavior. If they will not we can walk detached from them feeling no sorrow over losing them as a companion.
Proverbs 13:20-21 "20 He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. 21 Disaster pursues sinners, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous."
We are not called to be friends with everyone we meet. We are commanded not to keep company with those who have resisted the gospel and hate righteous living.
Proverbs 2:20
"So you will follow in the ways of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous."
In order to walk with Christ every day we must choose our constant companions wisely, they must love Christ as we love Christ.
We are commanded to speak the truth of the gospel to those who are perishing but we are not called to become friends with them when they choose to reject Christ. To reject Christ is to reject us, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
It will be harder in our day to have companions because the world has become "ragingly insane" as one sister put it one day as we were discussing the end times mentality of many if not most people including in the churches that have become apostate.
James 1:5-8
"5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do."
Obeying God Rather than Man
If you are depending on relatives to save you from hell as though their salvation somehow gets you and "in" the door to heaven, no one can do that for anyone else.
No one will be judged by Christ based on who they knew or who prayed for them. Everyone must stand before Christ all on their own.
No one will be able to say, "but Lord, my husband, father, uncle, commanded me to sin against you.
If you have doubts about this just read the story of Abigail in the Bible who knew her husband had made a very bad decision against God. Abigail defied her husband's wishes in order to honor God and brought safety to her household because of it.
Nowhere in the Word of God are we told to obey the authorities over us if they are commanding us to disobey God's standards and principles.
Love your husband enough to do what is right to honor God. We honor someone by doing what is best for them, not what they want which is evil. Follow the link below to read the story.
Who Is Your God?
Ladies, your husband is not your mediator between you and God, Jesus Christ is the only mediator between us and God.
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