RSS

Monthly Archives: May 2013

Non-adjustable

07 May

Non-adjustable

Ephesians 5:1-2   Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

The apostle Paul spends the second half of the book of Ephesians with great instructions on how to live our lives as Christians. He tells us of how we are separated now; we are children of light, instead of the children of darkness before our Salvation. 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (ESV). The world is lost in sin, living in the darkness and death of it. Most are blind to it, and sadly there are those that deny it. There are eternal consequences for both. You must understand that the world is not a good place; as a whole it is condemned by the fallen state of the world through the generational sin by Adam in the garden of Eden. We as descendants of Adam, must be rescued from that snare of sin, through the perfect sacrifice for sin through Christ, to atone for our sin debt to a Holy God.

So many times we want both; we want the temporal pleasure of sin, and the eternal reward of heaven. We want to live in our sin as long as possible, and then claim the victory of Christ when it is convenient to us. We may even claim Christ, but continue in sin, living our lives in a false gospel of God’s grace. We feel that we can always do as we wish, then ask for forgiveness afterwards. That is sadly a soul that has not been redeemed, a soul that is truly not saved, but a soul that hopefully will have their hearts opened to the truth before it is too late. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Our nation has become so weak, and that weakness has infiltrated our church. We have tread upon the sanctity of marriage, allowing the acceptance of homosexuality into our pulpits. We have moved to a place that we adapt the Bible into what we want to hear, and delete that which requires repentance and turning from our sin. We move to take up issues with hunger or persecution; those issues that are safe, yet we tread upon abortion and gay rights in the ruse of equality and decision. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. There is a such thing as Absolute Truth, and it is found in the Word of God. There is a standard which is not able to be bent into our liking, a standard that we all will come to answer to the One who gave it to us. We will stand before a righteous judge and account for all our lives one day; will you do the best you can to live by the truths you have found, or adjust them to fit?

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Live by Faith

06 May

Live by Faith

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

“Live by faith” is found five times in the Bible. It was first quoted by the prophet Habakkuk, when he was questioning God’s plans; he was not understanding the ways of God to let Judah go unpunished for their sin. He came to realize God’s sovereignty and control over the universe, and he came to rest in the peace of that understanding. Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. These were some of the first words spoken by the Lord in response to his questions. The proud person elevates themselves and their supposed intellect, no need for God. The humble person understands their place under God, and His control over the world; they rest in their faith, and under His mercy and grace.

The apostle Paul had come to that understanding after his encounter with Christ on the Damascus road. His once prideful spirit had been humbled by the power of God. He had come to see how he had been persecuting the One who could give him all that he desired for eternity. He was humbled at a great cost, he suffered for Christ and the cause of Christ for the remainder of his life. Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Paul saw past this temporal life, he saw into eternal paradise with the One who created both. He knew that all in this life was a preparation for the next; in that his faith was strengthened in the small understanding of God’s sovereignty for this life into eternity. When you humble yourself and approach God in that same spirit; God will strengthen you for your time here.

When Paul finally made it to Rome, early in his teachings he began to present the Gospel of Christ to some of the proudest of that days society. The Romans were the greats of their time, and Paul began to teach them of humility and the rewards of it through Christ. Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” The power of Christ to deliver us from sin, and eternal rewards from the resting in the grace of God for that provision. When you come to grasp all that rests in the grace of God, the forgiveness of your sin in Jesus Christ, you will be moved to a life that you live by faith in Him. You will live your life by responding with your heart and your actions to that He places before you. You will become an example just as Paul of that which is available to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, the one who came to set you free from all that entangles you, for eternity.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 6, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Get up and get busy

04 May

Get up and get busy

Romans 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Paul had just addressed the commandments found in the Law (the Ten Commandments) given to Moses by God. He had closed with the summary of, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:9b,10.) He is addressing of how we are to live, of how we are to “put on Christ” every day. We are told in these scriptures of four points of how to live our daily lives in Him; what to do and what not to do. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. If we do not allow theses provisions, or open doors to them, then we are able to focus our daily lives on the One who gives us daily life.

We hear of the “awakening out of sleep” many times in the scriptures. We are more than asleep, we are truly asleep or dead in our sin. We will die and suffer for our sin without the grace of Salvation found in Christ. We are awakened in this Salvation, and arisen from this sleep for the paradise of eternity with Him. A quote from a Scottish pastor George MacDonald sums this up well, “You are a soul. You have a body.” You are destined for eternity, and once you grasp that grace that has been bestowed upon you, you should dedicate and use your body to draw glory to the One who bestowed it upon you. Paul again stresses this understanding of our earthy bodies in 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Matthew Henry wrote, “The nearer we are to our centre the quicker should our motion be. Is there but a step between us and heaven, and shall we be so very slow and dull in our Christian course, and move so heavily? The more the days are shortened, and the more grace is increased, the nearer is our salvation, and the more quick and vigorous we should be in our spiritual motions.” Christ is consistently telling us to be prepared for his return; to live our lives in expectation of it. We have no idea of the time, but we will answer for how our time in this body is spent when He returns. Mark 13:33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. If He shows up today, how will you respond? Are you using your body to glorify Him, or is does your body show any evidence of the promise you claim in Him? Make today the day that you seek to be more like Him than yesterday; and the same for tomorrow……..

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 4, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

He has got this

03 May

He has got this

Romans 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Matthew Henry said, “Of God as the spring and fountain of all, through Christ, God—man, as the conveyance, to God as the ultimate end. These three include, in general, all God’s causal relations to his creatures: of him as the first efficient cause, through him as the supreme directing cause, to him as the ultimate final cause; for the Lord hath made all for himself, Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” What does your life revolve around? It will fall into two categories: self or God. If you have your eyes on the prizes of come with pride at the root of your goals, God is an afterthought. If in your humble heart you understand that your life flows through the provision from the sovereign God, your life will be focused on glorifying Him that holds in in his hands. It is a complete circle of life.

At some point in your Christian life, God will open your eyes to the understanding that He is truly in control of it. His design of Free Will allows you freedom to wander, but his control over all creation, allows His will to be accomplished in your life even when you stray. Only in the humble heart is this understanding gained and accepted, and in all of it He is glorified. When you truly try to live your life as He desires, you can even understand and glorify His grace and mercy by those examples as a witness to those He places before you. Christ has provided us the access to God through his sacrifice, and this may be shared as a testimony to others. Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Everything in your life happens for a reason. In your prideful mind you want to argue with that. The Free Will that you were created with allows you to choose which paths you take. But you must understand those paths are placed before you by the Creator of them. If you are one that He is pursuing, He places those circumstances before you, and those in your path to encourage you. Matthew Henry explains, “God is all in all. All things in heaven and earth (especially those things which relate to our salvation, the things which belong to our peace) are of him by way of creation, through him by way of providential influence, that they may be to him in their final tendency and result.” You may be the one whom He is choosing to deliver the Gospel to a lost child; you may be the one who is receiving it. All of these things are God orchestrated circumstances that work into His eternal plan to deliver humanity from the grasp of sin.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 3, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Pray for our nation

02 May

Pray for our nation

2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

God has told Solomon, and even his father David, that Solomon is to build the great temple for the Lord. Solomon has spent seven years building the Great Temple, following the detailed blueprints given to him by God. They had held a great dedication ceremony, and the Glory of the Lord had filled the temple. Fire had come down from heaven and consumed all the offerings they had prepared. They were so moved by this that the dedication continued and they offered 22,000 bulls, and 120,000 sheep. Try to imagine that. When Solomon dismissed them all to their homes, God came to him that night and spoke to him, just as He had at the beginning of his reign as king. God told Solomon that He would remain there, but He also warned him and his people that their were conditions; they must remain humble, pray and repent, and turn from their wicked ways. If they would continue to do so, God would hear, forgive, and heal them.

Today is our National Day of Prayer. A day when we are called to pray for our nation; a nation that has turned their backs on God and the Absolute Truths found in His Word. We have become a spineless nation that lives in fear of offending; lives in fear of standing up to the wrongs of the world. Our greatest leaders have become puppets with the strings that are pulled by those who promise the greatest power. We are turning our backs upon God, and just as Israel, God will cast judgement upon us. When Israel turned their backs upon God, he destroyed the Great Temple just as He had warned, as a sign to all that would see of the cost of sin and non-repentant hearts. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.'”

When you look at the state of our nation, and the chaos in it, how can you not be driven to humble yourself and pray for it? We live in a super fragile economy, still bent on materialism at the highest degrees; we have not learned to forsake our idols. We live in a nation that condones same sex marriage to the point of legalization. We live in a nation that is opening the doors to all religions, yet closing the door on Christianity. We are in the midst of a nation turning our backs upon the Lord, and then in our pride asking the question, “Why is this happening?” Today with a humble heart, get on your knees and pray for your leaders and your nation. Today is not a “National Day of Reflection” as our spineless leaders say, but a day to repent as a nation of our sin, and a plea for forgiveness and healing from the only One who can.

 
1 Comment

Posted by on May 2, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Sticks & stones

01 May

Sticks & stones

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11 is a great encouragement to me. We do not know who the writer of Hebrews was, many think it was Paul, but they give us a beautiful summary in chapter eleven of the patriarchs of great faith in the Old Testament. It summarizes the lives of those who followed God at all costs, followed him with hearts abandoned to him, hearts seeking the rewards of the life thereafter with Him. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. They got it; they got the idea that life here is temporary, but the life after this one is eternal. They got that the measurements of one’s eternal life’s rewards, are measured by the temporal life’s examples of faith.

Well, I love you God, but I _______________. Yea, we all have likely said it, thought it, reasoned our way through it.  There has been some circumstance, some instance that we can recall where we denied our faith and stood on our fear or even pride. We told God our excuse or even denied God in the process of it. We will at the judgement day answer for it. Delayed obedience is disobedience; I have felt that in the past year of what God has laid before me about our house. I ran from it in fear twice for over a year; I did not want three strikes when God brought it to me again. I feel that there is a door that lies before me, and only through this great act of faith, is the key to open the door to draw closer to God. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. All of those patriarchs acted on the eternal promises, not the temporal pleasures; many died in that great faith without ever seeing their promise fulfilled here, but that was never where their eyes and hearts were focused on anyhow.

Hebrews 11: 24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. Moses lived an early life rich in earthly standards; an adopted Egyptian son into a rich earthly kingdom. He had it all, yet his heart was not in the riches of this world. God has really been working on me the last five years in opening my eyes to what I placed value in; the riches of this world. I thank Him for continually readjusting my focus on the stuff that really doesn’t matter. This is just a big ol’ house, made of sticks and stones, with a family heritage. It is of no compare to the mansion that I will have in heaven; John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 1, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Newer posts →