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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……..

 
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Posted by on May 4, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Preach the Word!

13 Feb

Preach the Word!

Romans 13:11-14     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. 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.

Sometimes the wars in my head make me feel as thought I am loosing my mind. The battles of good and evil; the focus of life; the direction of life; the state of life. Big things that war in the spiritual battle of my mind. Fought on a plain that I cannot fight; fought in a means that I cannot understand, yet I understand I play the pawn they are fighting over. Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.These things preoccupy the mind, take me places with both the highs of victory, and the depths of defeat. There has come the feeling of a new urgency that has settled in; a feeling of an elevated war; a battle that is key in the strategies of warfare. It is creating anxieties in underlying tones, for I feel the importance of it. God is at work, in control, and is the victor; Satan is a defeated enemy as I am a child of Christ.

There is an urgency in the air in the world that we live in. This urgency is the signs that God is placing before us in all areas of life. The world as a whole is dark, Satan is peaking before his final fall. Our governments are turning their backs on God, and religions are teaching that all ways lead to God. There are consequences for both upon societies, much more than individuals. Paul spoke into Timothy this urgency in his final words to him in 2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Do you too see and feel this urgency that Paul speaks of?

I hope and pray that you will take some of what I share with you of my personal walk with God, to draw in closer to Him yourself. I pray that Christ is knocking at the door of your soul and that you are answering the call. I pray that you also see and feel the urgency of this I describe. I pray that God is using me to encourage you to begin to deepen your walk with Him; to share your faith with those He places before you. I pray that you are becoming more than a Christian; I pray that you are becoming a disciple. 2 Timothy 4: 2 Preach the word!

 
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Posted by on February 13, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Light gathered in Words

23 Dec

Light gathered in Words

2 Peter 1:19-21    And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Some days in prayer and Gods Word, I feel this pressing upon me. A weight almost; a feeling I cannot describe. I do not feel as these scriptures above describe, but I do feel the weight of God speaking to me through them. I fully believe everything that I feel in God’s Word is available to you also. This is the power of God’s Word, a living word, that you can experience also when you seek Him in it every day. There are times in the Word that you cannot escape the scripture that lies before you. It stops you in your tracks; may convict you of sin; may shed light on a struggle; may open your eyes through your heart. When you take the time to slow down and read word for word, you gain a knowledge of your Lord. Peter was speaking as an eyewitness of God speaking to Christ in the verses prior; but the written Word is more powerful than the eyewitness account.

Our world is a dark place right now. Our world needs Christ’s lamps to shine light in this dark place right now. The more time you spend in God’s Word, the brighter your light becomes. God’s Word gives you a discernment for the darkness that lies in the world; it gives you the ability to see things for what the truly are; and many times this may be painful. Paul in Romans 12-14 speaks of putting on this Light and living like Christians. 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. The time is at hand to act like a Christian, to walk the talk.

This time of the holidays bring us closer to family. Time to reconnect once or twice a year. Time to share life and love for each other. Do you share your faith with each other? Do you share everything else but your faith? If this is truly the meaning of Christmas, to share the birth of our Savior with all those we meet; are you the light in the darkness? This time of year is the best time of year to bring up your faith. You have the perfect reason to share it; for it is the season for it. God may place one of your family at your feet for this reason. Matthew 5:15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Share the hope and the Light that lives inside you; a light that someone that is very close to you needs in this dark world.

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Don’t Go

10 Apr

I have been asked about my testimony recently, and the reflections of my 44 years have been flooding my mind. A life full of sin, a poster child for many great sins, for I even sinned to the best of my ability I presume. But now it sickens me and I strive to live a better life, to walk in the Light as He is in the Light (1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.)  This has become a daily pursuit, a life seeking to abide in Christ. It does not come from Sunday’s alone, but from putting God first in all things. It means that Satan is making my life real hard trying to steer me off God’s path. But it means that I also have the power and plan of God to use these trials of life for His glory and my understanding of that. His Will be done, not mine.

Don’t go

Romans 13:11-12    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. 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.

You have accepted Christ and the gift of Salvation, and you are back to work on Monday morning. Life goes on and you wonder what is next on the to do list. You know something has changed inside you, but yet the world leaps out at you and presents all those old sins that seem much more enticing than before. Satan seems to have wrapped them up as gifts and hopes to draw you away from your new found life. That is a spiritual battle that you now have entered but you have the assurance through Christ you are playing in a game that is already won through Him. He defeated Satan and sin at the cross for eternity, but Satan wants to convince you otherwise. You must seek God and His Word for the His strength to fight this battle. Galatians 5:16-17  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.

1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Your old life and your old sins will try to tempt you to come back to them. Satan is the author of all that temptation for God will never tempt you to sin and God will provide you a means of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. That means of escape can simply be a conscious move on your part to remove yourself from the possibility of the sin. Remove yourself from that person or place where that sin has a opening to your soul.. Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Escaping from that sin can be very simple for there is a place where the sin takes place. Do not go there.

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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