II Corinthians 3:5-6
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The capacity we have comes from God; it is He Who made us capable of serving the New Covenant. The Old Testament records The Law, the first covenant, or contract with His people. In this arrangement God required His people to conform to specific actions and rituals. These rituals were to keep the people's attention on what God wanted to do for them, in the sacrifices, to have the animals die so their sins could be covered.
The New Covenant is founded on what God has now done and completed for us: Jesus has fulfilled all of The Law, He became our sacrifice that the individual had been required to bring to the priest to die for his sins by being God's perfect Lamb, whose Blood would not merely cover, but actually take away our sins. Now God has written His Law in our hearts, not requiring all the outward rituals any more, but understanding the Spirit of the Law, the principles that the Law was founded on.
Now we are able to obey God's purposes in ways that are much deeper than ancient Israel understood. And it is God Who has given His Holy Spirit to live inside our human spirit of life, making our dead spirits alive, and making us competent, capable of sharing this Good News of Salvation with other people who wouldn't know without our telling them. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Just going through the motions is deadening, but living according to the principle of Love that underlies God's plans and purposes for us will enliven us to show the World Who God is, and how He loves us all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
I Am Acceptable
Titus 3:7
That having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Jesus treated us much better than we deserve. He made us acceptable to God and gave us the hope of eternal life.
Psalm 27:10
Even if my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me.
There is no closer love-bond on Earth than Mother-love and Father-love. Yet even if this bond can be broken, God's love-bond will never fade, will never be any less than it is, no matter what.
No matter what anyone else says or does, God's love will never change; He will always accept me and love me and approve of me. He will enable me to accomplish the work He has decided is mine to do, and He will even reward me for doing what He does through me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
That having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Jesus treated us much better than we deserve. He made us acceptable to God and gave us the hope of eternal life.
Psalm 27:10
Even if my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me.
There is no closer love-bond on Earth than Mother-love and Father-love. Yet even if this bond can be broken, God's love-bond will never fade, will never be any less than it is, no matter what.
No matter what anyone else says or does, God's love will never change; He will always accept me and love me and approve of me. He will enable me to accomplish the work He has decided is mine to do, and He will even reward me for doing what He does through me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, February 9, 2017
From Lost To Redeemed
Ephesians 2:3-5, 8-10
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We lived among them at one time: Before we became Christians we were just like all the other lost people.
Gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following its desires and thoughts: We used to go after all the pleasures of this world to try to satisfy our wants, thinking like the World.
Like the rest of the lost people of the World, we were by nature, the human nature we were born with, objects of wrath because of the sinfulness of our nature that causes us to make all the foolish choices, called sins.
But erases what just went before.
God, Everything always starts with God, and is finished by Him.
Because of His great love for us, This is how much God loves each of us.
Who is rich in mercy, Mercy is God not giving us the wrath we deserve.
Made us alive, because we were spiritually dead--life is spirit.
With Christ, When Jesus was Resurrected, He gave us His Resurrection Life.
even when we were dead in transgressions, our disobedience to His Law that results from our having that defective human nature; we are all born dead.
--It is by grace that you have been saved, ... For it is by grace that you have been saved, Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense, the goodness that we can never earn or deserve.
Through faith, trusting in the truthfulness of what God has said in His written Word: that we all deserve death and Jesus took our death upon Himself for each one of us on that altar of the Cross, to pay the eternal debt we each owe to God for the sin-nature we were born with.
And this faith is not from yourselves, we have not the ability to muster up this belief within ourselves, it is impossible.
It is the gift of God, God draws us and grants us this gift of the ability to believe.
Not by works, not by anything we can do or say or think or engender in ourselves.
So that no one can boast. No one will ever be able to compare their Redemption to anyone else's. No one will ever be able to take pride in anything about their own coming to Salvation, because it is all God and none of us.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, God's masterpiece, that He has made and molded and produced and decorated.
To do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God created each of us new in order to live our lives in His power of His Holy Spirit, doing the things He planned before He created anything; and He has prepared us, or is preparing us, to each do our part in His great Plan of the Ages.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We lived among them at one time: Before we became Christians we were just like all the other lost people.
Gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following its desires and thoughts: We used to go after all the pleasures of this world to try to satisfy our wants, thinking like the World.
Like the rest of the lost people of the World, we were by nature, the human nature we were born with, objects of wrath because of the sinfulness of our nature that causes us to make all the foolish choices, called sins.
But erases what just went before.
God, Everything always starts with God, and is finished by Him.
Because of His great love for us, This is how much God loves each of us.
Who is rich in mercy, Mercy is God not giving us the wrath we deserve.
Made us alive, because we were spiritually dead--life is spirit.
With Christ, When Jesus was Resurrected, He gave us His Resurrection Life.
even when we were dead in transgressions, our disobedience to His Law that results from our having that defective human nature; we are all born dead.
--It is by grace that you have been saved, ... For it is by grace that you have been saved, Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense, the goodness that we can never earn or deserve.
Through faith, trusting in the truthfulness of what God has said in His written Word: that we all deserve death and Jesus took our death upon Himself for each one of us on that altar of the Cross, to pay the eternal debt we each owe to God for the sin-nature we were born with.
And this faith is not from yourselves, we have not the ability to muster up this belief within ourselves, it is impossible.
It is the gift of God, God draws us and grants us this gift of the ability to believe.
Not by works, not by anything we can do or say or think or engender in ourselves.
So that no one can boast. No one will ever be able to compare their Redemption to anyone else's. No one will ever be able to take pride in anything about their own coming to Salvation, because it is all God and none of us.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, God's masterpiece, that He has made and molded and produced and decorated.
To do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God created each of us new in order to live our lives in His power of His Holy Spirit, doing the things He planned before He created anything; and He has prepared us, or is preparing us, to each do our part in His great Plan of the Ages.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
I Am Valuable
Luke 12:24
Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because God feeds them. And you are far more valuable than birds!
I John 1:4
You belong to God.
I Corinthians 7:23
You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to Him.
What something is worth is what someone is willing to pay for it. Jesus became a Man in order to be the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who shed God's infinitely valuable Blood to purchase each of us. That is what you and I are worth to God: beyond valuation.
So I belong to God in three ways: He owns me because He made me; He owns me because He purchased me to be His own property; and He owns me as He was the perfect Lamb Who was sacrificed to pay my debt to God for my sin-nature, as well as all the sins that emanated from it, and thereby redeemed me from a miserable eternity, to spend forever with Him, instead, as His own sister, friend, and bride.
That is what I am worth, not what any other human person thinks of me. And that is what you are worth, too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because God feeds them. And you are far more valuable than birds!
I John 1:4
You belong to God.
I Corinthians 7:23
You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to Him.
What something is worth is what someone is willing to pay for it. Jesus became a Man in order to be the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who shed God's infinitely valuable Blood to purchase each of us. That is what you and I are worth to God: beyond valuation.
So I belong to God in three ways: He owns me because He made me; He owns me because He purchased me to be His own property; and He owns me as He was the perfect Lamb Who was sacrificed to pay my debt to God for my sin-nature, as well as all the sins that emanated from it, and thereby redeemed me from a miserable eternity, to spend forever with Him, instead, as His own sister, friend, and bride.
That is what I am worth, not what any other human person thinks of me. And that is what you are worth, too.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
That All Peoples May Know
II Chronicles 6: 32-33
As for the foreigner who does not belong to Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great Name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm--when he comes and prays toward this Temple, then hear from Heaven, Your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of You, so that all the peoples of the Earth may know Your Name and fear You, as do Your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears Your Name.
Solomon has just finished building and furnishing the Temple, the first ever built for the Lord God, and is praying over it, at its dedication.
King Solomon asked God for several things in this prayer, but I think the most memorable is this part, where he asks that when some foreign person who has no genetic connection to Israel at all (since Noah) comes to pray in or toward this Temple that is now God's dwelling place on Earth, that God would also hear his prayer, and respond in answer. That will allow other Nations, other peoples, to know that God is not only the God of Israel, but the Almighty God over the whole Earth, and have that reverential respect that is called fear for Him, and honor Him, and worship Him as the only God that He is.
God chose one Nation to receive His Law, build His Temple, and demonstrate to the World how good God is, and how much He loves people, all people everywhere. It is a great tragedy that Israel did not continue to honor God, but were so soon and often drawn away to other ways of thinking and living.
The Epistle to the Hebrew Christians begins by saying that, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, and through Whom He made the Universe" (Hebrews 1:1-2).
God spoke to Solomon, and He spoke through Solomon in expressing His desire to dwell with Mankind. He traveled with Israel through the Desert in a tent, the Tabernacle; now Solomon has built Him a magnificent House, The Temple, for God to dwell there with His people. Today He dwells with us in His Holy Spirit, right inside our own spirits. He gave His Law to Israel on stone tablets; He writes His Law on our hearts today, to not just consider the "letter of the law," but to understand the righteous moral principles that The Law was based on, going far deeper into obedience to His ways than ancient Israel understood.
May God's people today, Christians, found among both Israel and all other Nations of the World, be the example to the rest of the people of the World of how good, compassionate and just He is, the only God, the Maker and Sustainer of the whole Universe.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
As for the foreigner who does not belong to Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great Name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm--when he comes and prays toward this Temple, then hear from Heaven, Your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of You, so that all the peoples of the Earth may know Your Name and fear You, as do Your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears Your Name.
Solomon has just finished building and furnishing the Temple, the first ever built for the Lord God, and is praying over it, at its dedication.
King Solomon asked God for several things in this prayer, but I think the most memorable is this part, where he asks that when some foreign person who has no genetic connection to Israel at all (since Noah) comes to pray in or toward this Temple that is now God's dwelling place on Earth, that God would also hear his prayer, and respond in answer. That will allow other Nations, other peoples, to know that God is not only the God of Israel, but the Almighty God over the whole Earth, and have that reverential respect that is called fear for Him, and honor Him, and worship Him as the only God that He is.
God chose one Nation to receive His Law, build His Temple, and demonstrate to the World how good God is, and how much He loves people, all people everywhere. It is a great tragedy that Israel did not continue to honor God, but were so soon and often drawn away to other ways of thinking and living.
The Epistle to the Hebrew Christians begins by saying that, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, and through Whom He made the Universe" (Hebrews 1:1-2).
God spoke to Solomon, and He spoke through Solomon in expressing His desire to dwell with Mankind. He traveled with Israel through the Desert in a tent, the Tabernacle; now Solomon has built Him a magnificent House, The Temple, for God to dwell there with His people. Today He dwells with us in His Holy Spirit, right inside our own spirits. He gave His Law to Israel on stone tablets; He writes His Law on our hearts today, to not just consider the "letter of the law," but to understand the righteous moral principles that The Law was based on, going far deeper into obedience to His ways than ancient Israel understood.
May God's people today, Christians, found among both Israel and all other Nations of the World, be the example to the rest of the people of the World of how good, compassionate and just He is, the only God, the Maker and Sustainer of the whole Universe.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, February 6, 2017
A Blank Check
II Chronicles 1:7
That night God appeared to Solomon and said, "What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!"
God offered Solomon a blank check, to fill out however way he wanted. He could have asked for popularity among his people, he could have asked for great riches and fame in the world, he could have asked for anything!
We know that Solomon asked God to give him wisdom, to be able to rule this great people that belonged to God in the right way. God was pleased that he was more concerned for his people than in his own welfare, and whenever we put others before our own pleasure or prosperity or convenience, then God is also pleased with us. God granted Solomon's request, and Solomon became famous throughout that world for his wisdom, bringing the Queen of Sheba to satisfy her own curiosity, and surpassing all the stories she had heard. And God also gave Solomon such great riches that no king since him has been able to equal his wealth, and the prosperity of his Nation Israel under his rule. Also, God granted him peace among all the other Nations of his world, so that no one tried to invade or conquer him to take their riches.
We are also given a blank check, to ask what we want, and have our requests granted (John 15:7). Whenever we order our own lives and views and attitudes according to God's ways as taught us in His Word, then we will be cooperating with how God designed this World to work, and we will benefit in His blessings, and be a blessing to others in our world. Then we will be doing the work God planned for us before the foundations of the World were laid, to assist in God's Plan of the Ages to progress in our time toward that final culmination.
David and Solomon and Saint Paul all did their part in working out God's Plan in their time, and now it's our time to do our part. May each of us continue to seek God's Face and His ways in our thinking processes and desires, and accomplish all He has planned for us to do.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
That night God appeared to Solomon and said, "What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!"
God offered Solomon a blank check, to fill out however way he wanted. He could have asked for popularity among his people, he could have asked for great riches and fame in the world, he could have asked for anything!
We know that Solomon asked God to give him wisdom, to be able to rule this great people that belonged to God in the right way. God was pleased that he was more concerned for his people than in his own welfare, and whenever we put others before our own pleasure or prosperity or convenience, then God is also pleased with us. God granted Solomon's request, and Solomon became famous throughout that world for his wisdom, bringing the Queen of Sheba to satisfy her own curiosity, and surpassing all the stories she had heard. And God also gave Solomon such great riches that no king since him has been able to equal his wealth, and the prosperity of his Nation Israel under his rule. Also, God granted him peace among all the other Nations of his world, so that no one tried to invade or conquer him to take their riches.
We are also given a blank check, to ask what we want, and have our requests granted (John 15:7). Whenever we order our own lives and views and attitudes according to God's ways as taught us in His Word, then we will be cooperating with how God designed this World to work, and we will benefit in His blessings, and be a blessing to others in our world. Then we will be doing the work God planned for us before the foundations of the World were laid, to assist in God's Plan of the Ages to progress in our time toward that final culmination.
David and Solomon and Saint Paul all did their part in working out God's Plan in their time, and now it's our time to do our part. May each of us continue to seek God's Face and His ways in our thinking processes and desires, and accomplish all He has planned for us to do.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Answered Prayer
Luke 11: 9-10
And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.
This is how God designed the world to work for us, based on a faith principle. Anyone who knows clearly what they want, and asks specifically for it, and implicitly believes that it is possible to have it, and looks for it and expects it; will, without fail, receive it. God made it work this way so that we would put our faith in Him.
The World has gotten hold of this principle, and Rhonda Byrne wrote a book called "The Secret" outlining this process, calling it the "principle of attraction." Other authors have also advanced this "theory of abundance" to teach people to believe in themselves, or "the universe", or whatever, to answer this request and grant the petition, without acknowledging God at all. This is another example of our enemy Satan counterfeiting God's good gifts. Many of the super-rich people of the World have used this process to amass their wealth, but, "What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
Our enemy also uses this idea to convince people that they are "all right" with God, because they prayed for whatever, and got it. But if they've never admitted to God that they deserve death and let Jesus take their place in death on the Cross, then His Blood He shed on that altar has not washed away their sins, and God cannot hear their prayers, still being polluted by sin.
But we who know God through faith in His Son, our Savior, are to rely on our Heavenly Father implicitly, trusting that He will provide for our every need, both in this World and in the next. All we need to do is to ask Him, knowing that His love for us will give to us from His abundance, to take good care of us as our Father. To keep on asking, to keep on looking for the answer, to keep on knocking on that door that is not open to us yet, never giving up on His faithfulness. And we will receive from His majestic abundance, meeting our every need, answering our every request, and fitting us for His eternal glory when He calls us into eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.
This is how God designed the world to work for us, based on a faith principle. Anyone who knows clearly what they want, and asks specifically for it, and implicitly believes that it is possible to have it, and looks for it and expects it; will, without fail, receive it. God made it work this way so that we would put our faith in Him.
The World has gotten hold of this principle, and Rhonda Byrne wrote a book called "The Secret" outlining this process, calling it the "principle of attraction." Other authors have also advanced this "theory of abundance" to teach people to believe in themselves, or "the universe", or whatever, to answer this request and grant the petition, without acknowledging God at all. This is another example of our enemy Satan counterfeiting God's good gifts. Many of the super-rich people of the World have used this process to amass their wealth, but, "What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
Our enemy also uses this idea to convince people that they are "all right" with God, because they prayed for whatever, and got it. But if they've never admitted to God that they deserve death and let Jesus take their place in death on the Cross, then His Blood He shed on that altar has not washed away their sins, and God cannot hear their prayers, still being polluted by sin.
But we who know God through faith in His Son, our Savior, are to rely on our Heavenly Father implicitly, trusting that He will provide for our every need, both in this World and in the next. All we need to do is to ask Him, knowing that His love for us will give to us from His abundance, to take good care of us as our Father. To keep on asking, to keep on looking for the answer, to keep on knocking on that door that is not open to us yet, never giving up on His faithfulness. And we will receive from His majestic abundance, meeting our every need, answering our every request, and fitting us for His eternal glory when He calls us into eternity.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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