Unabridged Christianity Wednesday, Jan 9 2019

O God, Thou Art My God (2)

When Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again, he was explaining the difference between the Jewish religion which Nicodemus knew and understood and becoming a Christian. Christianity is different from all religions in this way, “you must be born again”.

Christianity isn’t an idea or a philosophy that someone believes but rather it is something that happens to you. Christians receive this new birth or new life from God.

We are continuing to ascend up to the pinnacle of truth in order to be absolutely certain that we have received this new life. So, the true Christian comes to realize that they have received a knowledge of God. It is internal.

Ephesians 3:16
¹⁶ That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.

The unregenerate person is only one man. He is not aware of the “inner being”.

The Christian is aware that his body is just a tent. What becomes important to him is the “inner man”. He realizes that it will go on after the tent has turned to dust.

To the non-Christian there is only living in the flesh. That is what is important to him. His relationships are entirely made up of relationships with other men and women. He depends upon others for everything, his interests, his value, his needs. When nobody else is around there is no consolation or comfort. He is left bereft.

The man concerned about the knowledge of God however is aware of the new man within. 2 Corinthians 4:16
¹⁶ For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

There is an internal life. The Christian realizes that it is possible in this life to know God. You do not have to wait until you die to meet Him. God is nigh.

This intimate relationship with God becomes more and more important to the Christian. He enjoys Him. The Psalmist says, in Psalm 42:1 ”
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. “

Once a person experiences a relationship with God he desires it again and again.

Remember how Jacob in Genesis 32 would not let Him go. It is like that. The Christian is no longer wondering if there is a God, but “he knows that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. It is a whole new paradigm. Once you’ve found Him, you won’t let Him go. Nothing matters but this. It becomes the center of your whole life; the heart of it.

Do not believe the lie the devil will tell you that this is only for special people. It only happened a few times in the bible. It happens to every person who has been born again. John 1:16
¹⁶ And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.

The absolute proof that you are born of the Spirit is this desire within you to know Him more and more. The life of God within you is known by you. You are concerned with the persons of the Trinity. Are you in interested in Jesus, in His person, His glory? The Holy Spirit was sent to “testify of Him”. Are you interested in the person of the Holy Spirit? Do you want to know Him, His gentleness, his meekness, so like a dove? Do you think about the Father also, each person of the Trinity? Do you meditate upon His Word? Does it humble you? Do you have a living interest in scripture? Do you glory in the cross? Are you awed by the resurrection? Romans 6:11
¹¹ Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord .

It has happened. Know that it is done. Look to Him. Realize that He is there and “It is finished!”

Do you find it impossible to express the joy over what Christ has done for you? Has He left you speechless? Does He satisfy you? Do you love Him? Is He “Your God”? Do you delight in singing His praise? Does “grace got you”?

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My Helper, My Friend Thursday, Oct 25 2018

The verses for today may be found in the book of Philippians chapter 4 verses 5-7:

⁵ Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is ^[a]near. ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all ^[b]comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I’d like to take these scriptures together with John 1:16 ¹⁶ For of His fullness ^[a]we have all received, and ^[b]grace upon grace.

And also the verse Philippians 1:29 ²⁹ For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

Now here we have a conundrum. On the one had we are told that we have all received of His fullness and on the other we will suffer for His sake. On the one hand it says be anxious for nothing and yet we know in the world we shall have tribulations and trials.

So what is the world’s solution to this? Well they will tell you to become a fatalist which only leads to being defeated by the devil. Or they will  offer you some sort of psychological answer like positive thinking. The world says if your anxious take a drink or a drug to settle you down.

How can a man be at peace? Paul doesn’t just tell us don’t be anxious without a way. No-no, he tells us three things we must do and they are “but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

We are not alone. Jesus is with us. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

John 14:27 ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Never be a victim of trials. Never worry, fret, be anxious, nor nervous. This instant you begin to have these thoughts do the three things. Sure makes it easier to pray without ceasing.

But how can we pray? Apart from Him you can do nothing. Romans 5:1-2

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, ^[a]we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and ^[b]we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Hebrews 4:16 ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 10:19 ¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.

We can pray with confidence and assurance because we know God loves us-John 3:16. We can pray in the name of Jesus.

We can Thank God! Thank Him for salvation, the hairs of your head are all numbered, blessings, ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, health, strength, family, and new birth.

1 Peter 5:6-7 ⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

We have the sureness of his care and promises. You see, God cannot change.

Romans 8:37-39

³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If God be for us who can be against us.  All things work together for good to those that love Him and are called according to His purpose. The LORD is my Helper and I care not what man can do unto me.. Our God is a gracious God. The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. God is peace….eternal peace. Holiness always leads to peace. God gives us His peace.

Ephesians 3:19 ^{19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.}

Peace be unto you all.

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The Light of Men Sunday, Aug 19 2018

The verse for today can be found in the book of John chapter 1 verse 4: ⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Here we have truth.

Simple.

Unadulterated.

It tells us in the book of Genesis that God said, “Let there be light.” And it also says that he separated the light from the darkness and he called the light “day”. And we find in 1 Thessalonians 5:5 ⁵ Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

As children of God, we are children of the day.

It is because of this that we are able to reflect the truth. It is spiritually genetic. As children of the light it is just who we are manifest. Even when we do what is right and good and true, the world cannot see it. John 1:5 ⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

They didn’t see it in Christ and they can’t see it in us. They called Him a blasphemer.

In this world you will suffer persecution because he suffered persecution. But we rejoice in tribulation. For we know the truth and the truth has set us free from the law of sin and death.

We were created in the image of God.

Here we have truth.

Simple.

Unadulterated.

In Genesis God said, “Let us create man in our own image.”

God created life. God created light.

Psalm 104

¹ Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;
    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

² The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
    he stretches out the heavens like a tent
³     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
    and rides on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes winds his messengers,^[a]
    flames of fire his servants.

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations;
    it can never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ But at your rebuke the waters fled,
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
⁸ they flowed over the mountains,
    they went down into the valleys,
    to the place you assigned for them.
⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross;
    never again will they cover the earth.

¹⁰ He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
¹¹ They give water to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.
¹³ He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
    and plants for people to cultivate—
    bringing forth food from the earth:
¹⁵ wine that gladdens human hearts,
    oil to make their faces shine,
    and bread that sustains their hearts.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well watered,
    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests;
    the stork has its home in the junipers.
¹⁸ The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the seasons,
    and the sun knows when to go down.
²⁰ You bring darkness, it becomes night,
    and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
²¹ The lions roar for their prey
    and seek their food from God.
²² The sun rises, and they steal away;
    they return and lie down in their dens.
²³ Then people go out to their work,
    to their labor until evening.

²⁴ How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small.
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

²⁷ All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face,
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit,
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works—
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ But may sinners vanish from the earth
    and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.^[b]

 

 

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Self-Discipline Friday, Jul 13 2018

The Scripture for today may be found in 2 Peter 1:2-8:

^{2 Peter 1:2-8 Discipline yourself….examine yourself….test yourself…}

² Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

³ According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

⁴ Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

⁵ And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

⁶ And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

⁷ And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

⁸ For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Routine is not godliness. It keeps you in the first “add” which is “add to your faith virtue”; you must graduate on to “and virtue knowledge” through bible study. And then move on to “and knowledge temperance” through prayer. And then move on to “and temperance patience” through waiting on the LORD and watching for his coming. And then move on to “and to patience godliness” through well doing. And then move on to “and to godliness brotherly kindness” through grace and forgiveness to others. And then move on to “and to brotherly kindness charity” through the love of the Holy Spirit within you.

It is not that you no longer have faith when you acquire virtue but rather each is built one upon the other until God is glorified.

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Come Back to the LORD-Day 9 Friday, Mar 30 2018

The Scripture for today can be found in the book of Psalms chapter 119 verses 65-72:

Teth.

⁶⁵ You have dealt well with Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your word.
⁶⁶ Teach me good ^[a]discernment and knowledge,
For I believe in Your commandments.
⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
⁶⁸ You are good and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
⁶⁹ The arrogant ^[b]have forged a lie against me;
With all my heart I will observe Your precepts.
⁷⁰ Their heart is ^[c]covered with fat,
But I delight in Your law.
⁷¹ It is good for me that I was afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.
⁷² The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

There are benefits in coming back to the LORD. He teaches us directly from His Word. His Word is applicable to all people in all times in all places in all circumstances.

For we know Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.

 

 

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My Time Wednesday, Jan 24 2018

The verses to which I would like to draw your attention today can be found in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verses 10-11:

¹⁰ Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes.

¹¹ I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.

Most of the bible scholars out there will be saying, “But what about Ecclesiastes 3?” I wanted to use those verses but it is not possible to rescind God’s plan.

It dawned on me this morning that I have spent over 20 years of my life sleeping. So one- third of my time is spent sleeping. But believe me this time has not been wasted. Dreams are incredible tools that God uses to change us. Maybe, I’ll do a blog post on “My Dreams”.

I used to spend one-third of my life working or going to school. That pretty much covers the activities listed in verse 10.

Moving on to verse 11 the first question is where did Solomon return from? It is as if he has risen above time and looked down over the earth and saw these points of wisdom. If time and chance happens to them all, then that means it happens to me. So we all have a chance, an opportunity if you will, to use our time wisely; to be swift, strong, wise, rich, skillful, but that is no guarantee of success. God places great value on us pursuing Him.

Without God’s help we will not be able to understand the meaning of our time here.

I remember when I was a young adult and my hard work studying and earning my degree finally started to return the benefits. It was time well spent. My mother said to me, “You are so lucky.”

At the time, I was so insulted! “It was hard work, not luck!,” I told my mother. But as it turns out, my mother was wiser than I and knew what Solomon knew that “time and chance” happens to us all.

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God’s Knowledge Wednesday, Jan 18 2017

One of the lessons I remember from history is when our teacher told us that the people long ago thought the world was flat. They thought that if you took off in a ship it would just fall off the ends of the earth.  They thought these things because they did not know.

It is our lack of knowledge that gets us into trouble over and over.

But when God gives us knowledge, we know it thoroughly, deeply, surely.

You see God knows “all things.”

John 21:17

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

John 16:30 ^30″ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

He will, by his Spirit, tell us what to say.

Matthew 10:19-20 ¹⁹ But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰ for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Luke 12:12 ^12 “for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

Even on the cross, Jesus said, “they do not know”.

Luke 23:34 ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Without knowledge we lose our way.

Proverbs 19:2 ² Desire without knowledge is not good—
    how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

It is my most urgent prayer that you will know God.

Ephesians 1:16-23⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

 

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God’s Balance Monday, Dec 26 2016

God’s Balance

Psalm 103: ¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.

It is a wise man who learns that the foundation of life is love. Without knowledge; there can be no joy. Our faith yields a bountiful crop of peace. Healing comes through patience. The most miraculous power on earth is kindness. Prophecy is the cornerstone of goodness. Faithfulness brings the gift of distinguishing of spirits. Speaking in tongues is the epitome of gentleness and their interpretations are brought through self-control.

Psalm 103: ¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

For every fruit of the Spirit there is a gift. God is the ruler of them all. He distributes them as he wills.

You have heard of the “balance of nature” and how delicate it is on earth. With God, that balance expands to the bounds of heaven.

Isaiah 40: ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God endures forever.”

Isaiah 40: ¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit^[d] of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
¹⁴ Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?

If you are always thinking you need to put your own finger on the scale then you’ll never receive God’s best for you.

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