I tell you a mystery.
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." - John 16:12-15 ESV
Jesus declares that He Is going away. He Is going to go to His Father and the disciples are sad. He declares that His death will be good because He Is going to send a mysterious some one but they are grieved and in that state they can't hear what He going to say with clarity.
None of these men and women are thinking of writing books at this point. They were ex-fishermen and ex-tax collectors and ex-prostitutes. After Pentecost, they would become something else.
I sometimes look at chains of events in people's lives and think, 'Could anyone have warned them off of what was coming? Would they have listened?'
Then I turn to God knowing I can be and probably am just as blind. There are things I just don't want to hear.
"Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." - Hebrews 13:9 KJV
Grace gives us what belongs to Christ. The Spirit of Grace Is going to glorify Christ and draw us into that mix. Jesus said, 'I'm leaving.' and it vexed them even though it had to happen that way. The Spirit never says that to us. He says, 'I am staying with you for the rest of your natural life and beyond.'
"... for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5b ESV
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." - Ephesians 4:30 ESV
Jesus couldn't tell them certain things because even though they knew who He was they couldn't fathom what that meant. Jesus could die and be raised. Jesus could go and return forever. No one else Is like Him. When the Holy Spirit Is present Christ Is fully present also and not in a way that people would like to think of other people being present after death.
"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.' " - Revelation 1:12-18 ESV
No one can take what belongs to God by force and in separation but He gives to those who believe freely. He sent His Spirit to minister.
This security has given us ears we didn't have. It wears down our stubbornness. It overwhelms our distrust. This voice never condemns. This voice gives and gives.
"If anyone has an ear, let him hear:" - Revelation 13:9 ESV
Yes. God wants to say things to us but we can't hear them until we are secure in His love.
--
Showing posts with label Eternal Security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eternal Security. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Monday, July 24, 2017
What Abounds More?
"Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 5:20-21 ESV
Who is the better athlete? Is it man's sinfulness or God's grace? The work that grace does in a person 'abounds' more than what sin is capable of.
Sin reigned (past tense) in death but grace reigns in right standing which is vital to eternal life. What a statement!
Grace gives right standing in one faith transaction. Believe in Jesus and all of a sudden a person is right with God forever and reigning in righteousness eternally in their standing.
Sin brings shame (self-hatred) but grace disarms and undoes that work in it's continual multiplication.
" 'Ah, stubborn children,' declares the LORD, 'who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;...' " - Isaiah 30:1 ESV
"May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." - 2 Peter 1:2 ESV
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you." - 1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV
Sin is added but grace multiplies.
Sin can reign in a person's life until it kills them and brings them into a Godless eternity. It is powerful. More powerful than a person's will or human goodness but it is small potatoes compared to God's grace.
Grace is the winner!
What will happen in our situations this week? Will we believe God and let grace do it's work or will we just live in the addition of sin in our experience? We have the option to believe and operate proactively from rest and we will be amazed at the eventual outcome.
--
Who is the better athlete? Is it man's sinfulness or God's grace? The work that grace does in a person 'abounds' more than what sin is capable of.
Sin reigned (past tense) in death but grace reigns in right standing which is vital to eternal life. What a statement!
Grace gives right standing in one faith transaction. Believe in Jesus and all of a sudden a person is right with God forever and reigning in righteousness eternally in their standing.
Sin brings shame (self-hatred) but grace disarms and undoes that work in it's continual multiplication.
" 'Ah, stubborn children,' declares the LORD, 'who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;...' " - Isaiah 30:1 ESV
"May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." - 2 Peter 1:2 ESV
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you." - 1 Peter 1:1-2 ESV
Sin is added but grace multiplies.
Sin can reign in a person's life until it kills them and brings them into a Godless eternity. It is powerful. More powerful than a person's will or human goodness but it is small potatoes compared to God's grace.
Grace is the winner!
What will happen in our situations this week? Will we believe God and let grace do it's work or will we just live in the addition of sin in our experience? We have the option to believe and operate proactively from rest and we will be amazed at the eventual outcome.
--
Friday, May 26, 2017
Fresh Curiosity
Curiosity is a big part of my life and I see it as essential to being a good husband, man and disciple of Christ. It is not the main thing that makes me good at my job but it is essential to my work. I long to open my Bible because I want to see what God will say to me. I study my wife because I love her and think she is fascinating.
American culture often associates curiosity and lust as being synonymous but one is pure and childlike and the other is possessive and controlling.
Bondage kills our curiosity. We dread that what was will be again. We flinch at the future but grace produces fertile ground for our healthy desire to explore and know what is knowable.
"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers." - James 1:13-16 ESV
God didn't make beauty to tempt us but when we move from appreciation to a desire to have and control we experience death. God must become our satisfaction again. If He has never been our satisfaction He must have that place or we will all slip down that slippery slope over and over.
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:30-32 ESV
If we have God we can live a life of constant exploration. We can be fascinated even by the familiar because the need of our soul has been satisfied by God's love, mercy and acceptance.
"Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." - Psalm 51:11-12 ESV
David lived at a time before the cross. Men weren't sealed with God's spirit at the point of salvation. He saw Saul, his King, lose his joy and security and enter into lustful pursuits and feared what might happen to him in his own life if he wandered too far away.
We live after the cross. If we have believed we are sealed forever but we sometimes need the joy restored. God will give us our innocence back if we seek His face and then we can rediscover the world like little children.
--
American culture often associates curiosity and lust as being synonymous but one is pure and childlike and the other is possessive and controlling.
Bondage kills our curiosity. We dread that what was will be again. We flinch at the future but grace produces fertile ground for our healthy desire to explore and know what is knowable.
"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers." - James 1:13-16 ESV
God didn't make beauty to tempt us but when we move from appreciation to a desire to have and control we experience death. God must become our satisfaction again. If He has never been our satisfaction He must have that place or we will all slip down that slippery slope over and over.
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:30-32 ESV
If we have God we can live a life of constant exploration. We can be fascinated even by the familiar because the need of our soul has been satisfied by God's love, mercy and acceptance.
"Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." - Psalm 51:11-12 ESV
David lived at a time before the cross. Men weren't sealed with God's spirit at the point of salvation. He saw Saul, his King, lose his joy and security and enter into lustful pursuits and feared what might happen to him in his own life if he wandered too far away.
We live after the cross. If we have believed we are sealed forever but we sometimes need the joy restored. God will give us our innocence back if we seek His face and then we can rediscover the world like little children.
--
Thursday, January 5, 2017
The Idea Of An Anchor
"We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." - Hebrews 6:19-20 ESV
I'm just sitting here thinking about those big anchors they have on the big boats and then of the one man fishing boat and the anchor that one man may have.
What a great idea an anchor is. If I don't have one I will drift. I can safely take a nap if I have an anchor and not lose my position.
Those big anchors plunge into the depths of dark seas but we have an anchor to the eternal holy place. We are never lost because this anchor holds. We can rest without worrying that we will be swept out to sea.
The storms of life may move us but we won't go very far and we are never out of Heaven's reach.
Thank You God. I am little and often foolish but You have connected me to Heaven and I am thankful. I'm going fishing today and it won't be fish I am looking searching for. I will fish unafraid knowing that I won't be swept out to sea. Thank You God.
--
I'm just sitting here thinking about those big anchors they have on the big boats and then of the one man fishing boat and the anchor that one man may have.
What a great idea an anchor is. If I don't have one I will drift. I can safely take a nap if I have an anchor and not lose my position.
Those big anchors plunge into the depths of dark seas but we have an anchor to the eternal holy place. We are never lost because this anchor holds. We can rest without worrying that we will be swept out to sea.
The storms of life may move us but we won't go very far and we are never out of Heaven's reach.
Thank You God. I am little and often foolish but You have connected me to Heaven and I am thankful. I'm going fishing today and it won't be fish I am looking searching for. I will fish unafraid knowing that I won't be swept out to sea. Thank You God.
--
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
He Is Not Going To Forsake Us
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?' " - Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV
This is such a beautiful thought. The phrase 'leave me nor forsake me' or slight variations of it are used again and again in the Hebrew scriptures.
Azab (Strong's H5800) Natash (H5203)
Azab is an interesting word because even though the emphasis is on the breaking of a connection, to forsake, it also implies the forming of one in the first place. In other words a taste is given or something good and then it is taken away. Promises are made and then broken
Where Natash talks about the cutting of ties, tossing something aside or being spread abroad.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV
This promise given in Moses' time is reiterated to us today. God isn't making an empty promise of some grand outcome. He isn't promising us the moon and the stars (in this verse at least).. He is negating certain possible outcomes. His commitment is to tell us it won't be a certain way.
He isn't going to cut us loose or cast us aside. He isn't going to cut us off. He is in it for better or for worse.
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have... So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?' " - Hebrews 13:5a & 6b ESV
Since we have this security we are not looking for it somewhere else. A God who isn't leaving also isn't going to stand by and let us drown without helping. The thing here that people will do is the thing that God says He will never do. They will cut ties and cast away relationships.
People look for security in things because they can't find it with people or fear it won't be enough and they will one day have to fend for themselves.
God was around before the world was born and endures all of the length of time into forever. He is sparkling in His eternal newness and wholeness and He isn't going anywhere. Once you know Him through the gift of His Son the ties are never cut and His memory is undimmed. He has no lapses
"The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." - 2 Timothy 4:18 ESV
--
This is such a beautiful thought. The phrase 'leave me nor forsake me' or slight variations of it are used again and again in the Hebrew scriptures.
Azab (Strong's H5800) Natash (H5203)
Azab is an interesting word because even though the emphasis is on the breaking of a connection, to forsake, it also implies the forming of one in the first place. In other words a taste is given or something good and then it is taken away. Promises are made and then broken
Where Natash talks about the cutting of ties, tossing something aside or being spread abroad.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV
This promise given in Moses' time is reiterated to us today. God isn't making an empty promise of some grand outcome. He isn't promising us the moon and the stars (in this verse at least).. He is negating certain possible outcomes. His commitment is to tell us it won't be a certain way.
He isn't going to cut us loose or cast us aside. He isn't going to cut us off. He is in it for better or for worse.
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have... So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?' " - Hebrews 13:5a & 6b ESV
Since we have this security we are not looking for it somewhere else. A God who isn't leaving also isn't going to stand by and let us drown without helping. The thing here that people will do is the thing that God says He will never do. They will cut ties and cast away relationships.
People look for security in things because they can't find it with people or fear it won't be enough and they will one day have to fend for themselves.
God was around before the world was born and endures all of the length of time into forever. He is sparkling in His eternal newness and wholeness and He isn't going anywhere. Once you know Him through the gift of His Son the ties are never cut and His memory is undimmed. He has no lapses
"The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." - 2 Timothy 4:18 ESV
--
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
An Advocate Forever
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans - I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live." - John 14:16-19 NLT
This advocate is with us forever. Jesus was here a short time and will return but the Spirit of God is with us forever... forever.
We are not orphans.
We are not without an instructor.
The person with us is not less than Jesus or more than Jesus. He is Sovereign God Almighty.
This is a bond that will not break. It will last forever.
Like the disciples had a history with Jesus we have a history with the Spirit... a fragrance of memory. We don't want to grieve Him or quench Him today. We don't have to to live in worry about that happening either. We have a grace relationship with Him. He is the Spirit of Grace.
The world at large sees something but it doesn't see Him. They hear something but not what He says.
Fills us God.. open our eyes and give us ears that hear 'It is Finished!' echoing through time.. let the words become life.. please move us through our day.
Thank You God!
--
This advocate is with us forever. Jesus was here a short time and will return but the Spirit of God is with us forever... forever.
We are not orphans.
We are not without an instructor.
The person with us is not less than Jesus or more than Jesus. He is Sovereign God Almighty.
This is a bond that will not break. It will last forever.
Like the disciples had a history with Jesus we have a history with the Spirit... a fragrance of memory. We don't want to grieve Him or quench Him today. We don't have to to live in worry about that happening either. We have a grace relationship with Him. He is the Spirit of Grace.
The world at large sees something but it doesn't see Him. They hear something but not what He says.
Fills us God.. open our eyes and give us ears that hear 'It is Finished!' echoing through time.. let the words become life.. please move us through our day.
Thank You God!
--
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)