Month: July 2013

Life in Jesus Christ is about fullness and growth.  It is never about reduction and decline.  God places us where we are in life just as sovereignly as He rules over any aspect of His kingdom.

He calls us to be obedient to serve the needs around us at any given time in our lives.  Then He, subsequent to our obedience, adds to us and grows us according to His perfect will and plan for our lives.

When Jesus died on the Cross, every evil was defeated for all eternity and every good work was completed.  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, every evil that is in our lives is dead and every good work in us is completed through Christ.

All we have to do is believe in the one who made it all possible to receive it all.  Unfortunately, we cling to our old lives all too long.  We hinder our ability to receive all that is freely and completely available to us.

“My grace is sufficient.  My strength is perfected in your weakness.”  This is God’s promise that is available to each of us through our salvation.  

When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit within us to counsel us.  Then each day, moment by moment, we make choices.  With each decision, we either choose to act according to guidance of the Holy Spirit or we choose to act according to the guidance of our flesh.

The perfect choice, as provided by the Holy Spirit, is always readily available.  We simply have to access the perfect gift that we have been given.

As children of God, we are all going to be tested by difficult circumstances to see if we will remain in the will of the Father for our lives.  Just as Jesus stayed with His Father’s plan when He was called to die on the Cross, we will be called to stick with our calling during difficult challenges.

Jesus was able to meet the His test because He had a life filled with events where He abided in the will of the Father.  We will be victorious through all trials if we make it a life practice to abide in the will of the Father in all matters. 

To have a vision is to see the completed work before the first step is taken.   God had a vision for each of us before we were born.

True visionaries are able to see the completed work and then are capable of devising ways to reach the desired end.  God is the truest of visionaries.  He always has the perfect plans for the completion of His visions. He never fails to complete His work.  He never rushes to complete His work.  He always moves continuously toward the perfect completion of His work.  We are His work.

Jesus tells us to give all of our burdens to Him and He will give us rest.  God promises to meet all of our needs if we simply seek His kingdom first.

The ease of the Christian life will be determined by our belief and trust in God’s Word and His promises.  If we choose to submit our troubles to the Lord on a selective basis, then we can expect that our needs will be only partially met.  It is in the full submission to God’s lordship in our lives that we experience the fullness of His grace.

God has a perfect plan and purpose for our lives, even though we may not be able to see it during difficult times.  He commands us not to fret or worry over our circumstances.  He can overcome anything in our lives, no matter how insurmountable we think our circumstances may be.  According to His Word, He promises that He will work out all things for our eternal good.

One of our most important lessons to learn in life is to learn to rejoice in our circumstances and trust that God is fulfilling His promise to us even when we cannot see the results.  We should never see ourselves as being trapped by our circumstances.  Instead we need to learn to see ourselves as being firmly gripped in the hand of God – the only secure place in the universe.

Where is the sin in our lives?  Surely we know if we have gone before the Lord.  His Spirit will not let us rest with anything that is not pleasing to Him.

Peter thought he was so faithful.  Jesus told Peter how shallow his faith really was.  Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times.  And Peter did.  With his sin revealed to him, Peter wept.  Through it all, Peter was able to move on to become the “rock” of Christianity.

If we will let the Holy Spirit show us our sin, we can repent and move forward in being what God is calling us to be.  What a merciful Lord we have.

Obedience to laws simply takes us to a level of proper lifestyle.  Obedience to Jesus Christ takes us to a level of perfection, holiness and purity that only Jesus could attain.

It is not good enough to be good.  It is not enough to do great works.  The only thing that we can do that is of true value is to submit our lives to Jesus Christ, to die of self and to take on the new life that dwells within us.  To do anything short of fully submitting our lives to Jesus falls short of being able to call ourselves Christians.

Once we receive Jesus as Our Lord and Savior, turning away from obvious sin is generally easy through the power of the Holy Spirit within us.  We are likely, however, to struggle with those areas of sin that were hardened within us prior to our renewal.

We also will battle with those areas in our lives that are not necessarily sinful, but are separating us from the perfection that we will reach in heaven.  It is through these struggles toward perfection in Christ that God reinforces our dependence on Him and draws us closer to Himself.