Tag: sin

The Light of Christ Reveals to Us the Darkness that Surrounds Us

John 12:35
So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

In the darkness, no work can be done and unseen pitfalls are perilously close by. Left in the darkness, we will find ourselves wandering aimlessly on with no measure of progress. Jesus warned that such a place was eminent for those who did not take advantage of the light that He provided.

Jesus is the light, the truth and the way. When we let Him into our lives, His light reveals all the darkness in our flesh that stands ready to trap us. His light illumines our way so that we can turn from the things in our lives that displease Our Heavenly Father. His light frees us from the darkness where we are sure to find affliction, calamity and distress. His light allows us to act as wise men and not as fools.

Jesus came and died on the Cross so that many may live in His light. Those that choose to live in His light, He allows to be beacons to call others to His light and to be vessels for sharing the peace and protection that His light provides.

Let us choose the paths for our lives that are illuminated by the presence of Our Savior. Let us all be lamps that carry His glory.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. We bless the name of Jesus who frees us from living in the blindness and darkness created and cultivated by our sin natures. We thank You, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit illumines our paths each day. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide and strengthen us as we choose to live in the Light. We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

Our Growth in Christ Requires Regular Pruning

John 15:2
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Jesus is the vine. Our Father in heaven is the vine keeper. We are the branches. Every branch is examined by Our Father. Every branch that is not producing fruit because it does not draw what it needs from the vine is allowed to wither away. Every branch that is producing fruit is pruned so that it may draw closer to the vine and its production may increase.

Because we are born with no attachment to the True Vine, we have no hope of bearing fruit. The Father in heaven is a wise husbandman. In His mercy and loving kindness, He provides a way for us to be grafted into the True Vine. Through His grace, He insures that we can draw from the essential elements of the Vine.

Nature provides a good example of this harvesting process. Most of the seeds that are planted in a cutting garden become beautiful flowers that need to be pruned regularly by the gardner. The regular pruning insures the health of the plants and stimulates additional growth and productivity for each plant.

So it is with us. We were given new life in the body of Christ by Our Savior. The Holy Spirit takes on the role of the gardner, pruning away all of the sin from our old lives so that we may grow in Christ and produce much fruit for His kingdom.

Let us submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let us surrender to the pruning process that will allow us to reach the fullness that Almighty God has planned for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for grafting us into Your kingdom through the sacrificial work of Your Son. We rejoice that You have sent the Holy Spirit to help us to overcome the sin that we inherited and continues to rise up against us as we seek to live as new men and women in Christ. We pray, Father, that You will provide the inspiration that we need to submit to the Holy Spirit and the strength that we need to stand against the enemy who comes to steal our fruit. Through Your grace, may we see a full harvest from our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the True Vine, Jesus Christ.

Making Jesus the Supreme Authority Over Our Hearts

Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Have you ever stubbed your toe on a piece of furniture or perhaps leaned up quickly and hit your head on something? I am sure you have. We all have. Did the unexpected jolt of pain result in words of love and praise flowing from your mouth? For most of us, the answer would most certainly be no. More likely, we may have let out a few words that we were not too proud of.

Found in the core structure of the flesh is sin. Thus our response to trials can often be categorized as something less than holy. To think that we are capable of avoiding the trappings of our flesh on our own would be spiritually naive. In fact, we would be thinking contrary to the Word of God if we thought we had such control over ourselves. We are firmly bound to sin without the indwelling of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We can lead good lives by worldly standards, but we cannot lead Godly lives without the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Purity is too deep down for man to get to naturally. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us in surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ so that we may live in accordance with His unsullied purity.

Let us surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to make our lives completely pleasing to Our Lord. Let us rejoice in knowing that His grace is sufficient.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, Jesus, to be the supreme authority over our hearts. We pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us in our battle to live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to You. By Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace, may we repent of everything in our lives that displeases You. We pray that we may surrender all that we have and all that we are to You. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You in purity and perfection for all eternity. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is Perfect and Holy, Jesus Christ.

In Christ, the Father in Heaven Will Only See Our Holiness

Matthew 5:20
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

No man can make himself pure enough to enter heaven by obeying the laws. The Pharisees created laws upon laws that were supposedly put in place to prepare them for their way to heaven. Jesus put to rest the folly in their thinking. Jesus taught that there was no possibility for anyone to enter heaven without accepting Him as Savior.

It is also revealed to us in the Holy Word that no one can stand before the eternal light and consummate holiness of Almighty God with the slightest taint of sin. Thus there is the need for us to accept Our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is He, and He alone, that washes us clean of our sin. It is His shed blood that makes us worthy to stand before the Most Holy, Almighty God of the Universe. It is the Son of God that secures our eternal destination in heaven.

As babes in Christ, we joyfully celebrate our eternal gift as heirs to the kingdom of God. But our joy is quickly challenged when we realize that we must still deal with the sin nature within us. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we become cognizant of how wretched we are in our carnal nature. We also come to the place we recognize that we are incapable of overcoming our wretchedness on our own. But we must not let this steal our joy. In fact, we should experience an even greater joy as the Holy Spirit teaches us just how essential our decision was to accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior.

Let us not lose our joy as we struggle with our carnal nature. Let us remain in the joy that we experienced as new babes in Christ. Let us rejoice in knowing that we will stand before Almighty God with the assurance in Christ that the Father in heaven will only see our holiness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making it possible for us to stand in Your presence one day. We praise You for making The Word flesh so that we could be inheritors of the only bloodline without sin. We rejoice in knowing that one day our holiness will be complete as we shed our earthly bodies and take on the pure, supernatural bodies that You have set aside for us. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us as we learn to shed the corruption of our flesh here on earth in preparation for the time that we go to our full glory with You in heaven. We ask all these things in the name of the Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.

Are We Willing for God to Make Holiness as Real in Us as It Is in His Son?

1 Corinthians 1:30
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.

Without Jesus Christ in our lives, we are depraved and corrupt. With the regenerating grace of God through His Son, Jesus, we are benefactors of the redemptive process. We are freed from sin and made pure and holy in the eyes of Almighty God. Through this salvation process, we receive all the fullness of the treasures of heaven so that we are fit for the service to which we have been eternally called.

Are we willing for God to make holiness as real in us as it is in His Son, Jesus? The sanctification process begins at the instant that we humbly receive Jesus Christ as Our Redeemer. The sanctification process flourishes as we deny ourselves and rely entirely on Jesus to release His holiness in our lives. The sanctification process is a continuous journey until the day we stand before the Lord in the fullness of our completed holiness.

Sanctification is impossible in our flesh alone. It is only possible with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit in full operation in our lives. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we access all the perfection and holiness that is Jesus Christ. As long as we remain surrendered to Our Savior and seek the ongoing work of His Holy Spirit in our lives, we will live a life of holiness on this earth. It will not be uninterrupted holiness like we will experience in our glorified bodies, but it will be steady and it will be pleasing to the One who is calling us to our eternal place of glory.

Let us strive to be holy as Our Savior is holy. Let us learn to rely entirely on the indwelling Holy Spirit as we battle our tormenting flesh and the attacks of the enemy. Let us show the world around us our freedom from sin that they may be drawn to Our Redeemer.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for taking us from the corruption of our old man into a condition of holiness in our new man in Christ. We worship You and bless Your name from the fount of holiness that Our Savior has created within us. We pray that we will receive the grace that we need to remain steadfast on our journey of sanctification. We seek to have our journey become a living testimony to those who you have placed in our lives. We pray for the wisdom and the courage to share our sanctification story with the flock that you have given us. We ask all these things in the name of the Holy One of God, Jesus Christ.

Sorting Out What Pleases and Displeases God

Hebrews 13:20-21
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Upon receiving Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Holy Spirit begins to show us what sanctification means. The job of the Holy Spirit is to show us what is pleasing in the sight of Our Savior. As a result of this process, everything that we do that is displeasing to the Lord also comes to light. Thus begins the struggle of the old man versus the new man.

Jesus became man so that He could die for our sins. When He comes to dwell within us, there is no room for the sins of the old man. We must allow our old selves to die as we assume our new life in Christ. The two cannot abide together. To try and hold on to our old lives once Jesus has arrived is to enter into a struggle that is filled with endless pain. The new life of joy is found only in the death of our old lives.

As we work toward a life that is well pleasing in the sight of Jesus, we must recognize that the work of grace is necessary. Without the good work of grace, we are not capable of overcoming the nature of the old man within us. But be certain, the work of grace is not the work of man. It is the work of God alone. It is an internal work done in the heart of men by Him. It is a gradual and progressive work. It will not be perfected until we stand before Him. But indeed, when we stand before Him all the displeasing things in us will be gone forever and all the pleasing things in His sight will shine brightly for all eternity.

Let us begin each day by asking the Lord for fresh grace. Let us ask the Lord to equip us with everything good that we may do His will for our lives. Let us seek the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us on our paths of sanctification. Let us rejoice in knowing that the victory is ours through Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Holy Word that defines the things that please you. We praise You for revealing to us all the things in our lives that displease you. We bless the name of Jesus for giving us victory over the sins that try to defeat us. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us in our struggles to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy. May the Holy Spirit enlighten us in the areas that the world tries to redefine as acceptable when You have already defined it as sin. May all that we do be acceptable in Your eyes. May it all be for Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of the Captain of Our Salvation, Jesus Christ.

The Awesome Convergence of Salvation and Sanctification

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Every born again believer stands in the same place. We are not what we ought to be, but we are not what we use to be either. This is the awesome convergence of salvation and sanctification. We are at once saved when we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior. From that moment on, we enter into the process of letting go of who we used to be in order to become who we will be in Christ.

Jesus loves us just as we are, but He loves us so much that He cannot allow us to stay where we are. With His indwelling, we find ourselves in the constant battle of our flesh and our new spirit in Christ. We must let go of everything old – guilt, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, addiction, depression, despair, fear. These are the things of the flesh. These are the things that hinder us in our process of sanctification. These are the things that Jesus Christ freed us from when He died on the Cross.

The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the work of the renewal of our minds. This work will continue until the day we stand before Almighty God as He sees us in the image of His Son.

Let us discern the will of God in our lives and learn to live the good and acceptable and perfect lifestyles that Jesus Christ won for us on the Cross. Let us renew our minds and free ourselves from the chains of the flesh. Let us claim the victorious spirit-filled lives that Jesus has secured for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to die for our sins so that we may be free from the corruption of our flesh. We praise You for giving us the Holy Spirit to help us live as new men in Christ instead of men and women of the world. Help us, Lord, to let go of everything in the old man that is hindering our relationship with You. We pray that You strengthen us so that we may cling to Your grace as we continue in our journey of sanctification. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refiner and Our Purifier, Jesus Christ.

The 7 Promises of God that Make Up the Foundation of Our Faith

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

God’s Word contains literally thousands of promises waiting to be claimed by faith. Everyone of them are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and everyone of them can be fulfilled in our lives as we come into agreement with Our Savior.

Each of the promises of God are meant for our good. All of His promises are waiting for us to discover and claim in His Holy Word. Each promise, as we find them, delights us and strengthens us. Yet within the thousands of promises in God’s Word, the seven promises below could be given consideration as the basis for our faith in the hope and assurance that is ours in Jesus Christ.

  • God has promised to supply every need we have. Philippians 4:19
  • God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. 2 Corinthians 12:9
  • God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13
  • God has promised us victory over sin and death. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57
  • God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully. Romans 8:28
  • God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized will be saved. Mark 16:16
  • God has promised His people eternal life. John 10:28

As we cling to Our Savior, all of the promises of heaven pour out on us. We then become living vessels created to deliver on the promises of Almighty God.

Let us use what God has given us to contribute to the Body of Christ. Let us receive from the Body of Christ what God has prepared for us. Let us live in the fullness of all that has been set aside for us through Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that all of Your promises to us have been secured by Your Son, Jesus. We ask that the Holy Spirit may inspire us to search Your Holy Word for all the promises that have been set aside for us. We seek to wield the power of these promises in our lives and in the lives of those around us. May the Holy Spirit show us how to claim our eternal privileges by proclaiming Your Holy Word. May the Body of Christ be truly alive because we are alive in Christ. We ask all these things in the name of the Word of God, Jesus Christ.

Almighty God Has Imprinted Who He Is in Our Hearts

Romans 1:22-23
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul explained how the pagans became idol worshippers. Prior to exposing the idolatry of the pagans, Paul taught how God imprinted knowledge of Himself in every man. He also taught that God confirmed His eternal power and divine nature in His workmanship. Paul’s intention in his teaching was to show that men are without excuse when they worship anyone or anything other than Almighty God.

While it is easy for us to see the foolish nature of the pagans, do we see as easily our own foolishness in placing the things of the world ahead of Our Father in heaven? Like the pagans, have we become vain in our own thinking and foolish in our choices?

God has imprinted the manifestation of who He is in the hearts of each of us. He has created us to be capable of seeking, seeing and understanding His goodness, His power and His promises. This equipping that God has given us should lead us to place Him first, above all other things in our lives. Sadly, we know that all too often we choose foolishness over godliness. We become no better than the pagans in that regard. Alas, we come to the place that we recognize that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Yet, we can rejoice for our merciful God, knowing of our weakness, provided a way for us to stand before Him without blemish. His grace provided us with a Redeemer who washes us clean of our sin and His Holy Spirit that stands by us to strengthen us in our moments of weakness.

Let us become resolute in our efforts to place God first in all things. Let us start each day asking for the Holy Spirit to stand with us and aid us in each decision that we make. Let us end each day asking for forgiveness for the times that we placed the world before Our Creator. Let us rejoice in knowing that on the last day when we stand before Almighty God that we will be received in the image of His Son without blemish.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Yourself to us. We thank You for placing a void in our hearts that can only be satisfied by a personal relationship with You through Your Son, Jesus. We exalt the name of Jesus whose shed blood washes us clean, making us worthy to stand before You. We ask that Your Holy Spirit stand by us each day as we make our daily decisions. We pray that our choices will always place You first. We pray that our every action will bring glory to You, Your Son and to the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the Name Above All Names, Jesus Christ.

Being Properly Prepared to Serve God

Isaiah 6:5
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

When we go into the presence of God, anything that is not pleasing to Him will come to mind. We cannot get by with a general sense of sinfulness. The Holy Spirit will not rest until we have been convicted of all of our sin, down to smallest transgression.

When Isaiah came upon the vision of the Lord and saw His holiness, Isaiah immediately proclaimed that he was a man of unclean lips. Isaiah knew that he would not be able to serve the Lord without cleansing himself from the sin that he had been shown.

God will work the same way with each of us. Through His Holy Spirit, He will convict us of every single point of iniquity in our lives. Then He will lead us to deeper revelation of the things in our lives that are simply displeasing to Him. The process will continue until we are properly prepared to serve Him.

Let us make time to sit in the presence of Almighty God. Let us surrender to His light so that our darkness will be revealed. Let us repent of the darkness in our lives and choose to walk in the light.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the restlessness that the Holy Spirit brings upon us when we are walking in darkness. We thank You for the absolute focus that You put on our sins, making it impossible for us to take on a vague sense of the sinfulness in our lives. We pray the Holy Spirit will bring our every iniquity into the light so that we may repent and move forward in obedience to Your calling on our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the Perfecter of Our Faith, Jesus Christ.