Jesus is Lord!

Hebrews 12:1-4
Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up; and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us. 2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards; and now he sits in the place of honor by the throne of God. 3 If you want to keep from becoming fainthearted and weary, think about his patience as sinful men did such terrible things to him. 4 After all, you have never yet struggled against sin and temptation until you sweat great drops of blood.
The Living Bible, (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1997.

Why do cleansed Christians return to sin after receiving the grace of God? God’s ability to love, forgive, and cleanse sinners is incredible.  If we confess, He purifies and forgives…every time…and in every way. But even cleansed people can sin again.  It is difficult to understand why God left us to deal with our old nature and the new nature of Christ within us.  It is a question of faith, will we trust that God knows what He is doing with every detail of our lives?  When we sin, we chose our own wisdom over God’s. Most Christians know what to do, we just need to do it. The incredible benefit of this life in Christ is the power of the Holy Spirit within us.  Romans 8:9 tells us, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.  And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Suddenly, we can do something we could never do before. We can, with the power of the Spirit of God within us, dispose of sin like old clothing.  To say we have Jesus in our life, and the Holy Spirit’s power, yet claim we can do nothing about habitual sin is absurd.  Taking on the righteousness of Christ needs to become a habit. We need to strip off every sin that holds us back from becoming all that God intends for us.  And we can do that because we have His Word that we can and the proof is His Spirit in us. God never asks us to do anything that He does not gives us the power to do so. Confess your sin before God and remove it from your life and become Christ in the flesh to your world.

Have a God Day!

Hebrews 9:11-15
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven, not made by human hands and not part of this created world. 12 Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever. 13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ritual defilement. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our hearts from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why he is the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, so that all who are invited can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Animal sacrifices were God’s Old Testament way for people to ask for forgiveness for their sins. Since Creation God has made it clear that sin separates people from Him, and that those who sin deserve to die. Death was the penalty for sin. Because “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23), God designed sacrifice as a way to come to Him for forgiveness. Man needed to restore his relationship with God because sin has separated us from Him. Because He is a God of mercy and love, He decided from the very first that He would come into the world and die to pay the penalty for all humans. The Old Testament people had to come regularly and offer perfect animals as a stand in for their sin. Those before Christ looked forward to the work Christ would accomplish on the cross.  The Son of God, who is God, became a human and gave His life as a stand in for our sin. Now all people can be freed from the penalty of sin by simply believing in Jesus and accepting the forgiveness He offers. There is no longer a need for continual sacrifices because Christ has died for our sin once and for all. When we come before God and admit we are sinners and accept the sacrifice that Jesus Christ gave for our sin, God will reconcile us to Himself and we are immediately made right before God the Father. We now have God’s assurance that we are His forever. Peace is a result of this and we give our lives back to Him in service because of His incredible love for us. At salvation, we are given the righteousness of Christ and the process of sanctification begins. Our mind, will and our emotions are being made into His image and will be complete when we are with Him. Sanctification is a continual process that will never be complete here on earth, but we rest in His arms knowing He is doing the work in us.

Have a God Day! 

Colossians 1:25-29
25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness to you Gentiles. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people. 27 For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.  28 So everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 I work very hard at this, as I depend on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

How much of your life is under control of your “old nature” and how much is under control of “Christ in you”?  How much room have you made for Christ in your life? If you are still struggling with sin or cannot find time for God, then too much of your “old nature” is in control.  Recognizing unacceptable behavior is the first step to surrendering them to the control of “Christ in you”. All of us have things in our life we are not proud of and realize we need to make some changes. The only time in our life when we do not need to improve or change is when we are dead. But until that time, there will always be a part of our “old nature” that will want to bring us down and away from what God has intended for us. His life in us is truly our only hope of permanently changing the “old nature” in us. We must decrease and He must increase. This is a circumcision of the heart not just self-denial. When we change unacceptable behavior out of our own will power there will always be inner drives continually trying to sabotage our efforts. But when Christ lives in you and you have made room for Him by surrendering anything in your life that is not of Him, then you will have victory and joy because it is Christ in you that gives you the power. We do this by daily coming before God and opening ourselves up to His examination.  We ask and allow God to reveal to us what direction we should take. We surrender completely to His control. It is a step by step process that will take the rest of your life, but it is worked at daily.  As you move closer and closer to Him, His life will be lived in you and you will share His glory.

Have a God Day!

Philippians 1:12-19
12 And I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. 13 For everyone here, including all the soldiers in the palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. 14 And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians here have gained confidence and become more bold in telling others about Christ. 15 Some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. 16 They preach because they love me, for they know the Lord brought me here to defend the Good News. 17 Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. 18 But whether or not their motives are pure, the fact remains that the message about Christ is being preached, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. 19 For I know that as you pray for me and as the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will all turn out for my deliverance.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Paul knew what his priority for life was and that is what he focused on while he was in prison.  He was looking at the purpose for his life and not on the circumstances.  Because he understood that the priority was to reach the lost for Christ, he could be joyful. Paul put God first in every situation and God gave him peace.  He was focused on what really mattered, he was looking at the eternal and not just the external. He was sharing Christ with those who did not know Him and he was encouraging other Christians to live boldly for Christ.  When we are faced with problems and trials, put God first and see what a difference it will make.  Proverbs 3:6 tells us, “In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your effort with success.”  Is there a need that wakes you up at night and keeps you up because you cannot see an answer?  Try putting God first, read His Word and believe it.  Then apply it to your need and keep on trusting that God will work all things out for your good according to His purpose.  Keep your focus on His promises and not on what you see and He will fill you with peace and show you the answer.

Have a God Day!

1 Peter 1:17-21
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when he judges. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as foreigners here on earth. 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.  21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And because God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory, your faith and hope can be placed confidently in God.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Because God is judge of all the earth, we dare not ignore Him or treat Him casually.  We should not assume our privileged status as children of God gives us freedom to do whatever we want.  Our fear is a healthy respect for the all-powerful God who could have just as well destroyed us all. But because of His love for us, He ransomed us with His Blood, and we are to be ever grateful to Him.  Christ’s sacrifice for our sins was not an after thought.  The plan was set in motion by the all-knowing God long before the world began.  What a comfort for those who love Him to know that He has always had and will always have everything under control.  We can confidently place our trust in Him, as we respect Him for who He is. We may not always understand, we can know His love. As we walk through eternity with Him, He will be the only one there with scars. Christ will carry the scars from Calvary for eternity and every time we see Him, we will see the scars and know how much He sacrificed to have us with Him.  Only Jesus Christ is worthy of our praise!

Have a God Day!

Genesis 2:4-9
When the Lord God made the heavens and the earth, 5 there were no plants or grain growing on the earth, for the Lord God had not sent any rain. And no one was there to cultivate the soil. 6 But water came up out of the ground and watered all the land. 7 And the Lord God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.  8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had created. 9 And the Lord God planted all sorts of trees in the garden beautiful trees that produced delicious fruit. At the center of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

As we move further into the 21st century, we are going to see more advancements in science and medicine. And if we look back over the 20th century, we will see more advances in technology, science and medicine than in all pervious centuries combined. Knowledge is advancing exponentially. And it will not be long before we see a human cloned. Under the disguise of wanting to save lives, man will be manipulating life. Recently a rare and endangered species of wild ox called a gaur was cloned from a skin cell and an empty egg, but the clone died after two days.  And a monkey was genetically engineered from a jelly fish cell. So this monkey’s cells all have a jellyfish gene in them. But life is sacred to God and only He can created it, man can only manipulate it. And only as long as God allows. The very breath of God is in us and we are created in His image.  No matter how much man tries to change or deny this, it will never change. I do not believe that God will allow man to create human life through cloning. The stench of man’s sin will soon reach heaven and God will say enough.  Romans 1:22 states it best, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became utter fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man.” We are created in the image of our Father and His very breath is in us.  No matter how hard man tries to change this, it will never be accomplished. Stay true to the knowledge of His Word. Plant it deep in your heart and water it with time in prayer.  And you be in this world but not a part of it.

Have a God Day!

James 1:19-27
19 My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls. 22 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself. 23 For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law the law that sets you free and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. 26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Paul emphasizes the purpose of faith is to bring salvation and James emphasizes the results of faith are a changed life.  We are not saved by works but we are saved for works. We can measure the effectiveness of our Bible study and prayer time by the effect they have on our attitude and behaviors. Because we are freed from sin, we can do whatever we desire. And if we are freed from sin, we only desire to do the will of God. We are free to live as God intended for us from the beginning. We live and move and have our being because of God’s Spirit in us. We desire to please Him and therefore we control the aspects of our sinful nature that are contrary to the Word of God and He bless us for it.  It is not us but God in us that sets our spirit free to chose to have a positive attitude and to behave according the Word. We care for others as God cares for them and we are not corrupted by the world. This is faith in action, this is Christ in us. Guard your attitude and actions well and do not be controlled by your sinful nature but be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Have a God Day!

Hebrews 9:11-15
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven, not made by human hands and not part of this created world. 12 Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took his own blood, and with it he secured our salvation forever. 13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ritual defilement. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our hearts from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why he is the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, so that all who are invited can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

Even though you know Christ as Savior, you may believe that you have to work hard to make yourself good enough for God. But good deeds have never cleansed a heart. Any work done outside of God is by your own power and will not cleanse you from sin. Only sin covered by the blood of Jesus will be cleansed. We can be free from the power of sin and death in our lives only by applying the blood of Christ. If you are carrying a load of guilt because of what you have done in the past or feel that you cannot be “good” enough for God, understand that the blood of Jesus can cleanse any sin and can heal any heart. We can have wonderful confidence in His saving work for us, doing away with sin, past present and future. And He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us to become more like Him and not continue to live in sin. When we confess a sin to Christ, we need never think of it again. As Psalm 103:12 states, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” East and west never meet. If you go west you keep going west. But if you go north and get to the top of the earth and keep going in the same direction, you will eventually go south. So the forgiveness given by Christ is forever and your sin no longer exists. His forgiveness is permanent, powerful and sin-destroying forever. Don’t carry the unnecessary weight of sins that are covered by the blood.  They will only weigh you down and keep you from the task God has set for you to do.

Have a God Day!

Jude 17-23
But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you, 18 that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable. 19 Now they are here, and they are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They live by natural instinct because they do not have God’s Spirit living in them. 20 But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit. 21 Live in such a way that God’s love can bless you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you. 22 Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There are still others to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren’t contaminated by their sins.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

The “last times” or “last days” started when Jesus left this world.  It is the period of time between the end of His first coming and the beginning of His second coming. We live in the last days. John is warning us to live close to God because there will be false teachers who would try and pull us away from God. He tells us not to take witnessing lightly for it is a matter of life and death. We are to hate sin, but we must witness to and love the sinner. For we must remember that we were on our way to Hell when Christ saved us.  Once we were lost and without the Light of Christ within us. And no one is any better than any other person. We all have sinned and all of us need the saving grace of Christ Jesus. So we have common ground with all around us. Make sure your footing is secure and grounded in the love of God when you reach out to the unsaved.  Because it is easy to be pulled into their sin if you are not. Remember, you are a child of the King and need to influence them for Christ and don’t allow them to influence you to sin. Christ is coming soon and He stated He would come like a thief in the night.  No warning will be given.  The trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise ahead of those who are alive and are in Christ.  Christ will be our judge and He will separate the goats from the sheep.  Be prepared, be a child of the Living God!

Have a God Day!

Colossians 1:9-14
9 So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better. 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God’s holy people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 14 God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

All Christians want complete understanding of what God wants us to do in our lives. We all seek to be wise with spiritual wisdom. But that is as far as many go, just the wanting. Most Christians know that they should be growing and becoming more like Christ.  As each day goes by they aren’t sure how to achieve it. Many make the mistake of looking at the overall perfection of Christ and know that they can never achieve that and just don’t even try. We will never in this life reach perfection, so why even bother. This attitude will hold back the power of Christ working within you to be come more like Him. It is God’s plan for every Christian to work at becoming more like Him. It is the working and becoming more like Him that counts, because we will never be complete until we are with Him. No one can say, “I’m not sure what God wants me to do with my life.” The plan is the same for all of us, “Become more like Christ!” Start with very small steps. We all know that we are to read His Word and spend time in prayer. Start by simply taking 5-10 minutes a day doing this and when it becomes a habit, slowly increase. As you spend time in the Word, you will find that you will want to do so. Listen only to Christian music during your day, this will keep you in atmosphere of worship. Keep a very short prayer list and pray everyday. When one is answered add another. Keep it short and simple. Take small baby steps and see what a difference it can make. Your effort will pay off as God will continue to strengthen you.

Have a God Day!