Category: Blog Posts (Page 69 of 91)

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In the parables of Jesus, we saw men who were concerned about the hardness of the master. These hoped to fulfill the least possible requirements, and to so preserve their security.

But the fruitful were more concerned about the pleasure of their master. They took risks that others would not, knowing that He would be pleased in their desire to please Him! Likewise, many today are preoccupied only with what they must believe or do to make it into heaven. Just what exactly are those minimum requirements?

This has resulted in distortions of the true outworking of the grace of God. For example, we have seen the people of God divided into groups like the “saved” and the overcomers.” In this teaching, the merely saved, simply make it into heaven, while the overcomers are to rule and reign in the Millennial Kingdom.

Of course there should always be the motivation to overcome. And the scriptures are clear that rewards are given to those who do! But the missing note to this song is one that is so often found in the lives of all the holy ones that have gone before us.

The Desire of the Lord!

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:5-6)

Enoch was a man who walked with God for 300 years! (Genesis 5:22) This is about all we know of him. The Genesis account leaves no record of any mighty deeds he performed, only that he walked with God and that God took him! Later this commentary was given by the Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews that he left a testimony…. His testimony was that he gave pleasure to the Creator and Lord of the universe!

Faith was the means by which He walked with his God, and during this time spent walking with God, he learned about the things that made God happy. Sounds very simple does it not?

He was unlike his ancestors Adam and Eve, who hid themselves when Jehovah God came walking through the garden in the cool of the day. They lived in fear, while Enoch had faith. They responded foolishly to His warnings and desires for them, but Enoch responded positively.

He trusted in God’s greater wisdom, while they questioned it. He believed in the goodness and grace of God, but they perceived Him to be a threat to their overall happiness. He opened himself to God’s dealings, while they hid themselves from Him.

Enoch gave the Father pleasure, but the first couple gave Him grief.

But what was it about Enoch and His walking with God that made God’s Great Heart so happy? Could it be that he somehow touched the Heart of God? Was his simple companionship so important, and was the quality of it so rich, that delight sprang up from deep within the Lord of all?

Do you and I, simple creatures that we are, have this same potential? Does the Mighty and Majestic King of the universe hunger for fellowship with us? Are we even capable of giving Him pleasure?

Consider the passage of human history. Consider all of the covenants that God has make with men, including this new and living way, which Jesus made for us into the holiest place of all by His Blood. We must begin to understand what our Father and Creator has been after all along!

His desire has always been for a relationship with us! Without that relationship, the words of all the various covenants lose their sense of purpose. Even this glorious New Covenant has so often been trampled upon by those of its adherents who have left their First Love!

When you love someone, you delight in giving them pleasure. When someone is in your heart, you hurt when they grieve! Does the Heart of our Lord grieve? I believe it does. I believe it breaks His Heart when we honor Him with our lips alone. When we forget how much He loves to spend time with us, and begin losing our desire for His companionship, does He feel the pain of our rejecting Him? I believe so.

When in our loss of unity with Him, we become gripped with fears and insecurity, His Heart must again become sad. When this fear provokes us to frantic self-preservation, He knows what will follow. He knows that even more foolish, selfish and harmful actions will bring us sorrow, all of which touch Him as well.

After thousands of years of chasing after us, He forever settled the question concerning the desire of His Heart toward us. In this new covenant, which was solidified by the Blood of the Lamb of God, His only Son, He spoke again of a relationship: “All shall KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest!” (Hebrews 8:11)

From that time forward all of the powers of hell have been frantically working to prevent the fulfillment of this Word within us. For when mankind fully realizes his destiny, when he comes to know true fellowship with God, when he finally experiences the eternal joy of pleasing the Father — no place will be found for Satan or his lies!

“Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more!” How could a loving father, who has found his son returned safely to him think about such trivialities? The relationship has been restored, fellowship has been renewed. The past has vanished into the sea of His boundless Love, and the desire, the yearning for life outside of the Father’s house has virtually disappeared from the young man’s heart!

Have you become a victim of the subtlety of Satan? Has his concerted effort to complicate your relationship with God taken its toll on you? Have you spent countless minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years attempting to measure up to an impossible standard?

Or have you bought into this other extreme of lying to yourself in regards to your relationship with Him, pursuing the things of this world to give you pleasure rather than seeking and finding the joy of pleasing Him?

If so, then the time has come for you to return to the simplicity of knowing and loving the Everlasting Father of all!

The first step for the prodigal son was to come to himself (Luke 15:17). What about you? Have you been living like a keeper of swine — one who is not even permitted to eat as well as them? Is there not something terribly wrong with this picture? Are you just now beginning to remember Who your real Father is? And are you finally beginning to remember who you really are?

It has never been your destiny to feed pigs! You have a higher calling than that! Your life is in the heavenlies, where Christ sits on the right hand of God!

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God! Remember His House? Remember the peace, the safety, the security, the love? That training, that discipline that you once thought was so hard, even that is being missed about now! You now realize that His Hand, whether firm or gentle will always represent His wonderful and loving Heart for you!

Luke 15:18-19: “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, And am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants.”

Hear the brokenness, the sorrow of these words. This is the godly sorrow that brings about a true change of mind. No more will he long for his independence. No more will he desire those things that do not satisfy. Oh, just to be with the Father, even though the privileges of his sonship may have been lost! His presence, and this renewed relationship are all that matter now!

See the Father looking, yearning for true fellowship with His son. As in Genesis when God called “Adam, Adam, where are you?” See Him running out to him, embracing him, rejoicing to find him still alive!

“And the son said unto him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called your son.’

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” (Luke 15:21-24)

My friend, a time of joy and celebration is at hand! Not only for the lost sinner who has received salvation for the very first time, but also for the erring believers who are now returning to their very first love!

Do you really want to know the joy of pleasing God? Well then just come home. Receive His gracious welcome back into the family. His house is also your house!

Heavenly Father,

In the Grace of Jesus our Lord,
Amen

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Here in America and around the world we love to cheer on our favorite sports heroes. Consider the yearly Olympic competitions, which began in ancient Greece. Paul and other New Testament writers liked to use these games as a way to illustrate the challenges of Christian living.

In the letter to the Hebrews, we have a wonderful picture in which all the heroes of faith who have gone on before have finished their course. They are now seen in the bleachers and through their testimonies are cheering on the living who are now at center stage. We are encouraged to likewise run the race with patience, looking unto Jesus, who has already crossed the finished line, and waits there for us.

Just like the Olympic runner, we are to rid ourselves of every thing that can slow us down or hinder us from finishing the race. With Jesus as our goal, we see every hindrance and sin as an obstacle to entering into the fullness of life that He has offered us.

His work is finished. He faced the Cross and came out on the other side. Now we must take up our personal crosses, deny ourselves and follow Him to the victory that awaits us, which is secure because He has already won it for us!

Hebrews 12:1-2:
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”

NASB

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Never has there been such a time when more people are experiencing what is called an “identity crisis.” Girls think they might be boys, boys wonder if they are really girls, and some think they are both boys and girls. The traditional roles individuals play in life are being constantly challenged, even in the church.

Everything is not as cloudy and murky as it may seem. Some things about ourselves can be clearly known and understood. The One Who created us all has a purpose in mind for each one, and He is eager for us to know that purpose.

The Bible states in the first chapter of the first book, Genesis, that human beings were created in the image of God, and were given dominion over all the earth. That was God’s original intention. Adam and Eve inadvertently gave up that dominion when they were tricked by the Serpent into disobeying God. This event is known in theology as “The Fall.” In it the innocent and pure relationship humanity had with the Father and Creator of all was broken. But God from the beginning set in motion a plan to heal that relationship.

Even though all people who were born after that were imperfect and sinners from the nature that was passed down to them from their parents, the imprint of God’s image and character has not been entirely erased. James tells us that when we curse men, we are cursing those who still in some way bear the image of God.( James 3:9).Sometimes, in our effort to understand how all of us, even the best of us, need forgiveness and salvation form sin, we tend to forget who we all really are in God’s original view of us.

Because of the fall, we have become dead in our sins, alienated from the life of God. In our alienation, we seek for relief in many different pleasures of the flesh. Some are not even wrong in themselves, unless they are meant to be a substitute for the relationship with God that we so desperately need. For thousands of years, many people lived in the hope of a promise that our Savior Jesus would come and cure the sin problem. Those who embraced that promise were granted access into the presence and peace of God. After Jesus came, announcing the Good News that righteousness, peace and joy had come, He fulfilled all the promises made and brought reconciliation for all through His death on the Cross. By His resurrection He vindicated God’s original purpose for man to rule in His stead and after the Day of Pentecost, that very resurrection life was shared with thousands who trusted in His Word.

So who are you? Are you the person God intended for you to be from the beginning of time? Or have you been tricked as well into rejecting His idea of you? Have you embraced Christ, the solution to all of humanities problems? You see, He is the image of the invisible God. He reveals to us how we are destined to live under our Creator and Father God. Not as failures, but as victors. We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us!

The deception of sin is very deep. Billions of us truly believe we can live without God in Christ. Our pride prevents us from confessing our need for Him. Even many who confess their need for Him continue to live as slaves of sin. Why is that? This is truly a mystery, but there is power in the Word of God to awaken us to who God intends us to be and who we already are in Him!

If all this seems foolish to you, then you are free to go on in your own way, rejecting the help the Lord has provided. But if it rings true, then I encourage you to place your trust in the One Who gave His life for you, to clear you of all guilt and sin. Believe in His power to break the deception that keeps you from your full freedom in Him. As soon as you consent to His dealings and receive Him as your Lord and Savior you can know for certainty that you are a child of God! (Romans 8:16). This is not who you will be but who you are!

In fact you always were His, but like the prodigal son in the parable, you were away from the Father’s house, and on your own. When he came to himself, he remembered his home, his father, and who he really was! (Luke 15:17) This is not to say that the effects of the fall are not real. We face them everyday. Murderers, thieves, terrorists, child molesters are all proof that something has gone very wrong in humanity. In order to turn things around in any way, we must first establish our own personal identity in Christ.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:1-3 NASU)

Do not believe the lie that there is no hope for you, that you are worthless. Christ paid the ultimate price to redeem you. If you believe in Him and continue in that belief, He will reveal how much victory you already have in Him. You will not have to identify yourself as a sinner any longer. If you later fail you must continue to reject the voice which is telling you to give up. When you belong to Christ, He will empower you and daily you will grow in grace. Only be honest before Him, and receive the help and correction he brings from His Word and from the fellowship of other children of God.

This is not about lifting ourselves up. It is about humbling ourselves before Him so he can lift us up.

No child of God wants to see another child of God live a defeated life. When some of us struggle with old habits and thought patterns, we all are affected as well. We need to pray for one another and encourage one another to believe in the victory that Christ has won for us all. I cannot say for certain why some have a more difficult time than others. I can only say that Jesus Christ has provided all the power that we need for any struggle we might face. Persistence in seeking Him will yield the answers we need. The strong can hold up the weak until all of us live in His victory.

The reality is that what we think and believe about God and ourselves does affect how we live. If we believe that God is all-powerful and also greatly in love with us our mental and emotional state will be lifted upward. If we have a limited view of Him and His plan for us our level of hope and confidence will also be limited. The Word of God is the key to changing our point of view about God and our place in His universe. He has a wonderful plan for each one of us! Believe and trust in Him. Surrender your plans and discover His plan for your life. It is more wonderful than you could ever imagine!