od is Spirit and a personable being
meaning He did not isolate us from Himself. The Holy Spirit is constantly
reaching down to humanity. As His creation we may not think so depending
on past experience. However it is mankind’s enemy Satan that deceived our
ancestors originally in mankind’s fall from grace and still leads men
astray. Through the act of God’s will, He chose us to believe in Him by
whatever ways and means He decided to approach our hearts. (Rom.
10:5,10). God reestablishes communication with us through creation and
His Word through ‘preachers’ or gospel workers. Sometimes in a
supernatural way God gets our attention. When this happens we often refer
to this as a miraculous chain of events. God does have a plan for us.
God always dealt with humanity
through personal relationships. The patriarchs are the best example.
When He established the covenants with men He discipled them and formed a
community of believers, not unlike a local church of the first century.
Jesus always ministered to people as individuals too. The Holy Spirit is
currently provoking us unto godliness on a personal level or you would not
be reading this work. The Holy Spirit provokes us before we are drawn to
Christ to pursue ‘The Way’ which leads us unto regeneration, the rebirth -
thus Holiness.
Our God reaches out requiring a level of
personal accountability to Him and personal responsibility at our
conscious level. God gave us a conscience to discern right and wrong. We
know in ourselves to do right, and by not doing right in our
relationships, we sin against one another and God. If we truly knew God,
sinning would be like asking for a divorce.
As image bearers, God created us
in His likeness. We have body, soul, and spirit. Therefore God is not
willing to allow us to blame others for our personal relationship or lack
of one with Him. God can establish a relationship with a young child or a
feeble old person. The New Covenant bases our relationship on the
redemptive work of Christ. Once God establishes our relationship 'in
Christ', we know the Holy Spirit will be faithful to complete the work of
sanctification. We are to openly cooperate in this intimate relationship
while working with the Holy Spirit to do God's will.
Intimacy with the Holy Spirit
will happen when true communion occurs between Him and the individual.
There may be a physical experience, differing sensations, when there is
perfect harmony. The framework that opens the door to reach such intimacy
is dependent on several relevant factors. The foundation for
communication must be understood from person to person. In this case
spirit to spirit for true intimacy to occur. True communion is always
confirmed through God’s Word. This communion with God is part of the New
Covenant. The fruit of the Holy Spirit produces the peace that surpasses
all understanding and harmony with God. Through God’s effort in Christ we
are able to exchange ideas, concepts, feelings, and beliefs. We actually
understand the will of God for our life ‘in Christ’. In light of the
truth a person comes to grips with the realization of being a spiritual
creation in a body. The spirit of man is the life force and will return
to God one day soon.
We may learn through the church,
or, preferably one of our parents, how to communicate with God. When a
person learns to relate to the members as part of one body the church
personally connects with each other. Then, understanding that they are
united in Christ, they will be able to relationally communicate with one
another. Soon we learn to recognize the character of God’s Spirit. When
individuals recognize the truth, they can accept each other's personal
mannerisms. There are infinitesimal differences in the way people think
and communicate. However, there is unity in Christ and as the common
ground to defeat the enemies of God. Acceptance is important to almost
every individual helps establishing true intimacy when we desire a
relationship. We are all part of a new creation with God as our Father.
So there is plenty of common ground to build upon.
Through His plan of redemption
God invites individuals to be ‘born again’ of His Spirit to be given a
renewed heart and spirit. Acceptance of us as an individual by God is a
key factor to understanding the language of grace. God gives us a sense
of worth to Himself.
When the revelation of the Holy Spirit
exposes the true nature of our inner man we tend to run. For intimation
to be a spiritual experience, a person must come to a knowledge of his
spirit (true nature). They must be re-parented to their true Father,
God. For intimacy to occur, two or more individuals must comprehend the
meaning of each other's motive and intent of their hearts so that their
spirits may communicate as one. This is one reason Jesus came into this
world so that we may be one with the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and each
other.
race is a gift, as is salvation. They are
received through the workings of God. He often expresses His love for
mankind through individuals using the Word of God as their light to a
narrow road. As one of God’s children, He calls us to be a light unto the
world. When the light draws anyone to God, it is because we’ve shared
Jesus’ life. We are to be channels of His revealed love through our
testimony of the sanctifying blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the light of the world and we
reflect His light through our lifestyles just as the moon reflects the
light of the Son. Would it do much good if I ran around and told people I
was a light? Probably not! If they haven’t seen the light in my
dependence upon God, I don’t really have anything to offer. If the light
isn’t in my heart and giving me life I don’t have anything to offer.
People see right through people who aren’t living the life that God
intends - an abundant life. Before God comes into our life we are dying a
slow death.
When we die to ourselves and let Jesus
live through us then we have something to offer. We can take a risk and
become vulnerable letting our life become transparent. The darkness of
our past fades into the seas of forgiveness and the life of Jesus begins
to shine through us. When our co-crucified life reflects the life of
Jesus being lived through us the peace of God will flood our soul and His
light will shine like a beacon on a hill. The greater the likeness of
God’s obedient Son we reflect the more evidence the prism of God’s
manifold grace there will be and His light in us will draw all men unto
Himself.
God gave us spiritual life. He gives us
the eternal life of Jesus. The direct result of the Holy Spirit working
in us through His Word is His witness to Jesus life being lived through
us. Jesus is the light in us that will draw His own unto Himself. Every
wannabe believer can embrace the love of God reveled in us as the witness
to our Lord Jesus Christ’s atonement for our sins and He drew us unto the
Throne of Grace.
The religions of the world are the result
of mankind’s search for God. Jesus Christ is God’s answer. He is love
revealed through the Word of God and manifested through the gifts and
workings of the Holy Spirit to the church. Every believer is a member of
the body of Christ and expresses their belief, trust or faith in God
through a daily walk. We may grow daily in their understanding of His
Word and relationship with Him. When we surrender to Jesus, His life
lives through us. This is an acceptable gift of thanksgiving to God. In
doing so our family and friends will come to know God’s love and be drawn
to His light through us. This is hard and fast Christianity: Christ is my
life. Nothing else satisfies.
Yes, we have an obligation, not
of compulsion, but of love, to share Jesus life. Who would deny another
who doesn’t know Jesus as their Lord, Savior and Life? God’s love compels
us to share Jesus with others. God called and chose us to worship Him in
Spirit and truth through our praise and thanksgiving. It is God’s only
requirement for the gift of eternal life. All we are to do is testify to
the truth and thank and praise Him for all He does.
Praise and thanksgiving are the gifts we
can offer Him from our heart, which actually originates from Him in the
first place. When we accept the responsibility to praise and worship God,
He leads those who will entreat the message of salvation to us. As we
learn to trust God, we have an opportunity to share the riches of His
grace and mercy with others. God prepares their hearts so we do not have
to force feed people as some do. God is the one who opens the doors of
the heart. We now have the opportunity before us to walk with God ‘in
Christ’ and enter into a rest from doing in order to be acceptable in
God’s presence.
Can we fail? No! Have we
failed? No, we haven’t! God hid our lives 'in Christ' and He accepts the
responsibility for our growth and disciplines us too. He is our Father
and Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Jesus did and He does
His part and He expects us to do our share. We are responsible for our
willingness to accept change, transformation. Growth can be painful but
mostly to our pride. God does not want us to try to earn the gift.
This may be the ‘lost’ commandment, or
perhaps the most under-taught message of the walk. “Grace is my work.
Stop working to gain my approval. It is finished!” - God
In other words, when we quit
trying to do it, grow on our own, we will succeed. Yes! Jesus will live
and shine through us.
God desires to be all things to each one
of us. ‘Christ is my life’ is accomplished by the power and authority of
the Holy Spirit working and living through us. We begin by learning to
surrender every facet of our life to Jesus. Then He is able guide us
every step of ‘The Way’. When we surrender and give Him our hearts, the
Holy Spirit’s voice will become clear. God’s personal direction for our
lives always aligned with the Scriptures, the Bible. So don’t become
dismayed, He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete
it. Amen.
Someone once told me, ‘Let go and let
God!’. No! I do not agree with this idea. This may convey the message
that we do not have personal responsibility. Maybe that’s why we have so
many ‘committed’ Christians that do not do anything for the Kingdom of God.
The point correctly describes the surrendered life only when the church is
to participate in spiritual war. The battle is the Lord’s! We ask in
prayer. Angels do the work.
We are the body of Christ. We have
different gifts and we minister in different ways to serve in an
other-centered community. As individuals Jesus calls us to express His
love to the world and wrestle against spiritual enemies. God will reveal
the fullness of His love when we surrender our self-reliant nature. We
continually learn to allow Christ to live through us. This will only
happen by faith and if we will lay down our self-life will Jesus live
through us.
Will you follow Jesus to the
point of laying down your life and suffering loss? Will you dare to ask
the question, “What would Jesus do?” Before taking any action or deciding
to walk away? Will you be obedient to God?
God is love. God reveals His
very nature in us through the person of Jesus Christ so love is not a
‘what’. Love is seen in God’s action to redeem us. Love is intangible
and revealed through the person of Jesus Christ.
We cannot love God and keep love in a jar,
as we do an object. God reveals His love by keeping His promises through
our relationship with Jesus. Love is an expressed action on an other
person's behalf. God chose to reveal His love through Jesus Christ’s
death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus is alive! Our
relationship is with the living God.
Perfect love casts out all
fear. Fear is one weapon of the enemy of our souls. The enemy of love is
anxiety, and the power of the enemy is accusation. Love cannot perfect us
until we overcome our fear of death through understanding the power of
Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. We have the gift of eternal life in
Christ which should dispel any fear in our hearts of death or hell.
Praise God! When Jesus overcame death and
hell, He took away the keys of death and hell for me from Satan. Jesus
came and destroyed the works of the devil. Jesus said, “It is
finished!”. So, why are we fearful? Our knowledge and understanding of
God’s love are not yet perfect meaning mature. Overcoming fear comes from
knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Discipleship is a good place to
start living a victorious life in Christ!
To overcome our fears we need to grow into
the knowledge of the fullness of Jesus’ victory. This is the way He will
begin to perfect His love in us. We may never be completely mature but we
are being conformed into His image. This can be one of our highest
desires. And, no one can block this desire but ourselves. Although, the
devil will try to.
Our love is reflected through a
dimly lit glass, frosted if you will by the memories of our past. Will
our love ever be pure? Yes, when Jesus, whose love is perfect, returns
and we know Him even as He knows us. When Jesus returns, He will reign
victoriously because He has already dethroned the enemy of our souls and
we will reign in His Victory too. God has given us His Son and has
provided for all of our needs in Jesus Christ. When we let Jesus reign in
our personal life, we will live in His Victory on this earth.
God gives every believer a
renewed heart and spirit. God restores the possibility of true communion
with Himself through Jesus Christ. We are part of a new creation in
Christ. The unregenerate nature was captive, sold out to the power of sin
until the rebirth when God gives every believer a renewed heart and
spirit. We are 'born again' or regenerated spiritually when God
sovereignly places us 'in Christ'.
We were all descendants of Adam with the
same basic ancestry and heritage. Ever since Adam, the generations were
born with the same cursed nature. The unregenerate heart of humanity is
corrupt and has a rebellious nature. We had the same iniquitous traits as
our ancestors. We are all born as slaves to sin with the tendency to
commit the same sins.
In every way we were captive to
the power of sin passed onto us through past generations! We were sinners
because it was natural to sin from birth. However, God provided
redemption for all generations through faith in the promise of the coming
Redeemer that we know as our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our salvation
occurs individually when God places us 'in Christ'. We are a new creation
in Christ that desires to serve God. Through God’s grace alone, we
received our salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ became the atonement for
all the sins of humanity -- past, present, and future. He became the
curse for us, nailing the crimes against us to the cross, and canceling
the ‘sin’ debt.
Jesus Christ is the living
expression of the fullness of the godhead in bodily form. Jesus
represents God, and expresses His true nature to the world. He was
blameless, yet suffered in body, soul and Spirit to redeem us. Jesus
became ‘sin’ for us and condemned ‘sin’ in sinful humanity. Jesus became
obedient to the cross, laying down His life, as a ransom for many; His
life given for mankind’s salvation. With God the Father bearing witness
to and accepting His only Son’s perfect sacrifice, He raised Jesus from
the dead, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit we
receive with the gift of eternal life.
Just as sin and death entered
through one man, Adam, even so Jesus Christ restores spiritual life.
Through His obedience to the Cross we receive a righteous standing which
God imputes to every believer. As we take up our Cross and learn to be
obedient to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, He sets us free to
enjoy the benefits of His sufferings. Jesus is the firstborn of many
brothers and sisters who accept His substitutionary death for their sins.
We are the fruit of His sacrifice. We are the purchased possession made
with His blood.
God, the Father, bore witness to
this truth when He sent the promise of the Holy Spirit to draw us unto
Himself. God sent the Comforter and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit
to guide us into all truth and to lead us home. God knew we could not do
it on our own. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are
God’s children, adopted into the household of God. We are brothers and
sisters of our Lord, and heirs of salvation. Jesus promised that He will
not leave us comfortless. He will be with us until the end of the age,
and will never leave us nor forsake us.
Intimacy with God is not
something we attain. The gift of living in the presence of God comes in
receiving the truth of being 'in Christ' and Jesus living through us!
Outside of Christ, the secular world measures' our successes by the goals
we attain and the toys we obtain. Reaching for success consumes the lives
of most people. Someone who devotes their life to a cause, a way of life,
or relationship will eventually fail and burnout. The same is true for
the members of every local church. Those who fail measure their Christian
success by performance. The men or women who find peace are those who
find contentment in their relationship through serving God alone. As
members of the family of God, we are His children, and benefactors of
God’s providential care. God provides for all of our needs in Christ
Jesus because of the finished work of the Cross.
As children of the King, we are
in a direct relationship with God in Christ. By God’s handiwork alone we
have all been placed into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). In Christ, God gives us a
full measure of safety, security, acceptance, assurance, and total
commitment in this life. By this relationship we are received as a child
of God to receive the peace of God which surpasses all (human
comprehension) understanding...(Phil 4:7), joy inexpressible...(1 Peter
1:8), and, ... the love of God...poured out within our hearts through the
Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).
The intimate relationship that Adam and
Eve enjoyed with God before the fall is available to every man, woman and
child on the face of the earth through Jesus Christ’s atonement. If you
do not possess this peace, “Is it not time to invite God’s Spirit to
possess your life?” Surrender to God’s love and He will reveal Christ
Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
God does not measure worth in
human terms. He loves us because He created us; we are of infinite worth
because He loves us. We see the grace of God toward humanity in the
manifestation of God’s presence in the universe, the world, and in every
believer's life.
The truth is written clearly in
the Scriptures, ‘the just shall live by faith’. Faith is simply trusting
in God to accomplish what He has established in His Word. Our faith comes
from reading the Word of God, and receiving the revelation of the truth
through the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. He does the work while
we receive the benefits.
Jesus came to fulfill the Law by
revealing grace and truth. Jesus Christ came in the flesh to reveal the
love of God toward us while we were yet sinners. Jesus came to redeem
sinners. He came to save you and me by manifesting His presence in our
life. In his life and ministry Jesus Christ perfectly reveals the grace
of God. Jesus, God incarnate, manifests the very nature and character of
God. Scripture reveals, ‘above all, God is love’. We see God’s love for
us perfectly in the life and death of Jesus.
Grace is the manifestation of
God’s love in the lives of people. The Holy Spirit’s presence in the
world is the manifestation of God’s love towards us. The Holy Spirit’s
work is a manifestation of God’s grace. It is by the grace of God alone
that the Holy Spirit draws people unto Jesus. And grace is the gift of
God that sets us free to praise Him and thank Him for the gift of eternal
life.
The gift of God is eternal life
in Jesus Christ, not of works lest any person should boast. We do not
earn gifts. We simply receive them. We cannot reach God by keeping
commands and the doing of rituals. If you attempt to please God or have
given-up because of someone else’s rules, learn from Jesus and be set
free. Jesus is saying to those who are weary and exhausted by the
constant burden of trying to earn their way to Heaven through performance,
'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.'
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am humble in heart; and
you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is
light.’ -- Matt 11:28-30
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