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Jesus brings Unity with God and Unity in the Church

7/31/2018

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For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13
Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection unites us with Him, but it is also meant to unite us with one another. Believers are one body with Christ, not many bodies in Christ. When Paul wrote his letter the Jews and Gentiles were two very separate people. The Jews, because they were God’s chosen people and had had the Law given to them thought they were better than other peoples. There was real hostility between the Jewish people and Gentiles, even the proselytes were considered less than. Gentiles and Jews often hated one another simply because of cultural and religious views. Sadly, this sounds all too familiar today. Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:11-22 continue speak to us.
Ephesians was written to both the believing Jews and the believing proselytes. He has a unique way of approaching the problem, sort of using reverse psychology as he lets both parties know they hold responsibility for their enmity. Verses 11 reads,
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands
What he’s saying is this, “You gentiles were called ungodly by people who were made godly by an act of the flesh, so they weren’t really godly either.” He says, listen, neither of you are better than the other, you were all ungodly until God got hold of you. Maybe we need that reminder today, when this denomination thinks that denomination is wrong and that political party thinks this politicl camp is stupid. I think that the enemy loves that we focus on one another so much as an enemy we don’t live out the love of Christ and make Him known to the world. As long as we’re fighting ourselves, he doesn’t have to bother. I am not saying all of us act this way, but I’ve seen it enough to know that many of us do. In verses 12-13 Paul wrote,
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
We were at one time enemies of God and enemies of His children. We were far away from Christ. The Gentiles didn’t have the promises that Israel had. The Jews had the law and the prophets, they knew that the Messiah was coming, they knew that God had made a way to be reconciled with Him, but the Gentiles for the most part didn’t know the law and the prophets. But, Paul writes, now we have been brought near to Him, not because of the laws, not because of the prophets, but because of the blood of Jesus Christ. It is His blood, His crucifixion which worked to erase our sin, not our adherence to the law through circumcision or not being circumcised. Jesus’ work nullified the law; His work voided our work.
In being brought close to Christ, in having peace with God, we are also brought to peace with God’s children as we become His children. Verses 14-16 read,
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
We are no longer two separate people, we are one people, one man. The laws and traditions that brought derision and division have been abolished. He brought peace and we are united with God and one another because of the great and terrible price He paid. We are one people now, God doesn’t see any of us as any more special than the other. He doesn’t see Jew or Gentile, He sees beloved child, the righteousness of Christ.  Paul said it this way in Galatians 3:26-29,
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Christ is the equalizer, He is the only Savior, our one and only God. There is one Spirit and one body, not many bodies of the same Lord. We were all once separated from Him and now Believers are His body, His bride, and His church, not His bodies, brides, and churches. Jesus preached the same message to everyone whether Jew, Samaritan, Roman centurion, lawyer, tax collector, Pharisee, slave, prostitute, fisherman, man or woman. He preached peace, He imparted love, He taught the grace of God. Verses 17-22 read,
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
 
Jesus made us one. We are not Americans, Canadians, British, Africans, Israelites, and Palestinians, we are Citizens of Heaven. We are not strangers, we are family. We are founded by the prophets who believed God and prophesied about the Messiah. We are built on the teachings of the apostles who taught the Gospel they had witnessed. And the cornerstone, the first and most important stone in the foundation, the stone that is the reference stone for every other stone in the building is Jesus Christ. He unifies us, He makes us one temple with one purpose, not several temples with various missions. We are being built together, growing together, by the Holy Spirit into a dwelling place for Him. He does not dwell in us separately, He dwells in us, His body. We were never meant to be divided. When we put various doctrines above the Truth, when we put traditions above the Gospel, and when we put legalism above Jesus Christ, we diminish what we could do if we let the Holy Spirit have His way with us.
Satan loves division. Division is one of his works against the church. Galatians 5:16-26 describe how the works of the flesh are in conflict with the work of the Spirit.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Divisiveness is listed with things like idolatry, sorcery, and orgies! We are told not to put up with it at all. Titus 3:8-11 in The Living Bible says it this way.
These things I have told you are all true. Insist on them so that Christians will be careful to do good deeds all the time, for this is not only right, but it brings results. 9 Don’t get involved in arguing over unanswerable questions and controversial theological ideas; keep out of arguments and quarrels about obedience to Jewish laws, for this kind of thing isn’t worthwhile; it only does harm. 10 If anyone is causing divisions among you, he should be given a first and second warning. After that have nothing more to do with him, 11 for such a person has a wrong sense of values. He is sinning, and he knows it.
 
The devil just loves it when we waste our time and energy nitpicking and fighting with each other over dancing, speaking in tongues, drums or the color of the carpet instead of loving one another as Jesus loved us.
I have not given up hope that we, as the Body of Christ will reunite as we were meant to. I see it happening, the church giving up denominational titles, stopping the fault-finding and ridiculous arguments and coming together to bless the Lord through active love, good works, and ministry, to tell the world Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Life. God uses our differences, uniqueness, and distinctions to complement one another and help us work together, even need each other. I encourage you, Brothers and Sisters to take an active part in the unity of the church and devotion to Christ rather than misplaced patriotism, partisanship, or loyalty to a nation, government, or denomination.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says,
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
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Ephesians 2:1-10 Alive Together with Christ

7/30/2018

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But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, --by grace you have been saved--  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, —by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6
​We continue our journey through Ephesians today with Ephesians 2:1-10. As a believer, your life has an interesting timeline. It began in planning before the foundations of the world when God decided that you would be born. And one day your parents came together and your life began. You were born and you lived as a citizen of the world for however long it was before you answered God’s call and made Jesus your Lord. On that day, you not only lived, but the Holy Spirit entered you and brought you to life; He made you alive and He gave you a new life and a new identity. You became a citizen of Heaven, a son or daughter of the One True Living God. That moment your timeline began fresh, it began an incline and it became infinite. You thought you were alive before that moment, but now you know that though you breathed and walked and existed you were not alive. Now with Jesus, you are alive, your old self died, you have been resurrected with Him, and you live with Him.
This concept is impossible to understand for people who do not follow Jesus; it is difficult to grasp for many who do believe that Jesus is the Christ. But it is something that frees you from the past and releases you from the powers of the world. Verses 1-3 read,
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
 
Paul says that before we were dead in the wrongs we lived in, we were followers of the prince of the power of the air whether we knew it or not. Who is the prince of the power of the air? It is Satan, he rules the world, he rules the spirits, and as this passage says, he rules the lost, the sons of disobedience. But he is not king because he is not sovereign over all. Remember from yesterday’s reading, only God our King of kings is sovereign over all. Satan cannot be called even an earthly king because his power is only what people give him. He is the prince of the power of the air and he will never be king. Jesus referred to Satan as the prince or ruler of this world when teaching his death and resurrection to the people. John 12:27-32 reads,
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
You see, Satan’s timeline was decided the moment Jesus was resurrected, though he still acts as ruler of the world and prince of the power of the air, he lost, his timeline began its decline and will end in his defeat (Revelation 20:1-3 and 7-10 ). His power is limited. But when it comes to believers, his power is nothing; he is not our prince, we have Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the King of kings, the Lord, Jesus Christ as our Sovereign King forever and ever. But there was a time when we were slaves to the prince of this world, there was a time when we followed the course of this world with a timeline that bore the same decline as the enemy’s.
We were like everybody else, we lived for our passions, lived to satisfy our flesh and find happiness in the world. The world is naturally a hedonistic place, even those who do not consider themselves to be self-indulgent are seeking to be happy by some means. And we were like them once, we were blind to the power that ruled us. We were dead in sins, deaf to the truth, and blind to course of our lives, just like everybody else.
But, remember, God stepped in. He had chosen us and so He did not let us stay blind, deaf, and dead in slavery to the prince of the world. Verses 4-6 tell us,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
 
God is rich in mercy and His love for us is great! Great means abundant, deep, far surpassed, long, and plenteous. God doesn’t just love you, He has abundant deep, surpassing, long, and plenteous love for you. The word love,  agaph, means love feast, the equivalent in Hebrew also translates to love feast and is akin to the love of a father for his child. He loves us so much that even though we were pleasure seeking sons of disobedience, He chose to make us alive together with Christ. He didn’t give us life and expect us to somehow go at it alone. He united us with Christ, He saved us. We were sinners, we didn’t deserve it, we didn’t do a thing to earn it. God is abounding in mercy and saved us by His grace. That in itself is awesome! But in addition to rescuing us from slavery to Satan, he made us alive together with Christ, and He raised us up with Christ. We are raised up with Christ, not only in His Resurrection, but actually seated with Him in the heavenly places!
Remember from Ephesians 1 when the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus, He “seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21). Believer, you and I are seated there with Him! We are no longer dead under the power of the prince of the power of the air; we are alive with Christ and above the prince of the power of the air. He has no power over us. In fact, if you remember yesterday’s devotional, you will recall that you have power and authority over him.
We are seated in the heavenly places with Jesus. We are above the circumstances of the world. We live here on this earth, in the world and yet we are not of the world, we are citizens of Heaven, we are there, perfected already. But on our current timeline, we still exist, live, and walk on the earth. We are surrounded by the brokenness, the circumstances, and the walking dead.  Why? Jesus loves them too and He is allowing you to take part with Him in bringing His chosen to Him so they too can be raised to new life and freed from the bondage to which they are ignorant. Why? So we can glorify the Lord. So we can be made more like Him. When Jesus prayed for us before His crucifixion, He said,
And all of them, since they are mine, belong to you; and you have given them back to me with everything else of yours, and so they are my glory! 11 Now I am leaving the world, and leaving them behind, and coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your own care—all those you have given me—so that they will be united just as we are, with none missing. 12 During my time here I have kept safe within your family all of these you gave me. I guarded them so that not one perished, except the son of hell, as the Scriptures foretold.
13 “And now I am coming to you. I have told them many things while I was with them so that they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your commands. And the world hates them because they don’t fit in with it, just as I don’t. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from Satan’s power. 16 They are not part of this world any more than I am. 17 Make them pure and holy through teaching them your words of truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world, 19 and I consecrate myself to meet their need for growth in truth and holiness. (John 17:10-19 TLB).
We are in two places at once, in the world, yet not of the world, and seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. God loves us deeply and He is rich in mercy and wants to bless us. Verses 7-9 of Ephesians 2 continue to tell us why we do not just stop living in the world when we’re saved.
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
God’s kindness, His grace and mercy, they are what lead people to repentance, to answer God’s call and be saved (Romans 2:4). As you are sanctified, as you live and people see how good God is to you, how He carries you through all circumstances, how merciful He is to you, and how through Him you are merciful to them, they are led to Christ. They are able to hear the Gospel and see it lived out in your life all because God is so good and shows you the immeasurable, incalculable, immense, and infinite riches of His grace in kindness toward you.
Be real, don’t try to live as if you’re perfect, never tempted, never making a mistake. How can people see God’s kindness revealed in a perfect person? Live truthfully, showing that you are sanctified, that you are evermore like Jesus each day because of God’s great love and not because you are doing a program to be a better person or doing good things, or trying really hard to be good. You are saved because of God not because you are following the law or being a good Christian. It is His grace 100%, not anything you do or have done. That way you can’t tell anyone that you are saved because you’re good when no one can be good enough to be saved. You can’t brag about how you deserve the good life you lead, the wonderful things you’ve been given, or the person you have become. It is all God and none of your endeavors.
Verse 10 continues,
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Your timeline began before the foundations of the world, when God decided to create you. He decided very specifically to create you, not just another member of the human race, but you. You are His workmanship, knit together in precise and detailed manner to be who you are. And He made you so that you could do good things. God worked on you, His good work, so that you could do good works. You don’t them to earn salvation, you do them because you are saved, because you are seated with Christ and He does good works. It is only natural that in your new life, new identity, and new position that you would be like Christ and do those wonderful things that show you belong to Christ and He is good rich in mercy and great in love.
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Ephesians 1:15-23 Know Your Birthrights as a Child of God Almighty

7/29/2018

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The LORD will fight for you and you only have to be silent. Exodus 14:14
The Lord will for you and you only have to be silent Exodus 14:14

​What is your reaction when someone tells you, “Jesus loves you.” When I am out and about and I decide to tell someone this astounding fact, the response I get from people who have told me they are Christians is often a hurried, “yeah, I know.” And it is then that I know, they do not know that Jesus loves them, if they did, they would be celebrating with me, they would be brought to their knees by the overwhelming awesomeness of it. At the very least, they would give God a praise rather than an annoyed dismissal.
Part of our walk with Jesus is getting to know this tremendous truth: The LORD loves you so profoundly that He gave you His very own Son, called you to be His, gave you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and wants you to really know that love in your soul, spirit, mind, and body.
We continue reading Ephesians today with verses 15-23. In this passage, Paul continues the letter with a prayer of blessing for the readers of the epistle. Ephesians 1:15-23 reads,
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
 
Paul told the church that he had heard about their faith which was evidenced by their love toward all believers. It is active real love that proves our faith. Paul didn’t hear about the fake smile they kept on their faces as proof of their faith. He didn’t hear about the Christian sayings they said as proof of their faith. He heard about their love toward all the saints. When Jesus was explaining to the disciples that they couldn’t follow Him to His death just yet, but they would follow Him in their lives, He also said that evidence of faith in Him would be visible and demonstrated love. John 13:31-35 says,
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
 
Because of the church’s faith and love, Paul knew they could go deeper and really experience what it is to be in Christ, and he prayed that for them and all the readers of the letter. He said, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (VERSES 17-18).
Paul said he wants us to know God increasingly more through the Holy Spirit who gives us wisdom and revelation. It is by His wisdom and His revelation that we can know Him and have the eyes of our hearts opened to our hope, to understand the amazing inheritance, the rights that come from being His son or daughter through Jesus Christ. That seems a simple prayer, “I want you to know what it means to be a believer.” But Paul knew that if we really understand what it means to understand our identity in Christ, to appreciate what it means to be a child of the Living God, to grasp what it means to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit that we will be fundamentally changed, transformed to live in that wonderful fullness, richness, and abundance of Yaweh.
Life in Christ is not boring. It is not a life of boundaries but a life without limits. Paul’s prayer continues in verse 19-20. The Living Bible words it this way,
I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him. It is that same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in heaven, 
 
The power of God is boundless, infinite, and vast. He is omnipotent. In Revelation 1:8 God describes Himself.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
The word for Almighty is pantokrator. It is defined by Strong’s as the all-ruling God, absolute and universal sovereign, Almighty, Omnipotent. It is the Greek reference to the Hebrew name of God, El Shaddai God the Almighty, He who holds sway over all things, the ruler of all. That is the God who helps us, that is the power that we have on our side! How can we worry over anything, when Almighty God loves to help us and bless us? He reminds us that this power is the same power that resurrected Christ and seated Him at right hand of God. And remember that same power dwells in you through the Holy Spirit and gives you life (Romans 8:10-11). Jesus’ position at the right hand of God is another reference to the LORD’s active working power for us. Jesus is the Word of God, God’s manifested will, His will carried out (John 1:1). There are approximately 60 references to the right hand of God in the Bible. Psalm 89:13-14 reads,
You have a mighty arm;
    strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
    steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

 
Psalm 60:4-5 reads,
You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
    that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah
5 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
    give salvation by your right hand and answer us!

 
Jesus is the Right Hand of God. The Right Hand of God is His Justice, His Salvation, and His Strength. His power is for you not against you. And if He is for you who or what could possible fight back or overcome? This is God; it isn’t a battle of will or strength. God’s will is done merely by His speaking it. He loves you! He is on your side. He is with you. He is in you! Romans 8:31-39 says,
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sure, the world is tough, life is hard, and the world does and will come against us, but God is with us. Jesus reminded us of this as well. John 16:33 reads,
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Overcoming the world is about your ability to live as Jesus lived, do what Jesus did, and be who Jesus is. 1 John 5:1-5 says it like this.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
 
That is the power of God on your side! That is God with you! Believer, I know hard times come. I know we suffer, we strive, and we struggle. But, I also know that we have hope because God is with us and He has overcome. Jesus sits at His right hand. The Spirit indwells us and He is the power of Almighty God. There is nothing and no one who is above God, nothing and no one that can stand up to Him or come close in sovereignty to Him. Paul described this with verses 21-22 of Ephesians 1 as He continued to describe Jesus position in God for us.
 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
Even Jesus’ name is powerful. Even His name has dominion and authority above every name. Now remember that we are adopted by God, we are given His name, and His nature as His children. His name and nature are our rights as His children! We are given that authority, power, and dominion in Jesus’ name! If God is for us, who can come against us? Is there anything or anyone that can stand up to Him? No! Read what Paul wrote regarding Jesus to the church in Philippians 2:10-11
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
At Jesus’ name EVERY knee will bow, EVERY tongue will confess. That means that everything and every one who has a will of their own will have to submit to Jesus at the mention of His name. We not only have the right to act and walk in Jesus’ name because belong to Him, but we are expected to act and walk in His name. God have us that authority! Look at a few of the verses about acting in Jesus’ name.
Mark 9:38-41
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
Matthew 18:18-20
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Mark 16:17-18
And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Acts 4:5-17 describes how Peter and John acted in the name of Jesus and how doing so spread the Gospel.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.
 
Paul described the church, that is you and I, Believer as the body of Christ in verses 21-22 of Ephesians 1. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
We are the fullness of Him. The word fullness here is plhrwma, which means completion, to fill abundantly! We are very much part of Jesus, we are His fullness and He fills us! The word is plhrow, a different tense of the same word, it is active, Jesus completes us, he fills us abundantly, literally the word means to cram, to fill so full it must be pushed in because there is so much. Jesus fills us so fully He is bursting out of us. Picture the way clothes crammed into a suitcase will burst out of a suitcase when it is opened.
 
Believer, God wants you to know that He loves you so much. He wants you to comprehend what it means that He, Almighty God is with you, for you, and in you. That wisdom and revelation in knowledge of Him will enlarge your faith in such a way that your love will be demonstrated just as powerfully as Jesus’ love because it is Jesus’ love. It is real, it is active, and it is supernatural, above all things.

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Ephesians 1:3-14 Bless God

7/27/2018

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places Ephesians 1:3
​Yesterday, we started the book of Ephesians with the greeting in Chapter 1 verses 1-2, today we will read the next passage, Ephesians 1:3-14.
Ephesians 1:3 reads,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Paul does not begin his letter by asking God for blessings, he instead chooses to bless God, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Isn’t this something we want in our lives, to bless God, to make Him smile, deliberately give Him happiness? I think too many of us forget this in our daily walk. Instead of praising God, instead of making choices to purposely please Him, we just act as if He is our blessings ATM and ask Him, even claiming faith that we will receive this or that from Him as some sort of approximation of a relationship with Him as a form of pleasing Him. Yes, faith pleases God; it is impossible to please Him without faith (Hebrews 11:6). But, how would feel about a relationship in which the other person was all about what you did for them and gave them? God loves you deeply and nothing can change that. I just want to encourage us to live a life that says we love Him too, to live in gratitude, glorification, and goodness. What is it that pleases God? In Hosea 6:6, God tells us what He desires.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

He wants a relationship with us! He wants us to know Him and love Him. He is God! We are supposed to be in a relationship with Him in which we love Him with our entire soul and love others as He loved and loves us (Matthew 22:36-40). And read the next part of the sentence, He has already blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places! It is already done! We do not receive the gift of Salvation and peace with God only to no longer experience grace or mercy when it comes to being spiritually developed, He has done it. It is all Him and not us. He has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. There is nothing in the Kingdom of Heaven that God has withheld from us. We do not have to “claim it” or believe extra hard or earn it, we only have to ask for it and receive it.
We can spend so much of our time, looking for God’s blessings, looking for provision, looking for what is going to make us happy in this life that we forget that He has already blessed us, provided for us, and given us every spiritual blessing. We can confuse our priorities. Rather than bless God, rather than pursue Agape Love, we chase blessings, fall into rituals, and lean on our own strength and understanding. One of my favorite passages from the Bible is Matthew 6:25-34 It reads,
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
We don’t have to chase after all the stuff, we only need to seek God first and everything else will fall into place. We don’t seek His Kingdom as the way to be blessed, we seek His Kingdom as the way to bless Him, to love Him back, to know Him more. He already loves us deeply, He has already blessed us. Before we took our first breath, before our parents came together, before He Created the earth, He loved us and chose us to be His very own. Verses 4-6 of the chapter read,
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
For what purpose were we chosen? To be holy (set aside for a sacred purpose) and blameless. The word blameless here means without blemish. That reminds me of the sacrificial lamb without blemish, Jesus (Exodus 12:5, 1 Peter 1:19). And remember God has already given us that blessing! We are holy, set aside and He is making us into the image of Christ and at the same time has made us into the image of Christ through our relationship with Him by the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 says it like this
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
He took all the steps needed for a relationship with us. He chose us, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons and daughters through Jesus according to His will! He wants this. He wants you! He wants this. And the thing He wants from us is to be the praise of His glorious grace. What does that mean? It means that the way we live, will point toward His grace and exclaim His grace. That pleases God. It pleases Him to bless us, not because we are doing something to earn it, but because He is Gracious God.
When we walk around trying hard to believe that God will bless us with this or that, when we do what we do to earn those blessings, it doesn’t glorify God’s grace and love, it glorifies us, it glorifies our faith not God’s grace. It is God who loves so deeply, it is the Father who adopted us, it is Jesus’ work that saved us, it is the Spirit who transforms us, it is us who is already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Verses 7-10 continue and tell us some of those blessings.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The most wonderful blessing we have, the thing for which we should praise God every day and every moment is redemption! We have redemption, not through working hard, praying hard, whipping ourselves, or paying the price of death, but through Jesus’ blood, His death and resurrection, His work, His will, His glorification of The Father. We have forgiveness of our trespasses. All of our sins are forgiven, we can’t be accused of those things anymore. God is rich in grace. He lavishes us with that grace. He doesn’t have to scrimp on grace and forgive just some sins, He forgives according to the riches of His grace. And He doesn’t lavish that upon us blindly, but with wisdom and insight. He has a purpose, a reason for saving us and get this, He let’s us in on it! He makes His will and purpose known to us. Jesus described it this way in John 15:8-17
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
His will is a relationship, a friendship with us in which we love, agapao God and others. This relationship shows by the love we show, not the blessings we seek. He chose us for this friendship! The LORD chose you, He chose me! The One True Living God chose us! And He said, all you have to do is ask and boom it’s done. You don’t have to waste your time seeking the stuff, the blessings, and all that, you can spend that energy on love, on living in this relationship with Him. That is His will. His purpose is that you and I live in that love so that we are living in Jesus’ name, glorifying or reflecting Him, looking and walking like Him. Love one another as Jesus loved us, being willing to lay it all down, give it all up for them and for Him, so they too can be His friends.
I am cheering God right now! I am singing halleluiah; my soul is so joyful with this awesome and wonderful thought! And there is more! Can you believe it? Of course there is more. This is God! There is so much more! Verses 11-14 read,
 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Remember, in addition to being His friends, we are also adopted as His sons and daughters. That adoption gives us an inheritance that includes every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It also includes Heaven, His name and His nature. His Holy Spirit makes us over into who Jesus is, He creates a new identity in us. The identity of Agape Love, Jesus, described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 and Galatians 5:22-33. Why? Why does He do this wonderful thing? So that we can be the praise of His glory! So our lives can reflect that awesome love and relationship. So that we can be united with Him.
Listen, consider that if He wants people to look at us and see Him, don’t you imagine He will bless you, provide for you, and give you good gifts? Those things, they come, they are par for the course, wonderful yes, but not what we seek. We seek Him, we bless Him, we live and love in relationship with Him. Believer, I encourage you to seek the Kingdom of God first, to seek to know God more and love God with all you do, feel, and think, and to love others with the love He gives. Go ahead and give it a try and see if all that other stuff doesn’t just fall into place and find new places in your priorities.
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Ephesians 1:1-2 A Profound Greeting

7/26/2018

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he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit Titus 3:5
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit Titus 3:5
​Today, we begin looking at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Starting in Chapter 1 with the greeting in verses 1-2.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The greeting is simple, yet profound.
The letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. The word apostle is formally defined as “a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ ("apostle") (with miraculous powers):- apostle, messenger, he that is sent” (God Rules[i]). The Apostles were those men chosen specifically by Jesus to carry out His message, the Gospel and do the work of spreading it around the world. Eleven were chosen by Jesus before He ascended to Heaven. They were Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John the Sons of Thunder, Phillip, Bartholomew also known as Nathanael, Jude also known as Thaddeus and Judas (not Iscariot), James, Matthew also called Levi, Phillip, Simon the Zealot, and Thomas also called Didymus. There was a twelfth, chosen by the disciples to replace Judas Iscariot after Jesus ascended but before the Holy Spirit was given to them, his name was Matthias (Acts 1:12-26). And then there was Paul chosen by Jesus Christ well after Jesus had ascended and gifted us the with Holy Spirit.
Paul began as a Pharisee named Saul devoted to the Law and to his religion. He hated the Christians who he thought were destroying Judaism. Acts 9:1-31 describe Saul’s remarkable conversion. There is no explanation in the Bible regarding why Saul chose after his conversion to go by the name Paul. Some experts believe that he chose his new name to relate more with the gentiles, to acknowledge his new nature and calling from the Lord. Regardless, the fact is that Paul was chosen by the will of God to be an apostle. He would have been the last man one would think Jesus would choose. He was persecuting the church, he unlike the other apostles had been raised to become a leader in the Jewish religion, a Pharisee, and he had spent no time with Jesus during Jesus’ walk on the earth.  But he was chosen by the will of God to be an apostle, commissioned with the task of bringing Christianity to the gentiles.
Unlike the eleven apostles who chose Matthias to be the twelfth using the earthly means of lots to determine God’s will and elect a man, Jesus used the power of God to directly communicate with Paul. Matthias had been with the other disciples for everything and it was God’s will that he was chosen as an apostle. History tells us that he like all the others went on to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and that he like the others he suffered, was imprisoned, and died defending Jesus as the Messiah.
 But Paul was chosen when everyone thought no more apostles would be chosen, in a way that no one could have fathomed. You see, it is not what the world thinks that makes you eligible to be a Christian. It is God’s will. He chooses us, He calls us, He saves us. Most of the apostles’ lives are not shared with us in the Bible, but bits and pieces are recorded in history. For instance there is some evidence that Thomas too the Gospel to India and died there about 72 A.D. God used them, they performed miracles, they healed, they brought the Word of God to many many people. You too were chosen by the will of God for His own. You were commissioned to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:16-20). Maybe the world can not imagine you as a follower of Christ, but it is God who made you one. Maybe the world and the church does not recognize your walk with Christ as anything special, but Believer, it is God’s will that you are His. He redeemed you and He has given you gifts for the common good, to build up the church, and do good works.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 reads,
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Ephesians 4:11-13 says,
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
And Ephesians 2:8-10 reads,
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
None of the apostles followed Jesus to glorify themselves. They followed Jesus because He is the Christ and He is worthy of honor and glory and praise. They followed Him so that you and I could follow Him. They followed Him because it was the will of God that they follow Him just as it is His will that we follow Him.
I am a follower of Christ, chosen by the will of God. I am shy, currently an unpaid author, a single unemployed woman. But by the will of God I am a child of God, the Bride of Christ, gifted, beloved, and righteous. I am a writer for the Kingdom, an evangelist, prophetess, healer, and encourager.
The letter is written to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful to Christ Jesus. It is written to believers, to those faithful. It is also to us, to those of us faithful enough to read it and seek to get know God better. The letters of the day though usually addressed to a single church were shared and read through as many of the churches who received them (Colossians 4:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:27, 2 Peter 3:15-16).
And finally, in his greeting, Paul prays grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Reading the scriptures and coming to know more about who God is does bring grace and peace. There is a multiple meaning for us. One is that Paul combined the common Greek and Hebrew salutations to include both gentile and Jew in his letters. But he also wanted to remind us of the wonderful undeserved merit and gifts of salvation through Christ and the peace we have with Him through salvation.
God does not save because we deserver to be saved, because we are pretty good and mean well, or because we work hard to be righteous. He saves because it is His will and He is rich in grace and mercy. Titus 3:3-7 says it this way,
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Believer, you are so much more than the world thinks you are. You are chosen by God the to be His. I look forward to continuing this book with you. If just the first few words of it can be so edifying, imagine what the rest of Ephesians will teach us.
 


[i]God Rules. (n.d.). God Rules. Retrieved from Strong's Concordance: Apostle: http://www.godrules.net/library/strongs2b/gre652.htm
 
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Seeking the Gift of Healing

7/24/2018

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 I am the Lord, your healer   Exodus 15:26
I am the Lord, your healer Exodus 15:26
​As I delve into the subject of healing, I know that there are various camps about how to exercise the gift. There are people who believe you must speak with authority to the infirmity, spirit, or illness that you want healed. There are some who believe that the person being healed must have faith that God will do it. And some who believe that the person asking for the healing must have some special gift or faith. I personally believe that the way you speak or ask has nothing to do with it. To think that is to take the power from God and place it on yourself. It is not you, Larry, Joe, or Carlos doing the healing, it is God, Jehovah Rapha. If He wants to heal someone, do you think He’ll say, “Nope, I can’t heal Tom because Shelly didn’t use the right wording or speak to the infirmity and Tom doesn’t have enough faith.”
We have the power and authority to heal, to work miracles, to prophesy, and love people in Jesus’ name if we have the Holy Spirit in us and are doing these things in the love of Jesus Christ for the glory of God. Here are some verses that tell us this. Some of these verses, I shared yesterday, but I want to share them again today for anyone that didn’t read it.
John 14:12-14 reads,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Matthew 10:7-8 reads,
And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.
Luke 10:17-20 says,
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Now, there is some faith involved in healing, but it does not need to be on both sides of the healing. It can be the person who has faith enough to ask God to heal someone else or it can be the person who has faith enough to ask God to heal her. Matthew 17:14-21 tells the story of a time when the disciples could not cast out a demon.
 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, 15 said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.
Did the disciples word the rebuke wrong? No, they let fear of how powerful this demon was overcome the authority they had. They forgot that Jesus had already told them that they had power over the spirits (Luke 10:19-20). They let fear push their faith away. I’ve been there, I’ve seen a person in wheelchair and let fear convince me that my attempt to heal would not work. I put my faith in me, not in God. Nothing is impossible with God, but my misplaced faith stopped the miracle from happening.
In Robby Dawkins’ book Do What Jesus Did: A Real-Life Field Guide to Healing the Sick, Routing Demons and Changing Lives Forever[i], he described a phone call he received from a woman asking for healing for her father. He said he prayed for this man perfunctorily, but God healed this man in such a huge and glorious way that Robby Dawkins’ mustard size faith was grown into a huge mustard tree faith which became a ministry of miracles all over the world.  It was not Robby, It was God who healed, He just let Robby get to be part of it; He obeyed, he prayed in Jesus’ name and the faith of the daughter who asked for healing worked to bring healing.
Matthew 9:22 says,
Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.”
Mark 10:52 reads,
And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.”
And Luke 17:19 says,
And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
 
Each of those people did more than just hope or believe that Jesus would heal them, they acted on that belief, they reached out or they responded. Faith is exercised in taking action, not on silent hope. Ask, seek, knock and you will receive, find, and the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7).
Why haven’t you been healed? Why haven’t you been able to heal? It is not because you don’t have enough faith, if you asked, if you tried, you have enough faith. It isn’t because you’re not good enough, because you sinned, or because you deserve your illness, injury, or pain.
Isaiah 57:17-19 reads,
Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,
    I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
    but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
    I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
19     creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
    “and I will heal him.

 
 
When Jesus healed, He did not heal some of the people brought to Him, He healed ALL of the people brought to Him. You will read some these verses below.
I can’t say why healing has not come for some. I know that many people who have the gift of healing, who, today, heal hundreds of people, say that when they began they did not see any results. Todd White, who has a great healing ministry says that He prayed for more than 900 people before seeing his first healing. Perhaps it is about persistence, perhaps it is about reaching the point where you know it is God being glorified and not yourself, I honestly do not know. What I do know is this, that I personally need the faith to boldly go before the throne of God and ask, that I need to understand that I have the authority over the spirits, and that God is The Lord, Our Healer.
So, do you like me just need to trust that God wants to heal, can heal, and will heal? In order to keep asking, to be persistent in the seeking, we need to know that God is willing to heal, can heal and does heal. God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). And honestly, I know there are some people who do not want to be healed. God will not force Himself on us.  I prayed for someone recently who I realized more than hour into a conversation which was supposed to be me praying for her healing, that she simply enjoyed being the sick courageous victim, she had no desire to be healed. After two hours of this conversation in which I offered a compassionate ear, I interrupted her, prayed for her healing and explained that I had to go. She did not want to be healed even though it was her that came to me requesting the prayer. I still believe God will heal her.
Here are a few of the many verses to help us have the faith we need to exercise, since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
Exodus 15:25-26
There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
 
Luke 5:12-13
While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.  And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 
 
Matthew 8:16-17
That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
 
Matthew 12:15
Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all
 
Matthew 14:14
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
 
Deuteronomy 7:15
The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt.
 
Psalm 30:2-3
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit

 
Psalm 41:1-4
Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
    In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;
2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
    in his illness you restore him to full health.

4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
    heal me, for I have sinned against you!”

 
 Malachi 4:2
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
 
Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.

 
Cherished, God loves you, He is willing to heal, He does heal, and He is able. Be persistent, ask, seek, and knock. I encourage you to look up scriptures about healing and memorize a couple of them. Keep them in mind, remember the truth when lies come at you regarding your health and healing. And know this, I have prayed that every person reading this devotional today will be completely healed and restored in Jesus’ name. I know that God is the Lord Who Heals, Jehovah Rapha.


[i] Dawkins, R. (2013). Do What Jesus Did: A Real-Life Field Guide to Healing the Sick, Routing Demons and Changing Lives Forever. Chosen Books.
 
 
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Desire the Higher Gifts! God is Revealed through the Gifts of the Spirit.

7/23/2018

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Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?  Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:29-31
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:29-31
​I love the Lord! I adore Him. And it flabbergasts me that He loves me personally. It astonishes me that He continues to bless me, mature me, and be with me. This relationship is like nothing I could imagine. All I have to do is submit to Him as my Lord and He shows me how deeply He loves me (Ephesians 5:22-28). I do not have to prove my love to Him, yet I desire to demonstrate it. He is always proving His love to me, showering me with gifts I could never deserve and giving me the desires of my heart. He is God, LORD, Creator, Messiah, and I am merely me. Yet He calls me Beloved, Bride, Treasured Possession, Child, and Friend. He has names for me that I do not know and personal names that have been revealed through prophecy.
When I asked Him for wisdom, He gave it. When I asked for the gift of prophecy, He gave it. And He gave so much more, I have grown so much in Him and so much closer to Him. When I suffer, I hold onto Him. When I rest, I hold onto Him. Now, I am asking Him for the opportunity to teach through speaking as well as writing. And I am asking for the gift of healing. Because I am asking for that gift, I am going to study God’s healing power. First, I want to share why I even dare ask for another gift, when God has granted me so much grace.
Every believer is given at least one gift as the Lord manifests Himself through His child.
1 Corinthians 12:4-13 reads,
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
I believe this, the Lord can and does use any willing person to manifest His healing power or any other gift as He wills, just as the passage we just read says. Even though healing is not one of my gifts, I have been blessed a few times to be a part of someone’s healing. Even videos I posted on YouTube to help people fall asleep to prayer and scripture have resulted in healing for brothers and sisters I have never met. I know from experience God will manifest Himself through us in various gifts, even when they are not one of our primary gifts. Why? Because He wills it, He is not limited by our weakness. If someone needs to see the love of God demonstrated through a miracle, and you are available and willing, God will use you. He will speak through you, heal through you, encourage through you, and love through you. The Lord prophesied through Caiaphas, the High Priest who was desperate to kill Jesus (John 11:49-51). The Holy Spirit is the same Holy Spirit in me as in you, Believer. The same Holy Spirit that indwelled the Apostle Paul indwells you! He is not limited by your weakness or even by your faith! Caiaphas hated Jesus and had faith only in the Law and tradition, yet he prophesied. How much more will God work His gifts through the willing and seeking believer? 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says,
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I am weak! I have terribly low ‘self-esteem’, yet God uses me to encourage others.  I am extremely shy; yet God uses me to boldly speak with strangers and pray for them. I am an angry strong-willed person, yet God gives me mercy and compassion for others. I could go on about how short I fall and how the Lord is glorified not despite my failings, but through them.
God has told us to ask for what we want in His name and He said He will give it (John 14:13-14). It is not different with spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 reads,
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Paul said we are to earnestly, that is sincerely and seriously desire the higher gifts and we would be shown a higher way. 1 Corinthians 13 explains that higher way is Love, the perfect and pure love that the Father loves with, that Jesus demonstrated, and that the Holy Spirit enables us to live out. 1 Corinthians 14:1-3 reads,
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
You see the gift of speaking in tongues is wonderful, it edifies you, it brings you into intimate fellowship with the Lord; but a gift like prophesy or healing or teaching edifies, encourages, and comforts the church and the world. If God wants us to desire the higher gifts, don’t you imagine He will give us those things? Psalm 37:3-6 promises,
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.

In Matthew 10:8, Jesus commanded the twelve chosen to go “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons” They had only just become His chosen twelve. Eleven of them would be the Apostles one day, but when Jesus sent them out, they were just twelve guys who chose to follow Jesus, twelve young men who didn’t really know yet if this was a prophet or the Messiah or a good teacher. Yet, they had the authority to heal, resurrect, cleanse, and exorcise.  You and I, we have that authority too. This command is for us too and God would not command us to do something He wasn’t going to empower us to do. Those amazing miracles are not just for the Apostles, Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples (Luke 10) and when they returned they were sharing with one another and rejoicing over the amazing things they did in Jesus’ name. They said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” But Jesus answered them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.  Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Those amazing miracles, healing, casting out demons, and raising the dead, they are nothing compared to the miracle of your salvation. Satan is nothing, he’s already been cast out of heaven, already lost the battle. You have the Living God living within you, what is it to let Him be who He is and love people by His power? God chose to reveal Himself to you and He chooses to reveal Himself to others through you! Thank God for that privilege! Praise God for that privilege! In verses 21-24 of Luke 10, Jesus prayed,
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
God is revealed through the gifts of the Spirit, through the miracles such as prophecy, healing, teaching, encouraging, mercy, and administration. John 14:8-17 says it this way,
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
In my next devotional, I will look at verses and passages regarding healing itself, so that we will not be uninformed about this gift. What gift is it you seek? Is it wisdom, prophecy, healing, stewardship (administration), mercy or some other? Seek the Lord God, love others as Jesus loved you. He will give you the desires of your heart.
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Receiving Blessings is not Based on Works

7/22/2018

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Now we can come fearlessly right into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome when we come with Christ and trust in him. Ephesians 3:12 (TLB)
Now we can come fearlessly right into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome when we come with Christ and trust in him. Ephesians 3:12 (TLB)
​I want to continue talking about blessings today. Perhaps you wonder why you are not receiving the blessings, the manifested promises of God. Most of the blessings you receive from the LORD come from salvation, but some seem to have a condition attached, for instance, Psalm 37:4 is a promise that many people quote because it is beautiful and encouraging to know that our Lord wants to give us what we want. It reads,
Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

The blessing that God will give you the desires of your heart is contingent on delighting yourself in the Lord. Even when we expand the passage to see even more promises, we see the stipulations of the covenant. Psalm 37:3-6 reads,
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.

We are commanded to trust the Lord and do good, dwell (rest, live, stay) in the land and befriend faithfulness. That is the definition of delighting in the Lord. That is the precondition for the promise. Commit and trust and He will act. Other verses talk about keeping God’s commands, worshipping Him and then receiving the blessings. Some verses talk about thinking a certain way; others talk about adopting an attitude before you experience the promise attached. But how does that fit in with God’s grace and mercy? It seems as if suddenly good works are required to receive the many blessings God has for us. But, this is not the case. God is always graceful, always faithful. Look at the provisions for the contract of the promise again. Let’s look at the requirements in some more promises. Proverbs 3:5-8 reads,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your flesh
    and refreshment to your bones.

Here guidance is based on depending on God and healing based on humility and repentance which leads to following Him. Though the promises may appear to be contingent on following rules, they are not. We often hear and say that Christianity is not religion and rules, it is a relationship. But do you truly believe that? Do you live it out? All these prerequisites for blessings really are about being in a relationship with the LORD.  Even when it seems that God is saying “follow all the rules and then…” For instance, 1 Kings 3:14 reads,
And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.
We already understand it is impossible to keep all God’s commandments. That is, it is impossible without God. In Mark 10:17-27 when the disciples heard Jesus tell the rich young ruler how to be born again, they were astonished because Jesus said it was harder to enter the Kingdom of God than for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle and asked, “Then who can be saved?”
And Jesus answered, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
We know further that Jesus fulfilled the law for us (Matthew 5:17). He also said that all the law and the prophets were dependent on two commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22-36-39).
Those two great commandments are about relationship, about loving God first and letting that love be demonstrated by loving others. All those conditions for God’s blessings are about the way we mature or conform to the image of Christ because we are in a relationship with Him. Trust, dwell, be faithful, love, depend, commit, and delight are attitudes that we live out in our relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He says that if we love Him and seek to know Him that all the promises of healing, provision, and abundant life will be given to us. Even God says that He does not want empty rituals and meaningless adherence to the law, He wants relationship. Hosea 6:6 reads,
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

A relationship means a relationship, it means communication, fellowship, spending time, and actively seeking ways to love. God called Abraham His friend (James 2:23). Jesus talked about us as His friends (John 15:15). We are called children of God (Galatians 3:26). These are all relational terms. All good gifts come from the Father (James 1:17) and He loves to give us blessings. Matthew 7:11 tells us,
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Perhaps, the reason you have not received the blessings and gifts you are wanting is simply because you have not asked. Sometimes, when we pray, the results of the prayer are us coming to understand ourselves, our desires, and our real needs. As we speak to God, He speaks back, though not always in words, sometimes it is in revelations about who we are. In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus said,
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
That same sentiment is repeated multiple times by Jesus and later by the Apostles. Matthew 18:19, Matthew 21:22, Mark 11:24, Luke 11:9, John 14:13, John 15:7, John 15:16, John 16:23, James 1:5, 1 John 3:22, and 1 John 5:14 all say that if we ask, He will give. The condition is that you believe, have faith, ask in Jesus name, do what pleases Him, or gather in Jesus name and ask. Once again, the condition is about relationship, it is about knowing your identity in Christ as a child of God and acting in His name. God knows you completely. He knows your motives better than you do. Consider the many times people asked Jesus questions, He knew what was in their hearts and He answered according to their motives, not their words. Consider King David a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), who cried out to God so often, “Where are you? Why have you forgotten me?” God knew David was heartbroken, He knew David was angry or forlorn. That man after God’s own heart did not have to hide his feelings from God, He spoke openly to His Father in Heaven and as He spoke, sang, or cried, The Spirit comforted, counseled, and brought peace as David came to understand more of the Lord’s perspective. That is what happens when we talk openly and honestly with a loved one, a husband, father, or friend. When you are hurting, do you hide it from your spouse? When as a child, you were hungry, did you tell your parents? When you are confused about life, do you talk it out with your friend or do you mull over it in your mind? If you are in a relationship with the LORD, I Am, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Savior, and Wonderful Counselor, wouldn’t you bring it all to Him and know He can and will take care of you and love you?
There are times when my pain or even my desire is beyond me. I can’t put it into words, I can only go to His throne and cry or go to Him and sigh or say, “I don’t know, Lord.” But He knows us well.  He knows us and even prays for us, I love the way The Message words Romans 8:26-28.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
Am I saying that works do not matter? No, I am not. A relationship with Jesus shows up in our lives, it shows up in our attitudes and actions (Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 13:1-8), it is revealed by our love for others (John 13:35). It shows up in lives that look like Jesus. James said it like this in James 2:14-19
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Loving is shown in action. And belief without a relationship is no better than the demons! Spending personal quality time with someone is essential to a real relationship. Some of that quality personal time with the Lord, part of what it is to love Him with all our heart, souls, strength, and mind is to worship Him? What is worship to you? Is it time spent with The Lord, where you bless Him and praise Him and rejoice in who He is? Or is it singing songs with your arms uplifted, being filled with a really good feeling and asking Him to bless you? God blesses us already, shouldn’t worship be all for Him? If we worship with a motivation of blessings, good feelings, or catharsis are we worshipping or manipulating? Parents usually know when their child is talking them up to get what they want, God knows too. He is the LORD God Almighty, He is worthy of worship, and glory, and honor. Are we worshipping Him or the experience of worship? God already knows. If we come before Him honestly and choose to praise Him, choose to thank Him, choose to venerate Him even if we are not feeling particularly worshipful at the moment, I believe He prefers that faithful pursuit of Him much more than He prefers a false show following the rules we have set up for worship just because we need to feel that amazing blessing of the Holy Spirit. I believe too He is happy to bless us with that wonderful joy of the filling of the Spirit when we worship in Spirit and in Truth. You can worship in Spirit or in Truth if you have not entered into a relationship with the object of your worship.
What are the blessings you are seeking? Are they truly for the glory of God? Are you in a real relationship with Him so that you know and want His will? When we pray for God’s will on Earth as it is in Heaven, we are not only praying for that perfection, joy, and peace of Heaven, we are praying for that unadulterated intimacy with Jesus that will happen in Heaven.
Beloved, God has blessings for you and they are yours! He has made promises to you and they are yours. You do not have to hope harder, believe more, or work harder. Just continue to be in that relationship with Him and let Him conform you to His image. He will give you all the desires of your heart because you, Friend of God, will be a person after His own heart.
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You Don't Have to Pray More or Believe Harder to be Blessed

7/20/2018

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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 photo by Lani Campbell
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 photo by Lani Campbell
​It is heart-wrenching to me to watch people try to earn God’s favor, blessings, or promises. I see them try and do good works, pray harder, or believe harder to obtain the gifts God has for them. I have sadly watched and heard as they attempt to comfort themselves or others with platitudes and truisms rather than the truth. All those empty but well-meant sayings do is cause people to work for something that cannot be won, making them think that they are somehow not as worthy as others and do not merit that good and abundant life other people have.
Just like you cannot earn God’s love, you do not have to earn the many blessings He has for you. God is graceful and merciful. He is Love manifested. There are some blessings we choose. We choose salvation or reject Jesus. We choose life or death. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 reads,
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
The choice to obey the Lord is not one that means multiple choices, obey Him now, disobey Him then, have Heaven (the Land promised to us) given and snatched away depending on how well we are obeying. It is the offer to choose to follow God by faith, to love Him with our entire being and be saved by grace through faith for always unless we choose to walk away from Him. Nothing including your sin can snatch you away from the Father (John 10:27-30). Your sins, all of them, are forgiven (Psalm 103:3). That choice is one we make and receive life, which is blessing, or death, which is curse.
Some blessings are for everyone, regardless of salvation. The sun, the seasons, this earth, and the love of God. Acts 14:15-17 reads,
…We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 
But, salvation brings with it a multitude of blessings. It brings hope, assurance, perseverance, and joy. But it also brings other blessings. Psalm 103 lists some of the blessings or benefits of following Jesus. It reminds us that we ought to remember them, that is bring them to mind often so that we can bless God (make him happy) with praises. That is what verses 1-2 say,
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,

Then David goes on to praise God as he reminds us of some blessings of salvation.
Verses 3-6 read,
who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all who are oppressed.

  • He forgives all our sins!
  • He heals all our diseases!
  • He saves us from Hell and death as He gives value to our lives!
  • He loves us unswervingly and gives unfaltering mercy (undeserved kindness)!
  • He provides, He even gratifies and pleases us with good in order that we can stay strong through every circumstance.
  • He is just and will always work for righteousness and justice.
Verses 10-14 tell us,
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
    he remembers that we are dust.

You see, God understands we are not perfect, we make mistakes, we sin, we are human. He doesn’t deal with us in our imperfection, He deals with us in His perfect love and mercy! Our mistakes do not mean He will not heal or save us or provide for us. We cannot earn retribution for what He has and chosen not to punish, just like we cannot earn blessings and gifts that He has chosen to give us.
So, are you asking, “Why haven’t I been healed?” “Why am I facing eviction?” Believer, it is not because you did some sin or didn’t do some good work. There are many possibilities as to why you are still waiting for healing, still waiting for that promise to manifest, or are going through a trial that does not feel like a blessing. None of them has anything to do with what you are doing or not doing. None of them is because you worded a prayer wrong or didn’t pray hard enough, or lied to your friend about what you thought of his new cowboy boots. Maybe the reason is really simple, you didn’t ask, or you want that thing for the wrong reason. You want it to mollify your appetite instead of glorify Jesus. James 4:2-3 reads,
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions
It is possible that the thing you desire so much, that you’re sure is good just isn’t God’s will for you; He wants something better for you and giving you that seemingly good thing would derail the great things He has planned for you. 1 John 5:13-15 reads,
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
And Jeremiah 29:10-14 reads,
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Sometimes, it is just that you have to wait for the right time. God knows the plans He has for you, He knows exactly the right moment to fulfill a promise, to bring you out of a trial, or to give you the good gift He has. The trial has a purpose, and it is a good purpose. Romans 5:1-5 reads,
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
The people with the greatest faith are not those who never had to exercise faith. When you endure a trial, you turn to God, you pray, you cry out to Him, you experience His comfort, grace, and kindness in ways you never could if you didn’t realize your great need for His comfort, grace, and kindness. The suffering we experience conforms us to the image of Christ. That is what is meant by Romans 8:28-30, that is why it comforts so much. It doesn’t comfort us because it means “it will all turn out okay in the end.” That amazing and powerful passage reads,
 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
As much as I want to continue and tell you the many blessings that are yours in Christ. I will have to continue another day. Today, just understand that God adores you and He does not change. He has already blessed you, whether you have seen it yet or not.
There are some promises with conditions, some blessings that come along with prerequisites and we will take some time to look at those another day. But, the main requirement for the majority of the abundant blessings of God is that you love Him and let Him love you.
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You Cannot Earn God's Love

7/19/2018

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Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault--we who stand before him covered with his love. Ephesians 1:4
Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. Ephesians 1:4
​I recently started watching a TV show in which the mother of two little girls put the onus of her youngest daughter’s life on the eldest daughter’s shoulders. She taught her that her sicker younger daughter would die, if the elder daughter sinned and that even giving in to the temptation of receiving a gift of chocolate from her aunt was enough to get her little sister very ill. She believed that if she had any joy in her life, told a lie, or did not spend hours on her bare knees in the hard dirt praying for forgiveness, that God would make her sister ill and kill her.
While this is extreme, I think there are people, even Christians who believe that God will only bless them if they do not sin or that He will only help them if they are doing there best. I even saw someone offer “comfort” to a hurting friend by telling her, “Do your best and God will do the rest.” I understand the comfort she was trying to offer, but the fact is, God does not depend on our behavior to help us, rescue us, or love us. Do you understand that if God relied on us to decide to love us, He couldn’t love us at all?
Every person has fallen short of the mark, every single solitary person except Jesus Christ has sinned and cannot merit God’s favor or Salvation (Romans 3:23). But that is not bad news! You see you cannot earn God’s love, but He loves you! He loves you in a way that is bigger and deeper and more vast than you or I can fully understand. Ephesians 3:14-21 reads,
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
God already loves you. And He loves you fully and deeply. The more we understand and recognize His love, the more deeply rooted we are in Christ. The faith we have in just accepting, assenting, and acceding to His love the more firmly founded in Christ we are. Grasping the concept that God loves us before we can earn it and that we do not have to earn it gives us strength to understand the richness, scope, freedom, and profundity of this love that surpasses, that is exceeds and transcends knowledge and understanding. It allows us to comprehend the incomprehensible to know the unknowable, not because of ourselves but because the more we accept and receive His love, the fuller we are with Him and the more we become like Christ, thinking like Him, and loving like Him because His Spirit is in us, transforming and renewing us.
You were loved by God before you were saved. Before you gave your life to Him and called Jesus your Lord, He already loved you. It is that love and what He is doing for us that carries us through any circumstance. Romans 5:1-11 reads,
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Get this, He loved you before you were born. Psalm 139:13-16 reads,
For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

He loved you and chose you to be His before the creation of the world! Ephesians 1:3-10 in The Living Bible Translation says,
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Christ.
4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!
6 Now all praise to God for his wonderful kindness to us and his favor that he has poured out upon us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. 7 So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; 8 and he has showered down upon us the richness of his grace—for how well he understands us and knows what is best for us at all times.
9 God has told us his secret reason for sending Christ, a plan he decided on in mercy long ago; 10 and this was his purpose: that when the time is ripe he will gather us all together from wherever we are—in heaven or on earth—to be with him in Christ forever.
 
Do you think that now, somehow we have to do something to earn God’s love? No! We can revel in His love! We can celebrate and enjoy it! That is not a reason to continue sinning, it is a reason to choose to obey God, to love like Him through His power and Spirit, not our own. If God loved us so much before we were reconciled or given peace with Him, how much more now will He love to pour His goodness and love out on us?
Now that you are a Christian, you should know better than to run around living a life that contradicts God. But still there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less. Nothing can divorce you from His love, NOTHING! Hardships will come and the enemy will use them to lie to you and make you think that God no longer loves you, that He is disappointed in you, or that you are not His very own Cherished Child. But, staying rooted in the knowledge of His love for you will not only keep Him strong in you, it will help you continue to grow in Him not despite your circumstances but through them and then over them. God loves you, He saved you. Who is there that can change that? You certainly cannot change it. Nothing and no one can change who God is. He is Love (1 John 4:8). He is Almighty (Revelation 1:8). He is I Am that I Am (Exodus 3:14). Romans 8:31-38 says it this way,
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
No, we cannot earn His love, there is nothing we can do to make Him love us, He already does. There is nothing we can do or not do to make Him stop loving us. Does that mean we should go around and look like people who do not know they are loved by God, live the way the lost do and curse Him, ignore Him, and live as if we evolved from amoebas? No, God’s graceful love is not a reason to sin, it is a reason to live in love and obedience. We respond to His love by loving Him and our love to Him is demonstrated by obedience.  1 John 5:1-5 says
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
 
God does not love Billy Graham anymore than He loves you! He does not love you more than He loves Bill Nye. He loves you, you cannot earn it and you cannot earn blessings by being good or earn curses by being bad. Accepting and acknowledging the unmerited love God gives you will help you through every circumstance, bad times and good times. Philippians 4:12-13 says it like this,
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
There is so much more to say on this subject and more we can talk about in regards to blessings and the many good gifts of our abundantly rich Father. Let’s continue this tomorrow, when we discuss living in the blessings of God and how maybe that does not look like you imagine it does. For today, I will close by reminding you of the awesome goodness and perfect love of God. 1 John 4:7-13 reads,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
 
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    As I read the Bible every day, I take what God teaches me, what He says, and write it out. I then share that with you. It gives me a deeper understanding of the Word and I hope that it will encourage you as it does me, to put your love and faith into action.

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