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Traits of God Part 4: God Knows You Personally

7/29/2016

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For you formed my inward parts;     you knitted me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;     my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:13-14
​Traits of God Part 4: God knows you
 
Have you ever thought about it? God knows you, completely and perfectly. He knows you better than you know yourself. And He loves you. He loves you deeply, personally and wholly. Many people see God as a distant or apathetic deity.  For some it is acceptable to consider that God loves the world in general, but not that He loves or even thinks about them specifically. But the Bible tells us that He knows and loves us intimately. I can speak from experience to tell you that what the Bible says about this is true. I know God knows me and loves me because of our relationship. Maybe your relationship with God doesn’t tell you that and you are wondering if it’s real. Perhaps today, we can help you move to a deeper relationship with Him so you can appreciate it for yourself.
The first reason we have to say God knows us is that God is your creator. He didn’t only create Adam and Eve and leave the rest to science; He takes a hand in the creation of every single person ever born. Psalm 139:13-18 has some amazing things to say about it.
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.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
    I awake, and I am still with you.
Look at how wonderful this is! He formed your inner parts. He knit you together in the womb. Nothing about you was ever hidden from Him, even your DNA. Before anyone on this earth ever knew you existed, before your mother knew she was pregnant, God was watching you. He had already written your life in His book before you were conceived. He had a part in every part of your making. Moreover, He thinks of you so often that you couldn’t number His thoughts any more than you could count the grains of sand on the planet.
That is so far beyond our ability to consider but remember, God is not human. He is All-knowing, All-powerful, All-pervading God. He is infinite. His divinity is beyond our comprehension (Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 11:33-36). Yet, He allows us and wants us to know Him (Hosea 6:6). In fact having a real relationship with God where we come to know Him as friend, Father, and Lord is the reason Jesus saved us. In John 17:3-4 Jesus prayed,
“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
 
Do you know that God chose you specifically for a relationship? You! The person reading this right now, He wants a relationship with you. Isaiah 43:1 says,
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.”

He knows you because He made you and has plans for your life. But He also knows you because He watches you, He pays attention to your life. If you have a special person in your life that you love, you know so many little things about her. You care, you can see the freckles on her nose and recognize her. You can see the shape of her hands and identify her. You know every contour and each curve of her form. God knows us even better than that because He loves us so profoundly. Luke 12:6-7 tells us,
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
 
He is not distant. He truly cares about you, your heartaches, your joys, your hopes, and your uncertainties. One of my favorite of God’s names is El Roi, The God Who Sees Me. This is the name Hagar gave to God when He spoke to her after she had run away from Sarai in terrible distress in Genesis 16. Verse 13 of that chapter reads,
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”
Hagar thought she was just the throwaway. But God knew her and cared about how she felt. He didn’t consider her a throwaway. He comforted her and sent her back into a difficult situation with new hope and strength. God knows you better than you know yourself and get this, where we want to denounce ourselves, He won’t. He forgives and chooses not to think of our sin any longer. 1 John 3:19-20 reads,
By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 
And Isaiah 43:25 says,
I, I am he
    who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
    and I will not remember your sins.

 
If your relationship with God doesn’t tell you that He knows you and loves you, what can you do? It takes a step of faith. It takes stepping out beyond what you see with your eyes and looking for the invisible. It takes seeking the Kingdom of God. How do you look for something you can’t see? How do you seek something you’re unsure is there? Ask God to show you; pray. Ask God to reveal Himself to you, desire Him in your life. Psalm 119:18-20 says,
Open my eyes, that I may behold
    wondrous things out of your law.
19 I am a sojourner on the earth;
    hide not your commandments from me!
20 My soul is consumed with longing
    for your rules at all times.

 
Ephesians 1:17-20 reads,
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
 
The more time you spend with God, the better you will come to know Him and understand how well He knows you. If you want God to be closer to you, get closer to Him (James 4:8 ). He wants you to be close to Him. He wants to give you all He has for you. It is your choice.
 
 
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Traits of God Part 1: Love

7/26/2016

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Give thanks to the God of heaven,     for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:26 On photo of Shining Sun by Angie  Majewski
Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:26 On photo of Shining Sun by Angie Majewski
​Today we begin our study regarding the traits of God. The first characteristic that comes to mind for many is God’s love. That is not surprising since God is love.  1 John 4:8 reads,
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
When we put that verse into context we see even more about why love is such a significant aspect of who God is. 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.
Without God, we cannot truly love, because love is from God. God proved his love, demonstrated it to us, when the Father sent His only Son so that we could live. John 3:16-17 says it this way,
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
 
We didn’t earn that salvation, we didn’t love God and He decided to reward that love. No, He loved us first, before we even heard of Him. He loved us before we were born. He loved us and came into the world to pay the price of our sin so we could live and so we could know Him. We didn’t have to stop sinning first before He loved us. He loved us already. Romans 5:6-11 in The Message describes it like this,
Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
9-11 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!
One thing that this relationship with God allows is our transformation to be like Jesus. Look back to 1 John 4:11-13, it reads,
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.
 
The Father loves us so much, He sent His Son to give us life. Jesus loved us so much He was willing to die for us. The Holy Spirit loves us so much He is enmeshed with us to transform us into the image of Christ. If God loves us so much, we ought to be able to love each other, especially since his Spirit is in us making it possible. It is through our love of one another that people will recognize Jesus in us. It is through our loving that people will come to call on Jesus and be saved. John 13:34-35 reads,
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.
 
God’s love is pretty amazing. His love is perfect. It is something we all aspire to while we are here on this earth. And if we are able to love the way God loves, we won’t break any of God’s laws (Matthew 22:38-40). But how does God love? What is perfect love? I know you think you’ve read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a a million times, but read it again. Consider each phrase and ask yourself if you live up God-love or if you fall short in some areas. And know this, we all fall short of God’s perfection, but He loves us enough to forgive us by Jesus’ blood (Romans 3:23-25).
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
 
God’s love is powerful. It saves, as we have read above. 1 John 4:15-21 describes some of what God’s love does.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
 
We abide in Jesus and are perfected (we are made more and more like Jesus). We gain confidence and know that we have nothing to dread on Judgement Day. God’s love casts out fear. We have nothing to be afraid of and nothing to worry about. Romans 8:37-39 says,
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.
 
Isn’t that awesome? Nothing can separate you from God’s love! Nothing can make God stop loving you. Not the devil, not another person, and not you. NOTHING! So today Believer, consider God’s love, bask in it and thank Him for His everlasting and steadfast complete love. And most of, pass it along to others.
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Genesis 3 God’s Perfect Love seen in The Fall

6/3/2016

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He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19
He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19
​Genesis 3
The account of The Fall illustrates God’s deep and absolute love of us, His masterpiece of creation. In chapter two before woman had been created God told Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). After God made the woman chapter 2 ends with verse 25.
And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
There was no need for them to be ashamed because they didn’t know good and evil, only good. They were living in perfect harmony with God. There was no need for them to hide anything of themselves from each other or from God. They had no sin.  Chapter 3 verses 1-6 reads,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
 
The serpent was craftier than any other animal on land. Satan chose to enter into a snake because the snake was cunning and deceitful. Snakes are excellent at hiding, laying in waiting for their prey, and scaring people. Now at this point serpents were different than they are now, they probably had legs or some other way of moving that didn’t require them to slither on the ground and they didn’t yet eat meat. No humans nor animals ate meat yet (Genesis 1:29-30).[i]
Satan enters into beings that will suit his purpose. He needed the serpent’s deceitfulness because he needed to deceive Adam and his wife with a clever ruse. Both Adam and the woman were there, but the serpent addressed the woman. The serpent began with a question, one which would lead the woman to engage him because she would want to correct him in order to point out how good God is. The serpent said, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” The serpent knew this wasn’t true but knew the man and woman would want to argue for God’s sake.
Isn’t that how he often engages us? An enemy of God, a false teacher, false prophet, or person in a false religion will state some obviously wrong doctrine, and there we are the “good Christians” defending God as if God cannot defend Himself.
And of course the woman answered the serpent and corrected him, “We can eat from any tree but that one because if we eat it, we’ll die.” Now she was engaged in the exchange. So the serpent said, “No! God’s deceiving you! If you eat this you won’t die, you’ll know what He knows and you’ll be like him!” Why didn’t Adam speak up for his wife at this point? God had told Adam His commandment, Adam had told his wife. Why didn’t he take his wife’s hand and take her far away from the serpent? Because he was listening, he was interested, he was just as involved in the conversation as she was.
So then the couple looked at the tree in a new light. It was the same tree they saw every day, but now they saw it through deception and temptation. It looked like something to be desired. They wanted to be like God and they ate.
And sure enough, they knew both good and evil and they began to die. Before they ate the fruit, they would have lived eternally, never dying, not even aging. But they traded immortality for mortality. They traded righteousness, which made them like God for the knowledge of good and evil which they thought would make them like God. Verses 7-10 read,
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
 Their eyes opened and they became responsible for right and wrong. They had been naked all along but now their eyes were open to their sin, and they were ashamed. They had to hide their nakedness from one another and they had to hide it from God.  They were afraid. God knew what they had done and where they were but in His kindness, He called to them and let them come to Him and confess. Verses 11-13 read,
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The man blamed the woman and the woman blamed the serpent. How did God respond to each of them in this sin? First, He had to give them the consequences of the sin. He had to discipline them because He loved them. God disciplines those He loves (Proverbs 3:12). Verses 14-16 record the serpent’s curse.
The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you above all livestock
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

 
The snake who let Satan enter him was cursed. He lost his legs or whatever other form of mobility he may have had and had to slither across the ground. There was enmity between him and the woman and all mankind after her.  At this point in history there was no enmity between any other creature and man.[ii] Who do we blame for sin? We blame the serpent for tempting the woman. The serpent has become synonymous with temptation, sin, and evil. The serpent can be crushed by man stepping on his head, and the serpent can injure and some can poison man by biting his heel (where he can reach). Likewise Jesus Christ the man crushed Satan on the cross and Satan does his best to injure and poison mankind. He is powerless to do more than try and hurt children protected by the Holy Spirit.
Verse 16 is God’s discipline of the woman,
To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
    and he shall rule over you.”

Not only was childbirth, which is such an honor of being woman made into something very painful, but women do long for their husbands. Women have a desire to please men and because of that they often take a subservient role to men. Many women dress provocatively to tantalize men. The desire seems to go both ways. Men lust after women and women after men. Verses 17-20 read,
 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”

20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
 
In a relationship with God, we know that God is our All-Sufficient All-Powerful Provider. Outside that relationship we struggle and work, we sweat and toil to provide for ourselves. Men especially feel the need to provide, to solve every problem, and to do things for themselves.
The results of eating the fruit were also death. Man was created from the dust and after his death his body slowly becomes dust again. It was at this point that the woman got her name. She would have to suffer in childbirth, but she was honored as a mother and named Eve.
God did these things because He loved Adam and Eve but He didn’t stop there. He loved enough to meet their every need, even the ones that arose from their own sin. Verse 21 records an act that can be so easily overlooked but it is an expression of deep love.
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
They were naked and they were ashamed. God gave them clothes to take away their shame. Where did God get the skin that He used to make clothes for Adam and Eve? He spilled the blood of an animal. He made them clothes, not just loin cloths but clothes. He forgave their sin. Zechariah 3:4 is just one of the many verses in the Bible that refer to new clothes in place of old as representing forgiveness of sin. It reads,
And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”
God was not finished expressing His love, even in the light of Adam and Eve’s sin. Verses 22-24 read,
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”
What looks like part of a punishment to some was really an act of love and protection. If man lived forever with the ability to sin, he would forever be separated from God, forever living under the curse of sin. He forever protected mankind from eating from the Tree of Life and living eternally without Jesus. What a wonderful God!
And in case you are curious, we will one day have access again to that Tree. When we are united forever with The Lord in New Jerusalem on the New Earth, The Tree of Life will be there, on the banks of the River of Life and we will be free to eat of it, because we will be perfect, no longer under the curse of sin You can read about it Revelation 2:1-3.
This chapter gave us so much to consider. So reflect. Remember God loves you deeply. He wouldn’t discipline you if He didn’t. What seems bad can be good, and what is difficult can bring honor. God loves you enough to make a way out of sin and shame. And lastly, look at your relationship with Satan. If there is one there. Stop it. Do not engage with the deceiver any more. Jesus doesn’t need you to fight the devil or defend Him to the enemy. He already defeated Him. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7).


[i] People were given animals as food after the Flood per Genesis 9:2-3

[ii] Genesis 9:2-3 after the flood is the same time when there was fear and enmity between animals and humans
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1 Peter 2 Jesus Honors Us, Let’s Honor Others

5/23/2016

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Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:10
​1 Peter 2
Yesterday, we read about being born again and having a new identity in Christ. We know that God sees us now as completely new, perfected, and righteous. We need to believe the new and eternal name He has for us, not the accusations of Satan or the world. What does that mean for our lives? How does the world see us now? In God’s sight we are noble, but in much of the world’s estimation we are detestable. That cannot stop us from striving to be who God says we are and growing into maturity as the image of Jesus Christ. That begins by living up to our new identity and not living the way we did before Jesus saved us. Verses 1-3 read,
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
 
What is the pure spiritual milk we crave? It is the Holy Spirit teaching us and revealing Christ to us. It is His guidance as He divulges the Word of God to us. And it is the unwrapping of the mystery of the Gospel. The more we ask the Lord to feed us the spiritual food He offers, the more we will grow up into who He made us to be. Those of us who have been Christ followers for a little while know that the bread of the Word is better by far than anything the world ever offered. We have tasted have found that the Lord is good. We ask the Lord for more and He is happy to comply. We seek Him and He is happy to be found. We knock and He opens the door (Matthew 7:7-8).
We go to Jesus as the founder, builder, and finisher of our faith, not so that we will look good, but so that we will be made good. Don’t expect the world to applaud. They didn’t admire, receive, or honor Jesus. Verses 4-8 read,
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
    and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
 
The world doesn’t honor us, they think we’re fools. They rejected Christ and they reject us, especially as we grow into His image. They think that the way we live, in obedience to the law of love and choosing righteousness is nuts. They not only do not want to obey God, they cannot. That is why our cornerstone, our foundation is their stumbling block. They have to reach a point where they realize their need of Jesus. Our obedience to live as our new self, reveals Jesus to the lost and as they understand that they cannot be good without Him, they will fall to their knees and ask for salvation.
That is where the honor is for us. We get what they are missing. We can be righteous because God made us righteous by Jesus’ blood and He makes us able through the indwelling of His Spirit. The more we look like Jesus, the more we live up to how God sees us. We are part of the kingdom of God!  We are chosen by Him and united with Him! That is truly amazing. Verses 9-10 tell us how God sees us.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
 
We are a people for God’s own possession! He adores us. When God considers you, Believer, He smiles. I for one want to live up to the way God sees me. I want to be worthy of the pleasure I give Him and His calling on my life. Verses 11-17 tell us,
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
13 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
 
Just because people in the world do not show us honor, does not mean we have the right to retaliate and dishonor them. God loves the person who ridicules your beliefs as much as He loves you. God wants them to know it. We reflect Jesus for the lost. We live in the kingdom of Heaven no matter where we are and that means treating people well and submitting to authority as a testimony to humility, kindness, and love. The way we interact with others is a witness to who God is and who He has made us to be. Verses 18-25 read,
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
 
God loved you before you loved Him. Jesus forgave you while you were still a sinner. Romans 5:6-8 says,
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.
​

We love people in their sin. Jesus suffered. He did no wrong. He loved people. He healed them. He didn’t wait for them to be worthy of being healed or loved. He simply loved. He not only didn’t wait for people to deserve His love, He made us worth it by taking all our sin onto Himself. He was blameless, but He made us blameless! He died for all of us, for all of them. They whipped Him and beat Him and hung Him on a tree in the most torturous kind of death imaginable, yet Jesus didn’t retaliate. He endured.
The honor the world showed Jesus was non-existent. They lifted Him up to kill Him. But that most cursed of deaths blessed us and gave us new life. Let’s live up to the honor Jesus shows us by living in the way the world cannot. Let’s be Jesus to them and be the stumbling block so that they can know The Rock of Jesus Christ. Let’s love them enough to honor them even though they don’t deserve it yet.
 

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Romans 8 Walking in the Freedom of the Love of God, United with The Spirit of God, Reflecting the Son of God.

5/13/2016

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For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6 on photo of Ponce de Leon Lighthouse in Ponce Inlet, Florida by Anna Bonet
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6 on photo of Ponce de Leon Lighthouse in Ponce Inlet, Florida by Anna Bonet
Romans 8
We’ve been reading what the law is and what its purpose is. We’ve learned that the law cannot save us or transform us. It cannot make us righteous and it cannot give us life. The law reveals sin (Romans 7:7), it shows us the holiness of God and our inability to reach that holiness without God. The law brings death (Romans 7:10) but Jesus conquered death when He gave up His life on the cross and rose from the dead in the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:57-58). God loves us so much, He chose to give us a part of Himself, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Jesus said this about Himself in John 3:16-18,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
 
He took the consequences of sin, for anyone who chooses to believe that He is the Son of God and that He died and resurrected; He is the Christ, the Savior of mankind. Verses 1-4 read,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
 
Not only did the Lord God take the consequence of sin, which is death away from us, but He also gave us life. He disabled the law for us. It no longer has the power to make us sin and die. We are not focused on the law anymore. That attention and effort into keeping the law leads to temptation, sin, and failure. We are not subject to the law. We can’t break laws where laws do not exist (Romans 4:15). He gives us life, new life, new selves, and a new character through His Spirit.  Verses 5-11 read,
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
 
The Holy Spirit isn’t set up in a tent within you, ready to leave at any moment. He is entrenched in you, deeply-rooted, and joined with you. He changes you in ways that the world cannot grasp. He loves us and frees us from the law, from our elemental desires for ourselves and from the constant moral war of the soul. He gives us peace with God, a relationship with Him which enables us to please Him. He gives us a new mind and heart and changes us from the lost sinner who cannot do good, even when she thinks she is, to the chosen child of God who delights the Lord and has become the image of her Father who is Righteous. Verses 12-17 say,
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
 
Did you know it is not your good works that please God, but your relationship with Him that pleases Him? Hosea 6:6 reads,
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

As a parent, which delights you more, your child’s good grades or her hugs? Are you more pleased when she cleans her room or when she cuddles up next to you? Do you beam with pride when people recognize you in her? If she didn’t clean her room or came home with poor grades would you stop being her parent? Would you disown her because tripped up? I doubt you would. I think you might step in and teach her how and why to clean her room. You would sit by her side and figure out why she was unable to do well in school and help her do her best.
Those times of learning to become who we are meant to be are not always easy. It is a struggle to become who we are meant to be. Have you ever heard people warn you not to pray for patience? Why? Because the way to learn patience is by having to be patient. The way to grow faith is to exercise it. The way to learn kindness is to be kind when it is not natural. Strength doesn’t just happen. We become strong by struggling. We become conquerors by overcoming. Victory requires a battle. While eternity will not have tears, this present life is filled with suffering. Yet that suffering is infinitesimal when we compare it to the beauty of the person God is making us into, His glory, His very likeness, His sons. Verses 18-25 reads,
 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
 
Read verse 19 again, it does not read the Son of God who is Jesus Christ; it reads sons of God, us! At the end of our struggle, we will be revealed as the sons of God, the image of Jesus Christ. Our suffering, the toil and labor of this life is all leading to the Day of the Lord. Jesus will come, every eye will see Him (Revelation 1:7), every heart will recognize Him. Some hearts will melt with fear and the realization that they were wrong. Others will leap with joy at our salvation. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is LORD! (Philippians 2:10-11).Then believers both living and dead will be lifted up into the clouds with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:17), revealed as His and changed instantly, perfected and complete (1 Corinthians 15:52). Then the rest of the people, those who finally believed too late will face the wrath of God and experience the death they chose when they rejected Christ (Revelation 14:19-20).
They live that death now and we live that life now. We are learning and becoming more and more the image of Christ, taking His character of love and reflecting Jesus to the world by the fruit of The Spirit so that they can know Him too. But it is not always easy to become who we were made to be. It is sometimes very difficult. We survive it, because we know who we are becoming, where we are going, and who we are going to spend eternity with. We are not perfect yet. Sometimes the struggle can be overwhelmingly difficult but it never has to overwhelm us. We are not alone. The Holy Spirit, God Himself is living within us and in the beauty that is our One Triune God communes with Himself so we can commune with Him. He is on our side. He wants our righteousness so much that He prays for us when we can’t do it for ourselves. He does all that in order to bring out the best for us and make us into His image so we can be recognized as His precious children and bring more of those people He loves home to Him. Verses 26-30 read,
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 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.
 
This life can be hard but the love of God is greater! The struggle can be agonizing but God’s love is ecstatic. His love is joy, and that joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). God’s Spirit is not just on you, He is not merely visiting you. He is indwelled in you, united to you and nothing and no one can rip Him out of you. He loves you profoundly and totally. His roots are too deep to ever get Him out entirely. He loves you too much to let you be captured, oppressed, and defeated by the world. Verses 31-39 say,
 
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.
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Deuteronomy 33 Part Three Verse 12 Benjamin’s Blessing

4/7/2016

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For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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. Romans 8:38-39
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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. Romans 8:38-39
​Deuteronomy 33 Part Three Verse 12
Today we continue to read Moses’ blessings to the tribes of Israel with his blessing to Benjamin. Benjamin was Jacob’s youngest son, the second son of Jacob’s favorite wife and one true love, Rachel, who died giving birth to him. When he thought his favorite son Joseph, her eldest had died, Benjamin became all he had left of her. His older brothers understood this and though they had betrayed Joseph they went out of their way to protect Benjamin. In fact, it was the brothers’ love for Benjamin that persuaded Joseph to realize they had changed.
Verse 12 reads,
Of Benjamin he said,
“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.
The High God surrounds him all day long,
    and dwells between his shoulders.”

Beloved means deeply loved, adored and treasured. Do you ever consider just how much God loves you? Think about the person you love the most in the world, your spouse, your child, your parent, or whoever it might be. How does your heart feel when you consider them? How do you feel thinking about blessings for them such as your child being successful and happy? Perhaps your most beloved person has passed away, is sick, or suffering somehow, how does that make you feel? Now consider this, God loves you so much, He gave you His only begotten Son (John3:16). He loves you so much, He was willing to step out of Heaven and live for you, suffer for you, and conquer for you. Our love is imperfect so it can’t measure God’s awesome perfect love. God’s love for us, for you is more than we can imagine. Romans 8:31-39 reads,
 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.
We, the cherished of the LORD dwell in safety. Nothing can come against us if God is for us! Nothing can separate us from His Love! Look at everything Jesus has done for you and is doing for you. Nothing, not your mistakes, sins, or suffering, wealth, lack, or battles can tear you away from God’s love. God is with you throughout every circumstance. He surrounds you, He indwelled you, He united with you and nothing can make Him leave you. We’re not talking about some great guy, your boss, the leader of a country, or a mythical figure. We are talking about The LORD God, Yahweh, The Most High God, Creator of the Universe and all that it holds, The God of Angel Armies. That is a big deal!
No matter what you go through, it cannot ‘unsave’ you. Regardless of what you do, it cannot make God leave you or withdraw His shield from you. Nothing can take you out of His mighty hand. Nothing. He won’t stop you from leaving Him, but He will never leave you or renounce you.  In John 10:28-30 Jesus said it like this,
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Not only does God surround His beloved children, but He dwells between our shoulders. What that means is He resides there. What is it to be between our shoulders? Between our shoulders is our heart, spiritually the seat of our spirit. Between our shoulders is our spine, our backbone, the symbol of strength and uprightness. God dwells there, He chooses to inhabit us and He gives us new hearts, upright character, and strength.
It is no wonder we dwell in safety, because the LORD dwells in us. The word for dwell in this verse is shakan and it means to settle down, establish, to stay permanently. When I read this Deuteronomy 33:12 I get the picture of Psalm 23, my Lord my Shepherd taking complete and utter care of me so that I have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about regardless of where I am and what is happening.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Believer, you are deeply loved by the LORD God Almighty, the Most High, nothing can change that, nothing can take Him away from you or you away from Him. He chooses to establish Himself in you and cause you to stand upright. You are His beloved.
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Deuteronomy 30 The Choice of Life and Death are Set Before You. Choose Life.

4/2/2016

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But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. Deuteronomy 30:14-15 on photo of Old Country Highway by Donna Campbell
But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. Deuteronomy 30:14-15
Deuteronomy 30
God loves us so much! His love is deeper, bigger, and more powerful than you or I could ever grasp. He knows we will sin. He knows we will choose to gratify the flesh. Yet when we choose to be born again, He chooses to see us as His righteous and treasured possession. He loves us so much that He disciplines us in order to bring us to maturity so that we can bear His image and reflect His glory to the world. He chastises and chastens us to make us into the people He created us to be.
Moses continued speaking to Israel before they entered the Promised Land and now God spoke to them about the fact they would suffer and be carried off to captivity and scattered. Because even before they stepped foot over the Jordan, He knew their obedience and their disobedience to come. But He also knew that they would repent. He knew that ultimately this message would be for us and that He would one day gather us from the world and bring us into New Jerusalem, like He would bring them back into the Promised Land. Verses 1-5 read,
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.”
How do we respond to God either conveys love or hate, life or death, worship or disregard to Him. Obedience conveys love, verse two says when we obey His voice with all our heart and soul He will restore us. He didn’t choose the words randomly. He chose them because it should ring with the familiarity of “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).
When Israel was in captivity and as they were scattered it was this promise and prophecy that would give them hope to keep them persevering through whatever they experienced. This is the hope that keeps us persevering through this life. This is the hope that enables us to rejoice through it all and testify to the love and salvation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Why do we suffer now? Because God loves us so much that He wants us to be made into His image. Why do we persist through trial after trial? Because God loves us so much that He has made us His bride. Why do we remain hopeful through every tribulation? Because God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Verses 6-10 read,
“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
 
God doesn’t punish because He hates us. He disciplines because He loves us. Circumcision is painful. When a baby is circumcised, he has no choice in the matter and he forgets the pain the moment he is put at his mother’s breast. Penile circumcision was the outward sign of the covenant God made with Israel. Choosing circumcision of the heart is the inward sign of salvation through Christ and it shows itself on the outside through new attitudes of new identity. Repentance requires breaking our hearts, realizing the gravity of our sin. God will not give us a new heart unless we want it. He won’t take an unbroken heart and replace it with a new one. Joel 2:12-13 reads,
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.”

 
All those who refused to repent, who hated us and hated God, they will receive the punishment they tried to hurt us with. They will have their comeuppance. God will avenge us. That thought sometimes comforts us. But should it? Don’t you know that God forgave you of so much and He wants to forgive them too? Don’t you know He loves them dearly? The hope we carry is about being united with Christ, not about our enemies being cursed for eternity. If we love God with all our heart and soul, then we will love our neighbor enough to give them a chance to repent and turn to God as well.
The mystery and the message is right here within our hearing and grasp. It is right there waiting to be taken hold of by the lost. He put the Gospel into you so you could tell them, show them, and love them. Someone loved you enough to tell you. Someone loved you enough to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. Verses 11-14 read,
“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”
Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Have you considered what it is to love God with your strength? It is active obedience to do the word of God, loving God with all your might glorifies Him to the lost. God gave you the choice and He has given them the choice.  The choice is blessings or curses and life or death. Verses 15-20 read,
“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.”
Life and death are before you, not only to receive but to give. The person living in the image of Christ will choose life. The person who loves God with her entirety will choose life. God gave you life and He doesn’t want you to keep it secreted away, but He wants you to shine with it, exude it, and live it. The promise of eternal life awaits. Choose life.
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Psalm 31 The Lord Holds the Spirit of the Redeemed

6/21/2015

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Psalm 31

As believers we know that people of the world will hate us. Their spirits cannot abide The Spirit who is in us. They do not recognize their own sin and so when we manifest righteousness which opposes sin they judge it as disgusting, bigoted, and hateful. Jesus warned us in John 15:18-21.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me”

It has always been true that the lost and especially those who considered themselves to be good people hated the children of God. David wrote many Psalms about the persecution his enemies flung at him. But through all that harassment and pursuit, he trusted The Lord. Verses 1-5 read,

“In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
2 Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!


3 For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”


What did David do in the face of his torment? He prayed, “Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily!” And he trusted that God would rescue him and that He would be his refuge. His enemies didn’t stop David from following The Lord. God led David to righteousness, to living as a man after His own heart so that He, The Lord would be glorified and the lost recognize Him and His greatness in David. And David in response said, “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” He entrusted his soul, his salvation to The Lord and recognized that it was God who saved him, not his goodness, his trying, or his works, but The Lord his Redeemer. Jesus at his greatest distress on the cross as He was about to die uttered those words, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” The Lord guards our spirit for us. He seals us with His Spirit and He holds onto our spirit in protective and jealous love for us. The enemy cannot take us, he cannot have us. Our enemies our persecutors may hound us and cause pain but they cannot take us out of God’s loving and strong shelter.

Verses 6-13 describe David’s persecution from his enemies.

“I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
    but I trust in the Lord.
7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
    because you have seen my affliction;
    you have known the distress of my soul,
8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    you have set my feet in a broad place.


9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
    my eye is wasted from grief;
    my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.


11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
    especially to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
    those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
    I have become like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the whispering of many--
    terror on every side!--
as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.”


David didn’t hate his adversaries with retribution, he hated them on behalf of God. He hated that they hated The Lord by worshipping idols, when they knew better. He hated that they were following a path to destruction as God hated that they were going to Hell instead of reveling in Him. David felt like he had no one among his neighbors or acquaintances, they all seemed to believe his enemies instead of recognizing God in him. It seemed he had no one on his side. But He knew that He had God. Verses 14-18 say,

“But I trust in you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand;
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
16 Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!
17 O Lord, let me not be put to shame,
    for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them go silently to Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
    which speak insolently against the righteous
    in pride and contempt.”


We all have people who hate us if we follow Jesus, but we do not have to be concerned for ourselves. We can trust The Lord holds our hearts and spirits in His almighty hands. We can trust that God will avenge us and our enemies and the enemy will pay for their deeds unless they ask Jesus to save them. God is so wonderfully good, so awesomely great, and so tremendously sovereign. We don’t have to spend our time plotting against our enemy. We can rejoice in The Lord and delight in the blessings He gives us. Verses 19-22 read,

“Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
    in the sight of the children of mankind!
20 In the cover of your presence you hide them
    from the plots of men;
you store them in your shelter
    from the strife of tongues.


21 Blessed be the Lord,
    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was in a besieged city.
22 I had said in my alarm,
    “I am cut off from your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
    when I cried to you for help.”


We have nothing to fear from our adversaries. We have nothing to fear from Satan or his minions. We are free to love the Lord our God, our Vengeance, and our Refuge. The world will hate us if we follow Jesus filled with The Spirit. Don’t reciprocate the hate. Love God by loving the lost even when they try to hurt, maim, or kill you. Remember who God is and who you are. Love God by depending on Him, leaving vengeance to Him, and having faith that you are in His tender hands.

Verses 23-24 read,

“Love the Lord, all you his saints!
    The Lord preserves the faithful
    but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the Lord!”


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Psalm 4 The World May Hate but God Loves.

5/25/2015

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Psalm 4

Believer, do you ever feel alone? Do you ever wonder if you have anyone that cares and listens? You do! Although it can sometimes feel as if god isn’t listening, He is. It might seem as if He doesn’t care. He does. You can always count on The Lord to be there with you, He hears your words, and He knows your heart. You are special to Him. You are His child, His priest, His chosen, and His own.  Verses 1-3 read,

“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!


2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.”


God does so much more than hear you. He helps and delivers. Whatever it is that is causing you anguish or grief, He relieves your distress. Sometimes by taking care of the problem, often by carrying you through the problem, or helping you see it in a new light. By letting you lean on Him and trust Him to be I Am.

The world sees we are different, they see we are set apart and they come up with lies to make us into the bad guys. We didn’t exalt ourselves. We are not on some false pedestal. God exalted us. God distinguished us. He made s holy. The world can try and sling mud but they cannot sully us. Jesus made us holy. They call us out on every sin we are caught in, ignoring their own wrongs. They try to turn our honor to shame. But they can’t. They cannot take our righteousness away from us. Jesus gave it to us. It is His, we are His. The world can say and do what they like to us, but in the end, there will be justice. Sin must be paid for. People choose whether to accept Jesus’ payment for sin or they will pay themselves. The Kingdom of God is our eternal hope, now and forever.

The world suffers difficulties as well but they haven’t turned to Abba our Almighty Holy God. They make up lies, deceiving even themselves. They believe the enemy. They play the victim or the avenger. We are not victims. We are overcomers. We are victors. We do not have to avenge, retaliate, or punish those who hurt us. Our Father the King holds us. Jesus will sit on The Judgement Seat and He will dole out justice to those who choose it. He sits on The Mercy Seat and gives mercy to those who choose Him. Verses 4-5 read,

“Be angry, and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.”


We may want to put the haters in their place now, but that isn’t what God wants. He wants us to love them as He loves them. He wants us to trust Him to do what is best for us and for them. We didn’t deserve His mercy. We need to be merciful to the people who hate us. Remember they are prisoners of war and most do not know it. They believed the lies the enemy told them. They won’t see the Truth unless we demonstrate it to them with God’s perfect love. Don’t retaliate. Instead continue trusting in God. The lost are hopeless or have put their hope in worthless and false idols. We have the power and ability to shine a light into their darkness. To show them kindness even though they don’t deserve it. To be compassionate even if they are not. Verses 6-7 read,

“There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
    than they have when their grain and wine abound.”

We have joy no matter what. The world may persecute us, the world will persecute us if we walk in Christ filled with His Awesome Holy Spirit. And we still have joy, we have everything we need and more in The Lord. He gives us joy even in the darkest hour. The world may think they have joy, and they party it up. They get rich and they celebrate it. They celebrate the things of this world which will be burned up in an instant. They applaud their wealth and food. They praise themselves for their accomplishments. They revel in their work. All those idols will be gone and they will finally see that none of it mattered.

Our joy is forever. God is our peace and we are secure in Him. We have peace with God. He is our Joy, our Comfort, our Strong Tower, and our Refuge. In the midst of the hate from the world, the attacks by the enemy, and the chaos they try to inflict, we have our Abba our Daddy The Lord All-powerful God of the Universe. Their turmoil can’t touch us. God is our Shield. Verse 8 reads,

“In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”


Believer, remember God is not far off. He is with you. He is not uncaring, He loves you deeply. 

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Ezekiel 18 Your Sins are on Your Head. Someone Has to Pay.

3/4/2015

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Ezekiel 18

In Israel during Ezekiel’s time there was a popular proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.” (Verse 2). This meant that the fathers sinned and their children paid the price. One can see why this was a popular saying as it might discourage men from sinning since their children would be the ones to suffer and die for their sins. But it also offered a kind of hopelessness. Why bother trying to follow God’s ordinances, when one’s ancestors’ actions required penance?

The Lord didn’t like this saying. It propagated a harmful lie. God said, “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.” (Verse 4). He said, ‘If a person doesn’t sin, he will live but if he sins, he’ll die. It doesn’t matter what his father did, it matters what the man himself does.’

In Christianese society we have a ton of proverbs, sayings, and songs which we use to encourage one another, reassure the lost, and hearten the broken. We treat them like scripture. But they are not. Many of them promulgate lies. The truth sometimes hurts. These pretty little sugary nuggets of “wisdom” cheer the person who may finally have been at the point of admitting their need of Jesus. They turn the Christian from the difficult path to the easy one. They lead the believer to look for a way out of suffering rather than thank God for it and allow Him to transform him through it.

The proverb in Ezekiel 18 had people thinking their behavior didn’t matter and they could blame someone else for their choices. God said take responsibility for your own actions. In verses 5-9 the Lord describes righteous conduct.

“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, 9 walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.”

That is a long list but it boils down to a person who actively loves God first and foremost and treats his neighbor as he would want to be treated. Likewise God describes the evil man. He is described as the man who does not do the things listed above. And God says “he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.” (Verse 13).

God clarifies it by saying if the son sees the father being evil and chooses not to follow in his footsteps, the son will live. And God says, if the wicked man turns from his evil and does good, then his sin won’t be remembered and that man will live. Similarly if the man who practiced good changes and does practices injustice, his good will not be remembered and he’ll die. (Verses 21-24).

The Israelites didn’t like this idea. The lie of the proverb was deeply ingrained into them instead of the truth God gave them. Verses 19-20 read.

“Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

They wanted to blame others for their bad behavior. They wanted to say, ‘Joe is trash because his dad is trash and we shouldn’t expect anything from him.’ They wanted to discount people based on their heritage. But God doesn’t want to discount anyone. Every person has the same opportunity to choose life in Jesus’ righteousness or life chasing false gods. Each person is responsible for their own choices.  A man is not damned by his father’s choices, he is damned or saved by his own choices. Everyone’s sins must be paid for. We choose to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind by making Jesus our Lord, and living out His life by loving our neighbors. Or we choose to reject God and follow philosophies, false religions, and lies, or elevate ourselves to godship.

The Israelites cried foul! It’s not fair! But God answered them in verse 25 and said, “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?”

We do that. We call God’s ways unfair, especially if they do not agree with us or if His way ends badly for us. People cry, “A loving god wouldn’t send people to hell!” but God says, “How could I let evil go unpunished? How would that be justice?” God doesn’t want anyone to die, but His love and holiness demand that iniquity be requited. Verses 30-32 read,

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

The great news is this we can repent, we can turn from all the evil. Sin must be paid for but God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price for us. All we have to do is believe and repent and let Jesus be the propitiation, the payment that placates the promise between the Lord God and ourselves.

You are responsible for your choices. It isn’t your parents. It isn’t the abuse, the suffering, the lack, or the excess. You made your choices. You and no one else must pay for them. And the only way to pay is with your life. But God loves you such, He made a way for you. Jesus came and He paid the price. He took responsibility for every wrong and gave you life. All you have to do is accept it.

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    Donna Campbell

    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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