Most Christians read the Bible and believe it. But often we only believe that it is possible; we don't believe where it is a reality in our day. Now, you and I won't be honest enough to admit it but all we have to do is look at the way we live and we know the truth. We believe it but we need help with our unbelief.
The Israelites believed Yahweh's promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. They believed because of what they saw. They believed enough to follow Moses through the parted waters. They believed enough to travel the desert with no food. They believed enough to commit themselves to God's Law. They believed right up to the point of actually acting on their belief. At that point, when Yahweh commanded them to possess the land, their unbelief overwhelmed their belief.
It takes someone who is completely sold out to walk in the promises of Yahweh. It is someone who looks full into the reality of their testimony, of what our Father has done up to this point, and decide he is worthy of their trust. Caleb was such a man. He considered the power and miracles he had seen up to this point and made the decision that Yahweh was as good as his word. He told the people:
"The land we crossed through to explore is an exceptionally good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he'll bring us into this land and give it to us. It's a land that's full of milk and honey. Only don't rebel against the Lord and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are our prey. Their defense has deserted them, but the Lord is with us. So don't be afraid of them." (Numbers 14:7-9)
Ten of the spies that Moses had sent could only see the obstacles. They admitted that the land was everything that Yahweh had promised but the could not see "the Lord is with us" as their advantage. Caleb saw what strength they had to overcome these obstacles because of the fact that the Lord was with them. He believed and his belief overcame his unbelief.
Jesus did not promise us an easy life. He did not promise us everything on a silver platter. In fact, he promised us that the world would hate us, that we would have enemies and there would be persecution. But he did promise us a victorious life, that we would overcome through him. He promised us joy and peace. He promised that we would stand against his enemies and that we would be more than conquerors. He promised us strength for every day. He promised to go with us as he sent us out. He promised us power by the Holy Spirit. And he promised us authority over demons and illness.
Jesus told us to pray the Father's will "on earth as it is in heaven". He promised that we could ask for anything in this battle and we would receive it so we could carry on. By the sounds of all these promises, he intends for us to be mighty warriors, filled with the laughter of his joy, bold, fierce and unwavering in the mission he has given to us.
That is how Jesus sees us but is it how we see ourselves in him today? Is that how we will live today? Will we possess the land today?
O Lord, help our unbelief!
Showing posts with label victorious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label victorious. Show all posts
Friday, March 4, 2016
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Enemies Of God
What do you have to do to be saved? By saved I mean saved from eternal damnation. It is a good question that should have a simple answer but in this age of "enlightenment" it is a simple answer that is getting lost in the noise. It is a good thing to refresh ourselves in what the Word says about salvation.
Jesus referred to a second type of birth. He told someone that we need to experience a new birth, into what our Father desired us to become; his children. In our current form we cannot be the children of God. Not everyone in the world is a child of our Father, but he desires them to be:
God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. (John 3:16, CEV)
It is the Father's desire that none should perish but he decided from the beginning that he would not force himself on us. The only love he wants from us is what we freely give to him. Our mistake is thinking that we are all born as his children and if we behave ourselves we will all get to go to heaven. It's not the truth. We are all born as enemies of God but he had compassion on his enemy and desired for us to be his children:
Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son’s life. (Romans 5:10, CEV)
But to go from being the enemy of God to being his children we have to experience a new birth. Jesus said:
“I tell you for certain that you must be born from above before you can see God’s kingdom!” (John 3:3)
When asked how a man can be born a second time Jesus explained:
Humans give life to their children. Yet only God’s Spirit can change you into a child of God. Don’t be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. Only God’s Spirit gives new life. (vv. 6-8)
And this only happens through Jesus. He is the first born, who opened the way for the rest of us to follow. So this second birth comes down to this, a very simple act of trust:
Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life. (John 3:15)
A voluntary act of trust; an act provoked in us as we accept that God really loves us that much, that we are sinners separated from God and that only Jesus can get us to where we need to be; with our Father. Adopted as "sons" of God; chosen to be loved; transformed by the spilled blood of the Son of God.
However, the cross where Jesus died is not the end of the matter. In fact, the cross is only the beginning; the open door to a brand new adventure.The cross is the beginning of the transformation process, as we go from what we were to the new creation God has destined us to be. We leave the old behind as we take up the new. All priorities and desires change as our destination changes. That is the road we are on now, of this new adventure.
However,new adventures can have difficulties and we can get tired, even weary. But we mustn't. We must rest on Jesus' strength. We must abide in him and he in us. We must remain intimate and vulnerable to God because going part way is not good enough. Close doesn't count. We have to go all the way with Jesus, right to the last breath.
But that is another story for another day. It is enough to know today that you are not saved unless you have made that decision to voluntarily accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, having faith that God loves you and wants you as his children. It isn't yours because your parents are Christians. It isn't yours because you go to church. It isn't yours because you do good deeds and think about God every now and them. It is only yours when you make that decision to accept Jesus, his love, his sacrifice because you know you are an enemy of God and don't want to be any more. Have faith in Jesus and he will do the rest.
Jesus referred to a second type of birth. He told someone that we need to experience a new birth, into what our Father desired us to become; his children. In our current form we cannot be the children of God. Not everyone in the world is a child of our Father, but he desires them to be:
God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. (John 3:16, CEV)
It is the Father's desire that none should perish but he decided from the beginning that he would not force himself on us. The only love he wants from us is what we freely give to him. Our mistake is thinking that we are all born as his children and if we behave ourselves we will all get to go to heaven. It's not the truth. We are all born as enemies of God but he had compassion on his enemy and desired for us to be his children:
Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son’s life. (Romans 5:10, CEV)
But to go from being the enemy of God to being his children we have to experience a new birth. Jesus said:
“I tell you for certain that you must be born from above before you can see God’s kingdom!” (John 3:3)
When asked how a man can be born a second time Jesus explained:
Humans give life to their children. Yet only God’s Spirit can change you into a child of God. Don’t be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. Only God’s Spirit gives new life. (vv. 6-8)
And this only happens through Jesus. He is the first born, who opened the way for the rest of us to follow. So this second birth comes down to this, a very simple act of trust:
Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life. (John 3:15)
A voluntary act of trust; an act provoked in us as we accept that God really loves us that much, that we are sinners separated from God and that only Jesus can get us to where we need to be; with our Father. Adopted as "sons" of God; chosen to be loved; transformed by the spilled blood of the Son of God.
However, the cross where Jesus died is not the end of the matter. In fact, the cross is only the beginning; the open door to a brand new adventure.The cross is the beginning of the transformation process, as we go from what we were to the new creation God has destined us to be. We leave the old behind as we take up the new. All priorities and desires change as our destination changes. That is the road we are on now, of this new adventure.
However,new adventures can have difficulties and we can get tired, even weary. But we mustn't. We must rest on Jesus' strength. We must abide in him and he in us. We must remain intimate and vulnerable to God because going part way is not good enough. Close doesn't count. We have to go all the way with Jesus, right to the last breath.
But that is another story for another day. It is enough to know today that you are not saved unless you have made that decision to voluntarily accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, having faith that God loves you and wants you as his children. It isn't yours because your parents are Christians. It isn't yours because you go to church. It isn't yours because you do good deeds and think about God every now and them. It is only yours when you make that decision to accept Jesus, his love, his sacrifice because you know you are an enemy of God and don't want to be any more. Have faith in Jesus and he will do the rest.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
God Has A Plan
It is easy to forget in this world that God has a plan and we are part of it. Sometimes we may wonder what God is doing as we see so much ugliness, hatred and injustice in the world. At times it seems so out of control and we may even be tempted to say, "Where are you God?" It's at these times we need to take a step back and remember some of the big picture.
Do you remember the parable Jesus told about the farmer who planted good seed and the enemy who came in and planted weeds? When the farm workers realized what had happened they asked the farmer if they should pull up the weeds. Makes sense, right? But the farmer told them to leave the weeds and the good seed to grow together because pulling up the weeds might damage the seed. He told them at the harvest they will separate the good from the bad. That's the big picture we need to remember.
This is the reason Jesus told us not to be afraid of the world because he had overcome it. He told us that there would be bad things because we are left to grow among the weeds, but he would strengthen us to go all the way. This was the same encouragement Paul was telling us when he told us to run the race to win, to go to the end of it. Our responsibility is to not allow the weeds to overwhelm us but instead to remember we are the good seed and we must go to the end of it to see God's justice. Don't let the evil, the hatred, the ugliness take away God's glory from you, he has a plan.
The good seed says together:
For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts! (Psalm 92:4-5)
We do not fret over evil but instead we fix our eyes on the maker of heaven and earth and trust his plan. We are not overcome by evil but instead we overcome evil with good. We allow his light to shine through us with love and are determined never to take glory away from that light by allowing sin to overwhelm us. We do not belong to the weeds, we are of a different nature. We know the full story. We know how it ends:
The senseless man does not know,
fools do not understand,
that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed. (Psalm 92:6-7)
It doesn't matter if the weeds seem to be winning or taking over. It doesn't matter if we seem to be outnumbered a thousand to one or even a million to one. It doesn't matter if our whole society slips into the anarchy of godlessness, Jesus Christ is still going to win, has already won, has snatched victory away from the enemy. If you have read the book then you know you have a choice to remain a weed or be transformed into the seed and if you have read the book then you know which will be victorious in the end.
No matter what we have to grow up with, the good seed can rejoice because God has a plan and together we proclaim:
But you, O LORD, are exalted forever. (Psalm 92:8)
This is what we know to be the truth, the promise we have been given because it is the plan of our Lord and nothing can come against him. This is his plan for us and because of it we gather to rejoice today:
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92:12-15)
Do you remember the parable Jesus told about the farmer who planted good seed and the enemy who came in and planted weeds? When the farm workers realized what had happened they asked the farmer if they should pull up the weeds. Makes sense, right? But the farmer told them to leave the weeds and the good seed to grow together because pulling up the weeds might damage the seed. He told them at the harvest they will separate the good from the bad. That's the big picture we need to remember.
This is the reason Jesus told us not to be afraid of the world because he had overcome it. He told us that there would be bad things because we are left to grow among the weeds, but he would strengthen us to go all the way. This was the same encouragement Paul was telling us when he told us to run the race to win, to go to the end of it. Our responsibility is to not allow the weeds to overwhelm us but instead to remember we are the good seed and we must go to the end of it to see God's justice. Don't let the evil, the hatred, the ugliness take away God's glory from you, he has a plan.
The good seed says together:
For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts! (Psalm 92:4-5)
We do not fret over evil but instead we fix our eyes on the maker of heaven and earth and trust his plan. We are not overcome by evil but instead we overcome evil with good. We allow his light to shine through us with love and are determined never to take glory away from that light by allowing sin to overwhelm us. We do not belong to the weeds, we are of a different nature. We know the full story. We know how it ends:
The senseless man does not know,
fools do not understand,
that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed. (Psalm 92:6-7)
It doesn't matter if the weeds seem to be winning or taking over. It doesn't matter if we seem to be outnumbered a thousand to one or even a million to one. It doesn't matter if our whole society slips into the anarchy of godlessness, Jesus Christ is still going to win, has already won, has snatched victory away from the enemy. If you have read the book then you know you have a choice to remain a weed or be transformed into the seed and if you have read the book then you know which will be victorious in the end.
No matter what we have to grow up with, the good seed can rejoice because God has a plan and together we proclaim:
But you, O LORD, are exalted forever. (Psalm 92:8)
This is what we know to be the truth, the promise we have been given because it is the plan of our Lord and nothing can come against him. This is his plan for us and because of it we gather to rejoice today:
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92:12-15)
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