Month: July 2019

Faith Triumphs inTrouble

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

“…into this grace in which we stand,”

To stand is so important. How many women hate themselves the day after because they gave into the pressure of the boyfriend, or the man who can no longer look his wife in the eyes because he compromised their marriage vows, or the young person who feels crabby because he or she gave into peer pressure. We do these things because of our insecurity and fear. We worry that they, or he, or she may leave us if we don’t go along with them. However, afterwards our self esteem is even lower. The ability to stand for our convictions and the strength to endure the consequences is so critical to our self esteem and to a successful future.

 The most important person we have to live with is the Lord. If I can’t live with Him because I continually say yes to my lusts or to the peer pressure, then in spite of His Grace an empty and frustrated soul awaits me. I will not be happy with myself or with life in general and further wrong decisions are easily made in this state. And these wrong decisions can turn low self esteem into self hatred that eventually bleeds into every part of our life. Self hatred can become as an oppressive weight that we drag around wherever we go. It’s like a heavy darkness we wake to. Its just not worth it, it is much better to stay on course with The Lord and though it can be difficult, the fruit of being faithful produces great rewards. A positive and can do self image with gratitude towards the Lord is only one benefit and it becomes easier as we mature in our faith – promise.

And remember No, is a beautiful word when it is said in order to please

The Lord. By saying no we maintain our fellowship, our “spiritual umbilical cord to LIFE,” which we all so desperately need. No one person or thing or action is ever worth severing that. Christ Jesus is the perfect lover of our soul and the perfect fit for every occasion. It’s His Grace given to us which makes life worth living, Amen?

“and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.“

I grew up with a saying that said “don’t be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good.” I understood what my dad was trying to say because I knew my dad’s experiences grewing up. He saw a lot of hypocrisy in the church which he equated to a walk of faith. We will always have the “pretend” Christians and to the unbeliever they represent Christianity, which is very unfortunate. However the divide between real and fake  is found in this verse. How often when I am struggling with life I draw strength from the return of Christ; be that I see Him or He sees me, I know my end and I rejoice in it. This renewed perspective gives me the strength to see my trials through. To see His Glory will be unimaginable, but also to see His Glory in me as He continues to sanctify my soul bringing me closer to Him is something that we can rejoice in.

How about you, I hope you can say the same and if not then let this be an early indication  of something not quite right. As believers we should always rejoice in the return of Christ, nothing should be of a greater want or value. Pray that your faith grows as you make effort to meditate on God’s Word. Some of my favorite chapters are Psalm 37, Proverbs 3, Joshua 1, Psalms 119, 55, and 51, Romans chapters 6- 8 and the book of Ephesians and Philippians. These books and chapters have become faith builders and points of strength in my life as I look back and remember the difficulties I was going through. Please give  thought to what we’ve said and be willing to make a course correction if needed. Your life could depend on it.  Now for our next supporting verses.

Proverbs 15:13

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

A merry heart comes from God’s love abiding in our heart, and it is powerful and life changing. It comes as we continually sit before Him allowing Him to change, mold and take away all that displeases Him in us.  Talking about being real, there is nothing hid from His view. But we are safe with Him, sometimes given the heartache and the pain it doesn’t feel like that, but I’m sure having cancer removed from your body doesn’t feel good either, but it has to be done. It’s no different with the Lord, the only difference is it is for eternity. Now our next verse.

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Nothing makes our faith more real or reveals the lack of it than times of trail. As the saying goes, “it’s where the rubber meets the road.” We either have traction or we slip and slide over the pavement of life. Tribulations or trials as we call them, can be numerous and varied. They can be work or family related, or internal – fears, insecurities, lusts etc. They can physical in nature, sicknesses, disabilities or just age related be it us or people we love, and they can be financial etc. And it always seems like when it rains it pours. Health, finances, and work issues can come up all at once, or health remains a concern, work improves then family concerns come up. And then there are those people who always appear to have the “perfect” life. Their kids are succeeding in their careers, and or school, their health is good and financially they have the means and time to take vacations.

And is this not the life we all seek, but is it the life that grows our faith? Is this “perfect” life the life that causes us to really seek the Lord, to study the scriptures, putting the importance of our faith in the forefront of our life? I think not, desperation and need causes this, an easy life doesn’t. I am not speaking of constant problems for the scriptures promise that a righteous life has its inherit blessings, but I am referring to a life that is not plateaued. King David’s life had plateaued, all his enemies were conquered or not a current threat. He was older and settled as King and all was very, very good, and then he saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof top. He knew that she was wife to one of his mighty men and granddaughter to one of his closest advisors. Yet that didn’t stop him and that one break in his armor cost him untold heartache. It was not worth it.

In sailing terms I would liken an plateaued emotional state to the sailing challenges around the equator, or called the droldrums. It is the worse place to sail, everything with respect to weather is too unpredictable. From many, many  days of no wind to a sudden storm and then light winds that come and go making tacking very difficult.

However north or south of the equator the weather comes to life. We have highs and lows producing different velocities of steady winds causing us to respond in like fashion. These variances when sailing cause us to put our body, mind and soul to the test. In like fashion the storms in life challenge us putting our faith to the test as well as causing us to appreciate the sunny days. Without these changes and challenges we become very shallow believers because we don’t need the Lord, we can handle life ourselves. Our Bible begins to collect dust as we go days, weeks, even months without reading while in through the backdoor creeps in worldliness. Our Bathsheba’s be they sexual or any of a multitude of lusts and desires. Maybe we want a bigger nicer home, or a nicer car which in themselves are not wrong, but what is the motive for doing it? To make us feel better about ourselves? I thought that was God’s job and seriously how long do think that good feeling will last? And because of these decisions are we now financially tight and need to cut back on our tithing?And does our church attendance begin to falter as the importance of attending church lessens?

Soon, and before we know it we look more like the world than sons and daughters of Christ and find ourselves being rebuked by God Himself,

Revelation 3:15-19

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked ( that’s God’s perspective) ….. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

I was nineteen years old when I first heard this verse and it cut me to the heart. I knew that I was walking the fence and I was faced with a decision, yield to the conviction and love of God or severe our ties and go 100% percent into the world. God was too real to me to deny Him, so I cut my ties with the worldwhich meant saying good bye to my high school best friend who over the years became more and more worldly. It was really tough, I really liked Peter but God was more important.

 So on the eve of needing to talk to him he approached me first and basically said he had noticed a change in me and that I was no longer any more fun and he needed to put his energy into other guys he knew that would party and do all the things that goes along with that. It was tough to lose him in one sense since we had been friends since our freshman year in High School, but I was glad that I no longer had to be ashamed of my actions that were beginning to take a toll on my self esteem. It’s no fun being fake, there is no strength in that; being authentic and true to your values is were strength of soul comes from. It felt good again to be able to look at myself in the mirror and be pleased with who I saw, and knowing that I would only become stronger.

How about you, hopefully you have a similar story, if not change is as real and present as the time it takes your knees to hit the floor. God hears, God cares and with God, All Things are Possible. Amen

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man ( or woman) of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped in this grace in which we stand,”

Trust this study blessed you as it has me. It is wonderful to hear my Father’s words as He combines thoughts and expression, much like sending a PDF through email to my mind. I feel so honored and it’s not unique to me. As you read the scriptures take time to take notes, write down what the Spirit is impressing you with. You will be blessed, guaranteed.

Dear Father,

Thank you for this study and for the Truth that is shared. Help us to do our part and place ourselves before you with a quiet and humble heart eager to learn. Make us good students of the truth, and then to share that truth by how we live life. Let our lives be Your witness and then words as needed. Thank you and Amen.

Romans 5:1-5

Faith Triumphs inTrouble

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

“having been justified by faith,” to fully appreciate these five words one has to have a decent grasp of the Old Testament. Prior to Christ death there were a multitude of different sacrifices that were required and the one for personal sin, as opposed to national sin, required a male lamb one year old without blemish or defects to be offered yearly. Even at that it was not deemed as forgiveness, as in wiping the slate clean. The original language speaks to “covering over” one’s sin as in putting a sheet over a pile of dirty clothes. The dirty clothes were still there but the sheet hid them from view and spiritually speaking the sacrifice alllowed the relationship between God and man to continue.

 God honored our obedience; following through with the required sacrifices because we desired to be right with God. The sacrifice reminded us that an innocent animal had to die to take our place; that sin had a terrible cost to it. According to scripture theses sins where held as it where in “custody” until the Cross and then these, plus the present and future sins to be committed where all placed upon Christ at the Cross. An amazing  truth that speaks to the omniscient and eternal love of the Father for us and separates Christianity from all other religions. Other beliefs have an inherent sense that it’s up to me to earn my salvation. I must do enough good works to outweigh my bad ones and unfortunately that is not known until I die. If I believed that, my view of God would change. Instead of a loving Father that has cleared the way for me to come to Him, and WANTS me to come to Him, He would be more of a critic noting every time I did something wrong and balancing it against the good that I have done. That’s a scary and insecure relationship to have with the most powerful being in the universe, I for one would not want that. To die hoping that you did enough good seems very fearful and furthermore it’s a little late at that point.

The sacrificial system of the Old Testament gave man a way to maintain his/her relationship with the Lord, the opportunity to prove his or her faith.

The problem became when people used the sacrificial system to justify their sin, or as the Pharisees used it as a means to feel superior to everyone – for they followed it to the letter and even invented more laws and rules of behavior. Neither of these beliefs were the purpose for the law and Christ, God Incranate, came to change these beliefs. There were also those who used the law to “justify” purposeful sins, which means their hearts had become so calloused that they could watch the slaughter of an innocent animal on their behalf and go out and sin again. A classic verse of this is in Proverbs 7:13-19

“So she caught him and kissed him;With an impudent face she said to him: I have peace offerings with me;Today I have paid my vows.

So I came out to meet you, Diligently to seek your face,

And I have found you.I have spread my bed with tapestry,

Colored coverings of Egyptian linen.I have perfumed my bed

With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;Let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; He has gone on a long journey;”

You can see that as long as the adulterous woman maintained her sacrifices she felt justified (“just as if she never sinned” is a good way to understand justified). There was no remorse or repentance, only a desire to continue in her sinful ways. Sadly the human soul has not changed much.

Where does the need to justify our sin come from as opposed to confess and repent. There seems to be an innate need in us to believe that we are basically good. The only problem with this is we all grade on a curve that favors us. That’s like trying to draw a straight line with a crooked ruler. No matter how hard you try, the line will never be straight. The true measuring line is Christ himself, sinless, and that’s our problem. If we measure ourselves by ourselves we will walk away feeling pretty good about ourselves, but if we measure ourselves by His sinless life we have no choice but to repent or turn our backs on Him.  To truly repent means to turn around, change course, have a change of heart and then confess our sin and surrender our self willed life to His authority ( not ours). This  requires humility and brokenness which is very hard for the human soul. What does the Bible teach?

James 4:10

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

John 3:19-21

And this is the condemnation ( the judgement), that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Romans 6:16-18

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

These are not pleasant scriptures to read, especially if you are struggling with giving your life fully to Christ. And if you have given yourself fully to Christ, then the clarity and truth of these scriptures are easily agreed to.

  “ I once was lost and now I have been saved, hallelujah, and the grace of the Lord Jesus continues to move me on. Though I stumble  His forgiveness and kindness is ever present and His Love a constant refuge in the storm. Amen”

As Peter said after Jesus asked if they, the disciples, would also leave as some of the people did after hearing a difficult teaching. Peter replied

John 6:68-69

But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

*Do you believe this? The Incarnate Christ is not a created being as some religions teach, he was not conceived as man is conceived. Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived. Also scripture teaches that He always was, He has no beginning and He has no end. He is the second person of The Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and it was God the Son who took on flesh and lived among us. His death and life was prophesied in Isaiah 52:11-13 & 53. There are no better chapters that prophesy of Christ death and crucifixion.

John 14:25-27  The Gift of His Peace

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid ( in these verses we see the workings of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together on behalf of man).

John 1:14

And the Word ( referring to Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Our understanding of Christ is critical and it is not up to us to define Him, He defines himself. It is up to us to believe, and once believing Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit as a down payment of our professed faith. In John 14:23-24

“Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

The Holy Spirit comes and dwells or abides in us, provided we walk in obedience. It is a great and beautiful mystery

John 14:8-11

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves (referring to all His miracles).

Sometimes you want to say to the disciples, what is your problem, why are you so slow to believe? I get it, I have felt that way about them as well

but at the same time I can understand the disciples. Jesus is claiming to be God, and in the Old Testament for a man to actually see God, let alone live with Him day in and day out, meant death. Moses upon receiving the Ten Commandments was only allowed to see God’s back, not his face. So now in the New Testament we have Jesus claiming to be God  and the disciplines are not only living with Him but they even get in arguments in front of Him. To them Jesus is much more human than God like, however there is no disputing that the miracles Jesus did are God like in nature. Yet healing was also done by the prophets. Elijah even raised a woman’s son from the dead.

Great things were done in the Old Testament via the prophets, however no prophet ever walked on water, nor raised someone from the dead after being dead 3 days ( Lazarus) or did a prophet raise themselves from the grave which was Jesus last and final miracle that once and for all established His Divinity. After this there was no need for any further evidence; those who would believe, believed, and those who did not, will not and it is the same today. However people today will say I didn’t see His miracles, so how can I believe? We also have not seen President Lincoln or witnessed the Civil War but we believe he lived and that the Civil War occurred. There is always enough evidence for Biblical faith, it just comes down to our willingness to believe it and our willingness to change.

Do we want to change, do we want a relationship with Jesus? Then we must surrender our will and stop being a disciple of this world and follow Jesus.

“…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand,”

This is our final verse. Think about the truth of this verse, could anything else be more important? We make many things important in our life, yet there is absolutely nothing more important than having peace ( or unity) with The Lord. The Christian life has a door called Grace, and a key called faith. Faith opens the door of Grace. With the key of faith we pass from one life into another. The scenery looks the same, but the way we move, process and interact with it changes, especially as we mature and get closer to the Throne of Grace. And how do we get closer, our faith must grow. How does faith establish itself, root itself and become a current or force within us? It is through hearing, taking in, adopting, instituting and practicing the truths of scripture. The teaching of scripture is digestible to the man or woman whose been born of the Spirit, whose person has kneeled to the authority of Christ in his or her life. This scriptural food nourishes and matures us into men and women of God.

When we chose to skip our  Bible study because we are too busy, that is the worse decision we can make. For daily we are in a spiritual battle and he who wants to destroy our soul will MAKE SURE that we are always too busy. A better decision is to chose to become less busy so as to maintain your Bible study and then seek the Lords help, for things do come up. I have Proverbs and Psalms on my phone, so if I am in line or at a stop light I can meditate on a verse. I only need a few minutes.

Also as we mature in our faith our values start changing and the things we thought were so important begin to lose thier value. We see through them.  So much of the stuff we seek comes from a misdirected hungry soul that when it (we) truly find Christ as our real, true and lastly fulfillment those other things, and even toxic relationships we maintain (because of our insecurity) we find that we have the strength to let them go. Slowly everything begins to take their proper priority in our life. Know that our flesh continually is wanting to build idols in us. Telling us if we only had this or that, or were in this relationship or had that position at work we would finally be happy and for a limited time it is true.

However the true happiness that we seek is something that is hard for us to articulate.  We want to feel as though we are home, at peace, content, in love with life with life loving us back, secure, with a very positive self image etc. That will never happen if we keep looking to people or things.  The sense of belonging can only come from a Being who is fully complete in Himself; who is the Author and Creator of Life, having eternal love, peace, joy, assurance etc., within Himself that He freely gives. Their is no human being like this. So when we attribute these qualities or seek these qualities from another person or thing we have just made and idol for ourself and done a great injustice to another human being who will absolutely fail us.

 With Christ our life becomes ordered with Christ being first and foremost. Past regrets and mistakes because of wrong decisions begin to take a back seat. Even things that we use to think we could not live without we find we can live without them. We start making sound decisions based on God’s Word, and we begin to feel good about ourselves. Our security stops becoming defined by our wallet, our beauty, title or possessions etc., and we start becoming very liberated and become totally content just being God’s son or daughter by Grace – no other title do we need. We become most at peace as the scriptures and our relationship to Christ takes front and center of our life.

Dear Father,

Thank you for this study, help us to sense the truth of the scriptures and rightly understand Christ as the second person of the Trinity. To the extent we understand is to the extend that we comprehend what a great love and  price you paid to redeem us from sin. Open our eyes Father. Amen

Grow in His Grace – Arthur