What Are the First Works?

Have you ever wondered what Jesus meant when He told the Ephesian believers to "...Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else..." (Rev.2:5a) I used to think He was telling them they better get to work doing what they once had done or else they were in big trouble, mister! Actually, when we take a brief look at what other Scriptures, and especially what Jesus Himself says about this very thing elsewhere, we get a clear meaning of His words that will bless our hearts and make us love Him even more. The key I believe is when He tells them to remember from where they have fallen. They were once on a much higher plane, but they have fallen. We know first of all before we go any further that these were no doubt true believers, and we know that genuine believers can never fall out of salvation, again due to Jesus' own perfect Person and work for us. But that is for another day, for now, we know that this falling to a lower plane results in some fearful and sad consequences for a believer, and let me tell you, i have been there. I remember as a new believer, no longer sensing the joyous, precious nearness of my beautiful Savior, and sitting in my parents' living room and crying like a baby. I didn't understand. I was trying hard and working for my Savior, why did I feel so far from Him? I know feelings are not always accurate, but in this case, it was a genuine sense of something just not being right. I won't go into it all right now of what happened, but it's enough to say that God taught me a great lesson through it all. Paul told his Galatians that they had fallen from grace even though they were doing all kinds of works thinking that they somehow had to now finish in their own strength what Christ had done for them on the cross! No wonder Paul got so hot under the collar dealing with the false teachers that had put that wicked notion in their heads! He had tried that himself as recorded in Romans 7 and he ended up a wretched man! (v.24) 
So, after all this, what did Jesus mean by the first works from which these Ephesians had fallen? He gives us the answer when He spoke to the folks who asked Him what works they should work in order to do the works of God back in John 6, and His answer is so simple yet so beautiful in verse 29! "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." Ah! No wonder the Ephesians had to repent! They had a completely convoluted mindset, they thought they were to work themselves into a frenzy before God would bless them, but Paul and Jesus as well as all Scripture says they have it totally backward! Believe on Him, as Jesus says, Come to Me you who are weary, you who are worn out, worked to a frazzle, worn out trying to earn what only I can give you as my love gift of grace! Go back to realizing that we receive His wondrous grace by simple faith and then His power can and will flow through us out to others! " I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing." (Jn.15:5) God Bless you all, I just had to share that with you!

He is There!

The very last verse in the amazing prophecy of Ezekiel is fitting for such a tremendous Book! We see a beautiful name for God as well, which is simply, "The God Who is There!" Ezekiel saw quite a lot about the suffering of his people Israel, and how God would ultimately bring them through it all, just as He will for us as believers today as well.
Leaving Ezekiel and thinking concerning another Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk this time, we see a man who loved God, and was much like what I would term an Old Testament version of the apostle Thomas. Thomas is sometimes wrongfully in my humble opinion, dubbed "doubting Thomas" but his doubts were at least honest ones! If he didn't believe something, or didn't understand it, he didn't pretend he did and that all was well, he openly shared his heart! Habakkuk shared his heart, we might say he poured out his confused and hurting heart to his God while he saw what seemed to him unabated and increasing sin and wickedness on the part of his own people of Judah, and it seemed to him that God didn't seem to even notice what was going on. So, Habakkuk didn't pretend all was well, he went to God and laid out his heart to Him, and guess what? God answered him! What God said was not what Habakkuk wanted to hear, but he heard from God nonetheless! There are only 3 chapters to the prophecy of Habakkuk, but I believe you'd love to read it! God not only noticed what was going on among His people, He was working behind the scenes to deal with it, and His plan was so amazing that Habakkuk went from "God, You're not doing anything" to "God, You're going too far!"
Anyway, you can read this great story that's going on in Habakkuk, it has many modern parallels with life today. So much that seems to be out of control, yet as always, God behind the scenes often, is in complete control and we can rest in Him. And we can also pour out our hearts to Him because He cares and He loves to hear from us as His children. If you have not come to know Him yet, He loves you and would love to have you as His child. He sent His Son to die in your place, how much more love could He show than that? This is the kind of God He is. Just had to share that with you! God Bless you all.

He is our Everything!

I love 1 Corinthians 1:30. It states: "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption..." Boy oh boy, I seriously need all 4 of these things!
Wisdom! I can do and have done some truly stupid things. And guess, what,  I've repeated a whole lot of them. I'm even still doing some of them. But praise God if I'll let Him, He will direct me, because He is made unto me wisdom, and His is perfect!
Righteousness! I know myself well enough to know that Paul is absolutely right, that is in me, my flesh, there is nothing good. (Rom.7:18)  And if he said that about himself, then there's no need for me to waste a second looking in myself, there's just nothing good in God's perfect sight there. My so-called righteous acts on their own are so tainted with self-interest that they're filthy rags to God. But praise Him again, He is made unto me righteousness! In fact He IS my righteousness! (See Jer.23:5-6)
Sanctification! We all like to be called special, in the sense of set apart from the pack, like we have certain possessions that mean a lot to us so we set them aside for special use. In Christ, we're set apart for God! Also, according to Romans 8:29-30, in God's eyes because we're in Christ, we're already perfected!
Redemption! He bought me back out of the slave-market of sin and death! I had really made a mess of it all, and because of His sheer love for me and you, at Calvary He just gave His own dear Life for us! The whole process is His, we can just sit back and rest in Him! Of course we have holy work to do, but He does it through us if we'll just let Him. (Matt.11:28-30). What wonderful truth! I just HAD to share it with you. May the Lord bless you all.

Being Made Whole

I have always appreciated the Book of Ecclesiastes, at one time if for no other reason, it seemed so intriguing to me. Here is Solomon, likely writing it as an older man, who had by that time made quite a few mistakes and had gone away from the Lord, yet under divine inspiration, wrote a great work for us, to show us basically that God alone is our Life. The verse that is the clincher, or the key at least to me is the next to last one in the entire Book, chapter 12 & verse 13: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." To say that as we would today, after Jesus has come and given His lifeblood for us on the cross and risen again, it is like, "Trust Him and be made whole!" The word "duty" is supplied by the translators and this seems to me at least one time when it would have been better left out since it was not in the original. His commandment is to believe on Him (1 Jn.3:23) and this certainly makes us whole! Just wanted to share that Good News with you tonight. May the Lord bless you.

All that Believe

Good Morning to you! Or maybe it's good afternoon or evening, anyway, howdy! What a wonderful text of Scripture I came across that I just wanted to share with you, I believe I've already probably shared it but it is so wonderful that I just had to share it again! Paul is speaking to the Jews in Acts 13, and in vv.38-39, he says, "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:  And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." That little words all is surely a wonderful one. ALL who believe in Christ are justified from all things! I don't know about you but I have a good idea that you're like me in the sense that we all, there's that word again, all of us have things in our past that we'd give almost anything if we could get rid of it. In fact, we probably have things in our present that we also would love to be rid of. This text should be staggeringly good news to us then! Jesus died for that sin, whatever it is, and when we believe in Him, we are justified from it as well as all things. Let's rejoice in that great news today, no matter what may be threatening to bring you down today, He is greater, and His love never fails. May the Lord bless you today.

The Enemy Is Us

Have you ever had a moment in which you just saw yourself, I mean who you were before you came to Christ? Paul minces no words, when in Galatians 5:19-21 he says, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,  envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." I want to be real blunt here, who of us thinks we can just stop this flood of wickedness? He tells us in 3 little words that this is only a sampling! He concludes this litany of lasciviousness by saying, "...and such like..." This is what lurks in the heart of men and women, boys and girls no matter what our background or upbringing. Jeremiah just lays it out when he says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (17:9) In other words, none of us can know the depth of wickedness in our own hearts. Why am I saying this? Because the days we live in are evil. They are evil because man is evil. There is only one way to stem this tide of evil, and that has already been done a little over 2,000 years ago outside Jerusalem. Jesus Christ said in Luke 19:10, "...for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” You and I were surely lost. But He has done what we could never do. Paul said in Romans 5:6-8: "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." When our hearts were still full of what Paul sums up by "..and such like" Jesus died for us and rose again to do what Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." He didn't say that we're striving to make them new, he said they are new! That is who we are now in Christ! How do we then overcome the flesh? Paul says in Galatians 5:16, " I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." In other words, remember who you are! John said, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (1 Jn.5:4) I just wanted to share this today because I needed it, I hope it helped you too. Look to HIM, not yourself. May the Lord bless you.

2 Sides

Hadn't posted in awhile, and I just wanted to share something neat that the Lord helped me see from His Word while trying to help someone see the magnificence of our God's grace in Christ! Our salvation is like a coin, which of course has 2 sides. It is mighty hard to slice a coin in two, and separate the heads from the tails, but even if you could, you can't do that with God's eternal salvation in Christ! The "tails" side is our sins all being forgiven in Him because of His finished work on the cross FOR US! I just love Paul's joyful proclamation in Acts 13:38-39: "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."
BUT, the "heads" side of our salvation in Christ is one that many if not most believers are either unaware of or have forgotten, and that is that Christ's righteousness is given to us as a gift! Paul again says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new...For He [The Father] hath made Him [The Son] to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Ain't that wonderful! (Pardon the bad grammar!) Once we believe in Christ and His finished work for us on Calvary, we have this as a forever gift that He will never take back! Wow, I know it's late, but I just had to share that wonderful news with you! No wonder they call it the Gospel, and Paul says we better guard it with our lives! (Gal.1:6-9). God Bless you all real good, and sleep well!

The Beauty of God

And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Rev.4:3-5)
Wow! How tremendous! It is almost impossible to even comment on such amazing truths, taking a brief look at the worship around God’s Throne, illustrated with such God-inspired words, so we’ll just seek to glean some of these glorious truths for our spiritual edification as we think of our Savior's death and resurrection for us that makes it all possible.

It seems these awesome colors are representative of the glory of God!
And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. (v.3)

This makes us also think of Ezekiel's awesome vision of God's glory!

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. (Ezk.1:28)
As magnificent as this is, Ezekiel’s response is appropriate and understandable, rather like John's to the glorified Savior!
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I Am the First and the Last… (Rev.1:17)
In this same John’s response to seeing the glorified Lord Jesus, we understand it being much like Ezekiel’s or any who would encounter the awesome God! Yet notice the Lord’s gracious response to His servant! Fear not! Only the child of God in Christ receives this loving command due to His salvation in our life! The next verse in that text also sheds light on our understanding the Lord’s meaning in our text in Revelation 4!
I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I Am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Rev.1:18)
Isn’t it wonderful the beauty of our Savior, even in His awesome power and glory! There is no need to try and debate who the elders are, yet one thing is certain, as high-ranking as they seem to be, and as blessed as they are, they are most definitely subordinate to the One and Only God on the Throne of His universe! This represents and pictures a wondrous truth that is more and more dear to us the darker and more troubled our world becomes, as we remember this truth remains and will always be, God is on the Throne in His Heaven, ruling and loving His own! He knows what He is doing, He is always and only good and we can trust Him! He loves His own, and He has made it possible for any and everyone to be His own through simple faith in His Son’s shed blood for us! God couldn't complete His written Word to us without sending out one final invitation!
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev.22:17)
This text also, as we touched on earlier, reminds us of the overwhelming, awe-inspiring and breathtaking beauty of our God! David said it so well:
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple. (Ps.27:4)
No matter how ugly and twisted sin turns this world-system, yet God’s glorious beauty is untouched and unchangeable! Paul calls our God the incorruptible God! Though all else may be corrupted, not our holy, beautiful God! Praise the Lord!
In closing, we’re reminded of God’s matchless grace, in that though the thundering represented deserved judgment to come on those who rejected our Savior, yet the elders round His Throne remind us that they, as we, though once sinners and enemies, received His redemption and are His beloved sons and daughters, saved from the wrath to come! The psalmist put it beautifully:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (Ps.91:1)
And it is all because of Jesus!

When He Comes

Have you ever thought of what it will be like when Jesus returns, and we're in His blessed presence? I know that I almost always think of the fact that I'll see those wonderful Hands with nail-pierces in them, that paid such a dear price for my salvation all because of His great love for me. We who have come to Him as He invites us to, and has given us glorious rest from the tyrannical burden of our sin, we know that it will be a joy beyond description and even the possibility of full expression now when we see Him! We'll run to Him, and rejoice in seeing our Best Friend! I know this because we have Scriptural proof of it. Peter, who sinned as much as any of us, yet he came to know Christ, and even after he had denied his Savior so terribly, as we often do, when he realized Jesus was on the shore after His resurrection, what did he do? Did he run away from Jesus in shame and fear because he had failed his Savior so badly? Let's let the Scripture speak for itself on it. "But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.”  And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea." (Jn.21:4-7) Peter ran to his Savior! Not long after this, the Lord Jesus in His loving way, allowed Peter to express publicly his genuine love, imperfect as it was, for his Savior, and then He told him to feed His sheep, which he did through his 2 great epistles. Our sins are gone, as the great old hymn sings with joyous abandon, and we need to do as Psalm 107:2 says, let those of us who are redeemed by the Lord, say so!!I'm saying so right now. Maybe you want to as well, then go for it! May the Lord bless you.

Repentance

Have you ever wondered if you had "done it right" when you trusted in Christ for your eternal salvation? I will admit to having had doubts and fears to run through my mind over this issue in the past. But a friend and brother in Christ as well as a fellow blogger has helped me see that faith doesn't look inward at itself, but upward to Christ and beholds Him. In sharing the Gospel with someone, a certain person seemed to have trusted Christ, but later he began to have these doubts and fears as to whether he had "done it right" or not. The main issue in his mind was that this was eternity in question, and it better be right! He was right in that he understood the importance of the matter, but there was something that he was missing, something very important. This person understood that God loved him. He understood that God had done everything to make His gift of salvation available to him, and anyone that wanted it, but the one thing he was terribly unsure of was how to get it. I asked him if he wanted to be saved, and he desperately did. I asked him to think logically about it for a moment, and he did. I said that God being God, knew that he wanted desperately to be saved. Also, I asked him if it made any sense that the God of love who had gone to the great lengths He had to make salvation available to him, would then say, "I'm sorry, but you didn't do it just right when you received My gift of salvation, so you can't have it." He agrees that it would make no sense whatsoever, and it seemed that it was at this point that the "light" came on and he rejoiced in his salvation! The beautiful thing is that God has done it all, and therefore it is out of our hands, except to just accept that it is ours through Christ. I offer that this is true Biblical repentance unto salvation. This dear soul changed his mind, realized who God really was, he already knew he was a sinner and needed Christ, and now he had received what Christ had already done for him! Folks, this is really Good News! God bless you all.

Christmas Grace

Don't really have much in the way of anything prepared to say, just that my heart is so thankful for our Savior who came to earth 2,000 plus years ago to that cave, basically as I understand it, to take on sinless Human Flesh so as to not only save us from our sins, but to identify with us.(Heb.4:14-16). It simply amazes me to think that we can just talk to the God of the universe & know that not only does He hear us, He cares! He also answers us, maybe not always in the way we'd like, or at the time we think He ought, yet His answers are always best & at the perfect time & way we most need it. I have friends tonight who are going through trials that just about are ready to pull them under, yet God's grace is sufficient for them. So it is with you & me. I just want to say, a very Blessed CHRISTmas to you & yours, whatever may be your situation. Remember, Jesus Christ cares, He went to the cross & suffered for you & me in ways we'll possibly never understand yet He did it because He loved you & me so much that He could not let us go to hell without His giving it all so we could have eternal life if we'll just trust Him. OK, I'm gonna stop for tonight & just say Merry CHRISTmas.

God's Grace

We hear a lot about God's grace, & we write a lot about it, & this is good. But it seems we don't always see it in action like we should. I am one of the worst in this, I am pretty good at talking about it but not as good at living it. One of the sweetest verses in the Word of God on this subject of the grace of God is Ephesians 2:7, in which God says that in the endless ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us as believers through Christ Jesus! In other words, God's grace will be on open display all throughout eternity just because we're in Heaven as trophies of His grace! Sometimes we may wonder when we go through hard times how they could ever be used for His glory, or even less, our good? I think of Job in the Bible, & I am just now beginning to see God's abundant grace in this Book like I never have before. Job went through unspeakable suffering, & it was not because of any sin in his life, even though his legalistic friends tried to pin that on him. In fact, God doesn't come right out & tell us in so many words just what caused all Job's suffering except that He allowed it. Yet, at the end of the Book, in Job's response to God, I believe we do see at least part of the reason God allowed the horrendous suffering He did in Job's life. That reason makes all of what he suffered worth it all. In Job 42:5, he says to God, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You." In other words, I have heard quite a bit of men's opinions of You, from these so-called friends of mine & others, but now I know You in a much more personal way through this suffering." What could be better than to know God better? Paul longed for this type of knowledge of God in Philippians 3:10, & he was glad to suffer, even if it meant his death, to get that deeper knowledge. Jesus said that eternal life is to know God & Jesus who God sent.
Recently God in His grace helped us see at least some of why He allowed a tough time in our life awhile ago, & it ended up being so we could experience His grace in a deeper way. Was it worth it? No doubt! Praise the Lord.

Real Thanksgiving

You may or may not be aware of a man who lived over 350 years ago, his name was Martin Rinkart & he was a German pastor who lived through one of the bloodiest times in modern history, what has been called the thirty-years war. The suffering & death that occurred during this time can hardly be described, but as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, pastor Rinkart stayed with his little flock that suffered untold persecution & pain themselves, unto the end. Not long after the war ended & peace came to the war-riddled area, pastor Rinkart left this world & went to be with his Savior. Yet while here, he accomplished more good than we could imagine. One of the most lasting blessings we have from the crucible of suffering brother Rinkart endured is a beautiful Thanksgiving hymn that has quickly become my very favorite, titled Now Thank We All Our God actually written during a time of intense suffering & heartbreak for pastor Rinkart & his people. The weary pastor had been literally performing funerals for his people all day long, & nearly collapsed from the heartache, yet through it all, the Lord brought this beautiful hymn from his heart. If you have the chance, check this beautiful hymn out on YouTube, there is a great version of it played masterfully by Dr. Sean Jackson on the organ. It will be well worth your time. It is amazing how much grace our wonderful Savior can give when we trust Him for it!! A truly joyous Thanksgiving to you all, & may the Lord bless you!

Who's your Quartus?

If you remember, & probably you don't, it's OK really, I posted quite awhile back on a brother in the Lord that Paul briefly mentioned in the 16th chapter of Romans as he was thanking God for those brothers & sisters in the Lord God had used in his life. He said a few things about each one, & when it came to Quartus, all he said was "Quartus, a brother." I said at the time I posted earlier, & I still believe, that Paul simply referred to this dear brother as an encourager to him. I'm reading between the lines, but it seems that Quartus may have been the type of believer & brother in Christ who was just there for you in all types of situations, both good & horrible. Do you have those in your life like this? If you do, thank God for them now. I have been blessed by quite a few, but those that really stand out are my beautiful & Godly bride, & my Dad who led me to Christ many years ago. A couple older & very Godly pastors also come to mind here. I'd love to hear anything on your mind regarding this as well. May the Lord bless you.

What A Position!

I was just thinking of the joy & glory of our position in Christ as believers. We have died to sin, not that we must die to sin, or that we will one day die to sin, but when you & I believed in Christ, & received Him, we were identified with Him, or as the Bible transliterates rather than translates, we were BAPTIZED into His death & resurrection! We have died, in the past with continuing effects, to sin & have risen, again in the past with continuing effects, to new life in Him! Now, that doesn't mean that we'll always live like it, but we can & should! It's like Paul said in Ephesians 5:8, we ARE light in the Lord, now let's walk as children of light! Wow, that's just the tip of the iceberg, but it's amazing just in itself. Let's bask in it & let it translate down into, as that great old Bible teacher, J. Vernon McGee would say, shoe leather! God Bless you all!

The Gospel really IS Great News!

I've meant to post many times but just didn't take the time, but I wanted to just say a few words about the Gospel. It is great news! We often clutter it up, & worse, we alter it, & distort it until it is unrecognizable, & we even turn it into a conglomeration of impossible demands or at best, vague ideas that really mean little or nothing in everyday life. What is the genuine great news of the Gospel? Christ died for our sins, was buried, & rose again, all according to the Scriptures! It wasn't something just made up, it was prophesied from of old!

It is so good, that God says, "Hands off!" We're not to tinker with it but tell it! If we are tempted to tinker, God says we're under a curse until we come to our senses! (See Gal.1:6-9). I don't believe Paul ever wrote when he was any hotter than when he had a few choice words for those who were hoodooing the young Galatian believers! Things haven't changed much today, but when someone who is literally dying for the truth of God's Word finally hears the undiluted Gospel of the Grace of God, they rejoice in its wonder-working power!

OK, I'm done for now, I just wanted to share that with you, because not long ago I shared it with a poor fellow who was literally about ready to call it quits because he knew he was a sinner & hungered & thirsted after salvation, yet all he'd heard was these convoluted man-altered versions of the real thing. He wanted true Biblical grace!! He only found it in the real Gospel in God's Word!! May the Lord bless all of you real good!

Look to Him!

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I just wanted to drop a quick note about something that is fresh on my mind now. A lot of times, it seems that our flesh, & certainly the enemy of our souls, Satan himself, & even the world-system opposed to God, will influence our thinking, & can discourage us due to it. I know that is my experience now & then. But God is so good, that He has given us great truth in His Word to combat such subtle attacks. Some Scriptures that have been such a blessing & help to me in the battle are Acts 13:38-39 & John 3:14-16. If there is something, anything that seems to be holding you back from a fervent faith in the Lord Jesus, remember what Paul said in the Acts passage we shared, that all that believe in Christ are justified from ALL THINGS, no matter what they are! Jesus Christ died to make you & me right with God no matter what those things might be! Also, as Jesus Himself pointed out to Nicodemus in John 3, just like the rebellious Israelites in the desert looked to that snake on the pole, when we look to Christ who bore our sin, died & then rose victorious, He saves us, period! And as believers, sometimes we need to look to Him again to revitalize that faith! We do that of course through His Word! God is so good! He constantly looks out for us & when we struggle, He is so faithful to point out treasures in His Word that help us just when & where we need it most! I just had to share that with you today!

The Man or the Mansion?

I love the Psalms, & I believe I've mentioned before that my favorite of the Psalms is the 73rd. Asaph, the human writer, had obviously walked with the Lord for many years & was on intimate terms with Him. Because of this, when he hurt, he poured out his hurting heart to his God, & this Psalm is a beautifully poignant example of this. Just this alone is a great lesson to us who know the Lord. It doesn't do us any good to hold our feelings & hurts in, thinking that they might offend our Savior! He knows them already anyway, why hide them from Him?

Oh well, I've gone off in a direction I hadn't planned when I began this particular blog, so let's get back on track. BUT before I do, since I've already headed off on this rabbit trail, let's say that there is a time when we should hold our tongues when in front of others. The 15th verse of this Psalm records Asaph as saying, "If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of Thy children" He seems to be saying that if he just poured out his heart indiscriminately in front of possibly some young believers, he may have caused them to stumble in their own walk with God & he didn't want to do that. This is wise. But he certainly could & should do so with God, which he did. I can certainly recall many times I've gone walking out in the woods or somewhere alone with just me & the Lord, & poured out my heart to Him.

And with this, we begin to ease our way back into what I meant to say from the beginning! The most wondrous portion of this whole powerful Psalm to me is verses 23-26. In this portion Asaph has now worked through all his bitterness & inner turmoil, & his faith is now secure again. He says to God, "Nevertheless I am continually with Thee: Thou hast holden me by my right hand.Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." This is so precious! But let's look especially at that 25th verse: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Now, no doubt this man had some loved ones with the Lord, as we all do. But I love what he says, even though he undoubtedly is looking forward to seeing them again, he realizes that the only One who really matters is his God. If it were not for Christ, we'd have no hope of Heaven & neither would any of our loved ones, or anyone at all, for that matter. We are right to look forward to the mansions He is preparing for us in Heaven, but Jesus Himself, the Man in the Glory, as Dr. Vernon McGee used to say, is the One who really makes Heaven HEAVEN!

I know there were many other things we could have said, like the difference between Old Testament & New Testament views of Heaven, & the literal meaning of "mansions" & so forth, but I trust this little bit of rambling, actually this whole bunch of rambling means a little something to you! May the Lord bless you all for stopping in!

Commitment

I'm not exactly sure how I want to say what I have in my heart to say, but I'm gonna try nonetheless! One of the glories of knowing Christ is knowing that when I trusted Him, He made a commitment to never cast me out! I know the Bible says, Paul more specifically, that he knew Whom he had believed & that He is able to keep that which he had committed unto Him against that Day. But what did he commit to Him but his eternity? All we can do is just commit it to Him & as Paul said, He is able, & willing I might add, to keep us forever!

But back to the original point. Christ's commitment to keep us forever when we come to Him for salvation brings so much security to my often timid heart! My wonderful bride & myself said from the beginning of our marriage that we were going to make it work & that divorce was not an option. She has put up with far more than I have, but after 23 plus years, we're still together & I truly love her even more today than at the first, & I loved her a truckload then! Truly knowing that commitment is there doesn't make it sterile or wooden, it brings stability! And we're just frail humans! Jesus is LORD! He is so wonderful, I wish I could put into words just how wonderful it is knowing Him. If you don't, all I can do is tell you that He loves you & wants you to come to Him just as you are, as He said in Mt.11:28. He will never cast you out either, as He promised in John 6:37! If you do know Him, you know what I mean when I say how wonderful He is!
Well, I'm gonna close this rambling session with a verse that is becoming more & more dear to me the longer I live & know the Lord. Isaiah 51:6. Here is God's Word to us: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished."God Bless you for reading!

ALL Things!

Brothers & Sisters,

Welcome to 2011. Yep, just as per usual, I'm almost 2 weeks late, but welcome anyway! I've just been thinking & thanking lately! Thinking about how good God is & then thanking Him for it. A Bible text that I memorized awhile ago has surely come in handy lately! The older I get in the Lord it seems the more I see my need of Him, & there are times brothers & sisters that I just plain see myself as an abject failure in a lot of ways & places in my life. I don't say that to elicit sympathy or to be anything but honest. But then, the Lord in His matchless, infinite grace, as the hymn goes, reminds me of this particular text & my heart soars! OK, what is the text, you ask? Just get to the text! OK, here it is, Paul is speaking in Acts 13:38 & 39, & he says, "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." I just want to replace that period at the end of verse 39 with 32,994 exclamation points!
There is that little potent phrase in the middle, ALL THINGS! We're justified, made right with God about all things in our lives! Not just some things with the rest for us to take care of, or most things, or everything BUT... No, it is ALL things! If you have trusted Christ as your own Sin-bearer too, but those failures & embarrassments that have been a part of your life come rushing back in, remember this wonderful little text. I can almost see you smiling now, just like I do whenever it comes to mind! May the Lord bless you all!