We Live by Faith

 

The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Faith is a perfect fit with God’s future grace. It corresponds to the freedom and all-sufficiency of grace. And it calls attention to the glorious trustworthiness of God.

One of the important implications of this conclusion is that the faith that justifies and the faith that sanctifies are not two different kinds of faith. “Sanctify” simply means to make holy or to transform into Christlikeness. It is all by grace.

Therefore, it must also be through faith. For faith is the act of the soul that connects with grace, and receives it, and channels it as the power of obedience, and guards grace from being nullified through human boasting.

Paul makes this connection between faith and sanctification explicit in Galatians 2:20 (“I live by faith”). Sanctification is by the Spirit and by faith. Which is another way of saying that it is by grace and by faith. The Spirit is “the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29). God’s way of making us holy is by the Spirit; but the Spirit works through faith in the gospel.

The simple reason why the faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies is that both justification and sanctification are the work of sovereign grace. And it’s faith that corresponds to grace. Justification and sanctification are not the same kind of work (justification is the imputation of righteousness; sanctification is the impartation of righteousness), but they are both works of grace. Sanctification and justification are “grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

The human corollary of God’s free grace is faith. If both justification and sanctification are works of grace, it is natural that they would both be by faith.

SOURCES OF THE HIGHEST TYPE OF FAITH!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JUNE 7, 2021.

SUBJECT : SOURCES OF THE HIGHEST TYPE OF FAITH!

Memory verse: "When Jesus heard it, He marveled and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew 8 vs 10.)

READ: Matthew 21 vs 18 - 22:

21:18: Now in the morning as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

21:19: And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

21:20: And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” 

21:21: So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.

21:22: And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

INTIMATION:

The first thing that is necessary is to know the integrity of the Word; to know that this Word is actually what it declares itself to be—a revelation from God to us. We should know that it is God speaking to us; that the Bible is not only a Book of the past and future, but it is a Book of now; that it a God-breathed, a God-indwelt, a God-inspired message.

Secondly, it is necessary for us to know the actual reality of our redemption in Christ; not as a doctrine, not as a philosophy, but as an actual redemption out of the authority of Satan, and that we have been, by the New Birth, translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love; or in other words, into the very Family of God. Satan's dominion over us as a New Creation is ended. Jesus is the Lord and head of this new body. 

Thirdly, it is necessary for us to know the reality of the new creation; to know the legal side of it, that in the mind of justice we were created in Christ Jesus when He was recreated after He had been made sin as our substitute. We should know that vitally, the moment we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and confessed Him as our Lord,  We are the very sons and daughters of God Almighty.

fourthly, is that we should know the reality of our righteousness in Christ. There is no theory about this. We know that Romans 3 vs 26 is a reality; "To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." But the great revelation is in Second Corinthians 5 vs 21,; "Him who knew no sin God made to be sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 

Not only is Jesus our righteousness, and the Father our righteousness, but we have become "the righteousness of God in Him." This means our standing before the throne is a standing sponsored by God Himself and by His Son; by His own works wrought in us, and by the Holy Spirit, through the Word.

The fifth fact necessary for us to know is the reality of indwelling. Of all the mighty truths connected with redemption, this is the climax: that God Himself, after He has recreated us, made us His own, and is actually making our bodies His home. No longer does He dwell in earth-made holy of holies. Our bodies have become His temples. 

The apostle Paul made this clear in First Corinthians 6 vs 19 - 20 saying, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

When you becomes God-inside minded, when you take for granted that "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" (First John 4 vs 4), you go out and face life's problems with the sense of a conqueror. It is a rare practice amongst believers to say in every crisis of their life, "I am a conqueror; I am more than a victor, because the Creator dwells in me. He can put me over. He can make me a success. I can't fail." What effect will this knowledge, sincerely put into practice daily, have upon our prayer life? It will be awesome. 

The sixth fact is that it is necessary for us to know the reality of our fellowship with the Jesus and by extension, the Father. This is the very heart reason for redemption. In First Corinthians 1 vs 9 the Bible says, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Fellowship means sharing, equally bearing the burden, sharing in the victories; and He has called us to share with His Son.

Prayer: Abba Father, my faith is exceedingly built in You; in You I live and move and have my being. O Lord, give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You, and open my eyes of understanding to know the hope of Your calling, and the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

All Hostile to God

 

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. (Colossians 1:21–22)

The best news in all the world is that our alienation from God is ended and we are reconciled to the Judge of the universe. God is no longer against us, but for us. Having omnipotent love on our side mightily steels the soul. Life becomes utterly free and daring when the strongest being in the universe is for you.

But Paul’s message of salvation is not good news to those who reject the diagnosis in Colossians 1:21. He says, you “were alienated and hostile in mind.”

How many people do you know who say, “Apart from God’s grace, I am hostile to God in my mind”? People seldom say, “I hate God.” So, what does Paul mean that people are “hostile in mind” to God before they were reconciled by the blood of Christ?

I think he means that the hostility is really there toward the true God, but people do not allow themselves to think about the true God. They imagine God to be the way they would like him to be, which seldom includes any possibility that they might be in really serious trouble with him.

But concerning the God who really exists — a God who is sovereign over all things, including sickness and calamity — we were all hostile to him, Paul says. Deep down, we hated his absolute power and authority.

That any of us is saved is owing to the wonderful truth that the death of Christ obtained the grace by which God conquered our hearts and caused us to love the One we once hated.

Many are still learning not to be hostile to God. It is a good thing that he is gloriously patient.

YOU ARE BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY JUNE 6, 2021.

SUBJECT : YOU ARE BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!

Memory verse: "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great. and you shall be a blessing."  (Genesis 12 vs 2.)

READ: First Chronicles 29 vs 10 - 12; 16 - 17:

29:10: Therefore David blessed the Lord before the assembly; and David said: 'Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. 

29:11: Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all. 

29:12: Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all.

29:16: O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own. 

29:17: I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; and now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to You.

INTIMATION:

God supplies most people with the personal and financial abilities to respond to the needs of others. Regrettably, many of the people have wrongly arrogated these abilities as their efforts. Rather than use God’s gifts to them to actualize His purposes and will, they put their trust in their possessions and God is pushed away on the sideline of their lives. If we all realized how God has blessed us, and if we all use our resources to do God’s will, hunger and poverty would be wiped out. Wealth is a blessing only if we use it in the way God intended.

Many people are afraid to loosen the death grip they have on their possessions because they have the wrong perception that the accumulation of possessions is an indication of prosperity and good success, in accordance with societal norm of assessment. Ironically, this is far away from God’s idea of prosperity and good success. Prosperity and good success, in the assessment of God, is in your relationship with Him—doing His will; being obedient to, and trusting Him in all things. (Joshua 1 vs 8).

The people with death grip on their possessions, always think that their grip will ensure it’s not taken away. Actually, God is El shadai, not El cheapo; a giver, not a taker. God will treat you better than you treat yourself. Though, He might make different choices than you would, but He will certainly treat you better.

When you open up your hands to give out willingly; serving God and others with the resources He put in your possession, and putting your trust in Him, you'll see that God is not a taker—He's a multiplier. He has not come into your life to take from you. Rather He is there to give to you ‘exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think’ (Ephesians 3 vs 20), according to His mighty power at work in you who believes and puts your trust in Him.

The Bible is full of stories of men and women whom God blessed and prospered, and they all had the attitude of a steward. They all recognized God as their source. David was a good example of a steward. He wanted to build the Lord a temple, but God told him he couldn't. God wanted his son Solomon to build the temple instead. David obeyed God, but he started set aside the money and materials Solomon would need one day in order to build the temple. David set aside the equivalent of $36 billion in gold and $14 billion in silver while Solomon was growing up. 

Then right before he handed over the throne to Solomon, he made one last gift. For that one gift, David gave 110 tons of gold and 260 tons of silver. By current prices, he gave the equivalent of $6 billion in gold and $300 million in silver. After giving this huge gift, David encouraged other people to give. All the leaders of the tribes caught the spirit of giving and began to donate large sums of money. The leaders gave more than David: 190 tons of gold and 375 tons of silver. All together, they gave $17 billion in gold and silver in one day.

Now, the passage we read today, enumerated part of David's remark in First Chronicles 29 vs 10 - 19. David saw himself as a steward. He knew that all of his assets had been given to him by God. David gave God the credit for being the source of all his riches. Notice how David said that they had only given what God first gave to them; all they had done was give back to God what was rightfully His anyway. 

David had the kind of heart that pleased God. He was a man after God’s heart (Acts 13 vs 22). David was kind, benevolent, forgiving, and courageous. He, more than anything else, had an unchangeable belief in the faithful and forgiving nature of God. He was a man who lived with great zest for God, and was listed in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. David had his rest in God, and was the ruler in Israel who never lost a battle. Eventually, David’s kingship was eternal through Jesus Christ (Second Samuel 7 vs 29). 

Truly, godly prosperity is different from coveting riches. Yes, God wants you to have nice things, but you shouldn't get them by hoarding your possessions and spending it all on yourself. When you give and handle your assets like a steward of God's resources, then God will bless you, and ‘His blessing makes you rich and adds no sorrow with it.’ (Proverbs 10 vs 22.) You will have nice things, but you won't be in hock up to your eyeballs or working yourself sick.

God wants to bless His children, and wants His children to depend upon Him as their source. It is true that you can look at everything you have and say, "I did this; this is all the result of my effort," but in so doing, you haven't tapped into God's supernatural limitless abilities—you're just depending on your limited capabilities.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your hand has made me, and given me all I have. Engrace me to responsibly and effectively use Your blessings to serve your purpose and will, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Dependable in the Mundane

 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

One of the most powerful testimonies to the all-sufficiency of God’s future grace is the “faith principle” that has governed the lives of so many missionaries, notably those of Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF).

Without condemning those who follow a different pattern, it has been the practice of those who follow in the steps of Hudson Taylor and George Mueller to move the hearts of supporters to give by directing their requests to God and not to people.

James H. Taylor, the great-grandson of the founder of OMF, explains how this faith in future grace, rooted in demonstrations of bygone grace, honors God.

We . . . begin from a position of faith. We believe God does exist. We have become convinced of this in a variety of ways, but all of us have experienced the grace of God in bringing us to know Himself through Jesus Christ and through rebirth by His Spirit. We believe we have good grounds for believing in Him through the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: we believe that someone who said He would die and rise again, and did it, is credible in every other way. Therefore we are prepared to trust Him, not only for the eternal salvation of our souls, but also for the practical provision of our daily bread and financial support.

OMF publishes testimonies of God’s amazing faithfulness to demonstrate the glory of his all-supplying future grace. “We want to demonstrate that God can be trusted to do all that He says He will do, by sharing how He has provided for such mundane needs as plane tickets, meals, medical expenses, and the regular support of a whole group of Christian people for well over a hundred years.”

What OMF is devoted to is glorifying the dependability of God — in their message and in their method. Hudson Taylor put it this way: “There is a living God. He has spoken in the Bible. He means what He says and will do all that He has promised.”

Lives of faith are the great mirror of the dependability of God.

FINDING THE KEY TO THE DOOR OF OUR DESTINY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JUNE 05, 2021.

SUBJECT : FINDING THE KEY TO THE DOOR OF OUR DESTINY!

Memory verse: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (First Peter 2 vs 9.)

READ: Ephesians 1 vs 17 - 19: 

1:17: That God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

1:18: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

1:19: and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.

INTIMATION:

A person’s life is like a large house, full of stories and experiences. There are various levels and rooms reserved for certain seasons of life, each one unique in style, complex in design and purpose. Within each house are many doors that open and close throughout the course of its existence. Some are easier to open than others. Some require a little prying. Some are best left closed forever. Others, however, require a key.

The believer’s true life is embodied in our relationship and fellowship with God, and His begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Although, people often base the reality of their life on their self-conceptualized accomplishments, but our relationship with Him is far more important than our jobs, successes, wealth, or knowledge. 

We have been chosen by God Himself as His very own. The undeniable truth is that our value comes from being God’s children—sons and daughters of God, heirs of the kingdom, and joint heirs with His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8 vs 29). The door to our destiny is one that requires a key, and one that can seem very difficult to find. It cannot be created instantly or reproduced in any way. It cannot be bought with money, although it does come at a price. This is the key of identity. 

Many Christ-followers wander through their houses—their lives—never able to open the door to their destiny because they simply do not know their true identity in Christ, and consequently are not being able to find the key to the door of their destiny. Although people ask themselves what their purpose in this world is, they rarely live out the answer. 

To find the key to the door of the house of your identity, and knowing your identity in Christ requires first and foremost that you know Him—the Key Molder, and Possessor personally. As cliché as it sounds, it is the truth! How can one really know himself without first intimately knowing the One who created him or her? He created you for a purpose which only Him can determine. The manufacturer of any product has a purpose in mind, and only the manufacturer can give the facts of its purpose.

Our journey to knowing ourselves begins with knowing God’s nature and character. He is the One who carefully molds the key of destiny by revealing Himself in our lives as we pursue Him. As we grow in our knowledge of Him, three significant things begin to take place:

1. Knowing Him causes you to know what He says about you. If you truly desire to know what the Lord says about your destiny and identity, dive into His Word! 

2. Knowing Him reveals your authority in Him. Knowing the person He has divinely called you to be sets the precedent for understanding and operating in His authority.

3. Knowing Him gives you eternal perspective, especially when you wholeheartedly understand the fact that you will spend eternity with Him!

The wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of these three things will cause you to obtain the ever-desired key to the door of your destiny. I truly believe that in this time of history—in a season of worldly chaos and profound self-anonymity—the Lord is calling His bride to know her true identity and to live out her purpose, effectively advancing the Kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer: Abba Father, impart me with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened; that I may know the hope of Your calling, and the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in me that believe, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

What Makes God Proud

 

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

I want very much for God to say to me what he said about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “I am not ashamed to be called your God.”

As risky as it sounds, does this not really mean that God might actually be “proud” to be called my God? Fortunately this wonderful possibility is surrounded (in Hebrews 11:16) by reasons: one before and one after.

Take the one after, first: “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

The first reason he gives why he is not ashamed to be called their God is that he has done something for them. He made them a city — the heavenly city “whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). So, the first reason he is not ashamed to be called their God is that he has worked for them. Not the other way around.

Now, consider the reason he gives in the front. It goes like this: “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.”

“Therefore” signals that a reason has just been given for why God is not ashamed to be called our God. The reason is their desire. They desire a better country — that is, a better country than the earthly one they live in; namely, a heavenly one where God is.

When we desire this heavenly city — this dwelling place of God — more than we desire all that this world can give, God is not ashamed to be called our God. When we make much of all that he promises to be for us, he is proud to be our God. This is good news.

So, open your eyes to the better country, the city of God that he has prepared for us, and let yourself desire it with all your heart. God will not be ashamed to be called your God.