THE GRACE TO LIVE HOLY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JULY 30, 2022.

SUBJECT: THE GRACE TO LIVE HOLY!

Memory verse: "For God did I not call us to uncleanness but in holiness.” (First Thessalonians 4 vs 7.) 

READ: First Peter 1 vs 13 - 16:

1:13: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1:14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;

1:15: but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 

1:16: because it is written, “Be Holy, For I am holy.”

INTIMATION:

Grace, as undeserved (unmerited) favor, is one aspect of grace, we are probably most accustomed to hearing about, and it is wonderful. But we have also seen that grace is power—the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives—that enables us overcome our problems. It is the power of God available to meet our needs without cost to us. There is nothing more powerful than grace, and it is received by believing rather than through human effort.

What is holiness? Holiness is being "separated to God,"—being consecrated or set aside for sacred use. It is standing apart from sin and evil. It is a separation that should result in "conduct befitting those so separated." It is the characteristics or nature of God, especially the third person of the "Trinity." 

Holiness is a demand on us by God. We are to separate ourselves from the world's sinful values, and be devoted to God's desire rather than our own, and carry His love and mercy into the world. God's plan for us ab initio, is to be like Him, hence His creating us in His own image and after His likeness (Genesis 1 vs 26). He wanted us to live like Him. Unfortunately, sin separated us from Him. In His love, mercy and grace, He sent His Son, as a propitiation for our sins (First John 4 vs 10), and through His blood reconciled us back to Himself, to live for Him and be like Him. 

But while God wants us to be holy, He realizes our weakness and inability. He knows that without help we can never be what He desires for us to be or wants us to do. That is why He has sent His Spirit to help us to fulfill His design and purpose for us. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to prepare us for that place. That is not a Scripture, but it is scriptural, that is, a truth based on the Word of God. This process through which the Holy Spirit makes us holy, or leads us into holiness is called sanctification. 

Sanctification therefore, refers to the process that God uses to do a work in us by His Holy Spirit to make us more and more holy until finally we become just like His Son Jesus. It is God's grace (the power of the Holy Spirit) we receive that enables us to meet the need of sanctification—the transformation process to holiness.

In Hebrews 10 vs 14, the Bible says, "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." We have been made perfect, yet we are being sanctified (made holy). Through His death and resurrection, Christ, once for all, made His believers perfect in God's sight. At the same time He is making them holy (progressively cleansed and set apart for His special use) in their daily pilgrimage here. We should not be surprised, ashamed or shocked that we still need to grow. God is not finished with us yet.

Sanctification is a progressive venture. The finality of that process will never occur while we are in these earthly bodies. But we don't need to be concerned about that. The only thing we need to be concerned about is progress. The question we must ask ourselves is, “Are we making progress toward holiness, are we cooperating with the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to do what He wants to do in our lives?” 

As believers we are not to be anxious about holiness or the process of sanctification ('be anxious for nothing' (Philippians 4 vs 6)), but we are to be serious about it. We are to recognize that it is God's Will for us. We are to desire and thirst for it with all our hearts, and sincerely ask God for it in our fellowship with Him. We are to make every effort to cooperate with the Holy Spirit Who is working to bring it to pass in us day by day.

Prayer: Abba Father, in Your loving kindness, and the riches of Your grace You saved us from the bondage of sin and Satan to live for You, and be like You. I thirst for the endowment of Your Spirit of grace for my sanctification, to lead a holy life as You desire, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God’s Plan for Martyrs

 They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:11)

For almost three hundred years, Christianity grew in soil that was wet with the blood of the martyrs.

Until the Emperor Trajan (about AD 98), persecution was permitted but not legal. From Trajan to Decius (about AD 250), persecution was legal. From Decius, who hated the Christians and feared their impact on his reforms, until the first edict of toleration in 311, the persecution was not only legal but widespread and general.

One writer described the situation in this third period:

Horror spread everywhere through the congregations; and the number of lapsi [the ones who renounced their faith when threatened] . . . was enormous. There was no lack, however, of such as remained firm, and suffered martyrdom rather than yielding; and, as the persecution grew wider and more intense, the enthusiasm of the Christians and their power of resistance grew stronger and stronger.

So, for three hundred years, to be a Christian was an act of immense risk to your life and possessions and family. It was a test of what you loved more. And at the extremity of that test was martyrdom.

And above that martyrdom was a sovereign God who said there is an appointed number of martyrs. They have a special role to play in planting and empowering the church. They have a special role to play in shutting the mouth of Satan, who constantly says that the people of God serve him only because life goes better. That’s the point of Job 1:9–11.

Martyrdom is not something accidental. It is not taking God off guard. It is not unexpected. And it is emphatically not a strategic defeat for the cause of Christ.

It may look like defeat. But it is part of a plan in heaven that no human strategist would ever conceive or could ever design. And this plan will triumph for all those who endure to the end by faith in God’s all-sufficient grace.

CRAVE FOR MORE GRACE!

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY JULY 29, 2022.

SUBJECT: CRAVE FOR MORE GRACE!

Memory verse: "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4 vs 6.) 

READ: James 4 vs 5 - 6:

4:5: 5 Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealousy”?

4:6: But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

INTIMATION:

As we have known in the past days, grace is the free, and unmerited power of God available to sinful humanity to meet our needs without any costs to us. it is received by believing rather than through any human efforts. Everything we are, and do, and have is by the grace of God. As believers, we are one hundred percent helpless in leading life according to His precepts without the grace of God. In Ephesians 2 vs 10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”

The simple and uncomplicated nature of God's grace, and being a free gift, make many people to miss it. There is nothing more powerful than grace. In fact, everything in the Bible—salvation, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, fellowship with God and victory in our daily lives—are based upon the grace of God. As believers, without grace, we are nothing, we have nothing, and can do nothing good. If it were not for the grace of God, we would all be miserable and hopeless. 

In the passage we read today, the apostle James reveals that there is so much more to grace. The verses in Amplified Version of the Bible is quite revealing. It says, "Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says. The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcomed] with a jealous love? But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace (continually) to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it)."

Therefore, grace is the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the evil tendency within us. What evil tendency is James referring to here? The evil tendency is to turn away from God and look to our selves or to others, rather than simply asking Him to meet our needs. That is a tendency of the flesh; the evil tendency of being worldly. Incidentally, it is not the way God wants us to react or lead our lives. God demands our reliance on, and obedience to Him in all the things we do. Much as He created us as free moral human beings, and allows us a choice, He still demands we choose His ways, and not ours.

The remedy to this evil tendency is found in James 4 verse 6 which tells us that in the midst of all our problems and frustrations, God gives those who humble themselves to ask from Him more and more grace, more and more power of the of the Holy Spirit, to meet or overcome this evil tendency and all others fully. That is why God sets Himself against the proud and haughty who think they can handle things on their own without Him, but gives grace continually to the lowly, to those who are humble enough to receive His grace by simply asking for it.

God wants to help us meet our needs or overcome every evil tendencies within us. He wants to give us His grace. He wants to give us the power to overcome our wrong motives and intentions, if we will be humble enough to ask for it and receive it rather than trying to handle everything ourselves by our own power and in our own way. 

Hear what the Scripture says about the humble, and the proud; "For though the Lord is high, yet has He respect to the lowly [bringing them into fellowship with Him]; but the proud and haughty He knows and recognizes [only] at a distance." (Psalm 138 vs 6.) "Though He scoffs at the scoffers and scorns the scorners, yet He gives His undeserved favor to the low [in rank], the humble, and the afflicted." (Proverbs 3 vs 34 AMP.)

You and I should start each day by saying, "Here I am, Lord, ready for whatever You have for me to do. I empty myself, as much as I know how, to allow Your grace to flow in my life, to cause me to be able to do whatever it is that You desire for me. I cast myself totally upon You. I can be only what You allow me to be, I can have only what You will for me to have, I can do only what You empower me to do, and each victory is to Your glory, not mine."

Prayer, Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of humility and total obedience to You in all things, that I may receive from You more and more grace to live for You, and overcome every evil tendencies that arise in my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD! 

Why We Don’t Lose Heart

 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

Paul can’t see the way he used to (and there were no glasses). He can’t hear the way he used to (and there were no hearing aids). He doesn’t recover from beatings the way he used to (and there were no antibiotics). His strength, walking from town to town, doesn’t hold up the way it used to. He sees the wrinkles in his face and neck. His memory is not as good. And he admits that this is a threat to his faith and joy and courage.

But he does not lose heart. Why?

He doesn’t lose heart because his inner man is being renewed. How?

The renewing of his heart comes from something very strange: it comes from looking at what he can’t see.

We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

This is Paul’s way of not losing heart: looking at what he cannot see. What, then, did he see when he looked?

A few verses later in 2 Corinthians 5:7, he says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” This doesn’t mean that he leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there. It means that for now the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses.

We “look” at these unseen things through the gospel. We strengthen our hearts — we renew our courage — by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face.

“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We see this as it shines in our heart through the gospel.

We became Christians when this happened — whether we understood this or not. And with Paul we need to go on seeing with the eyes of the heart, so that we not lose heart.

SAVED AND SUSTAINED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY JULY 28, 2022.

SUBJECT : SAVED AND SUSTAINED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST! 

Memory verse: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2 vs 8.) 

READ: Ephesians 2 vs 4 - 10:

2:4: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

2:5: even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved),

2:6: and raised us up together, and made sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

2:7: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God,

2:9: not of works, lest anyone should boast.

2:10: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

INTIMATION:

We are saved by grace through faith. Please note these two words 'by' and 'through' because the vital difference between these two words will help keep in proper perspective the different roles and functions of grace and faith.

Grace is the unmerited favor of God to draw from God’s power through the Holy Spirit, while faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11 vs 1). The Amplified Bible clearly states the same verse thus: "Now faith is the substance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

The key words that describe faith are confidence, conviction, confirmation and certainty. These qualities need a secure beginning and ending point. The beginning point of faith is believing in God's character—He is who He says He is. The end point is believing in God's promises—He will do what He says He will do. Therefore, when we believe that God will fulfill His promises even though we don't see those promises materializing yet, we demonstrate true faith. It is the 'believe'—the confidence and conviction—in God, and assurance—confirmation and certainty—of His promises, that is faith. And it is through faith that we receive by His grace (the power of the Holy Spirit) God's blessings.

The major problem believers have is that once we are saved by grace through faith, we immediately make the mistake of turning from living by grace to living by works. We begin to match God's blessings by our works. Or put in another form, we want to buy God's blessings by our works. What do I mean by this? We begin to think we have prayed enough, or not enough, to get God's blessings (answer to our prayers), or we have been operating enough, or not enough, in the fruit of the Spirit to get, or not to get, His blessings; we weren't nice when we got caught in that traffic jam, we weren't nice to the man at the corner of the road, on and on, hence our not being blessed by Him. 

We think of everything we did right or wrong and figure that it automatically qualifies or disqualifies us, as it were, for any of God's blessings. All these are works, though in themselves are good and should be done, but are not the channel or reason for receiving from God. It is not by works. It is even "God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2 vs 13), and He does this by His grace (the power of the Holy Spirit) in you. Disconnect from Him, and you can do nothing. (John 15 vs 5).

"For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter His rest"......(Hebrews 4 vs 3). You will enter His rest when you receive His grace and you will lead your life as Paul advised us in Philippians 4 vs 4 - 6; "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men.......Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." That is life of who has entered His rest.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for Your grace bestowed on me and my absolute faith in You and has enabled me to lead a life trusting in You completely, that we enable me enter Your rest, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

THE SOURCE OF GOD’S GRACE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY JULY 27, 2022.

SUBJECT: THE SOURCE OF GOD’S GRACE!

Memory verse: "Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5 vs 2.) 

READ: Ephesians 2 vs 8 - 9:

2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 

2:9: not of works, lest any man should boast.

INTIMATION:

We gain entry into the realm of God’s grace through Jesus in whom we must have faith. Grace is the unmerited favor of God toward man that was made possible by the sacrificial offering of Jesus on the cross. God demands our obedient response to Him by faith. Therefore, the application of grace in one’s life must be based on the condition of obedient faith, which is our response to the grace of God. And without faith it is impossible to please God. It is in exercising of our faith in our obedient fellowship with Christ that plugs us into the source of God’s power—His grace. 

If there is anything the devil tries to do, is to keep people out of fellowship with the Lord. Satan knows that once you are connected to the source of divine power, it is finished for him. Fellowship with the Lord is what ensures a victorious and peaceful Christian life. But without fellowship with Him, one will struggle the entire time he or she is here on earth as a Christian, even though you will be saved because your name is in the Book of life. 

Though the free gift of our salvation is not based on our fellowship, rather on the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for our sins. But without fellowship in obedient faith one will not partake of the riches of the glory, and the exceeding greatness of His power—His grace.

Do you know what happens when you are in fellowship with God—spending quality time with Him? You become a custodian of His grace—the power of God to help you meet your needs and solve your problems. As soldiers of the cross, you and I are not supposed to be afraid of our enemy—the devil. Instead, we are to ‘be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might—His grace,’ knowing that we are plugged into the ultimate power source, the power that can make and destroy. 

When the spirit of fear comes along, rather than shaking like a leaf, we are to be bold as a lion, and remind the devil that ‘God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind’ (Second Timothy 1 vs 7). 

The devil comes against those who are doing damage to his kingdom, those who are doing something for God as His ambassadors. How then do we withstand the devil? By girding on the full armor of God; taking the shield of faith, and by wielding the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, by which we can quench his fiery darts (Ephesians 6 vs 13 - 17). 

Being strong in the Lord, in my considered opinion, is being strong in fellowship with God. And it’s only after being strengthened in fellowship with obedient faith that you can properly access the whole armor of God. Therefore, you should come apart with the Lord (fellowship with the Lord) privately before you come apart publicly. Spend time with God so you can remain stable as you deal with the daily affairs of life.

Being in fellowship with the Lord does not mean that you will be in a room with God all the time. If you will give twenty or thirty minutes of sleep in the morning in order to get up early and seek His face, God will honor that sacrifice. It you are willing to turn off the television for thirty minutes in the evening and spend some time in fellowship with the Lord, you will be richly rewarded. 

However, God is a Loving Father, He will not require more of you than what you are able to give Him. He is not an ogre who is out to make you miserable. He just knows what you need in order to have that abundant, enjoyable, victorious life. When you fellowship with the Lord, you learn to quickly follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit. 

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my all. I thirst to be in Your presence at all times. Endue me with the spirit of faithful obedience to You in all things that I may have fellowship with You at all times, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

If You Don’t Fight Lust

 Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)

When I confronted a man about the adultery he was living in, I tried to understand his situation, and I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, “You know, Jesus says that if you don’t fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever.”

As a professing Christian, he looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, “You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?”

So, I have learned again and again from firsthand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the threats of the Bible, and that puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical warnings. I believe this view of the Christian life is comforting thousands who are on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).

Jesus said, if you don’t fight lust, you won’t go to heaven. “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29). The point is not that true Christians always succeed in every battle. The issue is that we resolve to fight, not that we succeed flawlessly. We don’t make peace with sin. We make war.

The stakes are much higher than whether the world is blown up by a thousand long-range missiles, or terrorists bomb your city, or global warming melts the ice caps, or AIDS sweeps the nations. All these calamities can kill only the body. But if we don’t fight lust, we lose our souls. Forever.

Peter says the passions of the flesh wage war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). The stakes in this war are infinitely higher than in any threat of world war or terrorism. The apostle Paul listed “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness,” then said it is “on account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6). And the wrath of God is immeasurably more fearful than the wrath of all the nations of the world put together.

May God give us grace to take our souls and others’ souls seriously and keep up the fight.