How We Must Fight for Holiness

 

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

There is a practical holiness without which we will not see the Lord. Many live as if this were not so.

There are professing Christians who live such unholy lives that they will hear Jesus’s dreadful words, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). Paul says to professing believers, “If you live according to the flesh you will die” (Romans 8:13).

So, there is a holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And learning to fight for holiness by faith in future grace is supremely important.

There is another way to pursue holiness that backfires and leads to death. Paul warns us against serving God any other way than by faith in his enabling grace. God is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). Any effort to serve God that does not, in that very act, depend on him as the reward of our hearts and the power of our service, will dishonor him as a needy pagan god.

Peter describes the alternative to such self-reliant service of God, “Whoever serves, [let him do so] as one who serves by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). And Paul says, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me” (Romans 15:18; see also 1 Corinthians 15:10).

Moment by moment, grace arrives to enable us to do “every good work” that God appoints for us. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

The fight for good works is a fight to believe the promises of future grace.

WAY TO OUR GOD ORDAINED PATHWAYS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY JUNE 22, 2022.

SUBJECT: WAY TO OUR GOD ORDAINED PATHWAYS! 

Memory verse: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14 vs 6.)

READ: Psalm 16 vs 2; 7 - 9; 11:

16:2: O my soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my LORD, my goodness is nothing apart from You.”

16:7: I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons,

16:8: I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

16:9: Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.

16:11; You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

INTIMATION:

God has ordained our pathways. God, from the beginning, has respectively destined us, or set us apart respectively for a particular purpose or purposes, and particular ways to function. Identifying that God ordained pathway for you ensures your leading a glorious, victorious, pleasurable, joyous, and stress-free life, which was predetermined by God—our Loving Father.

Since God has preplanned all things concerning us, it is therefore given, and realistic that all keys to our preordained pathways are with Him. In our memory verse, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life...." Jesus is emphatic in this statement. He affirms that He is the only way, truth and life. ‘And there is salvation in no other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4 vs 12). 

Three principal things are in Him; ‘the way,’ ‘the truth,’ and ‘the life.’ Therefore, outside of Jesus you are in the wrong way, you can’t discover the truth, and you have no life. 

Jesus, as the way, is our path to the Father. He is one with the Father, and the same with the Father. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1 vs 15) and the exact representation of God. Jesus is not only equal to God (Philippians 2 vs 6), He is God (John 10 vs 30 & 38). He is the only means through which we can be saved. One cannot be saved outside the atonement that has been provided by Jesus on the cross.

As the truth, He is the reality of all God’s promises. He not only reflects God, but He reveals God to us (John 1 vs 18; 14 vs 9). Jesus is the revelation of the grace and truth that proceeded from God for the salvation of all men (John 1 vs 17; Titus 2 vs 11). Salvation therefore, must be accomplished through the mystery of God that was revealed through Jesus (Ephesians 3 vs 3 - 5). 

Jesus said these of Himself: "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner."   John 5 vs 19.) "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgement is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5 vs 30).

"....When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things" (John 8 vs 28).

As the Life, He joins His divine life to ours, both now and eternally. The answer to man’s mortality is found only in Jesus. One cannot find life outside the sacrificial blood of Jesus (John 8 vs 12). In order to have life through eternity, one must come into a covenant relationship with Jesus. He is supreme over all creation (Colossians 1 vs 15), and has all priority and authority. He came from heaven, not the dust of the earth (First Corinthians 15 vs 47), and He is Lord over all (Romans 9 vs 5; 10 vs 11 - 13). He is, in truth, the only living way to the Father.

Following Jesus is knowing the way of the Father. No one has seen the Father, and no one can see Him. But Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father to us. Observing the ways of Jesus is tantamount to observing the ways of the Father, because He is the same with the Father. Everything you need is in Him, and without Him you can do nothing (John 15 vs 5).

Now Jesus has come, and has gone back to the Father, to come again for the final union in marriage with His people—‘the marriage of the Lamb’ (Revelation 19 vs 7 & 9). While He is away, He has left with us the instructions on what to do, and also has given us an Helper, just to help us to occupy until He comes (Luke 19 vs 13). The instructions are in the Holy Book—the Bible, and our Helper is the Holy Spirit. Outside of these two, you will never discover the way.

The Book of instruction—the Bible tells us that the starting point is embracing Jesus and declaring Him as Savior and Lord  over your life. When you do this, He will help you to ensure that all other things would fall in pleasant places if you follow His instructions (Psalm 16 vs 6). 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for the gift of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Jesus, I confess, with my whole heart, that You are my Savior; that You died for me on the cross to pay the wages of my sin, because I cannot help myself. Thank You for that supreme sacrifice. I wholeheartedly declare you as my Lord. Come into my life and show me the true way to the Father. As from today, in You I live, and move and have my being, in Jesus matchless name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

DESIRE THE WISDOM AND REVELATION OF CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY JUNE 21, 2022.

SUBJECT : DESIRE THE WISDOM AND REVELATION OF CHRIST!

Memory verse: "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." (Colossians 1 vs 9. The )

READ: Ephesians 1 vs 17 - 23:

1:17: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to 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 the 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

1:20: which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

1:21: far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

1:22: And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,

1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

INTIMATION:

In the first three chapters of the apostle Paul's epistle to the church in Ephesus, he enumerated the consummation of Christ's substitutionary work regarding Satan and his cohorts—the demons. His heart intent is that we will come to the full knowledge of what we are in Christ.

From the passage we read today, we observed that he prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelational insight into mysteries and secret in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called us, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the believers.

When we understand the hope of God’s calling and the riches of His glory to the saints (the believers), the understanding of our spiritual matters increase in order that we might fully comprehend three things: (1) We must comprehend the hope of heaven that God has revealed. (2) We must comprehend the riches of the inheritance that God has made possible through His grace. (3) We must comprehend the greatness of God’s power toward the Christian.

Jesus is at the right hand of God and now reigns at the right hand of the Father as King of kings and Lord of lords. He has authority over all things. The reign of Jesus as well as His kingdom, were never meant to be as carnal reigns and kingdoms that are confined to this physical world. The totality of the reign of Jesus in the heavenly realm far exceeds the limits of earthly kingdoms. Jesus’ realm of reign is unlimited and extends far beyond this world and the church. 

Jesus is the Creator of all that exists. And since all things in both physical and spiritual realm were created by and for Jesus. He is definitely above all that which He created. Since Jesus is God, then certainly this is not difficult to understand. 

All the powers that God has allowed angelic beings and Satan to possess are now under the kingdom reign of Jesus. In His preeminence, Jesus has absolute authority over every power. Therefore, every Christian must firmly believe that Jesus has everything under control. He is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1 vs 13). The control of all things by Jesus gives confidence and boldness to the Christian who knows such. 

In this present time, all that exists has been subjugated to Jesus. This does not mean that all free-moral beings have voluntarily subjected themselves to Jesus. Satan, his angels, and the masses of the unbelieving world have refused the kingship of Jesus. The church is composed of those who have voluntarily submitted to Jesus. The members of the church are those who have allowed the will of the Father to be done on earth in their hearts as it is done in heaven (see Matthew 6 vs 9 - 10). 

Jesus is the source of power from which all things now maintain existence. He is the center of reference and controller of all things for the sake of the church. His headship extends unto all that is created. It is a comforting thought for Christians to know that their Savior is holding all things together, not only in the physical realm, but also in the spiritual. 

The proclamation of the lordship of Jesus is God’s attack against the principalities and powers of Satan. When the power of the gospel is unleashed in the kingdom of darkness, Satan is crushed under the feet of those who obey the gospel (Romans 1 vs 16). 

Hebrews 9 vs 12 tells us that this is an Eternal Redemption. Not just a redemption for the hour in which it was done, but that Satan is as much defeated now as he was when Christ arose from the dead; that he is as much a subject to the Name of Jesus as he was when Jesus conquered him.

Prayer: Abba Father, I thank You for what You wrought for me in redemption in Christ Jesus. Thank You for the triumph You have given me in Christ over Satan. Help me to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ's love for me, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Satisfaction That Defeats Sin

 

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

What we need to see here is that the essence of faith is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Christ.

Defining faith this way emphasizes two things. One is the God-centeredness of faith. It is not merely the promises of God that satisfy us. It is all that God himself is for us in Jesus. Faith embraces God in Christ as our treasure — not just God’s promised gifts.

Faith banks its hope not just on the real estate of the age to come, but on the fact that God will be there (Revelation 21:3). “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’”

And even now what faith embraces most earnestly is not just the reality of sins forgiven (as precious as that is), but the presence of the living Christ in our hearts and the fullness of God himself. In Ephesians 3:17–19 Paul prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith . . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

The other thing emphasized in defining faith as being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus is the term “satisfaction.” Faith is the quenching of the soul’s thirst at the fountain of God. In John 6:35 we see that “believing” means “coming” to Jesus to eat and drink the “bread of life” and the “living water” (John 4:10, 14), which are nothing other than Jesus himself.

Here is the secret of the power of faith to break the enslaving force of sinful attractions. If the heart is satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus, the power of sin to lure us away from the wisdom of Christ is broken.

THE UNPARALLELED LOVE OF GOD FOR US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY JUNE 20, 2022.

SUBJECT : THE UNPARALLELED LOVE OF GOD FOR US!

Memory verse: "Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8 vs 35).

READ: Romans 8 vs 31 - 39:

8:31: What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

8:32: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

8:33: Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

8:34: Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes Intercession for us.

8:35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

8:36: As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

8:37: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

8:38: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor Angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 

8:39: nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

INTIMATION:

Have you ever imagined a separation of you from God? Your answer might be yes, because you have considered yourself not good enough for God. You will then say, "God will not save me." Your thought is that your sinful life will be a hindrance for you to receive salvation from Him. But it is not true!

Christ had already chosen you, not you chosen Him, and gave His life for you because of His love for you, and quest for you to have life, and have it more abundantly. Have you ever imagined this show of love for us by God? And have you ever heard of any parallel, or equal show of love in history, and now?

Christ was spotless, perfect and rich. For His love for you and I, He became poor, chose to be a propitiation for our sins, took all our sins, past, present, and future, on Himself, and paid the wages of our sin, which is death (Romans 6 vs 23; Ezekiel 18 vs 4). His death was even a shameful death on the cross, just for us.

By His death for our sins, He justified us, legally setting us free from sin after haven paid the price for us. He did not stop at that. He descended to hell and met with our accuser, and greatest enemy, Satan. He engaged him there, defeated him, and stripped him of all powers. He took back His life and ascended into heaven where He sits at His position of authority—the right hand of God, and making intercession for us continually, as our advocate before the Father. He is our High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, and ever ready to help us through the journey of life.

God loves us so much so that He exchanged His Son's life of inestimable value with our worthless sinful lives. Whenever I imagine this act of God, I feel a chill run through my spines, with goose-pimples all over my skin. It is awesome!

No matter what happens to us, no matter where we are, we can never be separated from His love. Though believers may have to face hardships in many forms: persecution, illness, imprisonment, and even death. These sometimes cause us to think that Christ has abandoned us. But far be it from the truth, it is impossible to be separated from Christ. His death for us is proof of His unconquerable love, which is an overwhelming assurance of our being totally secure in Him. Nothing can separate us from His presence.

Consequently, in Christ we are super-conquerors, and His love will protect us from any forces in the universe; principalities and powers, unseen evil forces like Satan and his fallen angels—the demons. We are completely secured in Him.

How else can we reciprocate such love but to follow Him, and be in complete obedience to His commands, knowing that His thought for us is forever good. If he has given His life for us, what else can He not give to us to ensure we live for Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, I thank You for all You wrought for me in redemption out of Your unparalleled love for me. It is my desire to reciprocate this love You showcased for me. Give me the grace, me O Lord, for raw and complete obedience to You in my journey in life, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Grace Is Pardon — and Power!

 

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift and power of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.

This is plain, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul describes grace as the enabling power of his work. It is not simply the pardon of his sins; it is the power to press on in obedience. “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

Therefore, the effort we make to obey God is not an effort done in our own strength, but “by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified” (1 Peter 4:11). It is the obedience of faith. Faith in God’s ever-arriving gracious power to enable us to do what we should.

Paul confirms this in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 by calling each of our acts of goodness a “work of faith,” and by saying that the glory this brings to Jesus is “according to the grace of our God” because it happens “by his power.” Listen for all those phrases:

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The obedience that gives God pleasure is produced by the power of God’s grace through faith. The same dynamic is at work at every stage of the Christian life. The power of God’s grace that saves through faith (Ephesians 2:8) is the same power of God’s grace that sanctifies through faith.

The Offense of Fearing Man

 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” (1 Samuel 15:24)

Why did Saul obey the people instead of God? Because he feared the people instead of God. He feared the human consequences of obedience more than he feared the divine consequences of disobedience. He feared the displeasure of the people more than the displeasure of God. And that is a great insult to God.

In fact, Isaiah says it is a kind of pride to be afraid of what man can do while we disregard the promises of God. He quotes God with this piercing question: “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker?” (Isaiah 51:12–13).

Fear of man may not feel like pride, but that’s what God says it is, “Who do you think you are to fear man and forget me your Maker!”

The point is this: If you fear man, you have begun to deny the holiness, the worth of God and his Son, Jesus. God is infinitely stronger than man. He is infinitely wiser and infinitely more full of reward and joy.

To turn from him out of fear of what man can do is to discount all that God promises to be for those who fear him. It is a great insult. And in such an insult God can take no pleasure.

On the other hand, when we hear God’s promises and trust him with courage, fearing the reproach brought upon God by our unbelief, then he is greatly honored. And in that he has much pleasure.