Blogger’s note: I know this one is long; but trust me, it’s worth the read!
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 30-31 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Highlight Reference Passage : Deuteronomy 30: 1-6 … 1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, 2 and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. 6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
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Highlight Reference Passage #2 : Deuteronomy 30: 11-16 … 11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. … 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
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Highlight Reference Passage #3 : Deuteronomy 30: 19-20 … 19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
My Journal for Today: Today I was led to Chapters 30-31 of Deuteronomy; and I think I could write a small book in journaling on these chapters. In fact, as you see above, I had trouble limiting the highlighted passages that I really wanted you to read and study along with me this morning. And really God’s message – through Moses to His people – back in that day, when the people were about to follow Joshua into the promised-land, was quite stark … and really quite simple. Certainly I’m not saying it was easy, because God knew that His beloved and chosen people were going to fail Him; and for Moses and Joshua God even predicted that one day He, the Lord, would have to abandon His loved ones for a season for them to realize the consequences of their collective sin (to see this prediction, read Chapter 31 from the link above).
But God’s mercy and His promises are everlasting; and God will one day bring His recalcitrant Hebrew children into the promised-land; and so, in the meantime as the history of disobedience was to unfold in their future, as they crossed over the Jordan and were to follow Joshua into the promised-land, the people were reminded (again) of their options; and I charge you to read and meditate on those options in the Deut. 30: 19-20 above.
And my dear ones, who might be reading with me today, aren’t these the same choices that have today? In fact the Apostle Paul even reminded New Covenant Christians of this life-death choice when he wrote – for God – to the Romans (and now for all time to all Christians) in Romans 10: 5-8, and in doing so, he referred to the Deut. 30: 11-14 passage copied above for you.
By reading and meditating on the words of God through Moses and repeated later in history by Paul, we must realize that everyday we have these choices in front of us … obedience versus disobedience … life versus death … selfishness verses “Saviorness.” And so many times, our choice can seem so difficult. Yet, as Moses and Paul point out, it is really quite simple. Do we really believe God and His promises; or do we believe what Satan would want for us to believe? It was the same choice which Adam and Eve had in the garden, knowing God’s commands and being confronted by Satan. And we know the result of their choice, don’t we?
Today, you and I will confront something which says to us, “Okay, which choice will you make, … life or death … sinfulness or Saviorness?” And we’re going to have to make the same choice which was made by God’s people in response to the charge given to them as they were to march forward into the promised-land; and we know, from the Bible, how miserably they failed. But we also know, from the same Bible, that God has provided the perfect redemption and atonement for the sins of His people; and that redemption also comes from a choice. And oh how I pray you have made that choice … to receive God’s everlasting grace of salvation; and I pray that we’re marching – this very day TOGETHER – toward God’s promised-land.
Now, one last word, my friend; … I know, from experience, how easy it is to make sin choices and get so mired in habitual sin, walking far away from God, that you don’t feel you can choose to move back into a state of harmony with God. But my friends, God always has the choice of sinful death or eternally cleansed and blessed life out in front of us. And if we’re willing and able to make the “life choice” today in repentance, He’s ALWAYS ready to take us back in to His loving arms. That, of course, was the message of Christ’s wonderful and powerful “prodigal” parable, wasn’t it? And if you’ve been away from God for a season in your life; and you want to know what God has waiting for you IF you can make the choice to come back to Him today, listen to this wonderful song, performed by Phillips, Craig, and Dean, and relish in the love of God as He says to us this morning, “Come back home!”
Here’s the link to that song on You Tube; and I so hope you’ll take 5 minutes and be lifted up by the reality of God’s grace. And then if you have a few more minutes, listen to this song by the same group, singing of how God and His angels will celebrate when and if we can make the righteous choices He lays out for us today. And then one last link to a song in this little mini-concert about the grace of God when we choose the Savior over self.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, I’m so grateful that You were willing to pursue me with Your grace and to give me the time to choose Your grace; and now I’m so grateful for Your patience in allowing me to become the Saint You are shaping me to become. Today, from the choices You will offer me, … I will choose LIFE! Amen
Showing posts with label redemption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label redemption. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday, February 06, 2012
February 6, 2012 … Blood Shed for the Remission of Sin
WARNING!! … This is a long one! But please stick in there with me. You may be blessed by what God has given me to share today. And please see my BLOGGER'S NOTE below.
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Exodus, Chapters 22-24 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Exodus 24: 1-8 … : … [God’s Covenant Patience] ... 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."
3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the Lord has said we will do."
4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar.7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey."
8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."
My Journal for Today: Today, in reading through and meditating on Chapter 22-24 of Exodus [linked for your reading above] in my chronological Bible reading plan for 2012, I encounter, along with God’s instructions through Moses to His people after presenting them with The Ten Commandments (in Exodus 20), the instructions God gives to His children about how they must live to be festivals of living sacrifice. If you go back to my journal entry for Feb. 3, 2012 at this linked website, you can read how God wanted His people to remember what the Lord had done for them in delivering them from bondage in Egypt and how their lives should become “living sacrifices” in faithful remembrance of His redeeming faithfulness. And here in these chapters – for today’s reading – we read of how God gave His children specific instructions as to how they must live to become the living remembrance to Yahweh’s faithful deliverance and His patient, covenant love.
Now, in today’s highlight passage, copied above, we read of the ceremony which God presented for the people, through Moses, Aaron, and the Elders of the twelve tribes. However, in this elaborate covenant ritual, Moses was the only one whom God would allow to approach the altar of worship. And then note the corporate response of God’s chosen people when God’s instructions were presented to them by Moses. They said in accord, "Everything the Lord has said we will do." Well, I’m no Bible scholar; but I have read through THE BOOK, and I’m sure you know as well as I that these people would not live up to their part of God’s deal for them.
Yes, God, being our omniscient Lord, knew that His children, still under the influence of their Adamic nature, would fail Him; but He still needed to establish the ground rules for the game of life, re-establishing and ceremoniously re-setting in motion God’s part of His deal with His people. And in part of this ceremony, which we read about in today’s highlight passage, we see the importance of “the blood” in this covenant ritual. And now, being New Covenant believers, from our reading of God’s completed “Book of the Law,” our Bible, we know all about what was being pictured in this re-establishment of God’s Covenant with His people.
We know (or should know) that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of or redemption from sin [see Hebrews 9, especially verse 22; and this ceremony, we read about above, was God’s way of giving a ceremonial picture, which He established through the rituals of blood sacrifice in the Old Testament times, to foreshadow what was to come when His Son would become the Messianic blood sacrifice, the Lamb of God, shedding His blood, once and for all, to “seal the deal” God was making with His people from the Old Covenant.
And now we who are established and sealed by the New Covenant blood sacrifice, will live with our Lord and Savior forever because He, as the final blood sacrifice, the Lamb of God, shed His blood to cover us and release us from our past bondage to our sin nature.
If you’re reading along with me, can I get a resounding “HALLELUJAH?!!”
However and hopefully, we can be more faithful to our part of the New Covenant fulfillment than God’s children were when they declared that they would be obedient to God’s original covenant. Prayerfully, we can live as living sacrifices more in remembrance of God’s promised and fulfilled sacrifice than did those in Moses’ time when the people saw His glory and yet balked in trying to fulfill their covenant promise to their God.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, though we are sinners and don’t deserve Your blood, You shed it for me, and all who receive Your blood in faith, that we may be saved by Your grace and mercy, through our faith in the shedding of Your blood for our forgiveness. Oh, Yahweh, …thank You … and … HALLELUJAH!!! Amen
Blogger’s Note: I want to declare here, for any who might be willing to read along with me, that God is giving me far more than I prayed for … and WAY MORE than I deserve … as I’ve been reading through His word this year. In the beginning of 2012, I desired – and prayed for – God to fill me up with His wisdom as I made the commitment to do the chronological reading plan which our local church was promoting for 2012. But to be quite honest, I felt under obligation – more than real commitment – as an Elder in our church to model this reading plan. But nonetheless, I prayed that God would give our church flock – and me too – His wisdom, light, and direction from this reading of His word. And if you know God’s promised from both Psalms 37: 4 and James 1: 5-6 as well as Isaiah 55: 11, seeking to know God and His mind through the study of His word will ALWAYS be productive – WAY MORE than we could fathom [see Eph. 3: 20]! … And that has truly been the result of my reading thus far, chronologically, through the Bible this year. So, as with today’s journaling above, I’m more than encouraged – I’m excited! – to continue on being filled up every day by reading, studying, and meditating on God’s word. Oh, how I pray others will find the Ps. 37: 4 treatment as well from committing and reading through the Bible in 2012.
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Exodus, Chapters 22-24 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Exodus 24: 1-8 … : … [God’s Covenant Patience] ... 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."
3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the Lord has said we will do."
4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar.7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey."
8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."
My Journal for Today: Today, in reading through and meditating on Chapter 22-24 of Exodus [linked for your reading above] in my chronological Bible reading plan for 2012, I encounter, along with God’s instructions through Moses to His people after presenting them with The Ten Commandments (in Exodus 20), the instructions God gives to His children about how they must live to be festivals of living sacrifice. If you go back to my journal entry for Feb. 3, 2012 at this linked website, you can read how God wanted His people to remember what the Lord had done for them in delivering them from bondage in Egypt and how their lives should become “living sacrifices” in faithful remembrance of His redeeming faithfulness. And here in these chapters – for today’s reading – we read of how God gave His children specific instructions as to how they must live to become the living remembrance to Yahweh’s faithful deliverance and His patient, covenant love.
Now, in today’s highlight passage, copied above, we read of the ceremony which God presented for the people, through Moses, Aaron, and the Elders of the twelve tribes. However, in this elaborate covenant ritual, Moses was the only one whom God would allow to approach the altar of worship. And then note the corporate response of God’s chosen people when God’s instructions were presented to them by Moses. They said in accord, "Everything the Lord has said we will do." Well, I’m no Bible scholar; but I have read through THE BOOK, and I’m sure you know as well as I that these people would not live up to their part of God’s deal for them.
Yes, God, being our omniscient Lord, knew that His children, still under the influence of their Adamic nature, would fail Him; but He still needed to establish the ground rules for the game of life, re-establishing and ceremoniously re-setting in motion God’s part of His deal with His people. And in part of this ceremony, which we read about in today’s highlight passage, we see the importance of “the blood” in this covenant ritual. And now, being New Covenant believers, from our reading of God’s completed “Book of the Law,” our Bible, we know all about what was being pictured in this re-establishment of God’s Covenant with His people.
We know (or should know) that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of or redemption from sin [see Hebrews 9, especially verse 22; and this ceremony, we read about above, was God’s way of giving a ceremonial picture, which He established through the rituals of blood sacrifice in the Old Testament times, to foreshadow what was to come when His Son would become the Messianic blood sacrifice, the Lamb of God, shedding His blood, once and for all, to “seal the deal” God was making with His people from the Old Covenant.
And now we who are established and sealed by the New Covenant blood sacrifice, will live with our Lord and Savior forever because He, as the final blood sacrifice, the Lamb of God, shed His blood to cover us and release us from our past bondage to our sin nature.
If you’re reading along with me, can I get a resounding “HALLELUJAH?!!”
However and hopefully, we can be more faithful to our part of the New Covenant fulfillment than God’s children were when they declared that they would be obedient to God’s original covenant. Prayerfully, we can live as living sacrifices more in remembrance of God’s promised and fulfilled sacrifice than did those in Moses’ time when the people saw His glory and yet balked in trying to fulfill their covenant promise to their God.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, though we are sinners and don’t deserve Your blood, You shed it for me, and all who receive Your blood in faith, that we may be saved by Your grace and mercy, through our faith in the shedding of Your blood for our forgiveness. Oh, Yahweh, …thank You … and … HALLELUJAH!!! Amen
Blogger’s Note: I want to declare here, for any who might be willing to read along with me, that God is giving me far more than I prayed for … and WAY MORE than I deserve … as I’ve been reading through His word this year. In the beginning of 2012, I desired – and prayed for – God to fill me up with His wisdom as I made the commitment to do the chronological reading plan which our local church was promoting for 2012. But to be quite honest, I felt under obligation – more than real commitment – as an Elder in our church to model this reading plan. But nonetheless, I prayed that God would give our church flock – and me too – His wisdom, light, and direction from this reading of His word. And if you know God’s promised from both Psalms 37: 4 and James 1: 5-6 as well as Isaiah 55: 11, seeking to know God and His mind through the study of His word will ALWAYS be productive – WAY MORE than we could fathom [see Eph. 3: 20]! … And that has truly been the result of my reading thus far, chronologically, through the Bible this year. So, as with today’s journaling above, I’m more than encouraged – I’m excited! – to continue on being filled up every day by reading, studying, and meditating on God’s word. Oh, how I pray others will find the Ps. 37: 4 treatment as well from committing and reading through the Bible in 2012.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
January 1, 2012 … In the Beginning, Man’s Sin
Blogger’s/Pastor’s Note: For the information of any who might follow with me in 2012, I will be using the YouVersion.com chronological bible reading plan, which can be accessed by going to this link. ... Each day I will reference the Bible chapters/verses which I’ll be reading on the chronological reading plan; and any who follow me can go to that passage to read/meditate. I’m hoping that any who do follow along with me will not undertake to read my thoughts (i.e., my journal entries daily) without first reading the entire passage I’ve read. However, if I end up concentrating on one section or passage of the reading plan for my day, I will reference that segment or print it out for the follower’s benefit. And you should know if you’re following here, all scriptures I use, unless otherwise referenced will be in the New International Version of the Bible.
Passage of the Day: Reading Plan Reference … Genesis, Chapter 1 – 3 … Study Scripture Reference: Genesis 3: 6 … 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
My Journal for Today: Genesis: Chapters 1 – 3. … Wow! What a start for my reading of the Bible chronologically for 2012. But I guess it’s certainly logical to start a chronological reading plan in the Bible by starting “in the beginning.” And as we read in Genesis 1: 1: ”in the beginning, God!”
One could spend days meditating and journaling the spiritual and personal applications and lessons in these three chapters. There is certainly a lot of spiritual meat to chew on in these passages. Theologians have written volumes on just these three chapters alone. Preachers have preached for weeks on the theological applications found in what the reading plan had me study today. However, as I read these three chapters on my first day of my reading plan, I guess it was the Holy Spirit’s plan for verse 6 of Chapter 3 to jump off the page for me; and so I’ve reprinted that verse above [in the NIV] above in bold/italics.
And I could probably craft a 20 minute homily or even a longer sermon on just this one verse alone. But I’ll just try to bring out one pertinent aspect of this verse which has a lot of personal meaning for me (and hopefully you, too).
As I read Gen. 3: 6, another Bible passage I had memorized years ago bubbled up from my consciousness. It is in the New Testament, … 1st John 2: 15-16 Let me copy/paste it here for your edification: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
Now, my fellow Christian, mediate on that passage and compare it to the one printed above from Gen. 3: 6. Do you see the comparative parallels? In reality, when John was writing about the inclusive categories of sin in 1st John 2: 16, he may have had our Gen. 3: 6 passage in mind; because if you notice, all the sin types which there are in human nature - and they are many - would fit into the three generic categories of sin outlined in these two passages – “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”
And as you can see from Gen. 3: 6 those where all three types of sin exhibited by Eve when she was being conned into taking of the tree of life by the serpent. She saw that the fruit was good for food (“the lust of the flesh”). She saw that the fruit was pleasing to the eyes (“the lust of the eyes” ). And finally, she reasoned that the fruit was, as the serpent had argued, desirable for making her better than she was at the time (“the pride of life”).
So, my friend there you have what you and I deal with every day of our lives, … being tempted in the same way written about for Adam and Eve in Garden. However, the Apostle John wrote about these same sin forces (i.e., temptations) with which we are confronted in our current lives; and we, like Adam and Eve have been banished from the garden as we learn to deal with our sin nature, inherited from these two whose choices were actually much simpler than our tempting choices are today.
Every day we must deal with the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” just as did Eve first and then Adam. They blew it; and their sin nature is ours, banished from God’s garden. But God has made a way back to the garden; and His plan will take us to a place – a New Garden – where we will not have to deal with the lusts of our flesh and eyes; and our pridefulness will never be an issue. Do I sense a “Hallelujah [!],” my fellow Christian. And that plan, of course, was God’s plan for mankind right from the beginning … to bring us His Son to redeem us from our sin nature and take us back to that bliss-filled state which we read about in Genesis 1-2 … before mankind had to deal with the serpent.
And, … when we come, in faith, to receive God’s free gift of grace and His salvation, we – one day – will be returned to a place – like God’s garden for His creation, mankind – to walk with God, for eternity, in the bliss of the relationship He created for us to enjoy with Him “in the beginning.”
Well, there’s my first day in reading through the Bible this year. And if you come along with me, I’ll be journaling my trek right here in this site each morning. Maybe not as long as this entry; but every day here. …
Happy New Year, my friend!
My Prayer Today: … Teach me, Lord, each day from Your word as I come here to get to know You more. Amen
Passage of the Day: Reading Plan Reference … Genesis, Chapter 1 – 3 … Study Scripture Reference: Genesis 3: 6 … 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
My Journal for Today: Genesis: Chapters 1 – 3. … Wow! What a start for my reading of the Bible chronologically for 2012. But I guess it’s certainly logical to start a chronological reading plan in the Bible by starting “in the beginning.” And as we read in Genesis 1: 1: ”in the beginning, God!”
One could spend days meditating and journaling the spiritual and personal applications and lessons in these three chapters. There is certainly a lot of spiritual meat to chew on in these passages. Theologians have written volumes on just these three chapters alone. Preachers have preached for weeks on the theological applications found in what the reading plan had me study today. However, as I read these three chapters on my first day of my reading plan, I guess it was the Holy Spirit’s plan for verse 6 of Chapter 3 to jump off the page for me; and so I’ve reprinted that verse above [in the NIV] above in bold/italics.
And I could probably craft a 20 minute homily or even a longer sermon on just this one verse alone. But I’ll just try to bring out one pertinent aspect of this verse which has a lot of personal meaning for me (and hopefully you, too).
As I read Gen. 3: 6, another Bible passage I had memorized years ago bubbled up from my consciousness. It is in the New Testament, … 1st John 2: 15-16 Let me copy/paste it here for your edification: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
Now, my fellow Christian, mediate on that passage and compare it to the one printed above from Gen. 3: 6. Do you see the comparative parallels? In reality, when John was writing about the inclusive categories of sin in 1st John 2: 16, he may have had our Gen. 3: 6 passage in mind; because if you notice, all the sin types which there are in human nature - and they are many - would fit into the three generic categories of sin outlined in these two passages – “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”
And as you can see from Gen. 3: 6 those where all three types of sin exhibited by Eve when she was being conned into taking of the tree of life by the serpent. She saw that the fruit was good for food (“the lust of the flesh”). She saw that the fruit was pleasing to the eyes (“the lust of the eyes” ). And finally, she reasoned that the fruit was, as the serpent had argued, desirable for making her better than she was at the time (“the pride of life”).
So, my friend there you have what you and I deal with every day of our lives, … being tempted in the same way written about for Adam and Eve in Garden. However, the Apostle John wrote about these same sin forces (i.e., temptations) with which we are confronted in our current lives; and we, like Adam and Eve have been banished from the garden as we learn to deal with our sin nature, inherited from these two whose choices were actually much simpler than our tempting choices are today.
Every day we must deal with the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” just as did Eve first and then Adam. They blew it; and their sin nature is ours, banished from God’s garden. But God has made a way back to the garden; and His plan will take us to a place – a New Garden – where we will not have to deal with the lusts of our flesh and eyes; and our pridefulness will never be an issue. Do I sense a “Hallelujah [!],” my fellow Christian. And that plan, of course, was God’s plan for mankind right from the beginning … to bring us His Son to redeem us from our sin nature and take us back to that bliss-filled state which we read about in Genesis 1-2 … before mankind had to deal with the serpent.
And, … when we come, in faith, to receive God’s free gift of grace and His salvation, we – one day – will be returned to a place – like God’s garden for His creation, mankind – to walk with God, for eternity, in the bliss of the relationship He created for us to enjoy with Him “in the beginning.”
Well, there’s my first day in reading through the Bible this year. And if you come along with me, I’ll be journaling my trek right here in this site each morning. Maybe not as long as this entry; but every day here. …
Happy New Year, my friend!
My Prayer Today: … Teach me, Lord, each day from Your word as I come here to get to know You more. Amen
Thursday, October 13, 2011
October 13, 2011 … Alive In Christ
Passage of the Day: Romans 6: 4 … [see verse in bold/underlined] … Rom. 6: 1 - 4 … What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
My Journal for Today: Romans 6 is all about the death and resurrection of the Christian spiritually. In the rebirth of conversion, we, who realize Christ as Lord/Savior, die to sin and now and forever live spiritually in Christ. Today is the thirteenth day of October. For me, the leap from death into eternity with God happened on another 13th day of the month in 1983. It was April 13th of that year; and the one passage of scripture, which I have memorized reflecting on what happened that day for me, is Galatians 2: 20; and since I have it in my heart in the NKJV, let me quote it: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no long I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
On that day [4/13/83], many years ago now, I died to an old life of sin and was reborn into a new life in Christ, which is also reflected in another Pauline saying from 2nd Cor. 5: 17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!” I pray, as I write this and you read it, that you share in that death to self and the new birth in our Savior. As John Macarthur puts it, “Having died to the old life, Christians have been raised to share new life in Christ.” And that’s why we Christians – truly born-again believers – will live a life in Christ, being drawn away from the old life of carnal living and in pursuit of a life of Christlikeness. But does that mean that Christians won’t sin? Of course not; but having died to sin in Christ, we can now use God’s enabling [i.e., sanctifying] grace, ministered to us by His Spirit, to overcome sin as our Lord shapes us into His own image.
There’s really not much more I could ever add to this as a description of who I am as a Christian. On that day in April of 1983, I died to my former carnal life by faith in Christ; and now, living by that same faith in God, the Holy Spirit, Who indwells my spirit, lifts me to walk in this world, growing closer to Christlikeness day-by-day as I deal with my residual sin nature. Yes, to repeat what I’ve said above, I am still a sinner, who can choose to sin; but I am now a redeemed sinner, who can rather choose to live for Christ and to live in freedom from those old sin choices by the grace of God, as it says in Gal. 2: 20, living for the One “… Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
There was a time in my life that I lived as an abomination to God, living and acting in enmity with my Lord; but now, by His grace, I live by faith, and even in the flesh, to glorify God, Who is my Lord and Savior. I don’t know about you, but the now life in Christ is so much more alive than that former life of sin and death in the flesh. And to think it will be that way for eternity as I grow closer and closer to the One Who saved me. How glorious the thought!
My Prayer Today: May God be praised for His saving grace! Amen
My Journal for Today: Romans 6 is all about the death and resurrection of the Christian spiritually. In the rebirth of conversion, we, who realize Christ as Lord/Savior, die to sin and now and forever live spiritually in Christ. Today is the thirteenth day of October. For me, the leap from death into eternity with God happened on another 13th day of the month in 1983. It was April 13th of that year; and the one passage of scripture, which I have memorized reflecting on what happened that day for me, is Galatians 2: 20; and since I have it in my heart in the NKJV, let me quote it: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no long I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
On that day [4/13/83], many years ago now, I died to an old life of sin and was reborn into a new life in Christ, which is also reflected in another Pauline saying from 2nd Cor. 5: 17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!” I pray, as I write this and you read it, that you share in that death to self and the new birth in our Savior. As John Macarthur puts it, “Having died to the old life, Christians have been raised to share new life in Christ.” And that’s why we Christians – truly born-again believers – will live a life in Christ, being drawn away from the old life of carnal living and in pursuit of a life of Christlikeness. But does that mean that Christians won’t sin? Of course not; but having died to sin in Christ, we can now use God’s enabling [i.e., sanctifying] grace, ministered to us by His Spirit, to overcome sin as our Lord shapes us into His own image.
There’s really not much more I could ever add to this as a description of who I am as a Christian. On that day in April of 1983, I died to my former carnal life by faith in Christ; and now, living by that same faith in God, the Holy Spirit, Who indwells my spirit, lifts me to walk in this world, growing closer to Christlikeness day-by-day as I deal with my residual sin nature. Yes, to repeat what I’ve said above, I am still a sinner, who can choose to sin; but I am now a redeemed sinner, who can rather choose to live for Christ and to live in freedom from those old sin choices by the grace of God, as it says in Gal. 2: 20, living for the One “… Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
There was a time in my life that I lived as an abomination to God, living and acting in enmity with my Lord; but now, by His grace, I live by faith, and even in the flesh, to glorify God, Who is my Lord and Savior. I don’t know about you, but the now life in Christ is so much more alive than that former life of sin and death in the flesh. And to think it will be that way for eternity as I grow closer and closer to the One Who saved me. How glorious the thought!
My Prayer Today: May God be praised for His saving grace! Amen
Saturday, October 01, 2011
October 1, 2011 … Man’s Biggest Problem
Blogger’s Note: Another month and another opportunity to go deeper into the knowledge of my Savior and Lord through His word. This month, again with the help of my devotional shepherd, Dr. John MacArthur, from his devotional book, Strength for Today, I will be delving into the nature of my sinful self, and I’m sure It’ll be like looking into the mirror of truth and learning how to deal with myself and seek my God, Who resides in me. So, if you come along with me, we’ll likely be getting closer and closer to our God. … Looking into a mirror can be painful at times; but it can be very revealing and health; and I’m sure it will be a very good thing for any who come with me!
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Passage of the Day: Romans 3: 23 [see underlined in bold] … 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
My Journal for Today: This month, again with John MacArthur’s help, I will be looking at the topic every Christian should understand, and that is “sin.” I say the latter because sin is likely the only thing in this life to be feared by a Christian. In his devotional for this date from Strength for Today, MacArthur quotes an early Church leader, Crysotom, who wrote, “I fear nothing but sin.” Obviously, believing today’s highlighted passage/verse, we know that sin is pervasive in mankind, a force with which ALL Christians must deal. Therefore, understanding the dimensions of sin is of utmost importance to ALL believers. If you are reading this, I would assume that you might be as interested in learning more about how to avoid and deal with sin … as do I; so, let’s dive in and grow in Christ together.
First, we know that sin causes death, physical and spiritual death; and it leads to eternal separation from God. Therefore, follow the logic with me. If we, as Christians, pursue God; and sin separates us from God, … then would it not behoove all Christians to do all we can to avoid sin? However, as we will see, all our efforts are futile unless we surrender our ALL to the One Who atoned for our sin … Jesus Christ. I boldly maintain that the most prominent reason most Christians cannot or do not avoid sinful choices is their incomplete surrender to God’s Spirit, Who has saved them; and as we saw in my devotional study last month, it is God’s Spirit Who is fully willing – and most certainly able [see 2Cor. 12: 9] - to provide us with the grace we need to overcome sin,… if – and it’s an enormous IF – we humbly receive God’s enabling grace to do so.
MacArthur, in today’s devotional, scripturally defines sin with something that struck me to my core. He wrote, “Sin is the only thing that God hates (see Jer. 44: 4).” And MacArthur goes on to declare that since God hates sin so infinitely much, so should we hate sin, … those of us who call ourselves by His Name. Oh, I hate sin and my sinfulness! Do you? I’m going to assume that any Christian who reads this hates sin and anything in our lives which contributes to sin.
Maybe you don’t hate sin as much as you think you should? Well, join the club! This month, as I wrote above, I’m going to be exploring more of the dimensions of sin to determine just how deeply I understand the nature of its hold on me or any Christian. … I want to learn to hate sin so much that my choices will avoid the consequences of sin and draw me ever closer to God.
Are you with me in this? If so, come along with me daily; and we’ll do all we can, with the help of God’s word and John MacArthur, to more fully protect ourselves against our own sin nature. And in doing so, I’m sure we’ll all get closer to our God and farther away from our common enemy who’d love to see us choose to relent to our own sinfulness.
My Prayer Today: Lord, separate me from my own sinfulness and draw me closer to You. Amen
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Passage of the Day: Romans 3: 23 [see underlined in bold] … 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
My Journal for Today: This month, again with John MacArthur’s help, I will be looking at the topic every Christian should understand, and that is “sin.” I say the latter because sin is likely the only thing in this life to be feared by a Christian. In his devotional for this date from Strength for Today, MacArthur quotes an early Church leader, Crysotom, who wrote, “I fear nothing but sin.” Obviously, believing today’s highlighted passage/verse, we know that sin is pervasive in mankind, a force with which ALL Christians must deal. Therefore, understanding the dimensions of sin is of utmost importance to ALL believers. If you are reading this, I would assume that you might be as interested in learning more about how to avoid and deal with sin … as do I; so, let’s dive in and grow in Christ together.
First, we know that sin causes death, physical and spiritual death; and it leads to eternal separation from God. Therefore, follow the logic with me. If we, as Christians, pursue God; and sin separates us from God, … then would it not behoove all Christians to do all we can to avoid sin? However, as we will see, all our efforts are futile unless we surrender our ALL to the One Who atoned for our sin … Jesus Christ. I boldly maintain that the most prominent reason most Christians cannot or do not avoid sinful choices is their incomplete surrender to God’s Spirit, Who has saved them; and as we saw in my devotional study last month, it is God’s Spirit Who is fully willing – and most certainly able [see 2Cor. 12: 9] - to provide us with the grace we need to overcome sin,… if – and it’s an enormous IF – we humbly receive God’s enabling grace to do so.
MacArthur, in today’s devotional, scripturally defines sin with something that struck me to my core. He wrote, “Sin is the only thing that God hates (see Jer. 44: 4).” And MacArthur goes on to declare that since God hates sin so infinitely much, so should we hate sin, … those of us who call ourselves by His Name. Oh, I hate sin and my sinfulness! Do you? I’m going to assume that any Christian who reads this hates sin and anything in our lives which contributes to sin.
Maybe you don’t hate sin as much as you think you should? Well, join the club! This month, as I wrote above, I’m going to be exploring more of the dimensions of sin to determine just how deeply I understand the nature of its hold on me or any Christian. … I want to learn to hate sin so much that my choices will avoid the consequences of sin and draw me ever closer to God.
Are you with me in this? If so, come along with me daily; and we’ll do all we can, with the help of God’s word and John MacArthur, to more fully protect ourselves against our own sin nature. And in doing so, I’m sure we’ll all get closer to our God and farther away from our common enemy who’d love to see us choose to relent to our own sinfulness.
My Prayer Today: Lord, separate me from my own sinfulness and draw me closer to You. Amen
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