The New You
There’s more to you than meets the eye
The New You
Are you aware that there’s more to you than meets the eye?
2Corinthians 5:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Paul is saying there was a time when they knew Jesus according to the flesh, but now Jesus is to be known supernaturally. Jesus was raised from the dead supernaturally, Jesus ascended into heaven supernaturally, and Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne supernaturally.
There is nothing ordinary about Jesus, which means nothing is ordinary about you!
The life we are called to live in Christ will prove impossible if all we can see ourselves as being is what we are in the natural. When all we can see is ourselves according to our mortal life, we struggle with the supernatural opportunities the Holy Spirit wants to bring us into.
It is essential that you see yourself according to the new you!
You are now a supernatural being endued with power from on high. You have Jesus living inside you, and you are to walk filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit enables you to both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure! This is why nothing is impossible to him who believes! The central question we all must answer is, whose report will we believe?
Here’s something to consider: If your doctor tells you you have a condition, you believe him. He can even suggest that you allow him to use a very sharp instrument to cut you open on a table, and you’ll let him. Why? You recognize that his knowledge about such things is superior to your own; thus, you heed his report and place your trust in Him as one who knows better than you. It is humility that enables you to submit yourself to someone wiser.
How many people have themselves or know someone who trusted their life to a finite human being, as capable as we are of making a mistake, yielding a surgical knife to do a procedure on them?
No one thinks that is weird or strange. Why, then, should you or anyone else think it is strange or weird when you heed the words of the wisest Being when He declares you are a supernaturally born new creation whose origins are now from heaven? Whose report will you believe?
Should it be easier to trust a person with a degree and a surgery scapula than to trust the Almighty God who loves and cares for you?
Authentic Biblical Humility knows whose opinion matters most. It is open to agreeing with it and stands in the confidence it has to offer. It is willing to be surprised by the Holy Spirit anytime and anywhere. True humility puts trust in Someone greater and takes them at their word.
God says you can do anything He says you can do. God has called you His own greatly loved and blessed you. The Bible declares that you are a joint heir with Jesus! You have the same Holy Spirit Jesus had! You have been given abundant life in Christ! Jesus said you would do greater things than He did! You are supernatural and not of this world.
It is not an act of humility to put yourself down or to be so in touch with your natural inabilities and challenges that you debate with God over whom He says you are and what He says you can do. You are a New Creation! You are the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you! I invite you to consider what Jesus declared about you.
Matthew 11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Luke 7:28 For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
We are not of this world any longer. We are in it, but not of it. We have been indued with power from on high. The Holy Spirit does not just come upon us; He lives in us. Christ dwells in us! We are walking Presence carriers. God is with us wherever we go!
When you look in the mirror today, say good morning to Jesus and thank the Holy Spirit for dwelling in the temple you are looking at. Do not see yourself according to your flesh in that mirror. See yourself according to how God defines you and be who He says you are! You can do all things through Christ today! You can live as the supernatural new creation Christ made you! You have the Holy Spirit empowering you to live as a heavenly citizen here on this earth! Don’t be limited by what you see in the natural about yourself. Know who you are and whose you are. Have a grace-filled, blessed, and wonderful day!
What Can You See?
It is possible for invisible things to become visible to you
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. If you think about it long enough, you realize that necessity gives birth to imagination. Imagination allows you to see a solution that does not yet exist but can be pulled into existence if pursued.
Every amazing cutting-edge invention began in someone’s imagination, although it did not yet exist. Anytime someone has used their imagination to invent something amazing, it has been widely accepted as being normal and celebrated whenever this has happened.
I remember when phones were on the wall with either a rotary dial or push buttons to call a number and talk with someone. At that point in history, the thought of walking around with one anywhere in the world or being able to have one on your wrist was science fiction.
But at some point, someone imagined the possibility of making such a thing, and we are utilizing them today. Twenty years ago, who would have thought you would be able to walk around with a powerful computer on your hip, in your pocket, or on your wrist?
But today, millions of people are doing just that because someone imagined it was possible at a point when it seemed impossible. Today we all take it for granted.
The pharmaceutical industry has become one of the largest industries in the world today. It has become that because it has been successful in getting people to believe in something they cannot see but will place their trust in with the hope that it will do what has been promised to them.
They were not there to see it made and know exactly what ingredients were put into it. They are taking the word of someone they have never met and has never met them, so there is no personal connection involved. It is not your mom or dad, uncle or aunt, cousin or good friend making the medicine. Strangers are doing it based on a formula from researchers who are strangers to you. Yet bottles are purchased and the contents taken with an expectation that they will do what has been promised.
No one thinks this is strange. People speak of taking medicine with great hope and do not expect to be ridiculed by others for their faith in it. No one thinks having an expectation is anything weird or strange.
So why do so many think having expectations about spiritual promises is strange? Why is it such a challenge to speak confidently about what has been promised by a reliable God who cannot lie and is all-powerful? Why isn’t it considered just as normal to imagine God doing something He has promised that is not yet seen and speaking about it as though it is already done?
The Holy Spirit is now moving to restore Biblical faith in the church and advance the work of Christ, and we can partner with Him in it if we believe it is true.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Biblical faith is built on the reputation of God Himself. Faith’s foundations rest on God’s immutable character and nature. It is fueled by the promises He has given based on His being God and capable of seeing to it that what He has spoken, He will do.
But who will take Him at His word when it says something that isn’t yet seen in the natural? Who will boldly speak about it as though it is as sure as if it were already done and visible in the natural?
Those who worship rationality and intellectualism reject this idea as being fantasy and out of touch with reality as they know it. Therefore they miss out on the opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit, who is commissioned to make the word spoken by God and not yet seen become a thing of reality.
Jesus said, “I do what I see the Father doing,” which resulted in many miracles. He also said, “I speak what I hear my Father speaking.” It resulted in claims that many struggled with because it was not yet witnessed or believed to be true by some people.
Scripture testifies now that all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. God has made promises He plans to keep, He spoke them out already, and the Holy Spirit is ready to bring them to pass in the lives of those who will believe and trust even though they cannot yet be seen. Can you stand to be blessed? Are you ready to lay hold on things unseen and speak as though they are? Faith isn’t waiting for it to manifest before it is believed and spoken of. Faith speaks and believes before any manifestation has occurred. I encourage you to let yourself imagine the impossible with God today. What can you see that no one else can right now?
A Better Way
Is there tension in your soul?
Where I live, the roads tend to change. Just when you feel like you’ve gotten used to taking a specific route, it ends up under construction, and you have to find a new way to get where you are going. Some roads are deemed no longer necessary, and a new route is built in their place.
Now if the way you had been going each day was no longer valid and was being done away with, but you kept trying to use it anyway, that’d be considered foolish. It no longer works to get you where you want to go. This would be especially true if the new way being offered was better and made travel more accessible and effective than it was before.
In a way, this has transpired spiritually, yet many have yet to realize it. Many still view things from an Old Covenant perspective and read their Bible through Old Covenant lenses, even though that way of thinking has been replaced with something new and better.
2Corinthians 3:4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
Jesus has established a new and much better way for how we are to relate with God and receive from Him all that He has promised.
Hebrews 8:13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 9:15 And for this reason He (Jesus) is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
That which was written on stones ministered death, yet it was glorious in its own right in its own time. But its glory began fading as quickly as it began. The expectation was that one day the ministry of the Spirit would replace it by bringing a new way of being made righteous. This new way would be better and bring with it ever-increasing glory. This would be possible because a new covenant would be established to do away with and replace the old one.
Jesus has established a new and better way by establishing a New Covenant far superior to the old one given by Moses that had been in place for many generations.
To remain under that old way of thinking would be wrong now that a new way is established. As good as the old may appear with all of its righteous demands, it cannot make anyone righteous and has been replaced.
A person will struggle to understand how complete a work Jesus has done if they embrace a mixture of the two covenants. It can only bring confusion into their lives. To enjoy the ever-increasing glory promised in the new covenant, we must be willing to make a clean break with the old and fully embrace the way of the new covenant as being the only way that remains.
Everything God has promised and offered is made possible only through the new covenant. Jesus established this new covenant. By shedding His blood, He authenticated it in heaven and on earth. This new way is now the only way. Jesus established something far greater than Moses ever could. I want to live according to what Jesus established and be governed directly by the Holy Spirit. There’s a far greater glory in that way of life than the one that calls me to put my trust in what I can do to deserve the promises of God and remain in His favor. I am choosing to take my stand on the merits of Jesus and the righteousness He imparted to me, although I didn’t even deserve it. I make my stand on the mercy I received through Christ. I encourage you to do likewise. It is the new way God relates to people; it is only through Jesus that we can know the Father and remain in His favor. All other methods have been dismantled. Let’s be found looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.
Strangers
Feeling out of place in this world?
I remember growing up that as a family, we moved a lot. When I was six and had barely started my first year of school, my dad moved us from our home in Tennessee to a little town in south Florida. I felt like such a stranger in that place. You can imagine how odd my first day of school was.
Going from Tennessee to south Florida was a real culture shift. This same thing was true for every new school I attended due to multiple moves once we left South Florida to return to Tennessee. With each new location, I felt out of place.
The idea of feeling as if one doesn’t fit in is nothing new to people who have experienced major moves in life. I would imagine you know exactly what I am talking about.
This sense of not fitting in is real and a way of life for someone in Christ still alive in this world. It makes sense to me since Jesus himself knew what this was like when He was here on this earth.
John 8:23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
When I was without Christ and living in sin as part of this world, I felt like a stranger and out of place around someone who knew Christ. Once I came to know Christ and was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I felt like a stranger to the world.
1Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
It is essential to realize that in Christ, we were made into a brand new species. We are now something that did not before exist. Jesus did not merely remodel our life. He replaced it. That means we are of supernatural origins and no longer simply natural and indigenous to this world.
This very supernatural work of God has made us strangers to this world. We are like aliens or someone weird to someone in love with this world. We are not citizens of the Kingdom of God because we joined a club and sought to be like those already a part of it. We must be supernaturally born again to be part of His kingdom. There is no other way. Being supernaturally born again automatically sets us apart because it transforms us and changes us from within.
Just think of the 120 Jewish men and women in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. They were just as Jewish as any other Jew at the time. They were born Jewish like all others present. But when the Holy Spirit baptized them with fire from heaven to set them apart as born-again citizens of heaven, they became strange to the Jewish people they had so long been a part of. This is why it needs to be understood that just being moral is not what sets us apart in the way God desires. There are many groups out there that are not a part of the kingdom but are moral in their behavior. We could easily be mistaken as part of one of those groups if we think our morality is all that is meant to set us apart.
The distinguishing feature that sets apart a kingdom people is their supernatural DNA. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. It is the Holy Spirit that makes us different from all others. God uses the life and light of the Spirit to make us His lights in this dark world.
This is why being born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit is unique and vital. It makes us heavenly citizens who are just here for a short time. It is why we are called ambassadors for Christ. This world is not our home, and while we are here, we are meant to manifest the glorious reality of the benefit of being a citizen of heaven. We are not supposed to be normal according to how this world thinks and operates or as dead religious ideologies would insist. We are born again and are now to walk according to the Spirit, and that makes us strangers to all who are against such an idea.
So be strengthened in your inner man today by the might of His Spirit and enjoy being a light for Him in a strange world that you know is not your home.
Do You Know Who You Are?
What is your real identity?
Many in the world around us today need clarification about identity. Some cannot even figure out what gender or species they are. It really is unfortunate. This is happening increasingly because of authority figures in their life telling them the wrong things.
The same thing has happened in the church in many ways. Well-meaning authority figures have spent more time getting the children of God to identify with their old nature as opposed to their new one. This is not always or even often done maliciously. It results from being mistaken about where the emphasis should be placed.
Many are told how to fix themselves according to the flesh instead of being reminded of who they are according to the Spirit. This kind of instruction lends itself to relying on the power of one’s own strength to be righteous. It is the same tactic the law utilized to identify righteousness. Scripture says,
Romans. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
The idea of what it means to walk according to the flesh as it is being used here is when someone thinks that by their own strength can keep the law perfectly enough to obtain righteousness. That idea is mistaken and a recipe for failure, shame, and condemnation. It is out of step with knowing whom we have become in Christ. Those who tend to think this way focus on behavior with no regard for identity. The fact of what it means to be a new creation in Christ and all that the Father has declared about who they are now in Christ is left out of the discussion because behavioral modification is turned into their savior instead of their true Savior, Jesus Christ.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer 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. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
The proper pathway to victory over behavioral struggles is to get one’s identity right. One cannot live from the power of being a new creation if one continually identifies with their old sinful nature and past life. If they disagree with the report of God as to who they truly are, they only have the strength of the flesh to rely on, and even at its strongest, it is still weak.
2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Galatians 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
The pathway to true victory over your old life and any bondages is to know who you are now in Christ and thus be enabled to draw on the power of the Spirit to live according to His wisdom and guidance in your life. Life, according to the Spirit, is far more successful at bringing us into an experience of victory than trying to go back under the pressure of what we can do to better ourselves according to our own strength and willpower.
I encourage you today and always to live as a son of God made new in Christ and identify yourself according to what He says concerning you instead of what you think you know about yourself. All things are possible to him who believes! That is to him who believes the report of the Lord. Who gets to tell you who you are?
Humility
Are you unconsciously arguing with God?
Humility can be a very misunderstood word and idea. For some, it means self-deprecation (Putting oneself down and possessing a shallow opinion of oneself.) For others, it means being clearly in touch with one’s unworthiness compared to another.
According to the dictionary, it is defined as a modest or low view of one’s own importance. It gives an example of “He needs the humility to accept that their way may be better.”
If we were to work from the dictionaries point of view and, instead of “others’ way,” used God’s word and way, we might be getting closer to how heaven might define humility.
The Bible counsels us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. How do you do that? Is it possible that the way of not thinking more highly of yourself lies in making sure your opinion of yourself agrees with what God says about you?
When someone struggles with the idea of humility, they might also struggle with what Jesus spoke when He said,
Luke 7:28 For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Jesus is saying that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest prophet ever born among women. That’s a pretty straightforward, bold statement. For many, it might be a controversial statement because they cannot reconcile such a statement with their idea of how they should demonstrate humility. Their concept of humility does not allow them to accept this declaration of Jesus.
The problem with such a concept of humility is that it allows an idea of themselves to interfere with an explicit declaration from God about them. That is the opposite of true humility.
Moses wrote Numbers in the Bible, and he said Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth.)
There’s no way this would have always been true of Moses because we witness his struggle with humility when God first calls him to go and deliver his people from Egypt.
Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Moses said, “Who and I,” and that may be perceived as Moses being full of humility, but is it really humility? God just told Moses the purpose He created Moses for, and Moses is debating with God about His wisdom in doing so. Discussing with the ultimate wisdom there ever was or will ever be is not humility. Moses is debating and questioning God’s choice because Moses sees himself according to the natural as opposed to listening to what God says He sees. The whole time God is answering Moses’ questions about how Moses is hoping it will change God’s mind about sending him to start with. It culminates with Moses trying to point out to God what he believes is his inability to speak with any eloquence, and it would appear Moses is thinking that should disqualify him from being the one God would send.
Exodus 4:14 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
Moses did not start out as a confident, self-assured man ready in his mind to be a great deliverer of a people held in bondage by the current world power. Egypt, at that time, was the greatest nation on earth. Moses may have also thought he knew that going back could mean a death sentence for him. Moses initially resisted God, and his resistance was masked with false humility. False because it was a view that did not agree with God’s view.
We know how it ended; Moses submitted and came around to God’s opinion because he went to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh, and God delivered Israel from their bondage to Egypt through Moses, just as He declared He would do.
Do you know what God says about you now that you have come to Jesus and are under the New Covenant? Are you living in agreement with the truth about your becoming a new creation in Christ? Have you accepted His report about you being more than an overcomer through Christ?
I encourage you to discover what He says and agree with it. Agreeing with God is the highest form of humility and produces the fruit of obedience. Looking at yourself according to the natural thinking it is being humble is not an act of humility. It is a subtle form of rebellion. Looking at yourself according to what God says about you in Christ is true humility. Be humble today and agree with what he says about you despite what you think about yourself otherwise.
How You View
How you think matters?
Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.
Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
It’s great to laugh, especially when humor exposes some truth if you take time to think about it. Some sage wisdom in the Bible presents itself almost as humorous.
Proverbs 22:13 The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”
Notice that it does not say, “the fearful man says.” It says, “the lazy man says.”
You might imagine the motive for the man not wanting to go out is one of being afraid of the lion. But in this case, a veiled confession of fear is simply a way of escaping the call to go out.
It reveals how easy it can be for someone to say one thing while thinking the opposite.
Proverbs 23:7 in the Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
This reveals that “How you view is how you do.”
You can have a view of abundance or scarcity. Both perspectives can be correct based on how you look at them. But they produce different fruit in the end.
A person who believes in the possibility of abundance will position themselves to obtain it. A person who believes in scarcity will throw up their hands in surrender and accept lack.
Jesus said, “I have come to give life and to give it more abundantly.”
How you view is how you do. If your view is more of an I am barely saved, and I can only hope it is enough to get me to heaven, then you will posture yourself according to how you view it. But if your view is that the life you received is an overflowing eternal life, you are enabled for far greater things.
I ride a motorcycle, and one of the most basic things to know is to always look in the direction you intend to turn. This is true of riding a bicycle too. You see, where you look is where you will go. Your view determines your direction.
The way you think matters. Your thoughts are your view. This is why we must wash our thoughts with the water of His word. Putting in the correct information according to the truth He speaks sets us up to have a better view of things.
There’s no escaping the reality that how you view is how you do. But you can program your thinking in such a way as to benefit yourself and others. Letting the word of God dwell in you richly is a great place to start.
I encourage you to get as much of what He has to say to you in your thoughts as possible and meditate on it. Confess it until it becomes a part of you! Let it become your view, and watch how many fantastic opportunities present themselves to you.
Incomprehensible Peace
Are you troubled about something?
A woman walking on the beach noticed a Genie's lamp. She picked it up and rubbed it, and a Genie appeared. Amazed, she asked, “Do I get three wishes.”
The Genie said, "Nope ... due to inflation, downsizing, low wages, and fierce global competition, I can only grant one wish. So ... what will it be?"
The woman didn't hesitate; she pulled out a map and said, "I want peace in the Middle East. I want these countries to stop fighting with each other for good.”
The Genie looked at the map and exclaimed, "Gadzooks, lady! These countries have been at war for thousands of years. I'm good, but not THAT good! I don't think it can be done. Make another wish."
The woman thought for a minute and said, "Well, I've never been able to find the right man. You know, one that's considerate, fun, likes to cook, helps with the housecleaning, gets along with my family, doesn't watch sports all the time, and is faithful.
The Genie gulped, let out a long sigh, and said, “Let me see that map again, lady!"
All joking aside, a peace that depends on humanity is fragile at its best. The sad reality is how many are putting their hope in frail promises of peace rooted in things going a certain way or human beings being able to be better than they actually are.
Although Scripture admonishes us to seek to be at peace with all men, that admonishment takes into consideration the idea that all men might want to be at peace with us. That is why it says, “As much as it lies within you, seek to be at peace with all men.”
So, while there may not be a deep abiding peace between you and those who seek to cause you harm or persecute you, it doesn’t mean you cannot have an abiding peace within. Jesus promised something I believe is very profound.
John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
Here Jesus is speaking of His soon-coming death on the cross. Jesus is preparing His disciples for when it happens so they can know when everything unfolds; it is just as Jesus promised it would be. It would pave the way for the Promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, to come to them.
You see, real inner peace is a byproduct of the Spirit. It is not something we can manufacture for ourselves. It is ours as a promise from Jesus, and it is administered to us but the Holy Spirit. It is not the byproduct of everything going perfectly. Jesus had peace knowing His death was approaching.
Jesus wants us to have the kind of peace He had and gave us that peace as a gift. To access that peace, we must trust Him and believe it is ours. We must also trust the Holy Spirit, the administrator of that peace.
Deep incomprehensible peace is yours today and always, only believe. Look to Jesus and let your heart be open to the Holy Spirit so your revelation of Jesus can grow. It will bring peace to your soul even in times of trouble. Jesus already knows your need for peace, and He has done all that is needed for you to have it. Grace and peace to you today and always.
Come To The Table
Are you hungry and in need?
A waiter brought a customer the steak he ordered with his thumb over the meat. “Are you crazy?” yelled the customer. “What are you doing with your hand on my steak?” “What?” answers the waiter. “You want it to fall on the floor again?”
Not every table is the best table. But there is a table set for you, and even if it were placed in the presence of your enemies that it was set, it would still be the best table.
Mark 7:25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 28 And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.
A table symbolizes a place of receiving provision for life and health. It symbolizes abundance, connection, fellowship, and joy. Even the crumbs from His table would be a blessing for this woman. To her, to be a dog getting the crumbs would be a blessing. Thus when we, as His children, have a place at the table, we are very thankful. The table He sets is always full. He sets us a table in the presence of our enemy! He wants the enemy to see how abundantly He has provided for us and how faithfully He cares for us. It is like rubbing salt in the enemy’s eyes. That is why we openly give praise to God for what we expect to receive from His table. We need at this point to give heed to something Scripture testifies to,
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Everything to do with the kingdom begins at the point of faith for us. Everything flows to us through the pipeline of faith. No pipeline, no flow. I’m not your pipeline. My voice is not the pipeline, but if you come expecting to hear the Holy Spirit speak to you through my voice and His voice lands on your heart, you have a pipeline. Then your seat at the table is authentic to you. No one goes to the table unless they believe there’s something for them, and they will be welcomed to it. The Greek woman whose daughter was delivered bears witness to the willingness of Jesus, and Jesus is a witness to the willingness of the Father. She heard and went. She did not allow her estimation of her worth to determine it. She based it on His goodness and willingness and received it according to her faith.
You are loved today and always by your faithful gracious Heavenly Father. By coming to His Son Jesus in faith to be forgiven and made alive, you became His child supernaturally, and He is for you, not against you. The more you come to know His goodness and believe in it, the more your faith grows in the fact that He can heal you just as easily as He forgave you and made you righteous. It is by the same means, it is a gift, and it works based on faith. Come to His table, where healing is served up. Come in faith, expecting. That Gentile mother did, and even though it wasn’t considered the right timing, she still got what she came in faith to receive.
So I speak healing and life to you today in His marvelous name. I declare that He is not only able to heal you, but He is also willing. Go and have a blessed day today in His name and always. His grace and peace be with you.
Unshakeable Peace
How deep is your peace?
It is sad when peace becomes fragile. For instance, some can lose their peace if you fail to like their selfie on social media.
Some have no idea what it is like to have peace. They are at odds with others and themselves due to insisting that everything going their way without any regard for anyone else.
For others, peace might be hanging by a frayed thin thread because their peace can only be determined and kept by everything going exactly how they hoped it would.
Life comes at you fast; sometimes, you look up, and it is driving in your lane, looking down at a phone about to hit you head-on.
Despite the odds against any hope of knowing an abiding peace, some have discovered a peace that abides no matter what might be happening and are enjoying it immensely.
How can someone know peace in all situations?
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You.
The essence of this passage is not about trust in God making things turn out the way I want them to. It is much more to do with my trusting God to be for me and with me regardless of what I am experiencing in the now.
This is speaking of the kind of peace I can know and have deeply at work in me the more I know Him and become familiar with His character and nature.
I believe it is what is at the heart cry of a very persecuted Apostle of Jesus in the Bible named Paul. Near the end of his life, we find Paul declaring,
Philippians 3:7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
God, the Father, has sent His Beloved Son to demonstrate His love and goodness and offer us the way of life and peace with Him. He has made the way to truly know Him obtainable by grace through faith in Jesus.
There is no lasting peace for the mind that is focused on itself. You cannot know abiding peace by trying to figure yourself out. Abiding, deep peace comes with the discovery of Him, leading to a deeper trust in Him.
Like the Psalmist declares in Psalms 56:1 in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?
Your peace will never go deeper than your trust in God, and your trust in God will never outpace your knowledge of Him. Jesus came so you might know the Father well and trust in Him completely. I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to grant you a revelation of Him through Christ every day. This will establish in you an unshakeable peace.
He Is Worthy
Look on the bright side
In the Old Covenant, those aware of God’s greatness and goodness were inclined to praise Him. The Hebrew word for praise is Yadah. It means to confess, give praise, give thanks, and glorify.
In our English language, giving praise means to give credit where credit is due.
But how can a person give praise if they are unaware of where the credit is due?
It could prove challenging to be a person of praise while believing in Murphy’s Law.
Murphy’s Law comes easy when all a person can see is their circumstances. To see beyond the current state of things, you need a reliable source that overpowers what you can see with your natural eyes.
I asked a friend once how he was doing, and he said, “Under the circumstances….” To which I replied, “What are you doing under there?”
To constantly give praise no matter how things appear naturally, you must be able to believe in promises made by someone you are convinced is reliable and trustworthy.
When I asked my wife Sheila to marry me many years ago, when she answered yes, I was excited and told all my friends and coworkers I was getting married.
Between the time she said yes to when we stood at our wedding ceremony together, there were many circumstances that tried to threaten our ability to go through with it.
Mind you, all I had to go on was a promise from her that she would follow through. But I had come to know her well enough to know that she would keep her word to me.
My confession (Thanksgiving, Praise, Acknowledgment) resulted from my confidence in Sheila’s character, which made her word to me reliable and trustworthy.
My bold and confident declaration, laced with joy and gladness, was based on her promise to me that had not yet been fulfilled.
God is way more reliable and trustworthy than any man or woman alive. He has spoken great promises to us in His word and even guaranteed those promises to us through His Son Jesus. All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus.
The greatest of these promises is His guarantee to love us as His dear children and never leave or forsake us. He has promised to be a Father to us, lead us, and guide us. He has given us the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Guide. He has promised that He is for us, not against us.
This is praiseworthy truth. But our ability to constantly give praise to Him is rooted in our belief in His word given to us. It is rooted in what we have come to believe about His character.
New Covenant believers are equipped to praise Him no matter what the situations and circumstances may appear to be at the moment. Our joy and peace are not related to what is happening to us right now; they are held fast by what we know of Him and what He has promised us.
The more we get to know Him, the more confident our praise of Him becomes. He is forever worthy! He does not change! He is perfect in all of His ways! His word will never fail!
I encourage you to allow the Holy Spirit to remind you of the perfect character of your Father so you might be empowered to praise Him regardless of your now situation or circumstance. When you become convinced He is worthy, you are empowered to praise Him at all times.
Free From Limitations
Feeling limited?
Free From Limitation
When I was a boy, my Dad said to me, "Son, you can be anything you want to be, the sky's the limit!" ...which made me sad....... because I wanted to be an astronaut.
Sometimes humor can point us to the truth. Have you ever felt limited? It can be possible for someone to have limitations they are unaware of, hindering them from taking advantage of everything Jesus died to give to them.
There once was an elephant who had spent its life tethered with a rope around its foot. The rope allowed it to walk in a circle of about 30 ft. Since that was all the elephant had ever known, as far as the elephant knew, it was really living. One day the owner decided to sell it. A kind man bought the elephant and took it to a beautiful vast open space where it could be released to roam as far as it wished. But the elephant walked in a restricted circle despite the open fields and tall grasses it had to explore. It could not break free from its lifelong tethered experience in its mind. There was no longer a rope, but the elephant did not know that.
Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
It is possible to belong to Jesus and mistakenly think you need the tutoring of the law, the same as you did before coming to Christ. Such thinking runs contrary to the New Covenant and is very limiting. In a way, that is being like that elephant. Jesus came to set us free from the law. He came to break condemnation and death off our lives and establish us in the very righteousness of God so we might live by faith in Him. the Bible says,
Galatians 3:11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
It is not living the New Covenant life to think that righteousness can be obtained or maintained by being under the Law. A new way has been made for us.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer 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.
The rope of the Law, my friend, has been removed in Christ, and before you now are open fields of grace to adventure in with Him! You’ve been set free by His grace to enjoy a wide-open relationship with Him as His child based on the merit of Christ on your behalf. You have become the righteousness of God in Christ! Because of this, many glorious promises have been made available to you in Christ because all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ.
I pray that today you will venture out with Him in faith into those open fields and discover how wonderful it is to be His and be free in Him! Your life is now hidden with Christ in God! What will you do today with the wonderful eternal life you received in Jesus?
Count It All Joy
Want to navigate difficulty well?
Joy can be like wetting yourself, everyone else can see it, but only you can feel its warmth.
The other day I donated my watch, phone, and $50 to a poor guy. You don’t know the joy I felt when he finally put his knife back in his pocket.
Never underestimate the power of laughter and deep-abiding joy. Both are like medicine.
The Scripture defines joy as cheerfulness, calm delight, and gladness. But how do you achieve the fruit of joy amid difficult situations?
James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
As we see how James approached the idea of joy, it can be ours even in the midst of the trials of life. But for that to be our reality, we must know there is some benefit coming our way due to what we are going through right now. In this case, it is the testing of our faith.
Put another way, I believe James is telling us that our need for Jesus extends well beyond initially getting saved. We need Jesus every day of our existence here on earth. We need His life, love, help, and wisdom. I believe James is encouraging us to go deeper in our relationship with Jesus and that an opportunity to do just that is afforded to us during situations that try our faith.
To embrace the opportunity that the trials of our faith can offer, we will need to practice taking captive our thoughts about what we are going through and bring them into submission to the obedience of Christ. Jesus completed the work at the cross to secure a deep, abiding relationship with God so we could live by faith. The word of God counsels us and encourages us when it declares; the Just shall live by faith!
I am not the source of my help; God is. That is why it is good to get to know God! I am wisest when I am seeking wisdom from the wisest Being of all. But when I desire His wisdom, I have to ask for it believing He will give it to me. If I doubt His goodness, ability, and willingness to enable me with His wisdom generously, I will not obtain it. This reveals that I need to know Him well enough to trust Him.
Please allow me to encourage you today to look to Jesus, the author, and finisher of your faith, and be encouraged by His unfailing love for you. Let the love He demonstrated at the cross testify to His unfailing great love for you. Let it convince you of His good intentions toward you. Let it testify that He will never leave you, nor will He ever forsake you.
You may be having a difficult time right now, but He is with you in whatever storm or situation you are in, and He will lead you through it to the other side.
Victory is already prophetically yours, my friend. You are in Him, and He lives in you. This test of your faith will produce heaven-born patience according to His likeness in you. That is why growing in knowing Jesus is good news for you!
If a sparrow can’t fall to the ground without Him knowing it, and you are worth more than all the sparrows, then I am convinced you are not alone, and He is very aware and very much with you today! You are getting to know Him even better; that’s why you can count it all joy.
Loved Regardless
You are love regardless of anything you have done or will do.
I still fondly remember how I did something some might think a bit odd every time my wife became pregnant. Every day I would speak to her belly to tell the child inside her womb how much I loved them. For the first pregnancy, I didn’t know I was talking to two of them until two weeks before they came forth. But as a dad, even without seeing them or knowing whether they would be well-behaved or not, I loved them and wanted them to know it, simply because they were mine and they were wanted. To this day, nothing has changed for any of my children. I still love them and always will, not because they’ve earned my love but because they are my children. They didn’t earn my love from the start, so they could not lose it. Displays of undesired behavior on their part might have caused me some disappointment and led to corrective actions being taken on my part for their training and benefit, but it never changed my love for them. I never felt inclined to reward them for bad behavior. Nor could their bad behavior make me lose my love for them.
God, as a Father, loved us before we were born again. I’m not making this up; it says so in the Bible.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all Three in One, loved us in eternity past. You and I were loved in Christ before the world began. Nothing has changed. We were targeted for God's love before coming to know Jesus. He set His love on us before we came forth. Similar to how I loved my children before they came forth, except more so.
You know, I was never as excited about the birth of someone else’s child as I was about the birth of my children. I must also confess that although I love the children of others, my love for my children is much greater.
Not that God is like me in such matters, but think for a moment and imagine with me how much more loved by Him we are now that we are His.
Ephesians 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
Jesus did not die for you because you were morally good or were even trying hard to be good. I know I wasn't morally good, nor was I trying to be. I was a rebel without a cause, not even thinking about God. Yet the Bible tells me I was loved even then.
Jesus died for you because you were greatly loved by the Father and deemed worth rescuing before the foundation of the world. His love is an everlasting love, so it hasn’t diminished over time! His love cannot be diminished even when we blow it and sin in our flesh. Our disobedience cannot drive His love away. It might grieve His heart because He knows there are no benefits to sin, and it often leads to undesired consequences that make it more difficult for us. But His love never changes. His desire for us to live in such a way as to prosper in our souls and that cause us to thrive in our daily lives will also never change. He wants us to find our identity in Jesus and learn to live in faith according to the Spirit growing in our trust.
Just as Paul stated, the life I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for me. The same holds true for every believer if they wish to please God. So go live that beautiful abundant eternal life you have received and rejoice in Jesus today! It’s your privilege to do so. You are a son now, a joint heir, and as Jesus is, so are you now in this earth! You, my friend, are greatly loved regardless!
Hidden Away
What makes you feel safe?
Like most boys, I had a vivid imagination when I was a small boy. I would watch monster movies with my older brothers and then go to bed and get scared in the dark. I imagined that if I covered myself with my blanket pulled over my head, whatever was in my room couldn’t see me. Being hidden beneath my trusty blanket gave me the peace I needed to go to sleep. I would almost bet you could relate to that experience in your own childhood story.
Believe it or not, the Bible calls for us as God’s children to use our faith and imagination to realize we have been safely covered and hidden. If we get hold of this revelation, it can help us in our times of anxiousness and fear. It can also help us in our times of temptation.
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
The reality of being hidden with Christ in God is everything! What can see us in that place, and what could get past God to get to us?
Even better is the idea of what we can discover about God as our Father from being hidden with Christ in Him. There’s much we can find about His love in that place.
I remember playing an old outdoor game with my brothers and our friends. Hide and seek. One person was it and counted to a set number while everyone else went and hid. Then once the one who was it finished counting, the challenge began. Unless you were well hidden, you would likely be quickly caught. There was a real sense of security that came from being well hidden. I recall that while I was hidden, my mind would often wander off in its imagination, and I would lose track of time. I often had some of the most lovely thoughts in that place of hiding.
From our position of being hidden with Christ in God, we get to have lovely thoughts as we discover who He is, what He has done, whom He says we are, and what we are to be and do.
You know, without the security of my trusty blanket as a kid, I would have had many a restless nights, and it would have taken a toll on me physically and mentally. My grades in school would have suffered, my energy levels would have gone down, and my excitement to do anything would have diminished.
When it comes to spirit and soul, true rest belongs to those who have the revelation of what it means to be in Christ. Our heavenly identity is inalterably tied to our position in Christ.
Today we are victorious not because circumstances will end the way we want but because, despite circumstances and fearful challenges, our life is hidden with Christ in God!
Our security is in Jesus, and we are citizens of His kingdom, which is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit—having a tough time? Try to remember that you are under a powerful covering today. I encourage you to train yourself to enjoy being hidden with Christ in God. In that place, your imagination will be captivated by Him! It is a joyful and glorious place to be.
Taught By Grace
Do you know the lessons grace teaches?
I used to be addicted to not showering. Luckily, I've been clean for five years.
You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windshield, it said ‘Parking Fine.
All joking aside, it’s not beneficial to go through life ignorant about things that matter. This is especially true when it comes to grace.
Grace is such a wonderful thing in life. It brings hope, blessing, and promise and is powerfully transformative. But I have encountered some who think of grace as something it is not. They morph it into being something they wish it were while ignoring what Scripture reveals it truly is. This happens when grace is made out to be about or to do something that it was never intended to be about or to do.
It can also happen if we ignore the passages that offer a different point of view on a subject we hold dear, but the point of view is not quite complete.
Such is the subject of grace. I’ve found it often is misunderstood regarding its full effect. It is either not viewed as having the depth of reach it is meant to have, or it is viewed as going so far in its reach that nothing we do matters anymore.
I believe in a grace that is so powerful that it can be seen as being scandalous while, at the same time, it is so powerful that it is transformative.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, 13. At the same time, we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
Grace appeared when Jesus arrived on the scene and went to the cross to pay the penalty for the sin of the world. Your sin and my sin. That act of grace offers salvation to anyone who believes and receives it.
Interestingly though, that grace teaches us something. It is a tiny but powerful two-letter word, “No.” Grace empowers us with that word as it applies to a specific thing. We can now say no to ungodliness and worldly passions because of grace and what it teaches us.
But more than teaching us to say no to those things, grace teaches us how to live! We get to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Grace reveals to us an even deeper purpose to the death of Christ on the cross than just saving us from the penalty of our sin.
Grace reveals that Jesus died to save us from all wickedness and purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. New Creation DNA is designed in this way. Jesus did not go to the cross so that if someone wanted to continue in wicked behavior, they could do so without threat of consequence. The purpose of the cross was to redeem and transform. It is the gateway to becoming a New Creation in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered to live as a changed person who knows they are loved greatly.
This is what grace teaches us. It lets us know that as we seek to live as whom He says we are and we find we miss the mark, we haven’t lost His love, and we still have His favor, and we are not left in the spot where we fell. He is there with us to help us get back on our feet again and live as the person He says we are. It is essential to be taught by grace, not just be fascinated with it. I encourage you to allow the lessons of grace to be yours today and always.
Complete
What does it mean to be complete?
A Professor was traveling by boat. On his way he asked a sailor:
“Do you know Biology, Ecology, Zoology, Geography, or Physiology?
The sailor said, “no, never studied those subjects.”
The Professor exclaimed: “What? You don’t know any of these? Don’t you know you’ll probably die of illiteracy?”
After a while the boat they were on started sinking. The Sailor asked the Professor, do you know swimology, drownology, or sharkology?
The professor said. “no.”
The Sailor calmly but sarcastically said: “Well, your ignorance of swimology and sharkology is going to introduce you to dieology because your mouthology can’t save you.
Sometimes people can get caught up in knowing things they imagine to be necessary, when in fact, they do little if anything to equip them for what might be most needed in their daily life. This can be just as true when it comes to truly “spiritual” things that really matter. This was true when the apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians about the really important things that matter.
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Anytime someone is attempting to convince me that I need to rely on my own piety, natural strength, or will power to improve my standing spiritually with God, I already know I shouldn’t give heed. Such dialogue does not put Christ at the center as the Head. Jesus is the only One who completed the work needed for me to be in right standing with God.
The phrase “according to Christ” in this passage is of greatest importance to every believer. Everything that matters to me, or to any believer, is that which is according to Christ. What did Christ do? Who is Christ? What does Christ mean to me? What has Christ done for me? How does what Christ did apply to me? What about Christ should be important to me? Jesus, Jesus , Jesus!
If I were ordering in a restaurant I would say to the waiter or waitress, “I’ll have Christ, with a side of Christ, and for dessert I would like Christ!
Jesus is everything! In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily and I am complete in Him. I cannot get more complete than I am, when I am in Him.
Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
This is why it is impossible to make too much about Christ. Jesus really is everything! The way God sees it, when Jesus died, I died with Him. When Jesus rose from the dead, I rose with Him. Now I am hidden with Christ in God!
There’s no greater thing! This is not figurative language, or some empty metaphorical notion meant to merely make me feel better about myself. This is my spiritual reality! If you have come to Christ it is your spiritual reality as well. But for it to truly benefit, all those other “ologies” and empty traditions that seek to bring it into question must be set aside so we can focus on what is really true concerning us.
Christ in you! The hope of glory! You are complete in Him Who is the Head of all principalities and powers! This completeness is why you live hidden with Christ in God above the nonsense and the chaos occurring regularly in this world. I hope this brightens your outlook. I know it brightens mine. Be assured in Jesus alone and let the joy of the Holy Spirit fill you today and always.
The Freedom Of Contentment
Discontentment is a prison, find out how to be free
When I was younger, and without Jesus, I really struggled with longing after the wrong things in life. My appetites just could not be satisfied and led me down the wrong paths taking me further and further away from anything that was good.
It seemed the more a longed for something the harder I tried to take hold of it only to find that once I had what I thought I wanted it wasn’t enough.
My lack of contentment caused me great delay, hardship and disappointment for many years. It wasn’t until I met Jesus that I began to learn about contentment. Becoming a New Creation in Christ delivered me from the useless journeys down the wrong paths and set me on a right path with Him.
Without contentment in Jesus a person is relegated to always searching for something that is of this world to satisfy their soul only to learn that even if they had everything this world could offer they still would not feel content.
This can be experienced even for the saved. A believer in Jesus can get deceived and sidetracked by the enemy. The devil has no power or authority over a believer that he can just use at will to damage, or destroy their lives. Satans only tool is deception, so his uses cunning trickery to get a believer to think they’ve been short changed, or are being cheated from having something. He used this tactic in the garden of Eden with Eve. He used a lie with the aim of convincing her of lack, of having been short changed without knowing it. Because she believed the lie she ate and then gave the fruit to her husband who ate.
It was through this means of accepting a lie, that said what they already had was not enough, that led to sin and decay. Satan cannot destroy a believer, but if he can convince a believer in Jesus of a lie that something about Jesus is not enough, he can send that believer down a wrong path that will rob them of taking advantage of what they already possess in Christ.
The devil wants to blind every believer to the truth that Jesus is enough, and that He has freely given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Perhaps that is why Paul warned his son in the faith Timothy the way he did in,
1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Jesus will always be enough. This world has nothing that even comes close to comparing with Jesus. There’s no excitement that compares with the excitement of being filled with the Holy Spirit and seeing Him at work in and through our lives to touch others in Jesus name. Nothing can compare with the love Jesus has for us.
Part of the freedom Christ gives is the freedom of contentment. He releases us from the rat race of this world which involves a never ending quest for more only to find the more never truly satisfies. I want to always prefer the more of Him and all He has in mind for me. I want to always prefer the more of what He wants to do in and through my life. Being in fellowship with God and surrendered to His purposes is the greatest gain of all. I want to encourage you today to enjoy the freedom of contentment as you look to Jesus. You will find all you could ever need in Him.
Only Believe
The super power of simple
Have you ever wanted do something and had that one person who overcomplicated it with all the things that could go wrong, thus making it seem impossible to do?
Overcomplicating, no matter how well intentioned, can be a faith and joy killer. I get that there’s a time for attention to detail, but unwittingly overcomplicating something can derail the thing originally desired to start with.
Over complicating happens when someone gets too caught up in the how from a logical point of view. It leads to imagining all the things that may prevent the how, before the desire can even take root in the heart. Jesus witnessed this when He knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.
John 11:38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
Over the years I have witnessed many putting a strong emphasis on the glory of God in an effort to create a desire for it in others. Years ago I was one of the ones guilty of ignorantly doing such a thing. In an effort to see manifested glory, it’s possible to get too caught up in the how and over complicate it until it seems impossible to see it happen. Jesus, makes things simple, and thus doable.
The simple key to any experience of the glory of God is revealed by the Lord Himself. “If you believe.”
Jesus said, “these signs shall follow those who believe” He did not say those who do these signs will believe. Believing precedes any true experience that is real.
In the case with Lazarus’ sisters and friends Jesus did not say if you do certain things you will witness the glory of God. He said very clearly, “if you believe.” Lazarus was raised from the dead against the natural realities of being in the grave for four days and already decomposing. That is an exhibition of glory! One of the strongest exhibitions there is, and Jesus said it was available by just believing. When it comes to experiencing God in all His fullness the Holy Spirit reveals,
Ephesians 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches the Father may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Here we find Jesus dwells in our hearts, “by faith.” It also reveals that faith is the result of the Father strengthening us in our inner man. We also discover that by growing in our knowing the love of Christ we are filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. This is just so simple. It is encouraging us to pursue knowing the love of Christ which will result experiencing the measure of all the fullness of God.
This simplifies it so that it is attainable for every believer no matter who they are. It makes the glory of God accessible! Only believe! Everything in His kingdom is received and operates through faith. I encourage you today to look to Jesus and believe in His goodness that has promised you glorious encounters with God on the basis of what He has done on your behalf already. Only believe.
Good Works
Doing good works matter. So does the reason why we do them.
I remember when I was a young boy that there was one Christmas with my dad that really is locked in my memory. We had gotten some old bike parts, frames etc and stripped them down, painted them, then put them back together and added the things they needed to be safe reliable bicycles. Of course my dad did most all the work, I was just there handing him a tool here or there, or a part perhaps. I just remember enjoying doing this with my dad for the sole purpose of giving these bikes to some kids who could not afford a bike. Doing this with my dad to me was what made it a very special moment.
Good deeds have the power to make us feel good. They can make us feel good about ourselves, or they have the ability to make us feel good about who it is we are doing them with. Good deeds are very much a part of the New Covenant life we have in Christ.
The point of my sharing that experience I had with my dad is not as much about the good deed we did as it is the connection I felt with my dad in the context of doing that deed. To me it was the relationship moment that I treasure.
You see, if I had done the good deed on my own I am sure it would have felt good, but what made this particular deed so special was that I was invited by my dad to partner with him in doing it. It was special to me even though my contribution was very small.
In this sense, I feel it is not unlike what Jesus experienced during His earthly ministry. You see Jesus did what He saw His Father doing, and He spoke what He heard His Father speaking. Jesus partnered with His Father. So when we read something like:
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
We begin to grasp what gave fuel to the works that Jesus did. The reason the people wanted to stone Jesus was because Jesus spoke so clearly and authoritatively about relationship with His Father and the authority the Father had given Him to give eternal life, the people wrongfully thought Jesus was speaking blasphemy.
When the beauty and profound nature of Jesus’ relationship to the Father was revealed the anger and religious jealousy of certain people was exposed. It was the relationship that set Jesus apart, and it was the doing of things based on that relationship that revealed what the Father was truly like.
Jesus offered this counsel to His disciples,
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
The phrase, “let your light so shine” is very key to understanding the actual nature of His counsel. Notice Jesus didn’t say, “let your light shine.” He said, “Let your light so shine.” That little two letter word is so important to a real revelation of what Jesus was getting at.
The word “so” means there is a specific manner in which the light is to shine. Jesus is not saying here that any and all good works automatically point others to giving glory to the Father. Jesus is indicating that the why and the way we engage in good works will be what moves others to give glory to the Father.
My good works are to be such that they clearly demonstrate my relationship to God the Father, and that relationship being the source of my good works to start with. The Father is happy to call them my good works, none the less, just as my dad was happy to let kids think I was a large part of them getting bicycles that Christmas. But those kids knew it was my dad who was at the core of that blessing and they were very grateful to him.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
The bicycles we gave to kids that Christmas was my dads idea and mostly his work, not mine. He allowed me to be included in it because he wanted me to share in the blessing of it. What good work is your Father in heaven up to through you today? He prepared it for you a long time ago with joyful eagerness to partner with you in it. I encourage you to partner with Him from that place of relationship made possible through Jesus and be a spring board for others to give Him glory. You’ll enjoy it like nothing else.