Col_3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Imagine - the Word of Christ in us richly in ALL WISDOM.
Imagine- teaching and admonishing one another while singing with GRACE in our hearts TO THE LORD.
One of the key words here I believe is 'LET'. We have to 'let' the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom. Christ has given us His words, His truth and it is those words and that truth that we must let dwell in us. We aren't to use our own made up truths, we aren't to admonish and teach our own ideas. We have a curriculum, if you will, and it was given by our Savior during His ministry upon earth. He walked for three years constantly teaching. He taught those that would continue to teach others after He was gone. Our Savior gave us many, many lessons- life lessons and His words are life because He is life and He is the Word. If we are going to become obsessive about anything in our lives let it be our Savior and His truth. Christ would have us 'LET' His word dwell in us in all wisdom. And we do have to allow this, because our Savior will not force His word into us.
If we allow Christ's words to teach us, to be lessons we learn and apply to our lives we are letting His word's live in us.
A person brings to life their beliefs by living them.
If you don't believe in violence, you live a non-violent life. If you don't believe it is good to use profanity- then you do not use profanity. If you have Christ in your life, you live with Him in your life- His way is your way.
Does this mean people don't make mistakes and do things they would rather not do? No. People make mistakes all the time. But that's just it, they recognize the mistake for what it is. People can't say they are against violence and in the next breath punch someone unrepentantly. They can't say they are against abuse and all the while go about abusing others without any remorse. The repentance and the remorse must be genuine, not something pretended, not something used as mere words without heart value.
Sometimes it seems we are called to endless repentance because Satan has us buffeted on every side and our weak flesh falls victim over and over again to the things we would not do. With our minds we want to desperately serve our Savior, but our flesh fights against our minds.
Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ had an infirmity in the flesh and we aren't told what that infirmity is, but we are told he prayed for it to be taken away more than once. What caused the infirmity? Do we have infirmities that tempt us to do things we would not do if we didn't have them? I have to ask these things because Paul struggled with infirmity and he struggled with the war of mind and flesh. What was God's reply to Paul as he prayed for his infirmity to be taken away…
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
TRUTH!
The messenger of Satan was buffeting Paul. A thorn in the flesh.
Is the messenger of Satan buffeting you? Do you have a thorn in the flesh, and by that I'm not just talking about physical thorn because our flesh nature encompasses so much more than mere physical sickness. The things you do that you don't want to do, that's is the flesh nature propelling you forward towards sin.
We have to HOLD fast as Paul held fast, trusting solely in the GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!
Jesus told Paul - 'MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE, FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.'
We MUST learn this, we must remember this! These are the words of Christ that must dwell within us! This is the hope given to us that enables us to sing of God's glory!
Please LORD, help us to learn in our hearts the truth of YOUR GRACE and know it is sufficient for ALL of us! That our weakness is understood and it reveals Your strength, Your perfect strength something we can only have through YOUR GRACE and not something we can manufacture on our own. If we could manufacture our own strength Paul would have been preaching for all to find their own inner strength but that wasn't what he preached at all. We need CHRIST'S strength, our own strength will fail us every time!
All in the LOVE OF OUR SAVIOR!
Imagine - the Word of Christ in us richly in ALL WISDOM.
Imagine- teaching and admonishing one another while singing with GRACE in our hearts TO THE LORD.
One of the key words here I believe is 'LET'. We have to 'let' the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom. Christ has given us His words, His truth and it is those words and that truth that we must let dwell in us. We aren't to use our own made up truths, we aren't to admonish and teach our own ideas. We have a curriculum, if you will, and it was given by our Savior during His ministry upon earth. He walked for three years constantly teaching. He taught those that would continue to teach others after He was gone. Our Savior gave us many, many lessons- life lessons and His words are life because He is life and He is the Word. If we are going to become obsessive about anything in our lives let it be our Savior and His truth. Christ would have us 'LET' His word dwell in us in all wisdom. And we do have to allow this, because our Savior will not force His word into us.
If we allow Christ's words to teach us, to be lessons we learn and apply to our lives we are letting His word's live in us.
A person brings to life their beliefs by living them.
If you don't believe in violence, you live a non-violent life. If you don't believe it is good to use profanity- then you do not use profanity. If you have Christ in your life, you live with Him in your life- His way is your way.
Does this mean people don't make mistakes and do things they would rather not do? No. People make mistakes all the time. But that's just it, they recognize the mistake for what it is. People can't say they are against violence and in the next breath punch someone unrepentantly. They can't say they are against abuse and all the while go about abusing others without any remorse. The repentance and the remorse must be genuine, not something pretended, not something used as mere words without heart value.
Sometimes it seems we are called to endless repentance because Satan has us buffeted on every side and our weak flesh falls victim over and over again to the things we would not do. With our minds we want to desperately serve our Savior, but our flesh fights against our minds.
Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ had an infirmity in the flesh and we aren't told what that infirmity is, but we are told he prayed for it to be taken away more than once. What caused the infirmity? Do we have infirmities that tempt us to do things we would not do if we didn't have them? I have to ask these things because Paul struggled with infirmity and he struggled with the war of mind and flesh. What was God's reply to Paul as he prayed for his infirmity to be taken away…
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
TRUTH!
The messenger of Satan was buffeting Paul. A thorn in the flesh.
Is the messenger of Satan buffeting you? Do you have a thorn in the flesh, and by that I'm not just talking about physical thorn because our flesh nature encompasses so much more than mere physical sickness. The things you do that you don't want to do, that's is the flesh nature propelling you forward towards sin.
We have to HOLD fast as Paul held fast, trusting solely in the GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!
Jesus told Paul - 'MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE, FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.'
We MUST learn this, we must remember this! These are the words of Christ that must dwell within us! This is the hope given to us that enables us to sing of God's glory!
Please LORD, help us to learn in our hearts the truth of YOUR GRACE and know it is sufficient for ALL of us! That our weakness is understood and it reveals Your strength, Your perfect strength something we can only have through YOUR GRACE and not something we can manufacture on our own. If we could manufacture our own strength Paul would have been preaching for all to find their own inner strength but that wasn't what he preached at all. We need CHRIST'S strength, our own strength will fail us every time!
All in the LOVE OF OUR SAVIOR!
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