Chosen

Why did God take on Flesh and sacrifice Himself? Surely there had to be an easier way, another possibility, a better course of action that He could have taken, right?

Wrong.

Created in His image, we know on a small level what we would do as human beings to save our creations- children, inanimate objects and the like. Most people would go to great lengths to protect something very, very dear to them that they created. People have actually chosen death to protect their creations, so it's not something that is preposterous to comprehend.  Hearing about a person who sacrificed their own life to save that of another makes us think of them as heroes. We've given medals and held celebrations to honor those who die for others.  The big difference here between us and God, is we know that as the Creator, God could have chosen to simply end our entire existence, chalk us up as a failed experiment and try again.  We're talking about the power to do whatever you choose to do. 

Regardless of what a  human being may boast they'd do if they were God, or think God should have done, we know what He chose to do. He chose to take on Flesh and He chose it  because He is love.

The greatest sacrifice ever had to be made so that erring humans could regain the choice that was given to them upon their creation.

Think about it.  Upon creation Adam and Eve were given a choice- to eat or not to eat of one tree in a garden full of trees. The choice was really between - obeying their Creator or not obeying their Creator. The choice was- love or evil.  The choice was- others or self.  And you know what, we made our choice. We chose- game over. We picked between two things and that was supposed to be that.

No more choice left to make. 

Have you ever faced a situation where you long for a do-over?  I think we all have.  And have you ever been given a do-over? I think (though I could be mistaken) that most of us have been given a do-over or two during our lifetimes.  You especially desire a do-over when extenuating circumstances have interfered with the choice you made, right?

Human beings left alone, left without outside tempting, could have made a DIFFERENT choice that possibility existed.

So why weren't we left alone? Probably because the one in whom evil was birthed - a former covering angel close to the Creators- told the Creators that unless tempted the Creators would never know whether or not their human creations would truly choose them over themselves.  It wasn't enough to give everything to your creations and not expect them to love you, where is the real TEST of that love. The TEST comes when tried. 

There we were us first human beings living the perfect lives with our Creator. We are given a single restriction, a small thing really and we're fine with that. We listen, we have NO reason not to listen, no reason to disobey, no reason to doubt what we've been told, so we listen, we obey, we don't doubt not a single bit.

We are at one with our Creators.

But then we are inspired to doubt, where we'd never doubted before we are told we should doubt.

Do we listen? Do we doubt?

We all know the answer to that one and it's an answer we don't like- yes, we listen to the tempter, we doubt our Creators.  Given NO reason to doubt other than an outside influence, we do so.

The test was allowed, the trying was allowed and we failed.

Yet had we been left without the outside influence we wouldn't have failed. There was a cause of our failure, a source, an instigator, a mitigating circumstance.

NOW- rather than chuck the whole human creation, our Creators determined to prove that a human being could face that tempting influence and prevail against it. To do this, one of the Creators had to become human and do so in a way that would leave NO doubt to the humanity of this Redeemer.

Our Father God- became the Father God to the God made Son, made human, and that God made human HAD to rely wholly upon the Father God in the way we as created humans were supposed to have done.  Only, this God made human was birthed into a world full of temptations on every side, too numerous to number, and He was birthed with the SAME ability to fall to temptations as we all are. To save fallen human kind, the God made flesh HAD to experience all that fallen human kind experienced, and then if the God made flesh could prevail IN THE FLESH, then and only then could mankind be redeemed.

Promised this Redeemer, mankind lived with the hope, the promise, but it wasn't something accomplished for thousands of years. Until our Redeemer came and saved us - all we could truly know was our sins warranted death.  Our Redeemer's sacrifice  did away with the surety that sin and death was all we had to look forward to.

The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us when we walk after the Spirit. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees us from sure death. The law we are to follow- obedience to God on all points, is something we fail at in our flesh and it's only in Christ's Spirit that we succeed, because He succeeded FOR US. If we WALK after the SPIRIT, we are walking after our Savior. 

We must MIND things of the Spirit, not things of the flesh.

Our carnal minds mean our death.

Our spiritual minds mean life and peace- knowing we are Christ's and saved through Him.

We must have the Spirit of God in us, living in us.

We are indebt to the Spirit.

We MUST live in the Spirit, the Spirit that our Savior promised to us once He returned to live with the Father God in heaven.

We must CHOOSE often and always, daily over and over again and again, choose Christ.

Please, Father God, please, help us to choose our Redeemer always!  You both chose us! You revealed You are LOVE in choosing us! You made the choice to redeem us, please, we would be redeemed!

Man has screwed things up so totally, we would live for You and the promised home You offer to all of us who would believe. We would be YOURS beyond the here and now, beyond the sinful, carnal flesh we are encompassed in. We have HOPE in our SAVIOR, we BELIEVE! WE would serve You through the Spirit always!!!!!! To this end we pray for YOUR endless love and guidance so we may be YOURS, all YOURS.

All through the sacrifice of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our LORD!

*******

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Rom 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Rom 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

Spirit Before Flesh

Walk not after the flesh.

Walk after the Spirit.

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Imagine for a moment- what is it like to walk after the Spirit?

'Gal 5:22,23-'….love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…'

We get in the way of the Spirit.  Our FLESH gets in the way.  When we CHOOSE to put our flesh first we are automatically pushing the Spirit out of the way.

It's not a matter of not being able to live to care for your own needs, if we didn't, we'd be absolutely no good to anyone else. No one is advocating you live a life like John the Baptist, stripped of all comforts wandering the deserts, the wilderness preaching. If all were called to such a life there would be no one to plant crops, tend to them, harvest them; there would be no one to tend sheep, etc, etc.  We are NOT all called to be preachers, teachers, evangelists. We ARE all called to walk after the Spirit in whatever life we are called to lead. How is it possible? By putting the Spirit before the flesh.

Spirit before flesh.

Love before self.

Joy before self.

Peace before self.

Longsuffering before self.

Gentleness before self.

Goodness before self.

Faith before self.

Meekness before self.

Temperance before self.

This is the SPIRIT before FLESH!

And we CHOOSE to put the Spirit before the Flesh, because we are MORTIFYING the flesh so the Spirit will live in us. And we are doing this THROUGH the Spirit.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

We can no more mortify the flesh by our flesh and live in the Spirit than we can save ourselves, it's impossible!

Our flesh is mortified by the Spirit which manifests in us when we choose to follow our Savior.   When we make that desire a living part of our lives, choosing our Savior over self, we are putting ourselves in the position for our Savior to send the Comforter to us, to live in us.  When we are faced with FLESH deeds we CAN'T flesh fight against the flesh deed itself, we must seek our SAVIOR! It is ONLY through our Savior that the Spirit can dwell in us.

The Spirit in us will give us the love, the joy, the peace, the longsuffering, the gentleness, the goodness, the faith, the meekness, the temperance we need. 

We must choose JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR FIRST!

SPIRIT before FLESH!  Jesus Christ our LORD before us!

By His mercy, love, and grace! All through Him in all things!

Amen!

War- Flesh and Spirit

War!

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Flesh and Spirit.

We are to walk in the Spirit but our flesh nature will not make this easy. They'll war because they truly are CONTRARY to each other.

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin

We must choose to serve the law of God, the moral law of God that has revealed right from wrong to us.  The law of God which we all know encompasses a moral standard that most people follow even if they claim no religion at all whatsoever.  We must choose to serve God with our minds, with our hearts, hating the sin our flesh draw us towards.

Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Rom 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Rom 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

THROUGH THE SPIRIT- MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE FLESH!

(((MORTIFY- STRONG'S CONCORDANCE-

G2289 From G2288; to kill (literally or figuratively): - become dead, (cause to be) put to death, kill, mortify.))))

Through the SPIRIT-  we cannot ignore that part! We make a grave mistake when we leave out the SPIRIT.  The mortification of the deeds of the flesh that would keep us from living in the Spirit for Christ, MUST be killed through the SPIRIT, not through flesh. Our flesh nature -destroying our flesh nature? If we even try to do that - we are automatically taking glory to ourselves for our own salvation. 

Salvation comes through our SAVIOR, not us, not our power. Through the HOLY SPIRIT we have hope! Allowing the HOLY SPIRIT to live in us, accepting our Savior's sacrifice, choosing to be led by Him, learning of Him, following Him, recognizing Him, this is our life! 

Our flesh nature will rise up constantly so that we do cry out wondering how we are to ever be saved from it, but just as that flesh nature rises up, the Spirit will rise up and mortify that flesh.  WE have to believe the SPIRIT is doing this within us! Through all we are called to endure we must trust that the mortification process is taking place and our hope is to be found in Jesus Christ! 

We don't know how the Spirit works, we don't know what fires we will be called to walk through. We don't know what tribulations, what lessons we must learn, what refining is necessary within us. We know the chastising exists and we know that we are far from being rid of our flesh nature, and we know that it might not be until the last moment of our lives that we are truly where Christ would have us be. We must CLING to the hope found only in Christ, outside of our selves! Our Hope cannot be within ourselves, but outside in CHRIST to save us! 

Through the Spirit the deeds of our flesh will be killed, will be destroyed so we may be God's and this is the battle we are engaged in.  The battle to remain Christ's, to CHOOSE Christ over self, seduced by Satan, this is our life, this is the race we run.  We will not let go of Christ until He blesses us!

1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

We must confess our sins!

We must recognize our helplessness and cling to our HOPE.

Through the SPIRIT the deeds of our flesh must be mortified. We must die daily to self, choosing our Savior!  Please, LORD, please help us to constantly CHOOSE YOU, letting YOU live in us.  Help us NOT of our own pretend we can save ourselves in any way. Live in us truly, wholly, fully, know us, let us know You. Please, save us from ourselves!

We are at war- flesh and spirit. Help us to choose Spirit always over flesh. And when we live to our flesh help us to repent, to confess, to seek forgiveness through You.  Be our all in all, always!

We believe, Lord, help our unbelief.

Help us to live in the Spirit, help us to live through the Spirit. Do for us all that WE cannot do for ourselves in the weakness of our Flesh, and help us to allow the Spirit to do all that You need the Spirit to do in us so we may be wholly yours! All by YOUR grace, YOUR love!

In Jesus Christ, always!

Amen.

Do we let the Spirit live in us?

LIVE in the Spirit.

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Live in the SPIRIT.

Walk in the SPIRIT.

Rom_8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

Mind the things of the SPIRIT.

Gal_5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Walk in the SPIRIT.

Gal_6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Sow to the SPIRIT.

Reap of the SPIRIT.

Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

Strengthen by his SPIRIT in the inner man.

Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

CHRIST dwelling in our hearts.

Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Filled with the fulness of GOD.

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

POWER working in us.

Eph 3:21  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

*******

How are we to truly LIVE in the SPIRIT?

Is it living with knowledge of the SPIRIT?  We know fruits of the Spirit are--

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

We know that the result of walking in the Spirit is LOVE, is JOY, is PEACE, is LONGSUFFERING, is GENTLENESS, is GOODNESS, is FAITH, is MEEKNESS, is TEMPERANCE.

Living for Christ is often very tumultuous though, right? We are fighting a spiritual war and we are often beaten, battered, abused and it isn't easy to exhibit what we presume are the attributes of the Spirit- love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. We are tried and tormented spiritually and as a result we seem to succumb often to  despair.  It's such a rollercoaster ride, but the ultimate end to that ride is a hope, a surety of Christ Jesus our Lord.  No matter what we are called to endure, no matter what we go through, ultimately the fruit of the Spirit will be realized in us all through HIS LOVE.  It's not something WE manufacture and I think that's where we often get confused. We want to produce the fruits, rather than let the Spirit produce the fruits in us. We get in the way of ourselves by striving to be the Spirit, rather than letting the Spirit be in us.

 More tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Spirit Not Flesh

Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

The Spirit, the invisible entity that is a part of us. We were created with a spiritual need in us. We were created with the ability to be born again of the Spirit. 

God is a spirit.

Jesus is flesh and spirit.

And there is also the Holy Spirit.

We are flesh and spirit.

The angels are spirits.

The angels of God are ministering spirits.

Satan and is angels are evil spirits.

We live in a VERY spiritual orientated existence that is largely not thought too much about.

The influence of the spiritual is all around us.  Our Savior told us we must be born again of the Spirit.  This is the spirit part of us connecting with the Holy Spirit of God, choosing God. If we do NOT choose to be born again, born of the Holy Spirit, then we are left with only one other spirit entity to connect with our spirit self. 

The spiritual is all around us, all the time. We choose which spirit to follow, no one chooses for us.

When we choose the flesh we are choosing to let the evil spirit guide us. 

When we choose to follow other men, rather than God… we are choosing evil.  We DO NOT WANT to believe this is true! We just don't.

Listen to this--

Mat_15:3  But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Mat_15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

IN VAIN they worshipped God. Do you imagine they believed they were worshipping God in vain? NO! They did not believe their worship was in vain, not in the least.

When man worships man, when we believe that our own works, that we of ourselves can save ourselves then we're lost! 

Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

When we initially accept Christ as our Savior, believing that by faith in Him we are saved, we are being born again in the Spirit-  we have BEGUN in the Spirit.  When we STOP having that initial FAITH BELIEF then we revert back to the flesh, to life without the SPIRIT.  So while we have HAD the Spirit, we lose the Spirit by believing in ourselves, not God.  We are NEVER going to be made perfect by the flesh, we are NEVER going to be made perfect without the Spirit.

We have to LIVE in the SPIRIT.

Truly, truly we must be born again daily because our flesh must die daily! 

We live in CHRIST, not in self.

Is there any doubt that this is a REAL SPIRITUAL war we are in? There shouldn't be, not a single doubt.

Yet what will wake us up to this truth. Will the bombs raining down around us exploding everywhere? These are silent explosions, and oh so spiritually deadly.  If we could only realize the truth of Spiritual warfare and recognize it for what it is-- REAL.

Please, Father in Heaven, please, open our hearts and minds to the truth, all Your truth! Please let us LIVE IN THE SPIRIT ALWAYS, don't let us return to the flesh, please! Help us, save us from ourselves!

Keep us in YOU all by the grace, the mercy, the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Our invisible spirit

Born again.

We've all heard these words haven' t we? And it's a good thing we have because it's truth. Our being born in the flesh is not enough. We have to have a spiritual birth. If we are blessed by God to live to an age of accountability, an age of choosing, an age of decision, and the opportunity is given to us, then we truly must be born of the Spirit.

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

What does it mean to be born again? This is a question many have asked, and many have answered. What does it mean to me?

Birth is a new life.

Spiritual birth is a new life as well.

We can have the birth of an idea- it is the beginning of an idea, a new idea. We can have the birth of an era, again, it's the beginning of something.  Being born again, born of the Spirit is beginning a new.

Something in our life is new, something is begun anew. 

Born of the water and born of the Spirit. 

WE KNOW what being born of the flesh is beyond any doubt. Yet what does is truly mean to be born of the Spirit? A new flesh being isn't created, what is created, what is birthed is invisible. Remember this--

Joh 4:24  God a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

God is invisible.

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God…

1Ti_1:17  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Heb_11:27  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Our birth, our spiritual birth is invisible, very, very real, but invisible.

Perhaps if we could see the Spirit in us, witness its birth, watch its life- the nurturing, the starving.  It's true, the Spirit in us, this invisible new life created is a real life and can die.  Just because you are born again of the Spirit does not mean the new life in you lives on indefinitely guaranteeing you eternal life.  The new life must be nurtured, truly nurtured. We must pray DAILY-  Jesus taught us to pray for our DAILY BREAD.  We must study.

2Ti_2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Act_17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

1Co_15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Heb_3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Daily. 

Our Lord is mindful of our day to day life.  Our Lord is mindful of us daily. We need to be mindful of ourselves, of our New Spirit. And even when the New Spirit in us is old, having been with us for many years it's a life we must cherish and nurture forever.

We truly NEED to believe in our Spirit Birth, our Spirit self.  We have NO trouble believing in our flesh it's tangible.  Yet the Spirit self calls for FAITH, believing without seeing, knowing, hoping.  A reality, even if invisible, very much a reality, a real force.

By the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, more tomorrow!

All in HIS LOVE!

Amen.

Sufficient in Christ

Those closest to Jesus our Savior, as He walked the earth said these words--

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God

They took NO honor, NO glory, NO praise to themselves at all! They did not boast of themselves. They did not tout self sufficiency.  Their sufficiency was of GOD.

They KNEW they were not special, they weren't equipped with some personal uniqueness that enabled them to be used of God. They comprehended that on their own they were nothing. 

We don't like to hear that do we?  People rail against being called nothing.  People rise up and shout their specialness just because they exist. Everyone everywhere wants to believe they are amazing and wonderful just because they live and are a human being.  We want to teach our children that they are wonderful all on their own with all their quirks and such. We want our children to believe in themselves outside of everything else.  We shun being told we are nothing without God. We say it sounds cruel to tell anyone they are nothing. We ALL want to be told we are special.

AND we are ALL special ONLY in that we have the potential to belong to our Savior.  We are special, so incredibly special in Christ that He thought we were worth dying for! He gave up His Spirit form and took on our flesh so He could die for us, that's how special we are to Him.

No one can EVER judge whether a person will accept Christ or not, even the most stout atheist, or devout Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, Moslem, Pagan, etc. we cannot say beyond any doubt any of those people will not come to know Christ as their Savior.

So, YES, we must LOVE each other, truly LOVE each other no matter what- literally- no matter what. We must love each other as each of us has the possibility of being God's. We don't love each other because of our kindness, our generosity, our charismatic personalities, or at least we shouldn't love each other because of those things. If we love only those who love us in kind, we truly are not loving as God loves, as God would have us love. Love your enemies, we are told. Do good to those who abuse us, we are told. Yet we have been taught to only LOVE those who love us back in word and deed.

Are we each special in and of ourselves?  If we were, would any of us ever face eternal nothingness? Would any of us face the wrath of God? Would any of us be destroyed completely, burned in the lake of fire until we are nothing, if we had a specialness on our own, would those things happen?  Our God is special, and with HIM in us He makes us special.  And truthfully as already said, we are all special with our potential to be God's.  Without God we are NOTHING.  You don't have to like it, you can hate it in fact, because you are allowed to choose to be God's, never forced.

Our sufficiency, our worth is found in GOD. We are no longer empty husks of human beings when we have God's spirit in us, a new heart, a new spirit.  Yet we can be empty husks of human beings. We can claim self-sufficiency but that is only a lie we tell ourselves. 

We can do all things through CHRIST, as well as the opposite, we do nothing without Christ, nothing of any real worth.

We are sufficient in CHRIST!

Please, Lord, please be our sufficiency, we know we are nothing without YOU and YOUR LOVE.  Bless us, keep us, in YOU always! Through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior!

Amen.

This our success....

A new heart.

A new spirit.

We are to be receptacles of ALL that will enable us to be God's.

This include receiving a new heart and a new spirit.

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Eze 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

A car engine does not produce oil, you must add oil to that engine. Take all the oil out of the car and you're left with a hunk of useless metal that might be good for spare parts, or a non-moving, eventually rusting and empty shell that could be used for all sorts of things other than what it was intended to be used for. 

There is no doubt in my mind a person could find many uses for a non-moving vehicle. Some could make art sculptures from it. The less fortunate might even convert it to a tiny living space to keep them out of the elements. While we have all probably seen rotting cars as eyesores filling up the yards of people who have refused to have them towed away to a yard full of useless cars, that doesn't mean that's all the non-working car is good for.

Sometimes someone will come along and take a disgusting piece of metal garbage once called a car and they'll painstakingly and lovingly as a hobby restore that car to working condition. In order for that car to ever work again though, oil will have to be reintroduced to it and flow freely to all the place it is needed to keep the engine running smoothly.

Like this attempt at an analogy between the car and the oil it must have in order to work, we, to belong to God, must have His Spirit within us and it's a constant in filling of the Spirit, a constant renewal, just like oil must be checked and replenished in a car.  No, the analogy isn't perfectly matched but you get what I'm saying.

Us human beings can live every day of our lives without the Spirit, but we are just living, breathing, empty husks, we are dead cars turned into something else. We seemingly work but we are NOT working for the purpose we were created to work for.

How many of us have become husks and don't even know that's what we are, and frankly, don't even care?  A shiny well polished, painted and decorated car turned into a fancy restaurant booth has certainly made its new use special and comely, even coveted perhaps by those who would dine in it, but for all that it's serving a new reinvented purpose it is NOT being used for what it had been created to be used for.  Us human beings may be special, lovely, amazing husks of intended human beings, but unless we are being made new, unless we are being given the Spirit of God, we are not living as we were intended to live. 

The lowliest of people living in rags, barely surviving on crumbs and the good will of others, if filled with God's Spirit are living their lives as they were created to live it, more so than the wealthiest person living without the Spirit of God. The measure of success we measure with ia NOT the measure of success God measures with.  We measure success so differently that it's hard for us to truly imagine any thing else. To say a poor, homeless widow is closer to God than the Pastor of a mega church seems ludicrous but it's closer to being true than anyone really wants to admit.

How do we measure our success as human beings? It truly does depend on whether or not you are living contently as an empty husk void of God's Spirit, or seeking to be made new and given a new heart, and a new spirit.  Empty husks strive for material success and look at the world with the same standard, labelling successes those who have money enough to afford a good home, car, etc, etc, etc.  We don't call those struggling to make ends meet a success, we label them inferior.

God wants to give us a new heart and a new spirit--

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Eze 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

This is our success-- being given a new heart, and a new spirit. 

This is our success- having God's spirit within us causing us to walk in God's ways.

We do not find success on our own, not spiritual success, not true success as the human beings we were created to be.

Don't we need the stony hearts taken out of us?

2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

2Co 3:4  And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God

Our sufficiency truly is of GOD and GOD ALONE.

In His GRACE! In His LOVE ALWAYS!

Amen!!!!

This world is Un-fixable by human might and power.

Zec 4:6  ... Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Might and power- two things people wield to gain control of other people and situations. Those who gain might and power and get others with might and power to follow them are often people of great influence over others and they've won wars throughout history this way. They've won wars, leadership positions, marriages, you name it, the earthly treasures are at their fingertips. Is it any wonder people are often lustful for such power- for riches, power and might?  People want to live their lives comfortably  without excessive worry. People want to have their needs taken care of and to throw in a little extra for comfort.  People here in the western world live lives of extreme ease compared to those who suffer, and scrounge just to survive.  We know this, but it doesn't stop our excessive desire for comfort, for material security and ease.  We believe that money will take care of all that worry for security and ease, and I'd be lying to say money doesn't offer a certain degree of assurance that our earthly needs are taken care of.

Might and power give riches and security on an earthly physical level and people seek this often above everything else.

'Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.' 

Yes, might and power have done many things but ultimately it truly is only BY the Spirit of the Lord that we have the greatest success in life- and that success is the  assurance of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing else, no matter what it is, matters if we forfeit eternal life. This is truth.

You can have ALL the might and power the world has to offer and it will NOT give you eternal life.

Even with all the might and power the world has to offer there is one thing you still have to do, you have to live in this world KNOWING all your might and power cannot bring  peace to everyone in the world. All your might, power, influence, money cannot rid the world of evil and all it's affects.

This world is UNFIXABLE by human might and power.

However, the Spirit of the LORD alone has guaranteed us HOPE for a world made new. This world will only be made new AFTER all evil is destroyed and that is something mankind can never do, destroy evil. It can barely contain a tiny portion of the evil that exists, and that containment is only achieved by the creation of an even more evil place- concentrated evil with just tiny bits of supposed non-evil to control the evil.  No, mankind cannot and NEVER will be able to rid the world of evil, it's an impossibility. Mankind has no control over the spiritual realm beyond choosing to believe in God over Evil. Once we choose the spiritual side we wish to be on, the battle ensues and our choice must be renewed daily as it is tested, tried, and tormented. 

The battle has been WON.

It's which side YOU choose to be on that remains.

Satan will stop at nothing to bring you to his side, and God stopped at NOTHING to bring you to His- sacrificing His only begotten Son for us.

Will we through the Spirit choose God? Or will we choose Satan?

Not by might.

Not by power.

But by God's Spirit!

Amen!

Constant Spiritual Assault

Cares of this world.

Deceitfulness of riches.

The Lust of other things.

Enduring for a time, then giving up.

Affliction, persecution arising.

Satan instantly distracting.

Who among us can say we aren't susceptible to such as these?

Constantly we are bombarded by things that would steal the Word of God from us!

CONSTANT SPIRITUAL ASSAULT, this is the life of one who belongs to Christ Jesus, our Savior.

Our Savior would have His WORD of truth go to all! 

Yet as soon as His word touches the heart and the conversion begins Satan is right there doing all he can to stop that conversion. Satan does NOT want a single person to be converted, not a single one.

In the world of eternal life there is not ONE single person who is more important to God than another.  Likewise, there is not a single person on earth that is more important to Satan than another.  God and Satan want all of us, a single person is the same to them as any other person as far as eternal importance.  It is only US here on earth, us human beings who place more importance upon one person than another.

Before you start talking about God's prophets- His chosen- realize this- those who are His chosen are those who chose to belong to Him, their hearts belonged to God, not to themselves, by their choice. None were FORCED to be His. 

To Satan the richest person is a notch in his belt just the same as the poorest if they choose to be his, not God's.

To God, the richest and the poorest doesn't matter, their choosing to be His is all that matters.

You and I will face ALL manner of situations and each one will be geared towards luring us from God.   As long as we keep living, learning, loving the truth the Word of God, through all those situations, we will remain God's. It's when we are drawn away from the Word of God that we falter, and fall.

Please FATHER, keep us in YOUR WORD OF TRUTH letting NOTHING draw us away, not a single thing!  All through our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.

Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

Mar 4:7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

Mar 4:8  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

Mar 4:9  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mar 4:10  And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.

Mar 4:11  And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:

Mar 4:12  That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

Mar 4:13  And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?

Mar 4:14  The sower soweth the word.

Mar 4:15  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Mar 4:16  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

Mar 4:17  And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Mar 4:18  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

Mar 4:19  And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Mar 4:20  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

*******

Overwhelmed Spirit

Psa 143:4  Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.

Such emotion.  Being God's is NOT easy.  Being God's means opening up yourself as fair game to Satan and all his evil followers- angels and humans.  Being God's paints a spiritual target all over us so that there isn't an inch of us unmarked for all to see that we belong to God.  When we are so spiritually marked you can just imagine how much unwanted attention is focused on us by the evil ones who want to keep us from Christ.  Is it any wonder that one who belongs to God can cry out with David-  My spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart desolate.

Being a Christian does NOT mean you are guaranteed any sort of happiness, as far as earthly happiness is concerned. Can we as Christians be content and consoled with the promise we are given? We truly are living on a promise for future peace, future happiness.  Here and now we are almost guaranteed a hard life of constant, non-stop spiritual attack.  We aren't promised any lulls in the attacks either, the evil spiritual entities do not ever grow tired of their work. Our only safety is found in our Savior who overcame so we through Him can overcome.

When we are overwhelmed, when our hearts feel desolate, we can still cling tightly to the hope we can only find in Jesus.  Everything around us can fall apart, but we still need to cling to our Savior and the hope He died to ensure we'd have.  The future hope this is our aim, this is the goal we long for, this is the prize we are running our Christian race towards. Many who run races train long and hard, some train years and years for a single race with the aim to win that race. We, as Christians have to run in this spiritual race with the aim to win the race, and the race does not end until our Savior returns, or we enter the long sleep.  Truly it is a race, a long, long, long race we enter when we become Christians.

Are you spiritually overwhelmed?

Is your heart desolate within you?

1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

1Pe 5:11  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Amen.

No boasting

 Stop boasting, you didn't SAVE yourself!

There is so much talk about doing things for ourselves. Stand up for yourself, take care of yourself, do it yourself, take pride in yourself  and all these are supposed to be good things, great things in fact. Being independent and in need of no one is a great thing, right?  Even Paul said he took care of his own needs-

2Th 3:8  Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you

Act 20:33  I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.

Act 20:34  Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.

So it is a good thing to do for yourself and if possible for others, no one should say it isn't a good thing.   What I am saying is we cannot get so caught up in doing for ourselves that we start boasting of our ability to save ourselves.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

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

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

First of all our very existence is by God's design.  We can take no credit for our existence. If you say you can because you choose not to end your existence, I'll say you have the existence to choose to end or not because of God and God alone gave you that existence.   When we choose to be saved, to recognize we need saving we choose to be saved through faith in Christ Jesus' ability to save us. We do not ever choose to save ourselves, we choose to be saved by another. We recognize that we CANNOT, absolutely CANNOT save ourselves. 

After we choose salvation by Christ Jesus our Lord, we are entering a way of life that means CONSTANT choosing to be saved by Jesus.  Jesus taught us to pray a DAILY prayer for DAILY sustenance, for God's will DAILY.  Daily we choose to surrender our will to God, to have faith that Jesus will indeed save us through HIS GRACE.  As we go about our daily living we recognize all that we do is in His workmanship.  We are required to live as He would have us live, in the good works that He Himself lived in. He was our example, His earthly life was our example, and He spent His life serving God and serving others in all things.  Yes, He made sure to eat, to tend to His own needs as necessary but He also gave of himself sacrificing His time, His energy, and ultimately He sacrificed His life for us.

We have hope in Jesus, not in ourselves, not in our own good works.  If we are blessed to be able to do any good works in Jesus Christ, all glory goes to Him for making it possible for us to do those good works.  If I am able to do a good work for someone, it is only because my Creator, my Savior made it possible for me to do that good work.

This doesn't mean Satan won't use our doing good works to trap us because He will. He's subtle and he'll do all in his power to get us caught up in doing good works so that we may boast of those good works, as if we on our own are responsible for the good works.  One of Satan's tricks is making us feel unappreciated, making us feel taken advantage of. Another trick is making us feel excessive happiness in working good, which can lead us to self adoration, boasting in our self. We don't do good to be happy, to feel good. We CHOOSE to do good because it is the right thing to do, the thing our Savior would have us do.  Our life is a life made up of choices, constant choices. We must use our Savior as our guide as we make each choice. By HIS GRACE and HIS GRACE alone may we make the choices we need to make to be His, fully, wholly, surrendered to Him, the author of Salvation.

In His name, always!

Amen.

Understand with our hearts

Mat_13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

How many people do not want to hear the truth of Salvation?

How many people do not want to see the truth of Salvation?

How many people do not want their hearts understanding Salvation?

How many people do not want to be converted and healed?

Seriously. How many people choose to live spiritually deaf, blind, and heartless?

The choice is purposefully made, deliberately decided because they lack any faith at all.  They'll call themselves the enlightened. They'll call themselves intelligent.  They'll say they don't need faith, that faith is for the weak minded. 

Being converted from unrepentant sinner to repented sinner to some is undesirable. Some do not even want to admit they sin at all.  No one will be forced into conversion. People must CHOOSE to be converted.  People must want their hearts to understand, they must want to ear and see truth and in wanting this they desire healing and healing is found in conversion.

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Act 3:20  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Act 3:21  Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Repent- choose to recognize yourself as a sinner in need of repenting, in need of forgiveness. Our sins need to be blotted out and by the grace of our LORD they will be blotted out.  Our encouraged sins thickly coated in the selfishness that binds all sin must be confessed, and repented of so we can be HEALED.  Healed of our selfishness, just imagine that.

Imagine a life of selfless serving.  It's all but impossible, and the only hope we have of it not being an impossibility is being healed by our Savior. WE cannot heal ourselves, but we must choose to let our Savior heal us. And we will be healed, and like a lot of healing there is pain before the healing is complete.

Please, Father in heaven, please we choose to be healed by YOU through the Holy Spirit by the grace of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior!

We repent! We confess! We bow before You knowing that we are helpless to save ourselves, we can only truth in Your mercy! Please, Father, have mercy upon us, we would be YOURS now and forever!

Forgive us!

Love us!

By YOUR GRACE! All honor, glory, and power to YOU, our God, our King!

Flaws within us

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Act 3:20  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Act 3:21  Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

First- we need to recognize that we are sinners. To recognize that we are sinners we must comprehend that we know deep down (if not any where on the surface at this time) that we fall short of a standard we instinctively wish we could achieve.  Have you any regrets? If there is no such thing as sinning, there should be no such thing as regret.  Regret comes from wishing we hadn't or had done something we did or didn't do.  That understanding of regret points out to us that there are flaws within us. If there are flaws within us then there is a certain standard we are holding ourselves to that reveals those flaws, those things that keep us from being people who are truly unselfish, who are truly loving of others.  Seriously, we all know there are problems with ourselves, and some of the most arrogant, conceited, self-absorbed people can find faults in others can't they? Faults in those who are not more like they are. Faults that they are less than what they should be.  Faults that make them seem to be liars, hypocrites, selfish, flawed.  I've never really known a person yet who hasn't found fault in others, and honestly- themselves. People KNOW they are flawed, they really do and all the self help, self absorption, self therapy they can muster will mostly just be them trying to justify their flaws so they don't have to feel the natural guilt of those flaws. People will don many different facades with the intention of burying the guilt and they'll even lie to themselves over and over until they believe their own lies just so they do not have to face the real truth of their guilt.

To repent is to recognize the sin in ourselves and despise that sin, that weakness, that flaw within ourselves and TRULY try to keep from succumbing to the temptations leading us to sin. We even need to hate that we've grown to love some of the sin in our lives. To simply just accept that sin without despising it is to not truly repent. If we need to cry out daily as we seek to repent over and over with a heart desperate to be made clean, then that is what we need to do rather than embrace the sin that has become a part of our lives. We must not call our sins good, just as we must not call the good- sin.

We need to repent and in repenting be converted.

Converted from what?  From one who chooses sin to one who chooses not to sin. Converted from one who doesn't believe in God's forgiveness, to one who believes.  Converted from selfishness, to unselfishness. 

Mat_13:15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

All by the grace of our LORD!