We have a Master in heaven

Col 4:1  Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

We don't like to think in terms of 'masters' and 'servants', puts us in the mind of thinking 'masters' and 'slaves', and who likes to think about that sort of thing? Slavery is something we imagine to be awful in all respects and yet… oddly enough slavery served and serves a purpose still in some places. I'm not talking about slavery of abuse and without consent! What I'm talking about is JUST slavery and by that I mean a person WILLING to be enslaved to serve a purpose  - perhaps to pay off a debt or some such- and that person being enslaved by a just master, not an abusive monster of a master.  Do you imagine there is such a thing, a 'just' master?  We don't like to because we'd rather imagine the horrors of slavery- of which there are many.  Yet, here in the Bible we know there were slaves and masters, and it was accepted, and God wanted the masters to be just to the slaves and the slaves to serve the masters justly as well.

There was also this-- 

Deu 15:12  And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
Deu 15:13  And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
Deu 15:14  Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

Sold- you cannot be sold unless you are a slave.  Sold and served six years then in the seven set FREE and given goods liberally. 

Not EVERY thing about slavery is evil, but Satan would have us believe that even the tiniest thought of slavery is evil. Satan want us  to equate our relationship with God as slave serving a master in such a way that it is a derogatory thing, not a good thing. As master and servant- a bad thing for the servant. Satan would have us all believe we should be masters.  Haven't you heard the various sayings about being masters of our own destinies, masters of our own ships,  master of our own fates, etc. We are even told that we don't need to listen to God, we don't need to obey God, but rather we need to be our own masters and do as we please because God is just hiding things from us, God is just keeping us from being so much better- Satan did the telling of all that to Eve in the garden and mankind has desired to be right with God ever since.

Can you even imagine how badly Adam and Eve regretted their decision to listen to Satan?

I mean, we on a significantly lower level of things, get disappointed when we lose a great job, a great house, when we must end our vacation and return to our mundane life. We never had paradise and lost it, not like Adam and Eve. We never had that oneness with God, never. 

Losing paradise is something people don't concern themselves over much with because Satan wants us to believe that there never was a real paradise to lose. Satan doesn't want us believing in His lies, that being a creature in servitude to a Creator/Master is an offensive thing.

Adam and Eve would probably have given just abut anything to get their sinless state back, to live their life in perfect harmony with their Creator, not doubting Him.

Satan wants us to believe that we are losing out when we submit to the authority of God. In fact, Satan has set our world up to believe in the same thing about each other. To be in service to another is to be inferior- this is what the world believes and yet, there is nothing further from the truth.

Luk 22:25  And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
Luk 22:26  But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
Luk 22:27  For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

He that is chief- HE THAT DOTH SERVE.

CHRIST was among us as HE THAT SERVETH.

We are servants, every single one of us is a slave to our Master in heaven.

We are servants to each other! We are NOT to strive for mastery over all, mastery above God, mastery above each other.   Yet when we are thrust into the position of being a master over others as is the way of things especially in many positions of authority, we MUST treat those who are serving under us as if we were in their position.

Col 4:1  Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

We have a Master in heaven and it is to God that we are required to answer for our every action.

We are to LOVE one another as we would be loved, not as we are loved by others, but as we would be in that ideal, perfect world people long for. When we treat others as we WANT to be treated even if they hate us and treat us horrifically, then we are doing God's will, serving our God! 

We must give to others especially if they are subservient to us in any way, we must give unto them that which is JUST and EQUAL, because we WILL answer to our MASTER in heaven for our treatment of others in all the huge ways and in the very tiny, tiny ways.

Please Lord, please HELP us all to do YOUR will, and YOUR will only! All through YOUR love! Please Lord, please bless us and teach us to be YOUR SERVANTS ALWAYS.

Serve the LORD CHRIST

Col 3:23  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Col 3:24  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Col 3:25  But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

Knowing that of the LORD
Ye shall RECEIVE the reward of the INHERITANCE
For ye SERVE THE LORD CHRIST

But he that doeth WRONG
Shall RECEIVE for the wrong which he hath DONE

And there is NO RESPECT of PERSONS

We know, we who choose to serve the LORD in truth, in His love, by His grace, by His mercy, through His righteousness, all by faith- we know that we shall be rewarded with the inheritance of eternal life with HIM.

So many people desire to live forever, or if not live forever here on this earth they desire to live in a much better place- that place commonly known as heaven where nothing is wrong or can go wrong, where all is wonderful, peaceful, loving, and sin free.  The trouble is- most people DO NOT want to live forever in Jesus' love, they want to live forever in their own love.

Lately, more than usual it seems, there have been a number of deaths among my friends and family. Constantly there are memorials put up on the social network- Facebook about how that person is now in heaven, that person is now an angel, that person is happy now and no longer suffering. The only part I agree with is that person is no longer suffering.  Biblically the dead are sleeping, knowing nothing, in the grave at rest. Biblically there are angel beings but humans upon death do not become these angels they are an entirely different entity from us. Biblically the dead are not happy, they know nothing and cannot praise anyone or anything from the grave.  People WANT to believe this of their deceased loved ones because it brings them comfort thinking that death wasn't the end of it all for their loved ones, that somehow they are still alive  and in their lives, in some form we cannot fully comprehend as long as we are living.

These deceptive lies have been woven for thousands of years by Satan and he has perfected his art until the majority of people are caught up in his sticky web of untruths.  You can't really tell these people to stop believing as they do, they don't want to listen, why would they? Their lies bring them comfort and peace.

The truth is,  as mentioned above, most people want to live forever in happiness- but NOT necessarily the happiness that comes through believing in the truth of our SAVIOR'S LOVE. They want their own love to reign and that means living with their own desires, their own longings, their own ways and truths.

Knowing that of the LORD
Ye shall RECEIVE the reward of the INHERITANCE
For ye SERVE THE LORD CHRIST

Serving the LORD CHRIST this, and this alone is the love that will lead us to that eternal reward, to that inheritance only He can offer to us. If we refuse to serve the Lord Christ in love right now here on earth, preferring rather to serve ourselves, what makes us possibly believe that we shall inherit eternal life?

The thing is, all those who are busy serving themselves right now do NOT want to serve the LORD CHRIST. And if they do not want to serve the LORD CHRIST right now, why would they want to serve Him for an eternity? They wouldn't.  Their idea of life eternal and happiness is contrary to the truth of the LORD'S Love.

We must serve the Lord Christ now, in HIS love, through His power, all by faith.

But he that doeth WRONG
Shall RECEIVE for the wrong which he hath DONE

This is truth.

Unforgiven sin is left upon the one committing that sin and each, and every one of those sins will be punished. Truthfully they shall receiving for the wrong they've done. As much as we'd love to believe that every human being- which has their own group of loved ones- will get a free pass into eternity when the Savior returns- the truth remains that only those serving the Lord Christ in sincerity and truth will claim eternity by the sacrifice of our Savior. To serve the Lord Christ is to LOVE HIM FULLY, to live with Him IN US our HOPE of glory!


And there is NO RESPECT of PERSONS

No one is given special treatment. No one is exempt from needing to serve the LORD CHRIST, no one. You might be born into a very religious family and raised religiously but that is no guarantee for eternal life, none. You might be born into pure misery, poor, sick but that too is no guarantee for eternal life. We must serve the LORD CHRIST.  Only HE knows who serves Him in truth, we cannot judge anyone, not a single person! He alone knows the truth.

He allows us the truth in Him and we are each individually accountable for that truth.

May God help us to serve the LORD CHRIST in LOVE, in truth!

Please, Lord, we are fully at Your mercy.

All praise, all glory, all honor, all love to YOU always!

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men

Col 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
Col 3:19  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Col 3:20  Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Col 3:21  Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Col 3:22  Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:

Col 3:23  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Col 3:24  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Col 3:25  But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the LORD and NOT unto men.

How would our lives change if we did this? Seriously. If ALL we did we were doing it for the Lord how would it be different?

When you're called to help someone when you're right in the middle of doing something don't you feel a little put out? Come on, be honest? If you don't feel put out now, can you recall a time when you did? Now imagine it was our LORD calling us to help Him… go on, imagine it.

We have to use our imagination, we have to put things into their proper perspective by imagining the reality of it because we obviously do not take the words at face value.

Our days are filled with activities that we have to do and some we want to do- are we doing those activities as if we were doing them for the LORD? Or do we have a touch of resentment in us somewhere? Having to work. Having to work at an unpleasant occupation. Having to go to school. Having to deal with other people. Having to shop for groceries. Having to pay bills.  You know what you do day in and day out. You know what you have to do on a monthly, weekly, daily basis and truthfully are you doing it ALL heartily? And by heartily I mean are you doing it was a goodness of heart, with a genuineness, with sincerity, without resentment and anger?  Are you doing is as if you were doing it ALL for Christ Jesus?

If we could somehow get it into our heads that this is truth wouldn't it alter us somehow?

Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the LORD and NOT unto men.

Even the things we are doing for ourselves- dealing with other people- but ultimately doing for ourselves aren't we doing that as to the LORD as well?

We're talking about the spirit in which we do things, we're talking about our beliefs and if they carry over into our lives, into our dealings with others. 

If Christ is in us, our HOPE of GLORY, shouldn't we live as if this were a reality and not something we believe only when we are hanging out in church?

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

How we treat others reveals the master we serve, doesn't it? Sure, Satan is going to work very, very hard to get us to treat others awful, especially the closer we are to God. Satan doesn't want anyone seeing that 'hope of glory' in us. Satan doesn't want others to see Christ in us and he'll do all he can to make sure that others often -if not always- see the worst of us. 

We are given admonishing such as these-

Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the LORD and NOT unto men.

- for a reason.

We are to be aware of our actions, we are to be aware of our dealings with others day in and day out and truly comprehend the results of those actions- are we doing our actions HEARTILY AS TO THE LORD?

If we are not committing actions HEARTILY AS TO THE LORD then we need to ask forgiveness from God and pray for His spirit to live in us so that we may do all we do heartily as to HIM.

Whether we are dealing with our husbands, our wives, our parents, our children, our bosses, it doesn't matter - what matters is that in our dealings we are honestly living for CHRIST and letting our lives reveal who are true master is- Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!

Perhaps we are pointed towards our husbands, wives, parents, and children first because it is true they see us more as we really are than any others do, and they more than any others need to see Christ living in us, the hope of glory!

All through HIS AMAZING GRACE, HIS AMAZING LOVE!

Put on...

Col 3:12-17 

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved--

Bowels of mercies.
Kindness
Humbleness of mind
Meekness
Longsuffering
Forbearing one another,
Forgiving one another
If any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body
And be ye thankful.
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.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

These are the things of God.
These are all a part of God's love.

Satan does NOT want us to have mercy on one another.
Satan does NOT want us to be kind.
Satan does NOT want us to have humbleness of mind.
Satan does NOT want us to have meekness.
Satan does NOT want us to be longsuffering.
Satan does NOT want us forbearing one another.
Satan does NOT want us to forgive one another.
Satan does NOT want us to repair our arguments with one another in forgiveness.
Satan does NOT want us to have charity.
Satan does NOT want us to have peace.
Satan does NOT want us to be thankful.
Satan does NOT want us to have Christ's word in us.
Satan does NOT want us teaching and admonishing us in psalms and hymns.
Satan does NOT want us singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord.
Satan does NOT want us in word and deed doing anything in the name of the LORD, giving thanks to God and the Father.

WE must be all these things, do all these things as we are told, as we are admonished, as we are instructed because these are the things of love, God's love.

Too many want to paint God as an awful dictator -warping us human beings with His strictures, with His commandments, with His seeming unfairness, and His hatred. They believe these lies about God because His love is so pure that to actually truly comprehend it would mean a total giving up of self and this is something people hate to do.

Satan became prideful, Satan became self-orientated, and when Satan did that he set the stage for what he wanted to corrupt human beings into becoming- like Him, NOT like God. He's done an excellent job in  corrupting mankind to have HIS sinful nature. Satan loves to nurture that evil nature in people pulling them further and further from God. We weren't meant to be sinfilled. Deep down people KNOW this, they know it. We were NOT meant to be selfish and yet we are. 

Satan wants to blame God for all the horrors of the world and he's succeeded in getting many to believe  him.

By the grace of God may we live the way our LORD would have us LIVE, as the PEOPLE the LORD would have us be. We are told what to do, just read that list above, and through Christ we are able to do all He wants us to do. We must pray for the Lord's Spirit, for His Love, for His Help, for All He can do for us. Please LORD we want to be YOURS and we want to do YOUR WILL up on earth, not Satan's!  Help us Lord, help us to follow your WORD now and always!

All in CHRIST!

Christ is all and in all

Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Christ is all and in all.

Act 10:34  Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Act 10:35  But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

God is NO respecter of persons.

We however have a whole world of people caught up in the various prejudices they've formed around others for their beliefs, their skin color, their nationality, their religions, their illnesses, their deformities, their weight, their personalities etc.

Our prejudices are many while our tolerances seem few.

Some may say God is prejudice because of His laws, because He expects people to keep His moral commandments, but in truth every single one of those moral commandments is designed out of the purest love that exists. We in our sinful natures don't want to see that though. We'd much rather make our own moral commandments that accommodate nicely our corrupted flesh nature- that way we can sin without feeling any guilt at all.

Satan wanted us to believe that God was unfair, that He was keeping us from truth, from happiness. Satan said this to Eve--

Gen 3:1  ...And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Yea, hath God said…

And then He said-  Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

He KNEW God did not say that. He knew God said this--

Gen 2:16,17  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Satan knew God told man- 'BUT of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt NOT eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'

Satan KNEW this! So what was His purpose in going to Eve and asking her that question? It was to purely deceive her, to get her into QUESTIONING God.

Eve replied to God-

Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Did Eve reply truthfully?  Yes, but she embellished didn't she? She added a little bit that said- '..neither shall ye touch it' .

And Satan was right there to instill doubt into Eve's mind- doubt about God, about what God said.

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Did He lie?

Yes.

Did Eve die?

Yes.

Did she die immediately?

No.

But she did die as God said she would.

Eve believed in SATAN. Eve chose to believe Satan's lies over God's truth. 

Ever since then people have been choosing the exact same thing. They don't want the truth because it doesn't allow them to live to their flesh natures, giving into their flesh desires- just like Eve. All the other fruit of the other trees in the garden were not enough for her, she had to have that fruit and she had to have her eyes opened because she did NOT believe that God was being truthful.

With our eyes wide opened to good and evil- so many choose the evil over the good because like Eve they do NOT believe God.

God is NO respecter of people.

Any who LOVE Him, who keep His LAWS OF LOVE- His MORAL laws, the laws that JESUS kept fully Himself - LOVING God with all His Heart and Mind and loving His neighbor- anyone who does this is a child of God's.  It's when we STOP loving God, when we STOP loving each other that we are lost.

God specifically told Peter and Paul to give the gospel of the Kingdom to the gentiles- NOT to have the gentiles change their own customs but to have them LOVE GOD FIRST- no false gods- and to LOVE their neighbors.  There was a big to-do over the act of circumcision and whether or not all the gentile converts who were not circumcised should be made to get circumcised once they believed in the truth. Ultimately they were told they did NOT need to be circumcised? Why? Because that was a law given under the OLD covenant, not the NEW covenant in Jesus Christ. Then to demand they follow a custom given under the OLD covenant would actually put a stumbling block in their way. 

Jesus did DO AWAY with the old ceremonial law NOT the moral law, He reaffirmed that more than once.  Jesus brought the LOVE of God back to the forefront, not the strictures that had been necessary at the time to bring the chosen of God out of their 400 years of pollution by the pagan Egyptians.

Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Christ is ALL and IN ALL.

Christ is not a respecter of persons.

All have the opportunity to choose HIS LOVE as their way of LIFE.

All through HIS amazing GRACE and LOVE.

Amen!

Renewed in knowledge

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him

The new man we become when we are born again is RENEWED in KNOWLEDGE after the IMAGE of HIM that CREATED HIM.

RENEWED in KNOWLEDGE.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Created in RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUE HOLINESS.

Knowledge- it is knowledge that allows us to know well… everything… right? A stupid statement? Yes, it is a stupid statement but a very true one.

When we become a new man we are changed from the old and that old man lacks knowledge of salvation, choosing to remain in the darkness. When we choose NOT to believe in Christ we are choosing to remain in the dark, we are choosing to remain free of the knowledge of Salvation, free of the knowledge of God, free of the knowledge of righteousness and true holiness. All the while we are choosing that darkness, we unfortunately believe we are becoming more enlightened, not less enlightened. We believe we are actually growing more intelligent, not less intelligent. We believe we've become so incredibly smart to choose not to believe in Christ that we often pat ourselves on the back and well, we announce it to the world and sometimes quite loudly. Not believing becomes a badge of honor of sorts that we polish to a full shine every occasion we get. We love feeling that superior sense of wellbeing because we choose not to be what we call…duped.  We're not going to be fooled into believing fables, we're just too darn brilliant for that.

The truth, the truth is deception has been allowed to fill us and we are lost, we are stuck in the old man of flesh, unrenewed, lacking the truth knowledge of our Creator, our Redeemer.

Those of us who do CHOOSE to believe and go on to become a NEW man we are given the chance to receive the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ. No un-regenerated person can have this knowledge, it doesn't work that way.  And if YOU do gain this knowledge and then turn your back on it, you will be worse off than you ever were before because you're so much more guilty of unbelieving. I'm not talking stumbling in your fiery trials and tribulations, even if the trial lasts several years or more. I'm talking about the unbelief that cuts off the acknowledgement of guilt and replaces it with self-justification.  I'm talking about the unbelief that strips away hope for eternal life in Christ leaving the one who formerly believed and now chooses not to believe  without any future beyond the here and now. That awful nothingness that they fill with so much temporary nonsense it takes all their effort to do so. Yet, they are deceived into believing they are just fine without believing in Christ and the salvation He offers. They keep on believing that they are in need of nothing, and if they are in need of things it's their own bad luck, and well, that's life right?

The deception is so complete it's incredibly hard for anyone to get passed it and that is why so few ultimately believe in the truth as it is found in our SAVIOR.

We are given many opportunities to believe but we are NEVER forced and if we want deception we are allowed to have it because it is the choice we make.

We are renewed.

Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind

In the spirit of our mind we are renewed, we receive the knowledge of Christ, the knowledge of God our Father in heaven, knowledge of the Holy Spirit and this knowledge is an ever growing knowledge, not a one time learning, but a learning that continues for as long as we live.

All by the grace of God may we NEVER stop believing in HIM, NEVER! May our minds be renewed in the knowledge of our God, our Savior, always!

In HIS LOVE!

Mortify your members

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds

Mortify our member which are upon earth.
We LIVE in a physical flesh world and yet we are called to a higher life in the SPIRIT, living FOR CHRIST.

We are TOLD what to do, and so many people think we are at the mercy of our flesh nature. Are we? To a certain extent we are- we are inclined towards sinning and yet we are given the ability to use reason and that reason tells us we have the ability to CHOOSE our actions.  We face temptations, but yielding to the temptations is OUR CHOICE. Yes, they can be awful! It can be excruciating to fight the flesh desires that are incredibly powerful. Do we always overcome, no, we fall and we feel the guilt of that transgression knowing we must repent, we must truly desire to overcome THROUGH CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR, we must ask for FORGIVENESS.

Here we are being told to MORTIFY our members.

Dictionary- (mortify)
2. To subdue or bring into subjection, as the bodily appetites by abstinence or rigorous severities.

Mortify our members--
Bring our flesh appetites into subjection by ABSTAINING or RIGOROUSLY STRIVING to KEEP FROM GIVING INTO THESE THINGS.

We all have our own flesh appetites that plague us, appetites we find it all too easy to succumb to when we are tempted. Your flesh appetites might be different from mine and yet they are all deadly from the least likely sin to the most blatant.

Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, lying.

We have to MORTIFY our flesh.

People HATE to imagine having to actually, consciously deny themselves their desires.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

How hard do you resist?
How hard do you try to deny yourself?
Do you WORK to resist?
If you KNOW you have a problem you should work to solve it, right? Yet do we truly try and work to solve our sin problems? No, and you know why? Because we get caught up in the fact that people have thrown around for years and years that you cannot SAVE YOURSELF. And because that is true they take it to mean they shouldn't do anything about their sin problems. They shouldn't strive at all because they just can't help themselves and Jesus will just have to forgive them because HE knows they can't do anything.  This is NOT BIBLICAL!

We just read about STRIVING against sin.
We just read about DENYING OURSELVES.

If we are to strive and deny then where does- not striving and not denying come into play?

Only Jesus has the power to forgive us of our sins. Only Jesus has the righteousness necessary to save us. We do have to rely upon HIS power, HIS righteousness, and not our own.  And while we RELY upon HIM fully, we have to follow HIS commands to us.  Even if we resist a sin, even if we deny ourselves that will not save us. Christ saves us. When we do resist sin and deny ourselves, we have to give the glory to God because it is HIS power that has allowed us to resist and deny.  We do nothing of ourselves, nothing.

We HAVE to pray for recognition of our sins if they are not readily making themselves known. We have to pray for the strength- the spiritual strength to resist and deny. 

We MUST actively STRIVE not INDULGE without any remorse, without any thought of the wrong we are doing in so many ways when we choose not to deny ourselves, or strive against sin.

Please LORD, HELP US! SAVE US! All through YOUR LOVE! YOUR MERCY, YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! YOUR FORGIVENESS!

All in YOU.