Submit to God, Resist the Devil

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Submit ourselves to God.

Resist the devil

God gives us the grace we require as we recognize our need of His grace. The PROUD do NOT recognize their need for the grace of Jesus Christ, their Savior.

It's true.  Pride has stood in the way of many, many things. The belief that on our own we can attain all we want is a very deceptive belief. That we have been taught to be self sufficient is well known, yet the danger of that teaching is leaving out our biggest need in this life, to be entirely submitted to our Savior and His grace. We can live our lives knowing we are dependent upon God for ALL things and most importantly our Salvation, or we can live believing we have to only rely upon ourselves for all things, including saving ourselves.

Too many try to walk the fence on this. They want to believe they must be self-sufficient by not including God in their day to day, mundane life, while still depending on Him for their salvation.  They refuse to truly submit to God. They refuse to resist the devil and his awful influence to promote self-sufficiency, to encourage pride in us. 

The devil will flee from us if we resist him, he doesn't want us to believe that it is possible that he can flee from us.  He knows if we try to get him to flee under our own power he can take advantage of us dig in deeper.  It is only through our submission to God and our resisting of the devil that he will flee from us.  The power to resist comes from God.

If the devil doesn't flee from us we remain under his influence and that influence will do all it can to keep us from full submission to God. Let us HUMBLE ourselves, let us recognize our need to humble ourselves. Admit that we need God to direct our path, our life in all its avenues. 

Please Father, please by YOUR grace help us to humble ourselves, help us to give up all our pride knowing that YOU are our all in all! Help us to resist the devil so he flees from us, we cannot resist him on our own. Bless us Father, bless us in You, and in Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior.

Amen.

God is able

2Co 9:8  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work

God is able. That doesn't say YOU are able to make all grace abound towards yourself.  GOD IS ABLE.

Now this next part may have some people up in arms about the fact there are starving, destitute Christians who are NOT sufficient in all things so they may abound to every good work.

 That is a lie, even the destitute are sufficient.

But honestly, there are those who will do all in their power to discredit God and God's word. There are those who refuse to comprehend that God's understanding of our needs are different than ours, that we MOSTLY only consider the here and now, rather than the eternal. If a Christian dies of starvation does that mean God didn't supply the grace He needed?  I suppose we can go as far as to say if a Christian dies at all God hasn't supplied the grace that person needed, their life ended in some fashion- heart failure etc. We can truly take things that far if we are so completely void of faith in God that we want to do so.

God's grace is sufficient in all things and it will abound towards us so we may live for Him no matter our situation. 

Christians do die of starvation. Christians are tortured. Christians are subjected to all of our earthly woes.  This does NOT mean God doesn't exist. It does mean the MAGIC GENIE God that some people want God to be doesn't exist. Way too many want that magic genie god, but that is not the God I worship, not at all.

The God I worship comprehends the need for freedom to choose, making us something MORE than slaves to a master, puppets to a puppet master. God never wanted puppets, He wanted counterparts and to be a real counterpart that freedom to choose had to be involved and that freedom made sin possible.  The results of sin became known and our God made a way possible to escape the penalty that sin demanded, that disobedience demanded.  This is the love of our God to forgive when the only other option was complete and utter annihilation of the creatures HE created.

By the grace of God may we abound in HIS GRACE always!

In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

None of us are undamaged

How is our strength perfected? In weakness.

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.

Some would quickly argue that you cannot be strong and weak at the same time. They would say it's impossible to use weakness to strengthen us. Yet time and time again it truly is adversities that make us stronger, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.  I'm definitely not saying this is always the case because it isn't. Because it is also true that some times adversities destroy us.  With our Savior and His amazing grace it is possible for our strength to be made perfect in our weak sinful, human state.

Paul states here that he will glory in his infirmities. 

Do we glory in our infirmities? 

We all have infirmities don't we? Not necessarily physical but emotional and mental as well. None of us are undamaged by the world we've grown up into.  We truly need to LEARN to glory in our infirmities because the POWER of Christ rests upon us as we do. It is HIS power because we are TOTALLY relying on HIM and HIS promises that by HIS GRACE we will be saved. We have HOPE beyond our infirmities. Every single infirmity we possess is cause to give glory to God because truly our spiritual strength is made perfect in our weakness. The more we truly believe and comprehend that we are WEAK and HELPLESS to SAVE OURSELVES the more we rely upon the only source of salvation. JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD, OUR SAVIOR.

Paul said- '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.'

Infirmities.

Reproaches.

Necessities.

Persecutions.

Distresses.

Who among us hasn't felt these same things?

I will NEVER say that others don't have it a million times worse than I do, I know they do, I'm not delusional. My life has been one of great blessings. My infirmities, my reproaches, my necessities, my persecutions, and my distresses have been miniscule compared to many others.  But I can't in all truthfulness say I haven't had any infirmities, or reproaches, or necessities, or persecutions, or distresses- I have.  Have I taken pleasure in them? No, I really haven't. It's hard to take pleasure in things that make your stomach tie up in painful knots and your mind race wildly as panic sets in. Yet as my life goes on and I, through the grace of my Savior, I learn, I hope and pray that in future infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses I can take pleasure in them knowing that my weakness only reveals the strength of the grace of my Savior more and more.

People have it wrong when they believe if God really exists and loves them that they wouldn't suffer. They say they don't want to believe in a God who lets them suffer. They want a God that can alleviate their pain, their anguish by ridding their lives of all that causes them that pain and suffering. They want a magic wand waved over them and their loved ones, in fact most go as far as to include the entire world. They want the all the suffering in all the world to be gone- if God exists and they want it done yesterday, in fact they say they there should never have been pain and suffering in the first place. They play God, but at the heart of their belief is the desire for dictatorship, for a puppet master, for someone to arrange things so there is no free choice, no possibility of disobedience, no freedom at all whatsoever because freedom brings with it the risk of disobedience. People don't want to have that freedom to choose, they want it to have been taken from them from the start so no pain exists. 

From our limited experiences with dictatorship, with slavery, most of us have agreed they are not good things. Who would choose to be the slave if given a choice? Don't most choose rather to be the master of the slave? And there we have it, most would rather be the God then have a God. And many would rather create their own sort of God, a God that suits them and allows for their whims, their ways- a false God who is really just their slave, and not a God at all.

The truth is- most would love to call evil good and do, and they wish to call good evil and do. 

Yes, we need to learn to take pleasure in our anguish states, but ONLY through the grace of God, only so that our strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Please, Father, bless us to this end. In the name of our Savior Jesus Christ our Lord, now and forever. Amen.

Strength

Where do we find our strength? In the grace of Christ Jesus our Savior.

2Ti 2:1  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2Ti 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

We are to BE STRONG IN THE GRACE that is in CHRIST JESUS.

Do we require strength to be followers of Christ?  Yes, we do need strength but it's not a strength that we can manufacture. The strength is found in the grace of our Savior. That alone is our strength. IF we try to make ourselves be strong we are going to fail. Just as if we try to save ourselves, we are going to fail. Our HOPE is in Christ, and that has to be all our HOPE, not just a tiny bit. We can't 95% hope in Christ and 5% hope in ourselves, it doesn't work that way. We absolutely cannot save ourselves, so to be strong in our own strength is to take partial credit for our salvation.

When we realize that we are dependent we must cling to our source of total strength and Satan has made it so that to be dependent is something we abhor. Helplessness is something we are to shrink from, not embrace.  We don't fault a baby for it's helplessness, yet we fault an adult who is mentally, physically, and emotionally sound if they claim helplessness.  We've taken this to mean we must be spiritually independent as well, we must grow to adulthood spiritually and not remain helpless children.  But spiritual adulthood is the maturity to recognize just how fully we are helpless to save ourselves, not us becoming independent and capable of saving ourselves, or contributing to our own salvation.

We truly do need the strength of the grace that is found in Christ Jesus.

We need to live in that grace, and KNOW that spiritually we are completely and utterly dependent upon our Savior for the strength that is eternal through His grace!

Where do we find our strength? In the grace of Christ Jesus our Savior.

2Ti 2:1  Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2Ti 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

We must endure HARDNESS as a GOOD SOLDIER of JESUS CHRIST.

We must BE soldiers of JESUS CHRIST, not soldiers of worldly lusts, worldly ideas, worldly independence outside of our Savior.  Soldiers FIRST and FOREMOST of Christ.

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

AMEN!

How to live in this world

Give up ungodliness and worldly lusts.

Grace.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

This is truth. Do you want to know HOW you are to live right now in this world?  We are told-

Deny ungodliness.

Deny worldly lusts.

Live soberly.

Live righteously.

Live godly.

Look for that blessed hope.

Look for the glorious appearing of the GREAT GOD and OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

Our Savior - gave himself for us.  Why? To REDEEM us from ALL INIQUITY, to PURIFY to himself a PECULIAR people- ZEALOUS of good works.

There we are told what to do, how to live, now the question is, do we live this way?

Do you live looking the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ?

Seriously, do you LIVE LOOKING for this?  I'm not talking about living with the belief that Jesus is coming again, in a back of your mind type of way. You know what I'm talking about. We have a lot of things we believe in but they aren't necessarily things we are actively LOOKING for.  When you are looking for something that's an activity. If I'm looking for an upcoming event, I'm thinking about it, I'm not forgetting about it until it's mentioned.  If it's something I'm looking for and then time passes and I forget about it, I'm no longer looking for it but rather I've forgotten about it.  We have to think about this stuff and in this way because this is the way we are told to LIVE.  We should LIVE looking for our Savior to return. In living and looking for our Savior to return we are doing so with THOUGHTS of this event taking place, with the HOPE that this event will take place, it is ON our minds and in our hearts. 

Just last night at Bible Study we were discussing Christ's return in connection with how desperately we all want Him to return and how the wickedness of this world has us constantly praying for our Lord to return soon.  We KNOW there is no worldly cure to the wickedness of this world, it doesn't exist.  Dictatorship does not do away with our societies ills, monarchies do not do away with the horrors that people inflict upon each other, and neither do democracies.   There is NO worldly answer to be found to the question that people are constantly asking- how to fix this wicked world, how to make this world a better place to live in.  We might be able to temporarily fix various bits and pieces, but it seems that often those bits and pieces that get fix end up breaking again.  For every advance there seems to be several steps back.  People are clamoring to find peace in this world, yet peace will ONLY be achieved in the NEW world after our SAVIOR returns and a thousand years in heaven passes.  We truly need to let the wickedness that exists all around us in so many ways, sadly even within ourselves, to have us longing for the cure to it all- the return of our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ our LORD.

Eternal life- is eternal love, love without end.

Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

The word of HIS grace- is able to build us up with the intention of giving us an inheritance.

Have you ever received an inheritance?

Some people have, others haven't, but no matter whether you have or haven't received an earthly inheritance we can ALL receive a heavenly inheritance.

Usually to receive an earthly inheritance someone must die, parents,  grandparents, spouses as a rule.  To receive our heavenly inheritance our Savior died and because of His sacrifice He's made His inheritance available to everyone.

As with some earthly inheritances there are conditions that must be met. Soandso will receive their inheritance upon reaching the age 25, or once Soandso has completed college they will receive their inheritance. There are many various conditions people place upon the reception of inheritances, some silly, some serious, some easy, some not quite so easy and yes, sometime people place what appear to be impossible conditions towards the receiving of an inheritances.  Did our Savior place any conditions upon our being able to gain our inheritance from Him? Yes. I say yes because we are not guaranteed an inheritance simply by being born, we just aren't though some would dispute that. The truth of the matter is that we cannot receive our heavenly inheritance unless--

-- we believe.

And another truth, there are many who choose not to believe.

Joh_6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

1Jn_5:13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

We must comprehend that we receive the full inheritance upon the return of our Savior to gather us up to Him.  Those who have died sanctified will rise from their graves upon our Savior's return for them. Those who are still alive who are sanctified will rise from the earth to meet their Lord in the air. 1 Thess. 4:16-18

This is truth.

The word of God's grace is ABLE to build us up and give us an inheritance among us who are sanctified- made Holy by our Savior.

The word of God is the word of grace. This one eternal theme central to the entire Bible.

From the beginning to the end eternal life through the grace of God is what it is ALL about.

Eternal life- is eternal love, love without end.

Grace Reconciles

Grace.

Our Savior - God in the flesh gave us life never intending we should lose that life, never wanting us to lose our life.

When we chose to disobey God we did so KNOWING the result would be death. We were TOLD the outcome of disobedience.

Still, our Creator did not want us to die. He did not want us to have eternal death, eternal nothingness, never to be again.

For this to happen we would need to comprehend what exactly our Creator is, and what He expects from us.

We are NOT supposed to be separated from God.

Gen_17:7  And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

1Ti_2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

A covenant was needed between God and mankind.

A Mediator was needed between God and mankind.

Why?

You don't need a covenant or a mediator if you are not trying to reconcile and establish something.

God wanted to establish the best kind of relationship He could with fallen mankind through His covenant until such a time the Mediator would come with a perfect covenant that would rejoin mankind with God permanently.

Though we sinned and we are guilty, God still wanted us to comprehend the depths of His love for us. He could forgive us. He would make the greatest sacrifice ever to pay that penalty for our transgressions, for our disobedience. God the Son would become one of us and die.  What more could ANYONE ask of Him?

Reconciled to God, fallen man is reconciled by the grace of God.

We can do NOTHING to deserve eternal life, nothing at all. We can only accept the grace of our God.

Please, Father, help us to accept the grace of God, please.