Satan whispers to us

Are we really to sacrifice nothing? Are we really not supposed to feel the pain of depriving our flesh? Is life with Christ truly supposed to be all fun and games? Satan will make following Christ seem IMPOSSIBLE! Satan will pull out ALL stops to get us to give in to Him. Satan wants us to STOP fighting the fight. Satan wants us to STOP warring against our own flesh. Christ's yoke IS easy, Christ's burden IS light! But Satan would have us believe Christ's yoke is the hardest yoke upon earth. Satan would have us believe the burden of Christ is heaviest burden of all. Satan will slip into our lives whispering to us that we can never be enough. Satan will tease our thoughts with the lie that we must fight our flesh and bring it into subjection as we mortify all our evil deeds ON OUR OWN, OF OUR OWN ACCORD.  And when we fail because we DO inevitably fail as we fight the fight on our own, Satan is right there ready to guide our lives down his path to destruction.  Satan LIED to get man to sin and why mess with what works? Satan will lie to EVERYONE of us!  Yes, we are to KEEP under our bodies and bring them into subjection-- THROUGH CHRIST. Yes, we must be temperate in ALL things- THROUGH CHRIST. Yes, we are to mortify the deeds of the body- THROUGH CHRIST.

If we read all the following verses I've collected and leave out the comprehension that we only succeed in Christ, then we are completely and utterly lost.

As someone who battles many flesh lusts, as someone who has many deeds to mortify, as someone who needs to bring their body under subjection- I UNDERSTAND!  I WAR DAILY!  I AM A WRETCHED HUMAN BEING!  And I must NEVER forget that CHRIST ALONE can save me from myself!

There is a VERY good reason we are told this--

Mat_6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Truly there is enough evil in each day as it comes, we don't need to borrow on tomorrow's evil. 

We need to pray for DAILY BREAD, not weekly bread.

PLEASE FATHER IN HEAVEN, please forgive us! We are weak wretched creatures with weak wills. Be all for us that we cannot seem to be whether by will or not. Please! Be our ALL in ALL.  Through the grace and mercy of our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, by the HOLY SPIRIT in US! PLEASE, save us from ourselves! Please!  THANK YOU!  Amen!

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

1Co 8:13  Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

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

2Co 6:4  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

2Co 6:5  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fasting

2Co 11:27  In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry

2Ti 2:22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

1Pe 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

1Pe 4:3  For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

1Pe 4:4  Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you

Luk 21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Luk 21:35  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Luk 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

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 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

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.

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

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Amen.

We know God the Father through God the Son

 Mat 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

We know God the Father through God the Son.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Was WITH God.
WAS God.

God with God.

There is NO doubt that Jesus is a God in His own right.  A God who is ONE in AGREEMENT with GOD the FATHER.

All things are delivered to JESUS the Son by God the Father.
No MAN knows the SON but the FATHER.
No MAN knows the FATHER but the SON… AND….

….AND we can know the FATHER if the SON reveals the Father to us.

Remember this--

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

NO man can come to the Father but by the SON.

Joh 14:7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

When we KNOW JESUS we KNOW the FATHER! This is TRUTH.

Joh 14:8  Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

If we SEE JESUS we SEE the FATHER.

Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

The FATHER- dwells in the SON, the FATHER does the works that JESUS does.

Joh 14:11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

They are ONE in FULL and TOTAL AGREEMENT! There is nothing the Father and Son don't agree upon, not a single thing! But there ARE TWO of them- they are NOT and never were ONE BEING. They are NOT and never were ONE GOD, to say they are ONE GOD is like saying a marriage between one man and one woman makes them one human being. It makes them one family, it makes them one in agreement, but it does not join them together and take away their humanity, any more than God the Father and God the Son become a single God.  When we talk family we KNOW there are more than one in a family. When we talk marriage we know there are more than one in a marriage. When we say God- there is no instant comprehension that there are two, and it's that way because it's not realistic.  In fact there are THREE GODS who agree as ONE.

Act 5:3  But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Act 5:4  Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

Three GODS, NOT ONE GOD!  They agree as one and we can KNOW them all by knowing Jesus who took on flesh, human flesh, God in human flesh. Some people say they can be known as three by calling them a trinity, but they are not ONE GOD and a trinity is three person as ONE GOD.  They are a TRIO of THREE GODS.    When we know ONE we know the other and it's not hard to comprehend that because we understand that we as people often speak for one another. And when we speak for one another we are doing so because we are in agreement with them- we have an understanding- we know what they want us to say, they trust us to speak for them.

We can KNOW the Father through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.

All by the grace of our LORD, our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST now and forever!

May we know HIM!

Amen.

He gives hope to the hopeless

So you think you're immune from self-centeredness? Do you think you are safe from going your own way? Do you think that you'd never turn away from your Savior?

Peter thought he would never deny Jesus- he was wrong, very, very wrong.

Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

ALL of us have gone astray!  Sheep wander it's in their nature. Sheep need a shepherd. Sheep need a sheepdog. Sheep left to their own devices will definitely go astray.

Mat 18:12  How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

Mat 18:13  And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

Mat 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Rom 3:10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Rom 3:11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Rom 3:13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Rom 3:14  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Rom 3:15  Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Rom 3:16  Destruction and misery are in their ways:

Rom 3:17  And the way of peace have they not known:

Rom 3:18  There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Rom 3:19  Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

We NEED a Shepherd, and CHRIST is that Shepherd.

Christ is the Shepherd who died to save His sheep.  Our  lives meant and mean so much to Him!  Can we even begin to comprehend this? Can we?!

We've been given HOPE.

We don't have to live HOPELESS!

So many choose hopelessness, so many cling to this world, to THIS life refusing to believe in the HOPE of a better world, a better life.

Over and over our God has shown us in His word through history, that HE lives, HE loves!

Our CREATOR did not have to die for us, but He did! He ransomed us. He paid the price for us.  He could have shoved us aside, He could have destroyed us and created something entirely different, but He didn't because we were worth that much to Him.  We have PART of Him that can connect to a part of US.  Made in HIS IMAGE.

Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all

We need our SHEPHERD!

We are guilty, He is innocent!

We deserved death eternal, He died that death so we could live.

Daily we die.

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Daily we must die to self and live for HIM. We are sheep for the slaughter, but sheep who have a Shepherd. Sheep who have been given the promise of everlasting life in Christ our Savior. Sheep whose Shepherd sacrifice Himself for us, to give us hope in ETERNAL LIFE.  This pasture we are living in is corrupt and there are wolves every which way we turn. The wolves may kill us in this life but the wolves can never take eternal life from us. The wolves cannot take our HOPE from us.  Our Shepherd HAS SAVED US ALREADY and the wolves cannot take HOPE from us, they cannot take our Eternal Life not ever, we are saved by GRACE…

Eph_2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God

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.

By the grace of GOD! We believe on His name, Jesus Christ our Savior now and forever!

AMEN.

We stay and have hope

We have hope not only for ourselves but for our loved ones who choose not to believe-

1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

Choosing to believe in our Savior doesn't mean everyone around us will choose to believe as we do.  I can remember well the newness of my walk with Christ, the JOY. Anyone who has ever been in love with another person knows this feeling, this love. The world around you seems different, so many things seem amazing that were only ordinary before.  And the joy is something you want all around you to experience. Unlike falling in love with someone, you do want others to fall in love with Jesus. You want others to have the joy you have in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  You want others to have the hope of eternity that salvation brings. You can't understand why others don't want this joy, this hope, but all too often our loved ones sadly, tragically don't. 

Whereas lingering about unbelievers is something we aren't supposed to do, especially after they've outright rejected the gospel, we aren't to leave our spouses even if they reject the gospel.

We must stay and have hope.

Hope.

We can't know the heart of ANY other, not fully, not as God can know it.  We can't even know our own heart.  We can't judge ANY one's eternal life, not even the worst of the worst in our way of thinking. We might WANT to judge another, a monster who tortures others, we may want to judge their eternal life, but in truth we still cannot judge that.  We can judge actions, we can comprehend right from wrong. We can condemn another's actions without condemning their eternal life.

We must all seek forgiveness and repentance in Christ Jesus our Lord. We must all look to Christ's righteousness, not our own. We must all follow that which we know is of God. When we know to do good and do it not, then we are guilty of knowing and not doing.  When we don't know to do good we aren't guilty for that ignorance. God will not leave us in ignorance of salvation. We are liable for rejecting the opportunities to know to do good. We make choices and we are responsible for those choices.

God doesn't ask us to hate anyone! God doesn't want us to brow beat anyone! God doesn't want us to shove salvation down anyone's throat, in fact if we are trying to shove salvation down the throats of others then it's not really salvation we are teaching at all.   There is no salvation void of love.  And if people believe they are loving another when they try to force them to believe as they do, they are deceived. Jesus didn't force a single person to believe Him, not one!

We all need to pray for Salvation.

We all need to seek after our God.

We all need to pray for those who choose not to believe, not to seek God.

May God bless us, all of us as we seek HIM, to know Him and be known of Him.

Please, God, please.

All through Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR!

Amen.

Heavenly Inheritance

You HAVE an inheritance.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

We have an inheritance. The poorest of the poor has an inheritance.  The best inheritance a person could ever have is ours.

Are you earthly poor? Are you possession poor? Are you a son or daughter of the poor? In death will your parents leave you absolutely nothing, but perhaps their debts? None of that negates your true inheritance, an inheritance worth more than any amount of money or possessions any earthly parent could leave you. Your treasures are HEAVENLY. Your riches are HEAVENLY. Your inheritance is HEAVENLY.

A lively hope!

An inheritance incorruptible!

An inheritance undefiled!

An inheritance reserved in heaven!

Kept through the power of God through faith unto salvation!

Revealed….

…in the last time.

Blessed be GOD the Father of our LORD JESUS CHRIST! 

Jesus Christ rose from the dead and HE is our HOPE, the good news of the Gospel is eternal life in Jesus Christ. 

NO PAIN!

We all know pain, every single one of us knows pain in some form. Some of us know a lot of pain- emotional, physical we know pain. We often fear pain, we despise pain, we go to great lengths to rid ourselves of pain. That's not to say there aren't deviants who enjoy pain- physical and emotional, there are. But the majority of people invest in a great number of pain killers to rid themselves of pain. Some take pain relievers daily!  Pain is a part of us in so many ways. We hate to see people suffering. We hate to see people in pain. Pain is something we cannot wait to be rid of entirely!  The inheritance we are promised is an inheritance towards the freedom from pain.

NO TEARS!

I don't need to tell you what this means- you've cried, you've cried tears of the deepest anguish. You've held back tears of anguish out of shame, out of pride, but you've cried them internally until it's ripped you apart inside. You've cried and you've seen others cry. The tears of those you love breaking your heart, you know these tears, you have memories of those tears. The inheritance that will be ours promises us NO MORE TEARS.

The inheritance- the good news of the gospel of our Savior, of our Lord Jesus Christ!

HOPE!

We have HOPE and that HOPE is in our SAVIOR who promises us eternity- painless- tearless- eternity!

All by HIS amazing GRACE, HIS LOVE, now and FOREVER AMEN!

We are rich- possessing nothing

Ministers of God-- YOU, ME, all who claim CHRIST!

2Co 6:4  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

2Co 6:5  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

2Co 6:6  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

2Co 6:7  By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

2Co 6:8  By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

2Co 6:9  As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

2Co 6:10  As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

In MUCH patience.

In afflictions.

In necessities.

In distresses.

In stripes.

In imprisonments.

In tumults.

In labors.

In watchings.

In fastings.

By pureness.

By knowledge.

By longsuffering.

By kindness.

By the Holy Ghost.

By love unfeigned.

By word of truth.

By the power of God.

By the armor of righteousness.

By honor.

By dishonor.

By evil report.

By good report.

As deceivers.

As true.

As unknown.

As yet well known.

As dying.

As chastened- not killed.

As sorrowful- always rejoicing.

As poor- making many rich.

As having nothing- yet possessing all things.

I'm still caught up on having nothing - yet possessing all things.  We possess ALL things when we have nothing.

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

As ministers of God, as those who have Jesus Christ as their Savior, we will PUT our treasures in HEAVEN.

Name one earthly material possession that moths and rust won't touch, name a single possession a thief won't steal.  You might be able to name lots that moths won't bother, and rust never tarnishes, but a thief can steal absolutely ANYTHING material, anything tangible.  If our treasures are not where a thief can get them they have to be in heaven and they have to be of things not tangible, or not reachable by anyone.

Where are the things we would hate to lose? Where are the things we would not want stolen?

Where does our heart lie?

Our lives reveal the truth. How we behave reveals the truth. And honestly how others see us reveals the truth. I'm not saying everyone can know everything about us so the way we see others and they see us is only a small part of who we are, but it matters.

We know good from evil and we choose to follow one or the other in a lot of ways.

Only by the GRACE of God may we choose good- choose GOD over evil in ALL things!

May we have NOTHING, but POSSESS all things through our SAVIOR, having HIM, having eternal life IN HIM, through HIM, by HIM!

Please Father, please help us be YOURS as the world and the prince of this world fights against this in so many ways.

In Jesus' name always!

Amen.

Having nothing yet possessing all things

How can you have nothing but possess all things?

2Co 6:4  But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

2Co 6:5  In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

2Co 6:6  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

2Co 6:7  By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

2Co 6:8  By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

2Co 6:9  As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

2Co 6:10  As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

How can we who place our worth upon the things we possess be worth anything at all?

Why is it a rich man with great possessions has more value placed upon him than those who are poor and have little to nothing?

How can we deem another person worthy or unworthy based upon the part of their life we view?

We know so little about each other when we pass our judgements.

Not all wealthy people are cheats and not all the poor are innocent victims.

We all have to ask ourselves if we possess the most precious of gifts? The poorest of the poor can possess the most precious gift, a gift that is priceless. The gift cannot be bought by anyone, yet it is available free for all. We can't work for this gift.  We can't take this gift by force, there is no way to steal this price less gift. So how can such a priceless gift be available for all? 

If we had a gem that we considered priceless it would be so incredibly priceless because of its rarity.  You often hear about people paying huge amounts of money for things like a dress, or shoes, some will even pay millions for them and it won't be because the material that makes them up is rare, but rather their previous original owners will increase the value. Something that was Elvis Presley's, Marilyn Monroe's, George Washington's, Lincoln's, JFK's, Babe Ruth's and so on, something that these people possessed is rare and in great demand because of the notoriety it has, not because it is made of gold or diamonds. 

What determines the pricelessness of something is also an individual belief. I might think having my mother's wedding gown a priceless gift, irreplaceable and unique yet a stranger would toss it away as trash or sell it without a thought very cheaply. The price of that dress, it's value to me is endless because of the sentiment involved.

Having nothing yet possessing all things. 

TRUTH!

More on this tomorrow by the grace of God!

In Jesus' love always!

Amen.