I Acknowledge God.

 May the LORD direct my heart…into the LOVE of GOD, and into the PATIENT WAITING for CHRIST.

I need the LORD to DIRECT MY HEART. Why? Because I cannot direct my own heart.

2Th 3:5  And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. 

May GOD incline my heart to HIM- to WALK in ALL HIS WAYS.

I need GOD to incline my heart. Why? Because I cannot incline my own heart.

1Ki 8:58  That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 

O LORD GOD…prepare my HEART unto THEE.

I need the LORD GOD to prepare my heart. Why? Because I cannot prepare my own heart.

1Ch 29:18  O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee

Direct my ways to keep THY statues.

I need God to DIRECT my way to keep HIS statutes. Why? Because I cannot direct my own ways.

Psa 119:5  O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! 

I cannot incline or prepare my own heart, I cannot direct my own path towards God. Why? Because it's not IN me to do so. I NEED GOD to incline and prepare my heart and direct my path and ways. I NEED GOD to do this for me. I need to believe God will do all this for me. God knows it is not in me to do any of this for myself, try that I may, wish that I may. To think I can do for myself is a HUGE obstacle in my spiritual life. To berate myself when I fail is another HUGE obstacle in my spiritual life. Satan will throw up anything he can to block our path, our spiritual life. Satan will hold up a mirror in front of us constantly so we can only see ourselves and our failings. Satan wants us to believe that we must incline and prepare our hearts to God, that we must direct our paths. What we have to do is ACKNOWLEDGE GOD. 

In all our ways ACKNOWLEDGE GOD.  

What's it mean to acknowledge someone? If I acknowledge you, I'm recognizing your existence, your being and I'm giving you my attention in that acknowledgement. 

When I acknowledge GOD, I'm recognizing HIM, I'm giving HIM my attention. I'm saying GOD exists to me! I BELIEVE GOD IS MY GOD and I WANT HIM TO BE GOD OVER MY LIFE! I WANT GOD TO RULE OVER ME AND ALL I DO!  

When I acknowledge God in this way I must then TRUST that God will incline and prepare my heart and direct all my ways, because in ALL my ways I am acknowledging HIM, recognizing that HE exists in all my life, not just in bits and pieces.

Psa 119:36  Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 

Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 

Jas 1:16  Do not err, my beloved brethren. 

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 

Deu 30:6  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. 

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

Jas 2:5  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

Deuteronomy 30:6

will circumcise: Deu_10:16; Jer_4:4, Jer_9:26, Jer_32:39; Eze_11:19-20, Eze_36:26-27; Joh_3:3-7; Rom_2:28-29, Rom_11:26; 2Co_5:17; Col_2:11

to love the Lord: Deu_6:5; Exo_20:6; Mat_22:37; Rom_8:28; 1Co_8:3; Jas_1:12, Jas_2:5; 1Jn_4:7; 1Jn_4:16-19, 1Jn_5:3-4

Deu 10:16  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. 

Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 

Jer 32:39  And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 

Eze 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 

Eze 11:20  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 

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. 

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

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. 

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 

Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Alive in Christ

Col 2:6  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 

Col 2:7  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 

Col 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 

Col 2:13  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 

Col 2:14  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 

Col 2:15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 

Deu 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 

Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

1Co 8:3  But if any man love God, the same is known of him. 

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 

Jas 2:5  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 

1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 

God For All.

 Often in the Bible Old Testament we read of God allowing those who aren't Jews to join with the Jews- telling them they can partake if they are circumcised as the Jews. In the New Testament, Jesus, Himself taught that there should be no separation between people, that we are all one people. Paul, an apostle of Jesus' was specifically made one so he could bring the good news of salvation to those who were not of the Jewish faith. We read the Bible and we know that God would have us all be brothers and sisters to each other, not strangers, not segregated based upon anything. We are to love all without exception. Yet we are constantly finding reasons to divide us into groups using various criteria. We have to know that 'it is one God' over all. Yet, one God over all does not mean all worship that one God. People worship all sorts of gods, false gods all of them except that one God. May we comprehend that our one God would have us all worship Him and not their false gods. May we live with Christ in us, our hope, and reveal Christ in us to all.  All by His glory!

(Excerpt)

Ro. 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also; 30 seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.

One God for All. There is but "one God and Father of all." Eph. 4:6. He "hath made of one blood all nations of men," "for we are also his offspring." Acts 16:26, 28. "There is no respect of persons with God." Rom. 2:11. "In every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." Acts 10:35. 

The Scripture saith: "Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." Rom. 10:11, 12.

One Means of Justification for All. The fact that justification is only by faith, and that God "commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30), shows that God regards Jew and Gentile alike. Nor is there any evidence that he ever did put any difference between them. A believing Gentile was always accounted righteous, and an unbelieving Jew was never considered by the Lord any better than any other unbeliever. 

Remember that Abraham, the father of the whole Jewish nation, was a Chaldean.

The Jews were related to the Chaldeans who remained in their native land, just as surely as they were to one another in the land of Canaan. Unfortunately,  they forgot this; but they are not the only ones in the world who have forgotten that all men are their brethren.

In the statement, "It is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith,"  there is no need of stumbling over the prepositions. Bear in mind how often we use the words "by" and "through" interchangeably, to indicate means, and there will be no difficulty. The emphatic word is "faith." Both circumcision and uncircumcision are justified through, or by means of, faith.

Faith Alone- Which Works.

 

Spiritual Hunger.

You're hungry. There is a table filled with food. You eat. You're no longer hungry. You recognized your need. You had access to fulfilling that need. You satisfied that need. You no longer have that need (if only temporary because the need will return.) 

Daily Bread. Daily need.

When you have easy access to food it is also easy to not experience true hunger. You keep yourself fed at regular intervals to avoid feeling any real hunger. You eat to keep hunger at bay. Occasionally something will occur that will allow you to experience real hunger. That real hunger reminds you why you choose to eat at regular intervals. 

Spiritual Bread. Spiritual need.

Faith allows us to comprehend our spiritual hunger.

We can spiritually starve ourselves, many people do. This spiritual starvation results in spiritual death. Spiritual death unlike physical death can be changed. You can be brought back from a spiritual death that has lasted several decades-long. The thing about being spiritually dead is it can only be reversed if you are physically alive. Physical death while spiritually dead means permanent spiritual death, there is absolutely no getting around that, none. You need to be physically alive to change spiritual death to spiritual life. 

The Lord Jesus pointedly TAUGHT us to pray and in that example of prayer, He spoke the words- DAILY BREAD.  To pray for DAILY BREAD, you need to pray daily. Prayer is SPIRITUAL. Prayer takes FAITH. 

Can you pray daily and not be spiritual?  Yes. How, if prayer is spiritual and takes faith? You could be mouthing the prayers without faith, you can be praying amiss. To pray amiss is mouthing words, putting on a show of faith without having faith. You can pretend to pray. You can say hollow prayers that lack truth. 

We have to comprehend our Spiritual hunger, that we should be spiritually hungry. We need to recognize our daily spiritual needs. There will never be a day we will not experience a spiritual hunger that needs feeding as long as we comprehend truth. The truth is our ever-existing need to be connected to Christ. When we forget that we need to be in submission to Christ and His will, we ignore our spiritual hunger. We have no goodness in and our ourselves, no righteousness in ourselves unless we have Christ in us as our righteousness. This is our spiritual need, this is the spiritual hunger that we need to recognize. We have Christ in us when we invite Him to live in us daily as we take up the cross that tells us we need to deny ourselves daily and accept Christ daily. Recognizing our nothingness isn't easy. We spend a good part of our day trying to behave, to live an acceptable life, in what we imagine is a life pleasing in the sight of God. As we berate ourselves for failing to live that God-pleasing life we need to RECOGNIZE we are being shown our complete inability to please God with anything we can do of our own accord. All the glory goes to God, and if ALL the glory goes to God that leaves NO GLORY for us! Recognizing our every failure is the constant reminder of our spiritual hunger, we need to feast at the foot of the Cross, not pat ourselves on our backs for a day spent being good. 

(Excerpt)

Establishing the Law Romans 3:27-31

27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also; 30 seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.

No Boasting. 

Since righteousness is a free gift of God through Jesus Christ, it is evident that no one can justly boast of any righteousness that he has. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8, 9. 

"Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor. 4:7.

What Boasting Proves. "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." Hab. 2:4. Boasting therefore is an evidence of a sinful heart. But suppose a man boasts of his righteousness, as, for instance, when a man says that he has lived without sin for so many years? "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8.

But are not the grace and power of God manifested in Christ to cleanse and keep us from sin? Most certainly; but only when in humility we acknowledge that we are sinners. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. 

When we say that we have no sin,  that very thing is evidence that we have; but when with faith in the word of the Lord we say that we are sinners,  then the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. In the plan of salvation there is no place for human pride and boasting.

No Boasting in Heaven. The result of boasting in heaven is seen in the case of Satan. Once he was one of the covering cherubs above the throne of God. But he began to contemplate his own glory and goodness, and his fall was the consequence. "Thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God;  and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." Eze. 28:16, 17.

If the saints after their translation should begin to boast of their sinlessness, they would be as bad as they ever were. But that will never be. All who are admitted to heaven will have fully learned the lesson that God is all and in all. There will not be a voice or a heart silent in the song of praise, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever."

All Righteousness From Christ Alone.

 Romans 3 25 whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Christ Set Forth. 

Christ is the one whom God has set forth to declare his righteousness. Now since the only righteousness that is real righteousness is the righteousness of God, and Christ is the only one who has been ordained of God to declare it upon men, it is evident that it can not be obtained except through him.

"There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

A Propitiation.

 A propitiation is a sacrifice. The statement then is simply that Christ is set forth to be a sacrifice for the remission of our sins. "Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Heb. 9:26. Of course the idea of a propitiation or sacrifice is that there is wrath to be appeased. But take particular notice that it is we who require the sacrifice, and not God. He provides the sacrifice. The idea that God's wrath has to be propitiated in order that we may have forgiveness finds no warrant in the Bible.

It is the height of absurdity to say that God is so angry with men that he will not forgive them unless something is provided to appease his wrath, and that therefore he himself offers the gift to himself, by which he is appeased.0 "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death." Col. 1:21, 22.

Heathen and Christian Propitiation. The Christian idea of propitiation is that set forth above. The heathen idea,  which is too often held by professed Christians, is that men must provide a sacrifice to appease the wrath of their god. All heathen worship is simply a bribe to their gods to be favorable to them. If they thought that their gods were very angry with them, they would provide a greater sacrifice, and so human sacrifices were offered in extreme cases. They thought, as the worshipers of Siva in India do to-day, that their god was gratified by the sight of blood.

The persecution that was carried on in so-called Christian countries in times past and is to some extent even now, is but the outcropping of this heathen idea of propitiation. Ecclesiastical leaders imagine that salvation is by works and that men by works can atone for sin, and so they offer the one whom they think rebellious as a sacrifice to their god not to the true God, because he is not pleased with such sacrifices.

Righteousness Declared. 

To declare righteousness is to speak righteousness. God speaks righteousness to man,  and then he is righteous. The method is the same as in the creation in the beginning. "He spake, and it was."  "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:10.

God's Justice in Redemption.

Christ is set forth to declare God's righteousness for the remission of sins, in order that he might be just and at the same time the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. God justifies sinners, for they are the only ones who need justification. The justice of declaring a sinner to be righteous lies in the fact that he is actually made righteous. Whatever God declares to be so, is so. And then he is made righteous by the life of God given him in Christ.

The sin is against God, and if he is willing to forgive it, he has the right to do so. 

No unbeliever would deny the right of a man to overlook a trespass against him. 

But God does not simply overlook the trespass; he gives his life as a forfeit. Thus he upholds the majesty of the law, and is just in declaring that man righteous who was before a sinner. 

Sin is remitted sent away from the sinner, because sin and righteousness can not exist together,  and God puts his own righteous life into the believer. So God is merciful in his justice, and just in his mercy.

"There's a wideness in God's mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea;

There's a kindness in his justice,

That is more than liberty."

We now come to the close of the third chapter of Romans. We found that righteousness is the free gift of God unto every one who believes. It is not that God gives a man righteousness as a reward for believing certain dogmas; the gospel is something entirely different from that. It is this, that true faith has Christ alone as its object, and it brings Christ's life actually into the heart; and therefore it must bring righteousness.

This act of mercy on the part of God is eminently just, because in the first place the sin is against God, and he has a right to pass by offenses against him; and, further, it is just, because he gives his own life as an atonement for the sin, so that the majesty of the law is not only maintained, but is magnified. "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Ps. 85:10. God is just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. All righteousness is from him alone.

Justified Freely

 

Seek Glory and Honor...Eternal Life

 We were made a little lower than the angels… angels were made spirit beings… we were given spirit and flesh upon our creation.  Also upon creation we were crowned with glory and honor.

Glory and honor. 

What comes to mind when you think of glory and honor?

To my mind when I think of glory I think of God. The dictionary states- glory is exaltation, achievement, praise of deity, awesome, splendor. Honor- personal integrity, respect, dignity, reputation, source of pride, mark of distinction, great privilege, 

Glory and honor. 

Such magnificence was given to us upon our creation. We were GIVEN glory and honor, we were CROWNED with glory and honor. Crowned. There we were, a newly created being shining in the magnificence of being created by God and crowned by GOD with such exceptional gifts - glory and honor! We need to comprehend our beginning. We weren't dirt created creatures with dust coating our new flesh. We were glorious, honored by GOD!  

Then sin wiped that all away.

From glory and honor to shame. 

And now, we have to SEEK that glory and we find it only in CHRIST. 

(Excerpt)

Romans 3:22 …There is no difference; 23 for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

"The Glory of God." 

From the text we learn that the glory of God is his righteousness. Notice, the reason why all have come short of the glory of God is that all have sinned. The fact is plain that if they had not sinned they would not have come short of it. The coming short of the glory itself consists in sin. Man in the beginning was "crowned with glory and honor" (Hebrews 2:7)

Heb 2:7  Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands

because he was upright. In the fall he lost the glory, and therefore now he must "seek for glory and honor and immortality." Christ could say to the Father, "The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them," because in him is the righteousness of God which he has given as a free gift to every man. It is the part of wisdom to receive righteousness; and "they that be wise shall shine."

Rom_2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life

Joh_17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one

Dan_12:3  And they that be wise shall shine…