The Prize

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Pressing towards the mark-  FOR the prize of the high calling of GOD IN CHRIST JESUS.

The prize.

How often have we sought prizes?  We've grown up playing games with prizes as the reward. We've watched tv programs all geared towards winning prizes.  We go through our lives with various situations with prizes as something fun to receive for games we play.  We even have a huge multi-million, maybe even billion dollar olympics game that is played every four years a summer and winter game that involves many prizes- gold, silver, and bronze.  

Prizes.

When we are born we are automatically a part of the 'RACE', with the 'PRIZE' as our goal.

The RACE- is our lives and the choices we make.

Heb_12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us

The RACE that is set before us is our life.  The PRIZE if the RACE is won is ETERNAL LIFE. If the RACE is lost there is NO PRIZE- no ETERNAL LIFE.

Do we PRESS on toward the mark for the PRIZE of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?

Do we have the PRIZE in mind as we live each and every day of our lives in this race of life?

Is our PRIZE a heavenly prize or are we waiting for earthly prizes? Are we all caught up in earthly rewards?  What price do we pay when we set our sights on earthly treasures, earthly hopes?  Time and time again people get crushed emotionally, mentally and sometimes physically all because their hopes are set solely on earthly rewards.  We are NOT promised ANY earthly treasure! We are only promised that our needs will be met enough to allow us the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Not that our needs will be met so we don't suffer any hardship. Some are called to suffer great hardship beyond are imaginations, others are called to suffer in a whole different way- the way without material hardships but with the hardship of being attached to those material things. We know that it's harder for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get to heaven. These are TRUTHS!

May our PRIZE be the heavenly prize, the eternal prize of salvation through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  Please, Father, we would run this life race and be YOURS, guide us to YOU, lead us to YOU through all the horrors that would keep us from You, even the horrors that are disguised as the best things this world has to offer. Help us Father, help our unbelief, help our failure, we would be YOURS through YOU!

All in the name of our Savior, Your Son, Jesus Christ our LORD!

Amen.

Suffer the loss of all things

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Suffering the loss of ALL things.

People do lose all their things. People lose their jobs, their homes, their families, their health, all their wealth,  all their friends. We lose these things all through our lives. Not many people go through life without knowing any loss, if any do at all. We lose things and we don't like to lose things.  Loss is something we adjust too but don't necessarily accept. We like to recover the things we've lost. We like to think that once we've lost something that it's not impossible that we'll get similar if not the exact things back. We may lose a loved one, but we may gain another love, no never quite the same but still an addition after a loss. We may lose our home, but we may get another- different perhaps but still a place we can call home. 

Counting ALL things but loss to KNOW our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is TRUTH. Being willing to lose ALL things but our knowing our Savior is TRUTH. Comprehending that we are promised NOTHING in this pilgrimage we're on save the TRUTH, is something we need to do especially when we are suffering loss after loss, after loss. Especially when our lives seem so incredibly messed up and Satan is seemingly non-stop assaulting us.  It is so easy to stop fighting the good fight, to stop running the race, to give in because to cling to a Savior who isn't saving us from tribulations, from traumas, from the agonies of living in this temporary world is something a lot of people would call stupid, and crazy. Our Savior did NOT promise to save us from the agonies of this life, in fact He knew most of us would die the first death. The promise was for ETERNAL LIFE, not an easy temporary existence until eternal life kicks in.

Suffering the loss of all things- all those things might as well be DUNG- compared to KNOWING CHRIST!  Knowing CHRIST is all things! Knowing CHRIST is the treasure of this life! Knowing Christ is our greatest honor, our greatest endeavor winning Christ!

Knowing that CHRIST is our life, our happiness, our everything- this is knowing all other things are temporary to eternity.

Please, Father, we would KNOW YOU, we would know our SAVIOR!  Please Father, we don't want to lose all things, it goes against our desire for comfort, for peace, for ease, for being anxiety free, but we would know YOU. Whatever this temporary life holds for us, the good and the bad, let us KNOW YOU! Let us WIN CHRIST!

All by His GRACE, His Mercy, His Righteousness, His Love, always!

Amen.

We must know our Gods

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Life eternal- knowing the only true God AND Jesus Christ.

Life eternal.

Our hope, our happiness, our ideas about life what are they?

Did you grow up knowing of God and Jesus Christ?  I did. My parents took me to church and I grew up know God and Jesus.  I wasn't automatically saved because I grew up knowing of God and Jesus. I wasn't automatically given eternal life because of my knowledge.  We can have a lot of knowledge and do nothing with it. We could hold a whole encyclopedia or wikipedia of knowledge in our minds and if we do NOTHING with it, what more is it than just that, knowledge? If we don't USE the knowledge we possess does it mean anything? If I knew how to start a fire from things I'd read and I was put in a position to need fire and I didn't use that knowledge , would that knowledge do me any good? No. I would need to use the knowledge.  When we have the knowledge of our Savior and know that in order to have eternal life we must be born again, we must believe,  and we do not believe, we cannot expect to have eternal life, can we? 

We can KNOW our God and Jesus Christ through HIS WORD. Through every commandment They give us we KNOW of Them!  We can KNOW our God, He's not made it impossible for us to KNOW HIM.

In the KNOWLEDGE of our Gods we DO find eternal life and the way of eternal life.

We must BELIEVE.

We must KNOW our Gods!

God the Father.

God the Son.

God the Holy Spirit.

We must KNOW our Gods!

By the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR, Jesus Christ, may we KNOW our Gods!

Amen.

Endure

Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Endure.

There are a lot of things we can choose to do that go against what our Lord commands --to love Him and love each other. We can choose the EASIER route which is to go along with the world and the world's ways.  To love ourselves first and others after that. To be selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed, self-captivated, self-exalted, this is the world's idea of being good, of being right.  When we choose any way that isn't the Lord's way, we are NOT enduring!

It is not endurance when we stop striving, when we don't fight, when we carry no cross.

Enduring unto the end means being engaged in the spiritual warfare not surrendering to sin. We surrender to our Savior and our Savior is our righteousness. We seek to know our Savior's will, we are taught by our Savior, we live as He would have us live, we do not live as if everything we do doesn't matter because it does.

Enduring to the end.

Are you enduring to the end if you are not involved?

I don't endure a race if I'm not running that race.

If I'm sitting on the sidelines, or running a different kind of race, I'm not enduring THE race. If I refuse to run THE race, I'm not enduring the race. If I pretend the race doesn't even exist, I'm not enduring the race. People might  believe just because they are alive they are enduring life and deserving of some special life after death, but the truth is none of us are deserving. Christ and Christ alone deserved life ever lasting and it's only through HIM we are given this gift of grace.  We believe in our Savior and live our lives under His commands- striving, enduring, running that race.

Please Father, we would endure to the end all through our Savior, Jesus Christ- He and He alone is our righteousness!

Amen.

Counting the Cost

Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Luk 14:28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Luk 14:29  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

Luk 14:30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

Luk 14:31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

Luk 14:32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

Luk 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

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Jesus talks of counting the cost of being a disciple of His.  Are we to believe that this is strictly for the disciples of His time or for all His disciples throughout time?  Are we today suppose to bear a cross and follow Him? Are we today suppose to forsake all we have to be His disciple? 

The answers are simply YES!

He is supposed to be the most important thing in our lives and all our lives revolve around HIM. All the love we have to give to others comes FROM HIM. All the things we do should be done with HIM IN MIND. ANY treasures that possess our hearts should be treasures of heaven. WE should not be attached to ANYTHING so much that it takes the place of our Savior. WE should be willing to have NO material possessions if that is the walk we are called to.  Yes, easy for me to say. I cannot dispute that it is easy for me to say because I haven't been asked to give up all my material goods. Only by the grace of God could I remain HIS if I lost them all. God forbid it happen, but God please don't forbid if it means my being HIS always!

Do we count the cost of being HIS?

We think there should be no cost, that it should be easy or for some reason or our God is not a God of love. We associate hard things with cruelty even if it's a minute cruelty.  We want things to be easy and that to us means they are good. The striving we want to do has been confused with simple striving, not hard work striving.  We don't want there to be any cost! Our Savior paid the cost we could never pay but that does not mean we have no striving to do, that we have no cost to count. If we are told to forsake all does that sound like no cost to us? We all have to forsake one very important thing, every single one of us. We must forsake ourselves.

By the grace of God, we must forsake ourselves.

Help us!

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, please help us be known by YOU and be YOURS WHOLLY YOURS!

Amen.

Many will seek to enter in at the strait gate and NOT be able to- why not???

Luk 13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

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Strive.

Many WILL seek to enter in… and NOT BE ABLE.

This isn't something ANY of us like to contemplate.  We know the strait gate is NARROW and HARD to find. What we also have to realize is many will FIND that strait and narrow gate but will NOT be able to enter in through it!

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Read more-

Luk 13:23  Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,

Luk 13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Luk 13:25  When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

Luk 13:26  Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.

Luk 13:27  But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

WE must be with CHRIST before He rises up and the door to salvation is shut!

Dan 12:1  And at that time shall Michael STAND UP, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Dan 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Here in LUKE our Savior is pointing us once again back to the Old Testament book of Daniel. I say once again because we've studied where He's done it elsewhere--

Mat_24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

There are wondrous prophecies in the Book of Daniel that go largely neglected by the world's Christians. Satan has us caught up in focusing on a few facts and shrouds other much needed truths in his lies by telling us they are unnecessary.  People are quick to ignore what they might find difficult to comprehend and they lie to themselves and say it would be simple if Jesus wanted us to really understand.  What part about STRIVING don't people understand?!  We are given messages and the Holy Spirit will help us discern what we need to if our hearts are intent upon following ALL the truth of our Savior even if it means giving up many CHERISHED misconceptions in favor of that truth.

When is the last time you studied the book of Daniel? Jesus talks about the master of the house rising up and shutting the door, in Daniel we read about Jesus standing up and a time of trouble following quickly on the heels of that action.  What's happened? What does it mean when Christ stands up? It means the END of His intercession on our behalf!

Rom_8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

That intercession HAS to cease at some point in TIME, or else our Savior could never return.

At SOME point in TIME all of our lives will have been either counted worthy through Christ's intercession or unworthy.  All will either be God's or not God's.  All will be known by Jesus, or unknown by Jesus.   Remember this--

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

IN THAT DAY.  There will be a day in which many who think they are God's will find out differently.

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

When the LORD comes- this is FACT. Our Savior will return for those who are HIS- those who died in Him and those who live in Him. To do THIS amazing thing our Savior must know BEFORE He returns who are His and who are not His.  There will be people who are alive when He returns and those who are alive will either be decided as His or not His prior to His return for them. Christ will STAND UP and we will no longer have an intercessor because ALL cases have been decided at that point in preparation for our Savior's return.  Is there any wonder we can read about the NARROW/STRAIT gate that's hard to find and even when it is found it is hard to enter in at that gate. Those who are alive and Christ's when He returns will be SEALED as His, they will be fully and wholly submitted to Christ's will.

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Rev 22:13  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Do you understand what's being said here? Do you understand the TRUTH being revealed to us?

Luk 13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

That Strait Gate is the Way to Christ through Christ's intercession. That strait gate is NOT us finally being good enough on our own merit. That strait gate is NOT about our own righteousness! Our righteousness will forever be as filthy rags. Only by Christ removing those filthy rags and giving us the robe of HIS righteousness will be have hope! The Strait Gate is still able to be entered into but there WILL come a time when no matter how hard we strive it will be too late, we will have waited too long. We will have not brought extra oil with us. We can cry out as long and hard as we like that we want into the Feast, that we want to be inside that strait and narrow gate, but it won't matter because WE WILL have waited too long. 

We don't KNOW when intercession will end and probation for us all is closed. It could be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, ten years from now or more. But we DARE NOT tempt our own fate by putting off accepting Christ fully and wholly, submitted to Him and His righteousness. We could die in the next second of a brain aneurysm or heart attack and then whatever choices we've made will follow us into death's sleep and when we are woken by Christ at His return, we are either going to rise to meet Him in the air, or face death all over again.

We need to study, study, study and pray constantly without ceasing! May we be counted worthy through Christ's worthiness. Please Father we would by yours now and forever! In the name of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ the Righteous!

Amen. 

Bound By Satan 18 Years

Luk 13:10  And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

Luk 13:11  And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

Luk 13:12  And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

Luk 13:13  And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

Luk 13:14  And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

Luk 13:15  The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

Luk 13:16  And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

Luk 13:17  And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

18 years infirmed.

A daughter of Abraham, whom SATAN BOUND for 18 years.

We have to realize that every single illness, every single infirmity, every headache, every toothache, every ache, every pain we ever feel has it's origin in Satan.  A person may not be possessed of a devil in order to be hurt by Satan.  When we forget the origin of our agonies, our heartaches, then we will be prone to place the blame where it doesn't belong.  YES, God allows Satan to affect us. We are not put in perfect little bubbles.  We are all subjected to a sin filled world and given choices to make. We choose. Over and over again we choose. And whether anything is fair or not fair isn't ours to decide.  One person may be given some thing I could never handle, and another some thing I think is easy to handle yet terrifically hard for them. We all have our own paths to go down, our own races go run with our own obstacles to overcome. 

Satan isn't an equal opportunity player, He's the dirtiest, most unfair player in existence.  God is fair, He's given us ALL an opportunity to choose HIM.  Those who are children or adults with child minds are His automatically. Those of us who aren't children or have the minds of children, have to make choices no matter our circumstances. 

We have to be convinced of the truth- this life here and now no matter how wonderful or how awful is TEMPORARY to eternity.

Satan will bind us for YEARS! Satan will do ALL he can to make our lives miserable. 

Jesus healed MANY.  Jesus did miracle after miracle, things that NO ONE had done before Him and none have done after.  Jesus healed those Satan was binding,  Jesus was doing good- undoing some of the damage Satan had inflicted.  And people complained because Jesus was doing GOOD on the Sabbath, they perceived it as WORK, when it was LOVE!

While we may be bound in some illness, some pain,  in some awful way by Satan, we can still have that same love by knowing all we are going through is temporary to eternity.  Until our Savior died for us, people had hope that their Savior would come, but there was still a chance for failure. It wasn't until our Savior died upon that cross and rose again that Salvation was guaranteed. And now WE have a hope no others before that time really had.

We must believe.