Romans 3:23-24 NLT
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
We all desire to be free of all debt. Yet we have grown up in a society that makes it easy to buy now and pay later. We have zero percent credit cards for six months or a year. When the time is up we find another one with the same deal. And our credit scores go up as we charge more and more as long as we make our payments.
Need a new car? No problem. With our great credit score we can get one for a few dollars down using our credit card and then make monthly payments for the next four or five years. It is so easy to go into debt and satan loves to see it. We live like there is no tomorrow buying the latest and greatest with no concern for how high our debt level. Most of our income goes to pay down the debt.
Because of what Jesus did for mankind on the cross that day, we are freed from the debt of sin. There is no longer any outstanding debt for the sins we had committed. He even rescued us from any future sin debt. He stands in the gap between the Father and us. Since Father God only sees us through His son, Jesus, we are righteous in His eyes forever. We are right with God.
Does this mean we never do anything wrong from the day we became a Christian? I wish that were so. Our spirit man was made one with Holy Spirit that day we became a believer. Our human man has a lot of catching up to do. Our mind is being renewed to the mind of Christ. Although we know what we should do, we fall back into our old way of thinking and take our focus off of the Father.
When Holy Spirit brings our shortcoming to our mind, we stop and rethink what we have said or done. We repent and turn our focus back on God asking Holy Spirit to help us to not do that again. It may happen each day, but because of the Grace of God we remain forgiven and right in His sight. Thank you Jesus for our debt being canceled for all times.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Monday, April 18, 2016
New Life
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NLT
Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
Sure, we believe Christ died for us. We are believers and followers of Him. But what about us? Are we living as the new person we became when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and savior? Or are we still hanging around with the same crowd, going to the same places, watching the same stuff on television, listening to the same type of music, and the list goes on.
Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit to live in us. And He is our guarantee that we have been saved and are going to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. He lives in us and wants to live through us. Are we allowing Him to do that? Are we His hands and his mouth?
Our fleshly desires do not all change the moment we ask Jesus to come into our heart. We are changed on the inside because our spirit and Holy Spirit are now one. But our old man is still in our lives. We have to allow He who is in us change us.
Do we still sin by putting things of this world before God? On the inside we do not want to. We want to do everything as pleasing to our Father God. But our old man does not want to change everything. We know better, but the pull of the things we were comfortable with is strong. We must resist the devil and he will flee. We must resist the pull of the old and walk in the new man Jesus' saving grace has allowed us to become.
Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
Sure, we believe Christ died for us. We are believers and followers of Him. But what about us? Are we living as the new person we became when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and savior? Or are we still hanging around with the same crowd, going to the same places, watching the same stuff on television, listening to the same type of music, and the list goes on.
Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit to live in us. And He is our guarantee that we have been saved and are going to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. He lives in us and wants to live through us. Are we allowing Him to do that? Are we His hands and his mouth?
Our fleshly desires do not all change the moment we ask Jesus to come into our heart. We are changed on the inside because our spirit and Holy Spirit are now one. But our old man is still in our lives. We have to allow He who is in us change us.
Do we still sin by putting things of this world before God? On the inside we do not want to. We want to do everything as pleasing to our Father God. But our old man does not want to change everything. We know better, but the pull of the things we were comfortable with is strong. We must resist the devil and he will flee. We must resist the pull of the old and walk in the new man Jesus' saving grace has allowed us to become.
Monday, April 11, 2016
W A R N I N G
Bible Usage Can Be Habit Forming, Regular reading can cause Loss of ANXIETY and FEAR; decreased appetite for LYING, CHEATING, STEALING, HATING, ANGER and ENVY.
Symptoms include: increased sensation of LOVE, JOY, PEACE, COMPASSION, AND CONTENTMENT. If Symptoms Persist, Just Praise Jesus.
Side effects are Forgiveness, Grace, and Love!
Symptoms include: increased sensation of LOVE, JOY, PEACE, COMPASSION, AND CONTENTMENT. If Symptoms Persist, Just Praise Jesus.
Side effects are Forgiveness, Grace, and Love!
Freedom
Ephesians 1:7 NLT
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
In Luke 4:18, while reading from Isaiah, Jesus told all in the synagogue in His hometown that He came to set the captives free. He came so all could receive freedom; freedom from oppression, from bondage in any form.
Notice that He did not purchase our freedom to hold on to it and give it to us later after we performed certain things. It was a once and for all purchase for all mankind. The only requirement for us to believe it!
We are not required to do anything to keep our salvation. Jesus did it all on the cross. If we mess up, grace covers us. Holy Spirit guides us to the work for us to do. We do not have to come up with God projects on our own. Often we can be so busy doing what we perceive to be work for God that we miss what He really wants us to do.
By God's grace our salvation is secure. Our past sin has been forgiven. Our present sin is forgiven. All future sin is forgiven. However, this is not license to sin. Oh no, as born again believers we no longer have the desire to sin.
When we are tempted and even step over the line, we can turn to God and ask Him to bring us back and show us the direction we should be walking. We are to keep our eyes on Him and ask Holy Spirit to keep us on track. He will teach us all we need to know.
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
In Luke 4:18, while reading from Isaiah, Jesus told all in the synagogue in His hometown that He came to set the captives free. He came so all could receive freedom; freedom from oppression, from bondage in any form.
Notice that He did not purchase our freedom to hold on to it and give it to us later after we performed certain things. It was a once and for all purchase for all mankind. The only requirement for us to believe it!
We are not required to do anything to keep our salvation. Jesus did it all on the cross. If we mess up, grace covers us. Holy Spirit guides us to the work for us to do. We do not have to come up with God projects on our own. Often we can be so busy doing what we perceive to be work for God that we miss what He really wants us to do.
By God's grace our salvation is secure. Our past sin has been forgiven. Our present sin is forgiven. All future sin is forgiven. However, this is not license to sin. Oh no, as born again believers we no longer have the desire to sin.
When we are tempted and even step over the line, we can turn to God and ask Him to bring us back and show us the direction we should be walking. We are to keep our eyes on Him and ask Holy Spirit to keep us on track. He will teach us all we need to know.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
It is SIMPLE
S-I-M-P-L-E
Jesus saved me and infused me with Holy Spirit. All I had to do was have the faith to reach out and tell Him I believe. In His mercy He accepted me right as I was. He did not care where I came from or what I had done. As I walk with Him and learn as Holy Spirit teaches me all things, He gives me the power to do what Jesus did--to show His love from that point forward to all until it would be my time to be with Him in eternity.
Jesus saved me and infused me with Holy Spirit. All I had to do was have the faith to reach out and tell Him I believe. In His mercy He accepted me right as I was. He did not care where I came from or what I had done. As I walk with Him and learn as Holy Spirit teaches me all things, He gives me the power to do what Jesus did--to show His love from that point forward to all until it would be my time to be with Him in eternity.
Monday, April 04, 2016
Fruit
Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
There are some people you just love to see. They are bubbly and always positive. They turn every problem around into joy. They don't dwell on the circumstances but seem to always rise above them. I wish I could be like that all the time. I am sure you think the same.
The more we dwell on our circumstances the worse they seem to get. Worry and fear become part of the problem. The more we think about the issue the worse it gets and we find ourselves in a constant worry mode, fearing the worst.
As a believer in Jesus we have been given the Holy Spirit to live in us. He is our comforter if we let Him be so. Otherwise He just sits dormant waiting for us to acknowledge Him and seek His guidance as we walk through this earthly life.
It is one thing to know He is with us. It is another to seek His presence and guidance as we go through our day. As we look to Him we are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As we walk in them the joy of the Lord is expressed in our words, in our eyes, in our countenance. Others see Jesus in us.
Let's allow Holy Spirit to be our comforter, our teacher, today and for everyday forward. The change in us will be unimaginable.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
There are some people you just love to see. They are bubbly and always positive. They turn every problem around into joy. They don't dwell on the circumstances but seem to always rise above them. I wish I could be like that all the time. I am sure you think the same.
The more we dwell on our circumstances the worse they seem to get. Worry and fear become part of the problem. The more we think about the issue the worse it gets and we find ourselves in a constant worry mode, fearing the worst.
As a believer in Jesus we have been given the Holy Spirit to live in us. He is our comforter if we let Him be so. Otherwise He just sits dormant waiting for us to acknowledge Him and seek His guidance as we walk through this earthly life.
It is one thing to know He is with us. It is another to seek His presence and guidance as we go through our day. As we look to Him we are filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As we walk in them the joy of the Lord is expressed in our words, in our eyes, in our countenance. Others see Jesus in us.
Let's allow Holy Spirit to be our comforter, our teacher, today and for everyday forward. The change in us will be unimaginable.
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