Without the Power of God

When God's Spirit convicts us of the debauchery of our sin, it is easy to feel remorse and to say a prayer of repentance. Everyone "believes" in God in one way or another. Even the demons believe, and tremble in His presence (James 2:19).

Although many are convicted at some point in their life, few are authentically converted. They do not express a heart-felt contrition. They do not totally surrender their goals, dreams and plans to God's will for their life.

It is impossible to feel God's conviction, to pray a saving prayer, and to walk away from sin unless the power of God's Spirit emboldens and inspires us (Philippians 2:12-13). Authentic salvation and conversion require that we receive the faith of the Son of God, who loves us and gave Himself for us (Ephesians 5:2; Galatians 2:20).

A hypocrite is an actor, an imposter, a phony. Most of us are hypocrites, living life in our own wisdom and understanding, playing at religion and putting on a holier-than-thou face in order to impress God and other people. God knows us; and people with discernment see right through us.

The way to discern that we are truly Born Again is to "try" the spirit to see if it is from God (1 John 4:1-5). Does the peace of God, which has nothing to do with our circumstances, rule in our heart (Colossians 3:15)?

Is the anger gone, that once consumed our soul; traded for the love of God for our self and for other people? Do we have joy in trying times and patience to withstand the test of time?

Do we pray about our choices before making them (Proverbs 3:5-6), or do we still march to the drum of Satan in our life? Do we crucify the deeds of the flesh or do we capitulate to them without resistance of any kind (Romans 7)?

God is waiting at the door of our heart, ready to come in and feast with us (Revelation 3:20). Are we ready to the open the door wide to Him now, or do we want Him to come back later once we had more time to wallow in sin and its degradation?

Prayer:

Father God, we can work out our own salvation with fear and trembling only because You give us both the will and the power to walk in Your ways, in Your timing and in Your truth (Philippians 2:12-13). Your Holy Spirit changes our life in increments (2 Corinthians 3:18); some are smaller segments while others are giant leaps of faith with remorse over our sin and a determination to obey Your Word.

We prove our love for You by our obedience (1 John 5:3). Walking in Your will is the happiest place on earth. Our good works actually prove that our faith is in You rather than in our self (James 2:18). You do not need our good works, but we need Your power and the faith of Your Son in order to accomplish good works for Your Kingdom (Galatians 2:20).

Thought for the Day:

We sell our self short by living half-heartedly for God, or for seeking His will only when our plans do not pay off, and we find our self in the middle of some traumatic trial; we can do nothing without the power and anointing of God in our life. 

- Romans 7:18; John 15:5 

Manifestation of God

Most of humanity does not know Jesus as the Christ, nor do they care at all about Godly principles. Hypocrisy in the lives of so called Christians exacerbates this problem.

If unbelievers see no distinction in their daily walk with that of a professing Believer, this disillusions them. They want nothing to do with Christ or with us.

We have a problem with our connection to the Vine (John 15:5). We may even have a false hope of Heaven, because we never truly repented or made Jesus the Lord of our life.

If, however, we are grafted into the Vine, their reason for rejecting His truth may be that we are hiding His light within us and they cannot see it (Matthew 5:15-16).

Once we surrender our identity over to the Ruler of the universe, God makes a huge difference in our habits, language, personality and interests.

When we fully submit to God for Him to use as He pleases (Isaiah 29:16), our life takes on the character of Christ. This is when people see us as authentic Christians. We are a manifestation of God on the earth.

We have God’s peace in trouble, His perseverance in trials, His love for our persecutors and His joy during periods of grief.

They see us exhibiting patience in trying times, using self-control when others give in to debauchery, displaying meekness rather than having a haughty attitude, relating to others with kindness and basing our life and decisions on faith in our faithful God.

We lay down our preferences and care about the needs of others over our own agenda, without compromising who we are in Christ.

Others see truth and reality in our lives. We are capable of this behavior, not because we are exemplary human beings, but because of God's Holy Spirit within us (Galatians 5:16:25).

This is when other people want for themselves what we have within us.

Prayer:

Father God, Jesus prayed that no one would snatch us out of Your hand. You are greater than all, and we are perfectly safe in Your everlasting arms (John 10:28-29). Fill us completely full of Your Spirit and keep us as the apple of Your eye (Ephesians 3:16-19; Psalm 17:8).

Draw us close to You and never let us go. Your unfailing love is our priceless treasure and we run to the refuge of the shadow of Your wings (Psalm 36:7). When we draw near to You, and resist Satan's efforts to sidetrack us, he has to flee from Your presence within us.

Thought for the Day:

The Holy Spirit is our source of power; and we can ask Him to manifest Himself in and through us all the days of our life; so that others see Christ in us.

Why We Need Jesus

As we view the Ten Commandments, we realize that we break the heart of God in sin whenever we worship anyone or thing other than Him, use His name as a curse word, disregard Sunday as a day to worship the Lord, disobey our parents, murder, have physical relations with someone to which we are not married, steal, lie or covet what belongs to someone else (Matthew 5-7).

Jesus taught us the nuances of some of these commandments when He stated that anger is as vile as murder, and lusting as sinful as adultery. He even said that when we belittle one another we are in danger of going to hell (Matthew 5:22-28).

Paul goes into even more detail when in Galatians 5:19:21 he list as sins: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft, rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23); hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

He also stated that whatever we think, say or do that is not coming from faith is a sin (Romans 14:22-23). John tells us that all wrong doing is sin (1 John 5:17). James says that when we know the right thing to do and we omit doing it, we are sinning (James 4:17).

Under the law, Saints had to keep every word of the law or be cursed to an eternity in hell (Galatians 3:10). Reading these lists may cause us to feel condemnation from Satan; but thankfully, if we stop doing them, we are free from condemnation (Roman 8:1).

That is why we need Jesus as our Savior. He is the blameless Lamb of God who takes away our sins (John 1:29). With his dual nature as God and man, He could do what we could never do. He lived in sinless perfection.

Now, Christ lives in us with this same divine power and nature (2 Peter 1:4). Through His sacrifice on Calvary's cross, He exchanged our sin for His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

By faith in God's saving grace, we receive His Spirit to cleanse our spirit from Adam's sin and our own (Galatians 3:13-14). God's Spirit also gives us both the desire and the power to live in holy communion with God at all times (Colossians 1:27; Philippians 2:12-13).

Prayer:

Father God, while we were still lost in our sin, You loved us (Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:1). Even though we do not deserve it, You faithfully forgive us for every sin from which we repent and turn away (1 John 1:9). You condemn no one, but we condemn our self by refusing to believe in Jesus (John 3:16-18).

Remind us that You know that the rewards of sin are actually wages that we have to pay for partaking in this destructive behavior. Teach us that we reap what we sow, and You want to spare us from the degradation and suffering caused by sin.

Thank You for desiring instead that no one will ever perish in hell, but that everyone who truly repents and surrenders their life to You will enjoy eternity with you in Heaven (2 Peter 3:9).

Thought for the Day:

The sins listed for us in the Bible are there to help us to realize that without Christ we can do nothing. - Philippians 3:14; Galatians 3:24