Sharing Christ with Others

God's invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen in His Creation (Revelation 4:11). This takes away a person's excuse for not believing in Him as their Savior. 

We instinctively know that there is a God and that we should serve Him with all of our emotions, mind, choices and physical strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Yet, so many do not honor God or appreciate Him. They pursue futile activities, endless philosophies and fruitless enlightenment and their hearts darken further with each passing day. They think they are wise, but they are actually very foolish (Romans 1:20-22).

Authentic Believers trust in, rely on and believe in Christ even if we end up suffering for the sake of His righteousness. We learn to explain and defend our beliefs to those who ask us about the hope we have in Him.

Yet, we never impose our beliefs on someone who is clearly not interested in them (1 Peter 3:14-16). There is no point if the Holy Spirit is not drawing them to God. We never badger anyone about coming to Christ.

We share Jesus with gentleness, respect for the listener and a good conscience; even if someone slanders our good name or reviles our good behavior in Christ.

We are created for God's glory and service, and we will spend all of eternity worshiping our worthy Lamb who was slain in our place. For now, we live for His glory while we dwell on this earth and do only those works for which He created us to perform (Ephesians 2:10).

Prayer:

Father God, break the yoke of bondage that our flesh feels to sin and replace our weaknesses with Your strengths. Help us to decrease so that You may increase. We praise You as our living Lord and thank You for giving us Your Spirit to abide within us all the days of our life.

You are the only one worthy of all honor, respect, praise, glory, wisdom, might and blessing. We look forward to joining the myriads of angels already around the throne in singing Your praises (Revelation 5:12). Lead us to share Christ with those whom You are drawing to Yourself.

Thought for the Day:

The abiding Holy Spirit teaches us to follow His lead as we share Christ with friends, relatives, associates and neighbors; so that we do not push too hard, ignore their body language or fail to read the feelings of their soul in their eyes.

Do Not Be Deceived

 

The Bible warns us in several passages to be aware of deception (2 Corinthians 11:3). Evil people and impostors will increase, especially in the last days, both being deceived themselves and deceiving others (2 Timothy 3:13). Satan's mission is to deceive millions through his lies, such as humanism and liberalism to mention a few (Revelations 12:9).

Cults prey on people who know very little about Biblical truth. These unwitting people rarely read the Bible, have a private devotion or compare what people say with Biblical Truth (Acts 17:11). Without discernment from God's Spirit, they are easy targets. They accept many a false teacher at face value and are deceived (Matthew 24:4-12).

Satan also uses comedians, commentators, newscasters, bar tenders and the man on the street to cheat people out of a relationship with God. The ungodly fill innocent minds full of human philosophy, empty deceit, vain traditions and the principles of the world, which are the antithesis of Christ's teachings (Colossians 2:8).

However, God made creation as a silent preacher. Nature declares God's eternal power and the invisible attributes of His glory. No one has a real excuse for not believing in God. It is their foolish heart, which darkens their understanding and causes them to think they know the truth, when they actually believe and live a lie (Romans 1: 18-22; Obadiah 1:3; Proverbs 28:26, Jeremiah 17:9).

Prayer:

Father God, You never tempt us to sin. We are drawn away by our own deceptive thoughts and desires. Help us to make the choice to walk away from Satan's fraud, to focus on Jesus and to accept Your eternal gift of Salvation (James 1:12-17; John 3:16-18). Remind us that walking in Your Spirit helps us to live in Your eternal plans for our life (Galatians 5:15-25; Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

If we practice a lifestyle of sin, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God as co-heirs with Christ, because only those who are washed by the blood of the Lamb, justified in our spirit and sanctified in our soul by God's Spirit will have a place in God's eternal Kingdom.

- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Revelation 21:8; Matthew 7:21-23

Worldly Gain or Eternal Power

Money, fame, relationships, employment, ambition, pride, rebellion, reputation, worldly goods, houses, etc. are all parts of our carnality, which Believers continue to cling to in this world. 

God calls us to give up worldly gain for His eternal power. There really is no contest between the two! God also gives us the power to relinquish our will to His.

Where He sends us we will go, even if we do not want to go there; and we will not go where He does not send us, no matter how much we want to go. Jesus died for us, so that we can die in Him. 

Our new life belongs to Him, not to us. We wait before the Lord each new day to hear His will for each moment. We surrender each facet of our self to Him and He purges us and breaks sin's hold on us (Isaiah 6:5-7).

At salvation, God raises us up to sit in Heavenly places with Him. We are no longer concerned with earthly issues, but we seek first God's Kingdom (Ephesians 2:1-6).  

Our salvation is provided in justification and our self-life is crucified during sanctification. God fills us with His Spirit's joy and power, which is our strength to accomplish His works with our life (Ephesians 2:10).

As we give God's Spirit full reign in our spirit, soul and body, He takes up residence as His Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Without reservation, we surrender to God’s Spirit, and offer our soul’s submission without any reservation (Romans 12:1). 

He renews our mind with the mind of Christ, and our character is replaced with God’s nature, which is the fruit of His Spirit and the divine life of Christ in us (2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 5:22-23).

Prayer:

Father God, when You call us to Yourself, we lay our sinful nature and our natural talents at the Cross. Although it is hard to relinquish our life to You, we know You simply require a willing attitude. 

Christ slowly becomes our whole life (Colossians 3:2-4). We live, move and have our being only in Him (Acts 17:28). Your Spirit in us enables us to enter into Your Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19).

Thought for the Day:

We work out our own salvation, but it is God who gives us both the desire and the power to do this. - Philippians 2:12-13

God In Creation

Read: Genesis Chapters One & Two

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:20

I get so sad when people refuse to believe that we have an eternal God who loves us and who died to give us eternal life. Yet, these same people who do not believe in God, actually blame God for all of their troubles and trials. Some people even view God as a tyrant with rules. They think that anyone who dares to break a rule gives God the delight of judging them and sending them to hell.

They rail accusations at Him and blame His people for all the evils in the world. Some even say that they would rather go to hell than to live in heaven with Christians - such a sad commentary on the church of today; hypocritical behavior gives us a bad name. We actually have a couple in our church now, which delayed coming to church, because they did not want to be like hypocritical church members that they know.

The truth, however, is that God never condemns anyone. Our unbelief is what condemns us. Let me show you why I say this. Everyone knows John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We hear it so often that we take it for granted and we pass over it without giving it much thought. When you do think about the import of these words, however, they change your life.

God, the creator of the universe, so loved the world - the sin-filled, ungodly, hypocritical world. Therefore, He gave His only Son - which person on earth would sacrifice their child to save our rotting humanity? So that whoever believes in Him - He puts no restrictive criteria on those words, but freely gives salvation to everyone who will believe. They should not perish, but have eternal life - there is no qualifying statement attached to this promise, it is a free gift.

Then, if you continue reading in John 3:17-18, you see an even bigger miracle. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Look at these words again, “Whoever does not believe is condemned already”. God does not ever condemn us. We condemn ourselves, simply because of our refusal to believe. It has nothing to do with God’s behavior toward us. It has nothing at all to do with whether we live a good or evil life. It has everything to do with whom we trust with our life.

Do you maintain strict control over your life, not allowing anyone to dictate to you about what you do, think, believe, or feel? Do you seek peace and contentment in sources outside of yourself? Even if you feel satisfied with your life at this moment, your health, wealth and success can change in an instant. How will you feel then?

Look at the next three verse of John 3:19-21, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Do you hate the Light of God’s holiness and prefer to live in dark ignorance of God and eternal matters? In your last seconds of life, you will not be able to blame your condition on the fact that you did not know the truth. Ever since God created time, space, matter and humanity, we all can clearly see His invisible qualities (Romans 1:20).

The critical balance of life on earth, the atmosphere in space, the placement of the planets, the provision of rain, sun, moon and stars all point to an Intelligent Designer. Every day, nature exhibits God's eternal power and His divine nature. No one has an excuse for not knowing God (Romans 1:20). The earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as abundantly as the waters, which cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). Even the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands (Psalm 19:1).

God also promises, "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11). 

When you breathe your last breath of earthly air, will your next breath come from the celestial atmosphere? When you face God, you will not have an excuse for your unbelief. Therefore, today is your day to believe. You will never regret chosing Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Prayer:
Lord God, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You. You show Your love to thousands of generations. You are a great and powerful God, whose name is the Lord Almighty. Great are your purposes for mankind and mighty are your deeds on the earth (JeremiahJeremiah 32:17-19 32: 17-19). Open the hearts of people everywhere to receive your Truth and love.

Thought for the Day:
God rewards everyone according to what our deeds deserve, but He judges only those who live in unbelief.