No Longer a Sinner - The Glory of the Lord

 

Peter, James and John witnessed Christ's glory as the Beloved Son who pleased our Father (John 17:5). Jesus was on a mountain and appeared with Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17:2-8; 2 Peter 1:16-17).

Jesus is also our light who shines in our darkest hour. When we come to Christ, His glory shines in us and from us as the Light of the world, the light of life (John 8:12; Acts 6:15). We lay down our penchant to sin at His feet.

At salvation, He comes to dwell within us; however when He returns to claim us as His bride, we will see Him as He is and we will reflect His supernatural glory (John 3:1-2; Philippians 3:20-21).

In His face, we will see and understand the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:6). Jesus will transform our mortal body into conformity with His glorious, immortal body (2 Thessalonians 1:10-12).

As we keep our focus on Christ, we are no longer affected by the events in this life; because our attention is absorbed by the only One who matters. Even in our hour of death, God's Spirit will sustain us and shine forth from us (Acts 7:51-60).

We mirror the glory of the Lord to the masses of unsaved people all around us. They know that something is very different about us (2 Corinthians 3:18). They are drawn to us by God's Spirit, and He gives us the opportunity to share Christ with them.

We may not even have to use words, because a Spirit-filled smile or a simple "Hello" will touch their hearts as no sermon ever did. Jesus bought us at a great price to Himself, now it is time for us to lay down our life for others (John 15:13).

Prayer:

Father God, You revealed Jesus to us face-to-face and His presence burns in our heart. We see Him in all of His glory and we submit to His sovereignty in our life. Your glory is gradually enveloping us by Your sanctifying process in our life. You will eventually craft us into the image of Christ on this earth.

The marks of the cross are on our heart; and we want nothing more than to bring You pleasure by our every thought, word and deed. You give us the deep, spiritual mind of Christ in exchange for the meager, carnal mind closed off to spiritual Truth (2 Corinthians 3:14-15). We are no longer our own; we belong to You, and we serve at Your pleasure.

Thought for the Day:

Let us reveal the glory of the Lord, which arises within us, to the world around us rather than the human pride, selfishness, hypocritical double-standard, frustration and carnality that we commonly feel within us. - Isaiah 61:1

The Value of Riches

Most human beings look at riches from a different light than the Bible talks about them. We want to get rich quick, without any effort. It does happen for some. They win the lottery or receive an inheritance or make money in the stock market. Some people do well until the interest rates fall, or they lose their family and friends because greed over the money forces them to part ways. The money only lasts for a lifetime, if that long; and in the scheme of eternity, that is a very short time.

In fact, gold in heaven is so common that God paved the streets with it (Revelation 21:21). Jesus said that we can buy gold from Him, so we can be rich for eternity; however, it is gold that is formed in us though our trials (2 Timothy 2:12). We can also buy white cloth from Him with our righteous deeds, to use for our wedding dress. If we do not have any righteous deeds, we will appear naked and ashamed at our wedding feast between Christ and us (Revelations 15:16).

Loving money traps us with all kinds of evil, some of which causes us to stop serving God (1 Timothy 6:10). Our life does not consist only of the abundance of things, which we possess (Luke 12:15). Otherwise, possessions end up possessing us. Riches tend to bring us more misery than blessings (James 5:1-5; 1 Timothy 6:10). The only good thing about having money is that we can share it with those in need (1 John 3:17). Truly, Godly riches outshine anything this world has to offer. 

We cannot serve God and money at the same time, because they both require all of our time (Luke 16:13; 1 Timothy 6:10). Jesus calls us to repent and to live a zealous life for Him (Revelation 3:18-19). God is a righteous God and He corrects and disciplines those He loves (Proverbs 3:11-12). We gain wisdom in life by realizing what a totally awesome Lord and Savior we have in Jesus Christ (Proverbs 2:1-11, 9:10). He is the fountain of life, and the light of the world (Psalm 36:9).

Prayer:

Father God, it does not matter if we have worldly riches, because You see to it that every person, who is faithful to You, will abound with blessings (Proverbs 28:20). You exalt the one who is lowly (James 1:9-11). We do not want to gather earthly treasures, because moths and rust will just destroy them, and thieves will steal them (Matthew 6:19-21). We do not need to build an empire on this earth (Isaiah 5:8), because You already prepared a mansion for us in heaven (John 14:2).

Thought for the Day:

Our life does not consist of what we possess. – Luke 12:15:21

Jesus as the Great "I AM"

The inerrant and infallible Word of God affirms, establishes and proves the divinity of Jesus Christ. The number of prophecies in the Bible that Jesus fulfilled defies chance. If you fill the state of Texas three feet high with silver dollars, fly over the state in a plane and randomly drop one silver dollar marked with an “X”, the chances of someone finding that marked coin is equal to the probability of one single person fulfilling the more than 300 Biblical prophecies that Jesus fulfills.

For example Psalm 45 is a Messianic passage speaking to Jesus as God (Hebrews 1:8; Psalm 45:6; Isaiah 9:6. God appeared in bodily form as Jesus (1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus has the form of God (Philippians 2:5-11). Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of the image of the invisible God (Hebrews 1:2-3; Colossians 1: 15). Jesus assigns Himself divine privileges (Mark 2:27-28, Luke 5:20, and John 11: 43-44). He is the Son of God (Psalm 2: 7,12). He is the Lord (Psalm 110:1).  Jesus is the Christ, the Word, and the Word is God (John 1:1,14, 18; 10:33; 20:28-31).

In the original language of the following verses, Jesus identifies Himself with God as the great “I Am” of the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). He declares, “I am the bread of life" (John 6:35); "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25); “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12); “I am the door (gate)” by which the sheep enter their pen for safety and provision (John 10:7, 9, 11); “I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11); “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6) and “I am the true vine (John 15:1).

To expound upon some of these, Jesus says He is the bread of life because bread is the symbol for the basic necessities of life. Jesus is saying that He is the source for all of our needs. We can cast our cares on Him, because he definitely cares for us (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22). Jesus is also the light of men, which shines in the darkness (Psalm 27:1; 119:105; Proverbs 6:23; Habakkuk 3:3-4; Psalm 44:30; Isaiah 49:6; Zechariah 14:5-7). Those lost in the darkness of sin do not understand this, because the Light is not in them (John 1:4-5; 11:9-10). 

Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). He keeps, feeds and leads the sheep. As sheep we are utterly helpless and dependent upon our Shepherd, who ultimately laid down His life, as the sacrificial Lamb, for us (John 10:16; 1 John 3:16; John 1:29,35).  In doing this, He also became our Resurrection and our Life (John 11:23-25). He imparts eternal life to us now, while we still live on this earth as His children. Then when we take our last breath of air on this earth, our very next breath will be in Heaven. If we believe in Him, we will live and not die for all eternity (John 11:25-26).

Jesus is our life, and He is also the only Way to Heaven. He is our Truth as well (John 14:6). Jesus is not one of many saviors, but the only Savior of the world. Jesus is God, who became flesh to sacrifice Himself in our place and to pay the debt of our sin (John 1:1,14). There are many concepts proclaimed as truth today. Most of them are satanic lies disguised as truth in order to deceive gullible people who choose not to believe in The Truth of the gospel for salvation.

Jesus is also the True Vine, we are His branches and God is the vinedresser (John 15:1-8). The nutrients for the branches come from the vine. Apart from Him, we cannot bear fruit; in fact, we can do nothing (John 15:5). God prunes away the unfruitful branches from the vine. Then, He prunes the fruitful branches, so that we will be able to produce even more fruit (Matthew 7:19). God chooses those who believe in Him and He appoints us to go and bear fruit that will last (John 15:16).

Jesus also referred to Himself as “I am” when He spoke to the Jews. "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). Then latter, He declares to His disciples, "I tell you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM" (John 13:13:19). He also says, "Unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, John the Baptist stated that You are the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29, 32-36). You use all of these analogies to show us that You are the One Way to receive eternal life (John 3: 16-18). John recorded his gospel about You, so that we can believe that You are the Light of the world. We find life only by believing on Your name, because You are the Son of God, and the Savior of the World (John 4:42; John 20; 30-31).

Thought for the Day:

Jesus commissions His Saints to shine in the world as lights of His truth. He makes us a lighted city on a hill, which cannot be hidden. - Matthew 5:14