Freedom from the Law

 

The law is necessary to bring us to the realization that we can never keep it; therefore, we need our Savior, Jesus Christ. As long as we insist on working FOR God, we are like the foolish Galatians (3:1-3). We attempt to please God in our own strength and effort. But our best efforts are only filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We cannot earn God’s favor by our works (Ephesians 2:8-10).

We come to realize, that as Born Again Believers we are no longer separated from God, but we are one with both the Father and the Son (John 17:11, 21-23). We live and move and have our being only in Him and not in people, places or things. We no longer chase after our way of life or pursue our goals, ambitions and desires. We live only for Christ, just as He lived only for our Father.

We are hidden, in union with Christ in God. Christ is our only way, truth and life (Colossians 3:3-4; John 14:6). God and Christ have a divergence in manifestation, with Christ being Emmanuel, the physical form of Father God. They are also different in person, with God as the Father and Jesus as the Son. However, Jesus states that they are united as one. Then He goes one step further and prays for us to be one in them as well.

Christ, who dwells in us by His Spirit, actually does unite us with them as one (John 17:11, 21-23). Our old, fleshly human nature is dead and buried (Colossians 1:10-12). Now, everything about us is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). When our old nature, our flesh manifests itself in us this is simply a demonstration of Satan’s pitiful effort to pull us back under his dominion.

However, Christ in us is greater than Satan who rules in this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). When we stand firm in the power of Christ’s might (Ephesians 6:10), we withstand the devil and his demons, and he no longer blinds our eyes to God’s truth. We are no longer slaves to sin or under the law of sin and death. We are set free by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).

Prayer:

Father God, We totally surrender our self to You. When we abide in You, You abide in us (John 15:4), and the stronger our faith in His faithfulness grows. Give us a continued desire for You and an ever increasing hunger to feast on Your Word. When Jesus gave His life on the cross, He took our sin and nailed it to the cross, giving us His righteousness in exchange (2 Corinthians 5:21). Your raised us to walk in a new life, as an expression of Christ in the earth.

Thought for the Day:
God calls us to do greater works than Jesus did, because His Spirit abides within each one of us. - John 14:12

 

 

Part 1 - Is Satan Real?

Satan is not the little man in a red suit with a pointy tail and pitchfork, but he certainly is real. God created him as an angel of mighty power. Yet, this was not enough for him. He led a rebellion of angels against God and he lost (Isaiah 14). He only won the distinction of “ruler” of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), “spirit” of this world (1 Corinthians 2:12), the prince of the “power” of the air (Ephesians 2:2), the “enemy” (Matthew 13:25,28,39) and the “god” of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4), but his end is to be bound up in the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10). 

Satan inspires humans to seek gratification, ambition, status and the riches of this world to the detriment of our relationship with God and our family. He encourages us to enable others, boast in pride, take what we want, give in to the desires of our flesh, and make life miserable for everyone around us (1 John 2:16). He whispers lies into our mind, and we react to them with accusations, unforgiveness, bitterness, spitefulness and revenge.

Satan keeps us living in fear, so that we abandon our responsibilities, thwart our blessings from God, and escape into the fantasy of addictions. Self-indulgence becomes our motive behind our every action. Self-preservation causes us to build walls around our heart, which makes us run when confronted or easily angered to keep people away. He condemns us until we hide behind masks, because we are afraid of people seeing who we really are. (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5)

Satan loves to make us blame God for all the ills in the world. He gives us foul names to call Him and encourages us to disrespect Him and diminish Him in the eyes of others. He encourages us to believe His lies as the truth, and to consider the truth of God’s Word as the lies (2 Thessalonians 2:11). He undermines God’s purpose in our lives. He keeps us in turmoil and causes us to fear God. God never tempts us to sin; however, Satan’s favorite pastime is tempting us to indulge in our favorite transgression (James 1:13-14).

The last thing Satan wants us to realize is that although we live in the world, we do not have to live as part of the world (John 17:11,14,16). He encourages us to fit in with the crowd, and to covet our neighbor’s wife and goods (Exodus 20:17). Spiritual warfare is very real and constant, but Satan would rather make you believe it does not exist (Ephesians 6:10-20). He tempted Jesus on the mount three times, but Jesus contradicted every word Satan spoke by using the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11). We can follow in Jesus footsteps.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You were tempted in every area that Satan tempts us (Hebrews 4:15), with the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Yet, You remained faithful. We too can stand against the wiles of the devil by the dynamite power of the indwelling Trinity within us (Colossians 1:27). I’m glad that Satan does not have Your powers of omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience. He’s impotent at best and his only weapon is deception. Keep us from believing his lies, because You rule and reign forever and ever. Amen.

Thought for the Day:

Every Christian battles with the Adamic nature, sin nature, self-nature, human nature, the "old man" or "old self" (Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9); but God is able to deliver us and will continue to deliver us as we submit to Him. – 2 Corinthians 1:10

True Happiness

 

 

There is not a person on earth that does not crave happiness. We explore many different venues to provide us with happiness, only to find that they are ultimately empty shells of promise. We change our circumstances often, trying to find happiness. We blame our unhappiness on the people, places and things in our life. Then, we eventually turn to addictions in an attempt to fill our needs, or to anesthetize the pain of not finding it.

In this materialistic world, we believe the commercials, soap operas and sitcoms. We endeavor to recreate what we see there. We desire instant gratification and we do not want to work for success. We lack self-control and we want everything handed to us. Eventually, we end up crushed, disillusioned, hopeless and depressed. Our body and soul are sick and we wallow in self-pity and misery.

What is true happiness and where does it come from? True happiness cannot be bought, traded, measured or obtained in this world. True happiness is found only in Jesus Christ. He teaches us contentment and He provides for all of our needs. He gives us victory in the spiritual warfare that pervades our life on this earth (Ephesians 6:10-20). He gives us His glorious joy, which defies human logic (1 Peter 1:7-9; Acts 2:28).

Our happiness has its foundation in our salvation (Luke 10:20). Even in times of mourning, He turns our sorrow to joy (John 16:20; Psalm 51:12). The more we put our trust in God, the happier our life becomes (Psalm 32:21). As our heart trusts only in Him, we are secure in Christ as our strength, protection and provision. He helps us to succeed, and this fills our heart with songs of joyous praise (Psalm 28:7). The more we seek Him, the more our heart rejoices (Psalm 105:3).

God’s Words in the Bible also give us peace in this world of unrest. Jesus already overcame the world, and He lives in us; therefore we can live with cheerful optimism (Colossians 1:27; John 16:33). We are happy when we follow God’s will for our life and obey His precepts (Psalm 94:12). As we trust Him to work out all things, even the negative aspects of life, for our good, we find true and abundant happiness (Proverbs 16:20; Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to earth as a man to save me from my sinful lifestyle. Teach me to know You (John 17:3). Bring me into a right relationship with You (Psalm 51:10). Forgive me for all of my faults and failures (James 5:16). Birth Your nature in me (2 Peter 1:4). I believe in You and I want to live my life for You (Acts 16:31). When I am afraid to give control of my life over to you, teach me to trust in Your faithfulness (Jeremiah 29:11). I want to believe in You, but please assure me and rid me of my doubts (Mark 9:24). Lead me into a deeper union with You throughout the rest of my life (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Thought for the Day:

Happiness does not depend on material possessions, circumstances or relationships, because it only comes from our deep union with Jesus Christ. – John 17:22

 

Who We Are in Christ

 

The need to work toward a successful life in this world is a lie from Satan. Even after salvation, we often feel disappointment with life. We hope that certain people will act a certain way in order for us to feel secure. We can even disappoint our self! We tend to trust in our government, our parents, our mate, our children, our teachers or even our pastors. We can work for God and burn out, because we do not allow God to work through us by His Spirit.

 

When we work for God we receive no lasting power, peace or joy. There is no permanent fulfillment in planning our own life and asking God to bless it. When we choose to act separately from our Father, we easily fall into sin (1 John 1:8). It is only as we surrender to God’s Spirit each moment of our day, and follow His leadership each step of the way, that we find deep peace and joy. We walk in His Truth, just as He is in the truth (3 John 1:4).

 

God does not help us to perform works for Him. He lives His life in and through us. Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death; it holds no power over us, unless we choose to give in to it (1 John 2:1). However, when we sin, we have an advocate with our Father and He forgives us because He is just and faithful (1 John 8-9). The Father uses our spirit to search the motives of our soul and to form the nature of Christ in us (Proverbs 20:27).

 

Our old, carnal nature dies at salvation. We became a new creation, partakers of the divine nature of God through His promises, and we escape the lusts of the world (2 Corinthians 5:17; 2 Peter 1:4). They hold no more power over us. When we come to this place in our life, we step out of the realm of sin and the flesh, and we walk into the arms of God. We are eternally united with Christ as our brother and fellow heir (Ephesians 5:8).

 

As we trust in God’s faithfulness, nothing can separate us from His love, or snatch us out of His hand (Romans 8:35-39; John 10:27-29). If we seek His eternal promises, He will supply all of our earthly needs (Matthew 6:33). The banks can fail, we can lose money in the stock market, but by investing in God’s Kingdom, we shall always succeed (Matthew 6: 19-21).

 

Prayer:

Father God, You intended for our salvation to be more than Christ dying for us, but that He also lives in and through us (2 Peter 1:3). He lives in us by Your Spirit and He helps us to understand who we are, not as a human being, but as Your child (Galatians 2:20). Help us to live for Your purposes and not our own goals and dreams (Philippians 1:21). We look forward to Jesus returning again to bring us to Himself (Titus 2:12-13).

 

Thought for the Day:

Denying our self is essential to spiritual freedom.

 

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

In John 13, we read about Jesus preparing for Calvary. He met with His apostles and washed their feet. He shared His last supper with them. Then, Jesus assured His apostles that He would give them anything they needed in order to carry out their work of the gospel (John 14:13-14, 15:16, 16:23-24, 16:26). His best promise was of our continued relationship with Him and a deeper relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).

 

Jesus guaranteed His disciples a home in heaven, and prayer as a tool of communicating with Him, the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth, His future return for His Bride and then His second coming with His Bride. After the last supper, Judas left the room on his way to fulfill his destiny of betrayal, impetuous Peter made a bold statement of faith in Christ, and Jesus prophesied that Peter would deny Him three times.

The same Jewish people, who lauded Jesus as King when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, insisted on His crucifixion and death. They ultimately did not recognize Him as their Messiah. However, the fact that Jesus is God is indisputable (Hebrews 1:4-14). Eye witness accounts and even secular historians document the fact that He lived, died and rose again in order to free us from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). Now, He fulfills the role as our High Priest in Heaven (Hebrews 2:17,3:1).

Jesus already went through the veil of death. He can sympathize with every trial and temptation we ever experience on earth, because He already suffered these same issues (Hebrews 2:5-18). Even living back in His glory in Heaven, He is always involved in our daily life, because He lives in us (Acts 7:55; Colossians 1:27). Jesus is the first fruits of the children of God (James 1:18). We are coheirs with Him of the glory of God (Romans 8:17). He ministers in Heaven on our behalf as our advocate (1 John 2:1).

This all gives us confidence in our faith, because He provides us with His mercy and grace (Hebrews 11:1). Jesus described his relationship with us as the Vine and the branches (John 15:1-8). His life flows through us each moment of our life. He did not leave us helpless on this earth, but provided the Holy Spirit to comfort and indwell us (John 14:16,17). The Bible is full of prophecies and promises about and by Jesus that give us hope for our resurrection.

 

We stake our spiritual life on these prophecies, and we live in abundant life because of His promises (2 Peter 1:4). God also gave us His Word to settle disputes of dogma (Matthew 21:42). He uses it to increase His spiritual influence in our life, and to give us hope for the future (Mark 11:17; Jeremiah 20:11). His Word is a light and a lamp, which gives us direction and clarifies our walk in Him (Psalm 119:105). His Word endures forever (1 Peter 1:25).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the assurances You gave Your apostles comforted their fearful hearts when You promised that their sorrow at Your loss would soon turn to joy (John 16:20).  After a time of agonizing prayer in the garden, You concluded with the words, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Your submission to the Father is an example to us of how to live a life of victory and joy, regardless of our circumstances. As we submit to our Father’s will for our own life, we will gain eternal life through You.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus employed the Bible to resist temptation and He gave us this example to employ in our life as well. - Matthew 4:4,7,10

 

 

 

The Problem with Problems

 

Many Christians are not happy. They are overloaded with their problems. They see no joy in life and they are overwhelmed with stress and trials. They rush off to work, rush through work and rush home after work, falling into an exhausted sleep each night, getting up way too early to care for the needs of their family and then starting the same behavior all over again. Like a hamster on a wheel, they frantically run; yet never get anywhere, accomplishing very little, and ending up in the hospital with physical and psychosomatic illnesses.

That is the problem with problems. They are inescapable. Our obsession with them keeps our eyes off Jesus. We often attempt to ignore our problems, denying their existence, minimizing their importance in our life or blaming them on everyone else. We falsely believe that if we had more money, a better mate or job, or fewer problems, then we would be happier. We try to get rid of them, but then new ones pop up! That is when we beg God to free us from them, or to solve them for us.

Jesus uses our trials to convert us into a new creation. His Spirit transforms us into His image day by day throughout our lifetime, using our trials and temptations to perfect us. He replaces our carnal nature with His  nature, which is the fruit of His Spirit. We receive eternal life from that first moment of Salvation; and we walk more fully in this eternal life as we come to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17:3). God’s Spirit within us enables us to experience pure joy in Jesus.

The Bible tells us that we can traverse trials of every kind with God’s joy. This is because when our faith is tested, we develop perseverance, which works maturity and perfection in us, so that we lack nothing (James 1:2-4). God uses these opportunities to fine-tune our faith and to draw us closer to His heart. He encourages us to enter into His rest and to depend on Him (Hebrews 4:10). He proves His love, power and authority to us by working out every negative circumstance for our good (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, when You put us to the test, we fail unless we cling to Your hand and walk through them with our focus on Your face (Isaiah 26:3). Your power and authority over the prince of the power of the air delivers us from anything Satan uses to discourage us or bring us down. When we attempt to escape one problem, we usually end up in the midst of several more. Teach us to trust in You and to walk in Your Spirit every moment of the day.

Thought for the Day:

Facing our problems with prayer allows us to see God in the midst of them.

A Contented Heart

When we suffer, we often accuse God, as if it is entirely His fault that we are inconvenienced. As if He caused it. However, we can put suffering in its proper perspective, when we see that Jesus also suffered. He suffered for our sins. He was made perfect through His suffering. Everyone suffers physically, mentally, emotionally or financially in one way or another. Only those who turn to God, however, will also receive His comfort and grace during our trouble (Romans 8:28).

God gives us eternal life from the moment we come to Him in salvation (John 17:3). Therefore, we can give Him thanks regardless of our circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This thankfulness gives us a happy life, even if we are experiencing unhappy conditions (Psalm 103:5). Our situation in life does not define our character or our identity. We can live above these natural issues, by finding our strength and joy in Christ who is our all in all (Colossians 1:17).

Having a Godly attitude along with contentment helps us to grow in Christ (1Timothy 6:6). We brought nothing into this world, and we must leave everything behind. Therefore, we find our contentment in God’s provision of food and clothing (1Timothy 6:8). God gives us everything we need to find joy, even in our tribulation. He also uses our discomfort to comfort others. Having worldly riches and a love of money presents a trap and a temptation. They cause us to entertain many worldly desires, which may plunge us into ruin and destruction.

God encourages us to pursue eternal life and to flee from worldly gain. Instead, he wants us to seek His holiness, faith, love, gentleness and endurance to run the race (1 Timothy 6:6-12). Possessing Christ is the main ingredient in living a joyful life (Romans 5:3). His grace is all we really need to have power, which is perfected in our weakness. He teaches us contentment even in the face of insults, sorrow, trouble and persecution for Christ’s sake. Christ in us is strong even in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Dishonest gain is a reproach, as is greed and materialism (Luke 3:14). If we covet our neighbors’ possessions, the envy will rot our bones; but a contented heart gives life to our body, as well as to our soul and spirit (Proverbs 14:30). As we respect and obey the Lord, He leads us into life and godliness, so that we can rest in contentment so sweet that we are not even disturbed by trouble anymore (Proverbs 19:23). As we serve the Lord first, He provides everything we need (Psalm 34:10; Matthew 6:33).

Prayer:

Father God, teach us to be content no matter what situation we encounter. Help us to prosper in spirit even in humble physical means; and keep us humble in prosperous physical means as well. Christ in us provides the inner strength to endure any hardship (Philippians 4:11-13). Christ in us is our only true source of contentment. Remind us to walk in Your ways and to seek Your face, and You will provide everything we need.

Thought for the Day:

Like Job, we will find that God will provide for us more than we ever lost through our trials and tribulation.