Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Paul is preaching a death to self, but it is very important to notice how this death took place. Paul was dead through what Jesus did. Paul experienced this death by simply reckoning what had already happened through Christ to be so (Ro 6:11).
There are people today who have taken the "dying to self" doctrine to an extreme, and instead of being free of self, they are totally self-centered. They constantly think of self. It may be in all negative terms, but it is still self-centered. A truly humble person is one who is Christ-centered. Dying to self is not a hatred for self but rather a love of Christ more than self.
There are false religions that preach a denial of self. The legalistic Jews Paul was preaching against did that. Paul was not just dead to self, he was alive to God. A focus on the denial of self without the enthronement of Christ leads to legalism.
Paul's "old man" was dead through Christ (Ro 6:2-11). Now he was truly free to live, but it wasn't actually Paul who was living. It was Christ living through him. Paul had learned the secret of victorious Christian living. It is not us living for Jesus, but Jesus living through us.
Failure to understand this simple truth is at the root of all legalism and performance mentality. The law focuses on the outer man and tells it what it must do. Grace focuses on the inner man and tells it what is already done through Christ. Those who are focused on what they must do are under law. Those who are focused on what Christ has done for them are walking under grace.
Notice that Paul didn't say he was living by faith in the Son of God. He said, "I live by the faith OF the Son of God." He used this same terminology twice in verse 16. We were so spiritually bankrupt that we couldn't even believe for salvation with our own faith. We had to use God's supernatural faith (Eph 2:8) that came to us as a gift through hearing God's Word (Ro 10:17).
I don't believe it is wrong to say we put faith in the Son of God, but Paul was clearly stating that he was living by the faith OF Jesus. Paul said this same thing twice just a few verses earlier (Ga 2:16).
Paul was using the faith OF Jesus. Where did he get it? The same place every born-again believer receives it. He got it from God's Word (Ro 10:17), and it thereafter resides in the spirit of every believer (Ga 5:22-23). Ro 12:3 says every believer has been given THE measure of faith. There aren't different measures but only ONE. Since the Apostle Paul said the faith he was living by was "THE faith of the Son of God," then that must be THE measure given to every believer.
Many believers don't realize what they have, because this faith is in their born-again spirits. It can't be perceived with just carnal methods. They just have to trust the revelation given in God's spiritual mirror (Joh 6:63 and Jas 1:25). There isn't a lack of faith, just a lack of knowledge. (2Pe 1:3).
There is a human faith which is limited to believing only what we can perceive through our five senses, but the supernatural, God-kind of faith goes beyond what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. God's kind of faith calls those things which be not as though they already were (Ro 4:17; Ro 12:3).
The Christian life is not just hard to live--it's impossible to live in our human strength. The only way to walk in victory is to let Christ live through us.
Showing posts with label Good Will. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good Will. Show all posts
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The Word “Pen” is Mightier than the Sword
Proverbs 18:21
21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
This verse does not say that death and life and a lot of nonproductive words are in the power of our tongues. There are only two options. Every word we speak, or hear spoken, produces only death or life. Jesus said in Mt 12:36-37, "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
Many people who don't realize the power of their own words are talking themselves to death. They speak forth whatever negative thing they feel or have been told, and don't realize they are signing their own death warrants and because of their leadership they sign it for others also. One of the things in life has taught us is that everything roles downhill, from the leaders on down. We have been as a nation for the last four decades been taken granted for the words that we speak and how it teaches others through the years how to act. If the leaders do it, it must be okay for us to do it.
The bible teaches us that there are consequences for the words that we speak. The world says that “sticks and stones will break your bones and names will never hurt you. “ They are wrong on that account, many people have been wounded by the words someone spoke and the numbers are astronomical. We are now finding out that sticks and stones will break our bones for the words that we have spoken.
Matthew 12:37
37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
The Lord will use our words on the Day of Judgment to administer His justice. Our words are the true revelation of what's in our hearts (Mt 12:34 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks).
God will not accept the excuse "Oh, I didn't mean anything by that" when we stand before Him. We will be held accountable for our words. If we think about that, we will change our conversations.
As I heard our President of these United States on Wednesday January 12, 2011 speak one of the more powerful addresses that Mr. Obama has delivered as president, harnessing the emotion generated by the shock and loss from Saturday’s shootings in Arizona to urge Americans “to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully” and to “remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.”
The President mentions our words “At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do,” he said, “it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”
The bible teaches us to do the same, let us be leaders by leading by example.
21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
This verse does not say that death and life and a lot of nonproductive words are in the power of our tongues. There are only two options. Every word we speak, or hear spoken, produces only death or life. Jesus said in Mt 12:36-37, "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
Many people who don't realize the power of their own words are talking themselves to death. They speak forth whatever negative thing they feel or have been told, and don't realize they are signing their own death warrants and because of their leadership they sign it for others also. One of the things in life has taught us is that everything roles downhill, from the leaders on down. We have been as a nation for the last four decades been taken granted for the words that we speak and how it teaches others through the years how to act. If the leaders do it, it must be okay for us to do it.
The bible teaches us that there are consequences for the words that we speak. The world says that “sticks and stones will break your bones and names will never hurt you. “ They are wrong on that account, many people have been wounded by the words someone spoke and the numbers are astronomical. We are now finding out that sticks and stones will break our bones for the words that we have spoken.
Matthew 12:37
37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
The Lord will use our words on the Day of Judgment to administer His justice. Our words are the true revelation of what's in our hearts (Mt 12:34 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks).
God will not accept the excuse "Oh, I didn't mean anything by that" when we stand before Him. We will be held accountable for our words. If we think about that, we will change our conversations.
As I heard our President of these United States on Wednesday January 12, 2011 speak one of the more powerful addresses that Mr. Obama has delivered as president, harnessing the emotion generated by the shock and loss from Saturday’s shootings in Arizona to urge Americans “to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully” and to “remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.”
The President mentions our words “At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do,” he said, “it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”
The bible teaches us to do the same, let us be leaders by leading by example.
Friday, December 24, 2010
The King of kings
The King of kings
It's interesting that the Lord sent angels to announce the birth of Christ to shepherds. This was the greatest event in the history of the world, and it was proclaimed to some of the most humble of men. Why did the Lord bypass the "great" men of the day?
For one thing, God isn't impressed with the things men are impressed with. These shepherds may have been the great men of the day in God's eyes. Certainly, kings would have been afraid of a new king as Herod was. It could have been dangerous to let tyrants know of the birth.
Some scholars have thought that the time of Christ's birth was around the time of the Day of Atonement. Hence, these could have been temple shepherds that were keeping the sheep to be used as the sin sacrifice. Therefore, it would be appropriate for them to come inspect the Lamb of God to verify He was without blemish.
It could be as simple as the Lord chose the shepherds because His Son would be the great Shepherd of the sheep. Maybe they were the only ones who would listen to the announcement. At any rate, it was prophetic for these lowly shepherds to be chosen for the great announcement because Jesus would always associate with the common and the poor.
What an irony that the King of kings would be in a stable! I'm sure this was a puzzle to the shepherds. Yet, no earthly accommodations would have been adequate. Therefore, it really didn't matter where Jesus was born. Wherever it would have been would have been infinitely less than the glory He had with the Father. Jesus humbled Himself to become a man.
It's hard to imagine something like this happening and the shepherds not going to worship the Lord. Yet, today, people often hear this same proclamation and do nothing about it.
When we see the Lord for who He is, we will also make this known to everyone who will listen.
Luke 2:8-18 (NIV)
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Peace on Earth
Luke 2:14
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
If you look around you will see that there is no peace amongst people on earth. There are wars, fighting’s, government overthrows, pickets, demonstrations, fear, murders, protests, disputes, anarchy. Where is the peace in all of that? The peace that the heavenly host was singing about was not peace among men. It was peace between God and man. This can be clearly seen by looking at Jesus' statement in Mt 10:34, which says, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Although the Gospel has changed men's hearts, and there are many instances where this change has caused peace between men, that was not what the angels were praising God for. They were rejoicing that the war between God and man was over. As Isaiah prophesied, "Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins" (Isa 40:2).
Jesus bore our punishment so that we could be reconciled to God. This peace came through the blood sacrifice Jesus made on the cross (Col 1:20). God isn't angry anymore. All our sins--past, present, and future tense--were placed on Jesus, and now God can justly love us. God isn't mad. All of God's judgment against our sin was placed on Jesus (Joh 12:32). He's not even in a bad mood. God is a good God, and we are to have our feet shod with the preparation of this gospel of peace between God and man (Eph 6:15).
We now have a covenant of peace where God will never be angry with us again or rebuke us (Isa 54:9-10). We are supposed to shod our feet with this gospel of peace (Eph 6:15). Let peace reign, it has already started between God and you, it’s now time to celebrate and carry that peace to others.
Merry Christmas
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