Peace a fruit

When man fails us, we should not give up on them lest we give up on ourselves. We aught to sow in peace as a people who have been given peace, the fruit of righteousness. James 3:18 We should hope that through forgiveness, reconciliation and regeneration we may become better representatives of Him who has called us, reconciled us to the Father and regenerates us through the work of the Holy Spirit. We keep our trust in the Faithful One who keeps us, for there is none like Him, He is our shelter, our refuge and salvation! Anything less may be reason to believe we do not partake of such righteousness!

I have personally come across many “preachers” who say let people go or in other words if they don’t learn give up on them. Or if they leave then they never where part of us. As if that is what God shows us? Are we not to obey the words of Christ? Are we to live as children of righteousness or lawlessness? “Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.” James 3:12

Surely if we have received the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the same should be operating in us and made visible. Of course not as a work for salvation but rather the evidence of a righteousness in which we boast in for the glory of Christ our savior and Lord. For it is the work of the Spirit which moves us and guides us to all truth! “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come.” John 16:13

So next time you are about to give up on someone for coming up short, remember we all fall short! Romans 3:23

I believe; help my unbelief!

Sickness is not indicative that God has turned His wrath against you! Growing up I remember discussions amongst adults and how they would say God is punishing the sick person because they were in sin. Thank God I am free from that way of thinking.

Sicknesses can be due to many different reasons, one being obviously being sin. However, it isn’t Gods wrath but consequences of certain lifestyles and/or behaviors. Their is undoubtedly forgiveness available for a repented sinner however their is no assurance that physical healing will take place. That does not mean that God cannot or will not heal but that it Is entirely up to our sovereign God to determine whether or not He wills it.

We should take on the responsibility of presenting ourselves through faith in prayer before Him. Putting our faith into action. Though we may pray as the boys father in Mark 9 when he said to Jesus; “I believe, help my unbelief!” The important part is showing up in prayer.

It seems confusing and it may very well be just what he was feeling, confusion! Clearly the father believed that Jesus could do it but maybe he doubted that He would do it? Which would explain the unbelief. There are times when I find myself in prayer knowing that their is nothing impossible for God yet wondering if it is Gods will to do so at that very moment in what we call time.

What ever his unbelief was I am sure Jesus seen his faith, enough faith that he would take his son to where Jesus was for healing/deliverance, in hopes that He would be moved to heal the boy. Clearly the choice to do so was Jesus’, just as it would be today for you if He decided to heal you. But please know if He does not heal you it does not mean He does not love you. On the contrary He gave His life so that no matter the outcome after death LIFE Eternal will be waiting for us all. That saints is the greatest HOPE of ALL!

So, be persistent in prayer. Do not give up and remember to always pray for His will to be done, for the glory of His name! Amén!

Faith, Hope and Love

Faith, Hope and Love….These remain while all else fades away.

Faith, Hope and Love….Heaven and earth will pass away but His words will still remain.

Faith, Hope and Love….Seasons will come and go but these three are hear to stay.

Faith, Hope and Love….Though in part we now see, the perfect is on it’s way.

Faith, Hope and Love….They remain, they remain, they remain!

Faith, Hope and Love….The greater being Love!

The greatest which is Love….You can find it in the book of John in it’s 3rd chapter 16th verse!

Because of that Love, you may know love have faith and hope and together with them remain!

All else will fade away……………………….

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV)

Surrendered Life

December 25th has gone into being a part of history and soon to join it is 2012. This question confronted me and I wonder if it would you as well. The question was;

How much of yourself do you truly give to God?

Before you answer the obvious, please know I don’t pretend to know you or assume you will struggle with the same confronting feeling I did, which was… “That’s obvious, all of me” but is it the truth? Can we honestly say we give all ourselves away for His Purpose and Glory?

You may come up with a higher percentage of surrender than I and I encourage you to continue the course and help anyone else you see in need of encouragement, so that 2013 would be a year of greater surrender. A year in which we willingly attribute all glory to God. That we would not think of ourselves more than we aught to. That in fact will be my first step toward accomplishing this surrender…what is yours?

I mean if we profess to be in HIM and we are not surrendering to His will then we most likely are not producing good fruit and if He is the vine and we are not connected branches, chances are we will be cut off and thrown in the fire. Although, the Father will receive His glory, unfortunately, those thrown in the fire will not partake of the Fathers Love! John 15:5-8 We must understand that He is The One who chooses us and sanctifies us, however, we also as Paul says and I often quote must work “OUT” our salvation with fear and trembling. Phil 2:12

So again I ask What do you need to surrender in order for your life to produce good fruit? Chances are if we have not surrendered that “sin” we may run the risk of being burned. Read what the Word of God says about sin and those who practice it.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9

What is your first step toward a more surrendered life?

Grace Alone!

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. John 14:21

It is simple to confuse Works Righteousness with Grace. I mean after all we all want to do good don’t we? Well, maybe not everyone does but most of us do.

So what is the fine line? What determines whether or not we are Works Righteousness driven or Grace driven? The answer my friend is simply complicated! It is LOVE! Love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! That, is what makes the difference.

Yes everyone says they do but the word says that by their fruits we can tell. Matt 7:16 I see it like this, I love God and because I have accepted Christ as my savior through repentance which means His Grace should now be operating in me. But, is it that easy? Yes and No! Yes because we cannot work hard enough to fulfil the law to receive Grace which is why Christ came humbling Himself to save man from Gods wrath. So by faith in Christ we are saved by Grace. But Paul says something very interesting and its this; “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” Phil 2:12 which is easily confused by many Christians to mean work in order to be saved and if that were the case then we disregard the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, His resurrection and that He is now at the right hand of the father.

So what did Paul mean? Thanks for asking! He actually meant what he said, work it out. Run the race and by doing so you do not earn salvation but by it you demonstrate that you are of Christ. That you do so because of the Grace you have received and not because you are trying to obtain it or maintain it. That is the function of Grace!

So you see by even insinuating that our good works have the ability of saving us, may be considered blasphemous and that my beloved is a dangerous position to be in. Kind of like still being dead in our sins. Simply, because it means we esteem our works more than Christ and Complicated because that means we are in serious Idolatry! Of which God Himself said; “I am the Lord your God, You shall have no other gods before me, You shall not make for yourself an idol.” Exodus 20:2-3 If this were to be the case our worship would be an adulterated worship. One which God detests.

So remember Grace says you “get to” out of gratitude because of what you already received, unlike work righteousness which says you “have to” out of pride, in order to receive. Grace, is free of our own works because Christ paid it all!

Making the end result that we in turn are loved by the Father and by Christ and obviously by the Holy Spirit dwelling within. Not only that, we also become partakers of the promise of Him showing Himself to us. All by Grace alone!