Blessing upon Blessing

Ephesians 1:3-14

This portion of scripture paints a vivid picture of the exceedingly great blessings the Father heaps on those who love Him. In verse three, we read that the Father has “…blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” As Christians, we are blessed beyond measure. Think about what that means! God has opened the Heavenly store house of blessings to us, giving us free access to His strength, wisdom, love, whatever we need He will provide!

In verse four we read that God chose us “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” This is one of those spiritual blessings. To be holy and without blame before Him means that He has cleansed us from all iniquity and no longer remembers our past sins! But there’s more…

Verse five tells us that He has “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself.” What an enviable position, to be called sons of the Most High, not merely servants!

Added to that is verse seven, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…” We are not only sons, without blame and holy, but we are forgiven of all our sins as well, and redeemed from our former life of slavery to sin – redeemed to His service!

But God is not done yet! “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…” The Father not only adopted us as sons, but He treats us as real sons in that He has given us an inheritance in Christ! It sounds too good to be true… but it is true!

Not only that, but we are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (verses 13 & 14) All praise be unto Him Who has redeemed us! God left nothing to chance, or for us to mess up… He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit to ensure that we will receive this inheritance!

Wow! Blessing upon blessing, gift upon gift, glory upon glory! How great is the Father’s love toward us. All blessing and glory and honor be unto HIM, the Only, Wise GOD! Whatever He does, He does with extravagance. And His wonderful plan for the redemption of fallen man is no different. When God does something, He does it thoroughly, perfectly, and generously.

God didn’t have to provide a way for us to be ransomed and set free from the monster we let loose on ourselves. He certainly didn’t have to pay the ransom – give His own life – for us. He didn’t have to forgive our sin… but He did. And He didn’t stop there, “As it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” (1 Cor. 2:9 NKJV) God’s plan of salvation goes far beyond anything we could have ever dreamed of. He could have stopped with the forgiveness of sins, and made us slaves in His house, but instead He adopted us as His sons and daughters. He could have stopped with making us adopted children, but He went on to give us an inheritance, as begotten children receive. To top it off, He has sealed us “with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance…”

Praise be unto Him Who sits on the throne, Who is the beginning and the end, Who always was and always will be, Who is all-powerful, and Who’s love is as big as HE is! Praise the one true God, Creator and supreme ruler of the universe! Praise GOD!

What is Sin?

God created everything in the world (John 1:3), except evil or sin. Sin appeared when what was created for good was twisted and used in rebellion against God. Lucifer was originally created as God’s chief musician, which is a very high calling; perhaps even the very highest of callings, for he led Heaven in praising, worshiping, and exalting God – which is the greatest good any created being can ever do. But Lucifer became puffed up with pride in his exalted position, and, forgetting his place entirely, rebelled against his Creator.

All sin is against God. It can also be against other humans and even ourselves; but, ultimately – no matter what the crime – when we sin, we sin against God, because we have taken something that He originally created for good and tried to twist it around to use against Him. Now, a Christian may not do this knowingly, but in reality – if we really stop to think about it – by doing something we know is wrong we choose to go against God, to do something of which He does not approve.

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:13-15 NKJV) “For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16 NKJV) Sin is the result of a choice or series of choices to yield to the evil desires of the old man, or “first Adam” (i.e. Adamic nature). This does not mean that all natural desires are evil. In fact, God created us with natural desires that, when properly fulfilled, can bring us much innocent pleasure. It is when we seek to fulfill these desires in ways that God did not intend that we fall into sin. These desires become evil when they are twisted and aimed in the wrong direction.

God is Moving!

Praise God for His goodness, and for His wonderful works among the children of men! On Saturday, May 22, I asked Mariela to marry me… and she said, “Yes, with all my heart!” I am in awe. I am unworthy. I am humbled and grateful for God’s love for me and work in my life; and for Mari’s pure, faithful, supportive love and acceptance. God is so good… and I am so blessed! I’ve shed many a tear of gratitude to God for bringing Mari into my life.

Things are happening!

Guess what! *beams*

(It looks like we’re holding hands, but we’re actually not… :P :D)

The date on the picture is the day we “went public”. lol

Sadly, this is the best picture I have of the two of us. I look almost retarded. :( Oh well… she makes up for it. :) :) :)

Her name is Mariela, by the way, and she’s from Bolivia, originally. She was adopted by a family in our church. God works in marvelous ways!

What God Can Do

Jeremiah 46:13-28

Vs. 1 – “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; proclaim in Noph and in Taphanhes; say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves, for the sword devours all around you.’ “

[Our Father in Heaven wants to do a work in our lives, but it won’t be easy. We must stand fast in the Lord and prepare ourselves for the battle that will be waged all around our souls.]

Vs. 2 – “Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand because the Lord drove them away.”

[There are “valiant men” in our lives, in whom we have trusted, who are going to be done away with. I do not speak of actual men, but desires of the heart, motivations, or dreams we have trusted in.]

Vs. 3 – “He made many fall; yes, one fell upon another. And they said, ‘Arise! Let us go back to our own people and to the land of our nativity from the oppressing sword.’ “

Vs. 4 – “They cried there, ‘Pharoah, King of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!’ “

[The Lord will drive the oppressors away, and they will go and not return. Pharoah, their leader, is but a noise. Though our dreams may seem very important to us, and seem secure, they are nothing but vapor. Yet, at the same time, they keep us in bondage, so that we can’t live in God’s perfect will or serve our Lord with everything we have and everything we are.]

Vs. 20 – “Egypt is a very pretty heifer, but destruction comes, it comes from the north.”

[Many times our dreams are very beautiful: dreams of a godly spouse and Christ-centered home; of reaching the lost and starting churches on the foreign mission field; of starting a Christ-centered orphanage or homeless shelter… the list could go on. But even a beautiful dream can be an oppressor if we begin to place our confidence in the dream instead of in the Lord.]

Vs. 27 & 28 - "But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; no one shall make him afraid. Do not fear, oh Jacob My servant," says the LORD, "For I am with you; for I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, for I will not leave you wholly unpunished."

[Though God may take away something that we are very fond of, we can be assured that He is working to bring glory to His name and beauty to our lives. He is our Heavenly Father, and He loves us; and because He loves us, He will correct us when we’re wrong. But no matter what you’re going through, or what you’re losing or giving up… even if your world seems to be falling apart, and the sword devours all around you… remember that God is bigger than anything that’s happening to you, and He will make good come out of it in the end, if you let Him.]

Hi again.

Well, I'm back (in a limited sort of way). I decided I did not want to cut the internet completely out, as I still wanted email, blog, and bank access and such. I think though that I will only get on once or twice a week. Besides, the family I will be moving in with in NC, Lord willing, has not been able to get internet at their house anyway, and I will have to go to a library or something to access the web once I'm down there.

So anyway, I guess I'm not leaving after all. :) Hopefully God will give me something edifying to blog about again soon. God bless!

A Decision

After many lost battles of wasting time doing nothing, and realizing that the internet and computer seem to totally sap me of what little motivation I have, I have come to the conclusion that I will have to quit getting on the computer and internet completely. I have tried to limit it, but that resolve only lasted for a time and afterward I was wasting as much time as before. I don't know what else to do, for the computer magnifies what, in my eyes, is one of my greatest shortcomings - laziness. So, I have finally decided that the best thing for now is simply to quit, cold turkey, boom, ya no mas. I'm not saying I'll stay off from now on, but I probably won't get on for a while, by God's grace... not even to check my email... I think I'm going to delete it.

Ya'll please pray for me, I'm really struggling... seeing a lot of areas in my life that are infected with selfishness. May God help me.

Faith and Obedience

I always heard people talk about how faith and works are inseparable, that we can't have one without the other and we shouldn't preach one without the other. But I guess it never really sank in what that means. What does James mean in chapter two of his epistle when he talks about works? Somehow, the concept was never more than a vague sense of doing good works because of our faith in God.

Recently, however, the Lord opened my eyes to what "works" actually is. To start with, James 2:14-26 says,

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

Now let's go to the story of Abraham mentioned there in James. It is found in Genesis 22:1-18, but the verses I want to focus on are 1-3,

"Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him."

As we see here, Abraham's response was unquestioning obedience in faith that what God had said about Isaac being the child of promise was true, and that God would even raise Isaac from the dead to keep His promise. So the "works" mentioned in James is, in truth, Abraham's obedience. That is what James means when he talks about works... obedience. And so it hit me how important obedience really is. Basically, if we don't obey God it means that we don't love or trust God. Conversely, if we have faith in God we will obey Him.

Many seem to have a disconnect between faith and obedience. We seem to be under the impression that "faith" is more important than works, or obedience. What we so easily forget, and what James emphatically states, is that works is such an integral part of faith that, if works or obedience are absent, our "faith" is not faith at all but simply belief that God exists. Faith without works is dead, meaningless, useless. There is a big difference between believing that there is a God and having faith in God. To believe is simply an acknowledgment of the truth, according to James. But to have faith is to accompany belief with works, or obedience to God's commands. In John 14:21 Jesus says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Obedience is the proof that we truly love God and have faith in Him.

A Prayer... and Some Encouragement.

I have been feeling so dry lately, and I'm not even sure why. It's distressing to read the Bible and not get any inspiration from it. Oh how I want a fresh outpouring of God's Spirit on my heart and life.

Oh Lord, pour Your Rivers of Living Water through me. Use me to bless others. Forgive me for my sins, create a clean heart in me, restore the joy of my Salvation to me. For Your Name's sake, Lord! I will praise You, oh Lord, for Your wonderful works to the children of men. I will exalt You, oh my God, for You are great, awe-inspiring, majestic and holy; and You alone are worthy of exaltation and praise and honor and worship and glory forever and ever, AMEN! Father God, Your Glory is inconceivable... You dwell in unapproachable light! Your Power and Majesty and Holiness are fearsome, and Your Love and Mercy and Patience are infinite and unfathomable!

Oh, how great is the depth of the riches of Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom we have become partakers of those riches of His Glory! Praise the King Eternal for His loving kindness which He has shown toward us in making us children, friends, even brothers, and has made us fellow heirs together with Him! Praise Him!

The Greatness of God

I don't think we truly grasp how great and HUGE and awe-inspiring our God is! Sometimes we do get a little bit bigger picture of God, though, and it totally blows us away. Like the sermon I watched recently by Louie Giglio, "How Great is Our God". I watched it at a young adult retreat I went to, over Labor Day weekend, hosted by Don and Vickie Howe. As Don Howe was giving the introduction to the DVD, he was talking about how powerful it was and how, after his family got done watching it for the first time, they sat in complete silence for about 30 minutes, unable to say anything. At first I thought maybe he was talking about the presentation from the planetarium at the Creation Museum, and was kind of smiling to myself at having already seen it. Then they played the DVD. After it was finished, the WHOLE ROOM was silent for a long time. I don't know about anyone else (it didn't seem to matter that there was anyone else), but there were tears running down my cheeks as I watched the DVD, and I found myself weeping and on my face before the Lord as soon as I could get away from the others. Never in my life have I been so affected by a sermon or movie as with that one. I think everyone needs to see it.

In this DVD, Mr. Giglio talks about some of the stars that they have found out there... massive, huge, gigantic flaming orbs that boggle the mind with their size. And to think that all the stars, from the biggest to the smallest, were created by our vast, infinite God! Giglio mentions a verse that says something to the effect that God breathed the stars into existence. Imagine... God is so huge He simply breathes these unbelievably enormous balls of fire into space exactly where He wants them! We serve a great and awesome God!

Bible Reading

Have you ever tried taking however much time is needed to read through one whole epistle in a single sitting? I've found it to be a very interesting and effective way to better understand the book as a whole. For instance: when I read Galatians I see a theme of freedom from the law, liberty in Christ, and walking in and guarding that freedom. In Ephesians, I see a theme of unity: unity in the brotherhood, unity in the family, and our example of unity, God himself.

Speaking of unity, it seems that Christians have had a real problem in that department for a long time. Why else would we have a dozen different churches in one town, and who knows how many different denominations around the world? What's more, each denomination has a little different set of beliefs than the rest of them, and so feels that it cannot fellowship with the others. But is doctrine what saves us from our sins? True, it is important to know what you believe - what is true and what is false. But is it everything? On the contrary, doctrine is nothing without Christ! Jesus Christ is all in all, our salvation, and the only way to the Father.

The Bible says that we have access to the Father through one Spirit. If this is so, should any true Christian refuse to fellowship with any other true Christian? I don't think so. I'm not promoting the ecumenical movement, by any means, but I think true Christians need to recognize each other as such and band together in prayer in one accord.

"Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas,' or 'I am of Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)

When we lose sight of Christ, we lose sight of reality. When this happens, we begin to accept strange doctrines that have no support in the Bible. The result is division in the body of Christ. But if we keep our focus on the Lord and His Word, and allow His Spirit to open our understanding of His Word, we will continue to walk in unity, and great things will happen.

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:11-16)

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Fasting and Prayer

I've been thinking about prayer and fasting a lot lately. There is so much to think about with a subject like this. Some may argue the importance of fasting, or what the best way is to pray. I believe both need to be an integral part of our lives.

Recently, I went to Mexico to work with a missionary who was working in that field. I learned a lot while I was there about the discipline it takes to fast regularly and to pray often and hard. While I was there I joined him in fasting twice a week and having a prayer service morning and evening. And I sensed a greater level of spiritual vitality while I was doing that. I didn't really feel a difference, but I could see it because I was able - by God's grace - to pour myself out in greater ways than I had ever imagined before. Now maybe I should have maintained that rigid schedule, but I didn't really feel the need to when I got back home. I do, however, still try to start each day early to leave plenty of time to commune with the Lord and read His Word. I also try to fast one day a week. I'm not as faithful as I should be, but with God's help I want to improve.

I think, though, that we are often motivated by the wrong reason in fasting and spending more time with God. It hit me, in fact, only just now... as I was writing this post! What we fail to realize sometimes is that we need to draw closer to God and discipline ourselves, not for our own good, but so we can pour ourselves out more and more for the sake of the kingdom of God. Remember what I said earlier about being able to pour myself out in greater ways than ever before, and that I couldn't really feel a difference? I think I couldn't feel a difference because, as God poured more of His life into me, I was pouring more of that life out for His kingdom. I believe that is the whole point of disciplining ourselves to much prayer and fasting. We must be "channels" for God to pour His life through and out to those around us.

Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down.

I like being on top of a mountain. It's so beautiful... peaceful...serene. Whenever I come to the top, I like to sit and drink in the beauty and majesty of God's creation. It's a lot the same way in our spiritual lives, as well. We like to be "on top of the world", where we can more easily see the "big picture". When we are on the mountain of spiritual victory, we can take a little time to acknowledge that God has been working in our lives and to thank Him for the spiritual growth we see.

But it isn't so easy to see the Lord's hand in our lives when we are in the valley. From above, the valley looks beautiful because we can see it from God's perspective. But when we descend from the mountain into that lush growth, we find that the path is choked with weeds, trees darken the path, and it is easy to stumble and fall. At times like this it is easy to get discouraged and think it isn't worth the trouble. But God knows the end from the beginning, and He is using this difficult trial to make you beautiful.