I Delight in Weaknesses

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses,
in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10

The literal translation of this verse adds a startling em-
phasis to it, allowing it to speak for itself with power
we have probably never realized. It is as follows:
"Therefore I take pleasure in being without strength,
being insulted, experiencing emergencies, and being
chased and forced into a corner for Christ's sake; for
when I am without strength, I am dynamite."

The secrete of knowing God's complete sufficiency is
in coming to the end of everything in ourselves and
our circumstances. Once we reach this point, we will
stop seeking sympathy for our difficult situation or ill
treatment, because we will recognize these things as
the necessary conditions for blessings. We will then
turn from our circumstances to God, realizing they are
the evidence of Him working in our lives. 

- A B Simpson

George Matheson says this: "Teach me, O Lord, to
glory in my cross. Teach me the value of my thorns.
Show me how I have climbed to You through the path
of pain. Show me it is through my tears I have seen
my rainbows.

The Forgotten Man!

Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep {me} from harm, that {it} may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested. --I Chronicles 4:10

One fellow in the Bible prayed, his request was granted, and we never hear from Jabez again! Why? This is an awesome example of choice. Every creature other than man lives under compulsion. The caterpillar must become a butterfly; the tadpole must become a frog. Man can choose what he will become. He can choose earthly comfort or he can choose maturity. Jabez chose comfort. His choice is in stark contrast to the choices made by men we continually read about in the Bible. Listen to Solomon’s choice (II Chronicles 1:10), “Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can rule this great people of Thine?” The result followed in verses 11 and 12, “And God said to Solomon,‘Because you had this in mind, and did not ask for riches, wealth, or honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor have you even asked for long life, but you have asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge, that you may rule My people, over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. And I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings who were before you has possessed, nor those who will come after you.’” What would you be, a Jabez or a Solomon? Both were God-worshippers, both lived upright lives, but they made different choices.Look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who never sought an earthly kingdom, freedom from pain, or to be delivered from trouble. Because of this, His kingdom will endure forever, by His stripes we are healed, and Life (capital L) came out of death.Again, what do we want? The frightening thing is that we can have what we want.

Comfort or Maturity.  Two choices.  Our choices lead us in specific directions.  They are more important than most give credence or concern (carefulness in making the decisions) to.

- Mike Wells

Greatly Rejoice

Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a
season, if needs be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. 1 Peter 1:6

Receive every inward and outward trouble, every
disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation,
darkness and desolation with both hands as a true
opportunity and blessed occasion of dying to
self, and entering into fuller fellowship with thy
self-denying and suffering Savior. Look at no
inward or outward trouble in any other way. Re-
ject every other thought about it, then every kind
of trial and distress will be the blessed day of
thy prosperity.   

- William Law1680-1761
Law was an English writer whose major work
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life con-
tinues to inspire Christians today.

Faith must pass through the furnace--it will not
do to say that we trust in the Lord, we must prove
that we do, and that when everything is against
us.

- CH Mackintosh 1820-1896
Was one of the early and most prolific Brethren
writers. Still widely read.

Fallen from Grace

What the Bible Says

The Bible does use the expression “fallen from grace” or “fallen away from grace,” but its meaning is very different from what we have seen. Contrary to the common but erroneous notions of what it means to fall from grace, the Bible clearly says, “You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). The Bible does not say that those who have sinned by breaking a law or transgressing a moral code have fallen from grace. Nor does it associate falling from grace with losing one’s salvation. (For much more information about the impossibility of losing one’s salvation, read the booklet Perseverance of the Saints: Once Saved, Always Saved? downloadable from this page.)

Those “who desire to be justified by the law” are the ones who have fallen away from grace. In other words, Paul is not saying anything about falling from God’s favor because of a moral failure. He is speaking about falling away from reliance upon grace and into the error of reliance upon the law.

The concept is really quite simple. If you are looking to the law, you have turned from grace. You can’t have both at the same time: “For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Analyze that verse. You cannot be under law and under grace at the same time (if you think that Christians must at least be under the law of Christ, see “Are We Under the Law of Christ?“). Romans 6:14 also logically means that, if we are under law, sin does have dominion over us. Because the law is contrary to our natural inclinations (Colossians 2:14), relying on the law results in more sin (Romans 7:5-9; 1 Corinthians 15:56), and turning from the law to grace completely ends sin’s rule over us (Romans 6:14).

Wouldn’t this mean, then, that falling from grace and relying on the law would cause us to lose our salvation? No! If someone, despite past professions of faith, reveals that he or she is really trusting in the works of the law and never turns from this, that person was never really saved. In appearance, such a person may look like he or she has fallen from grace, but that person was never really under grace in the first place.

On the other hand, one of God’s elect, even after confessing faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, might temporarily slip into a mindset of trying to keep the law (often after hearing law-keeping touted by a legalist preacher). Paul pulls no punches in Galatians 5:4 about the state of this person while seeking righteousness from the law. He or she is katērgēthēte apo tou Christou—literally “idled down away from Christ.”

An elect person who falls from grace will ultimately and finally turn back and put his or her trust entirely in God’s unmerited favor given freely through Jesus Christ alone. In the meantime, however, while he or she is turned to the law, he or she is turned away from Christ and rendered powerless and useless. Why? Because, just like trying to power a cell phone with a dead battery, this person is putting his or her trust in something that is powerless and useless—the law.

It is a tragedy when brothers and sisters fall from grace and waste part of the time they have in this life “idled down.” That’s why we should pray for them, do what we can to restore them to full trust in Christ alone, and not shy away from exposing those who preach the false gospel of reliance on the law.

No More Hungry Hearts

 When Jesus came, he confronted the lie that we can fill our hungry hearts through doing things to acquire life on our own. The fact that God himself became a human and died for our sin reveals that we do not have the ability to satiate our hunger. If we had the ability, it wouldn’t have been necessary for God to go to this radical extreme. Jesus reveals that, despite our sin, God remained desperately in love with us and as a result opened up the way for us to enter into the eternal relationship that will actually fill us.

In Jesus, we discover the unsurpassable and unconditional worth, significance, and security our hungry hearts were created to enjoy. And thus we are empowered to break our miserable addiction to idols (see previous post).

For most, this occurs like the growth of a mustard plant, which starts from the smallest seed. Jesus taught:

Jesus said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” (Mark 4:30-32)

Just as God’s kingdom begins as a mustard seed and slowly grows to take over the whole earth, so the kingdom begins as a mustard seed in our own life and gradually grows to take over our entire existence. We become citizens of the kingdom the moment we genuinely surrender our lives, but we experience and manifest the true life of the kingdom as we learn to yield to him on a daily basis.

This means that our hunger is filled by Jesus as we grow in our ability to allow him to fill it. As the kingdom grows in us, our addiction to idols wanes, and therefore the idols lose their power and appeal. When a person truly is filled by the experience of unsurpassable worth as a child of the King, what could all the wealth, power, sex, or fame in the world possibly offer?

To the extent that our longing for worth, significance, and security is satisfied by our relationship with Christ, our hearts crave nothing and fear nothing. We are literally a people who have nothing to gain and nothing to lose.

While others live out of the emptiness that forces them to acquire and protect their idols, those who seek the kingdom aim to grow in the fullness of Christ that frees them to live with abandon as they focus on carrying out God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven.”

May your life be found in Christ today!

—Adapted from The Myth of a Christian Religion, pages 41-43

- Greg Boyd

The Flesh, The Great Equalizer

. . . and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. --Romans 8:8

I used to hate my flesh; I could only see it as the enemy. If only I did not have it. I was looking forward to the day when I could slough it off, being free at last. Much has changed. I no longer hate my flesh; I accept the need for it and the wisdom of God in putting me in the flesh, for it keeps me near to Him. For that reason alone I would be grateful for it. If I move but a bit from Him, my flesh returns, I get miserable, and I go running back.Who could really hate such a thing? The flesh is also the great equalizer. A “great” man can be preaching, move into the flesh, and instantly he is no better than the bum he may be looking down on. I have watched a “great man” in a restaurant when the meal is not as he ordered it. There is an explosion and unkind words. Instantly he must reckon with his roots; he, too, is flesh. There are no “great men,” but little men with a great God. See how the flesh equalizes, keeps us humble, and therefore, keeps us safe?

God spoke through the Apostle Paul to give us two interesting points:

1.     “those who are in the flesh” – who is Paul speaking of besides the obvious from the actual words?  Christians.  That is obvious because of the context in which these words are spoken.  He wasn’t talking about Unbelievers.  He is talking TO Believers!  Now, that is a Truth that many Believers don’t want to recognize, especially when it comes to other Believers.  “Oh, they must not be a Christian…they still ____________.”  They do?  Their flesh.

2.    “cannot please God.”  This is a 2nd time Scripture speaks of something that “cannot please God.”  (See Hebrews 11:6, “without faith it is impossible to please God”).  These are direct words.  Is there someone in us that would quickly speak up and say something IF we fall into the flesh?  Yes.  Holy Spirit.

Michael is a Christian talking about “his flesh,” and how he used to “hate” it, then he got a revelation from God that changed everything…his perspective and his response.  To me the beautiful thing that Michael shares is how he received Holy Spirit’s wisdom of his need for flesh, that it is something that God uses to keep us near Him.  Amen!

It is sad that so many Believers speak of the flesh as something a Christian could not have.  Wrong.  And that erroneous perspective makes many to be critical, instead of compassionate, toward a Believer struggling with their flesh.

Would to God that many who read this and have been defeated by their flesh, will get the same revelation and change Michael shared.

- Mike Wells

Feeding Our Hungry Hearts

Jesus came into a world that was full of hungry hearts (see previous post) to introduce us to the only thing that can feed those hungers. Jesus came to rescue us from the futile feeding frenzy of trying to feed ourselves on idols.

Throughout the Bible, we read story after story of people trying to find life outside of God. This is what the story of Adam and Eve is all about. Under the influence of the serpent, Eve embraced a deceptive, untrustworthy picture of God that caused her to stop trusting that God is the only source that can feed her heart. As a result, Eve was led believe that she could acquire life on her own.

This same story repeats itself today. Instead of relying on God to meet our needs, we try to meet them on our own. We all eat of the forbidden tree, just as Eve did.

The Bible calls this idolatry. Most modern westerners think that idolatry is about people worshiping a statue of some kind. But an idol is anything we treat as a god that we use to satisfy the hunger in our soul that only our Creator can satisfy. Such idols come in both religious and nonreligious forms.

Religious idolaters attempt to fill their hunger through religious activities they do or religious doctrines they believe, both of which they think will please their gods. Even when Christians try to get life from the rightness of their behaviors and beliefs instead of from God himself, they are guilty of idolatry.

Nonreligious idols come in the forms of sex, wealth, power—these seem to be the most prevalent. Others make idols of their nation, race, talents, looks, or fame. In fact, just about everything in the world is a potential idol, for just about anything can be used as a means of trying to fill our hunger.

Even if you manage to get what you are seeking through a specific idol, you know it’s just a matter of time before you lose it. There’s a multitude of competitors for the wealth, power, and fame you’ve acquired, and at some point they might gain an advantage over you. Even if you stay on top, you know it won’t last forever because age is never kind to idols.

What’s more, if your idols work, you know they do not completely satiate the hunger even while you enjoy them. The idols might distract us from the inner emptiness, but it never goes away.

The Bible calls this idolatry life in “the flesh.” It is full of anxiety, hopelessness, envy, strife, anger, and bitterness. The idolatrous world of “the flesh” is a competitive feeding frenzy of desperately hungry people trying to scarf up a morsel of fleeting worth from a limited number of idolatrous sources. Idolatry is at the root of most of the misery in the world.

Trace your own despair, anxiety, or bitterness back far enough, and more likely than not, you’ll discover there’s something other than God that you are clinging to as something to feed your hunger.

—Adapted from The Myth of a Christian Religion, pages 39-42

- Greg Boyd

E. Stanley Jones

E. Stanley Jones said of this Man who is the revelation of God to creation, “He did not argue that life was a growth and character an attainment — He ‘grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.’  He did not speculate on why temptation should be in this world — He met it, and after forty days’ struggle with it in the wilderness He conquered, and ‘returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.’  He did not discourse of the dignity of labor — He worked at a carpenter’s bench and His hands were hard with the toil of making yokes and plows, and this forever makes the toil of the hands honorable.  As He came among men He did not try to prove the existence of God — He brought Him.  He lived in God, and men looking upon His face could not find it within themselves to doubt God.  He did not argue about whether or not there was a resurrection, for the Pharisees believed there was and the Sadducees believed there wasn’t — He raised the dead.

“He did not teach in a didactic way about the worth of children — He put His hands upon them and blessed them, and setting one in their midst said, ‘Of such is the kingdom of God.’  He did not argue that God answers prayer — He prayed, sometimes all night, and in the morning ‘the power of the Lord was present to heal.’  He did not teach in the schoolroom manner the necessity of humility — He girded Himself with a towel and kneeled down and washed His disciples’ feet.  He did not discuss the question of the worth of personality — He loved and served all men from the least to the greatest.  He did not discourse on the ‘equality’ of men — He went to the poor and the outcast and ate with them.  He did not try to prove how pain and sorrow in the universe could be compatible with the love of God — He took on Himself at the cross everything that spoke against the love of God, and through that pain and tragedy and sin showed the very love of God.  He did not discourse on how the weakest human material can be changed and empowered to change the world — He called to Him a set of weak men,  ignorant and temperamental Galilean fishermen, transformed them and sent them out to begin the mightiest movement for uplift and redemption the world has ever seen.

“He wrote no books — only once are we told that He wrote and that was in the sand — but He wrote upon the hearts and consciences of people about Him and it has become the world’s most precious writing.  He did not paint a Utopia, far off and unrealizable — He announced that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, and is ‘at hand’ and can be realized here and now.  He did not discourse on the beauty of love — He loved.  We do not find Him arguing that the spiritual life should conquer matter — He walked on water and fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes.  He did not argue the possibility of sinlessness— He presented Himself and said, ‘Which of you convinceth me of sin?’  He did not merely ask men to turn the other cheek when smitten on the one, to go the second mile when compelled to go one, to give the cloak also when sued at the law and the coat was taken away, to love our enemies and to bless them — He Himself did these very things, and in the agony of the cruel torture of the cross He prayed for His enemies, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’

“He did not merely tell us that death may be conquered — He rose from the dead, and lo, the tomb now glows with light.  Many teachers of the world have tried to explain everything — they have changed little or nothing.  Jesus explained little and changed everything.  Many teachers have tried to diagnose the disease of humanity — Jesus cures it.  Many philosophers speculate on how evil entered the world — Jesus presents Himself as the way by which it shall leave” 

Man's True State

When the Lord lowered man into this gross material realm man possessed, by the spirit, the divine potential to overcome the flesh, sanctify it, transform it, preserve it, infusing it with the qualities of life — holiness and incorruption.  Jesus, the last Adam, the Ideal Man, came and demonstrated for us this very principle.  This potential in man to rule the natural by the spirit is shed forth in Jesus’ mighty works — by His healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out devils, forgiving sins, doing miracles, and raising the dead — He transcended by His life, words, and actions all the so-called laws of the material, mortal realm.  The great significance of Jesus’ mighty works will never ring clear in our spirits until we understand that He did not perform as a unique, different, higher kind of man — all His wonderful works were the example and teaching of what is NORMAL FOR MAN IN HIS TRUE STATE AS THE IMAGE OF GOD.  As the last Adam Jesus demonstrated all that the first Adam lost — mankind’s heritage as the sons and daughters of the Most High.  Little wonder, then, that He confidently and joyfully proclaimed to His disciples, “The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works than these shall ye do” (Jn. 14:12).

- Preston Eby

The Image of God

The people of God today have no greater need than the need to know the power and glory of CHRIST WITHIN.  CHRIST is the image of God, the scripture says.  I know these words may seem to be incredible, but they are truth — the very first mention of the “image of God” is applied, not to Jesus Christ, but to our forefather ADAM (Gen. 1:26).  As we consider the wonderful advent of man created “in the image of God” we can only conclude that this is a spiritual man brought forth out of the very spirit-substance of God Almighty, and bearing His own divine nature, character, power and attributes.  The image of God is the nature of God reproduced in man.  Thus, man is the true image of God.  And Jesus Christ is the image of God because He is the true man, man as he was meant to be.  Jesus revealed to “lost” men their true origin, heritage and destiny.  He came to show man what man really is, was intended to be, and through redemption (buying back to the original) shall be — THE IMAGE OF GOD.  Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, man as he was and man as he shall be.  In Jesus Christ you see man as he was in the beginning and as he ever shall be world without end — THE IMAGE OF GOD.  Of Him it is written, “He is the expression of the glory of God — the Light-being, the out-raying of the divine — and He is the perfect imprint and very image  of God’s nature” (Heb. 1:3, Amplified).  Christ, and humanity in Christ, is like a ray of light that comes from the sun — man, the extension of God, emanates God.

- Preston Eby

The great Italian sculptor

The great Italian sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini, told of receiving a block of marble with one flaw.  Because of this flaw, no artist would submit a design — except one.  In the public square of Florence a fence was built around that piece of marble, and a little shack was erected for the artist.  For two years the sculptor labored.  Then on a certain day a vast multitude of the citizens of Florence assembled in the public square; the fence was torn down, and the shack was taken away.  At this unveiling all of Florence beheld the result and marveled.  Since then Italy and all the world have marveled at Michelangelo’s “David”.  I have seen it with my own eyes in the museum in Florence, and there are no words to describe its magnificence.  In that block of marble was a statue, others did not see it, but Michelangelo did.  And, precious friend of mine, in that lump of clay which is you, the almighty Father sees an image too — the image of Jesus Christ!  And God is working unceasingly and tirelessly to form the image of His Son in you.  No truth has come with more soul-gripping force and power to the elect of the Lord than the beautiful hope of sonship to God.  Well indeed may we yield ourselves into the hands of heaven’s skilled sculptor that HE may form His Son in us.  All it takes is to chip away that portion that  conceals the image.   The image is there if only it can be uncovered, brought forth out of our innermost being.  The outer veil of the carnal mind and the obscurity of the flesh are all that the sculptor must chip away in order to reveal the image of God within.  It is for sonship that the whole creation groans in a sort of universal travail while it eagerly waits to see the glorious sight of God’s sons coming into their own (Rom. 8:22-23).  It is the Son in the sons — the revelation of Jesus Christ!  There is coming a day when all the glories of the Son of God will be revealed and manifested in the sons of God.  With a heart of understanding and a spirit bright with the hope of God’s eternal purpose the apostle penned these meaningful words: “...it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to REVEAL (apokalupto: to uncover, unveil) HIS SON IN ME” (Gal. 1:15-16).

Sustaining Power

The Flesh Of Man, Nothing To Boast About!

Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. --Daniel 4:33

Man is flesh, flesh is animal, so what do you expect from yourself when you are in the flesh? What do you believe that God expects out of you? Do you really think that the depths to which you have sunk have surprised Him? He knows you! The problem is that you do not know yourself, and until you do know yourself, you will trust in, cling to, and rely on yourself. Let God lift His hand even for a moment, let Him subdue the Holy Spirit within, and you will see what, without Him, you really are.

It is amazing the things in which we boast. In an attempt to be like God we are constantly looking for that one thing that makes us a standout. Intellect is one of the most comical. There really is not much of a spread between the IQ of the learning disabled and a “genius,” but so much is made of it. Then there is wealth; around the world the man with money is about as close to being considered a god as one can come. We are fed the positives about mankind by manipulators to make us believe we are something other than flesh. Then there is great shock at what man can inhumanely do to others.

“The flesh is hostile to God.” This is an absolute. In the grace of God He may, as I mentioned, lift His hand and allow you this revelation. Being shocked at what you become is a revelation of just how blind you were to your true condition without Him. So many say to me, “I cannot believe I did that!” I can believe that they did whatever, and I know they are capable of doing far worse. Once we see what we are, we can see what He is and then come to our senses as we turn to, trust in, cling to, and rely on Him. 

But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

     And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

  All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,

  But He does according to His will in the host of heaven

     And among the inhabitants of earth;

     And no one can ward off His hand

     Or say to Him, “What have You done?”

At that time my reason returned to me. And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” –Daniel 4:34-37

- Mike Wells

Kingdom Plan!

God has a wonderful Kingdom plan!  Failure to understand God’s plan of the ages will leave us on the rocks of ignorance and unbelief and we will spend our lives in the shallows, chatting aimlessly about God’s acts and blessings, but never knowing or embracing His purposes.  I am convinced that those who reject or deliberately side-step the great truth of God’s plan of the ages and the reconciliation of all things to God will never be a part of that blessed company of sons who are destined to set creation free!  How can anyone be God’s instrument to bring deliverance to the whole creation while he closes his eyes and stops his ears and shuts up his heart to the beautiful revelation of His purposes?

God's Plan......

Here is God’s Kingdom plan in a nut shell.  In Christ’s incarnation, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension we see the initial victory.  Through His people during this dispensation of the church, we see His continuing and increasing victory.  And in the manifestation of the sons of God we see His ultimate victory.  The Kingdom spans all generations and ages from the advent of the firstborn Son into the world to the manifestation of the sons of God.  FINAL VICTORY SHALL THEN BE ACHIEVED.  Then shall the Kingdom be delivered up to God, even the Father, “that God may be all in all” (I Cor. 15:28).

The Kingdom came when...........

The Kingdom came when the King came.  Nothing can be clearer than that.  In His battle with evil Jesus saw the foretaste of the ultimate triumph of God in the earth.  Because He came preaching the Kingdom of God, He was demonstrating the glory and the power of that Kingdom and showing us the wealth of its glory by doing for the few what will eventually be done for the all when the light of His Kingdom shall cover all the earth as the waters cover the sea and every creature in heaven and in earth and under the earth shall sing praise and glory to the Lamb of God.  In His death He engaged in mortal combat with him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and conquered.  Jesus was declared by the Father to be the Son of God with power because of His resurrection from the dead.   At the right hand of God He continues to reign through His body on earth and shall continue to reign from stage to stage, from victory to victory, and from glory to glory, until “He hath put all enemies under His feet” (I Cor. 15:25). 

Numerous Ages

In God’s blessed Book numerous ages are visible, stretching in a vast panorama from the first ray of light in chapter one of Genesis to the end of the dispensation of the fullness of times when all shall be subdued unto God and God becomes all in all.  As the years have gone by the Holy Spirit has convinced me more and more that it is intensely important to the spiritual growth and understanding of every son of God to know the intention of God in each successive age as it unfolds.  Some precious saints have in ignorance stated, “I am not concerned about what God may do away out there in the ages to come; it  is enough to know what He wants me to be doing right now!”  That sounds very wise and spiritual, and it gives me pain to say it, but the truth cannot be denied that such a statement is really an excuse, a “cop out” to absolve these dear ones from searching the scriptures or exposing themselves to the revelation of God’s beautiful plan of the ages.  Furthermore, it saves them the trouble of getting involved in some controversy!  What spiritual cowards we are!

The Spartan Army

Do you know how it used to be in the ancient times in the Spartan army?  Here is a man who has fought well, and has been a splendid soldier.  He is covered with wounds on his chest.  The next time that there is a war, they say, “Poor fellow, we will reward him!  He shall lead the way in the first battle.  He fought so well before, when he fought one hundred with a little troop behind him; now he shall engage ten thousand with a larger troop.”  “Oh!” you say, “that is giving him more work; he should be honored with rest.”  But that is God’s way in the development of His sons in His Kingdom.  That shall be our heaven — not a mansion over the hilltop or a cabin in the corner of glory land — but to be always in the battle, forever working and increasing and winning in the everlasting and unbounded Kingdom of our God!  I have fought the devil in my own life, I have fought the devil in my home, I have fought the devil in the church, I have fought the devil in the world, and God has given wonderful victories.  I shall continue the warfare against sin, sickness, sorrow, fear, torment, limitation and death in all the hells of this world, in that hell in the underworld, and in all the worlds and all the hells in all the realms of God’s vast creation until there is no sin nor death nor devil anywhere and God is all in all.  That is my hope, that is my vision, that is my call and my destiny.  And that is the hope, vision, call and destiny of all the sons of God.

You are learning

You are learning the ways of His wisdom, righteousness, love, power, authority and glory now; yes, to angels, and principalities, and powers, and worlds, you shall make known the manifold wisdom of God throughout ages yet unborn.  All those stars, those worlds of light, who knows how many of them are inhabited?  I believe there are regions beyond our imagination to which every son of God shall become an everlasting illumination, a living expression of the infinite love of the omnipotent Creator.  Remember how the Lord will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things” (Mat. 25:21).  He is to keep on doing something, you see.  There is no stagnation in God’s great and eternal Kingdom, and there is no end to the increase of His government and peace.  Instead of having a home and family, or a Sunday School class,  or a bit of a community, or a small or vast ministry to govern, the overcomer is to be made ruler over some VAST PROVINCE.  Read the forty-fourth verse of Matthew chapter twenty-five: “Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.”  What a word is that!  That is nothing short of UNIVERSAL DOMINION.

Do you have a ministry?

Do you have a ministry?  Do you have a gift?  Have you a talent?   Have you an ability?  Is there an expression and fragrance of Christ through your life?   Know this, precious one, it is not God’s eternal purpose in your life but merely an instrument by which the Father is perfecting within you His nature, His righteousness, His faithfulness, His grace, His wisdom, His power and His glory.  This present time is a practice session, a trial run, a proving ground, a small sample of the glory yet to be revealed.  We are mere apprentices of the Christ to learn the ministry of sonship.  You must not think, as do the babes in the church systems, that when you are done working here that the Master will say, “You have finished your course, I have discharged you from your responsibilities.  Go and sit on a heavenly mount and sing and dance yourselves away for ever and ever.”  Not at all!  I am only learning how to preach now; I shall be able to preach in the age and the ages to come.  You are only learning to teach now; you will be able to teach when Christ is fully revealed in His saints. 

Hope in the midst of failure

The Problem with Naming People’s Sin

Jesus told a woman caught in adultery: “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Since Jesus said this, does this give the church the right to tell people not to sin?

It’s one thing for Jesus, who “knew no sin” to say this and quite another for people like us—with tree trunks protruding out of our eyes—to say the same thing. The central point of the story where Jesus says these words is that none of her accusers were in a position to judge her. Jesus invited whoever was without sin to cast the first stone, but no one met that requirement. They were as much sinners as she.

Jesus, the only one who was qualified to condemn the woman, did not do so. Rather he told her to abstain from this sinful activity.

Here’s the lesson: if you want to judge someone else, you first have to be sinless. But if you are sinless, like Jesus, you won’t have any inclination to do so.

But what about the time that Jesus told the Samaritan woman that she had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband (John 4:16-18)? Doesn’t this mean that Jesus was setting a model for naming people’s sins?

Jesus didn’t mention this information to judge this woman. The only reason he let this woman know that he was aware of her past was to convince her that he was the Messiah. If this woman would “drink” the water he had to offer she would never thirst again. Even though he knew about her past, the offer of “life” was still on the table, no questions asked!

Had there been any shame or judgment involved, meeting a man who knew everything about her would hardly have been a joyful encounter. However, she went back to her town and joyfully proclaimed what she had heard.

Jesus did not try to fix people’s moral lives. He loved people and offered them everlasting life as they are, regardless of their moral lives. Whatever transforming impact God’s love has on people, it has incredible power because it is given before—and apart from—the transformation itself.

This is how we are called to love. We are to be the shadow that Jesus casts—to imitate God by “living in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us (Eph 5:2). We are to demonstrate the kingdom of Calvary-like acts of service and then proclaim the message of God’s kingdom.

We are to serve, no questions asked. We are to love before they are transformed—even our enemies—with a nonjudgmental love to all who are thirsty. To do this we must refrain from doing what Jesus never did: namely positioning ourselves as wiser, morally superior, or the “fixer” of others.

—Adapted from The Myth of a Christian Nation, pages 130-132

- Greg Boyd

Promises

He has give us exceeding great and precious promises.
2 Peter 1:4

I became a believer in the Lord Jesus  in November,
1825, nearly seventy years ago. The first four years
after my conversion were spent in spiritual weak-
ness; but in July, 1829, now sixty six years ago, I
came to a place of entire and full surrender of heart.
I gave myself fully to the Lord. Honors, pleasure,
money, my physical powers, my mental powers, all
laid down at the feet of Jesus, and I became a great
lover of God. I found my all in God, and have con-
tinued to do so, in all my temporal and spiritual trials,
for these past sixty six years. My faith does not per-
tain to only temporal bleassings, but to everything be-
cause I stand constantly on God's Word. It has been
my knowledge of God and His Word that has thus
sustained me.

- George Mueller

Stop asking for forgiveness & Start acting forgiven

Stop asking for forgiveness and start acting forgiven: Highlights from chapter 2 of our book, "How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious"

Our work in regard to sin and forgiveness is either finished, or there's more work for us to do to stay forgiven.
In order to find freedom in our relationship with God, and walk in relationship with Jesus instead of being religious, we need to settle the issue of forgiveness.

Are you double-minded when it comes to forgiveness? Do you believe Jesus paid for the world's sins, including yours, when He died on the cross, and then to continue to ask for forgiveness? That's being double-minded and unstable. You won't become mature spiritually, growing in grace, until you settle this in your heart and mind.
"...a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways..." James 1:8

When Jesus gave up his spirit and died on the cross, he said, "It is finished." He didn't say, "It's partially done, or, "I did my part, now they need to do theirs, Father."

Look at what Hebrews says about our great High Priest (Jesus) and His work for us in dealing with sin:
Hebrews 1:8, 9:25-28, 10:10,12,14, 17-18

* How many times did Jesus die for sins? Once.

More scripture about our forgiveness in Jesus:
Hebrews 9:22, Matthew 6:15, Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4:32, Acts 10:43, Romans 5:6,8,10; Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:13-14

* In the new covenant, is forgiveness something get, or something we have & are?
* Can you find a scripture in the new covenant that tells Believers to ask God for forgiveness after they're born again? No.

**1 John 1:9 was written to Gnostics (lost, not saved). For context, read 1 John 1:1-10.

Rest in the fact that Jesus' work on the cross is finished. Your sins have been forgiven. You are a forgiven person. Not can be, might be or will be, ARE a forgiven person in Christ.