Grace, and grace upon grace

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. Psa 103:10

How our praise should rise to God in thankfulness and gratitude forHe does not count our sins against us. If He did how could we stand? God is so merciful to us and so gracious a Father that we are not consumed by His anger.

I shudder sometimes when I think how I can take the grace of God for granted. We somehow seem to think that once we have been saved and walked with God for a long while we're doing okay. How often do we stop to think about the things we actually think? The other day, I was walking along the beach and some thoughts arose about the way a fairly large person was dressed, and I was about to retort to Sam, when the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit began to convict me.

When I think about the unkind thoughts I've had, mostly about strangers in a critical way, and the words I've spoken, the attitudes of my heart, drawing away from those who don't come up to my expectation, impatience, not helping others when I've had the ability to and a host of myriad things, I realise that I need to come up higher in my love-walk. I need to be aware of what I think and what I say for this will surely show me what is in my heart.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. Psa 103:11 -13

God is Holy. Holy and yet He pours out His grace upon us, forgiving us for all our wrong doing all because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Rom 5:17

Wow what grace! Wow what LOVE! The cross of Christ was the greatest swap made on our behalf, and our biggest plus all because of grace, truth and love.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2Co 5:21) and, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. (2Co 8:9)

What a swap. His righteousness for our unrighteousness, His riches for our poverty "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." (Joh 1:16)

Yes, grace upon grace, God pours down on us, praise to His Holy name. Powerful Redemption through Christ gives us all the reasons and more to make our hearts dance and our mouths sing with joy to the glorious Father and His Son, our Saviour. Thank you Father for the grace you pour out upon us. Help us never to take it for granted and help us extend it in your Son's name Jesus we pray.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psa 84:11)

Dressed for best.

Getting ready for church this morning, a question arose in my heart that we dress to go to church but do we dress our hearts before we come before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

What should we "put on" before we come to church? What are we carrying in our hearts? Do we come with an attitude of quite surrender to God, a gentle humility toward our brothers and sisters in the faith? Do we come to receive the Word of God with all meekness? Do we come with the attitude to minister to our God or are we coming for what He and others can give to us? Are we bringing the "attitude of gratitude" to the One who gave His all for us, or are we coming with a critical spirit for the things we lack in life?

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:12-16

I love going to church and always go with the expectation that I am going to meet with Father and He

always touches me and I often leave feeling refreshed, lightened and challenged. Do I always leave

with a dressed heart though? I wish I could tell you I do, after being in the presence of my Lord, but it is

amazing how often some small annoyance seems to come along (generally arising out of relationship

with someone close) and a sharp retort can come spewing out and the truth flies out of my heart. I am

learning to wise-up though and "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to

fulfill its lusts." (Rom 13:14)

The Word tells us that we should "put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Eph 4:24) Definitely a challenge but if God commands us to do it, then He has made the provision for us to attempt to do so and part of that is to renew our minds with the water and the washing of the Word. His Word is a mirror that will reflect back to us the wrong attitudes in our heart so that we can repent and ask for His help in time of need. We need to learn to walk in the newness of life through the power of the Holy Spirit, in all humility, leaning on Him to help us. Amen?

Unity

How important is our unity is to the Godhead? I have been reading John and the subject of being "one" is prevalent throughout this gospel, as it is indeed throughout the Word. Right from the very beginning of the creation of man, God ordained marriage to be a relationship of unity between a man and his wife.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Gen 2:24

And God walked with them, bringing to us a picture of love, friendship and unity between all of them but this perfect picture and perfect way of life was shattered with the introduction of sin and the sin nature within us into which we are now born.

There is absolute unity within the Godhead which is why Jesus tells us that, "I and My Father are one." (Joh 10:30) We are called into this unity and intimacy with the Godhead. How amazing is this? Jesus prayed "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." (Joh 17:21) What an incredibly awesome prayer of Christ's. Do we see this though, the church walking in unity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Hardly, and I think that this would indeed sadden the Father heart of God.

How can we walk in unity with the Godhead and with each other? I believe that one of the answers to walking in unity is to confess (which literally means to speak the same way that God speaks). There is only one way to do this. Confess the word. The bible is God's manual for our living, chock-a-block full of promises and a new way to talk, walk and act. When we pray the scriptures, we are agreeing with God. Mind you, it is not enough just to talk the talk but not walk the walk. Our actions must line up with what we say and this is very challenging. Thank goodness for the help and power of the Holy Spirit. When we fail, we need to repent immediately, asking God for the forgiveness of our sin, and if a third party is involved, in humility be reconciled to them too, and so "endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Eph 4:3)

In His last moments with His disciples, before He was crucified, the whole issue of being one is prevalent in His prayer. "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are." (Joh 17:11)

How it must grieve the Holy Spirit when the bride of Christ cannot get on with each other, especially as we are called to love one another, as Christ loves us. How we are so fractured under so many different denominations when the heart of Spirit of God had Paul the Apostle pen this:-

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Eph 4:4)

Jesus continued in His prayer, "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (Joh 17:23)

Children of God, we can be unified in the belief that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, died on a cross and took the punishment for our sins. He rose again on the third day (which is the proof that God had accepted His perfect sacrifice) and so we have been purchased "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1Pe 1:20)

May 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. (Eph 4:14-16)

May we grow together in love and unity, for "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psa 133:1) Help us Father, we look to you. Amen.

God and/or Father

God, our creator, longs to have an intimate relationship with us but so many today don't know Him. God is Love and He created us in order to extend His love toward us and to have us return and respond to His love.

We often overhear people exclaiming, "Oh my God", and the thought struck me today that one day each and every one of us will be stand before either our God (in judgement) or our Father (in mercy). The difference between God and Father is in our relationship with Him.

"They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." 1Pe 4:5

How many people, even religious people, live out their lives, knowing about God but not really knowing Him? I had a conversation with a person in my family, who has had some religious activity as a youngster, and believes in God but does not practise any form of religion. I asked him if he knows the Queen and his reply was "yes" but I pointed out that "yes, we all know of the Queen, but we don't know her, what makes her laugh, what makes her cry, what does she like to eat, etc." God does not just want us to know of Him, but to know Him intimately as our Father in Heaven.

In Jesus own words, eternal life hangs on this intimate knowledge of God.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Joh 17:3

We have a choice. We can go through life knowing of God and many do, thinking that He is distant, not interested in us or even in the world in which we live. Or we can live in the truth that He longs to be Our Father, wants us to enjoy Him even as He enjoys us. The bible tells us that God counts even the hairs on our head, and that He sings over us in delight. This is no distant God. He is a loving Father who wants us to come into His presence, where at His right hand are pleasures forever more.

I would challenge you, get to know God as your Father, and taste and see that the Lord is good. You will find Him as you search for Him. Find Him in His Word (the bible), ask Him to reveal His heart to you and I know that you will never regret finding Him and getting to know Him.

Whatever is lovely...

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Php 4:8 

 

The biblical principles that we can learn to follow are outstanding for living a successful life.  How often do our minds tend to run toward the negative and the thoughts of doom that go round and round and round, robbing of us sleep and joy.  The battlefield for our joy and peace, and indeed for successful outcomes in life, is in the mind, and often because of our "stinking" thinking, we can abort our potential success.  A scripture so relevant to teach us this principal is:-

 

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Pro 23:7

 

I struggled for many years, with a very low and poor self-esteem, believing that I was a waste of breath, and it took the Word of God and His truth, to break that stronghold in my life when constantly mediating on God's thoughts about me.  This changed my whole outlook on life when I began to realise that God has a plan for me.  I was not superfluous but that God actually had me born for a reason, and that reason has been slowing unfolding as I continue to walk with the Saviour.

Our mind and heart are closely intertwined, for the things we constantly think on affect our emotions.  Think about this.  A marriage starts off with great dreams and promises, and in the course of life, the dream quickly fades.  Why?  Because quite often we begin to see the things that annoy us in our spouse and we think about these and begin to get disgruntled.  This reminds me so much of the principle Jesus taught us in Revelation in speaking to the church of Ephesus.

 

Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. Rev 2:4:5   

 

Remember and do.  Often a marriage can be saved when a spouse can take the initiative to remember the good things that attracted them to their spouse and to begin to show the love they first had when they began to date.  Focusing on the good things, particularly the spouse's great attributes and the blessings of being in the marriage will turn the heart around.

 

It is so imperative for us to mediate on the truth in the Word of God, as scripture is able to show us the thoughts and intentions of our heart.  The light of the Word brings out those things hiding in the dark caverns of our heart, all those things in us opposed to Godly truth, that hold us back from living in the freedom God wants us to have.  Therefore scripture is clear that we are to:-

 

cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2Co 10:5 

 

Our thoughts come from our hearts which is why scripture clearly tells us to "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." (Pro 4:23) 

 

Jesus often challenged people's thinking.  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? (Mat 9:4) and this is why Jesus, extended the commandments from the physical action to the thought life, (i.e. "Thou shalt not commit adultery" to even if a man lusts after a women in his heart, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  Often the physical act is the outcome of the seeds of thought that began in the heart and are mediated upon.

The loveliest thing we can meditate on is the Word of God that reveals the heart of the Father toward us through Jesus Christ His Son.

 

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. Psa 40:5 

Come, follow me.

Come, follow me

 

What does it mean to really follow Jesus?  The disciples left everything, their livelihood on one command from the Rabbi, to follow in His footsteps and Jesus calls us to do the same.  It's an invitation of honour that the Creator of the Universe calls and equips His followers, to do and to be what He was and still is today, a rescuer and healer of hearts.

Jesus warned us that to follow Him will come at great cost, especially to our flesh that wants to cater to our will, our emotions and our desires.   How many times have I heard myself saying, "What about me, what about my needs?"   Yet, we are to have a new focus, not on ourselves, but on others and on Kingdom living.  What a challenge, but Jesus promises that the rewards of this kind of selfless living, is in fact, the way to find life.

 

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.  Matt 10:39 

 

How gracious is our Saviour.  When we consider all He gave up, His Heavenly glory, to come and dwell amongst us and even whilst He was on earth, He was heard to say that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He was not caught up on all the external, temporal physical things of life but on the eternal.  He did not demand even His own right to a peaceful, quiet existence, locked away somewhere in a monastery but was out there every day, amongst the people, healing, teaching and loving, all the while knowing that His ultimate sacrifice was the laying down of His life upon that cross on Calvary.  Yet His Life and sacrifice has touched humankind throughout the ages and will continue to do so for all eternity. 

 

Those who are touched by the Saviour desire to follow Him.  As He changes us from glory unto glory, we are willing to surrender our selfish living bit up bit, piece by piece,  to be salt and light in the world.  I'm so thankful to Him that the Holy Spirit brings us into Holy Living by degrees as He gently teaches us and brings to light the things in our heart that are not pleasing to the Father.  It is only through this, and walking in the Lord's footsteps that we become, and desire to become, more like Him.  Hence the second part of that invitation by Jesus, "and I will make you...."

 

He certainly makes us, and remakes us, until we become as He purposed us to be, "fishers of men" by bringing glory to Him in the Kingdom way of life.   It is when we become more like Him, that others will desire what we have, and will also look to the Saviour to the peace that surpasses all understanding. 

 

Jesus is the only way to real life, eternal life and abundant life even in the midst of the storms and trials of everyday living.  His is the road to walk, the path that is narrow, but brings satisfaction and wholeness to the soul.  He leads us on, upward and onward towards a glorious future in Heaven with Him for eternity.

Rooted and Grounded in Love.

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. Eph 3: 17-19

Love! Do we really perceive and understand the love that God has for us? Are we rooted and grounded in His Love? Does our belief in His Love keep us in the storms of life, or do we waver in faith, tossing between, "He loves me, He loves me not."

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8

Do you see the qualifier in this scripture for God's love? There is none, we were still sinners, yet God in His grace, mercy and love for us, saw beyond the sin to what we could become, righteous through and in the Jesus Christ our Saviour. God reached out to humankind and Jesus came to earth because of their pure love for us. So often in life we are taught that love is conditional but God's love isn't like human love. His love transcends this and He loves us purely because He is love and He made us in His image.

We need to understand His Love for us and indeed, we need to grasp onto, and hold onto, the fact that He does love us. His love for us is unshakeable. His love for us is everlasting. His love does not waver, it cannot, and it is always constant for Love is His very nature, the essence of who He is.

Interestingly enough, God tried to demonstrate to the nation of Israel His love for them though the prophet Hosea, when He commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute and love her through thick and thin, even when she returned to her prostitution.

Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans." Hos 3:1

Hosea was to buy her back and love her again. So often we can think that if we do something wrong God won't love us. I've had someone tell me that he was too bad, too awful for God to love Him. This is not so. God loves us in spite of ourselves, but His Love for us means that He cannot leave us in that state, so He gently lifts us up out of the miry clay and we become more like Jesus as we look to Him.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER."

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:35 -39

No matter what life throws at us, our confidence in the love of Christ, will keep us strong and stable. As Paul experienced, God's love and His knowledge of that love made him a conqueror. Mediate on the love of Christ for you. His love will liberate you from all fear. His love shed abroad in our hearts will produce in us the same unconditional love for others. Draw your nourishment for everyday in the confidence that God loves you. He really loves you.

The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Jer 31:3