Power That Works

Fall is approaching, which means less daylight.  Thankfully, I can have power at home that allows me to flip up a switch on my wall and light up a room even when it is dark outside.

It is a manmade power that works and that we heavily rely on.  It is a power that brings possibility and opportunity.  It enables us to use tools that equip us to build things or repair things.  Tools designed to help us in our day-to-day affairs.

When that power goes away, we find ourselves at a loss as to what to do.  How will we cook, clean, shower, or bathe without the things that power provides us with?  Whenever there is a power outage, people contact the source of their power in great numbers to make them aware that they have lost their power because that is how important having power is.

No one makes someone talking about their need for this kind of power in life feel stupid for speaking about it.  No one criticizes a person for being thankful for this power in life. I’d bet you could get all your neighbors on board with appreciating the fact that they have this kind of power so readily available, and likewise, I’d bet they will be in unity with you about making someone aware whenever it is lost in your neighborhood.

Interestingly, usually, when power is lost, it is not the fault of the source for it.  It generally is because something happened to the means of transmitting it.  A tree falls on a transmission line, a car wreck takes out a power pole, or lightning strikes a transformer.  Something happened to interfere with the flow of the power and interrupt it.  Such a problem needs to be fixed before power is restored.  The source of power goes right to work doing what is needed on their part to see it restored.

This natural phenomenon of power that works reveals to me that power matters.  This is true as well in the supernatural.  A power that works matters.  There is a power at work in those who belong to Christ!

Ephesians 3:20 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, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

There is a power at work in a believer in Jesus that is meant to activate based on asking and thinking.  When a believer in Jesus is inclined to bring a request to God, it activates a power within far greater than the level of power needed for the request.  Whenever a believer is moved in their imagination about something, it activates a power far greater than what is needed to see the thing imagined brought into reality.

I can plug up multiple devices in my house and not be concerned with whether or not there will be enough electricity to supply the demand.  The same is true when it comes to my walk with Jesus.  The Holy Spirit dwelling in me is all-powerful, and cannot experience a depletion in His power just because I asked for something or imagined something.

If you belong to Jesus, you have a power that works in you!  I encourage you to tap into that power daily.

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You Have What It Takes 3.0

You have what it takes not because of who you are and what you can do in the power of your flesh but because of who Christ is!

John 1:2 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:  13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  14 The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Being born again has nothing to do with our will or our own power.  It has everything to do with the will of God and the power of God.

Once you become born again, you have what it takes!

We just read of how Jesus was full of grace and truth.  Jesus was full of something!  You are full of something, too!

John 1:16 From his fullness, we all received grace upon grace.

You are full of His fullness!  Whatever He was full of, you now are full of.  You have received grace upon grace!

God gave you favor to receive favor!  How can that be improved on by any attempt in the flesh?

When we stand in the confidence of the finished work of Christ, we partake of His fullness, and it brings forth the fruit of grace at work in us.  In Christ, you have what it takes!

1John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.  17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

As He is, so are we in this world!  As He is present tense.  He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High, delighting in the glory He had with His Father before the world began.  There’s no separation between Him and His Father.  We are to walk in His fullness while on this earth, enjoying the benefits of acceptance and deep relationship with the Father because of our position in Christ.

Jesus gave His life to bring us into the joy of knowing the Father and being in union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus enjoys such unity and connection with the Godhead.  It was His prayer in John 17 that we might be one just as He was one.  It was a prayer of experiencing oneness with God just as Jesus had oneness.  It was a prayer for a deep relationship and all the benefits that come with it.  The odds were stacked in our favor when we came to Jesus!

You have what it takes, and to fully enjoy that reality that is already yours in Christ, you must believe it and take advantage of the privileges of relationship it promises to you.  You already have everything you need pertaining to life and godliness in Christ.  You have what it takes!

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Tainted Grace

When we speak of something being tainted, we think of it being marred or distorted from what it is meant to be in its purity.

If I were to purchase a work of art by a master of art and then begin to paint on it as if to improve it, I would be tainting it; it would be considered marred and lacking its original beauty for which it was most appreciated.

So, it is when grace is not allowed to manifest according to its purity and beauty.

One of the clearest manifestations of grace is a thankful heart.  When it is understood and believed that it is by grace that we were redeemed and given favor with God, we have nothing by which to boast and are eternally grateful for the generosity of God in making this blessing a reality to us through Jesus Christ.

A hidden gratitude is no gratitude at all.  The truly grateful is not ashamed of giving credit where credit is due.

There is a line in a movie where the character comes into an office meeting after being on a date with a woman he had been pursuing, and he declares to everyone that he is in love, he is in love, and he doesn’t care who knows it.

When the heart is deeply affected by a right belief, it expresses gratitude and delight.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Complaining, grumbling, a lack of gratitude, discontentment, discord, and a lack of peace taint the expression of grace.  They have nothing to do with the fruits of grace.

Grace cannot be modeled to others by criticisms. Complaining and always being upset over something.  Trying to disguise a lack of peace behind a false claim of righteous indignation cannot manifest grace.

One of the clearest ways of manifesting the work of grace is by being thankful.  Finding what is good, hopeful, and according to His promises by opening up our eyes to His eternal presence with us can produce a grateful heart that manifests His grace.  Living in the knowledge of His unearned favor can create the fruit of peace in us and manifest His grace alive and active in us.  If we know our performance did not merit our favor with Him to start with, we can know it is not our performance that will keep us in the place of favor.  Knowing this, according to faith, gives birth to peace and produces a grateful heart within us.

I encourage you today to remind your soul of the great benefits you have in Christ and allow grace to shine through you, pure and untainted.

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Manifesting Grace

When I think of manifesting grace, I think of what it means to be a partaker of kingdom life.  The kingdom of God is about increasing and growing in many ways.  It is multifaceted.

Sometimes, there can be a fixation on how many people are being added when thinking about grace and growth in kingdom life.  But there is much more to grace and growth in kingdom life than just numbers.  It was significant enough to motivate the prayer of a major apostle of the Lord in Scripture.

Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

Being unaware of the will of God in one’s life leads to aimless living.   It automatically evolves into a lack of purpose and focus.  But there is wisdom and knowledge of God’s will given by the Holy Spirit to any who desire to know it.

The purpose for this generous offer of knowledge and wisdom from the Spirit is made clear.  It is to equip us to live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way by bearing fruit in every good work and growing in our knowledge of Him.

Here, we have a promise from God to strengthen us and empower us according to His glorious might so that we might have endurance and patience and be equipped to give Him thanks.  Not just any generic type of thanks but a joyful thanks.  The motivation for this thanks is rooted in our qualification to share in the inheritance of His holy people in His kingdom of light.  Our qualification was made possible when God rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son, whom the Father loves and who is light and life!

There’s more than enough done for us in Christ always to have something to be grateful for.  There can be no room for debate concerning how it pleases God to find us being thankful towards Him.  It also produces in us a desire to live for His glory.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

When we live according to faith in Him and His power to make us new creations in Christ, we find things to be different than before we knew Him.  Our view of things changes dramatically.  Nothing is forced or contrived, it is free-flowing due to who we have become in Him.  To do something according to His name is to do it from the place of His authority and power.  Live energized by the Holy Spirit to know His will and do it, and you will find His equipping empowerment flowing in and through you every time.  This is what manifesting grace is all about.

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Mighty Weapons

Assumptions are built on not knowing for certain something and the imagination running on speculations.  When assumptions are made, it often results in a believer suffering because they are seeing or thinking about things according to the truth.  But the arena of the mind is where our battles are fought.  Trying to fight based on assumptions can be dangerous—assumptions such as the enemy being so powerful and having strong weapons that are hard to come against.  That kind of imagination can get a believer into real trouble and produce a victim mentality.  But the Bible tells us something different about these things.

2Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

Your weapons are not based on your strength and ability.  You have mighty weapons originating with God!  Christ’s obedience is your key to real victory!  Knowing what Jesus did at the cross is key to knowing how complete the victory is.

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Jesus disarmed our enemy and all his minions!  Jesus took away the handwriting of requirements against us that the enemy used to condemn us!

If you were sent to battle and had a high-powered weapon you had been trained to use and discovered your enemy had no weapons, just a bunch of threats, would you feel intimidated?  Would you feel like a victim about to be made a prisoner of war?  Or would you feel like a victor ready to celebrate?

Jesus has already defeated our enemy, and He sat down at the right hand of God, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly places!  Jesus took the weapon the enemy used against us away from him.  he disarmed the enemy completely.  All the enemy can do now is employ deception and lies. He has to do his best to convince a believer to question the truth God has spoken concerning the finished work of Christ.  Christ did everything needed to secure our salvation.  Jesus is our redemption, sanctification, and glorification.  Putting all our hope and confidence in Him is our greatest weapon!

This is the gospel message we should revel in.  It is why Paul boasted in,

Romans 1:16   For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

1Corinthians 1:18   For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

The depth of your confidence will always rely on who stands with you and whether they have the power to help you.  Here, we read about the power given to us in the person of Christ, the good news concerning Him, and the cross on which He died.  Add to that the promise of the Holy Spirit, who represents God’s power, and you have a recipe for success and victory!  You have mighty weapons, my friend!

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Power Breeds Confidence

Growing up as a kid, I had an older brother who grew quicker than most other boys and was intimidating.  Whenever he was around in the world of “kiddom,” it was amazing how bold my younger brother and I would become.  No one would dare mess with us, knowing he would pummel them if they did.  It gave us great confidence in those situations.

When you know God’s power, you can confidently face any situation.  You need not fear when you know His power.  Satan works in your circumstances to play down God’s power in your mind.  He looks to operate through your emotions and five senses to keep you from realizing the power of God for you.  He seeks to get you to think about the natural instead of the spiritual. By doing this, he magnifies your problem.  Remember, he roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he “may” devour.  Scripture does not say he is a roaring lion. It says he roams about as one.  In other words, it is an act.

In the grasslands of Africa, the hyenas and jackals sometimes will prance as though they are the king of the jungle.  That is until the real lion roars!  When the Lion of the tribe of Judah roars in your circumstances, everything pretending to have authority has to go!  Your God is not needy!  He is almighty!  I am not saying He is almighty to you.  I’m saying it to whatever is against you!   There’s no circumstance greater than our God.

Another thing you need to know is that God has real integrity.  Integrity is not merely honesty; it is the ability to do whatever has been honestly promised.  It involves not speaking beyond one’s means to supply.  God can make a promise with real integrity because He has the power to supply it.

Ephesians 3:20 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, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Did you catch what it says?  According to the power that works in us!  What power?  Christ Jesus, the head of the church who has all authority in heaven and here on earth!

Everything in God’s word has a dimension of His power to make it so.  All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ.  God backs up His word.  So, knowing what God has said in His word is important so that you can pray and speak according to it.  God’s word activates His power.  He will not deny Himself. He will uphold His word and be true to what He has spoken!

Matthew 28:18   And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.   

Christ has all authority on earth and in heaven!  Christ lives in you!  You are now in Christ!

1Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The power and wisdom of God lives in you!  Once you truly know God is all-powerful, what He has promised, and how He is for you, not against you, you will bully darkness and victimization out of your life!  Knowing this can empower you to accomplish things far greater than your own strength and ability would ever be able to do. I encourage you to consider this and allow the Holy Spirit to grow it in your heart.  Possessing these facts according to faith empowers you to intimidate your circumstances and the enemy who tries to magnify them to you.  Knowing His power breeds confidence in you!

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All Powerful

Power is multifaceted.  Everyone knows a little something about it.

Two hundred forty volts of electricity is powerful as it can power strong motors, appliances, and other things that produce strong results.  But then we see lightning and understand that the amount of power in a lightning strike supersedes 240 volts by far. We know that there is far greater electrical power out there.

A 60-mile-a-hour wind can be powerful and do some damage, but a hurricane with 140-mile-and-hour winds is far more destructive due to its much greater power.  We respect a hurricane’s power far more than a 60-mile-an-hour wind.

The subject of power can be subjective based on what kind of power we are discussing and in what situation it is applied to.  We witness isolated expressions of power in some way every day of our lives.  The matter of powerful things or people is important to all of us.  So what would all-powerful look like?  How would the idea of someone being all-powerful impact us?  Is there such a person?

Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

God is not just mighty, as if He is slightly stronger than other things or His enemies.  He is almighty and all-powerful.  Nothing can even come close to His power. God is the only one who can truly say that nothing is too hard for Him.

You can try to put your trust in a man or someone you think has power, but only God can say nothing is too hard for Him.  We define this attribute of God by using one word - Omnipotent - meaning all-powerful.

Psalm 62:11 God has spoken once, twice I have heard this:  That power belongs to God.

Power belongs to God.  Power is not outsourced to Him.  He doesn’t pay the local power company for His supply.

There are ways God’s power can be seen. One is by laws and principles.  There is a law of gravity, for instance.  To overcome it, you must employ a more powerful law of lift.  It is the reason birds and planes can fly in defiance of gravity.

Real encounters with God’s power can raise you above things too powerful for you in your own strength.  Another way God’s power is seen is by an encounter with it, such as that which Israel experienced when God used His power to free them.

Deuteronomy 26:6 But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. 7 Then we cried out to the LORD God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

It says they cried out to God, and He heard them.  You can spend every day fighting for yourself and trying to be tougher, smarter, or know more angles to take than the next guy.  Or you can run to your Father, who has all power, knowledge, and wisdom and can impart what you need in any situation.  But to be inclined to run to Him, you need to believe He has the power to help you and will use His power to do so.

All-power means He has power for anything that occurs in our lives.  Believe He is for you and not against you, and believe that He will use His power to bring you into the good of His will and purpose for your life.  If God be for us, who can be against us?  I encourage you to turn to Him, who has all power in any and every situation, regardless of how small or big it might be.  Let Him lead you and help you today.

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All Knowledge

It is said that knowledge is power, and to a degree, I can understand why they would say that.  A person with great business knowledge may become the CEO of a large company.  Having great knowledge in a particular field of expertise and skill can put someone in charge of others.  But no one possesses all knowledge about everything in real-time.

When I was young and unmarried, I roomed with a science and robotics engineer who worked in Oak Ridge, TN, at the National Labs, and the poor guy had to read magazines and periodicals every day to stay on top of the many changes occurring in his field.  He had to continually gain knowledge to avoid falling behind and losing his employment.

He had been educated in his field and had a degree.  But that was not enough for him to stay on top of the ever-changing discoveries in his field.  With time, things change due to discoveries made in many areas of life.  Who can keep up with all of them?

You and I, as individuals, change with time as well.  If you were to run into someone you haven’t seen or spoken with in many years, they would only know you according to what they knew when they last saw and spoke to you.

This phenomenon of not knowing doesn’t apply but to One being.  Only One person can be all-knowing, and the Psalmist wrote about Him.

Psalm 139:2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;  You understand my thought afar off.  3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  4 For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.  5  You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.  6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;  It is high, I cannot attain it.

God’s knowledge is absolute.  God does not know everything because someone taught it to Him.  He does not need to gather information to know everything. Changing times can’t catch Him off guard, and nothing happening now surprises Him or informs Him.

He knows all the changes occurring in your personal life and the many things you face each and every day.  He is never shocked or surprised about what is occurring and how fast things are changing.  The Holy Spirit spoke through men many generations ago in the Bible and accurately detailed specific conditions that would be a reality in our times.  God knows everything!  he knows the number of hairs on your head.

God is all-knowing and uses that superpower to attentively be aware of each of us individually in His desire to care for us.  There is nothing happening to you that He does not know and understand with absolute clarity and accuracy.  He knows better what is happening to you than you can even know it.  Knowing this can help make what Peter said in Scripture make even more sense.

1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

I encourage you to think about this today and let Him care for you by casting all your cares on Him.  Look to Him for wisdom and insight into your situations and all the things that seek to weigh you down.  He desires to help you, I recommend that you let Him do just that.

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Everywhere

Just because you can’t see, smell, hear, taste, or feel something doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

We can be prone to be so five-senses oriented that it dominates our perspective on things unseen in our reality.  We can become “blind” to what is invisible but very much surrounds us.

For instance, Television and radio waves cannot be seen, but they are all around us in the air.  These waves fill the air around us but require the proper device to capture them.  If you get a radio and tune it to a station, suddenly, you can hear what is in the air around you.  The same is true with a TV.  The signals exist unless you were to go deep down into the earth or way far away from any antennas to where you get beyond their signal capacity!  That is unless you have a satellite tuner for radio.

These invisible signals exist pretty much wherever you may regularly be.

Something else can be unseen, unheard, and not felt, but is always present no matter where we may be.  In fact, there is no place you can go to be away from it. The Psalmist wrote about it in the Bible.

Psalm 139:7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?  8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.  9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,  10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.

There’s nowhere you can go to escape the presence of God.  Just because you aren’t aware of it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.  Like invisible radio or television waves, He is always present, and if you’re tuned in, you will know it.

The Creator of all things is Omnipresent, which is simply a one-word way of saying He is everywhere all at once and all the time.  God is the only One who can be Omnipresent.  The devil cannot be omnipresent.  The devil is a created being and is limited.  Anything created has certain limitations concerning this attribute that is exclusively God’s alone.  Nothing created can be everywhere all at once.

Concerning Jesus, who is also God, the Scriptures say,

Ephesians 1:22   And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

I personally get excited at the thought that there is nowhere I can go that God will not be.  The real kicker to this is the fact that as a believer in Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit, I am His temple, and He lives in me, so how could it be possible to ever be without Him?

1Corinthians 3:16   Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

I encourage you to do your days with this thought of His being with you always, everywhere.  It can be a real blessing to be aware of such an amazing truth.  He will never leave you, nor will he ever forsake you.  He is your everywhere companion, and you are never alone.

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Therefore

Sometimes, a person can struggle to reconcile grace and freedom from the law with any type of bodily discipline being encouraged and advised under the New Covenant.  They struggle to imagine that any suggestion to bring their body under subjection to truth could be anything other than a call to performance or a mixture of legalism.

Is it possible to find an apostle in the Bible better versed in grace than Paul?

When anyone knows the Scriptures and what they teach regarding grace, they know that the letters Paul wrote contain most of the instruction in the truth concerning grace.  Paul is often known as the grace apostle.

So, we know Paul was not a minister of mixture.  He testifies that his ministry is of the New Covenant.  He also declared he did not handle the word deceitfully.

2Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2Corinthians 4:2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Paul was adamantly against any type of mixture in ministry concerning the gospel of grace.  But even still, he found it appropriate and necessary to address matters about the discipline of the body.  Unlike the gnostics who believed nothing done in the body mattered because they taught that only that which was of spirit mattered.  Paul believed the body had significance because it was God’s temple.

1Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Our bodies still matter to God.  God cares about these bodies of ours for a reason.  I would assume that you care about the condition of your home or apartment.  You do not want it infested with rats, roaches, or some other nuisance pest.  You wouldn’t want a drifter squatter to come in and call it home and mess it all up.  You wouldn’t want it to leak water over your bed at night during a storm.  You would want it to be a nice place for you to live.  You would want it to be pleasant, inviting, clean, and have things in it you can appreciate and enjoy.  That is pretty much what is being conveyed by what Paul says regarding the body.

“Therefore, glorify God in your body and spirit, which are God’s.”  God lives in us.  That is a very important truth.  Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.  We are not our own.  Therefore!  That is an important word to pay attention to.  This emphasis on body and spirit is meant to help us be aware of how important it is to be mindful of being His temple and glorifying Him both in body and spirit.  There’s great wisdom in “Therefore” instruction.

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Something More Important

In making decisions, the most important thing will always be at the top of one’s priorities.

For instance, if a young man or woman has a vision of becoming a great athlete, they begin training and developing the fundamental skills needed.  They will forfeit other things in their pursuit of their goal.  They learn to avoid giving in to the desires of their flesh that would prevent them from achieving their goal.  They have deemed this goal to be more important to them than certain other pleasures.

The same becomes true when a person chooses a career path that requires additional education or training.  They set aside the things that would interfere with the time and financial resources needed to pursue their goal because they have given it a higher priority in their life.

Even in the world, these types of decisions are admired and honored.  Many who look on and cheer for them do not know the battles each one had to fight within themselves to reach their goal.  If the goal isn’t given a high enough priority, they will be unable to sustain the effort to reach it, even with others cheering them on.

Some things require being given proper priority to be given the time, energy, and resources they require to see come to fruition.  Priority is often determined by value.  The things we give time, energy, and resources to are the things we have ascribed value to.

This is also true when it comes to our spiritual lives.  It is the job of the Holy Spirit to bring us into sanctification in our bodies, which are the temple of the Lord.  It is the will of God that we have priorities in this area because of the value we place on His temple.  As an apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul wrote about this.

1Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

The value is possessing the vessel that is the temple of the Holy Spirit in sanctification and honor.  This establishes a priority of disciplining the flesh according to the will of God.  Not giving in to the flesh for it to seek after pleasures however it may desire.  In this matter, for a believer in Jesus, the importance of the will of God must be given a much higher priority than self-gratification if possessing one’s vessel in sanctification and honor is to be realized.

What we determine to be of greatest importance will always merit our time, energy, and resources to pursue.  In the New Covenant, where we no longer perform to earn or merit righteousness and acceptance, there is still significance to knowing there are some things more important than others.  Our spiritual justification is taken care of in Christ, but God still cares as well about our bodies because they are His temple.  The temple of the Holy Spirit is something more important than all the things the flesh might otherwise desire.  We have been called to holiness in Christ.  I encourage you to consider the importance of possessing your vessel in sanctification and honor.

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The Poison Of Popularity

Humanly speaking, it’s amazing how not much changes in the scheme of things.  Social dynamics may employ new and different tools, but their appeals and how they influence have not changed.  The whole idea of the power of the need to fit in with a particular group is still at work in all kinds of circles within society.

Humanly speaking, the drive to be a part of something and be accepted by the ones already a part of that something still exists today.  It is a human trait.  Unchecked, it can be a snare.

For instance, I was known as a hood in my early Jr High School days.  There were two distinct social groups at that time.  Hoods and jocks.  Hoods were the boys who smoked cigarettes, used foul language, dressed a certain way, threatened violence, and partied.  They were often in trouble with teachers and the principal.  I spent much time in the office.  Jocks were the clean-cut athletes, often model students, and always praised by the school staff and parents.

I observed that adults were not all that different at the time. They, too, had the social groups they were part of and morphed their behavior to fit in with. Today, adults scramble to fit in with groups on social media platforms.

Scripture speaks to this reality of life.

1Peter 4:1 So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin, 2 in that he spends the rest of his time on earth concerned about the will of God and not human desires.

3 The time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the Non-Christians desire. You lived then in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking bouts, and wanton idolatries. 4 So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you. 5 They will face a reckoning before Jesus Christ, who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

Peer pressure and the fear of rejection by certain people can lead someone into situations and behaviors inconsistent with who they truly are.  It creates a conflict within the soul of such a person.

Believers in Christ are new creations; as such, the heart’s desires have changed by the power and work of the Holy Spirit.  To try to continue as before results in an inner conflict.  I liken it to how it feels to eat the wrong thing.  It seemed good at the moment, but later, inside your gut, you deeply regret it.  Such is the poison of popularity.

In Christ, we no longer need the approval of those who do not care about the will of God.  We have been born again and made new in Christ to live life according to the Spirit now.  It is our true calling, and it is where we are most happy when we flow in it.  I encourage you today and always to never be taken in by the poison of popularity in any social circle.  Liev free in Christ to love and pursue His will for your life at all times.  There will always be someone who will challenge His will for you, but if you truly know what it is, that is all you will need.

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A Disarmed Enemy

You might be a bit anxious and afraid if you were called into battle.  It can sound very ominous to be called to war.  But what if you were being called into battle against an enemy with no weapons?  What if you were to be heavily armed while the enemy had nothing at all to fight with?

That is what we are told in Scripture regarding our spiritual enemy.  Jesus disarmed the enemy.  He took away the weapons they had at their disposal to attack us with.

But when this is not believed, it is like the enemy has water pistols they use to mimic real guns, and when they squirt them, they deeply wound someone because it is so deeply believed they are real weapons when they are no weapon at all.

Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

What does it clearly say Jesus did here?  He disarmed the principalities and powers.  He took away their weapons.  They now have to try to convince someone they have a weapon against them through deception.

What were the weapons they were using before Jesus went to the cross?

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

The weapon the enemy once had that was justly used against us at one point in time was the handwritten requirements of the law.

Jesus nailed the handwritten requirements to His cross.  The things written and spoken of here involve the law that was against us, proving us guilty and dead in our sins and trespasses. The enemy was allowed to use them against us while we were still sinners away from Christ and unprotected by His finished work at the cross.  But when we believed in Jesus, those requirements that were successfully used against us were taken away by the cross when they were nailed to it.

In other words, Jesus disarmed our accuser.

Romans 8:33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

When someone comes to Christ in faith and is born again, they get to live in the freedom and peace of knowing Jesus, their Savior, disarmed their enemy and set them totally free from everything that was held against them.

I encourage you to live in the freedom you have received in Christ and not let the enemy deceive you into believing he has any weapon to use against you.  Live in Christ always!  Live in the power and beauty of His completed work on your behalf!  Nothing can separate us from His love!

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Do Thoughts Matter?

It is said that our inward thoughts are what drive our lives.  They can fuel our gains in a positive forward motion or hinder us from doing what is most needed to make such gains.

Proverbs 23:6 Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies;  7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.  “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

In other words, he is saying something he doesn’t mean because, in his innermost thoughts, he has no desire to be generous towards you with what he has.  He keeps his stinginess to himself inwardly, but outwardly, he puts on a face to look as though he is happily generous.

He has secret thoughts known only to himself.  His thoughts interfere with his ability to engage as he should authentically.  In other words, his thoughts matter.

This battle is not isolated to just misers.  It is the reality of every human being in some way or another.  It is also real to every believer in Christ.  That’s why the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul as an apostle to say the following.

2Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Our weapons are not according to our own strength and willpower.  They are mighty in God!

They are mighty in God for the purpose of pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.  God knows everything, so what He says about something is far more authoritative than any professional, expert, or intellectually superior human being.  If God says something is so, then it is so  He knows better than even science can know.

The basis of these arguments and high things is that they call into question the finished work of Christ at the cross.  They argue that something illegitimate now because of the cross should somehow have the right and the power to eliminate the promises of God.  Strongholds get established in our thinking when we allow our thoughts to align with our feelings and emotions in the situations we face to dictate what the truth and expectations should be for us.

But notice what we are to do with such thoughts.  We are to bring them into captivity.   Not captivity to our desired obedience which we perform.  But we are to bring them into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  In other words, our thoughts that we linger over and give credence to should always be made to pass through the filter of what Christ did at the cross and how complete a work that is.  If they cannot pass through that filter, they are to be brought into captivity to Christ so that they cannot establish a stronghold of wrong thinking, which nourishes doubt and unbelief instead of hope and faith.  Long story short, thoughts really do matter.

How familiar are you with all that was accomplished at the cross on your behalf?  How confident are you in the finished work of the cross?  Are there thoughts occurring in your soul that battle against the idea of Christ having done all that was needed to forever make you right with God?  If so, it is time that you bring such thoughts to the truth of God’s word regarding the cross of Christ and how we have everything we need in Christ.  I encourage you to look to Jesus always!

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Seek Him

What stirs you in your soul and body?

My wife and I have been walking and working out, and my body and soul have begun to enjoy it.  It  But I must admit it cannot compare to encounters with Jesus.  Relationship encounters with the Lord, where I hear Him speak to me, are very special.  Special times of just He and I uninterrupted are very important.

I am very private about my personal times with Jesus because I do not do them for show.  Such times are about Him.  I can relate well with what the psalmist spoke.

Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God;  Early will I seek You;  My soul thirsts for You;  My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.  3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.  4 Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

The psalmist records that he knows who his God is.  It is important to know this first and foremost.  It is also apparent that the Psalmist also knows the great worth of His God because he notes that God stirs something in him.  A thirst in his soul for God is stirred at the thought of Him, and there is a longing in his flesh.  This longing is also established by the circumstances he finds himself in.  Thus, the description of a dry and thirsty land.

The psalmist needs God’s comfort, wisdom, and great power for his situation, so he is inspired to seek God where he is assured he will find Him.  He is seeking God for a reason, a purpose.

To see God’s power and glory.  When you are in the press of life, it is reassuring to witness the power and glory of God because it reminds you there is no one and nothing more powerful than the One who loves you.  Truly knowing this can turn your emotions around and breathe life and hope into you where despair once threatened you.

When you meditate on God’s greatness, His power, and His glory and then begin to realize His great love for you manifested in Jesus at the cross, something other than complaint rises up within you.  Praise to Him rises up within your soul and spirit, and you find yourself speaking out praise to Him.  You may have come before Him in an attitude of desperation and need, but before you leave that moment of intimacy with Him, you are transported from what brought you to being captivated by Him and finding yourself needing to declare praises to Him.

We might begin approaching His throne of grace with or need to find mercy to help us, but if we linger there, we cannot help but be overcome with praise towards Him due to His overwhelming lovingkindness and goodness.  Then we, as the psalmist, find ourselves declaring, I will bless You while I live!  I will lift up my hands in Your name!

Real encounters with Him always result in thanksgiving and praise responses from us.  It is good to know Him according to His great power and goodness.

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Highly Unordinary

Certain things can separate a person as being very different from others.  Outward manifestations that set a person apart from others based on an ability that seems to rise above the average status quo.

Often, these people are referred to as prodigies.  A six-year-old who can skillfully play Bach, Beethoven, or many other Classical Music Masters on an instrument.  We all look and, with awe, appreciate such a giftedness.

We’d like to say they got there by the discipline and practice they put in, and there is some truth to that, but having been alive only six years doesn’t allow for much time and effort in that area.  There’s just something not ordinary about a six-year-old being able to play at the level of someone who dedicated their life to practice and development to be at the same level of skill and ability as this child proves to be.

The first disciples only had three years with Jesus before He died on the cross, and yet they walked in such anointing and power that the religious leaders knew they had been with Jesus and were His followers.  It was not so much what they spoke as it was what they did that was the thing that gave them away and made them stand out.

There’s a scripture that speaks to this in Romans.

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

To be born again is to be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life.  It is to have had the same energy and power it took to raise Jesus from the dead work in you to make a new creation.  But something is interesting in this verse that makes it about more than just being made a new creation in Christ.

It says He will also give life to your mortal body.  Why be so specific?

What is being said here is that resurrection life came into us when we put our faith in Christ.  Jesus is not just the Son of God in human flesh now.  Jesus died and was raised again on the third day, just as He promised.  Jesus now exists in resurrection, life, and power.  It is the same power that was exhibited at the dawn of creation.  It is His mighty power at work.

That same power is operating in us who have believed in Him and been born again.  That power so permeates our lives that it touches our mortality.  It gives animation to our physical existence and makes us unordinary by gifting us with abilities not based on our earning them through disciplines.  They are a byproduct of the resurrection life and power we have been given in Christ.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

We can choose how we will live our lives after coming to know Jesus.  We can live in the ignorance of self-made efforts or in the power of His resurrection according to the Spirit who was at work raising Jesus from the dead.  One way trusts in self, and the other trusts in the Lord.  Which will you choose?  One is highly ordinary, while the other is highly unordinary.

One may garner the praise of men, but being highly unordinary garners demonstrates the favor of God.  I encourage you to live the unordinary life of being raised with Christ!

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But By Every Word

What would come to mind if asked what you need to live?

Your answer would likely depend on your greatest need at that moment.

A person without a home would say they need a home to live.

A person without food would indicate that food is needed.

A person without a job or money would insist they need work and finances to live.

A person feeling overworked might respond that a vacation is needed to live.

An overwhelmed mom may declare that a break from the kids is needed.

The fact is, our response to such a question is often shaped by what we feel our greatest need might be at that moment and time.

The enemy of our souls knows this to be true and often will attack us at our most vulnerable place in life at any given moment.  It is the way he attacked Jesus when Jesus was in the wilderness after being water-baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit at the Jordan.  The Holy Spirit had led Jesus into the wilderness, and Jesus had gone without food for forty days and forty nights.  The enemy knew Jesus would be greatly hungry, and His body would cry out for nourishment.

Matthew 4:3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Now, at this point, one might think it would be most practical and reasonable for Jesus to partake of something to eat because going forty days and forty nights without food would greatly weaken a person and put them on the brink of starvation.  There’s no doubt Jesus would have been hungry and desiring food.

It is also true that Jesus was the Son of God and had the power to turn stones into bread to satisfy such a deep longing in His flesh.  But the response Jesus gives is interesting.

Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

Jesus does not deny the need for food to live.  Jesus did not say that man does not need bread to live. He said man does not live by bread alone.  In other words, there’s much more to living than having enough to eat.  The way Jesus states this puts the Word of God as the primary source of life and everything else as secondary.

My point today is simple.  If Jesus emphasized the word of God in a time of great trial in His life, should we not also take seriously the importance of the word of God at all times?

For New Covenant believers, this truth about the word of God still stands.  We need the gospel truth working in our lives with great power.  His word should take priority in our lives because it fuels faith and promotes life in us.  We need to hear Him speak to us His word in season.  I encourage you today to get alone with your Father and allow Him to speak His word of life into you and your situation so that you can live and run in the strength of His word.

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Making Angels Dance

I assume we all know how great it feels to see someone extremely joyful over something we had a part in making happen.

Have you ever considered the powerful opportunity you have to make angels dance in Heaven?

Jesus said something very profound.

Luke 15:7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

Jesus had just given the example of a shepherd losing a sheep and then finding and, as a result, inviting his friends and neighbors over to celebrate.  It is a picture of great joy and rejoicing.  He went on to give another example:

Luke 15:8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Anytime someone comes to faith in Christ, there’s great rejoicing in heaven.  It causes an eruption of joy in the company of the angels every time!

Nowhere in all of Scripture is this kind of occurrence in heaven mentioned about any other activity here on earth.

The only way to make angels dance is by partnering with the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel to others and be used by Him to lead them to faith in Christ Jesus.

Not a single angel will dance because we won a political argument.  Not one will be moved to dance and rejoice because we made a great point to someone to prove we were right and they were wrong.  Angels aren’t stirred with great joy to dance because we are determined to become better established in systematic theology.

Such things may make us feel better, but they will not do anything to produce the kind of celebration in heaven Jesus spoke about.

I can preach my best message ever, and it does not even begin to stir an angel to get excited.  But if the Holy Spirit should use that message to lead someone to trust Christ, an explosive eruption of rejoicing will occur among the angels that will permeate all of heaven!

Committing to lead others to Christ by being a witness for Him puts us in a position to spark a dance party in heaven among the angels.  It blows my mind to think that we here on this earth have the ability to help facilitate great joy in heaven.  Want to join me in making the angels dance?  Purpose to go out of your way each day to share the good news about Jesus with someone and ask them if they would like to receive Him as you did.  Let’s keep the angels in great shape by giving them a reason for lots of dancing.

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Can The Law Ever Be Useful?

I will begin today’s devotional by saying emphatically, yes!  But its goodness relies on proper context and application.

A law regarding observing the speed limit on a highway would be out of place on a plane flying in the air.  The law of lift and the airspeed required to break free of the natural law of gravity sets the pilot of the aircraft free from the law of a speed limit on land, so if you try to force the plane’s pilot to observe the law of speed on land while in the air, you risk going down and you will regret that decision based on the outcome it will produce.  It will not be to your or anyone else’s benefit that is on the plane.

This is a very plain and practical way of explaining an out-of-context use of a very practical law of man, but it makes my point.  Scripture also reveals this idea concerning the Old Covenant law given by Moses.  It is wrongfully used unless it is being used in a proper context.

1Timothy 1:8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

Here, we are clearly told that the law is good if it is used lawfully, and then it is clearly explained what using it lawfully is.  It is also clearly explained what the law is not for.

It is not made for a righteous person.  Who is truly righteous?  What makes them truly righteous?

Romans 3:21   But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

If I am witnessing the gospel to someone and they reveal they are in the deception of self-righteousness, it is okay for me to use the law to show them how no man can justify himself before God by his own efforts to be good.  The law becomes useful in proving a person they are dead in their sins and trespasses no matter how good they imagine themselves to be.  I am not permitted to use the law to beat them up, abuse them, or make myself feel superior to them.  I am especially not permitted to use the law to find fault in brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

Sometimes, we might encounter a person claiming to know Christ but is deep into sin and argues it is all right to be so. They might contend that God changed when Jesus went to the cross and no longer cares about what we do in our bodies.  That is another time when the law can be used lawfully, but only when used properly.

The law is not meant to be used as a training and equipping tool for the church!  It is not meant to be used to encourage someone to become more spiritual or think they could draw closer to God by means of it.  The law is the ministry of death.  The good news of Jesus Christ is the ministry of the Spirit and life.  The New Covenant Jesus shed His blood to establish is not based on the law.  It is based on grace and grants us access to a relationship with God through faith in Christ.  God desires that our faith and trust in Christ’s finished work at the cross grow ever deeper and stronger, and our reliance on our ability to be good enough would be put to death.  We are not instructed to look into the mirror of the law of Moses.  We are encouraged to look in the mirror of the law of liberty that is ours in Christ Jesus.  I’ve asked the Holy Spirit to keep me in check on this matter because I do not wish to create havoc in my life or the lives of others by wrongfully applying the law.  I want to live in the New Covenant, not the Old.

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What’s Being Served?

If you took your car in for a routine oil change and instead, they changed out your radiator fluid, neglected to change the oil, and then behaved as if they had done a great thing for you, would you feel well served?

If you hired someone to cut your grass and, instead, they chopped down your favorite tree, would you feel well served?

I realize these examples seem silly, but they make a point.  Proper service is service in line with the purpose it claims to represent.  Service with integrity is more than just saying nice things that seem honest.  Integrity in serving is staying in step with the promotion of the purpose of the service.

If I say I will serve you in a specific way but instead serve you differently from what I said, I am being deceptive and dishonest with you. This is true regarding ministry to others in the Kingdom of God.

2Corinthians 3:4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

Paul’s trust was in God because of Christ, not himself.  Paul is stating that the confidence he and those partnering with him in the ministry have is a direct result of Christ.  They do not boast of having strengths that they bring to the table that make them effective or validate them.  God is their sufficiency.

God made them something as a result of this work of Christ.  They are sufficient ministers (waiters, servers), as it were, of the New Covenant.  They know with integrity what that means; Paul offers a contrast to define it.

They are not ministers of the letter but of the Spirit.  Paul also contrasts each ministry based on what they produce by stating that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. New Covenant ministry ministers life, while the other type of ministry often exercised ministers death.  To clarify what he is saying, Paul speaks of a ministry of death written and engraved on stones.

Only one thing in the Bible was engraved on stones and given by Moses.  In its time, it was glorious, but a greater glory has now come through the Son Jesus Christ.  Jesus brought the New Covenant of the Spirit by shedding His blood at the cross to pay for the sin of the whole world, and as many as will believe in Him and put their trust in His completed work, they will be saved, made new, be born again and have a relationship with God on the merits of Christ alone.  This is so simple yet so glorious!  The promised Holy Spirit is made available through faith because Christ Jesus prepares us to receive Him by making us new creations.

New Covenant ministry points to Jesus and His completed work and the availability and help of the Holy Spirit based on faith alone. New Covenant ministry does not rely on the letter to produce disciples for Jesus.  New Covenant ministers minister the truth concerning the New Covenant with integrity while relying on the work of the Holy Spirit to produce disciples.  Anything else is a mixture cultivating a subtle deception.  I encourage you to know what you are being served and to be aware of what you are serving others.  It matters to God.  He desires that the greater glory be ministered, not a lesser one.

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