Tag: trust Jesus

Let Us All Give Thanks To God For Our Foundation of Hope! Colossians 1:3-8

Colossians 1:3-8 Amplified Bible

3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we pray always for you, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [how you lean on Him with absolute confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness], and of the [unselfish] [a]love which you have for all the saints (God’s people); 5 because of the [confident] hope [of experiencing that] which is reserved and waiting for you in heaven. You previously heard of this hope in the message of truth, the gospel [regarding salvation] 6 which has come to you. Indeed, just as in the whole world the gospel is constantly bearing fruit and spreading [by God’s power], just as it has been doing among you ever since the day you first heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth [becoming thoroughly and deeply acquainted with it]. 7 You learned it from [our representative] Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf 8 and he also has told us of your love [well-grounded and nurtured] in the [Holy] Spirit.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

The Root Of Our Hope Is Our Savior Jesus

It’s wonderful when someone comes into the kingdom of God.

That person receives God’s gift of grace through faith in Jesus, and they begin a new life of walking with the Holy Spirit.

The new believer realizes that the full measure of their “sacred cow” plans for their old life of selfish pursuits offers them nothing that will ever satisfy them.

By their new hope in Christ Jesus, they have turned their back on the darkness and are enjoying the light of the world, Savior Jesus – Praise God for his love!

Paul is filled with thanks to hear that the people of Colossae have come to faith in Christ Jesus and are showing their love for all God’s people.

He even says, “We always thank God . . . when we pray for you . . .”

They have become wonderful examples of living by faith in Jesus.

They believe and trust, they love, and they hope in what God has already stored up in heaven for them.

Drawing all this together, today we can echo with great assurance with Paul that the new faith of the Colossian believers is decisively rooted in Jesus Christ.

Friends, my prayer is you will have faith in Christ Jesus; my hope for you is that in Jesus’ name you are loving others, giving yourself up for them, and growing in hope in all that God has promised and is storing up for you and me in heaven.

Stay rooted in Christ, stay united in His hope anticipating the reality of our own resurrection, the reality of God’s coming kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

The Hope of Resurrection Brings Us All Together

What is the basis for Christian unity?

What is the basis for being able to correct another believers doctrine?

What is the foundation of love and faith in the Christian life?

Paul answers these questions in the beginning of his letter to the church at Colossae.

In the beginning of Colossians, Paul teaches that the basis of Christian faith and love is hope.

We can view hope as elemental to the gospel message, proclaimed to all who believe.

This foundation of hope in the gospel unites us with other believers, for all believers share the same foundation of the message of Christ.

From those foundations proceed faith and love, essential to the character of believers.

Faith And Love As Reasons For Giving Our Thanks

Paul thanks God for the faith and love evident in the church at Colossae.

The believers at Colossae were believers in Christ Jesus, found in Him and known by Him.

Their faith set them on the side of light.

For, Christians have been rescued from darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of the Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13-14).

The Incomparable Christ

13 For He has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption [because of His sacrifice, resulting in] the forgiveness of our sins [and the cancellation of sins’ penalty].

Faith is what made these believers dwell in a new understanding about life, truth, what matters on this earth, and what matters for times to come.

And Paul even heard about the faith of the Colossians, so completely notable was their expression of it.

Paul also heard about the love that believers had for the saints.

The believers had love for their fellow believers, and this was an outworking of the eternal truths of the gospel.

Their love is further identified in the letter as being “in the Spirit” (Colossians 1:8), the mark of its veracity.

Paul notes the rich and beautiful Christian love of the Colossian church:

Colossians 2:1-3 Amplified Bible

You Are Built Up in Christ

2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at [a]Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face.  2 [For my hope is] that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in [unselfish] [b]love, so that they may have all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding [the joy of salvation], resulting in a true [and more intimate] knowledge of the [c]mystery of God, that is, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [regarding the word and purposes of God].

Paul will ultimately write to the church at Colossae about heresy creeping in, and with that in mind, he writes he desires the body of Christ to be encouraged together with hearts unified in love.

This is Paul’s desired way for the church to have reception of truth and correction of error: to write to a church about these matters who is knit together in the love of Christ.

Then, they would be able to further share in the genuine message of Christ, separate truth from error, and have the full experience of Christ leading and guiding in truth amidst His very own body at Colossae.

No wonder Paul thanks God for the love he sees in the saints at Colossae: it gave him genuine confidence about the message of correction he would be sharing.

That love in the context of faith was made possible by the foundation of hope in Christ and Christ alone present in the church.

The Hope of the Gospel in Us

Hope as a Foundation

Paul credits hope as the foundation for the believers’ virtues. Hope is the basis for Christian faith and love.

Hope is the basic element of the faith — that we have a future with Christ through the truth of the gospel.

And hope is the basis for Christian love — that we have a future with One who unites all believers.

Faith springs from the message of hope. Love flows through the message of hope because the message is what unites the church, one to another.

Hope from the Gospel

Hope comes from the gospel, the word of truth.

The hope of the gospel is restored union and communion with Jesus Christ, the God who made us. 

Colossians 1:27 says that Jesus Christ in us is the hope of glory.

Surely this is the center of Paul’s message in the opening words of his letter.

Hope is the basis for faith and love — and the basis for this hope is that we have restored relationship with Jesus Christ.

This relationship means we have a future of even closer communion with Jesus when we are one day with Him in glory.

Hope Passed On

The word of truth is learned through the teaching of another.

The gospel is passed from person to person through teaching.

Hope becomes passed through the fellowship and instruction of other believers.

Not only had Paul and this church not met face-to-face, so it was with many believers spread throughout the world.

The gospel — the hope of Christ — spreading is an encouraging point of union between Paul and the church a Colossae.

Their shared hope is spread by Jesus Christ who would surely build His church (Matthew 16:18).

Hope is the foundation from which virtues spring and is testified to in the gospel of Christ.

The Blessed Unity of Believers’ Shared Foundation of Hope

Because Paul and his fellow believers at Colossae had a strong foundation of hope — with evidence he could hear about — he is solidified in his union with them through Christ.

Paul’s Connection with the Church at Colossae

Paul uses this expression of prayer-filled thanks to establish his unity with the church at Colossae.

He would be writing to warn against heresy creeping into the church.

But at this juncture, He is establishing truths about the faith, love, and hope that are basic to the Christian message.

He heard about this church’s faith through Epaphras, not being a church that he planted.

But he had thanksgiving-filled unity with this church nonetheless because of the message of the gospel.

Paul’s Connection with All Churches

With thanks, Paul indicates that the message of the gospel was spreading throughout the world — and not only through Paul’s ministry.

What joy that these Christians could receive a message of warning through Paul based on Christian gospel unity — and not based upon personal connection.

Many could, and indeed would, be wary to receive correction from someone not personally known, but Paul would deliver this message faithfully and with great hope that it would prayerfully be received well by those he had never even met.

Through the unity of the gospel and on the basis of broad Christian unity through Jesus Christ, Paul would be proceeding with his message of correction.

Suggested Points of Meditation and Application

As we consider Paul’s opening comments of the letter to the Colossians, we can note hope as the central theme, and basis for his commitment and unity with the church members.

This commitment and unity comes from a heart that shares the indwelling of Christ Jesus through the ministry of the Holy Spirit with fellow believers.

As you take these teachings to heart, pray over the following application points:

1. Strengthen your understanding with conviction in the hope that you have

2. Ensure that you are loving others in the church because of the hope that you share from the hope to be found only in resurrection of our Savior Christ Jesus.

3. Know that your hope means your faith is in a different world, for a different life to come. John 17:6-12 Amplified.

6 “I have manifested Your name [and revealed Your very self, Your real self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept and obeyed Your word. 7 Now [at last] they know [with confident assurance] that all You have given Me is from You [it is really and truly Yours]. 8 For the words which You gave Me I have given them; and they received and accepted them and truly understood [with confident assurance] that I came from You [from Your presence], and they believed [without any doubt] that You sent Me. 9 I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and [all things that are] Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; yet they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and protected them, and not one of them was lost except [a]the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

4. Trust a shared foundation of hope with other believers provides a foundation for doctrinal correction—should you ever be placed in the position of giving or receiving such correction

5. Be ever more thankful to God than to humanity for the unity of the gospel being spread throughout the world.

Resurrection of Hope

It’s not the experience of hope but the object of hope that is stored up for us in heaven–and that gives rise to faith and love, says the apostle Paul.

Colossians 1:27, Paul talks about “the hope of glory,” meaning the final unveiling of our salvation, when “righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10). 

This grand source of hope does not mean we ignore this present life.

Instead, this hope encourages love.

In a sermon on this text, author John Piper says,

“Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love.”

He adds, “It’s not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort that do that, and the power to sever those cords is Christian hope.”

To live in the utter certainty, centrality of the hope of His coming glory, frees us all from greed and bitterness, despair and laziness, from impatience and envy.

Being fully captivated by this future Paul says we’ve heard about in the gospel empowers, inspires, moves us forward against the tsunami’s of culture, to give us grace to live in faith and in love to become examples of God’s new creation.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

In your kingdom, Lord,
there are no favourites,
all are equal,
all carry the image
of the one who made all things,
and all are welcome in your home.
You forgive those who in humility
make the journey to repentance,
even those who now reject you.
Such love, Such faith, Such hope,
beyond our imagining.
Such love, Such faith, Such hope,
that could die for us.
Such love, Such faith, Such hope,
sown into hearts,
that we might display its beauty
through hopeful lives and hope-filled words.
Thank you Lord!

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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A Psalm of Life: It is Never All About You, Neither Will It Ever Be All About Me. Hebrews 7:23-25

Hebrews 7:23-25 Amplified Bible

23 The [former successive line of] priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were each prevented by death from continuing [perpetually in office]; 24 but, on the other hand, Jesus holds His priesthood permanently  and without change, because He lives on forever. 25 Therefore He is able also to save forever (completely, perfectly, for eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede and intervene on their behalf [with God].

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

A Psalm of Life

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW [October 1838]

What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

   Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

   And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

   And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

   Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

   Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

   And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

   Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

   In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

   Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

   Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,— act in the living Present!

   Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

   With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

   Learn to labor and to wait.

A Highly Offensive Contemporary Psalm for Life.

It’s not all about you.

But, then again, neither is it about me.

Urgently Needed Reminder: God’s Psalm for Life.

I would say that the question most frequently asked by Christians is this: is it possible for me to lose my salvation?

It bothers so many of us.

We know the stakes.

And the possibility of having got it wrong, haunts so many believers.

This message is the first of at least two in a small series that are stand- alone messages but which, I pray will all bear upon the question of eternal security.

Do we believe that the Blood of Christ cleanses us from sin?

Absolutely – no problem there – just read 1 John 1:9.

Do we accept that no-one can snatch us away from God?

Of course we do – the Bible says so.

No one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand – John 10:28-29 makes that one quite clear

But here’s where agreement ends and doubts begin!

We hear so many things that can make us insecure – particularly if we’re really struggling to the live the lives we know we should.

So many doubts.

So many fears and apprehensions.

So many different slants and theories.

When do we get saved?

Is it at a particular point in time?

Or does it develop over a certain measure of time?

Is it possible to stop believing and lose it all?

Can we blow it by persisting in willful sin?

Or does that willful sin show that we’ve already blown it in the first place?

After all – the tree is known by its fruit! [Psalm 1, Matthew 7:15-19, 12:33-35]

So – to extend that principle a little – can we forfeit Eternal Life – not just by sinning – but by being unfruitful and unproductive in our lives?

Carelessly allowing our salvation to slip straight through our very own fingers – as Hebrews 2:1-4 seems to suggest?

Give Heed

2 [a]For this reason [that is, because of God’s final revelation in His Son Jesus and because of Jesus’ superiority to the angels] we must pay much closer attention than ever to the things that we have heard, so that we do not [in any way] drift away from truth. 2 For if the message given [b]through angels [the Law given to Moses] was authentic and unalterable, and every violation and disobedient act received an appropriate penalty, 3 how will we escape [the penalty] if we ignore such a great salvation [the gospel, the new covenant]? For it was spoken at first by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us and proved authentic by those who personally heard [Him speak], 4 [and besides this evidence] God also testifying with them [confirming the message of salvation], both by signs and wonders and by various miracles [carried out by Jesus and the apostles] and by [granting to believers the] gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

We’re going to examine these fears and see if they have any basis in reality.

What does the Word of God actually teach?

But don’t just take my word for it. Like the Bereans – examine this subject for yourself.

I’m confident that when you understand the principles by which God operates – understand His motivations in relation to your salvation, you’ll put to rest these doubts, fears; you’ll appreciate the yawning gulf that divides human reasoning from Divine wisdom and Infinite Love and Grace.

This first devotion is entitled: ‘It’s not all about you’

We’ll discuss this in a moment – but first let’s address a couple of the concerns we mentioned at the beginning.

Among the various positions adopted on the question of eternal security, what undisputed facts can we all agree on – if we take the Word of God at face value?

What does the Bible clearly teach about eternal life?

Well – the first thing we find is that:

Eternal life is a present possession!

It’s not something we have to wait to receive;

It is not something we grow into;

And not something that develops gradually.

The Bible does talk about aspects of our salvation that still lie in the future – but entering into a relationship with God – and receiving the gift of eternal life – is something that happens at a particular point in our lives!

In John 5:24 Jesus said these words:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

Then in Ephesians 2:4-5 we read:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And finally, Paul says in Romans 5:1-2

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

So that’s quite clear.

Salvation isn’t something we’re looking forward to – it’s something that occurs in one point of time!

So you and I are either saved right now or we’re not saved at all!

So what’s the next thing we can agree on?

It’s this.

It appears that we can be sure that we have eternal life.

God intends for us to have confidence – to be able to rest quietly in the knowledge and complete assurance of salvation – no shadow of a doubt!

John writes in his first epistle, chapter 5:13:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

In Romans 8:16 Paul says:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

And in 2 Timothy 1:12, we hear Paul’s stirring words:

I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

Some people would – of course – say that this confidence is conditional upon us showing the fruits of salvation in our lives.

They say, in other words, that we can be sure of our salvation as long as we have it – but that’s no guarantee that we can’t lose it!

So the questions which remain to be answered are this:

Is it possible for us to lies lose our salvation?

Is it possible to cease being a Christian?

Can we be saved one minute – but lost the next?

Ok. If we want to get down to what the Bible actually says, we’ll need to scrap some of this misleading terminology once and for all.

Losing your salvation is not a term used in Scripture at all!

And for very good reason!

Certainly salvation is spoken of as a gift – but not as an object: a thing that can be dropped, given away or lost.

This gift is nothing less than the gift of new life – eternal life!

So can you lose your Salvation?

Well – what happens if you lose your life?

You die, of course!

So the real question should be this:

If a man is reborn (through the process of the new birth) and consequently has eternal life – can he die again?

And that puts an entirely different complexion on things!

Can a life be described as eternal if it can end – and you can die again?

Christ is our life.

Can He die again?

Well – actually He can’t!

Romans 6:8-11 Amplified Bible

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live [together] with Him, 9 because we know [the self-evident truth] that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. 11 Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin [and your relationship to it broken], but alive to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

When you think it through – it’s actually nonsense to talk about losing salvation – because of the very meaning of the word.

In certain circumstance I can save myself – but if I’m saved by someone else – by very definition I’m not contributing to the action.

Christ saves me!

If I were to perish for any reason – then in actual fact he wouldn’t have saved me.

But let’s start from the beginning

As we said before: it’s not all about you, neither is it about me!

Salvation is not all about us.

What do I mean by that – and what bearing does it have on our eternal security?

In the Garden of Eden, Satan had effectively stolen God’s creation from him.

We belonged to God – we were created differently from the animals.

Mankind was His special creation – formed in His image so that He could enjoy fellowship with us forever – loving Him and being loved by Him for all eternity.

Now you can’t force a person to love you.

The relationship for which God created us, had to be based on our willingness to have, continue fellowship with Him, to freely offer Him our love and devotion.

So in that sense – maintaining a continuous relationship with God was man’s responsibility.

We were born with a self-determining free-will and this privilege and dignity is something God would never over-ride.

So, ultimately, He had to risk losing us.

He had to take the chance of us turning our backs on Him.

And that’s exactly what happened!

Adam and Eve transferred their allegiance to Satan.

They passed from God’s control to Satan’s authority.

But Satan wasn’t going to win.

God already had a plan – a plan of Salvation – in order to regain what Satan had been allowed to steal from him; a plan to repossess that which He had lost.

Luke 19:10: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Lost by whom?

Once again we make it all about us.

We were lost – we say – in sin.

But surely a natural reading of what Christ said would be we were lost to God – He had lost us – and that He had come to recover us: to save us – to get us back.

And that’s what redemption is all about!

In the OT the word translated “redeem” is pa^da^h and it means: to ransom, redeem, rescue, or deliver. [Isaiah 50:2 ESV]

https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/isa/50/2/t_conc_729002

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6304/esv/wlc/0-1/

In the NT the word is exagorazo. [Galatians 4:5]

https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/gal/4/5/t_conc_1095005

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1805/esv/mgnt/0-1/

In the Roman world, the market place was called the agora.

Exagorazo therefore literally means – to take out of the market place – hence – to purchase.

According to Strongs Concordance, it means: To recover from the power of another, to ransom by paying a price.

Of course, being recovered or ransomed implies that we formerly belonged to someone else – who then paid a price to get us back.

And that’s what our English word redeem conveys.

It comes from two Latin words meaning: to buy again or to buy back.

So – if I redeem something, I recover or ransom something that once belonged to me.

God did that – He once owned us because He created us.

He then lost us when we sinned – so He set out to recover which was lost – to ransom us – to buy us back – to redeem us – the price He paid was staggering:

it was the life of His own beloved Son!

The life blood of Jesus Christ was the currency that was used.

1 Peter 1:18-19 says this:

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

We were redeemed from the slave market of sin and are now twice-owned!

You and I are twice owned.

God created us – lost us and bought us back.

We are now his treasured possession – He purchased us.

A transaction has taken place and the highest possible price was paid:

the full asking price demanded by the law to free us from sin – the life blood of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son.

So 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

That’s redemption!

Do we get that?

We no longer belong to ourselves.

God paid the highest possible price to get us back.

We are now His property!

Titus 2:14 says that he:

gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

It’s not all about us.

It’s not purely for our benefit!

We are now his inheritance!

Paul says to the Ephesians in chapter 1:18:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people….

As Israel was continually referred to as God’s inheritance, we are His spiritual people – His glorious inheritance – His new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: Old things have gone, new things are here!

We’ve already seen that in the first creation, man was responsible for maintaining fellowship with God and he failed.

But do you believe that God will allow Satan to once again usurp him successfully?

To once again frustrate His purposes and steal away his possession?

One that He paid for with the death of his Son?

And that would happen if just one believer were to lose his Salvation – because effectively Christ would have died again.

Grace wouldn’t be reigning through righteousness – sin would once again be reigning through death (at least in that one life)!

A death, by the way, which has been destroyed by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not a chance!

Things are different now.

In the new creation, the responsibility of maintaining our relationship with God is now His responsibility – not ours.

And why? Because He bought us and we are His possession.

Remember 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20

You are not your own; you were bought at a price.

This involves ownership.

We actually don’t have the right to give ourselves away again – in any way shape or form.

We’re God’s property!

In fact, God made certain that we couldn’t blow it again – either as a new race or as individuals.

Let us now look at how he protected us as individuals – how he has further guaranteed that we’ll never die again.

It’s found in Romans 4:16.

Here the Apostle Paul writes these wonderful words:

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

Notice here what God has done.

So that the responsibility for our salvation might be taken out of our hands altogether –

in other words, so that it might be by grace, entirely on the basis of a free gift – with us contributing nothing at all,

he made its acquisition conditional upon upon faith – simply believing – so that we have no active part to play – just to receive what is offered!

Ephesians 2:8-9 therefore says:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no-one can boast.

So God took on the responsibility for the whole thing so that the promise could be guaranteed.

He had to!

Sin had to be paid for – that took the death of Christ.

We had no part in that – except, of course, in the fact He was representing us.

And our new life had to be perfect forever.

To those who say that we can lose our salvation by sin in our lives, I would remind them that it only took one sin to sink the whole human race!

I mean, what estimation do we have of God?

Do we think that He can tolerate a certain level of sinning and then if it gets beyond that, He’ll say: “Ok, that’s enough!”

It took one sin to sink the human race!

You think you can lose your salvation by sinning?

Then fine – but remember this: you lost it with the first sin you committed after you got saved!!

What is good enough for God is absolute and total perfection or nothing at all!!

And He guaranteed that too – by imparting to us the life of Christ by way of the new birth!

As I said, our salvation consisted of God taking back what belonged to him.

And doing so by paying the price for our freedom.

I mean – Consider what happened at the moment of our salvation.

A transaction took place.

A deposit was paid on us.

We were set aside as his property.

That’s pretty much a guarantee of eternal life isn’t it?

14 The Spirit is the [a]guarantee [the first installment, the pledge, a foretaste] of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own [purchased] possession [His believers], to the praise of His glory. [Ephesians 1:14 Amplified]

In fact, Ephesians 1:14 describes the Holy Spirit as: a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

There’s the guarantee.

It’s because a deposit has been paid. And this deposit is the Holy Spirit.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/eph/1/14/t_conc_1098014

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g728/esv/mgnt/0-1/

The word deposit here is the word arrhabon.

It’s a word of Hebrew origin and means: a pledge – that is, part of the purchase money or property given in advance as security for the rest.

It’s the money which, when a purchase takes place, is given as a down-payment – in effect, a pledge that the full amount will subsequently be paid!

When you were saved – did you receive the Holy Spirit??

Of course you did!

And if you did – then God’s already paid a deposit on you.

The Holy Spirit is the down-payment!

The Holy Spirit is also a seal on God’s property!

In ancient times, when property was purchased, it was sealed by the new owner with his own distinctive mark – just like cattle was branded in the old West.

This was to protect the goods and to ensure that nobody else could claim them or interfere with them.

In our case, we were also branded or sealed, just to make sure that we were His – that no-one else could claim us.

The Bible says – in Ephesians 1:13:

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/eph/1/13/t_conc_1098013

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4972/esv/mgnt/0-1/

The word for seal is the noun from the Greek verb sphragizō – and it’s used 13 times in the Bible.

It means: to stamp for security or preservation – usually with a signet ring or private mark.

That happened when you believed!

It’s not a hope; it’s not a promise.

It’s a done deal!

It doesn’t say ‘if you continue to believe’

Having believed – the verb here is in what is called the aorist tense.

It’s a one-time process that’s already been completed in your life if you’ve come to Christ!

You and I have been sealed.

The seal signified that the goods belonged to the owner of seal or the mark.

Remember – it’s not all about you.

You’re his property now.

And the seal – the Holy Spirit in our case – is a guarantee that the goods will reach their destination in the same condition that they left!

Nobody can get at you except by breaking the seal!

Is there something out there that is greater than the love of God?

More effective than the blood of Christ?

More powerful than the indwelling Holy Spirit?

Doesn’t the Bible say: greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.?

The Holy Spirit can’t be overcome.

He can’t be ejected from the believer.

In other words – the seal can’t be broken.

It’s His seal – we are His property!

In fact His seal is an absolute guarantee!!

2 Corinthians 1:21-22:

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

How could our salvation be guaranteed if it was up to us in any way whatsoever?

Adam and Eve were created perfect, in idyllic surroundings and in personal contact and communion with God every day.

Yet they still blew it.

But God has purchased or redeemed us and put his personal seal within us.

Make no mistake about this.

If one sealed soul were to be lost, then the seal will have been broken!

The promise and guarantee of God will have been made void!

And God is very serious about keeping His Word.

It abides forever.

He warns us about making oaths because in doing so, we’re undertaking something that only God Himself is able to do – absolutely guarantee the fulfillment of an oath.

And if one saved soul were to be lost:

Satan would have won again!

The deposit would have been lost!

Good faith in purchase destroyed!

And no power in universe can do that!

God has his own plans for His possession

Nothing and nobody is going to steal us away again.

No power in the universe is going to thwart and frustrate His purposes!

Examine what is known as the Golden chain in Romans 8:30:

And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

And so Paul says in Romans 8:38-39:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But sometimes it sounds counter – intuitive, doesn’t it!

As human beings, seeing everything from a humanistic perspective, we’ve been so ingrained with concepts like:

There’s no such thing as a free lunch!

If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is!

You only get out of something what you put in!

And so forth!

So Christians, without realizing it, often rebel against the principle of Grace – the free unconditional love of God, His gift of Grace – Eternal Life in Christ.

They might say – and you’ve all heard these objections:

Sure – nothing can snatch us out of the Father’s hand – but surely we can:

by our own choice.

or our own actions.

lose our salvation.

I mean – there has to be consequences for how we live our lives!

So there’s the question.

Salvation is free, but can we, by free choice, stop being covered by blood of Christ?

Can we ourselves break the seal?

Void the contract?

Undo God’s work in us.

Make ineffective the blood of Christ.

Reverse the effects of the death of Christ in our lives?

See how silly that starts to sound!

Well – Some say that we can and they will give a variety of reasons:

Living a sinful life.

No longer believing.

Not persevering with works of righteousness.

Well, you’ll find each of these objections will resolve itself from the Word of God.

For the moment, just remember one important thing:

Man had a relationship with God.

The maintenance of that relationship was man’s responsibility.

Man failed to live up to the terms of that relationship.

Because of this, he passed from communion with God into the power of Satan.

God, by the death of Christ, went to amazing lengths to buy back or redeem His lost possession.

We now belong to Him – signed, sealed and delivered.

Our safety and maintenance in that relationship is now up to Him – and Him alone!!

May God bless His Word to each one of us! Amen

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Almighty God, you are the source of all light. You divinely separated light from darkness so that we may have the beauty of the light of day. Dear Lord, illuminate this day and enlighten us as we seek to know you through your word. May we be led by your light so our hearts may be opened to your word. We pray that we receive every word you speak to us today. Holy and gracious God, you are the greatest of all. You are full of wonders that no mere human can comprehend. Lord, I seek to understand you and your ways so that I can live according to your commandments. I pray for your divine illumination in my heart and mind. Help me see what you intend for me to see. Help me understand what you intend for me to understand. Open my eyes and my ears, my mouth, to see you and hear, speak your whispers.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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“It is For God Alone My Soul Waits in Silence.” Psalmists Invitation to Pray a Prayer of Rest for Our Sabbath Days. Psalm 62. 

Psalm 62 The Message

62 1-2 God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I need comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

3-4 How long will you gang up on me?
    How long will you run with the bullies?
There’s nothing to you, any of you—
    rotten floorboards, worm-eaten rafters,
Anthills plotting to bring down mountains,
    far gone in make-believe.
You talk a good line,
    but every “blessing” breathes a curse.

5-6 God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I hope for comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

7-8 My help and glory are in God
    —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God—
So trust him absolutely, people;
    lay your lives on the line for him.
    God is a safe place to be.

9 Man as such is smoke,
    woman as such, a mirage.
Put them together, they’re nothing;
    two times nothing is nothing.

10 And a windfall, if it comes—
    don’t make too much of it.

11 God said this once and for all;
    how many times
Have I heard it repeated?
    “Strength comes
Straight from God.”

12 Love to you, Lord God!
    You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Psalm 62 … God and God Alone is Our Only Rest and Salvation

When you wait on God, you find He is your salvation and provider of all you need. Only God can fill the need of your soul.

Your Salvation

If you are like me, my first response when faced with a significant problem is to gather up all my resources and do everything I can to fix it.

The bigger the problem, the more frantic and anxious I become.

King David wrote this psalm during a particularly difficult time in his life.

He was facing constant attacks from his son, who was trying to overthrow his rule as king.

Instead of gathering his army and advisors, the first thing he did was go to the Lord.

David understood that trusting in men was foolish.

It was not about his strength or wisdom but God’s deliverance.

David saw God as his only true source of salvation.

He stopped everything to get with the Lord.

David didn’t come to God with loud cries or pleas for help.

He came to God in silence.

He waited before the Lord without speaking.

When I face a problem, I want to tell God all about it.

Too often, I come before Him filled with fear and anxiety.

David came before God in complete rest. 

David had a quiet confidence that God would see him through. 

So often, we think prayer is about what we say and how we say it.

If we can just use the right words, God will surely see our needs and answer our prayers.

David understood it was not about his words but his faith.

When you set your mind and soul to wait silently before the Lord, it’s not only an expression of your openness to God but a complete dependence on Him.

Salvation and deliverance are always gifts of grace from God and God alone.

David didn’t trust in his strength or the wisdom of others.

He didn’t panic and try to fix everything.

He went to the source of his salvation and waited silently for Him to provide.

One of the great truths of life—if not perhaps the greatest truth—is that when all else fails, when everything else falls apart, there is one and only one person on whom you and I and everyone else can absolutely rely.

And that person is not yourself: it is God. God and God alone.

That is the theme of this psalm. “For God alone my soul waits in silence” (62:1).

“He alone is my rock and salvation” (62:2).

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence” (62:5).

“He alone is my rock and my salvation” (62:6).

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my H.O.P.E. comes from him.” Psalm 62:5

As Christians, we are called to hope.

Not wishful thinking, imagining things, or pining for better days.

Hope.

Hope is not a pipe dream or a fairy tale.

It is a strong action instead of a reaction.

Hope is always alive in Christ Jesus, Our Lord and Savior.

When we choose to live in Christ Jesus …

When we choose to live and choose live in our Savior’s complete hope we:

H – Heed His Word.
Hang onto encouraging verses in Scripture in times of trouble, stress or doubt. Recall His promises, read, mark and memorize helpful verses, and repeat them often.

O – Obey.
Sometimes we have to do things simply because someone in authority says so. If we can trust God and obey, then in hindsight we may look back and see more clearly why He told us.

P – Pray.
Instead of fretting, if we can drop to our knees and lay it at the cross we will find an inner peace which, as Paul states, surpasses our understanding. Much better than jogging in a hamster wheel of worry and churning it over and over in our minds. Pray, lay it down, walk away.

E – Expect.
The more we rely on God’s promises and His timing, then experience will show us things work out for the best when we “let go and let God” handle it.

So pry your fingers off the situation and relax.

A Prayer for the Sabbath – Your Daily Prayer

Exodus 20:8-11 Amplified Bible

8 “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the Lord your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].

Rest is so important to God that he put it in the Ten Commandments.

He wants you to take a day off every week.

That’s called the Sabbath, which literally means a day of rest, and God wants us to do it every seventh day.

The day isn’t important.

It doesn’t have to be a certain day, just every seventh day.

It’s so important that even God rested on the seventh day when he created everything — not because He was tired but to give us the ultimate example of how we should be more like God and take that gift of the seventh day to rest.

What do you do on this Sabbath day to actually have it be a day of rest?

1. Rest your body.

God has made us so that we need rest.

If your car engine heat light were showing red, you would stop because you would know it’s going to damage the engine.

God says if you don’t take one day out of seven to rest, if you keep pumping the adrenaline all day, every day, seven days a week, your engine is going to break.

So for your heart to be at its best, your body, mind and soul all requires rest.

You have to take the time to rest.

2. Recharge your emotions.

Just Be Still and Know only God can be, and is God … Psalm 46:10-11

Just be quiet before the Lord!

David’s Prayer

18 Then King David went in and sat [in prayer] before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord [a]God, and what is my house (family), that You have brought me this far? 19  Yet this was very insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of Your servant’s house (royal dynasty) in the distant future. And this is the law and custom of man, O Lord God. 20 What more can David say to You? For You know (acknowledge, choose) Your servant, O Lord God. [2 Samuel 7:18-20 AMP]

Like King David, take time for God, just sit still, be quiet before the Lord God.

Maybe you need to reconnect in your relationships.

Maybe there’s some kind of recreation that rejuvenates you.

I’m not talking about competitive recreation.

Some of you are not recharging your emotions out on the golf course.

You are just getting angry at your golf clubs or at the other guys golf clubs!

3. Refocus your spirit.

During your Sabbath, you do not take a day off from God.

You worship!

Worship puts life into perspective.

If you’re too busy for God, you’re just too busy.

To make this happen, you have to schedule it. 

Psalm 127:2 “It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?” (MSG)

God enjoys giving rest to those he loves.

Be intentional about taking your Sabbath, and make it count!

62 1-2 God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I need comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

5-6 God, the one and only—
    I’ll wait as long as he says.
Everything I hope for comes from him,
    so why not?
He’s solid rock under my feet,
    breathing room for my soul,
An impregnable castle:
    I’m set for life.

11 God said this once and for all;
    how many times
Have I heard it repeated?
    “Strength comes
Straight from God.”

12 Love to you, Lord God!
    You pay a fair wage for a good day’s work!

be quiet, sit still, Make these confessions.

  • My salvation comes only from the Lord.
  • When I face troubles, I look to the Lord.
  • It’s not about my words but about God’s grace.
  • I will sit still in the Presence of God my Savior.
  • I will wait quietly before the God of my salvation.
  • I will shut my mouth, close both my eyes and open my ears.

Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Favor.

A Psalm of David.

138 I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I sing praises to You before the [pagan] gods.
2 
I will bow down [in worship] toward Your holy temple
And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word together with Your name.
3 
On the day I called, You answered me;
And You made me bold and confident with [renewed] strength in my life.

4 
All the kings of the land will give thanks and praise You, O Lord,
When they have heard of the promises of Your mouth [which were fulfilled].
5 
Yes, they will sing of the ways of the Lord [joyfully celebrating His wonderful acts],
For great is the glory and majesty of the Lord.
6 
Though the Lord is exalted,
He regards the lowly [and invites them into His fellowship];
But the proud and haughty He knows from a distance.

7 
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
8 
The Lord will accomplish that which concerns me;
Your [unwavering] lovingkindness, O Lord, endures forever—
Do not abandon the works of Your own hands.

Have faith God will see you through it, and claim His promise as your own.

In the name of God the Father and God, the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father God, let us always choose to hope in You instead of fretting, or getting stressed over things we have no control over. Replace our qualms with quiet, our fears with faith, and our worries with wisdom. Dear Lord, help us make every Sabbath about you alone. Quiet my heart, give rest to my soul, refocus my spirit—for true renewal, true revival, comes only from you. Holy Spirit please help me to be intentional with my time and worship, and encourage me to find rest in you alone. In Jesus’ name. 

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Psalm 46 Be Still and Ponder Upon the Importance of How We Each View God.

Psalm 46 Amplified Bible

God the Refuge of His People.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to soprano voices. A Song.

46 God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable],
A very present and well-proved help in trouble.
2 
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas,
3 
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains tremble at its roaring. Selah.

4 
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
5 
God is in the midst of her [His city], she will not be moved;
God will help her when the morning dawns.
6 
The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered and were moved;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
7 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

8 
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has brought desolations and wonders on the earth.
9 
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow into pieces and snaps the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10 
“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Be Still and Know that I Am God.

We will tend to believe of being “busy” as something positive—something of a measure of our true success in life, maybe even a compliment—especially when we consider the negative implications of its opposites, being “idle” or “lazy.”

But we should not always assume, consider “busyness” as a Christian virtue.

Have you ever thought that busyness might just be a sign of Christian betrayal rather than Christian commitment?

We should definitely be thankful that many believers are busy for the Lord.

Giving, sacrificing our time and ourselves in service to God’s kingdom is an absolutely essential part of the believer’s life and the Christian experience.

But mere busyness does not necessarily equal faithfulness in the Christian life.

In a time of great social economic political upheaval and national crisis, God emphatically urged his people to simply “be still” and know that he was God.

Twice in Psalm 46, God’s people heard the assurance that the Lord Almighty was with them.

He would be their comfort and mighty fortress.

The key to experiencing that assurance, though, would be to approach God with a stilled heart and quiet trust.

When we actually withdraw from our busy lives to spend time with God, we find ourselves discovering, enjoying, experiencing the truest reality of his presence.

While we are not called by God to be either lazy or idle, neither are we called to a life of non-stop activity and service.

God’s gently emphatic invitation, “be still” unlocks for us the opportunity to experience the maximum allowable joy of actually, genuinely, knowing him.

What a blessed comfort this verse has been to multitudes of believers in Christ, down through the ages, who have heeded God’s invitation and rested on these words of the Psalmist and had their hearts stilled in the presence of the Lord.

What refreshment these simple words have bestowed on many little lambs who have listened to the voice of their Good Shepherd – that Great Shepherd of the sheep Who opens His arms wide to embrace all who will truly trust in His name.

But in context, we see another component to these words of reassurance.

We see a genuine plan to glorify His Name and to exult His Person among the nations of the world who rage against the God of heaven and His anointed King.

He is our Defense and our Defender against the enemies of our soul, and all who rest in Him find courage and strength.

He is our impenetrable refuge from the storms of life and our shelter in the midst of oppression, and we are called to be still and to know that He is God – for His purposes will never fail, He will be glorified throughout the whole earth.

It is of the greatest encouragement, both to His people Israel, and to His children of every age, that men who follow their own atheistic ‘will’ and construct their own anti-God plans, will finally be brought to nothing.

For God, and God alone will be exulted among the heathen and His purposes alone will come to fruition – but we who have trusted Him for salvation are to sit serenely in His presence, in quiet assurance, confidence and in godly trust.

Like the people of Israel in times past, Church-age believers are invited, called upon to ponder, remember the mighty deeds that God has done and to recall the myriad beyond myriads of miraculous, wondrous works that He has performed.

We are to rest confidently in the knowledge that He is our faithful God – the supreme Creator of all and Commander of the armies of heaven Who redeems us by faith in the shed blood of Christ, and will never leave us nor forsake us.

We are to:

rest peacefully in the truth of His Word and be still in His holy presence.

We are to know in our heart, by faith with thanksgiving, that He is the Lord our God Who alone pardons all our iniquities, heals all our diseases, Who redeems our life from the pit, and Who crowns us with lovingkindness and compassion.

He alone is our God Who satisfies our years with good things, renews our youth like the eagle.

He performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious… slow to anger and abounding in steadfast and immovable lovingkindness.

He is our Redeemer our Saviour and Friend.

He alone is our hope and strength, He will be exalted, for it is He who has made us, not we ourselves, for we are His beloved people, the sheep of His pasture.

Although the nations rage like the billows of the sea and the people imagine a vain thing against the Lord God Almighty, we are invited, called to be still in the presence of the Lord and to know Him in our heart by faith, with thanksgiving.

May we ponder what it means to be still in His presence and cease from all our strivings… and truly be at peace in His company – Whom to know is life eternal.

The Importance of How I View God

In light of the past few weeks’ of worldwide revival events, I have been taking more time to reflect and ponder.

My emotions have created a mixed bag, from skepticism to doubt, disbelief, questions, and indescribable awe. 

On one hand, I decisively, definitely praise God if He is using these services to truly speak and to deeply ignite and inspire and move to transform lives.

I have not been to any of the services, but I have watched many of the streams and videos and I have been “stilled” and moved to tears of indescribable joy.

I know that God is powerful and can do anything He chooses, especially when we are not expecting it – but witnessing those students, images of people into the streets of our nation’s cities, into prisons and many international cities?

Such an inexplicably powerful experience to see the people acting on their belief that God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is “on the move.”

On the other, however, I think it’s a good and righteous thing to be cautious and careful with what we quickly interpret as come to believe to be the Spirit of God. 

Even the Bereans in Acts 17 do this when Paul presents the gospel message to them.

Though eager to hear Paul’s teachings, they move to test them themselves in the Holy Scriptures, Study, Pray, Ponder, and then decide what is from God. 

“As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men” (Acts 17:10-12, NIV). 

Paul was known as an excellent teacher and an even better friend.

He truly cared that every person heard and had access to the Bible after his conversion from Saul to Paul.

This is why Paul felt called to attend as many missionary journeys as he did!

But no matter how great the speaker, one’s credibility and ability to represent the gospel should always be prudently studied analyzed in light of the Bible.

People are not the source of light themselves but are the ones pointing to the Light. 

For this reason, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 further notes,

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil” (NIV). 

While I am not one to debate or judge if these revival services are real or not, their appearance has caused me to think about how I view God.

And more importantly, if I understand Him. 

How Do You View God?

I was born into the Evangelical United Church of the Brethren.

Growing up, I was raised in a traditional EUB Church until 1968 when the churches merged to become the United Methodist Church.

I remember every service, worship session, and layout for an event looked exactly the same.

Over time, I didn’t know why I was doing or saying what I did.

Being so young as I was [7 years old] I didn’t even understand the Apostle’s Creed that I recited by heart every Sunday.

Quickly, God and my relationship with Him became routine, just rehearsed words that needed to be prayed to maintain my perfection status. 

By the time I reached high school, my father had remove us from the Methodist Church and we then became members of a local conservative Jewish Synagogue.

My view of a God as my father became fractured was immensely distorted, and I truly started to wonder and ask, where is God, Jesus in the midst of my separation? 

Verses that call God our Abba, or Father, have been an enormous challenge for me to understand and accept.

I have wrestled for years with how God can be “One God,” for everyone, angry and loving, forgiving and punishing, reachable, yet above and beyond us all. 

But it wasn’t until a recent “live” revival streaming session that I realized I should give my current view of God so much more contemplation – and that led me to todays verse, to ask these questions: “Be Still?” “Do I Understand Him?”

Do I Understand Him?

While I might dare to believe we would all like to say we know and understand God fully, from how He works to why things happen the way they do, I do not think nor do I believe that “understanding God” is even remotely possible. 

It is possible to know and have an intimate, close, and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is why Jesus came and died for us, so we could partake in this personal relationship with Him.

That’s the core essence of the gospel message.

However, God never expected us to try and figure out all His ways. 

Isaiah 55:8-9 notes, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9, ESV). 

1 Corinthians 2:15-16 furthers this point when it says:

“The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ” (ESV). 

While we can obtain a mind like Christ’s, in purity, hope, and love, this does not mean that we will know and understand all that He does.

He is still God, and we are not.

He is still all-powerful, and we are not.

His ways are not our ways, and that is for a reason.

Should We Know It All?

When I was younger, and far more naïve than I am right now, I used to believe that if I knew “everything that would happen to me”, my life would be better.

If I always knew exactly what God wanted me to do, where He wanted me to go, and what He was doing, my life would be easier.

I look back now over the course of the last 43 years and I can only laugh. 

As an anxious person, not only would I find all of this information to be rather overwhelming and paralyzing, but I’m confident that if I indeed “knew it all,”

two things would happen:

one, I would not rely on God to get through them,

two, I would try to convince Him, like Moses or Jonah, that I was never ever going to be the right person for whatever task He “dared” called me into. 

In Jonah 1, beginning in verse 1, Jonah runs from God because of his fears.

God calls him to a high-caliber task, but Jonah doesn’t feel up for the journey.

Even later, when he runs back to God, he becomes angry at God for His grace, the same grace that was given to him earlier in the chapter. 

Countless people in the Bible tried to understand God.

From Abraham, to Moses to Aaron, Job, and David and all the biblical writers.

But if I’ve learned anything from their interactions, it’s that God cannot be entirely understood, and while we can have a close fellowship with Him, He will still be above and beyond anything we could fully comprehend here on earth.

What Have I Learned About How I View God?

So what have I learned about how I view God?

I have learned that while God is a loving Father figure.

He is also so much more than I will ever be able to grasp. 

He is unpredictable. 

He is unlikely. 

He moves in ways we’d think He would and ways we wouldn’t. 

He is a quiet, still whisper but also a mighty and powerful storm.

He’s an oxymoron to those who don’t believe in Him and a mystery to those who do.

Today, I am learning that I have many more years of learning to go.

I will not understand Him entirely, but I’m choosing every day to grow closer to Him through prayer, reading the Bible, studying, meditating, and experiencing Him as I live – and something tells me that it’s okay-This is a life-long process.

How I view God is still growing.

I anticipate your view of God is growing as well.

I want to know Him as a Father.

I want you the reader to know Him as a Father.

I’ve known Him as a Friend.

I want you the reader to know Him as a Friend.

And I want to know and view Him for all that He is.

And I want you the reader to know and view Him for all that He is.

Even if it takes the maxed our entirety of a thousand lifetimes to experience:

“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah. [Psalm 46:10-11 AMP]

The predicted and the unpredicted. 

The known and the unknown.

However He is, that’s how I want to know and view Him.

Why ever He is, that is how I want to know and view Him.

Whenever He is, that is how I want to know and view Him.

Where ever He is, that is how I want to know and view Him.

Perhaps, you the reader, from wherever you are, will join in the joy?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord God Almighty, we rejoice that you are with us. Teach us to be still so that increasingly we can experience your presence in our lives through your Holy Spirit within. Father, I praise You that Your Word stands fast for ever and ever and that Your precious promises encourage me to rest in Your love and drink deeply from the Rock of my salvation. Draw near to every member of Christ’s Body and protect Your people Israel against the increasing roar of the nations. I pray for the salvation of the lost and for Your soon return, when Your name be exalted throughout all the earth and the nations will KNOW that You are God. I ask in the name of my Savior Jesus.

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