Day: May 18, 2014

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There Are No Nonsacred Moments

We are God’s workers, working together. 1 CORINTHIANS 3:9

It’s a wonderful day indeed when we stop working for God and begin working with God.…

For years I viewed God as a compassionate CEO and my role as a loyal sales representative. He had his office, and I had my territory. I could contact him as much as I wanted. He was always a phone or fax away. He encouraged me, rallied
behind me, and supported me, but he didn’t go with me. At least I didn’t think he did. then I read 2 Corinthians 6:1: We are “God’s fellow workers” (NIV).

Fellow workers? Co-laborers? God and I work together? Imagine the paradigm shift this truth creates. Rather than report to God, we work with God. Rather than check in with him and then leave, we check in with him and then follow. We are always in the presence of God.… there is never a nonsacred moment!

Just Like Jesus

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The Shield of Faith

Ephesians 6:14-17

The apostle Paul wrote about spiritual warfare so we might know our enemy and how to fight him. He compared the armor and weapons God has given us to the outfitting of a soldier: a helmet to protect our minds, a breastplate to cover our hearts, special shoes to help us stand firm, a belt of God’s truth to encircle us, the mighty sword of the Spirit, and the protective shield of faith.

Roman soldiers carried large rectangular shields, which covered the entire body. When facing an attack of flaming arrows, the warriors would stand shoulder to shoulder, with neighboring shields touching. Then, as the enemy’s arrows flew toward them, they would kneel in unison with their shields held above them, still in contact with the ones on either side. Nothing could pierce that defense.

This is a picture of how we are to fight when Satan sends flaming darts our way. They enter our life in the form of temptations, doubts, or anxieties—the devil’s combatants shoot these silently and swiftly towards us in the hopes of finding a vulnerable spot. When we maintain our shield of faith in an upright position, the attack fails. However, if we should lower it or fail to stand together as the body of Christ, the missiles penetrate.

Our heavenly Father has provided all we need for life on a battlefield. He has secured the victory through Jesus Christ, canceled sin’s power over us, and given us armor to wear. Our part is to walk by faith, believing God moment by moment. Remember that your faith is your shield. Keep it in good order.

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Running to Christ

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)

When one realizes that he is lost and that only Christ can save him, he should not delay a moment but come immediately to Christ. There are, in fact, several men in the New Testament who actually ran to Him.

There was the man possessed with a whole legion of demons. “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him” (Mark 5:6), and Jesus set him free.

Then there was a young man who wanted to learn of Christ. When he found that Jesus was going away, he came “running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Unfortunately, his sincerity failed when he realized the cost. Zeal without sacrifice is dead, as is faith without works.

There was another wealthy man who was willing to pay the price. “And [Zacchaeus] ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way” (Luke 19:4). The conversion of Zacchaeus was genuine, and he demonstrated it by a changed and sacrificial life.

In Christ’s suffering on the cross, He spoke of His awful thirst, and an unknown observer “ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink” (Mark 15:36). Christ will not forget this expression of concern and sympathy.

After His burial, Mary Magdalene came back to tell Peter and John that the tomb was open. “So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. . . . and he saw, and believed” (John 20:4-8).

All who hasten wholeheartedly to Christ, sincerely seeking to know and serve Him, will find salvation in His name, for “the name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” HMM

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He it is that shall tread down our enemies

Through God we shall do valiantly, for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.—Psalm 60:12.
Create in me a dean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.—Psalm 51:10.

IF any man compares his own soul with the picture drawn in the New Testament of what a Christian ought to be; if any man fixes his eye on the pattern of self-sacrifice, of purity, of truth, of tenderness, and measures his own distance from that standard, he might be ready to despair. But fear not, because you are far from being like the pattern set before you; fear not because your faults are painful to think of: continue the battle and fear not.

If, indeed, you are content with yourself, and are making no endeavor to rise above the poor level at which you now stand, then there is reason to fear, But if you are fighting with all your might, fear not, however often you may have fallen, however deeply, however ungratefully, however inexcusably. This one thing we can give, and this is what He asks, hearts that shall never cease from this day forward, till we reach the grave, to strive, to be more like Him, to come nearer to Him; to root out from within us the sin that keeps us from Him. To such a battle, brethren, I call you in His name. FREDERICK TEMPLE.

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I have exalted one chosen out of the people

I have exalted one chosen out of the people.Psalm 89:19

Verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren. — Upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. — The Son of man … which is in heaven. — Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. — Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Hebrews 2:16,17. Ezekiel 1:26. John 3:13. Luke 24:39. Philippians 2:7-10. Revelation 3:2.

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I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them

I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them. Ezekiel 20:19

As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. —He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. — Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. — Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. —Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. — The God of peace, … make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:15. 1 John 2:6,29. 1 Corinthians 7:19. James 2:10. 2 Corinthians 3:5. Psalm 119:33. Philippians 2:12,13. Hebrews 13:20,21.