God Is Kind
Need some kindness?
I can honestly testify that I have never been drawn to someone who I knew wanted to take advantage of me and treat me badly. In fact, the opposite was true.
I generally avoid such people and put up boundaries to save them from being tempted to try to treat me in such a way.
No one will be drawn to Jesus if their perspective is that God is out to get them and make them a slave who is to be taken advantage of.
However, the Scriptures do not teach that as being the way God is towards us.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Here’s what I see when I read this.
God is rich in mercy (Not giving us what we truly deserve due to our missing the mark in our flesh). He’s rich in mercy because of His great love, which is towards us! He wants to show the exceeding riches of His grace (favor) in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus! He saved us apart from our efforts to be good!
This does not describe a God out to get you and make you suffer for missing the mark. It describes an approachable, kind, merciful, and loving God who desires to bless you with Himself.
I apply this truth concerning God and how He is toward me in a very personal way so that my confidence is bolstered in His goodness and my mind is more easily changed toward Him as opposed to away from Him. This is true about God. He is good all the time. He is kind and loving, merciful and gracious, and faithful to a thousand generations! The prophet Joel said it this way,
Joel 2:13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.
My perspective of Him must match the New Covenant description of His heart toward me in Christ, or I will needlessly be cheated of much of the good and kindness He desires to bring into my life. Our God is kind!
Love Much
Are you in love?
I remember an episode of a popular TV series called The Andy Griffith Show. In this episode, a character named Gomer experiences Andy saving his life. As a result, Andy comes out to get in his car and finds Gomer washing it. In fact, every time Andy turns around, Gomer is doing something for him.
Gomer is so taken by Andy’s effort to save him that he just wants to do things for Andy. Gomer is grateful and understands how precious life is and that his life was saved. Gomer responded.
Something similar to what happened to Andy happened to Jesus. One day, Jesus was dining at a Pharisee’s home when a woman of ill repute came in and began washing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and then anointed them with a costly oil.
The Pharisee was offended by it, and Judas could only think of the cost of the perfume and thought it to be a waste because he also had a wrong perception.
Luke 7:47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
Now, many have taught this to mean people who lived really badly and realize they are forgiven will always love more than those who lived morally good lives but also were forgiven. That can be a perspective, but the principle I see Jesus offering is one of perception on the part of the individual.
I wasn’t a good boy in my mid-teens to early twenties before truly coming to Jesus. I wasn’t someone that parents hoped their sons and daughters would hang out with. My wife, on the other hand, grew up in church all her life and was a good girl by most accounts. However, the real truth is that she needed Jesus just as much as I did. You see, an astounding morally good person needs forgiveness in the same way and as desperately as a depraved person does. It can be a dangerous perspective to think one is t not all that bad but simply wishes to go to heaven and to know Jesus. This type of thinking leads to an imagination that one did not need Jesus as much as another who was obviously destitute in their morality.
The real gospel of the New Covenant removes this false notion by declaring that all are guilty and no one is righteous regardless of how well-behaved or misbehaved they might be. After all, the Scriptures clearly teach that if someone breaks the least commandment, they have violated all of them and are found guilty of breaking the whole law. So, if someone told a lie, it is the same as if they murdered. The law condemns the whole human race and declares them as enemies of God.
This is only changed through faith in Jesus Christ, who offers us His forgiveness and love freely. This is why Paul could preach with such authority that Gentiles did not need to become Jewish; because in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself through a new and living way. Jew and Gentile alike would have to relate with God and come to Him by the same means: faith in Christ alone.
Everyone is a sinner until they come in faith to receive Jesus and accept His grace. I know I needed Him and still need Him more than any other person I know of. Such a revelation can spare us the aggravation of falling into a superiority mindset over others and keep us in a position of trusting and receiving from Him according to His love and grace. It activates a desire to love much. Besides, Scripture teaches us that,
1John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us.
A Strong Heart
What is your heart condition?
It is okay at times to have a spiritual heart health check. Just as when one goes to have their heart checked by a doctor, and they run tests to determine the strength of the heart by putting it under stress, likewise, life brings challenges that put one's spiritual heart under duress. Challenges test the strength of our spiritual heart and reveal its condition.
The psalmist said it this way during a moment of introspection.
Psalm 40:12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me.
When a believer engages in introspection that involves self-evaluation with the idea that performing at less than 100 percent results in isolation and rejection, they are bound to experience spiritual heart failure.
The heart needs to be grounded in New Covenant revelation and understanding if it is to be strong and equipped to endure even the hardest trials of life. Spiritual heart conditioning involves giving it what it needs most to be strong. We will never get beyond our need for the true New Covenant Gospel.
Psalm 27:13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
When difficulties or challenges present themselves to us, our hearts will be tested. Good spiritual heart health is turning the negative into opportunity by seeing things through the eyes of faith that produces trust in Christ—eyes that see Him as He is and know His faithfulness, yes that see and perceive His great love for us.
You and I will never be able to trust Him beyond the point of our knowing we are loved by Him. A strong heart is one rooted and grounded in Him and His love. Even now, if this devotion reveals any hint of weakness in the heart, it is an invitation to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the love of Christ to your heart to strengthen it. It should lead us to speak the Gospel to our hearts again and again till it sends down deep roots that can find the water of the Spirit no matter how serious a drought we might think is occurring in the natural circumstances of our lives. Today, I leave you with a true gospel-rooted prayer in the Scriptures for you to meditate on for the strengthening of your heart.
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 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.
Let Love
What are you allowing?
There are some things in life one has to allow before it will happen. Some things require letting them happen. If you have an indoor pet, the only way it can go outside is if you let it. After all, that is what the word let means. It means not to prevent or forbid. It means to allow.
As believers in Jesus, love wants to express itself toward others through us. But for it to be highly effective, it must be allowed to do so untainted.
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
Here, it says, “Let love.” Allow it to be ministered to another without hypocrisy. In other words, it needs to be sincere, which means it should not be offered with any hooks. Love in action is not offered to make another person beholding. Love is to be offered freely according to its true nature and quality.
Love is full of hypocrisy if it comes with an “I’ll scratch your back, and you scratch mine” mentality and expectation. We are to let love express itself as it is, not based on what we can get out of it.
A primary characteristic of love is a desire to give of oneself to benefit others. It is to be used in a way that causes advancement, encouragement, strengthening, blessing, or well-being to another.
Part of the process of letting love be love will lead you to abhor evil. To abhor something is to detest it utterly. To have no appreciation for it.
When many think of evil, they associate it mainly with extreme bad behavior. Wrong behavior habitually practiced and executed at extreme levels is evil.
Philippians 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!
Here, we find that those who rallied to make the Gentiles to be circumcised and obey the law of Moses were deemed evil workers.
However, that is not the only definition of evil.
Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
What does it mean to depart from the Living God? It means to leave behind what He says is necessary for a relationship with Him. It means to look to our own devices for salvation, justification, and sanctification. It is to do things our way while imagining He is required to be impressed with us. It is moving away from knowing His will and desires to only yielding to our own.
An evil heart of unbelief will look to things other than Him for what is needed and will refuse to yield to the Holy Spirit for the benefit of others, thinking that He exists only to prosper themselves. This is why we are told to let love be without hypocrisy. I encourage you today to let love be love.
Aspirations
Have any?
To what do you aspire?
Some desire to be great in man's eyes, and others just to be left alone. Some just wish to live quietly and have the things of this earth that mean so much to them. However, we are meant to aspire to certain things God desires for us in the kingdom.
Think for a moment about what the atmosphere of heaven must be like. Do you imagine that God’s power is undetectable in heaven? Do you imagine for a moment that it is not tangible and real in heaven? Do you think that when you get to heaven, God will no longer have His power? Is His power only needed until everything is complete, or is it part of His character and nature for all of eternity?
Do we really think that we are capable of being fruitful to the extent He desires without His power working in us?
Eph. 3:7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
The apostle Paul understood that any effectiveness he enjoyed in the work of the kingdom came through the power of God, as expressed through the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
You are strengthened with all might according to His glorious power. It is His power that sustains us in every situation of life.
Ephesians 1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
Here, Paul is speaking of the same power that raised Christ from the dead. We are meant to aspire to His glorious, mighty power working in us and through us for His purposes. People need to know Him and His power!
1Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
2Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
2Corinthians 13:4 For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
Our aspirations matter. They can be the difference in truly bearing fruit for Him or not. I aspire to walk in His power as opposed to my own.
Revealed
Want to know?
I like surprises—especially good ones. I bet you do as well. Did you know God likes to give out good surprises? He enjoys offering wonderful things to those who are His and love Him. The Scriptures say exactly that.
1Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
God has things in store for you that you have yet to begin to imagine or cherish in your heart. His way of making them known to us is through the Holy Spirit. A naturally minded person does not discern them. The only way to know the wonderful things that God has in mind and in store for you is through the Holy Spirit.
No one should ever fear the Holy Spirit. He is a messenger for the wonderful things God has planned and makes available through Christ. It used to be popular for ministers to talk about the deep things of God. However, many of them used the phrase in reference to the Holy Spirit exposing sin in one’s life and revealing how badly a person missed the mark. The way this idea is used here in Scripture is with regard to amazingly positive things. The revealing referenced here is about the many good things God is and wishes to do.
I love how it says we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God and tells us why we received Him. So we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. A walk in the Spirit brings you to the place of knowing what He has for you. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to reveal the good things God has in store.
When you think of God revealing things through the Spirit to you, what comes to your mind? Is it accusations? Is it your wrongdoings? Is it a punishment that is pending unless…? If that is the case, why do you think that is what first comes to your mind? Perhaps you should consider what Jesus did for you a little more so that you can shift the first things that come to mind when it comes to the Holy Spirit revealing the things God has prepared. Remember you are hidden in God with Christ, and He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It’s time to know His love and to let that stir loving Him in return. There are wonderful things to be revealed by the Spirit to those who love Him.
Your Calling
You have one!
God takes a nobody and makes them a somebody without consulting with anybody.
God is not looking for someone who has it all together and therefore feels they need no real help in achieving anything. Such a person is not likely to know what it means to trust in the strength of another as they should. They will not be inclined to seek His empowerment to do His will.
1Corinthians 1:26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
Our Father loves to use you in your weaknesses and frailties so that the glory goes to Him. The temptation to boast in yourself is removed, and you give glory to Him because this thing that was accomplished could only have been accomplished by Him. This is why Paul declared he boasted about his weaknesses, for Christ was made his strength in those weaknesses.
What you and others see as a weakness, God sees as potential.
This is why every believer can have purpose and initiative in Christ. Jesus did not stop at merely saving you so you could go to heaven. He saved you for His glory. He wants to be in fellowship with you every day and reveal to you the plans He has for you—plans for good and not for evil.
Jesus wants to do things through you that exceed your natural abilities in order to give God glory and testify of His goodness. To take part in this grand scheme of God demonstrating His glory through you, there is a call to surrender to the will of the Spirit and allow Him to use you. He can do through you according to the working of His mighty power that which you cannot do yourself.
The more you see Him and His willingness to work through you in faith and power, the more you will find your life bringing glory to God. You were a nobody who is now somebody because of Him, and He isn’t worried about what anybody thinks about His doing that. This is your calling: to walk according to the Spirit and to surrender to His leading in your life. If you walk according to the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You have what it takes to bring Him glory through your life. It’s your calling.
Initiative Matters
Do you have it?
Jesus told a story about a master who gave money to three servants and then left on a journey. He gave them differing amounts to handle. In the end, the one with the least amount hid it out of fear he might lose it and be severely punished when the master returned. The other two invested what they had and made more.
The master was pleased with the two who took the initiative to invest his money and made more, but he was displeased with the one who played it safe. The one who played it safe did so based on his perspective of what the master was like. His view of the master misled him.
Matthew 25:24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
God loves initiative. He loves it when we know His love so much that we imagine He would be pleased with our stepping out in faith for His glory.
This parable is really about that. Jesus was seeking to convey the importance of knowing the Father well enough to realize that we can step out in faith in our desire to bring Him glory, and He will back us up. He will not deride us or rebuke us for risking things for His name’s sake. The point Jesus is making is that the wrong view of the Father leads to being overly cautious and failing to bear fruit for Him out of fear of Him.
When people lack the New Covenant gospel understanding as they should, they imagine God would be more pleased with them being very careful not to take any risks by stepping out into something that feels unknown to them. They do not want to do anything foolish to provoke His anger toward them because they see Him as easily angered and easily provoked. They have an incorrect view of God as a Father.
Those who know His deep love and His being slow to anger boldly step out, expecting that, as a Father, He would pleased at their initiative to do something to honor Him by bearing fruit for His name’s sake.
A wrong perspective leads to living in a false sense of safety by avoiding risks in the kingdom. It denies what might really be happening in the soul.
Matthew 25:26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
God, as a Father, loves to see His children trust in His love to the depth and degree that they are willing to step out in faith and take risks in their effort to bear His fruit. Heaven doesn’t get shocked or shamed if we make a mistake in our effort—initiative matters.
What Do You Have?
Do you know?
A credit card company has coined the phrase “What’s in your wallet?” The idea behind their phrase is that with their card, your buying power goes up.
If you were rich and had more than enough money in your bank and someone you cared about needed some of it, you would not hesitate to give it to them.
But if you had lots of money in your bank but were unaware it was there, you might desire to help them but think it impossible to do so.
This idea can be true spiritually. If you do not know what you have, you are not in a position to give to or to bless others.
There is a true story in the Scriptures that reveals the truth of this.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Here was a lame man who, for 42 years, had been lame. He had never walked. Thus, he had no other option but to beg for money from others. Although lame, he was a survivor. However, he was not a thriver. So, as was his routine, he had someone take him to the beautiful gate at the temple, and he encountered Peter and John, who were going to the temple to pray, and he expected to get money from them. Instead, he got what they had, and it wasn’t money.
What Peter and John had could do far more for the man than just meet his temporary need of the moment. Had they simply given him money, he might have met his need for that day, but tomorrow would come, and the same repetitious plan of surviving would be back into place.
Peter and John possessed something that could take this man beyond surviving and bring him into a place of thriving. They had what the man most needed. They had the Healer, Jesus! They had the same Spirit in them and upon them that raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit which gives life to our mortal bodies! They knew they had this, and they knew by faith that they could freely give it to this man who was in need.
When someone has Jesus and is baptized with the same Spirit He walked in and was raised from the dead by; they have something to give to others. As has already been said, no one can give what they do not know they have. It is so important for believers to know who they belong to and what they possess.
What do you have?
Gospel Living
What are living by?
Did you know there is such a thing as living according to the gospel?
Were you aware that under the New Covenant, the gospel is much more than just a message to get you saved and make it possible for you to go to heaven?
Sadly, too often, many treat the gospel as an entry message only and fail to live their lives according to it. Instead, they use it to gain entry and then revert to looking into the law of Moses for how to conduct themselves. They imagine that the way they are to be sanctified by the word is according to the Old Covenant Law of Moses. This is not gospel living.
For instance, they read in James about being doers of the word, and they imagine it is dealing with sin issues as opposed to gospel issues when it speaks of being doers of the word.
James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Notice how it speaks of forgetting one’s persona. That is speaking of the New Creation transformation in Christ. That is what it means when it says he forgets what manner of man he was. He forgets that he was born again and made brand new in Christ. This has nothing to do with Old Covenant reality.
That is why it says, “He who looks into the perfect law of liberty.” What is the perfect law of liberty? The gospel! We are blessed when we are not forgetful hearers but doers of the truth of the gospel of the New Covenant. The gospel calls us into a new identity and purpose in Christ and gives us clear instructions on how to live. The apostle Paul rebuked Peter in Antioch because Peter was not living according to the gospel.
Galatians 2:11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
Peter was not doing the work of the perfect law of liberty in this instance, and it was leading others astray from the gospel. Peter had allowed himself to come under the deception of something contrary to the gospel. A gospel that had been given to the Jews and the Gentiles for salvation and life. Peter stopped walking in love toward the Gentile believers as a result. He was leading others to violate the New Covenant law of love as well. We are set free in Christ to love God because He first loved us, and that freedom also empowers us to love others, especially those who are of the kingdom. Our work is to believe the gospel with our hearts and then walk in it towards others. That is gospel living.
The Ministry of Paul
Do you know your calling?
In every job I ever had, I knew clearly what my purpose was in it. I knew what was expected of me.
The same is true when it comes to my calling in the ministry. I know my purpose. I know the message I am to carry in the core of my being. I understand that, at times, it may cost me to do so. However, I am compelled from within by the Holy Spirit to speak what He reveals to me from the Scriptures.
My hope of glory is Christ Jesus, not the praise of men. That does not mean I preach messages of condemnation to the church. In fact, it seems that if you wish to be persecuted by some in the church, not preaching condemnation is the quickest way to get there. You might be labeled a heretic for it.
When I look at what Paul said to the Colossians, it resonates with me.
Colossians 1:24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
Paul suffered in his flesh through threats against his life, beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, rejections, snake bites, and persecutions. He did this for the sake of the body of Christ. Jesus called Paul to minister to the church, and in order to fulfill God’s will, Paul knew he needed to preach concerning the mystery that had been hidden before.
What mystery? Christ in you, the hope of glory! What was Paul’s goal in preaching this mystery now unveiled in Jesus? To warn and to teach in all wisdom in order to present every man as perfect. How is every man to be presented as perfect? In Christ Jesus!
What we can learn about Paul from Scripture and history shows that he fulfilled his calling. Paul attributed his work ethic and his determination to the working of God within him, which worked mightily. In another place, he referred to this as the grace of God working in him. It will wear out an opposition to try and silence a truly called man of God filled with grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. They carry a message with them until death; they are compelled from within to do so.
Are you compelled to do or to be something? What works within you? I know what works within me, and it drives me to speak, to write, and to desire to bring the good news to others concerning Jesus Christ. To tell them who He was, what He did, and how that is meant to give them the hope of glory should they choose to believe in Him. The hope of glory is not your best life now. It is found in the person of Christ.
Don’t Get Cheated
Are you being cheated?
Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
How were you reconciled? In the body of His flesh through death, not your body performing perfectly according to the law.
Why was it done through this means? To present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.
Does anyone really believe they can live above reproach in His sight in their flesh? He who sees all and knows all and with whom there is nothing hidden.
So how is this holy, blameless, and above reproach maintained? By continuing in the faith. Being grounded and steadfast, and not being moved away from the hope of the gospel.
This is why I say it is so important to be reminded of the gospel of Christ always so that we remain steadfast and grounded in it.
I was once a child of darkness, but now I am a child of the light because of Christ.
I was once an enemy of God, but now I am a child of God and favored by Him because of Christ.
God was at one time against me due to my unbelief and rejection of Him, but now, by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, I am accepted and blessed.
I was once under God’s wrath because I was His enemy, but now, by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, I am a friend, and God is no longer angry with me.
I need to always be reminded of my current status with God because of Christ Jesus, not myself. I am in right standing with Him because of Christ. I owe my relationship with God to Jesus, and I owe my favor with God to Jesus, and I owe my being so greatly loved by God to Jesus. Everything I prosper in my soul with is because of Jesus.
Because it is due to Jesus and His obedience on my behalf, I can have confidence and be secure, knowing my righteousness is not my own, and my holiness is not my own. It is made possible through Jesus, and God is greatly pleased with Him. For this reality, I am most grateful. The plan of God from before the foundation of the world was to secure me with the most powerful means of redemption that has ever been contrived.
My confidence and boldness to walk according to the Spirit is anchored in this reality of hope and promise that is mine in Christ Jesus. I will not allow convincing arguments to move me off of this foundation of Hope that is mine in Christ according to the glorious gospel concerning Him.
Fathers
Who’s your father in the faith?
What comes to mind when you think of a father? For some, this is a foreign concept because they have never been cared for by a father. Some were abandoned by the person who was supposed to be their father.
The act of procreation can make a man a father, but his caring and character will determine whether or not he is a good one or a bad one.
The Greek word for father is Pater - literally or figuratively, near or remote; it means - father, parent.
Fathering is more than just telling those under one’s watch what they should do. Good fathering involves caring at a much deeper level, causing one to invest their time and resources to help those under one’s watch develop according to their potential. It is caring with the aim of seeing someone attain their calling and destiny. It involves loving, sacrificing, and investment and will also entail instruction along the way, but it is so much more than just instruction. Fathering sometimes requires saying and doing things that can be uncomfortable in order to challenge a son or daughter to rise and realize their potential and ability. Fathers deal with the heartache associated with watching the struggle of their children because of the level of involvement they have with them.
This is why Paul wrote the following to the Corinthians:
1Corinthians 4:15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
A true characteristic of a real spiritual father in the faith is the idea that someone was brought into the faith by their preaching of the gospel. Spiritual sons and daughters are those begotten by the gospel preached by a father in the faith.
Paul is saying to the Corinthians that they may have given their time and attention to other instructors, but they only have one father in the faith. We observe this sort of reality playing out in normal life among the children of parents. Children cannot have multiple biological parents. They only have two, a father and a mother. As they grow up, they may start listening to peers and instructors, to whom they give their respect by embracing what they tell them. Sometimes, they can give greater respect to an instructor than they do a father. It is not that uncommon to see this happen. Today, it is sad to see some gravitate to popular social media personalities for instruction while abandoning the very ones who are present in their lives to truly care for them spiritually.
That happened at Corinth. The believers were fighting over who’s instructor was the best. The difference between fatherly instruction and the instruction of many others is the motive at hand. Fatherly instruction is for your benefit, not theirs. Meanwhile, mere instructors might want you to listen to them so they have a notch in their belt, so to speak, and can bolster their sense of importance and security at your expense. They are not as invested in the real outcome.
Galatians 6:13 For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
False fathers care more about their reputations for gathering a following than they do for the ones following. They are not authentically invested in your future and well-being spiritually as much as they are concerned with how they are progressing in popularity and following. Instructors do not show up when hardships hit you, and you do not know what to do to handle them. That is something a father does. Fathers appear when you need it most; instructors just spew ideas from afar.
You do not have many fathers. Do you know who your true spiritual fathers are?
Purposeful Endurance
Are you enduring?
When we think of a word like endure, we might tend to think of a long-distance runner digging deep to finish the race and then falling across the finish line exhausted or a sports team that seems not to give up until the game is truly over.
No doubt, these can be examples of endurance. However, it is not the kind I am speaking of in this devotion.
Hebrews 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
God had promised something to Abraham, and it was an amazing promise. But God made this promise by making sure it rested on God alone to bring it forth in Abraham’s life.
We’ve seen how people use sayings to emphasize the seriousness of a promise they make to someone. They might say something like, “I swear on my mother’s grave.” Or maybe they just say, “I swear to you, I will do it.”
The only problem with a mere man or woman swearing such things is that we know that if they are swearing this with regard to something absolutely wonderful and amazing, it might be difficult for them to bring it to pass. If someone you knew who earned just enough to live on came to you and swore they were going to make you rich, you might appreciate the sentiment of such a gesture on their part, but you would be waiting around for the outcome.
In Abraham’s case, it was no mere man making such bold claims. It was the Almighty God saying these things and swearing by Himself in doing so because He could swear by no one greater. For this reason, Abraham could patiently endure. In other words, Abraham held on to such a promise in his heart and mind, knowing that if God made it, it would eventually come to pass.
Abraham did not give up on it and just take off and do his own thing, forgetting what God had spoken to him. This promise shaped his existence. Purposeful endurance is the kind that allows the promise to affect the way one makes choices and impacts one’s direction in life because the promise is believed.
What promises have you become aware of that God has given you? Did you know that all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus? In Christ Jesus, we find the Holy Spirit fitting us to receive all God has for us. He prepares us to receive what God has to offer, like a tailor or seamstress measuring someone for the perfect suit or dress fit. Sometimes, this fitting process involves a little time, and that is when purposeful endurance is needed. It doesn’t negate the promise that we are enduring till it manifests. Purposeful endurance makes known that the promise is believed. Are you purposefully enduring with respect to certain promises? I encourage you today to purposefully endure just as Abraham, the father of faith, did.
The Call To Grow
Are you growing?
A couple of years back, I planted a rogue redbud tree in my front yard. It was questionable whether that tree would make it. But now, that tree has grown and is budding out on all of its limbs. That tree was created to grow like that. It is merely doing what it was made to do.
You and I, as new creations in Christ, are created to grow up in Him. There’s no such thing as a disciple who is meant to stay the same and never grow spiritually.
A child of God is meant to be growing up in Christ, always abounding, always increasing in their revelation knowledge of Him, and gaining ground in their walk in the Spirit, experiencing victory as a result. It doesn’t mean they will never experience challenges or potential temporary hindrances that will be used to facilitate growth and increase through the victory faith and rest produce. Tribulations, trials, and persecutions are promised to believers who truly stand in faith and grow. But in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him, who loved us and called us according to His purpose.
Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Spiritual growth is the result of intentionally pressing into Him. It is the fruit of pursuing Him with diligence. After all, He is the vine, and we are the branches. A branch cannot thrive and produce fruit unless it abides in the vine. Abiding in Him is more than just a moment set aside each day without distraction. It is a way of life for the believer to be continually aware of who He is and who they are and in a present state of mind and heart to be available and surrendered to the Holy Spirit.
It is the ability to truly know which things are of greatest value and which things to hold loosely or to let go altogether. There is an upward call for every believer in Jesus. That upward call is what will cause growth and fruit-bearing with abundance. The upward call is to walk according to the Spirit, and doing so will always bear His fruit. A spiritually growing believer in Jesus cannot hide who they are. The fruit is plain for all to see. The steady increase in their lives cannot be hidden. They will not be found in the same spiritual stature they were just last year or the year before. They are growing and increasing in Him. I want to press towards the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I pray you do as well. Press in to know Him better, meditate on His word, follow the lead of the Spirit, and enjoy fellowship with Him as you go through your day. You’re called to grow!
Remain
What keeps you?
Remain - stay in the place that one has been occupying.
The question is, what space have you been occupying?
In this case, I want to go to the words where Jesus spoke this very thing concerning remaining. The word abide is used, but they both imply the same thing and come from the same Greek word.
John 15:9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
Jesus invited His disciples to occupy the space of His love. His love for them was just like the love the Father had for Him.
Here, we consider the kind of love the Father had for Jesus because that is the kind of love Jesus has for us.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
The Father’s love for Jesus was long-standing and unrelenting. It was and is eternal love. The Father also loves us according to Jesus’ prayer.
John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
God the Father loves us with the exact same kind and level of love He has for Jesus!
How is this made possible?
John 16:27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
In this life, there will be many things that come along to challenge our confidence in His love. But His love will never fail, diminish, or turn to hate towards us. He has fixed His love upon us.
The challenge for us is to abide, remain, and stand steadfast in our revelation and acceptance of His love.
Jesus wants us to remain in His love! Remaining in His love gives us the power to recover, overcome, and not fall away. His love has an unexplainable keeping quality, which is why He encouraged us to remain in His love.
If we keep what He commanded us, we will abide in His love, but when we get out of step with Him, we fight a war in our souls that challenges our understanding, perception, and sense of having His love. Remaining in His love is one of those commandments. Are you convinced of His love for you?
Abide
Where are you?
The word abide was used to translate a Greek word that means to dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry, or continue. As a verb, it means to stay in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy.
If I were to ask you to abide with me, I would likely be asking you to remain my friend and stay in relationship with me (continue, endure). Or I could be asking you to live where I live (dwell, remain).
Jesus used this word in the Gospels in John 15. It is often preached in a way that creates a misunderstanding, as many have come away thinking the only way this can be practiced is to remain in one condition. First, let’s read what it says.
John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
Whenever I heard this passage preached, it was often presented in a context of intimate fellowship, in the sense of being in prayer seeking Jesus. However, the way this language is, it seems to be communicating a state of being. In other words, it is something that is continually occurring.
It is not as mystical as one might think. Nor is it implying that I spend the rest of my life as a hermit in solitude, seeking Jesus in prayer all day except when I sleep.
This is about relationship connection made possible through new creation life that will be offered in the New Covenant Jesus will establish with His own blood.
The fruit Jesus will offer is a New Covenant fruit of the Spirit, and to bear that fruit, one must be born again. That required the Jews to let go of their confidence in the Old Covenant through Moses and lay hold on what Jesus would offer by grace through faith. For Gentiles, it meant letting go of their false gods and superstitions to lay hold on eternal life in Christ by grace through faith in Him alone.
This is a continual walk of faith being led by the Spirit and given revelation by the Spirit concerning Jesus. Jesus did have time to go aside by Himself to be alone with His Father while He walked this earth. But He didn’t spend all His day there, and He did not have to return there throughout the day to hear and know what His Father was doing. He and His Father were one. Jesus, while He went through His day, said He did what He saw His Father doing and spoke what He heard His Father speaking. Jesus abided. His intimacy and union with His Father were not only attainable in the place of undistracted private prayer. They were His way of life. Jesus lived moment by moment, aware of His Father and in tune with His desires.
Jesus wanted what His Father wanted. That is the essence of abiding. That is what is described for us in John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Jesus lives in the believer, and the believer lives in Jesus. In Him, we live, move, and have our being. He has become our state of being. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The more we live aware of this, the more we understand what it means to abide.
You Were But Now!
What are you?
At one time, I was characterized by my foolishness. I was known for my antics and my carelessness. But something happened. I was born again! It altered who I am and made me into a brand new person with different likes and dislikes than before.
Those who knew me prior to being born again knew me according to being someone different. Should they encounter me now and attempt to relate to me on that basis, it would be awkward for them as they would learn quickly that I am no longer the person I once was were it not for His grace.
The change is so dramatic that if they try to continue relating to me according to something that is no longer, they will be gravely disappointed and likely feel foolish for doing so. There will definitely be no joy in it for them. I do not feel the need or urge to fall back into that old way of life.
It is the difference between light and darkness. The two cannot dwell together. Where there is light, darkness cannot remain. Darkness exists where there is no light. You do not have the two occupying the same space at the same time because it is not possible. Light always expels darkness. I’ve been set free by Jesus to walk in His light!
Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Did you catch that first phrase? You are light in the Lord! Walk as children of light! You get to walk as what you are now in Christ!
You were darkness without Him. But now, the light of the world has come to live within you, and you have become a child of light. That means you get to walk as a child of light—you get to walk in the fruit of the Spirit! What was once alien to you has become normal.
The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. You know the difference between darkness and light now. You are no longer stumbling around in the darkness and tripping over things for lack of sight. You can see the disaster ahead when darkness is chosen, and therefore, you are able to illuminate the dangers of it.
That’s what it means not to have fellowship with the works of darkness but rather to expose them. It’s not merely declaring that something is wrong. It is the ability to communicate the danger of the thing itself. It’s the ability to communicate that there is a better way. It is that you have discovered what is acceptable to the Lord. You have found that what is acceptable to Him is a path of blessing for you.
Remember, you were once darkness, BUT NOW, you are light in the Lord. Walk as a child of light!
Fruit Reveals The Root
What is your fruit?
Every fruit tree bears a fruit after its kind. An apple tree bears apples, a pear tree bears pears, and so on. I’ve never looked at an apple tree and wondered why it didn’t have an orange hanging from its branch.
We expect that the fruit will match the root. For the fruit to match the root, the branch the fruit is on must be a branch from the root that is alive and healthy.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The working of the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives. It also causes hope to abound.
Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Fruitlessness is not someone else’s fault. If we want the right fruit, we must have the right root. Jesus spoke to His disciples and said,
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
No one can have the real fruit of the Holy Spirit without being in the vine. The Vine is the root!
Isaiah 11:10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.”
Romans 15:12 And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; and He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
When we are in the vine, abiding by grace through faith, we have an abundance of hope. We have that hope because the Holy Spirit is available to us by our being in the vine. When we allow Him to flow through us like a rich sap of life, He produces fruit in our lives that gives evidence to all that we are in the vine. One of the greatest evidences is our love for one another.
True believers actively abiding in the vine walk in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. They flourish in an abundance of hope. When you see this fruit at work in someone’s life, you know the root they are drawing their life from.
What Kind Of Peace?
Which peace do you have?
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
What kind of peace did Jesus have?
Mark 4:35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Jesus had a peace that did not get rattled even in the midst of a storm. Some might say this story simply proves he was a sound sleeper and very tired in that boat. That, too, could be true, but the fact that all this was going on and it neither awakened nor caused Him alarm shows that He was at peace the whole time. Even when they awakened Him, it did not send Him into a panic.
Jesus had already spoken before getting in the boat, saying that they needed to go to the other side. It was part of the mission.
A big part of this kind of peace is in knowing you are in the Father’s will. Jesus had not yet accomplished the ultimate mission for which He was sent here. He had not yet gone to the cross. He could not die by drowning at sea. He knew the other side was His reality, not merely a possibility.
When opening a Sunday gathering at our home church, my wife will often say, “If you have a word from the Lord, you have all you need.” It is His word spoken to us that ministers His peace.
Jesus knew He was not alone through the fellowship He had with His Father. In John 14, He assured His disciples He would not leave them alone. He would send them the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
Another major key to experiencing this kind of peace is the presence of God expressed through the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings peace with Him because He is the very presence of God in our lives. He is the testimony that we are no longer orphans but sons, and if we are sons, then we are also heirs with Jesus. This is the New Covenant Gospel of Peace.
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
We are to have our feet shod with the preparation of this gospel.
Ephesians 6:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
What kind of peace are you walking in, His or yours? You are an heir of His peace if you have been born again. His peace is available to you, and you can walk in it every day if you wish.