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Chapter 5 |
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Face facts. You cannot change anything about you. When we think we have changed something about ourselves for good it is God, not us, who did it even if we do not know it. But the good news of the gospel is that God can and will change us. Let Him for your own sake.
If you pray for anything that is for your spiritual benefit, it is yours. Maybe the answer will not be immediate. It is very hard to change a human heart without forcing the will. Sometimes it takes time for God to bring about the right circumstances that will change our hearts in order to answer our prayers, but it will happen. I know this is true from experience. For example, once upon a time I just had to have a man and I would do anything to get one. As a matter of fact I have had six husbands. Satan used that to keep my mind on men and off of God. God knew He had to heal me of this if I was ever going to get into the kingdom. All my time was spent in bars looking for a man and drinking alcohol. They say when you walk into a bar your guardian angels stops at the door and will not enter in. This is not true. I know a person whose guardian angel followed him into a bar every time he entered to work on his heart. My guardian angel did the same. He talked to me there in the bar pointing out the spirit of the people that I wanted to be like. Unfortunately, God gave me just what I wanted. I was popular, very popular. I had men all over me fighting for my attention. I found what I thought was my dream boat. I loved him so much even unto this very day. But God used that very man to show me that the only man that would not hurt me, the only man that truly loved me with a pure and everlasting love was the man Jesus Christ. He is my husband now and I could not be happier. Now I have what my soul was longing for all along ... to truly be loved and to love in return with no chance of getting hurt. I do not always get what I want but I always get what I need God's way in God's time. I do not have to worry about trusting the untrustworthy anymore. I can put my faith in a man who loves me more than His own life and I know this to be true because he proved it when He stretched out His arms on the cross and died for me that I might have the opportunity to live with Him for eternity.
This is one of my favorite verses. So many people try to clean the outside, but God is not so worried about the outside as the inside. Once the inside is clean, the outside will live it. Will you let God clean you from the inside out, cleanse you from your pride and hatred, your selfishness and covetousness, and give you a heart of flesh so that you will be able to love Him and have peace and happiness like I have found?
Quote this verse to yourself every time you feel like giving up. This is the verse that led me on the road of knowledge to learn the principles presented in this book.
God is so ready to heal us, like He did the leper. God kicked the demons out of him, and immediately he was clean. Nothing in the heart of the leper blocked his healing. He knew he was hopeless without God. We need to be like the leper. We are full, from the top of our heads to the tips of our toes, with all pride and all wickedness. We must see our condition and depend on the remedy for our disease of sin for if we go not to the Great Physician how can we be healed by Him?.
Are you broken hearted, a captive to sin, bruised by the shackles that binds lives to Satan, blind to the life-giving truth that will free you from sin? That is why Jesus came, to heal, to preach a way of deliverance, to give you sight and set you free. Praise God.
Can you say with the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner?" What were the results? He went home justified. We can too.
Are you lost? There is good news. That was the whole reason God left heaven, to seek and save you, a sinner that would perish without His merciful help!
We cannot be born of the will of man, including our own will. Willpower is useless to change a human heart. We must be born of God. Only God can create us in the first place and recreate us thereafter.
I am a "whosoever". What about you? God said whosoever will believe will have everlasting life. There is no condemnation with God. He wants, with all His heart, to save you. You can only receive this if it is given to you from God and God will give it if you determine by God's grace to never let go of Him regardless of what you see or how you feel because God will never let go of you. It is our choice to endure or not. God wants us to never let go of Him. If we let go of God we let go of Eternal Life, for God the Son is called Eternal Life according to 1 John 1:2 which says, "... The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that Eternal Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us."
Can you give yourself this water? What does this scripture say? God will give it to us.
"'Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.' Present this assurance to Jesus, and you are as safe as though inside the city of God" - Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 175 by Ellen G. White. It is the Spirit that gives life. Our works profit nothing.
Who sets you free? The Son of God.
Enter in by Jesus, not by your works, and you shall be saved. He gives us eternal life as a gift and we shall never perish. No one can steal you out of His hands. But you, by your own refusal to believe His word, may reject Him, and if you reject Him, you reject all that He is, and all that He has promised to give you.
Christ loves us, and it is His love that we are to show to others, that the world may know that we are His disciples.
Notice that Jesus said in verse 27 the Father was inside Christ doing all the work. Christ did exactly as we are to do. Let the Father inside us to do the work.
We are the branches that are to abide in the vine. If we do not stay connected to Christ, the true vine, we cannot bare any fruit, for without Him we can do nothing. Please note also that we are to ask for things to be done to us not to someone else and not to receive worldly possessions but to receive Christ and His character of love.
Christ is to give eternal life to as many as are given Him. We all have been given to Him, by His redemption of us. To know God is life eternal.
God made the covenant. He knows if we make a promise to Him we cannot keep it. God sent Jesus to turn us away from our sins. That is why He came. That is why He died. That is why He is raised again. He lives to save us from our sins, not in our sins. Personally, I am very thankful for sometimes I hat the way I am. Praise God.
Jesus has been exalted to the sanctuary in heaven where He is able to give us repentance as a gift, and the forgiveness of sins.
If we would but believe the gospel we would have the power of God to receive salvation, which means we would have power to be saved from our sins. We must only live by faith in God's power to save us from ourselves. Notice that the power of God is the gospel not any other thing you may have considered the power of God to be. The power is in the promises given as part of the gospel without which we would all be doomed in our own self-righteous works. Knowing the gospel which causes us to fall in love with God to the point that you would never even consider doing anything that would break His heart and being filled with the Holy Spirit that gives you the heart to accomplish it is all that we need to get into heaven. Without love, all the obedience in the world is the obedience of the Pharisees. Remember what Jesus said about them in Matthew 5:20: “...except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Why do we keep trying to work ourselves into being righteous? Here we read that no one, no matter how good they seem to be is righteous. Not one. No one understands God. None seek after God. If God left us to ourselves no one would even care to be a Christian. None would know peace. The law was written that every mouth should be stopped, that they may see they are sinners no matter how righteous they may think themselves to be. God says by the deeds of the law no one shall be justified. Why? The answer is in the verse. The righteousness of God is lived out in our lives by faith in God, not by our works. Works is sin if they are done to earn salvation. Faith creates righteousness unto all that believe. James 2:18 says, "...shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." Notice it says in verse 27 of Romans 3 by the "law of faith," not the law of the ten commandments, is a man is justified. And it continually repeats, "Without the deed of the law." We keep the ten commandments not by keeping the ten commandments but by trusting God and letting Him by His grace remove all desire for sin from our hearts that the ten commandments are willingly, cheerfully kept naturally without forcing ourselves to behave correctly. The law is not done away with. The change brought about by the plan of redemption does not do away with the law but gives you power to keep it without earning it for this is impossible with man. But with God the ten commandments are kept as a fruit of righteousness, not as a means to earn and deserve heaven.
Jesus justifies the ungodly. He must because work is of debt. We work to earn wages but the wages of sin is death. Again, it says to him that does not work, faith is counted righteousness. It is by faith and grace, both of which are gifts from God, that Abraham was able to obey God to kill his son. Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. He trusted god's promise to make of Isaac a great nation even if God had to raise Isaac from the dead. He was strong in faith and in the promise of God. Heb. 11:17; Rom. 4:20; Gen. 21:8. God's promises are sure to all mankind.
Love for God is given to us by the Holy Ghost. Given, not earned. This love is the fulfilling of the law. It has nothing to do with works. Jesus, who is love, is a free gift that all men have received. He died for all. He died for you. Why? That the obedience of one shall make us righteous. We are justified by His blood, not by our works. Praise God! His blood washes away our sins.
God's gift is eternal life. Our sinful nature was crucified on the cross with Jesus. I know it is hard to believe in your heart, everything He says He will do, but God has a season for you.
We know that the law can only be kept by the Spirit of God living in us. We have been lustful and selfish. We do not do good, even when we want to do so, and we do evil, even when we do not want to do it. This proves to us that the law is good. God knows our heart. It is deceitfully wicked. He is in the business of changing hearts so that we can say it is no more I that do it but the sin that dwells in me. And then we can claim the promise that, I, that is my flesh and sinful nature, is truly crucified in Christ. All those sins I committed in my flesh Jesus has cleansed. Now it is no more I that sin. The sin that dwells in me is gone. God has put them in the bottom of the sea. Stop your deep sea diving. Give God that wet suit and those fins. Stop bringing your confessed sins back up to God. They are gone. Let them stay in the bottom of the sea where God put them.
Did you know you are predestined by God to be like Him? You are called, justified and already glorified, sitting with God in heavenly places. Only unbelief, of your own free will, can take it from you. He has freely given us all things, including eternal life, and paradise. We are already more than conquerors through Him that loves us. Nothing, absolutely nothing, and no one can steal that from you. You can refuse to believe it, and you will lose it. I know you cannot make yourself believe what you do not believe but you can choose not to choose until you are more enlightened. Leave the door to your heart open for the Holy Spirit to keep leading you unto all truth. You can believe if you just refuse to doubt.
Israel has the most strict rules of do's and do not's on planet Earth. But Jesus said they physically strain out gnats in order not to eat anything unclean, but spiritually, they swallow camels. Their outward acts seemed righteous but inwardly they were full of everything unclean because they did it by the works of the law and not by the faith that let's God change their heart as well as their actions.
You see that it is belief that saves. It is unbelief that kills in the end. Satan knows that Jesus lives, died, and rose again but he does not have saving faith. Knowing a thing to be a fact and trusting in God to accomplish what He went to the cross and rose again to accomplish are two different things. A man believes (trusts God) unto righteousness. Call on Jesus and you shall be saved. The verse says, "shall be saved," not you might be saved.
Are we saved by works or by faith? The wages of works and unbelief is death, not life. But grace, from beginning to end, is life eternal. Faith that believes Christ will move into your heart and live out a perfect life inside you is what makes one holy. Through Christ are all things, not through us, and not with our help. Christ is "the door," "the way," into heaven. He is all things to them that believe, including justification, sanctification and glorification. Big words that simply mean He is the only way we can be prepared for eternal life.
A new mind is a new heart, given to us by God in order to change who we are that we will be able to keep His law and live for eternity. See Ezekiel 36:26-27.
The word charity here should be translated love, as we have learned in a Chapter Two. No matter how many good things we do, it is the intent of the heart that God looks at. All things not done in true love for others is nothing, worthless, of no value whatsoever.
God Jesus was made our wisdom and righteousness, our sanctification and redemption, when He decided to bare our sins in His own body on Calvary's cross.
The work here mentioned is the work of faith. All work is the work of believing. This is the fight we must fight, the fight of faith, not of changing ourselves. We cannot change ourselves. We cannot even believe in God. He teaches us to trust Him, and why we should trust Him at all. This revelation of the love and gifts of Christ is what we are to build upon. Unbelief is the wood, hay and stubble. Anything built with doubt is not built upon a sure foundation that will be able to stand trials. Our faith in Christ is the gold, silver, and precious stones which is built upon Christ, our Foundation. Christ is the Rock that can hold us steadfast through any storm. Do not build upon the sand that is moved back and forth with every trial that comes. Trust God, and He will save you. After doing a careful study on the phrase, "Every man's work shall be
... revealed by fire The diligent Bible student will, like the man who found treasure hidden in a field, dig for truth because "the Holy Scriptures ... are able to make thee wise unto salvation." 2 Tim. 3:15. Knowing the truth about this small little phrase can change your picture of God and you can love Him instead of fearing Him and His fire.
All that is good and pure and holy and right in us we received as a gift from God. If God would remove His Holy Spirit from us we would have no more conscience and would do horrible things without even hesitating. If God were not working in us, evil would flow out of us like a flood. Oh, if only we could see the hedge the Holy Spirit has built around our hearts. Yes, we may still be sinning, but the Holy Spirit is not finished with His hedge building yet. He can only build as we allow. But what He has started He will surely finish. What goodness can we glory in? If you do not smoke or do drugs, is it you, or is it God that doeth the good? You may not know it but it is God that does the work. When we do God's will we think that we are following our own heart but that is a lie of Satan. God does it. We just agree with God to allow it to be done. If only we could see this. Satan would have us glory in our own self-righteousness, but remember in Rom. 3:4 the verse in the last chapter that there is none righteous, and there is none that even seeks after God. It is the Holy Spirit in us that does the righteousness and the seeking. Left to ourselves all we can do is evil continuously. Blessed is he that sees and understands this. This is a very important subject. If only we could see it. May God bless your eyes that they may see and your ears that they may hear and understand. Left to ourselves we could be another Charles Manson or Hitler. God is our only hope of righteousness.
God has given us the Holy Ghost. It is the most important gift that He could give us. He lives in us now. He restrains evil in every heart. Can you imagine a world without God working in all of us?
The grace of God is within not just with us. "God which was with me" would be better translated "God which was within me." We shall bear the image of God. He does give us the victory through the work of Christ in our hearts. See Co. 1:27 and 2 Peter 1:4. Amazing Grace!
God has anointed us, sealed us already, and given the Spirit in our hearts. It is up to us not to reject it. God has anointed us, sealed us already, and given the Spirit in our hearts. It is up to us not to reject it. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” – Jesus. Listing the subject and the three verbs that follow in order in which they appear should look like this: God loves gave believe. God is the subject, but look at the order in which the three verbs take place. First, God loved. Then God loved so much that He gave. And third, He gave that we will believe ... Honest, sincere Christians present a gospel that subtly changes the order of this verse, and that changing alters its entire meaning. Today’s gospel says this: God loves you so much, that if you will believe in Him, He will give. God loves believe give. In Jesus’ chronology in Scripture ... He loves us so much that He simply gives, whether we respond or not. The modern chronology presents God’s giving based on our believing – something we do first. It represents a God who says, “If you ..., then I’ll ...” ... We naturally become the type of person who we picture our God to be, and often our picture of God is false ... What does your picture of God look like? Upon this, all else depends. “But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18, NASB).” – Herb Montgomery, How’s Your Chronology? as it appeared in Mission Update: The Newsletter of Light Bearers Ministry, July 2005. Used by permission. “Satan knows that Christ has purchased redemption for the whole world, and he is determined to wrest from the hand of Christ every soul that he can possibly influence” (Review and Herald, May 19, 1896). You see, we are safe, sealed and secure in Christ’s hands. The battle that can cause us to lose it all is in our minds. If Satan can get our minds off of Christ and focused on our busyness, our computers, our televisions, our earthly relationships or on any other thing that takes our minds off of Christ he can wrest us from the very hands of Christ. Where is your focus today, tonight, tomorrow and next week?
When the Old Testament is read a veil is over our eyes. When we turn to the Lord the veil shall be taken away. When we can see clearly we are freed from sin. We are changed into His image becasue we see Jesus correctly, and become a partaker of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4 says, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
The love of God does not force us. It draws us. God is doing the reconciling, not us. He is reconciling all men, the entire world, unto Himself. He is not reconciling us to a do and do not list. God has made Jesus to be sin for us that we might be made righteous by Him living His perfect life in us.
Notice, God is in us now. He is in everyone on the earth, drawing them, leading and teaching them. Do you pay attention to the still, small voice of God? Or is your mind on your bills and making money, on your spouse, or on your children? Seek ye the kingdom of God first and all other things will be added unto you. Do not worry about your bills, family, or friends. God's promises are for them as well as for you. He knows what is best and is working with all His might to save everyone. He will figure out a way for each of us to be saved one way or the other. "Lord, save us and make it easy, but if you cannot make it easy, save us anyway. Save us in spite of ourselves. We trust in You to fulfill Your will in us and we will not hinder You by doubt and unbelief but will believe that You are "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us." Ephesians 3:20.
God does not ask us to make ourselves strong. It is when we are weak that God can get our attention. He promises that His grace is enough to make us strong.
God says examine your heart, not fix yourself for He remembers that we are dirt. Ps. 103:14. Jesus, in us, is our only hope.
It is the will of God to deliver us from evil. He wants to make us free from sin even more than we want to be in the kingdom of God. Trust Him. He who promised will do according to His word. God is not a liar. He is our best friend.
What is a man justified by? By works of the law, or by faith? We are justified by the faith of Christ and not of the works of the law. We have been crucified with Christ. He has died our eternal death. We are still alive because of Christ. Therefore the life that we now live is a life of faith. If righteousness came by keeping the law, then Jesus died in vain. But righteousness does not come by keeping the law. Praise God! We are justified by the faith of Christ, not faith in Christ. The life that we now live is a life of faith, not our faith in Christ but the faith of Christ. The faith of Christ is having the same strong, unmovable faith in the Father that Christ had regardless of what was happening to Him. The faith of Christ trusts when there is nothing seen to trust in. Do you have the same faith that Christ had? Do you have the faith that is strong and unmovable regardless of what is happening to you? Do you trust God when there is nothing seen to trust in, when you feel abandoned and ignored by God? This is the faith of Christ and according to the above scripture this is the kind of faith that you are justified by.
We receive the Spirit by the hearing of the word and by our belief in God's promise to us. Having begun in the Spirit can we be made perfect by the works of the law? No. They which have faith are the children of God. God will even justify the heathen by faith, even if he does not know the law. It is faith that saves even the heathen. Those that keep the works of the law to earn salvation are under the curse of the law for God says, Cursed is every one that does not continually, forever, from the day they were born keep the law. If eternal life is by keeping the law it is no more of promise that we will keep it by God living in us doing the work. Is there anyone who has always kept the law? Not one. The scriptures have concluded all under sin. The law was our teacher to bring us to Christ, because we know we have not kept the law and we need a Saviour that we might be justified by faith. After faith is come we no longer need a teacher. We are children of God by faith and heirs according to the promise, not according to the keeping of the law.
God has predestined us according to His good pleasure to be His children. He has made us accepted. We have not and cannot earn it. We are redeemed by the blood of Christ and the forgiveness of sin by His grace alone so that in the fulness of time He might gather us to Himself. The last verse says you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and that same Holy Spirit is the earnest (guarantee) of your inheritance into the kingdom so you can praise God for your eternal life even before you reach heaven for your eternal life has already begun.
How utterly plain and simple to understand is this great truth. We are God's workmanship. We cannot fix ourselves. God remembers that we are but dirt. Our salvation is a gift from God because He wants us in heaven more than we ourselves want to be there, and He knows we cannot obtain it unless it is a gift.
We are strengthened by God's might, by His Spirit in us, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts. How do we get Christ in our hearts? By faith. And how do we get faith? By hearing His word, not by making ourselves act right on the outside. Rom. 10:17. We must be rooted and grounded in the love that Christ will live out while in our hearts. Get to know the love of God, for His is able to do more than we could even think to ask for.
God has already forgiven us. He asks of us that we will do the same to each other which we can only do as He lives out His perfect love in us.
We do not wrestle against our own flesh or against other men, but against Satan and his angels. We need to put on God's armour that we will be able to withstand in the evil day. We need truth, not false doctrines. We need the gospel that we may fall in love with Jesus. We need faith to be able to stand when Satan attacks our character and actions. We need the Word of God in our hearts, and the Spirit to bring Christ, The Living Word, into our hearts to live out His perfect life in us.
God has been working on the hearts of every human being on earth, and He will not stop until all is finished. He wants us to stand fast in the Spirit that has been sent to help us. We are to strive for faith, not for a better behavior. Faith is to you salvation, the salvation of God.
Here again, we see that it is God that does the work in us, not we ourselves. We are not to murmur but trust that God knows what He is doing, and what we need to go through, in order to be saved. Bad things happen to everyone and are caused by sin not by God. We can trust God to teach us, and help us through it or we can complain, not learn anything and lose the blessing that God intended through the trial. We live in the midst of a messed up world. We are to shine as lights, and glorify God no matter what comes to us. Bad things are going to come. How we react to them is what makes us fit for heaven, or destruction
Look to the Saviour who only can change our vileness into glory. He is able to subdue all things, including our evil habits and traits.
Christ works in our hearts mightily. Jesus, living in us, is our only hope of glory.
It is God who sanctifies you. He is able to sanctify you wholly, entirely, mind, life and body, through and through. He is faithful who will do it. Love never fails. 1 Cor. 13:8.
Christ saves sinners that they may be a parable to the world and that the world will be without excuse when they say, "It cannot be done." If it can be done by one it can be done by all. But some people give up too soon, and miss out on heaven because they refuse to believe that God will keep His promises to them. God wants to use us so that we may teach others how to believe unto everlasting life.
God has already paid the price and saved all men. He is the Saviour of all men. Those who will not make it to heaven will lose out because of doubt, impatience and their own refusal to allow God to create in them a new heart.
Do not worry if you do not feel repentance. God promises to give you repentance so that you will be able to acknowledge the truth that you need a Saviour and that you cannot fix yourself. Without God you cannot even recognize your need.
God's grace has been seen by all men. It is what they choose to do with that light that will affect their destiny. Anyone who has not seen God's grace yet will see it in their lifetime and have a chance to choose. God has promised. However, we can choose not to see what is revealed, for example, by refusing to study the scripture.
According to His mercy He saves us by the workings of the Holy Ghost. Our works of righteousness will not help us into the kingdom even in the smallest degree. By grace are we saved, through faith.
We have all our lifetime been subject to the power of death, and him that causes death, even Satan, the destroying angel. By God's death on the cross, we are delivered from Satan, and all his power over us.
Endure until the end, and God will make you a partaker of Christ. Do not go back. Who knows what you will be twenty years from now but God. Do not think you are hopeless. Hope in God. It is His eternal purpose to save people just like you and me.
What is the throne of grace? Is it not the throne of God who is grace Himself? He asks us to come that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in this our time of greatest need.
God is able to save everyone, completely, that comes to Him. He ever lives to intercede with us, to draw, and woo us, into His loving arms.
God will be merciful to our unrighteousness. Our sins He will remember no more. If that is not a gift from God, which we cannot earn, I do not know what is.
It was God's own blood that was needed to give us eternal redemption and He gave it willingly. Think of all He gave up for you. He did not resist anything that was done to Him but gave His life in order to save you. If there was another way to save you, God would not have had to die. But His love for you was greater than anything they could do to Him. At Calvary He could have come down and said, "It is not worth it," and returned back home to heaven. But He believes you are worth anything He had, even His own life. That is what it took so that is what He gave. What wondrous love!
Endure unto the end without wavering in faith. Kick doubt out of your head every time it comes around. You may not know everything about God but you can trust Him with your life. He has one goal and that is to save you, to cause you to be heaven bound. His love for you is so great that your heart will never be able to comprehend it. Stand in faith on His love for you, and you can withstand any trial that may come. Believe to the saving of your soul and never turn back and salvation is promised you. We were sanctified when Jesus offered His body on the cross. There is nothing left to do but what comes natuarally for us as a result of that sacrifice.
Jesus began you on this journey to heaven and He promises to see that you get there.
Jesus' blood cleanses you and makes you perfect in every good work to do His will. He works in you so that what you do will be pleasing in His sight. Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.
Patience bears the fruit of perfection so that you will be lacking in nothing. God will give you wisdom if you just ask for it. God promises and His promises do not fail. Then you will know how to stand for God and what you are standing for.
No matter how down you are, Jesus will lift you up as He lifted Peter out of the sea of Galilee when his faith failed and he began to sink. He will say in the end, "Is my child not a brand plucked out of the fire?"
Jesus has been very patient, not willing that you should perish. He asks us to be patient with Him so that He can establish our hearts in love for Him.
Gird up the loins of your mind. Do not let doubt enter in. Hope to the end in God's grace that He has revealed to you in the life of Jesus. Through the Spirit you will be able to love, being born again by the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ, your Saviour.
Jesus has crucified your sins on the cross with His body. Therefore, you are dead to sin and with His stripes you are healed. Do not look at your actions. Look to the promise that you are healed from sin and it will happen.
God has promised that we may be partakers of His divine nature, the character of God, and escape the corruption that is in every person in the world. Trust in Him.
Confess that you are a sinner in need of a Saviour and God will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Your sins are not just forgiven they are forever pardoned.
I keep mentioning God's promise to you. What did He promise you? He has promised you eternal life for His name's sake. He wants you to have eternal life because He loves you, not because He has to do so. God loves you and wants you with Him for eternity.
We are, right now, the children of God. It may not look like it. We cannot see what we shall be. But when Jesus shall appear, in our hearts, we shall be like Him, for then we can see Him as He truly is. To know God is to love God. To love God is to become just like Him.
Our faith is the victory that overcometh the world when we are born of God. We have been given eternal life already when we have the Son for He is eternal. When we have the Son we may know that we have eternal life, not, "Maybe I'll be saved." God answers all prayer but He answers them according to His will and in His best timing, knowing ahead of time when to do what for our eternal good.
Notice, this verse does not say keep yourself from doing evil but keep yourself in the love of God. Look for mercy unto eternal life. He is able to keep you from falling. If you fall it is not some sinful act that is your problem. It is your lost connection with your God of love that is the problem. Keep Him ever before your eyes. What we behold is what we become. I used to behold Jackie Chan movies and all sorts of violence. I hung around the wrong people. It was not until I lost all my friends, intentionally, that I could quit drinking. It was not until I quit watching movies and television that my hand could relax. I use to catch myself with balled up fists under stress because of the habit I incurred from watching fight scenes. Years ago I walked out on my husband because I watched soap operas and I thought to myself, "There has got to be more to life than I have." I wanted the Cinderella story so I left, all because of television. I still watch television but only the Three Angels" Broadcasting Network. I try to change what I am beholding. I behold scripture and Christian books now. I focus my attention on Christ. I am changing from the evil I used to behold to the good I now behold. We can never underestimate the law of beholding. What you behold changes you whether you realize it or not. Satan is slick. He is not going to present open sin in your face and say, "Follow me." He uses things like television, movies, music, friends, family, money, your own sins, and the sins of others to keep your mind off God and on that which is harmful to you.
God is the one that loves us and washes us from our sins in Christ's blood. Do you have Christ's blood to wash yourself? No. Only Jesus has the blood to wash you clean from sin. He has already made us kings and priests unto God. It is done. Believe the truth, and the truth will set you free; free from all your fears and free from all your works, works that are nothing without God in your heart.
What a promise! God will make those that are of the synagogue of Satan to come and worship me and to know that God has loved me. Amen! He promises to keep us from the hour of temptation that is going to come on the whole world. He asks us just to hold fast what we have.
When we have God in our hearts we can truly say, "now (present tense) is come our salvation and strength and the kingdom of God in our hearts and the power of His Christ is going to overcome our sins." Satan will be without strength, because you will be so settled in the truth that He can find nothing in you to tempt you to do. We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb which has washed us clean from sin and by His word which is a lamp unto our feet. What a day that will be. If we will but stand on truth and believe that God has not lied to us salvation is but a step away. Alleluia!
How soon will the harvest be ripe? Are you the one that God is waiting for? Are you the last one on earth that He is longsuffering for? Maybe it is your friend whom only you can reach. As Jesus has said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38, English Standard Version. Are you willing to work in the harvest field? God has commissioned you, "Go."
Are you prepared for the wedding? Will you marry Jesus, and love Him with all your heart, until eternity shall pass? Say, "I do."
Imagine that! Only the character of God will be in our foreheads. There is no more darkness, doubt, or temptation. Only love will remain. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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