Nov 4, 2022
God has revealed to us a sure way to become holy and perfect in his sight, whereby all his children can live in absolute peace and joy, knowing God looks on them as pure.
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21-24, NKJV).
This is all a free gift! His gift of holiness can never be a reward for anything we have done. It is an unearned, undeserved favor. “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5).
Submission is the only way into God’s holiness, submitting to the righteousness of Christ through faith. To submit means “to surrender the power of your will.” With God there is no such thing as willpower; all power is his, and he will permit no other power than his own. God demands absolute holiness so that we will be humbled by this demand. He watches over our struggles to be holy with patience, waiting for us to fail so miserably that we will run to his throne, fall on our knees, and cry out, “It’s hopeless! I am weak, sensuous, sinful. I have no good in me at all.” The kind of repentance that God is looking for is the confession of our futile efforts.
You can never be clothed in Christ’s holiness until you fall on your face before God’s throne. You must once and for all admit that you have nothing to offer the Lord but a broken-down lump of clay. You must be given holiness as a gift.
The greatest gift you can give to God is your faith that he will give you his holiness. We will exult then like Isaiah who said, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10).
Nov 2, 2022
I believe in Holy Ghost timing. Our prayers will be answered, one way or another, in God’s own time. However, we are often afraid to submit our prayers to Holy Ghost scrutiny. Some of those prayers need to be purged because our faith can be misspent on requests that are not mature. We do not know how to pray “your will be done” (see Matthew 6:10). We don’t want his will as much as we want the things permitted by his will.
Abraham exercised his faith to remind himself that he was a stranger on this earth. His blessing pact produced only a tent to dwell in because he put his faith in that city “whose builder and maker is God” (see Hebrews 11:10).
Were some of these faith warriors not living in faith? Did God refuse to answer some of their prayers? After all, not all of them were delivered and not all lived to see answers to their prayers. Some were tortured. Others were “stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins…destitute, afflicted, tormented…in dens and caves of the earth…” (see Hebrews 11:36-38).
Some who had a reputation for having great faith “did not receive the promise” (see Hebrews 11:39). Those who did receive the promise used their faith to work righteousness, to gain strength in times of weakness and to put the enemy to flight.
Don’t worry about whether God will grant your request, and don’t depend on faith formulas and methods. Commit every prayer to Jesus with confidence. Say, “He is all I need. He will answer in his time and in his way. No matter what happens, I have faith in his faithfulness.”
May God forgive us if we are more concerned about having our prayers answered than about learning total submission to Christ. We do not learn obedience by the things we obtain but by the things we suffer.
Are you willing to learn by suffering a little longer with what appears to be an unanswered prayer? Will you rest in his love while patiently waiting for the promise?
Nov 1, 2022
God gave our forefather Abraham the land of Canaan “as an everlasting possession…” (Genesis 17:8, NKJV). In Hebrew, the word everlasting means never-ending. You might think that Abraham had to rejoice over this. God promised his descendants a permanent homeland, as far as they could see, and it would last into eternity. However, the New Testament tells us the world will be destroyed by fire, burnt completely out of existence, after which the Lord will bring about a new heaven and earth.
How could God’s “everlasting possession” to Abraham be a mere piece of real estate? How could it be eternal? God was saying that this land of promise was symbolic of a place beyond the earth. I believe Abraham knew this. The Bible says that as Abraham moved about in Canaan, he always felt alien: “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise”(Hebrews 11:9). Abraham’s heart longed for something beyond the land itself.
“He waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Abraham could see the true significance of the land blessing and he realized, “This place isn’t the real possession. It’s just an illustrated sermon of the great blessing to come.” Abraham grasped the true meaning of the Promised Land; he knew Canaan represented the coming Messiah. Jesus himself tells us, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).
The Holy Spirit enabled this patriarch to see down through the years, to the day of Christ. He knew that the meaning of his Promised Land meant a place of total peace and rest, and that this place of rest is Jesus Christ himself. That’s right, the Lord Jesus is our promised possession. We are his, but he is ours as well. God invites us to obtain our everlasting possession by simple faith.
Oct 29, 2022
In 2 Kings 7:1-2, God gave a word through Elisha that provision would very soon be made available and affordable to the famine-stricken land of Israel. The servant of the king replied in disbelief, “Might this thing be?” In the New Living Translation, the servant says, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!”
You and I are living in a time when things can change drastically almost overnight. We New Yorkers recall how quickly the stores were emptied after the planes struck the Twin Towers on 9/11. If provisions suddenly were to become scarce again in the near future, we would do well to take to heart the psalmist’s words: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25). Yet I wonder how many people will end up reacting to God’s promise of provision with a sentiment of disbelief, much as the servant of the king of Israel did.
In response to the servant’s remark, Elisha said, “You are going to see it with your eyes, but you will not partake of it” (see 2 Kings 7:2). What a stark reminder that we dare not deal casually with the Word of God, both the promises of God as well as the warnings of God. If this servant had possessed any wisdom in his heart, he would have said, “Oh God, forgive me for my unbelief! Forgive me for what I just said, for I know that you are faithful to keep your Word.” But sure enough, when the supply finally came into the city, this man was trampled by a stampede of people as they ran through the gate to get their hands on the provision.
Far surpassing the greatest earthly father, the Lord delights in providing for his children. So why then does it seem that we tap into so little of his endless supply?
If only you and I could lay hold of this truth and understand that victory is not by might, not by power, not by numbers, not by the eloquence of our preaching. In this case, victory was found when the weakest of society simply headed toward a place where provision could be found.
Oct 28, 2022
Elijah, that great prophet, had become disheartened by the moral landslide his nation was experiencing and had fled from the threats of wicked Queen Jezebel. God found him hiding in a cave on Mount Horeb and asked, “Elijah, why are you hiding?”
With indignation, Elijah replied, “God, I’ve been jealous for your glory, but your people have forsaken your Word, and your ministers have been persecuted. I’m the only one left, and now they’re out to get me too.”
To all outward appearances, Elijah had a good argument. The government was the most wicked in all history, and his society was nearing a collapse. The government was actually forcing the nation into idolatry.
Elijah was determined to hold out to the end. If the whole nation forsook God, he would stay true! God was not about to congratulate this hiding prophet, though, because the Holy Spirit was moving throughout the land. Elisha, Elijah’s eventual successor, was feeling the first stirrings of God’s hand upon him; and Jehu, a powerful young revolutionary, was chomping at the bit, waiting anxiously to declare war on the corruption and godlessness in the land. A great moral awakening was about to happen.
Elijah was most emphatically informed by God, “I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18, NKJV). God was trying to tell Elijah that he had his people stationed in key positions all across the nation. Believers were standing tall and true in spite of the corruption around them.
God has been encouraging me to open my eyes to the great calling out of saints that is now taking place in our time. God said to Elijah, “Thousands have not bowed.” To us, I believe he is saying, “Millions have not bowed!”
Glory be to God that we are not a tiny remnant! We are an army, a blood-washed multitude, in every walk of life, unbending and uncompromising in an age gone crazy. Satan would like God’s people to think their numbers are dwindling fast; he wants true believers to think the majority have already defected to his camp so fear will drive them into hiding. Don’t believe the lies of Satan! God is still at work, pouring out his Holy Spirit and drawing hungry hearts to himself.
