Oct 27, 2022
What is it going to take to get us out of our miserable lives of guilt and depression? Aren’t you tired of living a life of fear and mental torture? Haven’t you yet learned there is a better way? What will it take to make us see that a far more glorious life awaits us?
Do you want this glorious, liberated life? Paul said, “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:12, NKJV). Do you now believe it is your inheritance? Do you now believe God wants desperately for you to have it? Accept it by faith, and move into it! Claim it as your own. “The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11). You simply put your faith in what God said he would do for you. This liberated life of righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost is a gift. You can’t work for it.
The greatest joy of all is knowing you are no longer “guilty” before God. It is the joy of knowing your faith makes you right before him.
“Blessed and happy and to be envied are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered up and completely buried. Blessed and happy and to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him” (Romans 4:7-8, AMPC).
Abraham became the father of nations simply because he took God at his Word. He could have doubted and lost everything. “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. …Now it was not written for his sake alone…but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Romans 4:20-24, NKJV).
God forgives us in order to save us; we must believe that he will keep us. The faith that brought Christ into our lives keeps us from falling.
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).
Oct 26, 2022
The apostle Paul says of God, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (2 Timothy 1:9, NKJV).
Every person who is ‘in Christ’ is called by the Lord. We all have the same mandate: to hear God’s voice, proclaim his Word, never fear man and trust the Lord in the face of every conceivable trial.
Indeed, God made this promise to his prophet Jeremiah when he called him (see Jeremiah 1:1-10). Like Jeremiah, we don’t need to have a message prepared to speak before the world. He has pledged to fill our mouths with his Word at the exact moment it’s needed. That will only happen, though, if we trust him.
Paul tells us that many are appointed as preachers, teachers and apostles, and that they are all going to suffer for that reason. He counts himself among those. “I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things” (2 Timothy 1:11-12). He was saying, “God has given me a holy work to do. Because I have that calling, I am going to suffer.”
Scripture shows that Paul was tested as few ministers have ever been. Satan tried to kill him time after time. The so-called religious crowd rejected and ridiculed him. At times, even those who supported him left him abused and forsaken.
However, Paul was never confounded before men. He was never dismayed or put to shame before the world. Paul never burned out. On every occasion, he had an anointed word to speak from God, just when it was needed.
The fact is Paul simply wouldn’t be shaken. He never lost his trust in the Lord. Instead, he testified, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). He was saying, “I have committed my life fully to the Lord’s faithfulness. Live or die, I am his.” Not only that but he urged his young charge Timothy to do likewise. “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13).
Oct 25, 2022
Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32, NKJV). God wants to give me a kingdom? Where is it?
“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). It is something you possess in your inner man. It is a liberated life!
Scripture also says, “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9-10).
You may wonder, “What does it mean to enter this promised rest? What should it look like in my life?” I pray that God will remove the scales from our eyes and allow us to grasp this. Simply put, entering into his promised rest means fully trusting that Christ has done all the work of salvation for you. You’re to rest in his saving grace by faith alone.
This is what Jesus means when he urges, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). It means the end of all your fleshly striving, all your human efforts to obtain peace. It means relying totally on Jesus’ work for you.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It takes place in the spiritual realm. The Old Testament makes this crystal clear. Time after time, Israel made empty, futile promises to God. “We want to serve you, Lord. We’ll do whatever you command us.” History proves they had neither the heart nor the ability to follow through on their word. God had to strip them of all faith in themselves. Everything we need is to come from our precious Lord’s presence.
Paul states, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This speaks of uninterrupted fellowship. Through the victory of the cross, our Lord has made himself available to us every hour of the day or night. We have to make a decision. “I want Christ in my life. I want to be set free from all flesh. I’m going to move forward into his presence and claim my possession. I want Jesus to be my only source of satisfaction.”
Oct 21, 2022
Centuries before Christ was born, Isaiah prophesied that God would send a deliverer who would liberate mankind. Jesus himself stood in a Jewish synagogue one Sabbath and reminded the world of this prophecy. “And when he had opened the book, [Jesus] found the place where it was written [by Isaiah], ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.’ …Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:17-21, NKJV).
Jesus was telling the whole world, “My mission on earth is to liberate every oppressed life.” To liberate means to set free from all bondage, to release from all slavery, to do away with everything that makes desolate. If you believe Christ is telling the truth, then you must believe he is saying to you and me, “I am sent to liberate your life, to release you from all oppression and bondage. I come to set your spirit free.”
Paul said that Christ came to call every believer to a liberated life. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1), and he preached about “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
If Christ came to liberate us from a miserable life, why do we go on living the same old, miserable way? We think a life totally free of fear and guilt is too incredible. We cannot imagine life with 24-hour-a-day rest and peace, life without a heavy burden of condemnation or depression, life in the presence of a loving Savior who cares about all our needs.
This may sound too good to be true, but this is exactly the kind of liberated life Christ wants every one of his children to enjoy. Not just a few of his children but all! This life is not just for those who break some kind of theological code, but it is for all who simply trust him for it.
Oct 20, 2022
Suppose one of my sons is caught in a bear trap in the woods and lies hurt and bleeding, crying for help. As his father, do I stop to analyze the quality of his faith? Do I ask myself the question, “Does my son have enough faith in me to trust that I’ll come to his rescue?” A thousand times no! I would run to my boy’s side, no questions asked, because I am motivated by a father’s love for a hurting child. His faith doesn’t motivate me. It is not anything he does at all; it is simply my love for him.
What kind of an earthly father would leave a child bleeding and hurt in some forsaken woods simply because the child didn’t voice some kind of faith in him? In the same way, God will never leave one of his children to suffer alone. He will never shut his ear to their cries simply because their faith in him is weak. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful; he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
All faith must rest on the lovingkindness and concern of our heavenly Father. We are commanded to glory in the love and everlasting kindness of our Father. “But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight…” (Jeremiah 9:24).
God so loves his children that he hears before they call like a mother who anticipates her baby’s cry. That is why David prayed, “Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O Lord, quicken me and give me life according to your [righteous] decrees” (Psalm 119:149 AMPC). He loves me and comes to my rescue when my faith is weak, when I don’t deserve any answer from him, all because of his tenderness and kindness. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Psalm 103:8).
The greatest peace has flooded my life since I have convinced myself that God loves me. He will come to my rescue and do what is right in every situation of my life. Weak faith or not, he still loves me, and nothing can hinder that love.
