CALLED TO HIS OWN GLORY AND EXCELLENCE

2 Peter 1:3-4
(3) His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
(4) by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Romans 8:29-31
(29) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
(30) And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

"It is not by godliness that we obtain life, but by life, godliness." -J, F, & B

It is through our knowledge of Christ alone, knowing Him, that we are called to His own glory and excellence! Imagine for a few minutes what that means. Are you, am I, living life to that calling? Think on what His own glory and excellence are. Think of what life will be like with Him very shortly, when this life is over. What a gift of life and time we have right now to be daily more and more prepared for that excellence! That glory! All of life takes on a new perspective when we give up our own "glory" for His excellence and glory. We are even now, in His eyes, seated with Him in the Heavenlies (Ephesians 2:4-10), lifted up above this world where no evil can separates us from Him, even as we live out that here below, that He has given to us - His own glory and excellence. We realize it more and more as we walk in faith abiding in His Word, learning to know Him more and more.

"Glory” here is the manifestation of the Divine Character in Christ." -Robertson's Word Pictures

His own "virtue" or "excellence" is the glory of His divine nature. His perfection. His qualities. His excellence. All of these are beyond our abilities really to fathom. Yet He tells us here that He has given us "all we need" to partake of that, to live it out in this life, and to escape the corruptions that come to those who do not know Him and that are slaves of sin, which is what causes those corruptions.

We see more and more moral corruption in our society and in the world, all the more that the world rejects and hardens itself toward God. The restraining force of godliness is being removed and moral depravity is swarming the world. Even in those who were not born again but only had an outward form of Christianity, at least were under the restraining force of godliness because of His Word. Yet now openly, boldly, and blatantly, people are outright rejecting the authority of His Word, and the knowledge of Him, and so are unable to even reason what is good or bad, what is evil or not. They are being consumed by corruption of sin and don't even know it. But those who surrender in faith to the One true God, and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent (John 17:3), can know Him, and can escape this corruption, and can walk in greater and greater excellence and virtue, all the while having the hope of being perfected in that as we at last are called to our heavenly home. It is as we learn to know Him that we can become partakers of His divine nature.

It is never our nature improved on that we are called to. It is never our works enabling us to become better persons. Even an unbeliever can become a better person. Yet, they are not able to partake of His divine nature, that nature which is true godliness and virtue and excellence. They are only able to find ways to somehow manage their own impulses and passions the best they can, as they see their own benefit in doing so, to suppress their natural tendencies, at least outwardly. But the Christian, the one who is "born again of incorruptible seed" (1 Peter 1:3-4), is able to partake of that which God has given Him, learn of Him, and grow in his walking out and working out that life of Christ in his daily life.

J, F, & B commentary: the divine nature — not God’s essence, but His holiness, including His “glory” and “virtue,”( 2 Peter 1:3); the opposite to “corruption through lust.” Sanctification is the imparting to us of God Himself by the Holy Spirit in the soul. We by faith partake also of the material nature of Jesus (Ephesians 5:30). The “divine power” enables us to be partakers of “the divine nature.”

What is this human nature in us that settles for so less? What is it in us that thinks we have so much more if we satisfy our flesh right now, and if we find some temporal happiness in this world? Yet we do settle for so much less for ourselves than what God would have for us. It may require suffering now, ridicule, rejection, loss of friends, jobs, even freedom, yet we must look beyond it all and see what the glory and excellence that He calls us to, and that the more we see of His glory, and live for His glory, the more we are partakers of it and enjoy Him. This is where true life is. This is what will give us a rich entrance into His eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior knowing His joy and delight, rather than being ashamed (2 Peter 1:5-11). This is what will keep us from falling and enable us to stand when the world and the enemy comes against us.

As Oswald Chambers wrote about, I want to give my "utmost for His highest" when I think on His glory, Who He is, and the wonders of His love and His salvation and the calling He has called me to. As Paul said,
Philippians 3:8-14
(8) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
(9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
(10) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
(11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
(12) Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
(13) Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
(14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

No looking back, but only forward to the excellence of His high calling! To the glory of Christ! Whatever difficulties, whatever weaknesses, whatever trials or temptations, this is the way to walk above them, to get through them, to overcome.
Hebrews 12:2-3
(2) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
(3) Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

I am tempted many times to grow weary and fainthearted with this life and with this world. But I am called to something more excellent. So the Holy Spirit in me gives me power and faith to press on, revealing to me the glory of Christ and the rich reward that He brings. He energizes me with His love as I fellowship with Him in His Word partaking of that life. I'm lifted up again. I'm encouraged. I'm nourished. I'm fully dressed and prepared once again in the full armor of God.

1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 John 3:1-3
(1) See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
(2) Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
(3) And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.

WHY DO CHRISTIANS ACT THE WAY THEY DO?

What is a Christian? According to the Bible a Christian is one who understands first Who God is, Who Jesus Christ is, and why He came. They understand that sin is anything that violates God's law which is righteous, holy, and just. Sin is the love of self and wanting to be our own god rather than acknowledging the One true God. God Himself is perfect in righteousness, holiness, and justice. He would fail to be that if He even tolerated one sin in His kingdom. One flaw, pollutes all purity. But God is also perfect in love, mercy, and grace. Love demands mercy and holiness demands justice. How can the two be met in a fallen world? Only through God Himself, perfect as He is, righteous as He is, being love itself, becoming a man, taking on human flesh, and living out that perfect righteousness on earth and then becoming the sacrifice that fulfills His perfect law of justice, paying the penalty for sin - eternal death and becoming salvation for all who believe in Him. He alone is the sufficient sacrifice for the penalty, and the only way to become right before God, Whose law we have all broken, so have been separated from Him. A Christian is one who turns away from that sin that he/she sees has separated them from God and turns to Christ, accepting Him alone as the sufficient salvation that will save them, forgive them, cleanse them and renew them, causing them to be "born again." They are those who in faith have received the gift of the Holy Spirit to indwell them and give them a new nature, a nature that will now conform their outward life into the image of the inward indwelling of the Son. This is a gradual thing. He changes us from the inside as He reveals Himself to us little by little as we abide in His Word, feeding on His life and Words and yielding to the working of His Spirit in our hearts. He promises us eternal righteousness and salvation and joy and peace in His presence, sharing in His glory forever. We do not judge others but we stand with God's judgment against sin, because we have seen it and been saved from it. We yearn to save the one trapped and deceived by sin.

Why do Christians become so passionate about sin in the world? Why do they care? Christians are not better than anyone else. We know we're not. That's why we came to Jesus. Because we know we're helpless to save ourselves from our own sin, or to keep ourselves from being deceived and corrupted by the philosophies, sins, and corruptions the devil has persuaded men of in the world. Those who think they don't need Him and think they are righteous in their own works and in themselves are those who are "self-righteous," though they call Christians the very thing they are. When the Bible calls Christians "the righteous" it is not because we are somehow better people. We don't call ourselves righteous, but we call ourselves saved by His righteousness. It is because we have, by faith, received HIS righteousness in our hearts and allow that to be worked in us by faith, though we are still very much aware that "but for the grace of God there go I." Only God is righteous. He calls "righteous" whoever HE will. We are more aware probably than anyone else of our shortcomings and sins that need His forgiveness and grace. But we have come to see how awful sin is in first of all how it was the very thing that separated us from God's love and salvation. Second of all, it has a progression to it and may start out as a tiny grain of yeast…very small and seemingly insignificant but it grows and becomes terribly vile, and soon overtakes and destroys and corrupts everything else in its path and blinds minds and hearts completely and hardens them against the only love and salvation possible for them. Rom. 1 shows this progression and the utter giving over to that hardness of heart that ultimately comes of it. The world loves sin and the more it embraces sin, the more it hates the God of righteousness. We, as Christians, cannot but stand with God as we have seen sin's depravity and its destruction on the human race. Man blames God for evil all the while rejecting His goodness, His mercy, His righteousness, and then calls evil good, embracing it, and calling God evil and all that is good evil. They join satan's rebellion and so his punishment. As Christians, we see the destruction sin brings to a life, and a community, and a nation, and to the world. Ultimately sin will fill the earth and "come to its fullness" and finally when it does God will say "enough!" Christians know this day of His wrath against evil is coming and that all evil and those who have chosen it will be judged and destroyed forever, so that is why we are passionate against it, and passionate to tell people there is a way of escape, and there is a salvation and God is opening the door at this very moment saying, "Today is the day of salvation!" While it is today, choose Him!! The day will end soon. It's coming to a conclusion. You may not have tomorrow. Don't fritter away your opportunity for His grace and love as He holds it out even to the vilest sinner - whosoever will! Man's utopia is a lie and a false hope. Soon there will be a world leader called "the antichrist" who will convince the world that he can set up this utopia, and it will very quickly fall apart and be seen to be the evil that it is, and be destroyed and God's true utopia, His kingdom will come to the earth when Jesus returns, as promised, just as He came the first time as promised, and be set up as His true Kingdom that will be forever.

If you consider us "haters" for loving you and hating your sin, I hope you'll take another look at your heart and discard the hypocrisy of political correctness. Discard the hypocrisy that keeps you blinded to your own hatred towards God and all who love Him and His truth and His righteousness. Take another look and look into His Word for yourself, reading it for yourself, not letting others tell you what is in it and falsely representing it, but reading it and finding out what He says in truth. The truth shall set you free, if you embrace it. If you face yourself in His light. If you don't let your mind be manipulated and overtaken by the powers of darkness that know very well if you know that truth it would save you. You have been convinced to read and listen only to what promises you a false hope in this world, and have been kept from looking at the other side honestly. Try being honest with yourself. Discard your hypocrisy. Admit it. Face it. It will save you.

Satan knows that truth, and that is why he works so earnestly to keep people away from it, to silence it, to stomp on it, to cause people to fear to associate with it, and to deceive them into inventing all sorts of ways to accept evil calling it good and to call good evil.

Many Christians are immature in understanding how to live according to God's Spirit within them, and out of their passion they act in ways that do not represent Christ, even though they think they are doing His will. And many profess Christ but live for themselves and do not have His truth in their hearts but are following an apostasy, a counterfeit Christianity that caters to the love of their own "godhood." But those who grow in the maturity of their faith and are abiding in Christ daily learn to wait on God to work in them and through them as HE WILL, not as we will. You see, even Peter, who loved His Lord and would have laid down his life for Him, acted out of passion and ignorance to "save" His Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, raising His sword to defend Him. Yet Jesus stopped him and said "Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" He also told Pilate, that if His kingdom were of this world His servants would fight. Some don't understand His kingdom or His calling. As Christians we can act in our "flesh" or carnal nature, or ignorance of His Word, rather than yielding to His will and understanding and walking by His Spirit. As Christians we can misrepresent Him and His calling. But nobody is without excuse because we all have His Word to seek understanding, to ask of Him, and to read. You cannot blame any Christian who misrepresented God to you, for your failure to come to Him yourself and seek Him. You are the hypocrite if you do so. You cannot blame the church, if you did not go to Christ yourself to become a part of HIS church, which is eternal.

Are Christians haters? Yes we are haters of sin, because we understand it and the world does not. (Psalm_119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way… Psalm_119:128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way). We hate it as God Himself hates it, and see that it was so important that Jesus came here specifically to suffer and die because of it. We are not haters of sinners. We're all sinners. Jesus even on the cross, said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." He said to us to "love our enemies, to pray for them, and to forgive them." If we hated non-Christians, we'd let them go ahead and have their sin and not tell them the truth about it and that it is leading them to an eternal damnation if not turned from and His salvation received. Those who oppose God and embrace everything that opposes His standards are haters of God, as well as haters of all who love God. They are haters of truth and propagators of lies which are continually made up to twist facts to bend to their worldview so to deceive whoever they can. They are those who are tools in the hands of evil spirits and don't even realize it or realize that they will be devoured by and with those spirits after they do their bidding and destroyed. (We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one John 5:19). They are pawns in the hands of powers of darkness that they are not even aware of though they think themselves to be "free." Their minds and wills are controlled by these powers and lies and they think them to be their own (2 Cor._4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them). They are kept blinded and unable to see or listen to the truth, unless God opens their eyes and hearts and draws them, which He will do to all who will call out to Him. It is when He does this, and calls you to His salvation, that He is giving you the opportunity to come and receive freely that love and grace and be saved. If you resist Him when He calls, and deny Him, then you may not get another chance. If you heart convicts you of your sin, and you feel the tug, it is Him calling you. Don't fight Him or run from Him. People who continually harden their hearts eventually may become too hardened to anymore feel it at all (Romans 1:18-32).

John 6:37-40
(37) All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
(38) For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
(39) And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
(40) And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Romans 10:9-15
(9) because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
(11) For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."
(12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
(13) For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
(14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
(15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

So you see, this is why Christians must take God's side and stand with Him today in the face of evil spreading across the land as wildfire. This is why we'll take abuse, defamation, slander, injustice, and let ourselves be marginalized, hated, and we will all the more boldly proclaim Christ, and His truth, and stand with Him, just as Jesus Himself did in His day against the powers of evil and went to the cross because of it rather than fail to please God. This is why Christians across the world will let themselves be slaughtered rather than deny Christ and give themselves up to joining evil. This is why we will not become politically correct and compromise with God's Word, but will stand against what God Himself stands against for the sake of all who would be saved. This is why we are passionate about our beliefs no matter what it costs us or what we lose. If family, friends, or anyone else hate us because of it, we know what is true and cannot turn from it. Those who know Him, and have Him living in their hearts, and experience the joy of His presence and love, cannot deny Him. So do as you will, but I pray that you will turn to the truth, and turn away from evil and find the one true hope there is in this world that will be an eternal hope and never perish.

1 Peter 3:9-17
(9) Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
(10) For "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
(11) let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
(12) For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
(13) Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
(14) But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
(15) but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
(16) having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
(17) For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 1 Peter 4:3-5
(3) For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
(4) With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;
(5) but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

2 Peter 3:3-18
(3) knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
(4) They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."
(5) For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
(6) and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
(7) But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
(8) But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
(9) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
(10) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
(11) Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
(12) waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
(13) But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
(14) Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
(15) And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
(16) as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
(17) You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
(18) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

That day will come. Maranatha to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ!

If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.

SPIRITUAL SLUMBER, SPIRITUAL WAKEFULNESS

Proverbs 6:4-11
(4) Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;
(5) save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
(6) Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
(7) Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,
(8) she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
(9) How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
(10) A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
(11) and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

(1 Peter 5:8) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

F. B. Meyer: "The ants swarm in the woods and fields, and rebuke our laziness and thriftlessness. They work day and might, storing their galleries with food, building mounds which relatively to the size of the builders are three or four times larger than the Pyramids. In sickness they nurse one another; in the winter they feed on their supplies. Learn from the ceaseless industry of Nature, and do something worthy before sundown!"

There is a busyness that is deceptive. There is the busyness of the flesh that actually keeps us from being about the Lord's business, and causes us to be "lazy" regarding our spiritual life. It keeps us slumbering spiritually, all the while giving the semblance of being busy and serving the Lord. When we put God off, put off making right in our lives those things He would have us to deal with, put off spending time developing an abiding relationship with Him, put off learning His Word and growing in it, and put off that thing He has been gently convicting us to do or to deal with, we may not realize we are in a spiritual slumber. We know we must be diligent to take care of our families, to work and bring home provision for ourselves and our families and have something to share with others as well. We know we must be busy and diligent to get things done that have to be done, and not let them slide. We may be very good at that, yet be in a spiritual slumber, and not be spiritually awake, alert, and on guard against the schemes of the enemy. We may be busy working in the church or doing many "Christian" duties, and works, all good, but be in a spiritual slumber, actually running away from dealing with the things God wants to deal with in our lives.

When we have a task before us, we gear up for it and prepare. We muster up the strength to do it, and we stick to it even through the fatigue in order to finish it and get it done. J, F, & B commentary says, "The danger requires promptness." There are spiritual dangers we face, even unawares, every day. It requires the effort to be prompt and diligent in the meditation of the Word, in prayer, and in waiting on the Lord. We cannot measure up to the spiritual battles in our own strength. To think we can is very foolish. Jesus warned His disciples that even though the spirit is willing in them to do right, to follow Him, the flesh is very weak, and we must not slumber or suddenly calamity overtakes us.

Matthew 26:33-35
(33) Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
(34) Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."
(35) Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same.

Matthew 26:40-41
(40) And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour?
(41) Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Matthew 26:74-75
(74) Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the rooster crowed.
(75) And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.

We must learn to know our own flesh, its weaknesses, and how many subtle ways it demands to have its way in us, giving a foothold to the enemy to tempt us and lead us down the wrong path, or into sin, or into a deceptive busyness that is not the business of the Lord. To be wakeful and watchful, is to be spiritually alert through prayer and listening to the voice of our Lord in His Word, as He reveals these things to us daily, and to take His side against our own flesh and pride, against the enemy and against everything false. Then we must put forth the effort to respond accordingly, as He shows us what must be acted on. We must be diligent to act on it and not let it slide.

Sleep is very subtle. You wake up in the morning to an alarm, and you are still groggy. Your body is telling you, "just a little more rest, and then I'll get up." But you fall back into a deep sleep and before you know it a couple more hours have passed and you wake up to a phone call telling you you are late! Or you have to get up and hurry and scramble to make up for the 2 hours you just slept through, and you can't possibly get the quality of time you would have had if you had gotten up on time. It is the same spiritually. If we tell ourselves, "I'll take care of it tomorrow." We find ourselves ignoring it and even forgetting it, and the longer we do so the easier it is to do. Suddenly the trial comes and we are scrambling to find the Lord's presence, to find His counsel, and to know what to do. If we had been diligent in the first place we would always be ready to stand dressed in His armor and ready for the battle, ready to face the problem, the temptation, the loss, or whatever it is. If not we are left to our own devices many times and that will always fail to bring about God's purposes in our lives.

Is the Lord drawing you to seek His face? Do you feel that heart tug to spend more time with Him? Do you feel conviction to talk to someone or make something right in your home or in a relationship? Are you being called to pursue a certain path God wants to take you on? Don't put it off, because the opportunity won't be there forever. When God calls us that is the time He will give us the grace to obey. Later is many times too late. We lose the ferver and the will many times, and miss out on what God would have for us.

Rising up out of a deep sleep takes strong will-power and effort. Rising up out of spiritual slumber takes effort on our parts as well, and when the Lord is convicting and drawing and saying to your heart, "arise!" that is the time He will also give you the grace to obey as you yield yourself to Him, and simply say, "Yes, Lord, I give myself over to your strength to do so." There is no gain without effort.

I remember a movie line once where a woman in the movie was always saying, "you have to put forth the effort!" For some reason that line has stuck with me, and when I feel weary, and wanting to lay my spiritual head down and slumber for a time, that line comes back to me again and again, "Ginny, you have to put forth the effort!"

(Colossians 1:29) For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

When the Lord calls us, He Himself works His own energy in us powerfully to do the task. When we work on our own, we become weary. We must continually be built up in Him and strengthened in the power of His might.

Many times when I have a job to do, I tend to put it off and go do a job that I enjoy more...like working in my kitchen, baking or doing something creative, rather than spending time on my hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor or toilet. Many times we look for something we find self-fulfilling or rewarding to do in the church and busy ourselves with that which enriches our social life, rather than that which the Lord is calling us to do. It can take the place of the more important things the Lord is working in our lives, and actually hinder our spiritual growth. We think we are growing spiritually when we are doing something we thrive in and have lots of feedback and reward immediately for it. But maybe the Lord is calling you to do something else that takes time and commitment and a loss of pride, hard spiritual work of seeking His face and struggling in prayer, and waiting on Him, and causing you to give up things that you enjoy for a time, even though good things. We can put ourselves in a spiritual slumber by replacing God's will with other seemingly good works, yet disregarding the very thing He is pointing to, and calling us to, which would require us to give up our fulfilling "works" and doings in order to answer Him in humility and obedience. Maybe He has us in a place we don't want to be, and is calling us there for a time, even though it is not pleasant. We try to escape. We think to ourselves, "I would be much more effective for God if I were in this other place, or able to do so much more if I were over there!" But God has us here, where He is dealing with us, where He is exposing things to ourselves in our own hearts, where He is teaching us humility, love, patience, longsuffering, and where He is wanting to reveal Himself to us and conform us to the image of Jesus. We don't understand, but He is doing a work in us wherever He calls us and puts us. Wherever that is, we must wake up from our slumber, and seek His face, and wait on Him, and find HIS path through it giving up our own, no matter how long that takes. We must not mistake emotional fulfillment with the fulfillment of God's will in our lives. Real growth comes from true obedience to God, denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him. He takes us aside at times to work in us to make us, before He can truly use us in the work He has for us.

We must not slumber through this life, just passively going along wherever the waves of life take us. But we must be diligent and wakeful. He has provided all we need for this. His Word gives us the guidance and the knowledge of His will, the washing and cleansing from our own ways and that of the world, and His Spirit provides us the energy, the indwelling strength and power to do so, and to carry out what He calls us to. Now is not the time to slumber. Now is the time to be awake and alert, as the world and the powers of darkness are surrounding us, and to be diligent, putting forth the effort, to stand and to walk unwavering, the path He has before us, setting aside every weight, and running the race, as we wait for His coming.

Maranatha!

If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.

SORROW AND SIGHING SHALL FLEE AWAY

(Isaiah 35:10) And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 51:11-15
(11) And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
(12) "I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,
(13) and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?
(14) He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking.
(15) I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name.

There is a day coming when Israel will be restored to God, and all they have endured of God's wrath, as well as the oppression of the nations who all come against them, will be turned around, and God Himself will comfort, secure, and forever wipe away their tears. These promises were to the nation of Israel. And God never fails to keep His promises. His promises to His church also assure us that there is coming a day when every tear will be wiped away from our eyes...all those who have come to know Jesus Christ, as well as the remnant of Israel, will in that day, find His everlasting salvation through Christ alone. Ultimately God brings all things together under Christ in the end (Ephesians 1:9-10). There will be an end. That is, there will be an end to sorrow and sighing and all things evil and everything that causes oppression, depression, anguish, and despair.

Revelation 21:1-7
(1) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
(2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
(3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
(4) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
(5) And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
(6) And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
(7) The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

There is a resurrection, and that only because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He was the only One able to save us. He alone was perfect, holy, and true. He alone was able to take on our sin, in our place, and fulfill all the righteousness of the law. Now He is risen. And those who trust in Him are risen with Him, even now in their stand before Him, with the promise of eternal life that no man can take away. No one is able to snatch us out of His hands. They would have to reach up into Heaven itself and somehow destroy the work of Christ, which can never be done. It is finished! Praise the Lord! What is risen in Heaven, is risen forever. It cannot be thrown back down to earth or undone because it is hidden in Christ Himself and His resurrection (Colossians 3:1-4). Our life is in Him, and it is there secured forever. So now we rejoice in that hope of glory, even as we suffer in our unredeemed fleshly bodies here below awaiting His return and that final redemption.

Romans 5:1-5
(1) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(3) Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
(4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
(5) and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

This is why Christians for centuries would rather face unspeakable tortures and death rather than deny Him. This is why communists, socialists, fascists, and ISIS can never defeat Christianity no matter how many Christians they slaughter. This is why we face the tsunami of evil forces in this world right now and the blindness and the unspeakable craziness and do not give up hope and do not fear what is coming. If we are in His Word, we know what is coming. It saddens us, because we see their judgment and their horrible end is coming soon for them even though they are having their evil day now. Rather than give in to the anger and rage against them, we fight them with spiritual weapons of warfare, with truth, with prayer, with His love, with standing in the full armor of God against the evil day, because we are sure and firm in the finished work of Jesus Christ, knowing nothing they do can hurt us. They can't even take us out of this world unless the Lord says, "time to come home my child." It may appear they are winning but they are not. God's purposes will prevail. The enemy thought He was destroying God's plan in Jesus Christ when he crucified Him. But what he meant for evil God turned for good, and for salvation of the world...whosoever will. In the unspeakable evil of the Holocaust, which was a work of satan and his hosts, God brought forth the nation of Israel once again, in order to fulfill His promises of salvation to His chosen people in the end times, and finish the salvation and redemption of the world. Even now, what the enemy means for his unspeakable evil and terror, as we trust in God, He will use for good, to reveal Himself to mankind - as a Savior to those who believe in Him, and as a righteous judge to those who refused.

We have the hope of His glory through the power of His resurrection. We not only have that hope for one day in the future, but we have that living hope with us day by day as we walk this earth. That hope and that resurrection power lives in us. The more we let go of this world the more we realize it's power and the more power we have in our lives to stand against fear, against evil, and against all that would come against Jesus Christ. The enemies greatest weapons are his lies and deceptions, and fear. Once we have victory over these, there is not one thing He can do to us. This is true freedom. This is the freedom that comes through the power of His resurrection when He lives in our hearts.

Many people talk about a loved one living in their heart. "Aunt Mildred is not gone, she'll always live in my heart." But Aunt Mildred is not present, and she is not capable of giving you her spirit, and she cannot live in your heart, really. You may retain your memory of her and that memory lives in your heart. But when Jesus comes to live in our hearts, it is not His memory. It is not a mental thing or an emotional thing. It is reality. He gives His Holy Spirit to those who put their faith in His forgiveness through His blood, and in His resurrection for their justification. When He arose from the dead, He did not leave us alone in this world to make it ourselves, just on our own power. He gave us His own power. He gave us His Spirit to indwell us, so that just as He walked in this earth, relying on that power and on His Heavenly Father, we have the very same access and power. The very same Spirit in Christ that raised Him from the dead now dwells in every true born again child of God, enabling Him to overcome the powers of death in this world (Ephesians 1:11-2:9).

Don't place your hope in things that will fail you. The arm of man will fail you. Political leaders will fail you. Laws of men will fail you and be disregarded, broken, and changed. But there is One Who will not change, and Who knows all, and Who will do just what He foretold He will do, carrying out every promise and every Word to the end, until sorrow and sighing shall flee away, and all things that hurt will be destroyed.

It is only because of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior that we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God. That glory is our glory, and our hope, and our eternal promise. Praise the Lord! Come Lord Jesus!

If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.

OFFENCES MUST COME

Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! (Matthew 18:7)

skandalon (offense)
Thayer Definition:
1) the movable stick or trigger of a trap, a trap stick
1a) a trap, snare
1b) any impediment placed in the way and causing one to stumble or fall, (a stumbling block, occasion of stumbling), i.e. a rock which is a cause of stumbling
1c) fig. applied to Jesus Christ, whose person and career were so contrary to the expectations of the Jews concerning the Messiah, that they rejected him and by their obstinacy made shipwreck of their salvation
2) any person or thing by which one is (entrapped) drawn into error or sin

"He who gives the offense, and he who receives it, are both exposed to ruin." ~Adam Clarke

There are so many offenses in the world. We can even unwittingly be used by the devil, as Peter was, even though we love the Lord (Matt. 16:23). How can we ever be sure we are not offending another? It seems overwhelming to think about.

Recently someone offended me. That person did not have any awareness that they did so. Yet I had to struggle through the hurt feelings it caused, the bitterness that was rising up, the feeling that I needed to somehow be vindicated, etc. None of us likes to be talked down to. Sometimes it is more the tone of a person's voice, or even their body language, more than what they say. I seem to be a person very sensitive to those things. Too sensitive I'm afraid. It's my struggle. But perhaps even through this, the Lord has enabled me more to understand others and be more compassionate and sensitive to them.

A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle. (Pro 18:19)

Let's try to remember what the Lord wants to accomplish when we speak to people and especially when speaking as a messenger of Christ. All it takes is the wrong tone or body language to become a tool of the enemy rather than a servant of Christ. Our hearts become like the walls of a castle and bricks of hurt and bitterness are so easy to build on top of each other, but so hard to tear down. It's the little foxes or offenses that spoil the vine or bring hard feelings in a church or on Facebook, or between friends or family.

This verse is referring to things that cause others to sin, specifically. We can try so hard to make someone see "the truth" or the "right" way of looking at our position, that we forget that we are representing Christ. We can build castle walls instead of helping them to see. What's our motive? To win an argument? To put them in their place? Or to bring them to see the love of Christ and His goodness and how He would have us do things? We forget love and mercy. We forget to be gracious. We forget compassion.

There are so many offenses in the church that go on unnoticed. People leave a church because of an offense and nobody knows why or understands. Maybe it was a harsh word spoken (or taken that way, whether or not it was meant), or maybe just a feeling they are not accepted and loved, or respected, or they even feel rejected, so they feel they cannot possibly receive from such, or find a place where they themselves can be useful in that church, so they go on, either looking for that somewhere else, or just altogether give up and stay home. You cannot tell that person he/she should not be hurt. Well, they are hurt, whether you think it is justified or not. They are left to struggle through it, to forgive, to try to go on, even though in your mind they may be hashing over something insignificant. To their hearts it was significant and unfortunately you cannot fix that by telling them they shouldn't feel that way.

Sometimes our hurtful words, our slighting another, our body language, or our neglect of people can cause them to sin. Oh yes, we are all responsible for our own sin, and as we stand before the Lord we will be judged alone for how we respond to others and whether or not we will take the offense to the Lord and act according to His Word through the grace and power of His Spirit in us. We must, however, be careful to not be the one causing that offense as much as it is up to us.

So Lord, what do I do when I find I am the one offended. In my flesh I feel like crawling up in my home and staying away, or reacting in anger and lashing out, hurting back. I need to protect myself. I feel like soothing my wound and justifying my bitterness. The enemy loves to feed it, as I hash it over and over in my mind, feeling all over again the hurt that it caused. It gets blown up out of proportion in my mind and emotions. How do offenses cause us to sin? It puts a wall between believers. I can no longer respect or receive from that person who hurt me, who will not see how they hurt me, and will go on thinking they are right, without considering how they made me feel. I can sin by going to others and talking about it, to try to find validation for how I am feeling. That will also cause them to look down on that person and take up my bitterness and distrust of them, maybe destroying the others' effectiveness for the Lord. A root of bitterness quickly grows in the body of Christ, and is like a cancer that eats away. The enemy loves it and uses it often to divide and destroy and isolate believers. It tempts people to put themselves first and their own needs above others. It tempts people to self-righteousness and pride. It tempts to gossip. It destroys fellowship with each other and with the Lord. It breaks communion with God. "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.'"(1 Pet 4:8, NKJV) . "Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins." (Prov 10:12, NKJV)

We may think it a little thing when someone is offended by our actions or words. We may think they should just get over it. But cancer also starts out as a very small thing in the body. It is undetectable at first. It may even take a long time to grow to where it is noticeable and even longer before any symptoms or pain is felt from it. But it is there and it will surely grow and do its damage and bring death if not dealt with. The earlier it is dealt with the easier it is to stop. It gets to a certain place where it is terminal, and the damage to the whole body results to it until it brings death. We must put a stop to it in our own hearts before it gets to that place. We must recognize the schemes of the enemy and not become his tool. We must be careful not to be a cause of offense for someone else and if we have been we must go to them and make it right, with a spirit of humility. People can tell if you are genuine or not. Don't think you fool anyone if you aren't. You may justify yourself for thinking you did your part, but you left the cancer to continue growing.

Some offenses need to be confronted as in Matt. 18:15-19. But some need to be overlooked, forgiven, and you need to move on. Yet the enemy loves to stir it up in your heart and make you go over and over and over it. So it becomes hard to do. We are tempted to tell friends so they take our side and make us feel justified in our feelings. The enemy would love that. All things are possible with Christ. I can do all through Him Who strengthens me. That includes forgiving. Because Jesus forgave me when I hurt others, even unknowingly, and because of His love for that one who hurt me, and His purposes in their lives that is far beyond my purposes, and because of His love for the body of Christ, and His love in me, I can forgive - when I look away from me and look to Him, when I see Him as my all in all. When I quit seeking "self" and seek His face. I see all from His perspective. His grace is sufficient for me. In my weakness He is my strength. Will I take God's side, or the enemy's? Lord, enable me to always take Your side, not my own, and not the enemy's! We can know that if there is vindication needed, that in love, the Lord is able to do that - His way. We don't have to take matters into our own hands. We can trust the Lord to work in hearts and minds, and in the end as we submit to the Lord, He is able to work. As we submit to humility in our own hearts, He is able to bring that to others also. There comes a point where you have to give room for God to work, and go on, trusting all in His hands.

I think of the strong dispute Paul and Barnabas - good friends - brothers in the Lord - servants of Christ - had with one another over whether or not to take John Mark with them (Acts 15:36-39). They separated because they could not agree. Apparently somewhere along the way the Lord worked in hearts, and brought reconciliation, because later Paul asked that Mark be brought to help and that he found him very useful (2 Timothy 4:11). Offenses come, differences come, disagreements happen, yet through all we must take them before the Lord, allowing Him to work in our hearts to bring us to see His heart and act according to His purposes and not our own. We must put others before ourselves, and think of them before ourselves. We need to see how serious it is to offend one of those whom Christ shed His precious blood for. Through Christ, we are able to surrender our hearts in sincerity to Him, forgetting ourselves, and taking up our cross and following Him wherever He will lead us. It's about pleasing Him and not offending Him, but trusting in Him. Lord, enable me to come to the place where I am more concerned about what offends You than what offends me!

If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.

THE THINGS WE PRAY FOR

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. (Colossians 4:12)

Have you ever "struggled in prayer" on behalf of someone? I'm noting today, as I have my daily Bible reading in Colossians, the different things Paul and other servants of the Lord prayed for. There are many throughout the Bible. I think it would be a good study. There are those in my heart who I do struggle in prayer for. I love that the Bible lays out for us a guide as to how we should pray for them, because sometimes we just don't really know how to. We "struggle in prayer" rather than in the flesh, bringing their situations before God, crying out to God on their behalf. When we don't go to the Lord in prayer, instead too often we walk away from a need or problem because it is too much for us, or we try to "fix it" in ourselves and fix others. Sometimes we pray selfishly even for others...for what we want to see in them, or what we want them to be for our benefit. But do we struggle in prayer for them to stand mature in the Lord, fully assured in all the will of God, that God may be glorified in them?

I thought it would be good just to bring out a few of Paul's prayers on behalf of fellow believers. My favorite is two prayers in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:16-20
(16) I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
(17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
(18) having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
(19) and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
(20) that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

He prayed first of all, to the "Father of all glory" - of personal absolute perfect excellency - our Father through Christ Jesus. We need to look at Who our God is, His attributes, hallowing Him in our hearts, which gives us faith in Him then, as we bring our supplications before Him. What an incredible thing that we can pray to Him! He asked for the "Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." Unless the Lord opens our eyes, we are blind, spiritually. "Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened" - we have an inner being that is made alive or enlightened when His Spirit comes into us to make us His own children. It is only those so enlightened that can receive that wisdom and revelation that comes from Him alone. Paul prays for that in them in order that they might "know the hope of His calling" and "the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."

Why would he pray this? So many go on in the Christian life as if all depended on their own ability and strength to live it, but we need to see and understand that power that lives in us, that power that gave us a very real hope of eternal salvation that cannot be taken from us, is complete, is a work of Christ alone, and is a work of power sufficient for all, which is "to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." Do we grasp that power? That power that lives in us? Do we really see it and put our faith in it for our daily struggles, temptations, trials and sufferings in this life? Paul is praying they will see this - get a revelation of it in their innermost being. What a prayer! We certainly know that if we pray this for those we are burdened for, as well as for ourselves, we are praying according to God's will.

Then there is another prayer in Ephesians Paul prays.

Ephesians 3:14-21
(14) For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
(15) from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
(16) that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
(17) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
(18) may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
(19) and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
(20) Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
(21) to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Once again, it is through being "strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being" that He prays they would know the presence of Christ in their hearts and His love together in the body of Christ. What a wonderful prayer to pray for our homes, our families, and our churches! How can we go wrong in our relationships if we are praying for this? And God is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask for or think? And that because of "the power that works within us." And all this is for His glory in the church.

So many times we just don't know how to pray. We do struggle in prayer at times, just not understanding perhaps what the cause of a problem is, what the solution is, how to pray, how to know God's will. Any time I am struggling to know how to pray, these prayers help me. No matter what the situation, when we pray these prayers, we are getting God's heart and will to work in that person's life and in ours as well.

Here is another prayer that stands out to me:

Colossians 1:9-12
(9) And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
(10) so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
(11) May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,
(12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Again Paul prays that they would be "strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might" which is what enables these prayers for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and the ability to walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him, bearing fruit, etc., to be fulfilled in them. It is God who qualifies us, gives us the power, and enables us. Our prayers bring that grace to others. By prayer we actually are able to bring His grace to ourselves as well as another. That is a great thing!!

for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, (Philippians 1:19)

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

These prayers are always given in faith in the power of God, and in the will of God. They are always given with thanksgiving. How often do we struggle in prayer and then walk away as burdened as we were to begin with if not more so, because we really are not praying in faith, believing He will hear and answer, and not giving thanks for His perfect wisdom and will in taking the burden of this situation or person into His care, and working in it. As we pray we also need to "cast the care" of all onto Him, because He cares for us more than we can rightly care for ourselves or others.

Casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]. 1 Peter 5:7 (Amplified Bible)

Do we really have faith in Him, or do we think we still have to fret and worry and take care of things ourselves? Do we trust His will and His love? When we don't, we grieve the Lord and quench His Spirit.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

When we pray according to the Scripture, we know we are praying according to His will, and we have His promise that He hears us and will answer. We can pray in faith, and we can cast the care all onto Him. We can walk in assurance that God is working, whether or not we see anything outwardly happening.

Struggling in prayer does not always mean we are praying with unbelief. I believe Epaphroditus and Paul prayed in faith, yet they struggled earnestly for the church in prayer. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but there are times we struggle with the powers of darkness in prayer, standing against them as we stand our ground for the Lord. We must be strengthened again in the power of His might in order to do so.

Ephesians 6:10-18
(10) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
(11) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
(12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
(13) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
(14) Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
(15) and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
(16) In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
(17) and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
(18) praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

This is one of the most thorough guidelines for us to come before the Lord in prayer that Paul gives us through the Holy Spirit in the Word, I believe. It has precise instructions for us, and refers back to Ephesians 1-2 giving us the ground we are to stand on. Our prayers are not effective if we are not "putting on" the full armor of God and standing dressed in all He has provided for us. We don't have the strength to stand and to do spiritual battle for ourselves or others if we are not "strengthened in the power of His might" being "strong in the Lord." Key phrase - "in the Lord." Only those "in Christ" have this available to them. The world neither understands or has that armor in order to stand against the powers of darkness. In fact, the Bible tells us they are under the influence of the evil one. That's why as we pray for unsaved loved ones we must pray that the Lord will grant them the grace to have their eyes opened to the truth where satan has blinded their minds and hardened their hearts.

These are just a few of the prayers the Lord gives us in His Word and instructions regarding prayer. We can read books on prayer, others' experiences with prayer, testimonies of prayer, and so forth, but as we are in the Word itself we find our hearts molded according to His heart, and His Spirit filling us with the spirit of prayer and intercession according to His will and understanding, and empowers us with all that we need to come before Him. And if we pray according to His will, with the mind of Christ, we know we have the things we ask for. Prayer is for every child of God, no matter what his level of maturity in the Lord. It is not just for the "spiritual giant" and in fact many who think they are spiritual giants because they have learned some special formula for getting from God, are missing out completely on what God has in mind through prayer.

1 John 5:14-15
(14) And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
(15) And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Prayer is our avenue of fellowship and communion with God. It is a way for us to learn to know His heart and will as well as surrender of ours to Him. It is a way that we communicate with Him and He with us. It is our interacting with His Word which is living, as we make that communication of Him to us ours back to Him. It is vital in our relationship with God. Oh how we miss out if we are not in prayer!

Thank You Father, for the awesome privilege of prayer. Thank You for Your guidelines and promises and assurances in Your Word as we do. I pray that You'll grant us the grace to pray more and not neglect this wonderful privilege! Show us how much we are missing because we do not bring all before You, asking in Jesus name.

If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.

FULFILLMENT IN CHRIST

Colossians 2:6-10
(6) As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
(7) Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
(8) Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
(9) For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
(10) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power

Everyone is looking for fulfillment in life. It's amazing at how many different directions that pursuit takes people. Some try to find it in doing good to others and some seek it by taking all they can get from others. Some think giving themselves to every passion and desire will give them fulfillment. Some think asceticism and giving up everything that in any way gives pleasure will help them to find their real selves and be fulfilled. No matter what direction we choose, good or evil, our hearts are hungry to be filled with what we think will satisfy our longing for fulfillment, purpose, and satisfaction in this life.

As believers we are aware that the world's way will not fulfill us. We have tried the life of sin and found it to be destructive in our own lives as well as for others in our life. We've come to know Christ as our Savior and we seek His fulfillment in our lives. But even in the church, there is controversy over what that means. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." When the church borrows philosophies from the world, from humanism, and tries to adapt them to their Christian life, there will be problems. Many times we do this without even realizing it. We hear those worldly ways of thinking so much that unless we are in the Word continually, filling ourselves with that Word of Christ, rooted, built up, and established in faith in Him, then those worldly humanistic philosophies begin to sound very good to us, and very much like truth. If we don't understand our position in Christ that we are dead with Him…dead to sin, self, and the world, and alive with Him…risen up to a new life, a new nature, a new power within us to live unto Him, then we are still living under the old way of thinking. That way of thinking tells us we must find our happiness and fulfillment in this life, and now as believers Christ is to provide that for us. We try to find it in our "calling" as if there is one calling for us and can only be fulfilled in that calling.

Even when we want to live with our whole hearts for the Lord, in Christian zeal, wanting to serve Him, we are unaware of our motives. Zeal for God is a good thing, right? We're supposed to live for the Lord. We're supposed to serve Him. We're supposed to go out and win souls, right? So in our zeal to do so, we are unaware that we are doing it for ourselves…our own fulfillment as a Christian. We're doing it for our own spiritual benefit, rather than for His glory. How do we know if this is true?

The first time I heard that I was shocked. I didn't think there was anything wrong with me zealously wanting to be busy serving the Lord. I didn't see how my seeking God and spiritual gain could possibly be something selfish. But the Lord showed me my heart, by showing me my failure of loving those around me. I put my "work for the Lord" and my "seeking spiritual blessing" and "gifts" above the person next to me and their needs. Sometimes the people right there in front of us that are a trial in our lives, or the person at church that is a trial for us, or the person at work that God put in our lives to test us, they are the ones God gave us to love and serve. Instead we look at programs and events and conferences we can be involved in and go to for our growth as what God wants for us and we don't feel fulfilled unless we are busy with them. We don't feel like we're "doing anything for the Lord." When something inspires us that we heard or read, we consider it "spiritual growth." Sometimes God chastises us and takes us aside, when a relationship is not right, until we see that all our serving or learning or seeking is nothing to Him, but that relationship is. We are meant to walk in humility and love toward one another. Are we neglecting that? If we are sensitive to His Spirit, we will begin to see that the trials and failures and hardships that come into our lives are the real things that God uses to grow us and make us and fill us.

The Lord began to show me the difference between selfish motives of serving and serving out of love. He began showing me that what I thought was my service to Him many times was wood, hay, and stubble. He also showed me that many times we think the "doing" is serving, when He is really looking for what we are "being." We have to take the time for Him to make us a vessel of honor and fill us with His Spirit, working in us a humility, grace, and brokenness before we can come out of ourselves in order to see the true needs of those closest to us, and those around us. Are we being Christ to them?

If there is a trial in a relationship in your life, bring that relationship before the Lord. Don't look at how that other person has failed you, but ask the Lord where you have failed them. Ask the Lord if you have loved them the same way you wanted to be loved by them, or respected them the same way you wanted to be respected by them, or if you have thought of their needs above your own, or esteemed them as more important than yourself, as our own Lord has done for us. Would you rather be wounded yourself than to hurt them? I found out myself that when His love was really in my heart for someone, that was the case. I would rather be hurt than to see that one hurt. I would rather suffer an offense than to "put them in their place." And as I brought my hurt and disappointment to the Lord instead of trying to fix them, I found the Lord worked in that person's heart and they began to see. That may not always happen, but when we are truly acting in love, the Lord works in hearts!

Philippians 2:3-8
3) Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
(4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
(5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
(6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
(7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
(8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

That's a good test every time we find ourselves in conflict. It's easy to point to the other person. Maybe the other person is reacting to us. Perhaps the Lord does need to deal with them, and perhaps they have wronged you. But all you can do is take your own heart before the Lord and allow Him to humble you, and to change you, and to make you what He wants you to be for that person. It is no accident God brought that person into your life. They are not a "hindrance" to your growth or your "work" for the Lord. Nothing can be if we are walking in the Spirit daily. Paul served while in chains. Every opportunity, whether in prison or free, was an opportunity for Christ. Rather than being a hindrance to growth or service, they are your growth and service. God is teaching you to walk in humility, grace, and love. He uses those closest to us to teach us that. Sometimes He uses our own family. Sometimes he uses friends or people in church who are difficult. Sometimes he uses enemies. But none are accidents in your life. We have to ask the Lord what He wants to reveal to us through each one.

Many times God takes away the very things in our lives we thought was our fulfillment in finding our place in serving Him. We thought we were called to a particular calling or ministry. But we find hindrances to that and we find it just doesn't happen. Something comes along to test us and things happen beyond our control. It looks like all hope for that is gone. But what is our fulfillment in Christ? It is being obedient to Him in the circumstances He puts us in, and allowing Him to have His way in us, trusting His hand. It is submitting ourselves to what He is trying to teach us. It is trusting Him to be glorified through whatever circumstances you find yourself in, and asking how He wants to be glorified in you through it. Perhaps sickness makes it impossible for you to go on a missions trip, or to be active in programs in the church or other ways of serving Him. If the Lord allows it, He has a purpose and has a plan to be glorified in you right where you are. He'll take care of the other things. Perhaps you planned on being involved in a ministry, but there is trouble in your own home and you have a rebellious child, or a sick or troubled child, or problems in your marriage. You feel that these things are hindrances and in your way. They are not in God's way. You may have to give up the "ministry" that you thought to find your niche, your fulfillment in, and this is not the plan you had for your life, but it is God's plan for you to be there for them. It is God's plan sometimes for you to give up your dreams for another person, to help them find Christ. It's God's plan for you to put others before yourself and ask how you can love that person better, and remember they are just as precious in God's eyes as you are, and that they are those who Christ shed His precious blood for as well. How much better to know that I pleased God by walking in love, that I would rather be wronged than to harm one that Christ died for, than that I was active in a lot of "doings" for Him. If I am doing, doing, doing, but not "being" my doing becomes nothing of any worth at all.

What is my real fulfillment? It is denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Christ. It is walking in an abiding relationship with Him every day, as I sit at His feet and listen to His heart, through His Word, letting Him lead me, and trusting His hand in every circumstance in my life, submitting myself under His mighty hand that in due time He might lift me up. It is giving up all seeking of my own fulfillment just to find it in only pleasing Him and not myself. It is seeking His glory and giving up my own. I may find my church does not fulfill my needs. I may find my family does not fulfill my needs. I may find my friends don't fulfill my needs. I've seen people go from one place to another seeking those to do so, and always leaving behind a path of hurt, and being hurt because they are never going to find that. But if God puts us in a place and He is the one Who led us there, than as we learn to walk in love and serve one another there, that's where we will find our place in Christ. We won't find perfection in people, and maybe we'll have to "bear with one another" for a time, and maybe we won't have opportunity to use our "gifts," but we are learning to be His church, and His children, and allowing Him to work in our hearts, and through that we become a testimony to the world and others around us. It is in that, that we are receiving true gifts from Him that can have true value to others and it is through the process that true fruit of the Spirit is developed in us and will flow through us and God is glorified in our midst. We are not independent of the body of Christ. We are His body and we must treasure that body and do all we can to strengthen it, being committed to it in love. We do so by giving up of ourselves for one another in the Spirit, as HE works in us to make us, to strengthen us, and to build us into that building where He will dwell in us forever.

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (1 John 3:11)

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)

If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.