Showing posts with label God's acceptance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's acceptance. Show all posts
Sunday, December 28, 2014
HIDDEN IN CHRIST IN GOD
Colossians 3:3 says, "You have died and your life is hidden in Christ in God." What do you think God is revealing when He says that you have died and your life is hidden in Christ in God?
Assuming that you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and that you understand that your old nature in Adam has been crucified in Christ Jesus and buried with Him, I would like to ponder this thought with you.
If you were buried with Him, then you were raised in Him to a newness of life. (Romans 6) You are a new creation, made alive in His resurrection. The Father has placed you in His Son Jesus who is His great delight.
To help you to picture what happened to you when you were born again, write on a piece of paper your full name and add in Christ Jesus. Take the piece of paper fold it in half and place it in the middle of your bible. Close the bible, wrap your arms tightly around it and hold it close to your chest.
Your arms represent the Father's arms wrapped around His Son, (Word of God) and you are hidden in Jesus. When the Father looks on His Son, He sees you hidden in Him. In fact, when the Father looks on you, He sees His Son and not your sin. Do you believe that? The Father is more interested in training you up in His righteousness than in condemning your sin. The old self has died and the a new self is alive hidden in Christ.
Open your heart wider and let His love invade your heart. You are His adopted child and He sees you in the righteousness of His Son. You are free from guilt and shame and are restored to the innocence you were in Him before the Fall of Adam. That is how God sees you in His Son. This is only the beginning. We have all eternity to grow up in Christ.
No matter what circumstance or situation you might find yourself in, remember you are hidden in Christ in God. If this is true, then all your circumstances or situations are in Him too. We need not fear, because Jesus has overcome the world and through Him we too overcome the world. 1John 5:4,5, 1John 4:4.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Simple faith of a Child
In 1978, my youngest daughter and I were having lunch in a Deli, when we met Barbara. She was at the counter, buying a pack of cigarettes. She was wearing short shorts, high heels, with a T shirt tucked up under her bra, and a bandanna around her cropped curly hair. She had a cigar hanging out of her mouth.
Earlier that morning, I had prayed to experience loving the unlovable with unconditional love. This was the moment! I loved her. My heart saw beyond her appearance, and I felt only the Lord's unconditional acceptance for her. I asked her to our table, bought her lunch and invited her home with us. I shared the gospel with her and she received salvation. That was the beginning of a friendship that went on for the next five years.
A month after we met Barbara, my husband and I got a telephone call at 1:00 am. in the morning from the police. "We have a young 14 year old girl at the station who says that she knows you. Do you? " We answered that we did and asked "What did she do?" The police described a very serious situation. Barbara had thrown her grandmother down the stairs and out the front door. The police were called and Barbara was headed for the Juvenile Detention Center, unless we took her in.
As long as we were willing to house her, the police released the warrant for her arrest. However,the police were not clear as to how long! We had no idea what we were getting into, but as a family we all felt a love for Barbara and wanted to help her where we could. Our three daughters received Barbara as a sister. Our middle daughter graciously gave up her bedroom and dared to move in with her older sister. It proved to be good for both of them. We all were impressed with Barbara's singing. She did have a beautiful voice. Oh, how she loved to sing praises to the Lord. We had Christian music on most of the time, and I think Barbara learned just about very song on the record. Her favorite song was "To God be the Glory". She would sing that song time and time again throughout the day.
For the rest of the school year, Barbara had been suspended. As a result, Barbara and I had more time to talk about Jesus. As I began to work with her, I soon realized that she had a VERY SIMPLE FAITH. It blessed me so much to see how uncomplicated she was. If the bible said it, she believed it! She didn't need to understand THE WHY'S OR THE WHY NOT. She just believed God for the His word. It was refreshing to share with her. I had a set of bible picture books, the kind you might find in a doctor's office, before 'political correctness' took hold. She particularly loved the picture of Jesus on the cross. We would talk about how He died for her sins, was buried and raised from the dead and how His blood brought healing to her, body, soul and spirit.
Every night when I would go into her room to say goodnight, I noticed that she would sleep with the bible book under her pillow with Jesus on the cross. I asked why she slept this way and she told me that she wanted Jesus to heal her mouth. At first I thought she meant inappropriate words, but she really meant the abscesses on her gums. One morning after my husband had left for work and the girls had gone to school, Barbara was upstairs taking a bath. She preferred the tub to the shower. All of a sudden I heard this tremendous cry from the bathroom, "Mom Mom," that is what she liked to call me, "Come quick, I am healed." I raced up stairs to see what she was talking about. With blood running down her cheeks, Barbara kept repeating, "See the blood, see the blood, Jesus healed me." I didn't know what to think. I knew that I had to quickly get her to a dentist. I helped to clean her up and called for an emergency appointment. Gratefully, I could get her in and to my surprise, everyone of her abscesses had been broken and she was amazingly healed. The dentist and I were in shock! Her simple faith in the healing power of the blood of Jesus had healed her. Barbara stayed with us for the next three months, until she was able to return to her family again.
Shortly after she returned home, we were suspicious that Barbara had more than just a violent temper. Our suspicions were verified when her mother had to place her into a mental hospital. Her parents were alcoholics. The mother had abdicated her place in the family to the grandmother, while the father was relegated to the basement. As a little girl, Barbara had been mentally and emotionally abused by her grandmother and she hated her. The hospital proved to be a safe place for her. Her behavior, however, was calm and controlled around our family. As a family, we would bring her out of the hospital for the holidays. Between visits to our home,we visited her at the hospital at least once or twice a month. The State of Pennsylvania released her after five years, and she quickly disappeared into the streets of Philadelphia. We lost contact with her, when we moved out of the area. However, we still remember the young girl we knew, who moved mountains with her simply faith.
Earlier that morning, I had prayed to experience loving the unlovable with unconditional love. This was the moment! I loved her. My heart saw beyond her appearance, and I felt only the Lord's unconditional acceptance for her. I asked her to our table, bought her lunch and invited her home with us. I shared the gospel with her and she received salvation. That was the beginning of a friendship that went on for the next five years.
A month after we met Barbara, my husband and I got a telephone call at 1:00 am. in the morning from the police. "We have a young 14 year old girl at the station who says that she knows you. Do you? " We answered that we did and asked "What did she do?" The police described a very serious situation. Barbara had thrown her grandmother down the stairs and out the front door. The police were called and Barbara was headed for the Juvenile Detention Center, unless we took her in.
As long as we were willing to house her, the police released the warrant for her arrest. However,the police were not clear as to how long! We had no idea what we were getting into, but as a family we all felt a love for Barbara and wanted to help her where we could. Our three daughters received Barbara as a sister. Our middle daughter graciously gave up her bedroom and dared to move in with her older sister. It proved to be good for both of them. We all were impressed with Barbara's singing. She did have a beautiful voice. Oh, how she loved to sing praises to the Lord. We had Christian music on most of the time, and I think Barbara learned just about very song on the record. Her favorite song was "To God be the Glory". She would sing that song time and time again throughout the day.
For the rest of the school year, Barbara had been suspended. As a result, Barbara and I had more time to talk about Jesus. As I began to work with her, I soon realized that she had a VERY SIMPLE FAITH. It blessed me so much to see how uncomplicated she was. If the bible said it, she believed it! She didn't need to understand THE WHY'S OR THE WHY NOT. She just believed God for the His word. It was refreshing to share with her. I had a set of bible picture books, the kind you might find in a doctor's office, before 'political correctness' took hold. She particularly loved the picture of Jesus on the cross. We would talk about how He died for her sins, was buried and raised from the dead and how His blood brought healing to her, body, soul and spirit.
Every night when I would go into her room to say goodnight, I noticed that she would sleep with the bible book under her pillow with Jesus on the cross. I asked why she slept this way and she told me that she wanted Jesus to heal her mouth. At first I thought she meant inappropriate words, but she really meant the abscesses on her gums. One morning after my husband had left for work and the girls had gone to school, Barbara was upstairs taking a bath. She preferred the tub to the shower. All of a sudden I heard this tremendous cry from the bathroom, "Mom Mom," that is what she liked to call me, "Come quick, I am healed." I raced up stairs to see what she was talking about. With blood running down her cheeks, Barbara kept repeating, "See the blood, see the blood, Jesus healed me." I didn't know what to think. I knew that I had to quickly get her to a dentist. I helped to clean her up and called for an emergency appointment. Gratefully, I could get her in and to my surprise, everyone of her abscesses had been broken and she was amazingly healed. The dentist and I were in shock! Her simple faith in the healing power of the blood of Jesus had healed her. Barbara stayed with us for the next three months, until she was able to return to her family again.
Shortly after she returned home, we were suspicious that Barbara had more than just a violent temper. Our suspicions were verified when her mother had to place her into a mental hospital. Her parents were alcoholics. The mother had abdicated her place in the family to the grandmother, while the father was relegated to the basement. As a little girl, Barbara had been mentally and emotionally abused by her grandmother and she hated her. The hospital proved to be a safe place for her. Her behavior, however, was calm and controlled around our family. As a family, we would bring her out of the hospital for the holidays. Between visits to our home,we visited her at the hospital at least once or twice a month. The State of Pennsylvania released her after five years, and she quickly disappeared into the streets of Philadelphia. We lost contact with her, when we moved out of the area. However, we still remember the young girl we knew, who moved mountains with her simply faith.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
When your faith is challenged
Martin Luther was one of the great religious reformers of the 16th century. His faith was challenged many times. The following is a response to the devil when the enemy accused of being a sinner.
"When the devil accuses us and says, "You are a sinner and therefore damned,' we should answer, 'Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.' 'No,' says the devil, 'you will be damned,' And I reply, 'No, for I fly to Christ, who gave Himself for my sins. Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt and blasphemy against God. On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. As often as you accuse that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably."
I love it. Satan lost. Salvation is ours and we can stand up and proclaim from the roof tops, "It is finished" Jesus won the battle and we are to stand and occupy until the Lord comes again. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness there of. Jesus won back what Adam lost. The Holy Spirit is with us and in us to stand fast in the truth. The enemy hates us, and that is a good thing. The Lord is our protection and on our side.(Psalm 91) The devil has NO authority over us. We belong to the Lord Jesus and to Him alone. Rise up church and proclaim our God is great and greatly to be praised. He is above all gods. There is no one but OUR GOD! May He continue to enlarge our hearts to contain more and more of Him for the glory of God, and turn America back to Himself.
"When the devil accuses us and says, "You are a sinner and therefore damned,' we should answer, 'Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.' 'No,' says the devil, 'you will be damned,' And I reply, 'No, for I fly to Christ, who gave Himself for my sins. Satan, you will not prevail against me when you try to terrify me by setting forth the greatness of my sins and try to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt and blasphemy against God. On the contrary, when you say I am a sinner, you give me armor and weapons against yourself, so that with your own sword I may cut your throat and tread you under my feet, for Christ died for sinners. As often as you accuse that I am a sinner, so often you remind me of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins. So when you say I am a sinner, you do not terrify me but comfort me immeasurably."
I love it. Satan lost. Salvation is ours and we can stand up and proclaim from the roof tops, "It is finished" Jesus won the battle and we are to stand and occupy until the Lord comes again. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness there of. Jesus won back what Adam lost. The Holy Spirit is with us and in us to stand fast in the truth. The enemy hates us, and that is a good thing. The Lord is our protection and on our side.(Psalm 91) The devil has NO authority over us. We belong to the Lord Jesus and to Him alone. Rise up church and proclaim our God is great and greatly to be praised. He is above all gods. There is no one but OUR GOD! May He continue to enlarge our hearts to contain more and more of Him for the glory of God, and turn America back to Himself.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
A Love beyond comprehension
Have you ever found it hard to receive God's love or to believe that God truly loves you? You know the gospel and all the right verses, but God's love is like a piece of slippery soap that you can not quite hold on to? Do you think that God observes you from a distance with a 'thumbs up or a thumbs down' based on His opinion of YOU? Do you hope that your righteous behavior is going to change God's heart towards you? And here is the BIG question, "As a believer, is God still watching OVER you or is He really alive in YOU? " Do you FEEL still detached from God, when in reality you are one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17)? All these questions are ones that I have asked myself over the years and the one thing that I have found that was the greatest hindrance to receiving and experiencing God's love was, SELF-REJECTION!
I know this may be surprising to you, but I would like to share my experience and how the Lord set me free. When I was four years old, I overheard a conversation between my mother and my grandmother They were having tea and I was playing around the corner in the den. As a child I didn't understand all that they were talking about, but what I did HEAR has effected me for many years. I heard my mother say,"I wish I never got pregnant ". My little mind thought 'they are talking about ME'. I suppressed it for years. No matter what my mother did to show her love and affection, I rejected it. I didn't believe her. I thought for years that there was something wrong with me. As a result I created a self image that I could accept. I won't go into THAT IMAGE now, but it got me through all my schooling and married until 1970, when Jesus found me.
I was now confronted with the gospel and the knowledge that I was a sinner. The REAL ME was the sinner, but I had buried her years ago and the image that I had created found it difficult to confess that 'it' was a sinner. The image I created tried for years to win my mother's acceptance. I was a "goody-goody two shoes". How could I be that bad a sinner? I was trying my best to please my mother. God must understand how hard I tried, doesn't He?
What I didn't understand was the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It was explained to me that I was a sinner because I was CONCEIVED IN SIN IN MY MOTHER'S WOMB, (Psalms 51:7). When I was born into this world, all I could do was to sin. No matter what I thought about myself didn't change the truth. Whether I was a good sinner or a bad sinner didn't matter before God. I had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, like the whole human race, and that was enough to punish me. And that he did. My punishment and God's judgement fell upon His own Son, Jesus. He experienced God's wrath in my place.
By a miracle of faith I believed that Jesus had died, was buried and resurrected and now I had two options. Either I could hold on to self-rejection and continue to justify myself, OR I could believe that God had accepted the REAL ME in the blood of His Son and REPENT. By faith I believed the latter and soon the darkness of my past became light and I was able to understand the LIE of self-rejection and how Satan had used that conversation between my mother and grandmother to keep me in bondage. But, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God was more powerful and delivered me from self-rejection. The REAL me was able to confess that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. My idol was crushed and I was 'set free to love God.
If you have ever rejected yourself, it is REALLY important to ask the Lord where that rejection came in and let Him set you free. SELF-ACCEPTANCE is the KEY to being able to truly appreciate your salvation. Jesus died for the REAL you, not some figment of your imagination or some idol. This was my experience. It didn't matter to me any more whether my mother or my father rejected me, the only ACCEPTANCE I needed was my LORD'S.
There is only one place where there is NO rejection and that is in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Only in Him will you find the love and acceptance that we are all longing for. His arms are open for us to EMBRACE HIS LOVE BEYOND OUR COMPREHENSION.
I know this may be surprising to you, but I would like to share my experience and how the Lord set me free. When I was four years old, I overheard a conversation between my mother and my grandmother They were having tea and I was playing around the corner in the den. As a child I didn't understand all that they were talking about, but what I did HEAR has effected me for many years. I heard my mother say,"I wish I never got pregnant ". My little mind thought 'they are talking about ME'. I suppressed it for years. No matter what my mother did to show her love and affection, I rejected it. I didn't believe her. I thought for years that there was something wrong with me. As a result I created a self image that I could accept. I won't go into THAT IMAGE now, but it got me through all my schooling and married until 1970, when Jesus found me.
I was now confronted with the gospel and the knowledge that I was a sinner. The REAL ME was the sinner, but I had buried her years ago and the image that I had created found it difficult to confess that 'it' was a sinner. The image I created tried for years to win my mother's acceptance. I was a "goody-goody two shoes". How could I be that bad a sinner? I was trying my best to please my mother. God must understand how hard I tried, doesn't He?
What I didn't understand was the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It was explained to me that I was a sinner because I was CONCEIVED IN SIN IN MY MOTHER'S WOMB, (Psalms 51:7). When I was born into this world, all I could do was to sin. No matter what I thought about myself didn't change the truth. Whether I was a good sinner or a bad sinner didn't matter before God. I had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, like the whole human race, and that was enough to punish me. And that he did. My punishment and God's judgement fell upon His own Son, Jesus. He experienced God's wrath in my place.
By a miracle of faith I believed that Jesus had died, was buried and resurrected and now I had two options. Either I could hold on to self-rejection and continue to justify myself, OR I could believe that God had accepted the REAL ME in the blood of His Son and REPENT. By faith I believed the latter and soon the darkness of my past became light and I was able to understand the LIE of self-rejection and how Satan had used that conversation between my mother and grandmother to keep me in bondage. But, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God was more powerful and delivered me from self-rejection. The REAL me was able to confess that I was a sinner in need of a Savior. My idol was crushed and I was 'set free to love God.
If you have ever rejected yourself, it is REALLY important to ask the Lord where that rejection came in and let Him set you free. SELF-ACCEPTANCE is the KEY to being able to truly appreciate your salvation. Jesus died for the REAL you, not some figment of your imagination or some idol. This was my experience. It didn't matter to me any more whether my mother or my father rejected me, the only ACCEPTANCE I needed was my LORD'S.
There is only one place where there is NO rejection and that is in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Only in Him will you find the love and acceptance that we are all longing for. His arms are open for us to EMBRACE HIS LOVE BEYOND OUR COMPREHENSION.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Abba Father's love
One of the most endearing relationships that we can have with our heavenly Father is 'Sonship'. If you have ever been rejected, unwanted or abused by your earthly father, I can reassure you, YOU will never be rejected, unwanted or ill treated by the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. His father will NEVER reject or forsake you. God wants you to truly know Him as your loving heavenly Father. He is a Father who loves you fiercely and unconditionally. He is a Father who watches over you lovingly and tirelessly.
God, our Father, is our Provider, the One who supplies all of our needs. He is our refuge, Rock and protector. The One who shields us from all evil. He wants us to live life as His beloved child. He wants us to run to Him like a little child, talk to Him about anything, and trust Him with everything. The bible calls such a relationship with God the Spirit of Sonship.
In Romans 8:15, it says that you did not receive the spirit of bondage, but YOU have received the Spirit of Sonship, by whom you cry out "ABBA FATHER". I love that! God is inviting us to enjoy a relationship with Him where we can easily cry out to Him, "Daddy, Father!" This is the miracle of the new birth! We have a NEW daddy!! He will love us and not abandon or abuse us. He knows the situation in which He found us in this world and has brought us out to sit with Him in heavenly places in His Son, Jesus Christ. His blood has cleansed us from all sin and we are clean, set apart to our God. ( Ephesians 2:4-10)
Beloved, if you are a son or a daughter of God, God wants you to see Him as your "Abba" or "Daddy". Crying out "Daddy, Father!" fills your heart with such a confidence and blessed assurance that God is not just Almighty God, but also YOUR Daddy God. He is YOUR heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally. He is YOUR heavenly Father who wants to give you every good thing in life.
There is nothing like knowing our heavenly Daddy. It is all because of the cross. When Jesus cried out on the cross,"My God, my God why have you forsaken me," it was so that today, as God's sons and daughters, we can cry out, "Abba, Father, thank You for always providing and protecting me from evil!"
Calling God "Abba" or "Daddy" removes any distance and breaks down every barrier between us and Him. We lose any slavish fear of God and instead are emboldened to come boldly into His presence, to talk to Him freely and receive His help in time of need.
There have been times when I have been so stressed with life that all I can do is to call "Abba, Daddy" I need you to intervene and to make sense out of the mess I have created." Amazingly, He will come and will shortly give me some ideas that I can change or perhaps I need to ask forgiveness for my reactions.
I want to encourage you today to call upon God with a great sense of intimacy. Call Him Daddy, Papa, or Abba and just speak to Him from your heart. He will answer you because you love His Son and you belong to Him. There is NO GREATER LOVE THAN GOD'S LOVE FOR US.
God, our Father, is our Provider, the One who supplies all of our needs. He is our refuge, Rock and protector. The One who shields us from all evil. He wants us to live life as His beloved child. He wants us to run to Him like a little child, talk to Him about anything, and trust Him with everything. The bible calls such a relationship with God the Spirit of Sonship.
In Romans 8:15, it says that you did not receive the spirit of bondage, but YOU have received the Spirit of Sonship, by whom you cry out "ABBA FATHER". I love that! God is inviting us to enjoy a relationship with Him where we can easily cry out to Him, "Daddy, Father!" This is the miracle of the new birth! We have a NEW daddy!! He will love us and not abandon or abuse us. He knows the situation in which He found us in this world and has brought us out to sit with Him in heavenly places in His Son, Jesus Christ. His blood has cleansed us from all sin and we are clean, set apart to our God. ( Ephesians 2:4-10)
Beloved, if you are a son or a daughter of God, God wants you to see Him as your "Abba" or "Daddy". Crying out "Daddy, Father!" fills your heart with such a confidence and blessed assurance that God is not just Almighty God, but also YOUR Daddy God. He is YOUR heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally. He is YOUR heavenly Father who wants to give you every good thing in life.
There is nothing like knowing our heavenly Daddy. It is all because of the cross. When Jesus cried out on the cross,"My God, my God why have you forsaken me," it was so that today, as God's sons and daughters, we can cry out, "Abba, Father, thank You for always providing and protecting me from evil!"
Calling God "Abba" or "Daddy" removes any distance and breaks down every barrier between us and Him. We lose any slavish fear of God and instead are emboldened to come boldly into His presence, to talk to Him freely and receive His help in time of need.
There have been times when I have been so stressed with life that all I can do is to call "Abba, Daddy" I need you to intervene and to make sense out of the mess I have created." Amazingly, He will come and will shortly give me some ideas that I can change or perhaps I need to ask forgiveness for my reactions.
I want to encourage you today to call upon God with a great sense of intimacy. Call Him Daddy, Papa, or Abba and just speak to Him from your heart. He will answer you because you love His Son and you belong to Him. There is NO GREATER LOVE THAN GOD'S LOVE FOR US.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Cease Striving and Believe God
How many times have you said, "I am supposed to keep the Ten Commandments and I feel condemned when I don't.? In my early years in Sunday school my whole religious experience consisted of "Keeping the Ten commandments", reading all the bible stories and striving to keep the law. I knew nothing of the LOVE of God. I only knew that He would love me if I obeyed my parents. I guess in some ways, it did put the fear of God in me, but it certainly wasn't the 'fear' of worshiping Him in awe! God was distant, unavailable and always expecting me to perform.
I am so grateful that the Lord has opened my eyes to the real Jesus. The Jesus who made a covenant with His Father on my behalf and gave it to me. This is AMAZING LOVE! Jesus Christ was the only perfect human being, without spot or blemish, who could make a blood covenant with God. There is NO way that you or I could ever make a covenant with God. It is rather ridiculous to think about it. But Jesus was the PERFECT man. His blood was worthy and acceptable before the Father to represent us.
Isn't it a blessing to know that our God is pleased with us not because of what we do or don't do, but because we believe and accept His Son as a propitiation (substitute) for our sin? The Christian life is not supposed to be a struggle to be good enough to win God's approval. That was the Old Covenant way. Its message was "Do right and I will accept you and bless you."
God's New Covenant is , "I love you and accept you because of your faith in my Son, Jesus. I choose to bless you and I will work in you and ENABLE you to do what is right." The Old Covenant was dependent on human effort. The New covenant depended on God's effort working out our salvation. God hasn't lowered His standards in the New Covenant. But He has said He Himself will be responsible for meeting them and He did in His Son.
Notice in the following passage describing the New Covenant that God says, "I will, I will, I will..." Hebrews 10:16-17
"This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I WILL put my laws in their hearts, and I WILL write them on their minds. I WILL never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." NOW that is good news!
Ephesians 2:10 says "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God is at work. We are the result of God's work--not our own striving. We can't make ourselves perfect. We can't attain God's standard by our own efforts. The purpose of the Law was to show us that we fell short and that we would know that we needed a Savior. Someone who could help us.
There comes a peace of mind when we rest in this truth. We don't have to strive to be good to please God or to change ourselves to be accepted.. The more we know our God, the more we will desire to be like Him and His enabling grace will continue to change us from glory to glory. The presence of the Holy Spirit will lead and guide us into all truth and will finish the good work He began, which is to be conformed into His image and likeness; our new creation.
I am so grateful that the Lord has opened my eyes to the real Jesus. The Jesus who made a covenant with His Father on my behalf and gave it to me. This is AMAZING LOVE! Jesus Christ was the only perfect human being, without spot or blemish, who could make a blood covenant with God. There is NO way that you or I could ever make a covenant with God. It is rather ridiculous to think about it. But Jesus was the PERFECT man. His blood was worthy and acceptable before the Father to represent us.
Isn't it a blessing to know that our God is pleased with us not because of what we do or don't do, but because we believe and accept His Son as a propitiation (substitute) for our sin? The Christian life is not supposed to be a struggle to be good enough to win God's approval. That was the Old Covenant way. Its message was "Do right and I will accept you and bless you."
God's New Covenant is , "I love you and accept you because of your faith in my Son, Jesus. I choose to bless you and I will work in you and ENABLE you to do what is right." The Old Covenant was dependent on human effort. The New covenant depended on God's effort working out our salvation. God hasn't lowered His standards in the New Covenant. But He has said He Himself will be responsible for meeting them and He did in His Son.
Notice in the following passage describing the New Covenant that God says, "I will, I will, I will..." Hebrews 10:16-17
"This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I WILL put my laws in their hearts, and I WILL write them on their minds. I WILL never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." NOW that is good news!
Ephesians 2:10 says "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." God is at work. We are the result of God's work--not our own striving. We can't make ourselves perfect. We can't attain God's standard by our own efforts. The purpose of the Law was to show us that we fell short and that we would know that we needed a Savior. Someone who could help us.
There comes a peace of mind when we rest in this truth. We don't have to strive to be good to please God or to change ourselves to be accepted.. The more we know our God, the more we will desire to be like Him and His enabling grace will continue to change us from glory to glory. The presence of the Holy Spirit will lead and guide us into all truth and will finish the good work He began, which is to be conformed into His image and likeness; our new creation.
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