Continuing on in the replay of our Workout Room Series of discipleship training exercises, we have come to Replay #8–on how the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to transform our minds and restore our souls to their original function. Please be blessed as you read…Sanctification: Restoring the Soul through God’s Word | His Truth, My Voice (histruthmyvoice.org)
Who Decides?
In this replay of our previous post, Salvation: Do We Have a Choice in the Matter? | His Truth, My Voice (histruthmyvoice.org), we tackle the tricky and often confusing subject of Predestination and Election. I hope this rather brief explanation will help eliminate some of that confusion.
There is No Other Way to God!
Continuing on in our replay of the series on Discipleship Training that was started back in March 2016–a series of Spiritual Exercises covering the topics of Salvation, Sanctification, Service, and Spiritual Warfare–here is the second in that series. It deals with the New Birth, and can be found at Salvation: How Do We Get It? | His Truth, My Voice (histruthmyvoice.org).
Jesus, Our Advocat and Only Savior
Back in March 2016, I began a new series of posts dealing with what I considered to be the basics of Discipleship Training–something which the Church has, by and large, neglected to address in recent years. Given all the shaking that has taken place in our world during the past couple of years, and in anticipation of the coming harvest of souls that will be produced as a result of that shaking, I would like to Replay the posts found in that original series–a series of Spiritual Exercises covering the topics of Salvation, Sanctification, Service, and Spiritual Warfare, with several exercises under each of these topics.
The first of these exercises deals with the basics of Salvation and is found at… Salvation: What It Is and Why We Need It | His Truth, My Voice (histruthmyvoice.org).
As this most welcome of New Years begins to open up before us, it is my prayer that this will prove to be a year of healing, hope, and blessing for us all. And to help us usher it in properly, here is a blessing from Psalm 67 of God’s Word…
All of Life is Ordered Upon these Principles
Given everything that has been going on in the world recently, I thought that it would be good to re-share this post from the Room for Meditation that I originally shared back in 2016… The Principles of Sowing and Reaping Apply to Nations as Well as Individuals.
Then, I wrote that…
Lately, in my personal Bible study, I have been working my way through Ezekiel where the principles of sowing and reaping, which we spent some time going over in our reflection Sowing, Reaping, and the Nature of the Two Trees, have been leaping off the page at me. I have found this to be especially true in chapters 25-35, where Ezekiel was called upon to pronounce judgment upon the nations surrounding Israel:
• When Ammon rejoiced because God’s temple was profaned, the land was made desolate, and Judah was carried away into exile, God gave them over to the people from the East, to be carried away as plunder;
• When Moab ridiculed Judah as being no different from the other nations, God also gave them over to the people from the East and promised that Moab would lose its place among the nations, and would never be a nation again;
• When Edom and Philistia took vengeance on Judah, God promised to execute His brand of vengeance on both of them;
• When Pharaoh claimed that the Nile was his—that he had made it for himself—God said He would dry up the Nile and bring desolation on the land and everything in it; and,
• When Mount Seir or Edom rejoiced at the desolation of Israel, in the hopes of claiming that land as their own, God promised to deal with them “according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred for them.”
So, in Genesis chapter one, when God promised that everything in His creation would “reproduce after its own kind,” He wasn’t kidding. Therefore, we need to heed the words of Hosea 10:12, admonishing us to…
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love; break up the fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.
Otherwise, like those nations who were enemies of Israel, the words of Hosea 10:13 will become a bitter reality for us…
You have plowed iniquity, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies.
A Promise that We Can Take to the Bank!
Raised to Walk in Newness of Life
The Monday night before one Easter several years ago, I casually asked my pastor husband what he would be preaching on the following Sunday. Although he usually has it all planned out by then, he said that he didn’t have anything special in mind at that point, and asked me if I had any ideas. I thought for a moment, then told him that the only thing that had come to mind was the expression new life. Since I was busy watching my favorite television program at the time, I didn’t give it another thought for the remainder of the evening. But the next day, when I began wondering what new life might have meant to Jesus’ disciples on that very first Resurrection Sunday, there were three things that immediately popped into my mind. They were freedom, hope, and power—freedom from the bondage they had known in the past; hope for a better, more meaningful life in the future; and the power they would need to leave the one behind and fully enter into the other.
Freedom…“For freedom Christ has set us free…Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (Galatians 5:1, 13).”
From what I know about the times in which Jesus lived, it seems quite likely that most, if not all, of His disciples originally began following Him because they expected Him to be the leader of a rebellion that would secure the freedom of the Jews from their oppressive Roman overlords. This, however, was not the kind of freedom that Jesus came to bring them. Instead of the temporal political liberation that they had been longing for for so long, the liberation that He came to provide was one which was spiritual in nature, and one that would endure throughout all eternity. And, while they couldn’t have realized the full import of that type of liberation on that first Easter morning, in time they would come to treasure and rejoice in the freedom it gave them from…
Because of the Resurrection of Jesus, never again would they have to…
Wow, what a sense of freedom that must have been!
Hope…“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 3-5).”
As a result of these new-found freedoms, new life would have also meant that the disciples could begin to enjoy a hope that they had never known before; a hope that…
Power…“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of him…that you may know…what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him form the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Ephesians 1:16-21).”
Of course, setting men free from their bondage to sin and death, from their centuries old religious traditions, and all the while giving them new life through a rebirth of their spirits was no mean task; it would require a power that had never before been seen by mortal men. And yet, this is the kind of power that was demonstrated when God, after Jesus had conquered the powers of hell and the grave, raised Him from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at His right hand. And, the wonder of it all is that this same power, which was available to God’s only Begotten Son, is the very same power that He has made available to each of His adopted children—that is, to those of us who have placed our faith in this resurrected Christ. For the power that can raise someone from the dead is the only power strong enough to free one from the chains of his past, to cleanse and purify him of his sins and place him in the position of an adopted child God, and then to lead him to victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. No wonder the disciples had cause to rejoice!
But they weren’t the only ones with a reason to do so; like them, we have become the beneficiaries of this new life of freedom, hope, and power which was made available through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This matchless gift of new life is something that this Easter should serve to remind us of, and something which we, as the modern-day disciples of Christ, should be rejoicing in every other day of the year.
Have You Experienced the New Life that Jesus’ Death and Resurrection Offers?
Travis Cottrell sings “Jesus Saves”…
The Line Has Gone Out and a Net is Waiting
Some weeks ago, while listening to a prophetic word concerning this past November’s highly contested presidential election, two words were dropped into my spirit. The first of these was line, followed a few minutes later by the word net. When I heard “line,” I was immediately reminded of what I had written last summer in my post Smoke and Mirrors. There, I had warned believers not to be taken in or deceived by the pandemic and the race riots which were then taking place, because they were merely diversionary tactics of the devil, designed…
When “net” was added, however, the word “line” took on a little different meaning for me. Unlike the earlier situation, the word was now speaking to me of a plumb line that is currently being drawn by God for the purpose of…
In other words, in preparation for the judgment that will soon be coming upon the earth, God has been calling out His Sheep and marking those who have been responding in obedience. While Satan has been using the Covid-19 crisis, the on-going threats of domestic violence, and the current political and economic instability to divide and conquer God’s People and to disguise the advancement of His kingdom’s agenda, God has been using these very same crises to expose the devil’s evil works while revealing those among His People…
In short, God has been using Satan’s own devices to set the wicked up for judgment and to call His People to the frontlines of battle, where He is taking names and singling out those who have proven themselves qualified for advancement in His Kingdom.
Of course, this MO—Method of Operation—is completely consistent with the Revelation of God that we have been given throughout Scripture; for repeatedly, He has been revealed not as only the Creator of this world but also as its Divider and Judge. In Genesis 1 alone, we find that after…
As for what net has to do with all of this, in verses such as these, we are reminded that throughout the ages, the Wicked, apparently not satisfied with their own destructive behaviors or lifestyles, have purposely set out nets in which they hope to trap and bring about the destruction of the Righteous…
For without cause they [the wicked] have hidden their net for me in a pit, which they have dug without cause for my life. Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, and let his net that he has hidden catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall. (Psalm 35:7-8)
Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have purposed to make my steps stumble. The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set traps for me. (Psalm 140:5)
Why? Because they are like…
…Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. (1 John 3:12)
What the Wicked haven’t take into account, though, is the Principle of Sowing and Reaping that God has incorporated into every aspect of His Creation. In fact, again in Genesis 1, He declared 10 times that all the living things that He has made have been designed to reproduce “…according to their kind”—a principle and a promise reaffirmed later, in Galatians 6:7-8, in this way…
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Be Sure You Are Found on the Side of Righteousness
So today, as we look around at the seemingly sad state of our country—where the corruption, lies, and wicked devices of the enemy have become the rule of the day—let’s remember that when all human avenues of change have been exhausted and there seems to be no hope, God is still at work. He is examining the hearts of men and women at every level of life to see which side of the plumb line they have chosen to stand on; and, once that has been made clear, He will begin drawing in the net—the one originally laid out for destruction of the Righteous— using that to trap the Wicked and to bring them to judgment. For…
…even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:10)
As all of this begins to unfold in the days, weeks, and even months to come, let those of us who know and serve Christ Jesus the Lord, be quick in the examination of ourselves, yet slow in our condemnation of others—remembering the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:1-5 to…
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
As we wait for God’s promised outcome, let’s be careful to…
…avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26)
Then…
…if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)
Remembering always…
…as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:12-17)
And finally…
…above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’ (1 Peter 4:8)
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
