“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

The gift of salvation begins with an upward calling from God. You hear the gospel and make a decision by faith to live for God. You become a new creature in Christ Jesus who finds your hope in God and not in the things of the world.

This precious gift is available to all through Christ Crucified. There is no other way.

Salvation begins at the moment of decision for Christ and has no ending. This decision is to know Christ and live for Him. It has nothing to do with works. If you build your relationship with God on works you will never experience the efficacy of the Living Christ. God wants your absolute loyalty to Him above all else.

Salvation is a recognition of your helpless and corrupt inner condition and understanding your only hope is in the Cross. Until you get to this point you are just going through the motions.

The Cross is following the life of Jesus. You die to self and become resurrected as a new creature in Christ Jesus.

The Cross enables you to live in oneness with Christ through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is your lifeline to God.

The purpose of salvation is not to make you into a self righteous individual. This approach is abominable to God and negates the value of the Cross. The righteousness belongs to God not to you and is designed for one purpose only—to draw people into a living relationship with Christ.

Salvation is not about keeping yourself clean. It is about getting your hands dirty as you reach out to those living in darkness. The sinner will respond to you when you come to Him as a broken and repentant human being.

God delights in sharing Himself with you. Today you can experience salvation through the work of the Cross. Come to Christ for your every need. He stands at your door knocking!

Jesus will convict you of sin and offer forgiveness through His life saving blood. He will fill you with His strength, wisdom, and joy. He will guide your footsteps and be your fortress of protection.

Most importantly, you will meet the Living Christ and stand in awe of His greatness and glory. There is no one like Him!

 

“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.” Genesis 15:12

God appeared to Abraham and made an everlasting covenant with Him. He told Abraham that he would have an heir from His own blood and Abraham’s descendants would be like the stars in the night sky. God also promised Abraham his descendants would inherit Canaan, the Promised Land.

Then God instructed Abraham to prepare an animal sacrifice for Him. After this, God put a deep sleep upon Abraham and the horror and darkness facing the Israelites fell upon Him.

God then told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land and they would be afflicted four hundred years. After this, God would deliver the Israelites and they would take with them great possessions out of land.

The point of this narrative is to explain this is one of the first examples of intercession in the Bible. God showed Abraham through intercession the future afflictions facing the Israelites.

As believers, you and I want to record deeds for God forgetting what is really important in His heart.

Intercession is a calling from God. It is a pure and holy ministry of making intercession for those living in darkness. The Spirit of God living within you makes intercession to set people free from the bondage of sin. You are mostly a bystander as God does this powerful work.

This arduous effort of prayer is based on a verse in Colossians. You are filling up your flesh with what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His Body, the Church. In actuality, God is doing the work of the Cross through you.

There are many intercessors in the Body of Christ. You cannot become an intercessor unless you are appointed by God but you can employ the principle of intercession in your prayers.

When God brings someone before you who is in bondage to sin the first step is to ask God for wisdom how to pray for this person. Then ask God to share His authority with you. This will give you the ability to pray powerful prayers.

Intercession requires a diligent prayer life and will cause you to identify with the sin and personality of the person you are praying for.

Intercession pleases Jesus and places you in the throne room of God.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

This admonition from Jesus relates to your earthly goals and your heart condition to become willing to be an ambassador for Jesus touching those living in darkness.

There is nothing wrong with diligently working to provide yourself and family with a comfortable lifestyle. However, you are working in a world that is not under the authority of God. The luxuries of the world will eventually wither and fade away. They are not permanent. And, they an easily lead you astray from God.

The thieves in this narrative refer to Satan and His legion of demons. Satan wants to steal your treasures and destroy you. This onslaught never ends and you are in a continual battle against the enemy. Your weapons are utilizing the full armor of God.

Your only security in this world is laying up treasures in Heaven that cannot be touched by Satan and have everlasting consequences. God wants your heart to be in accord with His attitudes and views about the definition of treasures.

The question is how can you do this? The answer lies in the biblical truth about binding and loosing. This should be foremost in your goals while living here on earth.

The act of binding is standing firm against the work of Satan. You rebuke Satan from having any influence in your life. Also, you pray and make intercession for those with a demonic stronghold over them asking God to set them free.

You ask God that His Word will dwell richly in you with all wisdom and understanding and this allows you to refute the lies of Satan in your counsel with others.

The act of loosing refers to bringing salvation to those in your life. You have been instructed by God to plant seeds wherever life takes you.

This happens through the efficacy of the rivers of Living Water flowing out of your heart, consistent prayer, and speaking the counsel of God under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

The works of God are eternal!

 

 

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7

There is a big difference in making a decision for Christ and walking in Him. The plan of salvation is to transform you into a new creature in Christ Jesus. You die to self and live for God. Everything in your life changes as you come to know the Living Christ.

The admonition is to be grounded in Christ and to build your life on Him. You become grounded in God by abandoning your life to Him. Christ becomes your sole reason for life and the priority in all your thoughts and actions.

It is the action of abandonment and yielding to the Spirit living within you that pleases Christ. It is a living discipline of prayer, meditating on the Word, and listening to the voice of God. You literally walk with Christ through the Holy Spirit.

It is impossible to be grounded through an intellectual approach or doing works for God. You have to come to know the reality of the Living Christ. This happens as you become baptized into the death and ressurected life of Christ.

Christ is about devotion and loyalty not works. Knowing Christ and coming under His authority is the priority of a believer.

The essence of Christ is living with Him by faith. Your life with Christ will begin with faith and will be sustained by your faith in His promises. Faith is unyielding devotion to God regardless of your circumstances. Abraham believed God and His life was uprooted.

Faith is living in obedience to the voice of God without any evidence or proof. You believe God calls things that don’t exist as if they did.

Faith is expressed in thanksgiving to God for who He is and not for what He does in your life!

 

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” Romans 8:1-3

The works of the law are perfect and will never change. They reflect the heart of God. If you choose to follow God by abiding in these laws you have to be perfect. There is no room for mistakes. Unfortunately, no one has been able to live perfectly under the law except for Christ.

The difficulty with the works of the law is they do not consider your inner nature and genetic disposition for sin. The truth of the gospel is all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and this will never change as long as you are on this earth.

The law convicts all of sin and demonstrates it is impossible to ever get right with God no matter how hard you try. You are sold under sin!

There is no obligation from God to bless you under the law regardless of your good deeds or religious activities. The law died on the Cross and has been replaced by a covenant of faith in Christ Jesus.

Your only hope is in Christ Crucified. He died so you can be forgiven by His blood and live through His Spirit who dwells within you.

The only way you can satisfy the purposes of God is to apply this principle into your life. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. You won’t be perfect but you can be free from the bondage of sin and live a life pleasing to God.

This biblical truth is a discipline of yielding your thoughts, words, and actions to the Holy Spirit. In actuality, you are inviting the Holy Spirit to have authority over every aspect of your life. You walk with God moment by moment yielding to His Spirit.

As human beings, we go back and forth with God like the waves in the ocean. We yield compartments of our life to God and hold back what is important or precious to our self nature. Or, we yield something to God and then weaken and take it back to satisfy our fleshly indulgences.

The challenge you deal with every day of your life is to obey God and deny the temptations coming from the world or through your fleshy nature.

When you are living under the authority of God you are free from compulsive behaviors and succumbing to the temptations from Satan. You are living for God!

There is no one like Jesus and He will never fail you!

 

 

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
on those who hope in His mercy” Psalm 33:18

Hope is the essence of the desires of your heart. This might be for good health, prosperity, healing in a relationship, protection for your children, or success in your work. Or, your hope might be in the promises of God.

We all hope for different things. God’s eyes are on those who fear Him and hope in His mercy. You fear God by attempting to live a life pleasing to Him and walking by faith.

The promise from God is He will deliver your soul and keep you alive in times of deprivation and scarcity.

God speaks so simply but we don’t get it! Wait on Me and I will be your help and your shield. Waiting is not the way of the world. When things are upside down, the natural course of action is to take things into your own hands.

God calls you to wait on Him and trust in His holy name. Very few people do this in times of distress. Faith gives way to reacting out of fear and desperation.

Your only hope in this world is in God. Every time you look for hope in things other than God you disappoint and fail Christ.

The gospel is about trusting in the mercy of God whether you are facing destruction, misery, or death. Your unyielding faith in Christ will fill you with gladness and you will see the fulfillment of His promises in the land of the living.

The purposes of God are eternal. He is your only hope for life today!

 

“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

God wants your abandoned devotion to Him. He does not want sacrifices. Jesus made the final sacrifice for all. There will never be another sacrifice for God.

God does not want your works. Do you really think you can do something for the Creator of the heavens and earth?

God wants you to have unyielding faith built on the reality of who He is. God’s mission is to get you to trust Him implicitly. You can’t play hide and seek with God. He wants all of you.

God wants you to live for Him. This cannot happen until your individuality and compulsions are crucified with Christ.

God has to break your heart through the trials of life to cause you to give up your ego and self determination and to live for Him.

Your loyalty to God cannot be built on an intellectual concept or an emotional experience. It has to be built on the sufferings of Christ.

Faith does not come from reading the Bible or going to church. Faith comes from a personal encounter with the Living Christ. Until you get to this point, you are just going through the motions.

God wants you to worship Him for who He is and not for His blessings. Find your purpose in the work of the Cross and the promise of salvation.

Come to know the Living Christ and you will have the faith to overcome any obstacle in life. The Cross will demonstrate the reality of the greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty of God.

At this point, your life will not be about self. It will be about pleasing God.

 

 

 

 

“Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
and seeing you will see and not perceive” Matthew 13:14

Jesus spoke these words in explaining why He speaks in parables. Most people can’t grasp the straight forward truths of God so Jesus simplifies His words using real life illustrations.

The challenge is learning how you can get the ability or spiritual discernment to understand the mysteries of God.

God is looking for people with an open heart and with ears that hear His voice and eyes that see His truths.

How does this happen? It is simply a matter of opening yourself up to God without any pretensions. It is a desire to know the Living Christ and live for Him.

Forget about religion! It will lead you astray. Jesus spent His lifetime confronting religion with the truths of God.

Come directly to God without any expectations or preconceived ideas. There is no one like Him and He does not think or act like you.

God will justify you solely through your faith in Him. You won’t find the transfigured Christ through works or religious activities. You will find Jesus when you abandon yourself unconditionally to Him.

God wants you to breath His promises into your heart and soul and make His words the bedrock of your life. You live by faith and reject the ways of the world.

Jesus was hungry and hadn’t eaten any food in forty days. He had a choice to turn stones into bread but He opted to obey the word of God and the angels came and attended to His needs.

You will please God living by faith and following in His footsteps; “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

This is understanding your entitlement to the blessings of God will come living by faith in His Word. The words of God become your bread winner and fulfill your every need. Like David, this is a statement from your heart reaffirming your help comes from the Lord and rejecting the ways of the world.

The words of God are perfect and cannot be compromised or edited by anyone. You have to accept the Word wholeheartedly under the illumination of the Spirit of God.

The words of the Lord are pure words. They have been refined like silver in a hot furnace. The Lord keeps His Words. They are preserved forever!

 

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11

The foundation of ministry begins with the life and death of Christ Jesus.

The Cross is the essence of life for a believer. You have to be willing to die to self and live for Christ. Until you reach this point your ministry will be of little or no value to Christ.

Your ministry has to be created by Christ and have pure and selfless motives in accord with the teachings of Jesus.

Your ego has to disappear along with the need for notoriety, money making, and success. You are working for Christ not for self. He establishes the boundaries and goals of your ministry.

The foundation of ministry is not built on religion or works. It comes from living in oneness with Christ Jesus and learning how to walk with Him by faith.

The priority is knowing Christ and living with Him. You cannot leapfrog into a ministry until you understand the ways of Christ and have a living relationship with Him.

Faith is the cornerstone in a ministry. You have to prove to God you live by faith and your help comes from the Lord who created the heavens and earth. Faith is living in the promises of God and not the ways of the world.

Your ministry has to be sanctified by God. This is accomplished through severe testing, experiencing suffering, and facing humiliation at times. Remember, you have been baptized into the death of Christ.

God has to get you to the point where you will obey Him without question regardless of your circumstances. This can even be at a great loss to you.

There is a lifestyle ministry for all believers that begins with your decision for Christ. Jesus said “He who believes in Me out of his heart will flow rivers of Living Water.”

This is the life of Jesus and is expressed in love, joy, kindness, and meekness. People around you see the personality of Jesus in your demeanor, words, and actions.

You and I have been created in the workmanship of Christ Jesus to do His works. The works will be different for each disciple as God determines your ministry and equips you with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to excel in your calling.

God may have no intention in giving you a specific ministry for many years. Moses tended sheep for forty years before He was ready to do the work of God.

Ministry becomes easily corrupted when the motives are self serving. Christianity tends to focus on goals like building bigger or new churches, recruiting members, and raising money. Christ Crucified gets demoted and the attention turns to personalities, religion, and fund raising.

Jesus was not about success. He was about doing the will of His Father. The result was persecution, humiliation, and a suffering death.

The test of a Christ driven ministry is the fruit of the harvest. Are you helping God build His kingdom with believers wholly devoted to Christ and willing to die for Him?

 

“No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.” Numbers 14:24

God made a promise! He avowed to give the Israelites Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey.

God kept His promise!

The Israelites rebelled against God, treated Him with contempt, tested Him ten times in the wilderness and failed to listen to His voice.

The definition of contempt is a feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn. This what caused the downfall of the Israelites.

God told Moses to send twelve men, one from each tribe, along with Joshua and Caleb to spy out the Promised Land. They returned to report the land is abundant with fruit and is very fertile. They also described the strength of the enemy tribes and were terrified with fear. They said we can never conquer these giant men.

All of the Israelites complained bitterly and wanted to chose a new leader to help them to return to Egypt.

The twelve spies were afflicted by God with a plague and died.

Every Israelite over twenty years of age died in the wilderness.

God imposed a sentence of 40 years to wander in the wilderness due to their contempt.

There was a splinter group of Israelites who recognized their sin and decided to go up to the mountain of the enemy tribe. Moses warned against this action. Moses and the Ark of the Covenant stayed in the camp. All of the Israelites were defeated and most died.

At times, we all have feelings of anger and discontent with our circumstances. We tend to blame God for His lack of action.

There is a big difference between your human feelings and taking action to turn away from God. You cross the line when you choose to defy God and make decisions to live on your own. This is an attitude of contempt about God.

The point is God keeps His promises. It may take many years, lots of disappointment, and long suffering.

Keep uppermost in your heart and mind God is faithful to His Word. The promises God has personally made to you will come true in His perfect timing.

This attitude of faith will stir the heart of God; “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”