Grace for your spirit February 16,20010

Grace for your spirit

A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. Isaiah 35:8

The Bible has more to say about holy living than anything. God wants us to be holy as He is holy,, and live a life separated from worldliness. It is amazing to me how people can plan ahead to go from Fat Tuesday to Ash Wednesday in just one day. From a day dedicated to drunkenness and reveling, followed by a holy day. I can imagine that those in the world think this kind of religion is pretty

hypocritical. Jesus calls his disciples to die to sin and rise to walk in a newness of life. We are not called to repeated Fat Tuesdays and sorrowful Wednesdays. Let's put ourselves in the narrow roadway that leads to eternal life. On The Highway of Holiness, the redeemed, and the ransomed are walking with joy and gladness. Let plan to get on that road and stay there. Our GPS is God's Word. Turn it on.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit

Philippians 4:23

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Grace for your spirit February 15, 2010

Grace for your spirit
And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' Matthew 22:37-39
On Valentine's day you can see lines of condemned men waiting in line to buy overpriced flowers, so they can keep themselves out of trouble. They have a poem of instructions, "Love me sweet, love me tender. Get me roses, not a blender. " The purchase is not so much out of love but out of fear of what will happen without the purchase. Some great love, huh. It reminded me of Sunday morning at many worship services. Lines of condemned men and women, waiting to get in to keep themselves out of hot water with God. The worship is not so much out of love, but out of fear of what might happen if they don't come. Some great love, huh. Is that all there is to our relationships with God and one another? Not doing good moved by love, but a defense motivated by fear. Let's learn to love with all our heart, soul, mind, all the time. That kind of love casts out fear, and puts us in the winners circle, at home and with God.


The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit
Philippians 4:23
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Grace for your spirit February 12,2010

Grace for your spirit

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. I Corinthians 11:3

A lot of men spend a great deal of time finding Bible verses about submission. They use these verses as a sledge hammer to beat women into the joy of submission. If a man wants a woman to be in submission, he needs to model submission in his life. When a husband lives a life submitting and yielding to Christ as his head, he will provide a model of submission in his house. When we love Christ as He loves us, and when we love our wives as Christ loved the church, submission becomes a joy, not a burden. In fact, none of His commandments are a burden under that kind of love. If we are looking for faithful followers, become a faithful follower. God has the order for us. With humility, service, and submission, don't demand it, model it like Jesus did.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit

Philippians 4:23

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Grace for your spirit February 11, 2010

Grace for your spirit
You believe that God is one, you do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? James 2:19-20
There is a difference between believing in God, and have faith in Him. The true meaning of faith is a trusting relationship that moves us to obedience and action. The demons are believers, but they certainly are not servants of God. They tremble at the power of judgment of God, but do not bow before His mighty power. The devil wants us to believe that faith is a only a feeling. God asks us this question. If we say we have faith, but have no works, can that faith save him? God says that kind of faith is useless, dead, and will not save us. We will know we have the kind of faith that saves when we obey, and exercise that faith in obedience to Him.


The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit
Philippians 4:23
graceforyourspirit.blogspot.com

Grace for your spirit February 10, 2010

Grace for your spirit

But if I say, "I will not remember Him, or speak anymore in His name," then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it. Jeremiah 20:9

Jeremiah had an awful preaching job. He had a mission to save Judah and Jerusalem, but his people really didn't want to hear his message. In fact, they didn't like him very much either. He was a laughingstock, he was mocked, and reproached by his own people all the time. His life would have been a lot more fun if he just didn't care anymore. If he would have just "watered down" his messages, life would have been easier. He couldn't do it. The message of God, the condition of his people, and the impending disaster, burned in his bones. He could not hold it in. Silence was far worse than the persecution of ministry. The apostles mirrored that life under their persecution, when they said they could not help but preach and teach His Word. How about us? What is the fire that burns us? The fire without that keeps us from teaching, or the fire within that moves us to ministry?

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit

Philippians 4:23

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Grace for your spirit February 9, 2010

Grace for your spirit

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. I John 3:10

If we were arrested tonight for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us? It is obvious to people whether or not we are children of God, whether we are practicing sin, or practicing righteousness, whether we or not we love our brothers? Far too many people who bear the name of Christ, walk in this world in complete anonymity. Would we be willing to let strangers guess whether or not we are Christians by the way we live? A policeman arrested a woman at a stop light for throwing a fit, and screaming at another motorist. Later, when she was released, the policemen told her the reason he arrested her. With her multiple bumper stickers about Jesus, "What would Jesus do", "Honk if you love Jesus", and "Follow me to Bible school", the policeman assumed that the car must be stolen. What do people assume about us?

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit

Philippians 4:23

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Grace for your spirit February 8, 2010

Grace for your spirit
Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 4:13-14
When Jesus met the woman of Samaria at the well, she had the way to get the water for Him to quench His thirst, and wanted to help. Jesus had the way to give her the living water of eternal life and wanted to help her. Jesus explained that His living water would cause her never to be thirsty again, and she was excited about getting some of that water. God has given us access to that living water in His Son Christ Jesus. We not only have the water, but know the way to get that water to others if we are willing to help. When I was a kid, my great grandmother had a pump in her back yard. The water was good and cold, but you needed to prime that pump every time. After you drank your fill, we would leave a little water in the bucket for the next guy. With that water, the pump would yield water quickly. In our Christian journey, are we thinking about living water for the next guy? May our life yield His water to prime the pump for another.


The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit
Philippians 4:23
graceforyourspirit.blogspot.com