Grace for your spirit October 30, 2015

Grace for your spirit

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.  I Peter 2:9

Robin Hood and his merry men are primarily remembered as those who would "rob from the rich and give to the poor."  In fact, this group of people were loyal to King Richard who was away on the Crusades.  His evil brother Prince John usurped the throne and afflicted the poor. Robin was loyal to his absent King until he returned, helping the poor, and then he bowed before him.  In the Kingdom of God, our King Jesus has went away.  While He is in heaven, Satan has tried to usurp His kingdom.  As God's royal priesthood, we are commissioned to resist the devil and help the poor until He returns.  May we defend the kingdom until He returns when we will bow before Him.  Be merry men

Grace for your spirit October 29, 2015

Grace for your spirit

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race this is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus  Hebrews 12:1

It takes a certain single minded devotion to run the race to the finish line. There is always sin and obstacles along the way to trip us up, so we need to be careful.  We need to listen to the right voices and reject the wrong.  In the Land of Oz, Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Lion, and the Scarecrow found that by following "the yellow brick road",  they would find what they needed.  We need a commitment to stay on the blood sprinkled path of Jesus, keeping our eyes on the prize at all times.

Grace for your spirit October 28, 2015

Grace for your spirit

Your iniquities have made a separation between you and  your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that he does not hear.  Isaiah 59:2

God can reach us and God can hear us, until we build a wall of sin between Him and ourselves.  Christ went to the cross to build a bridge between us and God.  When we meet Him on the bridge, He has a healing for us all, and a great fellowship with all His children.  As the kid's song goes, "You can build a wall, or you can build a bridge.  It all depends on the life you live.  If you build a wall, your world is small, but a bridge of love will conquer all. 

Grace for your spirit October 27, 2015

Grace for your spirit

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?  John 14:5

In Alice in Wonderland, Alice asked the Cheshire cat, "Which way should I go from here?"  The cat asked, "Where do you want to get to?" Alice answered, "I don't much care"  The cat said, "Then is doesn't much matter which way."  If we want to spend eternity with Satan, then it doesn't much matter what we do or where we go.  Jesus answered Thomas' question and ours with a simple direction.  "I am the way, truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me"  None of us will wander into heaven without purpose.  Jesus is the way.  And that matters much.

Grace for your spirit October 26, 2015

Grace for your spirit

The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on  you, and give you peace.  Numbers 6:24-26

Do we want the Lord's face to shine on us?  Do we want His blessings, protection, grace and peace?  We need to stay in the place where we can see His face and He can see ours.  In unity with His Son Jesus is the place to be, because God's face always shines on Him. In Christ and walking after His Spirit, we will always feel the warmth and glow of God's face.

Grace for your spirit October 23, 2015

Grace for your spirit

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.           I John 5:13

I'm not sure where we went wrong.  It seems most people have been taught they we earn our salvation and favor with God by the good things that we do. Therefore we can only hope we have eternal life because most of the time we just aren't doing that well. God doesn't want us to just HOPE. He wants us to KNOW we have eternal life.  The real plan from heaven is for us to be made righteous by Jesus.  Our salvation is based on His life.  That gives us the confidence of knowing we have eternal life all the time.  It is time to act like it.

Grace for your spirit October 22, 2015

Grace for your spirit

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.  I John 5:3'

God has never intended His commands to be a burden to us.  He wants to make it easy for us to follow them and be benefited by them.  This is because God loves us so much.  When we love Him as He loves us, it makes it easy.  When we feel burdened or grieved by His direction, it is time to go back to the basics.  The love of God controlling us.