Christ's Power to Save to the Uttermost

"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who    is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;  who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (Hebrews 7:25-27 NKJV)" 

I have often thanked God for saving me from the sin that separated me from Him. Sin that would have consumed my life if I had no Savior. Sin that results in death, eternal death. Yes, I and many who know our Lord Jesus cannot thank God enough for saving us from sin through His Son Jesus Christ.

As we reflect on salvation in Christ, let us take an even closer look at what it means to be saved out of our sin. We have come to understand what it means...at least in part...but have we come to understand what power has now been granted to those who have received His Spirit as a result of that salvation? For those who have received Christ's sure promise of the Spirit of Truth, our ever-present indwelling Helper...there is even more to understand about what it means to have been saved out of our sin.

Much of my life, I have thanked God for saving me from my PAST sin.  Many of God's children have come to that point of worthy gratitude, for we once stood in our past sin without the curse being removed...a place separated from God. We are right to thank and praise Him for saving us from those specific past sins. But as we grow in knowledge and depth of insight into God's Word, we learn that not only have we been saved from past, specific sins, but that we are saved from SIN, that is the sinful nature that once ruled our bodies. We come to understand that on our best day, where we did far more good than bad, that at the end of that day, we were still sinful because the sin nature of Adam had been transmitted to us upon birth, for we are descended from Adam. We come to realize that as a human born after the fall of man, a disease is now carried by the entire human species that takes life away from every one who was otherwise created in the image of a holy God...and Christ's finished work on the cross has now provided the one and only way to be cured from that disease we know as sin. We come to know that the specific sins that our consciences were so preoccupied with (a blessed conviction) are the symptoms of the much deeper disease. Treating the symptom may make the patient feel better for a time, but if the patient is to live...and not just live but have life to the full!...he must be completely healed of the disease. We come to realize that even when the sinful symptoms have been suppressed, that the disease of our sin nature remained. The proof of this is the very next day when we once again sinned in a specific manner...demonstrating the symptoms once again of this dreadful and cursed disease.

This is a turning point for any Christ follower--the recognition that Christ has not only come to take away our bad records and blemishes, our sins of the past, but He has won the victory of destroying our very sinful nature and the Evil behind it. For every 1 pharmaceutical medication that cures a disease, there are probably tens or hundreds that treat disease, proof that a disease is much harder to cure than to simply treat. Is the same not true of our sin?!  Oh how we strive to treat our sin! But our Father has administered the cure. How many times have we focused our finite human strength on conquering a specific sin or sinful habit? Only to find ourselves soon struggling with sin in another area, or even repeating sins that we thought we once conquered? Have you not experienced this yourself? I suspect that any measure of introspection will lead to this discovery for the regenerated in Christ. Why is it not enough? Why do we continue to fight sin? Because we have tried to conquer in our strength instead of the strength granted by our Lord through His ever-present Spirit. Because in those times when we have worked in our strength to conquer a specific sin, we have been lured into treating a symptom instead of curing the root of the disease. The Evil One is content to tempt and plague the child of God with the next available sin. He is not overwhelmed by us, walking in our strength alone, sending all of our troops and forces, so to speak, to fight one division of His army of temptation...for it gives Him an open attack on the unguarded areas. Hear this vital truth of the spiritual battle: The Holy Spirit has been sent to be enough. The Holy Spirit is not a scarce resource. The Holy Spirit never makes a decision to send some of His energy to fight one battle at the expense of another--our God is infinite! When we invite our Lord to be our everything, only then do we have the ability to conquer our enemy at the root, and to conquer the sin nature that so tenaciously tries to cling to our flesh. We require a Savior who can save to the uttermost, to the core. We require a Savior who does not simply clean us off every time we sin, His power limited to things we've done in the past...a perpetual eraser. Perhaps you and I have thought of our Lord Jesus as such. No, our Lord has the power to save us from the very disease of sin, and from the Evil One. 

Back to the question: Why do we continue to fight sin? If I sinned today, why have my efforts not yielded a total conquering of the sin nature such that the specific sins have ceased? One reason: I am not fully yielded to the Spirit of The Lord, I am not yet fully crucified and identified with Christ. Oh to be fully yielded to the Spirit of Truth, in whom there is only righteousness and no deceit! Oh to be walking in the Spirit, truly praying without ceasing! Oh to love our Lord such that we had only the desire to obey His commands and worship Him! Oh to be fully surrendered to the cross of Christ, such that our entire self identity has died a gruesome death, leaving behind only an identity in Christ! That day is coming for all who have received the Promised One, being sealed for the day of salvation. That day is coming. But if just now you have sinned, let that spur you onward to seek The Lord all the more. To proclaim once again that you are His and His alone. That you are chosen and accepted, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, once a slave to sin, now a slave to righteousness (Rom 6:16-18)! And therefore you have only 1 master and no other master can claim you: you are Christ's. Though you and your Savior be besieged by Evil, though the battle grows fierce, though you suffer harm and feelings of shame--you cannot be separated from Christ! Our Kingdom stands! The battle is won! "Though the righteous falls seven times, they rise again" (Prov 24:16). This is the power of our Lord granted to those who have been saved by Christ. And not only that, we carry within us the Power not to sin, which is the only true measure of being saved from sin--that we would "go and sin no more" (John 8:11). If we do not hold that power to go and sin no more, than we have only partial salvation, only saved from sins past, but not from the nature of sin that would cause us to sin again. Oh, but we have Christ who does indeed save to the uttermost.

We have carried the Holy Spirit in us since we received Him willingly, yet we have sinned since then. Why? The self is not yet fully conquered, fully surrendered, fully crucified with Christ. And how gracious is our Lord to send us His Spirit to live in communion with us, though we are still not fully sanctified to Him?! If man had conceived of a plan of salvation, surely he would have determined that the Spirit of God could only be granted to those who were fully worthy of perfection. But who would ever qualify? Truthfully, we need God to meet that qualification. Perhaps man would have then decided that instead, upon receiving the Holy Spirit, that the temple must then never be defiled again. That either he no longer had the capacity to sin or if he did sin, he would lose the Spirit of God. We know by observation that the first assertion is not true, for we have retained the capacity to sin after receiving Christ! Even the Apostle Paul cries out in his distress over this truth (Rom 7:14-8:2). And the second assertion that the Spirit would remove Himself from any vessel not still perfect would leave us hopeless...and once again we see perhaps the best scriptural example in the Apostle Paul, for he surely retained the Spirit such that he was empowered to write scripture to tell on himself and his ongoing battle with the flesh.

No, man could not conceive of this plan of salvation on his own. This is a divine master plan. That our perfect God would willingly come to aid us, who are plagued with disease and not fully sanctified to Himself. That He would seal us with the promise of full sanctification and unity. And that He would provide us the power not to sin though granting us such an intimate union with the Spirit that He is said to live within us. Coming to a conclusion, regardless of specific theology regarding salvation and the Holy Spirit, for the sincere in repentance and crying out to God for salvation through Jesus Christ, there is an overwhelming and blessed implication: We have been saved from sin. Not just a sin or sins, but SIN. Not just our pasts, but our futures! Do not misunderstand this: This is not a license to willingly sin knowing that The Lord will, in the future, cleanse us of our future sins after they have been committed (he would still only be an eraser in that case)...this is the opposite...that He has empowered us not to sin, to go and sin no more. He has given us the assurance of being saved from ever sinning again...but He has done it in a way that allows us to reciprocate and be co-laborers with Him. He has not made us robots or forced us not to sin, but instead, through His Spirit, He has empowered us with the strength to defeat the full sinful nature that once reigned over our bodies and to defeat the Evil One altogether.

As Christ-followers, we have each received the full armor of God (Eph 6). We have received the power and divine tools to completely conquer the enemy. But too many of us have taken the armor God has given us and placed it neatly on display in our rooms. We admire it, we may kiss it goodnight and good morning, we may take pride in it and tell our friends so that they can admire it, but too many of us refuse to wield it. I encourage you as Paul did, to PUT ON your armor. It is yours, given to you by our Lord. This is what it means to have received the Power to never sin again AND to choose to use it.

He has empowered us, but we must embrace Him, taking up our cross daily. We must learn to fully surrender to Him. We must learn what it means to truly love Him. So as we give thanks to God for saving us out of sin, let us remember to thank Him for giving us access to the Power to go and sin no more and for saving us from the curse of sinful flesh to the very uttermost. And because of that blessed grace, nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ (Rom 8:35-38). Amen.

The Blessing of Obedience…And Its Opposite

The opposite of obedience is…disobedience. And when we’re talking about obedience to God, the opposite of obedience is…sin.

This may sound elementary, but when applied to some of the commands we receive from our Lord through scripture and we place on our lips what our behavior actually is, it can become convicting.

I am in a place in life where I am seeking God’s wisdom with all that I am. Oh that we would all be so blessed to seek Him and His wisdom so earnestly every day of our lives! We could, but we are fickle people. In my search for true wisdom, I am scanning the scriptures and of course cannot neglect Proverbs, some of the most densely packed wisdom in the entire Bible and entire earth. Furthermore, a friend recently suggested Psalm 119, so I began to read it, reaching all of 2 verses in before something spoke to me:

Psalm 119:2 – “Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.”

What I am about to convey to you is very basic, utterly simple, and yet I find that the simplest truths of God are the most splendidly rich. We often complicate our faith and our view of God when we attempt to view Him through the lens of projected humanity, but the simplest view of God and His truths, stripped away of everything but Himself and His Word, are beautifully life giving. This is part of the reason Jesus says, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Matt 11:25). Let us come before the Word of God as children…simple, believing, with a limitless God…growing in faith, such that the Holy Spirit within us “searches the deep things of God” (1 Cor 2:10), and we move from breastmilk to solid food (1 Cor 3:1,2…)…yet always in the simple faith of a child before our Father God.

Let me relay to you how I have often received scriptural truths such as Psalm 119:2 for most of my life: If I keep God’s commands, then He will bless me. Or more pointedly, if I keep God’s commands, He will then bless me in what I do next. This may be true, but the center of the attitude and motivation is in need of serious revision. First of all, it is a very selfish attitude, in that I am only seeking the Lord for what He can do for me…the difference in seeking His hands only, versus seeking His face, His character, who He is for who He is. Secondly, it neglects the pure, simple power intended to be conveyed in the verse that is twofold:

1. The obedience to the commands is the blessing in this life.

2. The obedience to the commands brings us near Him, which is the superlative blessing. The opposite, which can only be called disobedience (sin), must then bring us far from Him, which must therefore be a curse, the opposite of blessing. So obedience is The supreme blessing and disobedience is The supreme curse.

To receive a command from the Lord, either in prayer or through the Word, is Him breathing His blessing upon you, and we must obey to receive it. The simple, powerful truth is that God gives commands for our benefit. His commands lead us to Him and lead us to walk in perfection. His commands protect us. Life outside His commands is full of pain through separation from God in our deepest core, ending with eternal separation and suffering in Hell. Life within obedience to His commands is true, abundant life, now and forever.

Consider a father and his child in their living room with a memorizing fire dancing in the fireplace. This is a peaceful and tranquil scene, marked by love and joy shared between family members. The son, enamored with the leaping flames, moves toward the fireplace, perhaps understanding something about the nature of fire, perhaps not. The watchful father knows what is in the boy’s heart and mind. Afterall, he was once a boy, too. Before the son gets too close, the father gives a sharp, yet gentle command: “Do not put your hand in the fire, nor place your hand anywhere near it.” The boy, stops, hesitates, considering the command. But he questions it in his heart…and the fire is so alluring and wonderful from his perspective. Soon the boy reaches his hand close to the flame, only to shriek in pain as the peach fuzz on his fingers is singed and one fingertip is slightly blackened by the intense heat from the tip of the flame. As the boy cries in pain, halfway running from the fire, halfway running to his father, the father moves swiftly to his side and brings the boy and his hand close to his face. The boy is crying, a little confused, a little ashamed, and very much in pain. Others in the room are crying, “How did you let this happen? Why didn’t you stop him? Is he going to be ok?” The father just absorbs the criticism and quickly administers first aid with a soothing ointment and neatly dressed bandage. The boy is feeling better already, though he will need a little more time to heal fully. The father bends down on his knees, getting eye to eye with his beloved son, their noses only inches apart. He has his son’s attention and speaks directly, firmly, and gently, saying, “My son, please listen to your father. I know you will not always understand my commands, but if you trust me and obey, you will not get burned.” The son begins to cry and sinks into his father’s arms. The father is swept away in the moment, as well, a single tear beginning to form in his eye.

I can think of few analogies more directly applicable to our lives as children of the living God, our Father. He loves us more tenderly than this father, with more wisdom and insight. We are just as or more rebellious than this boy, many times putting our hands in fires because our Father has told us not to. Yet even for us, the worst of sinners, we have the same loving Father. A Father who will lead, a Father who will teach, a Father who will face ridicule on our behalf, a Father who will rescue, a Father who will mend and heal, a Father who will look us straight into the eyes of our souls, and a Father who will embrace us when we turn back to Him. He has never left the room and we have never left His sight. Let us bring our burns and wounds before Him, seek His face, and embrace His commands. They are the source of life, abundant now and forever, because of the nearness in which it brings us to Him.

As I mentioned, I have been in a place of seeking nothing but the pure wisdom of God. Proverbs 9:10 instructs: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

“The fear of the Lord” will cause me to obey His commands. Obeying His commands is the superlative blessing in life, now and eternally. And in obeying His commands in fear of the Lord, is the truest of true wisdom. Therefore, my quest for wisdom, as well as yours, must go far beyond seeking a magical revelation in scripture or any other form, Godly or otherwise. Our quest for wisdom must begin with the fear of God, followed by willing obedience to His commands. If we will set ourselves apart to seek His commands, to cherish His commands, to recognize that they are not limiting, but rather life giving. If we will set ourselves apart to hear in sincerity and obey, we shall have the greatest blessing of all, eternal infinite nearness to our perfect, loving God, and wisdom simply naturally flowing into and out of us.

So what are God’s commands? To illustrate the question better, what are God’s helpful instructions? What are God’s loving and knowing warnings? What are God’s blessings for you and me? For today, let’s start with the Ten Commandments, read them in sincerity, and seek to apply them first to our lives:

Exodus 20:3-17 (comments added in italics)–

1. “You shall have no other gods before me.” (This includes the acknowledgement of any god esteemed to be greater than man or in any way a god, except for Jesus Christ, who is one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.)

2. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

3. “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

4. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

5. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

6. “You shall not murder.” (Remember that Jesus clarified that “anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement.” Matt 5:22)

7. “You shall not commit adultery.” (Remember that Jesus clarified that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matt 5:28)

8. “You shall not steal.”

9. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (This includes any form of dishonesty or deception.)

10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

As you read these, there is probably one or a few that immediately cause you to start rationalizing or making excuses or questioning. These are likely where we struggle. For me, one of them is taking a day of rest, “keeping the Sabbath holy.” Remember that Jesus instructed that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” It is not to become our God and religion, but we are to simply obey Him by keeping a day of rest, set aside for Him, holy. This means that if I lay on the couch all day watching football, then at the end of the day, I call it a “day of rest,” referring to the Sabbath, I am in error. The day of rest is spiritual as much or more than it is physical.

I have struggled to maintain a Sabbath day. And what really hit me was that taking a holy day of rest is considered pleasing and obedient in God’s sight. Obedient. Hmm, that means NOT taking a holy day of rest each week is…disobedience. Hmmm, disobedience to God is…sin. Oh my, this is no longer an option! Do I seek wisdom or don’t I? Do I seek God’s blessing or don’t I? Do I seek God Himself at all or don’t I? If I do, I will take a holy day of rest each week.

Take heart when you place your hand in the fire. Turn to your loving God and He will repair you. He then asks that you would obey Him from that point forward. Get right back on the horse, and do your best going forward, walking in His grace, knowing that His commands are not cumbersome, they are His richest blessings, full of abundant life. I pray that you come to know and love this truth and your God who loves you this year. Amen.

"Powerful and Effective" Prayer - The Presence of God Almighty

“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” – James 5:13-17

Why is "the prayer of a righteous person...powerful and effective?" (v. 16)

We often make or hear statements like, “the power of prayer,” or “prayer is the most powerful weapon we have,” or “prayer is the answer.” In fact, I have said those things myself and very much meant them.

The problem is that we often think of it as a means to an end: “if prayer is a weapon and I wield it, then I am victorious,” or even that “then God is victorious.” God is victorious whether or not you or I utter that prayer. God is supreme and sovereign and will never be anything but victorious. We don’t alter His outcome, we choose whether we are identified with Him in eternal victory or alienated from Him in eternal defeat.

We put too much focus on our prayers, the fact that we uttered them, or the words that we’ve chosen. Those things are not at all why the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective. They are powerful and effective because in a moment of pure righteous prayer, God is made real in you and me. There is no greater power and effectiveness that you will experience than when Christ is made alive in you. You see, the righteous person that is acting in righteousness goes to God. The going to God is prayer. Therefore, the prayer was not the powerful thing itself—the prayer was a natural outcome of the righteous one’s relationship with God. The righteousness in you and me is what leads us to prayer, and those moments become powerful and effective because through the prayer we have fixed our “eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith” (Heb 12:2).

Do you see the difference? The thought that I could pray a mighty prayer to move a spiritual mountain is appealing. But if that is our thought, we’ve missed it…by a little or by a lot, we’ve missed it either way. It’s not that my prayer is powerful and effective because I pray it. It is that God is with the one who enters into sincere prayer, and “if God is for us, who can be against us” (Rom 8:31)? So the specific words or even the topic is less important than just being in the presence of God, just being in sincere prayer—that is the Source of the power and effectiveness—God Himself!

So as we go to prayer this morning or this night or in the middle of our days, let’s remember that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. Let’s remember that we have been made righteous by the blood of Christ to “be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). We could have never attained it, but upon belief Jesus immediately makes us “sons of God” in His righteousness (Rom 8:15-16, Gal 3:26-28, Gal 4:4-6). Knowing that we are made righteous and therefore our prayers are powerful and effective, let’s engage in prayer. But not because they are powerful and effective for our means, but because they are the nourishment of a real relationship with God…they are the pathway to His presence. And it is His presence that is powerful and effective, simple as that.

In His presence, we bow in awe, saying "woe is me, for I have sinned."
In His presence, His light is so bright that we cannot look straight at it.
In His presence, we have natural and healthy fear.
In His presence, He tells us not be afraid, for He has come to cleanse us as His own in love (1 John 4:18).
In His presence, we abandon our personal desires and forsake our selfish pasts.
In His presence, we see clearly in all truth.
In His presence, we learn our true identity in Christ.
In His presence, we pour out in thanksgiving to our Creator and lover of our souls.
In His presence, we are made one with Him as His Spirit is made alive in us.
In His presence, we are aligned with His will and He moves decisively on our behalf and His own.
In His presence, we are transformed powerfully.
In His presence, we are made effective ambassadors of His Word.
In His presence, we are in continual prayer to the uttermost.

So we see that Christ has made those who believe righteous, the righteous will go to Him in prayer, in prayer the righteous will enter His presence, and His presence is powerful and effective. Because of this, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Amen.

Pray It Through - “Lord, I’m asking again…”

Heb 4:15-16 – “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Have you ever hesitated in God’s presence? Have you ever prayed, confessing your struggles and concerns, but then stopped short of full disclosure? I have.

There are a lot of good reasons that you and I share this experience. I say “good” to mean compelling or logical reasons in the human sense, yet in the end, there is no truly good reason, for we became spiritually deprived in that moment. Deprived of the full power, love, and grace of our beautiful God.

Guilt first keeps us from confessing our every sin and struggle and worry. Just look at the first human encounter of sin in the Garden of Eden to see the “natural” human response to the awareness of sin in God’s presence: “They…hid themselves” (Gen 3:8). They physically hid because of such shame. This feeling of shame or guilt is good in that it demonstrates that we have the righteous wherewithal to recognize sin as sin. Furthermore, Jesus says in Matt 5:4 that “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Have you ever mourned your sin? The healthy outlet for the guilt of sin is spiritual mourning of the separation from God, which is sin, followed by Jesus’ promise of comfort. What a great and gracious outcome!

But going further, I have found myself hesitating in God’s presence when sin isn’t even in question. This is when I am self-conscious of repeatedly asking for the same thing. For you or I, this could be asking for something that we desire in life, or when we have been continuously fighting to overcome temptation, or just keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus (Heb 12:2), yet we have failed to do so again.

These hesitations can be uniquely different because they are not necessarily sin related, but rather, our hesitation comes from having to once again ask for help. My thoughts are that I should have made more progress by now, but I feel like we’re right back at square one and therefore God must be…disappointed. And I don’t want to disappoint Him. In those moments I want to man up, gear up, armor up, suit up, just get up and conquer those things in God’s name. And I’ve already asked for help like 1000 times. I feel like I need to come back to Him with some progress instead of saying, “Lord I still need your help, I’m struggling…yet again.” You may identify with my sentiment. In fact, these thoughts make a lot of sense, concerning our interaction with those from which we ask for help on earth. How many times could you ask your teacher, professor, or mentor to show you how to do something before they would think you were just un-teachable? How many times could you ask your closest family member for forgiveness for the same wrong-doing before they may think that “you’ll never change?” How many times could you go back to your boss for a project review with no progress, asking again for help to start out on the first steps? In each case, not many times…certainly not as many times as I’ve had to approach God with those exact same requests. We see God as our Teacher, our Mentor, our Father, and even our “Boss,” and we apply what we know about humans in these roles to our perfect God. This of course leads us astray, for we have tried to build a Creator out of the creation. Realizing this, we can more easily understand why this approach is wrong, but we must then apply it to our prayer conversations with Him.

You see, inside, I desire to come back to God with a finished me. I desire to bring before Him a perfect me. I desire to submit myself to Him, a pleasing sacrifice, unblemished and pure. The problem is that of course, I cannot. In fact, I can only become those things by first coming to Him and confessing all my spiritual blemishes, impurities, and imperfections. That includes sin, yes, but it also includes the life-long pursuit of righteousness and purging of selfishness, which does indeed take an entire lifetime—and even an entire lifetime by itself is terribly insufficient because in Christ alone are we made perfect. But we are made perfect indeed (Eph 4:13; Col 1:22, 28). It is why we can come “boldly before His throne” (Heb 4:16). We come humbly, yet confidently before the throne of God and are made pure and perfect by Christ, who is “seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). What an amazing instantaneous turnaround.

So what have you been praying to God over and over and over? Don’t stop. Pray it through to completion. Have you not only failed to make progress but even regressed in an area? Then we need Him even more than ever…and He already knows. Until you seek His strength and mercy, you will have neither. But instantly upon seeking Him, you will have both abundantly. Simply seek and find. Ask and receive. Knock and the door will be opened. (Matt 7:7-8, Luke 11:9-10) Have you knocked, entered, then somehow found yourself outside again? Knock again and the door will be opened again. The more honestly and transparently we come, splaying out all that is within our souls to God, the more immediately and gloriously His power of transformation can be realized in you and me. Hold nothing back.

If you’ve had the thought, “well, then it doesn’t matter what I do today, he’ll open the door again,” then you have taken this seriously the wrong way. At that moment, you are only going through the motions of knocking. Let me ask you this: if you show up at my home and hold your hand up in the motion of knocking, never actually knocking in sincerity, never making contact with the door, will I hear you? No, of course I will not, and will therefore not acknowledge you nor let you in. Be careful of “going through the motions.” Make sure you knock with all sincerity, and I assure you God will open His door of love, grace, mercy, healing, and strength wide to you. He has for me. He has for thousands and millions of your neighbors. He has for multitudes upon multitudes since the beginning of time. How do we know this? Start reading the Bible from Matthew 1:1 through John 21:25. It’s the most amazing Truth. I encourage you to read and judge for yourself. But don’t just go through the motions, or you’ll be wasting your time. Read it with the most sincerity you can muster, even as a skeptic. You will find answers. You will have some more questions. Keep digging and you will continue to find new answers and new questions, each bringing you closer to Truth, and along the way you’ll come to realize that there was no greater pursuit in your entire life.

Playing to Win...or Not to Lose?

We know we are not to sin—it is succinctly the separation from God, apart from whom there is no life and is only death. We also know that we are to aspire to and desire righteousness. So is there a difference between not sinning and becoming righteous in God’s sight? Ultimately, they are the same and one cannot happen without the other. However, the difference, I believe, is attitude or approach. Athletes: it is the difference between playing to win a game or playing not to lose. Some may say, “what’s the difference?” Oh my, what a difference. Those of you who are conscientious athletes know exactly what I’m talking about. Teams that play not to lose indeed lose much more often than teams that play to win. I speak as an amateur athlete from childhood to present day, playing on numerous teams in multiple sports. From an individual perspective, this is seen in the difference between playing to help the team and playing not to make a mistake. Have you ever taken the field or court saying, “I just don’t want to screw up?” I can tell you what is just around the corner when those are your thoughts—you make that big mistake. I have lived it. Athletes or not, I think most of us see the analogy, but yet another example is in driving a vehicle: Have you ever tried to avoid the center-line on a road by continually staring at it? If you have, then you know what happens. Stare at it long enough, and you’ll find yourself gravitating toward the very thing you are trying to avoid! (you may be tempted to try it…but make sure there is no one on the road with you!) There is even a basic principle in racecar driving—look where you want the car to go and you’ll find yourself there. If you stare at the wall or barrier, you are going to hit it. (you need to glance at it or be aware of it in your peripheral vision, but you focus where you want the car to go and not the wall—or you will likely hit it sooner or later!)

So today we go out into the world, full of its temptations. How will we avoid them? How will we pursue righteousness that is oneness with God—opposite and mutually exclusive from sin? It seems noble to say, “I just don’t want to fall into temptation…or THAT temptation.” Well, stop thinking about it. Think about it only long enough to recognize it and your holy desire not to do it and to pursue righteousness. From there, our focus has to turn to the positive…or rather, the Positive. Only by looking toward what we want to be, only by looking to do good in God’s sight, only by “running for the prize” and “fighting the good fight” (1 Tim 1:18, 1 Tim 6:12, 2 Tim 4:7) will we be successful.

1 Cor 9:24-27 –
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Perhaps we begin by briefly acknowledging the terrible presence of sin and the holy desire to avoid it. But if you stare that sin in the face and dwell on it, living a life of fear, running from it, but not running toward anything or anyone in particular—you’ll find yourself right where you mind’s eye has been looking—in sin.

So how do we look to God? Number one, prayer. Prayer is an absolute focus on what is righteous and pure: God. Second, God’s Holy Word, the Bible. Read it and ponder it and find ways to apply it every single day. Find fellowship with other Christians with a shared focus on what is righteous. We are warriors together to fend off temptation, sin, treachery, and Satan himself, as well as advancing toward our goal and victory in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 6:11-12 – “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Examples of good things to refocus on, as well as “taking every thought captive:”

Phil 4:8-9 - “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

2 Cor 10:3-5 – “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Desire more than a life of sin avoidance—“we are more than conquerors in Christ.” Desire what that really means—salvation first, then righteousness shared in oneness with God and all those called sons of God (Gal 3:26-27, Rom 8:13-15, others).

Rom 8:35-39 – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

At this point, we realize that it is a constant journey toward God until we get to Heaven and perhaps we begin to stop looking for boundaries by aiming just this side of sin—“where is the line?” If we are asking this question, we have already strayed—do we want to know where the line is so we can stay as far away as possible or so we know how close we can get? Be honest with yourself. Knowing God’s principles and natural boundaries is necessary, but we must not aim for the edges of the road, for if we slip, we are already near the edge. Aim for the center! Would you drive on a mile-high cliff one inch from the edge? “No one in their right mind would do that—you’re crazy for suggesting it.” Am I? Many of us are so crazy in the way we live our lives! Adolescence is often the pinnacle of such an attitude, if you ask me. And there is much to learn from the necessary correction when overstepping our righteous boundaries—thank our Good Lord that He is so forgiving and loving. There is also a truth in saying that a line is only truly found by crossing it. Let’s not be so bent on finding the line—because that often includes crossing into sin. But as adults, let’s stop riding the edge—let’s look to aim for the center of righteousness.

This means that when we read something in the Bible that doesn’t make us comfortable or we don’t yet understand or sounds harsh—we don’t reject it because it is uncomfortable, resorting to the comfortable religion the world would have us accept—we search out its meaning whether individually or with other believers. “I know behavior A is a sin, and behavior C is not a sin…but what about behavior B in the middle?” Well, maybe behavior B is a sin or maybe it’s not—but how about aiming for the center of the road and engage in behavior C instead of behavior B until you have searched out God’s righteousness through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship? “For God is not the author of confusion, He is the author of all peace.” (1 Cor 14:33a) “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith” (James 1:5-6a) God loves it when we come to Him like this, for it is a child-like faith in Him, combined with an adult’s God-given faculties. I think we learn to love it, too. It is the essence of why Jesus says “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life,” (Matt 7:13-14) while also saying, “my yoke is easy, my burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30) Do these sound contradictory? They’re not. They speak to completely different aspects or dimensions of our walks. The road is narrow because it is the way of God Himself, perfect, which is impossible without His Holy Spirit. It’s the ultimate narrow road. Yet, walking it can be easy and a light burden through the Holy Spirit and loving relationship with Jesus. We just put one foot in front of the other, as Jesus takes us by the hand and the Holy Spirit guides us from inside our very bodies. Look to the center of the road and where we are going—Heaven and oneness with God and all believers—may you find the truth in the light burden and easy yoke of God in the pursuit of pure righteousness.

Thought for the day...

What if you lived as though you were the face of Christianity to those you encounter every day? As though they knew nothing of Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Would they be convicted to follow the god that they see you “following,” as shown by your behaviors? What if you were the example that would draw them to God or push them away? Because the fact is—you are that person. To many—most you don’t even realize—you are the face of Christianity, the most real example of a Christian and how one behaves. Are you representing God or misrepresenting Him? We are not perfect, but it would be better not to be known as a Christian than to confuse others by calling ourselves Christians yet behaving otherwise—by claiming Christianity and not living it. But it’s more than just not misrepresenting God—it’s a supreme opportunity to represent Him and have an eternal impact on a human in need. Once you call yourself a Christian, there is only one choice and obligation—live that choice and show Christ to the world so that they may not be confused, but would experience our true God of love, grace, forgiveness, compassion, and pure righteousness. They will feel a natural pull toward an unknown God—you can help them know who He is. If you’re not helping, you’re hurting…Jesus said, “He who is not for me is against me.” (Matt 12:30)

As I read Brother Andrew’s words about Muslims in the book Secret Believers, I am struck with conviction of how our immoral society is perceived by the Muslim world (and others). The Muslim world, though misguided, is predominantly a very moral world—they stand strong on many moral ideals that are good in themselves. Furthermore, they don’t recognize a difference between church and state—whatever they see in the media, TV, and movies about “the West” they consider to be representative of Christians…but that is such a terrible picture to paint. And even those of us who separate ourselves from traditional American immoral activity—what are we doing to show true Christianity? Because just abstaining from immoral activity isn’t enough if our stand is not seen by non-believers. And the Bible says that we are not to have “even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” (Eph 5:3). Can you say that you don’t have even a hint of that? I cannot. So I have work to do…and it grieves me that every single day Muslims, Atheists, and many others are driven even further away by the behaviors of this nation…behaviors sometimes seen in me. It has to change. I have to change…we have to change.

What will we do with this conviction? Will we do anything, or just sit on the sidelines another day, another week, another month, another year…our entire lifetimes? Every day, over 25,000 people die in China alone (verified). Over 150,000 people die all over the world every day, including nations where Christianity is banned—how many of them were Christians? We can’t waste one day…