For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

I can’t remember how many times I have read this verse over my lifetime, but this time I have seen something I have never seen in it before – the righteousness of God is revealed from “faith to faith.”

Hebrews 11 is known as the Faith Chapter of the Bible. Many people of the Old Testament are listed as having a faith that God was pleased with. If you have not already read this chapter, please take the time to read and absorb it.

Verse 6 of the same chapter says that “without faith it is impossible to please him…”

I have never thought of it in this way, but since faith pleases God it makes perfect sense that He will relate to His Children in this way. God is omniscient and omnipresent, so He can be everywhere, hear every prayer, and meet every need all at the same time.

He sees the big picture of how everything fits together and knows exactly who He wants to use for particular tasks. When He chooses YOU for something, it is because He knows you are capable of handling it and are the best person suited for the job.

When  God tells us to do something that is way out of our comfort zone, most of us tend to look at all our faults, flaws, and  shortcomings and tell Him that He must have picked the wrong person because we can’t imagine that we would ever be capable of doing something of such a great magnitude.

From my own experience, I have found that the times of my greatest growth are the ones where I have been the most out of my comfort zone. I know I can trust God with my life even if I don ‘t always know the direction He is taking me for a time.

So when you have completed one task of faith, He has another one for you to start. The next time you feel you are being stretched to the faith limit, remember that is how you grow as a Christian. Then remember that God wants to stretch and grow you so that you can be used for His Glory. When you think of it that way, faith doesn’t seem quite so hard.

It is a simple matter of believing that what God has said will come to pass. Try it and see how your life changes for the better.

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It is not always an easy thing to run the Christian race victoriously, and sometimes it is even downright hard. God doesn’t always tell you to do things that are popular or fun, but expects you to walk in obedience to His direction.

It is walking in this kind of obedience that you start to see the REAL Character of God. And as I have started to do that more and more, I don’t want to go back to the way I used to be even if what He tells me to do is hard.

I Corinthians 9: 24-27

24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible.

26. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I not as one that beateth the air.

27.But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

In I Corinthians 9, Paul is talking here about running a race. He gives a comparison to athletes who train for the Olympic races in Greek and Rome. He talks about how disciplined they must become if they expect to win. Even today’s Olympians start training right after one Olympics for the next one four years away. They have rigid diets and exercise programs and do a lot of self-sacrifice for their dream of winning the gold medal.

When Paul told them “run that ye may obtain,” he meant seize, possess, take eagerly, apprehend to win. To obtain means to have your eye on winning at all times, not just placing second, third, or barely making it through the race.

Paul says that the athletes competed for their own glory. They received a crown made of vines that would eventually dry up and die. They would eventually be forgotten even if they were the greatest in their time, but things done for The Kingdom of God will last forever.

Verse 26 – The boxers warmed up for their fight by punching the air with their gloves. They didn’t have a contender so it looked like they were thrashing around not getting anything done. Paul wanted to use this particular phrase of “beateth the air” to get his point across.

Verse 27 – “keep under my body” means to strike under the eye with the fist, make the eye black and blue, to treat with harshness, severity, or cruelty; to subject oneself to self-denial and rigid discipline that all the corrupt passions might be removed

subjection – to reduce to slavery, subdue an enemy, to conquer, to obtain complete victory over

So Paul was telling the Corinthians that it is no small feat to obtain and keep the victory over Satan for the Christian life. It takes discipline and self-restraint to live a life that is holy before God. You can’t just go along with the crowd and expect to be victorious. You must take a stand and make the appropriate sacrifices just like an athlete who wants to win the gold medal. They have their eye on a very real prize at the end of their hard years of training just like the Christian who can look forward to the prize of living a victorious life here on earth with the ultimate prize of Heaven.

Even though I am not overweight, I still have to watch what I eat. I don’t know about you, but many times I want to eat even when I am not hungry. I will stand in front of the cupboard and try to find something, which usually ends up being junk food.

In the United States junk food is everywhere and very easy to obtain, so I have to make an effort to eat a balanced diet each day. It is easy to grab something quick rather than take the time to make a healthy dish that would be much better for my body in the long run.

After a few years of struggling with this issue off and on, God started to reveal to me that I need to take much more seriously the words of I Corinthians 6: 19-20:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

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I have no idea what areas of your life need to be kept “under your body” and in “subjection,” but God knows every detail and what He wants to do to help you win the prize and receive an incorruptible crown. Ask Him to show you areas in your life that need to be brought into subjection and determine to go forward with Him even if it makes you uncomfortable. God has your best interest in mind with everything He wants to accomplish in your life.

Don’t stand in His Way!

I took some time to really study the first five verses of John 15 and listed the meaning of each key word in another website I have called Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living . Please take the time now to click on the link in the previous sentence and study these verses as I did.

I have realized that in the past I have only partially understood what the Bible talks about as “abiding.” Jesus is the one and only true vine and it is the job of the Father to take care of and defend the branches on the vine so they will produce the best fruit.

The vine, or main stalk, yields the proper juice and nourishment to all the branches, whether large or small, but all the nourishment must pass through the vine first.

Some of the branches might be very large but not producing much fruit and sheltering other smaller branches so they cannot grow well. These large branches still receive nourishment even though they don’t produce much fruit, but they absorb a lot of energy from the rest of the vine that smaller branches could use that are already producing fruit. For this reason God must prune as much as is necessary and needful in order to keep the vine healthy, even if it means cutting off some large branches.

For much of my life I have looked at pruning as a bad thing, or felt that God was punishing me for something I either did or didn’t do; but as I have started to really understand these verses I see that God only has my best interest in mind when He changes things or cleans up my life in certain areas. Sometimes I am not even aware that I need to change, and I might have a large branch in my life that I think is important, but in actuality is covering a smaller branch that God wants to grow and develop further. His job is to continually tweak and purge the branches so they give off the sweetest fruit.

To truly abide in the vine is to become united with Christ in every area of your life: your interests, desires, and feelings.

It is a union of friendship, love and dependence; a union of weakness with strength; of imperfection with perfection; of a dying nature with a living Savior; of a lost sinner with an unchanging Friend and Redeemer.  (Barnes Study Notes)

Verse 4 starts out “Abide in me, and I in you…”

The Greek meaning of this verb means to remain as one, not to become another or different and is in the Imperative Mood, which expresses a command to the hearer to perform a certain action by the order and authority of the one commanding (Jesus.)

So Jesus commands His Children to get to know Him so intimately that total obedience and dependence are a natural way of life.

The vine itself sends out juices and sap in accordance with the growth and fruitfulness of the branch. So the tighter you are connected to the vine, the sweeter and better the fruit you will bear.

The next time you feel you are being pruned, don’t think of it as a bad thing like I have done in the past. Think about it in the context that God loves you so much that He doesn’t want you to be just a ho-hum, boring Christian. He wants to get rid of the things that are weighing you down, and replace them with ones that are productive and will bring glory to His Kingdom.

What a way to live! You certainly won’t lead a boring life!

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In Ephesians 5: 2, Paul describes the crucifixion of Christ as an offering and sacrifice that was a “sweet smelling savour” to God.

If anyone comes into a room wearing perfume, it is immediately picked up by the nostrils. From that point, the nose decides if it is a wonderful, delicious smell or one that is loud, irritating to the eyes, and obnoxious. Either way, the smell of the perfume quickly permeates the room and for a few seconds your thoughts are completely absorbed with it.

God gave to Moses rules the Israelites must follow when they brought the sacrifice for their sin before God. If they did not follow these rules, the sacrifice would not be pleasing to Him and things would not bode well for that person who presented it. God meant business when it came to the Israelites walking in obedience to Him because He had miraculously brought them out of Egypt and fed and cared for them each day for many years.

I Samuel 15: 22

Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

Even the smartest person has a very small mind when compared to the All-Powerful God who created the universe and everything in it. No human has the potential to see the “whole scope of things” and how everything will fit together to bring about the plans of God.

He has an awesome and unique plan for your life that will make it a “sweet smelling savour” to God’s nostrils.

God wants your complete obedience  - NOT a religious act, doing the same old same old humdrum stuff, doing things in the same way and knowing it doesn’t work but doing it anyway because you don’t know anything else to do.

He wants you to walk with Him each day and be prepared to do what He says. Believe me, just doing this will make your life ENORMOUSLY more productive in doing things that really count for the Kingdom of God.

He will continually amaze you at the things He is able to accomplish through you if you let Him. After you get a taste of doing things His Way, your old way of doing things won’t seem so appealing any more.

A young lady named Sally, relates an experience she had in a

seminary class, given by her teacher. She says that

Dr. Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons.

One particular day, Sally walked into the seminary and knew they

were in for a fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were

many darts. Dr. Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone that

they disliked or someone who had made them angry, and he would allow

them to throw darts at the person’s picture.

Sally’s friend drew a picture of who had stolen her boyfriend.

Another friend drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a

picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of detail into her

drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Sally was pleased with the

overall effect she had achieved.

The class lined up and began throwing darts. Some of the

students threw their darts with such force that their targets were

ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with

disappointment when Dr. Smith, because of time limits, asked the

students to return to their seats. As Sally sat thinking about how angry

she was because she didn’t have a chance to throw any darts at her

target. Dr. Smith began removing the target from the wall.

Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A hush fell over

the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and

jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced.

Dr. Smith said only these words…. ‘In as much as ye have done

it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.’

Matthew 25:40.

No other words were necessary; the tear filled eyes of the

students focused only on the picture of Christ.

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It is very easy to let your entire focus be consumed by how someone else has wronged you, or maybe even what they haven’t done that might have been the right thing to do in a situation that concerned you.

Satan knows that if he can make you dwell on the shortcomings of others, you won’t have much time to allow God to use you for furthering His Kingdom Work.

At some point, other people may disappoint you in some way that you might never understand their motive. It is certainly not in our fleshly nature to naturally forgive someone who has wronged us, especially when it was not something we feel we deserved.

Our natural fleshly self wants to dwell on it for hours or even days or months. We don’t want to rest until we have had retribution in some form, but God has a completely different way of doing things.

You must look at things from His perspective. He only desires the very best for your life, and wants to use you in an awesome way to further His Kingdom work. It is for this reason that God gave the Bible to every Christian as an instruction book on how to be able to live the best life possible.

Each Christian is responsible for making sure they follow the guidelines set forth in the Bible. For example, God tells us very clearly that we have no choice but to forgive others if we intend to stay in fellowship with Him. Our flesh speaks very loudly that this could never be the right thing to do because then the other person will never have to pay for what they have done if we don’t make them.

But God comes back and tells us in His Word that a person will always reap what they have sown. They will always pay in some way for what they have done so God wants you to leave all that to Him and concentrate on what He wants you to do.

Living in the flesh makes you a miserable person, but following God’s plan will bring peace, joy, and fulfillment. I know it is hard to believe that the act of forgiveness could cause such a drastic change in your life, but you just have to try it to see the dramatic results.

If you are concentrated on God, you will start to see Him work in ways that will astound you. It will be hard to believe what He can accomplish through your life if you will let Him.

You can’t forgive on your own, but all you have to do is ask Him to help you and truly mean what you say. God will take it from that point on and you can truly be on the road to living a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment no matter where you have been in the past.

Don’t throw darts any longer at the person who hurt you. Make the choice to forgive and let God handle the rest of the story…

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Romans 6: 14 – For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

For – gar – a primary particle; properly assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensification; often with other particles)

sin – hamartia – offence, sin

shall not – ou – a primary word; the absolutely negative

have dominion over you – kurieuo – to rule, have dominion over, lord, be lord of, exercise lordship over; of things and forces to exercise influence upon, to have power over

indicates the contemplated or certain occurrence of an event which has not yet occurred (future tense.)

Indicative Mood – a simple statement of fact. An action that is occurring now, has already, or will in the future

This verse makes a huge statement. If you have asked Jesus to come into your heart I’m sure you will still be tempted just as He was when living on the earth, but God has given you the power to have victory over Satan and the temptation that he is trying to destroy you with. You don’t have to give in even if Satan is putting immense amounts of pressure on you.

God has given you His power to have the victory but you must walk in that power and know and understand the promises of the Bible. Satan knows them very well and plans his attacks carefully and methodically to achieve maximum results in your life. He will sometimes wait years for just the right moment to bring you down in a huge way.

Child of God, stand on and claim this verse with everything in you because sin absolutely cannot have power over you unless you give it approval. You will be tempted but you can boldly ask God to come to your aid because you are standing on His Word and claiming it with your whole heart.

Stand on the promises of God and let Him help you defeat the enemy Satan!

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Twice a year they send teams in to check on the kids and do preventive health maintenance. If they have a minor health problem, they are given medicine to treat it. Otherwise they are given vitamins and a worm pill to keep them healthy.

Each day was long as we saw several hundred kids, but even though I was tired each night I felt good. I think the children blessed me much more than I could have ever blessed them. They lived in worse conditions than us, yet they all had a ready smile on their face and wanted to interact with us even though we couldn’t speak the same language. When we drove down the road they would wave, smile and yell as we drove by.  We got a huge joy out of waving back to them. I found out that you can communicate quite a bit even if you don’t speak the same language.

Of course their customs are much different than ours in the United States, and many of them I think they have right and we are the ones who need to change. At 6:30 each morning several Haitian adults came to our compound for a Bible study. Most of it was not translated because the person leading it wanted it to continue to be about them instead of us. We were to be observers and learn from them.

They came into the room with only one thing in mind – to study the Bible and understand as much as they could about the passage they would read that morning. They didn’t fellowship, laugh, or talk about anything once they came into the room. They were intent on worshiping and learning about God.

One of the men brought a guitar and played and led some worship choruses. We recognized some of the music and sang along with our English words. Then they started in a certain place in the Bible and read a whole chapter. I couldn’t help but notice how intent everyone was in paying attention to the words being read aloud. Everyone did not own a Bible, but the ones who did seemed to treasure it. They would treat it very carefully and some were placed in plastic bags so they would not get dusty or dirty.

After the chapter was read, they had a chance to ask questions about anything they didn’t understand. Each day they asked enough questions to fill the hour, with more waiting to be answered. What an intense hunger they had for the WORD!

The Word of God is truly a treasure and more valuable than diamonds for the Child of God. It is His instruction book to show us how to live a victorious life for Him. We all make a choice each 24 hours as to how we will fill the valuable time we have been allotted.

Make the study of God’s Word a priority each day. God has so much He wants to show you and He wants to change your life for the better. Ask Him to give you an intense hunger to study His Word and treasure it like those Haitians did. I came back extremely tired and it took me several days to catch up on sleep, but I have asked God to change me and mold me into a vessel that can be used for His Glory. What an awesome way to live life to the fullest each day!

Isn’t it amazing that we as humans can fall into a rut so quickly, even if we don’t like our situation? The most important thing seems to be that we get into a routine and feel comfortable about our lives. Most of us detest even the slightest change as we feel it throws us completely off balance.

Even though deep down we know we can’t control outward things that might happen, we convince ourselves that as long as our life stays in the same unchanging rut, we have complete control over our little corner of the world.

The problem with that way of thinking is that many Christians have put God in a box and expect Him to conform to their way of thinking and bless whatever they decide to do.

God will never be able to work in our lives the way He desires as long as we have this way of thinking.

Even though it is a scary thing to step out into the unknown and trust God to lead you down a road where you can’t always see what the end result will be, that is the way He desires you to live if you are His Child. After all, He is God and always has everything under control down to the smallest detail. He already knows everything you will face in the future, where He desires to lead you, and He can see the road clearly when the fog threatens to completely envelop you and you can’t see to even take a baby step.

If you can learn to trust God in that way, you won’t be paralyzed with fear to step out into the unknown. He knows your strengths, weaknesses, and limitations much better than you ever could, and from His perspective all you can do is be victorious if you will trust Him.

When He tells you to do something, He doesn’t expect you to do it in your own power or with your own abilities. He wants you to lean on and trust Him to work through you, so you should never be afraid to trust Him with every area of your life. He loves you more than any other person ever could and only wants the best for you in every way.

Don’t stay in that “comfort zone” any longer. It WILL be scary at first, but God will meet you exactly where you are now and make you into the person He can use for His Glory.

Don’t spend another minute being ORDINARY when God wants to do something EXTRAORDINARY in your life. All you have to do is take the first step and walk in His Power instead of your own.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

We use the excuse that we don’t have a degree in theology or Bible, or the Pastor is the one who is supposed to make sure we know these things. There is no possible way he can do that in a couple of hours a week. You must read and study the Word for yourself – then if you have any questions you should ask your pastor or another mature Christian to explain what you don’t understand.

If you don’t really know the truth, it will be easy for Satan to make you believe a lie. Usually he will give you just enough truth to make you think that everything he says is the truth.

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If we sometimes looked a little more to the connection of sentences, we should be kept from very dangerous errors. The Bible ought to be treated in conformity with common sense, as you would use any other book. If you took the writings of any author, however carefully he might express himself, if you picked out a sentence here and a sentence there, [you] might make the man to say what he never believed; nay, even make him to be the supporter of opinions which he abhors. So it is with the Bible: if you pay no regard to the connection and general run of the passage, you miss the mind of the Spirit of God, and rather thrust your own mind into God’s words than bring out God’s mind from the words of the Holy Ghost.

From a sermon entitled “Working Out What Is Worked In,” delivered July 12, 1868.

The Daily Spurgeon

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No matter what version of the Bible you read, you will never truly be able to understand it without the Holy Spirit opening your mind, comprehension, and ears to hear the real truth – not just the truth as you have always perceived it to be.

If you don’t read the Bible with the determination that you want to know the truth, your mind will filter the parts that make you uncomfortable, telling you that the changes you need to make are far beyond your grasp or helping you justify why you don’t need to change.

*  If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, make it a point to read the Bible for a few minutes each morning. You can start out with 5 or 10 minutes, asking the Holy Spirit to show you truths that you have never seen before. It won’t take long for you to look at the Bible differently. It will change your life to the point that you will never want to go back to where you were before.

Don’t let Satan make you believe the lie that the Bible is boring or just an old fashioned irrelevant book that is out of date for today’s times. Its Words are life, health, and well-being for the one who reads it and applies its words to their life.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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23 Elements of the Lord’s Prayer

1. Relationship: Our Father

2. Recognition: which art in heaven

3. Adoration: hallowed be thy name

4. Anticipation: Thy kingdom come

5. Consecration: Thy will be done

6. Universality: in earth

7. Conformity: as it is in heaven

8. Supplication: Give us

9. Definiteness: this day

10. Necessity: our daily bread

11. Penitence: And forgive us

12. Obligation: our debts

13. Forgiveness: as we forgive

14. Love and mercy: our debtors

15. Guidance: And lead us

16. Protection: not into temptation

17. Salvation: but deliver us

18. Righteousness: from evil

19. Faith: For thine is the kingdom

20. Humility: and the power

21. Reverence: and the glory

22. Timelessness: for ever

23. Affirmation: Amen

NOTE:

The first 3 petitions of the prayer make 7 points concerning God

The last 4 petitions make 16 points concerning man

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word