What Is Your Will In Christ?

“For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’" Malachi 3:6-7 (NKJ) God's patience with mankind has been long suffering from the time of Adam in the Garden Of Eden, but it doesn't last forever. Not only will the age of mankind on this earth finally come to judgment as God has said, but every human being is subject to God's timing and plan for their individual life and may find their time cut well short of their own plans at any time. " The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terri...

As Easter approaches, I begin once again considering how our God sees our observance of an occasion as I always do and also what He might truly desire of us in observance above any of our trivial, man inspired traditions . What I come away with in firm conviction is the understanding that the most trivial of my sins, the least of my crimes against God, had the power to forever damn me in His judgment of me and send me into unending torment. And that knowing this one thing in truth and as reality, is key to my correct posture before God in honor of His purpose in the event. That key being the horror of knowing that the price of my very least sin was the shedding of my Christ Jesus' blood and His horrible suffering, because the reality of this brings the deep rending of my heart in awe and gratitude and it makes possible my true joy at the relief of my sentence because of what He has done. I believe this is a part of what God would desire from us in observance of Christ's death a...

"I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” John 12:46-50 (NLT) A lot is said these days about "judging", but in the midst of that popular societal buzz and the assertive comments that come with that conversation, I have a question: If God has called something sin and we simply agree with what He's said,... are we judging or just repeating and declaring the truth? When He walked the earth, Jesus spoke about judging and He pointed out the danger of our judging...  “Do not judge other...

"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me"...   Job 38:1-3 (NKJ) What follows here is my own opinion on some things that I consider vital to our lives and thinking as  true" Christians" after repeatedly reading the whole of both the Old and New Testaments and my own experience with The Lord over a number of years... There's a lack of understanding that is causing a defective viewpoint in some of what it means to be Christian and of what the scriptures are saying. And in my opinion it's due in part to a lack of diligence and also to a process formed on an incomplete understanding due to that same lack of diligence. For example, how about the idea of just repeating a few words and all-of-a-sudden magically becoming a Christ Follower - a Christian. I know that some may well be prepared to argue, but conside...

There's a message that continues to prey on my conscience, so I'll do my best to relate it here... Today's society of men and women is mainly consumed by any of a multitude of possible preoccupations. Money, power, fame, lusts, position, possessions, sport, pleasure and passions are some of the larger of the endless count of possibilities, but the message preoccupying my mind currently is that there should only be one primary preoccupation with only righteous others falling in line behind. That one overriding preoccupation on anyone's mind should be without question The God who gave us life and the reason why is simple. When our time in this life is over, there will only be one occupation that will have mattered because real "life" is not yet over and our condition from that point on in eternity will be determined by the same God that gave us life for a purpose that belongs to Him alone. "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any tw...

  ***  To the diligent faithful, I apologize in advance for what may seem somewhat redundant and potentially confrontational. It's not my goal to be either, but there may be some that this speaks to. And if it does, then my heart cries out for them to not only hear it, but to gain from it. *** The struggle for human achievement and notoriety is an old one. History is full of achievers and notable people and I'm not suggesting that it's necessarily a bad thing. But from a personal perspective, having invested a number of years in life so far I've come to a humbling, yet not defeating conclusion:  There's nothing that I have ever done and nothing that I could possibly do that would ever have the smallest chance of equaling what's already been done for me - the greatest example being Christ's sacrifice of course, but so much more well beyond that. Personal life fact: on a 1 - 10 scale of things that count in Father God's examination of my life, there are a ...

God's response to Job in the 38th Chapter of the Book Of Job has always helped reinforce my perspective and my respect for who God is - along with the rest of scripture of course.  "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me." “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened?Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" “Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here ...

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"   Numbers 23:19 (NKJ) I find myself struggling to refrain from speaking out straightforwardly about some subjects, given the emotional heights they invoke in me, but I've started wondering lately though if perhaps my hesitance might prove costly to anyone that might have otherwise been touched or forewarned. They might be caused to move in a truly positive direction if I had been more bold. Not only that, but I also fear how I might be held accountable for my timidity in the final accounting that is certain to come. So, self control being a fruit of The Spirit, I resolve to seek His fruitfulness in myself in earnest as I relate what troubles me here. At the height of my urgent concern I have an important question, one whose answer may well prove to alter the destination of some spirits passing from this life to the ne...