What Is Your Will In Christ?

 I'm struggling with something that bore down on me this morning. It's something that I may even be guilty of and I sincerely hope not...  This morning I ran across a post on social media from a Christian site that merely quoted Isaiah 58:8 and nothing else:  “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind." (NLT) (They quoted it from KJ) I know that their intentions are good and I mean no offense, but God requires something prior to receiving the fruit of the promise. The word "Then" alludes to it. The prior verses are worth searching out in order to avoid setting up false expectation and disillusionment in people looking to God for hope and the much needed fulfillment of the promise. See what I mean... “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the opp...

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Revelation 4:11 (KJ) If I could ask you one question and receive an honest answer it might be this:  What reality are you serving with the life you've been given? It might seem an odd question, especially without further explanation, but the fact is that it's a question worthy of some honest introspection - some inward examination and thoughtful consideration.  The answers one might receive could vary widely based on who the question is posed to in the world at large, but for the true Christ follower, ... there should only be one. I'm sometimes challenged personally by the things that I write. And as odd as that may seem, I know that at times the things that I write about are based on things that the Lord brings to my own personal attention through His efforts to further conform me to His image. As I take stock of my ...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 (NLT) Have you ever stopped to consider everything in your life - what you have, what you do, what you use, what you value, and then challenged yourself to trace it to its true origin - to its raw beginning?  Everything we see, hear, feel, - everything, that affects our senses, has a root component. Tracing its parts to the rawest of composition will bring one who believes what God has said to a humble conclusion. As much as man may pride himself on this thing or that, there's not one thing that can't be traced back to something that God provided, not one root component that Omniscient God didn't bless us with in creation, not one effort that God did not provide strength or talent for, and not one living thing that God did not give life to ... including the man who boasts of his accomplishment. The man who builds a house does so with materials and components derived from what God provided, with ...

The hearts and minds of so many are pulled in differing directions with the distractions, conflicts and trappings of life in our current era. So I'd like to take a moment to   once again  bring to the forefront an issue of eternal significance that out weighs all of our temporal concerns and gives it a proper place in importance. We've passed the month and day that we as Christ followers set out as the season of special thanks that we offer to God, so we now turn our attention to another observance that we hold - the season of expectation around the birth of Christ. These days we might begin to think about Christmas weeks or even months in advance and find ourselves caught up in the preparations and busyness that we might include during the days leading up to the day we celebrate the observance of the King's arrival. I think though, that if we allow those things to overshadow any of the things that were happening leading up to His appearance and His birth among us over 2000...

God's call to relationship has been gracious and patient, His heartfelt gifts too numerous to count and not the least among them, the life of His own son has been presented for our redemption to Himself - the offering of His own great heart at great personal cost in pursuit of His bride. Who will count themselves void and worthless to Him? Who will reject Him - to be forever driven from His presence and lost to His loving and eternally promising purpose? Good deeds alone won't save anyone. The perfunctory exercise of organized religion doesn't save anyone. In fact, some Pharisees had the habit of compliance to religion and the practice of gathering together and going through the motions for the sake of appearances. If we've done diligence to study scripture, we might know how Jesus felt about that - He rebuked them. What God wants from us is a true relationship - not just words, but true submission and interaction with Him.  There's only one way to begin - only one ...