What Is Your Will In Christ?

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments ." Exodus 20:4-6 (NKJ) (Bold emphasis mine) I found myself pondering my unworthiness recently - a trap that I lay for myself without forethought, intention or plan. It has no profit but to remind me of God's immeasurable grace to myself and to all in spite of the depth of unworthiness to be found among every one of us - if the past trail of our lineage and history were still held against us. In my own case our God has shown me a full measure of grace to cover a wealth of shortcomings and regrets over a number of hard years. The thi...

- biblehub.com "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, w ho walk in the law of the  Lord !  Blessed   are   those who keep His testimonies,  who seek Him with the whole heart!  They also do no iniquity;  They walk in His ways.  You have commanded   us t o keep Your precepts diligently.  Oh, that my ways were directed  to keep Your statutes!  Then I would not be ashamed, w hen I look into all Your commandments.  I will praise You with uprightness of heart, w hen I learn Your righteous judgments.  I will keep Your statutes;  Oh, do not forsake me utterly!" Psalm 119:1-8 (NKJ) A few things that you might find interesting... ALEPH is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the study of ALEPH is fascinating due to its rich meaning and usage in Jewish teaching and as God Himself has used it in reference to Himself (our "Alpha"). As I learned in my Christian high school studies it's also the letter heading...

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil."   Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NKJ) Just my thoughts... I've heard arguments used by pagans, other godless people ... and even some Christians to justify the existence and harmlessness of habits and traditions in modern culture over the years. Some offer references to the age of them vs. Christian teachings and celebrations and the shadows cast against the motives of "the church" that some hold suspect for adopting a particular date or time of year for its celebrations, etc.. So many arguments and excuses for reasoning the insertion of compromise or defiance into what God has declared to be otherwise. At the end of the day though, none of that matters to me as I think about any of man's traditions, celebrations, habits or ... basically anything. And I doubt very...

" My soul, wait silently for God alone , for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people;  Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah"   Psalm 62:5-8 (NKJ) I've come to a point of personal conviction, that as God's believers, any real reason that we might have for fear in our lives as we travel through this world could be directly connected  to the diligence and sincerity given to our obedience and submission to the God who created us for His own purposes. I'm saying this in reference to the level and quantity of threats that we encounter and the number of possible mountains that we may face to climb as we pass through this place. I believe that at times, in spite of what God desires for us, we likely tie His hands with our compromise, disobedience, feigned sub...

"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."   1 Timothy 1:15-17 (NKJ) If you know much about the life of Paul through scripture, you know how incredibly much the Holy Spirit revealed to Him to share with us, how God used him, and how faithfully Paul served Christ even through hardship and terrible trials. So when Paul said of himself that he is the chief of sinners ... many of us likely sat up and paid attention. What would cause a man who confessed Christ so boldly in the face adversity, spoke the truth of God, and taught it so eloquently, to speak himself so harshly? I believe that it's quite s...

I know that my position here may not be popular on it's face at first, but I think it could be most revealing of where some hearts are - even my own, by the response that it evokes... I think it's possible that we're all partly responsible for the chaos and darkness that is constantly swirling around in the digital tornado that is the constantly hammering news these days. While we may not have contributed to it directly by our own actions, it's a good bet that we may have contributed to it by our own inaction. Where does the true power to change things come from? And who is our best example to follow in this life? Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35 (NKJ) "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Luke 6:12 (NKJ) "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought ...

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:19 (NKJ) It's a recurring event throughout human history - that we seem shocked when evil suddenly allows itself to be exposed, ... but it's not something new. Darkness has been lurking in the shadows waiting to leap out and strike fear where it can for as longs as time itself has existed. In fact, evil exposed itself even before that through Lucifer, but in terms of human history, its appearance was recorded very near the beginning of time. Lets not forget... "Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him."   Genesis 4:8 (NKJ) We shouldn't be surprised by evil's sudden reappearance when it does, but somehow we are. It's not as though it ever left and then suddenly returned. It...

" Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: "Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. "Now therefore, our God, we thank You And praise Your glorious name."  1 Chronicles 29:10-13 (NKJ) Sometimes I have random thoughts that evolve from my core understandings, study and experience with our Lord. Occasionally they come to the surface and continue to weigh on my mind until I write them out. This is one of those times. If you belong to Christ, I have some thoughts intended to give  a little pause for a moment ... Understanding that as the bride of Christ, our l...

"... The problem is we might forget that in the grand scheme of things (namely eternity),  we have about five seconds on earth to make our lives count ..." - Louie Giglio, Pastor of Passion City Church, Founder of Passion Conferences. I think some of us have a vision problem... ... Depending on the individual severity, the number of symptoms and their effects   due to Persistently Recurring Human Myopia  can vary greatly, but some of us definitely have a vision problem. Some are fooled into embracing this life as though it's the life that God intends for us, but it's not. And some may forego the life eternal in favor of it and its perishing passions instead of recognizing the true power, passion and plan of The God who created  heaven and earth and everything in them. His plan for us is invested in a life beyond this one, but the choice to hear Him and submit to that plan is ours. "  ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, a nd there is no God besides Me;  I kill a...

"For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the Lord, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.  Isaiah  45:18-19 (NKJ) To have hope - not the hope that this world offers in all of its festering, decomposing,  glory -  but the true hope found in Christ Jesus, is to possess the greatest everlasting hope to be found in all of this universe and beyond, along with all of the wealth of heaven. "And again, Isaiah says:  “There shall be a root of Jesse;  and He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, i n Him the Gentiles shall hope.”  Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in ...