What Is Your Will In Christ?

"This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.""   Jeremiah 17:5-6 (NLT) Setting aside any potential New Year's resolutions we could make for a moment, what if we were to take a look at the underlying hope that we might be basing our lives on in the coming year. I think we do well to consider a personal resolution to get our core reliance figured out and maintain it continually if we're to have any true, underlying, undeniable, hope going forward. This because I believe that if we get that right, any righteous resolutions that we might make after, in agreement with Christ's heart and spirit, have a far better chance of succeeding and giving life to our own heart and spirit -filling our lives with the confidence, co...

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:8-14 (NKJ) As "Christ"mas approaches it usually finds me refreshing my knowledge and understanding of what I believe that it is that we as "Christ"ians should be celebrating in our observation of the event of Christ's birth. I do this in ...

Jesus speaking: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand."     Matthew 24:23-25 (NKJ) Over the years, this passage has brought me to consider carefully the potential of anyone to be deceived by the craftiness of the evil ones - craftiness that's been highly honed over the preceding millenia up to this point in time. To underestimate it or stand unguarded against it could leave one suffering undesirable consequence. What would it take to deceive the elect - the ones who should know to be on their guard - the ones who should know where to find the truth? Just how powerful would that kind of deception have to be? And are we in any way deceived already about anything relating to our God or about ourselves? How do we know?  I think the answers to those questions depend on a ...

“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...