What Is Your Will In Christ?

A lot is said among Christians about the love of God and it's true that we can rest assured that His love surpasses the attempts to describe it... Ephesians 3:18-19 (NLT) 18 "And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully." In fact, beginning to understand the truth about His love opens the door to deeper relationship with Him for many. But it also opens another mystery for understanding to grasp... 1 John 4:7-8 (NLT) 7 "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love ." I have no argument with the truth regarding the love of our God or the truly indisputable fact that He is indeed love. If it were not true we would now all be condemned to a horror ...

As followers of Christ, we know that marriage vows are w ords that should be carefully considered and soberly spoken as a lifelong contract - a holy covenant acknowledged by God that is truly fulfilled only by living it out - a vow recorded as sworn before Him and binding... Numbers 30:1-2 (NLT) 1 "Then Moses summoned the leaders of the tribes of Israel and told them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: 2 A man who makes a vow to the LORD or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. He must do exactly what he said he would do." To say the words alone, without the true promise of an enduring commitment, without the full intent of fully engaged and sustained relationship for the full span of a lifetime allowing the potential possibilities of life and living them out, is an empty use of them... and provides for offense. We have interest and concern for our own feelings, thoughts and needs and are intimately familiar with ourselves. As followers of Christ, we unde...

The social world pulse presently calls for the pursuit of many, many things and the pressure to succeed in all of those prescribed efforts is intense...  For a time the enemy of our souls has been allowed to orchestrate a limited opposition against mankind in the world and has a certain amount of success where he's able to exploit human weakness.  According to the relentless assault of advertisements in every form of venue humanly possible, mankind himself has made an incredible effort to assist his own enemy in his attempted conquest. We must be this, look like that, wear this, have that, live here, travel there, drive that, drink this, eat that,... possess... achieve... enjoy... do... love... ... ... idolize anything other than our Creator and Judge. And it obviously works or the drumbeat we're constantly subjected to would collapse under its own weight.  If the advertising didn't pay off, there'd be no point to advertising. But it does pay off, to more benefici...

My life is in some part a history of past failures. It's record contains a variety of moments when decisions, words and actions made in the past brought home their own foretold reward. But as I move forward to navigate what remains of this life, there's one mistake I refuse to make and it breaks my heart to think that I may be watching some others making it... Sometimes in ignorance and others in unthinking disregard, some of my decisions, words and actions in those past moments have run counter to the wealth of wisdom contained in the grace of biblical scripture. A nd each of those occasions in prophetically declared certainty, whether in immediate or eventual reward, has often carried with it a knowable price.  Living in conflict with what we've been instructed biblically often brings a knowable and certain cost to our lives. The details and particulars of that cost in some instances may not be clear to us in how they will play out, but the burden of a price is most u...

We're followers of Christ living in a world of growing offense and degradation. It's all around us and it's sometimes hard for some of us to not allow ourselves to be influenced by it. It's one of the things that a tender heart can struggle with the most in a world inhabited by insensitive, self promoting and apathetic people. But it's a tender, loving heart that we find in our Savior. And it's one that we come to recognize and love even more immeasurably with every new revelation of His kindness and grace as we grow in relationship with Him. It's a heart that we're continually drawn to and that we're continually seeking to emulate as we come to know Him better in a world that's not moving in that same direction...  In this world we're swimming upstream against the current and sometimes it can be rough going, but keeping who we're swimming toward and our end destination in sight continually can help keep propelling us forward even in ...

The Lord's given the ability to utilize reason to mankind and it's a useful tool in resolving problems and formulating conclusions. We use it commonly and possibly without much consideration to it's usefulness or even how often we use it. But as followers of Christ, a problem with the usefulness of that ability to reason arises when it comes in conflict with the divine authority of the God that created us. For example, our own reasoning can become a dangerous tool when allowed to be manipulated by the enemy or when reason is allowed to depart from the established decrees and declarations of the Ultimate Authority (E.g.- Adam and Eve and the Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil). In one definition - the one most applicable to my thoughts here, Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "reason" as follows: reason verb "the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking especially in orderly rational ways : INTELLIGENCE" Above all that we could possibly ...

I've seen a fair number of Christmas Days come and pass into the cataloged history of my days. And in the passing of each one, I've learned with growing experience to look forward to the next with  mounting expectation. As the day we mark to celebrate Christ's birth slowly approaches, my anticipation begins to rise in the hope that I'll find that expectation met. But in my building excitement and watchful search, I'm not looking for what some might assume... As a young boy, I was the son of a carpenter with big dreams who struggled at times to support his family and a gifted, hardworking mother who worked tirelessly and creatively to meet the needs of our household. There were good times, celebrated with what seemed to us rare luxury at the time, yet were in reality the kind of things that many might take for granted and wouldn't give any notice or any real significance to. There were also meaner, lean times when the struggle to fill the gap of need meant wo...

We who follow Christ are not perfect in our efforts, but humbled by grace and broken hearted by the undeserved mercy of a holy and omnipotent, yet merciful God, we've come to know with certainty who our anchor and our mooring line are... Hebrews 6:17-20 (NLT)  17 "God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 18 So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 19 This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 20 Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek." In an unguarded moment, subject to the frailty and weakness of our flesh, we might find ourselves moved...

The world may seemingly close in around us and the skies grow threateningly darker, but this illusion does not give us cause for despair. Because as darkness seemingly grows, the light of heaven grows brighter and the God who reigns sovereign and omnipotent does not change in His tender and jealous passion, nor His mercy for His children.  Where WE walk, ... darkness fears to tread! We are not victims as darkness in its deception may try to convince us, but in truth, unshakable conquerors that terrify darkness when we walk firmly in Christ. As God is immovable and unshakable, so we are as we reside in HIM. The trials and circumstances of our brief moments do not change what is forever true - that which God has already declared! So stand firm, walk with the confidence of your identity and inheritance through Christ and let your faith grow over the distance of your travels with the One who's already long secured your victory.  1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NLT) "13...

I claim no advantage over any other in Christ. My purpose is only to provoke gainful thought and hopeful promotion of my brothers and sisters in Christ toward Him as we journey together... I'm well convicted that we can create barriers between ourselves and the object of our holiest desire as we claim to seek to follow Christ, by ignoring, discounting or flat out deliberately disobeying the rules and instructions that our God has sovereignly laid before us. However we may do it - even if it's in undisciplined ignorance, I believe that we take a step backward away from the source of our blessing and grace, while claiming to move ahead in other areas, when we trod over what God has declared to us. What He's declared, He's made available to us in His kindness, so that we can know. Let's consider the subject of forgiveness... Unforgiveness is a prison. It can be a dark and desolate compound repellent to outside intervention, whose walls are often hardened to va...

Deuteronomy 6:4-  (NLT) 4 “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." As Moses began to lay out the Lord's decrees as he was directed and to stress the importance of them to a waiting Israel, he began with what was the most important imperatives on the Lord's own heart and mind. And among those things was this... Deuteronomy 6: 14 (NLT) “You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, 15 for the LORD your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God. His ange...

Self Discipline is a prerequisite to our mission of "following" Christ and an enabling power that begins to provide us with the ability to begin to live a  fruitful  life in submission to the ways of our God rather than a life lived in costly slavery to the inclinations and lusts of our short lived flesh. It's also a term that bears some feared connotation in a modern society that prides itself on a lack of boundaries and limitless opportunities for self indulgence and promotion.  But is all of the possible gratification of our flesh and lack of boundaries really satisfying to answer our purpose to have lived? Will it leave us personally with anything lasting when our days here are finished? Does it really satisfy that inescapable inner longing to belong to, and to be a part of something greater? That deep, subtle, yet persistently nagging longing is the eternal call of the God who created us.  It's a call that undeniably requires a response and one that reside...

Matthew 12:35-37 ( NLT ) 35 "A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” What do a man's words say about his heart? What do your words say about you? My words aren't always perfect. I'll readily admit my flaws and imperfection and am continually grateful for the Lord's grace. But as the work of His transforming me continues, I become ever more conscious of my words. If the words that come from our mouths identify the content of our heart, how very important it is to take care in what we say...  Thankfully, as we draw nearer to witness Christ's perfection, we become more aware of our own imperfections and find Him ready to work in us as we're willing to confess our weakness and really surrender ou...