60:200626

Being Tempted

[NIV] James 1:13/14 “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed”

   The bible tell us that ‘Temptation comes from 3 sources .. 1) from the devil [Adam & Eve sinned when they gave into temptation, also the devil temped Jesus Himself] .. 2) From the World .. 3)From our own evil, fallen hearts.

   It is a misconception among newly saved Christians, that all their temptations have all gone away. Then become disheartened when they find out their old temptations have not gone away. In fact your old temptations will always be part of your every day life whilst here on Earth. Before you become disheartened The Bible promises .. “God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear” (1 Corinthians 10:13) [NIV]

   Look at this way, God has given us His Gifts ~ Gracie's ~ Promises, and so much more besides. God will never leave us, to fen for ourselves, nor forsake us. Watch .. “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” [Psalm 23:4]


Prayer

Hallowed father God in Heaven, Strengthen us by your spirit, and help us to resist ‘ALL’ temptations. In the name of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray.

Amen

55:240621

Unfinished Life Building

“We are all Builders”

   We may not build any houses, or even Temples on a City street for human eyes to see, but everyone of us builds a fabric which God and His Angels see … Life is building … it rises slowly, day by day, down through the years. Every new life lesson is another brick, laid down with all the others. Every experience, every touch of another’s life on our, every influence that impresses us, every book we read, it’s every conversation we have, it’s every act of commonest days, adds something to the ‘invisible’ building. Not forgetting that sorrow too, has it’s place in preparing the stones to put life wall on, when in fact ‘ALL’ life furnishes the material for our builds.

#Our Today’s and yesterdays, are the blocks with which we build#

   There are many noble fabrics of Character reared in this World. But there are also many who would only low mean huts, void of beauty, which will be swept away in the testing fires of Judgment .. Malachi 3:2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire ” … there are many for whose life’s-work presents the spectacle of an unfinished building. These might have been a beautiful plans begin with, and work was promising for a time, but sadly work after a while was abandoned and just left standing with walls half built, a useless fragment of what it should have been, open and exposed to the elements, just an inglorious ruin telling no story. A moment of folly & failure, God sees them how we don’t. The highest tower may be more unfinished than the lowest to Him.

   We must try and forget that last sentence. There are lives which to our eyes only seem to have began, onlt to be abandoned, which to God’s eyes are still rising into more and more graceful beauty. Here is one who began His life’s work with all the ardour of youth and all the enthusiasm of a consecrated spirit. For a time his habd never tired, his energy never slackened , so much so friends expected great things from him …

# Then tragedy struck, his health gave way #

… the diligent hand lay folded now on his breast. His once enthusiasm no longer drives him, his work now lays unfinished, truly what a shame.

    But wait, he has not left an unfinished life’s-work as God sees it, he is resting in submission at the Masters feet, and is growing mean while as a Christian. The spiritual in his soul is rising slowly in the silence. Everyday is adding something to the beauty of his Character as he learns the lessons of patience, confidence; Joy; Love. His building at last will be more beautiful than if he had been permitted to toil on through many busy years, carrying out his plans. Instead he is fulfilling out God’s plans for his life.

NB: We must not measure Spiritual building by Earthly standards.

   There are too many life-buildings whose story tells only of shame and failure. Many people begin to follow Christ, and after a while turn away from their profession, thus leave only a pretentious ruin, to be laughed at by the World, and dishonour the Masters name.
Romans 1:24 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonour their bodies among themselves, “
   A large percentage of time that leads to many that just give up, this is down to ‘discouragement’. In one of Wordsworth poems, it tells of a pathetic story a struggling heap of unhewn stones ..
* Meaning of ‘unhewn’ .. not given a finished form .. or ..
.. Rough or unpolished
… the beginning of a sheepfold which was unfinished, with his wife and son (Michael), a highland shepherd dwelt for many years in peace. But trouble came which made it necessary that the Son should go away to do for himself for a while. After a period of time good reports came for him, but by and by (a while later) however sad news reached him, in the great dissolute city that he had given himself to evil courses. Such shame fell upon him that he was driven to seek a hiding place beyond the sea. The sad news broke his old fathers heart. He went (at least he tried) about as before, simply caring for his sheep ...

Tis believed by all.

That many and many a day he thither went,

and never lifted up a stone.

There by the sheep fold, sometime he was seen,

sitting alone, with his faithful dog,

then old, beside him lying at his feet,

the length of seven full years from time,

to him, he at the building of his

sheep fold wrought, and left the work

unfinished when he died.

… years after the sheep fold was gone, the the remains of the unfinished fold were still there, a sad memorial of one began to build but did not finish. As deep sorrow broke his heart, and hence his hand slackened.

   All too often noble ‘Life-buildings’ are abandoned in time of sorrow, the hands that were once quick and skilful, are now over come with grief, now hang down low. Instead however, if teaching us to give up our work, and falter in our diligence, it should inspire us to yet greater earnestness in all duty fidelity in all life.

   Want of faith is another cause which lead many to abandon their ‘Life-Temples’ unfinished. Throngs followed Christ in the earlier days of His ministry when all seemed bright. Who when they saw the shadow of the cross, who then turned their backs and walked no more with Him, as they felt they had lost their faith, in Him. It is startling to read how near the ‘Apostles’ came to leaving their ‘Life-Buildings’ in Him unfinished. Had not their Faith come again after Christ arose, (as He had said many times), they would have left in this World only sad memorials of failure, instead of glorious finished temples. In these days there are too many abandoning of their work on the wall of the temple of Christian discipleships, which they had begun to build. Who does not know, of someone, who were once earnest & enthusiastic in Christian life there was but little opposition, but who fainted & failed when it became a little hard to confess Christ and walk with Him?

Luke 24:6&7 “He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again”

   Sin in some form draws many a builder away from his work, to leave unfinished, see if you know someone who fit the description below …

• It might be the Worlds fascination that lures them from Christ’s side ..
• It might be the sinful human companionships that lure him away from loyal friendship to His Saviour ..
• It might be riches that enter his heart and blind his eyes to the attractions of Heaven ..
• It might be some secret lust that gains power over him, and paralyses his Spiritual life ..

… many of these are among the Worlds throng, who once sat at the Lords table, and were among God’s people. Unfinished ‘Life’s-buildings’, there are towers begun with great enthusiasm and then left to tell sad stories to all who pass by. They begun to build and were not able to finish.

2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”

   Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, a very long hard, arduous and dangerous. It’s dad to think how much of this unfinished work Gods Angels see when looking down upon Earth. Think of all the good beginnings which come to anything in the end. I wonder how many people of have started a course at some University, to either take a ‘gap-year’, or just suddenly change subjects, to the opposite to their original studies .. like Lawyer to Veterinarian? It really happens more than you would think. The ‘noble-life-plans’ entered upon by so many young people with ardent enthusiasm, but all too easily give up. Think of all the beautiful visions and fair hopes which might have been made splendid realities, but which just fade out, leaving no record of effort.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us“

   The business World is also littered with builds many had begun to build, as quickly they begun they were gone. These too might have set out with good intentions & much enthusiasm, but tired at length with the toil, or grew disheartened at the slow comings of success, and thus abandoned their ideal when it was ready to be realised. Many homes present the spectacle of thousands of abandoned dreams of love. If you scratch the surface you’ll see more than you can count. For a time the beautiful vision shone, and two hearts sought to make it come true, and then gave it all up in despair .

Ecclesiastes 9:11 “The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favour to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all”

   Life everywhere is full of beginnings never carried onto completion. But alas, the Visions, the Hope, the Purpose, the Resolves, never grew into more than just beginnings. Gods Angels would bend down upon the great wilderness of abandoned, unfinished fabrics, bright possibilities unfinished, noble-might-have-bins, abandoned, ghostly ruins now, just sad memorials of only failure.

   What is the lesson from all this, is may be, that we should allow nothing to draws us away from our duty, that we should never weary of following Christ, that we should hold fast to the beginning of our confidence, steadfast unto the end ...
Isaiah 5:27 “ No one will be weary or stumble among them, No one will slumber or sleep”
… we should not falter under any circumstance, not in the face of danger, before any demand of cost or sacrifice, there is .. NO Discontentment .. NO Sorrow .. NO Worldly attractions .. NO Hardships should weaken for one moment, or termination to be faithful unto death. NO one has begun to build for Christ should have an unfinished, abandoned ‘life’s-work’ to grieve the heart of the Lord, they were gone. The lesson we should take from this is that we need to finish our work, and never grow weary, that we should not let anything draw us away, from our duty.

   We should never grow weary at following Christ Jesus, that we should hold fast to the beginning of our confidence, being steadfast to the end. We should not falter any burdens, in the face of any dangers, before any sorrow, no Worldly attractions .. .No hardship should weaken for one moment our destination to be fulfilled unto death. No one who began to build for Christ, should leave an unfinished abandoned life’s-work to grieve the heart of the Master and to be sneered at as a reproach to the name He bears.

   Yet we must remember, or we are discouraged, or our work is marred and imperfect. For it is only in Christ, and so co-workers with Him, that anything we do can never be made perfect and beautiful. The weakest and humblest of who are simply faithful will stand at last complete in Him. Even merest fragment of life, as it appears in man’s eyes, if it is truly in Christ and filled with His love & spirit, will appear finished, when presented before Hid divine presence. To do God’s will, what ever that may be, to fill out His plan, is it to be complete in Christ, but the stay on Earth be but for a day, and though the work done fill no great Human plan and leave no brilliant record among men.

Romans 3:21 & 24 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no Life is not a sprint difference; … 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”


Prayer :- Lord Jesus thank you for your word, which is a lamp unto our feet. May you give us the strength to walk & work with you to build a legacy that reflects your hand and influence upon our lives. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen.

Actions of Sin (pt 2 of 2)

 

Actions of Sin

 (pt 2 of 2)

Prayer:

Heavenly father thank you for saving us, as we embark on the second part of your word may you show us through your tender mercies how lucky we are to made righteous in you. Bless you word to our hearts, in Christ Jesus name, amen.

   I know we are all Human and will miss the mark. That is if your still having your life ruled/controlled by sin. Then you are not only putting your Salvation in jeopardy, but also your life too.

Romans 6:14 . . Because we . . “for you are not under law” . . sin cannot any longer control your fate. When you don’t obey the Law of Moses, sin cannot dominate. Sin can only control you, when you try and keep the Law. Know this, that Satan's power is wrapped up in the Law. For where ever the Law is, it can only add strength to sin.

   The first came in the ‘Garden of Eden’. For god told Adam & Eve that there is only 1 (one) rule/Law .. in that you must not eat from the tree of Life. . . Genesis 2:17 “ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”. . . the Law show a clear Action – Reaction, so simple, and was easy to keep. Though God has set us free from sin by doing away with the law, and it’s restrictions and has now given us ‘Grace’.

Question:

“Was sin (Satan) a verb or noun?

IE ~ Is it an action of sin, but will never dominate your life?

OR

“Was it meant to be a noun, a person ~ place ~ thing?

The Prison of Sin [a place]

The Prison of Righteousness [a place]

Romans 6:14 “For sin shall” [noun] . . “For [the prison] sin shall not have dominion over you”

   With the Law now removed, metaphorically speaking, the walls of the prison are down, and you have been given a pardon (don’t squanderer it). In other words “there will no longer be actions of sin”, Wrong you have been delivered from the ‘sin prison’, now your out from under the prison so Satan can no longer rule/control or have hold of you any more , don’t live there no longer.

Question:- “What was the doctrine/ obedience that was delivered to us from the Apostle Paul?” when he preached the following message of grace ..

Hebrews 8:12 “ For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

… What Paul refers to here is the teaching of the ‘New Covenant’. Where god had said .. I will .. I will .. I will. I feel this one of the most important point to get across, Jesus Christ said “most assuredly” to get over His point that was important. It’s like saying today ..’Honestly or I’m telling you truth’. If you believe in God, and you’ll be obedient too God, who have been merciful unto your righteousness, your sin’s and iniquities He’ll remember your sins NO more. You used to be a slave in your prison of sin, but the teaching has come and decided to receive what the blood has done for you, and now that you have received the teaching of Grace. So what the blood has & will do for you.

   This blood, is what has sprung you out of prison, that was the ransom, your now no longer being held a slave/captive in prison any more. You have now moved from the prison of Sin, now your the prisoner of righteousness, if you want to call it that ... Romans 6:18 “And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” … we are all sinner because of ‘one man’s’ actions [Adam] to be sinners no longer, all we need to do is .. be born-again’

   It is so unfair that we are all sinners, the moment we leave our mother womb, band draw our first breath. We are tarnished with the same brush, even though we weren’t there when Adam ate from the tree of life.

# I’m the Righteousness of God #

Question:-”Just as we are born in to sin because of Adam,

so have we been made righteous because of one man?” [Jesus].

   His name of cause … Jesus Christ … (The same thing happened here as it did because of Adam). We did nothing when ‘Born-again’ to become righteous. I have now freely; Willingly become a prisoner of Righteousness, through what one man did [for me]. I am now the Righteousness of God, I did nothing (Earthly) to be righteous, but I was ‘made’ Righteous’ because of Christ Jesus actions, glory be to God, for His goodness & mercies. 

Romans 6:19 “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness”

   When you were in the prison of sin do you remember doing ‘Righteous’ things like giving money to the ‘poor; homeless or needy?’ Even doing good deeds for the less fortunate? Do you think doing any of these good deeds got you out of the prison of Sin? There is, and will always be only one way out, that is to be ‘born-again’. From one man we have received, for what he did (Jesus) did through His blood, then be delivered from Sin and unto righteousness.

   All it seems throughout this is ask questions after questions, so as not to disappoint, ‘If you Sin whilst in the prison of Righteousness, will it not result in you being dismissed? and our Heavenly Father letting it be known His displeasure in you? We are not taught to fear the Lord for nothing …

Deuteronomy 6:2 “that you may fear the Lord your God”

Psalms 33:8 “Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him”

Proverbs 3:7 “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil”

… you have been established in the righteousness of God for all those who believe. You now know that you now no longer want to keep sinning. Because God is going to help you, reach in and change those [sin] desires, so that you no longer have the urge to sin anymore. . .

• God knows the best way to help you become clean ..

• Only God knows how to make you Holy ..

• Only God can help you to doing it right ..

… because once you become the Righteousness of God, after time you will start doing things right without giving it a second thought.

   In the prison of Righteousness, it’s the ‘Change-Chamber’, that will change your heart from old sin nature, and bring you out of being addicted to your old self, to one of only want to doing things right. Now don’t let sin convict or condemn you. Instead now all your heart wants is continue to be obedient to your faith and that God has been merciful to your unrighteousness, and your sin and iniquity, He remembers not one. He our Father God in Heaven has taken care of the Sin factor/actions/problems, and never stops taking care of our sin.

NB: Right Believing = Right Living

# Once you wake up, and smell the coffee, as it were, you will see things in a whole new way. 

You won’t want to sin anymore, and (here’s the best bit) you’ll find you don’t

want to either #

53:020419

The Sin of Being a Discourager

Numbers 32:9  “..For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them..”

   No one truly loves a party poo-per, these you will find them sat by them selves. May be I can try and shine some light on this subject, you see these types of people look upon the ‘dark-side-of-life’. (It may to no fault oif their own). Sadly they do find all the shadows in life, and persist walking in them. They can bring the brightest happiest of days, down to gloomy, and spread their own ‘discouragement’, like confetti at a wedding, thus making all life harder for those they can influence. One thing that we need to careful of is that they don;t steel away Gods light from your life. Thie would the greatest of sin’s surely? Don’t be like thoes children of Isreal did, all because of thoes discouraging gloom artists.

Numbers 32:7  “..Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them..”

   God tells us it’s a sin to discourage others. From your first of days till your last days at school. Some will go through a torturous time, with constant bullying; being told you’re usless; you’ll not amount to much; that they become so with drawn after 10 years or more of being put down & discouraged, their lives are now but a shadow of what they should have been.
   We all need to be strengthened and inspired for all of life’s experiences, never weakened and disheartened. If we meet others down cast and discouraged, it is our duty, as humans and friends, not to make their cares and trials seem as large as they can, but rather point out to them the bright light in their clouds, and put new hope & courage in their hearts.

So many people would say ‘I am your friend’, but never really understand what they are saying….

Friend… A person known well to others and regarded with liking (or highly

thought of) affection, staunchly loyal.They will tell you the truth, 

good or bad, an ally in a fight. Are you a friend to someone?

   It costs us nothing, that when we find others in sorrow, the worst thing to do is to tell them more sorrow. Instead we need to come along side them with love & encouragement.
1 Thessalonians 5:11  “..Therefore comfort each other and edify one another..”
Acts 11:23 “..When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord..”
Romans 1:12  “..I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me..”

   Next time we find others in the midst of difficulties and struggling ready to faint under it all, surly if we continue bemoan the severity and hardness of their battles, and then we leave them, as my wife has said on many occasions, it’s even worse than we found them, they will be even more crushed than if we had walked pass them. What we do need to do is to stimulate & encourage & inspire them to be brave and victorious in all they do.
   It is of vital importance that we learn this if you want to be helpers of others in their lives. Another foot note is that we just point out someone’s short comings and walk away. If this is you just stay at home, lock the door and throw away the key, because your worst to them than NO help at all. Again if all we have to offer is sadness to give out, we have no right to go among them. This is the truth, and some times the truth hurts.
   It is only when we have something that will bless them and lift their hearts and give them glimpses of bright and beautiful things to live for, that we are truly commanded to go forth with them.

“ A singer sang a song of tears, and the great World heard and

wept,for he sang the sorrows of floating years, and the 

hopes which the dead past kept, and souls in anguish their 

burdens bore, and the World was sadder than ever before.

A singer sang a song of cheer, and the great World heard 

and smiled, for he sang of love of a father dear, and souls

 that had forgotten to pray, looked up and went singing

 along their way.”

Let me ask this question … ‘Is it better that we should not sing of sadness if our song ends there’?

   Unfortunately there are so many sad notes swirling around in the Worlds air, making sad sad notes in our ears, continually. To be able to sing and hear only songs of hope ~ joy and good cheer. Jesus Christ had every right to sit on the Mount of Olives, because He could not get people to open their eyes to see of the impending doom coming over His people, whom He loved dearly. Jesus tried to avert this doom, because all the sin and disbelief was dragging them down. It is our mission, just as Jesus did to become preachers of hope. So our mission should we choose, must be to carry to everyone, to bring ‘good tidings’ and none of ill, but only joy.

# Give us your joys, your hope, your sunshine,

your life, your up lifting truths. We have too many

sorrows-tears-clouds, ill chains, and enough

doubts of our own. #

   This is our mission of Christianity in the World, it’s to help our fellow man to be victorious, to whisper hope where ever there is discouragement. It goes forth to break the yoke of bondage, and to captives to freedom.
1 John 4:4  “..You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world..”
   This is why it is so wonderful to have Jesus in our lives, spreading the news, the Good news. It follows that there can never be a loss in a Christians life, out of which a gain may NOT become a platform for a buried seed. There can never be a sorrow, out of which a blessing may not be born. There can never be discouragement which may NOT be made to yield some fruit of strength.

   Finally … if there for, we are true and loyal messengers of Christ, we can never be profits of gloom, discouragement and despair. We must be forever be heralds of hope. We must always be the bearer of good news. In Christ our Lord, there is always hope, with victory, a power to transmit loss into gain, and to breath life into death. We are living worthily, only when we are living victoriously with Christ within ourselves at every point, we are to be inspiring and helping others to live victoriously, and when our life is a song of hope and gladness, even though we sing out through tears & pain.

Settled in Righteousness ...... 55030820

55030820 

Settled in Righteousness 

   Holiness is a fruit that comes forth out of our acceptance of a thing called ‘Grace’. Grace is a root= Holiness is the fruit. Some will say being Holy and then these things are able to happen to you. Wrong. Being Righteous by faith and then Holiness will be your faith.

   Think about this for a moment … ‘If you don’t believe in what Jesus Christ our Lord has done, you ain’t going to see him. You need to believe in Him, then the by product will be Faith. You should always walk in uprightness, this is why .. You should live a life of holiness, because without Holiness, no-man will see the Lord through your witness.

Here’s something you should say every morning before getting out of bed….. 

“ Jesus Christ is my Everything” 

Romans 5 v 12 (Because of Adams decision he infected the whole human race to follow him). “..Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..”

AMP - V13 “..Sin was [committed] in the world before the Law [was given], but sin is not charged [against anyone] when there is no law [against it]..”

Q: “So what happened to all the people back then, before the law was given”?
A: Can you only transgress against something to transgress?
ie.. your not speeding when there is a speed limit ..

… But we know that without being told, the faster we go the more dangerous/ wrong it is. We have been taught to know it might not be good, like standing at the cliff face, it’s going to hurt if we jump.

   An important thing to note, not all that we did has not been put on your record when we stand as a Christian before the Lamb of God, before we were saved, as it has all been washed clean by the blood of Christ, when we accepted Him into our lives.

Romans 5: 14 “..Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come..”

   If a free gift given to you, and you turn around and say ‘you don’t deserve it’ OR ‘Your not supposed to deserve it, is this free gift’? V15 “.. much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ..” in other words the unmerited favour from God, especially this free gift, you feel you don’t deserve it. But instead God is telling us that “I know you did nothing really to deserve it, but this free gift I give to you nevertheless.

V16 “..one offense resulted in condemnation..” We see clearly how Adams actions brought about Gods condemnation, so we can see how sin was brought into being, and how every man was born in to sin.

   Then God said I’m going give you a precious gift, even though I know you don’t deserve it, through my Son Jesus Christ you may never ‘earn’ it, but by my graces you can ‘freely’ receive it. V17 .. “..much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ .” If you receive ‘the gift’, called righteousness, you will reign in your life, by the one Jesus Christ. This wonderful gift from Heaven is Gods graces, as we were saved by Gods grace. Now you can receive the gift, that is called ‘righteousness’ though grace.

Amp V17 “..much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in [eternal] life through the One, Jesus Christ..”

“Will you receive the Gift” 

   Let us pause and take a look at the meaning of the word ‘receive’ to take into ones possession. Something that is offered or delivered.  So to take into possession something that is offered or delivered, we find that it was through ‘Grace’ that offered us the gift of righteousness, which can now be taken into our possession. Please pay attention closely, NO matter what life has to throw at you, DON’T give up this wonderful  gift from God easily. I hear you scream at the screen “..it’s easy for you to say..’’. Let me tell you it has not been easy, as life is a sea of great tempest’s. You can take a ‘physical’ thing into possession, for example: Money – Sofa’s – Cars – Homes etc. So how do we take hold of ‘righteousness’ into our possession? Purely by Faith alone.

   Only when we grasp ‘Righteousness’ fully, in every area of our lives, like ‘Eat/Sleep/Drink', will we see a difference and so will everyone else. Once you realise how good ‘Righteousness’ can be for you in your life, you’ll want to make sure you have it locked down in every area of how you now live. Then everyone will ask you ‘what your on?’ As they now want some, be aware some will be scoffers, and not believe you. All types of crazy things will happen to those who never ‘relinquish’ Gods free gift for you.

If ever in doubt repeat this to yourself daily... 

“I have hold of Gods Righteousness by Faith alone” 

   For, when the Angels in Heaven hear this they come running with all kinds of provisions, for you and yours. There will be NO mistake, let Heaven & Earth & hell know that “I am the Righteousness of God”. From now on no matter how many times you may stumble and fall always get up saying this, and you will get stronger every time. Until one day when you realise that you hardly stumble, or you can’t recall the last time you did.

V18-19 ...”Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous..” 

   Although we did nothing to be righteous, we were all born into sin by the actions of one couple, Adam & Eve. So to counter what they did in the garden of Eden, Jesus Christ came to correct this. The God of Abraham – Jacob & Moses, His favour will always bless even when you feel have done nothing to warrant such kindness.

Q: “Can I sin away my righteousness?”
A: If you can sin away your righteousness, then it would be a foolish act of your own making.

   If someone came along and gave you the ‘Euro-lotto’ jackpot, would you just leave it laying around for someone to find it? As sinning away Gods righteousness would be the same. When you could be living out your righteousness, which is by faith, and enjoying the glory and manifestation of God.

Q: Why do we keep sinning?
A: Because it keeps bringing about ’Human’, not Gods, natural consequences like .. shame – condemnation, bad feelings, all things we are used to. Be honest, who really wants to willingly live this way? 

   Who wants Shame – Guilt – living under the curse, or would you rather be spending you time being happy and rejoicing over the glory of your relationship God? I know which I choose. That’s not giving you cart-blanch to sinning, but the feeling of wanting to sin will go away eventually. I heard it said that ‘if we were to eat the same amount as we read our Bibles each week, we will be skeletons very quickly and die through malnourishment’.

Slowly but surly sinning will erode away …
..Your confidence in God.. 
..Your beliefs..& 
..Your faith in righteousness. 

   Once your confidence & faith in God goes away, then your going to find it harder to break away from those chains of bondage a second time around, the devil now has you bound down with. So after breaking away from his grasp the first time, would you leave the back door open leaving cookies on the worktop with a personal invite to come back.

   How many times whilst growing up, your (Earthly) father would say ‘don’t be doing that as it will make you unhappy’. But you always seem to know better than him, and so go on to make the mistake anyway. Our (Earthly) father now has to sit around and wait, and be there for you. Well surprise the same thing happens with our Heavenly Father.

Then God will say..
God: You know I love you?
You: Yes Heavenly Father
God: You know I ain't mad at you?
You: Yes Father, now what happens? I am truly sorry I let you down like that,
God: You ain’t let me down
You: Yes, but I want my holiness to be a demonstration of my love to you.

Hebrews 12:14 “..Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord..”

2 Corinthians 7:1 “..Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God..”

   We should want Holiness in our lives so bad, so that our hearts can no longer torment us. We should all want to be Holy and pleasing unto God. Everyday we should want God more & more & more, as much as God wants to love us. We should want to be with Him, not looking for Him do something for us, but just because we want to spend time with Him.

   If we keep doing this, then there will come a time, that NO matter the temptation, it will go straight on pass, because you will not be tempted or see the temptation.

May the Lord bless this to your hearts,

in Jesus Christs name

Amen

Proverbs 6: 4 Because of Adultery (pt2) V30/5

   4 Because of Adultery (pt2) V30/5

V31 “..Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold..” Here, at this time, you must restore .. restore sevenfold..” Today the thief must serve time in prison for his crimes. Some of the act the thief commits should today, must work off as recompense, to those whom they have committed the offence. “..He may have to give up all the substance of his house..” I have long wondered how many would re-offend? Even their wives/partners would let them, knowing this is going to happen. I hear many off you screaming at the screen ‘what of their human rights'? But, whay of the human rights of the victims ‘human-rights’, of those they committed the offence? I’m not saying an eye-for-an-eye, but something has to change. In case you think I have been a saint all my life I have not.

V32 “..Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding..” ‘The truth will always out’ It may not be today – next week – Month or year, but just when you don’t expect it, it will come. “..he who does so destroys, his oown soul..” In times of temptation, ask yourself ‘is it really worth it’?

V33/4 .. Men in today’s age, with technology as it is, there is NO excuse or reason today. Or this will happen .. “..wound and dishonour he will get..” .. The same will be when the wife is left at home for long periods of time, I have been guilty of this myself. Then got defensive/angry as it fell apart. “..For jealousy is a husbands fury .. he will not spare in the day of Vengance..”

Songs of Solomon 8 v6
“..Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; (so all can your intentions) For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame..”

   These flames burn us not, in fact we encouraged to ‘fan-the-flames-of-love’, as this is to ignite the passion within us, and between our partners. It took, just, 6months, from meeting my wife, till we were married. For the first 4months she lived in Northern Ireland, and I in South Devon England. We would talk twice daily, as well as sending letters 3 or 4 times a week. So you could say this was our dating period.

“Will it be worth it” 

V35 .. “..He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts..” In closing I have an exercise for you to do. Get a dinning chair, take and place in the middle of the living room/lounge, now get a bed sheet and cover the chair. The chair is your adultery/sin, the sheet represent all those ’extra’ little gifts you have bought over the years to ease your conscience, and cover the dalliances. Tell me does the sheet ‘take-away’, or can you still see it?

"Was it worth it? 

Make the right choice now”

Our Undiscovered Faults

Our Undiscovered Faults

Phillipians 2 ¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may

 become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the 

midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights

 in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life

   I’m sure most of you have one or more of the following . .

Ø It’s what makes you tick. .

Ø It’s what makes you ..you . .

Ø You are who you are because of this. .

Ø You were made this way . .

Ø Sayings a like as well as others.

 

 Our Holy Bible speaks of ‘sins ignorance’. These are sins which we commit, of which; we are not conscience of doing. In Psalms there is a prayer that once used it can help you to be cleansed of secret or hidden faults? We all have hidden faults that go unseen even by ourselves.

   We all have in us many things, some of good as well as those that are bad. That has lead us that we can’t reveal (portray) ourselves as wholly perfect, to our bosom (close) companions. With no real intention to hide those from the closest of our companions, just to pretend to live faultless lives. There will be yet many things in the inner depths of our inner beings which not even those closest to us may never know.

Jude 1 ²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you^[f] from stumbling,

And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy
 

   We are both better and worse than of what others think of us. The best things in good lives do not air their laundry in public.  None of us can ever show to others that which is not worthy in us. There are countless stars in the depths of the Sky which no eye can ever see, so in the depths of the most common place of our souls there are splendors unrevealed to the human gaze.

   There are evils in everyone, of which only the person knows, but others would never suspect of them. But, there are also faults, unlovely things & sins in our hearts, of which even we ourselves are unaware of. Many a person goes out of a morning to be loved & welcomed by their friends, praised & honored by the World, yet carrying in their breast the memory of some deed or sin or shame committed in secret the night before. “If people only knew” he says “ as I know myself today, they would scorn me instead of trusting and honouring me.” All of us are conscience of things hidden with us. Secret habit, the play of unholy thoughts and feelings, the rise up of jealousy. I say to you again there is evil in every one of us young and old ~ Man Woman Child. Of which you know, but of which others do not suspect.

   It was Paul who said . .  

1Corinth 4 v4  “. . For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not

 justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. .”

. .is it not enough to be innocent of conscience from transgressions. There is, so I’m told, sins of ignorance, not sure about this though, only God sees us through and through. We cannot see our faults even as our neighbour sees them. The Pharisees in his prayers, which were really not prayers at all, spoke much of the peoples sins but saw none in himself. 

-        We are much like him..

-        We are prejudiced in our favour..

-        We are very charitable towards our short comings..

-        We make all manner of allowances for our faults, and are wonderfully patient with our own infirmities.

-        We see our good things magnified, and our blemishes in a light that makes them seem almost virtues.

1 peter 2 ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, 

you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

   With all these taken into account, if we today, the Christian in you, taken back to before we knew Christ, would you recognize you? I hope you answer . . . no . . because our own judgement of our life is not conclusive, in fact there always a self we neither see or recognize.

   It’s because we can’t see into the future to know whether the subtle tendencies of our life are leading us. Let me give a scenario here; you’re late leaving to collect your child from school. Your nearly there, you have made good time, one more corner, just need to cut this driver up in your way. Only you don’t care you will leave them. So mad, incensed, distracted, so much so this other drive, later, involved in a major crash. Why? Because of the way you left them, no longer concentrating on their own driving because of your actions.

   We all do many things that through our own eyes, we appear innocent and harmless, but unseen by us all, we have evil in us, if left unchecked, if we are not careful. We indulge ourselves in many things which to us don’t appear sinful, but which leave a blight on our souls, a soiling of impurity of which we dare not dream. . .

. .Why do we keep doing this then? . .

. .because though saved we permit ourselves many little, harmless, habits. In which we don’t see any danger in, we’d say to ourselves ‘ah this one little white lie will be OK?’ To late you have opened that door you had kept closed with the cross you had against it. Only all these ‘little white lies’ are forming habits again, silently twining their invisible threads into a cable which is binding our hands & feet again.

S  T  O  P

# There is another class of faults #

Ephesians 5 v15 &16   ^{“. .}See then that you walk circumspectly, 

not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, 

because the days are evil. .”

   Be aware that ‘Sin is deceitful’. No doubt that there are many things in most of us, such as ways of living; traits of character of, qualities of disposition; which we consider . . perhaps?

-        It is very easy for self-respect, consciousness of ability to pass over into miserable ‘self-conceit’.

-        It is too easy for a man to let gentleness to become his weakness and then tolerance of sinners grows into tolerance to towards to sin.

-        It is easy for a man to make himself believe his cherishing justifiable anger, when in truth he is giving way to a very bad temper.

. . which we all should ‘girde up our loins’ 1 Kings 18:45-6 (a directive that may have made sense to an ancient audience but which eludes us today. prepare and strengthen oneself for future actions, typically ones that may be dangerous or difficult). We ourselves are aware all of us have undiscovered errors with us, hidden faults the like of which only God knows.

Revelation 14 ^{5   “. .}And in their mouth was found no

deceit, for they are without fault before the throne

of God. .”

The above picture shows how this directive might have taken,

 at this time.

   If we are living truly, we want to find every little blemish, of whatever kind there is in us. He is a coward who shrinks from the discovery of his own faults. We should be glad to learn of every hidden unlovelyness with in.

It is a shame that I know not who wrote the following . .

“count yourself richer that day you

Discover a new fault in yourself

Not richer because it is there, but

Richer because it is no longer a hidden

Fault, and if you have not yet found

All your faults, pray to have them

Revealed to you, even if the revelation

Must come in a way that hurts

You pride”.

So to finish let’s say aloud this short prayer

Our Heavenly Father, may we never be to big headed,

 that all our faults be shown in the cold light of day, 

o so that our pride does not trip us up. 

May Lord Jesus help us to become stronger 

because of them, so we help other who may struggle?