Tag: gift

Whoever Assails You Will Fall

Whoever Assails You Will Fall

If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.  Whoever assails you will fall because of you.  (Isa 54:15 NASB, emphasis added)

The Lord is declaring Himself as our protector and defender in this verse!  What a promise—what a breathtaking gift!  He says this many times in various ways in the Bible.

Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.  (Isa 41:11 NASB)

For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.  (Isa 49:25b NKJV)

Contend means to resist, oppose, or challenge.  The Lord says that when someone opposes or challenges one of His children, HE will be the One to deal with them.  Not only will He save us, but He’ll save our children. 

These are wonderful, powerful and precious promises to rely upon.  Don’t think that they’re only in the Bible to encourage us and to reassure us.  They are provided to us as weapons of our spiritual warfare!  (2 Cor 10:4; Eph 6:17 NKJV)

The Bible teaches us that the Word of God is living and powerful—active.  It goes on to say that it is sharper than any two-edged sword, able to perceive (detect) the thoughts and purposes of a person’s heart!

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  (Heb 4:12 NKJV)

Use the Word of God as the weapon that it truly is.  Meditate upon it; speak with the Lord about it; and let Him know that you not only believe it but you depend up it to come to pass in your life.  Believe the Word and stand upon it by faith.

Your faith and trust in Him and in His Word will please the Lord as well as improve your life immeasurably.

Pressing On

Pressing On

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  (Phil 3:12-14 NIV)

The definition of press on is:  to continue moving forward in a forceful or steady way; to continue to do something especially in a determined way.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians (passage shown above) encourages all believers to continue moving forward in their Christian life.  He especially wants us to have a sense of determination because there is a definite prize ahead of us that we long to receive.  Our hearts must be resolved so that we will stay the course.

Our prize is eternal life with Jesus Christ in heaven.  There is no arriving at the destination without understanding that Jesus is the Way.  Eternal life is truly the gift of God which we obtain through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

And we will encounter road blocks, challenges, tribulations, and trials along the way.  At these points we need to seek the Lord, and to change whatever is necessary in our lives in order to continue on our way.

In a very real, spiritual sense, we need to pursue Christ with fortitude because in doing so we show our resolve to claim Him as our own Savior and Lord.  We surrender all and follow His example, His footsteps, and His teachings in order to attain eternal fellowship with Christ.  Glory to God!

Approaching the Throne

Approaching the Throne

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  (Heb 4:16)

In this wonderful passage from the Bible, the Lord is telling us that in Jesus, our Savior, we may approach the throne of grace [the heavenly throne that dispenses unearned favor or gifts to the undeserving] with confidence and boldness.  What a gift this is to the redeemed!

.  . . being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus . . .  (Rom 3:24)  Jesus has justified us—WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS, liberally, and unreservedly—in Christ Jesus.  All of our sins have been forgiven:  past, present, and future.  Of course, we need to review our daily lives and to repent for any sin we may have committed before we retire each evening.  This exercise helps to us to remain humble and tender-hearted before the Lord, and to recognize our ongoing need for Him and His perfect salvation.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Rom 5:8)  We receive such blessings from God because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us motivated by pure love!   

So, let us continually approach the Lord in prayer, praise, repentance, and thanksgiving.  It pleases the Lord very much when we take advantage of the many blessings, provisions, promises, and benefits that Jesus has already purchased for each one of us.  Approaching the throne of the living God is one of our many blessings!  This is reason for us to be filled with profound joy.

What About Prosperity?

What About Prosperity?

Did you realize that the Bible has a lot to say about prosperity?  Do you understand that God intends for His people to prosper?  Here are a handful of Scriptures on the topic:

Who is the man that fears the LORD?  Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth.  (Ps 25:12-13)

Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces.  (Ps 122:7)

His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. (Ps 112:2-3)

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.  (Pro 13:22)

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.  (2 Cor. 8:9)

These precious promises from God’s Word are a gift to each and every believer.  Trust God to bless you and to bless all of the work of your hands.  (Deut 16:15)  The Lord will cause you to increase and to be blessed.  (Deut 28:4; Isa 51:2) 

Our Father God is the only One who has the power to bless you and to cause you to prosper.  Trust Him for these blessings, and take Him at His Word.  You’ll be thankful that you did! 

Other passages about prosperity to check out: 

Deut 8:18; 28:1-2, 8; 33:19; Eccl 5:9, 19; Job 36:11; Ps 65:11; 68:6; Pro 8:21; 10:4, 61, 22; 11:25; 22:4; 24:3-4; Isa 48:17; 55:2-3; 60:5, 11; 61:6; Jer 31:14; 33:9; 2 Cor 9:8; Eph 1:18-19; and Phil 4:19.

Accepted In the Beloved

Accepted In the Beloved

. . . to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.  (Eph 1:6, emphasis added)

And whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, to fulfill his vow, or a freewill offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.  (Lev 22:21, emphasis added)

Accepted means:  received; recognized; admitted; acknowledged; welcomed; understood; or allowed. 

In Christ, we are accepted by Almighty God as perfected.  How wonderful and awesome a gift we have been given!

As the verse from Leviticus above demonstrates, an offering (in the OT) had to be perfect in order to be acceptable to the Lord.   Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, slain in our place for our sins and iniquities.

Now, we are accepted into the household of faith, the kingdom of God, and the family of God!  No matter what our past may look like, what our personality is, or what our appearance is—we are welcomed by the loving arms of Jesus!  Hallelujah!

Jesus invites us to come to Him in every circumstance of life and in the face of every challenge, need, or failing.  He is the very embodiment of perfect, unconditional, and unfailing LOVE.  There is mercy (forgiveness, kindness, humanity, generosity) in Christ’s embrace. 

Know, trust, and believe that you’re accepted in Jesus and rejoice!

 

Salvation is Now

Salvation is Now

For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.  (2 Cor 6:2, emphasis added)

As I understand it, this verse is the Lord’s way of encouraging us to have an active, expectant faith for whatever our need may be.  The type of faith this verse encourages is one that says, “Today is the day of salvation!  Hurrah! God has answered me today.  Praise the Lord Most High.”

This verse imparts a wonderful sense of hope and the expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises—the sort of any-moment-now excitement of receiving a wonderful gift and blessing any moment.  This is a result of a clear understanding of how much God loves each one of us, and how He greatly He loves to answer our prayers, help us, and to meet our needs.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I hope [confidently expect] in Him!” (Lam 3:24)

Eyes That See

Eyes That See

And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.”  Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw.  And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  (2 Kings 6:17)

We believers need eyes that see.  What does that mean?  My opinion is that God is referring to a gift that all who accept Jesus as Savior have the ability to access.

Eyes that see enabled the author of Colossians 1:15 to state:  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 

Similarly, eyes that see empowered Isaiah to share:  But you shall be named the priests of the Lord, they shall call you the servants of our God.  You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast.  (Isa 61:6)

Every believer needs the seeing eye of faith conferred upon him/her to discern how well God protects them and provides for them.  With eyes that see we can appreciate all of the blessings and benefits of our salvation that Jesus has purchased for each one of us.  We can recognize and lay hold of spiritual realities.

Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.  (Hab 2:2)  The Lord has given us His Word, the Scriptures, in order that we may read and understand clearly what He has given to each of us.  Read His Word each day, and familiarize yourself with His plentiful and precious promises to you.  As you do, you will begin to see new spiritual truths most clearly.

In this way, you may easily run the race set before you because you will have eyes that see—a spiritual ability accessed by faith!