GodsView : Dying With Christ!

GodsView : Dying With Christ!: Even when we were dead in our transgressions, [He] made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved ), and raised us up...

Dying With Christ!

Even when we were dead in our transgressions, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. - (>Ephesians 2:5–6)

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, when Christ died, you died with Him. When Christ arose, you arose with Him. When Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father, you were seated with Him. You were made to function in concert and cadence with Jesus Christ. In order for you to access Christ’s sovereign authority over all things, you and your world must be aligned underneath His headship. This includes your thoughts, choices, words, and perspective. It is as you align yourself under Him and His Word that His authority becomes manifest in your own life as you seek to advance God’s kingdom on earth.

In fact, you can go to all of the church services that you want, read all of the spiritual books you want--but until you place yourself under the comprehensive rule of God in every area of your life by aligning yourself under the lordship of Jesus Christ, you will not fully realize nor maximize the rule and authority He has destined for you.

Reflection: Who did the work to transfer you to Christ’s kingdom? Who now does the work of making you holy? How does God’s Word work in your life to conform you to the image of Christ? How is God currently working through you to advance His kingdom on earth? Are you more concerned about His kingdom or your own?

Father, I want to fully realize the rule and authority that You have destined for me. I want to live out all of my days in the abundance that You have promised to give me through Jesus Christ. I place my heart, thoughts, and actions underneath Your divine and sovereign authority.

GodsView : Give Thanks...in Everything!

GodsView : Give Thanks...in Everything!: Sometimes worship and thanksgiving can be a sacrifice. That may be because we are down or depressed or things aren't going all that...

Give Thanks...in Everything!

Sometimes worship and thanksgiving can be a sacrifice. That may be because we are down or depressed or things aren't going all that well for us. Maybe hardship or tragedy has struck our lives in some way and we don't want to thank God.
Yet the Bible urges us to give thanks to the Lord. Psalm 106:1 says, "Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever" (NKJV). We are told in Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (NKJV). And Hebrews 13:15 says, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."
We are not told to give thanks to the Lord because we feel good; we are to give thanks to the Lord because He is good.
As we approach God to ask for new blessings, we should never forget to say thank you for the blessings already given. We should be just as definite in returning thanks as we are in requesting help. But many times we aren't. We are quick to ask for help, but we are slow in giving thanks.
Sometimes this can be difficult, because we feel as though we have been dealt a bad hand in life or there are things that have happened to us that we don't understand. But here is something we need to remember: "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This verse doesn't say give thanks in some things or in what you think are the good things. It says to give thanks in everything.
Now I can give thanks when something wonderful happens to me. But when something bad happens, I think, I won't give thanks for that. Yet I don't know that we ever will fully know what was good or bad in our lives until much later. I would even suggest that what you are thinking of as a bad thing today may turn out to be a good thing tomorrow or down the road. And what you have thought of as a good thing may, in time, turn out to be a bad thing. As you look back in time, you will be able to say that the Lord knew what He was doing.
I lived with my grandparents for a number of years, whom I called Mama Stella and Daddy Charles. My grandmother was an amazing cook. She never reheated anything, and I don't think she had ever seen a TV dinner (and wouldn't be interested in one if she had). She made everything from scratch, including the best fried chicken I've ever tasted. But the crowning achievement of my grandmother's cooking was her biscuits. Once you started eating them, you couldn't stop. In watching my grandmother make them, it appeared to be such a simple process. But no one could quite make it work like her. The ingredients were simple: vegetable oil, self-rising flour, and of course, some buttermilk. No ingredient she used was appealing to me on its own. But she would blend it all together and then put it into a very hot oven. And when she took those biscuits out, the results were good. Really good.
In the same way, God will take the events of our lives, the good things and the so-called bad things, and put them in the oven of adversity. Then when it is all done, sometimes much later, we will realize that it is good. What may seem bad today actually may be good tomorrow. So we need to trust God.
To give thanks, we must recognize that God is in control of all circumstances surrounding our lives. We must realize that God loves us and is always looking out for our eternal benefit, even if what we are presently going through is difficult. And we must remember that God is wiser than we are. He is always dealing with us for our best and eternal good. But sometimes what is good for us eternally is not easy for us temporarily. God will make that decision and work in our lives.
There is so much to give thanks for. Have you been thanking God? Don't wait until Thanksgiving Day. For the Christian, every day should be Thanksgiving.

GodsView : Read the Gospels: JC Is Not PC!

GodsView : Read the Gospels: JC Is Not PC!: Let's be brutally honest: most of Jesus' teaching is completely out of sync with the mores that dominate our culture. I'm ta...

Read the Gospels: JC Is Not PC!

Let's be brutally honest: most of Jesus' teaching is completely out of sync with the mores that dominate our culture.
I'm talking, of course, about the Jesus we encounter in Scripture, not the always-gentle, never-stern, über-lenient coloring-book character who exists only in the popular imagination. The real Jesus was no domesticated clergyman with a starched collar and genteel manners; he was a bold, uncompromising Prophet who regularly challenged the canons of political correctness.
Consider the account of Jesus' public ministry given in the New Testament. The first word of his first sermon was "Repent!" — a theme that was no more welcome and no less strident-sounding than it is today. The first act of his public ministry touched off a small riot. He made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and animal merchants off the Temple grounds. That initiated a three-year-long conflict with society's most distinguished religious leaders. They ultimately handed him over to Roman authorities for crucifixion while crowds of lay people cheered them on.
Jesus was pointedly, deliberately, and dogmatically counter-cultural in almost every way. No wonder the religious and academic aristocracy of his generation were so hostile to him.
Would Jesus receive a warmer welcome from world religious leaders, the media elite, or the political gentry today? Anyone who has seriously considered the New Testament knows very well that he would not. Our culture is devoted to pluralism and tolerance; contemptuous of all absolute or exclusive truth-claims; convinced that self-love is the greatest love of all; satisfied that most people are fundamentally good; and desperately wanting to believe that each of us is endowed with a spark of divinity.
Against such a culture Jesus' message strikes every discordant note.
Check the biblical record. Jesus' words were full of hard demands and stern warnings. He said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" (Luke 9:23-25). "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).
At one point an unthinkable Roman atrocity took the lives of many Galilean pilgrims who had come to worship in Jerusalem. Pilate, the Roman governor, ordered his men to murder some worshipers and then mingled their blood with the sacrifices they were offering. While the city was still reeling from that awful disaster, a tower fell in the nearby district of Siloam and instantly snuffed out eighteen more lives.
Asked about these back-to-back tragedies, Jesus said, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-5).
Ignoring the normal rules of taste, tact, and diplomacy, Jesus in effect declared that all his listeners were sinners in need of redemption. Then, as now, that message was virtually guaranteed to offend many — perhaps most — of Jesus' audience.
Those with no sense of personal guilt — including the vast majority of religious leaders — were of course immediately offended. They were convinced they were good enough to merit God's favor. Who was this man to summon them to repentance? They turned away in angry unbelief.
The only ones not offended were those who already sensed their guilt and were crushed under the weight of its burden. Unhindered by indignation or self-righteousness, they could hear the hope implicit in Jesus' words. For them, the repeated phrase "unless you repent" pointed the way to redemption.

GodsView : A Full Life!

GodsView : A Full Life!: How should I live my life on this earth? What purpose does God have in mind for me, now that I have received His Son Jesus Christ into m...

A Full Life!

How should I live my life on this earth? What purpose does God have in mind for me, now that I have received His Son Jesus Christ into my heart?
This is a question every believer should ask, because if you have no goals or purpose, you can waste your life. As I have often said, if you aim at nothing, you are bound to hit it.
Many people simply want to prolong their lives, rather than try to find their purpose in life. Certainly medical science is helping us live longer lives. We can add years to our lives, but we cannot add life to our years. Should our primary goal be to prolong our lives, or should it be to live life to its fullest?
Jim Elliot was fresh out of college when he felt the call of God to go to the mission field. Tragically, Jim and four other young missionaries lost their lives in the jungles of Ecuador in an attempt to reach others with the gospel. It might seem like a terrible waste of life for such a young man with so much promise. But after his death, this entry was found in one of his journals: “I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”
That’s a good goal: to live a full life, a life with meaning and purpose. We don’t know how long we will live; that’s up to God. But life isn’t merely a matter of years. It is a matter of how we live. It is not the years that count, but what you do with those years.
Sometimes, heartaches, trials, and tragedies can threaten to squeeze all of the meaning out of life. In our darkest moments, we may even wonder why God leaves us on the planet. But if our heavenly Father has chosen to give us life for another day, we can be sure that He has a purpose in doing so. We need to wait on Him, keep our eyes open to every opportunity, and trust Him daily for the grace to keep us going.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house” (Matthew 5:14–15 NKJV).