Month: December 2024

Man Procrastinates ~ GOD PROLIFERATES

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, PRAYER4 Comments

Recently I have added the name of a young man to my Prayer Roster.  Joseph is a brilliant artist; one I hope the Lord will use in the ministry of His Kingdom.

He needs the power of the Lord’s Spirit within him to order and manage his life.

I relate well to this msn. My prayers for him include prayers for myself, especially in this latter stage of my life.

He, in his 30’s, and I in my 80’s, have much in common.

We have been given gifts from our heavenly Father, and we are both struggling to move forward with these gifts.

Beyond the fact that we see ourselves in a stronghold of the flesh, our procrastination keeps us bound to ourselves and limits the talents we are given – kept from God and hidden from others.

In Our Flesh

Our means of deliverance begins with understanding where we are in the flesh.

The apostle Paul speaks of man as ‘spirit, soul, and body.’ (1 Thess. 5:23)

The purpose of this post is not to start another book (which I might never finish) but to speak briefly about the work God calls us to and the work that He does in and through us.

Tendency to our Feelings

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

These words from Simon Peter to the believers of his day are as true today as when he wrote them.  He compares two natures in the beginning of his letter. Anyone who meditates on these words will come away with a new perspective of where we are, who we are, and why we are here in this present world.

Oppression, Suppression, and Depression

Born into this world of ‘corruption’ we are always under a state of oppression.

Without understanding this, and turning to God’s Word for the knowledge of ‘life and godliness’ (our only means for a fruitful life in this state) we suppress the truth that He gives us in HIs Word.

Without the truth revealed by God in His Word,
we have nothing to hope in, stand on,
or live for in this world.

We search, reach for, and hold on to whatever is close and, in the end, have nothing substantial or relative to true life – nothing of godliness, which is the life God produces within us.

Depression manifests itself in different forms seen from one level to another in different stages.

Depression becomes the stronghold of our spirit, soul, and body, keeping us immobile.

Depression keeps us down, captivated by self, to obey the flesh in its weakness in all areas of life.

Depression leaves us deflated with no room for what is good or godly.

Where is our Hope?

As ‘spirit, soul, and body’ I must relinquish all that I am to God, our heavenly Father, who, with His Son and Spirit gave me life through the first man “Adam” through all generations.

I must see and know the One whose ‘divine power’ gives us ‘all things pertaining to life and godliness.’

I must admit my weakness and my need for His wisdom and strength.

I must submit all I am to Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, who has brought us to our Father through His death and resurrection to receive the power of His life in us.

I must commit to His direction by His Holy Spirt through His Word.

From the stronghold of oppression, suppression, depression, and procrastination, He, by the penetration of His Word, permeates our minds with His truth, and perpetuates His love and the life of Christ in us and through us.

As ‘partakers of His divine nature’ He fills us, lifts us, moves us, keeps us on the right path. In our struggles, He reminds us of His ‘exceedingly great and precious promises.’

He inhabits our praises, so that we speak to Him of His truth, never losing sight of Him and knowing the power of His presence with us. He, with the gifts He has given us, works in and through us to accomplish all He wants to do — for His glory and our joy in Him.

.Gracious and loving Father, We praise you that you have made us your children, not by anything we could do, but by your planning and covenant made with your Son before the creation of anything. How blessed we are to know you and to live in fellowship with you and your eternal family. I praise you that you have called us and given us the gift of eternal life and individual gifts through which you are working to reveal the power of your presence in the world today. In Jesus’ name I pray, I thank you, and praise you. Amen

Image: Google

TWO GREAT FORCES

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S WORD3 Comments

Life and death are the great forces in this world.

We may ask the question, then: Which of these two is the greatest?

It may seem, if we consider that all physical life ends in death, that death is the great force over all.

This may be true for the majority of those who are alive, physically.

And even though a minority of men and women would witness to the same, they are living as if there is no end.

As one of this minority, I have the witness within me of life beyond this physical existence. I wake in the morning with the assurance of life beyond this realm — spiritual life that knows no bounds.

Death has no hold on me. It is not something I have imagined and created on my own. It is no mere ideology – none of any man’s design.

Every person is born with the gift of life in this world. This heavenly life is an eternal gift – a gift of eternal life from the Creator of the heavens and the earth — a second birth.

The Heavens and the Earth

The force of death for mankind originated here on earth; the force of life in heaven.

Heaven is where God, our Creator, the Living God, lives and has power over all.

“His throne is set in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all.”  – His kingdom of eternal Life. Ps. 103:19

It was there that He made an everlasting covenant with His Son, for us.

In Jesus’ prayer before Judas’ betrayal and His crucifixion, Jesus prayed these words,

“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that your Son also may glorify you; as You have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as You have given me.” Jn. 17:1-2 (The time had come for Him to give His life that we who believe would have eternal life in Him.

“And now, O Father, glorify me together with Yourself with the glory I had with you before the world was.” Jn. 17:5

“…Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom you have given me that they may be one as we are.” 17:11

Jesus revealed in His prayer that before anything was created, God, the Father, and the Son were eternally One, and that through the Son, the world was created for the purpose of eternal life in His creatures. The prayer is a gift to us who believe God’s Word. In it we learn of these two forces and how Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of all the living, proves the greater power of life over death.

He has prepared the glory that the Father and the Son shared before Creation – the promised Messiah – who came to deliver us from the power of death. He is the Word of Life, who came from the Father with eternal life to all who believe, love, and follow Him.

The first man, Adam, was deceived, believed a lie, and received the penalty of death because of His disobedience to God’s Word. Through him we all became subject to this force of death as long as we are on this earth in this body of flesh.

“As You have given Me authority over all flesh” were the words Jesus spoke in His prayer to the Father. He was given all power over life and death on earth and in heaven.

We are created through Him — and we either live with the gift of eternal life, in repentance of our rebellion against Him, submitting our spirit, soul, and body to Him and obedience to His Word — or we are dead (to the Living God) even as we are in this body. We are only existing until the end of this life when we have no choice but to succumb to the power of death.

Death is a force given to God’s enemy and ours when he was ejected from his duty as God’s servant in heaven. He was rebellious then and leads the world in rebellion. He is the god of this world and rules with the force of death and darkness. (1Jn. 5:19)

God, our Father, began with one man and woman who obeyed the voice of the enemy – who brought them under his power of death.

God, our Father has given new life – eternal Life – to those who are drawn to His Son – who admit their sin and disobedience to His Word, submit to Him, and commit to His Word, the Life of His Spirit and His leading through the remainder of this physical life.

He came to “release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (See Hebrews 2:1-18)

“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 Jn. 3:8 (the works of the devil that brought man to disobey God and to our death.) 

Jesus said to His disciples, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will never enter heaven.” Matt. 18:3 We are His children as we are born of His Spirit.

He will end life on this earth differently for us who give all that we are to Him. We will not fear whatever we encounter on this earth – no fear of man or circumstances because we have within us the life of Christ given through Him to us from our Father in heaven. It is a supernatural work – Christ’s life given by His Holy Spirit.

He loved us “before the world was.” He loves us now and forever. He sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins so that the first man’s death warrant is removed. Christ who is our life, lives in us and we live in Him now and forever – seeking His kingdom and His righteousness which His Spirit works in us, looking forward to a world of righteousness.

Saved Eternally in Christ

He promises to bring all things to an end in One Man, His Son, Jesus Christ, “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” Eph. 1:10

If Christ is in us – “Christ in me – the hope of glory” “our lives hidden in Christ,” we can live here on earth with assurance in the day we take our last breath that we will be with Him forever. Col. 1:27“For you died, (in submission and baptism) and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Col. 3:3-4
(The remainder of Chapter 3 describes the fruit of our lives by His eternal life in us here on earth.)                                                                                                                

Image: Google