“IN HIM WE LIVE AND BREATHE AND HAVE OUR BEING.”
Acts. 17:28
“AND WE ARE IN HIM WHO IS TRUE, IN HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. HE IS THE TRUE GOD AND ETERNAL LIFE.” 1 John 5:20
Dear Father, interweave between my human thoughts the truths and the authority of Your Word. I thank you and praise you that Your Words are Spirit and Life to me. In Jesus’ precious and powerful name Amen
Fran
Though short and not very exciting to authors who are experienced in sharing their work across many platforms, this was an exciting few minutes with Eric Dye, the host of Enterprise Podcast Network
I could have said much more, but for my first, this was long enough to speak of the abundant life our Father has given us through His Son, our Lord Jesus. I pray that it stirs hearts with a desire to know more about the glorious fellowship we have with Him, His Son, and His Holy Spirit. Praise Him that eternal life with Him is not a life to which we look forward in the future, but here we are born into it, we grow and continue to be transformed and conformed to His image.
What greater life than being His image bearers here on earth.
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.)
The complexities of this world are more than any one person, or any combination of minds can discern. The perplexities are beyond what human nature can comprehend.
We have yet to be unified in our understanding of how life began and how people breathe and move about in the vast space that we call the universe.
Adults with all their education — feeding on information that men from one generation to another have compiled — continue to add more and more to the uncertainty of life here in this present world. Their technologies only generate more power for delusion and destruction.
NEW WORDS, NEW LIFE
Jesus told His disciples, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What did He mean? If we study this man, His life, and His words, we learn that He was teaching a new thing not known before He began His ministry.
“The kingdom of heaven” – Greek — ouranos, meaning, the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings” Heaven is another world beyond this one — a spiritual world that requires conversion — otherwise, we are incompatabile.
Jesus’ life and His words are recorded in the Holy Bible, in the second section, known as The New Testament.
The first part, The Old Testament, is a record of life, written by men of the Jewish faith, From creation through the history of the nation of Israel, we learn of God, the Creator, who was with His people through generations of hardships and promises for a better life beyond this world.
FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE
Jesus was the fulfillment of this promise, who at the age of 30 gathered 12 men and taught them about the God of the Old Testament.
He showed them a completely different way – by a totally radical mindset.
By His actions in response to every person, every word, every action, every need, He presented a new means for men to see, think, speak, and relate to others.
He portrayed a life of purpose and meaning no man had ever shown or taught.
HIS WORDS — HIS POWER
His words not only brought meaning to this life, but the power in His words for eternal life.
Those who have believed Him and followed in His teachings have been transformed and seek to live as He lived.
This world is no longer complex, nor are His followers perplexed, but they understand this world – its chaos and confusion – how to relate and respond differently.
Jesus taught that we must begin again – to start over – to be ‘born again’ – spiritually.
A FATHER WE HAVE NEVER KNOWN
As ‘little children’ – infants—we experience what it means to have a new ‘Father’ — a Father who never leaves us, but abides in us — His Spirit through our spirit, forever.
Jesus’ life, and identifying Himself as the Son of God, shed new light on the meaning of our creation.
His teachings bring us to understand God differently than the world sees Him.
His Holy Spirit ‘makes us alive’ as He teaches us the truth – truth that we cannot receive in our ‘old man’ – the only self we know and through which we formerly lived.
As with His teachings and the power of His Spirit, we learn to live supernaturally in this natural world.
His Spirit, by which God gave life at His Creation, in us, was subdued and taken captive.
Until and unless we are converted and become as little children, we live under the power of an enemy, in a hostile world that lives in sin against God, the Creator.
We are ignorant of our personal rebellion against a Father who gives us the very air we breathe and the power to move and have our being.
Only His Spirit can do this work in us. Just as we have no power to birth ourselves naturally into this world so only He can give us the power for an eternal life with Him.
We are reconciled and renewed and brought into fellowship with our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we are bought, sought, brought, and taught.
CHILDREN WHO LOVE, REJOICE, AND OBEY
The remainder of our natural life is sanctified by the working of His Holy Spirit of truth guiding us into all truth and living through us – to His Glory and our joy in Him. As His children, we enjoy the life of Christ within us to love, enjoy HIs presence, and obey – for His glory and our joy with Him and all His children.
This life begins here but never ends.
Our Father, abiding in us forever, closes our eyes and returns His Spirit and our souls to Him in His timing.
“The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” The Shorter Catechism
Out Father in heaven, by the power of your Holy Spirit abiding in us, make us to know you and your Son, Jesus, whom you sent to die for our sins and bring us to you. We need to know you as our Father and the eternal life you give us now. Turn our hearts to you and grow us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and conform us to His image — in whose name we pray. Amen.
In the last four years, I have been more vulnerable than ever, and prey to what has come across my radar. Mixed with a lot of good, there has been much in a quagmire of offers as I have hoped for ways to exit the grave of mourning. When death still seems to loom as the mode of everyday existence, anything can appear as a solution, some with astounding promises, and almost impossible to refuse.
Such has been my spiritual warfare and training ground as I have been taken captive a few times (amazed at other times that I was enabled to turn and take our Father’s hand). It is the harder way but the way He promises to love, care, direct, and keep us in the path of Life as He has planned it.
As I started this post, I was reminded of a 2016 post, The Idolatry of Technology. The technology of our present day is precisely used for good and for evil, depending on who is leading the way for each of us. I am personally obligated to live in compliance with our Father who created all things. My human nature carves for any and all things of this world that appeal to my fleshly desires and feelings. Many techniques can be used to gain the information and the help I am looking for.
LOSING MY ANCHOR
During fifty-nine years together, Jerry became my anchor — we were “one flesh” — learning to depend on each other. He was my physical leader; I was his helpmate, according to God’s design. Our Father brought me to Christ many years before He gave Jerry a new heart. His gain of true life in Christ came after the loss of his leg. Through this natural experience, we both learned the need for more than physical life and to see beyond our needs to understand the needs of others.
We were united together in heart, mind, soul, and strength in Christ nine years before he was taken home and I was left alone. Those years and the last four for me were the time for our Father’s working — especially these last four — no technique but His supernatural power could accomplish His holy, eternal, will for His own glory. Such has been His means to glorify Himself and to prove the love and joy that is mine in Him.
No method man will devise can hallow His name, set up His kingdom in our hearts, and establish His will in our lives — as His name, kingdom and will are operative in heaven. He has no method but His will and power to accomplish what He established in HIs everlasting covenant with each of His children before Creation. In His timing, He continues to redeem a people for Himself through whom He is revealing his presence and power in the world of darkness.
Strategies are unnecessary for God our Father to bring His children to Himself and to accomplish in them all He desires of us. By His Holy Spirit alone, He draws us to Christ, His Son, through whom we come to Him for that “eternal life that was with the Father and manifested to” mere men while He was on earth. Jesus was the Word of Life that continues forever in the hearts and lives of His children. He still speaks to us today through His written Word. By His Spirit and His Word, we have the power of His presence within us for all we need. We have abundant life in and through Him — from death to Life, we are His and His alone, forever. No intelligence accumulated by men has the wisdom and knowledge of God revealed only through His Son, to us and our children. Deut. 29:29
I praise Him for bringing me through this stage — from a dark mourning to a new bright morning. By His Holy Light and Life given to us by His Holy Spirit, He will continue to show me “the path of life.” Anything without the Spirit of Christ living in us is deception and darkness.
“You will show me the path of life. In Your presence is fulness of joy. In Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Ps. 16:11
Gracious Father, we praise you for revealing Yourself to us — to lost children, who need a Father. As little children, in our new birth with a new heart and a new spirit, we ask your forgiveness for seeking other ways and ask that you continue to strengthen us, help us, hold us by our right hand, uphold us by your righteous right hand, and guide us with your Spirit of truth, and your counsel, that afterward you may receive us into your glory. Reveal through the power of your presence to others. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen Fran
(How well our heavenly Father teaches us this truth as we experience the trials of this life.
The original article with this title (below) was written while we were waiting for Jerry’s healing after the amputation of his leg (2006).
(It took 4 1/2 years and a third surgery before we had any hope of his using a prosthesis with even a walker.
~~~~~~~~~~ October 24, 2007
Today is exactly a year since Jerry’s amputation. He has been three weeks in rehab, wearing the prosthesis a couple of hours a day, more just for sitting and getting used to it, a few minutes of exercise to put weight on it, and a few minutes walking on it with a walker. Because of soreness he has not worn it the last two days. Monday the prosthetist put in a small pad to help buffer the sore area. It was feeling better, so he wore the prosthesis for about forty-five minutes this afternoon. When he took it off, his leg was bleeding. We have to wait again for healing before he can try the prosthesis again.
Sixty-eight years takes its toll on those who have not learned how to wait. By this time most think that they have arrived at the point of having all things under their control, getting things done when they want them done, settling down to the golden years, and being happy in all their progress.
This is not our case, but we can attest to something better.
How do you explain to those who are impatient that waiting is good for God’s people? Whether it is for a response to a letter, the arrival of a guest, a special event, for our children to grow up, or healing, the process of waiting is a part of life. True waiting is the essence of hope, and a means to the end of obtaining contentment in this life as we wait for glory.
Waiting is a natural trait for God, but not for man. Impatience was born in the Garden of Eden, and plays itself out in every person’s life, from the time of birth until death; except as we are given new hearts that know how to wait. We learn from experiences that as we wait we receive blessings we did not expect.
Why do we not want a baby to be born before its full term? It will not be fully developed, or, not live at all. Why do we not get a diploma until we have finished the required courses? Why do we not marry at the age of eight? Why do we not eat green bananas? Waiting is not only necessary for life, but, the means to attaining true life. It is not something we play at, or think about when we want to. It is not a game, but a reality, that when practiced enough will become the beauty of life, without wanting to be the winner.
Waiting is serious business, in the same family as endurance, the big brother of patience.
Waiting is the will of God for us, and serves His purposes. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:36)
Waiting gives Him time to accomplish His work in us to His glory. God waits for the precious fruit of His husbandry, and so must we. (James 5:17)
Hope, and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord is synonymous with patience, the characteristic of the saints mentioned in the Book of Revelation. (13:10, 14:12)
“I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:13-14
Waiting strengthens our faith, letting patience have its perfect work, that we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (James 1:4)
I praise the Father for teaching me to wait. It comes more naturally now. He is waiting with us, teaching us, loving us through it all. I thank Him for all of you who have waited with us. I pray for more patience, more strength, more faith, more grace for us all—for His glory and our joy.
“The LORD is good to them that wait for Him.” (Lamentations 3:25)
Fran 10/07
(Excerpt from In Prayer and In Touch~ Articles and Stories of Faith)
Music: Wait on the Lord Psalm 27:14
They That Wait Upon the Lord Isaiah 40:31
In Christ, we, as God’s children, have an inheritance, imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God. (1 Peter 1:4) We learn of this inheritance in His last will and testament. In Christ, His death and resurrection, He has secured His own inheritance for us. (Hebrews 9:15) A child does not work for a parent’s blessing. It is the legacy given from one generation to the next.
Through us God gives physical life, but we cannot give the blessing of eternal life to our children; so how can we leave this legacy to them? It must be by example and sample. We can only leave the imprint of what we have learned and point them to the will that is recorded in God’s Word for all His children.
Footprints and Handprints We leave footprints wherever we go. Children and other people see these. We can lead them to where Christ is in His Word, in His worship, in His service. We leave handprints on what we touch, in how we touch others, holding forth the word of life; touching them with our hands and arms gently and lovingly in their times of need.
Heartprints The greatest and most lasting impression is the heartprint. We may, in passing speak a word or leave a loving touch; this is but a sample. But the time spent with our children gives them assurance of who we are as God’s children, and the inheritance that we have in Christ. The example we set before them in a lifetime is proof of the work of God in our hearts. The light that is shined into our hearts shines through us revealing who God is and who we are. This is the work of God’s heart in and through ours that proves that we are His. This heartprint is left in different ways; four of which we will mention here ~ in humility, contentment, joy, endurance.
Humility There is no pride in the legacy that is ours. We have not worked for it; nor do we deserve it. The only means of knowing and receiving this promise of inheritance in and with Christ is by His own desire; through grace, revealing and giving us a new heart through which He pours into us His own love for us. Recently in reading Charles Spurgeon’s sermon, The Meek and Lowly One,I realized that the love of God would never have been known, or available to us, except through Christ’s meekness and lowliness of heart. Others will not see the love of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, except through our humble estate in Christ. We may speak and read God’s Word to our children, but they must see it in us, alive and active through humble hearts and lives.
Contentment We, who have this legacy, are content in all of this life, living in faith and trust, for the inheritance that is promised for the future. Children learn that true life is not in this world, nor the things of this world. With our seeking those things above where Christ is seated at the right heand of God; our affections set on things above, not on the things of the earththey see what the world cannot promise, nor be to them. They learn to look for life and contentment beyond the world and themselves.
Joy “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;” Philippians 4:4-5
There is no true joy apart from Christ; not in ourselves, others, or anything in this world. When Christ fills our every longing; when He is all and everything to us; when He is our life there is joy beyond what the world knows. He is the joy of our legacy. We joy in what we have; and Christ is the greatest joy in heaven and earth, for us who know of our inheritance in him.
Endurance The legacy of ours in Christ includes perseverance. Who would not endure to the end of this life, through thick and thin, that has the promise of such an inheritance waiting for us. Those who are wealthy according to the world’s standards are known by their wealth and how they spend it. Children of wealthy parents live in hope of their legacy. You know them by who they are and how they live.
Paul prayed for the early Christians that God would reveal His legacy to them, “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:18
God’s children know the promise that Christ spoke to His disciples.
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.(Luke 12:32) There is enough of His kingdom and His glory to share with all His children. In response to His will we seek His kingdom and His righteousness.
If we are to live it we must continue in faith to know Him and the legacy that is promised. We don’t dawdle away our time and assets that He gives us here. We live it, we even fight for it; and teach our children, so that they can, in God’s timing and His way, know, and with a new heart respond in faith and repentance; and receive the promise.
“As long as there is breath in our bodies, let us serve Christ; as long as we can think, as long as we can speak, as long as we can work, let us serve him, let us even serve him with our last gasp; and, if it be possible, let us try to set some work going that will glorify him when we are dead and gone. Let us scatter some seed that may spring up when we are sleeping beneath the hillock in the cemetery.” Charles Spurgeon
Dear Father, enable us to continue in faith and obedience to your will, to live and teach what you have promised us as your children. Let us live as children whose Father supplies all our needs according to your riches in glory, which is only a sample of what you have promised. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Awareness is a rare gift. Some are born with it. Others receive it at a special time in life. To see beyond our own peripheral vision can be a blessing or a curse. Being aware of others’ faults, mistakes, and weaknesses; judging and condemning them is a curse to others and ourselves. It is the gift that the enemy of our souls uses to work an oppressive spirit within us and toward others. This curse keeps us in a state of oppression and sin. We see in others a reflection of ourselves and continue in this state of oppression until we, like the prodigal son “came to himself.”
He realized where he was. The gift of awareness enabled him to see his condition, and his surroundings. He saw himself in reality of his sin and rebellion.
But, beyond himself he saw the blessing of forgiveness and reconciliation; he saw the means of returning to the father that loved him.
Awareness is a blessing when we are able to see and confess that we live in a fallen world. John said in John 5:19 “the world lies in the power of the evil one.” We were born into it, with a death certificate in our hands. We grow up in it. We are an integral part of it. And we will die in this state of oppression; of sin and misery, except as we are brought to ourselves; to see where we are and our own condition.
Every Good and Perfect Gift The awareness that is a blessing enables us to see beyond our own, and others’ failures, to see the giver of this gift from heaven, which comes down from the “Father of lights.” (James 1:17) Not only are our eyes opened to see where we are in this wilderness, but we see Almighty God, our heavenly Father, ruling and reigning over all things; our shepherd, our keeper, our shield; our God “who supplies all our needs according to His riches in glory.”
We are aware of His presence and power in and through, and over all things. In His covenant with us through His Son, Jesus Christ, we are assured that He will always be with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. These truths lived within us will be a blessing to others.
“He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure:
for this is all my salvation, and all my desire. 2 Samuel 23:5
Dear Father, please open our eyes today, to see where we are; to accept the conditions in which you have placed us. Let us see Christ as you continue to reveal Him to us, in us, and through us. Make us aware of your presence and power as we live, love, and rejoice in you. Be a light, life, and blessings to us all. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
“Coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.”
Wrapped in the gift of life are many other gifts that we ordinarily take for granted. If we think only of what we can hold in our hands we miss the best gifts.
Blessings of the Father came this morning with the realization that I can still breathe, hear, and see, taste and smell, reach out and touch, and experience a touch from something and someone else.
These are good gifts in themselves, needed for this life. Every gift is from God our creator. They all come as a package. With these gifts come other gifts that He has prepared for those who love Him; and these are the perfect gifts, needed for another life, a life that is eternal.
The gifts the heavenly Father gives to His children are irrevocable and non-returnable. They come within a covenant that describes the gifts and with instructions for how to use them. These are the precious and perfect gifts that are treasured now and always. We live in awe of His giving such gifts to the children of men; and to us personally.
In his book Heaven Opened ~ The Riches of God’s Covenant, Richard Alleine speaks of a covenant of grace beyond what man can imagine, one that only God, the Father, can reveal. These include God’s giving us Himself, Christ, His Holy Spirit. His kingdom, the earth, the angels of light, with all the means of salvation and much more.
The Father who knew us before the foundation of the world, created us to be noble vessels, earthen vessels that would receive His gifts graciously, reverently, spontaneously, and thankfully; and use them accordingly.
The Greatest Gift The greatest gift to all mankind is love. This is the gift we desire from others, also. Everybody loves something. In order to know what and how to love we need other gifts, especially the gift of wisdom that James speaks of in the first chapter of his letter. God gave the ordinary good gifts to be used in experiencing a relationship with Him and others. With the gift of His wisdom our senses are trained, as He wants them to be used.
Solomon in Proverbs 1:7 said that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is also a perfect gift from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Light is a gift. It was the first gift, spoken by God at the beginning of creation. He is the father of all light, both physical and spiritual. Revelation of Himself comes with this light, so that in awe and fear we hear His voice, see Him, and know Him as God Almighty, the creator and sustainer of the universe. In our encounter with this spiritual light there is a judgment of our condition as a sinner before Him. This light is revealed as Jesus Christ, His Son, and by the gift of His Holy Spirit we are drawn to Him. In this instance we are given the gifts of a new heart and a new spirit. These are His means of communicating this new life with the fear and wisdom that we need.
By the gift of His grace, and in His kindness and goodness, He instills the gift of faith in the new heart and brings us in repentance to receive the gifts of justification, righteousness, forgiveness, redemption, with all the atoning factors of a Father’s love. In our adoption, all other gifts that are ours in Christ are revealed and distributed, as He wants to give. There is nothing lacking for a child of His.
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:32
The Storehouse of All Gifts
In Jesus Christ, the Son, is the storehouse of all His gifts. He has made Him to be to us and for us all things, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He is the gift of eternal life to all who receive Him.
“That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love,
to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding
and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3
Throughout this life we have the continual blessing of the gifts that are waiting for us to discover. Every day is a new revelation of His gifts to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. There is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, temperance, His holiness, His righteousness, His truth, His humility, His fullness, the fullness of His Spirit, the fullness of Christ, who, in us is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) and all the heavenly gifts that are prepared for us there.
Dear Father, take these good gifts, the gifts that you have given us, that we may see, hear, and receive the greatest gift of your love in Jesus Christ, your Son, with all the other gifts wrapped in Him. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Grace, and grace alone, could save a wretch like me. I could not die for my own sins. Christ had to die for me. A thousand deaths would not atone for my eternity; Christ’s blood, and His alone, bought my sanctity.
His light, and His alone,
shined deep within my soul. The darkness of my heart was readily exposed. His Word, and His alone, could speak new life in me. My sin is great, but greater still, His grace has set me free.
His love, and His alone, drew me to His Son; In covenant with Him, to be His very own. In goodness, and in His alone, He brought me to repent, To turn, to trust, to follow Jesus, whom He had sent.
His power, and His alone, gives life beyond my dreams; Life in Christ, the life of grace, according to His means. His glory, and His alone, suffices as an end. His purpose in heaven and on earth, for Him; for me. Amen.
(This poem is the result of waking one morning around 5:00, hearing the steady refreshing rain that was needful. As with many mornings, I was reminded of God’s grace, and after a few minutes I got up and began to write. Following are the Biblical references that apply. I pray that those who read may use one or both to discover and refresh your heart in the truth of God’s grace and His glory, which hasbeen my encouragement since beginning this blog in 2011)
GOD IS GREATER THAN
