Author: Nick

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new —2 Corinthians 5:17 It is sad to consider that many believe that you can’t know if you are saved. Or worse, that you are never really saved. Some believe that you can know that you will go to heaven if you die today; but the same might not be true tomorrow, next week or next year.  But we can know, we can be sure. When we become His, things are different. The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in your life is genuine is— has God changed the things that really matter to you? If you still yearn for the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above— you are deceiving yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and […]

He said, ’Take now your son . . .’ —Genesis 22:2 The Power of Now.  If I could just forget about the past and stop worrying about the future. I could get to now. Now is the only thing we have, the only medium in which we can make a difference. The only reality of following Christ. The only time that really matters.  I also have to admit that I sometimes live by the axiom, “Why do it now when it could be done tomorrow.” God’s command is, “Take now,” not later. It is incredible how we debate! We know something is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it immediately. If we are to climb to the height God reveals, it can never be done later— it must be done now. What are you doing now? What could you be doing now? What should you be doing now? Do it and be blessed. Nick

. . . fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ . . . —1 Thessalonians 3:2 I have 11 years of military experience where I learned computers when the industry was new. I am a law school honor graduate and have practiced law for nearly thirty years.  Yet my principal purpose these days seems to be as a babysitter. I also get to set up and run websites and prayer request systems and a daily blog, but seriously I’m principally a babysitter. So today’s Utmost is for me. After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, “God has called me for this and for that,” you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing […]

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . . —Colossians 1:24 This verse has been the source of considerable confusion in the church. The problem comes with the phrase “lacking in the afflictions of Christ.” We are alerted by these words because we know that Christ’s death is complete as the basis for our redemption. He has done it all. But we also know there is suffering, before and after our new birth as a Christian. Paul here is referring to sufferings for the Church.  We know that all that we are as Christians arises from being in Christ. Paul considered it an honor which he rejoiced in to be considered worthy to suffer in some small way as Christ did. Paul’s suffering doesn’t add to the work done by Christ; but rather is evidence of the indwelling redeeming life of Christ. If we are His, we will do His will, walk the walk He calls us to and that will, inevitably lead to suffering.  What is lacking in Christ’s afflictions is our faith and trust in Him. When we trust Him for […]

We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26 When we become children of God; we begin to move in the spiritual world. But it is a world with which we are not familiar. We tend to still think in the natural. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to teach us the ways of the spiritual and to intercede for us in matters we do not yet understand.  We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable. “He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is. […]

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28 We sometimes judge how things are going taking the circumstances into count. We say things are okay “under the circumstances.” As a Christian, I should  never be “under the circumstances.” I am “in Christ” and above all the circumstances. The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. All of your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. I must use the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them. I am blessed “under the […]

Do you believe this? —John 11:26 Martha believed in the power available to Jesus Christ; she believed that if He had been there He could have healed her brother; she also believed that Jesus had a special intimacy with God, and that whatever He asked of God, God would do. But— she needed a closer personal intimacy with Jesus. Martha’s theology had its fulfillment in the future. But Jesus continued to attract and draw her in until her belief became an intimate possession. It then slowly emerged into a personal inheritance— “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ . . .” (John 11:27). Our faith must become intimate, personal. It usually happens as it happened to Martha, through some personal tragedy, some personal loss. It is only in that raw emotional situation that our theology becomes intimate. Our believe in a God in heaven and even in our eventual residence there becomes the personal belief that He is with us now, loving and walking with us on this earth and through these circumstances. It’s the personal relationship that raises the Christian above every believer in every other god.  Is the Lord dealing with you in the same […]

. . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . —1 Peter 4:13 The question, “Why do the righteous suffer?” or the broader “Why does God allow suffering?” has plagued man from the beginning. There are many reasons for suffering, today we look at only one.  Sometimes, the suffering is not correction or chastisement it is not inflicted to improve us or even to teach us. If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Sometimes we just need to know what it’s like to go through certain trials so that we can better relate to others who suffer similarly.  When suffering comes, it does not good to try to determine which of God’s many possible purposes are at work. Much of our Lord’s life consisted of experiences which led Him to understand what we go through. He was hot, cold, hungry, and tempted. He suffered like none of us […]