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Jesus said to His disciples, ’If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .’ —Matthew 16:24 At some point in my military career, I found myself in Newport, Rhode Island. That winter was the first time I had seen snow flakes. I was amazed by their size and the fact that each one seemed different. I like the saying under this image, “Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.”  It is a credit to our creator God that his imagination is so great as to allow Him to create billions of individuals. We should marvel at that and wonder that He loves us each knowing our differences. However, we sometimes mistakenly worship our individuality. Individuality sometimes shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. Our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes. We can be so caught up in doing our “own thing” that we never get around to learning and doing His thing. The characteristics […]

I remember many years ago I had a close friend who was baptized in the spirit. It was an incredible experience for him. We were at a men’s retreat and he lay in his bed for hours praying in the spirit. I will never forget a comment of his, “Everything is spiritual.” I remember it because it could be expected of someone experiencing a spiritual life for the first time. But I also remember it because it was wrong. My friend tried for some time to live “just in the spirit.” It didn’t work. The natural still exists and must be dealt with. Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). Sanctification means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of myself, body, mind and spirit, to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may cost. We are talking about that nasty word, discipline. We need to discipline our bodies and minds, controlling what they consume […]

Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires —Galatians 5:24 We seem to easily recognize that as followers of Christ we need to abandon sin. The more difficult truth is that it is not just a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. This is where the battle has to be fought.  It is easy to share God at a prison. The inmates know they have sinned. They are reminded of it every day. It is much more difficult to share with “good” people. They like to grade on the curve. They believe they are better than a lot of other folks. The same is true of us who follow Him. We believe there are naturally good things we do but these things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God’s best. Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and […]

By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified —Hebrews 10:14 Perfection means completeness. We need forgiveness to be complete, to be what God intended us to be. Forgiveness is the door to the life we are meant to have. Why does God forgive us? Not because we are sorry or even because we repent from our sinful ways.  The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. The joy of the Lord is the peace and joy that comes with forgiveness. If our joy begins to slip away, you can bet we are losing a grip on our forgiveness and that guilt and “looking back” is taking over our lives. Our pride tells us our sin is too great; our faith is too weak. We begin to lose faith in the saving power of the cross. God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not […]

Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation . . . —2 Corinthians 7:10   Everyone must have a real encounter with sin, recognizing what it is, not just a “bad thing” but an offense against God. Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight . . .” (Psalm 51:4).  Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex action caused by self-disgust. The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable “goodness.” Then […]

I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth —Genesis 9:13 It is the will of God that human beings should get into a right-standing relationship with Him, and His covenants are designed for this purpose.  All the great blessings of God are finished and complete, but they are not mine until I enter into a relationship with Him on the basis of His covenant. When I have really transacted business with God on the basis of His covenant, letting everything else go, there is no sense of personal achievement— no human ingredient in it at all. Instead, there is a complete overwhelming sense of being brought into union with God, and my life is transformed and radiates peace and joy.

We are here for a purpose. To be useful, we need to be set aside for that purpose.  Salvation and sanctification have to do with that setting aside. Satan doesn’t want us to fulfill our purpose; one of his great gambits is to keep us focused on the salvation and sanctification so that we never move on to fulfilling a purpose. It is that gambit that keeps us sitting in pews wanting to hear yet again that we are saved; contemplating further this mystery of sanctification. He keeps us in a vicious cycle of recognizing our sinful nature, knowing we need a savior and turning to Christ. I know folks who have “gone forward” to accept salvation numerous times, but have never taken a single step to further the Kingdom past themselves. They become obsessed with “losing” their salvation or “becoming more holy.” As righteous as that sounds; it is completely SELF righteous; for it is completely focused on self.    To be holy doesn’t mean to be good, it means to be set aside for a purpose. To have a purpose, you have to do something. Have you EVER told anyone about Jesus? Have you lifted a hand […]

To him who overcomes . . . —Revelation 2:7 As I work on this devotional I am listening to a high school football play off. It’s a war. If we experience life we learn early that much about life is a war, a continuing struggle. This is true in the natural, physical, mental and spiritual.  Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life. Health is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces […]