Category: Uncategorized

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 […]

My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power . . . —1 Corinthians 2:4 Human wisdom is grounded in experience. That’s why “older and wiser” run together. Generally those who have experienced the most, demonstrate the most wisdom. And there’s the rub. Human wisdom is also limited by experience. That’s why we should never base our discussion of Christ on our experience alone. Even if we have walked with Him for years, we can experience only a morsel of all that He is. This is not to say we shouldn’t share our testimony, our experience. We certainly should. But we should make clear that we are relating what God did in OUR lives. Leaving open the possibility He may do differently and greater in the life of another.  Nor should we rely on our “clever” or “precise” recitation of our experience. Rather we should rely on the Holy Spirit to pick the words and the time of their speaking. Only He knows what the need and state of the listener is. God is reality. We must be rooted in Him. Our hope for others is […]

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect . . . —Philippians 3:12 It is a difficult, but crucial point, to recognize that God doesn’t want to make us perfect — God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself.  What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him. But doesn’t Christ say to be perfect even as the Heavenly Father is Perfect? When you start talking about perfection, people immediately become very uncomfortable. None of us are perfect, as in flawless. We all make mistakes, we all do and say things we are sorry for. So what is the perfection our LORD is referring to in the above verse? We see the translation for perfect is: complete, of full age. How do we come to completion? How do we arrive at full age, or maturity? We grow up in Christ. We die to our flesh, our carnal thinking and reasoning, and learn to live totally under the guidance of the Spirit of God. That is why Christ gave […]

Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all —James 2:10 There is a strong tendency for Christians to seek to revert to a life under the law. It’s pride.  we are to understand and honor both Gospel and Law. Somehow we can’t get over the idea that we can satisfy the law, that we can be “good” by our own effort. Yet the law demands that we be absolutely moral, an impossible task. But the Gospel provides the answer: Jesus. When Christ works a change in us and we leave behind some sin or sins, we compare ourselves with others and swell up with pride that somehow we are responsible. But if we are living the spirit-filled life, as we leave some sin behind, He will point us to some other way in which we are falling short of perfect compliance with the law.  This is not to say that we should abandon yielding ourselves to Christ for His molding and changing. All we need to abandon is the pride that comes with change for which we can claim no credit.  I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get […]

By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain . . . —1 Corinthians 15:10   I still remember from childhood Popeye’s refrain, “I am what I am and that’s all what I am. I’m Popeye the Sailor man… toot toot.” It’s a good thing to know what we are. I was watching a movie last night and was saddened by the words of one character, “Who am I?” It’s crucial to know who we are. In doing so precision is crucial. It’s prideful to think we are more than we are and an insult to our Creator to be falsely humble.  Some like to say they are just “a sinner saved by grace.” True enough that we WERE sinners, but through the miracle of salvation and sanctification we are SAINTS. That doesn’t mean we are perfect; but He has sanctified us enough to allow us to be in His presence. Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you […]

He will glorify Me . . . —John 16:14 There are so many “expressions” of Christianity today. Visit a few churches. Spend some time watching “Christian” TV or surfing the internet. You will wonder what this “Christianity” thing is all about. How could so many exercise Christianity in such a variety of ways? The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God! Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New […]

. . . being justified freely by His grace . . . —Romans 3:24 We have decided in our family to give only to the children for Christmas. We know that it is more blessed to give than to receive and, sometimes, I think it is easier for us to give than to receive. To accept the generosity of another we must admit that we need something. There is a certain pride in people that causes them to give and give, but to come and accept a gift is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom; I will dedicate my life to service— I will do anything. But do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for […]