When we don’t Feel Loving, Free, and Fruitful The love, freedom, and fruitfulness that results from Christ in us can be easy to forget when we’re feeling badly about ourselves. In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul prayed with great insight about this. He prayed that their love would abound more and more in knowledge and depth of…
Consequences Colossians 3:22–25 22 Slaves, obey those who are your human masters in everything, not with eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, 24 knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive…
And there you have it. The impossible way that you can be like God.
Walking Worthily After telling us in the last few verses of Ephesians 3 how well rooted and grounded we are, Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-6 that we should walk in a manner worthy of our calling, our new spiritual identity. Such a walk, he writes, would be:In humility,In gentleness,With patience,With tolerance for others,In love,In peace,In…
Faith and Works Some time ago I was asked about James 2:17-18, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, ‘you have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’” (NASB)…
Spiritual Maturity It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God.(see Ephesians 2:8) So walk in Jesus, in exactly the same way as you received Him.(See Colossians 2:6) You have been firmly rooted in Christ. He is the root, the vine, and you’re…
Beloved of the Lord, He chose you for salvation from the beginning. Not in a capricious way, picking one and rejecting another, that’s not love. He reconciled the world to Himself in Christ and He chose to give life to all who change their minds and agree to be reconciled by believing on Jesus for…
Do you realize that all of creation is waiting with great anticipation for the day when you are fully revealed as a glorious child of God? It’s true! Just ask Romans 8:19.
Being Transformed You are being transformed into the image of God. Make no mistake, who you are isn’t changing. That’s settled, you righteous, blameless, holy child of God, you. Still, you’re being transformed. More and more, you walk according to the Spirit. Father knew this would happen, (because He would see to it) and He…
Freedom to Do What We Want Galatians 5 touts our freedom in Christ. From the very first verse it makes clear that Jesus set us free so that we would actually be free. You may remember that in other places we’re told that if the Son sets us free, we are free indeed, and where…
Some good advice from Pete the Apostle Be harmonious,Be sympathetic,Be brotherly (or sisterly if that fits better), Be kindhearted,Be humble in spirit. Don’t return evil for evil,Don’t return insult for insult. Give a blessing instead. Pretty smart, that Pete.(See 1 Pete 3:8)
A Little Bit of Jesus in Hebrews 2 This chapter of Hebrews contains a couple of passages that require careful reading because they can seem frightening. Then it tells the story of God giving dominion over the earth to humanity and humanity’s loss of it at the hands of the evil one. As is His…
Faith in Community Paul prayed for Philemon. (Philemon 1:6) He prayed that the fellowship of Philemon’s faith would become effective. The fellowship of faith is communion, it’s sharing, it’s how faith intersects with community. How did Paul anticipate the fellowship of Philemon’s faith would become effective? Through Philemon’s knowledge of every good thing that was…
Eternal Life is Eternal We are the family of God. We’re His children. He’s our Father. Paul talks about this very briefly in Ephesians 3:14-15. He says that the whole family in heaven and on earth is named of Jesus. Interestingly, Paul purposely mentioned those who are in heaven. This cannot be referring to angels…
The mystery was hidden, or encrypted, in the Hebrew Scriptures. To decrypt it we will need the Key.
In the Spirit There’s no doubt about it. If you are saved, you are in the spirit. That’s what it means to be in Christ. Think about it, you are not in the body of Jesus. The only way you can be in Him is to be in His Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that…
Witnessing Jesus told His disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit had come upon them. He continued, “and you shall be my witnesses.” (See Acts 1:8) Do you see the wonderfully good news here? He said you “shall be.” Holy Spirit was given to you the moment you believed.Holy Spirit infused you…
The Way of the Kingdom Some chase after money.Some pursue fame.Some search for solitude.Some live for thrills. But you, child of God, are the dwelling place of the Most High. He who dwells within you draws you toward eternal things. You look for them everywhere, and you find them naturally flowing from within. Love, joy,…
The Great Promise Part 1 of 4 Ezekiel 26:26-27 records a promise from God that brings enormous clarity to our understanding of what Jesus did for us and who he made us. Here’s the promise: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will…
The Great Promise Part 2 of 4 Ezekiel 36:26-27 Here’s the promise: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my…
The Great Promise Part 3 of 4 Ezekiel 36:26-27 Here’s the promise: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my…
The Great Promise Part 4 of 4 Ezekiel 36:26-27 Here’s the promise: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my…
The Straight and Narrow Walking the straight and narrow is often understood to mean that we must live a morally faultless life if we hope to get to heaven. Living a morally faultless life is very problematic. Just when you think you have it nailed, you look more deeply and discover you were wrong. In…
You Are Loved It’s common for us to wonder about our spiritual growth or maturity. We want to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.We want to be more consistent in living with love and grace to those around us.We also struggle with our imperfections.We notice our failings. In Philippians 1:6 Paul makes…
In Hebrews six we find a somewhat curious passage that has led to some confusion over the years. Hebrews 6:4-6 (KJV) “4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of…
