For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; Psalms 37:7

I wait quietly before God, for my salvation comes from him. Psalms 62:1

We are most often under the impression that being a Christian requires our best effort at working for God. We believe that although our contributions may be small compared to His, and certainly corrupted because of our sinfulness, that the harder we work, the more likely our success and therefore his blessing.

Discipleship most certainly requires our best sacrifice but not of effort, rather of repentance, rest, quietness, stillness, and trust also known as faith. There is no way to escape the stillness of discipleship. I can no longer justify the business of life or the distraction of so many various escapes provided by entertainments. Discipleship, effective discipleship begins in stillness.

Daily stillness is required for joy, peace, and maturity. Take time for stillness today.

Hope!! Micheal

There is freedom from the endless cycle of sin, shame, and repentance. God has not saved us and then left us to our own devices for doing what is right. We try so hard to “live for God”. The very “hardness” of it is proof that we are trying to achieve God’s purpose in our lives by our own will power, determination, or whatever else we feel is at our disposal.

So If you believe in the Lord Jesus and have received His salvation allow me to make all of those people who are trying to control your life with guilt (for not “working” hard enough) angry.

#1 Your heart is not “desperately wicked”. This is a reference based upon Jeremiah 17:9. It is a true when defining unredeemed, unregenerate men and women. However in the context of those who have been saved by God’s grace, it is no longer true.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

So there it is, this is God’s Word on the subject, deal with it man. You have changed, you are not the same. So stop making excuses for the unrighteousness in your life and find out what God has done about it. Which leads us to..

#2 God has not only dealt with your sins, (cool huh?) He has also dealt with your very nature to sin.

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? (2) By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,

Dude, your sin nature, my sin nature HAS BEEN crucified with Christ. Just as it is a historical fact that Jesus Christ was historically crucified upon a cross for the sins of man. It is also a historical fact that I have been crucified with Him for the destruction of the sin nature.

Let me guess your first thought, “But dude, I am having a lot of problems doing the right thing. How can this be true since I still do stupid stuff (aka – sin)?” Good question. The fact is many remain unforgiven because they do not, cannot, will not, “whatever” not believe that Christ’s death on the cross was for them or their sins. It is also true that many believers remain unholy, unrighteous because they do not, cannot believe that God promised righteousness and holiness have also been secured by God. We believe in salvation by grace and faith, but sanctification by works.

So bro (or sis) get over your own self. And believe this, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

Here are a few more you may have missed.

Colossians 1:22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

If you are tired of the “pat” answers like I am. (You know, “go to church”, “read your bible”, “talk to the Pastor”, “pray”, “read this book”) And feel you are ready for God to open your eyes to His answer, then I challenge you to take journey with Jesus and ask Him to teach you His answer for our sinful condition and our sinful nature.

I dare you to experience the Jesus promised “abundant life”.

I awoke this morning not thinking about today but about tomorrow. I woke up the same way yesterday. For some reason, in my mind, it was as if today was already over, and it hadn’t even begun.

How much of today will I miss in my hurry to get to tomorrow?

James 4:14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like a morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone… 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

Proverbs 15:10

Whoever abandons the right path will be severely disciplined.

 

How easy it must be to stray from the right path, how quickly our thoughts are misdirected and precious opportunities are lost on worthless things. How terrifying to look back and see that you have strayed into a land you never even knew existed.

How do we stay on the path? Maybe a better question is, “What is the path?” I believe the path is Jesus Christ. He is the reason that Paul’s plan was to forget all that was behind and pursue Christ. The problem for us is… that is not the kind of answer we are seeking. We want a nice black and white answer that spells out our daily activities and that plainly explains our next activity. What I don’t understand is why such an answer is even desired. We all know that as soon as some kind of rule is established for us, our main purpose then becomes to break or at least stretch that rule.

The Answer of Jesus is freedom from that base desire to sin. It is so much more than, “What would Jesus do?” It is more an active/passivity that invites the initiation of Christ into the moments of our lives? It is the awareness that Christ is in us ready to do more than we would ever dare ask or think. It is also a dependence that Christ is at work in our every thought, word, and deed.

How does one stay on the path? One remains aware of and gives attention to the path. The only way to stray is distraction.