Don’t Falter

“But we hoped that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel; and, besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done” (Luke 24:21).

A.B. Bruce said, “If crosses would leave us alone, we would leave them alone, too.” The Lord Jesus took up His cross and followed completely the Father’s will. It was the will of the Father for His Son to die upon the very tree that He had planted years before.

Why do we find it hard to believe that taking up our cross and following Jesus is not the way for us? Why do we not believe that as we die daily to the world and our desires that it is best? We are men just like the ones on the road to Emmaus who did not believe in the resurrection power of Christ.

We can be so slow of heart and foolish not to believe all that the Scripture gives to us. When we follow our own desires and refuse the intuitive desire of God in us we refuse His life. Hope in the Redeemer of Israel and believe that the third day is the power of resurrection in you. Don’t disregard your cross for today. Report to God ready for His will as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

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  • Get Alone

    “For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after he is killed, he shall rise the third day” (Mark 9:31).

    Why did the Lord Jesus have to teach His disciples about His death and resurrection when it should have been plain to see? One reason was that the nation of Israel was in denial and ignorance because they had not been taught the pure Word of God. Past generations were in the dark concerning God’s remedy for sin and its dominion. They did not take time to hear.

    Sin will blind and deafen a soul to the voice of God. In Daniel’s day the LORD revealed by books and scripture the plan and purpose of God to Daniel. Daniel realized the people had sinned, and brought reproach unto their own head, which degenerated the minds of the people toward their promise. God’s chosen people did not hearken to the servants, the prophets, who spoke God’s name to the Kings, princes, and the fathers, and to the people of the land (Daniel 9:6).

    Do you want to know how to know God? Get alone with God and allow Him to instruct you. Read His word, pray unto Him in prayer, in secret private prayer. It’s been said that the pious, religious hypocrite needs an audience to pray because he prays to be heard. To impress. But, friend, if you and I really desire God’s voice then we need to take time to hear and to be heard by God above. There in the secret place He will instruct in righteousness which yields fruit everlasting.

  • Your Own Meditation of the Bible

    “The Israelite’s did as they were told; some gathered much, some little” (Exodus 16:17).

    What would happen if you and I would read more of the Bible on a daily basis? I believe it would change the way we think, talk, and walk. We get into so many ruts in life that sometimes we need to get into the “rut of reading more” and allowing the Spirit of God to shape us into His people.

    America needs more Christians who would read, digest, and depend upon the Author to imprint His Word upon the hearts and minds of His people. It would literally change us from the inside out. It would turn our lives upside down and right side up.

    The Bible read for significant minutes will become the Essential Everyday Life Commentary upon what we feel, do, and live. Try it and find out how God will speak to each of us on His level. See the wonder of life in His Word and find yourself walking more in His presence. Gather much and you will receive more. Gather little and you will receive more.

  • Revival and Integrity

    “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6)

    Authenticity is a product of integrity. Integrity is defined as “wholeness, completeness, soundness.” A person with integrity is not divided (that’s duplicity) or devious (that’s deception) or merely pretending (that’s hypocrisy). People with integrity have nothing to hide nor anything to fear. Their lives are transparent. Though, and it is very unfortunate, they are also somewhat rare.

    There is a shortage and a crisis of integrity today. The church has blemished itself with integrity issues. The church is more like a defeated army, naked before our enemies, and unable to fight back because they have made a frightening discovery: the church is lacking in integrity.

    Warren Wiersbe said, “For nineteen centuries, the church has been telling the world to admit its sins, repent, and believe the gospel. Today, in the twilight of the twentieth century, the world is telling the church to face up to her sins, repent, and start being the true church of that gospel.”  Wiersbe said this back in the early 1990s.

    We boast that we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but perhaps the gospel of Christ is ashamed of us. It seems as if ministry and life does not match our message and lips. The salt has lost is potency. It has become good for nothing. The world has influenced and contaminated the message of the messenger. And now the world walks upon the church.

    The integrity crisis has infiltrated the church and it involves the whole church. In the body of Christ, we belong with one another, we affect one another, and we can’t escape one another. When one member suffers, all the other members suffer with them (I Cor. 12:26). What the church needs today is not a quick fix that touches only the surface, which is only cosmetic; what we truly need is a surgeon who cuts deep and removes the cancer.

    Remember this: God is wanting to make integers and Satan is wanting to make fractions. God’s purpose is to “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10). God does not accept neutrality. Let us look up, look around us, and look within.  The Christian whom God wants to bless and use must have the courage to be different and the conviction to keep going in the right direction, come what may.

     

     

  • The Time is Now!

    “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness”–Proverbs 30:12

    We are that generation! That which is wrong is now declared right. The time when right is wrong is now upon us. The avalanche of impurities have reached an all-time low. And it is reaching high into the nostrils of a holy God.

    The Apostle Paul said that in the latter days there will be a form of godliness but the power of a changed life will not be evident. Many will come before the Lord saying, “And why call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom it is like” (Luke 6:47).

    Rebellion will be the agenda of the day. And truly the rebellion is not against the church but against the God of creation. Man continues to sin without consciousness of a reckoning day, but that day is coming.

    What shall we do in the shadow of His coming to receive us unto Himself? We are to live soberly, righteously, feverishly praying, weeping for the lost, and yearning for others to enter into the Kingdom of God. Live in high gear in public and low gear in private with Almighty God.

  • Dreams

    “But while he (Joseph) thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream…” (Matthew 1:20).

     

    The phrase “in a dream” is found six times in Matthew’s Gospel, five times in the narrative of the birth of Jesus (1:20; 2:12,13,19, 22). The dreams revealed God’s loving care and protection for His Son and His servants to aid them from their enemies.

     

    The Lord spoke in dreams to Joseph and to the wise men because they had to act quickly at a time of great danger and there wasn’t time to send a prophet to warn them, even if one had been available. (Israel had not heard from a prophet in four hundred years).

     

    Today, in our decision making process, we have Christian history behind us, the Word of God before us, the Holy Spirit within us, and loving Christians around us. For believers today, we have what we need to make correct and wise decisions. We do not depend upon dreams but upon the resources He has given to us.

     

    Does God still move in dreams? We are told by missionaries that He does. There are difficult people groups who are hard to reach with the gospel. So they dream of Jesus or “a black book” (the Bible) and then seek out Christians to help them understand their dreams. And many of these place their faith in Christ.

     

    Whenever there are sincere people who seek truth, God can reveal His truth to them as He did to Abram in Ur, to Cornelius the Gentile soldier in the Book of Acts, or even to someone in Iraq, Turkey, or Iran. If they would only “touch the edge of his cloak” (Luke 8:43-48), He will graciously respond to the weakest faith.

     

  • The Must of Salvation

    “Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:7).

    God delivered His only Son into the hands of sinful men to be crucified. It doesn’t seem fair for God the Father to desert His Son in that manner but He did. Why? Because it is the only way to be saved from sin. Do you see the “must”?

    God must take on human flesh if we are to be saved. He must be seen as the sinless Son of God. God must show His sovereignty and control. God’s must is divine and purposeful. His must is for you and for others is to be saved from SIN.

    Are you saved? Why are you waiting to repent? Why would you tarry so long when you understand the drawing of the Spirit saying, “Come to Jesus.” You must be born from above. You must be born again. The only way for you to be saved is you must come to Jesus. He must come again. He must judge sin. He must and you must!