New life, eternal life, the very life of God cannot co-exist with the world, the flesh and the devil.
I am more and more filled with awe before God. When the Lord wants something written, He puts a thought in my mind, that thought invades my heart, and still expanding, then runs out through my pen.
I took a trip in my time machine and I arrived at the dead man’s home just as (John 11:29) his sister, Mary, was leaving the house. The Jews who had come to console her followed her and so I joined them. They thought she was going to the tomb but actually she was going to meet Jesus. When she saw Him she knelt before Him and they talked privately for a few minutes. Then we all went to the tomb and I stayed at the back of the group of mourners. The other sister, Martha, was talking to Jesus about how long her brother, Lazarus had been dead. Mary was weeping silently and sobs could be heard from some of the mourners. We were all startled when, suddenly, Jesus called out in a loud voice. Immediately I saw - - No! that’s impossible, it can’t be true. But it was true and I saw Lazarus, still wrapped in the burial cloths, walk out of the tomb. It was as if I was right there and I felt icy shivers running over me and feel them again as I write this.
Lazarus was wearing his burial garb which spoke only of death and carried the odour of decay. But Jesus said - - strip off his grave clothes, free him and let him go because (John 8:36) it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. While still in awe I remembered something I heard from (Major Ian Thomas) years ago. His face was bound so he was defaced, his hands were bound so he was defunct, his feet were bound so he was defeated.
Defaced, defunct, defeated - - - is this a Christian?
Have you received new life in Christ Jesus? Are the grave clothes still clinging to you - - elements of death which always carry the stench of decay? Hear the Word of the Lord. Strip off (Ephesians 4:22) the works of darkness. What fellowship (2 Corinthians 6:14) has light with darkness? Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1) and completely liberated us. You have been made free from sin (Romans 6:18) and have become the servants of righteousness. Take no part in (Ephesians 5:11) the unfruitful works of darkness but put on (Ephesians 6:11) the whole armour of God. New life, eternal life, the very life of God cannot co-exist with the world, the flesh and the devil.
At times it seems so easy and attractively tempting for us to rationalize our behaviour and excuse ourselves for our choices and decisions. Rationalization is a self-satisfying but dangerous wrong way of thinking to guide our actions. It is human wisdom vs. Almighty Omniscience. If we persist in it, it will destroy our moral compass. (Dr. Swindoll) said he has this quote beside his computer and he reads it everyday. “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, it will keep you there longer than you want to stay and it will cost you more than you want to pay.”
As you look around our world, our country to-day, what is conspicuous by its absence? What is the glaring void? It is what the world is looking for but in all the wrong places. Peace is what everyone is looking for but many don’t even know what it is. Do you have peace? When the raging storms of life surprise you and impossibilities surround you, can you still be tranquil? Here is our anchor. The Lord has established His Throne in the heavens (Psalms 103:19) and His sovereign kingdom rules over all. There is no storm that He cannot calm and He had never (Luke 1:37) encountered an impossibility. We are not to be (Philippians 4:6) victims of anxiety or (Psalms 4:8) sleepless with worry. We have a better and higher stability. If we obey the teaching of God’s Word and make it our way of life, our lifestyle, (Philippians 4:9) the very God of undisturbed peace will be with us. We can live in unbroken communion with Him. The Lord of Peace Himself (2 Thessalonians 3:16) will grant us His kingdom peace at all times and in all ways, under all circumstances and conditions, whatever comes. As we pray with thankfulness, the peace of God will garrison and mount guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus - - even though this transcends our understanding, it can still be our experience. Don’t skim over these verses too quickly. Take some time to probe the depths of richness in God’s personal promises to us. Listen to Him and you will hear Him whisper as kingdom peace seeps into your entire being. Listen! - - H When God gives quietness (Job 34:29) who then can make trouble.
(From the John Ankerberg Program)
“Every month astronomers are discovering more scientific evidence which confirms that God created the universe in the beginning out of nothing. They have concrete evidence that there never was a primordial soup. Then He meticulously made and formed, from the elements of what He had already created, everything necessary to sustain life on Planet Earth. He is the Master of time, space, power and energy”.
I believe that God’s increasing revelation of Himself is His wake-up call to the world in these last days, prior to the Rapture of His Church. Are we obeying Him, are we longing to see Jesus, are we listening for the trumpet and the shout of our Bridegroom?
HOME
God’s Presence is precious and real
So I never feel alone,
But when I see the face of Jesus
I’ll know that I’m
forever HOME;
My husband will be waiting,
My mother has been a long time there,
And to live forever with the King, my Saviour,
Nothing, no nothing could remotely compare.