July 31, 2017                                             KNOWING  OUR  LIMITS
Psalm 131:1 “O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or things too difficult for me.”
This is a liberating verse. Many spend a lot of time worrying or fretting over things over which they have no control.  There are many things in the universe and the world around us that we simply cannot understand or explain. It is the pride of man that is behind the desire to control and to have the knowledge to explain everything. The opposite of pride is humility; and part of humility is recognizing our limitations. We experience a certain freedom when we accept and acknowledge the fact that there are things that are too great or too difficult for us. I am reminded of a true story where a man, for whatever the reason, felt that he was ‘supposed’ to be a pastor, however, as he went about pastoring, he was not content and what he did was a struggle and laborious. When someone he admired and respected as a spiritual mentor told him that he did not think God had called him to be a pastor, he was totally relived and the burden was lifted-for him, being a pastor was ‘too difficult’. In the same way, we must recognize the things that are too great for us, things that we are not called to do nor are we equipped to do. With the world at our fingertips, we can find much to fear and we can find much to worry about, and we can find much that defies our understanding. These verses are not a call to ‘bury our head in the sand’ or to become indifferent to the world around us. Certainly, we can and should pray for God to intervene in the affairs of man and we should be involved in the things that God puts on our heart. At the same time, we must acknowledge that there are things beyond our influence, and then choose to lay those things aside. Knowing Jesus in a personal way and knowing our identity in Him has a way of simplifying life. In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul admonishes believers not to turn from the simplicity of devotion to Christ: “But I am afraid, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” We must remember that God knows us individually and He has called us individually and He has specific plans for each of us, and by living our life according to His plans, we experience peace. It is a good thing to recognize daily that He is the potter, and we are the clay (Isaiah 64:8) and that our part is to simply respond to His leading and be ‘good clay’ for His purposes. It is also a good thing to know that no matter what we see taking place around us and in the world in which we live, God is ruling and reigning and that His purposes are being fulfilled. There is great rest in knowing that God is our Father and that nothing can hinder His plans and purposes.
1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
Blessings,
Buddy
 
 
 

 
July 28, 2017                                                     SET  YOUR  MIND
Colossians 3:2: “Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth”
Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, let you mind dwell on these things.”
The life we live is largely determined by our mindset; the power of the mind cannot be under estimated.  Where we set our mind is much bigger than whether we have a positive or negative mindset, even though that is important. The major life-changing concept and truth we must understand is that even as a believer, we have the choice as to where we set our mind. At any given moment, one is thinking according to the world, or according to the new man that we are in Christ. If we are not exercising and disciplining our mind, then we are out of control in life. Our mind is to be subject to our spirit. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Someone said that the first awareness of a thought that enters our mind may be compared to an airplane requesting permission to land. When a wrong thought comes ‘out of the blue,’ we must not give it permission to land, but reject it and replace it with a proper thought.  In our culture, we are constantly bombarded with lies and temptations to think in a way that is contrary to the way that God would have us think. In fact, if we are not walking according to the Spirit, but according to the flesh, our thinking will be flawed. As believers, we have been made new and we have been joined to God and now we live in His Kingdom. His kingdom brings with it its own way of life, its own values, and is all based on the truth of who God is. God, being the creator and designer of man, knows that in order for man to realize life the way He intended, man must think in accordance with his design. God did not leave it up to us to figure out how to think properly, but revealed in His word how we are think, or set our mind.  Thinking according to the scriptures does not mean that we will never have to deal with the ‘negatives’ of life, nor does it mean that every thought we have will be the right thought, but it does mean that we recognize and deal with any wrong thoughts as they come. We live in a world where darkness abounds and where wrong thinking is dominant. But we are light, and we are of God’s household, and as such, we are now able to think as God thinks. (1 Corinthians 2:16) Rather than our thinking being dictated by the world standard, let us be sure to set our mind on the truth of God as revealed in the scriptures, and let us be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in the way He would have us think. It’s our choice as to where we set our mind.                                                                                                                                   Romans:6:4: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
Blessings,
Buddy

 
July 26, 2017                                                                     PUT  ON  THE  NEW
In the previous blog, we saw that we have been made new and that we actually have a new nature-a nature that does not desire to sin. We also saw that walking in our newness does not happen automatically, and that our part is to choose to walk according to the Spirit. It is important to know that we cannot walk according to the Spirit and according to flesh at the same time-there is no blending of the two. The truth is that our new nature has a desire to do the things that please the Father, and God has made it possible for us to do just that! In Ephesians 4:22-24 we read: “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” It sounds rather simple that we can choose to lay aside the old self-and it is that simple because when we get a glimpse of the new, it’s easy to lay aside the old. Note that this verse tells us that the new self is the ‘likeness of God” and it “has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Our old self has not been refurbished or updated, but a new nature has been created by God for us and given to us! Now, we have the opportunity to lay aside our old nature-the one that lives according to the flesh-and put on the brand new nature that God has created for us! This is a radical change. When we put on our new self, it becomes evident to us and to others because our new self is in the likeness of God-and when the ‘likeness of God’ is being demonstrated in flesh and bones, it will be obvious. That’s really what it’s all about-representing and demonstrating the very nature of God to a world in darkness. Walking with our new self in place, brings with it many rewards and blessings. Our new self puts us in direct link to the Father where we are partners with Him-and what could be greater and more fulfilling than partnering with God? When we put on the new us, life takes on a totally new and grand purpose. The new self expresses itself in practical ways. As we walk in our newness, we will find ourselves thinking healthy thoughts; preferring others over ourselves, being about blessing others; speaking words that build up; forgiving others who have wronged us; being at peace; not being fearful, and the list goes on-and the exciting part is that we will enjoy the things we do-with no regrets! No longer do we try to earn God’s approval and acceptance, but because He has accepted us and because He is pleased with us, we are free to express His very nature to those around us. Go ahead-lay aside your old self, and put on the brand new self that God has for you! Go ahead-walk according to the Spirt-that is what you were created to do.
Ephesians 5:1: “THEREFORE, be imitators of God, as beloved children;”
Blessings,
Buddy

 
July 23, 2017                                                          NEW  THINGS  HAVE  COME
2 Corinthians 5:15,17: “and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Can we-do we-grasp, do we believe, and do we understand that we are not going to be made new creations someday, but have already been made new if we are in Christ? As humans, we do tend to get ‘stuck in our ways.’ It is amazing how one can adjust to, or become comfortable even with his misery and the thought of change makes him uncomfortable! To realize and to receive the truth that God has not re-furbished us, but has made us new, requires faith in what God has said and the work of the Holy Spirit within us opening the eyes of our heart to become aware of our new identity. Our part in the process is to read and study the scriptures because it is in the scriptures that we learn of our new identity. Being made new, literally a “new species of man”, is indeed a miracle. It is incredible that our very nature can be changed by the working of God.  Our salvation includes so much more than going to heaven when we die; our salvation changes us at the core. There is a problem however; it is apparent that many believes, if not most, have not discovered, or become aware of their new identity. The primary reason for this is that for many years, we have been exposed to what Peter Parris refers to as an ‘insufficient gospel.’ In other words, the ‘preaching’ we have heard, and the books we may have read, failed to present the clear teachings of what the new birth means. Many messages we hear emphasize that even as believers, we are ‘sinners,’ and that we still have a sin nature. In so many words, and with good intentions, we are told that we must be ‘more committed,’ ‘pray more,’ ‘spend more time in the word,’  ‘have more ‘quite times,’ if we are to please God and be more spiritual.  It is abundantly clear in the scriptures that at salvation, we are made new. Ezekiel prophesied of the change that God would bring about in those who would come to know Jesus as Savior: Ezekiel 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Walking in our newness does not happen automatically, but by choosing to live by the Spirit. Romans 8:6 tells us-“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace,” You are not in bondage to sin and the new you has no desire to sin. We can live without sinning-but if and when we sin, we confess it and continue to walk in the Spirit. In Galatians 5:16 we read-“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”  This article to be continued in the next blog, but for now, begin to walk in your new self-you are not who you use to be.
Blessings,
Buddy
 
 

 
July 20, 2017                                                                    PRESSING ON
Hosea 6:3: “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.”
Philippians 3:12-13: “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.”
Martin Lloyd-Jones once said “Our supreme need is to know God.” As you read the writings of Paul in the New Testament, you readily see that it was his passion to know God and to know and fulfill the purposes God had for him. Some may question the idea of a human being being able to know God. But God has chosen to make it possible for us to know Him; God wants to be known by His people. In the Old Covenant, God revealed Himself through the prophets; in the New Covenant, Jesus spent three years teaching and demonstrating the Kingdom of God, and after His resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit was given to believers that they might continually experience His presence. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal the Father, and the receiving of the Spirit is the beginning of our coming to know the Lord, but then we spend a life time of pressing on to know Him more fully. The greatness of God transcends our mental capacity to comprehend and our imaginations cannot capture just how great He is. There are things about God that we do not know or understand, but it is through faith that we believe. However, God has revealed much of Himself to those who believe, and Ephesians 1:9 tells us that He has made known to us His will.  The challenge to us is to ‘press on’ to know the Lord more fully; the more we know Him, the more we want to know Him. The challenge to coast spiritually and to remain in our present condition is ever present. Pressing on to know the Lord starts in our heart with a desire to know Him.  If it is indeed our desire to know Him more fully, then that desire will be manifest in our life. Pressing on to know the Lord would involve searching the scriptures, obeying or applying the scriptures, being involved with and having fellowship with other believers, praying to the Father and listening to His voice and learning and doing the things that please Him. The Christian faith demands action-not in order to earn God’s approval, but because we are sons and daughters of God being transformed into His image. Let us take to heart the words of Hosea and Paul and let us press on to know the Lord.
John 14:21: “He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
Blessings,
Buddy
 

 
July 17, 2017                                                                    A  SURE  FOUNDATION
Luke 6:47-48: “Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
Coming-hearing-action! Anyone who knows anything about building a building knows the importance of a good foundation. To lay a good foundation, a deep trench is dug around the perimeter of the structure and concrete is poured into the trench, (called a ‘footer’) which serves as the foundation. A house built on a good foundation will survive the heavy rains and storms. The foundation cannot be seen, and we rarely think about the foundation of a house-until the storms come! So it is with life; if we are to survive the storms of life, a sure foundation is essential. The culture considers a good insurance policy, a savings account, and investments as a good foundation for life. There is nothing wrong with, and there is some wisdom in such things; however, if these are our foundation, then we have an insecure or faulty foundation. Just as there is a certain process for putting in a foundation for a house, there is a certain process for putting in a solid foundation for life. The first step is to go to Jesus, to turn our hearts and our attention to the One who is the master foundation layer. Many search the world over for security in life, but it is found only in Jesus. It is not enough just to say that we are ‘going to Jesus,’ we must also hear what He has said and what He is saying to us. Jesus came and ministered on earth for three years, teaching and proclaiming the kingdom of God, and His teachings are recorded in the scriptures through which we can hear His words. The third step, and perhaps the one most often neglected, in completing our foundation for life, is to act on what Jesus has said. Because our culture places such high value on knowledge, we tend to think that just to know something is sufficient, but it’s not. If we are to have a sure foundation in life, we must act on, put into action, what Jesus has spoken-there is no substitute. Just for example, Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive, so that means we are to spend more time on looking for ways to give and less time on receiving-just that simple. We can give of our time, our resources, our prayers for others, a good deed-or whatever. Keep it simple, read the scriptures and do what it says! Note that that Jesus said “Everyone” who comes-that includes you and me.
Psalms 19:14: “Let the words of mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Blessings,
Buddy
 
 
 

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July 12, 2017                                                                           SIMPLY  PUT
John 17:3: “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.”
It is amazing that in just twenty one words, Jesus clearly defines eternal life. Man has a strong tendency to complicate the simple truths of the scriptures-and life in general. In John 17, Jesus makes it clear that He was sent by the Father and He that did only what the Father desired. It was the passion of Jesus for His followers to know and experience the love that the Father has for His people. The highest, the supreme, the most life changing factor in all of life is to know God, and His son Jesus Christ. Knowing God is THE key to life; apart from knowing God, it is utterly impossible to live life as God designed. Knowing God also transforms this temporal earthly life do into eternal life-wow! God has a grand master plan and He is in the process of bringing it to fruition. For those who ‘have eyes to see’ and ‘ears to hear,’ the scriptures reveal His plans. Only as we come to know God, do we discover our true identity, realize our purpose in life, find the power to overcome any circumstances in life, and come to know that we were created by the Father God that we have come to know! No one can come to know God on his own; God has chosen to reveal Himself, or make Himself known to those who seek Him with their whole heart. There are no three easy steps to knowing God, but the desire to know Him starts the process. In John 6:44 we read: “No one can come to Me unless the effort Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” If we have a desire to know God, then we can thank Him for giving us that desire. And if we want to know Him, it follows that we will begin to search the scriptures, because it is primarily in the scriptures that He reveals Himself. Also, we will find God revealing Himself to us in a personal way as well.  God enjoys relating with, and talking with those who belong to Him. Some may hear an audible voice from God, but normally He speaks in our spirit, the inner man, and we will also find that God will  put certain thoughts in our minds. Let us remember that knowing God is ultimate knowledge that we could ever gain. Martin Lloyd-Jones once said: “Our supreme need is to know God.”
Hosea 6:3: “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.”
Blessings,
Buddy
 

July 10, 2017                                                                    BE  FILLED
Ephesians 5:18: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,”
Acts 13:52: “And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Galatians 5:16: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
There is much discussion and needless debate about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Focusing on one scripture while neglecting the totality of the scriptures often leads to error or misinterpretation. Certainly, we are blessed by, and benefit from those who devote their life to the study and proclamation of the scriptures. However, God’s word is amazing in that the message of the gospel can be grasped by anyone who is able to read and has a desire to know God. Until Jesus came, the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers, but when Jesus came, everything changed! Once the sin issue had been death with by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and man had been restored to God, the Holy Spirit would be sent to indwell all believers. In John 16, Jesus is conversing with His disciples about His returning to the Father and in verse 7 he says: ”But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you,” and in verse 13 He says: “But when the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak of His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” No one could live the Christian life and no one could live according to the gospel without the Holy Spirit of God indwelling and equipping. God sent the Holy Spirit for a purpose-to guide, to convict, to empower, and to give understanding in the things of God. At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit is given to the believer, but it is not a one-time occurrence. We know form scripture that a believer can choose to stop walking according to the Spirit and revert back to walking according to the flesh and grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:20). God desires a living, dynamic relationship with those who belong to Him and He desires to reveal His ways to us and He desires that we work with Him as He works in us. Walking with God and relating to God is to be an ongoing daily happening. We are in a battle with Satan and the world, and we need His continual working in us to be overcomers. It should be our mind-set to be continually being filled with the Spirit. We are filled with the Spirit by acknowledging that we are dependent on God for everything and my surrendering our will to His will, and then following His leading.
Galatians 5:25: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
Blessings,
Buddy
 
 
 

 
July 7, 2017                                             GRANTED  TO  US
2 Peter 1:3-4: “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificence promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
Ephesians 1:18-19: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
Do we get it? We do not attain to an understanding and knowledge of God, and a relationship with God through human reasoning and intellect. It is true that God has revealed Himself through the scriptures, but only as the Holy Spirit illuminates, or brings to life the truth of the scriptures, do we see the magnificence of what God has done on our behalf. One might say that since everything depends on whether or not the Spirit decides to illuminate the scriptures, we have no choice in the matter.  We must remember that it is the desires of our heart that God takes note of. If it is our deepest desire to know God in a personal way, we will find ourselves reading the written word, and as we read, we will discover that the Holy Spirit is helping us grasp and understand the life-changing truth of the scriptures. If we are spiritually coasting through life, if we are defeated by our circumstances, if we are bored and have no passion for the things of God, then we have lost sight of, or have never known the promises that God has made to us and all that He has granted to us who believe. God is up to a lot in what He is doing in us, but the greatest thing is that His work in us and His promises to us all lead to us becoming “partakers of His divine nature.” Even in the church, we have been bombarded with the idea that we are just sinners with a bent to sin. These scriptures, along with many others, expose the error of such thinking. Even though believers may sin, they should see themselves as saints and children of God, and not sinners. God has joined us to Himself and He delights in sharing Himself with us. Now, we live with physical bodies, but at the same time we are spiritual beings who have been made new. God sees more than, and beyond the physical life we presently have. The amazing truth is that God has already given us “everything pertaining to life and godliness,” and we discover that to be true through knowing Him as He desires to be known. We tend to think of ourselves as being ‘needy,’ and that is true in that we always need Him, but we have been supplied with everything we need for life and in that sense, we are not needy. Our challenge is to pursue Him, to grow in our faith and in our knowledge of Him, to have our hearts fully turned toward Him. The promises do us no good unless we know what they are and we believe that not one of them will fail to come to pass. Let our eyes be opened just as Paul prayed, and let us see the awesome inheritance we have in Him. We are sufficient for all of life in Him!
2 Corinthians 1:20: “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes;”
Blessings, Buddy

 
July 4, 2017                                              CALLED  TO  FREEDOM
Galatians 5:13: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Every person has an innate desire to be free. It is for sure a wonderful thing to be “free,” and we see in the above verse that God has called us freedom, but if we misunderstand, or misuse freedom, we do so at our own loss. Some may think that to be free means that there are few or no boundaries in life, and the goal in life is to do whatever it takes to make yourself happy-“if it feels good, do it.”  The freedom that God calls us to is a freedom unlike that of the world, and only as we discover who we are in Christ, can we know true freedom. Because God has put a new nature within us, we can now experience freedom as we “through love, serve one another.” So contrary to natural man, freedom is experienced when our focus is on loving and blessings others-and strangely enough, we get the greatest blessing and we realize the greatest freedom when we do so. In Galatians, Paul is admonishing believers to stand strong in their freedom and to be alert to the fact they that would go back into slavery should they revert back to living according to the flesh. In Galatians 5:1 we read: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Paul was warning the believers to beware of those who were teaching that they had to keep the whole Law if they were to please God. Today, in our culture, we constantly here three lies, that if believed, would rob us of our freedom in Christ. One lie, as mentioned above, is to cast off restraints and do whatever makes you happy or makes you “feel good.” Another lie we hear from well-meaning people is that we must keep the law, or do or don’t do certain things, if we are to please God. The third lie we hear is that since we have been saved by grace, what we do does not really matter a great deal. As believers, living in the culture that we do, just as Paul warned the early believers, we must be alert to the possibility that by misunderstanding or by misusing our freedom in Christ, we will “be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Before we were born again, we were slaves to living according to our flesh, separated from God, without hope, and unable to keep the ways of God. Christ not only came that we might go to heaven when we die, He also came to set us free and to break all the chains that kept us in bondage. The freedom that Christ offers is true freedom, a freedom like no other; a freedom to be all that God designed us to be. When we experience the freedom found in Christ, we then realize that what the world calls freedom is really a form of slavery. As we celebrate this Fourth of July, let us thank God that He sent His Son that we may indeed be free.
John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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