Delight yourself in the Lord

Psalm 37:4        Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of  your heart.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.. What does this really mean?  Does this mean that God will just give you whatever you want? No, God is not a Genie in a bottle waiting to fulfill your every wish! This scripture does not mean that God will just give you whatever your heart desires but it means that as you learn to simply walk with God and enjoy Him that your heart will then be in the right position to receive and fulfill the right desires that are on Gods heart. God made us and He knows what best for us. Always remember Father knows best! And I’m not speaking of the old 50’s TV series starring Ricky Nelson but I’m talking about the fact that we were fearfully and wonderfully created by God our heavenly Father and that He really does know what desires to give us that are the best fit for us so that we might live a very satisfied full and happy life. So it’s as we really begin to know and understand that God is for us and not against us and simply begin to enjoy our walk with God delighting ourselves in Him that the true God given desires will come to our hearts. These pure untainted desires come as a result of delighting ourselves in Him. Now when the Bible says that God will give you desires the word give actually means that God will impart desires  into you that will change your heart so that your desires will be pure and line up with His desires. These desires will always lead us in a profitable healthy way which will be void of selfishness, hurt and greed. So our first priority is to delight ourselves in Him. We need to understand that delighting ourselves in God is our main call in this life and it’s through this delighting that God will change our attitudes to line up with His heart. God will change us from a bitter person to a loving person as we delight ourselves in Him. God will change us from a greedy person to a giving person as we simply delight ourselves in Him. Our main call as a Christian is to draw near to God and delight ourselves in Him why?, because He is the only answer to life and living. Often when we feel discouraged we do the opposite of what we should do, instead of drawing near to God we draw back from God but this will not work. This is like unplugging a lamp and expecting the light to still come on! The light will not work until it’s plugged into the power source. We know that we need God all the time but we especially need God  when we are being tempted or fail or when we feel condemned or depressed, this is not the time to distant ourselves from God or to unplug ourselves from God but to plug back into Him or to run to Him!  When Michael Jackson sang the song “Ill be there” it always reminds me about the heart of God.. He says just call my name and Ill be there.. 🙂

Hebrews 4:15-16                                                                                                                                                           ¹⁵ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

One of the main times we need to plug into God and to draw near to Him is when we are being tempted.

The Bug of Unbelief

The power of God and the faith of God are demonstrated through our complete confidence in God and what God has promised. Abraham was called the father of faith and is a prime example of how faith works but we need to first understand that before Abraham could be strong in the faith that he first had to hope against all hope. As Abraham set his heart on believing God in spite of what he saw that is when his hope turned into faith and then eventually became strong faith. It was a process. Abraham had to fight against unbelief to walk in strong faith. This is what you call the fight of faith! We have an adversary that is always trying its best to keep you from the faith and from walking in the faith.

Romans 4:18-21

¹⁸ Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.

¹⁹ And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:

²⁰ He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

²¹ And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Abraham was called the father of faith because he hoped against hope and became fully persuaded the what God promised that He was well able to perform

When I was in Bible College years ago I still vividly remember a particular service when the power of God fell like Niagara waterfalls, it happened when singer song writer Dudley Smith got up and sang the song Born Again in which one line in the lyrics states over and over

I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I’ve been born again. The song was so powerful because the lyrics’ speak over and over about having a complete confidence toward God and what He has already done through the new birth with no lingering doubt or unbelief.

We need to understand that unbelief will always short circuit the power of God from working in our lives.

The other day I got a call that the A/C was not working at our rental house. I had a service tech go over and look at it and he said that It was the circuit board in the fan system which was going to cost 800.00 . I told him to go ahead and fix it. He then called back and told me that he had good news! I said good I’m ready for some good news. The service tech then began to tell me that when he pulled the circuit board out that he found an earwig (which is a small bug) that was stuck between two contacts that caused the whole system to short circuit out. Once he removed the bug the whole system came back on! The problem was solved when the bug was removed.

Satan knows what unbelief and doubt can do. Its like this tiny bug between the contacts it will shut the whole system down! So satans weapon of choice is to sew doubt and unbelief everywhere he goes. He loves to put bugs of doubt in people’s ears so that they will not experience the power of God in their lives. satan uses unbelief to shut down the power of God in Gods people.

When satan came to Eve, he came with a seed of doubt and unbelief and said did God really say? Eve had complete confidence until she began to receive the seed or bug of unbelief in her ear.

Remember the one place that Jesus could do few miracles was in His own home town.  The Bible says that Jesus could do only few works there because of their unbelief. Why did they have unbelief because they received the bug that said this is the carpenters son.

Today it’s not a lack of faith that’s the problem but it’s the bug of unbelief that is keeping us from walking in all that God has for us.

We have all been given faith through the new birth

2 Peter 1:1 Says we obtained faith when we were made righteous. Faith is a gift given to us through the new birth

Romans 12:3 Says that God has given to every man the measure of faith

We have already been given the gift of supernatural faith and I’ve got some news for you this faith is the same faith as the Son of GOD. Galatians 2:20 says I  am now called to live by the faith of the Son of God. It’s not my faith it’s His faith that I live by, when I received Christ and also His faith. I now have in me the same faith that Jesus walked in and the faith which He still has today.. That’s a lot of faith!

Galatians 2:20

²⁰ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Listen we don’t need more faith we just need to walk in the faith that we have already been given.

A lack of Faith is not the issue, it’s the bug of unbelief or seeds of unbelief that have been sown in our ears and hearts and mostly because of wrong teaching that we have heard and embraced.

A mixed gospel will always cause us to walk in a kind of lingering unbelief and rob us from our complete faith and confidence toward God.

Remember Jesus walked in power because He was fully confident toward the father. We will also walk in more power as we are fully confident toward the Father. The true gospel will cause our confidence level to shoot way up because the true gospel says that God is no longer angry with you..

If we still have lingering thoughts of whether God is for us or against us it will rob us of our confidence toward God and shut down the faith of God that God has placed in us .The true gospel will always cause you to have complete confidence in your relationship toward God and produce Gods kingdom in you which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The true gospel will also cause His faith which is in you to become active and alive in you to do great exploits in this life for Gods glory

Today I don’t live by my faith but I I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Sin and Grace

Looking at sin is kind of like window shopping it will eventually cause you to go into the store and buy something that you don’t really need and can’t afford. Sin will take you farther then you want to go, keep you longer then you want to stay and cost you more then you want to pay. There are consequences for your actions, whether you’re a Christian under grace or not. Sin is by nature destructive. It can cause health problems, mental problems and relationship problems. Sin can even put you in all kind of prisons both physical and mental. Grace does not give one a license to sin but freedom from it. People who say grace allows us to go out and sin and not reap any consequences from it are wrong. This is like saying now that I’m under grace I can go out and jump in front of a bus or drink poison and it won’t hurt me!  But sin can still bring about many harmful and hurtful consequences. We who are under grace are not free to sin but free from sin. Yes we have been forgiven of all sin and eternal judgment of sin but sin can still impact your life in a harmful way in this life if you willfully participate in it…  I would say probably the greatest sin in the world and in the church today is the sin of unbelief. The fact is that the sin that has probably caused more hurt and pain to most and kept most in bondage is the sin of not fully believing in the finished work of Christ which includes  both the cross and the resurrection

 

In Christ

We need to know and understand all that we are and all that we have today is not because we were so great or deserving but because we through the new birth have been placed Into Christ. 

We are righteous today because we are in the One who is righteous.

We are Holy today because we have been placed into the One who is Holy.

We are blessed and highly favored today because the One that we have placed into is blessed and highly favored

 1 John 4:17 says as He is so are we in the world… How can this be? , Because we have been placed in Him. So now all He is so are we in this world.

Galatians 3:26-29 says   for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

We have actually been baptized into Christ. We were not just baptized into water but into Christ! God took us and actually put us into Christ and now we have put on Christ.

Noticed all that we have is because we have been place in Christ .

²⁶ For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹ And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise

Ephesians 1:1-12

1. Paul, an apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah), by the divine will (the purpose and the choice of God) to the saints (the consecrated, set-apart ones) at Ephesus who are also faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus:

We are faithful and loyal because we are in the One who is faithful and loyal

² May grace (God’s unmerited favor) and spiritual peace [which means peace with God and harmony, unity, and undisturbedness] be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!

We are blessed with every Spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm because God has put us in Christ !

⁴ Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

We are Holy and blameless in Gods sight ,even above approach because we have been placed in Christ, not because we have lived such a holy , blameless life but because we have .been placed In the One who is Holy and Blameless. God put us and Hid us in Christ

⁵ For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]—

Why did God do all this ?  because of His great love for us and to demonstrate His glory.

⁶ [So that we might be] to the praise and the commendation of His glorious grace (favor and mercy), which He so freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

⁷ In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor,

We have redemption , deliverance and salvation today through the blood and because we have been placed in Him

⁸ Which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical insight and prudence),

⁹ Making known to us the mystery (secret) of His will (of His plan, of His purpose). [And it is this:] In accordance with His good pleasure (His merciful intention) which He had previously purposed and set forth inHim,

¹⁰ [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth.

¹¹ In Him we also were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His purpose, Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will,

We have our full inheritance today because we are in Him.

¹² So that we who first hoped in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him have been destined and appointed to] live for the praise of His glory!

¹³ In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit.

We hear from God today and know Him because we are in Him and we have been sealed  with the promise of the Holy Spirit

 

When did the Old Covenant End ?

Did you know that the New Testament did not officially begin with Matthew chapter 1 like your Bible says it does? But the New Testament really began at the cross when Jesus said it is finished. The New Testament did not begin when Jesus was born but when Jesus died and it was through His death that God has provided a new way of living and approaching Him. The old was actually nailed to the cross and the new was put into effect.

The Bible actually says that when Jesus was born that He was born of a women under the law.

Galatians 4:4-6                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law,

⁵ To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons].

⁶ And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the Holy Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father!

Why is it so important for us to know when the new began and the old ended? It’s important for us to know because if we do not understand this main point then we will always in danger of mixing the two ( old and new ) together. I myself had done this for years ignorantly  until I understood that there was a clear cut ending of one contract or old covenant and the entering of an entirely new contract or covenant.

The Bible says that one of the main reason Christ came was to redeem us and to deliver us from the old covenant law that was against us and to bring us into a new way of living and approaching God. This new way of  living is called the way of the cross, adoption, sonship and law of life in the Holy Spirit in which God has sent into our hearts crying Abba father. Today we do not approach God through the law at all (which by the way includes the Ten Commandments) but we now approach God through a new and living way.

Hebrews 10:14-23

¹⁴ For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

¹⁵ Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

¹⁶ This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

¹⁷ And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

¹⁸ Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁹ Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰ By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

²¹ And having an high priest over the house of God;

²² Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;

This new and living way of approaching God is for us to know that Jesus took every single one of our sins past, present and future in His flesh at the cross where it was completely judged and there is now absolutely now nothing that stands between ourselves and God.. God wants us to have a clean, clear conscience of all sin and to approach Him always with absolute complete confidence in our relationship with Him.

We are encouraged to hold fast to this new covenant way of relating to God and to never allow religion to sway us back to the old way of approaching God.

The old way will frustrate the new and we are never to mix the two or both will be lost

Luke 5:37 and no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.

The new wine is the new covenant of grace. We cannot mix grace with law or both will be rendered in effective.

The old was more about following external have too’s the new is more about following the Holy Spirit and internal transformation of the heart through the spirit of grace.

When you take the external law and tell the believer they must embrace and follow it for living  you  then shut down the spirit of grace from working in and through them, but when you take all the external law and have too’s away  and instead point the believer to the finished work of the cross, rest and simple relationship with Christ then the Spirit of grace becomes active and that fruit that has already been placed inside the believer at the new birth can  then manifest itself in and through the believer. Grace awakens the fruit of the Spirit inside the believer to come out! Law shuts it down.

Romans 7:4

⁴ Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

In order to bear fruit unto God we must see ourselves dead to the law and only alive and joined to the Lord. To mix the two will shut us down and keep us bound in a carnal religious way of living

Our new internal GPS

Galatians 5:25 Amplified
If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.]
If we live in the spirit let us also be controlled by the spirit… It’s a fact that as born again Christians we now live in the spirit. We are not trying to live in the Spirit we were actually placed in the Spirit at the new birth. We have been joined to the Lord and have now become one Spirit with Him  1 Corinthians 6:17 says those who have been joined to the Lord are now one Spirit with him, but even though we have been made one Spirit with the Lord we don’t always live by the spirit. In fact  many in church today still do not live by the Spirit but  by the external laws of the old covenant which actually only frustrates the spirit of grace that we now live in. We need to understand that flesh in scripture does not always refer to sin as we think but it’s often in reference to the flesh trying to live out or do what the spirit of grace is called to do. The law was the way of the flesh trying to serve God through external means but now that Christ has come we have been completely released from that old external way of relating to God and have a brand ne internal way of relating to God.
Romans 7:6 but now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].
According to the word we are actually to terminate all intercourse with the external Law, which includes the Ten Commandments, so that we can live in newness of life to the promptings of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit now is the new law we are to be governed by. He is like our internal GPS.  We now receive our Guidance and Promptings from the Spirit
Before we came to Christ we only had the law to look too. The law was like our school teacher to show us our need for Christ, but now that we are in Christ we are no longer in need of an external school teacher because now we have an internal teacher called the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 3:25-28 wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Christianity was never to be lived by the flesh and the external laws and regulations but by the promptings of the spirit. We have turned Christianity into a legalistic fleshly way of knowing , growing and living for God instead of relationship and way of life in the Spirit. God gave us His life , His nature and His Spirit. So that it’s now Him that lives in and through me Galatians 2:20. We are to live by the promptings of the Spirit; we are to live by the Spirit of grace. This can only affectively happen if we discharge ourselves from the law and terminate all intercourse with it. Now if your offended by this statement just remember I didn’t say it the Holy Spirit and the word says this. As long as you look to the external law for growing, guidance and relationship you are in bondage and not free.
It’s also interesting to know that almost every reference in the new testament when it speaks of returning to bondage is not speaking about going back into sin as we have been taught but really going back to the law as a way of relating to God.
Galatians 4: 9-11
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Galatians 4:24                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Agar.
The law which was the first covenant that came from my Sinai (Ten Commandments) generates bondage. The new covenant of grace which comes through the new birth and living by the promptings of the Spirit generates life and freedom .
Those that still look to external laws and regulations for guidance are considered immature and babies in Christ where as the Sons of God are those who look to and depend on the Spirit of grace to lead and direct them.
Romans 8:11-15
11 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
12 So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.
13 For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!

A flesh controlled life is one that is governed by external laws and regulations of men. A Spirit controlled life is one that is controlled and governed by the Holy Spirit
Many have the Ten Commandments posted on their wall and they look to it for a disciplined way of living or trying their best to live for God. This may again appeal to the flesh but is not the way of Grace or the Spirit and in fact all such striving frustrates and works against the Spirit. We are no longer under the old school master of the law but we now in Christ we are under a new Law called the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ.. Romans 8:2
Me in Christ will qualifies me for heaven but Christ in Me qualifies or equips me for living in the earth. The way we are to walk in this earth is complete dependence on the Holy Spirit who now lives in you. We trust the Holy Spirit to lead us by His promptings and to guide us into all the ways of God. We rest in the Holy Spirit, We trust in the Holy Spirit and we depend on the Holy Spirit. Our whole Christian life should be one of resting, hearing and responding. Isnt this the way Christ did it? And didn’t He tell us to do it the same way? He said learn of me..
A baby looks to externals for living out the Christian life a Son is led by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14
If your led by the Spirit then He will lead you out of all fleshly activity which includes bad fleshly activity and religious activity and He will lead you into peaceful fruits of righteousness