Category — Santification

Continuing on in the series on discovering God’s will for our live’s today we will cover the Shepherd. The Shepherd is a picture of God’s best for our lives. Let us examine some attributes of the Shepherd, and we will learn more about determining God’s will.

The Shepherd- The Shepherd was the Shulamite’s one true love, and he had a number of attributes that set him apart from Solomon. Let’s look at what made him so unique. [Read more →]

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In the last post we laid the ground work for discovering God’s will for your life. In this and future posts we’ll explore each character role in discovering our destiny.

Shulamite- The Shulamite was a shepherd girl from Shunem who was betrothed to the love of her life who was also a shepherd. When Solomon was returning from his summer palace in Megiddo he aparently was taken by her beauty, and tried to woo her with promises of wealth, and security. When he was unsuccessful in his first attempt he took her to Jerusalem to try to overwhelm her with His regal splendor. [Read more →]

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1. Identify the end results (goals) of what you would like to accomplish from this new habit. When you decided to start this new habit, it was because there was something about your life that was not working. Maybe your problem has created conflict in an important relationship in your life or career. Maybe your goal is to rid yourself of an existing “bad” habit or behavior. Be sure to identify your goal. Be sure to identify the behavior you are going to substitute along with the “new” behavior. Be very specific. “I want to be a better Christian” or “I want to quit smoking” is not a new habit. “I will study the Bible on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 6pm to 7pm instead of watching television” is more specific and doable. Develop a strategy for completing your goals so the end results can be attained. [Read more →]

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I don’t know how many of you have ever read Song of Solomon, and gone, huh? If so, your not alone I have definitely never found it very helpful or even understandable. That was until one night as I was meditating on the phrase “dove’s eyes” from chapter 2 that God laid out the interpretation of Song of Solomon for me. To really understand what God showed me you have to understand different historical interpretations of Song of Solomon. [Read more →]

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My dad wrote these some time ago, and they blessed my heart.

1. I am a debtor to all men. Ro 1:14
2. I am ready to preach the gospel. Ro 1:15
3. I am not ashamed of the gospel. Ro 1:16
4. I am without excuse to sin. Ro 1:20
5. I am without excuse to judge. Ro 2:1
 [Read more →]

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The following prose was hanging in Mother Teresa’s room, and is widely attributed to her. It has always been an encouragement to me.

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
-Mother Teresa

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John Wesley’s Methodists started as a regular meeting of students at Oxford University called The Holy Club. These are 22 questions the members of this group asked themselves every day in their private devotions over 200 years ago. These questions have always convicted me, so I thought I would share them.

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

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In the last post we discovered how the world at large failed to find Grace in God’s eyes leading to the destruction of the earth by a worldwide flood. In this post I would like to show what it was about Noah that caused him to find grace in God’s eyes. The Bible shows us three unique attributes of Noah that set him apart, Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Noah was a Tsaddiq-
The word just in verse 9 is the Hebrew word tsaddîq (Strong’s #6662), meaning “just,” “righteous,” “lawful” (in accord with a standard), “correct.” In the Hebrew thought being a tsaddiq was like a title, it was like saying not that today such and so was righteous, but that their life long character was righteous. If we were to give an expanded translation of “just man” we might say a man who’s lifelong character was that he found God’s will and did it.

Noah was definitely such a man who lived in accordance with God’s revealed will, unlike all others of his time. It did not matter to Him if what God said was popular he was going to obey at all cost.

Noah Completed God’s Will for His Generation
In verse 9 the Bible says, These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. The word perfect does not mean that Noah never sinned, rather this word has a completely different meaning. In the Hebrew text, this is tamîm (Strong’s #8549), and its basic meaning is “complete” or “entire.” It does not mean “perfect” as we would think of it today, as “without fault, flaw, or defect.” Other English words that translate tamîm are “perfect” “whole,” “full,” “finished,” “well-rounded,” “balanced,” “sound,” “healthful,” “sincere,” “innocent,” or “wholehearted.” So this word shows us that Noah had completed something, or was fulfilling something. What Noah was completing had to do with his generations, the KJV translates two different Hebrew words as “generations” in this verse. The first occurrence—”These are the generations“—is rendered from toledoth (Strong’s #8435; note that it is plural), meaning “descent,” “history,” or “genealogy.” The second occurrence of “generations”—in the phrase “perfect in his generations”—is from the Hebrew word dôr (Strong’s #1755), which means “properly, a revolution of time, i.e., an age or generation.”

So what was it that Noah was completing in his generation, the will of God. You see as a Tsaddiq he was genuinely interested in finding God’s will, and doing it , but he also didn’t just start it he completed everything God had for him to do in his lifetime. Can you imagine on your tombstone the phrase he, or she completed everything God wanted them to accomplish in their lifetime. Wow I want that to be said of me, He completed everything God ever intended for him to do in a lifetime.

Noah Walked With God-
The church has written volumes on the concept of walking with God, but it is amazing how little we do it. In this age it seems that walking with God has become synonymous with doing our devotions in a morning, or prayer. These things are part of walking with God, but a walk with encompasses our whole life style it is something we do 24/7/365 for our whole life. It wasn’t just that he was spending time with God in the morning his entire consuming passion was to follow God wholeheartedly.

You see you may had devotions this morning, but do you meditate and talk with God throughout the day? When God tells you do do things, or stop doing things do you obey? Because surely you don’t think you are still walking with God when you have said no to Him. He has a prescribed path, and we head down another path, and still think we are walking with God I think not.

For Noah this wasn’t just a little devotional in the morning He passionately sought the will of God for his life, and brought it to completion as he walked with God throughout his whole life. That is how to find God’s grace in our lives today.

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In today’s post I would like to cover how to find grace in God’s eyes through looking at the life of Noah. Noah lived in a time of universal darkness, an yet he obtained grace in God’s eyes. Before we start what exactly is grace? Well first of all grace is not mercy, mercy speaks of not getting the punishment that I deserve. Grace however speaks unmerited favor, or getting blessed when I don’t deserve it. You see we never deserve God’s blessings, but that doesn’t mean we should walk in a position where we deserve His punishment. I call the difference walking in Grace or walking in Mercy. For instance there have been times when I was walking in known sin and God has chosen to not punish me, but bless me that’s mercy. Other times I’ve had a clear conscience, and awesome walk with God and He blessed me I still didn’t deserve it, but I was not deserving punishment either. You see both ways can be blessed but God’s mercy only extends so far before His holiness kicks in, and you get what you deserve.

In the following passage we’ll discuss one man who walked in Grace, and the whole world which walked in mercy. God describes the situation this way,

² That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. ³ And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. ⁴ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. ⁵ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. ⁷ And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. ⁸ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. ⁹ These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

So to best understand how to obtain let us first look how Noah’s generation failed to obtain grace.

Making Soulish Choices- The Bible says in verse 2 that the sons of God (God’s people) saw the daughters of men and found them attractive. Every decision in our lives should be led by the Spirit of God, and not in our soul (mind, will, and emotions). These men decided that rather seek God’s will for their mate that they would choose based on their souls. These women are what I want (the will), I think their pretty (the mind), and resulting product of our relationship is I feel (emotions) good. Because these men put their soulish desires above God’s desires they failed to obtain grace, and were instead walking in Mercy.

Associate with Satan’s People- The prophet Amos astutely observed, “how can two walk together except they be agreed. The Bible describes our relationship with God in the terms of a marriage. In fact were often charged to Know God, the word know is yada in hebrew, and ginosko in greek they both speak of a warm, intimate, familiar knowledge ie Adam knew his wife, and she conceived. So given this marriage relationship how do you think you can stumble into the prayer closet, or Church with the stench of another lovers cologne, and expect to recieve God’s continued blessings. These men of Noah’s time were more concerned with the pleasures of sin for a season than getting to know their God, and because of this they did not find favour.

Resist the Spirit’s Voice- In verse three God declares that His Spirit will not always strive with man, but his days would be 120 years. God was saying these people are resisting, and I’m fighting them (striving) like little children. Then God says my mercy will extend 120 years, whoa that’s a lot of mercy, but eventually it came to an end. So those of you who are complacent who have been living in sin for months or years do not confuse God’s mercy for his grace. You may say, look I have a great house, good family, nice car: God’s is obviously blessing me. God’s mercy will not bless you forever your maturity is far more important to Him than you prosperity. Stop fighting the Spirit, and start walking in Grace.

Meditate on bad things-
Imaginations speaks of the brains tendency to store everything we perceive visually into our memory as images. As we think these images are played in the minds eye and combined to produce thoughts. Evil images produce evil thoughts good images good thought. These combined images which produce thoughts are then meditated on to produce action.

Example a man who murders his parents. He recalls visual images of his parents abusing him or something similar these visuals are framed in the mind through logic and reasoning however twisted to conceive a thought. This thought is then meditated upon till it produces action ie killing his parents.

So what is God saying in Genesis 6:5 that caused him to destroy the earth, and wipe out mankind? That man was visualizing, and recalling evil stored images that were framed in the mind through logical processes to conceive evil thoughts which led to evil action.

The word continually is the key it shows to what extent these evil thoughts were meditated on in the Hebrew continually is Kol Yom or literally whole day. These evil thoughts were their meditations all day every day leading to continual wicked action that led God to destroy the world. So you may say well it’s only thoughts, but according to the Bibles, “as a man thinketh so is he” wicked thoughts lead to action. God’s mercy will not extend forever start thinking right thoughts today. In the next post we will discuss how Noah walked in grace, and not mercy, and was blessed by God.

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Today I want to address one of my favorite topics, prayer. Prayer is so awesome that if I ever backslide I probably will still pray regularly after 6 months of not reading my Bible. Prayer is absolutely essential for the Christian, because Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. Prayer is how we talk to God, and no relationship will be very strong without talking to the person we are trying to have a relationship with. Martin Luther said, “to be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” Many Christians sadly never really get to enjoy a relationship with God because they never talk to God.

Ephesians lays out one of the clearest outlines in the Bible for what prayer is. In the next
couple of posts I will explain how we can all have can have the amazing conversational life with God that he intends for us. Ephesians 6:18-19 says,

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,”

Praying Always-
The first secret to prayer is just actually doing it, it’s amazing how little Christians pray. Consider this 1 hour in prayer is only 4% of your day, and yet how many Christians do you know who spend an hour a day in prayer. According to the Nielsen Media Research Organization the average American spends 4 hours and 13 minutes a day watching tv, but according to the Barna Group the average American Christian spends 4 minutes a day in prayer.

We have no problem watching a 3 hour movie, but to pray for even a few minutes is such a chore. The thing to remember is that prayer is just talking to God its a conversation just like any other we have, and so we can talk to God all day even if its just in our hearts. So today try to spend more time talking to your heavenly Daddy, and don’t just talk, but pause and listen to what He is saying back.

With all Prayer
Prayer is a whole lot more then just asking for stuff, and so Paul tells us to use all kinds of prayer. Lets think about some of the different kinds of prayer.

Worship- Worship comes from the old english word worthship, and simply means ascribing worth to God. In worship we adore God, and praise His attributes, His Character, His Actions etc. For instance we might praise God for His holiness, or His creation, His work in someones life, His provision for us etc. Worship can be inspired by looking at his creation thus making praying outside a great idea. It can also be inspired by studying God’s attributes in the Bible, or by meditating on His actions in your life, and others lives.

Confession- Confession is also an essential part of prayer. Christians with unconfessed sin in their lives don’t have clear lines of communication with God. All good relationships require openess, and willingness to confess wrong our relationship with God is no different.

Thanksgiving- James tells us that every good, and perfect gift comes from God, because God is our daddy He loves giving us good things. Like any daddy He likes it when His children are thankful for His provision. So start thanking God for everything in your life, thank Him when things are going good in your opinion Hosea says pray for the rain when it already raining. Thank Him when things are going bad in your opinion, the Bible says in everything give thanks. You see God is perfectly good, and is working all things together for god for you (Romans 8:28). So whether it looks good or not you must trust that it is all good, it is all a perfect gift, and thank God for it.

Supplication- Supplication simply means petition or simply put asking God for things that you need or want. John R. Rice always said prayer is asking. Supplication is asking God for his provision more on this later.

Intercession- Intercession is like supplication, but instead of our own needs we are asking God to move on behalf of others. Intercession is one of the most unselfish forms of prayer, and certainly the most hated by Satan.

I will cover these various aspects of prayer in more depth in future posts, but for now make a commitment to talk to God more throughout the day, and let Him talk to you. Also employ these various kinds of prayer in your prayer arsenal.

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