Tag: Grace

I am chosen by God

“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Ephesians 1:4

The phrase “in Him” is used 120 times in the New Testament and refers to how God sees us in Christ. The Bible tells us that before the world was made (“before the foundation of the world”), God “chose us … that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephes. 1:4).

Many people in the world feel unwanted and unloved. I can remember dreading recess in elementary school when we would play baseball. We had two captains who would choose their teams. I wasn’t that good at baseball so I was one of the last to be chosen. That is such a yucky feeling to not be wanted whether it has to do with being on a sports team, in a circle of friends, or even in a marriage.

But God tells Christians that He has always wanted to be in a relationship with them. He planned His relationship with them before the world began. He selected us to be covered by Jesus’ “love” so that God sees us positionally as “holy and without blame before Him.” Therefore we do not need to seek to be wanted by others because we were wanted by the most important Person in the universe – our Creator God!

When couples get engaged, they often wait at least a year before they get married. Why? Because they want to have enough time to plan and prepare for such an important event. God’s relationship with us was so important to Him that He began planning it before the world was ever made.

Do you ever have doubts that you are important to God? Let God’s Word silence your doubts. You are so important to God that He began planning His relationship with you before the world was ever created.

Prayer: Father God, help me to see myself through Your eyes as extremely wanted and loved by You through Your Son, Jesus Christ. His love covers me so You see me as completely holy and without blame. Please help me to live out my position in Christ by living a holy and blameless life before Him. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Relying on the Holy Spirit for spiritual victory

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1

The key to living the Christian life is how a believer relates to the Holy Spirit who indwells him or her. The Bible tells us that “those who are in Christ Jesus” (all believers) who “walk… according to the Spirit” will not experience “condemnation.” Some translations of the Bible do not include the last part of verse 1 (“who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”) This is unfortunate because the majority of Greek manuscripts along with some of the early manuscripts contain these words at the end of verse 1 which fit beautifully in the context (Rom. 8:1-4).

Paul is saying that believers who walk according to the flesh will experience “condemnation.” The word for condemnation (katakrima) means penal servitude in this context which talks about enslavement to sin (Rom. 7:25; 8:2, 4). Paul is not referring to eternal condemnation in this verse which is in the midst of his section on sanctification (Rom. 6:1-8:39). Prior to Romans 8, Paul describes the spiritual defeat of a believer who is trying to grow spiritually by placing himself under the Law (Rom. 7:13-25). Beginning in Romans 8, Paul answers the question, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (7:24).

How can we walk according to the Spirit and not experience slavery to sin? By setting our “minds on the things of the Spirit” (8:5). When we focus our minds on the things of the Spirit recorded in God’s Word, our minds are “renewed” (12:2) by the Holy Spirit Who applies these truths to our thinking so we do not remain enslaved to sin. 

It is important to understand that spiritual growth involves a battle of the mind (cf. 2 Cor. 10:3-5). Believers who are enslaved to sin have their minds set upon their sinful flesh, trying to gain victory by living under the Law which arouses their fleshly desires (Rom. 8:1, 5; cf. 7:1-25).  But believers who are walking in the Spirit are renewing their minds as they permit the Holy Spirit to apply God’s truth to them.

Our behavior is based upon our thinking (Proverbs 23:7). But some Christians turn that around and believe that their thinking is based upon their behavior. So they focus on changing their behavior to change their thinking. This is called reformation. But God wants to change our behavior by changing our thinking first. This is called transformation. The more God changes our thinking through the Holy Spirit’s ministry of God’s Word, the more our behavior will change and become more Christlike. If we try to change our behavior first like Paul did when he placed himself under the Law, we will experience spiritual defeat and continual enslavement to sin (Rom. 7:1-25; 8:1a). But when we let God change our thinking first by focusing on the Holy Spirit and His Word, we will experience freedom from slavery to sin (8:1), resulting in “life and peace” (8:6).

For example, when we focus exclusively on the command not to commit adultery, our sinful flesh is stirred up to commit adultery (cf. Rom. 7:5-11). Simply trying in our own strength to keep that command will result in spiritual defeat or “death.” Failure to keep the Law produces fear and shame which isolates us from God and others. But when we focus our minds on the things of the Spirit which includes not being given “the spirit of bondage again to fear,” but being given “the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’” (8:15), we are inclined to trust the Holy Spirit to apply that command against adultery to our thinking, enabling us not to commit that sin (Rom. 8:1-6). Walking in the flesh involves fear. But walking in the Spirit involves faith. The more we perceive God to be our good and loving “Abba Father” (8:15), the more we will trust Him and not be afraid. As we walk in the Spirit we will be convicted of our sin which leads to trusting in the Spirit to make godly changes in our lives.  So the key to victory is in trusting (grace), not in trying (law).

When we wake up in the morning we have a choice to either walk according to our sinful flesh or walk according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:1, 5, 12-13). We have the choice to live (in fellowship with God) or die (experience broken fellowship with God).

Prayer: Lord God, please lead me to spiritual victory as I learn to trust Your Spirit to apply Your Word to my thinking instead of trying harder to keep Your Law. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Rahab and God’s Grace

“Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.” Joshua 2:1

When Joshua sent two spies to secretly assess the land of Canaan, they “came to the house of a harlot named Rahab” who hid them on her roof to protect them from the king of Jericho’s men who sought to kill them (Josh. 2:1-7). Rahab was a woman of faith (cf. Heb. 11:31; James 2:25) who trusted in Israel’s God knowing that He had “given” Israel “the land” and He would bring it to pass since she “had heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for” them and had defeated “the two kings of the Amorites” for them (2:8-10). After Rahab pleaded to the spies to deliver her and her family from death, the spies instructed Rahab to tie a scarlet cord in the window through which she let them escape to identify her house for rescue, and if she and her family stayed in her house which was on the city wall, they promised to spare her and her family when the city of Jericho was destroyed (2:12-21). Amazingly when the walls of Jericho fell flat, Rahab’s house stood firm and she and her household were saved from physical death (6:22-25).

Like Rahab, all of us have sinned with our thoughts, words, and actions (Rom. 3:23). We all deserve to die forever in hell. But God loves us just like He loved Rahab. Her story is filled with pictures of Jesus Himself. Rahab’s scarlet cord pictures the safety we can have through Christ’s blood from God’s eternal judgment (2:21; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21; I Pet. 3:18). In Rahab’s case, the scarlet cord would have been visible to the Israelite army as they marched around the city of Jericho before the walls fell flat because Rahab’s house was built into the city wall. The scarlet cord not only spared Rahab’s house and those in it from God’s judgment on the city, but it also marked her and her family out to be brought into God’s family. Just as God’s judgment passed over Rahab’s house because of the scarlet cord, so God’s eternal judgment passes over every believer because of the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Rahab’s story reminds us that no one is TOO BAD for God’s grace to save. Will you choose the Lord today to save you from your sins and give you eternal life? Jesus promised, “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16b). Now is the time to trust in Christ alone because later may never come.

How do you know when you have a true mission from God?

“7And the Lord said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows… 10Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’ ” Exodus 3, 7, 10 

While Moses is shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep in the back of the Midian desert at Mount Horeb, God gets Moses’ attention through a burning bush (3:1-2). Then God tells Moses that He has a mission for him: “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (3:10).

How do we know when we have a true mission from God? There are three marks of a true mission from God in these verses:

1. A TRUE MISSION FROM GOD IS PASSIONATE. When you want to know God’s mission for your life it is based on God’s love. It’s not motivated by more money, fame, or pleasure. A true mission from God is motivated by God’s love for other people. God told Moses, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows” (3:7). God’s love for His people motivated Him to send Moses to deliver them from their “oppression” and “sorrows.” When God gives you a mission it is going to involve caring about other people. It is passionate.  

2. A TRUE MISSION FROM GOD IS PERSONAL. God told Moses, “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh…” (3:10a). A true mission from God is specifically for you. God did not say “I hope somebody will go set them free.” He didn’t say “I’m sending a group.” He said, “I want you to go, Moses.” It is a personal mission.

3. A TRUE MISSION FROM GOD IS PRACTICAL. God said to Moses, “I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (3:10b). He said you are going to go set them free. You are going to relieve their suffering. A true mission from God benefits other people. 

That is what our ministry in the Philippines is all about. It is about being concerned about people not having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is being concerned about new believers growing in their relationship with Christ through discipleship.  

God’s mission is about hearing the needs of other people, and then saying let us do something about it. It is based on the love of God for others. What is God’s mission for your life? Based on Exodus 3:7 and 10, it is passionate, personal, and practical. Will you join God on His mission to reach a lost world with the gospel of grace (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 20:24)? He is waiting for you to respond.

God’s Grace in the Garden

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings… Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:7, 21

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they tried to remedy their sense of fear and shame by covering themselves with “fig leaves” (3:7). But this covering did not remove the effects of their sin. Since that first attempt to remove the consequences of sin through human effort, people have been trying to remove their own guilt and shame through their own accomplishments. Various religions have been created by people trying to remedy their sin problem. But all man-made religions fall short of God’s solution to our sin problem. 

In Genesis 3:21, God graciously provided the proper covering for Adam and Eve. He “made tunics of skin” through the death of an innocent animal. Blood must be shed. Imagine how Adam must have felt to see one of the animals he had named and cared for being killed on his account! Never had Adam and Eve known death. This was serious business and this was to be God’s way of dealing with sin throughout the ages. By providing a covering with animal skins, God provided forgiveness through the “shedding of blood” (Hebrews 9:22). God later provided forgiveness through the Old Testament sacrificial system. 

Those animals were shadows of the Babe who was born on that first Christmas morning. He would be called “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). Like that first animal that was sacrificed for Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ would also be innocent and without sin because He was and is God (John 1:1, 14, 17; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; I Peter 3:18). And like that first sacrificial animal, Jesus was born to die for the sins of others (John 1:29; Romans 5:8; I John 4:9), that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Like Adam and Eve, our human efforts or works cannot remove our sin and shame (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9). Religion cannot take away our sins. Only Jesus Christ can take away our sins (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). This is called grace. Grace is receiving what we do not deserve. We do not deserve forgiveness or everlasting life. But because of God’s grace, He offers us His forgiveness and everlasting life freely. Will you trust in Him alone to do for you would you could never do on your own? He is waiting for you to come to Him in faith just as You are and then He will forgive all your sins and give you everlasting life (Acts 10:43; John 3:15-16). Praise God for His magnificent grace!