The Fullness of Salvation

Songs: Indescribable – Chris Tomlin
More to This Life – Steven Curtis Chapman

Scriptures:
Colossians 1:13-18 (New King James Version)
Preeminence of Christ

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Thinking the other day about an experience I had a few years ago…

The church parking lot was always packed, leading the church’s pastor to ask members to park in a nearby shopping center parking lot. Permission had been granted from the shopping center management, and there were parking spaces to the rear of the stores so that membership parking would not negatively impact the stores’ customers. Although not a lot of other members seemed to be complying with the pastor’s request, I did. Sometimes I would drive by the church and let my children out, see them into the church building, and then drive to the shopping center to park. That is what I had done that pleasantly warm, sunny morning, and I was walking alone along the dirt path in front of the house that was located next to the church.

Suddenly, I don’t know what happened. The field of vision before me changed, and I didn’t know what I was seeing in front of me. I don’t know if I stopped walking or continued on my way. I don’t remember moving my head, or looking around to see if anything else was different – I was just trying to figure out at what was I looking straight ahead of me. Even as the question formulated itself in my head, the answer seemed to drop into my spirit: “The Fullness of Salvation.” Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the vision disappeared. I didn’t know how much time elapsed, although it seemed to be almost instantaneous.

Like Mary (Luke 2:19), I pondered this thing in my heart. I couldn’t remember anything about what I had seen, because there seemed to have been no frame of reference. I thought it must have been light, because the contrast with the bright sunshine would have been noticeable had it been dark, right? For the same reason, it must have been in color, for I supposed that the contrast with the spring-like day and colors around me would have been memorable had they been absent. It was like when you shift your vision to look at a “magic eye” 3D picture. The problem was, I hadn’t had the time (and maybe not even the ability!) to shift my vision. Nor had I known for what I was to have been looking.

I went on to church, although I was really “out of it.” Afterward, while several of us were standing in the parking lot talking, someone said something about salvation, and I just remember intimating that we (people) don’t even really know all of what salvation entails. There was not a lot of agreement with me, though I tried unsuccessfully to share with them what I had experienced. Guess it was just for me at that time.

So I know that there is something more…

1 Corinthians 2:9-11, (Amplified Bible)

9But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
10Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny].

... and my journey with Him continues ...

Truly Saved?

Songs: Come Thou Fount – performed by Paul Heflin
Bless the Broken Road – performed by Selah

Scriptures:
Luke 9:62 (New King James Version)

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

2 Peter 2:20-21 (New International Version)

20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Hebrews 6:4-8 (New King James Version)

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

John 10:25-30 (New King James Version)

25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one."

Romans 8:29-31 (New King James Version)

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

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A friend of mine and I were talking recently about an incident where a person was voicing their beliefs about one’s ability to “lose their salvation and die in their sins.” I’ve heard others talk about people not being saved “for real” or where “their salvation didn’t stick,” just as I’ve heard the “once saved, always saved” defense. I have heard and read of people who “turned away from God.” So, having heard all sorts of conflicting viewpoints on this - many supported by the seemingly credible use of Bible verses - I asked God what was and was not true. And, knowing that His truth is sometimes revealed in dichotomy, my query was not only for which belief was true, but how could I understand, relate to, and make sense of what was meant by the Scriptures used in these views. As He often does, He didn’t answer the question one way or another, but reminded me of an experience I had.

One morning, about 4:00am, I was coming home from driving my son to work. I was about 5 minutes away when the “check engine” light came on my dashboard. I thought I would make it home since I was so close. As I merged from one expressway to another, I felt the car lose power and I steered it off to the shoulder of the road. Stopped, I just sat there for a few minutes. I honestly had no idea what was wrong with the car. I contemplated calling Triple A (AAA road service), but realized I couldn’t tell them what was wrong with it. Then, I got mad. I was mad at “God and everybody.” I got out of the car and started walking down the expressway, fussing at God for my situation. Several things in my life weren’t going as I wanted or expected at that point, but I thought I was doing what God wanted me to do (even when it didn’t make sense to me or wasn’t something I wanted to do.) So I figured that if things were going to go so badly, I might as well stop these efforts at obeying God (which must not have been working, or else I wouldn’t be in this mess, right? Didn’t think about Job…) – might as well go back to doing things my way, the way I’d been doing them before I’d really been trying to know God better. The time came, as I was walking, for me to call some ladies that I had prayer with in the mornings. Having exited the highway onto the street, I sat on a wall and called them, just letting them know that I wouldn’t be praying with them that morning. I was in no mood for prayer – I was already talking to God, telling Him what I thought and what I was going to do.

All the way home, God was silent during my tirade. When I finally crossed the threshold into my house, I heard that still, small voice say sadly, almost remorsefully, “Do you want to leave Me too?” At that I broke. Sobbing – my anger spent - I poured out my heart to Him: all of my thoughts and fears, my pains and discomfort, my frustration and confusion. I realized (like the disciples in John 6:66-68) that there was no other place, no other way for me to go. As I’d recently heard a pastor say, I was “in too deep.”

That was a sort of turning point, where my mind was made up – I had decided to follow Jesus. My goal was that there would be no turning back because of circumstances, feelings, whatever. I repented and was forgiven. Then came thanksgiving – for God’s blessing in the restoration of our relationship, for His protection in getting me safely home that morning, for His provision in the way and place my car had given out, for lessons presented and learned.

As in the song, Come Thou Fount, my prayer was that God would continue to keep my “wandering heart” by binding it to Himself:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

So I can’t say that I have the answer for anyone else but me. I was asked if I wanted to leave Him, which leads me to believe that I could have left Him, His way, His protection, if that was what I chose to do. Whether or not that would have been leaving or “losing” my salvation, I’m not sure… and I’m not sure it’s that important to me, if that’s even the right question on which I should focus. I do know that I really don’t know the fullness of salvation… (see upcoming blog entry, The Fullness of Salvation.) What matters most to me is my current relationship with Him. My salvation is an ongoing thing – for the present as well as the future – my being able to receive, give back and share His love, and His living His life out through me.
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Ephesians 1:3-14 (New King James Version)
Redemption in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 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, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

... and my journey with Him continues ...

Psalm 51

Songs: Great is Your Mercy – performed by Donnie McClurkin (written by Don Moen)
I Love You Lord (and I Lift My Voice)

Scriptures: (except where noted, all from www.biblegateway.com)
Hebrews 1 (New King James Version)
God’s Supreme Revelation

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional was around Psalm 51…

I remember a time when almost every time I opened a Bible, it opened to Psalm 51 and I knew I was to pray it. The first couple of times, I figured that repentance was good, right? So no problem. But after so much time had elapsed and I seemed to be stuck in this repentance mode for days and then weeks - (and I couldn’t even think of what I had done “that bad” recently for which to repent!) - I started having a real problem. I thought I had repented of past sins, received forgiveness, and couldn’t understand why I still kept getting this Psalm to pray.

I was beginning to dread opening the Bible, afraid of seeing this Psalm again, and feeling that I must really be beyond forgiveness. I was confused, and feeling defeated and condemned.

Then, in His mercy, when I guess my spirit was totally broken, contrite and humbled before Him, God spoke. He addressed my feelings with the truth of His Word:

Hebrews 7:25
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Psalm 19:13
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Romans 6:14
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 8:1
[ Free from Indwelling Sin ] 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.

...and showed me how to view Psalm 51 as a finished work of Jesus, to see how Jesus was the answer to what was requested in the Psalm.

[From the Complete Jewish Bible (at www.crosswalk.com)]

For the leader. A psalm of David, when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:

1 God, in your grace, have mercy on me; in your great compassion, blot out my crimes. 2 Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil from your perspective; so that you are right in accusing me and justified in passing sentence. 5 True, I was born guilty, was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 Still, you want truth in the inner person; so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart. 7 Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness, so that the bones you crushed can rejoice. 9 Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my crimes. 10 Create in me a clean heart, God; renew in me a resolute spirit. 11 Don't thrust me away from your presence, don't take your Ruach Kodesh away from me. 12 Restore my joy in your salvation, and let a willing spirit uphold me. 13 Then I will teach the wicked your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood, God, God of my salvation! Then my tongue will sing about your righteousness 15 Adonai, open my lips; then my mouth will praise you. 16 For you don't want sacrifices, or I would give them; you don't take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God, you won't spurn a broken, chastened heart. 18 In your good pleasure, make Tziyon prosper; rebuild the walls of Yerushalayim. 19 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then they will offer bulls on your altar.

Then He led me to pray thanksgiving from it …

1 Thessalonians 5:18
… in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Thank You, Father God, for Jesus - for revealing Yourself to us through Him, for answering all of our requests in Him. Thank You for Your grace, by which we are saved through faith- not of ourselves but as a gift from You. Thank You for Your mercy which endures forever because of Your goodness and unfailing love. I praise You, Lord God, that You have shown mercy and kindness, compassion and tenderness, according to Your nature and not limited by my need. You are an abundant God, and You have redeemed me, blotted out my transgressions, through Christ Jesus in Whom You glorified Yourself.

Lord, I am so grateful that You are so faithful, so just and so true, that if I walk in the light of Christ - letting Your Word abide in me – and I repent and confess my sins to maintain unbroken communion with You, You will forgive my sins, and cleanse me from all unrighteousness as the blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son, cleanses me from my sins. I am so humbled by Christ’s sacrifice for me, covering my sins, removing them from Your sight, such that I could be freed from my guilt and reconciled to You. Thank You, Lord, that though my sins be like scarlet, You have made and shall make them white as snow.

Lord, You loved this world that You created – loved me - so much that You gave Your best, Your only begotten Son, so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. You did not send Your Son to condemn the world or me, but that the world- that I - through Him might be saved. You are the God of my salvation, and I thank You for loving me so completely, so personally, so redemptively.

Thank You, O Lord, for Your Son, Who is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Thank You for Your faithfulness to Your promise to put Your law, Your Spirit, Your truth into my heart and my mind – for working in me to will and to do Your good pleasure. Thank You for Your Presence in my life, for Your Spirit within me to lead me and guide me in the way that I should go; for Christ, having been made unto me wisdom. Thank You for the joy I experience in Your Presence, and for all of the reasons and opportunities You give me to praise You! Thank You for the ability to sense Your nearness, and to desire You, Whom I don’t see, but love.

Thank You for a clean heart, O Lord; for a pure heart. Please let my life be seen and experienced by others as evidence of Your goodness, Your mercy, Your grace, Your majesty, Your beauty … all that can be seen of You in and through me as I decrease and You increase and are magnified in me. Thank You for Your help in developing and sharing the fruits of Your Spirit, that others would know You, know and receive the love You have for them, and love You, too. Thank You for overcoming all my evil with Your good, for dispelling all of my darkness with Your light.

I love You, Lord. In Christ Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

... and my journey with Him continues ...

That’s Not Your Testimony

Songs: Trust in Him – Clark Sisters w/ Rance Allen (http://www.imeem.com/artists/the_clark_sisters/music/TCwsSNHJ/the-clark-sisters-trust-in-him-remastered-version/)
I Love the Lord – Richard Smallwood

Scriptures: Revelation 12:11

Good News Translation (GNT)

11 They won the victory over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the truth which they proclaimed; and they were willing to give up their lives and die.

New King James Version (NKJV)

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

New International Version (NIV)

11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Amplified Bible (AMP)

11And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].

Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

I was reminded recently of when God spoke to me a couple of years ago about the uniqueness of my testimony …

At the church I was attending, an initiative was going on one month where the goal was to get 100% of the congregation to tithe. I had a temporary job, and was grateful for the resources from which to give my 10%. I was telling the Lord so when I seemed to sense He wanted me to tithe 100% of the money I was earning. I quickly replied that the church didn’t mean for us to tithe 100% - they wanted 100% of the members to tithe 10%. Just as quickly, He replied:

I know what they mean; you know what I said.

So, I gave 100% of the money I earned for that period until my job ran out. In talking with one of the church’s officers, I shared what I had been instructed to do, and his reply was something like, “I can’t wait to see what the Lord is doing with this. Maybe you will share your testimony later.”

One Sunday soon after that conversation, a woman in church was invited to give her testimony as to what God was doing in her life because of her obedience during that time in the area of tithing. She stated that God had asked her to tithe 100% of her earnings. I must admit that I was glad to know that I wasn’t the only one hearing that from Him. When she obeyed (like me, after some further conversation and clarification), she told of how she got this huge, unexpected windfall of money, and how material blessings just seemed to be multiplying in her life. I was about to get excited, thinking of all I wanted Him to do for me financially when I sensed His correction:

That’s not your testimony.

I must admit, that was not what I wanted to hear. But He reminded me of other occasions, other lessons:

1. …of the time in church during one Bible study, when discussion had centered on whether God causes or allows things (especially “bad” things) to happen to us. He had challenged me with a question regarding a woman who shared that she had cancer and felt that her purpose in life was to help others with cancer.

If her having the cancer would aid in and advance her purpose of helping others with cancer, would I not have caused it?

2. …of the time when I was watching a television program where the pastor speaking was making the statement that if you did what they did you could have what they had. God had posed a question to remind me of the individual nature of His blessings.

If what they have is for their purpose, and would be a hindrance to you in yours, why would I give it to you? It is true; I am not a respecter of persons, but I am a respecter of purpose.

3. He reminded me from His Word about the dangers of comparing ourselves with one another:

2 Corinthians 10:12-13 (New International Version)

12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you.

Galatians 6:4 (New Century Version)

Each person should judge his own actions and not compare himself with others. Then he can be proud for what he himself has done.

4. He reminded me from His Word about the differences He allows:

Hebrews 11:32-40 (Amplified Bible)

32And what shall I say further? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,
33Who by [the help of] faith subdued kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promised blessings, closed the mouths of lions,
34Extinguished the power of raging fire, escaped the devourings of the sword, out of frailty and weakness won strength and became stalwart, even mighty and resistless in battle, routing alien hosts.
35[Some] women received again their dead by a resurrection. Others were tortured to death with clubs, refusing to accept release [offered on the terms of denying their faith], so that they might be resurrected to a better life. [I Kings 17:17-24; II Kings 4:25-37.]
36Others had to suffer the trial of mocking and scourging and even chains and imprisonment.
37They were stoned to death; they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith]; they were sawn asunder; they were slaughtered by the sword; [while they were alive] they had to go about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated--
38[Men] of whom the world was not worthy--roaming over the desolate places and the mountains, and [living] in caves and caverns and holes of the earth.
39And all of these, though they won divine approval by [means of] their faith, did not receive the fulfillment of what was promised,
40Because God had us in mind and had something better and greater in view for us, so that they [these heroes and heroines of faith] should not come to perfection apart from us [before we could join them].

“Okay, okay,” I said, “I get it.” In His mercy, He wanted to make sure I did (get it). When I got home that day and turned on the television, there was another television pastor ministering, saying that he had heard from people who told of how God had miraculously met their needs, but he wanted to hear the testimonies of those where it seemed like their needs had not been met – the money, the healing, the “whatever they needed and had been believing God for” had not come. Then, in the next couple of days, I got a newsletter from a ministry where the pastor was speaking of so many who felt abandoned by or were disappointed with God because of what they were going through.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (Amplified Bible)

8For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

So now I just trust that God knows best, is working all things together for my good, hears and answers my prayers in the best way for His glory to be manifest in my life. He knows my true needs, regardless of the circumstances and how things seem to me.

Romans 8:32 (New King James Version)

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Father God, I pray that I would grow in (the) grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory both now and forever. Amen.

... and my journey with Him continues ...