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 ...

Celebration of a Life in Christ (2009)

Songs: Jesus Paid It All (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEOsxUJrpU4)

Scriptures:
Isaiah 40:1-8 (New International Version)
Comfort for God's People

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

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Many times, when I attend a funeral, I find myself wondering what mine should be like, and sometimes I sense the Lord answering me with things that could be included. So, I began composing my service, a “Celebration of Life in Christ” program. I’ve had several, but this is the latest (2009) iteration. Still not complete, as I don’t have recessional song, obituary, etc. - hoping not to have to use it soon, though, so i would still have time...

Celebration of a Life in Christ (2009)

Prelude – Stanton Lanier (The Voice, Peace)

Procession – Revelation 19:1 / Great is He / Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95kkqXCo2ew&feature=related

Invocation

Selection - Eternal Praise (Linda Norwood)

Scripture:

Old Testament – Isaiah 55

Selection – Were it not for Grace – Larnelle Harris version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6_lYk8cfIo&feature=related

New Testament – 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:15, Ephesians 2:1-10

Selection - Jesus Paid It All (Crystal Lewis version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBsgWKMxdmE), including verses:

I hear the Savior say
Thy strength indeed is small
Child of weakness....watch and pray
Find in me....thine all in all

Chorus:
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin hath left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone
Can change the leper's spots
And melt the heart of stone

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim
I'll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary's Lamb

And when before thy throne
I stand in Him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat

Chorus:
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin hath left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Scripture –

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NIV) 26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

Reflections

Read obituary silently

Selection – Amazing Grace (Kathy Taylor Brown rendition)
http://www.imeem.com/people/pouO77u/music/t23Dfm37/kathy-taylor-brown-amazin-grace/
/ Amazing Grace / My Chains Are Gone / If Not For Your Grace - Israel Houghton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXi0Del29uA

Eulogy

Selection – Through the End of Time (Linda Norwood)

Acknowledgements

Benediction

Recessional - ???

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

Motivation & Attitude

Songs: Refiner’s Fire (Purify My Heart) – Brian Doerksen ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idA6fCAHVzs)

Scriptures: Philippians 2:14
New Century Version (NCV)
Do everything without complaining or arguing.
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves],

Exodus 16:8
Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."

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Even my heart is grieved for the times that we fall short in serving God because of our motivations and/or attitudes which are not pure, not Christ-like.

Philippians 2:1-16a Amplified Bible (AMP)

1SO BY whatever [appeal to you there is in our mutual dwelling in Christ, by whatever] strengthening and consoling and encouraging [our relationship] in Him [affords], by whatever persuasive incentive there is in love, by whatever participation in the [Holy] Spirit [we share], and by whatever depth of affection and compassionate sympathy,

2Fill up and complete my joy by living in harmony and being of the same mind and one in purpose, having the same love, being in full accord and of one harmonious mind and intention.

3Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves].

4Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others.

5Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]

6Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,

7But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.

8And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!

9Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,

10That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).

13[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

14Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves],

15That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guiltless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world,

16Holding out [to it] and offering [to all men] the Word of Life…

1. In reading You Were Born for This” by Bruce Wilkinson, I thought of God’s heart when reading on page 74:

Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men…for you serve the Lord Christ. (footnote #6, Colossians 3:23-24).

2. In looking at the God Calling devotional for today online, I saw the verse at the end of yesterday’s entry (http://twolisteners.org/Nov%2016%20-%2030.htm#November 24):

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24

3. And then today, the Biblegateway.com home page Verse of the Day (for November 25, 2009) was:

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”- Colossians 3:17 (NIV)


O God, please forgive us for our grumbling, faultfinding and complaining. Please help us, through Your truth and the power of Your Spirit, so that whatever we do, whether in word or deed, we would do it all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to You, O God, our Father through Him. I know that it is You, Lord, working in us both to will and to do Your good pleasure. Help us, O God, to work out our own salvation with reverential fear and trembling as we do all things with the humility and love of Christ. Thank You, Lord, for the revelation and conviction of Your Holy Spirit - for opening our eyes to the areas where we miss the mark - such that we have opportunity to repent and be cleansed based upon Your mercy, Your grace, Your faithfulness, for Your glory. Lead us, guide us, show us the path of life, of righteousness for Your great Name’s sake. Increase our capacity to learn, to love, to carry the burdens of others and gently restore them from sin and so fulfill the law of Christ. Let our hearts be open to correction, and willing to be made willing to embrace Your will.

Now unto Him Who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, before all time and now and forever (unto all the ages of eternity). Amen.

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

Nearness

Songs: Be Near – Shane & Shane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk_jBfJi_pk&NR=1)

Scriptures:
James 4:8 (NKJV)
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Hebrews 10:22
(AMP)Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.

(NLT)let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Hebrews 7:19 (NCV)
The law of Moses could not make anything perfect. But now a better hope has been given to us, and with this hope we can come near to God.

*************************************************************

Separately, I guess they didn’t mean much. But looked at together, a pattern was emerging, for me anyway.

1. I read ahead in the God Calling devotional to November 26 (http://twolisteners.org/Nov%2016%20-%2030.htm#November 26):

November 26 - My Beauty

The prophet realized the Truth of My later saying "He that hath ears to hear let him hear" which might be rendered "he that hath eyes to see let him see."

The God who was to be born upon earth was not to be housed in a body so beautiful that men would follow and adore for the beauty of His Countenance.

No! He was to be as one whom the world would despise, but to the seeing eye, the Spirit that dwelt in that body should be so beautiful as to lack nothing. "Yet when we shall see Him, there is no Beauty that we should desire Him."

Pray for the seeing eye, to see the Beauty of My Character, of My Spirit. Nay, more, as faith saw the Beauty of the Godhead in One who had no form or comeliness, so pray to have that faith to see the Beauty of My Love in My dealings with you, in My actions. Till, in what the world will distort into cruelty and harshness, you, with the eyes of faith, will see all that you could desire.

Know Me. Talk to Me. Let Me talk to you, so that I may make clear to your loving hearts what seems mysterious now and purposeless ("having no form nor comeliness.")

2. I was up, going through the experience and documenting it in Powerful (yesterday’s blog – November 24). Particularly the part about what God let me see, how He enlightened the darkness of my understanding.

3. I went to the library, and saw (and picked up/checked out) books about our perceptions, the workings of the brain, our thinking.

4. Also checked out and prepared to read “You Were Born for This” by Bruce Wilkinson. Actually stopped and thought about the happenings of the day when I opened to the first chapter and saw “A New Way to See the World” as the title. Occurred to me then that God was, as they say, “up to something” regarding my perspective of things, how I saw things, my mindset, etc. I sensed an adjustment, a correction coming on.

5. Later, looked in my email and saw one from Nancy Stafford (http://www.nancystafford.com/notebook.php) entitled Abounding in Thanksgiving that began with the words, “Open your eyes.” I went on to read it, quieted in my soul as I read this part:

Then God invaded my mind. You need to know Me better, He whispered softly. "Uh, NO God, I need to you help me!" I blurted in my fear. You need to know Me better, He whispered again. Pray Paul's prayer to the Ephesians. Open your eyes!

In Ephesians 1:17-19, I saw where God was leading me, so I prayed Paul's prayer for myself:

I keep asking that You, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that I may know You better. I pray also that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened in order that I may know the hope to which You have called me, the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints, and Your incomparably great power for us who believe.

To know Him, to know Him better – stated here and also in the God Calling devotional I had read from the 26th. That God would orchestrate events in my life this day to remind me of His desire for me, and His desire that I would know Him, and be blessed in knowing Him better … it’s all quite humbling, and fills me with such wonder. I’ve been running into Psalm 16:11 lately:

(NKJV)You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

I had been thanking God the other day for the joy I felt in sensing His presence, when I felt He spoke to me about the “fullness of joy” including His joy at my being in His Presence and my experiencing joy in being there. It’s a cyclical kind of thing, and to me so like my God. I must admit that I had not thought of that before…

Thank You, God, for loving me so much, so divinely, so perfectly.

So now I get to today’s God Calling, which says, in part:

There is that gracious invitation, too, for those who yearn to realize a happiness, a rest, a satisfaction they have never found in the world and its pursuits. To them, the pleading answer to their quest is "Come to Me and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28-30 (New King James Version)
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Hebrews 11:6 New Living Translation (NLT)
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

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

Powerful

Songs: From the Inside Out (Everlasting) - Hillsong

Scriptures:
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

Dichotomy – one meaning (per www.dictionary.com) is:

division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups: a dichotomy between thought and action.

God has shown me where He is not just an “either / or” God, but (at least in many cases) an “And God.” I am grateful for the ways and the times that He enlightens me, when I am struggling to understand something in His Word that appears to be a dichotomy to me and I can’t find a resolution to reconcile the different viewpoints in my mind. (Another reason to be mindful of and let God monitor what I see, read, hear, etc. – to avoid confusion.)

Psalm 18:28
For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

For example, I read something the other day that puzzled and disturbed me. Someone had said that the traditions of men were more powerful than the Word of God, based on Matthew 15:6 which says in part (NKJV),
“Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.”

I took issue with the notion that traditions were more powerful than God’s Word, but just dismissed what I had read and went on to something else. Well, tonight, I guess the Lord wanted me back at that, because when I opened my Bible to look up a different (and to me entirely unrelated) verse, I was at Matthew 15 and looking at verse 6. I decided to read the whole chapter but was still pretty much in the dark. Then, in looking up the verse in my Jewish commentary (Jewish New Testament Commentary: A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament by David H. Stern), I saw reference to the parallel in Mark 7, and headed over there. That’s when I got it. The first part of verse 13 (NKJV) says: “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.”

“Through.” What a difference another word makes! The light came on. “…of no effect through your tradition…” It was the traditions, which were supposed to reflect practical application of God’s Word, which were polluted (defiled) and keeping the people from being obedient to God / effective in the Word of God. The true meaning of God’s Word was not included with or honored – “of no effect” – in or through the traditions of which Jesus spoke. Mark 7 in the God’s Word Translation says, beginning at verse 7:

GWT - It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!' 8 "You put aside God's command and obey human teachings." 9 And Jesus continued, "You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching…. 13 In this way the teaching you pass on to others cancels out the word of God. And there are many other things like this that you do."

Verses 8 and 9 in the Amplified version state:

8You disregard and give up and ask to depart from you the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men [keeping it carefully and faithfully]. 9And He said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting [thus thwarting and nullifying and doing away with] the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition (your own human regulations)!

Once I got it, then I really saw verse 3 of Matthew 15 (NKJV):
He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

So again, it is the disobedience to God’s laws, under cover of (and to follow man-made) tradition – not that the traditions were more powerful. And some other translations of Matthew 15, verses 3 and 6:

NCV - Jesus answered, "And why do you refuse to obey God's command so that you can follow your own teachings?... You rejected what God said for the sake of your own rules.
NIV - Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?... Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
AMP - He replied to them, And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers (the elders)? …So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].
NLT - Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? …And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.
GNT - Jesus answered, "And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching?...In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching.
HCSB- He answered them, "And why do you break God's commandment because of your tradition?...In this way, you have revoked God's word because of your tradition.
NAS - And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?... And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Phillips - Tell me," replied Jesus, "why do you break God's commandment through your tradition?...And so your tradition empties the commandment of God of all its meaning.

So it seems then, that what God wanted me to know is powerful (besides Himself) is the fact that He - in His wisdom and power, His mercy and grace - has given us the choice (in the way we experience the lives we have been given) to obey Him, or not:

Psalm 62:11-12 (NKJV)
God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God. Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJV)
14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess….19I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Psalm 119:11(NKJV)
Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

Hebrews 4:12(NKJV)
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

J. B. Phillips Translation, Romans 9:9-26:
9:18 - It seems plain, then, that God chooses on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will harden in their sin.
9:19-20 - Of course I can almost hear your retort: "If this is so, and God's will is irresistible, why does God blame men for what they do?" But the question really is this: "Who are you, a man, to make any such reply to God?" When a craftsman makes anything he doesn't expect it to turn round and say, 'Why did you make me like this?'
9:21-26 - The potter, for instance, is always assumed to have complete control over the clay, making with one part of the lump a lovely vase, and with another a pipe for sewage. Can we not assume that God has the same control over human clay? May it not be that God, though he must sooner or later expose his wrath against sin and show his controlling hand, has yet most patiently endured the presence in his world of things that cry out to be destroyed? Can we not see, in this, his purpose in demonstrating the boundless resources of his glory upon those whom he considers fit to receive his mercy, and whom he long ago planned to raise to glorious life? And by these chosen people I mean you and me, whom he has called out from both Jews and Gentiles. He says in Hosea: 'I will call them my people, who were not my people, and her beloved, who was not beloved'. 'And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God'.

1 John 3:1(NKJV)
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Exodus 19:5(NKJV)
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.

Jeremiah 7:23(NKJV)
But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’

Isaiah 40:8(NKJV)
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

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