ApprehendingGrace.com

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12 (NIV)

Clearly, taking hold of our eternal life means more than accepting Christ and looking forward to an eternity with Him. Paul exhorted Timothy, the pastor in Ephesus at the time the letter was written, to “take hold” of his eternal life. This series looks at the fuller application of that exhortation.

Last week’s blog addressed the complete forgiveness of sins that comes with our eternal life. If the Creator of the Universe has fully forgiven our sins, and he has, we ought to walk in complete freedom from condemnation. To accept condemnation from the enemy is to be deceived. To accept it from ourselves is to call Jesus a liar. Scripture is clear that

But if we confess our sins to him, he [Jesus] is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.
1 John 1:9 (NLT)

When we fully grasp that Christ has forgiven our sins, we can walk in the liberating freedom of being without condemnation. Such freedom is a wonderful thing, and it leads to a walk that carries with it a lightness of heart and spirit. Conversely, walking under condemnation is truly walking under condemnation. It’s like there is always a heavy weight on our heads and hearts.

Two analogies:

• You’ve seen the pictures of men and women in third world countries carrying their wares to market or purchases from the market in baskets on their heads. What a difference they must immediately feel when the heavy basket is put down and they can walk without the weight and without fear of causing the basket to become unbalanced and fall to the ground. That’s what it is like when we are set free from condemnation. We no longer walk under the heavy weight of accusations and we no longer fear that every misstep will lead to more guilt being piled in our baskets.

• My mom had a pacemaker put in last night. After surgery, they had a heavy, cold compress on her chest to stop any bleeding, reduce swelling and limit her movement. The cold, heavy compress reminds me of the weight of condemnation always pressing down on our hearts and spirits. Its coldness saps us of our passion for God and our strength. Its weight limits on our movement in ways that Christ has not limited us.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

Christ has set us free from condemnation by forgiving our sins and declaring us righteous. The Galatians had forgotten this and Paul calls them “foolish.” The Galatians had forgotten the powerful grace that led them to repentance and faith in Christ. They had fallen back to relying on their own works for eternal life. Read what Paul wrote to them:

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? ³Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? ⁴Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? ⁵Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

⁶Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ⁷Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
Galatians 3:1-7 (NIV)

When we carry a spirit of condemnation on our heads and on our hearts, we are truly not believing that we are forgiven. We fall back, as the Galatians had, to believing we must do better, look better, or be better for Christ to truly accept us and forgive us. Foolishness! God gives you His Spirit because you believed that Christ died for your sins. “Believed” in the biblical sense means you accept it as truth and you rely on it – you trust it even more than you trust the chair you are sitting in to hold you without breaking. God gives you His spirit because you believed that Christ died for your sins.

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the [Old Testament] law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴in order that the righteous requirements of the [Old Testament] law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)

The conditions for your righteousness have been met if you believe in Christ. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NLT) And because there is no condemnation, there is no need to accept any heavy baskets on your head or cold compresses on your heart.

Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17 (NLT)

The Spirit of the Lord gives freedom. Friends, receive God’s gift of freedom and walk in it. Or skip and jump in it! Or dance in it! Or shout “hallelujah” in it! But most of all, receive it and do not receive any condemnation that comes from external or internal sources. Condemnation be GONE in the Name of Jesus. And daughter or son of God, be encouraged and set free in the Name of Jesus.

Well, I thought this blog was going to be about being willing to take risks for Christ because He has set us free. I guess we needed to hear the message of freedom again. I’m certain a message about risk taking is coming, but I think God may have even another blog on freedom from condemnation first! Thank You, Lord, for directing my pen (computer keyboard) in Your direction, not in mine.

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Genesis 19:29 (NIV)

God remembered Abraham and protected Lot from catastrophe! Did you catch that? God was about to destroy all of Sodom and Gomorrah, but then He remembered Abraham and he protected – saved – Abraham’s nephew Lot (and his family). I read this verse last week it has not stopped reverberating in my brain. The implications are staggering! And encouraging!

Lot was living in a city that the Lord was about to destroy because the outcry against it was “so great and [its] sin so grievous.” (Genesis 18:20) Lot was living in a city in which ten righteous people could not be found. It’s the place he chose to live. Some purport that he was a leader in the city because when the angels arrived, he was sitting at the city gate, a place where leaders often sat. For whatever reason, Lot liked living there. We’re not going to go there. But he liked it so much that when the angels sent to destroy the city urged Lot to flee, Scripture says he “still hesitated” and the angels had to physically grab him by the hands and rush him out of the city (Genesis 19:16). (More about Lot’s reluctance to leave in tomorrow’s blog!)

Put yourself into the scene. Imagine yourself in God’s place. (I know, we’re a poor and paltry substitute, and thinking we could become like God is at the center of this whole sin issue, but for just a moment, consider the story from God’s perspective.) The stench of Sodom and Gomorrah had reached the Lord and He sent angels to destroy it. On the way He and the angels visit Abraham. Abraham negotiates with God – God agreed not to destroy the city if He could find ten righteous people living in it. Obviously He could not, so the process that would lead to the destruction of the two cities began. What seems to be holding up the whole thing is this man Lot’s reluctance to leave. It’s a good thing I’m not God because I’m afraid I would have said something like “OK, then. Stay here. I’ll just destroy the city with you in it.” (Or at least I would have thought it. My sanctification is clearly not complete!)

But God didn’t do that. Scripture says that God remembered Abraham and kept Lot safe. What was it about Abraham that God remembered?

Perhaps God remembered the covenant He had made with Abraham. Undoubtedly, God had a special relationship with Abraham. God also has a special relationship with me. I may not be the father of many nations, I may not be the one to whom God said:

² “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
Gen 12:2-3

But I am the one about whom God said …..

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1a (NIV)

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:32 (NIV)

These verses, and others like them, convince me that my relationship with God is as special to Him as His relationship with Abraham. I have every confidence that when God remembers me, He does so with as much pleasure as when He remembered Abraham.

Could it be, then, that God might remember me and protect my family members who are near danger?

Perhaps God remembered Abraham’s faith. Twelve of the forty verses in Hebrews 11, that great “Fathers of the Faith/Great Cloud of Witnesses” chapter, are dedicated to Abraham and his faith. Yet we know the stories of Abraham’s failures – times when he failed to live by the faith for which he was commended in Hebrews. These stories demonstrate that Abraham was as human as you and I, and his faith could be as weak as mine sometimes is.

Scripture says that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). If you have accepted Christ, if you believe that He is the son of God who came to earth and died on a cross for the forgiveness of your sins, God puts the righteousness of Christ upon you. What Scripture says about Abraham can be said about you – “[Your Name Here] believed God and it was credited to him/her as righteousness.”

Could it be, then, that God might remember you and protect your family members who are near danger?

Perhaps God remembered Abraham’s prayer. While unorthodox, Abraham’s negotiation with God can be seen as a prayer. He was asking God to spare the city. Some translations render Genesis 19:29 as “God had listened to Abraham’s request” (NLT) or “heeded Abraham’s plea” (TLB). I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but I don’t see anything in the text that should be translated God remembered “Abraham’s request,” although I suppose it can be extrapolated from the context.

James writes “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16b, NRSV)

We’ve already established that God credits Jesus’ righteousness to believers. Our prayers, then are powerful and effective. If it was Abraham’s prayer that God remembered, I have every confidence that He will remember mine as well.

Could it be, then, if I pray diligently for family and friends who are at risk, that God might remember me and protect them from danger?

Perhaps, just perhaps, God will show mercy and will extend His protection to my loved ones because of the relationship He has with me, because of my faith, and/or because of my prayers.

Such a thought makes me view my life differently. It’s not just about me. My relationship with the Lord (and the condition of that relationship) affects those I love. My relationship with the Lord somehow extends a degree of grace to them. Wow!

Of course I’m not saying that my relationship with the Lord extends salvation to my loved ones. Everyone must choose that for themselves. Everyone must decide for themselves to yield to the One who stepped out of heaven, leaving all He had there, to live on this earth and then die on a cross. It’s that yielding of our will to His will that brings (or gives) eternal life.

Still…God remembered Abraham and saved Lot. What a gracious God we serve!

Thank You, Lord, for extending the umbrella of grace over my life to offer protection to my loved ones.

Be encouraged, friends! God may just remember you and save your loved ones from catastrophe! Hallelujah!

 That’s how the enemy works and I see it in myself this evening…

I’m a few days behind in my Resting at the River’s Edge reading, and I read John 15 and 16 this morning. I so enjoyed John 15, especially, that I wanted to write a blog about it, but I was crunched for time and had to get to work. So all day I’ve been looking forward to this evening when I knew I’d have the house to myself and I could look at the passage more closely.

Somehow it’s not working. Since I sat down, I’ve struggled to stay focused.

First, I was having a hard time “centering” myself – letting go of the day’s distractions and focusing on the Lord. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply and sang a worship song to myself and the Lord. That helped a lot. (Or at least I thought so.)

I thought I’d read the final chapters of 2 Kings before writing the blog. Once I started reading, I found my mind flooded with one temptation after another. I was successful at fighting them off, more or less. (I promised myself that I’d succumb to one of them, but not until after I’d finished reading and writing.)

After most of the temptations subsided (they still try to sneak in), I suddenly find that I have a desire to do half a dozen different tasks that I usually hate doing. Of course, each one of them needs to be done because they’re tasks I always put off. It’s really frustrating that I actually WANT to do them now. Hey, if I’m really in the mood to clean my office now (for example), I ought to do it because I’m never in the mood to do that and I’ll accomplish more in less time and I’ll do a more thorough job, right? Somehow, I don’t think that’s what I’m supposed to be doing right now. This is the time give to me by God and set aside to read and study.

What in the world happened to the anticipation I’ve had all day about spending this time with the Lord? Aargh! Let’s see, first there was frantic brain, then there were various temptations, now there are these thoughts and desires to do long-needed tasks.

So finally I decide to sit back and think about how this just doesn’t seem to be working tonight and I realize that I’m being hit with a classic three-punch from the enemy – distraction, temptation and re-direction.

• Distraction – When the enemy can bring confusion or a sense of franticness into my life, I am disabled for some period of time.
• Temptation – I suppose I hardly need to say anything about temptation. We all know it and we probably all recognize it – at least in its blatant form. Temptation is when I want something I shouldn’t have.
• Re-direction – Redirection may be a form of temptation in that I’m tempted to do something different, but it doesn’t involve anything that I shouldn’t do or have. Rather, it’s simply changing my focus from what’s best to something else that’s good.

Knowing how the enemy works helps us to thwart his plans. It allows us to recognize his hand at work and take action to avoid falling into the traps he is setting. Tonight was easy for me to recognize because it was so unrelenting. And eventually I realized that it was the Holy Spirit focusing my attention on the ways of the enemy for a short time.

That’s how the enemy tries to work (and sometimes succeeds) in my life. How about yours? Learning how he is most successful at sidetracking you will help you to beat him at his own game.

Remember, no matter what his ploy, “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4b, NLT).

Now it’s back to John 15 for me. All this distraction makes me think that perhaps God has something really good for me tonight. If so, I’ll share it with you tomorrow!

Last week in this “Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS). I wrote about how our willing heart leads to having a free heart. Freedom! What a concept worth rejoicing over. This article takes the concept one step further…A worshipping heart is a secure heart. Read on. If you missed any of the articles in this series, you can find them all listed here.

A Secure Heart

We’ve looked at many characteristics of the heart of a worshipper. We began by saying that the heart of a worshipper is a hungry heart – one that wants to know God more intimately. We’ve seen that being vulnerable to God and willing to follow Him leads to a heart that is free from condemnation and fear. I’d like to take that progression one step further: The heart of a worshipper is secure. It stands firm. It is established. As the worshipper comes face to face with the God who loves him beyond anything he can imagine, his heart becomes rooted and established in that love. Recognizing the depth of that love fills us with a certainty, a knowing, that God is on our side. Paul writes this to the Romans in one of the most significant chapters of the Bible:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
          Romans 8:35, 37-39

Obviously, Paul is fully, completely and utterly convinced of his security in Christ. He knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he cannot be separated from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

In 1 John, the apostle John wrote:

God is love.
         1 John 4:8b

Notice that he didn’t write that God has love, but that God is love. His very essence is love. John continues to describe the heart that is established in and by God’s love.

     …God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins… And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
     God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
             1 John 4:8b-10, 16-18

David also had this certainty. In Psalm 62 he writes:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
          Psalm 62:1-2

Never is a very strong word!

Job’s heart was secure. In the midst of his terrible loss and pain, He cries out in one of my favorite passages in scripture:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
          Job 19:25-27

As a very young Christian, I read this passage, and I was blown away. Job lost everything. His wife told him to curse God and die. His friends told him that his sin must be exceedingly great for God to be treating him so badly. And surely God seemed far away to Job because his situation wasn’t getting any better. Yet, his heart was ultimately secure. He knew He would see God.

A few weeks ago, we looked at the first quality of a worshipping heart – having a heart that is hungry for God. Job’s heart yearned within him to see God. And in the midst of his greatest trial, he was able to say “I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.” That is an established heart.

It makes me want to stand and shout praises to my God. Hallujah! If God could make a man in Job’s circumstances be such a worshipper and have such faith, there’s hope for me! My heart also yearns to see God with my own eyes.

Lord, establish my heart as you established Job’s that I might be able to say in times of distress and disappointment and confusion, “I know my Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth and I will see Him with my own eyes.”

It’s all about being transformed by the One who loves us and desires good things for us; the one who says He has plans for us – plans to prosper us and to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Part of that transformation is becoming so dependent on the One that is supremely dependable that your security is forever in the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Loving One. And when your trust is in the One who knows all things, is all powerful, and is love, where is there any potential for being insecure?

I’m not there yet! I still have fears. I still forget to depend on God and depend on my own efforts. But I’ve learned that when I am consistent in worshipping God, pursuing to know Him intimately, I develop a greater understanding of His surpassing love for me. Then my heart becomes firmly established regardless of the circumstances that surround me. As you get to know Jesus more intimately, you can develop that same sense of security.

Brothers, listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God-something the Jewish law could never do.
               Acts 13:38-39 (NLT)

A couple of weeks ago, I received a comment to a blog that mentioned my husband Phil’s heart attack. The writer said that they were confident my husband was saved but how could they know that they were saved. In the hectic time of Phil’s initial recovery, I never responded, then I accidentally erased the comment. To the writer of the comment – I sincerely apologize. I have been thinking about you a lot and I pray that you are still reading Apprehending Grace and find this response.

There are many ways to know that you are saved, but there is only one way to be saved, and that way is through knowing and following Jesus. Acts 13:38-39 tells us that it is in Jesus that we can find forgiveness for our sins and when we believe in Him, we are from all the guilt associated with that sin and declared right with God. Now that seems like a mouthful. Let me unwrap it.

What’s it Really Mean?
God is a holy God – totally righteous, good and loving. When we sin, we create a separation between this holy, righteous, perfect God and ourselves.

Think about it – when you do something against another person, don’t you feel the wall that develops between you? It’s the same with God. To break that wall down, Jesus said “I’ll be the middle-man.” I’ll sacrifice myself so that you can continue to have a relationship with God. All you have to do is believe in me and trust what I’ve done as being enough – all that is required – for you to be forgiven by God. And once you’re forgiven, you can begin a tremendous relationship with Him.

Now there was a key word there – believe. In the language that the Bible was written in, “believe” means more than just have a mental agreement with something. No, when we truly believe something, it means that we live accordingly. For example, if we believe that an airplane has the capability to fly and we want to travel a long distance, we’ll get on board, relax and enjoy the flight. If we don’t believe it, we’ll drive. One way depends on others to get us there, the other depends on ourselves. So believing in Jesus doesn’t mean you agree that He lived and died a couple thousand years ago. It means that you trust that He will forgive you of your sins and open the way to a relationship with God and that you depend on Him to do so.

How do you do that? It’s really very simple – you just tell Him so. Yes, if you’ve never prayed before, you may feel foolish at first – it may seem like you’re talking to the air. That’s OK. Scripture says:

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not –to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
               1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NIV)

In God’s world, there is no boasting of how good we are…because the truth is that we are not good. We have all rebelled in one way or another, and that rebellion is called sin. We all need someone to save us from our sins. That someone is Jesus. All we have to do is wholeheartedly agree with Him that we have sinned, ask Him to save us, then begin to live our live as He directs us to live it.

And doing so, we can know that we have eternal life – that we are saved. How can we know? The same document that explains all of this to us – the Bible – also says that the things were written so that those who believe in Jesus “may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)

More on the Subject
Still confused? Trying reading these two posts:

“The Gift of Live”
“How Very Much We’re Loved by God”

More questions? Please comment on this blog or send me an e-mail. My hubby is recovering and life is returning to normal – I’ll try to respond a bit quicker this time!

If you’ve made this decision for the first time, please e-mail me at sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com. I’ll help you get off to a good start in your new life with Christ.

I’ve just been reading in Leviticus about all the offerings the Israelites were to offer to God and what (finally) struck me is that in every case, they use the word “offering.” It might have been a peace offering or a guilt offering or some other kind of offering, but they were always an “offering.” They may have been required offerings, but they were still offerings. That is, the Lord required these offerings as a way for them to receive forgiveness (albeit temporary forgiveness) for their sins or show their devotion to Him. And yet, they are called “offerings.”

What began to sink in was the attitude of humility that the word “offering” carries with it. An offering is something given in hopes that it will be accepted – the husband-to-be offers his hand in marriage to the woman in hopes that she will say “yes” or an offending co-worker brings a cup of coffee or donut in hopes that relationships can be restored and peace can returned to the office. An apology is an offering – it is given in humility and in the hopes that it will be accepted. The attitude of the heart in each case is humility and hopefulness. Of course with hopefulness there is anticipation of good things to come.

When I read in Leviticus 5 that a person is to bring a lamb or a goat, but if he cannot afford that he can bring two young doves or pigeons, and if he cannot afford that he is to bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, I am ashamed to admit that the thought that ran across my brain was “who’s to say what he can afford?” Immediately the Lord whispered in my ear – “It’s a heart issue.” In other words, our hearts ought to be so devoted to God and so sorry for our sin that we desire to bring the very best and most we can. It’s not a “how little can we get away with to make up for our sins?” Rather, it’s how much can I offer to the Lord to show Him how sorry I am and how much I love Him?

And that brought me to the question – “How do you view your offerings?” Are they obligations, or are they opportunities to express your love to God? Do you give them as a part of your Sunday morning routine, or with an attitude of humility? When you write out your check or search for the money in your wallet, is it just something you do out of duty, or is an act of worship? Don’t get me wrong. Obedience is a good thing. Bring your tithes into the storehouse (Malachi 3:10). But obedience that is not done with the right heart is its own form of rebellion. Think of the child who spits out his apology in obedience to his parent’s command. The child was being “obedient”, but not making a sincere offering from his heart. No, in his heart there was rebellion – “I’ll say I’m sorry, but I won’t mean it. So there!”

I doubt that you make your offerings with the same blatant attitude as that child, but I know that there are times when I unthinkingly offend God by giving my offerings with a heart that isn’t fully “in the moment” (that is, I’m not even thinking about it, I’m just on autopilot) or has a hidden agenda of expectations from God instead of humble anticipation of His acceptance of my offer. When we are “in the moment” and our attitude is humble anticipation, imagine the joy we can receive when we know that our offer has been accepted!

Scripture teaches that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). That doesn’t mean He loves the giver who is a cheerful person. That means he loves it when we give with a cheerful attitude – and that means we are in the moment – purposefully thinking about what we’re doing and doing it cheerfully.

Lord, forgive me for all the times I have spent the offering time on Sunday morning reading the bulletin instead of making my offering to You in humility and joy. Forgive me for the times I write out my check out of obligation instead of with joyful anticipation of bringing joy to the One I love the most.

The Offering God Gave
Notice that it was in this same attitude that God gave His offering – with His whole heart and in humble anticipation of the joy to come when His offering would be accepted by men and women. That offering, of course, was His Son Jesus, whom God gave as the sacrificial lamb – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Do you see that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament system of sacrifices and offerings? That He is our sacrificial lamb, offered once for all?

Unlike the other high priests, [Jesus] does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
                Hebrews 7:27 (NIV)

The question is “will you accept His offering?” It is an offering consistent with those we’ve read about in Leviticus, but of such a higher degree that it issues in a new covenant. The new covenant holds the promise of an eternal inheritance – life forever more – even for those who have not kept the old covenant.

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
                Hebrews 9:13-15 (NIV)

Should you have any doubt, let me be clear. God is calling you. He is calling you to serve the living God. He is calling you in love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
                1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)

Will you accept his offering? What will you offer back to him in response?

Hear the heart of God in the following Old Testament passage:

¹But now, O Israel, the LORD who created you says: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. ²When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ³For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave [your enemies] as a ransom for your freedom. ⁴Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
                                               Isaiah 43:1-4 (NLT)

This passage speaks of how precious Israel (that is, the people and the country) is to God. They are His chosen people and he tells how He sacrificed their enemies to save them, how He gave up some lives to save Israel because she is so precious to Him. God even says simply “I love you.”

Don’t just read the words. Feel the emotion. Imagine that it is your husband or wife saying the words to you. How would you feel? Your spouse is saying that he/she paid a ransom for you – the life of someone else for your life. You must be incredibly precious!

But perhaps you’re a skeptic and think, “Well, they were Israel’s enemies that God gave as a ransom. It’s not like they were important to Him.” Au contraire, my friend. All life is precious to God, and those He calls enemies are those who have chosen to be His enemies. A message that sometimes seems to get lost in the Old Testament is that God called “His people” not only the Israelites, but all who chose to trust Him. Rahab and Ruth, for example, were not born Israelites, but they chose to align themselves with Israelites. As Ruth said, “Your people will be my people and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16).

God shows the same attitude in the New Testament toward His people as He showed in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, the Israelites have clearly rejected God.

¹⁰But although the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. ¹¹Even in his own land and among his own people, he was not accepted. ¹²But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan – this rebirth comes from God.
                                               John 1:10-13 (NLT)

God offers His love to everyone, and those who accept the gift of forgiveness and salvation that He’s offered began to be called “Christians.” It’s the term we still use today.

Let’s look at that first Old Testament passage again:

¹But now, O Israel, the LORD who created you says: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. ²When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ³For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave [your enemies] as a ransom for your freedom. ⁴Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
                                               Isaiah 43:1-4 (NLT)

The concepts and words that stand out in my mind are:

• God ransomed us
• He will protect us
• He is our Savior
• Others died that we might live
• We are precious, honored and loved

Remember those concepts and words as you read the following New Testament passages. In this first one, Jesus describes why He came to earth:

[Jesus is speaking] “For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”
                                               Matthew 20:28 (NLT)

Peter amplifies Jesus’ words in his first letter:

¹⁸For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. ¹⁹He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. ²⁰God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.
                                               1 Peter 1:18:20 (NLT)

How precious we must be to God, for Him to pay a ransom, not of His enemies, but of His son! God’s own son is the price required to ransom us from the empty life we would otherwise have. What an honor! What love!

⁸But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. ⁹And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. ¹⁰For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. ¹¹So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.
                                               Romans 5:8-11 (NLT)

God has ransomed us through Jesus Christ. Praise God! He has delivered us from eternal punishment to eternal life!

¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
                                               1 John 5:11-12 (NIV)

I hope you have the Son! Because being in the center of God’s love is life!

It is exactly six weeks until Christmas. Two weeks until Thanksgiving.

I know what you’re thinking…HOW did this happen? (Secretly – or not so secretly – my husband and I have decided that the holidays ought to come every other year! They just arrive too quickly when it’s every year.)

But this year I’m excited for the holiday season. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I started reading Isaiah a few weeks ago and came across this passage in chapter 9:

⁶    For unto us a Child is born,

    Unto us a Son is given;

    And the government will be upon His shoulder.

    And His name will be called

    Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷    Of the increase of His government and peace

    There will be no end,

    Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

    To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

    From that time forward, even forever.

    The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

 I’m reading through the Bible using the New Living Testament (NLT) this year – I like the change it provides from what I had been reading (New International Version, NIV). But what I quoted above is from the King James Version (KJV). I’m old enough to love the sound of this passage in the KJV. But let me quote it in NLT as well, for those who might not have the KJV voice in their head:

⁶For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the LORD Almighty will guarantee this!

When that verse is quoted, people usually stop in the middle of verse 7. But look at the last line – I had never noticed it before –The Lord’s “zeal,” His “passionate commitment” will accomplish  it, will guarantee it. What will it accomplish? What’s written about in verse 6 and 7a – the birth of a Son, Jesus. What, then, is God zealous or passionate about? Can it be anything other than fellowship with us? If Christ came so that we might have life (John 10:10), so that we might know the Father (1 John 5:20) – if that was his purpose in coming, doesn’t that reveal the Lord’s passionate commitment to us? I think it does. God was passionately committed to giving His son to us so that we might have eternal life with Him (John 3:16-17). Wow!

 How very much God loves us! For unto us a child is born. Thank you, Lord.

I’m praying that each Thursday between now and Christmas, God will give me a Christmas message to blog. Be sure to check back each week.

It’s wonderful finding Christians in the marketplace. For many years I felt a bit like Elijah – the only one left. That has changed considerably over the past decade, as more and more Christians are making their faith known on the job. Last week a business associate and friend, Jim Green, suggested I write a blog on prayer. We e-mailed back and forth, several times, and the end result is this collaborative effort.

Prayer is a powerful tool of the Christian in our daily walk and communion with the Lord. Without it we are disconnected from our true Source of life, strength, wisdom and power. If you are a new Christian, prayer is an excellent topic to study, after understanding that you are saved by God’s grace through your faith in Christ and his death on the cross.

Prayer is simply talking to God. And yet it is so much more than that. Through your daily conversations with Him, you have a tremendous opportunity to know Him better, and to make an impact on the world around you. John Wesley said “God does nothing except in response to prayer.” Do you see something wrong in the world around you? (And who doesn’t?) Don’t complain about it, pray about it. Complaining doesn’t change things, prayer changes things.

Often, though, it’s easy for our prayers to become too “me” focused. Jim remembers reading a small book on how to pray many years ago in which they suggested the following simple approach to pray.

PRAY, don’t yarp.

Yarp is “pray” spelled backwards and it is an illustration of how we can sometimes get things backwards in our prayer life.

Praise God with humility and reverence

Scripture teaches that God inhabits the praises of His people. (Psalms 22:3, NRSV & KJV) He lives in them. When you praise God, His presence comes to inhabit the very air in and around you.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
             Psalm 100:4-5 (NIV)

Repent with a contrite heart

Repentance means to turn away from. It is saying “God, I was wrong. I am sorry. Please forgive me.” And then, with God’s help, changing our ways. It doesn’t mean we immediately begin to do everything right (don’t we wish it were that easy!). But it does mean we continually bring our sins before God. 1 John says it well:

If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
          1 John 1:8-10 (NLT)

Ask for others and their needs first

At the heart of Christianity is giving ourselves for others. Jesus is our supreme example, whose blood was poured out for us on the cross (Matthew 26:28). Paul, Jesus’ disciple, opened many of his letters with tremendous prayers for God’s people.

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy…
          Philippians 1:3-4 (NLT)

Yourself last

Don’t forget to pray for your own needs! They are precious to God. He has the number of hairs on your head numbered

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!
          John 14:13-14 (NLT)

Always pray according to God’s will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the name of Jesus.

PRAY, don’t yarp.

Always put God first, praising Him for who He is and what He’s done. Repent of sins you’ve committed. Ask for God to move on behalf of others, the for Yourself.

Always remember to pray.