Knowing Him In The Power Of His Resurrection

This Is an Excerpt of chapter 5 from the newly released book 

“Apprehended & Apprehending” which is based on Philippians 3:10-12

...... For those who love Him, death is not death; it is rather this coveted life you have found in Him that you go forward to claim with so much joy and anticipation. Death is simply a continuation of this life you have come to know in Him. Your being able to see Him with your spiritual eyes builds a craving to go to Him in death in order that you might live eternal life. It means everything the moment you come to know Him and be in Him.

We too are expected to lay down our lives for the sake of the Gospel. The incentive to do so is that Christ did it first so that we can learn through Him. We should offer our lives for the edification of the Church, for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and for the Gospel to reach the un-reached. However, this does not mean we go and chose something to do on our own just because the need is there. It does not mean we expose ourselves recklessly either. As He works His cross within and your identification is grounded in His work, then you cease to live and work out of a sense of duty because the driving force behind everything that you do and all that you are is in the power of His resurrection and His life in you. This life brings you to a point where you can say with confidence 'I get God' because you are found in the middle of His purpose.

 In this day and age, we have people left, right, and center choosing to do “stuff” for Him, they build churches, become teachers, go to the mission field, put on healing shows and so forth. But we do not have enough people wanting to come to Him just because He is who He says He is! Christ’s example showed us that we need to acquire intimacy with the Father, and then we can go in His name, having been prepared by Him. Shame on us! We claim to love Him, yet like the Pharisees, we have become masters at substituting Him. There is a difference between being His worshipers and a fan of His. The work that is acceptable to God is an extension of who we are in Him. How can we sacrifice ourselves for the truth when the truth is not even in us? How can we give ourselves to the Master’s cause when we do not have the full meaning explained to us by the Holy Spirit through living a deeper Christianity in Him?



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False Religion According to God’s Standards

DEVOTION

Read Jeremiah 7: 1-5

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:  “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord.  This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.  Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”

As I was reading Jeremiah 7 today, my heart was breaking because while this story is the Israelites story, specifically, in these verses Judah was targeted by God and it happened thousands of years ago, it is still us today. Things have not changed that much. We still go on with a vain confidence in mainstream Christianity. We find pride in our buildings, our achievements, the eloquence of our pastors, in our head knowledge, our plans, our standards, our denominations etc. We have compartmentalized Christianity, to us Salvation has become what we feel it should be. We bring God down so low, that His standards do not matter to us anymore. Our hearts are so callous, so much arrogance and pride in the Church and among Christians. Most of us in the pews along with our pastors have no idea what it means to be broken by God and the list goes on. Yet, we come and stand in His presence with no fear whatsoever. The Israelites felt they found protection too when they came into the temple. They too had compartmentalized their lives and expected God to honor His Word as if He could not see their hearts were not in it. We do not pay enough attention to the fact that God wants us to do things according to His Way and His standards.

We go through the Bible like lawyers going through documents to find loopholes. In the meantime we forget this is OUR GOD, the God of our Salvation. We offer Him sentimentality and we get caught up in our own hypes, our own deception and low standards of Christianity. But, true Christianity according to His standards demands that we live purposely for Him. Not according to what that means to us but according to His views, His Word., His standards and His plan for Salvation. When this is done according to His standards and by His grace, we are transformed on the inside. It is sad to see how we misunderstand Christianity because we do not know what it means to live under His grace and worst we have never learned to know ourselves because we have not been humbled by Him. So somehow, in the depth of our souls, we still think there is something good in us.

PRAY: Oh Lord, I pray we learn to embrace full Salvation according to your plan. I pray the eyes of our hearts would be open and we would get rid of Spiritual blindness. Take away the darkness that surrounds us Savior even though we do not deserve you, I pray that you would be glorified in all our lives.

In His Love & Service

In my book Apprehended & Apprehending I have gone more in-depth on this issue. I am running a promotion on my new book “Apprehended & Apprehending –Soaring In The Wilderness With God!” Find out how you can get it for free for a limited time only.

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