Jason Dempsey over at beallthemore blog posted this wonderful thought. I encourage you to stop over and read the entire post and even comment.

Sometimes people consider themselves better then they ought to.

Sometimes they think they know more then they really do.

Sometimes people feel they have to be the… continue reading

Martin Luther’s Definition of Faith:
An excerpt from
“An Introduction to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans,”
Luther’s German Bible of 1522
by Martin Luther, 1483-1546

Faith is not what some people think it is. Their human dream
is a delusion. Because they observe that faith is not followed by
good works or a better life, they fall into error, even though they
speak and hear much about faith. “Faith is not enough,” they
say, “You must do good works, you must be pious to be saved.”
They think that, when you hear the gospel, you start working,
creating by your own strength a thankful heart which says, “I
believe.” That is what they think true faith is. But, because
this is a human idea, a dream, the heart never learns anything
from it, so it does nothing and reform doesn’t come from this
`faith,’ either.

Instead, faith is God’s work in us, that changes us and gives
new birth from God. (John 1:13). It kills the Old Adam and makes us
completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits,
our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with
it. Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this
faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn’t
stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone more…

Diabolically Cleaver…………..

Genesis 17:1
“I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.

Exodus 8
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, ” Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

That they may do what? Serve Me. So God’s desire was not that they might serve or hoped that some would serve, but so that they may serve Him (His desire is that we all may freely choose to serve Him). Why do we have such a hard time with this? If He is the Lord, shouldn’t we honestly desire to serve Him?

John 3:36
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

We must consciously choose to obey Jesus and his teachings. If not we may start the good race but in time we may become blinded to another gospel (false teaching) as warned in 1 Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons”

May the Lord guide our thoughts and may our desires be to glorify Him alone. Thank you Jesus

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 NASB
Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

I am free to live, but how free do I live? We are to keep ourselves in check. Though we have liberty not all liberties are beneficial to the glory of God and may cause another to stumble and even fall in their faith.

Like a boxer in a fight we must take caution each time we speak (swing) as not to loose momentum (energy, strength) for the cause of Christ. Far to often we spend our time swinging aimlessly in thin air and what is gained or proven? Nothing.

Let each of us reflect inwardly as we seek to bring glory to God in all we do. By trusting in Christ and his promises we all have started the race well. The question is how will you finish, if at all?

If we’ve gotten this sooooooooo wrong, just maybe we’ve even blinded ourselves…. stop…. never mind enjoy the commercials and have a great laugh.

more…

I THIRST!

I tremble with compassion as I think about these two words. The Lord thirsts! My Lord and Savior hanging on a cross meant for me and all he says as part of his last 5 words is, “I Thirst”. So much more could have been said yet to the end Jesus chose to remain faithful to the will of the Father and remain consistent to his very nature.

John 19:28 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I Thirst!”

Only after he knew that ALL things were accomplished (finished) did Jesus think of his own needs. Jesus could have saved his energy to pronounce his innocents or even the judgement of those that hung him on the cross. Instead he chose to reveal his very nature again. One that placed others needs (deserving or not) before his own.

Consider this point, Jesus never used his authority for personal gain. Where is it written that more…