Growing in Grace

Stop doing evil and do good. Look for peace and work for it. The Lord sees the good people and listens to their prayers. But the Lord is against those who do evil; he makes the world forget them. -Psalm 34:14-16 (NCV) People who love the Lord hate evil. The Lord watches over those who follow him and frees them from the power of the wicked . -Psalm 97:10 (NCV) Your love must be real. Hate what is evil, and hold on to what is good . -Romans 12:9 (NCV) So put all evil things out of your life: sexual sinning, doing evil, letting evil thoughts control you, wanting things that are evil, and greed. This is really serving a false god . -Colossians 3:5 A person must do these things to enjoy life and have many happy days. He must not say evil things, and be must not tell lies. He must stop doing evil and do good. He must look for peace and work for it . -1 Peter 3:10-11 (NCV) Obeying the principles God lays out will protect us from the consequences of sin. We honor God by obeying Him

As the Constitution is the highest law of the land, so the Bible is the highest law of God . For it is in the Bible that God sets forth His spiritual laws. It is in the Bible that God makes His enduring promises. It is in the Bible that God reveals the plan of redemption for the human race . . . The laws of our land find their genesis in the Ten Commandments. And Sir William Blackstone, the great English jurist, wrote: "The Bible has always been regarded as part of the Common Law of England." Christianity finds all its doctrines stated in the Bible , and Christianity denies no part, nor attempts to add anything to the Word of God. while the Constitution of the United States may be amended from time to time, no amendment is ever necessary for the Bible. We truly believe that the men who wrote the Bible were guided by the Holy Spirit, both in the thoughts they expressed and in in their choice of words. As Peters said,"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will o

God declares that He will faithfully remove the created things which can be shaken - the shakable kingdom. Why? so that the unshakable may remain. Created things give cultural Christianity its toehold. Created things defeat us and choke the Word - the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth (Matthew 13:22). When we cross over the line and refuse Him who speaks, He will separate us from the created things - the idols, the shakeable kingdom - which dilute our devotion to him. If we cannot remain obedient, if we cannot be holy, then He will discipline us for our own good, "that we may share in his holiness". . . Do not be alarmed if God shakes up your world. Though your first natural thought will disagree, it is a blessing. It is not a sign that you are unworthy - every one of us is unworthy. It is not a sign of hatred, but love. If He did not love you, He would let you completely self-destruct. As it is, He cleanses your life from sin. . . When God discipline

John chapter 14 carries in it the antidote for a troubled heart. Verse one begins with the verse, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” We cannot control many of  the difficulties that enter our lives, but we can control our responses to them. This chapter tells us how to do just that. The very key to overcoming stress is found in verse one - “Trust in God.” This verse was important to the disciples as they knew that the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus; Jesus had just revealed that one of them was going to betray them; He also shared that Peter was going to betray Him. The disciples were likely shook up and were in need of some reassurance. In verses 2-4, Jesus shares reasons why we can trust Him. First, in verse 2, He talks about His Father’s house, how there are many rooms and how He is going there to prepare a place for us. “Many rooms” is another way of saying “dwelling places” and indicates a permanence (NIV text note). “My Father’s house” refers to heaven. Warren Wier

Too many praying persons seek to use prayer as a means to ends that are not wholly pure. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man," wrote the inspired James, "availeth much." With this the whole Bible and Christian experience agree: Prayer is effective. When it is not answered something is wrong. The same apostle who affirmed the effective power of prayer admitted also that prayer is sometimes ineffective: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." To pray effectively we must want what God wants - that and only that is to pray in the will of God. And no petition made in the will of God was ever refused. "This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him" (1 John 5:14, 15). Furthermore, to pray effectively we must pray within t

Dennis has read The Chronicles of Narnia to Ellie and is in the process of reading the series with Josh. I picked up a biography of C.S.Lewis in the children's section of the library. I thought I might read it with Ellie so she could learn a little about the author of this great series. I ended up reading it myself during our vacation. Even though this book just touched on his life, there were some wonderful insights regarding many of the books he wrote. So much of his own life is reflected in his writings. I came home and pulled all of our C.S. Lewis books off the shelves and have a stack ready to read. We don't have "Surprised by Joy" (at least not that I could find in my quick look), so will see if the library has it on Tuesday when we make our next trip. I especially loved the following quote from the biography and had to share. It reveals the nature of God and how He can meet all your needs in Christ Jesus. . . "Toward  the end of ( The Horse and His B

She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks . Proverbs 31:17 . . . If I was honest with myself, I wasn't looking to find God in my deadlines or my dishwater. Having a son was clearly a miracle. Having a career or taking care of my home - that was just what people did. So God in my mothering was clear to me. God in my time card or in making dinner, not so much. . . God in our daily work, whether that work takes us downtown or down on the floor. He can illuminate what our work is when we turn to him for help in making decisions. Our time is time he's given us . Once I start seeing it that way, and asking how he wanted me to spend it, I didn't tend to worry as much about checking the "done" box. Make no mistakes, nothing gets me going like accomplishing something - and work deadlines are real things - but God's got to be in the accomplishing or it's like eating a donut for energy; only fleeting satisfaction. "So whether

Don't worship any other god, because I, the Lord, the Jealous One, am a jealous God.  Exodus 34:14 In the midst of playing baseball in the backyard, Jim's six-year-old son's best friend, and next door neighbor, came out of his house, "Dad, can I go play with Brad?" he asked. "But son, we're playing baseball. Don't you want to play with me?" Jim asked, not really wanting to hear the answer he knew was coming. "Nah, I'd rather lay with Brad." his son replied, all too honestly. Jim had a rival for his son's affection, and he was a six-year-old. As he struggled with that thought, knowing that he'd better get a handle on it because it was only going to escalate, he suddenly was reminded that God felt the same way about him. He jealously desires our affection and attention as well. It breaks his heart when we show more interest in cars, sports, newspapers, television, yard work, hobbies, books, and family activities than we d

Today there is no reason for our remaining longer in doubt. We have every right to expect our Lord to grant to His Church the spiritual gifts which He has never in fact taken away from us, but which we are failing to receive only because of our error of unbelief. -A.W. Tozer After a man is convinced that he can be filled with the Spirit he must desire to be. If. . . your soul cries out for God, for the living God, and your dry and empty heart despairs of living a normal Christian life without a further anointing, then I ask you: Is your desire all-absorbing? Is it the biggest thing in your life? Does it crowd out every common religious activity and fill you with an acute longing that can only be described as the pain of desire? If your heart cries "Yes" to these questions you may be on your way to a spiritual breakthrough that will transform your whole life. Before there can be fullness there must be emptiness. Before God can fill us with Himself we must first be empti

"In chapter 13, John's attention turns from the themes of light and life to that of love . The Passover spent in the Upper Room with the disciples will prove more memorable and critical for their final training. With the cross overshadowing Jesus and the authorities pressing in, the mood becomes tense but the significance of the moment will remain with the disciples long after Jesus is gone." (Harvest study) Warren Wiersbe divides the first 5 verses on what our Lord knew (vv. 1-3) and on what our Lord did (vv. 4-5). In verse 1 we read that Jesus knew that "His hour was come. It was the time when He would be glorified through His death, resurrection and ascension." In verse 3 we see that "Jesus knew that the Father had given Him all things." Wiersbe adds that "what Jesus knew helped determine what Jesus did." In verses 4-5 we read about Jesus washing the disciples feet. He says, "the disciples must have been shocked when they saw thei

If. . . your soul cries out to God, for the living God, and your dry and empty heart despairs of living a normal Christian life. . . then I ask you: Is your desire all absorbing? Is it the biggest thing in your life?. . . If your heart cries "Yes" to the questions you may be on your way to a spiritual breakthrough that will transform your whole life . "Concerning spiritual gifts, brethren," wrote Paul to the Corinthians, "I would not have you ignorant." Certainly Paul meant nothing derogatory by this. Rather, he was expressing a charitable concern that his fellow believers should be neither uninformed nor in error about a truth so vastly important as this one. For some time it has been evident that we evangelicals have been failing to avail ourselves of the deeper riches of grace that lie in the purposes of God for us. . . One blessed treasure we have missed is the right to possess the gifts of the Spirit as set forth in such fullness and clarity in

The bold claims that we are sons of God, that we are risen with Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places, that we are indwelt by the life-giving Spirit, that we are members of the body of Christ and children of the new creation, are negated by our attitudes, our behavior and, most of all, by our lack of fervor and by the absence of a spirit of worship within us . Paul was a seeker and a finder and a seeker still. (Many) seek and find and seek no more. After "accepting" Christ they tend to substitute logic for life and doctrine for experience. For them the truth becomes a veil to hide the face of God; for Paul it was a door into His very Presence. When the apostle cries "That I may know him," he uses the word know not in its intellectual but in its experiential sense. We must look for the meaning - not to the mind but to the heart. Theological knowledge is knowledge about God. While this is indispensable it is not sufficient. . . It is not intellectual kn

I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with causes rather than with consequences, with the disease rather than the symptoms. The separating line between the Church and the world has been all but obliterated. Aside from a few of the grosser sins, the sins of the unregenerated world are now approved by a shocking number of professedly "born-again" Christians, and copied eagerly. . . We are busy these days proving to the world that they can have all the benefits of the gospel without any inconvenience to their customary way of life. It's "all this, and heaven too." We must have a reformation within the Church. . . God is not interested in increasing church attendance unless those who attend amend their ways and begin to live holy lives. . . Prayer revival will prevail when it is accompanied by radical amendment of life; not before. . . &