From Sorrow to Comfort

Continued series on humility in relation to the Beatitudes

I have asserted the premise that humility is the foremost godly virtue required before any growth in Christ-likeness can be manifested. In fact, I don’t see how one could repent and be saved without first humbling themselves before God. There also appears to be the necessity of humbling ourselves associated with each of Christ’s commands. but this comes naturally when one receives a view of the One true omnipotent, infinite and sovereign God of the bible, and then compares self to Him. 

We’ve been gauging this assertion by recognizing the relationship between humility and the Christian qualities Jesus expounds in His manifesto on the mount in Matthew five—the Beatitudes. We now move to verse three. 

 

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  

 

Our knee-jerk responses gravitate towards the word “comfort” while the natural reaction of the flesh is repulsed by the notion of “mourning.”—that doesn’t sound so pleasant.  

 

Let’s think of comfort first. 

A softened comforter heaped playfully on a comfy bed. 

Ice cream and apple pie, chicken soup, biscuits and gravy, chocolate…comfort food. 

Late spring in a mountain meadow painted in wildflowers against an azure canopy.  

Relief from intense pain—there are many kinds of comfort. 

 

A sky full of fuzzy-type things may pass through our minds when we hear that word. One soul may go to thoughts of tender kisses from a beautiful woman with whom they’re deeply in love, her caresses. For another, it could be a bottle of booze—a self-perpetuating and unfulfilling pursuit. The human spirit will always seek to be comforted; with leisure, fulfillment of purpose, self-indulgences…there are myriads of them. The thing is, all of these offer an incomplete comfort, and as slight as that comfort may be, it’s always temporary. It does not last.   

 

Thank God for His comfort! I’ve tried a lot of different things and nothing comes close to the permanence of the comforts God lavishes upon those who seek Him with their whole hearts. There’s a world of joy that I never before knew existed, until I did. The Lord allowed me to go down a road of great hardship, suffering and grief. I lost everything, including my reputation. My good name was no longer so good. You can read a small sample about that at the following link.  Dancing With the Devil

How did I end up there? By seeking comfort, pleasure, relief from mental anguish, and doing whatever felt good. I was doing it my way—the way of, what the bible calls: “the natural man,” referring to our sinful nature. Food, worldly success, position, honor, sex, alcohol and a lot more, and finally opioid pain pills. None of that provided the comfort I sought. Oh, I felt good sometimes, but it was so very temporary, and it always left me needing more. Instead of scratching the itch, those things merely intensified my yearning for comfort. 

“Okay God, I’ll try it Your way,” I decided one day. But I thought Christians were supposed to be joyful, rather than weeping and mourning. Blessed are those who mourn? Then I read James 4: 9 and was really baffled. “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.”  

While praying over this seeming contradiction to the Christian experience, the Lord taught me of its meaning and of the tremendous power that was available for me to finally receive the comfort and joy a Christian is supposed to experience. And it came through mourning, weeping and deep sadness—the very things I’d been trying to avoid. But what was I mourning over? Let’s read the verses preceding and following James 1;9, beginning with vs. 8.  

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you (lift you up).”  

I won’t go into a full exegesis of these verses here. 

Verse 8 is speaking of seeking God and repentance from sin. I cannot properly repent until I understand how deeply I’ve offended a holy God. When we finally receive a clear view of God’s nature of holiness and purity, we are greatly humbled and saddened over how far short we fall from His glory. My sin was truly something to cry about. I wept and wailed over my iniquities and transgressions, acknowledging how deeply egregious they are to God.  

When I did that, something amazing happened! He took my sorrow and grief over my own sin and He supernaturally transformed it into elation and joy! He forgave my sin, cleansed me, and lifted my spirit to soar with the clouds of heaven. It was the greatest joy I’d ever experienced, and it never left—it remains today.  

It took humility to really look at, and see myself from God’s perspective. It brought great sorrow, but that was essential in order to experience the true supernatural joy that comes from the Lord. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

 

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Marks of a True Disciple

 

Prologue

There are those who may not know the benefits of being a disciple of Christ—the sweetness of life He affords. How could they fathom the depths of love, as rich deposits of precious ore to treasure up through their relationship with Him? If only they knew the provision of every need, and fulfillment of every purified desire. They haven’t yet experienced the assurance of hope and the spiritual wisdom—the perfect guidance. Never once having tasted of a joy that’s genuinely supernatural, nor the fulfilling contentment and peace of righteousness.

 

 Fair Warning

 

To some folks this straight-shooting post of biblical truth may sound extreme, difficult, even ominous. The time for sugar coating has passed, and I must be bold as instructed. I pray for courage. Others will nod in recognition of biblical truth, with joy, and they too may discover new areas of their lives that the Spirit now desires to take possession of, for Jesus.

 

Marks of a True Disciple

 

In the Gospel we find the word disciple used for three different groups of people. There were the curious ones responding to all the hubbub, as people tend to do. Or maybe, they came to hear what Jesus had to say. Yet once they understood the demands Christ makes upon His followers, they’re the ones who went away and “walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). Others were intellectually convinced, but they lacked the kind of faith that saves, so they, too, stopped following as soon as they realized Jesus was not doing what they expected Him to do. They looked for the restoration of the earthly kingdom to its former glory, as when David and Solomon reigned. Thay watched for the Messiah to take the throne as Israel’s Sovereign. There were few who went all the way with Jesus, but these… they are His true disciples.

 

To be quite direct, what Christ asks of those who believe on Him is a total and complete submission to Him—the same submission a slave gives to His master. Most were not ready for such a heavy sacrifice.

 

 

The High Cost of Being a Disciple 

 

1. Obedient to the word of God: A true disciple sinks his roots down into the word of God, so that by the bible he’s guided, directed, nourished and supported by, as well as being empowered by the Spirit to obey.
2. Surrenders all to Christ: Self must be placed upon the altar and sacrificed: a denial of self. All that a person is changes through yielding up their own will in favor of God’s will. They also surrender their bodies, their intellect and their emotions to Him.
3. Loves: A disciple always yearns and strives to love like Jesus, exhibiting an unselfish response to human needs. They demonstrate the same kind of love Christ has shown to them. Jesus became not only a servant, but the suffering servant of all. He doesn’t simply tell them how to be, He lives it, shows it, as He often demonstrated, like washing the disciple’s feet, and then dying for them. He is the perfect paradigm. Awesomely, the One they’re to model their lives after always walks with them, empowering them unto goodness.
4. Is a good Steward.  A servant is well aware that everything he has was provided by His Lord, hence his Lord has the right to everything he has. Most will soon learn that they simply cannot out give God. Jesus takes good care of His own, and the Father provides for every need.
5. Hold themselves accountable to God for every thought, word, action, purchase, and every moment of time. These too are aspects of stewardship.
6. Christ has a right to be worshipped, He’s God. The Lord now has rights over the entire person: their body, their intellect, emotions, will, and possessions. All of their rights as a person must be surrendered to Him—all that they are and all that they have.  Christ is supremely trustworthy to hold and protect His disciple’s rights.

 

• Jesus usually requires the sacrifice of something that’s precious to the individual. “Do you love Me more than this?” God may ask.
• What He gives in return is always a great deal better than what was given up for Him.
• Often, it’s a test of faith—faith will be tried and tested, tempered, stretched and grown.

 

Jesus’ call to discipleship says, 

“Give up your rights to yourself, your own will, your own way, submit to me as your Master.”

“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.” Mark 8:35 NLT

 

 

 

The New Heart God Promised

 

Praise God for His holy word, the bible. Thank God for His Holy Spirit who lives inside us. And as previously stated, I thank God for the multitude of wonderfully adept bible expositors and preachers that God has provided us. We’re left with no excuses to offer: “Lord, I didn’t understand.” Or, “How was I supposed to know what You wanted me to do?” Even on earth they say ignorance is no excuse. God has made these things clear to us and revealed Himself through His Son and the bible. So let’s continue studying God’s word while listening to those biblically sound teachers and preachers.

 

God revealed to me how there are three things that must take place before anyone is even capable of becoming a faithful, fruitful, and productive follower of Jesus. And to live for the Kingdom of God.

1. We must know and understand God’s; will, plan, purposes and promises.
2. We must love God, His will, plan, purposes and promises.
3. And finally, we must actively engage God’s will, plan, purposes and promises.  

 

There is, however, a huge problem that effectively precludes all people from being able to do these three all important things. In our unsaved state—the condition into which people are born, we are sinful at the core, having our very nature corrupted. Mankind cannot understand things in the spiritual realm, and God is Spirit. The will of mankind has been rendered rotten by the affects of sin and the curse. In our natural inward persons, we’re not capable of doing these three things. I can unequivocally and didactically state such. That’s why we must first be born again, born of the Spirit, and given a new heart—the bible very clearly teaches this.

 

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14

Here’s the same verse in the NIV, which might be a little easier to understand.

“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV

 

We need God’s Holy Spirit, AKA Spirit of Christ living inside us before we can do those 3 things. And we cannot have the Spirit, unless we have placed our faith and trust in Christ Jesus and been saved. We also confess Him before others and are baptised, demonstrating our faith in and obedience to Him.

 

In the bible, the heart refers to human will—man’s desires.

Humankind’s will is faulty. We need a new will, a new heart. This is what God has promised to do for us! if we will simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 (See also John 3:3, 2 Cor. 3:3)

 

Only then, are we finally capable of learning, embracing and doing the will of our Creator and God, who loves us beyond comprehension.

 

We must be radically changed in our nature. We are freed from slavery to sin by denying our old sinful nature, which is self-centered, and, by receiving the power of God’s Spirit inside.

Our God has placed moral obligations upon us, and we’ll never be able to keep those obligations until we are converted. We become a new creature, and God, through regeneration places a new nature in us, and gives us;

1. A new motivation
2. A new desire
3. A new understanding
4. And a new power! He dwells in us.
5. And a New Life in Christ!

 

We did not have to work for our salvation, nor for our new heart. It was impossible for us to earn or merit God’s amazing grace. But from here on out, there’s lots of work for us to do, the first of which is to learn how to think with our new heart. Our old way of thinking must be placed upon the altar and sacrificed to Jesus Christ. He gave Himself for us, now, He shares Himself (His character and power) with us. We give ourselves to Him—deny self, take up our crosses and follow as He leads. This is absolutely essential to living the good, productive Christian life Jesus wants to help us gain. God wants us to be fruitful.

 

Jude 1:24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” 

Three Phases of Salvation

 

Been Saved, Being Saved & Will Be Saved

 

Without a lucid understanding of God’s entire and perfect plan for the redemption of mankind, certain scriptures could possibly be confusing. There are three phases to salvation; hence, the bible uses three tenses in delineating the doctrine of salvation. For me personally, it took many years to understand this—I was saved at 12 years old.

 

Briefly, let’s lay the following stone of truth that we may clear a path to our main topic.

We are saved by a free gift from God called Grace. Grace is bestowed upon those who believe and place their trusting faith in Christ Jesus— the truth. And forever after that, God’s grace continues working in and for the soul who is saved. Grace is not a once and done kind of thing. When the Lord regenerates us (2 Cor. 5:17) we’ve been born again, and a magnificent transformation has begun. All that we shall be discussing here is included in the works of God’s amazing Grace. In fact, all of God’s dealings with every soul He has regenerated (saved) is included in the works of His grace, even His discipline. All the various giftings for service and for glorifying Him, and for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are gifts of grace and works of grace: God’s work, not ours. His grace even fulfills every one of our needs and provides love, peace, joy, bodily provisions and inner strength, etc., etc.. When it comes time for our bodies to turn back to dust, the Lord even gifts us with grace to die with inner peace and assurance, looking forward to where we’re going.

 

SALVATION

 

The study of salvation, known among theologians as soteriology, includes all three tenses of past, present and future. The bible uses all three in referring to those of us who’ve been redeemed and are heaven bound. Some verses indicate that we who are in Christ have been saved. Other passages say we are being saved, while still others say we will be saved. The truth in Christ reveals all three to be correct at the same time. The past tense is true because God is doing this work of saving us, and that which from our perspective is yet to be done, is so certain that we can speak of it as already having taken place. If we have truly believed, then we have been saved, and the next two phases or stages both: are happening, and will happen, just as sure as water is wet. God is not bound by time—He is the creator of it and is outside of time, so He sees the completed products of His grace. He sees you and I as we will be in heaven. Time is for us, though it serves God’s purpose. He does not need the differing tenses, but we do, because we are bound within time, until it, at a final point, shall cease to exist. From our current perspective we could say that eternity is one exceedingly long and never ending day.

 

In view of demonstrating the varying tenses scripture employs I’ve cited three verses—each refers to salvation and each uses a different tense.

 

First, we have Past Tense.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” Ephesians 2:8–9.

 

Next, we move to present tense.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

 

Finally, here’s an example verse containing both the past and the future tense of salvation.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Romans 5:9

 

This last verse is the perfect launching pad from which to discuss all three tenses. Because the doctrine of salvation, known in theological language as Soteriology (repetition deliberate) makes it exceptionally clear that there are 3 Phases to Salvation.

Those who have been born again of the Spirit, and who belong to Christ Jesus, AKA the redeemed or believers are right now in the middle, or current phase of salvation.

The gospel of Christ discloses:

1. What has already taken place in the past for those who believe.
2. What is currently taking place within those who believe.
3. What will happen to those who believe when Jesus returns.

 

At this point we should identify the biblical terms for each of these 3 stages of salvation. They are as follows:

1. Justification
2. Sanctification
3. Glorification

JUSTIFICATION

Through the atoning blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, that is, through His sacrificial death, we are forever justified before God. Justified means our sins have been forgiven.  A simple way to remember what justification accomplishes is “It’s just as if I never sinned!” Our sins are taken away and we are covered (covered is the meaning of the word atonement) by the righteousness of Jesus. We are given the righteousness of Christ as a covering. The blood of Christ cleanses us, and His righteousness covers us. We are made right in the sight of God, by God Himself. To justify is actually a legal term and is important in keeping with God’s nature of being a “just” (right and good) judge. Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and in return covered us with His righteousness, making us right with God. We are straight up and down, perpendicular or justified before God. As a good judge God has seen to it that justice was done when He poured out His wrath against sin as Jesus hung on the cross. He saw to it that the penalty for sin was imposed and carried out. Jesus became sin for us, so that He could take the penalty that we deserved. Now that our sin debt has been paid, we have been (past tense) justified in God’s sight.

Jesus Christ is our deliverer! He delivered us from the penalty for sin. The penalty is death. This is being Justified.

 

But wait, what about the real us on the inside? I’m only covered with righteousness, viewed that way by God, but not righteous in actuality. We still sometimes sin! God did not pay our sin debt for us just so we could continue being such horrible sinners. On the contrary, He has justified us so that He could give to us His Holy Spirit, that we may have the requisite power to say “No!” to our sin nature, and overcome it in this life. Simply being justified is not the final product of salvation. Once justified we begin the growing process of sanctification. We are becoming holy, like Jesus. He is our perfect and exhaustive deliverer. God’s power in the form of His Holy Spirit doesn’t only give us the ability to do what pleases God, He also gives us the desire to do what is right and what pleases God—the urge to do His will, and the power to work it out.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:13 NLT

 

I’ve been saving this point for right here, but first allow me to preface it with the following. I myself still have urges to do what the sinful flesh wants, like to be noticed as someone of importance. Vanity and pride still wage war against my new life in the Spirit, and this conflict will continue for you and for me until we are glorified. Romans 7 & 8 make this clear. But I am saved. I love God and all that is good. But my flesh still loves the world. I have to deny myself (the flesh), take up my cross and follow Jesus. I must decide daily to die to the flesh and choose to love God more than myself. See Luke 9:23, and Galatians 2:20.

I’ve stated that to ask, which do YOU love more? Oh wow, yes, I just shifted to a personal and pointed voice, because I love YOU and I don’t want to see you be eternally lost. But this is between you and God, I’m just a messenger. I believe a true test for whether or not we are saved could be: which do we love more—God or ourselves? Has God given you the DESIRE to please Him? If so, you are saved. If you choose to follow the flesh over the Spirit most of the time, you probably do not have saving faith. But you still can be saved by TRUSTING Christ with your life. Among other things, this involves doing things His way, knowing that He is going to give us everything that is good. I can humble myself because God has promised to exalt me. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6

 

SANCTIFICATION      

To sanctify in the biblical sense means: to set apart as holy, to be used for holy purposes. The words; Saint, Holy, Set-apart, and Sanctify all come from the same root word in the Greek.

Currently, those who are in Christ are saved, and also are being saved, by undergoing sanctification: maturing and growing in holiness. True believers live in the resurrection power of Christ. We are buried with Him by baptism into His death, identifying with Him in His death, so that we may also rise with Him to walk in a new life by His power. We are being conformed to the image of God’s holy Son, Jesus. During this sanctifying process Jesus delivers us from the power of sin, giving us His Spirit. Holy Spirit is the dynamic employed to overcome personal sin, and live in a way that is pleasing to God. Jesus and Holy Spirit are both praying for us.

 

 

GLORIFICATION

When Jesus comes and calls us home to heaven and the saved are raised to life, we shall receive new spiritual bodies that do not sin—ever! The bodies we have now will be raised and radically changed from fleshly bodies to spiritual bodies (see 1^st Corinthians chapter 15). We will be delivered from the very presence of sin. This is the final phase of salvation and it is called glorification.

 

“For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30

Did you notice how the “glorified” is in the past tense? That’s because it is so certain to happen! And God sees the completely saved you—after the 3^rd phase.

 

Jesus delivers us in three ways.

1. He has delivered us from the penalty of sin—Justified (past).
2. He is currently delivering us from the power of sin—Sanctifying (present).
3. Jesus will deliver us from the very presence of sin—Glorified (future).

 

Once glorified we will never again sin, we will never see a sin committed—we will be completely taken away and separated from all that is sinful, evil and wicked—in a utopia known as heaven in the very presence of God with all His splendor and glory. God’s plan for the redemption of mankind is flawless, genius, and displays His love and patience with mankind in an extremely poignant manner.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

I pray that you hunger and thirst to know the Lord God with increasing passion, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has saved me and set me free from sin.

 

 

If you would like to go a bit deeper and do a proper study of what we’ve discussed here, I recomend prayerful study of the New Testament. But the following is a resource that may help you further. Bakers Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

Blessings!

 

 

Waiting in Hope

 

Leading Israel’s army, Joshua waited seven days for something to happen as they marched around the walls of Jericho. It must have felt like a silly thing to do, but this is what God had told them to do. Their patient trust was finally rewarded as the walls fell down, just as the Lord had promised. Without the hope that faith secures, waiting on God can often seem a difficult task, and can give rise to doubts. But that’s only when we’re not operating in faith.

Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for the promised pregnancy with Isaac in their old age. God had promised to make David king over all of Israel, but it wasn’t until waiting about 18 years before that happened. The Jews waited centuries for Messiah to come, but then He came. For ten days, Jesus’ disciples waited in Jerusalem for the power of God’s Holy Spirit to come. My own mother waited for several decades for her prayers to be answered. But finally, I fully surrendered my heart to Christ.

A person who lives in submission to Jesus Christ is someone who is often called upon to wait. And yet there are many good things we can be doing while we wait. Waiting time is not wasting time. With eager anticipation we all wait for Jesus to return and take us to our home in heaven. Yes, these are things that, as Christians, we must learn to do well—trust, hope and patiently wait.

 

They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

My Champion

 

 

The soul of shallow thought makes it onerous to emote that heart, seeing that they will little understand. But those who through the turmoils of life’s stormy seas have been battered about—the ones who have risen up to meet those challenges and came out the other side as stalwart souls…they are easier. For these have true life experiences that sharpened their intellect. Besides, they read and study to be winners in this game of Olympic proportions. They have scars to show their hard learned discernment. And it is to these, to you, that I present this piece that was written during a season of dark and stormy trials, when the forces of wickedness had assaulted me with a power like unto a juggernaut. The piece is short, because it moves swiftly, and concisely.

 

My Champion

 

Against me came the dark of night,

With fangs that oozed with hate,

It paralyzed with chilling fright,

Served up on a dirty plate.

 

“How dost such evil haunt me so,

To forage through my being?

Malignant fingers interpose,

And no place I find for fleeing.”

 

“What power ere can rescue me,

And free me from this curse?

To march through hell for liberty?

Traverse this muck adverse?”

 

Yes One! I heard there was but One,

With such ability,

He uses love to overcome,

And He lavished it on me.

,

Through the night, dispelling light,

To pierce the heart of dark.

A curse was He, upon a tree,

The price to make me free!

 

The laughing thunder rolled,

He holds the keys to life!

Now, death has lost its hold!

My Victor is Jesus Christ.

 

 

God’s Revealed Truth

 

In Mark 7:3-13 Jesus condemns the traditions of men when those traditions take precedence over God’s word.  Note, however, that not all traditions are wrong, or bad.  Apostle Paul wrote, saying to follow the traditions he and his missionary team had preached to the churches they had established through the Spirit’s leading.

 

Let’s read a short bible account that includes some of Jesus’ teaching.

 

Here are verses 1 through 9 of Mark 7.

“The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

“Jesus replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”

 

Our Lord then goes on to say, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

 

Jesus gave one example of how they did so in verses 10, 11 & 12. He then sums up the great truth He was teaching in the following verse (13). “Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

 

We often hear theologians quoting other famous theologians in order to validate their point. But if they cannot find that particular truth in God’s word, then they are teaching falsehood and error. Don’t get me wrong, many of them are fine Christians and are saved, and yet they do not understand certain truths of God’s word accurately. A good indication of this is, as I’ve already stated: they reach to quote another man’s words, rather than quoting the bible.

 

Nowhere in scripture do we find a command from God that told the Israelites to perform the particular ceremonial washing the Pharisees referred to when they were accusing Jesus’ disciples of breaking God’s laws. Yet there were ceremonial washings God had commanded, but the Pharisees and religious leaders added additional ceremonial washings to God’s commands.
It isn’t so much that the teachings of men are always wrong or bad: it is when those teachings usurp authority over God’s commands, and over God’s word that they become abominable to the Lord. No man is to be our authority when it comes to knowing the truth as it is clearly set forth in the word of God.

 

As believers we are afforded the assistance of God’s Spirit residing inside us to lead and guide us into all truth (See John 15:26 & John 16:13 & 14).

 

“The bible is the only book we can read with the author Himself always present.”—Unknown.

 

The scriptures were written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and He knows precisely what He intended for them to mean. This is why we should always read God’s word prayerfully and submissively. Truth is the only right defense against falsehood and error. And we know that Jesus is “The Way, the Truth and the Life.”

 

On a personal note, I pray that you have a fruitful day, filled with the love of Jesus.

 

 

 

Spirit Writer Info

The next post on the Origin of the bible is nearing completion. The response to this topic has been great, and I believe this is the more important subject to discuss. So please be patient and know it is forthcoming.

 

I did want to take just a moment to bring another post to your attention, on another of my WordPress sites. It offers a brief observation on one aspect of Human Responses to Dogs A separate window will open, allowing you to keep your place on this page. It is titled Wimpy Dogs & Egos

I think you may have some wisdom to share that the Dog Response Post will bring to mind, perhaps an experience you’ve had in which God has taught you something you didn’t know before. Be encouraged to share a comment with us there. I find these divinely inspired bits of knowledge to be, not only among the most exciting grains of wisdom, but some of the most beneficial as well.

 

My heart feels like it’s in tune with the Apostle Paul’s as he writes to the Colossian church in the passage below.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3 (Underscoring mine)

 

Have an Exceedingly Blessed & Profitable Day!

Successful Christian Leaders

Upward Leaders in Christ

Have you ever seen someone receive a promotion to a leadership position, then all of a sudden they get all wrapped up in their own greatness? Their head gets so big you wonder how they can remain standing upright without tipping over. It’s not a pretty sight. Sadly, they’ve sabotaged their own position. No one wants to follow a strutting peacock. At least not until they have learned to humble themselves and begin to view their position as responsibility rather than simply wielding authority.

Christian leadership is unique in that God has clearly laid out a plan for success. Operating under the lordship of Christ, Christian leaders can be assured of shining achievement. Looking to our perfect paradigm, Jesus’ life of humble obedience to the Father in combination with His service to mankind is the perfect pattern for servant-leadership. That means I need to do as Jesus did: Be a good follower. Only then can I be a more effective leader. In the realm of perfection one must be a good sheep if they are to be a good shepherd. We follow Jesus, our Chief shepherd. And, we learn to humbly follow our leaders here on earth. Leadership is the role of a good servant first, and leader second. Maintaining a servant mindset is essential if we hope to advance. God Himself will “lift us up”, as Apostle Peter writes. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6 NIV)

Humility is one of the most important character traits of a successful Spirit-led leader.

Our Shared Purposes, Objectives & Directives

When we seek to do God’s will we are issued wonderful purposes which undergird everything we do and say, and this helps us to correctly align our priorities. Our purposes are three fold.

1. Bring glory to God/Christ Jesus. (Matt. 5:16)
2. Build up, teach, and strengthen the faith of other believers (the church). “…Let all things be done unto edifying.” (1Corinthians 14:26b)
3. Share the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus with nonbelievers. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) V

When we determine to perform God’s will, He leads us on to victory. God’s word establishes our objectives, giving us a cause for which we all together stand and promote. The Lord assigns our ultimate goals to accomplish, which will always bring glory to God instead of to the earthly leader. The Lord also provides the principles by which we operate. In other words, He gives us our means of how to get it done—our modus operandi.

By following Jesus closely we have access to constant guidance from God Himself, through His Holy Spirit residing in us. Wow—talk about having a great panel of advisers! Who better than Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

• Great Christian leaders surround themselves with other good leaders who are sound counselors and advisers, and to whom they hold themselves accountable.
• If we hope to be a great leader, it is imperative that we learn to take advice and weigh it well.
  

  WE NEED TO MASTER PARTICULAR ARTS

• Listening to those who are under us within God’s structure of spiritual authority
• Empathize with everyone
• Communicate from reason rather than out of emotion
• Rather than gaining followers, our goal is to help create more leaders. We advance by helping others to advance. This is an attitude.

History offers accounts of lots of guys who may have risen to the heights of success, but their morals and principles were not Christian and not of God. Adolf Hitler rose to great power as a leader and led many down a path of destruction. So we see that by using ungodly principles one can become a successful leader, at least by the world’s standards. However, it’s a short lived success. And can cost not only our soul, but the eternal lives of others as well. That’s the exact opposite of Jesus’ program for us.

GIFTS

Every Christian is given at least one spiritual gift or special ability to use for the cause of Christ. It is for the sole purpose of carrying out God’s plan here on earth. As that gift or talent is used, it increases, becomes better and more productive. Gifts are for use in edifying the body of Christ

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. …if it is to lead, do it diligently…” (Romans 12:6,8 NIV)

Diligence is a prerequisite for every good leader. Christ represented the Father here on earth and He diligently carried out His will. Likewise, we represent Christ as His ambassadors on earth, and we must be diligent in carrying out the ministry He has entrusted to us. Lackadaisical leadership falls flat.

Pre-determined Goals

Three overshadowing goals for every Christian Leader:

1. Bring glory to God
2. Fulfill Jesus’ commission of sharing the gospel
3. Build up fellow believers (edification).

 

“Effective Christian leaders are committed to advancing the mission in ways that also enable others to make their kingdom contribution”—Unknown

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18 NIV)

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:20a NIV)

 

We have our preponderate goals from the Bible.

We have the counseling of God’s Holy Spirit.

We have our people advisers.

We have our special gifts to use (of which Paul urged Timothy to not neglect).

We have the great commission of Christ to go make disciples of all nations.

And we have the call to build others up, strengthening their faith, teaching them to observe all things Christ commands us while; encouraging, expounding knowledge, enabling, and edifying those who follow us.

We have everything we need.

All that remains is our diligence in carrying out our marching orders from God.

Full Steam Ahead!