Christianity is called “the Great Confession.” Confessing is affirming something that we believe. It is testifying of something that we know. It is witnessing for a truth that we have embraced. Confession holds a very large place in Christianity.
Our confession centers around several things; first, what God in Christ has wrought for us. Second, what God through the Word and the Spirit has wrought in us. Third, what we are to the Father in Christ. And last of all, what God can do through us, or what the Word will do on our lips.
How few of us dare to confess to the world what the Word declares that we are in Christ! Take this scripture:
Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. [2 Cor. 5:17]
What a revolutionary thing it would be for the Church to make a confession like that! They are not just forgiven sinners – not poor, weak, staggering, sinning church members. They are New Creations in Christ Jesus with the life of God, the nature of God, and the ability of God in them.
E.W. Kenyon
Showing posts with label God's Promises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's Promises. Show all posts
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Accepting God's Promises: It's Your Choice
L. Dwight Turner
Christ calls us and, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, empowers us to live lives of glory and significance. Many of us have spent years accepting a gospel that is only partially presented. Yes, we may have grasped the importance of the cross and what Christ accomplished in terms of atonement, justification, and putting us back in right standing with the Father. This is, of course, the essential foundation of the gospel message, but it is far, far from the whole story.
Through the events of the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost, Christ accomplished far more than many of us understand and, to put it quite frankly, far more than any human may be capable of understanding. The real tragedy in all of this, however, is the reality that so many of us have failed to grasp even those aspects of the whole gospel story that are clearly understandable. As a result, many sincere followers of the Master are living far beneath their God-given and Christ-ordained potential. I am certain this must be a cause for great sadness in the heavenly places.
I have hope, however, that this situation can be rectified and that more and more of us can come to a place of understanding of the complete gospel message. I firmly believe that part of God’s purpose for the age in which we live is to have increasing numbers of Christians come to understand and apply the divine principles that will allow us to appropriate the full measure of the blessings the Lord has already provided. These principles are clearly outlined in scripture and once we consistently put these teachings into practice, our lives can and will change dramatically.
Although there are many aspects of life that are beyond our control, the one place we do have control is in our reactions to life events. Let's face it, life can be difficult. Each day we face myriad responsibilities, problems, challenges, duties and tasks. Each of these realities has the potential to derail us if we let them. Each of these daily realities can drain us of vital energy and cause us to lose sight of our goals and dreams. Yet the amazing truth is that, even though we have to face many challenges and difficulties in life, we do not have to allow them to send us off the tracks. Granted, there are many circumstances that flow into our lives that are beyond our control. But equally true is the fact that we can control how we respond to these events.
We have it in our power to respond to events in our lives in either a negative manner or a positive manner. It is up to us to choose. The sooner we learn that our quality of life depends on our quality of thought, and that the quality of our thought depends on what we choose to think, the sooner we will find ourselves rapidly accelerating down the road to self-improvement and spiritual fulfillment.
In my case, it took me far too long to accept responsibility for what I could control in my life. As a result, I wasted valuable time spinning my wheels and basically feeling miserable and desperate. It was only through God’s infinite patience and steadfast pursuit of me that I finally woke up and came to my senses. I finally came to understand that I have a choice about how I react to things. Shortly after this revelation, another important truth dawned in my mind.
I realized that I had a choice about whether or not to accept Christ at his word as revealed in scripture.
Now, please, understand what I am getting at here. I have come to realize that many of us say that we believe and accept what Christ tells us in those red-letter sections of our Bibles. Christ said it so it must be true, right?
Well, the fact is, we may say that we believe it but our actions and our emotions tell us otherwise. If we believe, for example, that if we have faith we can say to a mountain be thou removed and it will be removed, why are we not doing so? If we believe that it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to accomplish miracles in our lives, why are we not exercising that tiny grain of faith? If Christ promised that we could do everything he could do and even more, then why are we walking around under the weight of so much spiritual oppression, allowing the enemy and his minions to hammer us like a birthday piñata?
The fact is maybe we really don’t believe what Christ told us.
This was the second revelation that came upon me, shortly after the first awareness dawned that I, in fact, had a choice in many things that happened in my life. I also realized that I had a choice whether or not to accept Christ at his word. And you, my friend, also have that choice.
So the question becomes: What will you choose?
We all have our mountains in life: mountains of illness, poverty, betrayal, persecution, addiction, disharmony in relationships, employment – the list goes on and on. If you choose to take Christ at his word, it is time to start speaking to those mountains. It is time to pick up the mantle of authority that Christ left for you and start using it in your daily life. You have a lot more power and authority than you realize. The only thing standing in your way is your failure to choose correctly. So it is vital to ask yourself once again: Do I believe, really believe, what Christ said?
If in the final analysis you find that you don’t believe it, I would encourage you to pray for insight into the issue. If you do believe it, however, then it is time to start dealing with those mountains.
In my younger days I was an avid bicyclist and specialized in doing long distance rides. It was not uncommon for me to go out on a weekend and take part in rides of 50, 80, and occasionally, 100-mile century rides. The hard part, of course, involved hills and/or mountains. I found that the best way to deal with these obstacles was to get a running start. That made the first part of the climb much easier.
The same principle holds true for dealing with the mountains in your life. Get a good running start by becoming completely familiar with the promises God has made in the Bible. Spend some significant time studying passages of scripture where your rights, privileges, inheritance, and blessings as a child of God are discussed. You will be surprised at things you may have missed or forgotten – promises made by Christ and by the Father. God is a God of integrity and scripture tells us he cannot lie. You can count on those promises. You can take them to the bank.
So begin right there, by studying scripture and get yourself a good, running start. Then start speaking to those mountains in your life and remove all doubt from your mind. Believe the spiritual laws and principles Christ taught you and you will not be disappointed.
© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved
Christ calls us and, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, empowers us to live lives of glory and significance. Many of us have spent years accepting a gospel that is only partially presented. Yes, we may have grasped the importance of the cross and what Christ accomplished in terms of atonement, justification, and putting us back in right standing with the Father. This is, of course, the essential foundation of the gospel message, but it is far, far from the whole story.
Through the events of the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost, Christ accomplished far more than many of us understand and, to put it quite frankly, far more than any human may be capable of understanding. The real tragedy in all of this, however, is the reality that so many of us have failed to grasp even those aspects of the whole gospel story that are clearly understandable. As a result, many sincere followers of the Master are living far beneath their God-given and Christ-ordained potential. I am certain this must be a cause for great sadness in the heavenly places.
I have hope, however, that this situation can be rectified and that more and more of us can come to a place of understanding of the complete gospel message. I firmly believe that part of God’s purpose for the age in which we live is to have increasing numbers of Christians come to understand and apply the divine principles that will allow us to appropriate the full measure of the blessings the Lord has already provided. These principles are clearly outlined in scripture and once we consistently put these teachings into practice, our lives can and will change dramatically.
Although there are many aspects of life that are beyond our control, the one place we do have control is in our reactions to life events. Let's face it, life can be difficult. Each day we face myriad responsibilities, problems, challenges, duties and tasks. Each of these realities has the potential to derail us if we let them. Each of these daily realities can drain us of vital energy and cause us to lose sight of our goals and dreams. Yet the amazing truth is that, even though we have to face many challenges and difficulties in life, we do not have to allow them to send us off the tracks. Granted, there are many circumstances that flow into our lives that are beyond our control. But equally true is the fact that we can control how we respond to these events.
We have it in our power to respond to events in our lives in either a negative manner or a positive manner. It is up to us to choose. The sooner we learn that our quality of life depends on our quality of thought, and that the quality of our thought depends on what we choose to think, the sooner we will find ourselves rapidly accelerating down the road to self-improvement and spiritual fulfillment.
In my case, it took me far too long to accept responsibility for what I could control in my life. As a result, I wasted valuable time spinning my wheels and basically feeling miserable and desperate. It was only through God’s infinite patience and steadfast pursuit of me that I finally woke up and came to my senses. I finally came to understand that I have a choice about how I react to things. Shortly after this revelation, another important truth dawned in my mind.
I realized that I had a choice about whether or not to accept Christ at his word as revealed in scripture.
Now, please, understand what I am getting at here. I have come to realize that many of us say that we believe and accept what Christ tells us in those red-letter sections of our Bibles. Christ said it so it must be true, right?
Well, the fact is, we may say that we believe it but our actions and our emotions tell us otherwise. If we believe, for example, that if we have faith we can say to a mountain be thou removed and it will be removed, why are we not doing so? If we believe that it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to accomplish miracles in our lives, why are we not exercising that tiny grain of faith? If Christ promised that we could do everything he could do and even more, then why are we walking around under the weight of so much spiritual oppression, allowing the enemy and his minions to hammer us like a birthday piñata?
The fact is maybe we really don’t believe what Christ told us.
This was the second revelation that came upon me, shortly after the first awareness dawned that I, in fact, had a choice in many things that happened in my life. I also realized that I had a choice whether or not to accept Christ at his word. And you, my friend, also have that choice.
So the question becomes: What will you choose?
We all have our mountains in life: mountains of illness, poverty, betrayal, persecution, addiction, disharmony in relationships, employment – the list goes on and on. If you choose to take Christ at his word, it is time to start speaking to those mountains. It is time to pick up the mantle of authority that Christ left for you and start using it in your daily life. You have a lot more power and authority than you realize. The only thing standing in your way is your failure to choose correctly. So it is vital to ask yourself once again: Do I believe, really believe, what Christ said?
If in the final analysis you find that you don’t believe it, I would encourage you to pray for insight into the issue. If you do believe it, however, then it is time to start dealing with those mountains.
In my younger days I was an avid bicyclist and specialized in doing long distance rides. It was not uncommon for me to go out on a weekend and take part in rides of 50, 80, and occasionally, 100-mile century rides. The hard part, of course, involved hills and/or mountains. I found that the best way to deal with these obstacles was to get a running start. That made the first part of the climb much easier.
The same principle holds true for dealing with the mountains in your life. Get a good running start by becoming completely familiar with the promises God has made in the Bible. Spend some significant time studying passages of scripture where your rights, privileges, inheritance, and blessings as a child of God are discussed. You will be surprised at things you may have missed or forgotten – promises made by Christ and by the Father. God is a God of integrity and scripture tells us he cannot lie. You can count on those promises. You can take them to the bank.
So begin right there, by studying scripture and get yourself a good, running start. Then start speaking to those mountains in your life and remove all doubt from your mind. Believe the spiritual laws and principles Christ taught you and you will not be disappointed.
© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The Blessings of God's Presence
L. Dwight Turner
For many years in my spiritual walk I wandered in the wilderness, seeking answers down many avenues and not a few dark alleyways. I often felt bewildered, alone, without direction and devoid of guidance. All too often I found myself isolated at a spiritual dead end, trumpeting loudly in my heart like an elephant at a dried out waterhole. I often felt abandoned by God and spiritually exhausted. I was burned out, burned down, and, more times than I care to admit, so despondent that I wanted to take the whole spiritual quest and toss it once and for all. But now, in retrospect, I can see God's hand in each dark alley I stumbled down. I can see his caring guidance in each barren and arid well. For in each of these wanderings I learned much. I gained not only knowledge that has proved useful in many areas of life, but also obtained an experiential understanding of what Solomon meant when he said so many of our pursuits, even the most noble ones, are chasing after the wind. Most significantly, the Holy Spirit gave me the awareness that in my times of despair and what I thought was spiritual failure, I had not failed completely.
I only failed to hear the voice.
What voice? The same voice that accompanied Moses and his large band of followers in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. The voice that whispered the comforting words that would have filled my empty heart with a glimmer of hope. The voice that said, "I am with thee".
The Creator and Sustainer, the God of All Comfort led the wandering Israelites through the barren landscape, always remaining faithful in his promise to lead them into the land of plenty. He remained with them, in spite of their lack of fidelity, in spite of their disobedience, in spite of their seeking comfort in places and things other than Himself. "I am with thee", he said and surely he was. How much more is he with us now? Has God changed? No. Has he altered his promise? No. Has he withdrawn his covenant to lead us into the Promised Land? No.
In fact, since the Incarnation he is with us more than ever. The angel of the Lord announced to Joseph, "They shall call his name Emmanuel,” God with us. How much more is God now with us, even in our meandering faithlessness and spiritual adultry? No less than he was with the Israelites. In fact, he is now with us in a new and more glorious way. He lived among us and left one-third of himself to reside in each and every one of us. It is to this God who we are called to consecrate our lives. The call to us is the same as the call in those days of old. We are called to trust in the God who is with us.
Again, Hannah Smith says it so cogently:
God is everywhere present in His universe, surrounding everything, and sustaining everything, and holding all of us in His safe and blessed keeping……We cannot drift from the love and care of an ever-present God. And those Christians who think He has forsaken them, and who cry out for His presence, are crying out in ignorance of the fact that He is always and everywhere present with them. In truth they cannot get out of His presence, even should they try.
The message in these words by Smith, as well as in the adventures of the Jewish people in the wilderness serve to bring home to us the fact that God is always there whether we perceive his presence or not. He is there with us in times of trial and in times of blessing; in the darkness before the dawn and in the brilliant light of midday; in the brittle and barren moments of spiritual aridity and the lush and lovely times when we feel awash in the everlasting waters. He is, indeed, Emmanuel – God with us.
Given the realities of the pressure-packed, fast-paced world in which we daily go about our business, it is an easy affair to forget God’s presence. I know this is true in my own life and I suspect, from time to time, this sense of God’s absence is a universal experience. It is a vital blessing and a comfort to know and trust that, even in those times when we think the Lord has gone on Sabbatical, that his live-giving presence is as close as our own breath and our own heartbeat. It is so easy to overlook this reality and yet it is so crucial that we keep coming back to the awareness, revealed not only in scripture, but in the experience of countless saints and in the traditions of the church in all its flavors, that God is right there with us.
Often our sense of God’s absence is brought about by external factors such as stress, pressures from family, work, or friends, or the myriad responsibilities we all face in trying to make ends meet in a world that demands much from us. At other times, however, we avoid God’s presence if at all possible. Take Jonah, for example. God had a clear mission for Jonah to accomplish yet Jonah wanted no part of it. He chose to flee God rather than face him. God directed Jonah in one direction and he went double-time in the opposite way. The results were predictable because God is there, even when we don’t want him to be. Perhaps nowhere is this reality more clearly penned than in the words of David in Psalm 139:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there?
If I make my be in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
And settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall lead me,
And your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
And the light around me become night,”
Even the darkness is not dark to you;
The night is as bright as the day,
For darkness is as light to you.
(Psalm 139: 7-12 NRSV)
I take great comfort in the promise that God is there at all times, whether I want him or not. You see, the reality is that I want him far more than I don’t. I have come to understand that even thought there may be things that I want to hide from God from time to time, it is in my best interest not to hide them. And beyond this, I could not hide them, even if I wanted to.
God is described by Paul as “the God of all comfort,” and to my way of thinking, one of the greatest comforts is the fact he is always present, no matter what I am going through. We could ask for no greater resource than this. Jesus clearly understood this when he made this promise to his disciples (and to us) shortly before he ascended into heaven:
“And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NLT)
(c) L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
For many years in my spiritual walk I wandered in the wilderness, seeking answers down many avenues and not a few dark alleyways. I often felt bewildered, alone, without direction and devoid of guidance. All too often I found myself isolated at a spiritual dead end, trumpeting loudly in my heart like an elephant at a dried out waterhole. I often felt abandoned by God and spiritually exhausted. I was burned out, burned down, and, more times than I care to admit, so despondent that I wanted to take the whole spiritual quest and toss it once and for all. But now, in retrospect, I can see God's hand in each dark alley I stumbled down. I can see his caring guidance in each barren and arid well. For in each of these wanderings I learned much. I gained not only knowledge that has proved useful in many areas of life, but also obtained an experiential understanding of what Solomon meant when he said so many of our pursuits, even the most noble ones, are chasing after the wind. Most significantly, the Holy Spirit gave me the awareness that in my times of despair and what I thought was spiritual failure, I had not failed completely.
I only failed to hear the voice.
What voice? The same voice that accompanied Moses and his large band of followers in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. The voice that whispered the comforting words that would have filled my empty heart with a glimmer of hope. The voice that said, "I am with thee".
The Creator and Sustainer, the God of All Comfort led the wandering Israelites through the barren landscape, always remaining faithful in his promise to lead them into the land of plenty. He remained with them, in spite of their lack of fidelity, in spite of their disobedience, in spite of their seeking comfort in places and things other than Himself. "I am with thee", he said and surely he was. How much more is he with us now? Has God changed? No. Has he altered his promise? No. Has he withdrawn his covenant to lead us into the Promised Land? No.
In fact, since the Incarnation he is with us more than ever. The angel of the Lord announced to Joseph, "They shall call his name Emmanuel,” God with us. How much more is God now with us, even in our meandering faithlessness and spiritual adultry? No less than he was with the Israelites. In fact, he is now with us in a new and more glorious way. He lived among us and left one-third of himself to reside in each and every one of us. It is to this God who we are called to consecrate our lives. The call to us is the same as the call in those days of old. We are called to trust in the God who is with us.
Again, Hannah Smith says it so cogently:
God is everywhere present in His universe, surrounding everything, and sustaining everything, and holding all of us in His safe and blessed keeping……We cannot drift from the love and care of an ever-present God. And those Christians who think He has forsaken them, and who cry out for His presence, are crying out in ignorance of the fact that He is always and everywhere present with them. In truth they cannot get out of His presence, even should they try.
The message in these words by Smith, as well as in the adventures of the Jewish people in the wilderness serve to bring home to us the fact that God is always there whether we perceive his presence or not. He is there with us in times of trial and in times of blessing; in the darkness before the dawn and in the brilliant light of midday; in the brittle and barren moments of spiritual aridity and the lush and lovely times when we feel awash in the everlasting waters. He is, indeed, Emmanuel – God with us.
Given the realities of the pressure-packed, fast-paced world in which we daily go about our business, it is an easy affair to forget God’s presence. I know this is true in my own life and I suspect, from time to time, this sense of God’s absence is a universal experience. It is a vital blessing and a comfort to know and trust that, even in those times when we think the Lord has gone on Sabbatical, that his live-giving presence is as close as our own breath and our own heartbeat. It is so easy to overlook this reality and yet it is so crucial that we keep coming back to the awareness, revealed not only in scripture, but in the experience of countless saints and in the traditions of the church in all its flavors, that God is right there with us.
Often our sense of God’s absence is brought about by external factors such as stress, pressures from family, work, or friends, or the myriad responsibilities we all face in trying to make ends meet in a world that demands much from us. At other times, however, we avoid God’s presence if at all possible. Take Jonah, for example. God had a clear mission for Jonah to accomplish yet Jonah wanted no part of it. He chose to flee God rather than face him. God directed Jonah in one direction and he went double-time in the opposite way. The results were predictable because God is there, even when we don’t want him to be. Perhaps nowhere is this reality more clearly penned than in the words of David in Psalm 139:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there?
If I make my be in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
And settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall lead me,
And your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
And the light around me become night,”
Even the darkness is not dark to you;
The night is as bright as the day,
For darkness is as light to you.
(Psalm 139: 7-12 NRSV)
I take great comfort in the promise that God is there at all times, whether I want him or not. You see, the reality is that I want him far more than I don’t. I have come to understand that even thought there may be things that I want to hide from God from time to time, it is in my best interest not to hide them. And beyond this, I could not hide them, even if I wanted to.
God is described by Paul as “the God of all comfort,” and to my way of thinking, one of the greatest comforts is the fact he is always present, no matter what I am going through. We could ask for no greater resource than this. Jesus clearly understood this when he made this promise to his disciples (and to us) shortly before he ascended into heaven:
“And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NLT)
(c) L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
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