Category: July

Daily Light – July 31, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

This week…we will share an article from the works of John Piper.  I will give it to you in bite-size daily doses.  I promise that it will make you stronger in your ‘faith’ and in walk.  Enjoy the meals this week. 

How Dead People Do Battle with Sin

Carved in the bark of every tree in the garden of God are the words, “If it dies it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Three words are branded into the flesh of every Christian: “YOU … HAVE … DIED” (Colossians 3:3). And the heartfelt confession of every believer is, “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20).

But what does this mean? Who died when I became a Christian? Answer: my “flesh” died. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified THE FLESH” (Galatians 5:24).

But what does “flesh” mean? Not my skin. Not my body. That can be an instrument of righteousness (Romans 6:13). The “works of the flesh” are things like idolatry and strife, and anger and envy (Galatians 5:20f.) —attitudes, not just immoral acts of the body.

How the Bible Defines “Flesh”

The closest thing to a biblical definition of the flesh is Romans 8:7-8, “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

So the flesh is the old “me” who used to rebel against God. In the flesh I was hostile and insubordinate. I hated the thought of admitting I was sick with sin. I defied the idea that my greatest need was a Good Physician to make me well. In the flesh I trusted my wisdom not God’s. So nothing I did in the flesh could please God, because “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). And the flesh does nothing from faith.

So “the flesh” is the old self-reliant, faithless me. This is what died when God saved me. God clamped the arteries on my old unbelieving heart of stone. And when it died He took it out and gave me a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26).

‘What’s the difference between this new heart that lives and the old one that died? The answer is given in Galatians 2:20. It says, “I have been crucified with Christ. . . and the life I now live, I LIVE BY FAITH in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” The old heart that died trusted in itself; the new heart banks on Christ every day.

Father…we are all reading this ‘so that’ we can gain a stronger grip on our faith and walk.  We all need help with knowing truth, seeing truth, and understanding ‘how-to’ use the tools you have given us that light-up the path of truth so that we can honor you with our lives.  Your word says it is YOUR will that we honor you with our lives….soooo…..I ask by faith in YOU and YOUR word that you use this weeks teaching to strengthen our walk ‘so that’ we will be able to do your good, pleasing, and perfect will.  Amen

    

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If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 29, 2017

On By Don HesterIn July, Let There Be Light ArchivesLeave a comment

Today’s Daily Light:

Today is the last day and final link to the post on this series that is intended to help us gain a better understanding of how the ‘sin nature’ operates to keep us from becoming a fully functioning believer.  God’s plan and prescription for overcoming the effects and influence of all-things ‘sin’ is contained 100% in His provision of God-the-Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is our supply and source for ‘all-things’ that lead to victory and fulfillment of our destiny to do the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Blessings to you and enjoy this weekend.

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it.  To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.

If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 28, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

Friends:   Two more blog links in this series:  1 today, 1 tomorrow.   So, I encourage you to stay the course.  Make yourself find the time to do the work ‘so that’ you will be better equipped to fight the good fight of faith and be able to produce more eternal fruit for our Lord Jesus ‘because’ you have improved your ability and understanding of how to deal with the negative effect and influence of the ‘sin nature’ by learning how to ‘walk in the spirit’ with our Lord Jesus Christ as your source and supply.

I pray today that God will grant you ever increasing wisdom and strength to do His perfect will.  Go.

https://lettherebelight.blog/2017/03/04/the-entrance-of-light-chapter-3-part-6/

    

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it.  To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 27, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

The Default System of the Sin Nature

We continue in our study:  Understanding the ‘sin nature’ that lives inside our body…and understanding how God designed our internal human spirit to work in harmony with His Spirit ‘so that’ we can have power and ability to deal with the negative effects and influence of the ‘sin nature’.

I realize that the blog posts that link to each day’s Daily Light take a few minutes to read each day…but I ask you to invest the time ‘so that’ God will use the information to strengthen your ability to ‘walk in the spirit’.   The link below:

https://lettherebelight.blog/category/chapter-2-the-default-program/

Father…today I pray the words that your wrote through the Apostle John…I pray those words for us ‘so that’ you will give us increased understanding of truth…
John 5:20 .. “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.”

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it.  To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.  

If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 26, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

This week we are performing a ‘nature study’ 😊.   Our objective is to better understand how the ‘sin nature’ operates inside us ‘as we’ come to understand how our ‘spirit’ connected to God’s spirit gives us the ability and power to overcome the negative effect and influence of the sin nature.  We continue our study with another link to my blog…

The Function of ‘spirit’.

    
Father..I pray that we will work hard at this ‘study’ this week ‘so that’ we can gain valuable understanding and tools to recognize the work of the sin nature ‘so that’ we will not walk according to the flesh (sin nature) but learn to walk ‘in’ the spirit.  Amen


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If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 25, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

The Old Man (the old self)  – The Flesh (the Sinful Nature)

Romans 7: 23 NIV   “..but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members…”  (Romans 7:7-25, is the larger context related to the ‘internal struggle/war we have with the ‘sin’ entity at work in our body).

Below this paragraph, I have provided the link to a post in my blog that speaks to the work and activity of the ‘sin nature’ that exists inside your body/mind.

What I wish to do this week is pull from 3-4 pages of the blog that explains the war that rages inside of us between our ‘spirit’ self and ‘sin nature. Please make yourself read each page each day.  Will only take you 5-10 minutes to read each page.   It will make a huge difference in your ability to ‘identify and recognize’ the ‘work of the sin nature as it seeks to keep you from all you can be in your walk with our Lord.  We will, of course, look at God’s prescription and means for us to deal with the ‘sin nature’ ‘so that’ we can further live our life to please and honor God and to do His perfect will.

If need be, copy and paste the link below in your browser.

Father…I pray that you will use this week’s work to increase our ability to produce fruit that pleases you.


https://lettherebelight.blog/2017/02/03/the-default-program-part-1/

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it.  To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.  

If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 24, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

Understanding:   God’s Spirit, our ‘spirit’, and the sin nature

So…we have a human spirit…a human operating spiritual system… in our body…it is actually our highest distinction…highest ability….think of it like any other operating system in your body, such as; respiratory, neuro, etc.   ‘spirit’ is where we have awareness, consciousness, where our desire to know and worship God originates from.  What is the #1 thing you are most ‘aware’ of every moment of every day?   And it is… ‘self’…you are ware of ‘self’…you are aware that ‘you are’.   Spirit function is where we have our sense of objective right and wrong.   It is where we ‘know’.

We have a body, mind, and spirit.   We are distinct from the animal kingdom.  Animals do not have a ‘spirit’.  A monkey does not know it is a monkey.  It does not ponder it’s activities for today.  It does not contemplate its birthday or the date of its death.   It does not think about the birth and life of its offspring.   Spiritual awareness is ‘the’ human distinction given by God for purpose and intention.

Paul, in Galatians, writes:   5:16 “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Sprit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature”.  

Paul, herein is speaking of the Spirit of God (external) as to having intention and purpose to connect with our ‘spirit’ (internal) and help us overcome the pull and power of the ‘sin’ nature that also resides inside our body (internal).  The highest level of human existence is to have God’s Spirit merged with our ‘spirit’.  When God’s Spirit merges with human spirit…’Divine Knowing’ take place/occurs.  Ah-ha.  Thus how we ‘know’ that we ‘know’ Jesus/God.  It is a spiritual function/awareness.

This week we will look at God’s intention for having His Spirit be connected with our ‘spirit’ ‘so that’ we can see, recognize, and identify the activity, work, and function of the ‘sin nature’ and more-so that we can see, recognize and identify the activity, work, and function of our ‘spirit’ as we are hooked-up (connected) with God’s Spirit.

Wonderful Father… help us this week to get a clearer understanding on how you created us as to how we are to know you and walk with you ‘so that’ we can maximize our effectiveness in living the type of life that is pleasing and honorable to you.

 

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it.  To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.  

If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 21, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

After It Has All Been Said and Done…

When I was 6 or 7 years old, my dear mother, gave me a little card that had this inscription on it:

Only one life..it will soon pass…only what is done for Christ will last.

I ‘grazed’ in the book of Ecclesiastes this morning.  (Many refer to it as the ‘book of wisdom’).   Wow.  If Ecclesiastes were not God’s word…I probably would not read it very often because it is such a powerful reminder of the shortness and finality of life and points out how sooo much of what we call life and how we live life is meaningless if it does not have relationship to God the creator.   The book repeats and repeats that our time here…is short..this life has definite finality…and then we stand before our Maker.  Yikes…the stark reality.

The writer of Ecclesiastes ends his writing with a summary point…the big point…the exclamation point…the summary conclusion of what he wrote about:  He says

chapter 12, vs 13  “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.  

Every day, I speak with ‘believers’ whose lives are in turmoil because they have chosen to not take obedience of the principles of how-to-live-life as stated by God in His manufacturer’s handbook to us….and demonstrated to us in the life and words of Jesus-God the Son….and it is like they are almost surprised that if you live irresponsible, or live life against God’s intended grain, that because of some really bad idea or premise, that ‘being a Christian’ has nothing to do with our requirement to be obedient to God..to live ‘for’ God…to love God through demonstration of how we live life…their idea about their responsibility before God, as a Christian, is simply about them having a hoped-for fire insurance policy for the end of times and has nothing to do with a ‘salvation-conversion’ experience that transforms us into a new creation in Christ Jesus where we are driven and motivated to be transformed into what He is.  Wow.
Father…I know how rotten the desires of my own heart at are times..how I so easily can get distracted from the main objective of this gift of life and breath that YOU give us.   I see how I/we get trapped running on the wheel of pursuing comfort in this life’s activities that bring the illusion of satisfaction, achievement, pleasure…and such is ‘real’…whether money, toys, or just the empty pursuit of stuff….we run with all of our might on the wheel to consume and then we want more.  I know I have and do.    And none of it every fully satisfies.   Only youfully satisfy..now..and into eternity.  I do understand that you do want us to ‘fear’ you in the sense that even though you give us the free gift of eternal life …that you do demand that we are obedient to your commands because ‘such’ obedience is demonstration of our love for you and it is what leads us into conforming to your perfect will for our lives.  It is simply about accountability related to fruitful productivity. ..which is the opposite of meaningless existence.    And there are consequences, some painful and severe, ‘if’ we do not obey your commands.   Help us, today, to hunger more to walk with you in how we pay attention to your commands as to how we need to live in this short time that we have on this earth ‘so that’ we can fully become all you want us to become and do what all you desire for us to do.  And then…help us to make a difference in the lives of others…that is ‘why’ we are here.

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it.  To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.  

If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 20, 2017

On By Don HesterIn July, Let There Be Light ArchivesLeave a comment

Today’s Daily Light:

It’s Not About Me…

Today’s light taken from the Book of Psalm, Chapter 8

“Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  …You have set your glory above the heavens. ….When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?  You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.  You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:  all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.  Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth?

Majestic Father…and…Wonderful Jesus….  I realize I that my limited human understanding cannot begin to fully comprehend how ‘majestic’ you truly are.   But…you have given me sufficient understanding and revelation of you …through the indwelling of your Spirit….and through your voice that speaks to me through Your Spirit in my inner being …as I meditate on your ‘word’ and on You.   And you have given me the wonder and beauty and majesty of your creation in the earth and in the heavens …all around me 24 hours per day.    I know, without doubt that you are all that you say you are.  I know…because Your Spirit inside me makes me know at the deepest level of conscious awareness.   And so…I am…with all of my heart…thankful that you choose us, called us, placed us in your family…all of this a free gift of Grace because you love us and want to include us in your eternal plan.   Thank you that you gave your God-Son, Jesus, to be our Savior.  Today..we go out and we will be more mindful of who we are in You.  And we will tell the lost world about You…our Lord…our Majestic Lord.

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it. To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.  

If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog

Daily Light – July 19, 2017

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Today’s Daily Light:

Only ‘One’ Way to God and Eternal Life

John 14:6, Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

1 John 5:1, John wrote “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…”

1 John 5:11-12, John wrote “And this is the testimony:  God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

John 3:36, John wrote “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” 

Friends:   If God gave His Son as the ONLY means of salvation….If God gave His Son as the only door that enters into eternal life….If God gave His Son as the ONLY way and ONLY path into a relationship with God which leads to eternal life……then LOOK AROUND you today, please.   As you drive down the street on your way to wherever…the car next to you…people walking down the street, sitting in a restaurant…you co-workers or customers……how many of those people do you believe ‘have’ the Son?

As you view or read the main contemporary ‘ideas’ that pervade today’s mainstream media…as you watch any news channel as to the ideas and activities inside the think-tank of companies or nations…..what regard do these ideas have for God the Creator and for His Son?   How many people do you meet everyday or ideas or views do you hear being shared that rightly acknowledge that the people on planet earth are ‘here’ solely as a gift from God the Creator and that the most important thing that should be on everyone’s mind every day is to honor and worship and have an eternal relationship with God?

Life is about God, and for God.   Life without God is not life.  Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the ‘life’.

Go…share the good news of the gospel…shout it from the housetops….Jesus…Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

 

Please feel free to forward Daily Light to those that you feel would benefit from receiving it.  To receive Daily Light, simply send us your email address and ask to be added to the mailing list. Send address to p314go@outlook.com.   Email addresses will not be shared and all recipients are blind copied.  

If you have not visited our blog, the web address is    lettherebelight.blog