Nothing? Yes, nothing in terms of that which honors Christ, is spiritually nourishing to us, and ins genuine Christian service. Anything done apart from the love and power of Christ amounts to nothing. Although we may expend tremendous effort at a great personal cost, on that which is done for Christ’s glory in the power of His Spirit is of eternal value. The very power of god that was evident when Christ was raised from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-21) is available to every believer who abides in Him, who desires that He be honored, and who trusts that His Spirit will produce fruit in his or her life.
Category: April
Daily Light – Apr 27, 2018
Today’s Daily Light
Continuing…The Search For Significance, by R. McGee
The Holy Spirit Our Agent of Change
The truths we have examined in this book can have tremendous implications on our every goal and relationship, but now we need to understand how actually to implement them in our lives. How can we begin to experience positive change? Jesus answered this question in His last time of intimate instruction with His disciples (John, chapters 13-16). He told the that he would soon be put to death but that they would not be left alone:
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever” (John 14:16).
That Helper is the Holy Spirit, who came some fifty days later to direct and empower the believers at Pentecost. The same Holy Spirit indwells all believers today and serves as our instructor, counselor, and source of spiritual power as we live for Christ’s glory and honor.
Who is the Holy Spirit, and why did He come? The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the trinity, is God and possesses all the attributes of deity. His primary purpose is to glorify Christ and bring attention to Him. Christ said, “He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you” (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit is our teacher, and He guides us into the truth of Scriptures (John 16:13). It is by His power that the love of Christ flows through us and produces spiritual fruit within us (John 7:37-39; 15:1-8). This spiritual fruit is described in many ways in the New Testament, including intimate friendship with Christ (John 15:14); love for one another (John 15:12); joy and peace in the midst of difficulties (John 14:27; 15:11); steadfastness (Ephesians 5:18-21); and evangelism and discipleship (Matthew 28:18-20). (con’t tomorrow 😊).
Father…ending this week….I simply bow on my knees and praise you. Your ways, Your plan, all so amazing…I am thankful that you gave us Your Word …and that You gave us Your Spirit to live inside us. Thank you that you want us to ‘know’ You. Thank You even more that You want to know us. Amen
Daily Light – Apr 26, 2018
Daily Light – Apr 25, 2018
Today’s Daily Light
Continuing…The Search For Significance…by R. McGee
The Agent of Change
Our redemption was made complete at Calvary. When Jesus lifted up His eyes and cried, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He told us that the provision for man’s reconciliation with God was complete. Nothing more need be done, because the Word of life had been spoken to all mankind. Man needed only to hear the Word, accept it, and place his hope and trust in Christ.
But, if the redemption we enjoy is complete, why do we so often fail to see the changes we long for in our lives? Why do we wrestle day after day with the same temptations, the same failings, and the same distractions we have always fought? Why can’t we break free and move on toward maturity?
Christ illustrated the reasons for our lack of fruitfulness in the parable of the sower in Mark 4:3-20. In agriculture, productivity depends on the fertility of the soil, the climate, and the presence or absence of weeds. The reasons Christ gave for lack of fruit in the believer’s life were Satan’s taking away the Word of God, persecution, and the worries of the world. For most of us, the worries of the world are the primary culprit for our lack of growth. Jesus described it this way:
And others are the ones on who seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the Word, and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mark 4:18-19)
In the context of honesty, affirmation, and patience, we can focus on the forgiveness we have received and reject the deception and worldly desires that choke out the Word of life. We need to base our lives on God’s Word and allow His character to be reproduced within us by the power of His Spirit:
And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the Word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. (Mark 4:20)
Father…I pray that you will transform us into ‘good’ soil…from the inside out….through the work of Your Spirit…’so that’ we will bear eternal fruit. Amen
Daily Light – Apr 24, 2018
Today’s Daily Light
Continuing…The Search For Significance…by R. McGee
Today… Summarizing what we have learned thus far…. What did God provide/do ‘for us and to us’ in His plan for our ‘salvation’ in the redemptive act of Jesus the Son when Jesus died for us on the Cross? (Please read the question again..and capture the main points). We studied the answer to the question for the past few weeks…now…let’s summarize what we have ‘in Christ Jesus‘.….the four great doctrines from Scripture that we have learned thus far that are God’s solution to the ‘four false beliefs’:
(force yourself to memorize the scripture contained herein…and then regularly meditate on them…commit them to memory, make them your own 😊)
Because of Justification, you are completely forgiven and fully pleasing to God. You no longer have to fear failure.
2 Corinthians 5:21, He made Him (Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans 5:1-2, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
Because of Reconciliation, you are totally accepted by God. You no longer have to fear rejection.
Colossians 1:21-22, And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
Colossians 2:13-15, When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Because of Propitiation, you are deeply loved by God. You no longer have to fear punishment, nor do you have to punish others.
1 John 4:9-11, By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Romans 5:7-11, For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And no only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Because of Regeneration, you have been made brand-new, complete in Christ. You no longer need to experience the pain of shame.
Titus 3:3-7, For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, who He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Ephesians 4:22-24, That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Friends…I pray that our Great God, who is our ‘Father’…manifests Himself to us in a deeper way….a way that further transforms us and motivates us to be light to the world. Amen
Daily Light – Apr 23, 2018
Daily Light – Apr 20, 2018
Daily Light – Apr 19, part 2
Subject: 4-19-18 1 John 3:6-18 Less sin, more love
Daily Light – Apr 19, 2018
Daily Light – Apr 18, 2018
Today’s Daily Light