The Evidence of A True Believer Part 3

July 30, 2009 at 2:35 pm (Prayer & Praise)

Sorry I have been away for awhile.  Here is the next part of “The Evidence of A True Believer Part 3 and I have listed the first four points that we have already discussed so far for you:

1.  True Believers believe that Jesus is the Christ.  I John 5:1

2.  True Believers will live in the light as Jesus is in the light.  I John 1:5-7

3.   True Believers have a deep since of their sinfulness.  I John 1:8

4.  True Believers will keep His Commandments.  I John 2:1-2

Now for number 5….

5.  True believers will have a geniune love for others.  I John 2:7-11 

If anyone claims to live in the light yet hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.  In the NLT the end of verse 11 says that, “such a person is lost, having been blinded by the darkness.”  On over in chapter 4 of I John verses 7–8 say, “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.  Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God-for God is love.”  Chapter 4 in I John comes right out and tells us what “real love” is…..have you ever thought about it?  Verse 9 confirms that God showed us how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  We did not love God first but He loved us while we were unlovely, while we were yet sinners as Romans 5:8 says.  Real love is not what Hollywood promotes but real love is that God loved us and sent His only Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Obviously this is our standard to love others but we must remember that we can’t do it in our own strength which is why we so need to humble ourselves before our father and examine ourselves and then allow Christ to love others through us.  The last part of verse 16 is quite direct….”God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.”  Now hear verses 20-21, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see how can we love God, whom we have not seen?  And God Himself has commanded that we must love not only Him but our Christian brothers and sisters, too.” 

I have purposfully put all the verses in here today so that you can see clearly what the Word of God says.  This is not opinion or even a good idea, it is God’s holy Word spoken to us.  We can’t fake this one….we must have His Holy Spirit living in us and loving through us as we embrace the love that God has for us all.

I John 3:1 “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for He allows us to be called His children, and we really are!”

Dana

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Proving Myself

July 17, 2009 at 9:13 am (God Concept, Identity)

For many years, I have believed the lie that  in order to be accepted, I must prove my value/worth to others by my performance/achievements/success .  Entangled with this lie was another lie, that other people must accept me in order for me to accept myself.  God spoke the truth to me recently in a very special way:  I don’t have to prove my worth because God has already created me valuable.  He is the judge, not other people.  Therefore, if God accepts me (which He does with open arms), then I can accept myself.

This morning, God gave me an opportunity to practice this newly revealed truth.  I got up late, had barely enough time to shower & dress, grabbed a frozen dinner for lunch, and ran out the door without any breakfast.  The road I normally take to work is closed this week for construction, but I forgot that, and out of habit headed that way.  When I realized what I’d done, I had to take a roundabout way to work.  I just knew I would be late, and I was stressed.  Then I remembered what God said, “You don’t have to prove anything.”  I didn’t have to prove that I was good by being on time to work.  I began to relax and slow down.  The pressure was gone.  I was believing God.  I arrived at work with 2 minutes to spare and a whole lot less stress.  Thank you, Jesus!!!!

“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;”           ~Psalm 139:14

“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. “            ~Ephesians 1:6

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The Evidence of A True Believer Part 2

July 13, 2009 at 5:54 pm (Grace Insights, Identity)

Well, I have had a break in posting this last week because Tony and I have been on Vacation!  We had a great time visiting with my family and enjoying a couple of days of beach time!  We had some good time to rest so I guess we are ready to get back at it.

In part 2 of our discussion of the evidence of a true believer we left off with ending chapter one and looking at point 3 that showed us that we will have a deep sense of our own sinfulness if we are true believers.  Chapter one ends with verse 10 stating, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 

Let’s pick up with point #4 that will start us off with I John 2.

#4.  If we are true believers we will keep His commandments.  I John 2:1-2 tells of the wonderful grace that is ours through Jesus Christ being the propitiation for our sins and He is our Advocate with the Father if we sin.  How truly blessed we are in the abundance of grace that we have received.  That grace and mercy poured out on us will lead us naturally to verse 3 that says, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.”  A true believer will welcome Jesus’ teachings into their lives and they will process that teaching and make the needed adjustments.  I John 2:4-6 says, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in Him the love of God has truly been perfected.  By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”  I don’t know about you but that is putting it in pretty plain language for me! 

Here are some questions to ask ourselves:

*Do I obey His commandments?

*Do I tend to continue in sin without any sense of sorrow and repentance over my choices, actions and attitudes?

*Do I welcome His teachings into my life and make the proper adjustments in my lifestyle?  If not….why?  If so….How have I done this recently?

*Is there a genuine desire to walk in the same manner as Christ walked?  You can check out Phil. 2 for an idea of the manner in which Jesus walked.

* Do you sense a true humility about yourself before the Lord?

Take time to examine yourself.  This idea that if we are truly in Christ we will obey His commandments comes up several times in I John and in other places in Scripture.  If you do know Him in a personal and intimate way, you will not be able to continue in sin.  His kindness will lead you to repentance and true lifestyle change and you will not be able to continue in your sin…..not if you truly know Him.  Do you know Him today?

Dana

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The Evidence of a True Believer

July 2, 2009 at 4:16 pm (Prayer & Praise)

Hello Everyone,

As I mentioned in the previous blog, this is the first of several blogs about the evidence that will be in our lives reflecting that we are indeed children of God.  We must start here….

#1.  True believers believe that Jesus is the Christ.  I John 5:1

I don’t know that anyone could communicate it any clearer than Steve Green when he sang, “There is no other name but Jesus…”.  What a powerful message that is not very popular with the world due to it’s need to be politically correct.  Jesus himself is quoted in John 14:6 as saying that He is the way, the truth and the life.  Acts 4:12 tells us that there is no other name by which men might be saved.

#2.  If you are a true believer you will live in the light as Jesus is in the light.  I John 5-7

If we say that we are in the light, yet live in spiritual darkness we are only lying and we are not practicing the truth.  God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  So there is going to be a difference in our lifestyle verses the world’s lifestyle.

#3.  If we are a true believer we will have a deep sense of our sinfulness.        I John 1:8

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  My friend, do you understand repentance?  Are you humbled when you look at the enormous price our Savior had to pay on behalf of your sinfulness?  I Corinthians 6:20 tells us we were bought with a price.  The price that Christ paid for our sin was one that was very, very expensive.  We are literally dead in our sins and transgressions.  We were helpless to save ourselves and doomed to spend an eternity completely separated from God.  Our state “in Adam” was a helpless state and only God could do anything about it.  Out of His deep love for us even while we were yet sinners, Romans tells us, that Christ died for us.  My friend, without Christ we were dead and doomed.  When I think about what my sin caused our Savior to have to endure it breaks my heart and yet….I worship and reach out to Him because without him, as the hymn says, “how lost I would be.”  I realize even now that my feeble attempts at righteousness is as filthy rags before Him.  So you see, our only hope is Christ alone!

Well, I hope these are thought provoking for you and allows you to examine yourself as well.  I was reading in Revelation 21 & 22 this morning and oh, what a glorious place we are going to be called to one day soon.  I feel such an urgency to remind the church to examine herself!  I feel such a burden to participate in the disciplining of the church because there is still much to be done and eternity is so close – even at our doors!  The fields are rich and ripe with the harvest but our workers…..where are they?  Many have been wounded and have abandoned their post.  Many have fallen to temptation and are caught in the holds of sin.  I’m telling you, our time is drawing nigh and many are lost all around us. 

Now, I know some of you may be thinking, “yea, yea….people have been saying that, “the end is coming” or that, “we are living in the last days” for years now and we are still here!”  First of all, we must be careful of our interruption of the term “last days”.  We think that term means within the very near future.  But in the Bible the term was used several times in the New Testament and that was over 2,000 years ago.  So, it is important to note that the Hebrew term “the last days” can also be translated as “in the distant future” (NLT) or “in the days to come” (NIV).  Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that the term “the last days” refers to an indeterminate period of time leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ.  Now, with that said, I will say that no other generation that has lived has seen what our generation is seeing.  Prophecy fulfilled!  If you are a student of eschatology (the study of end times) and you have been keeping up with what is going on in our world then you know what I am talking about.  You are seeing events unfold and fall into the line of Bible prophecy like never before.  My friend, it is amazing!  It was behoove all of us to pay attention to the Word of God and what is going on in the world today….and literally….. for Heaven’s sake….let’s be busy accomplishing Kingdom agenda items!

Dana

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