“God
is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ
our Lord” (1 Cor.1:9; KJV). The word called means invited or called. The word fellowship
is the Greek word koinonia, which means intimate fellowship.
Prior
to Christs death and resurrection only a few selected people were able to enjoy
an intimate relationship with God. God said of Moses: “I speak with him face to
face” (Num 12:8). Jesus poured himself into his disciples during his earthly
ministry (John 13:1-7). When Jesus died on the cross the veil in the temple was
torn from top to bottom by God (Matt 27:51). By his sacrifice Christ won
forgiveness for us (Col 1:14) and the way was opened for his people to enter into
the very thrown room of God. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb
4:16).
Isn’t
it great that God, the creator of the universe, has invited us to have this
intimate fellowship with him through Jesus? “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Let`s not ignore the invitation, and remember,
we don’t have to fellowship at a specific time, we can enter in at any and every
time; whenever we want to.
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book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
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others.
(Gal.
5:22-23; KJV) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such things there is no law.
These
fruits are developed in us entirely by the Holy Spirit working on the inside of
us to bring revelation from God’s word and then change as we allow him. There
is no way we can produce this kind of fruit in our own ability.
Don’t
get frustrated if your fruit isn’t as developed and luscious as you would like
it to be; be patient with yourself because fruit grows slowly. Make sure you
are providing the right conditions for your fruit such as sun and light
(Jesus), water (the word), and tender loving care (the work of the Spirit) and
slowly but surely your fruit will develop.
If
we are truly serious about developing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives then
I believe we will need to spend time studying it, meditating on it and then
putting it into practice. Just think of our lives yielded to God and flowing in
the fruit of the Spirit. Think of our churches if we would all allow the Holy
Spirit to have his way in all of our lives!
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book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
God
called King David: “a man after mine own heart” (Acts 13:22; KJV), and yet
David committed adultery and had the husband of the woman involved (Bathsheba)
killed (2 Sam.11). However, David recognized his sin and repented and God
forgave him (2 Sam 12) and used David mightily. Saul (Paul) said he was the
worst of sinners (1 Tim 1:15) and yet God used him to evangelize much of the
known world at that time and to write a large portion of the New Testament of the
Bible.
As
Christians we have been forgiven and made righteous by Christs sacrifice on the
cross (Col 1:14; 2 Cor 5:21); we are no longer sinners. We should no longer willfully
continue to sin (1 John 3:6) but we will slip and sin; however, if we repent
and ask forgiveness God is quick to forgive us (1 John 1:8-2:2).
Don’t
be condemned, be encouraged; none of us are perfect, but God in his mercy is
perfecting us day by day (Phil 1:6). If there is an area of your life that is
causing you to be tempted remember that God can help you; Romans 8:37 tells us
that we are: "more than conquerors THROUGH HIM that loved us."
Please
send this on to someone. All rights reserved.
Check out our web site ( www.onthewayinlove.com ) for information on our
book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
We need
to Close our eyes, imagine God right in front of us, imagine him holding our
chins and directing our eyes to look right into his eyes and he says to us,
Son, Daughter: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy
God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness”
(Isaiah 41:10; KJV).
Wow,
that brings tears to my eyes. When God says I am he means it; when God says I
will, he will. Fear not, cast every care on him (1 Peter 5:7). God is greater
than anything that can come against us (1 John 4:4). He is our strength (Isaiah
40:31) and help in time of trouble (Ps 91:15).
“There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.
He who feareth is not made perfect in love” (John 4:18). If we have perfect love
it removes fear from our lives! Wow, sounds like one of those impossible heights
to reach. However, if we read the context of John 4:18 (John 4:15-17), we see
that the perfect love of God dwells in us!
So,
imagine God’s mighty arm of righteousness around you and his perfect love in you.
Now confess: there is no fear here. O dear Lord, you have preached me happy,
time to run around my office again.
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book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
“Jesus
knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was
come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments;
and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin,
and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded” (John 13:3-5; KJV).
Humility
is so important in our Christian Walk. “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace
to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). However, our passage from John 13 shows more than
the humility of Jesus. It shows a major, necessary characteristic of a leader,
that of having a servant’s heart. For me, the most wonderful part of this
passage; however, is the illustration of the confidence Jesus had in his
relationship with his Father. He could humble himself in a way that must have
amazed his disciples. He could do this because he was so secure in himself,
knowing who he was and the relationship, love and support he enjoyed in our
God.
We
love people but our security must be in God; he will never let us down (Heb
13:5). With our focus on him and our confidence in our relationship with him, Just
like Jesus, we can do all things (Phil 4:13); we can walk as Jesus did.