2012-10-19
Good Morning Dear Ones,
You’ll remember that last week the Holy Spirit led me to begin discussing the transition from selfishness to unselfishness that a person in a covenant relationship with God has. In 2 COR 5: 15, we learned that Christ went to the cross and was raised, so that we who believe in Him should live for Him and not just for ourselves. As children of God, we are obligated to love one another, as He loves us [JN 13: 34-35]. We will also love Him and should remember that He chose us first, even though we didn’t deserve this blessing; it is a product of God’s grace [JN 15: 13-15; EPH 2: 8-10]. The Parable of the Good Samaritan, LK 10: 25-37, was used as an example of this new way of interacting with others, emphasizing the reality that we are our brother’s keepers. In 2 COR 5: 14-15, introduces the notion that that we no longer judge Christ by human standards.
Today, I am led to begin with JN 15: 15-17 for greater illumination of Christ’s view of this transition. “I no longer call you My servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you My friends, for everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I choose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then, the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love one another.” While this may seem repetitive, we must remember that what God repeats what He thinks is important. We are something like an army waging battle against the enemy, the evil one. God wants His soldiers to be fully-equipped and with full reconnaissance to win this war in His Son’s name. Many verses and passages in the Scriptures use terminology that expresses the concept of oneness in Christ. In any army, harmony and unity is essential to success in battle. MK 3: 25, “So Jesus called to them and spoke to them in parables: ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself that house cannot stand…’” God’s righteous judgment will come down upon those who come against truth and other rightful behavior. He will give each person according to what he has done. To those who are self-serving, glory-seeking, reject truth and follow evil, God gives His wrath and anger. To those who are righteous, He gives blessing. He doesn’t show favoritism [RO 2: 6-11].
RO 6: 5-6 helps us to see the mechanics of our covenant relationship with God. “If we have been united with Him like that in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Let’s look at this from another direction. COL 3: 1-4, “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ is God. When Christ, Who is your life, appears, then, you also will appear with Him in glory.” If we take the time to meditate over these verses, we will find a “renewal by the transformation of one’s mind” [RO 12: 2] has taken place. Our attention is on God, “the General of His army,” and our thoughts are on His agenda. Any other agenda has been pushed aside. We are not only serving Him, but we are also bringing His goodness to others. This unselfishness is natural to a person who has discarded his old self and taken on the new self united with Christ. HE 13: 5-6 lends more information on the covenant relationships we have. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you nave, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my Helper, I will not afraid. What can man do to me?’” Imagine, a God Who lives with us and loves us; relationships with others that convey and reveal God’s loving kindness and goodness! Imagine, being able to live without fear, particularly fear of death! HE 2: 14-15, “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he mighty destroy him who holds power over death—that is the devil—and freed those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Dearest Readers, this is huge! We are so very blessed to be in a covenant relationship such as this.
More rich reconnaissance comes to us in COL 2: 11-13, “In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with him though your faith in the power of God, Who raised Him from the dead. 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.” We enjoy forgiveness, not just for one year as traditional Jews have at Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], but for an eternity. That is the power of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Atonement! He deserves our eternal thanks and praise!
PRAYER: O Lord, Your power to transform us from what our inherited sinful natures made us to being alive in Your Son, Jesus Christ, is like nothing we have ever seen or experienced. That is because that power is greater than any other in the universe. It breaks all the limitations of human laws and mathematical formulae. It transcends the boundaries of earthly science, and the only way to describe it is to observe the changes it makes in a believer’s thoughts and behavior. We acknowledge You and the power You have. 1 PET 5: 10-11, “And the God of all grace, Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered for a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever.” Your will, O God is so strong and pervasive that it will supersede the will of any human or animal. IS 46: 9-10, “I am God and there is no other; I am God, and there is non like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” Your justice is unparalleled. PS 75: 9-10, “But I will never stop speaking of the God of Jacob or singing praises to Him. He will beak the power of the wicked, but the power of the righteous will be increased.” Dearest Abba, we acknowledge You for all Your wonderful attributes and goodness to us. PS 95: 6-7, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.” We express our faith in You as an outgrowth of our acknowledgement. PS 18: 2, “The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer; my my God is my Rock in Whom I take refuge, my Shield and my Horn [King] of my Salvation, my Stronghold.” We ask for You to continue to communicate with us through the Holy Spirit and direct us on the path to eternal life of bliss and fellowship with You. Our greatest desire is to know You better and better. We thank and praise You forever, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I am led to begin a new segment of “Our Covenant” called “Natural Desires to Holiness.” We first will see an expression of God’s will for us, and then, we will examine the net result when this great transformation takes place. We can always see the results of RO 12: 2 [renewal by transformation of the mind] once God has used His power on us supernaturally. One’s thought processes and his behavior have been changed; he is no longer the same person. His goals have been transformed along with his behavior. It helps for us to understand why God, through Paul, is able to say what is in RO 8: 38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” What encouragement this can bring, not only to have faith in Him and repent, but also to submit ourselves to God, trusting Him every day of our lives, no matter what test comes our way! We are encouraged in our faith by the following verses: EPH 6: 10 and 1 TIM 6: 12, “Be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power…Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the present of many witnesses.” If we will do this, we have nothing to fear and everything good to anticipate, even through we must go through trials for awhile. Our God loves us mightily, and we can consider ourselves deeply blessed. Praise and thanks be to Him always!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24:15
© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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