Sanctification
Jacob was the second-born son of Isaac. He was a schemer but he knew what he wanted. He wheedled the birthright, then he got the blessing. He was always working the angles. When he met God in Gen 28.17 he said “If you will bless me, help me, keep me, feed me and clothe me, then I’m going to make a house for You and begin to tithe like Abraham. Which is fine but it is a bit like saying If I’m better off materially, by being right with God then I’ll serve him. He might have thought; the reason I’ll tithe is so that I can get blessed. (The reason we tithe is that we are already blessed. The job you have already, is a blessing and we need to honour God, lest we lose the one we’ve got.) Jacob knew what he wanted and when God met him he said “I want you to bless me and wrestled with him till God blessed him. God did bless him but the blessing meant a change in his walk. He walked with a limp from that day on. He was no longer striving in his own strength which was diminished. That is what we call sanctification; when we learn to lean completely on God and come to a place where we realise that our strength is not sufficient. God wrestles with us in such a way through circumstance that though we are loved sons and fully justified before God, He helps us to become like Jesus in actuality. In reality, we are changed to be more like him. This is practical righteousness not just imputed or even imparted righteousness. We might be justified and declared righteous, but our habits can still be demanding, selfish or ungrateful, so God will help us change.
Friend, if we don’t realise he is wrestling with us we will wrestle all night but not win. Give in and do it Gods way.
Read More
Don’t make me wait
The old farmer leans on his shovel and looks at the field. Its been a few weeks since he planted a seed and still, the field hasn’t turned green with new spouts. But he’s not worried and he’s not impatient. He knows there is a due season.
Patience is not just being able to wait, anyone can do that but it’s waiting with the right attitude of faith and trust. I have had some things that stretch my patience for years. Not just one or two but many years till I said: “Lord how much longer?” Most people have enough faith to trust God for a day. If God sorts it after a day they can be happy but fewer people have faith to trust God if it takes six or ten years.
In the kingdom there can only one can be Lord and trials of faith and patience, teach us that He is God and that we are dependent upon him. We can rejoice in trials, as they develop patience in us. Trials sometimes bring other things out of us. Not patience but anger. We really only have the character that we demonstrate in the midst of a trial. Anyone can look patient on a slow yacht in their holidays.
Friend, Paul had to learn to be content, so it didn’t happen overnight. He didn’t find it easily and neither will you, but we are never losers only learners. God doesn’t see as failures but only as His growing children.
Read More
How do we grow
Jesus said to the disciples “Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they neither toil nor spin yet they grow and are beautiful. All growth depends upon God. The Christian life is not a life of self-help or self-improvement but is about receiving the benefits of God’s grace. Growth happens when you and learn to receive more grace from God. The early church had only the Old Testament for a bible and found in its pages explanation and illustrations of the truth they had experienced. The 6 men of Genesis illustrate the work of God in us to bring us to His image and spiritual growth. Adam, of course, is a clear picture and cause of the sin we all share. Noah is a picture of regeneration, where new life begins out of the old. God saved him from being destroyed with the old creation and he begins a new life with those He brings forth into a new life Abraham is the illustration of Justification by faith. He shows us that Gods way of putting man right with Himself is by an unusual manner; faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Isaac illustrates sonship, where the son becomes the apple of Father’s eye. Isaac is truly blessed; he has no needs, everything is provided for. He is loved by God and even in time of famine he is blessed. He is the favoured one, the special boy, the beloved son. That is you and me. We are Gods sons and daughters. To as many as received Him, He gave them power to become the sons of God. That is a picture of supernatural living because he’s blessed by Father. Jacob’s life reflects the process of sanctification. Jacob was a trickster he was a schemer. Faith is living without scheming; it’s living in a way that just trusts God. His life was all about him but God changed him and wrestled with him till he walked with a limp.
Friends, all growth and the dealings of God in our lives, are to bring us to a walk of dependence upon God where our self strength is broken and we limp on our own feet. Ultimately growth must come about through a work of God.
Read More
Deny Self?
There is confusion about the importance of self in today’s world. As disciples, we are all called to deny self as we take up our cross.
This is not talking about self-hood (being an individual) God has made you with a personality and you are uniquely you and you should be grateful for what God has done. We call that self-acceptance.
The self we are to deny is the selfish desires that put ourselves before God and others. The self that wants to be the boss and be in control. It must be denied. All of its little outbreaks of self centred-ness, selfishness, self-protection and self-promotion.
Too many believers think the only one dying in the gospel is Jesus. We have proclaimed loudly the death of Jesus to gain us but speak with less conviction about our death to gain him. Like the song says “Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.” He died for our sins but we are to die to our sins.
Friend, Jesus is perfect and doesn’t change so it is us that need to adjust. “Can two walk together unless they are agreed? Let’s take up the cross and imitate him
Read More
Receive
Imagine that tomorrow the family lawyer rings you up and says a relative has died in England and has no close relatives. We tracked you down and you’re the closest survivor and will inherit her wealth. With your mind racing, you enquire “How much?” 10 million dollars is the reply. Now that is an inheritance! But when you inherit the money, did you work for it or receive it? You received; you don’t deserve you didn’t work, you just received and was very thankful. We are co-heirs with Jesus which means we get to share in His inheritance. In the world, people try to get things. To get a blessing, get ahead, get a wife and get a child, but it is really an unbiblical way of thinking about life. Every good thing comes down from heaven as a gift. That’s Christian thinking. We’re not trying to get things from God; we are learning how to receive things from God. Everything we receive from God we receive as a gift. Father wants to give you an inheritance. He gave you the gift of salvation and you received it. Success is the Christian life is about who can receive the most from God. The more you can receive of God’s grace and gifts the better you live as a Christian. The moment you stopped receiving from God today, was the moment you decided you didn’t need grace; didn’t need Gods power or His help to stay walking in love. Those that do exploits for God are those who keep receiving from God all the time.
Friend, we will always be receivers, so that way He gets all the credit. All we can do is become better at receiving grace. That’s the difference between a believer and a more mature believer; they have learned to be better receivers of grace.
Read More
Be weak?
One day, I felt the Lord say to me "Any real success in life is proportional to the Life you have drawn from God in prayer and relationship with God”. The greatest weakness of the flesh is its own natural ability. O yes, it has strength and the flesh has power. It can build, run, think and contrive, but it all ends in the natural world. Nothing of the flesh goes through into the spirit realm to move men eternally or to move Gods hand on behalf of sinners. The flesh has no ability to affect men's heart for good. The flesh finds it hard to do nothing in its physical world? Jesus asked his disciples “Could you not watch one hour?” Just waiting can seem like a waste to the natural person. Gal 5.17 The flesh is at war with the Holy Spirit of God. The flesh is smart, conniving, determined, self-sufficient and that’s what makes it dangerous. Our flesh’s strength is our weakness! God says “Cursed is the man who trusts in a man who makes flesh his strength..... but blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord”
Friend, if you know that the flesh is dead and therefore determine not to rely upon it, you have a weakness that God can turn to strength. Strong people are people who know they are totally weak to do His will in the flesh so they know desperately that they need Him to do His will through them.
Read More
Legend in his own mind
King Nebuchadnezzar thought he had done it all by himself. Pride gets us imagining something of ourselves, which is not true. Nebuchadnezzar thought “My own power has gotten me this wealth.”
And it manifests in our attitude to others too. We become obsessed with disputes and arguments, or maybe we won’t listen to others advice. Some people are unteachable, they think that know best. Pride enters into their heart and instead of receiving grace which leads to success, they blunder into the darkness alone, making all the mistakes the unaided person is prone to make.
But worse, if we are proud we will be resisted by God. It’s just a law. It’s not that God wants to resist you, it’s that He must. He doesn’t want his children to hurt themselves, but He knows if they seek to break the law of gravity they will and similarly the laws of the kingdom can never be broken. The way up is down. The only way to know success in life is to have Gods grace upon us. Success is to become a servant. To serve your wife; to serve your husband; to serve your parents.
Friend, it is the law of humility. God gets behind the humble and pushes them but He gets in front of the proud. We either lose our pride or we lose our possible destiny, it’s our choice.
Read More
The power of weakness
Luke Skywalker, Batman and other superheroes are the icons of our day. We like the idea of people just like us having great supernatural power. God promises us a great power too through His spirit but there is one step before being strong and that is weakness. Heb 11 tells us that out of weakness many Old Testament heroes were made strong and became valiant in battle. The hall of faith gives the list of hero’s names and gives the secret of their admission to the list. They were all weak, first. There are two parts to Gods' economy; first weakness and secondly strength. Only after weakness, they became valiant in the battle. We must understand today the power of weakness. I say that because weakness is not something we have to gain it is something we have to recognize! It is something we have to embrace. I'm talking about of course a weakness that is recognition of our actual weakness. Jesus said to Peter “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. That was not a criticism that was and is a fact. It not that Peter can do anything about it. The flesh was going to be with him and us till the day we die. Jesus wasn't saying Peter "how could you have flesh? If you’re human you’ve got it. But he was saying how come you didn't recognize when it began to influence your life and you dropped back to natural from the supernatural.
Friend, God has not left us in the flesh without God. In fact, you are not merely in the flesh any more if the Spirit of God dwells in you. We are not just human flesh without God now we are new creations who have supernatural DNA.
Read More
