Experiencing Unabated Joy and Peace

"Because of our faith, Christ has brought us to this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory." Romans 5:2

Consequently we can approach every moment of our life, whether it be fraught with good or bad news, with unabated joy and peace.  We can experience this level of supernatural joy by building up our faith in Almighty God through our reading of His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us.

A Place of Trust

Our faith comes into play when we encounter pain, conflict and/or disorder in our lives.  Our natural human reaction is to try to fix everything ourselves.  All too often, we do not turn to God until we have exhausted our own failed initiatives.

God wants us to turn to Him first in all matters of our lives.  He wants us to grow into a place where we trust Him for everything we need.  We will only reach this place of trust by seeking an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

The New Man

We are able to stand before Our Heavenly Father in a righteous state because Jesus took on all of our sins on the Cross.  The sins of the old man are no more.  All that remains before the Father is the new man, indwelled by the spirit of Jesus Christ, without blemish.

The new man that stands before the Throne of God is made in His image.  The new man is the essence of everything good and the absence of anything evil.  He is worthy to dwell with the Father for all eternity.

It Was All Done on the Cross

God is so holy that sin cannot exist in His presence.  Thus every saint in heaven will be completely free of any type of sin.  To have any sin remaining means eternal separation from God.

The Good News is that God provided for our complete cleansing through the death of His Son on the Cross.  It is the shed blood of Jesus Christ that washes us clean of all of our sin.  All we have to do is believe and accept Jesus as Our Savior.  All the necessary work was done on the Cross.

Life's Great Challenge

How many did you win?  How many did you sell?  How much profit did you make?  These are the questions that the world asks.  This world is all about measuring bottom line results.

Do we have the ultimate relationship with Jesus Christ that God desires for us to have?  Are we following the processes and plans that the Holy Spirit has given us for our lives?  Have we abandoned or ignored supernatural guidance in order to follow our own plans?  These are the questions that God asks.  God's kingdom is not about results.  God's kingdom is based on relationship and spiritual process.  

Life's great challenge is to choose our master.  Are we wise enough  in God's sight and foolish enough according to the world to choose Jesus as Our Master?

The Priorities of Service

We should not overwhelm ourselves by doing good things while missing the things God has planned for us.  We tend to overload ourselves with "good" activities while leaving ourselves with too little time to commune with God.  How can we hear His calling if we are not spending time listening to Him?

We should also be alert to the possibility that we are doing so many "good" things that we are neglecting the needs of our own families.  As we listen for God's calling, there is one certain aspect that will always be there.  Our Heavenly Father will insure that we have time to adequately care for the needs of our families first before we are extended any further. 

Men and Women of God

God calls people to all walks of life.  Some are called to full time ministries, but most are not.  Most people are called to traditional occupations.  All people are called to let Christ show through them wherever they are and in whatever they are doing.

When we live our lives fully submitted to Jesus, He will surely draw spiritual production through us within the structure of our natural lives.  And we will be called men and women of God and the glory will go to Him.

We Reflect Christ Within Us

As Christians, we are living testimonies of Christ within us.  It is not enough that we have a compelling story to share with the world about how we were saved and what it means to us.  While this is good news to share, the world needs to see more.  

The world needs to see us living a life that reflects Christ's presence in us.  Those around us need to see our living testimony revealed through every single action we take and every single word we speak.

How Far We Are From Perfection

The two greatest commandments, as given to us by Jesus, are:  1)  Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength.  2)  Love thy neighbor as thyself.  He then said all other commandments hang off of these two.

No man, not one, can fully meet the requirements of these two great commandments - not in the flesh.  Only through our new nature in Christ can we meet these standards.  Even when we approach meeting them on occasion, we are reminded in the spirit how far we are from perfection in these two basic areas.

Preparing a Holy Place

Wherever God appears is a holy place.  (When Moses approached the burning bush, he was told to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.)  So if we are looking for God to reveal Himself to us, we must prepare a holy place for Him.  We prepare that holy place by accepting Jesus as Our Savior.  With our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus and His Spirit indwelling in us, we become a holy temple ready to receive the witness and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.


To receive the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit and to build the depth of our relationship with Almighty God, we must be in complete surrender to our new life in Christ.  Anything that we hold on to from the world that diminishes our surrender to Christ will restrict the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Responding to Personal Conflicts

Strike back.  Respond in defense.  Prove that I am right.  All of these are natural human responses during personal conflict.

When we are followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to a different standard - "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  Choosing this standard requires a supernatural response when we run into personal conflicts.  We are to express the love of Christ in every instance.  Often this will include forgiving the other party in the heat of the conflict.  Only our strength through Jesus allows us to meet His standard.

We Will Be Made Holy

Once we have accepted Jesus as Our Savior, our salvation is assured and our sanctification process begins.  It is God's will that we will be made holy like He is holy.  Through the atonement process, Jesus has provided us with that which we did not earn and certainly do not deserve.

According to His promises, Jesus will complete in us that which we could not do without His constant grace.  He will make us holy.  All we have to do is to humbly submit to His work in our lives.

The Value of Our Works

The world is all about results.  The Lord is all about process.  

What does this mean to us as Christians?  It means that God is more concerned about our relationship and intimacy with Jesus than He is in our public usefulness to men.  For all good work will flow supernaturally from our Christian lives as a result of our relationship with Jesus.  If any good work emanates from any other source, it is of no real value to God.  God receives the praise and glory that is His alone through our works that are done as a result of our relationship with our Savior.

Navigating Through Life's Challenges

To successfully wade through life's challenges, we must turn our focus on Jesus.  His ways, not ours, are the ways we need to follow in every circumstance.  By following His nature, and not our own, we will be able to successfully navigate through all of our problems and opportunities.

By going with the flow of His living water instead of always fighting our own way upstream, we will find life to be easier and much more satisfying.  Additionally, when we are in communion with Jesus, the world around us will see and benefit from the natural outpouring of His Spirit within us.

Releasing the Divine Light

Most of us will never set foot on foreign soil in an effort to win souls for Jesus.  Nor will we step to a podium to stir a great revival.  But each one of us can pray continuously for the Lord to extend His loving kindness, mercy and grace to a darkened world so that His light can be revealed to those who are living in darkness.

In some cases, the Lord may ask us to be the laborer bringing in the harvest of a soul.  But in most cases, our calling will be to serve the Lord by praying for His divine light to be released to those around us and by living in such a way that others would want to follow us in our walk with Jesus.

Extending the Good News to All the World

God creates every single living person in His image.  It is His will that none shall perish.  He loves each one with the fullness of His perfect love.  To each He extends His forgiveness for their sin through His Son, Jesus Christ.  

To each that receive His Son as their Savior, He gives His Holy Spirit to dwell within them so that they can proclaim the Good News of salvation and provide a living testimony to the unsaved around them.  Thus the Lord sends His laborers throughout the world.

The Expression of Love and Forgiveness

God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for all the sins of every person.  In this one act, we see the full expression of God's perfect love and forgiveness. 

When we receive Jesus as Our Savior, we receive His perfect love and forgiveness.  We also receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which leads us to share this perfect love and forgiveness with the world around us.  We are called to make this full expression of love and forgiveness to every man in every place without withholding even the smallest portion.

We Are Defined by Our Obedience

There is not a single work that we do that has God saying, "Thanks, I could not have accomplished my plans without you."  If God has anything that He would like to see done through human efforts, He can always find a replacement for us if we refuse to follow His calling.

The loss will never be His.  The loss is always ours when we are not obedient to what the Lord is calling us to do.  The work that we do for the Lord does more for our sanctification than anything else.  Who we are in Christ is defined by our obedience.

Leading the Family Spiritually

Every man is called to lead his family spiritually.  When the fullness of the calling hits him, he soon realizes how ill equipped he is for the work and how ill prepared his family is to receive him.

This is all part of the God-work that begins once the man expresses his desire to God to meet his calling.  God has complete control of all aspects of the work to be done in the man and in his family.  God will overcome all the individual disappointment and provide for all the personal enlargement needed to fulfill the calling.

Walking With God

"Enoch walked with God."  (Genesis 5:24)  How cool would that be?  At any given time, just dial up the ruler and creator of the universe and invite Him for a walk.  It sounds impossible and nearly unimaginable.  Yet it is absolutely within our reach.

The only obstacle to dialing up God is that we have to be on the same line with Him.  We can only get on the same line by shedding all the old lines of distraction in our lives.  Certainly a lot of personal work to be done there, but well worth the effort considering the benefit.

Just Like Mommy's Cake

"Mommy, I really want a chocolate cake," is a child's simple request.  Mommy says, "OK, but not now.  I will do it later when I have all the ingredients and I can make the cake exactly how you like it".

This is how God works with each of us.  He hears our prayers and He prepares the perfect answer.  He does not rush to provide an answer to our prayers.  He waits for all the best "ingredients" to be in place.  He wants to prepare only the best for us - just like Mommy.

Obedience Brings Favor

As parents, we understand the joy of an obedient child.  The obedient child's constant compliance melts our hearts.  It is likely that we extend special favor to the obedient child.  It is also easier for us to give the child greater responsibility because we are confident that they will handle it appropriately.  

So it is with God.  He rejoices in His obedient children who are compliant to His Word, His laws and His calling on their lives.  He rewards them with more knowledge and greater responsibility in the Kingdom.

We Receive What We Could Not Earn

When we are born, we inherit the sin nature brought to us through the bloodlines of Adam and Eve.  Through the grace of God we are given the choice to keep the sin which separates us from Him or receive the atonement for our sin provided by the shed blood of His Son, Jesus.

If we accept the precious gift of salvation, we are then sanctified through the Holy Spirit working in our lives.  We become righteous, holy and fully acceptable to the Lord in heaven.  Through His grace we receive what we could not otherwise earn.

The Ultimate Invitation

"Come to me," is the ultimate invitation. It was issued by Our Lord, Our Savior and Our King, Jesus Christ.  Thus it allows 24-7 access to the greatest person who ever lived on this earth.  

The invitation has no expiration date.  Acceptance of this invitation allows access to the unimaginable favor of almighty God for all eternity.

There is only one requirement to accepting this invitation.  We must acknowledge Jesus as Our Savior and we must acknowledge ourselves as a sinners that require His cleansing blood to make us acceptable to live in His Father's kingdom.

Washed Clean by Our Savior

When we hear the word sin, we think of a single transgression which breaks God's law.  In reality, sin is a complete condition that separates us from God.  It is a chasm that we cannot cross on our own.

When Adam and Eve sinned, we inherited a condition that separated us from God for all eternity.  Thankfully, our merciful Father provided the way for us to cross the chasm created by sin.  He provided His Son, who knew no sin, to take on all of our sin on the Cross.  By the shed blood of Jesus, all who accept Him as their Savior, are washed clean of their sin for all eternity.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Without the aid of the Holy Spirit we would live our entire lives in darkness.  We could not recognize the light, the truth and the way that is in Jesus Christ.  Our hearts could not be molded so that we could submit to Jesus as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  

Only through the loving kindness, mercy and grace of God are our eyes opened by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only through this precious gift can God do His good work in us.

Redemption from Our Sin Nature

When we say that man is born with a sin nature, we are indicating that man puts himself above all things.  Our nature without Christ is to put ourselves before God in our decisions.  

"I am the Lord thy God.  Have no false gods before me," is the first commandment sinned against by each of us.  There is no recovery from this sin except through the redemption provided by Jesus Christ.  

God does not hold us responsible for our sin nature.  He does hold us responsible for recognizing and accepting that Jesus is the only way that we can be redeemed from our sin nature.

The Pursuit of Our Vision

Once we have Jesus in our lives, He will begin to reveal His plans for our lives.  Most of us will not have a big vision from God, at least not in the eyes of the world.  But rest assured that God has a very special plan for each of us.

The Lord will reveal His plan through gentle urgings in our spirit, through our prayers and through our reading of His Word.  Along the way, He will send others who will confirm the vision.  We can also be certain that Satan will send challengers and obstructors to to destroy the plans that God has for us.

But God will use the confirmers and the challengers to insure we fulfill our vision.  The confirmers will be there to encourage us, assist us and mentor us.  The challengers will be there to strengthen our resolution and to build character in us as we follow God's plan for our lives.

Our Power Provision

Whatever we are doing as a result of God's calling on our lives is reliant on His power provision.  The flow of the power provision is reliant on our relationship with Our Heavenly Father.  As long as we are in a good relationship with Our Lord,  every power that we need to produce good works in accordance with His plan for our lives is provided through the Holy Spirit. 

If we break fellowship with the Lord, our power provision will cease.  We may be able to manipulate some things through the power of our own flesh, but the things that we are working on for the kingdom will not endure under the burden of broken fellowship with God. 

Returning to the Father

The prodigal son left home thinking he could conquer the world on his own.  It did not take long for him to exhaust his resources and then realize everything he would ever need had always been available to him at his father's house.

We all experience the same journey relative to our relationship with Our Heavenly Father.  We set out on our own way, thinking that we are self-sufficient.  As we meet our failures, the Lord awaits our return to Him.  Once we recognize the foolishness of living our lives in the flesh, we turn to Him for divine guidance and provision.  He always celebrates our return.

Moments in the Presence of God

Throughout our Christian lives, we will experience "moments" in the presence of God.  The moments may come in different forms.  In some cases, they may be in the dramatic form of an audible voice, a dream or a visitation.  In most cases, they will be in the form of gentle urgings from the Holy Spirit into our spirits.

Each moment is meant to lift us up from day-to-day living into a kingdom experience.  Each moment can be very exciting and pleasing.  But God does not intend for us to stay in the moment.   Nor does He want us to seek continued residence there.  He simply uses the moment to show us a path, to build us up, to strengthen us and, most importantly, to prepare us to be with Him for all eternity.