B90Days: Love = Obedience

= equals =

I asked myself the question this week:

Do I hate sin?
 It's quite a question.
Well...
I can tell you this: I want to hate sin: badly! 

In this day and age people say the term "sin" is subjective; that it depends on the person and the perspective. 

Aleister Crowley, an occultist and Satan worshiper put it this way:

" Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."


Sound..or look familiar?

We live in an age where : Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes...


SIN.


But let me be very clear.... the One who decides...
{And FYI: that's neither me nor you nor the guy down the street }
He said:
Sin = Enmity with God.
It is God alone who defines sin.
~Not a friend.
~Not another believer.
~Not an atheist.
~Not a spouse.
~Not a leader.

The filter for all of life is God's character.
So..we are either for or against God at any given moment.
The problem is...we don't pause to inquire after God.
Israel's whole existence was meant to be defined by that inquiry.
"What does God want us to do?"
"What would bring Him glory?"
"How can we make His name great among the nations?"

 Today our culture influences our choices...

more than our God does.

 So if I choose to filter all my choices through His character....I wonder...


Would I purchase differently ?
Would I play differently ?
Would I talk differently ?
Would I work differently?
Would I dress differently?
Would I eat/drink differently?
Would I watch what I watch?
Would I listen to the same music?

There are two things that stand out to me 

as I continue to read at speed through the OT:

1. Sin is still sin.

2. God is still God.

{{Gulp }}


Insert: FEAR OF THE LORD MOMENT HERE => => =>


I know Jesus came.
I know we are under Grace.
But I also know that my Grace Filled Savior still hates sin.
I know we have failed and continue to fail.
I know we cannot earn salvation...
It is free....
The perfect sacrifice was made..the price paid. 
Love won.
Thanks- be-to-God! 


But..

Working out that salvation...and it NEEDS working out...involves fear and trembling:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--

not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--

continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

~~ Philippians 2:12 ~~

I need to seek God. I NEED to!
I need to discover and understand His character.
He is the standard/the filter.
I need to LOVE..I must love..because His love directed first towards me..compels me to love! 
I do love!!!!!!!
And if I love.
I obey.
I OBEY.
LOVE= OBEDIENCE
Repent.
AND.SIN.NO.MORE.

 Jesus said:

" If you love me, you will keep my commands."

~~ John 14:15 ~~

The more time I spend in the Word and in prayer and in PURSUIT of God...
Seeking after Him with all my heart...
The more I WANT to obey!
I know obedience is the ONLY way.
I know: It's not by might...nor power..but by the Spirit of God that I can do anything!


I want to be good...because He is good.
I want to be Righteous..because He is..and I walk in Him. His righteousness is my covering.
I want to be faithful because He is.


I want to seek Him.
I want to know Him.
i want to obey Him.
I want to reflect Him.
I want to bring Him glory.

I want...what He wants!

B90Days: Under Grace for the Gory of God

It was a bloody read this week. 
A head-banging against the wall kind of read.
A what-ever-were-they-thinking kind of read. 
An...oh my gosh..am I like them kind of read.

It is easy to say we are not under law but under grace...and thus excuse ourselves.



But I ask myself this week...what is the grace for?

I see Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Samuel, Saul, David.
I see gifts, talents, graces and annointing.

I see arrogance, idolatry, witchcraft, disobedience, lusts, murder.I see blessings, cursing....destruction and re-birth.


I see turning away.
I see turning back.

GOD GIVES GRACE.

GOD GIVES LIFE. 

GOD GIVES VICTORY.

GOD. GIVES. 

GOD.

It starts with him.It ends with him.

I am breathing...Just Breathing..by the grace of God.

In him I live and move and have my being.

Why?


The scriptures tell me why.


Plainly.

To give Him Glory:

to make His Glory known.

It's all about Him.


It's when I worship myself..the work of my hands...
When the gifts I have been given...start magnifying me..

Of all creation...we...

who are made in God's image...

wrestle for that glory.

We deny Him and take it for ourselves.

That's when it gets bloody.
That's when all hell breaks loose.


I walked without pain this week.
I went on a bike ride !
I slept without pain for the first time in two  years.
My x-rays say it shouldn't be so.
I cling...to the One who is able...to do exceedingly ..abundantly above all I could ever ask or think!
No because of my abilities..or even my faith...

The life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God

who loved me and gave his life for me.

~~ Gal 2:20 ~~

His faith.
His sacrifice.
His ransom.
His reward.


David...a man after God's own heart. 
Sinned.
What God gave him was not enough.
He saw. He took. He murdered.
Nathan said to him : You despised the Lord.


And yet...he turned: He returned.
He never took glory for himself.
His wins...were God's wins.
The Glory belonged to God alone!

Salvation belongs to our God.


Sola Del Gloria


I live...we live...by the Grace of God...

My purpose...our purpose 
....is to show...share...spread...proclaim....

His Glory to the ends of the earth.

I live to make His Name Glorious!!! 

...by His Grace alone.

Ignorance...not so bliss

Water, food, clothing and shelter, these four things are essential to survival. As a thinking person and a passionate follower of Jesus, I find myself recoiling in shame at my own blind ignorance and cavalier disregard for personal accountability to the people and the world I live in.

 We’ve all heard the old adage: “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

Just a head’s up on that: what you don’t know can hurt you; it can even kill you and other precious people you haven’t even met.

 I submit to you a challenge: Your assignment..should you choose to accept it:

WATER

I challenge you to research bottled water and water mining

in the US and Canada and around the world.

(check out documentaries: “Tapped” and “Blue Gold” )

FOOD

I challenge you to research your major food processing companies:

their practices and their standards.

CLOTHING

I challenge you to research where your clothes are made

and worker conditions in those countries.

SHELTER

I challenge you to assess your standard of living,

the home and possessions you feel entitled to

and the true COST of Living.

 I challenge you to redefine NEED 

 Over the past few months I have deliberately begun to view life through what I like to call: "My Jesus Filter”. The process has slowly become pro-active instead of just re-active.It has become a matter of seeking his heart and being alert, aware of the responsibilities that come from being a follower of Jesus. Aware of my need for his interpretation of events and circumstance instead of my own natural inclinations.

It’s a push pause filter that allows what I am seeing or reading or experiencing to be re-routed through the Word of God and the character of Christ.This process enables me to filter my thoughts, my beliefs, my response…mentally, emotionally and physically through the Holy Spirit. It brings new meaning to the words: “waiting upon the Lord ", and enables me to be: “slow to speak".

 Sometimes I wonder if it is harder to "lose" my life...

...lay it all down while I am still living...

...than to die for the sake of the gospel.

Something's gotta give. I don't think I will be able to plead ignorance with any conviction in this Age of Information.I want to live without excuses. I want my soul preserved...not my lifestyle and comfort.

" The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom... "

~~ Psalm 11:10 ~~

 The sheep and the goats come to mind with horrifying regularity. Working out my salvation with "fear and trembling" has become such a profound reality, putting everything into perspective...God's perspective.
I know I am deeply loved. My love is growing in direct response to that stunning reality. My life is changing significantly the more I seek Him and the more I surrender.
Shouldn't knowledge demand a response...something like:

How then should we live ????

I have eyes to see and ears to hear. Knowing things is difficult..because you become responsible for what you know...and seeing things...oh God...have mercy...we've GOT to open our eyes !

..because really...at the end of all things do you seriously believe that: Ignorance will truly be ...bliss?????

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

~~ James 4:17 ~~