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Archive for March 2014

Mar/14

26

‘Grace Waves Devotional’

 

Joseph Reconciled To His Brothers

Rom 8:28 ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD!

When we read the story of Joseph, we see that Joseph became trapped in a series of circumstances that had little to do with him.

His father Jacob was the villain of the piece! He had 12 sons but lavished all his love on Joseph his eleventh son. This favouritism caused his brothers to hate and despise Joseph.

Showing favouritism to one child over another causes much pain and rejection in families. Children sense straight away when they are being sidelined in favour of their sibling.

From the ages of 17 to 30 a series of unhappy events took place in Joseph’s life which in the natural did not bode well for his future.

 1)    Joseph thrown into a pit by his brothers. (Gen 37:23,24)

2)    Joseph sold as a slave in Egypt. (Gen 39:1)

3)    Joseph falsely accused of raping Potiphar’s wife. (Gen 39:11-19)

4)    Joseph incarcerated  in Pharaoh’s deepest dungeon. (Gen 39:20)

Most people would have slumped into a deep depression and hopelessness from such events in their lives, but not Joseph!

Throughout the 13 yrs of these events, Joseph knew that God was with him. This is revealed when as Prime Minister of Egypt he comes face to face with his brothers. They realise Joseph is now in a position to wreak vengeance upon them for their wicked behaviour; but Joseph replied:

Gen 50:20  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (NKJV)

Throughout his ordeal, Joseph knew that God was always with him and trusted the outcome of his life to Him.

Thus, when it seemed he had reached his lowest point, God turned events around and in one fell swoop, Joseph was promoted from the dungeon to the throne.

God had used the stumbling stones of Joseph’s life and turned them into the stepping stones that propelled him to his destiny.

What events are taking place in your life today: Do you feel trapped, are relationships falling apart, have you made drastic mistakes, does it seem that all is lost!

God’s word for you today is to yield up your circumstances to Him, look to Him and put your trust in Him!

If we will allow Him, He will take the most disastrous of circumstances and work them together to not only bring good out of them, but propel us into the destiny He has already planned for us before the foundation of the world!

This is what brings honour and glory to His name!

Only a God of miracles can achieve such results.

Rom 8:28  We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. (AMP)

Meditation Point: God is working for you not against you!

MEDITATE (THINK) ON THESE THINGS (Phil 4:6)

 

 

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Mar/14

13

‘Grace Waves Devotional’

 

He Saw That Rest Was GoodMt 11:28 Come to me and I will give you rest (NKJV

When we came to Christ at salvation, the Holy Spirit baptised us into the Spiritual body of Christ. We are now in Christ, and in the place of His rest.

 1 Cor 12:13  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one bodywhether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (NKJV)

 Eph 2:5-6  Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together  (rest) in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)

 His rest is a 24/7 rest. Every second, every moment every breath is rest. For our part, we have to work to remain in His rest.

 Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest. (NKJV)

 Every time we are worried, anxious or fearful, we have come out of His rest! When we are driven by pressure, time or circumstances, we have come out of His rest!

 We have come out of His rest into performance mode, have gone back under the law and have fallen from grace and cut off its flow into our lives.

 Gal 5:4  You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (NKJV)

 It’s like running a machine without oil, sooner or later it will seize up and break down. We however can choose to be at rest. Rest always releases the oil of the Holy Spirit that prevents us from seizing up and breaking down!

 Stop reading and pray this prayer: Jesus, today I ask you to reveal to me those areas of my life where I have come out of your rest, gone back under law and am being driven to perform. Give me your strength to say NO to pressure of circumstances, no matter how urgent they may be, and remain in your rest, knowing You have gone before me, to make a way for me!

Thank you Lord for Your grace that flows into my life!

 CONFORMED or TRANSFORMED

Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (NKJV)

 Question: Where does undue pressure come from?  Answer: The world system.

 Question: Who controls the world system?                Answer: satan and his demonic army.

 When we succumb to pressure that forces us out of the rest of Christ, we are allowing ourselves to be moulded by a world system that is driven by satan!

 The 2 key words of Rom 12:2 are CONFORMED and TRANSFORMED.

 CONFORMED: This speaks of outward moulding. It is pressure that is applied to force us into a particular shape. Much like the potter uses his fingers to shape a clay pot!

 satan and his hosts work 24/7 to apply pressure that keeps us on the back foot and our lives out of control. This is the strategy we must resist!

 1 Pet 5:8-9  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith. (NKJV)

 TRANSFORMED: This speaks of inward change. The Holy Spirit through the word of God renews our minds and gives us the power to live out those words.

 Eph 4:21-24  If you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (NKJV)

Conformation is change from the outside in, but transformation is change from the inside out! As this change takes effect in our lives, instead of the world changing us – we change the world! Praise The Lord!

 A TRANSFORMED LIFE IS A LIFE AT REST IN GOD!

 Meditation Point: As we stand strong in Christ and at rest in Him – His word is able to renew our mind from the inside out, bringing a transformed lifestyle that changes the world around us!

 Phil 4:6  Think (meditate) on these things! (NKJV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sanctified Through Christ

Quotes That Keep The Church In Bondage Pt 7

 God Uses The Law For The Purpose of Sanctification

Old Covenant Sanctification

We are told when we come to Christ that we are saved by grace alone, but in order to become holy, God uses the law as a means of sanctification.

Sanctification means to ‘make holy’, therefore we are to use the law in this process of becoming holy.

Using the law as a means of sanctification is an Old Covenant concept. This approach puts the onus on the believer to make him/her self holy.

Let us look at why I don’t believe this approach works.

Rom 3:20 For by the law is the knowledge of sin. (NKJV)

1 Cor 15:56 The strength of sin is the law. (NKJV)

Rom 5:20 The law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.

A careful reading of the above scriptures show us that:

The role of the law was to point out to man his sin.

The role of the law was to strengthen the grip that sin had over our life.

The role of the law, rather than setting us free from sin, keeps us imprisoned in sin.

Hence, the purpose of the law is to bring us to a place of realisation that we cannot save ourselves,  we cannot set ourselves free!

Only Jesus by His grace can save and deliver and set us free. Therefore the law was given to drive us to Christ, for where sin abounded, grace did MUCH MORE abound!

New Covenant Sanctification

Heb 2:11  For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one.

Heb 10:10  We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

As we have seen, the Old Covenant puts the emphasis on man making himself holy, whereas the New Covenant puts the emphasis on God making man holy!

The Old Covenant majors on outward change. (behaviour modification) The New Covenant majors on inward change!

When we came to Christ we became a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). In essence, God gave us a new spirit. Our new spirit is perfectly holy, righteous and glorified!

In Christ we have become a saint (a holy one) through the new birth. We are not trying to be holy, we are holy by dint of becoming a new creation.

Now we are holy, God exhorts us to live out our holiness through the word of the New Covenant!

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Col 3:12  Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering.

The Church at Corinth was the most carnal Church full of extremes, yet when Paul wrote to them he began his letter thus:

1 Cor 1:2  To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints  (Holy ones), with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

Paul knew he couldn’t change the Corinthians by appealing to the law, instead he always pointed them back to who they were in Christ!

Meditation Point: We are made holy through the new birth in Christ Jesus!

Heb 10:10  We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

 

 

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