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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Mt 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 body—whether 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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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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2 Cor 10:12-13 For we dare not compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise! (NKJV)

In this verse, Paul the apostle is speaking about a clique of people in the church at Corinth who are judging each other by the standards of the world! The world eulogizes people’s success by their riches, intelligence, physical beauty, family name, giftedness etc, etc!

Is this how we judge ourselves today. Do we measure ourselves against others who are more richer, intelligent or beautiful than we are! If so we are judging by a standard that leads to covetousness, discontent, bitter disappointment and hopelessness!

We are seeking to find identity and security in what we do – not in who we are!

The New Covenant teaches that as sons of God, we find identity and security in Christ!

In Christ we learn that the Father loves us for who we are not for what we can do! Before Jesus had performed a miracle or commenced His ministry, His Father affirmed Him with these words: “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!”

Jesus’s identity as a Son was found in being loved for who He was – not for what He could do!   

STOP READING AND ASK THE FATHER TO REVEAL HIS LOVE TO YOU!

1 Jn 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us! (NKJV)

Gal 2:20 I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (NKJV)

Comparing ourselves with others breeds a competitive spirit and discontent! We strive to keep up with the Joneses, we want others to see us as cool, but inwardly we are restless, jealous and dissatisfied with life!

Question: Why am I living like this?   Answer: I am not trusting God to provide for me, to make a way for me, hence I am not living in Christ’s rest!

Mt 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (THE MESSAGE)

MEDITATION POINT: Prayer – Father, give me an awareness to recognise those times when self effort, pressure and stress are driving me to perform, that I may cease from striving, put You first and trust in You to make a way for me!

Phil 4:8 Meditate (think) on these things.

 

 

 

 

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SELF HELP or JESUS HELP

Jn 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life!”

The book market today has a plethora of ‘self-help‘ books! How to be a better leader, manager or person. How to exercise, diet and improve ones life!

Such books and guru’s encourage us to feel good about ourselves, release our inner strength, believe for good things, do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

Question: Why are these books dangerous for Christians?

Answer: The danger is in the ethos, ‘self-help‘ Such books encourage us to build a life of our own making, overcome in our own strength, see ourselves as our own ‘Saviour’, thus making ourselves into little gods! (Gen 3:4,5)

Col 2:8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.

Whereas the New Covenant invites us to find such life in Christ:

Col 2:6,7 Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him.

Christ is our Saviour and God, our life, strength, healer, helper, deliverer and future hope.

Jn 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  Col 2:10 You are complete in Him.

 

BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM (Mt 7:20)   

Driven to Extremes:

Using ‘self-help’ philosophy to build our life upon drives to 2 extremes:

a) We win, we’re successful, we’ve reached our goal, we’re elated, pleased with ourselves!

b) We lose, we fail, we fall away. We’re defeated, hopeless, miserable, depressed!

Jer 17:5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man (self) and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.

Both these extremes are rooted in pride! It is our ‘self ability’ that has either won or lost and constitutes both these ways as dead works!

Does that mean the ‘self-help’ industry cannot help the believer. Of course not! Much of self help material contains biblical principles! The key is to first pass all things through the grid of trusting Christ.

We look away from self to Christ. Hence, when we win, we praise and honour Him. When we lose, we look to Him to help us rise up and praise Him for His strength and hope!

Jer 17:7,8  “Blessed is the man who trusts and hopes in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river. Its leaf will be green, and it will not cease from yielding fruit!

Phil 4:8 Meditate (think) on these things.

MEDITATION POINT:  Let us pass everything we do through the grid of trusting Jesus! He is the only one to proclaim, “I am the way the truth and the life.” (Jn 14:6)

 

 

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In 1 Samuel Ch 17 when Saul gave permission for David to fight Goliath, David was still in his teens, wore no armour and had no battle experience.

How could this young man defeat a giant who was 10 ft tall, covered in armour and battle hardened?

 The Holy Spirit has purposely put this story in scripture because it describes perfectly God’s way to bring down the giants in our lives. Giants of debt, fear, sickness, in fact anything that we think is a giant!

 1 Sam 17:40Then he (David) took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

 David’s weapons were a sling and 5 smooth stones which he had chosen out of a stream.

 The number 5 in scripture symbolises ‘grace’. Grace is the unearned, unmerited, undeserved favour of God and is something we receive through trusting God.

 Hence when David confronted Goliath, he said to him:

1 Sam 17:45  “You Come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts!”  (NKJV)

 David had got his priorities in the right place. He was prepared with a sling and a stone  but his trust was in The name of the Lord of hosts. So when David slung the stone at Goliath, it wasn’t his expertise that found the spot marked X on Goliath’s forehead – No – the stone was directed there by the Holy Spirit!

 David had released grace by trusting In God alone. He had earlier recounted to Saul how he had first learned to trust in God:

 1 Sam 17:36  “Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God!”

 Trusting in God is a process and something we build upon. David had first learned to trust God to kill the lion and the bear and now he was ready to step up to a new level of trust and kill a giant!

 Today God is calling His Church to trust Him and release His grace to bring down the giants in our lives, and like David to learn how to kill the lion and the bear. To trust Him in the small things of life and build our trust to bring down the giant.

 Question: How do we exercise trust in God?

 Answer: We trust in God through His word.

 Are we worried? God’s word tells us to be: ‘Anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God‘. (Phil 4:6)

 Are we fearful? God’s word tells us that: ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind‘. (2 Tim 1:7)

 Do we feel guilty or condemned? God’s word tells us that: ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus‘. (Rom 8:1)

 These are the every day places where we can exercise trust in God and see His grace released to bring down the giants in our lives.

 Meditation Point: Lord Jesus, help me to learn to trust You through Your word that I might see a release of your grace in my life to bring down the giants! Thank You Lord!

 

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