Category: Verses of Instruction

Ephesians 2:4-5

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Transgression – an act that goes against a law, rule, or code of conduct; an offense. Transgression is one of those “church words” we’ve heard all of our lives, but do we really understand? We know in our gut that transgression must be bad, but have we given much thought to the meaning? I looked up the etymology (history) of transgression. The word originates from Late Latin transgressionem (nominative transgressio) “a transgression of the law,” in classical Latin, “a going over, a going across,” the law. In other words, when we sin, we “go over” or “step over” the moral boundary God has established for us. Paul says, “we were dead in transgressions”. What does that mean to you? How is our life dead when we live in sin?

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 (Final Post)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a  new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!”

We finalize 2 Corinthians 5:17 with the final statement – “THE OLD HAS GONE, THE NEW IS HERE!” Now you may not have noticed, but the end of this statement has an exclamation point. In spite of my personal excitement, I didn’t add that exclamation point, it was already there. Paul had the same excitement when he penned them and we should too!

The common problem I see with many Christians is that they have a hard time letting go of the old. I hope you will reflect on these words today.

Have a great weekend! Jim

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”

Today we shift our focus to the next part of the opening sentence – “AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING”.  I’m re-posting a link to a commentary on the Desiring God website. Great read:  http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-insanity-of-leaning-on-our-own-understanding.

Have an awesome day!

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Hearing from the Lord”

“Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge.  With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way.” (This is the Easy-to-Read, or ERV version of the verse)

In order to trust in the Lord would you agree we have to hear from the Lord? Now let me give my disclaimer; hearing from the Lord, or sensing the Lord’s direction, is a very personal thing. There are volumes upon volumes of books written by theologians, pastors, and evangelists, who are much more knowledgeable than me, on this subject. But let me share my experience as a believer in hearing from the Lord.

Isaiah 6:1 -“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” If you are waiting for a moment like Isaiah describes to hear from the Lord, you may be waiting awhile. God uses the Holy Spirit to speak into us. When we trust in the Lord, we are seeking the Lord’s voice to guide us in our decisions.

But in order to ‘hear from the Lord’ He has to ‘hear from us’. I believe God is constantly listening and open to speaking into us, but we don’t speak enough to Him. This connection is made through prayer and through His Word. For me, prayer is a continual, daily dialogue with the Lord. I have my time each day where I formally submit prayer for family, for church family, friends, etc., but I also pray throughout the day, seeking God’s direction, thanking Him for His goodness and His blessings. When I make decisions, I seek the Lord’s revelation through prayer and I wait. I wait until I feel Him guiding my decision. I wait until I feel a sense of peace in my spirit. For some decisions, I find a peace in my spirit rather quickly, but with others, it takes awhile, and in some cases, I never feel that peace, so I don’t act.

I also have instances where the Holy Spirit prompts me to do something. Often it is a direction to go speak with someone, maybe you. Other times it is a prompting to pray over a situation or for someone. I have also had a few experiences where that prompting was almost overwhelming! I distinctly recall the moment when the Lord spoke to me about starting the Vida Nueva (VN) ministry in Birmingham. That was over thirteen years ago, and I was driving south on GA 400 headed back to Atlanta on my way home to Birmingham. I felt God speak clearly to me that He wanted me to start a ministry, and I clearly remember thinking that God had the wrong person. I had no ministry experience and I hadn’t served in any church capacity with teens or a youth group. It was my “Moses moment” (read Exodus 3 and 4). Moses tells God multiple times that he was not the man for the job. I did the same for several weeks until I finally realized God was not going to give me peace until I yielded myself to His will and started the VN ministry. God didn’t “need” me, He “chose” me. And He is going to choose you too, by speaking into you what He wants you to do.

I know this is a long post, but if you are still tracking with me, let me leave you with this; in order for you and I to trust in the Lord, we must submit to His will and give up our will. This is another transformational process (remember Romans 12:2) that we must go through to submit our requests to Him, have trust that He cares for us, have patience for an answer, and let Him speak to us and guide us in our decisions.

I hope this is helpful to you! Jim

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”

“TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART”. TRUST. Trust is another one of those big words and concepts in our society. Trust is a concept that holds the pieces of our society and culture together. We trust that our bank is holding the money we have deposited and that we can withdraw part or all of our money at any time. We trust that our doctor is evaluating our health properly and that when we are sick he or she is prescribing the proper medication to make us better. We trust that when we drive through a traffic light that the drivers will stop at either side of the red light as we drive through. We value trust so much that it is printed on our currency – “In God we trust”.

Yet we see signs in our society where trust is being fractured. Our elected officials, our court system, and our banking and financial services have all been brought into question regarding trust. Even our schools have been brought into question regarding trust. I believe our founding fathers were prophetic in putting their trust in the Lord. They knew that putting trust in anything other than the Lord was a fool’s errand.

The problem with putting trust in ourselves and in others is that we make bad decisions because we lack access to perfect information. We have our own perception of a situation, but God has a perfect perception of our situation. We put trust in others and sometimes they are flawed in their understanding or fall short of our expectations. Below is a link from the DesiringGod website with a commentary on Proverbs 3:5-6. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-insanity-of-leaning-on-our-own-understanding.

Let’s keep working on these words. I believe God has a lot to say to us, so I don’t want us to be guilty of leaning on our own understanding, I want us to hear from Him! Tomorrow we are going to focus on what trusting in the Lord looks like.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”

This week we study a new verse, Proverbs 3:5-6,  that many of you have probably heard or possibly know. This is another foundational verse to our Christian walk and the favorite and most meaningful verse for many Christians. Trusting the Lord is core to our faith. We hear these words, but what do they mean? As we study this verse over the next few days, I want us to delve deep into the meaning of “trusting the Lord”.

Today we begin with “TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART”. These words are so important to our Christian faith that we may spend a few days reflecting on these words. I want your input. Add a comment and let’s start a discussion. These words are simply too important not to take time to reflect on.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (Final Post)

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Time is a big deal. Our daily lives are driven by a schedule of activities that start at a certain time, last a certain amount of time and have us rushing to make it to each. We spend time. We waste time. Occasionally, we manage to find a little time. We value time in our society. It is a precious commodity that is expended each day that we can never get back.

Because time is so interwoven into our lives we can’t comprehend eternity. Some of you have heard me say, “God doesn’t wear a watch.” It’s my simplistic way of saying that God is not confined by time. So as we focus on the last portion of 2 Corinthians 4:18 – “BUT WHAT IS UNSEEN IS ETERNAL”, I want us to think and to pray about eternity. What is eternal? Can you comprehend the importance of things that are eternal?

2 Corinthians 4:18

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

“SINCE WHAT IS SEEN IS TEMPORARY”

“TEMPORARY” This world and our life in it is temporary. Most of you were born in the 21st century, post-2000. I look at just how much technology has changed since 2000. In 2000, we connected to the Internet through a phone dial-up via a desktop computer that took several minutes just to load a web page. You would dial-up your connection and walk away from the computer for 5 or 10 minutes until your web browser loaded on your computer. That was not that long ago, and  I know, hard for you to imagine when you have a phone in your hand today that allows you to instantly watch a movie or a TV show. That was unimaginable in 2000.

As believers, we have to recognize that the things of this world are temporary and are going to change. The challenges you deal with today will not be the challenges you will deal with five years from now. God is our constant. He never changes. His truths are still the truths today as they were 2,000 years ago. His love for us is as strong today as it was when we were born and will remain as strong in the future. I hope as you reflect on these words that you recognize that our focus and that our confidence cannot be found in the temporary things of the world.

2 Corinthians 4:18

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Now we add the next part of the opening of this verse- “NOT ON WHAT IS SEEN”. Today I want us to reflect on ALL the things we see each day. How do these words speak to you in your life? As I pointed out yesterday, we are fixing our eyes (attention) on many things. I hope this verse is speaking to all of us about our thought life and our distractions that keep us from fixing our eyes on Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:18 “Fixing Our Eyes on Things Eternal”

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Our journey and progression through the scriptures has revealed to us an initial insight of the essence of Christ; the Word is eternal, the Word was with the Father, the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Jesus declared he is the way and the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. We can do all things through Him because He strengthens us. He is the vine and we are the branches. If we remain in Him and Him in each of us we will bear much fruit, and apart from Him we can do nothing.

We have also learned what our part is in growing and staying close to Him. We need to be still and know that He is God. Our Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. In order for us to grow in our faith we can no longer conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. When we do this, our faith grows and Jesus reveals Himself more and more to us so that we are able to test and approve His perfect will and through this our faith is further strengthened.

And so we come to our new verse- “SO WE FIX OUR EYES NOT ON WHAT IS SEEN, BUT ON WHAT IS UNSEEN, SINCE WHAT IS SEEN IS TEMPORARY, BUT WHAT IS UNSEEN IS ETERNAL.” Our daily transformation happens through our assurance in what we do not see and moves us from thoughts of the world to thoughts of the spirit. We will begin our study of this verse with the opening – “SO WE FIX OUR EYES”. Let’s meditate today on where we fix our attention (“eyes”) during the day. What thoughts are keeping us from connecting with Jesus? God never changes. We are either moving closer to Him in our thought life, or we are moving away from Him.