Watch!

Due to my pastor’s sermon this weekend and how he ended it, I decided to do my own study on how the Bible tells us to watch. I find it interesting how often we are admonished to do so. The next three versus all tell us the same thing proving that this point is important enough it had to go into three of the Gospels about what Jesus said to them.

Matthew 26:41 NLT

Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!" 

Luke 21:36 NLT

Keep a constant watch. And pray that, if possible, you may escape these horrors and stand before the Son of Man." 

Mark 14:38 NLT

Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak." 

Keep alert is translated to watch in many translations. If you are not alert, the enemy can catch you unaware in a snare. He knows how to badger us to find a weakness and find where our guard is down. Do not let him do this. Be ever vigilant and focused on what God tells you. If something does not align with His Word, then don’t do it. He gave us a spirit of discernment that is helped by the Holy Spirit. This relationship of studying the Word and letting the Spirit help us is key to defeating the enemy. It will give us the power to overcome whatever snares the enemy lays before us.

Revelation 16:15 NLT

"Take note: I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are watching for me, who keep their robes ready so they will not need to walk naked and ashamed." 

Mark 13:33 NLT

And since you don't know when they will happen, stay alert and keep watch.

Mark 13:37 NLT

What I say to you I say to everyone: Watch for his return!" 

All of us must be watching and ready. We must be prepared for His return that will come at a time none of us know or expect. Don’t believe anyone claiming they know the day. We will all know at the same time when it actually happens. Nothing in the Bible says anything about anyone knowing the day ahead of time. We are ALL to watch until it happens.

1 Cor 16:13 NLT

Be on guard. Stand true to what you believe. Be courageous. Be strong.

We can do this! I stated last week that God will empower us to overcome anything that comes at us in this life that wants to destroy us and keep us from Him. We are not alone so we can stand firm with courage and strength even when we feel utterly weak on our own. We have the Holy Spirit and His Word. Stay connected to Jesus, and keep solidifying that relationship. Never stop meditating on the Word.

Spiritual Empowerment

Paul suffered a lot to tell the world about Christ and how we are to operate as a family under God the Father. Even when imprisoned he wrote letters of encouragement, and sometimes discipline, to help everyone stay on the right path with God. God empowered him for his mission and no matter what, he kept doing it. He understood God’s love and made sure to show it to everyone he met, even in letters he sent.

Eph 3:12-19 NLT

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome. 13 So please don't despair because of what they are doing to me here. It is for you that I am suffering, so you should feel honored and encouraged.

14 When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

In this part of Ephesians he tells us we can go boldly to God because God gladly welcomes us. No matter what is going on, He wants us to talk to Him about it and gain His guidance. Paul did this regularly and knew what man did to him did not matter compared to his relationship with Christ. This is why he told people not to despair about his persecution because God’s work would be accomplished. We all should be able to have this same fortitude with God no matter what people think of us for following God.

Paul prays for them to have the empowerment of God. It takes God’s strength to do the work, and He gives us this power to do as He directs us. We don’t have to try to do this on our own. As soon as we do, things fall apart. This empowerment not only lets us do what we should, but we can do it under severe persecution like Paul. He never gave up despite beatings, attempted stoning, and imprisonment. His letters still got to the various churches as his way to reach out when he could not be there. The churches could send people to visit him. Many of his captors learned about God because he let God’s power handle what needed to be done. We are the vessels that His might and love can flow through into the world no matter where we are.

We get all of this because of God’s love that runs far deeper, farther and higher than we can imagine. God never leaves us alone or without His help to live life to the fullest the way He intended. He will never give us a mission that we can’t finish. We can go boldly to Him for all the help that we need, even to confess we got lost in our purpose. He will set us straight and send us back out with His power. Don’t be afraid to go to Him about anything. He will keep you on track in His mighty love and power. All we have to do is listen and go where He says, like Paul did.

Oneness and Peace in Christ

We each are unique due to God creating us for a specific reason and time. We alone are masterpieces, but we also fit into a much greater work, the family of Christ. Here we can learn and grow in our purpose and be fully one with the body of Christ.

Eph 2:10-18 NLT

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

11 Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He has united Jews and you Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

I belong to a vibrant church that does a great deal of community service, has many great talents, and pulled through some amazing troubles all because we strive to do what Christ has asked us to. Is it easy? No. Do we always get along? No. However, when we keep our eyes on Christ and the purpose He set before us, great things are accomplished.

I believe God loves great variety. We have all ages in our church, there is not a generation missing. All ages join in the various ministries making our church one of those odd places where 80% of the members have ministries they do in the church, from cleaning to administering to teaching. All of them are important to keep a vibrant service intact.

We come from many nationalities and backgrounds. Many different ideas come out of those experiences that could clash in other environments, but with Jesus as our focal point we learn how to gain a synergy together. People that may never have become friends outside of church have deep relationships. Knowing Jesus and His love for us allows us to love others and help them stay close to God no matter where we came from.

Just like Gentile and Jew were united in the beginning under Christ, all of us can come together as one. We can find our place in a new and great family with God as our Father. United we can face the trials and tribulations of life easier and complete the missions God put in our hearts.

I’m glad I accepted Jesus and He planted me in wonderful places as I followed Him. He can do the same for you if you let him.

Made Alive With Christ

This week I would like to start a study on Ephesians chapter 2. It continues what I shared from chapter 1 last week.

Ephesians 2:1-10 NLT

Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. 2 You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5 that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms — all because we are one with Christ Jesus. 7 And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.

8 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

All of us started off as sinners. Many stand as moral and good in human eyes, but still get counted as sinners. Why is this? When looking for human approval only, it can turn selfish fast. We have to do the work ourselves for the reputation we want. God looks at the heart to determine why we chose to be moral and good.

God is not mad at anyone who chooses not to accept Him or Jesus, sent to die on the cross for us. He gave us a way back after man disobeyed in the garden because He loves us. We are dead to Him when not accepting Him and in sin. We gain the eternal life promised by God only by accepting that Jesus died on the Cross and shed His blood to cleanse us. Even Jesus appeared dead to God when He took on our sin before dying. Jesus cried out when He lost His connection to Father God. We have that same disconnect and only Jesus can reconnect it. Jesus resurrected has conquered all and is alive by His Father’s side, where we can be too.

God created us and He longs to bring us back into the family. Our spirit longs to connect with Him again. Don’t fill that longing with worldly things that keep fading away and disappointing. All you have to do is accept Jesus and you are saved. Nothing you do will ever meet the requirements, but praise God, Jesus paid the required price.

Again, what are you waiting for? If you feel empty inside without finding the answer, run to Jesus. If you already accepted Jesus and find yourself off track from His Word or simply feeling disconnected, run to Jesus. He will take you in His arms. You will be part of His family for eternity.

How We Become One With Christ

Ephesians is a great book to study to learn how God’s plan worked to save us to how we can stand and fight the battle with Him. Ephesians 1 talks of God’s plan and how we gain redemption and forgiveness due to His love and grace. He used His Son as the perfect sacrifice to pay the bond price to free us from the slavery of sin.

Eph 1:3-14 NLT

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. 10 And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ — everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

12 God's purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so that we would praise and glorify him.

We have the opportunity of knowing God when we are in Christ. He chose us for salvation, adoption, and forgiveness. Through Him we can gain insight, the gifts of the Spirit, power to do God’s will and the hope of living forever with Christ by trusting God and accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. He chose us first and if we trust Him, we will show this by choosing His way rather than our own. We can never take credit for any of this because it is a gift only gained when we accept Jesus Christ. Our only part is to trust God and then we can learn who He is.

We do not have the means to save ourselves from sin. Jesus paid our bond by dying on the Cross. His blood was worthy of paying the price for everyone, the sacrifices the Jews performed proved temporary and foreshadowed the redemption price paid by Jesus. All slaves are freed with a redemption price and with sin it always required blood, so Jesus let His flow for all of us.

Blood sacrifice turns some people off, but God chose this method. When you think of it, blood is the life force of all living things. All animals have blood and all plants have some sap like flow that moves the required nutrients for life travel throughout the body. Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth and the life. Through Him we can become reconciled once again to God and freed from bondage to sin. He paid the only price that could defeat sin for everyone.

What are you waiting for? We still have time to repent and accept Jesus, but none of us know when the time runs out. Don’t wait to feel better or worthy. Go to Jesus as you are with your confession of true repentance and He will adopt you into His family, cleansed to live a new life because God loves us all and wishes to lose no one.

I’m a Conqueror Because Christ Strengthens Me

Romans 8:35-39 NLT

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? 36(Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep." Psalm 44:22) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. 39 Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing will separate us from Christ unless we turn away ourselves. If we keep following Him we will see the overwhelming victory promised in verse 37 above. Don’t expect every victory to come immediately, but they all come at the right time. No matter how great or little the successes you have seen following Christ, remember them all during the dark battles that seem to have no end. He is never too late.

1 John 5:4 NLT

For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory.

If we do not trust Him, then we will see the defeat by trying to fix things our own way. We need His strength to overcome the world and the schemes against us in the spiritual realm. With the power of Jesus we can bind what is against us and loosen what is for us in agreement with the Word. Trust Him and invoke His Word against what is coming. He will do the rest because it is His power that not only saved us, but will keep us standing firm with Him.

Philippians 4:13 NLT

For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.

We need to believe Christ will give us the power to do whatever He commands of us. He will give us the strength to overcome whatever obstacles try to stop us from doing His will. If you love Jesus, you will want to obey Him and He will give you the power to do so beyond anything you could imagine on your own. Don’t pray for easy things to do. Pray that He strengthens you to go beyond yourself with His power to show His glory to the world in all you do.

Ephesians 6:10 NLT

A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, run to Jesus. I do this a lot some days because life can be hard, but the battle is worth fighting with Christ. Let Him help you be the person He meant you to be. Walk in faith. He will never leave you to your own strength.

Not a Slave to Sin

Colossians 1:13-14 NLT

For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 14 God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.

Galatians 3:13 NLT

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

When we accept Christ He pulls us from the darkness into the light by God’s grace and love. The full law before Christ could save no one, but caused condemnation for doing wrong. Jesus has abolished the curse on the Law by becoming the final and only worthy sacrifice to do so. Once clean we should not have to worry about the enemy or finding ourselves in sin again.

Romans 6:11 NLT

So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.

1 John 5:18 NLT

We know that those who have become part of God's family do not make a practice of sinning, for God's Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot get his hands on them.

There is still a Law to follow: God’s civil and moral law. As a child of God we have the power to fulfill this law with no condemnation. We cannot become a slave to sin again because of accepting Christ and what He did for us. However, once a child of God we need to learn to act like one. With the curse removed we will want to follow God’s rules to please Him and gain the ability to show His love to the rest of the world.

However, we should not expect to keep on sinning just because God’s love and grace will clean us. No, this shows a rebellious side to God much like a child disobeying his father.

Romans 6:1-2 NLT

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

From the beginning it is a journey with God to learn the truth. He loves us and wants us to relate with Him to know the truth on how to live a free and abundant life. We should not want to return to wallowing in the sins we enjoyed before accepting Jesus.

John 8:31-32 NLT

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Run to God as soon as you feel yourself slipping. Pay attention to His warning signs and you will stay on the path of truth away from sin. God wants us to stay His children and will teach us all we need to know if we let Him. What are you waiting for?