Laced With Grace

There are several things in my life that I wish I could erase or rewrite. The first would be the time in second grade when I drew all over the walls of the Christian school I was attending with a permanent marker. Unfortunately during that time, Principals had authority to spank the students, which I learned firsthand. Or when I was older and I turned down the one guy who I would have had a great time going to Homecoming with, instead I went with someone who I thought I was “cooler” and did not enjoy my time.

I am positive my parents taught me to not deface public property and also they taught me to not trust what society labeled as “cool.” Unfortunately somewhere deep inside I did not take to heart what they were teaching. Many of us fall in the same trap when we study the bible. I mean Philippians 4:8 says to think on whatever is true, honorable, right and pure, yet millions watch soap operas daily and play music with questionable lyrics. And Ephesians 4:29 warns us to not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, yet we struggle with salty language and gossip.

But the one that gets to me is Romans 5:3-4

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope..

Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope…um Lord can I just go from bad day to hope? The word “endurance” means a long period of time. After suffering and endurance only then do you develop character which produces hope.

If I were an author in the bible this is one of those verses I would say “Lord are you sure? Is this what you really want to say?”

But God is Truth.

If you have ever sat with a loved one who has suffered from a disease or a young woman who struggled with the “long period of time” of infertility or a man who has struggled with years of unemployment. God does not allow these periods of suffering to go to waste; in the midst of the pain He is developing character and that character develops into unshakable hope.

Is it easy, no!

The good news is, if you have spoken with anyone on the other side of suffering; when they look back they can give you testimony of how God walked with them step by step and how their faith became the rock foundation that everything else rests upon.

If you are in the midst of suffering it is during that period you rely on God’s word—not your feelings—knowing that God will not allow this period of suffering go to waste. In the end, if you allow it, this trial will bring glory to God and develop in you an unshakable hope in Christ.

Heavenly Father, if there is a brother or sister out there going through a period of suffering I pray you will wrap them in your comfort today and develop in them endurance that only comes through the power of knowing Christ as their Savior.  Amen

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. Often when we think of Christmas we associate it with the feelings of joy, peace and goodwill. Joy because the Savior has come, peace because He is the Prince of Peace and goodwill because Christ instills us with the attitude of benevolence towards others.

These are all good things—important things—but there was only one thing on God’s mind when He sent His son…..that was destruction.

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8

The only reason Christ came was to destroy evil! Each one of us is evil and each one of us deserves death. So God—because he loves you so much— sent Christ to offer us the opportunity to choose life. Christ who is blameless came to take upon himself our evil and in return made us righteous.

How do we know if we are born of God? Well John continues to say:

9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Often we read this passage assuming John is stating that once we become a Christian we can no longer sin. But that is incorrect, John is saying we will sin, we will fall down but with Christ in us we will hate the sin. Christ in us leads us to repentance.

So what if you are living in habitual sin and have not repented of that sin. Then John says, “Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child.”

Sometimes we like to make bible passages seem warm and fuzzy making it easier to swallow. But this passage says if you are living in habitual sin and you think you are Christian, you are not. Sure there are seasons of sin in peoples lives and it may take time to come around to repentance, but Christ says if there is no repentance then you are not God’s child.

So my question is, do you hate evil like Christ hates evil?

If you are not a believer, Christ is opening up his arms and is offering you life this Christmas. His only reason for coming as baby in a manager is so he can come to destroy the sin that binds you.  All he asks you to do is admit you are sinner and he will cleanse you from all sin (not some sin, not just the light sins, but ALL, ALL, ALL, SINS!)

[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
(1 John 1:9-10 ESV)

If you are a Christian, spend this season reflecting on any sin in your life that you may need to repent. We will all fall down and continue to sin until Christ comes again, but because His seed is in us, our sin should lead to repentance.

In the meantime we anxiously wait for the time when He comes again. Just think, he came as a baby and defeated evil, imagine what it will be like when he returns as the King he is!

Merry Christmas!

[4] And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. [5] For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. [6] And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. [8] All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
(Matthew 24:4-8 ESV)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
(1 John 4:1 ESV)

I just finished reading The Twelve Imam by Joel C. Rosenberg. I have reviewed the book here and it is a fiction story, but one with a lot of truth. The Twelfth Imam is the coming Islamic messiah and they believe that the destruction of Israel and America will bring about the return of the Twelfth Imam of Mohammed to our world.

Like I stated before this book is fiction but written around true prophesy. In Matthew 24 it states “many WILL come” and “you WILL hear of wars and rumors of wars.” During the coming days we will have individuals rise up calling themselves the messiah, they will show great wonders and signs. These are false prophets. False prophets are people who claim to speak for God but are actually speaking by demonic influence. These false prophets will be able to perform things you can not explain, but they will be doing them to lead you astray.

In 1 John, John warns us to test the spirits to see if they are from God. In my ESV study bible it states: If a spirit does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that spirit or person is misleading God’s people. Anyone can talk about Jesus and even believe that he lived on earth, as other religions, cults, and philosophies often affirm. But unless such people affirm both the full deity and the full humanity of Jesus, they are not truly “confessing Jesus,” but, as John states in unequivocal terms, they are under the influence of the spirit of the antichrist.

After reading this powerful book by Joel C. Rosenberg I believe many of us are asleep to what is happening over in Iran. It is a spiritual warfare more than a political warfare. The good news is we, as Christians washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, can rest in the assurance that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Satan can not touch us, even in death we are victorious.

Another piece of good news, we know who wins in the end.  There will be great damage, but they do not win!

Heavenly Father, my heart is heavy for my fellow believers who are living under persecution in Iran. We take for granted the bibles we can have in our homes, many in Iran have only the teachings of other believers. Father make yourself evident to them and I pray in the coming days more people will follow the true Messiah, not a false prophet. Help us also to be alert to the coming false prophets and if we have already fallen prey to any false beliefs I pray you will reveal this to us. Thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for our sins. Amen