Do Faith, It Pleases

“How many of you think God is really pleased with you?” In the natural a person can choose to love you because of his or her own goodness, but to be pleased with you, they actually have to like your performance. Right?

With God, no one could ever be pleasing to Him based on performance. His standard is perfection, and no goodness on our part can ever compensate for our sins. We may please man with our actions, but “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

Once one becomes more thoroughly aware of the exceeding sinfulness of sin within himself it calls up the question, “What must one do?” Notice the word “do.” Does this not indicate activity of some kind? In other words, are we willing to expend some measure of energy—work—to begin stopping actions of sin in our lives?
The way we receive the forgiveness that’s available through Jesus’ blood is by faith (Rom. 10:9-17). When we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we are pleasing God. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him.”

Faith comes from the heart (Rom. 10:10), and God looks on the heart — not the actions.

It’s our hearts that really concern God, and faith in Him (trust, reliance) is what He is searching the heart for.

A person whose actions are not right but who trusts the Lord is more pleasing to God than an individual who is doing the right things but has no faith in God. It’s not a case of those who act the best will get accepted, and those who act the worst get rejected. That would put some of the followers of other religions ahead of many Christians, but that is not what the Bible teaches.

This is exactly the point Paul is making in Romans 11:6: “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” The amplified says it this way “⁶But if it is by grace (His unmerited favor and graciousness), it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace [it would be meaningless].” It’s one way or the other but it cannot be a combination of the two. We’re either saved by God’s grace through what Jesus did for us, or we’re saved by what we do without Jesus, but not a combination of the two.
If God used performance as the basis of whether or not He was pleased with us, no one would ever pass the test. “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” (Ps. 130:3).

Satan used to accuse me and say, “What makes you think God will use you?” The truth is that none of us are perfect. We don’t deserve the blessings of God. We must put our faith in Jesus. It’s hard for some people to accept this. It has been ingrained in us that if we aren’t holy, God won’t bless us. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your goodness — He sees Jesus. If he saw us we would all be doomed.

If you’re walking in faith, God is pleased with you even though your actions don’t measure up. The worst sin is self-righteousness. The attitude that God owes it to you because you’ve been good is erroneous. When it comes to God, your performance can’t earn you anything. Because you have, do and will sin, you need a savior. It is your faith in the FINISHED work of Jesus that will grant you access to God.

I’m not advocating sin. Your actions are important. Your holiness is important because it changes your heart toward God but it does not change God’s heart toward you.

The actions and consequences of sin will hurt you. Even though God will love you just as much, you won’t love God as much. It will harden your heart toward God. If you constantly live in sin and never feed yourself spiritually, it will kill you. I am not saying you should ignore your actions. You will never do everything perfectly, but don’t let it keep you from receiving the blessings of God.

Look at Peter during the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. He denied the Lord three times. He cursed and blasphemed God, and yet Jesus prayed that his faith wouldn’t fail. Jesus’ prayers were always answered. Peter’s actions failed, but not his faith. He was restored to God and went on to become a pillar of the church.

Some of you may be thinking, this is great — I can live like the devil and still get what I want from God.” If you think that, I would ask are you truly born again, because a True Believer wants to please God. This word is for Believer’s who have a desire to serve God and live by FAITH in His completed work.

HH&MC

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all.

Joy to the WORLD, the Lord has come, let earth receive her KING! For unto us a son was born, a Son was given. Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) – “ For to us a child is born,to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

He is our Wonderful Counselor – Wonderful (extraordinary, hard to understand thing), Counselor (to advise, consult, give counsel, purpose, devise, plan). The name “Counselor” speaks of His wisdom (Omniscient-ALL KNOWING). Do you know when wisdom is worthless? It is when it is not available and when it cannot be applied to your Life. But with Jesus it is available and can be applied to your life. As the Wonderful Counselor, God Became Available to us. He became a personal God. As Wonderful Counselor, Jesus came with an assurance of hope in a world that sometimes seems hopeless; Jesus brought hope to those who had no hope. No situation or problem is too difficult for Him to solve. With that truth surely He has brought JOY to the world.

I declare upon every readers life the prosperity of His WONDERFUL Counsel, Joy, Peace and prosperity, as we begin our exit of 2014 and the entry into the awesome prospects that await you in 2015. I speak a blessing over your health, finance, families and life. No matter your nationality, race, creed or color or religion leanings, He THE wonderful counselor is available to you. For some 2015 is going to be LIFE CHANGING as you begin to walk in His counsel.

Be Blessed and God Bless the WORLD and cause us your children to be a blessing!!

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW, IS LOVE SWEET LOVE

1 John 4:15-17

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

Have you noticed a lot of people across the world talk about God’s love and other moral things, but it often merely camouflages their real intentions. These talking heads are not peaceable, righteous people, but are deceivers seeking an opposing purpose. More than likely that purpose is self-serving. I myself have grown tired of the hypocrisy. The so called Christian conservatives that FAIL to show the heart of Christ towards children crossing the border, the leader of our country, the people from another ethnic or financial status. The calls for a “Holy war” except the ones doing the call are not the ones on the front lines while wearing Rolex watches and silently accumulating wealth. Love cannot be shown while preying on others.

Today’s Christians are the victims of an age that is apathetic to a true relationship with God. He is saying that in His own church there are some who know that He is at the door, yet will not get up to answer it and fellowship with Him! They are refusing to fellowship with Him. They are so far from Him that they do not even see their need. If there is no awareness of need, there is no desire; no desire, no prayer; no prayer, no relationship, and back to no awareness of need. It runs in a vicious circle. AND THAT becomes COMFORTABLE.

But God wants to rekindle an awareness of need. Awareness of need to see clearly how holy, gracious, kind, merciful, and good He is, and then we will want to be like He is. In other words, we so admire and respect Him and His qualities that we want to be near Him and will chase after Him, diligently seeking after Him like a lover seeking after His Love. We will exalt Him and seek to honor Him by being like Him. WHAT IS HE LIKE? GOD IS LOVE!!

Do we really want to be like God? Our frequent contact with God, or lack of it, is an easy, concrete measurement for both God and ourselves to know the true answer.

What is the purpose of love? Love is the desire to enhance another. God is love. God builds, he strengthens, he helps – all the while he is being resisted, rejected and ignored. God loves us. That means he wants to do us good. If we reject him, it is because we do not want his ways or his lifestyles. It is because we have deluded ourselves into believing that our way is better than his way.

If our lives are not motivated by love, we become corrupted, contaminated and diseased by other spiritual forces. If we do not love our spouses, our children, our families, our fellowman, then we have indicated that we care nothing about their end. The failure to love is a form of abandonment. It says I don’t care how you turn out. Wow, imagine if that was God’s thought towards you. It says your life is unimportant to me. It says I am selfish – I don’t want to be involved in your well-being. God requires us to love every man, because in doing so, we become partners with God in the redeeming of mankind, ALL of mankind not just those who look like us. When we love our neighbors, we are allied with God in salvaging ALL the human race. When we love our children, we are allied with God in the saving of ALL children. When we love the Father, we are allied with God in the saving ourselves.

When we do NOT love others, we align against the will of God. We are neglecting what God is trying to build up. We are ignoring a cause that is uppermost in the mind of God. Husbands should love their wives. Wives should love their husbands. Parents should love their children and children should love their parents. It is illogical to think that we can help any society while we are neglecting our most fundamental responsibility… to LOVE. So my question is this, “are we displaying…no it needs to be more focused, are YOU displaying the reflection of LOVE? “; because as He is, so are we in this world.” … and He is love! Where has LOVE gone, will we find LOVE, REAL LOVE in time? Where is the love……where are you? You are to be the personification of Him.

I Am Hearing Voices

I have been off-line for a week or so because my youngest son and his family came to visit me here in Florida. I have not seen them in over a year and a half’s time and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. During that time my grandson illustrated something to me. He’s approximately 15 months old and I had not seen him since he was about a month old and obviously he did not recognize me so when I saw him last weekend I went to pick him up and hold him and to show him affection. I was calling his name and immediately he began to cry and to reach out for his father despite my best efforts of trying to woo him and to demonstrate and show him love. He still with adamant fervor tried to make his way into the arms of his father, crying and with tears running down his face reaching for dad. In that, even though it was disappointing I saw the God lesson.

John10:4 – 5 “…and they follow Him because they know His voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” His sheep will not follow a stranger. They indeed will flee because they don’t know this strange voice.

Now in my case, as a grandfather naturally that is kind of disappointing but in the spiritual how much more should we have the reaction of my grandson? When we hear and listen to the voice of a stranger many times we are wooed and pulled in by the voice and its promises or perceived benefits. Draw back to memory the event of Eve and the serpent in the Garden. But the Word of God says my sheep know my voice. They know the tone, yes, they know the accent, yes, but they also have an intimate understanding of the being, the persona, projecting the sound, the voice. They have an understanding of who He is. This understanding is far more than words and sound. It is knowledge derived from personal experience. His care, His loving kindness, his provision, His protection, His tender touch when He draws you in close to Himself. However, His sheep, upon recognizing that the sound, the voice, is not familiar but strange will flee and turn away and will not follow it.

Now traditionally I think most “religious” people put that “voice” that “sound” into context of the stranger being the devil or being something of a demonic nature but let’s have a Nu Mind thought. A lot of times that voice, that sound which we should flee from, are closely related to us. It is recognizable DNA. It is a part of our nature from the first Adam. The sounds are comprised of many things that we are embracing instead of fleeing. These voices or more specifically this sound is foreign yet prevalent throughout the world today. Religious or not, a Christian or not, believer in nothing or an unbeliever in everything, can you hear them? The voice of greed, treachery, manipulation, deception, seduction, adultery, bullying, sabotage, false accusation, superiority, murder, destruction, pride (cultural, self, or national), self-love, racism, sexism, politics and religion etc. They are a strange voice not illustrating or eliminating the voice, the sound, and the character, of the Father. Yet for many these voices are seductive. The promise, the bribe of power, fame and fortune is alluring. Can you hear them? Come here and hear little girl, would you like come candy? Come here and hear young man, sell this dope and make a quick buck. Come here and hear government rulers, politician, corporate executive and “religious” leader and presume a dictatorial stance against your own people and amass personal wealth and prorogate fear to bolster you own insecurities. These are familiar strange voices.

I tried animal cookies to entice my grandson from his daddy’s arms, but to no avail. A one-year-old child said I don’t know this voice, and I am not trying to get close to it. This sound, it is strange and it doesn’t sound like what my Father would say.

My lesson learned and reinforced this past week was this. RUN with arms outstretched to the Father! Flee the voice of strangers and reach out and cry for the one you can depend on to protect, hold and shield you from the strangely familiar. Understand, no matter your race, creed, religion or nationality, these voices are not from without but are from within. They are family by nature. Quit pretending you do not hear them. They are whispering to you in the darkness of the night and beckoning to you in the brightness of the day. BUT my sheep know my voice, my sound, my character and a strange sound he will not follow.

Question, what is the voice, what is the sound that is trying to move you from your Father’s presence? What voice is trying to move you from the lap of He who loves you? What voice is making you curious? What voice is it trying to seduce you with things and with positions and with power and with fortune? What is the promise? What would it take to draw you from the lap of your Father into the arms of a familiar stranger? What is getting you to compromise?

It’s official. I’m no longer a Christian!

I am giving up my “Christian card”. The term “Christian” is no longer what I want to be known as. Before you turn away hear me out. The word “Christian” is only found 3 times in Scripture, none of which Jesus’ uses. It was initially used as a derogatory term, like the “N” word. It was not a term of endearment. Gradually, through acceptance of it’s meaning “Christ like”, the word “Christian” became a standard for a religious viewpoint. For me, it is not the word, “Christian” that I can know longer align myself to, but it is the definition and the illustration of that word. Have you been paying close attention to our world today? Answer me this, what as an unbeliever would inspire you to become a “Christian” today? What can you point to that is universally the indisputable and unshakeable standard of the word Christian across the board? If the word’s initial definition is “Christ like”, then why does “their” Christ like, and “your” Christ like and “my” Christ like look different from each other’s? Is Christ schizophrenic? Is it denominationally or culturally, or racially or politically based? It appears to be the case based upon its nature of separatism. I am personally so ashamed of how so called conservative “Christian” have either bought into the ploy of politics or are treacherously hypocritical in order to reach a political goal. Their actions of name-calling, lying, denigrating, fighting, etc., is that “Christ like”? What is the draw to a un-believer? The word “Christian” has become a joke to the world because it leaves so much too one’s interpretation of the “word” and the personal manipulation of the one using the “word”. This too is also where the real problem lies. We argue and differentiate between the “interpretations” of the words of Christ instead of what He ACTUALLY did. I heard an “evangelical Christian” politician quote the Old Testament verse” “if you do not work, you do not eat” as a reason for not helping the poor and unemployment increase etc. Hhhmmm! I seem to recall Jesus saying in Matthew 25:33 – 40, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me…. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. How can one misinterpret or remotely over look that as a “Christian”? John 13:34-35 says “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples (not Christians), if ye have love one to another.”

Let me say this, I want to be identified only as a “disciple” and follower of Jesus Christ. He never once said become a Christian, but over 90 times He says, “follow me”. The word “follow” in the Greek does not just mean “trail” as we know it in the English language. It also means to be a particle of union or to be an attached piece to the whole. It means to copulative, bonded, yoked as one. His footsteps are my footsteps. His actions are my actions. His words are my words. His showing of love is my showing of love. If we mirrored Him completely and became His reflection in the earth would there be so many different “Christian” images? You might have your own interpretation on what He said and what He meant but you cannot question what He did. No I am no longer a Christian. I want to be a follower of Christ. I want to be one of His disciples. I also learn I cannot “be” like him, but He can “be” in me, but that is next week’s thought. So from this day forward… let me be a “follower of Christ”.