No Fear

2 Timothy 1:7
God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

Another translation says he did not give us the spirit of fear. In other words, fear and timidity are not from God.

You might read the Old Testament and wonder about this verse since everyone seemed to live in fear of God. But we must simply understand that we now live under the New Testament.

On this side of salvation, we now have the benefit of knowing more of God's plan. Its not that he changed his plan but his plan was and is in effect from day one.

In the days of the Old Testament God was showing his people a way to realize how far from God they had traversed. To show them the way to the cross, the ultimate triumphant fulfillment of his plan.

His plan all along and still today is not for us to live in fear and despair but to live in Christ who works through us with the full capacity of the Father.

Ephesians 4:32 says Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

Notice the end of the verse; "just as in Christ God forgave you." God forgave us through Christ so that we could live a life with no fear.

Words and steps should go together.

1 John 3:18
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

If there is a verse you want to grab unto this is it! Lots of people want to be eloquent in their words and flattery but their actions ultimately speak.

Jesus said, out of the abundance of your heart your mouth speaks. In other words, you speak love words and act in hate, so your heart is full of deceit!

I think this area is particularly tough for men. We are given to be posers. We like to cover up and be "macho" then we fail to realize that our actions are not even matching the promises we are professing.

So friends, let's really take in this verse today as we walk in truth. Let's think about what we say as we watch our steps match everyone of our words.

Shine like stars

1 John 4:9
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Think about it, that's a lot of love God has for us. Despite knowing that we are not perfect, that we will falter and sin against him. He loved us so much that he gave up his own son so that our lives be secured eternally.

I can't even think of an analogy that will give this act any justice. I believe that our salvation is one of God's greatest miracles.

He knew everything I was going to do wrong in my entire life even before I was conceived. Yet he watched me be born and smiled as he knew that even in my transgressions, he had secured eternal life free from the bondage of sin.

Now its up to us to realize that we are living our eternal life right now, bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus. In other words, our eternal life is now, not when we die and go to heaven.

This is the realization we need to give us strength in our daily lives as Paul states in Philippians 2:14-16 we can shine like stars. As we hold out the word of this eternal life.

Do you love your neighbor?

Matthew 22:37-39
Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Christianity is supposed to be simple. When asked about commandments Jesus responded with today's verse. Then he added that ALL the law is fulfilled in these two commandments.

That's simple. No complex rituals and traditions, no checklists of religious activities you MUST do to be in good graces. It means that you simply love your God and love your neighbor unconditionally.

So that should provoke us to think: if we really loved our neighbor, then we would not look at someone who is different than us with disdain, anger or hate.

Your gay neighbor is one of God's children who has the same measure of grace bestowed upon them (unlimited) as you do. In the same token, your redneck neighbor is one of God's children who also has the same measure of grace as you do.

God loves Democrats and Republicans equally, liberals and conservatives as well. He loves the pastor who has been dillingently serving his church for 30 years as he loves the drunk adulterous man who just walked into the church asking for help.

This is hard for a lot of people. You see, we are proud of our accomplishments. We don't have much patience and understanding for the neighbor that seems to be irresponsible and can't keep up with credit problems. We don't seem to be able to put ourselves in the same realm or world as the octo mom.

But God is clear, he is no respector of human abilities or status (Acts 10:34). In reality, we all fall short of his glory (Rom 3:23). Despite this, he sent his son to boldly declare his love for all of us.

For this reason, Jesus commanded us to be the same way, to love all ALL neighbors regardless of who we think they are.






Bo Lora
210-259-3020
Subscribe to my blog @ www.iwantanewplan.com
-- sent via Blackberry

You have favor from God already

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

This is along the same lines of what I wrote the other day. Do we believe that God wants to punish us?

Let me ask that again just to make sure you understand the question. Do YOU believe that God wants to punish you?

If you do, then you don't understand his perfect love for you? Then you are taking for granted that he gave up his only begotten son so he could give you his perfect love.

So if you believe that God should punish you, you are believing a terrible lie. You are living under the bondage of punishment. You see, whatever we do, always falls short of the perfection of God. Yet he loved us SO much he forsaked his son and in that act of love, he fulfilled his plan to make us perfect.

So in Christ, we are more than conquerors. In Christ, we are made perfect and we are righteous.

But we get tied up with religious activity thinking that it will earn us favor from God. We fail to realize that we already have favor from God which was granted to us almost 2000 years ago at the cross.
Bo Lora
210-259-3020
Subscribe to my blog @ www.iwantanewplan.com
-- sent via Blackberry

Can you really screw up?

Romans 8:38-39
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor the future, nor powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is what the word says. Do you believe this? Are you as convinced?

I ask because there are many of us who seem to be obsessed with thinking they did something to cause God to punish them and not love them any more. Filled with worry that somehow we screwed up and didn't do what God wants us to do.

Yet this verse give us (who are in Christ), 100% assurance of the gift of God which is grace.

Thanks be to God.

God's boundaries are a blessing.

While we have a good sense of what God's boundaries are, its our own made up boundaries which either keep us in the will of God or even stretch us beyond it.


© 2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.
(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

Sometimes we think God has all sorts of boundaries for us and instead we fall into a world of bondage God never intended us to be in.

The fact is that God has put a plan in place. Left to our own accord, we can't stay in his boundaries even if we wanted to. Paul explains this clearly in Romans 7 (For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.)

However, I am so glad that God's grace is sufficient, even when matched with my pure inefficiency and brokenness! When you realize your own brokenness, that's when it is a good idea to come to God in all humbleness and ask for his assistance so that we can live a righteous life in Christ.

What does that kind of life look like? A life within God's boundaries that supplies every need we have according to His riches in glory. Boundaries that protect us from every weapon formed against us.

In all, God's boundaries are a blessing, not a curse.

Encouragement

2 Thessalonians 1:3
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.

Throughout Paul's letters you see this kind of encouragement over and over. While he corrected the new Christians he made sure to also build them up with encouragement.

I think of calls that I get from some friends just to check on me and encourage me. We ought to do that with one another more often. To lift each other up in the name of the Lord.

I think this is what Church is all about. Not some checklist of religious activities but personal relationship with the Father through his son and personal relationships with one another. This matches up with the two commandments Jesus gave us which fulfills the entire law!

Worthless idols...

Jonah 2:8
Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

There are two things to ponder in this verse; What are worthless idols? And can I loose my grace?

First my thoughts on idols:
I might think of an idol as a statue or figurine that worshipers pay tribute to. Certainly that is a clear picture of an idol but in America such obvious examples of idols are not really commonplace.

So what are idols? Things that replace God. They become other gods. False gods. For example, our selfish ambition in the pursuit of status and success is an idol. Alcohol can be an idol to many. Smoking a cigarette to me makes absolutely no sense yet millions wake up every morning to worship the god of tobacco. For what? Who knows...

The problem is that the devil would like to make us think that idolatry is just about statues and figurines. But I believe that idolatry is cloaked in common acceptable things which in fact are worthless yet seem valuable in this world.

Then let's look at the second part of this verse. It sound like there is something we can do to make God not love us any more. Can we screw up and fall out of grace and go to hell? Then I am reminded of the promise "nothing shall separate us from the love of God."

In the New Living Translation this verse says: Those who worship false gods, turn their backs on all God's mercies.

God's mercies are always there, the question is, do we have enough time to receive God's mercies? In other words, if we are too busy paying attention to false gods, are we missing out on Gods gifts to us.

So why do we do this? Some of us wish for God's healing yet got outside to "light it up." We might be needing to loose a few pounds and pray to God to do a work in us yet we can't pass by the Krispy Kreme box without paying homage to the god of fat laden donuts!

Why do we continue to worship these worthless idols when we know they can block the blessings that are bought and paid for already by the blood of Jesus Christ?

Here is my prayer today:
Lord, in Jesus' name please helps us, do a work in us and clearly speak in our minds so that every worthless idol in our life is exposed for the fraud it is and we can be empty so we can receive a full measure of your grace, we need it every day Lord!

Enjoy the promise

Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

When asked about the most important commandment, Jesus recited this verse.

What is not evident in this verse without the context of many other verses is the incredible promises that go along with this verse. If we truely love the Lord his promises will provide us everything we need.

Jesus said "if you love me, you will keep my commandments." You can take this one of to ways:

- as a commandment; meaning "if you say you love me then you should show me by your obedience."

- as a promise; meaning "if you love me, I'll help you obey me."

I believe this is a promise. The command is to love him and believe him and the promise is the comforter we have in us who is the righteous one who helps us in every area of our lives.

So back to the verse and to my point: "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" means just that. That you have complete trust in him. It doesn't mean that you love him so much you have checked off your list of religious duties and did extra credit to earn his love.

It means you know that deep down, you are no good. You fall way short of the glory of God but you live in total dependence that he has bailed you out and gives you the power to live right, to live the life he means for you to live.