An Honorable Manager

An Honorable Manager: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much....” Lk16:10 wp.me/p29yfQ-tR #God #leadership

GOD-SENT CHRISTIANS

GOD-SENT CHRISTIANS – Neil Anderson

1 Corinthians 6:20

You have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body

If I were asked to determine the spiritual vitality of any religious group using only one criterion, I would evaluate its representative leaders. Are they a group of individuals vying for power, arming themselves with arguments to defend their position and exert their will? Or are they servant leaders knit together by the Holy Spirit who are collectively trying to discern God's will?

Similarly, if I wanted to determine the spiritual vitality of an individual using only one criterion, I would evaluate whether the person desires to live according to the will of God, or if he desires to do his own thing. The prayer of a vital, growing Christian is, "Make me know Thy ways, O LORD; teach me Thy paths" (Psalm 25:4).

Once our will is bent in the right direction, Jesus raises the additional question of motive: "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him" (John 7:18). The person who is true glorifies the one who sent him.

This is perfectly modeled in the Godhead. Notice first the example of Jesus: "For I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me" (John 8:42). The Holy Spirit acts in the same way. In John 16:13, 14, Jesus said, "He [the Spirit] will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak. . . . He shall glorify Me."

I can take this one step further. Are you ready for this? Jesus said in John 20:21: "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." Granted, that was said to the apostles, but we are all under the Great Commission. Do you want to be true? Then glorify the One who sent you! People who know they are God-sent and are committed to live like that, glorify God. Self-sent people seek their own glory.

Prayer: Today, Lord, I purpose to reflect my appointment as Your sent-one by glorifying You instead of myself.

 

GUILTLESS:

8/5/13, 5:33 AM GUILTLESS: "...we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Heb.10:11 wp.me/p29yfQ-tM

THE COUNTERFEITS

THE COUNTERFEITS – Neil Anderson

John 8:24

Unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins

In assessing counterfeits to Christianity, no criterion is more important than the Person of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote: "I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough" (2 Corinthians 11:3, 4 NIV ).

Other religions may talk about Jesus, but they present Him in another way than He is presented in Scripture. They may talk about the same historical Jesus, but not about the Son of God, the Alpha and Omega, and the great I AM. Jesus said, "Unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sin" (John 8:24). If you believe in Jesus in any other way than how He is presented in the Bible, you will receive an altogether different spirit instead of the Holy Spirit and an altogether different gospel instead of the gospel of grace.

The counterfeit spirits which are at work in the cults and the occult are nothing like the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you" (John 16:13, 14). The Holy Spirit always leads us back to Christ.

The counterfeit gospel is not a gospel of grace because the blood of bulls and goats will never take away sin, so you are left with a gospel of works. But the real Jesus died for our sins, the Spirit of truth has come, and we are marvelously saved by grace.

Prayer: Lord, I want to be so filled with the knowledge of Your truth that I may quickly recognize and turn from all counterfeits of the gospel.

 

ALWAYS RIGHT

ALWAYS RIGHT: “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just...” Deut 32:4 wp.me/p29yfQ-tI #devotion #God #trust

According to His Will – Alistair Begg

According to His Will – Alistair Begg

Ephesians 1:11

Our belief in God's wisdom supposes and necessitates that He has a settled purpose and plan in the work of salvation. What would creation have been without His design? Is there a fish in the sea or a bird in the air that was formed by chance? No; in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood-vessel, you see the presence of a God working everything according to the design of infinite wisdom. And will God be present in creation, ruling over all, but not in grace? Shall the new creation have the fickle genius of free will to preside over it when divine counsel rules the old creation? Look at providence!

We know that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. God weighs the mountains of our grief in scales, and the hills of our tribulation in balances. And shall there be a God in providence and not in grace? Shall the shell be ordained by wisdom and the kernel left to blind chance? No; He knows the end from the beginning. He sees in its appointed place not merely the cornerstone that He has laid in fair colors, in the blood of His dear Son, but He sees each of the chosen stones taken out of the quarry of nature, placed in their ordained position, and polished by His grace. He sees the whole from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from foundation to pinnacle. In His mind he has a clear knowledge of every stone that will be put in its prepared space, and how vast the structure will be when the capstone is set in place with shouts of "Grace! Grace!" In the end it will be clearly seen that in every child of God, Jehovah did as He planned with His own; and in every part of the work of grace He accomplished His purpose and glorified His own name.

HIS ACCEPTED, ADOPTED CHILD

HIS ACCEPTED, ADOPTED CHILD – Dr. Neil Anderson

1 John 3:2

Beloved, now we are children of God

Having a right relationship with God begins with settling once and for all the issue that God is your loving Father and you are His accepted, adopted child. That's the foundational truth of your spiritual heritage. You are a child of God, you are created in His image, you have been declared righteous by Him because you trust that what Christ accomplished in His death and resurrection is applicable to you. As long as you believe that and walk accordingly, your daily experience of practical Christianity will result in growth. But when you forget who you are, and try to produce in your daily experience the acceptance God has already extended to you, you'll struggle. We don't serve God to gain His acceptance; we are accepted so we serve God. We don't follow Him in order to be loved; we are loved so we follow Him.

That's why you are called to live by faith (Romans 1:16, 17). The essence of the victorious Christian life is believing what is already true about you. Do you have a choice? Of course! Satan will try to convince you that you are an unworthy, unacceptable, sin-sick person who will never amount to anything in God's eyes. Is that who you are? No, you are not! You are a saint whom God has declared righteous. Believing Satan's lie will lock you into a defeated, fruitless life. But believing God's truth about your identity will set you free.

Your perception of your identity makes such a big difference in your success at dealing with the challenges and conflicts of your life. It is imperative to your growth and maturity that you believe God's truth about who you are.

The Bible says, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are" (1 John 3:1). Tragically, many believers are desperately trying to become something they already are, while others are living like something they aren't. It's true: "Beloved, now we are children of God" (1 John 3:2).

Prayer: Lord God, I affirm anew that I am Your blood-bought child. The evil one cannot touch me as long as I live according to my position in Christ.