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"Grace" in the Life of a Country Boy

Posted by Tkulp , 02 May 2017 · 858 views

As my heart has walked through the Word over the years, seeking a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father, certain Truths have come to my attention which do not fit with main stream teachings.

 

Grace is one such concept. If you listen to preachers and believers talk about grace, it seems that it can mean almost anything that you want, especially people use it to allow them to have sin in their lives, yet be at peace with a belief that they are headed for heaven. (Attached is a pdf of what I was shown about Grace as defined by Paul in his letter to Titus.)

 

If I were to condense the Bible, and its purpose, into one simple concept, I believe it would have to be to "be Holy". The one thing that Satan does not want anyone to be!

 

Down at the bottom are Scriptures, both Old and New, which are just a sample of God's expressed desire for His peculiar people throughout the Bible.

 

God's final provision for us is to be able to be Holy by the power of His Real Grace, the Divine Influence, that can live with in us; the Word? (Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee). Could that be the Logos? ...the Word that was with God in the beginning and one with the Father, as spoken of by John at the start of his account of Jesus Christ. Is this possibly the same concept of the Spirit, of Himself, that Jesus prayed to be "in" His disciples? ...one with His disciples? ...and those that afterwards would believe? (not just a mental knowledge, but a belief that results in active obedience!)

 

John 17:15-23 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world.

 

Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart.

 

"I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.

 

The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one I in them and you in me — that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

 

Jesus said, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father residing in me performs his miraculous deeds. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, believe because of the miraculous deeds themselves." John 14:10-11

 

What an unspeakable gift the Father has made available, what "Grace"! Christ in me, the hope of Glory!

 

"I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God — given to me for you — in order to complete the word of God, that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

 

"We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me." Colossians 1:26-29

 

Oh that you, if you have not already, experience the deliverance, protection, defense or refuge that comes by living under the divine influence, which changes the heart and life. Totally our from under any influence of the world.

 

"For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down, because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith." (...our faithfulness!)1John 5:3-4
(Habakkuk 2:4 NET "...the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness.")

 

 

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Ephesians 5:1 Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children...

Leviticus 11:44-45 for I am the LORD your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any of the swarming things that creep on the ground, for I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, and you are to be holy because I am holy.

Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 20:7-8 “ ‘You must sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. You must be sure to obey my statutes. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

1Peter 1:13-17 Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”
And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here in reverence.


Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Hebrews 12:14 Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.

Attached Files






Once again I was surprised by how things seem to fall into place as I live to obey the Holy Spirit.

 

I have not been able to get the article that I wrote to appear on this blog as I wrote it... with all the formatting. I have been attempting post it for quite a few weeks.

 

Last night I felt to try again and the Lord showed me the way to make it work, by attaching it as a file.

 

I had no idea of the content of Tozer's Devotional for today until I just read it. It is, to me, the confirmation of the Truth that is so lacking in people who call themselves by the name of Christ.

 

Devotion to Things Holy

Success in any field is costly, but the man who will pay the price can have it.

The concert pianist must become a slave to his instrument; four hours, five hours each day he must sit at the keyboard. The scientist must live for his work. The philosopher must devote himself to thought, the scholar to his books. The price may seem excessively heavy, but there are some who consider the reward worthwhile.

The laws of success operate also in the higher field of the soul--spiritual greatness has its price. Eminence in the things of the Spirit demands a devotion to these things more complete than most of us are willing to give. But the law cannot be escaped. If we would be holy we know the way; the law of holy living is before us. The prophets of the Old Testament, the apostles of the New and, more than all, the sublime teachings of Christ are there to tell us how to succeed.

 

Verse

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2

 

Thought

Our minds are so much set on things earthly and so little on things above. To grow in Christ as God desires demands on our part, priority time, and devotion to things holy.

 

Prayer

Lord, I don't want to just float along. I want to grow and I have so much growing to do.

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Tozer had really good follow-up of yesterday's devotional today. As a young Christian I could never understand how the men of God could spend hours in prayer and the Word of God, now I am beginning to understand.

 

I regret all the vain, worthless things that I have chased after in my life; when I could have mastered the piano or guitar. Better, I could have gotten to know my Father better and avoided so many pitfalls.

 

Tozer Devotional  Thu, May 04, 2017

Heart-Seekers

The amount of loafing practiced by the average Christian in spiritual things would ruin a concert pianist if he allowed himself to do the same thing in the field of music. The idle puttering around that we see in church circles would end the career of a big league pitcher in one week. No scientist could solve his exacting problem if he took as little interest in it as the rank and file of Christians take in the art of being holy. The nation whose soldiers were as soft and undisciplined as the soldiers of the churches would be conquered by the first enemy that attacked it. Triumphs are not won by men in easy chairs. Success is costly.

If we would progress spiritually, we must separate ourselves unto the things of God and concentrate upon them to the exclusion of a thousand things the worldly man considers important. We must cultivate God in the solitudes and the silence; we must make the kingdom of God the sphere of our activity and labor in it like a farmer in his field, like a miner in the earth.

Verse

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

Thought

Do we seek Him with all our heart or is it merely an occasional glance? He is to be found in the solitude and silence as well as the emotionally charged moments.

Prayer

Make me a heart-seeker after You, O God. To seek You throughout the day and recognize You when You are found.

 

 

Very Important!

What is the Bible referring to when the King James Version uses the word "heart"?

 

According to the Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionary...

 

The Hebrew definition for H3820

...is the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything.

 

The Greek definition for G2588

....is the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle.

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