Saturday, September 13, 2008

“It is time to Repent”



True repentance is done freely. We don’t repent just when someone else has found you out or discovered your sin.

1 John 1:9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

When we freely admit our sins, it is God’s nature to forgive us.

When we repent we are cleansed right away from all unrighteousness, all that is not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, & action.

Repent means to turn from sin, change directions. Sin is anything against God, His ways, His standard, His word, & His law. Once you turn, change direction, you must turn to Christ, depending on what He did at Calvary to forgive you, for mercy, & for all that comes with salvation.

When we do repent, turn, & confess our sins there will be a time of refreshing.

Acts 3:19 So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord...

There will even be recovery from the damages of sin. PRAISE GOD!

SIn leads to more sin & becomes a downward motion. You get deeper & deeper & become in bondage to it. The only way out is to repent, to look to what Jesus did for you at Calvary, & with the help of the Holy Spirit who gives you power to overcome.

You will perish if we do not confess & turn from your sins. (turn with abhorrence)

Luke 13:3 I tell you, No; but unless you repent (change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost eternally.

Wow, what a strong word Abhorrence. Today sin is so excepted that we just glaze over it. Things that we thought were sin when we first got saved, are no longer sin (or is it).

Acts 26:20 But made known openly first of all to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout the whole land of Judea, and also among the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works and live lives consistent with and worthy of their repentance.

We need to live our lives worthy of our repentance. If we truly have repented our lives will show it.

We need to live a life of repentance. Looking to Jesus Daily. (Heb. 12:2) Trusting daily. Die Daily to self. Humble yourself daily. We live & move & have our being in Him daily. We walk in the light daily. We walk in the Spirit daily. We look for help of the Holy Spirit daily. Just because you did things yesterday does not mean it carries you through today.

His mercies are new every morning. We can have a new day each day. Yesterday is past, tomorrow is not here, today is the only day we can live.

We were buried with Him so we could live in newness of life.
Rom. 6:4 We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life.

We all have sinned. Rom 3:23-24 So it doesn’t matter if you are just getting born again or you have been saved a long time, you must repent & turn from anything that does not & is not of God. And then turn to Jesus.

We do not take the time to repent. We do not repent enough. We have excepted sin so long that we deceive ourselves into believing that we are OK and it is not sin.

I heard something yesterday that hit me strong. Rom. 6:7 whatever a man soweth, that will he reap. There are times we sow bad seed & weeds grow. A bad crop grows & repentance is the only way to kill those weeds & bad crop.

To take heed, Repent, turn to God or you will reap what you sow!!!!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

"Jesus is praying for you"



Wow, This is Jesus interceding for His disciples & beyond(US). His words, the words of my Savior. He loves us so much that He is ever interceding for us (How could we fail? when we have such a one who has & is praying for us.) We win & have won because we are covered with His prayers. We are not alone. When we feel like we are or feel like no one is praying for us, we must think again. Read the following prayer for you!!(If you don’t want to read the whole thing at least read VS 3, 9, 13, 15, 17, 20 & 26.)

John 17:1-26
1 WHEN JESUS had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify and exalt and honor and magnify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify and extol and honor and magnify You.
2 [Just as] You have granted Him power and authority over all flesh (all humankind), [now glorify Him] so that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.

3 And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.
4 I have glorified You down here on the earth by completing the work that You gave Me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify Me along with Yourself and restore Me to such majesty and honor in Your presence as I had with You before the world existed.
6 I have manifested Your Name [I have revealed Your very Self, Your real Self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have obeyed and kept Your word.
7 Now [at last] they know and understand that all You have given Me belongs to You [is really and truly Yours].
8 For the [uttered] words that You gave Me I have given them; and they have received and accepted [them] and have come to know positively and in reality [to believe with absolute assurance] that I came forth from Your presence, and they have believed and are convinced that You did send Me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying (requesting) for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they belong to You.
10 All [things that are] Mine are Yours, and all [things that are] Yours belong to Me; and I am glorified in (through) them. [They have done Me honor; in them My glory is achieved.]
11 And [now] I am no more in the world, but these are [still] in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep in Your Name [in the knowledge of Yourself] those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We [are one].
12 While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in Your Name [in the knowledge and worship of You]. Those You have given Me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost except the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot--the one who is now doomed to destruction, destined to be lost], that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts].
14 I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.
18 Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 And so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made holy) in the Truth.
20 Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching,
21 That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.
22 I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one:
23 I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me.
24 Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You [continually]; and these men understand and know that You have sent Me.
26 I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very [c]Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them.

Satan wants us to feel alone. He wants us to think that no one cares and no one is praying for us. That is a lie. Wow, we have a Savior that not only died for us so that our sins are forgiven, past, present, & future, but He has & is praying for us so we can have eternal life.

VS 3 And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.

1) To know HIM
2) Have Eternal life

He wants us to have Eternal life & to know the only true God & to know Jesus who God has sent. He did so much just so we could have these things. He is still praying for us. We also have the Holy Spirit interceding for us.

Romans 8:26-39

26 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will.
34 Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?

VS 31 says What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]

So if We have these praying for us, how can we fail? The next scriptures also say who can separate us from Christ’s love? NOTHING & NO ONE!! Be encouraged today. You are LOVED! You are NOT ALONE! You do have someone praying FOR YOU!! You will NOT FAIL! You will MAKE IT! God is for YOU!!s