It would be impossible to list every source of the words and information that make up my blog. They are a culmination of books I've read, sermons I've heard, lessons learned from people I've met, life experiences and information gleaned from the internet,
“Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue. -Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (1888-1953)
“Men may flee from the sunlight to dark and musty caves of the earth, but they cannot put out the sun. So men may in any dispensation despise the grace of God, but they cannot extinguish it.” -A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
We can but trust, and lift our heads to greet each breaking day. That Christ will lead us safely home and help us find our way. The best we can is not enough but grace our debts will pay. Tis true tis true for me and you, there's nothing left to say... quote
Grace
"For the law was by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:17
God's grace is described by some as simply his willingness to provide for our needs, be they spiritual or physical. By God's grace I am eternally saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By grace I receive the power and strength to live a Christian life. By grace I am healed and by grace my needs are met. There is nothing I could ever do to earn anything from God, I am not good enough nor can I ever do enough to make a dent on my own unrighteousness.
Here is where I blow the grace "trumpet" and beat the grace "drum". Christ alone is good enough, and we are saved by his death on the cross, plus nothing else. Accept his sacrifice, it is enough, the price is paid, deed done, forever. This is not even open for debate, it is truth. 1 Timothy 1:15 tells us that "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Yet there are many different opinions on how this all works and as to what this all entails. Honestly, I'm not sure I fully understand the balance between God's "Father Love" and his disdain for sin.
The Bible tells us that He loves us even more than a mother loves her child. Isaiah 49:15,16 asks "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;" We are tattooed on the palms of his hands!!! Is that love or what??? A loving God stands ever ready, more than willing and able to forgave our sins and to accept us into his kingdom.
Yet Rev. 21:8 tells us that " the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-shall have their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." As much as I hate to admit it, it's true that many who fit in these categories sit in Church every Sunday. You can tell me that they were never "saved" but I have been in this business a long time and I have seen tears of repentance followed by many repeats of past bad performance. I know I had a real born-again experience as a child but fell away for a time in my teens. Can a born-again Christian make heaven with active sin in their life? I struggle with this possibility. I am familiar with my own wayward heart and I understand the darkness that can be there. You and I have seen long standing pillars and preachers fall from "grace". Even the Apostle Paul worried that he might no be able to "go the distance" in 1 Corinthians 9:27 he says "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means , when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
God puts considerable store in "free will" that's what the whole plan of creation is about, he wanted a creature who would choose to love and serve him. We choose to become Christians and we can choose to cease to be Christians, weather by conscious choice or by neglect, bit by bit falling away from the Savior. Your relationship with Christ was compared in the Song of Solomon with that of a woman and her lover. When she refused to get up in the middle of the night to open the door to let him in, he left, and she had to go about seeking him. She needed to be more attentive to her lover. We cannot pray the sinners prayer and forget about it, we have to stay in touch with our Master and as a good wife seeks to please her husband we must attempt to live in such a way as to be pleasing to Christ.
Then is the grace of God of no effect? Are we saved then through our actions? Nonsense, Christ died once and for all, for all, everything we will ever need is wrapped up in the atonement. It struck me as I thought on this subject a few nights ago that since I am a parent who unconditionally loves her children and would forgive them anything, maybe God who loves us even more might forgive our unrepented sin because we are his children. I wish this was true, but if one of my adult children decided to break communication with me, there would be nothing I could do, it would break my heart but I would have to just let them go.
God loves the sinner but he hates sin, We see in Mark 15:34 that He had to turn away from His son as he was dying. This was because the sin of mankind rested on Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." If God couldn't even look at his own son in that moment how could he allow a practicing sinner into his kingdom even though at some point in time that person prayed the sinner's prayer. Revelation 22:14 - Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
The way is made clear and the price is paid but remember the parable in Matthew 25:1-11 of the wise and foolish virgins, all were virgins, all had lamps but five got lazy and inattentive and allowed themselves to run out of oil. I repeat, there is nothing we can do to "earn" our salvation but we must still be vigilante when it comes to our heavenly father, we must stay in contact with him, we must avoid sin where we can and trust his "grace' to carry us through in spite of our feeble efforts and make up for our mistakes and weakness. Where our strength ends grace begins..
God's grace is described by some as simply his willingness to provide for our needs, be they spiritual or physical. By God's grace I am eternally saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By grace I receive the power and strength to live a Christian life. By grace I am healed and by grace my needs are met. There is nothing I could ever do to earn anything from God, I am not good enough nor can I ever do enough to make a dent on my own unrighteousness.
Here is where I blow the grace "trumpet" and beat the grace "drum". Christ alone is good enough, and we are saved by his death on the cross, plus nothing else. Accept his sacrifice, it is enough, the price is paid, deed done, forever. This is not even open for debate, it is truth. 1 Timothy 1:15 tells us that "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Yet there are many different opinions on how this all works and as to what this all entails. Honestly, I'm not sure I fully understand the balance between God's "Father Love" and his disdain for sin.
The Bible tells us that He loves us even more than a mother loves her child. Isaiah 49:15,16 asks "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;" We are tattooed on the palms of his hands!!! Is that love or what??? A loving God stands ever ready, more than willing and able to forgave our sins and to accept us into his kingdom.
Yet Rev. 21:8 tells us that " the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-shall have their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." As much as I hate to admit it, it's true that many who fit in these categories sit in Church every Sunday. You can tell me that they were never "saved" but I have been in this business a long time and I have seen tears of repentance followed by many repeats of past bad performance. I know I had a real born-again experience as a child but fell away for a time in my teens. Can a born-again Christian make heaven with active sin in their life? I struggle with this possibility. I am familiar with my own wayward heart and I understand the darkness that can be there. You and I have seen long standing pillars and preachers fall from "grace". Even the Apostle Paul worried that he might no be able to "go the distance" in 1 Corinthians 9:27 he says "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means , when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
God puts considerable store in "free will" that's what the whole plan of creation is about, he wanted a creature who would choose to love and serve him. We choose to become Christians and we can choose to cease to be Christians, weather by conscious choice or by neglect, bit by bit falling away from the Savior. Your relationship with Christ was compared in the Song of Solomon with that of a woman and her lover. When she refused to get up in the middle of the night to open the door to let him in, he left, and she had to go about seeking him. She needed to be more attentive to her lover. We cannot pray the sinners prayer and forget about it, we have to stay in touch with our Master and as a good wife seeks to please her husband we must attempt to live in such a way as to be pleasing to Christ.
Then is the grace of God of no effect? Are we saved then through our actions? Nonsense, Christ died once and for all, for all, everything we will ever need is wrapped up in the atonement. It struck me as I thought on this subject a few nights ago that since I am a parent who unconditionally loves her children and would forgive them anything, maybe God who loves us even more might forgive our unrepented sin because we are his children. I wish this was true, but if one of my adult children decided to break communication with me, there would be nothing I could do, it would break my heart but I would have to just let them go.
God loves the sinner but he hates sin, We see in Mark 15:34 that He had to turn away from His son as he was dying. This was because the sin of mankind rested on Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." If God couldn't even look at his own son in that moment how could he allow a practicing sinner into his kingdom even though at some point in time that person prayed the sinner's prayer. Revelation 22:14 - Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
The way is made clear and the price is paid but remember the parable in Matthew 25:1-11 of the wise and foolish virgins, all were virgins, all had lamps but five got lazy and inattentive and allowed themselves to run out of oil. I repeat, there is nothing we can do to "earn" our salvation but we must still be vigilante when it comes to our heavenly father, we must stay in contact with him, we must avoid sin where we can and trust his "grace' to carry us through in spite of our feeble efforts and make up for our mistakes and weakness. Where our strength ends grace begins..
“A man is never so truly and intensely himself as when he is most possessed by God. It is impossible to say where, in the spiritual life, the human will leaves off and divine grace begins.” -William Ralph Inge(1860-1954)
“A man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to obtain the grace of Christ.” -Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“Lord I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better I'd have come running with a bucket.” -Nancy Spiegelberg
“A man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to obtain the grace of Christ.” -Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“Lord I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better I'd have come running with a bucket.” -Nancy Spiegelberg