Jun 30, 2017

Meditation of my Heart

Ps 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Dear friends, at the outset, let's just humbly echo the prayer of this dear saint of God - Oh Lord, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.

Meditation is what we think - what we dwell upon in our hearts. Meditation helps us to be in contact with the spirit world.  We are created with capability to allow our minds to communicate with the Lord God creator as well as evil forces. (As a side note, herein is the danger of 'other' forms of meditation like yogic, buddhist, etc - where you bare your mind in meditation and open your mind to intrusion from evil forces. See the testimony of a former new-ager mystic who understood this and turned to Christ http://www.simonarich.com/about-simona-rich/).

Our mind is very precious to God - He desires a deep fellowship with the human race which He has created in His image & likeness. One can't fellowship with a lower creation (for example, however much a person likes his pet dog, the dog will remain a dog and man will remain a man and the dog can never understand the mind of the higher being.) Contrast this with what Paul says in 1 Cor 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord ? that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. A born again person has the ability to understand things of God & to have His mind in a sense. And I thank God for Him opening this way to deep fellowship with Him, Yea, even to the extent that we are now His sons! (John 1:12)

We are the temple of the Living God - and our mind is the sacred place, so it's so essential to keep it Holy & Blameless. The most valuable real-estate in the world is your mind. (The lord estimates a human soul to be more valuable than the full value of the created earth!).

The world system (i.e. TV, news, advertisement, media, internet, facebook, email, youtube, etc) are vying for finding a place in your mind and selling it's goods and ideas to your mind. Once it finds a place in our mind, we will tend to incubate it and meditate it till it influences our thoughts, values and actions.

At this juncture, the prayer of this Godly man in Psalm 19:14 comes to our mind. If ever we've needed it more than ever before, it is NOW. Dear child of God, make it a point to study the thoughts of your mind to see what is occupying your mind for most of the time. List them - are these thoughts of evil origin, worldly origin, fleshly origin, thoughts of harm or thoughts of the holy spirit. Let not satan and his world system occupy the precious space in the temple of the living God.

Meditation is dwelling on the thoughts
You are what you think.  Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinketh in his heart so is he.” . (If you see the portion in Ezekiel 8:8-12, it is a picture of the Lord seeing into the recesses of people’s heart.)  Proverbs 24:9 reads, “The thought of foolishness is sin...”  In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said that whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Beloved, A holy inner life is the only thing that pleases God. 1 Samuel 16:7 (The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart) Praise the Lord for His great power, love and grace to transform our meditations.  Ephesians 4:22-24 (4:22) You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; (4:23) to be made new in the attitude of your minds; (4:24) and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Dear Child of God, may we be gripped by this holy desire to have a mind that's renewed that meditates on the things of God always.

Jun 15, 2017

Salvation to the Uttermost


(Heb 7:25Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Often in our lives, after we experience the joy of salvation, we may get complacent about the grace that the Lord offers us and imagine that we have completed the race. This is so far from the truth! The race is ahead of us - this is why Paul says he is straining towards the mark of the high calling in Phil 3:13-14 and only in the epistle that he writes just prior to his death does he say that he has finished the race that was set before him (2 Tim 4:7). Here's an illustration for the stages of Salvation that Jesus offers us.
Stage 1Stage 2Stage 3
SavedBeing SavedShall be saved
PastPresent continuousFuture
JustificationSanctificationGlorification
Spirit renewedMind being renewedBody shall be renewed
Unable to not sin
(before the new birth)
Able to not sinUnable to sin
Given power to be sons of GodBeing led by the Spirit as mature sonsSons of God revealed in glory

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Look again at the verse Heb 7:25 - He is able to save to the uttermost - those that come unto God by Him.

1) Jesus is able to save us to the uttermost - The ability of God is a great relief for us. When paul cries out the cry of despair (Rom 7:24-25) - Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?!, he immediately is inspired by the Holy Spirit to thank God through Jesus Christ - for that is the key to victory! Jesus is able to save us! Jude 1:24says: Jesus is able to keep you from falling and He shall present you blameless before the presence of the glory of God with much joy! What a loving God ! His joy at presenting us on that day will be much greater than any joy we've seen.

2) Jesus is able to save us to the uttermost - Beloved, the hope for us is that the Lord is able to save us to the uttermost. As I have heard some of the servants of God say - The Lord is able to save the "Guttermost" to the "Uttermost". However dark and sinful and ugly your past was, the Lord is able to bring to completion the salvation plan for our lives and He is able to complete the good work that He has begun in us. (Phil 1:6). In other words, he is able to transform the chiefest sinner before the throne of heaven into a Glorified person who shall live and reign with the Lord Jesus forever enjoying the eternal rewards and a close fellowship with the Lord Himself - IF - he comes to God through Jesus! 1 Samuel 2:8 - In the inspired words of a Godly mother - Hannah, "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, [and] lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set [them] among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory"

3) Those who come to God through Jesus - The fullness of salvation is available only to the people who come to God through Jesus Christ. Many people try to come to God on the basis of their works, some on the basis of false human doctrines and philosophies, some through other people and so-called 'gods' and so-called 'saints'. 1 Tim 2:5 reminds us that there is one God and there is one mediator between Man & God - Jesus Christ! In John 14:6 Jesus says: I AM the way the truth & the life - No man comes to the father but by Me. Meaning, Jesus is the only way. He is the only truth and He is the only source of Life. The work of intercession that Jesus does for us is the basis of our standing righteous before God.

Why should we seek another way to save our souls when the Lord says: He is all-sufficient to save us to the uttermost ?!