What is the Key to the Christian Life? (Part 2)

   We are continuing to answer this question originally posed last week. In Isaiah 40:31 we are told that living from our union with Christ enables us to "renew" or "gain new strength" which literally means to "exchange". If we live from our union with Christ, we will exchange our strength for His strength.  

          Three beautiful word pictures are given to us to help us visualize this truth. The first says, 'They will mount up with eagle's wings".  An eagle lives in high places. He unfolds his wings and flies on the strength of the wind. Daily, we are to unfold our wings of faith and ask Christ to live through us.

          The second says, "They will run and not get tired. My wife is a runner and she tells me there is something called a "runner's high" runners sometimes experience. The runner feels so strong that she believes she could run forever. As we depend on Christ in us, we will be able to run in this life and not get as tired emotionally and mentally.

          Finally, "They will walk and not become weary." There are many places we must walk every day. We need to get out of bed each day and get dressed, get the kids ready, go to our job, walk in obedience to God's Word, and love people. Only as we depend on Christ to live through us in the power of the Holy Spirit can we walk through life and not become so weary.

          I have asked a question to thousand of people through the years.  The question is "Would you be willing for the next seven days to ask Jesus to fill you with His love and live His life through you"?  I cannot guarantee that we will feel any differently, but if we will do this by faith,  I believe we will see God work in and through us in new ways.   Will you take the challenge today?   If so, why don't you tell the Lord and ask Him to remind you for the next seven days?

          Until next time, remember He loves us!

Is God Really Trying to Build Character in Us? (Part 1)

      If you are like me,  all of my life I have heard that when we experience trouble in our lives, God is trying to build character into us.   The premise behind this is that though we are Christians, we are incomplete and problems are God's way of getting his character into us.

     Let me say as clearly and as loudly as I can.  "That is NOT true!  It is a gross misunderstanding of the gospel!"  The real gospel is this.  Because we have Jesus Christ in us, our Father is working to bring the character we already have out of us!  We already have everything we will ever need to live the Christian life.   Peter wrote in his second letter in 1:3.  "...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness..."  Do you see that?  We have everything we will ever need ALREADY.    Here is another compelling truth.  Paul wrote something similar in the second chapter of his letter to the Colossians in verse 10. "...in Him you have been made complete...".   Complete is sometimes translated with the word fullness.  In either case, the idea is the same.   In Christ, we are already complete or full.   If this is not enough for you, then let's look at Hebrews 10:14.  "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."  

     The offering i.e. the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made us perfect in our new creation identity because we were set apart by God (sanctified) when he saved us.

This does not mean we will not sin.  We will.  This is speaking to the bigger issue of us being united with Jesus from the moment we believe.

     Until next time remember He loves us!

Did Jesus Have Live by Faith Like You and Me?

Did Jesus Have Live by Faith Like You and Me?

Dear Mark,    When on this earth, Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human.  Many believe Jesus performed miracles and obeyed His Father by simply doing it as God.  People will often say, "Sure Jesus was able to obey God the Father because Jesus was God!"  That is a serious misunderstanding. Jesus lived on this earth only as a human.  Though he never ceased being God, it was as if He "stuck His deity in His back pocket for 33 years." Jesus had to live like we are asked by God to live - by faith!  That is,  He daily lived completely dependent on His Father to meet all of His needs, especially for love, and to live through Him every moment.   In John 14:10, Jesus confirms this stating, "Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." Each day we are to ask Jesus to live His life through us.  This does not mean we will live passive lives just as Jesus did not live a passive life.  It means we will be very active as go to work, relate to our family, friends and neighbors, talk with God, read God's Word, watch TV, drive our cars, fulfill our God-given purpose, obey God and more with Jesus living through us in each of these.  Why don't we decide now that we will ask Jesus to live through us every day even if we don't feel the reality of that?  He loves us and wants to live through us!   Be Free in Christ,  Mark Maulding President and Founder  Grace Life International