I am grateful The Holy Spirit suggested giving a gentle massage to Snowball after one of his mild seizures this at four o clock this morning. Not only did it calm him down he blinked at me and rubbed his face in mine. That is a cats way of saying I love you.
I am grateful The Holy Spirit suggested looking out the window when I got back to the bedroom to see an amazing sunrise. It felt like a warm good morning my son from Poppa
I am grateful The Holy Spirit guided me to a site where there is relaxing music being played in front of a fireplace. Snowball likes it and it keeps him calm.
I like it too so will listen it as well.
I am grateful The Holy Spirit reminded me to mix in some calming hers with Snowball and Smokey’s food. It is also good for their bones and digestion
If God didn’t discipline His children He would be a negligent father. He would be displaying cruel disinterest if He were indifferent to whether His children obeyed or not. Erwin Lutzer
In the wisdom of God, the plan of salvation was fully accomplished by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Such wisdom is hidden from the wise and learned of the world, but it revealed to the humble believer of Christ.
Christ alone personified the wisdom of God. “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31, NASB1995).
Christ is our redemption. From the moment we put out faith in Jesus Christ alone to save us, we were “Sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). We already have the “first fruits of the Spirit” as we wait the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23).
The wisdom puts to shame the high and mighty people of the world. The wise men of the world cannot understand how God’s grace in Jesus Christ changes sinners into saints. The mighty men of the world see the grace of God as foolishness and weakness (I Cor. 1:25-29).
God in His grace changes lives when they accept His wisdom and believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Salvation must be all of grace so that He alone gets all the glory. “We are made righteous, holy, and redeemed in Christ Jesus. Redemption comes here last for emphasis through the very foundation of righteousness and sanctification,” notes A. T. Roberson. We are “Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). God has ransomed setting free the person enslaved in sin.
There is a sense in which the believer is redeemed the very moment he believes on Christ as his Savior. But there is also the greater expectation that our redemption will not be complete in its fullest sense until the work of God is perfected in him or her.
We are now hidden with Christ in God, and our redemption will come to consummation when Christ returns in glory (I Thess. 4:17). At that time “We shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (I Cor. 15:49). We shall be glorified with Him.
Yes, our redemption is our present possession (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14). We enjoy forgiveness of all our sins, and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the first fruits and down payment of greater things to come. The full renewal and reward of our redemption is yet to come at the last day.
The foundation and basis for these great events is the death of Jesus Christ as our ransom (Mark 10:45). Christ came “To give His life as a ransom for many.” The meaning is Jesus paid the price for a slave who is then set free by the one who bought him. Jesus gave His own life as the price to purchase our freedom from the slaves of sin.
Jesus vicariously suffered death on behalf of the many who have fallen victim to death. His death was the ransom payment to redeem us (I Pet. 1:18-19). Christ “Gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:14).
The word “redemption” here probably embraces the totality of Christ’s work of salvation of the sinner. It embraces rescuing men from sin and Satan by the payment of Christ, and it extends to the believer’s final resurrection and glorification. It looks back upon the cross to the blood that bought our freedom, justification (Rom. 3:24), sanctification (Heb. 10:10), and forward to our resurrection and glorification (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 4:30).
Salvation is entirely apart from any self-help. We are not saved by imitation of the crucifixion or by Christ’s example, but as Luther concluded, “that high crucifying whereby sin, the devil, and death, are crucified in Christ and not in me.”
The Bible says, “The soul that sins will surely die.” Christ died that we may live. He paid our debt to the righteousness of God. Two thousand years ago Christ paid a moral debt that belonged to you and me. His death secured our freedom from the debt and stamped the receipt “paid in full.” His death released us from all obligation to pay our spiritual debt.
The death of Christ is a historical fact at a time and place, but Christ crucified is also an eternal fact touching all time with equal nearness. The crucifixion of Christ is an ever-present reality in the mind and heart of God. Our reconciliation to God depends entirely upon that central fact of the ages.
By faith we lay our hands upon the head of the Lamb of God who was slain for our sins. In the sacrificial system of the Jewish tabernacle, the person offering the sacrifice laid his hands upon the head of the offering and declared by identification his sins upon that offering. The confessing Christian by faith lays his hand upon the head of God’s perfect sacrifice on his behalf. There is a solemn unity in the suffering of Christ and the believer. Christ made full atonement for the believing sinner. His death for the believer is intensely personal.
There is such an identification that the apostle Paul can say in Romans 6:6, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
Not only did Christ die that we might live, but in a very real sense He died that we might die. “In one death for all, then all die.”
This is all true of us and we accept it by faith. Christ died for us. He bore our sins and paid our penalty. Because of our identity with Him through faith, we have been “crucified with Christ.” My soul says let me hear that Christ died in the stead of sinners, of whom I am chief; that He was forsaken of God, during these fearful agonies, because He had taken my place. On His cross He paid the penalty of my guilt. Let me hear the message that His blood cleanses from all sin, and that I may now appear before the bar of God, not only pardoned, but declared acquitted. I was in effect crucified on Calvary, and He will in effect stand before the throne in my person.
Because of my vital union with Christ, I can declare: His the penalty, mine the salvation; His the shame, mine the glory; His the thorns, mine the crown; His the merit, mine the reward.
SELAH! Pause – reflect- just think of that!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.
Jesus Christ is all-sufficient to meet our every need, but if He is going to meet our needs we must be willing to recognize our needs and call upon Him. There must be a turning to Him for help. He can supply every spiritual need we face in life if we respond to His abiding presence.
At the feeding of the five thousand Jesus provided food in abundance, and it is always that way with God (Matt. 14:15-21; Mk. 6:33-44; Lk. 9:12-17; Jn. 6:1-15). The interesting thing is Jesus initiated the feeding of the people. He knew in advance that He was going to meet their need. He was interested in their welfare. He was able to do it.
What is your attitude toward being fed by God? Do you feed upon Him?
God never ceases granting our petitions until we cease asking. True, He does not always answer the way we would choose, but it is always with our very best in His mind. I thank God that He has not always granted my requests from my selfish, ignorant perspective. He often says no, in order to give me His very best.
Jesus is ever coming to bankrupt sinners and placing His hand on the bank draft of heaven and says to us, “Write on it what you need.”
We have so little faith in things unseen and eternal. We draw so little on the resources of our heavenly Intercessor. “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.”
Have you humbly asked God to supply your needs from His all-sufficiency? He is able. Jesus tells us He is always willing to fill our empty buckets.
The wise person recognizes his need and asks God to meet every need as it arises.
God has not forgotten where you are. He is fully aware of your need and He is vitally concerned about your Christian life. He will supply all your need according to His abundant resources in accordance with His eternal purpose.
How do the circumstances of your life fit into His will? Is He not committed to your very best? Does He not see the full span of your life and your current life situation?
Has God forgotten you? Indeed not.
He does not base His giving on our merits, yet He invites us to come to Him again and again. His abundant supply never runs out.
“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.
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