Has Intended Us to Forgo Their

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei

A Terrible Sorrow to Jehovah.

A heartless Christian is a terrible sorrow to Jehovah. Joseph son of Jehovah

Make Us Either

Difficulties make us either better or bitter.  Unknown

Be Filled With the Holy Spirit

The greatest need of the born again Christian is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  When we are under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will always glorify Jesus Christ. He will be exalted in our speech and in our behavior.

The apostle Paul issued an imperative command when he wrote, “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

It is our duty and responsibility to be under the constant influence and control of the Spirit of God.

Paul used a verb in the imperative and issued a command that every Christian believer to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Because the Christian life is a supernatural life, the only way to live it is by means of supernatural power.  No one can live the Christian life in his or her own power and natural strength because we are dead in our trespasses and sins.  God must empower us to live with His power.  He brings us to life, and then He indwells us and enables us to live His kind of life.  When we obey His command, He gives us His presence without limit.  The filling of the Holy Spirit is His enabling.

It is from this divine enabling that God the Spirit produces in us love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, self-control, etc.  He produces in us the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Are you “under the influence?”  What characterizes your life?  The idea behind the word “fill” is “control.”  The indwelling Spirit of God is the One who should continually control and dominate the life of the believer.  The present tense calls for a habitual and continual direction. The passive could be permissive passive, “allow yourself to be…” We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit.  We do not fill ourselves; the Holy Spirit does the filling!

The idea Paul has in mind is “be constantly controlled by the Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit is the Agent (Gal, 5:16) and Jesus Christ is the content of the filling of the Spirit (Col.3:15).

“There is no such thing as a once-for-all fullness.  It is a continuous appropriation of a continuous supply from the Lord Christ Himself.  It is a moment-by-moment faith in a moment-by-moment Savior, for a moment-by-moment cleansing and a moment-by-moment filling.  As I trust Him, He fills me; the moment I begin to believe, that moment I begin to receive; and as long as I keep believing, praise the Lord, so long I keep receiving,” said Charles Inwood.

When we are under the control of the Spirit of God, our thought life, imagination, volitional choices, and behavior will be occupied with Jesus Christ.  When we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we go deeper and deeper into our understanding of the ways of God.  Our communion with Christ is deeper and closer with each day.  He will be constantly controlling our mind, emotions, and will.

When we are under the control of the Spirit, our prayer life is transformed, and we pray with the heart and vision of a righteous man (James 5:16).

When the Holy Spirit is in control, we are of the same mind with God.  We are humble before God and man (Phil. 2:1-8).

When we are filled with the Spirit, we have the mind and thus the attitude of Christ (Phil. 2:5).  We reproduce His likeness (Gal: 5:22-23).

When we are under the influence of God’s presence, nothing really matters but Jesus Christ.

When we are filled with the Spirit and therefore under His control, we live holy lives (Gal. 5:16-18).

 We have all of the Spirit, but does He have all of us?  Am I yielded to Him?  Do I “keep on being filled”?  Has this command become a blessed habit to me?

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.

Backsliding Christians

Have you ever temporarily lapsed into unbelief and sin after you became a Christian? The condition of backsliding results from spiritual apathy or disregard for the truth of God’s Word. It results in a departure from a winsome confession of faith and Biblical ethical standards. Actions are affected by our attitudes toward God and His Word.

Jesus said, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Backsliding is different from apostasy, which spurns the grace of God by renouncing the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-31). When a person renounces his faith in Christ that person was never a true child of God, and never was among the elect of God (John 3:18-21, 36; 5:24-29).

On the other hand, the elect individual, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and redeemed by God has been delivered once-for-all from the bondage of sin. Backsliding is not a “fall from grace” in the sense that a Christian once saved by grace can lose his eternal life in Christ. He is God’s child forever, and He has placed His life in the believing sinner.

There were times when the disciples of Jesus withdrew from fellowship with the Lord (Matt. 26:56), Peter denied Christ (26:69-75), Corinthian believers lived in sin (2 Cor. 12:20-21), the Church in Asia became lukewarm (Rev. 2:4, 14-15, 20), etc.

The people of Israel serve as an example for Christians today. We are exhorted to persevere in righteousness and doing the will of God. Israel forsook her covenant with the LORD God (Jer. 2:19; 8:5; 14:7), and demonstrated her unfaithfulness by disobeying God.

In the New Testament backsliding is viewed as an individual problem, although it is possible for churches to become backslidden, too.

Why do Christians become backslidden? We all still possess the old nature that is “corrupt through deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22; Rom. 7:13-24; 1 Cor. 3:1-3). Lack of continuous fellowship by “abiding” in Christ results in a lack of spiritual vitality and ineffective Christian service (Jn. 15:4-8). There is no other way to live the Christian life except by maintaining an intimate fellowship with our Lord. If we do not maintain that vital contact with Him we cannot sustain spiritual growth and effectively minister in His name.

Unbelief (Heb. 3:12), bitterness (12:15), love for the world (2 Tim. 4:10), love for money (1 Tim. 6:10), adherence to worldly philosophy (Col. 2:8), legalism (Gal. 3:1; 1:6; 5:7), indifference and spiritual coldness (Rev. 2:4; 3:16) are other causes for backsliding.

Backsliding grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30), and it displeases our Lord (Heb. 10:38). There are natural consequences that follow this sin (Lev. 26:18-25).

How can we prevent backsliding in our spiritual life? It is essential that we “abide” in Christ (Jn. 15:4-7), remain spiritually alert (Eph. 6:18), put on the full armor of God (v. 10), be prayerful (1 Thess. 5:17), etc. Seek to love the Lord God with all your mind, heart and personal being every day.

We can thank God that He patiently perseveres with His saints. Just as we are to persevere in doing His will, we can be thankful that He has made a wonderful covenant with us in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. The grace of perseverance is one of the great benefits of the atoning death of Jesus Christ for our sins. The solution for backsliding is found in the abiding love and mercy of our God of grace who remains faithful to His promises.

Backsliding is serious business. Martin Luther well said, “The offenses given within the church are greater than those given among the heathen because when Christians degenerate, they are more godless than the heathen.”

We have a choice. We can progress or regress in our Christian life. We have a great responsibility in how we choose to live the Christian life. God is able to strengthen and progressively sanctify the Christian if we cooperate with Him (Heb. 3:12; Phil. 3:10-16).

The promise to every backsliding Christian is to, “Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 3:7). Acknowledge your sin, turn from it, trust in the Lord for forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to take control of your mind, heart and daily life. Jesus says, “Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent” (Rev. 2:5).

It is reassuring that the Bible clearly teaches that the truly spiritual regenerate can never be lost. We are his forever children. Once his child by the new birth, always his child. However we can lose our fellowship with God and our effectiveness in Christian service. The God of all grace has provided a bar of soap; let’s use it often (1 John 1:6-10; 2:2).

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.

SELAH! Pause – reflect- just think of that!

The Attitude of Christ

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

The Christian faith of the first century of Christianity was centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. The preeminence of Christ was the focus of the early preaching in the church.  Christianity is Christ, and as in many other passages, Philippians 2:5-11 makes this emphatically clear.

Even before His incarnation, Jesus was in the form of God and was equal to God.  Jesus Christ eternally possesses all of God’s attributes.  He is God.  “He existed in the form of God” (v. 6), is not referring to a bodily appearance, but is a strong way of proclaiming the deity of Jesus Christ. His deity never alters or changes.

Jesus, in His high priestly prayer the night before His crucifixion, referred to His “glory which I even had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).  He was referring to the glory He enjoys on par with His heavenly Father. The apostle John wrote of this same pre-incarnate glory in John 1:1-4, 14.

The event that staggers the mind almost beyond comprehension is the fact that the Second Person of the Trinity laid aside the manifestation of His divine glory and took upon Himself the form of a common household slave. He became flesh.  He is the God-man.  He was fully God and fully man.  He is God in the flesh. The Word became flesh, and pitched His tent in our very midst, testifies the apostle John (1:14,18). The one who enjoyed glory that was inherently His throughout eternity past “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (v. 7).

Jesus Christ exists eternally as the Second Person of the Godhead, and as such He is equal with God the Father.  Everything the LORD God Almighty is, so is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before He became flesh, Jesus Christ shared to the full the divine nature and was clothed with the splendor that always surrounded God’s person.  He was identical with God both inwardly and outwardly.  When Jesus became flesh, what remained was God’s glory in the inward sense because even in His flesh Jesus was God and retained that full divine nature.

The Second Person of the Godhead Jesus Christ was not selfish.  He did not cling to the outward glory of His deity, “But emptied Himself,” not of His divinity, but the outward visible manifestation of it.  He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.  He made nothing of Himself.  He was obedient to His heavenly Father as a bond-slave.  He only limited Himself of His outward visible glory because He was still God.

In addition to being God, Jesus took on “the form of a bond servant.”

The essential attributes of God were unchangeable and unchanging.  The essential nature of Jesus Christ is the same as the essential nature of God.  The nature of Jesus is the nature of God.  The “form” signifies that which in God never alters and never changes.

Jesus laid aside His divine privileges and became the servant of Jehovah.  The Son of God became the Servant of God.  “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (v. 8).

Jesus Christ gave up the glory and honor of heaven to become one of us so He could die as our substitute and provide a means whereby God could offer us eternal life.  “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

No one with a spiritually discerning mind can read those words without a deep sense of thanksgiving gratitude for a humble and obedient Savior.  “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).  He was humble and obedient even unto death.

Do you have this humble attitude of Jesus?  When we have that attitude toward ourselves, we will, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).  That is the mind of Christ in the Christian.  It is a humble attitude of denying self, bearing the cross of Christ daily, and doing the will of God at all costs.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. Pause – reflect- just think of that!

Always in Abundant Supply

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.

For Good or For Bad.

Our life is the greatest testimony we give the world whether for good or for bad. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Unlocks the Fullness of Life.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”  Melody Beattie

Shine Brightly in Your

May the light of Christs love shine brightly in your heart today and every day Joseph a son of Jehovah