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Psalm 120
A song of ascents.
1 I call on the LORD in my distress,
and he answers me.
2 Save me, O LORD, from lying lips
and from deceitful tongues.
3 What will he do to you,
and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?
4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom tree.
5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I lived
among those who hate peace.
7 I am a man of peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.
I was studying last night about how God promises us that He’ll equip us with the Spiritual weapons and Armor that we need to fight the good fight of faith. Psalm 120 was my key scripture in my study and it blessed me so much. I learned from that scripture that the Father will deliver me from every lie that is said about me. He gives me the weapons for war and stands in the battle with me.No foe has a chance for victory when I stand in the will of God. I gained so much last night about God as my Father and how any good father might respond to someone who is messing with their kids. It brought me peace that any enemy that faces me, even the devil, must face my Father. I also learned alot about the times I fall short and sin. I fall because I don’t have my focus on the Lord and I don’t listen to His Word. When I’m digging in the Word for truth and letting the Spirit lead me I can spot the devil’s schemes a mile away. It’s the times I try doing this life on my own that I start losing battles. Everyday, every moment and every breath we take, we have a choice to trust God with our lives or allow Satan to get us to doubt God. I think every sin starts with doubting the goodness of God. Does God really love me? Is His way really best for my life? Is God better than this sin? Is God good? I can go on and on, but I think you get the picture, As Christians, we need to know that we are His children and he knows what’s best for us. That He fights for us, and prepares us to also fight. We have victory in Jesus. Verse 7 is my favorite in this Psalm:
7 I am a man of peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.
“I’m not looking for a fight”, the psalmist is saying, “but if fight I must, the warrior in me will rise with the power of the Word and release a deadly arsenal”. The Christian life is not a passive life, we must, with God’s help ,be involved in the fight for our faith. If we don’t we’ll be lukewarm at best and be worthless for the Kingdom. Whatever you are facing, Never give up! Never Stop Fighting!
the This week, we will continue to look at what the Bible says about the promise of the resurrection. Last week we looked at the awesome reality of the Resurrection of Jesus. He lives, and because he lives we will live with him forever. The grave will not have the last word. I’ll pray and we can get started.
Prayer:
“Father, we praise you that you are the God of the Living.We pray that by your Holy Spirit that our eyes would be open to see the joy that we have in the resurrection. May I teach with clarity and that by what i say, hearts will be open to see the greatness of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
1 Corinthians 15:12-19: What If Jesus is not Alive?
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Everything about the Christian faith depends on rather Jesus rose or not for if he didn’t Paul points out the following:
v.12: If Christ is proclaimed as raised, why are some saying there is no resurrection of the dead.
v.13: if there is no resurrection then not even Jesus is raised.
So what’s the impact on our life and faith if this was true? Paul continues to break it down for us:
v.14: Preaching Christ is in vain. Our faith in him is in vain.
v.15: if its true that Jesus raised, but we say he is then Paul says we are misrepresenting God.
v.17: If Jesus is not raised, our faith means nothing and we are still in our sins. Wrap your heart around this. Last week we learned that Jesus died for our sins and was raised for our justification. But if he is dead we are still in our sin and God’s wrath remains on us.
v.18: those who died believing in Christ has perished. They will never live again. we will never see them again.
v.19: we should be pitied if only in this life we have hope in Christ. If there is no grace, no forgiveness of sins, no new creation, and no eternal life then we have been fools to believe in Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:20-33: Great News, Jesus is Alive!
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Praise God, Jesus is alive. We are not fools. Our faith is not dead because our God and Savior is not dead. We are free from our sins.Dig in and see for yourself:
v.20: Christ has been raised from the dead, the first from those who have fallen asleep. Because he lives, by a living hope, we know that we will live.
v.21: Through Adam came death but through Jesus comes the resurrection to life. Eternal life is only in a risen Lord Jesus.
v.23: At his second coming all those who have died in Christ will be raised to life everlasting.
v.26: Our enemy Death will be destroyed forever.
v.29: People can’t be baptized for those who have already died, but Paul is asking the Corinthians why people are doing that if they didn’t believe in the resurrection. The fact that they were baptizing for the dead showed that they believed in the resurrection.
v.30,32: Paul is saying why is he risking his life for the Gospel if Jesus is not alive. That would make no sense. But like Paul we know that whatever we face for Christ and his Gospel because even if we die Jesus is coming with his reward. Life with Him.I think he even is using sarcasm in verse 32 when he quotes the false teachers who were saying “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” That would be true if our God is not alive but because he lives we should aim to live a life that honors God for the grace he has showered us with.Read 2Corinthians 5:6-10:
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
To wrap it up, Jesus is living today as our Advocate with the Father and as our King. This truth should bring you joy as you live your life for Jesus by the power of His Spirit. If you believe this your not going to be careless about how you live. We who believe this will live with God forever. I’ll end with one of my favorite scriptures. Revelation 21:1-8
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Amen! No more cerebral palsy, no more cancer, no more fathers leaving their families. No more tears caused by pain. No more depression. No more little girls being raped. All so we can enjoy living with Jesus more to his glory. In your heart you know you want this, i pray you desire this. I pray you desire him. People with disabilities should take hope in this. This truth does not take away from your current life like some in the disability movement are falsey saying. It adds to it. It makes sense of your life with a disability. I long for the day I don’t have CP,and the first person to see me without it will be My Jesus. With My new body I’ll raise my hands high in worship. With a perfect mouth I’ll sing with the angels praising my king. With perfect eyes I’ll see the reward of my long battle with my Cp.:Jesus! It’s Jesus! Oh how I want that day to come. But till then I’ll press on as Jesus uses my life and circumstances to bring him glory. Be encouraged by this. Don’t have a hard heart and run from this. Because He lives we can face tomorrow.
Next 2 weeks:
Part 3:The resurrection body: how will it look like? Will people know us?
Part 4: Jesus and the Disability movement
6 How beautiful and pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!- SOS 7:6
I want to encourage married couples to read Song of Solomon together. God is not silent about sex in the Bible, and SOS protrays the awesome love between a husband and a wife who are free to enjoy eachother’s body. When you read this book you’ll realize how much they love one another. They only have eyes for their spouse and they don’t have a boring sex life. Today’s culture of hook up, shack up, and then break up will never understand this love. This verse in chapter 7 is part of a section where the husband is describing all his wife’s beautiful features, and I’m not talking about some g-rated hallmark card kind of way. He is in complete love with this women. There is no time he compares her to another women. She is his only standard of beauty. In chapter 8, the bride’s friends ask her what advice to give her friend who feels like they are not beautiful. Here is what the bride says in bold:
We have a little sister,
and she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
She
10 I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds peace.
To her, it didn’t matter what others thought of her, because her husband made her feel beautiful, told her she was beautiful. Here is how you apply this as a husband, if your wife is tall and skinny, then she is your standard of beauty.If your wife is shorter or more curvy, then that is what your idea of sexy is. Lust after your wife right now! Do It! Romance her and make her feel like the bride in the book of Song of Solomon.
I love my wife, and we enjoy eachother to the glory of God. In my eyes she’s my standard. My idea of beauty is Robin at 30,40,50, and whatever age stage we are in. There is no time that it is right to trade your wife in on a “newer version” Men need to start stepping up. This is my offical Christian advice on this matter:
Be Faithful
Tell her she’s beautiful
Lust after her
Romance her
And have lots and lots of sex(nothing that will shame either partner,but enjoy each other, try new things, God is glorified when husband and wife enjoy each other)
Don’t get mad at me, Read the book, and see how married sex can be the best sex. God is awesome!
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
We all sin, We all have negative thoughts at times, and there are times that we are blind to the things that are in are hearts. Life can weigh us down and we can lose focus on God. That’s why we need to be like David, and ask God to search our hearts. He knows us better then we know ourselves. There is nothing about our lives that is hidden from him.
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.- Psalm 139:1-3
The Good, the bad,and the ugly of our heart are laid out before him. He is acquainted with all my ways verse three says. Who else is best equipped to tell us what’s going on in our hearts? This should be a joy to us, and not lead us to dread. If your following Christ, you want to please him, but there will be times when you’ll get into sin, or the danger of falling into it, and God as a faithful friend and Father will come beside you to lift your heart to the things of God. Just ask him for help. I pray all the time for him to point out what may be hinding in my heart that could keep me from having joy in Christ. As of Late I have not had the right perspective about my job. I have not enjoy the circumstances surrounding my job, and my attitude at work reflected those feelings. I prayed, Asking God to shed light on the situation. He reminded me, that no matter what situation I’m in, I’m really serving him by doing my work to his glory, even in the worst enviroments. This brought me joy, and I been happier at work. Circumstances have not changed but my focus did ,because God help me see my heart. We who love God will echo David’s prayer “Lead me in the way everlasting!” We want a heart after God’s own heart and this takes us to be humble asking God to prune us. It hurts like hell, but it’s worth it. Jesus is worth it.
Prayer:
“Father, We believe,Heal our unbelief. Search our hearts and show us if there is stuff in our heart that offends you, and is keeping us from treasuring you above all things. In Jesus’s Name . Amen.”
The Resurrection of Christ
15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.-1 Corinthians 15:1-8
In 1 Corinthians 15, we find the great hope of our faith. The resurrection is addressed here by Paul. First, The Resurrection of Jesus, then the resurrection of the dead, and third he speaks of the resurrection body. But like Paul, I want to focus on the Lord’s resurrection, because if he is not alive today then are faith is in the teachings of a man who died over 2000 years ago on a cross, not the God-man who conquered the grave and is reigning today. How you view Jesus effects how you live for him. I pray, this post and the three to come will bring you great joy in the risen King. Let’s dig in to the Scriptures:
15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.- 1 Cor 15:1-2
In the opening verses of chapter 15, Paul is reminding the Corinthians of the good news they have belived. False teachers were spreading lies in the church that Jesus did not rise, and that there is no resurrection from the dead. This lie is still being proclaimed in our day, and like Paul we need to encourage people with the truth. And in verses 3 and 4 Paul exalts the gospel again. These verses sum of the message of Christ cleary, leaving no doubt what Christians believe:
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,- 1 Cor 15:3-4
We must believe the whole Gospel, not just that he died for our sins, because our justfication(being made righteous by God) depends on the death and resurrection of Christ. Romans 4:24- 25 says :
24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
“This means that by his death he paid the penalty for our sins and purchased our acquittal, our justification, our forgiveness. And since the achievement of the cross was so complete and the work of our justification so decisive, God raised Jesus from the dead to validate our forgiveness and to vindicate his Son’s righteousness and to celebrate the work of justification.”
- John Piper
Jesus being alive validates all the claims about him as our Savior. It proves that he had the power to die for our sins and he truly is the Son of God. He lives not in our imagination or in spirit form, people saw him in a resurrected body. Focus your heart on verses 5 through 8:
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
This proof is overwhelming and brings me great joy. He appeared to Peter,James, and Paul. But also to over 500 people. At this point you may be thinking, yeah but only as a ghost. No, It was in the flesh and bone. Here is what scripture says:
Jesus and Thomas (John 20:24-29)
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus appears to the disciples and Eats (Luke24:36-43)
36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.
Even these disciples thought they were seeing a spirit, but Jesus assured them he was not merely a spirit but flesh and bones, and even ate with them.That is awesome news for us. It should bring you great joy that we worship and serve a LIVING GOD in Jesus Christ. This means:
We are not still in our sins(More on this next week)
He hears us when we pray
He loves and cares for us.
He is the source of eternal life!
He is God!
If Your a Christian be strengthen by the truth that He Lives. If you read this and had questions about if christianity can be trusted, I pray that you have been moved to desire the forgiveness that only a risen Christ can offer. To my friends in the disability community who have a hard time believing the idea of the “new body”, please stay tuned. I’ll adress those concerns in the next blog posts. But I want to encourage you to take your questions to Jesus. It’s in him where you’ll get answers. God Bless.
I want Jesus to have the Last Word:
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.-Revelation 1:17-18
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.- 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
This past weekend I had an conversation with a co-worker who also has cerebral palsy about God and heaven. There is so many lies and misconceptions about God going around in the disability community that I will deal with these and a four part blog series. This post is the introduction to the upcoming series titled “The Resurrection:God’s Truth,Our Hope”. I Pray you are encouraged and challenged by theses post. God bless and stay tuned.
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.- 1 Corinthians 16:13-14
This verse can apply to all Christians to keep watch to not fall into temptation, stand strong in faith, and to not give up on God when life gets hard. But I want husbands to focus on this verse today. I want them to act like men and be faithful to God and their wives. Next to your relationship to Jesus Christ, the relationship with your wife is the most important one you will have in this life,so honor it, love it,and protect it. Sexual sin is running wild in the church today, and most churches are turning a blind eye to it. In particular, porn addiction seems to be the devil’s weapon of choice in keeping men enslaved to their sin. So many men are missing their calling to greatness because they can’t put porn to death. It’s time! If your a man and your letting porn rule you, trust God to help you act like a man and kill it before it kills you. you will lose everything if you don’t. Stop justifying your sin by saying I’m not really cheating on my wife by watching porn, because Jesus says:
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.-Matthew 5:27-28
So many Christians have said that porn is bad but it’s not really cheating, but their most likely saying this because their looking at porn, and don’t want to stop. It’s childish sneaking around on the computer looking at porn or watching late night tv. That’s not being a man, little boys do that. Are you a boy, a man, or a man of God? Stop playing games with Jesus.
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.- 2 Timothy 2:22
But stopping the behavior is not enough. You must deal with the root of the problem. Your problem is a heart problem. You need to dig deep down into the core of who you are and check your heart. Check out what Jesus said about the heart in Mark 7:20-23:
20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
So what can you do about your heart? That’s not the question to ask. The question to ask is what does God do about man’s heart problem? He gives us a new heart and new desires with a new life that can be lived free from sin, and to live for him and with him forever.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules-Ezekiel 36:26-27
This is the beautiful doctrine of regeneration that happens when one comes to faith in Jesus Christ. Once where a hard heart beat for sin and folly now sits a new heart which longs to worship Jesus, pray to Jesus, serve Jesus and others, witness to others about what God has worked in you, and with the Spirit’s help the power to kill sin in your life. This is why Jesus proclaims we must be born again. We need a new heart to ever see Jesus as worthy of our devotion. When you are a Christian you are given a new heart, new desires, and a new life. The very core of who you are is changed forever. Your desires are about Jesus Christ. You love him, you want to worship him, pray to him, serve others, read your bibles, and go to church. Being a Christian is not about what you don’t get to do, but what you get to do. Which are the things I just mention. We see them as a joy not a duty. In Christ, we are new creations(2 corinthians 5:17). A Christian deepest desires will be all about God, but because of our sin nature we will have conflicting desires, these lesser desires we call temptations, but the more we focus on the True desires of our hearts, the lesser desires will lose power over us. This fact should bring you great joy. You can have victory over porn. Check out these verses from Scripture:
5 The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.- Proverbs 20:5
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.- Psalm 37:4
What are your Deepest Desires?
Are they for Jesus or something else?
Your God, your wife, your children, and the body of Christ is counting on you to step up and start acting like a man. Be Strong, Be Faithful, for God is with you.
14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”- Malachi 2:14-16
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.-Romans 8:28
My cerebral palsy didn’t surprise God, and in fact none of our circumstances sneek up on him. He is control of our lives and this brings me great joy. Romans 8:28 says that God works all things together for the good of those who love him. It does not say all things we go through will be good because som situatians just stink. But we can have joy knowing that he’ll work it out. So, God allowed me to be born with cp and I can have peace because that decision went through the hands of a loving God. Nothing that happens to me will ever surprise my God. We must have an understanding of God’s traits because we will lose heart if we don’t. God is not cruel for allowing my disability. His plan for my life has called for it, and what is revealed about him in scripture gives me peace about his plan even though i don’t always understand the whys of life. God has used my cp to bring him glory and for that I am happy.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.-John 9;1-3
Just like this blind man, God has used my cp in ways that humbled me.But the major way is my disability drives me to lean on Jesus and his strength to have joy in God no matter what happens. I don’t have disability pride but pride in the God of my disability. He frees me to live my life for him not fearing what others might think because he sees my life as his platform to proclaim the truths of the gospel in any circumstances. Jesus is my hope! In my darkest days picture Jesus in front of Pilate in John 19:10-11:
So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Jesus was trusting the Father’s plan for him to be the Savior of the world. Hebrews puts it this way:
12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.- Hebrews 12:1-2
The devil trys to get us to focus on our current situations but we must look him in the face and echo Jesus saying, You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. When your facing a trial keep trusting God, he’ll see you through. He’ll get glory and you’ll get joy. I will not bow my knee to cerebral palsy which leads to bitterness, anger, and sin, but will trust the King who helps me bring him glory in my cp.
5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.-Galatians 5:1
The temptation to be bitter about my cerebral palsy is with me everyday, but I don’t give in because I’m free in Christ. He has freed me from self-pity,my sin,and the since of entitlement. My plan for my life would call for easy living far from any hard times. But God plan for our lives calls us to trust him when the circumstances seem to much to handle. In the toughest times of our lives we learn to lean on God. There is great freedom in this. There are days when I’m sick of dealing with my cp but its in God’s strength that I find the freedom to press on. Being a Christian does not mean that Jesus will take away all our troubles, but he promised to walk with us in those troubles. One day I woke up and I was crying so bad. Robin was still sleeping. I was just not able to build up the courage to face the day. Things at work were on my mind, and I was hating my cp. The only thing I knew to do was run to scripture. God’s word is such a source of healing for his children. Here is what I read:
5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.- Romans 5:1-5
My circumstances did not change, but my focus did. After dwelling on these words my heart shifted from my circumstances to the hope of God. God is using my life to bring him glory and in the times of suffering, he’s shaping me into the man he’s calling me to be. And the more I dwell on scripture the Holy Spirit can remind me of God’s love easier because I have my heart ready to hear what he has to say. We need to be so lost in the Word of God that when we are in the pit, suffering will not be our master but a tool that God uses to bring us near to himself. When life is hard we feel like giving up and sin looks appealing. We will do anything to take our minds off of our circumstances. Run to God. Focus on the promises that our in Christ found in the Bible. For when you focus on Christ, you will find true freedom. God bless.
Made Alive with Christ
1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.[a] He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Ephesians 2:1-10 (NLT)
Yesterday at the City Mission I preached on Ephesians 2:1-10. It was my 16th sermon in my preaching career. My title was “Going Back to Grace”. I said that when life gets hard and we are tempted to give up, we need to go back to God’s grace. There comes a time in every Christian’s life that we just feel crushed by circumstances and feel like God has forgotten about us,or we are not good enough for God. That’s why we can’t live on the feelings of our hearts because our hearts are deceiving. We need to build our lives on the Word of God and stand in the Grace of God. These verses speak of that grace. I love the way that the New Living Translation explains God’s grace to us in verses 8 and 9:
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it
And the verses before remind us where we were when God saved us. We were dead in our sins and transgressions. We all follow the cravings of the sinful nature,follow the world’s system,and obeyed the devil. Romans 5:10 says that when God saved us we were enemies of God. I know that I didn’t just wake up one day and chose to start loving Jesus, reading my Bible, and going to church. No, God open my heart and open my eyes to the cross. My salvation has nothing to do with me, its all from God. But why would God save you or I? We will disobey him through out our life as we contend with the sinful nature,we will hurt people in his name, and at times we will turn our back on our Father. Why the cross? Because he loves us. See what the text says:
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)-Eph 2:4-5
We have God’s ill-deserved favor, that’s how to define grace because when you think about how we were living and at times continue to live, it pleased the Father to bring us to himself and give us life through Christ. So do we work to keep our salvation? No, good works are proof that God has done a great thing in us and is continuing to work in us to make us into the people he’s calling us to be.10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.- Ephesians 2:10
We our God’s beautiful messy masterpieces. He has his brush of love and grace upon us, and we won’t be complete until we are with Jesus, but we have hope that he never stops working on us. Therefore, press on and never give up, because God never gives up on you. Keep going back to grace.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.-Philippians 1:6
