Grace - God's grace

Your failure cannot overcome the grace of God.

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. Romans 5:20.

  David Seamands tells a story that illustrates the point Paul made in the passage for today. It’s about a turning point in the spiritual life of a teenager in his church. The young man had already made a personal commitment to Christ. He tried hard, but like most adolescents, he was plagued by ups and downs in his Christian life. It wasn’t uncommon to find him coming forward when an invitation was given after a church service. After one evening service, Rev. Seamands prayed with the young man once again. The young man’s face was sober as he affirmed his determination “to make it this time.” Then he asked, “But what if I fail? What happens if I fall?”

  Seamands replied, “Steve, I’ve come to know you pretty well, probably better than anyone in the church. So I think I can guarantee one thing-you will fail, you will fall. So what?”

  The young man looked up at the minister a bit shocked. He had expected assurance that he would never fail again. He turned Seamand’s response over in his mind. Then a light dawned on the young man’s face. He began to smile and nod his head. “Hmmm,” he said, finally. “I think I see what you mean. I think I’m catching on. Of course I’m going to fail; sure I’ll fall. But that really doesn’t make any difference, does it?” And then the smile lit up his whole face.

  Rev. Seamands said that although the young man subsequently showed significant growth, that moment proved to be his initial discovery of the grace of God. Discovering the truth that failure isn’t the end changed his life. Seamands later wrote that it was a joy to watch the young man grow in grace. “He became a dispenser of grace as a pastor for eleven years, and now teaches about grace as a professor of systematic theology in a seminary. Are you wondering about my strange reply that I was sure he would fail because I knew him so well? That’s because I happen to be his dad!”

  Is there a limit to God’s grace? Is there a point at which God says, “All right, that’s enough, no more”? God will never give up on us, although He will discipline us and allow us to suffer the natural consequences of our own sin and irresponsibility. He may even call some of us home if the course of life we are pursuing is self-destructive and damaging to ourselves and others. But He does call us home to be with Him (1 Cor. 11:30)

  Is God surprised when you sin? Does He look down from heaven and say, “I can’t believe he did it again?” No. How could He be surprised if He has nailed all our sins on the Cross? But it grieves God to see us sin again and again, because He knows what that will lead to in our lives. God will never say, “Look, we need to talk. Some of the sins you committed were so bad we didn’t put them on the Cross.” His grace is sufficient for all we have done and will do.

  Paul writes, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). The Greek work for condemnation carries with it a sense of judgment. There is no more judgment for the Christian. Why? Because we have already been judged when Christ paid the penalty for all our sins. He took all our punishment on Himself. (see Rom. 8:31-34)

  The point that God is hammering home is that if He has done everything necessary to acquit us, justify us and make us right with Him, who is qualified to bring further charges? Who is going to condemn?

  “No one!” God thunders to us.

  So who is bringing the charges? Who is accusing and condemning? “Satan, who leads the whole world astray…who accuses [the brethren] before our God day and night”(Rev. 12:9,10).

  The old hymn says it well: “Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.” The grace of God is not a license to sin, it actually is a gracious means not to sin. (see Rom. 6:1,2) By the grace of God we don’t have to sin. We can live righteous lives in Christ.

  Have you believed the lie that your failure and sin can overcome the grace of God? Has that believe caused you to doubt God’s love, so you live in condemnation and defeat? Renounce that lie and affirm the truth with the following affirmation: I renounce the lie that my failure and sin can overcome the grace of God. I announce the truth that Christ died for all my sins, past, present and future, and that all my sins have been placed on the Cross, and I am forgiven. I now choose to believe there is no more condemnation because I am in Christ.

ONE DAY AT A TIME by Mike/Julia Quarles pgs 222-224 with quotes from Healing Grace by David Seamands and “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” by Julia H. Johnston.

Gospel - what is it?

   “The gospel is not a call to do something, but an announcement of what has been done.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16

   Victorious Christian living comes by accepting what Christ has already done for us, understanding who our heavenly Father is and who we are ‘in Christ’ and then choosing to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, according to what God says is true. ...no amount of human effort can accomplish what Christ has already accomplished for us.

   The Christian life cannot be lived by our own strength and resources. God in His goodness and His desire for us to learn the truth will bring us to the end of our resources in order that we may discover His.

   There is only one Christian life, and that is the life of Christ.

   The disciples asked Jesus, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’ (John 6:28, 29)

   Are you depending on what you do to live the Christian life in freedom or on what Christ has done?”

One Day at a Time Mike and Julia Quarles page 14-16

Boundaries

There was once a parent who let his son and daughter play inside a fenced-in yard. They knew the boundaries. And they knew the consequences if they failed to obey and stay within the limits. The father loved the two children, and they brought him more joy than anything in his life. But the two children stepped over the boundaries, suffered severe consequences, and broke the father’s heart.

   The son’s name was Adam. The daughter’s name was Eve. The father’s name is God. God the Father was the perfect Parent, but His first two kids didn’t turn out to be perfect. He understands.

   The One who created the first family is the One who is interested in yours and in mine. The God who adopted you into His forever family knows how to make earthly families work.

   Family-one man and one woman united in marriage for life and, if God chooses, children either biological or adopted. We can’t change God’s ideal. Well, I guess we can. Adam and Eve did. And humankind has been paying the price ever since.

   God provided the Cross to break their negative family traditions.

   When Jesus came to the Garden of Gethsemane, He was already committed to the Father’s will. However, He struggled with the Father to determine whether there was another way to accomplish God’s purpose. He struggled with separation from the Father while at the same time He was committed to God’s will.

   There will be times when we come to God, listen to Him, and then grapple with what we hear. We may be as submissive as we know how at that moment but still wrestle with what He says. Submission must accompany listening if we are to fully hear God.

The Power of the Cross by Dr. Charles Stanley pgs 127, 129, 151

God's will, my will

“God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Galatians 6:14

   The gospel of Jesus Christ always forces a decision of our will. Have I accepted God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ? Do I have even the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death-to be completely dead to all interest in sin, worldliness, and self? Do I long to be so closely identified with Jesus that I am of no value of anything except Him and His purposes? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can commit myself under the banner of His Cross, and that means death to sin. You must get alone with Jesus and either decide to tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you, or that at any cost you want to be identified with His death. When you act in confident faith in what our Lord did on the cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place immediately. And you will come to know through a higher knowledge that your old life was “crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). The proof that your old life is dead, having been “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you now enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.

   Every once in a while our Lord gives us a glimpse of what we would be like if it were not for Him. This is a confirmation of what He said-“..without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). That is why the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the joy of our first introduction into God’s kingdom as His purpose for getting us there. Yet God’s purpose in getting us into His kingdom is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers December 23 daily devotional

The death of Jesus Christ

“I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” John 17:4

  The death of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment in history of the very mind and intent of God. There is no place for seeing Jesus Christ as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him-something that might have been prevented. His death was the very reason He came.

  Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption “much ado about nothing.” God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. “We see Jesus…for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor…” Hebrews 2:9. The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ-“It is finished!!” John 19:30. That is the final word in the redemption of humankind.

  Anything that lessens or completely obliterates the holiness of God, through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Never allow yourself to believe that Jesus Christ stands with us, and against God, out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree. Our part in realizing the tremendous meaning of His curse is the conviction of sin. Conviction is given to us as a gift of shame and repentance; it is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His hatred.

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers November 21 daily devotional

The cross of Christ reveals God's judgment on sin

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14

  The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin…There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross-He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.

  The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God,…The Cross is God exhibiting his nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.

  The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God. April 6

  The Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to anyone, and by His ascension our Lord entered heaven, keeping the door open for humanity. May 17

  The Cross represents only one thing for us-complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ-and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer. Aug 6

  Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.   Aug 27

  Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch-only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. Oct 5

  The love of God means Calvary-nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ.

  Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven. Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. Nov 19

  The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ…The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way!

  Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is only possible in the supernatural realm. Nov 20

  “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…(Galatians 6:14)

  Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ. Nov 25

  There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. Dec 1

  Sin is what Jesus Christ faced at Calvary. Dec 26

My Utmost for His Highest daily devotional by Oswald Chambers

The cross of Christ has two sides

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14

Doublecross

You Died in Christ         Christ Lives in You

   The Cross of Christ has two sides. Christ died for you for the forgiveness of the sin of Adam and the sins we commit (I Cor. 15:3; Eph. 1:7-8; Col. 1:14; 1 Jn. 2:2). The first half, the blood side, of the cross only deals with sin, sin singular or the sin of Adam and sins plural, or the sins we commit. He shed His blood for the forgiveness of sin. This side deals with my behavior. Christ died for us.

   The second side is the body side. Christ has joined His spirit with our spirit. We are dead to ourselves as our point of reference. In our spirit, we experienced with Christ what He experienced; we died with Him and we were raised with Him. This side deals with my identity. Christ lives in us.

“This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Acts 2:23-24

 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14 

“…anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:38

“…If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Resources:

4  My Identity in Christ the Advocate Series Booklet 6

4  Our True Identity in Christ by Dr. Charles Stanley InTouch Ministries

4  The Blood of the Cross by Andrew Murray

4  The Calvary Road by Roy Hession

4  The Rest of the Gospel by Dan Stone and       Greg Smith

4  Victorious In Christ the Advocate Series   Booklet 5

Forgiveness: what is it?

Hannah Hurnard wrote the following in Walking Among the Unseen.

   “Just one more thing ─ never refuse to forgive. Forgiveness is the mightiest power of all, and you must joyfully practice it continually. It means willingness to bear everything that other people do to you, and to loose them in your thoughts from the wrong that they have done to you or spoken about you. When you loose the wrongdoer in your own thoughts, you will find, first, that you have loosed yourself from unhappy and harmful emotions, so that instead of being hurt, you will be blessed. But if you do not forgive men their debts, you will be bound to resentful, angry, grudging feelings which harm you. Remember ─ your reactions to your enemy can hurt you more than your enemy can.

   …Why did Jesus allow himself to be crucified? No one could have done it if he had not allowed it… Why did he believe so clearly that he must give his life?

   So that he could reveal, and triumphantly demonstrate, the truth that God bears and forgives the very worst that men can do, and that this is the only successful method of dealing with evil. Bear it and share in all its consequences with those who commit the wrong. Forgive them, love them, as Christ forgave and loved. Divine forgiveness, the greatest power in the universe, can be a force in us.” Pg 18, 38

Additional Resources

¨      Boundaries Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

¨      Forgiveness Malcolm Smith

¨      The Gift of Forgiveness Dr. Charles Stanley

 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13-14

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12

“…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22

I have a problem, God has the answer

     Most of us with problems wish we could change our circumstances, family, work situation or spouse. It must be someone else, Lord; surely you do not mean me!

   As the song said, “Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

   Someone else or something else may not change, but we have a Savior who does not need to change and has already acted decisively and dramatically by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to live, die and rise from the dead, just for you. The following benefits are just a few of the many you received from your heavenly Father:

1)      You have been forgiven and made righteous (Rom. 5:1).

2)      You died with Christ to the power of sin in your life (Rom. 6:1-7).

3)      You are free from condemnation (Rom. 8:1).

4)      You have become united with Christ by God’s doing (1 Cor. 1:30).

5)      You have received the Spirit of God into your life that you might know the things freely given to you by God (1 Cor. 2:12).

6)      You have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

7)      You have been bought with a price. You are not your own; you now belong to God (1 Cor. 6:19,20).

8)      You have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ and have been given the spirit as a pledge, guaranteeing your inheritance to come (2 Cor. 1:21, 22; Eph. 1:13,14).

9)      You have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you (Gal. 2:20).

10)  You have been made complete in Christ (Col. 2:10).

11)  You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3).

12)  You have been redeemed and forgiven, and you are a recipient of His lavish grace (Eph. 1:7,8).

13)  You have been made alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5).

14)  You have been raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).

15)  Your life in now hidden with Him in God, and Christ is now your life (Col. 3:1-4).

   We do not have to plead for God to do something about our problem. God has done something. We can rest in the finished work of Christ. It is our choice to believe what He has done for us and start walking by faith according to what He says is true.

How is your walk today?

Excerpts from One Day at a Time Mike/Julia Quarles page168-9

Who has the problem?

Who is the answer?

“Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

God's answers to our struggles

How many of the following characteristics describe your life: inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worry and doubt?

Read what Scripture says about your feelings.

 Do you feel insecure? Your God will never leave you nor forsake you (see Heb. 13:5).

Inadequate? You can do all things through Christ (see Phil. 4:13).

 Guilt? There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:1).

  

Worried? God has offered His peace for your anxiety (see John 14:27; Phil. 4:7;

1 Peter 5:7).

Do you doubt? God provides wisdom for those who ask (see James 1:5).

Which of the six negative characteristics listed have you struggled with the most, and why?

Further reading and study One Day at a Time by Mike and Julia Quarles page167

God supplies our needs

“And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” 

Philippians 4:19

 “Freedom is found in trusting God’s resources, not our own. We are the only ones who can prevent God from meeting our needs. We suffer needlessly when we attempt to be our own god…Heaven is when we say, ’Thy will be done.’ Hell is when God says to us, ‘Your will be done.’

Hannah Whitall Smith wrote:

The greatest lesson a soul has to learn is that God and God alone is enough for all its needs. This is the lesson that all God’s dealings with us are meant to teach, and this is the crowning discovery of our entire Christian life. GOD IS ENOUGH! No soul can really be at rest until it has given up dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing but disappointment awaits us. Feelings may change, doctrines and dogmas may be upset, the Christian work may come to naught, prayers may seem to lose their fervency, promises may seem to fail, everything we have believed in or depended on may seem to be swept away and only God is left-just God, the bare God, if I may be allowed the expression, simply and only God…then we must come to the positive conviction that He is, in Himself alone, enough for all our needs and that we may safely rest in Him absolutely and forever.’

When are you most tempted to be self-sufficient? Why is it so hard for you to surrender your will to God’s will?” 

One Day at a Time Mike and Julia Quarles page73-75

The God of All Comfort Hannah Whitall Smith page 242-243

Am I focusing on the need or on God, Jesus and abiding, resting to see how He will provide for that need?

God's love

“Because God is love, he pursues love relationships with the people he created. A love relationship begins as you commit your life in faith and trust to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It continues in daily prayer, Bible study, and obedience as he shows you where he is at work, and you lovingly join in that work. A love relationship means:

Ø  You are closer to God than to any person on earth.

Ø  Everything about your life depends on the quality of your love relationship with God.

Ø  Love for God leads you to love and serve other people.

Ø  Christ is in your life through the Holy Spirit to guide each decision you make and reveal God’s will to you.

Ø  You can never be separated from God’s love.

Ø  God loves you and promises to protect and bless you.

Ø  Everything God says and does is an expression of love.

Ø  You can be totally satisfied and fulfilled.

Ø  You will invest your life in lasting, eternal things and ways.

Ø  God will be present in real and practical ways in your life.”

For the rest of this love relationship with our God focus,  read and study The Experiencing God Study Bible edited by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King.

    Anabel Gillham tells the story of how her son taught her about God’s love. Her son, Mason, was born profoundly retarded, and it got to the point that he had to be institutionalized because he could no longer communicate or even feed himself. Of course, Anabel and her husband still loved and missed him, so they would often bring him home on weekends.

   One Sunday, a little while before it was time to take Mason back, Anabel was at the kitchen sink washing dishes. Mason was sitting at his special chair/table with his bib on. There was food scattered everywhere as Mason stared into space, totally detached from his surroundings. Anabel put her dishcloth aside and knelt down in front of her son and said, “Oh, Mason I love you so much. If only you knew how much I loved you.” But he did not respond. He could not. When she went back to the sink with tears flowing down her cheeks, God spoke to her heart: “Anabel, that is the way I love you. Even if you couldn’t perform one deed or perfectly respond to Me, I would still love you.”

Victorious Christian Living audio Bill and Anabel Gillham

How could you develop the habit of abiding in Christ’s love? What impact would it have on your life if you practiced His presence 24 hours of every day?

May the love in your heart radiate to all those around you every day.

Satisfaction: my needs met in Christ

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalms 37:4

Satisfaction: to fulfill the needs or desires.

What needs to happen for me to be fulfilled, content, at peace, and full of joy?

What have you done, or where have you looked, to try to attain a sense of peace, fulfillment and satisfaction?

Could you name your desires? How would your desires bring you closer to God? What are you willing to give up to have the desires of your heart? Our desires reveal who we are. Can you write them out?

“….pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Tim. 2:22

You created me God, what is your will/desire for my life? We cannot have the desires of the heart apart from a personal relationship with Jesus.

This is a divine promise with human responsibilities. These responsibilities are:

Ø  “Delight self in the Lord” the pleasure in knowing Him, talking, serving, aware of His presence. God have I been delighting self in you or me?

Ø  “Commit your way to Lord.” This means transferring your desire to God.

Ø  “Trust in Him.” I believe in His faithfulness.

Ø  “Rest in the Lord.” My desire is placed in His hand. God will work it out. I can go about daily life with complete confidence and peace. Wait patiently; with a strong desire I want answers now; wait without murmuring, criticizing, manipulating. Watch how God operates. It takes strength to wait for God’s timetable especially on my strong desire. Does God not know when we are best ready? The desire and timing come from Him. Can I present a strong desire to God and know in His time it will come about?

Manipulation always leads to:

Ø  Disappointment

Ø  Pain

Ø  Loss

Ø  And more

Before getting out of bed think “Father, I want to thank you. You are giving me the desires of my heart. Today I am going to delight myself in you. Today I am going to commit everything to you. I put my trust in you. I am going to rest in the fact you are my heavenly Father and have everything under control. I am going to wait for your perfect timing to give me the desires of my heart.”

Wake up with commitment to delight self in the Lord. The result will be different in each of us.

At the end of the day, look back and reflect on how God has worked.

You decide, do you want your desires or God’s desires?

“Thank you for giving me what you know I desired not what I thought I desired.”

source The Desires of Your Heart Dr. Charles Stanley sermon December 31, 2000 MX310

Significance in Christ

Significance: a sense of value, importance, and worth, having a meaning.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bearfruit-fruit that will last…John 15:16

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16

Wow!!! Wonderful!!! God’s definition of how significant I am to Him. This is beyond my wildest dreams! These versus are just a few that tell you and me how much we are worth- our significance- to God.

Where do you think you have looked to find significance?

What do you think you have tried to do to make you significant?

Additional Resource: Search For Significance Robert S. McGee

Satisfaction, Security, and Significance in Chirst

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them: Genesis 1:27

The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. He created us for Himself. Before the fall, man was in the likeness of God, bearing the image of God. Adam and Eve chose knowledge of good and evil which left them needy and empty. We have all inherited this neediness.  Most of our basic human needs can be categorized under the headings of satisfaction (forgiveness, rest, fulfillment), security (belonging, unconditional love, acceptance, connectedness, protectedness), and significance (value, importance, identity, separateness, adequacy).

Answer the following questions for your own better understanding of how you have attempted to get your needs met in your own way.

SATISFACTION

What have I done, or where have I looked to try to attain a sense of peace, fulfillment and satisfaction?

SECURITY

Where do I think I have looked to find security? What have I done to try to feel secure?

SIGNIFICANCE

Where have I looked to find significance? What do I think I have tried to do to have a sense of value?

Has confusion, disappointment and frustration been the results?

Ø  Isaiah 53:6 We have turned, everyone, to his own way.

Ø  Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.

Ø  Proverbs 21:2 Every way of man is right in his own eyes.

Ø  Proverbs 3:5 lean not on your own understanding

Ø  Romans 13:14 Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh

Ø  John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life

Ø  Galatians 5:16 Walk by the spirit and you won’t carry out the desire of the flesh