Be Strong in the Lord

Ephesians 6:10-18
10 In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].
11 Put on God's whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.
12 For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
13 Therefore put on God's complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].
14 Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,
15 And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace. [Isa 52:7.]
16 Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].
17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.
18 Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people). AMP

John Newton, author of the hymn "Amazing Grace," said, "If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose The Christian in Complete Armour."

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Gurnall's work is peerless and priceless; every line is full of wisdom; every sentence is suggestive."

David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade, wrote, "The Christian in Complete Armour should be in the library of every man and woman of God."

Originally written in 1655 in three volumes, this Puritan classic on spiritual warfare has been updated into modern English and abridged for easy reading.

Gmail Account Hacked

I had my Gmail account hacked a while back. I was getting some strang email and went into my Gmail setup and found that someone had put some very offensive material in my signature box.

I immediately deleted it and changed my passwords etc. I also check it often now to see what is up.

This is just a heads up. I am not sure what they can do with your account info but it does concern me based on some of the email I got after that.

What are you becoming?

Transformed Into the Image of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:18

18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
AMP

There is within each of us a thirst for God. This thirst can we quenched or satisfied when we are regularly reading, studying and meditating on His Word. The transformation of our mind is a process that can only start and continue when we are willing daily and even throughout the day to allow Him through hid Word to change us, to change the way we think and act and live, yes and even the way we dream, create and influence the world around us.

Rom 12:2
2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
AMP

Dr Richard Foster States in ‘A Year With God’.
“At last we arrive at the point of all this study---to be changed, overtaken by God as revealed in Christ.”

What is transforming your life today?
What are you becoming?

The Great Creator and Transformer of Our Lives

The Head of God' by Michelangelo. We know that God the Creator is a spirit and so any picture we would paint of Him would merely be an expression of what we think God would be like based on our understanding of His nature, behavior and character.

One of the things we know about Him from His Word, starting in the book of Genesis, is that He is the creator and that He has made us to be like Him. It is His creative DNA that God has endowed us with and that is being released today in awesome waves, as Christians find new ways to do those things He has both created us for and empowers us by His Spirit to do in accomplishing Ephesians 4:11-13.

We know God does not change, but he does continually work to accomplish His will, in ways that each culture, people group and new generation can relate to and embrace. It is important that we look to Him who is 'the author and finisher of our faith' according to chapter 12 verse 2 of the book of Hebrews.

God not only wants us to do His work in th earth and grow into the measure and maturity of Christ but God our Father, wants to mend, make whole, nuture, encourage and build up His people. It is His will that we are transformed into His likeness.

Today we must seek to allow His DNA, relational nature and constant crativity to flow in and through us if we are to accomplish all That is in His heart for us.

Let us continue all that Jesus began to do and teach!

DISCERNING OUR TEACHERS

This is the next 10 day section in our Passionate Participation in God daily devotional on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237088564302 sign up today to get automatic updates from facebook.
All the material below is from the "A Year With God" devotional by Richard Foster.

Day 56, 02/08/2010, Discerning Our Teachers, Romans 12:2
Discerning Our Teachers

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

As Dallas Willard observes in The Divine Conspiracy, we are all somebody’s disciples.6 At different times in our lives we are the students of our parents, our playmates, our teachers, and our peers. These apprenticeships are necessary, so that we can learn about the world and our place in it, how to act and talk and treat one another. Whether we mean to or not, we also apprentice ourselves to books, magazines, TV shows, and movies. When we spend a lot of time with particular people, books or TV shows, their habits, ideas, and behavior patterns start to become ingrained in us. That is why it matters who and what we surround ourselves with. God wants to renew us from the inside out, transforming our minds, so that we become ever more like God as revealed in Jesus Christ. But if we are spending time with things or people not of God, we will find ourselves changing in ways we may not intend.

Within the next ten days, take a block of time to consider the central influences in your life. Jot down a time line of your life, dividing it into stages (such as childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, marriage, parenthood, etc.) or organizing it by another system of your choice (such as places you have lived or jobs you have had). Think about the teachers and influences that were most important at each time. Focus particularly on the present.
Ø Ask yourself who your teachers are and what they are teaching you. Scripture tells us that we can know who has been inwardly transformed by God by the fruit they produce.
Ø Ask God to show you if there are people or influences you should minimize in your life.
Ø Then ask God about what new ways you can learn.
Ø Is God calling you toward more frequent study of Scripture?
Ø Are there particular people or books God is urging you to learn from?
Ø Finally, ask yourself who is learning from you and what you are teaching them.

6Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998), pp. 271-72.

Encountering the Glory of God

This Biblical account lets us in on an encounter with the most high God by a man who was already serving God. We see personal accounts written about and hear people pray for a divine encounter with our creator, and spiritual father but few would measure up to this one.

Encountering the God of Glory should do more than give us a spiritual buzz! When you read this passage you will see there are several elements that bring the prophet to a new place of humility and availability to God.

Isa 6:1-96: 1 Isaiah's Vision In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said," Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said," Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" NASU

The Elements of this encounter are:
1. Isaiah seeking God and crying out to him in a time of great need for himself and God's people.
2. The encounter with God and His heavenly angels which seems to occur in the temple.
3. Isaiah's awareness of God, God's majesty and holiness.
4. Isaiah's honest appraisal of His condition and the people’s condition compared to God's
majesty and holiness.
5. God's mercy toward Isaiah demonstrated by the angels’ act which caused Isaiah to be
cleansed.
6. Once cleansed Isaiah is allowed to hear the heavenly conversation between the members of
the God head (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
7. Isaiah responds to God's question, which he would not have felt qualified to do before this
encounter.

Today we live in the age of God's grace.
Rom 5:1717 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. NIV

We can come to Him freely and cry out abba father or my daddy. Because of the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we now are joint heirs with Christ and thus, His father is our father.

Gal 4:4-7 4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father ." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. NIV
Rom 8:16-17 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. NIV

Scripture also says we have been grafted into the Vine (Israel) and thereby receive God's promises for those who serve Him by faith.

Rom 11:17-18 17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, NIV

The completed work of Jesus Christ and these resulting truths change how we interact with God today, and yet we would be wise to understand that He is still a holy and awesome God in whose presence we should not only rejoice in our freedom and His goodness toward us but also contemplate and be in awe struck wonder of His might and majesty!