Gracious God, wonderful Father, Everlasting is Your Name. we come to Your presence and we bow before Your Throne with the four living creatures in heaven and we sing along with them Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. Rev 4:8 (ASV)
Blessed Redeemer, Wonderful Deliverer, we are before You Lord, let Your Name Alone be Praised forever and ever. Amen!
In line with our spiritual focus for the month- “New Birth in Christ Jesus”. We want to call to mind the “wisdom” behind what we are doing. This topic might not be what most people will appreciate at the time we in but for the matured in Christ, it will be a welcome ideal. However, as a preacher of the Word, there is a mandate on me to preach the Word in season and out of season (2 Tim4:2) and am doing exactly that. Praise the Lord.
Are you still in babyhood realm where you are struggling and trying to get something and be something? You ought to have pass that; you are something. “for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for every good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10)
It help us to access ourselves in the Lord and get into the promises of Christ. 1 cor. 1:9- He has called us unto fellowship with His Son and others like such (Col 1:27; col 2:6) Col 3:1-2 is our picture in Christ – meaning that we have to set our mind in things that are above, not on things that are on the Earth.
Also Jn 8:12- I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not work in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” light means Wisdom. If you have this kind of Wisdom, you have a new kind of life, and it gives you the ability to make right choices, to do the right things at the right time.
Not only that, it gives you the ability to enter into all the fullness and all the blessings and all the riches of His Redemptive work. Beloved you are outstanding immediately. You are not common. Now you are revelling in 1 Cor. 3:21; “for all things are yours not minding from whom the revelation comes from whether is Paul, Peter or John, it makes no difference, they are all yours.
Another strangely beautiful thing is, “and ye are Christ’s”. You belong to Him. He is yours and you are His. Listen to this dear beloved, it ought to thrill your heart; “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Cor 9:8) (KJV).
There is wholeness fullness in your Father’s blessings. He bless you with every spiritual blessing in Christ, so there isn’t a need of yours that hasn’t been met.
A quick one though, more considerations for the urgent need for our spiritual checkup, we also will be X-raying the lives of one of our founding father’s in faith during the time of “Great awakening” and major revivals USA:
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.—Luke 2:52
We are accustomed to having our progress measured in many ways. We are given tests in school, evaluations at work, and physical examinations by our doctors. Yet we may never measure our spiritual or social growth. As Jesus grew from an infant to a child to a youth to an adult, he “increased in stature” with God and men. The better people knew Jesus, the more they trusted Him. They admired His wisdom and appreciated His compassion. Likewise, as Jesus grew in His relationship with His heavenly Father, He continued to please Him.
The apostle Paul said that when he was a new Christian, he behaved as a spiritual child, but as he matured in his faith, he began to act like a spiritual adult (1 Cor. 13:11). There is nothing wrong with acting like a baby when you are an infant, but it is the obligation of every believer to strive for maturity (Heb. 6:1).
When you are a new believer, you will not always know how to relate to others in a spiritually mature way. You may battle with envy, anger, or unforgiveness. But the longer you walk with Christ, the more you should relate to others as He does. As you are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, your heavenly Father will become increasingly satisfied with your obedience to Him, as the Father was with His Son. It is helpful for you to measure the progress in your spiritual life from time to time.
A good way to evaluate your spiritual growth is to ask mature Christians around you if your actions reveal spiritual maturity. It is imperative that you ask God to evaluate your spiritual maturity and that you never become satisfied with less than a fully developed relationship with God.
To help us understand this further, We will be considering the life style or call it “resolve” of one of our founding father’s, Jonathan Edwards in the era of “Great Awakening” in USA. Hope you get something that will inspire you to in your Christian race.
Seven Resolves Of Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758)
Jonathan Edwards, perhaps more than any other person, laid the foundation of Christianity in early America. He, along with George Whitefield affected “The Great Awakening,” the first of several major revivals in the USA.
- “Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God… “
Jesus: “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” (John 17:4b) (See Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 1:11; 1 Peter 2:12)
- “Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.”
“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13) (See Romans 6:6, 14; 7:15-23; 8:1, 2; Galatians 5:16-18, 24; 2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Peter 2:11)
- “Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor… “
“Get rid of all… slander… ” (Ephesians 4:31b) (See Proverbs 11:9; Titus 3:2; 1 Timothy 5:13; 1 Peter 3:16)
- “Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.”
“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11) (See Psalm 1:1, 2; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:19)
- “Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.”
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) (See Psalm 26:2; Lamentations 3:40)
- “Resolved, to strive my utmost every week to be brought… to a higher exercise of grace… “
“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… ” (2 Peter 3:18b)
- “Resolved, never henceforward, until I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God’s.”
“For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord… We belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:7, 8a,c) (See 1 Chronicles 29:14; Luke 9:23, 24; Romans 12:2; 14:7-9; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Colossians 3:17)
Beloved, did you get anything? Are you able come up with any resolve to abide with or as a guiding principle to help you on your Christian race. You can as well adopt these while forming yours to meet with the demands of today.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
