Wisdom Of Life

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen."   [Romans 11:35–36] When it comes to obedience, gratitude is a dangerous motive. It tends to get expressed in debtor’s terms. For example, “Look how much God has done for you. Shouldn’t you, out of gratitude, do much for him? Or: “ You owe God everything that you are and have. What have you done for him in return?” I have at least three problems with this kind of motivation: =>  First , it is impossible to pay God back for all the grace he has given us. We can’t even begin to pay him back, because Romans 11:35–36 says, “Who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid? [Answer: Nobody!] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” We can’t pay him back because he already owns all we have to give him. =>...

"Everyone who asks receives…"   [Luke 11:10] Ask if you have not received.   There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we  ask.  It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (Jas.1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13) . The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life. “Everyone who asks receives….” Thi...

"You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."   [1 Corinthians 6:20] “Worship” is the term we use to cover all the acts of the heart and mind and body that intentionally express the infinite worth of God. This is what we were created for. Don’t think worship services when you think worship. That is a huge limitation which is not in the Bible. All of life is supposed to be worship. => Take breakfast, for example , or midmorning snacks. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Now eating and drinking are about as basic as you get. What could be more real and human? => Or take sex, for example. Paul says the alternative to fornication is worship. Flee fornication. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have ...

"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."   [John 13:17] Be determined to know more than others.  If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment. When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there se...

"The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."   [Galatians 2:20] Faith is a perfect fit with God’s future grace. It corresponds to the freedom and all-sufficiency of grace. And it calls attention to the glorious trustworthiness of God. One of the important implications of this conclusion is that the faith that justifies and the faith that sanctifies are not two different kinds of faith. “Sanctify” simply means to make holy or to transform into Christlikeness. It is all by grace. Therefore, it must also be through faith. For faith is the act of the soul that connects with grace, and receives it, and channels it as the power of obedience, and guards it from being nullified through human boasting. Paul makes this connection between faith and sanctification explicit in Galatians 2:20 (“I live by faith”) . Sanctification is by the Spirit and by faith. Which is another way of saying that it...

"Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do…"   [John 14:13] Am I fulfilling this ministry of intercession deep within the hidden recesses of my life? There is no trap nor any danger at all of being deceived or of showing pride in true intercession. It is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit through which the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused, bringing everything to one central point— the atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him. However, I must take the time to realize what this central point of power is. Am I willing to give one minute out of every hour to concentrate on it? “If you abide in Me…” — that is, if you continue to act, and think, and work from that central point— “...

"Behold, I am vile."   [Job 40:4] One cheering word, for you, poor lost sinner!  You think you should not come to God because you are vile. Now, there is not a saint living on earth but has been made to feel that he is vile. If Job, and Isaiah, and Paul were all obliged to say “I am vile,” oh, poor sinner, will you be ashamed to join in the same confession? If divine grace does not eradicate all sin from the believer, how do you hope to do it yourself? and if God loves His people while they are yet vile, do you think your vileness will prevent Him from loving you? Believe on Jesus, you outcast of the world’s society! Jesus calls you, and such as you are.  “Not the righteous, not the righteous; Sinners, Jesus came to call.”   Say even now, “You have died for sinners; I am a sinner, Lord Jesus, sprinkle your blood on me;” if you will confess your sin you will find pardon. If, now, with all your heart, you will say, ...