Jesus Christ – Thoughts Worth Having?

How To Get Victory Over Sin

This is a re-post of another blog but it is just so good and on a topic I am studying and giving thought to….the power of sin in our lives.

How To Experience Victory Over Sin

“We Don’t experience victory by struggling against
sins, but by setting our minds on Jesus.”
Steve McVey

To think that concentrating on overcoming our sins will give us victory is a totally wrong approach to the matter. Not only will setting our minds on the flesh fail to bring victory, it will actually perpetuate our defeat. A legalist will always focus on behavior but when grace rules we will focus on Jesus.

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, (Romans 8:5-6)

Paul asserts that whatever you set your mind upon will ultimately determine your behavior. If a man continually sets his mind on bass fishing it will only be a matter of time before he is trying to figure out how to buy a bass boat. Those who set their minds on football usually can be found in front of the television on holidays, watching football – or playing the game on a field with some friends.

If a person sets his mind on the sins of the flesh he should not be surprised when his behavior matches his mindset. A person guarantees his own failure when he decides to overcome sin by concentrating on it.

We will never overcome our sin through sheer determination and self-discipline. That kind of negative emotion keeps our eyes off Jesus and on our sins. We are to focus on Him, not sin! As we fall more and more in love with Jesus, those sins which we have so tightly caressed will become increasing unattractive until we want to let them go.

For a complete discussion of how a christian overcomes sin see Chapter 6 – “Overcoming Our Sins” in the book GRACE RULES by Steve McVey.

http://brotherheart.wordpress.com/articles-by-steve-mcvey/how-to-get-victory-over-sin/

Also refer to: http://brotherheart.wordpress.com/articles-by-bill-gillham/the-power-of-sin-part-2/

And: http://www.thehopeproject.com/en/study-guide/3-the-deadly-disease/sin-what-exactly-is-it

Just a Moment

This is one of my favorite writings from Max Lucado….

“Just a Moment”

It all happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment.

As moments go, that one appeared no different than any other. If you could somehow pick it up off the timeline and examine it, it would look exactly like the ones that have passed while you have read these words. It came and it went. It was preceded and succeeded by others just like it. It was one of the countless moments that have marked time since eternity became measurable.

But in reality, that particular moment was like none other. For through that segment of time a spectacular thing occurred. God became a man. While the creatures of earth walked unaware, Divinity arrived. Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb.

The Omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl.

God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created.

God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen. He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluids of his mother.

God had come near.

He came, not as a flash of light or as an unapproachable conqueror, but as one whose first cries were heard by a peasant girl and a sleepy carpenter. The hands that first held him were unmanicured, calloused, and dirty.

No silk. No ivory. No hype. No party. No hoopla.

Were it not for the shepherds, there would have been no reception. And were it not for a group of stargazers, there would have been no gifts.

Angels watched as Mary changed God’s diaper. The universe watched with wonder as The Almighty learned to walk. Children played in the street with him. And had the synagogue leader in Nazareth known who was listening to his sermons…

Jesus may have had pimples. He may have been tone-deaf. Perhaps a girl down the street had a crush on him or vice versa. It could be that his knees were bony. One thing’s for sure: He was, while completely divine, completely human.

For thirty-three years he would feel everything you and I have ever felt. He felt weak. He grew weary. He was afraid of failure. He was susceptible to wooing women. He got colds, burped, and had body odor. His feelings got hurt. His feet got tired. And his head ached.

To think of Jesus in such a light is—well, it seems almost irreverent, doesn’t it? It’s not something we like to do; it’s uncomfortable. It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. Clean the manure from around the manger. Wipe the sweat out of his eyes. Pretend he never snored or blew his nose or hit his thumb with a hammer.

He’s easier to stomach that way. There is something about keeping him divine that keeps him distant, packaged, predictable.

But don’t do it. For heaven’s sake, don’t. Let him be as human as he intended to be. Let him into the mire and muck of our world. For only if we let him in can he pull us out.

Listen to him.

“Love your neighbor” was spoken by a man whose neighbors tried to kill him.

The challenge to leave family for the gospel was issued by one who kissed his mother goodbye in the doorway.

“Pray for those who persecute you” came from the lips that would soon be begging God to forgive his murderers.

“I am with you always” are the words of a God who in one instant did the impossible to make it all possible for you and me.

It all happened in a moment. In one moment…a most remarkable moment. The Word became flesh.

There will be another. The world will see another instantaneous transformation. You see, in becoming man, God made it possible for man to see God. When Jesus went home he left the back door open. As a result, “we will all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

The first moment of transformation went unnoticed by the world. But you can bet your sweet September that the second one won’t. The next time you use the phrase “just a moment,” …remember that’s all the time it will take to change this world.

To read more from the book, God Came Near, go to:

http://maxlucado.com/read/topical/it-began-in-a-manger-christmas/

Free from the Fog of Fear

I thought this was a very good devotional on how fear affects our every day life. I can fool myself that I am not often afraid until I ponder the synonyms for fear….anxiety, concern, doubt, dread, unease, worry. Yep there is plenty of that in my life to deal with! Thanks for this great word about dealing with all of that!

devos from the hill

Mars Hill Staff Devotional
from Fred Carpenter

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18 NASB

Today we are talking about fear. Not the kind of fear that suddenly grips you with terror, but the kind that lurks below the surface of your conscious mind. The fear we equate with terror comes on us in an instant, like a life-threatening wound from a gunshot. The kind of fear we are talking about today is more like a slow moving disease. It’s the kind of fear you may not even be aware of, or have forgotten was there, until you’re faced with a challenge (or an opportunity) that reminds you of its power.

This is the kind of fear every one of us inherited as a son of Adam. This…

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HOPE

Hope. This is a word which I have often used – jam packed with meaning. There is hope for medical cures, hope for financial success, hope for love, and hope for progress that will lead to a brighter tomorrow. But lately I have wrestled with what having hope really means, particularly as it relates to hoping in God.

One of the common features about all of these hopes is that they are desires for outcomes about which I have little or no ability to produce on my own. I am not able to produce a cure for cancer, I am not capable of controlling the stock market, and I am not able to control how people feel about me. As hard as I try to move forward, there are frequently unforeseen disasters that thwart my progress.

Hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown. Some have even said that the biblical definition of hope is “confident expectation.” I would go one step further to say that in the English language it takes two words to define the state of my mental being with regard to the unknown and unfulfilled future; faith is the “confident” component and hope is the component of “expectation.”

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

This “confident expectation” is the belief that something is going to happen and that “something” is based on a promise or proclamation that God has made to us. For instance:

“We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, but especially of those who have faith. That’s why we work and struggle so hard.” I Timothy 4:10; or “My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is. This hope makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy.” I John 3:2-3.

For me, faith and hope are the complete trust that my expectations are going to be fully met. And I cannot have one without the other. To trust without expectation is to be dull and stoic. To hope without trust is to merely wistfully wish. Thus, faith and hope are inseparable. And to have faith and hope in any thing or any one apart from an all mighty God is less than I desire, because I want a cure, I want security, I want to achieve, and I want love. And God is the only perfect one I know who can deliver.

Although I desperately need them now, faith and hope are temporary. As soon as all expectations are met there will no longer be need for them. (That’s Heaven!) I think that is the point of I Corinthians 13, the famous chapter of love. Love is the only component that is eternal. While the whole chapter is a worthy read, the last two verses sum it up so well, (I Corinthians 13:12-13)

¹²Now all we can see of God
is like a cloudy picture
    in a mirror.
Later we will see him
    face to face.
We don’t know everything,
    but then we will,
just as God completely
    understands us.
¹³For now there are faith,
    hope, and love.
But of these three,
    the greatest is love.