“Our Daily Bread” http://odb.org/
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie
“Homily Grits Devotional” http://www.homilygrits.com/
1 John 2:13b-14… I write to you, little children,Because you have known the Father. 14 I have written to you, fathers,Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men,Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,And you have overcome the wicked one. (NKJV)
Today’s writing involves a combination of discussions from our mens Bible study group last Wednesday morning…and the audio sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley for Oct. 02, 2013, that he titles…”The Missionary Call”…that can be found @ http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/audio-archives
We are in 1 John in our Bible study, where we see in the opening scripture penned by the apostle John, in the later stage of his life (where he was probably in his mid 80’s when he wrote this), refer to the younger Christians as “little children“… This was probably because of their spiritual immaturity, not because of their age… We clearly see that all three groups are believers…but in different stages of spiritual growth…
Please notice what John says about the young men…“And you have overcome the wicked one“… Friends, physical age has nothing to do with spiritual maturity… The Bible clearly tells us that Satan can be defeated in the life of a Spirit filled Christian… But to “overcome the wicked one“, is impossible in our own weak mortal strength… It takes the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, who is left in full control of the life of a Spirit filled Christian, to be able to consistently defeat Satan’s temptations to sin…
Left to ourselves, without the Holy Spirit’s total control of our heart and our mind…Satan would have the upper hand every time we are tempted to sin… But with a combination of the power of the Holy Spirit, and the “Whole armor of God” that the apostle Paul writes about in…Ephesians 6:10-20…I am living proof that God’s Word is true… Praise the Lord !! Satan can be all but defeated with the right protection from God in place…
This does not however give the Christian total protection from fleshly desires…which will be with us until the day we die… But when the Christian is “Walking in the Spirit” on a more or less consistent basis, by allowing the Holy Spirit to fill their lives (Ephesians 5:18-20); and by keeping a short leash on sins by confessing, repenting, and turning from their committed sins…1 John 1:9…(as soon as this can be accomplished without distraction)…their strength to overcome most temptations to sin from their own flesh, can be managed through the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit…
Here is the link for this important scripture, for those who aren’t familiar with the 6 pieces of God’s protective spiritual armor the apostle Paul writes about in…Ephesians 6:10-20… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph6:10-20&version=NKJV
There are 2 pieces of scripture that refer to Satan being held at bay in our lives…Ephesians 6:11…&…James 4:7-8…
Ephesians 6:11… Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (NKJV)
James 4:7-8… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (NKJV)
Here is the link to a days writing I have titled…”Peak Power”…that gives much more detail for those interested in defeating Satan’s temptations by “Walking in the Spirit”, with all of God’s spiritual armor firmly in place… https://godsmanforever.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/gods-group-thoughts-for-5172013-peak-power/
Dr. Charles Stanley’s audio sermon for 10/02/2013 is directed primarily at Christians who have been divinely called into the missionary field… But Dr. Stanley begins by listing 3 kinds of calls…
A) The call to salvation, where the unredeemed sinner hears the Word, and understands by seeking Jesus Christ to become their personal Lord and Savior… By God’s pure grace through saving faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2 :8-9), the unredeemed sinner is cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ at the cross, after first being drawn in by God…John 6:44… (See link at the end for more on God’s grace)…
B) The call to sanctification, where the Christian finally hears God’s call to obey Him, as they humbly submit their lives to the Lord… They grow and mature spiritually through continuous prayer with the Lord…by diligent feeding on the Word (Matthew 4:4)…through fellowship with other believers at church…through Bible studies…and by other teaching found through books and articles and writing on the internet, that God uses to fill us with the truth from His Word…
On a personal note…I was a Christian for just over 7 years… I was clad in most of God’s spiritual protective armor… But the peace and the joy I once knew as a brand new child of God were gone… It wasn’t until I had finally totally submitted to the Lord and His will, when I gave back control of my life to Him, that this call to progressive sanctification became the driving force in my life, at the age of almost 61…
Someone can be a Christian their whole life…and as the REV. C.H. Spurgeon put it in a sermon from 1859, that he titled…”Grieving the Holy Spirit”…their peace and their joy may be gone from their lives by consistent living in unconfessed sin… This great preacher of his times tells us that if we find ourselves in this sad state from grieving the Holy Spirit…will live no better off than the unbeliever, except we will go to heaven when we die… Spurgeon’s description was a perfect representation of my life, until I gave back total control to the Holy Spirit…
Here is the link for this powerful preaching that I would urge everyone to bookmark and read when they have some time (Read at least part 3)… http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0278.htm
The 3rd call listed by Dr. Stanley was…
C) The call to serve as a missionary… Christians can not be at their best in serving the Lord, until they have submitted their lives to God’s call of sanctification… But as a Spirit filled Christian, we must all do our best to obey God’s call on our lives to serve Him, and do our best to glorify His name in all that we say and do… This means seeking God’s will, by allowing Him to help us find our spiritual gift that God has given to all Christians…1 Corinthians 12.. And no matter what God has called us to do…we MUST obey His call on our lives…no matter what… If God calls us to it…He will always find the means for us to fulfill what God has asked us to do…
Since God always knows what’s best for our lives…who are we to say no to Him ?? We don’t have to become missionaries who travel to far countries… We can be missionaries in our workplace…with-in our families…in our neighborhoods…in our churches, by getting plugged in to the church body…and anywhere else God leads us in service for Him… Christians are bought and paid for by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, so we belong to Him…1 Corinthians 6:19-20…
Heavenly Father, help each of Your redeemed children in whatever level of spiritual maturity we find ourselves in…to be open to Your call for us to be consistently being conformed into the image of Your Son Jesus Christ…Romans 8:29… Give us the urge through the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to answer Your call of sanctification… And then Lord…help us to find and to use the spiritual gift You have given to all of Your redeemed children… I pray that this urge to live for You will overtake all of our lives, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…
Blessings in Christ, bruce r mills
P.S. Here is a link for this most important days writing, about how God’s grace is received to become a Christian in God’s eyes; through understanding and obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, after first being drawn in by God…John 6:44… https://godsmanforever.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/gods-group-thoughts-for-7112013-the-truth-about-sin/
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