Uplifting Insights

Friday, February 26, 2016

Washed In Christ's Blood

Romans 3:25

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Today's scripture text provides an in-depth look at Christ's sin atonement through His shed blood for the remission of sin. This was done to reconcile man back to God. When God looks at believers He sees the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ.

There are several facts that are evidence in the text and they are: (a) Christ's death was sacrificial in that He was sinless, but gave His life to redeem man back to God the Father. (b) Christ being man's propitiator gave all believers a right standing with the Father. (c) Christ's sin atonement gave all believers free access to God's unmerited grace which He freely gives. (d) Christ's sacrificial death paid a sin-debt that man lacked the ability to pay. (e) It is through Christ's shed blood that cleansed all believers from sin and all believers now have the ability and desire to serve God with heartfelt devotion. (f) It is through Christ's shed blood that sin is forgiven and all who believes are adopted sons and daughters of God and are members of God's holy nation. (g) Christ's shed blood opened the door so that all believers can come boldly to God's throne of grace and believers have a blood bought right to do so.

Christ's shed blood did what earthly priests could not do, which makes Him our high priest.

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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

The Apple Of God's Eye

Psalm 17:8

Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of thy wings.

King David is expressing God's love for His people by using figurative language such as man being the apple of God's eye and all believers being protected by God under His mighty wings.

All humanity is special to God in that man was created in the image and likeness of God. God breathe the breath of life into man and he became a living soul. Man is three persons in one just as the Godhead. Man has a spirit which connects to God's Spirit; he has a soul and a physical body which house the inner man.

Given the order in which man was created stands to reason humanity is the apple of God's eye and especially believers, because believers have accepted God's spiritual invitation of salvation.

Psalm 91:4 speaks of God's special protection on all believers so does the entire Psalm that speaks to God's love and care for His people.

There is no greater blessing than for all believers to be the apple of God's eye while knowing that He is our protector, deliverer, refuge, high tower and the God of our salvation (Psalm 18:2).

Dear Lord, I am thankful that I am special to You and for that I will forever love and praise You. In Jesus name Amen.

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Friday, February 19, 2016

Love Separates Believers From The World.

1 John 2:15-16

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Today's message focus is believers' relationship to the world, which is different from that of God. The things of the world are immoral in nature whereas the things of God are spiritual and moral which promotes love for God, self and others.

The apostle Peter outlines some of the worldly things that lead to a person's destruction. Flesh lusts after fleshly things which bring temporary pleasures, so do the eyes lusting after things that look better and more pleasing than they are. Lastly, the pride of life gives a false sense of security and many who live in the pride of life are immerged in material things.

God the Father's view of earthly things is that He is to be first in our lives and we are to seek the kingdom of heaven first and all we need will be added unto us (Matthew 6:33). God have proven Himself to be faithful to His Word as there is no failure in Him.

That said, making God first in our lives shows love and with the indwelling Holy Spirit all believers have the power to live separate lives as we remain in this world.

Believers' relationship to God separates us from this world.

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Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Love Conquers All

Romans 8:37

..In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

The Apostle Paul is encouraging all that as followers of Christ we will be persecuted because of our affiliations with Him. All believers must know that Christ conquered all on Calvary's cross. Christ's sacrificial death on the cross was undergirded by love. All who are in Christ have the love of Christ and is more than conquerors, which is through Christ Jesus.

It is worth noting that as believers travel this Christian journey we will be persecuted by Satan and his followers, but he is a defeated foe and can do us no harm without God's permission.

Verses 35-36 lists some of the adversities that believers will experience, which bring into focus our scripture text which gives all believer the assurances that is needed to stand firm in this spiritual warfare. God battle armor ensures our victory (Ephesians 6:11-17). Wear it well.

The many adversities that were being experienced by believers in Paul's day are present in today's society and it appears as if Satan has turned up the volume with his attacks. Keep in mind who we are and to whom we belong.

That said, Christ have never lost a battle and never will. If Christ had planned to loose this spiritual warfare, then His death would have been in vain. His love conquered death and the grave.

Love that conquerors all is powerful.

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Friday, February 12, 2016

Being Spirit-filled

Exodus 31:3

...I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.

Today's focus discussion is believers being Spirit-filled to accomplish the mission given by Christ. The question now becomes what does it means to be filled with God's Spirit? It means to be spiritually equipped for special service that God has called us to perform in His mission field. We know that God gives spiritual gifts according to His good pleasure and some of the gifts are teaching, healing, speaking in tongues, the gift of ministering, and the spirit of discernment. Each gift is given to edify the body of Christ as each operates in the unity of the Spirit because there is one body and one Lord (Ephesians 4:3-4).

Being spirit-filled is the result of being baptized in the Spirit by Christ Himself. This comes after the believer accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Believers maintain their spirit-filled lifestyles by being loyal the truth of God's Word and obeying it in totality. Being spirit-filled believers manifest the holiness of Christ as all believers are members of God's holy nation of priests. Spirit-filled believers are set apart from this world and look peculiar to the world. This is because believers see things from God perspective and have committed themselves live according to God's standards and His holy Word.

Faith causes all believers to live a spirit-filled life.

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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

All Knitted Together In Love

Colossians 2:2

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father, and of Christ;

Paul is addressing the believers in the Colossian church which was in Colosse expressing to then how they are knitted together in love and all are linked through God's Spirit. The true church resides in the hearts of all believers which is ruled by the Spirit of God-the Holy Spirit. All believers assemble themselves together in the local church to worship and praise God in love. We are to praise Him for who He is and what He has done and continues to do in the lives of mankind and especially believers.

There should be no dissension among God's people just as there is no dissension in the Godhead as each member of the Godhead operates coequally in the lives of mankind. The Godhead operates in love and unity; therefore, Christians are encouraged to do likewise.

Christ is the head of the church and in the lives of all believers, which makes all believers knitted together in love. Therefore, comfort your hearts and let love rule, because Christ's love conquered all.

Isn't love a wonderful thing? It provided salvation when nothing else could. Love! Love and then love some more.

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Thursday, February 4, 2016

Love verses Hate

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all sins.

In light of the hate and evil that is plaguing today's society I felt the need to take a look at hate verses love. Many people will swear that they love someone and will make it their life's work to destroy another for some foolish reason that has no value whatsoever. This makes me wonder what their definition of love is. I wonder this because love doesn't hurt and does not seek to destroy the very person you say you love. Love is an action word. Love seeks to do good for another person even if the person giving and showing love is wronged by the recipient; this is true love. Love overrides hate.

God provides an example of true love (John 3:16). Love incorporates forgiveness, because all of us have been forgiven at some point in our lives.

Love is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23); therefore, let your love remove your hate.

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Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Daily Spiritual Fitness Routine

Ephesians 6:18; Psalm 5:3

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

What is believers' spiritual fitness routine? It is believers' daily routine of communing with God, which is spending some quite time with the Lord. This is believers' beginning and ending his or her day in prayer. The Lord God loves hearing and communing with His people. There is nothing like a daily morning prayer with the Lord (Psalm 5:3). Communing with the Lord sets the tone for the believer's day because Satan is waiting trying to disrupt the good each day brings.

Daily Bible reading and meditating on God's Word is another part of believers' fitness program. Daily Bible reading reaffirms the truth of God's Word in our hearts and minds giving all believers the power to remain steadfast in the truth of His word and withstand Satan's attacks.

Believers, we are in a spiritual battle and without being spiritually fit to win this war we may become a fallen soldier. God dressed us in His body amour (Ephesians 6:11-18), because He knew the many battles we would encounter, but take heart His Spirit lives inside and with God's Word firmly planted in our hearts victory is our. Christ assured this victory on Calvary's cross. We still have to be physically and mentally prepared. Physically readiness is taking care of our earthly house/bodies through proper nourishment and rest. This is because our bodies are the temple of God and our inner man connects with God's Spirit-the Holy Spirit. Being mentally prepared is as stated earlier daily prayers, Bible reading and meditations, and then yielding control to the residing Holy Spirit. He will shepherd us through the day.

Being spiritually fit is being Christ-centered and focused. In doing so, the world cannot harm us; it will try, but we are more than conquerors through Christ.

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