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Archive for January, 2010

Free Indeed – Romans 8:2

26 Jan

(Romans 8:2Romans 8:2
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  

WP-Bible plugin)  “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

I stand without condemnation today (Romans 8:1Romans 8:1
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
8 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  

WP-Bible plugin) because I have been set free.  This is true because all those in Christ Jesus are no longer condemned.  And since I am in Christ, I am no longer condemned because the law of sin and death no longer hold my soul captive to a system that constantly points out my failure.  I am no longer held captive to a system that causes my Christian life to die each moment I fail to measure up to the rules and regulations of the law.

Freedom means I am not obligated to constantly live in the shadow of my past.  Freedom means I am not held to a standard I could never fulfill.  Freedom means I am not bound by the man-made rules others place on me in an attempt to make me conform to their standard of righteousness.  Freedom means I function on the basis of the Spirit.  Freedom means I am alive.  Freedom means I get to choose whether I want to please God with my life.

The days of self-torture are over.  There is a law stronger than sin and death.  It is Spirit and it is life.  Truth reigns over opinion.  Grace triumphs over law.  The law of the Spirit is infinitely stronger because it is centered and sourced in an infinite God.  Yes, the anointed One – Jesus – brings the victory and His life to me today.

Renewed Thought –(John 8:36John 8:36
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.  

WP-Bible plugin)  “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

 
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Free From Condemnation – Romans 8:1

25 Jan

(Romans 8:1Romans 8:1
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
8 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  

WP-Bible plugin)  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The burden of condemnation is a heavy weight.  Condemnation results in imprisonment.  Condemnation results in guilt.  Condemnation results in doubt.  God declares our righteousness and forgiveness for past offenses through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 4:24-25Romans 4:24-25
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.  

WP-Bible plugin).  Yet many of us still suffer under the unbearable load of condemnation every day.

We look at our daily lives and it just doesn’t seem to be what we think it should.  This is especially true as we are now a few weeks past a new year when resolutions were made and plans were laid down to become a better person.  Your plans to lose weight, stop smoking, or eat better have fallen through.  Maybe you had a plan to be a more consistent Christian.  You promised yourself that you would go to church more, pray more, read more, witness more.  But all the things you promised yourself or God haven’t worked out…and you feel condemned for failing to be who you ought to be and who you wanted to be.

Christian, take heart!  This passage was written to encourage us and lift us up!  I travel occasionally on business and have to go through Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C.  Every time I travel there, I miss the road signs guiding me out of the airport.  I get lost and have to backtrack to where I started.  It’s discouraging.  Just like my frustrating travel adventures, many of us miss the road signs guiding us out of one subject in the book of Romans into another.  We have to backtrack to get an idea of where we are.  The context in this section is about our practical walk in the Christian life.  The condemnation in this passage describes our relationship to the Law.  Our relationship to the penalty of sin was dealt with in Romans chapters 1-5.  In this passage, we see our position and the practical side of our identity in Christ.  We are not under a system of performance.  We are not condemned by our failures to live up to the plans, programs and performance-based systems set down in our own minds or by those around us!  We are given principles and promises as those “in Christ Jesus.”  But just like salvation, the answer to deal with the condemnation is not in our righteousness or our own ability to measure up.  We are delivered today again and again and again by the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 7:24-25Romans 7:24-25
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? the body...: or, this body of death 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.  

WP-Bible plugin).

Renewed Thought – We condemn ourselves because we don’t believe God.  We feel condemned by the Law because we don’t believe God.  The cross is God’s answer to self-condemnation.  Grace is God’s answer to the bondage of the law.

 
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Where Is The “Real” Church?

16 Jan

 
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Please Help Haiti

14 Jan

Dear Renewed Mind Readers,

I originally titled this post “Please Pray For Haiti.”  But after thinking and praying about it, I thought it better and more in line with who we are in Christ to ask you to please help Haiti.  As most of you know, Haiti suffered a horrendous earthquake this week.  The news reports coming out of the country indicate tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, are dead.  We have a friend whose father led a mission team down to Haiti on Monday.  We received word that the missionary survived but we have no word on the rest of the team or the people who are involved in that ministry.  Many thousands have the same story – “I don’t know” or “I’m still waiting to hear.”  Please keep the people of Haiti, their leaders, the rescue workers, and our government leaders in your prayers while the recovery efforts continue.  If you have a local church supporting missionaries in Haiti, they need your help now more than ever.  If you don’t know how to help or where to give, a good starting point seems to be the American Red Cross.  While I don’t normally advocate secular organizations for giving, I think this is an exceptional time and worthy of an exception to the rule if you don’t know how else to help.  We worship a God of mercy, love and compassion. It’s in these desperate situations that His life working through His Body can be a shining light in a dark time.

Rejoicing With You In His Grace,

Glen
Haiti Photoessay

 
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Peace In Spite of Bernie Madoff – Proverbs 23:5

13 Jan

(Proverbs 23:5Proverbs 23:5
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. set...: Heb. cause thine eyes to fly upon  

WP-Bible plugin)  Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

How many millions of people can attest to the truthfulness of this verse?  “…that which is not” literally means to be “nothing or not exist.”  In recent years, we’ve seen the fleeting wealth of thousands of people found they were victims of the fraud perpetrated by Bernie Madoff.  In all, it is estimated that $18,000,000,000 was stolen.  Overnight, people lost the savings they spent a lifetime building.  Full bank accounts suddenly became “nothing” or did “not exist.”  What we count on today may not be here tomorrow.

In our younger years, we live our lives as if we’ll be on this earth forever.  Human wisdom looks toward the temporary and accounts it to be permanent.  We go to church each Sunday acting as if we’ll always have the fellowship we enjoy there.  We watch our children grow up living as though they’ll always be children.  We often spend our lives in denial of how fragile each moment really is.  How would we act differently if we knew the bigger picture and the limits on our time with each other?  What would our priorities be if we knew that which we valued would suddenly be taken away?

As we become more aware of our spiritual environment we become aware of the difference between temporary and permanent.  Intimacy with Christ teaches us to live in the permanency of the eternal.  The temporary disappears.  Rather than setting our eyes on that which is not, let’s use today to turn our gaze on Him Who was and is and is to come.  Only then will we be able to live in peace in spite of the Bernie Madoffs of this world looking to carry off our riches into the sunset.

Renewed Thought – “Turn your eyes upon Jesus,Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace. – Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

 
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