Believe Right!

I used to think that good works aimed at pleasing God and my efforts at keeping myself from sin were prerequisites to maintaining my salvation in Christ Jesus.  Even as a believer enjoying God's unmerited favour, I would recall Philippians 2:12 -   Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;”    and think that I still had to do good works to be justified. And then I would get really confused when I remember that Paul said in Romans 3:20 that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God -  Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. How confusing this was for me! But thank God for grace to take everything to Him in prayer in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thank God that He hears us always! Verse 13 of Philippians 2 tells me that my doing our Heavenly Father’s pleasure is

Many of us Christians try to ‘get right with God’ by determining to stop sinning. We do our best to abide by the Ten Commandments. We fast to receive ‘more power to defeat the devil’ and to show God how serious we are about serving Him. We pay our tithes so that the devourer will not come near us. We are taught that if we do these things, God would have mercy on us, answer our prayers, deliver us from generational curses (another story for another day!) and maybe even lighten the load of punishment attached to our sins. We are told that God will not use us unless we bring ourselves up to a standard of holiness. How wrong it is to believe such doctrine! Romans 3:20 says: “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Believers in Christ, our good works, no matter how many, can never justify us before God. There are no terms and conditions attached to the blessings of God in the lives of believers. Romans 5:20 sa

John 15:1 - 2 - The passage where Jesus says the branch that does not bear fruit gets taken away by our heavenly Father. NKJV 15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. In the past, I would read this passage and all I would see were my inadequacies and how one day, when my period of Grace was over, God would cut me off because I wasn't 'bearing fruit.'  Many Christians are in the same boat right now, equating the doing of good works with bearing fruit and not doing good works with not bearing fruit. Even as a believer in Jesus, enjoying the impact of His finished work, this passage seemed to me to be a contradiction of God's Grace. How wrong I was! It is a confirmation of God's grace and how much He loves us! How NOT to bear fruit comes right after verse 2!   3 You are already clean because of the wor

If you're reading this, you're probably familiar with the Parable of the Lost Sheep. If you could just take a minute to refresh your memory:) Luke 15: 4 - 7: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. " Let's note five things that happened in this passage: 1. The sheep was lost (it left the flock either by mistake or on purpose, bottomline is it got separated from the shepherd) 2. The shepherd went to look for the sheep 3. The shepherd was not mad at the sheep