| No Condemnation! No Separation! No Alienation! | November 19, 2015 | God's Will for You! God, what is your will for my life?
God’s will never come in the form of goosebumps or you placing a finger in your bible to see where it lands. I spent years praying, "God, what is your will for my life?" without realizing that it was to see a glorious reality not to be found in sweat and tears.
God’s will for your life is you! You were always His plan. You always had a special place in His heart. You were the result of a perfect dream. You are the praise of His glory. You are the love of His very being. You are the son or daughter He always wanted. You are what God believes about Jesus Christ.
The will of God is for you to behold and enjoy the “riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
The Mirror Bible translates Romans 12:2:
Do not allow current religious tradition to mold you into its patter of reasoning. Like an inspired artist, give attention to the detail of God's desire to find expression in you. Become acquainted with perfection. To accommodate yourself to the delight and good pleasure of Him will transform your thoughts afresh from within. (Emphasis mine)
The will of God for you is, "To accommodate yourself to the delight and good pleasure of Him will transform your thoughts afresh from within."
The will of God was Jesus giving Himself for our sins. His will was to deliver us from the "evil of this present religious age that encroached on us" (Gal. 1:4 Mirror Bible).
This is understanding what the "will of God" is for you (Ephesians 5:17). You are to bathe in this good news! You are to bathe in the reality of who you really are in Him.
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself (Eph. 1:9).
The Mirror Translation:
The secret is out! His cherished love dream now unfolds in front of our very eyes. (Eph. 1:9)
You are His perfect dream, and you can never be a nightmare. If you were never to do another good work is to remain His perfect dream. You are that loved!
His desire for you is to stand strong in the full accomplishment of Christ and to be fully persuaded in God's purpose for your lives. (Mirror Bible on Colossians 4:12).
Do your best to know that God is pleased with you. Be as a workman who has nothing to be ashamed of...(2nd Timothy 2:15 New Life Version).
Knowing your worth, how loved you are, and how God is well-pleased with you will make you ashamed of nothing before Him! You will discover that you are more than a conqueror because His love for you, and that His will has placed you beyond the reach of any accusation that could be brought against you. You are the result of a perfect dream, so never see yourself as a nightmare based upon your performance or by how you feel. If you see yourself less than a perfect dream then you are not beholding His will for your life.
Let me say this, if you believe that being a sinner is easier than being a believer then you have missed His will, as your understanding is fleshly. You are in this world but not of this world. That was not a reference to your performance or feelings. It is a reality of who you are in Christ. It is impossible for you to be the sinner you feel yourself to be because you have died to sin. Being identified with Christ in the new man is far easier than being identified with the old man because only one is based on a reality. Identifying with the old man is only a product of your mind. Instead, "Do not allow current religious tradition to mold you into its patter of reasoning...give attention to the detail of God's desire to find expression in you. Become acquainted with perfection. To accommodate yourself to the delight and good pleasure of Him will transform your thoughts afresh from within."
If you want to enjoy God's will for your life then stop beholding what you think is wrong with you and live in the reality that as He is, so are you in this world. Jesus is what God believes about you! Grace Quotes If God is the One who acquitted us, if God is the One who justifies, if God is the One who makes us righteous, why would He turn around and bring a charge or accusation against us? God is not the faultfinder.
Think of it! God gave me the righteousness that I have. I do not come before Him with my righteousness; I come before Him with the righteousness He gave Jesus. Therefore, if God finds fault with me, He has found fault with His own work. I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. (See Ephesians 2:10.)
Why would God find fault with His own work? Obviously, He doesn't. That means the feelings of not measuring up and the sense of fear and uncertainty I feel about approaching God are the products of my own heart. God is not finding fault with me.
"Who is he that condemneth?" Paul pointed out the absurdity that condemnation, faultfinding, and judgment would come from the Lord Jesus. Why would He find fault if He is the one who died for us? Obviously, He would not.
The feelings of condemnation, the expectations of judgment, are not from Him. Jesus is for me, not against me.
Now, if God is the Deliverer, He cannot be the destroyer. If God is for you, He cannot be against you.
Dr James Richards | Verses to Ponder Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? Indeed some of us know the truth of the ancient text: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’.
No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory through him who has proved his love for us.
I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 8:35-39 J.B. Phillips New Testament | Email Question Dave, does James 2:21 contradict Paul?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
No, you will find God was not the subject of this verse because it was not until verse 23 that James pointed out that Abraham was justified before God by faith.
James was not asking us to be introspective but extrospective. What good is faith alone if it does not help those in need (James 2:14-17)? What would faith alone profit others in need? Paul said in Titus 3:8 that good works are "profitable unto men."
Verse 22 states that works made faith (already present faith) complete. Works are compatible to faith. James was not talking about works to be justified before God. James was talking about works before others.
Paul said in Romans 4:2:
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
Let's read again James 2:21 but with " but not before God" inserted into it:
Was not Abraham our father justified by works but not before God, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
If Abraham was 'not' justified before God then before whom would he have been justified? God or mankind?
I know religion uses James 2:21 to teach that good works proves you are saved. I like to point out that James 2:21 spoke of a "single" work Abraham did some 20 years after he was already justified before God. The next time religion uses this verse against you or others is to say, "Great! I have up to 20 years to do one good work to prove I am saved." | |
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