You are righteous and nothing is impossible for you

A dear friend of mine wrote this note. I was so blessed by it that i couldnt possibly NOT put it online:

"As truly born again Christians we posses a new nature inside of us. This nature is at the very core of who we are and already predestines us to absolute greatness in God.

Many underestimate all that happened at the point of salvation but here are some key things that happened to you when you were born again:
- At salvation our Spirit is made alive unto God.
- At salvation we are co-buried with Christ and our sinful nature is circumcised from us.
- At salvation we are made alive with Christ and given a totally new nature and a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone.
- At salvation we are given identity and purpose.
Now, that’s not all that happens at salvation but for what I want to speak about it’ll do.

Full freedom, deliverance, prosperity, health and every manifestation of heaven exists in your spirit. You have been given fullness in Christ, WITHOUT MEASURE. Your spirit manifests PERFECT righteousness and PERFECT obedience. Don’t get me wrong though, our bodies and minds are wonderful creations made and loved by God himself and God totally relates to our ENTIRE being through the gift of righteousness. When God looks at you he sees you through Jesus and In the Holy Spirit.

Now, I’m sure there are things in your life that may be holding you down or bondages that you really want to be free of but you just seem to fall into the same trap, over and over. I’ve been there and in some areas I am there but I’ve heard God’s voice about this and I’d love to share.

The only thing in this entire universe that’ll cause you to conquer sin is the Grace of God. What I mean by that is this: Knowing that God is not holding sins against you and knowing that even your worst mistake won’t separate you from God is the very thing that will cause you to conquer those things!

I want to say this with love, but also with authority: discipline, obedience and even Repentance won’t bring holiness, ONLY Grace, unadulterated Grace will. When I say holiness I mean so much more than just not sinning! Touching Grace is touching Jesus and is touching Jesus is touching Holiness. Friendship with God is HOLINESS.

Let me give you an example from my own life, a testimony… I’ve battled with things in my life and when I mess up I often think something along the lines of, “I hope that by the end of these holidays or this month I’ll conquer this thing.. and I’ll be soooo disappointed with myself if I don’t!” This happened to me and in that state of severe condemnation I decided to run straight into His presence, because I KNEW that the manifestation of Grace will be what brings me out of that place.

As I was standing there, soaking and enjoying myself I heard His voice so clearly inside of me saying, “Son, even if you don’t conquer this thing by the end of these holidays, I WILL NOT be disappointed by you at all.” From that very moment I have felt a ridiculous strength in the face of temptation and new freedom. Not only that but more importantly I’ve been so much more able to laugh in the face of the enemy when he tries to bring condemnation on me.

Here are two scriptures that back up all that I have been saying, because its good to be biblical :-)
1 Corinthians 15:56 : “The sting of sin is death, but the power of sin is the law”
Romans 6:14 : “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”

You may be wondering, “this is good stuff, but what does it look like? How do I do it?” Let’s get practical then. The most valuable thing you can do when you feel the worst about yourself is to run into His presence. Sometimes it feels impossible but that is when it is vitally important to remember the words he has said to you and the AMAZING truths in the word that tell you God is NOT holding your sins against you and that you are THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD in Christ.

Don’t seek to get right with God. Seek to understand that you ARE RIGHT WITH GOD!! Don’t get into that endless attitude of sorrowful repentance of sin (which isn’t biblically accurate anyways) but instead get into His presence and find THE FULLNESS OF JOY! Don’t accept those lies of the enemy telling you you’re dirty! NO! You are clean!! Because HE made you clean. He made you GOOD ENOUGH. He made you able. You can soar on wings like eagles!!

You know what the most beautiful thing of approaching God boldly in this manner and under NO circumstance considering yourself a sinner, never accepting condemnation is? It is the GREATEST faith you can have. IT PLEASES GOD DEEPLY.

I honestly, from deep within my being, can feel God smiling at us when we don’t make a big issue of sin and when we agree with the simplicity of the gospel: He became your sin so that you may become His righteousness. SIMPLE! Don’t get confused about faith – it’s not a mystery as the word says that the mystery of Christ is revealed to us. And that is exactly where our faith is.

What God spoke to me about faith is simply agreeing with Him about Himself, about Yourself and about your world. Faith is not irrational or difficult. It is extremely easy with the right teaching, so soak yourself in Grace teaching :-) and so encounter His transforming presence.

What I’m truly trying to get at here (and I hope the point has now been overly labored and been soaked into you, lol) is that it is the GOSPEL that is the power of salvation (which is also the word for deliverance!) and in that gospel a Righteousness FROM GOD is revealed that is by FAITH from first to last. (Romans 1:16-17).

NO born again Christian wants to stay sinning, they have a new heart and over time that’ll manifest. Don’t go beat yourself up now because your life isn’t manifesting holiness, obedience and discipline yet. (Look at Abraham, he believed God and it was accredited to him as righteousness but soon after that He lied to a king, telling him his wife was his sister! If he were to have gone under the law and striving at that stage he would NEVER have manifested those good things).

Instead, STAY in FAITH and FAR away from works. Don’t force obedience onto yourself. Hebrews 11:6 says it is impossible to please God apart from faith. So if you don’t have the faith to be obedient or even to stop a bad habit in your life but you try in your own strength and flesh anyways, you’re sinning in doing that!! You’re in UNBELIEF. That’s radical I know but what I’m trying to say here is that your victory won’t be found in striving, but in rest.

The Kingdom isn’t a matter of food or drink but of RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE AND JOY in the HOLY SPIRIT. I much prefer having rest in the spirit and laughing my way into utter, irreversible victory than worrying and striving in my fleshy works, only ending in disappointment and often a greater depth of sin.

Your victory is in the Holy Spirit, not in your obedience, sacrifice, repentance or anything in or of yourself. Begin to learn how to rest; begin to enjoy God and take pleasure in Him based on His goodness and just as Sarah (who was barren) was able to conceive, you will also begin to bear good fruit unto God.

This is good news, I hope you enjoyed it..

Grace and Peace,

Luke"

I pray that it blessed you as much as it did me

It doesn't matter which translation you use-it remains true

Some People say that Grace Teachers have misinterpreted the Bible because we are using a faulty translation. However, as you will soon see, it really does not mater which Biblical Translation you use-it remains the same. It remains true. Trying to obey laws in order to gain justification (acceptance, forgiveness, blessings, right standing) in God is not of faith and not by GRACE , but is of law, which is not based on faith, but fear...

GALATIANS 5:4 SAYS:

NAS© : You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

ISV©: Those of you who are trying to be justified by the law have been cut off from the Messiah. You have fallen away from grace.

GWT©: Those of you who try to earn God's approval by obeying his laws have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen out of God's favor.

KJV: Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

AKJ: Christ is become of no effect to you, whoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace.

ASV: Ye are severed from Christ, ye would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.

BBE: You are cut off from Christ, you who would have righteousness by the law; you are turned away from grace.

DRB: You are made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law: you are fallen from grace.

DBY: Ye are deprived of all profit from the Christ as separated from him, as many as are justified by law; ye have fallen from grace.

ERV: Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.

WBS: Christ is become of no effect to you, whoever of you are justified by the law; ye have fallen from grace.

WEY: Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.

WEB: You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

YLT: ye were freed from the Christ, ye who in law are declared righteous; from the grace ye fell away;

THE NEXT argument was that we had misread the commentaries refering to such scripture, so here are a few commentaries:

Geneva Study Bible
Christ is {b} become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are {c} justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

(b) That is, as he himself expounds it afterward, ye are fallen from grace.

(c) That is, seek to be justified by the Law, for indeed no man is justified by the Law.

People's New Testament

5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you. If you be circumcised in order to keep the Mosaic law. See PNT Ga 5:2.

Ye have fallen from grace. By resorting to the law for salvation.

Wesley's Notes

5:4 Therefore Christ is become of no effect to you - Who seek to be justified by the law. Ye are fallen from grace - Ye renounce the new covenant. Ye disclaim the benefit of this gracious dispensation.

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin no effect

i.e. of no experimental effect: the sense of liberty is lost. Gal 2:21 Col 1:23.

Margin grace

Grace (in salvation). Eph 1:6,7 Rom 3:24. See Scofield Note: "Gal 1:6", See Scofield Note: "Jn 1:17".

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. Literally, "Ye have become void from Christ," that is, your connection with Christ has become void (Ga 5:2). Ro 7:2, "Loosed from the law," where the same Greek occurs as here.

whosoever of you are justified-"are being justified," that is, are endeavoring to be justified.

by the law-Greek, "IN the law," as the element in which justification is to take place.

fallen from grace-Ye no longer "stand" in grace (Ro 5:2). Grace and legal righteousness cannot co-exist (Ro 4:4, 5; 11:6). Christ, by circumcision (Lu 2:21), undertook to obey all the law, and fulfil all righteousness for us: any, therefore, that now seeks to fulfil the law for himself in any degree for justifying righteousness, severs himself from the grace which flows from Christ's fulfilment of it, and becomes "a debtor to do the whole law" (Ga 5:3). The decree of the Jerusalem council had said nothing so strong as this; it had merely decided that Gentile Christians were not bound to legal observances. But the Galatians, while not pretending to be so bound, imagined there was an efficacy in them to merit a higher degree of perfection (Ga 3:3). This accounts for Paul not referring to the decree at all. He took much higher ground. See Paley's Horæ Paulinæ. The natural mind loves outward fetters, and is apt to forge them for itself, to stand in lieu of holiness of heart.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-6 Christ will not be the Saviour of any who will not own and rely upon him as their only Saviour. Let us take heed to the warnings and persuasions of the apostle to stedfastness in the doctrine and liberty of the gospel. All true Christians, being taught by the Holy Spirit, wait for eternal life, the reward of righteousness, and the object of their hope, as the gift of God by faith in Christ; and not for the sake of their own works. The Jewish convert might observe the ceremonies or assert his liberty, the Gentile might disregard them or might attend to them, provided he did not depend upon them. No outward privileges or profession will avail to acceptance with God, without sincere faith in our Lord Jesus. True faith is a working grace; it works by love to God, and to our brethren. May we be of the number of those who, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. The danger of old was not in things of no consequence in themselves, as many forms and observances now are. But without faith working by love, all else is worthless, and compared with it other things are of small value.


AS YOU CAN SEE, THEY ALL SAY THE SAME THING. I COULD LIST EVERY OTHER SCRIPURE ABOUT GRACE ON THIS PAGE FROM ADAM AND EVE TO THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS (ALL BOOKS SPEAK PRIMARILY OF GRACE AND LOVE AND FAITH) BUT I THINK THIS SUFFICES.

Grace (Sola Fida, Sola Gracia) is true. Do not add or subtract from the message of Christ, for then we make HIS GOSPEL of no effect. For if we could have been justified by laws (any law, be it Catholic, Protestant, Mosaic or other) then Christ Died in Vain. We could have done it without Him, in our own power.

Love ya'll

Bx

"But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope."
Galatians 5:5

When "Jesus Loves You" is the last thing on your mind

In my previous blog I mentioned that JESUS LOVES US AS WE ARE. There is no need to feel “distant” from God or to fear His Wrath. Jesus has reconciled us to God and taken the wrath we so rightly deserved upon Himself.

Someone wrote back to me via email and said: “I am going through a hard time at present and want to know where I can find the spiritual power to overcome the obstacles I am facing”.

That may be a question you are asking to. Jesus loves us, SO WHAT? Does he see what I am going through? Does he see my pain? I do not need to hear about the LOVE of God. What I need is spiritual empowerment!

Well guess what? GODS LOVE IS SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT

Jeremiah was a young man who loved the LORD. But He was very sad when he wrote the book of Lamentations writing: “He shot his arrows deep within me. My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs” (Lam. 3:13-14)

“I am filled with bitterness. He has given me a cup of sorrow to drink. He has made me grind my teeth on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. ALL OF MY PEACE IS LOST” (Lam. 3:15-17)

“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is beyond words. I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss YET…” (Lam. 3:19-21)

Have you possibly lost your peace? Maybe things aren’t going well for you at this time. Jeremiah knew what it was like to go through the hardest of times…he speaks about his awful sorrow and his lack of peace but then he says “YET”. This is a word which means “even though”.

“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is beyond words. I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss YET I STILL DARE TO HOPE…”

He is declaring that EVEN THOUGH everything is going wrong HE STILL DARES TO HOPE. I love that! He is DARING to hope. This is not some pretty little poofy hope. It took bravery for him to have hope in the midst of his trials. He decides to go against the messages the world was sending his way and DARE to hope.

Within my previous blog I mentioned that God loves us UNCONDITIONALLY. Which is: no strings attached FREE love. It does not matter what is happening in our lives-God is with us. He is still pleased with us. He sings over us. He dances over us. He smiles whenever He thinks of us. We are still His Joy.

The Joy of the LORD is our Strength and so when He is JOYFUL over us, we are empowered and strengthened in Him. This is because of Faith and not because of our obedience to certain rules and regulations. We have this privilege not because we are good- but because GOD IS GOOD.

Knowing how much He delights in us gives us supernatural strength to overcome even the toughest of trials.

“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is beyond words. I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss YET I STILL DARE TO HOPE WHEN I THINK OF THIS: THE LOVE OF THE LORD WHICH NEVER FAILS ME WILL NEVER END!” (Lam. 19-22)

Can you see this?

When we have a revelation of how much GOD LOVES US we will be supernaturally empowered in the midst of the most trying of times to be OVERCOMERS. The Root word for the word “GRACE” is “CHARIS”. It means the following:

“Unconditional love and acceptance that fills the heart with thankfulness and empowerment”

GRACE, Gods unconditional acceptance of us, is EMPOWERING!

This is why Paul says that GRACE is the POWER of the gospel (Rom. 1 16-17)

If you are going through a hard time, ask God for a revelation of HIS LOVE. His love is a Love that never fails. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Jesus said, “Remember this, I will be with you ALWAYS even until the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)

He did NOT say, “I will be with you for the next ten minutes, but then I have to go somewhere.”

Neither did He say, “I will be with you UNTIL YOU SIN.”

NO way. He said I am with you ALWAYS!

When you fail-He is with you

When you sin-He is with you

When things are going badly-He is with you

When life doesn’t make sense-He is with you.

AND HERE IS ANOTHER MYSTERY FOR YOU: He is not only with you, but HE IS WITHIN YOU

.

He is in you. How much closer could God be? He is not far, far away. HE IS IN YOU. He sees even the deepest pain deep down in your heart, because He is deep down in your heart. He is within you ready to empower you and lift you higher. He loved you so much that He gave His everything to reconcile you to himself.

Be deeply encouraged guys, even in the midst of the most troubling of times. GOD LOVES YOU AND IS WITH YOU

Peace

Brogan

This is a teaching from Joseph Prince on Ephesians 1:3. I found it amazingly simple and true:

Blessed With Every Pneumatikos Blessing
Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ",
Some people think that the term “spiritual blessing” refers to only non-visible and intangible blessings like peace and joy. To them, God’s promise of “every spiritual blessing” excludes the tangible blessings of health, prosperity, a healthy marriage and so on. They say things like, “Don’t expect God to remove this tumor because our blessings are only spiritual.” Beloved, do you know what the word “spiritual” here means? In the original Greek text, it is pneumatikos, which in this context means having properties and characteristics belonging to the Spirit of God. So if you have the pneumatikos blessing of health, for example, it means that it is of the Spirit of God, and therefore does not depend on your exercising or dieting. A church member had high blood pressure which did not normalize even after he started exercising and eating well. So he stopped being preoccupied with his exercise and diet regimes, and simply rested in the truth that a normal blood pressure was a pneumatikos blessing from God already given to him. In a short time, his blood pressure came down to a healthy level! The same goes for the pneumatikos blessing of prosperity. It is of the Spirit of God and does not depend on our toiling seven days a week or monitoring the stock market closely. A church member, who owns a small company, received her pneumatikos blessing of prosperity when she believed that God would cause her small company to be publicly listed. He did. In fact, the company was over-subscribed seven times within the first week! Later on, it even made inroads into Dubai in the Middle East. For a woman to find favor in a male-dominated society like Dubai, it can only be the pneumatikos blessing of favor, which is not subject to the laws of man. My friend, believe that you have received every pneumatikos blessing, and you will find yourself enjoying blessings that are eternal, just as God is eternal, and of a quality that only the Spirit of God can give!

A Conversation about Sin, Forgiveness and Grace

I was reminded recently of the conversation I had once had with a friend of mine.
She was looking a little worse for wear, tears were streaming down her soft pink cheeks and it was obvious that she had a lot on her mind.
I made my way up to where she sat; half curled up into a ball in the corner of the youth hall.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as I sat beside her.
"I guess so-" came the reply.
"I don't buy it...speak to me..."
"Ah, it's nothing, Brogan. Really-"
"It can't be nothing, can it? I mean, why would you be so bothered about nothing?"
She sighed deeply and lowered her head to her knees, hiding her face from my view.

"Is God judging me? Is He angry with me?"

I sat up. It really was not the response I was expecting. I thought her sadness may be rooted in "boyfriend" trouble or even a problem at school. After all, those were the replies I was most used to...

"Why would you ask that-" I replied dumbly.
"Because I am not perfect...because I fail...because I sin..."
"And now you fear Gods judgement?"
"...Exactly..."
"What did you do?" (Again a dumb question)
"Sin is sin, right? So it really doesn't matter what I did...the Law is a composite whole. You taught me that! If we have broken one commandment then we have broken the entire law. Surely, if God is just, He would punish me for my law-breaking, even if it were accidental?"

I was stunned. She was really thinking. She was asking the important questions. I could not help but smile proudly at her reply.

"I don't think this is funny," she protested.
I cleared my throat and nodded in agreement, "NO I don’t think it is funny either. I am smiling because you have asked such a clever question-"
She grinned, "-and the answer is?"
"WELL, before I answer your question, let me ask you one. Do you believe that Jesus died for you?"
"Of Course-"
"Why?"
"...to forgive me of my sin...to pay the price...to save me from the punishment that was due by quenching Gods anger..."

Suddenly a light went on!

"Brogan, surely not! Are you saying that God won't punish me now for my sin, because he has already punished Jesus for my sin (in my place)?"
I nodded gently, "but you said it, not me!"
"But...what if I sin now after being saved? What if I fail as a believer?"
"Lisa, we all fail, that is why we need grace. But let me ask you this: how many of your sins were covered by the Blood of Jesus on the Cross? One sin? Two sins…"
"No, not just one or two...ALL OF THEM SILLY..."

Suddenly another light went on!
Suddenly she began to laugh hysterically!
Suddenly she brightened up!
And without even thinking twice she said aloud:
"WHOA! That is amazing! Is that the gospel? It all makes sense now! How did I miss it? And to think, I have been living in fear all this time when I could have been living by faith!"

Friends, Jesus died for all of your sins. YOU ARE FORGIVEN. God is not about to punish you. yes, he does discipline his children but it is always in love and through love. Gods discipline is not punishment or judgement. You can walk with your head held high and enter Gods Throne Room of Grace with confidence because you are THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS. FOREVER.