Life #27 - Toward Life and Incorruption: To Gain is a Work of Faith (2 of 3)

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Christians will say we received our salvation as a free gift; we did not work for it. Yes, that is true! To “receive” is a free gift, which salvation is. But, to “gain Christ” is a work that accompanies faith (James 2:17)!

• But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him (1 John 2:5 NKJV).

To keep his “word” takes effort on our part until by incremental adjustments, God’s love is perfected in us. Thus we know we are “in him”.

• And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him (1 John 3:5, 6 NKJV).

To abide “in him” takes staying power on our behalf so that we do not sin—because he has no sin—then are we able to see and know him.

• If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him (1 John 2: 29 NIV).

Do we do what is right? That sounds like work on our part.

If we continue to keep “his word”, abide “in him”, and do what is right, then we no longer sin because the inherent truth that Christ in us has no sin is gradually revealed in us.

To “gain Christ” is to gain life.

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Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted; excerpts from our book to be released next year.

Life #26 - Toward Life and Incorruption: Are We Born of God? (1 of 3)



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• No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9 NIV).

Christians have great difficulty applying this truth personally. We are doubtful that a time will ever come when we will stop sinning and admit to it. Why?—because there are counter-scriptures that appear to support us in our very doubts!

• “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John l: 8).
• “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:10).

No Christian would ever knowingly want to be deceived, or make God out to be a liar. Therefore, you won’t hear us saying “we have no sin”. Instead, we safely admit to sin…after sin… after sin…after—.

Then do we continue to ignore the Scripture that says “we cannot go on sinning”? No. If God’s seed remains in us, then we cannot continue to sin. We share in the Apostle Paul’s desire to count on Jesus to complete our salvation:

• “…that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ” (Phil. 3: 8, 9 NIV).

We are to “gain” Christ through faith in him and in his completed work.

Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted; excerpts from our book to be released next year.

Life #25 - Learning to Hear God's Voice through Sound and Meaning

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               Scripture says there are many voices in the world and they all carry meaning (1 Cor. 14:10 KJV). The Greek word for “voice” is phōnē, fo-nay’ which means a sound or a tone. Mothers learn to recognize their baby’s sound or tone, as well as the meaning behind it: “That cry sounds like he’s hungry; that one like she’s ready for a nap.”

Christians must learn to recognize God’s sound and the meaning behind it. Additionally, we also learn to differentiate God’s Voice from among other voices, who also have sounds and meanings of their own:

·         The devil’s sound is temptation, aimed at our ego, meant to use us to frustrate God’s power, purpose, and sovereignty (Matt. 4:3, 6, 9).

·         The world strikes a tone of pleasure, aimed at our lusts, meant to make Christians enemies of God (James 4:1-4; 1 John 2:15, 16).

·         The stranger’s voice is the letter of the law, aimed at the sheep, and is meant to steal, to kill, or to destroy the sheep (John 9:14-16; 28; 10:5, 10; Mark 2:24, 27).

Otherwise, God’s Voice is a sound of change, aimed at the incorruptible seed within us, meant to grow us up into Christ Jesus.

Yes. God’s voice sounds like our voice, our thoughts, and our feelings.

Let’s spend time with God and get acquainted with his sound and meaning, especially so we can hear the Voice of life.

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Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted; Greek definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: Voice #5456, phōnē, fo-nay’; a tone:—noise, sound, voice. And from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981): “voice” - “a sound”.

In John (Chapters 9 & 10), Jesus alluded to the Pharisees as strangers, thieves, robbers, and hirelings.

Life #24 - An Immortal Destiny

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“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…“ (Eph. 1:11 NIV).

Jesus invited us to follow him. Eventually, our journey stops in a Garden containing the winepress of God. Here, the strength of our will has an opportunity to die to all of its limitations and fears, even of betrayal and abandonment. Jesus experienced betrayal by one of his disciples; and ultimately, abandonment by his God, as he cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Afterwards, he was raised in glory!

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose their will over God’s. Are we going to do the same, or, choose the way Jesus did? “Not my will but yours be done”.  If we follow Jesus even in this, then our will—like his—conforms to God’s will. Now, God “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” so that we might “be for the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:11 NIV)!

It is Christ in us, “the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Only “in him” are we predestined according to God’s plan. The result is that we who live, no longer live for ourselves, but for him (2 Cor. 5:15 NIV).

Our destiny is an immortal one because of whose image we are predestined to transform into (2 Cor. 3:18). We are, after all, saved through his life (Rom. 5:10 NIV).

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Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted; excerpts from our book to be released next year.