The Power of Salvation

God reminds me today of all that He has done and is doing in my life. Because of His faithfulness I live in His mercy which is “new every morning.” As we age, forgetfulness is common, yet the  only sign of amnesia in the Lord is that He forgets to remember my sins against Him! These thoughts fill me with peace, joy, and hope. His words of truth keep changing my life. 

He tells me to “Count it all joy… when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4) 

Joy in trials once seemed impossible, but as He shows His goodness, then I start to see it, even before the trials are over.

He bids me to ask for wisdom, trusting Him. If I cannot do both He patiently keeps showing me that He is the source of wisdom and His wisdom can be trusted. 

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” not from me, not from the kindness of others. He is the first source, the origin of goodness and this produces humility and thankfulness. 

When I watch the congregation go forward to participate in communion, I see that partiality is foolish. We all stand before Him, saved sinners remembering what He has done for us. There is no rich or poor, only family — together to thank and glorify our Savior. 

He also reminds me that the praying field is level; “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” No little/big sins. It is just sin that we fight — and salvation by faith that we share. Yet this salvation is not mere talk. If it is real, it show up:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 

Faith without works is only talk, not saving faith. Saving faith changes lives. God says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?… For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” 

One example of faith is tongue control. The Bible says it is “a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”  So I need the grace of God and the power of God to know when to speak and when to shut up. I also need His wisdom: 

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
God also points out the reason some of my prayers bounce off the ceiling: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” and He tells me what to do about it — in this order: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. . . . Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, I will live and do this or that.” As it is, “You boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So if you know the right thing to do and fail to do it, for you it is sin.” 

He tells me of His patience and this changes my ’I want it now’ focus. He tells me of His healing power and I pray for the sick and for those who sin, but also confess my own, and more easily see that prayers coupled with simple obedience have great power. Yet as Piper says, the promises God made to Abraham and the prayer prayed through Mary all found their fulfillment in Jesus. My prayers are answered only because of Him.

PRAY: My Lord and God, I praise you for your grace and your mercy, and Your incredible power to speak to a sinful person and change their life, my life. Thank you for sending Jesus and making such miracles happen. 

God’s Power and my choices

I’m being challenged continually to trust Jesus with everything. Last night we prayed with friends and part of that included a discussion about repetition. Do we ask God once for something and trust Him to do it? Or do we pray every day until it happens?

The question in my devotional: Is it not hard to trust the management of the universe and all of the outward creation to the Lord?

My first thought: Why not then trust Him to open up a parking place close to the door of a store when it is pouring rain and the umbrella is at home in the other car? Can my concerns be more complex and difficult than keeping the earth in orbit, or taking care of animals and birds, or even making flowers grow and bloom. Why then be anxious or troubled about His management of my life, or the lives of those around me? Why not pray as often as concerns arise?

If I take my stand on the power and trustworthiness of God based on just creation, it is easy to see that He knows how to turn a patch of weeds into a field of flowers, or protect a hive of bees, or turn a lanky and very shaky foal into a sleek race horse. It should be easy to pray about everything as long or only once.

I can trust Him to forgive my sin and give me eternal life — and “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) For those who are perishing, the word of the cross is folly, but to me it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Jesus died in weakness but rose again by the power of God. I am weak yet live and will live forever in the power of God (2 Corinthians 13:4). Why then do I not pray about everything since God can do anything? Is it not because the sin nature so easily rules? The sin nature simply wants to be lord of my life. Compared to what God can do, how foolish is that! If I do not pray, is it because my sin nature assumes I can handle all things?

I woke this morning with an agenda. But the dishwasher needed to be unloaded. The words “Do the right thing” ran through my head so I unloaded it. I have a role in a nonprofit group and saw an email that needed a response from my position on their board. A voice in my head said “Answer this now” and again, “Do the right thing” and no worry of responses for my response was a rebuke of sorts. At the same time, I knew this was the Holy Spirit telling me what to do, not my agenda.

I’ve been complaining how my to-do list runs my life when I have the God of the universe standing by and quite willing to take on that role. I do not alway listen. How foolish is that?

Once someone said to me that God was to be relied on the big stuff, like the wars in the world and the weather and anything else we cannot control, but we are not to bother Him with things we can do ourselves. I do not agree. That person has never felt helpless or unable to take on the challenges of life — a weakness that God allows to those of us who stubbornly insist on managing our own lives without Him. Doing the right thing means doing what God tells me to do, not what I want to do. Sadly, my ‘I wants’ are the essence of sin.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6, italics mine)

PRAY: Jesus, I hear You loud and clear. The bottom line for me today comes from this seldom preached verse: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17) Keep me hearing it. I’m tired of trying to do my own thing and even if my actions are not what others might consider sinful, if I am not doing what You tell me, then I am sinning against You.

Who picked who?

Is God sovereign? Do I have a free will? The Bible supports both, but I shake my head trying to figure out how that is possible. How can both be true without one cancelling out the other?

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11–12)

For some, the idea of predestination means that God has foreordained all that will happen, especially the salvation of some and not others. This seems like we are mere chess pieces on a divine game board. Yet the last part of the above passage speaks of those who hope in Christ. Throughout Scripture, this is offered as a choice we can make. Which is it? God picked me? Or I picked God?

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1995, 1986 by Thomas Nelson Publishers) offers this lengthy but helpful explanation.

Predestination is the biblical teaching that declares the sovereignty of God over human beings in such a way that the freedom of the human will is also preserved.
Two major concepts are involved in the biblical meaning of predestination. First, God, who is all-powerful in the universe, has foreknown and predestined the course of human history and the lives of individuals. If He were not in complete control of human events, He would not be sovereign and, thus, would not be God.
Second, God’s predestination of human events does not eliminate human choice. A thorough understanding of how God can maintain His sovereignty and still allow human freedom seems to be reserved for His infinite mind alone. Great minds have struggled with this problem for centuries.
Two views of predestination are prominent today. One view, known as Calvinism, holds that God offers irresistible grace to those whom he elects to save. The other view, known as Arminianism, insists that God’s grace is the source of redemption but that it can be resisted by people through free choice. In Calvinism, God chooses the believer; in Arminianism, the believer chooses God.
Although the term predestination is not used in the Bible, the apostle Paul uses a form of the same word in Ephesians 1:11: “We have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
All Christians agree that creation is moving within the purpose of God. This purpose is to bring the world into complete conformity to His will. From the very beginning of time, God predestined to save humankind by sending His Son to accomplish salvation. Thus, “God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

The doctrine of predestination does not mean that God is unjust, deciding that some people will be saved and that others will be lost. Mankind, because of Adam’s FALL in the Garden of Eden, sinned by free choice. Thus, no person deserves salvation. But God’s grace is universal. His salvation is for “everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

The article goes on to say that Paul declared himself obligated to take the message of the gospel to other people so they might hear and obey. The New Testament says no one is saved apart from the will of God and no one is lost apart from the will of God. It is clear that the will of God functions within an order that He Himself has established.

Nelson also adds that predestination is “a profound and mysterious biblical teaching.” No kidding! It forces me to think about divine sovereignty for which I am so grateful, but also about my freedom and responsibility. What do I do and say in response to all that God does?

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Father, those two verses from Ephesians tell me that You have given me an incredible inheritance. I know that I have not done anything to earn or deserve it. Could have I said no to the offer? It doesn’t seem so, just as it seems impossible to turn away from You now that I hope in Christ and am Your child. I don’t understand how You can be sovereign and still tell me to make choices, but I do know that You manage to use even my bad choices to teach me good things. This is a mystery.

But this is also what faith in You is about; trusting You and believing what You say even when I do not understand it. Your mind is awesome. One day I will know and understand, but today I am content to let You be God. My part is to do whatever I can to bring praise to Your name.