Tuesday, June 28, 2016

No one else is even able

Then I saw in the right hand of the One seated on the throne a scroll with writing on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.   I also saw a mighty angel  proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? ” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able (dynamai) to open the scroll or even to look in it.
And I cried and cried because no one was found worthy to open  the scroll or even to look in it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop crying. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah,  the Root of David,  has been victorious  so that He may open the scroll and  its seven seals.”
Rev 5:1-5

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful,  and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able (dynamai), but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape  so that you are able to bear it.
1 Cor 10:13

God restricts what we go through to what we are able to endure. Imagine the depths Jesus was tempted, far beyond anything we've experienced. He was extensively tempted in everything and but remained sinless. Because of this, He's worthy and the only One who is.

And He said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup  away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Mark 14:36

We can't even understand the agony Jesus faced because we're protected by the Father who is "faithful" to us by only giving us what we can bear. We could never bear what Christ bore and come through it triumphant as He did.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

James 2

Listen, my dear brothers: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him?
James 2:5 HCSB

Be content with little.

For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all. For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder.  So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom.  For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn’t shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:10‭-‬13 HCSB

Just because you're 'perfect' in one area, it means little; you're sinning in other areas and guilty is guilty. Guilt is absolute and there are no levels of it in this respect. However, remember we've been granted mercy by the blood of Christ and we should act like it.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him?....faith if it doesn't have works is dead by itself....faith without works is useless...You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
James 2:14; 17; 21; 24 HCSB

This is what it looks like to be under mercy. 


Friday, June 3, 2016

House of Their Dreams



'House of Their Dreams' - Casting Crowns

So mid-study this song starts on my ipod and, as it does every time it plays, it begins pulling at my heart strings. How many people pursue happiness and find themselves and their families despairing? How many broken homes and broken hearts are there in this world and in the church? We suffer because we all think that what will make us happy is selfishness and selfishness is like a virus. There's no joy in being consumed. Yet God offers us such healing, such comfort and such love. He's the remedy to what ails us.