Have old things passed away?
2 Cor. 5 ; 15-17
He died for all people so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died and rose for them. So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view.
Even if we did think of Christ from a human point of view, we do not think of him that way anymore. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Old things have disappeared, and—look!—all things have become new!
I think sometimes we get so excited about being in Christ and delivered from our old way of life, that we miss 2 very important truths. 1. we now live for Him, and 2 we no longer know one another after the flesh.
Have we used our freedom to do whatever we want, and therefore forgetting to whom we must live our lives. Are we seeing people after the spirit, or are we still walking with people in our flesh.
Food for thought.
Grace on your journey.
Love
Doug and Rita
The Year 2011
Things I believe will happen this year.
1. The Father showing His love to the world, like it was in the early 70"s. Heb.1:1-3, Eph 3
2. It will be a year that the sons will see the faithfulness of the Father. 1 Cor 2:9
3. We are to be the expression of the Father on the earth just like Jesus was. John 14
4. Their will be many problems and lost in the world, but in the Kingdom it will be a year of much increase. 2 Pet 1
5. Will be a year to be a doer of the word, not just a hearer. James 1:22
6. It will be a year of recoverer. 1 Pet 5
Those that have ears let them hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying.
Blessings and Grace
Doug
Thoughts on Walking as Sons
Here are some thoughts for walking as children in the family of our Father. Hope you enjoy them.
Eph 1: I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 5; Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma
1 John 2 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 Thes 2 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
1 John 1 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
3 John Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
Col 1 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Eph 5 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Eph 4: This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Grace on your journey.
Love
Doug
Thinking Out Loud
Sitting in a hotel room in Alicante, Spain, I am thinking about the family of God. I can't go any further than first knowing that He is my Father, because He chose me to be His son. It gives me great joy in knowing that He loves me. Everything that the Father has for me to do has already been done for me in Christ. That is great news. I can enter Christ's rest, and rest from my labors and watch what He does though me. It is not I but Christ working though me to accomplish the Father's will. So as He is, so now am I on the earth. I am the radiance of Him who has called me and appointed me to bear fruit on the earth, and to establish His kingdom everywhere I go.
I am laying hold of that which Christ Jesus laid hold of me for in each place that I find myself. If I will only trust in His faithfulness, I will see the land which He has promised to the heirs of Abraham. I am thinking how blessed I am, because of what the Father has predestined me to do in Christ my Lord. Walking in faith in the finished work of the cross--what joy it brings to my soul. Even as I must decrease He will increase. I am longing to see every person fully complete in Christ the Lord and walking in the full understanding of the kingdom of God and the grace in which they have been called.
Grace on your journey my friends.
Love,
Doug
Walking in a manner worthy of your calling.
Paul encourages us in Ephesians 4 on how to walk worthy of our callings. I think that most believers miss the understanding of what Paul is telling us. We try to make everything religious and miss the simple truths of what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach us. Here are a few truths that we need to walk worthy of our callings:
1. The Father chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He predestined us to adoption as sons. Eph 1:1-5; John 15:16
2. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which the Father prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Eph 2:10
3. Grace has been given us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Eph 4:7
4. The Holy Spirit will guide us into all the truth. John 16:12-15
We think that we have to be in the ministry to really please the Father and do His will. I believe that is true. But what we think the ministry is has been the problem.
If you are a farmer, lawyer, plumber, teacher, doctor or whatever, that is your ministry. You have been called to walk in the fullness of what the Father has for you in whatever field you find yourself in. Bring honor to the Father and draw from the resources the Father has given us in Christ and walk with the Holy Spirit. Then you will see the Father build His kingdom on the earth. Do what you can, where you are at, with what you have and see what will happen.
You can pastor people without having to be a "pastor" as the world thinks. We all have been called to make disciples; our lives are the teachings that the people around us are watching. That is why Paul is encouraging us to walk worthy.
Food for thought.
Grace on your journey.
Doug
Abide in Christ’s Love
John 15:10
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
Jesus seems to be making a differences between His Father's commandments that Jesus kept and His commandments He wants us to keep.
I don't believe that Jesus is talking about us keeping the 10 commandments that the Father gave under the law, but His commandments that are under grace.
Jesus fulfilled the law by keeping the commandments that man could not but that Jesus did.
We are not children of the bond woman, but the free woman. We are not orphans, but sons.
I think that there are basically 5 commandments that Jesus gave us.
1. To believe on Him who was sent. (Jesus)
2. To love one another the way we have been loved. (not love your neighbor as you love yourself, but love the way Jesus and Father has loved you.)
3. To be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
4. To preach the Kingdom.
5 To make disciples.
Think about it, what is the devil fighting against?
Believing, loving, Holy Spirit, Kingdom of God and making disciples (bringing people into Christ).
Food for thought.
Grace on your journey.
Doug
Knowing the Three
2 Cor. 13:14 (1)The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, (2) the extravagant love of God, (3) the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.
(1) When I think of the grace of Christ given to me, I realizes it not what I have to do, but what Jesus has already done. It is His ability to work redemption in every situation though me, another way to say it, Jesus giving me the things I need to do the work He has called me to do. So then it is not by my works, but His grace working in me.
Eph 4: 7 To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
(2) When I think of the extravagant love of the Father, it was His calling and choosing of me, it was because He first love me, it was all about what He wanted and He did, so that I could experience who He is.
1 John 4:7-11 Beloved , let us love one another, for love is from God: and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1John 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 Let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. ( Put your stuff, where your mouth is, and then the world will know we are loving one another and will see the family and will want to be part of what they see, not what they hear us saying, but see us living.)
(3) When I think of having a friendship with the Holy Spirit, the first question that I ask. What is a friend?
Someone I can trust, enjoy being with, has my back, loves no matter what, brings the best out of me, believes in me, and likes being with me.
John14:26 The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you: My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
I know that there is lots more about the three, so put some thought and time in it. My prayer, is you enjoy getting to know the fullness of the three.
Blessings
Doug
Have Faith in God
Have you ever been told to just have faith in God when you were in a hard place? Yea sure, not much help.
I have been thinking about that. I think we need to understand what have faith in God is all about.
1. We know that without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that seek Him. (Heb 11:6)
2. We know that He has given each one of us faith. (Rom 12:3)
3. We live by faith ( Gal 2:20)
4. We walk by faith ( 2 Cor 5: 7)
I think sometimes we think it is all what we do or what we have done with faith, that makes things happen in our lives.
We forget that it is not about us, but all about the one who loved us and gave himself for us.
I think that when we are in a hard place, we need to just have faith in the not what we have to do, but in what He has done.
(believing in the person of the Father, the integrity and character of who He is, knowing that He will finish what He has begun in our lives)
It is easier for me to believe in His ability to be God than my ability to have faith to do.
I am glad that He is faithful, even when I am not.
John 15;16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.
Eph 1:4 He close us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
So the next time you hear, Have Faith in God. Have Faith in who He is and what He has already done.
Food for thought.
Grace on your journey.
Doug
Mongolia
This is a picture of one of the fellowship we have minister at in Mongolia. The pastor has been in this city less than a year and has already lead 30 adults to the Lord. There are only 120 adults in the city. There is a real since that the Father is wanting to pour out His love here and establish His Kingdom.
I met one pastor that when he went to another city to preach the gospel, the people stone him. But he return and now has a group that meets in a home. I will be going there to encourage the family.
The believers here have paid a price for there faith in Christ, it is a joy to be with them.
The God of Glory
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
I love all that the Father has for those who fine there life in Christ.
Blessings on your journey in finding your life that is hidden in Christ. Those who look will fine.
Doug