OVERCOMERS! For we wanted to come to you—indeed I, Paul, tried again and again—but Satan obstructed us—I Thessalonians 2:18             Never forget that our adversary is actively against us. He is not just there, he is working to defeat us any way he can. He wants to hinder us from faithfully following the Lord. The Apostle Paul said that “we are not unaware of his schemes” (II Corinthians 2:11). Do we understand his schemes? Satan actually “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8).  Yes, he wants to destroy you. That is his wicked purpose. We are told to “Resist him, standing firm in…

NEW CLOTHES! Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.  But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.  Here there is no Gentile or Jew,…

GOD MAKES DEAD MEN LIVE! And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. —Colossians 2:13-14 As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. At one time we all lived among…

THE BEST IS YET TO COME But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. —Philippians 3:20-21             Hey citizen of Heaven, are you looking forward to your glorious body that will be like our Lord Jesus’ body? —- “Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is” (I John 3:2). How…

THE FOOL In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” —Psalm 10:4 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”? —Psalm 10:13             The arrogant little creature shakes his fist and says to the God who created him, “There is no God.” In His pride the wicked say in his heart that God “will not call to account.” They renounce Him who is the very one that gave them life and holds their lives together. Yet man wants to follow after his own gods and after his own desires.…

BE IN HIS PRESENCE In Him and through faith in Him we may enter God’s presence with boldness and confidence. —Ephesians 3:12             Because we are in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:17) it is through Him (John 14:6) that we can enter boldly into the very presence of God! —– “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  Are you and I doing that? —“You do not have because you do not ask God. (James 4:2)             Jesus encouraged us to come in prayer through His Name, in His authority, since we have…

SAVED ONLY BY GOD’S GRACE! For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. —Ephesians 2:9-10 GOD’S RICHES AT Christ’s Expense             Our salvation is only by God’s grace. It was nothing of our doing… nothing! “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:44). Salvation is purely a…

I’M FREE IN JESUS!   It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. —Galatians 5:1 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.  For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” —Galatians 5:13-14 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is…

THOSE WHO ARE OF FAITH Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?  Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. —Galatians 3:6-9 He (Christ) redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. —Galatians 3:14             Here’s what…

KNOWN, SET APART, CALLED AND APPOINTED BY GRACE But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;—Galatians 1:15-16             Our Lord said of Paul that “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15).  Now who would have thought that this previously violent hater of Christians would be our Lord’s chosen instrument to be an apostle and preacher? I wonder…