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Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:20) |
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Perhaps the greatest need of the hour is for us evangelicals to keep God's commandments, to joyously walk in righteousness. |
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There are numerous commandments listed in the New Testament, beginning with the Gospel of Matthew and going through to the Book of Revelation. God expects us to keep His commandments, to think righteously, to speak righteously, and to act righteously. The commandments given in the New Testament range all the way from not stealing, keeping pure sexually, not coveting, forgiving our enemies, taking up our cross and following the Lord Jesus, all the way to presenting our body to God as a living sacrifice. |
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God has shown us what is good. He desires that we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. |
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Once while traveling by airplane I was working on my notebook computer. |
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The stewardess looked over my shoulder and said, "What are you writing about?" |
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I answered, "I am a Christian and I am writing about the need for us to behave righteously." |
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She exclaimed, "I am a Christian but I hate the word righteousness!" |
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Why would a believer hate the word righteousness? This is strange because righteous behavior is one of the main topics of the Bible. The righteous Lord loves upright, honest, truthful, faithful behavior. Isn't that true? The very scepter of the Lord Jesus is a scepter of righteousness. |
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It is difficult for non-Christians to behave righteously although many do. But we Christians have access to the very Throne of Grace to obtain wisdom and strength so we can keep God's commandments. We have the body and blood of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit. We have the New Testament writings. We have the elders and the assembling of saints to guide and strengthen us. |
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With the help of Jesus through His Holy Spirit we can keep God's commandments. We can overcome the evil in the world. |
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As we keep God's commandments we grow in eternal life. We gain love, joy, and peace of mind. Other people see our good works and glorify God. The light of our life influences all of those who are around us and they become curious about the hope we have. |
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But when we do not keep God's commandments the opposite is true. We do not grow in Christ, in eternal life. We gain bitterness, misery, and turmoil. Other people are not led to the Lord. They do not ask us about our great hope. |
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Some of the countries that have been thoroughly evangelized are engaging in civil war; others are crumbling in moral decay, sexual perversion, violence, and drugs. Why is this? Perhaps we have not made disciples of the new believers or taught them to keep the holy commandments written to us by the Apostles of the Lamb. Perhaps we are emphasizing the grace of forgiveness and mercy in a time when the grace of growth needs to be stressed. |
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Let us all keep God's commandments, practice righteousness, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Then we are building our house on the rock. Others will come to Jesus and, in addition, God will heal our land. |
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Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3:8) |
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In order to win Christ we must keep faith and works in balance. |
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The Apostle Paul tells us we are saved by grace through faith. He also wrote toward the end of his life that he had suffered the loss of all things in order to win Christ. He was reaching toward the mark of perfection, of the resurrection from among the dead. He exhorted us to be of the same mind. |
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Obviously there is more to salvation than confessing with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead—unless we are referring to making this confession and belief the center of all we think, say, and do during each and every day. |
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Paul says we are justified (righteous in God's sight) by faith. James, writing by the same Holy Spirit, says we are justified by works. Does the Bible contradict itself? Did Jesus do it all or is there a required response on our part? Is there really an abstract faith that has a life of its own or is it true that faith lives only in works of righteousness? How do you feel about this? |
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Paul pointed out that Divine grace is an alternative to the Law of Moses. Paul also indicated that the grace of God received correctly brings forth a new righteous creation. If the Apostle Paul had presented Divine grace as an alternative to righteous behavior his writings would be inconsistent. |
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James says, "I will show you my faith by my works." Does faith bring us to the land of promise while we sit in Egypt or do we have to go through the wilderness of temptations and then follow the Lord in battle into our land of promise? |
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Can you imagine the Israelite sitting in Egypt, eating from the pot of fish and vegetables, and exclaiming that God was bringing him into the land of milk and honey? |
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The most marvelous goal has been set before us—that of being changed into the moral image (and finally bodily image) of the Lord Jesus Christ. |
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God would have us set this goal before us as a mark, as a treasure that is the objective of our quest. There are many adversaries as the experienced Christian understands very well. Yet if we press forward with joyful confidence in the Lord we can and we shall reach the finish line. |
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You may have been a Christian for many years and are tired and discouraged. It is time now to get up and fight the good fight of faith. The water of the Spirit is beginning to trickle out from under the threshold of the temple of God. On the horizon there is a cloud the size of a man's hand. |
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Fasten the robe of salvation about you and begin to run for a deluge is upon us. |
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The Kingdom of God, the doing of God's will in the earth, is at hand! |
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And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21) |
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The Lord Jesus forgives our sins and then saves us from our sins. |
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There is a time when the grace of God needs to be emphasized. The discouraged, frightened sinner needs to know he doesn't have to release himself from his own chains and earn the approval of God. Divine grace stands ready to forgive, to cleanse, to heal, to completely restore. |
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Then there is a time when growth in Christ needs to be emphasized. We think we are living in such an hour. We are of little use for God's kingdom purposes until we begin to grow spiritually. |
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To grow spiritually is to be able to recognize the difference between good and evil and to have the desire and strength to choose the good and refuse the evil. |
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This is what salvation is—deliverance from the person and works of Satan. |
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There is a clear, decisive beginning of salvation when we recognize our need of the Savior and come to Him for forgiveness of sin. |
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There is a clear, Divinely guided working out of our salvation. The working out of our salvation includes deliverance from worldliness, the lusts of our flesh, and the bondage of self-will and self-seeking. It is an unwrapping of the graveclothes from Lazarus. |
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There is a salvation to come in the last days. The future salvation will include the clothing of our personality with a new body, a robe of righteousness that is being formed in Heaven as we patiently keep our present garment of flesh clean by confessing of our sins and turning away from them. |
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As we are being saved from sin we can live joyously in God's Presence and participate in the roles and tasks of the Kingdom of God. |
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It has been said that the purpose of the commandments given in the Bible is to bring us to Christ. The idea is that when we see how far we are from God's laws we will recognize we have to be saved by the merits of Christ. This is true if interpreted correctly. |
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There is more to the Divine plan, however. After we are forgiven through the blood of the righteous Jesus there is a life to be lived. In order to live that life as God would have us live it we must abide in Christ. We must continually look to Him so His Presence and virtue are overshadowing all we are and do. |
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When we abide in Christ the fruit of righteousness comes forth in our personality. We do not have to strain to bear fruit any more than a tree has to strain to bear apples. But we do have to abide in Christ. The fruit of righteousness is not the fruit of the Christian but the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of godliness comes forth naturally when we are abiding in Christ. |
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We are to do more than call Jesus "Lord." We are to keep His commandments. We can do this joyously and completely because the Divine Fullness is in Him and He is in us. |
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For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (I Thessalonians 4:16) |
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The Lord Jesus will return to earth (in the near future we hope!) and bring justice and peace to this sin- sick world. The pains of the groaning creation are the pains of birth. The Kingdom of God is soon to be born. |
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When the Lord returns, the dead in Christ will rise. Then we who are living at that time will be changed into immortality and caught up in the clouds along with the saints whom the Lord will bring with Him. |
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Let us think for a moment about two facts. The first fact is that it is the dead "in Christ" who will rise at His appearing. The second is that they will "rise." |
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What does it mean to be "in Christ"? It means we are living in Him, thinking in Him, speaking in Him. He is dwelling in us and we in Him. |
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If any person is in Christ he or she is a new person. |
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To abide in Christ is to meet Him the first thing every morning, greeting Him as Lord of our Life. Then, after having sought His will for the day, we are to order our steps in a manner pleasing to God, including setting aside time for prayer and seeking the Lord and also for meditating in the Bible. |
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It is one matter to make an initial profession of Christ. It is another matter to work out our own salvation with meekness and fear. There is an initial salvation. There is a continuing salvation. Then there is a salvation that will come to us with the appearing of the Lord Jesus. None of these is to be emphasized at the expense of the others if we would remain "in Christ." |
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What does it mean to "rise"? It means to be resurrected. The resurrection of the physical body, its change into immortality, is referred to as the redemption of the body. It is the overcoming of the "last enemy." Since mortality is the last enemy to be overcome, all other enemies must first be conquered. |
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As we press along in our daily walk with the Lord we are fighting against the forces of sin and death. The only way we can overcome the evil that comes against us is to abide in Christ. The evil in the world is becoming worse each day. When we keep living in Jesus we gain the wisdom and strength to live victoriously. Only the Divine virtue found in the body and blood of the Lord contains enough good to enable us to overcome the perversity of the ever increasing malice and wickedness. |
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Let us be counted among the wise virgins who will be ready to go to the wedding when the Lord comes. Where the carcass of the slain Lamb is, there will those be gathered who live by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. |
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For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (Titus 2:11,12) |
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Just what is Divine grace, the grace that comes to us through Christ? |
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We are saved by grace rather than by observing the Law of Moses. We know that when we come to Jesus we are forgiven because of the blood atonement made by Him on the cross of Calvary. |
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It has been said that grace is unmerited favor. This is true. In fact, all that God has done for man since the creation is unmerited favor, and so God's grace has always filled the earth and His glory can be seen everywhere we look. |
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Great grace is upon us when we abide in the Lord Jesus. Divine grace includes strength, wisdom, joy, peace, love—in fact, all that is desirable in life. There is a grace for living and then a grace for dying. There is a grace by which we give of our material possessions. Grace is given to us so we may be able to serve the Lord and to bear witness of His atoning death and triumphant resurrection. |
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The grace of God brings salvation. Divine grace teaches and enables us to live soberly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present world. |
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Can you think of one sentence that sums up the meaning of Divine grace? What do you think of the following? Grace is the Presence of God in Christ Jesus through which we by faith are able to reach the mark God has set before us, and to do so joyously. |
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It appears that our understanding of Divine grace is confused, and probably because we are Gentiles. Whenever the Apostle Paul stressed grace as opposed to works, as he did in the books of Romans and Galatians, for example, Paul was reacting to the Law of Moses. |
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The first Christian church comprised five thousand Law-keeping Jews who understood little or nothing of the grace of God. Paul, himself a Jew, was entrusted by the Lord Jesus with the responsibility of explaining the relationship of the Law of Moses to the grace of God in Messiah Jesus—a theological controversy existing to the present hour. |
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There is a simplicity in Christ but doctrine can be complex! |
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To us Gentiles, not coming from the background of a Law-keeping Jew seeking righteousness, as was true of the Apostle Paul, it appears that Paul is saying Divine grace is an alternative to righteous behavior (instead of an alternative to the Law of Moses). We think that now that grace has appeared there is no need to attempt to live righteously. |
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If there exists a greater error in theology or philosophy we do not know of it. The misunderstanding of the purpose of Divine grace has wrecked the intention of God under the new covenant! |
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Divine grace is not a substitute for righteous conduct. Rather, Divine grace is God in Christ enabling us to become a new righteous creation. |
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Are we correct in this? What do you think? |
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In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:6) |
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It is commonly believed among Christians that the Lord Jesus is our righteousness. By this we mean we have no righteousness of our own and so God has assigned to us the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of the One who kept the Law of Moses perfectly. |
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Let us look more deeply into the expression The Lord Our Righteousness. Our minds go back to an expression found in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Isaiah, the passage that was chanted during the celebration of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles: "Behold God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." |
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As we press forward past the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Passover and begin to enter the feast of Tabernacles we discover we have been playing volleyball with God. "You do this and I will do that. You do that and I will do this." |
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Now we are going over to the same side of the net. |
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God no longer is saving us, He Himself has become our salvation. |
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We no longer are attempting to get God to do something, we are trusting Him and no longer are afraid. |
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The Lord Himself has become our strength. The Lord Himself has become our song. The Lord Himself has become our salvation. |
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THE LORD HIMSELF HAS BECOME OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. |
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This does not mean we no longer pray or seek the Lord or cease asking for our desires. We have not arrived as yet in the perfect rest of God where His will and our will have become one. And we never will arrive there unless we keep on praying, seeking, asking, and, with the Lord's help, striving to keep all of His commandments. |
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We are pressing toward the mark. Our desire is that Christ Himself live in us, for this is the fulfillment of the new covenant and the rest of God. |
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Many of us have been as far as the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Passover. This is to say, we have received the blood atonement and have been born again of the Spirit of God. |
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Others of us have come to the feast of Pentecost. We are entering life lived in the Spirit of God. It is God's will for all people that they live in the Spirit of God. |
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Now we are being called to the third feast, the feast of Tabernacles. As we keep God's commandments the Father and the Son come to us and make Their abode with us. Do you feel that calling today? It is the third great work of grace. Ask Jesus into your heart in a greater way than you have known. |
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When the Lord Himself becomes our righteousness then the light of the moral Nature of Jesus will be revealed in us. People will see our good works and glorify God. |
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Then it will be true that we ourselves will be termed "The Lord our righteousness." |
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In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. (Jeremiah 33:16) |
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Can you think of anything more wonderful than that? |
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And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:19) |
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We Christians have Christ in our heart. But there is much, much more for us. Because we are entering a morally dark period of history, God has prepared for us a fullness of Divine life that will make us more than conquerors through Christ. |
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The saints at Ephesus had been saved and filled with God's Spirit, as we understand from the context of the epistle. And yet, the Apostle Paul prayed for them. If we were to pray for someone who already had been saved and filled with God's Spirit, would we pray for him or her as Paul prayed? |
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That he be strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the inner man. |
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That Christ may dwell in his heart by faith. |
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That he increase in the understanding of Christ's love and God's salvation. |
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That he or she be filled with all the fullness of God. |
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Have you ever prayed for a believer in this way? |
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The days in which we are living are increasingly filled with malice and every form of perversity and wickedness. Perhaps you have already encountered such evil and are becoming bitter and angry because of the injustice of it all. |
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God has something better for you than anger and bitterness. God has promised in His Word that if we will keep the commandments of Christ, God will love us and He will come in His Fullness and dwell with us. |
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Then when Satan and his helpers come knocking on our door we have Someone who will answer for us—Someone who has all power in Heaven and on the earth. |
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We do not need to become angry. God will respond to the enemy. |
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All things work together for good for those who love God. The spiritual darkness that is increasing will serve only to make the light of Christ, who is the glorious image of God, shine ever brighter. |
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Don't focus on what the Devil is doing. Focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. He sits as King of the flood of your life. You will yet sing and dance in the heights of Zion when the lawlessness surrounding you is creating desolation. |
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Aren't we supposed to be concerned about the world? Yes, we are. God is! But fretting about evil will lead us only into sin. |
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All God requires of any of us is to perform with all diligence that which God has given him or her to do, in the meantime seeking the Presence and will of the Lord each day. If we will do this we can rest in God, knowing we have done what we could to aid our generation. |
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Be encouraged in the Lord! Think only about what is pure, peaceable, and lovely. Refuse to pay attention to Satan as he bangs on his pots and pans seeking your attention. Ignore the evil unless the Lord directs you to do something about it. |
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We are not to fret ourselves concerning the evil. To do so only destroys our confidence and trust in Christ. |
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Rejoice in the Lord always. Be filled with all the fullness of God! |
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