Particular thoughts from a common Walk with Jesus
If God is Sovereign over everything, how can we justify our responsibility to pray for things to change? Is He Sovereign or not? If He is, then why do we have to pray? If He is not, are we changing His mind? Continue reading Our prayer vs. God’s Sovereignty?
Anyone who would have interaction and forgiveness from God will still find it through a priest. Because Jesus is the only priest recognized by God, it is quite true when He said ‘no one may see the Father, but by Me’. Continue reading Our High Priest – why we can pray
We must maintain a healthy heart, and then fill it with these opportunities of worship and need. Then, with our hearts full of these issues, we bring them before God for His response. We have been Saved to sensitively carry the issues, and we have the unique right to bring them to the Father. Continue reading Our heart’s role in prayer
You are involved as a child of God and you possess a very powerful tool – the right to go before the Throne of God, in intercession for the issues of sin. Every believer through Christ has the means and the opportunity to see God have compassion on the issues they bring before Him. Continue reading Opportunities to pray
The whole issue of prayer to God is a simple one in the main sense of what it is – the tangible, bridging connection with God, the essence and means of our relationship with Him. Prayer is unique in that it is our means of conversing with God while still here in the body. Continue reading What is prayer?
We, having been Forgiven and thus being seen Righteous in God’s eyes even now, always have access to the Throne, despite even our unconfessed sin. However, this sin is a hindrance – not because it restrains us from approaching the Father through Christ our Priest, but because God resists the haughty and the proud. Continue reading On shedding our sin before approaching the Throne in prayer
Faith is essential to our prayer, for it is only in humble faith in Jesus that we may approach God. Continue reading Faith and prayer
In being this fount, how is it that we shall go before the Throne and spill our heart’s burdens and desires – in Christ’s Name and for God’s Glory? Continue reading Before the Throne; bringing issues on our heart
On God’s Sovereignty and His Plan of the Ages versus our responsibility to pray; how can these two be reconciled? Is He Sovereign or not? If He is, then why do we have to pray? If He is not, are we changing His mind? Continue reading God’s Will and Our Prayer: Conflict or Sovereign Harmony?
We must continually utilize the gift of the reconciliation through the Work of our Priest, Who today and forever stands as our Bridge to God. Continue reading The High Priesthood of Jesus
Out of all of the gifts God has given His children, those He has Saved, prayer must be one of the greatest. To understand this, we need a clearer view of what prayer is and what it is capable of. When we have a good grasp of the reality of a gift, we can also have a good appreciation of its value and how to use it. Continue reading On prayer and our place in God’s Creation
The role of sin in the Christian life is important to understand, because though we are forgiven, our sin still has it’s consequences. Knowing how sin affects our walk, and what to do about it, will make the difference between a successful walk and a failing one. Continue reading What does sin have to do with our hearts and prayer?
Good stewardship requires first something of value to administer; second, an understanding of what it is and how to relate to it; and third, the discipline to deal with it diligently in a way that is proportionate to it’s value. Continue reading Saved, Adopted – and Responsible
There is a day ahead of us, a Great Day, when God will gather up His Church and we will stand before Him as a great sea of His people. Continue reading The Bema Seat of Christ
What are God’s responsibilities, and what are ours? How many times have I uttered that question? Freedom to choose. Freedom under a Sovereign God. Freedom under a God Who is over all, without fail. Perhaps a simple issue to some, but to this child, a very insurmountable concept until now. How personal our Salvation and Regeneration. Each person a universe in his mind, a world in his personal dealings and consciousness. Continue reading Freedom and Liberty under Sovereignty
God is not afraid of our questions. He is perfect, because He is God. The real question is about what He thinks of us and how He will deal with us according to it. Our job is to understand Him and respond. Asking these questions is good, if we want to really consider the Bible’s answers. Continue reading No One Will Be Argued Into Heaven
The knowledge of God and His Will makes no ministry, but instead the exercise of it in love. Continue reading The Making of an Apostle of Jesus, Part 2
Each of us has opportunity to grow into spiritual maturity through our Sanctification. We are given responsibilities now to train us, finish and perfect our faith, refining our subsequent works. Continue reading A Servant’s Stance
As a slave of Christ (v.10), Paul has had no choice but to serve the One Whose Spirit commands him from within Continue reading The Making of an Apostle of Jesus, Part 1
A wonderful encompassment of the Gospel, this block of Scripture gathers the truth of who we are in Christ Jesus Continue reading God’s Promise, Fulfilled
Even someone who professes no alliance in faith to anyone or anything has faith that there is nothing to have faith in. The dividing line will not be over whether we possess a faith, for we all do; the question will center on whom our faith lays upon. Continue reading Lesson.James 2.19-26
If there is a relationship with His Son, then that relationship must produce nothing less than an outpouring in response. Continue reading Lesson.James 2.14-18
James now turns our spiritual health, a self-examination in order to proof our true Salvation in a reliance upon Jesus. He sets out to challenge us in examining ourselves for the evidence of Salvation Continue reading Commentary.James 2.14-18
God despises partiality (favoritism) because it is our own judgment on another’s value and worth. When we do so it is with self-serving motives, wrongly putting one person above another. Continue reading Lesson.James 2.1-13
Remember, in considering the faith of the Lord, not to forget Who we are dealing with, nor should we allow ourselves to pervert what the faith encompasses. Continue reading Commentary.James 2.1-13
James continues, saying that hearing and embracing the Word is not an end unto itself. One who believes he is doing well in just hearing but not doing will be sorely disappointed on the Last Day. Continue reading Commentary.James 1.22-25
The change God promises is not easy or automatic, but requires our work as well. Dealing with us as His children, He lovingly provides the means to make this happen through the Word and It’s conviction in our heart. Continue reading Lesson.James 1.19-21
James again takes time out to address the reader in his love as a brother in Jesus. He seems to want to continue to encourage his audience, realizing his writing will likely be a rebuke, and one in love. Continue reading Commentary.James 1.19-21(b)
James exhorts us to stay prepared on all fronts so as to make ourselves most receptive to the work of the Lord in our lives. He addresses all three fronts of our person, circling in from the outer then into the Holy Word’s target, the core of our heart. Continue reading Commentary.James 1.19-21
Do not mistake these trials as something to be scorned, but recognize our Father’s loving care in our journey to Glory, including the testing of our faith. Continue reading Commentary.James 1.16-18
Salvation is free, but our Sanctification, that Perfection of us in our faith by our Lord so we may one day be presented to God as Christ’s Bride, takes work on our part. Continue reading Commentary.James 1.12-15
Commentaries are men’s opinions and therefore can be fallible. While they still might be a clear revelation from a heart inspired by the Holy Spirit, they cannot be leaned upon as Holy Canon. They must be compared to the whole council of the Word and against other’s thoughts as well. Continue reading Commentary – James 1.9-11
The doubting man will receive nothing from the Lord – He requires faith in Him. A double-minded man has competing allegiances – a house divided cannot stand. Being double minded, how can he enter the House of the Lord and ask of Him, if he in fact is a stranger there? Continue reading Commentary – James 1.7-11
Trials were a pointed fact in the life of the early Church believer, often at the threat of one’s life. James writes to not only acknowledge the work of God through trials, but also expose the deep blessings the Lord seeks to bestow on us through them. Continue reading Commentary – James 1.1-6
Some conclusions, expanded; an expansion of the conclusions I have arrived at in my past year of Discipleship and in study Continue reading Some Conclusions
Jesus’ instruction to His disciples on dealing with those against them, and even those with them who slip and fall, provides us with a wonderful example of applying God’s love in our everyday walk. Continue reading Loving your enemies
I could not understand why the Lord had forsaken me, especially concerning issues He made clear in His promises to us through the scripture. Why, God, have you abandoned me, I asked in earnest prayer? Continue reading I Surrender
Watching my son play, or at the tender age of a few months, exploring, I thought about how he was establishing how the fringe on his blanket felt and behaved. He really likes to touch things, pointer finger extended, ever so gingerly, to see how it reacts to being moved or touched. Continue reading Watching my son play, at the tender age of a few months