Reaching Out

Throughout most of my life I've been the friend who does the reaching out. Sometimes I would feel bothered by it, but mostly I either shrugged it off and realized that I was simply that person. Recently, since moving to New Jersey, I've heard the lines "I think about you all the time, but I never call" or "just because I don't call doesn't mean I'm not thinking about you"  I know that I'm loved and that I'm thought of, however it would be nice to be called every once in a while, rather than always doing the calling/texting. Once my mind went to those thoughts my loving and so very honest Father quietly reminded me "Isha, that's how I feel. You think of me quite often, and occasionally I'll get a text (prayer) from you, but rarely do you ever respond with action. You think of me and leave it there. How often do you truly come to me and want to spend time with me? How often do you open my word and desire a conversation with me beyond a normal day to day need/want?"  In that moment I had to humble myself and rethink how I spend my time.  If it hurts me to not have people call me or check up on me while I'm always the one making effort, how much more does the Father's heart desire to be called?   Now, I have a handful of friends that call me and text me simply to talk and check up on me. My relationship with them is much deeper and they don't have to ask what's going on in my life, because they are in it. They know the details of my life and the very spot that my heart is in. Its not a matter of questioning where I'm at, but a matter of asking what they can do for me or praying for me on the spot.


This isn't a pity party (although it very well quite be. But like I say, A pity party is a party of one and a party of one is just no fun). It is a call to realize just how much our Father desire a deeper relationship with us.   Just like my close and dear friends know every part of my life, our Father wants for us to know His will. Rather than questioning "God, what do you want?" or "God, what are you doing?"  it becomes a response of "I'll do whatever it takes to further Your will"  because you already know what His will is. 

I challenge you (and myself) today to make more effort at strengthening your relationship with God.

Blessings

Fallen From Grace

Today I was thinking about the term "Fallen From Grace" and questioned exactly what does it mean? Does one truly fall from grace? Can you ever be removed from God's grace?  So I went on a hunt-google hunt that is. I came across this article and thought I'd share it with everyone because it so clearly voices how I feel.

Have You Fallen from Grace?

“Grace is neither withheld nor reduced because of sin.”

I have been asked many times if a born again believer can fall from the grace of God since Galatians 5:4 says, “you have fallen from grace.”

The context of that statement is Jewish teachers who emphasized that a person had to keep the Law of Moses to be saved had confuse the Christians in the church at Galatia. They were insisting that all non-Jews must be circumcised and become Jews first. The apostle Paul had taught them clearly that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ (Gal. 1:10; 2:16-21; 3:1-14, 22-29; 5:5-6). Paul wrote his letter to the church admonishing the believers to stand firm against the bondage of legalism. The immediate context states Paul’s conviction clearly, “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:2-4).

Paul is not saying, “You have lost your salvation.” What happens when you fall from grace? You fall into law observance. You become legalists. A. T. Robertson, writes, "'You left the sphere of grace in Christ and took your stand in the sphere of law’ as your hope of salvation. Paul does not mince words and carries the logic to the end of the course. He is not, of course, speaking of occasional sins, but he has in mind a far more serious matter, that of substituting law for Christ as the agent in salvation.” 

It is a very serious matter. Paul is concerned that if the Galatians accepted the right of circumcision as necessary for salvation, then they would be leaving the principle of grace and going back to the Mosaic Law. 

Here are two opposing approaches to God. One system based on legalism and the other on God's grace. The same error can be seen in a church that teaches that salvation depends on repentance, confession, faith, baptism, and church membership as opposed to one that emphasizes salvation by grace through faith. There is nothing wrong with these teachings except when they become the means of salvation. Baptism by immersion and church membership are not things you do in order to be saved. That is legalism at its worst scenario. 

The biggest tragedy for the believer is that he is robbed of the spiritual wealth that is his by abiding in Christ. Legalists rob the Christian of his liberty. Legalists do not live by the Spirit, but by rules and regulations. He is bound to laws and traditions instead of walking by faith in Christ. Legalism gives a false sense of security, but it chokes the Christ-life out of the believer. 

No matter how much morality a person attains by legalism he still comes short of the glory of God. No radically depraved sinner can live up to the expectations of God. He may live up to another sinner's expectations, but not according to God's standards.

However, when God saves us by grace and we live by grace through faith in Christ we share in the riches of God’s grace (Eph. 1:7), the wealth of His glorious inheritance in the saints (Eph. 1:18; Phil. 4:19), the riches of His wisdom (Rom. 11:33), and the unfathomable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8). Moreover, in Christ we have "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3), and we are "complete in Him" (Col. 2:10). Once a person is "in Christ," he has all that he needs to live the kind of Christian life God wants him to live. Legalism keeps you bound up with the system of men and men's expectations as opposed to God.    

God will never decrease His grace toward you because of your sin. Your sins, all of them have been dealt with by the atoning death of Christ. “All my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,” wrote Horatio Spafford. The basis for such belief is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ imparted to the believing sinner. We have been justified by grace alone through faith in Christ.

You cannot fall from grace, but you can break the Law. Our breaking of the Law causes us to cast ourselves upon the grace of God and plead for His mercy. Christ died for all our sins. Jesus paid it all. Our knowledge of sin should make us pray, “God be merciful to me the sinner.”

Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006