Define Salvation

What is your definition of salvation? Have you really thought it through? When you hear the word salvation what comes to mind?

Moses said to the people of Israel once, "stand still and see the salvation of your God." The Israelites were blocked in by the enemy on one side and the Red Sea on the other. What did salvation mean to them at that moment? I'm sure it meant something more than what we think. After all, they were at the point of dying and there was no way out. So salvation at that point meant living. It meant to be delivered from the hand of their enemies. And probably a whole lot more.

What does it mean to us? I think the usual answer would be that it means forgiveness of sins. Is that all it means? When we talk about salvation through Jesus Christ, are we only talking about forgiveness? I think we can safely say that salvation is a lot more than forgiveness of sins and a free ticket into heaven.

Jesus came and became a man on earth. He was in every way a man like you and I. Yes he was God, but he was also totally a man. You see Jesus came to show us how to live and how to have life. His message was not one of just how to get into heaven but it was a message of how to live with abundant life. Just think about this for a minute. Jesus died on the cross as a man. He literally took our place so that God's judgment would be removed. He purchased right standing before the Father in heaven.

Even though we could expand on all of this for quite some time I would like to focus solely on the word salvation. What does it really mean? I think we have short-changed the meaning of salvation that Jesus has provided for us. We usually only repeat what we have heard over the years. In the normal response to salvation is is that we are forgiven of our sins. But salvation is a lot more than that. Not to minimize the importance of forgiveness of sins, which is a great miracle and blessing from God. But at the same time we don't need to leave out all that God has provided for us. We need to see the whole picture and embrace the truth of God's word. Salvation is all-inclusive and affects every part of our life, spirit, soul and body.

I believe Jesus came to earth to show us the depth of what salvation really is through his life and actions. So here's an oversimplified way to look at salvation. What is going on in your life today that you need said to be saved from? That you can meditate on that for a while and when you come up with an answer you can cry to our Creator, Jesus Christ, saying, "save me Lord!". You see, he didn't pay the enormous price of dying on a cross only to save you from sin. He made the ultimate sacrifice in order that we might live and enjoy the blessings of heaven on earth. I am purposely not filling in the blanks in this blog. I'm leaving that for you to do. I don't believe I can fully define salvation with a few words. Because I think it takes on a new meaning for each individual and situation we are living. The important thing to see is that salvation goes beyond the saving of our soul to get into heaven. That doesn't change just because we don't believe it. It is still true. We need to change our mindset about salvation in order to change our beliefs of salvation. We need to see the realm of possibilities that God has provided for us through the work of Jesus Christ and not limit all that he did by believing only part.

Breaking The Curse

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4706741805360354160

I think you will enjoy the above link. It is the testimony of a family that lost a 17-year-old daughter in a plane crash. I thought some of his insights were very good. Hope it ministers to you as much as it did to me.

I have been studying recently about the effect of curses on our lives. My main text has been out of Galatians chapter 3. There it speaks mainly about Jesus becoming a curse for us and freeing us through the price he paid. Redemption. We are purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed from the curse. Throughout the word of God there is much to be said about cursing and blessing.

One of the outstanding things that I find in the word of God pertaining to cursing and blessing is the fact that we are not to curse. In the book of James we find the example of a fountain that can only produce one kind of water. Saltwater and freshwater cannot come from the same fountain. Nor can blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. We are also told in the book of Deuteronomy that God has set before us the blessing and the curse and it is up to us to choose one or the other. In Psalms 109:17 it states that if we curse we will also be cursed.

The truth is Jesus died to free us from all curses. We must accept the redemption that he has provided for us through his blood. We need to know and appropriate all that he has paid for through his blood. He wants us to live in freedom from all curses. He wants us to inherit the blessings of Abraham. Now that's an interesting statement. The blessings of Abraham. I guess we would have to go through the word of God and discover exactly what are all those blessings. Abraham was known as the father of faith. God performed miracles on his behalf. He also spoke to him as a friend and called him a friend. But the blessings of Abraham go much further than that. The blessings of Abraham include all the promises that God has made to us and for us through his Son. So we should embrace the blessing rather than the curse.

How do we embrace blessing? Simply said, by embracing Jesus and all he purchased. By accepting what he did for us and refusing to wear the curse. We accept His grace for life. We live by faith in all that is provided for us. We believe what we hear in the word of God. You see, to believe God by faith means there is nothing we can do to earn anything from God. That would be imposing a law on ourselves. And if we live by a law then we must obey every part of it. Many times we put obligation, be it religious, social or personal on ourselves and find that we cannot live up to those things. We have imposed a law that we cannot complete. So we need to learn that the righteous live by faith. Simple trust in all that God has said and done for us.

I will write further about this in future blogs. There are several aspects to the subject that I would like to mention. The text I mainly refer to earlier is Galatians 3:1-14. But there are several other texts I would like to speak about. Let me close this session with one more idea. It is found in Nehemiah 13:2 and it states this, "our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing." The God we serve takes all that is against us and turns it into something favorable. He turns the curse into a blessing. What an amazing truth. We live in a world that is under a curse. But Jesus redeemed us from the curse.

Time In Mexico

I just spent a great week in Mexico visiting churches in the area we lived for many years. It was great to reconnect with our Latin friends and minister to hundreds of people. Actually over 800 strong! There were many salvations, and physical healings that took place. Wonderful times of ministry happened and I returned very encouraged seeing the grace of God continuing to abound in Mexico.

What an encouragement to see all that is taking place. There are many things I could mention and fill up a few pages. It is always great to see peoples lives changed. That never gets old. And even more so was the joy of seeing lasting fruit from our labors over the many years we lived and worked there. Even though I could talk about many things I want to focus on just one.

The one thing that stood out to me (I guess the thing that blessed me more than the rest) happened almost at the end of the trip. It was after seeing all the salvations and healings and ministering to hundreds seeing great results. It was in a breakfast for pastors where I was asked to speak on the last morning of my trip. It was a great time and great food. I believe I was able to help a lot of hurting pastors. What a great time!

But as I finished and we were about to dismiss they let different pastors get up and make announcements for all the churches to hear. The first person got up and before the announcement they began to talk about a time that happened about 1o years ago where I was living and ministering in that city. Her and her husband began coming to some of the services and were greatly helped to the point of their marriage being saved and consequently going on to pastor another church. Presently they are pastoring a successful work in the same city. But God used us to deliver His grace to their lives at a critical moment.

Now the reason this was a highlight for me is because it is easy to see the things we are doing in the present moment but seldom do we see fruit from seed sown in our past. What a joy it was for me to see that God’s grace used us beyond the boundaries we set for ourselves or beyond the sphere of ministry that we believe we have accomplished. It was so moving to hear their testimony. So even though the week was full of good things this one thing made the trip.

Fruit unseen. Fruit beyond expectation. Something lasting and growing. Wow! You know it is so much more fulfilling to see that our lives count for things more permanent than just momentary blessings and great meetings. It’s the stuff that lasts for eternity that makes a difference! All the rest is good but this is better!

Your basic variety of faith

There were five occasions in the book of Matthew where Jesus used the terms "oh you of little faith". All of the five occasions dealt with situations that we live on a daily basis. They were the following:

• worry
• fear
• doubt
• provision
• authority

 

The indication in what Jesus is saying about faith in these different situations is that all of us can have it. We can live believing God in each of these areas. The end result is a much richer life. After all, God has provided all things for us. But we must first believe him. We must have that basic faith of trusting him for the basic things in life. After all worry and doubt and fear are things that just tear us down. They never build our lives. As a matter of fact fear enslaves us. The Bible even speaks of fear as something that torments us. I think we know that to be true. It can actually paralyze you. And prevent you from acting or doing anything in a given situation. The word of God is riddled with God's provision of peace in the place of fear. We need only to trust him on a daily basis. I mean, if you look up phobias, you will find that there is at least one for every day of the year. God wants to set us free from all of those fears through his peace.

 

In the same way worry destroys us from the inside out. How many times have we been stressed out over a situation that we could not change and yet all our worry made no difference at all. The only thing we accomplished through all the worry in that situation was to feel sicker the normal. God cares about us so much more than all the animals that he created. And yet the word of God talks of him keeping his eye on the sparrow. We are worth a lot more than a spare and God wants us to know by trusting him that he will take your us.

 

Doubt is another one of those always present ways of thinking that robs us. The number one tool to combat doubt is the word of God. We must come to a place that we actually believe what the word of God says and act on it. In order to have faith in God we must believe his word is true. Then we must listen to his word and trust him to fulfill it. Unbelief, or doubt, keeps us from enjoying all that God has for us. Take a simple step against doubt in your mind. Instead of repeating the doubts you have with your lips quote the word of God. Sounds very silly and simple. But I guarantee you that it works. The hardest person to convince that the word of God is true is yourself.

So this last week I made a quality decision to write and organize a lot of material that I want to put into written form. I also determined to blog more often and put ink to my thoughts on a more regular basis.
You ask, "how is that working for you?" Glad you asked! Not so well. Why? It seems that the moment I decided to discipline my life in a certain area that work multiplied like never before. (well that might be an exageration but hey this is my blog!)
Doesn't that seem to happen in life all the time? The minute you determine to diet and stop eating certain GREAT foods you get invited and/or are in unavoidable situations where that is all there is to eat! It is inevitable that when we decide to discipline our life in any way that all kinds of obstacles come our way to cause us to fail at it.
So I am writing this to kick back and say that I will carry out what I believe the Lord has put in my heart to do! Why? First of all because when we set out to do something commissioned by our Lord He comes alongside to enable us to get it done. Secondly we make the effort even in the middle of contrary circumstances and find that we are not doing it in our own power but His. But we do need to start.
So many things in life never get accomplish because we are waiting for the right time. When things aren't so hectic, when summer is over, when there are less activities, when, when, when....
I wonder, no I know, that we need to act even in little tiny ways towards those goals and not lose sight of them. So I hope these words help you get focused on what you want to get done. It is helping me just by virtue of writing them. Be blessed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go forward and realize more of your dreams and desires than ever before!!

Change Your Course in Life

Jesus didn’t just provide salvation to get into heaven. He provided the power to walk in newness of life and enjoy heaven on earth. We may not think about this very much but many if not all of us walk in bondages of some sort. Many are very subtle.

I am referring more specifically to patterns in life that we repeat over and over again that get us in trouble. Or simply they are things inbred if you will, through our experiences in life which are then mixed with our natural tendencies that create prisons of habitual behavior that keep us from God’s best in our lives.

Ok that was a mouthful. But I think it makes sense. Anyway you look at it we all have baggage. Stuff that inhibits us living a full life. There are fears that we carry that stop us from making decisions that would be beneficial. Sure we don’t always confront our fears but God does and has! There are also things we do over and over again the same way getting the same results: Wrong results, pain inflicting results.  How many times have you thought about things you do and afterward you say to yourself, “why did I get trapped into this again?”. Or am I alone?

I believe as I look at the word of God there is hope to change anything in our life that doesn’t lead us into fuller life and success. God wants us to be successful! So what stops us? Maybe I am just raising the questions more than giving answers to this paradox in life but I do believe the closer we walk with the Lord the more HE will reveal those areas that can be changed.

We make choices. If we are too weak to change the choices we make then we  must learn to find strength in His Word, in Him! There is no other way. Eventually as we lean on Him and choose to serve His righteousness we become free from the past pattern and create a new pattern that brings life and fulfillment to us and others around us. Could it be that simple? Well yes and no. Yes because He has provided everything we need for life and Godliness. No because in order to appropriate everything we need we must act differently following His commands.

We need to obey the Word (hopefully rightly interpreting the word) which may be contrary to what we feel at the moment. It is a choice of our will to walk in the newness of life. It is not enough to talk about it, we must act on it.

Ok so here is a simple example that I hope will help. I remember years ago raising my children that as missionaries we really didn’t have much money except for our needs. Nothing extra. So when we were anywhere in stores, etc. when our children would ask for something we would say we don’t have any money. Well after a while (years) I realized that even if we had money for something we would still say we had no money. It became a pattern. And at times a lie. Well this didn’t help me say what God says about me. It doesn’t say what I want to see as a new reality. That is having more than enough! So we finally had to change our speech. Now we would say simply we are not going to buy that now. Or buy it! But the point is we had to change the way we thought automatically until the new automatic no longer left us talking like we never had anything. And of course the reality of things changed over time.

I trust that helps. Look at yourself in the mirror. Listen to yourself when you say things. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see what you can’t see. Be willing to be discovered by God! And admit you need to change while asking Him to help you. Walk in a  new life! Really!

Where are the Joshua and Caleb

Today as I look around with natural and spiritual eyes I am reminded of two young men that were different than all the others around them. Of course I am speaking of Joshua and Caleb. The word of God says they had a different spirit.

What a statement. The other men, ten to be exact, that traveled with them on the mission to spy out the land felt different about everything that happened. The bible says they came back with an evil report. Well in our minds the report doesn’t warrant evil but to God it was. It was factual in every way but had a defeatist approach in its reporting. While Caleb and Joshua proclaimed ‘we are well able to go up and take the land’ the others according to their report saw themselves as weak and small in comparison to the task.

The only difference really is that Joshua and Caleb believed God and went after the Lord. They were willing to obey everything God had asked them because they KNEW God. Not just a head knowledge but a heart knowledge.

You see we find some characteristics about Joshua through the time that he served Moses. We find Joshua as a general in one place leading the armies to victory as commanded without hesitation. We find that when Moses went up on the mountain to talk with God that Joshua followed as far as he could and waited. We also see that when Moses would go into the tent of meeting to talk with God that Joshua would linger behind in God’s presence.

You see these two young men didn’t follow the tide of everyone around them. They went after God with abandon. They were willing to be counted among the few that stood for something. They walked with conviction and faithfulness to their Lord.

I believe there is a generation that needs to rise up and be counted like these two were. A generation that will not know the God of their fathers but their God. They will make the sacrifices to seek Him with their whole heart and stand upon convictions because of walking with God. Not somebody else's convictions. They will seek the Lord in order to hear His voice and not wait to be bottle fed by others to hear the voice of God. They will be among the few, the chosen. They will find the Lord as they go through life and the hand of God will be strong on them to lead their generation into victory once again.

Where are they? They are here, we just haven’t seen them yet. Maybe you are one of them. Are you going hard after God in spite of the tide of culture pulling you another way? Are you examining the Word and asking the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to you? Are you taking time to spend in the presence of God when it is not convenient? Are you following in obedience?

There is a generation that God is calling to and waiting. I am with HIM looking for that generation.