In Christ - I Am Created By God

 

EPHESIANS 2:10

We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

    It is impossible to live a holy and righteous life without first believing that Jesus Christ is Lord; that He died on the cross taking the punishment of our sins upon Himself, and rising up from the grave to walk out into newness of life. 

Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:16-18.

    When we believe this, God is able to create us in His only begotten Son into a new creation, a new creature. We have been born again by the blood of God's only begotten Son Jesus Christ. In us God has planted a seed of faith which we are to exercise by trusting in His promises and His Holy Word; by going where God wants us to go, doing what God wants us to do, and speaking the Word which God has set forth for us to speak. 

    In our natural birth, we are created male and female. This does not change when we are created anew in Christ Jesus. Both men and women are called to believe in The Only Name Under Heaven by which we can be saved. Both men and women are called by God to serve in whatsoever capacity God calls us to serve. Ephesians 4:11-13.

    We are called by God, in Christ, to witness to the world around us and to the parts of the world where God sends us. Mark 16:15. For the need to hear the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ is just as urgent as it is to speak the gospel. There are thousands of languages, many with different dialects. Even sign languages are different around the world. The gospel needs to be heard by all. Until the last person hears and then God will begin the next step in His war to defeat Satan once and for all. 

    In Christ there is no fear, no doubt, no wavering. There is boldness to speak, tact to speak with compassion and the love of God. There is a desire to reach everyone we know with the Love of God in Christ. And The Spirit within us nudges, prods, opens our mouths, (or causes our fingers to type), to speak up and speak out against injustice. For what is more unjust than to not know whether or not our neighbors, our families, our friends are saved by this Marvelous Amazing Grace which is alive within us?

    I seldom speak to our neighbors because I remain indoors often, but I have begun to pray for my neighborhood the same way I pray for everyone else, even you. In Christ I am made strong, for He is my Strength. And in His Strength my frail body accomplishes the will of God in my life. Because my life belongs to Christ Jesus. 

IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE  

YET NOT I BUT THROUGH CHRIST IN ME

The Lord Is Strength to The Upright

 

Proverbs 10:29

The Way of The LORD is Strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

Who are the upright? and What is this Way wherein is our strength?

THE UPRIGHT 

    To be upright is to be a person of integrity. Such people are not given to hypocrisy. What they speak, they also live. The intent behind their actions is neither malicious nor malevolent; it is love which motivates them. 

      To be upright is to live a life of good reputation. It is to be known even without knowing those who hold us so. The Bible tells us that a good name is better than riches. Proverbs 22:1. 

        To be upright is to live in wisdom, the wisdom of The LORD. Proverbs 1:1-7; 10:8,9. 

    Uprightness is righteousness. Righteousness is gained when we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior to us; only then is His righteousness applied to our hearts; only then is He covering us with Himself, for Christ Jesus IS Righteousness. Therefore the upright are they who believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son; that He died on the cross; that He rose from the dead and walked out of the grave and ascended into heaven forty days later. (for it was fifty days or seven weeks after the Passover feast that the disciples of Christ were gathered together in the upper room to receive The Holy Spirit). 

These are the upright. 

THE WAY OF THE LORD

    What is this Way of The LORD which is our Strength? He is The Way. John 14:6 'Jesus said to him, “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." The Way is a His life applied to our life, which is an undertaking we cannot do alone but The Holy Spirit of God can, which is why we need both Christ and The Spirit working in us. 

     The Way is life. John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am The Resurrection and The Life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies."

    The Way of The LORD is a lifestyle change. It is a spiritual road which takes us to our final destiny: eternal residence in God's kingdom. Isaiah 35:8 (the road) and John 14:2 (the destination). 

    

    As The Holy Spirit of God works in our lives, changing us and molding us into the pattern of holiness which God has prepared for us, we walk The Way of Holiness. It is the sanctification process by which we are changed from a carnal nature to a holy nature; from self-centeredness to God-centeredness.

     I'm not perfect, nor do I consider myself a 'holier-than-thou' person. I am walking in The Way of Holiness and The Way of Holiness is living in me. 

The Lord Is Strength

 

The LORD is STRENGTH

Proverbs 10:29

The Way of the LORD is Strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

Hosea 14:9

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.

Isaiah 30:21

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is The Way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Isaiah 35:8

A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for the one who walks the path. Even the fool will not go astray.

To walk in The Way of The LORD is to walk in The Way of Holiness; it  is to allow God's Holy Spirit into our lives to sanctify us and make us holy: without blemish, without stain that we may be presentable to God and remain in His presence. For our God is a Holy God and His very self demands holiness in His people. We cannot make ourselves holy, just as the pot on the potter's wheel does not make itself a beautiful useful pot. 

To walk in The Way of The LORD is to walk in integrity, maintaining a constant vigil and remaining consistent in our faith that our words would match our actions. To walk in The Way of The LORD is to walk humbly before The LORD and surrender ourselves to His Way. 

To Walk in The Way of The LORD is to live in His Strength and His Wisdom, knowing that He keeps His Word, that His words are True and Faithful. Revelation 21:5.

To Walk in The Way of The LORD is to walk the acknowledgement of His Strength and the admission of our weakness, our inability to walk the way He wants us to walk, to live out our daily lives. 

The LORD is MY STRENGTH 

2 Corinthians 12:9

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

AUTHOR/PERFECTOR - Rivers & Robots 

SO IN LOVE - Isla Vista Worship