Devotion Romans 1:1-6

This is the beginning, I am setting a stage right now, but I promise you will actually get to some real devotions, so bear with me for a few of these.



DEVOTION

ROMANS

INTRODUCTION FOR MYSELF

Rom 1:1-6
1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
NIV

Gospel He promised beforehand…….through His prophets

Regarding His son………

Human nature….descendant of David

Through the spirit…….declared with power the Son of God

By the resurrection from the dead…..Jesus Christ our Lord


Is there any question who Jesus is from this introduction in the letter to those in Rome.

When we here those words, fully man….which are not in the scriptures….but rather Jesus refers to himself as the son of man, we see and understand this person, rather this entity is a human being, of the same genetic makeup as His creation, Adam. Conceived in the womb of a woman and delivered into the world as an infant in need of being cared for, provided for, loved and nurtured. The difference of course is no human man provided the male side needed for conception, but rather the spirit of God. Here is Him who was declared with power the Son of God.

Conception without a human man is certainly a demonstration of power in and of itself, but this is only a part of this declaration. We see the formal introduction in the gospels
Matt 3:16-17

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
NIV
This must certainly be what Paul refers to as declared with power the Son of God…for God provided the male component needed to create the person of Jesus as a man and then declared to the world verbally Jesus was his son, it certainly seems to have been with much power, a voice from heaven surely demonstrates power.

His lordship over mankind was established without question by His conquering death itself. I believe man was created as an eternal being, Adam was not supposed to die, when God created him, he had the choice to either eat from the tree of life, or the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Had he eaten from the tree of life, he would be alive today as all mankind would still be within a paradise with God. But we know that is not the truth of it, Adam chose unwisely and in disobedience to his creator to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, perhaps thinking this would make him more like God himself as the serpent suggested. And because of this action death of mankind was the result.
Gen 2:15-17

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
NIV

We, through Adam, exchanged life for death, immortality for mortality and incorruptibility for corruptibility. However, through Christ, through His resurrection from the dead, that result was reversed. Through Christ, we exchanged death for life, mortality for immortality, and corruptibility for incorruptibility.

1 Cor 15:50-58
50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
NIV

Through Christ we will indeed live forever….we will eat from the tree of life.

Rev 2:7
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
NIV

Did God Create Evil?

I was asked this question and I wanted to add my response to the blog in case some others wanted to express an opinion on the topic. I was not complete in my response but brief, but still I think it is worth something, and the truth as well.
So here it is for your review:
Did God create Evil
A age old question which many people fall into the trap of trying to explain how a completely holy God who is without any shred of evil could or would create it. Some may say because He wanted man to have a choice to serve Him out of free will, but the scripture does not declare that. It is true man can choose, and so could the angels.
Scripture does not declare the angels to be without free will either. Psalm 103 shows us the angels were created to do His bidding, to listen to His voice and to fulfill His commands
Ps 103:20-22 20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. 21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. 22 Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion.NIV
But they had the choice to not do that, we know that Lucifer had pride, he did not want to submit to Gods commands, and he wanted to be like God. Pride…..
Isa 14:12-15 12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. NIV
God created them, the angels to be able to make a choice about doing His will, and thus because of that pride entered into Lucifer. God did not create evil as we think of evil. God allowed the angels to have their own determination. Now once cast out of Heaven Lucifer because of his own nature developed into what we would call evil. Desiring to fight back against the action God took by casting him out.
Unlike man, angels cannot be redeemed by the blood of Christ.
Jude 6-7 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home — these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. NIV
These verse also shows us they abandoned their own home, they made the choice.

God allows man choice, God allowed the angels choice, but He did not create the evil as a source of choice. Lucifer was allowed to be prideful, God did not make him prideful, God did not create evil.

Devotion Colossians 16 Jan 2010

DEVOTION

COLOSSIANS

ABSENT & PRESENT

Col 2:4-5
5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
NIV


It seems strange to be able to be away yet be with another person at the same time, a sort of time travel, if you will, a science fiction plot of sorts, and yet here is actually what is happening.

Within the realms of the physical, persons may well be separated from each other by miles of distance, such as from Fairborn Ohio to Beavercreek Ohio to Dunlap Illinois, or Kankakee Illinois or to any other place. These two persons unable to stand face to face, to feel the embrace of the other, to extend the hand of fellowship to the other, yet in quite a different realm they are present with each other. Within the spirit world, the supernatural world of God, these two persons are eternally joined and present with each other. As each person steps into the spiritual presents of God almighty thru prayer, there stands the other.

To each of you whom I love, know that as you knee before the Lord each day, I will be present with you also, that with spiritual hands placed upon you I will be seeking our lord to anoint you with power from on high, and that I will be rejoicing because of your faith in our Lord, demonstrating a powerful belief in the reality of the Kingdom of God.

forever forgotten

It seems to me that blogging may be a lost art, in the face of book, small ramblings about mostly nothing at all, and then of course the chatter of nonsense from the teen crowd that hundles over their cell phones adding lines of abbreviated dribble. What happened to the forum of serious conversation, Oh right, there are just some things people will not discuss, politics, religion and money. Issues which each of us in or own little worlds far removed from the truth of the matter form opinions based more on feeling that on fact. We refuse to converse with others who oppose our own febble attempts of being informed and wise in the ways of things mentioned above. We refuse to engage in discussions why, perhaps fearing exposure of wrong thinking. Perhaps fearing finding out the truth about anothers beliefs which do not agree with ours. Why not talk about them, right, I forgot, who would ever consider changing their mind on a topic based on additional information we have not had at our disposal before. No, I think most people prefer to remain in thier own isolated view of the world, seeking only information from those who support their own views, How shallow is that, I remember the movie Shallow Hal and after some reprograming he saw only what he believed to be true, but was not. Are most of those I know like that,I thik so, now does that exclude me, of course. I do believe I am open to the truth, if only those people could actually be open enough to give me facts rather then just compare or worse yet defaim those of the past in order to try to enhance the position of those in the present. Not on my watch!

Joy, Joy, Joy

Well, my blogger friends, if anyone is actually out there still blogging and reading blogs as well, it is time for all men to come to the aid of their party, just which party though is the question. I know those of you who are animal rights people really want to support that cause and maybe you want to throw a wild party. And although the world, at least the Good Ole US of A seems to be going to hell in a hand basket with the socialistic agenda of the extreme left wing fanatics lead my their ruthless leader, who cares not for the rule of law, but rather the rule of Obama, such as in the case with the secured debt holders of Chrysler getting the shaft over the non secured debt holders of the UAW. But all this is a mute point in the light of the scripture which declares, those who believe shall have a great reward
Rom 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NIV

No matter how bad things will get under this current administration,
No matter how terrible the moral decay of this country declines to,
No matter how higher taxed the people will be,
No matter how terrorism will regain its strength
No matter how much the President undermines the personal freedoms of Americans
No matter how much he apologizes to the rest of the world
No matter how difficult he will make it for seniors under National Health care
No matter how much he reads from the teleprompter
No matter how liberal,gender,ethnic bias his Supreme Court appointees are,
No matter how bad it is going to become,

I will rejoice in the Lord, for He is my strength, my hope, my future, my all in all!
Those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they shall sour like eagles
they will run and not be weary!

Amen, Come Lord Jesus, and hurry!

To Approve or Not Approve, that is the question

Well, I know blogger folks it has been almost a century of days since my last post, I suppose there has been a reason, but I cannot think of a good enough one at the moment. However, in light of recent events concerning the direction of my beloved country, I am compelled to express some thoughts. First I find it somewhat confusing in seeing the results of recent polls showing most Americans disapprove of the direction of the country 47.5 disapprove to 45 approve. And then the large number who disapprove of congress 54% disapprove to 35% approve. But then the President still rides a wave of great approval ratings 60% approve to 35% disapprove. I have to think this is largely due to his great ability to read from the teleprompter. He has this certain sense of likability, even though he has no real sense of what the country really needs. History declares this to be true. Anytime you over tax the people the economy fails. His plans to tax everyone and over spend is out of sight. But the real deal is before us regarding Gitmo. He has made claims he has absolutely no evidence to support with. Telling the American people that Gitmo has caused more terrorists then it has ever detained is simply an unprovable statement. Has he taken a survey of the existing terrorists? Has he asked each of them the main reason for their extremist views of wanting to kill Americans? I think not! Did Gitmo exist when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center? Did Gitmo exist when terrorists blew a hole in the side of the USS Cole? Did Gitmo exist when all the other attacks on Americans throughout the world happened, Not, No , NO ! Has there been any attacks on Americans since the existence of Gitmo? I think you would have to really search far and wide to find one. President Bush and his thoughtful consideration of Americans over the "rights" of foreign Terrorists kept us safe. I believe history will show PResident Bush to be one of the greatest Presidents of all times. This is more then I can say for what is about to happen, if this reckless thoughtless President who appears to have the only interest of self glorification gets his way, we are going to see terrorism like we have never experienced it before.
What will he do with this detainees? Bring them to American prisons? Do you honesty think the terrorism will think, " Oh good, Gitmo is closed, now I can quite this nonsense and go back to my family"? What in the world! They are still detained! Will he give them, the very ones who vow to kill as many Americans as they can, the same rights under the constitution as the citizens of this great country? What? you have to be kidding, and in doing so, this is suppose to put an end to others becoming terrorists, because we have taken the higher moral ground? I think not! I can't even go on, I am so upset with him and his inability to consider the American people ahead of himself. But, I could write a book, and then the National non health plan of his, oh boy, we are headed for a disaster. Have you heard Tom Dashel? Older folks will just have to accept the fact the getting old is not pain free, in other words if the government gets its hands on your health care, and becomes the gatekeeper of dispensing medical attention, the older weaker will just have to accept it, you are no longer any use to President Obama so just roll over and die.

Listen

There stands alone a time for each
The way to travel through life’s journey
Which path to walk, which way to follow,
A choice to make one has to reach

Do you hear the voice that calls you close?
The voice that summons your spirit to his
Or is the voice of the world too loud?
A world where anger and pain is your dose.

A world filled with too many voices
Calling, luring each soul away
From the fulfillment of his plans
And into a place of far too many choices

Listen oh soul, respond oh spirit
To the still quite voice of God alone
Hear his wooing, hear is pleading
To live for him and to him belong