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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

Take Ownership of Your Inheritance in Christ for Blessing and Success

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You have an inheritance that is equal to what Jesus received, can you take ownership of that and live in that truth? 3:36 Video Clip

 

It’s not victory to successfully fight something over and over in your life. The victory is when it’s no longer a challenge for you. 1:35 Video Clip

 

Your self image and beliefs are self fulfilling prophecies, so you may as well believe the truth about who you are in Jesus. 0:43 Video Clip

 

 

Your outward life will reflect your inner beliefs. Life happens to all of us and many things occur that are out of your control but the bigger picture or the general condition of your life is a result of your self-image. You make choices based on who you think you are. Your conscious and subconscious mind work together with your conscience to filter what you’ll do and not do. Your beliefs live in your heart but your conscience will regulate how hard you pursue success or even how comfortable you are with certain levels of sin.

God is not the one determining the general condition of your life, you are.

The good news is you can change the condition and quality of your life. I am not talking about a health and wealth, carnally based message, I’m talking about living in the inheritance that’s available to all children of God. This inheritance predominantly reflects itself as righteousness, peace and joy. The goal is to experience the Kingdom of God and live as his responsible children/ambassadors in this world.

Colossians 1:12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

To do this, he changed you at the deepest part of your being when you believed.

God supplies wisdom and grace to continually shape you. He gave you that same inheritance Jesus received in his Kingdom. All of this is for the purpose of breaking the power of death and sin in your life, to set you free from the curse that’s in the earth AND for the purpose of you enjoying a blessed life.

Since you live out of the beliefs of your heart, the condition of your conscience and the image you have of yourself, you may as well go ahead and believe about yourself what God says about you.

Romans 8:15 for ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye did receive a spirit of adoption in which we cry, ‘Abba — Father.’ 16 The Spirit himself doth testify with our spirit, that we are children of God; 17and if children, also heirs, heirs, indeed, of God, and heirs together of Christ — if, indeed, we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together. (the suffering statement is a comfort to them because they have been experiencing persecution, suffering is not a prerequisite of being glorified)

God is continually reminding you that you are his child, that you are a joint-heir with Jesus, that he’s given you his authority. He’s placed his spirit in you to lead and guide you. He supplies more grace and wisdom than you’ll ever need. Let all of that work together to radically shift who you see in the mirror so you will allow him to build you outwardly into a blessed child of God, because you already are inwardly.

 

IN JESUS NAME: Living In Your Joint-Inheritance and Authority

$8.00 – DOWNLOAD NOW

Message Titles 

1. Joint-Heirs with Jesus
2. Our Authority in Jesus Name
3. Betrothed to God
4. God Says Yes to Over 3000 Promises
5. Praying According To His Will
6. Praying in Spirit and Truth
7. Living in the Paradox
8. Following the Holy Spirit

Hebrews 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Jesus is the heir of all things and has been given a name above every name. The most astonishing fact about Jesus’ resurrection and ascension is that he chose to share his inheritance and authority with all who believe.

In regard to power and authority there is no difference between you and Jesus. God has made you His child through your faith in Jesus. You’ve been adopted into His family in which he shares everything he has. You will not create another world and rule over people like the Mormons think, but in God’s Kingdom and on this planet, you have the full authority of a child of God within your new creation identity. Embrace your true identity and begin to represent the true God to the world in the power that Jesus died and rose again for you to walk in.

$8.00 – DOWNLOAD NOW

The post Take Ownership of Your Inheritance in Christ for Blessing and Success appeared first on Forward Ministries.

Identity Based vs Performance Based Christianity

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A newly created child of God is not defined by their actions, they are defined by what kind of being they are. The believer has been plucked out of death and engrafted into God by Christ. Each and every believer is now alive in Him!

If you were to be judged by God right now, it wouldn’t be sin that he would use to define you, it would be whether or not you’re in Jesus. The difference maker is whetter or not you have the spirit of God in you.

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

A performance based approach to relationship with God is rooted in self-righteousness. Performance based Christianity keeps you believing that you are going to become a better Christian one day. It never allows you to realize who you are in Christ, now. I want to help you understand and naturally live from the new creation reality that you are righteous because you’re in Jesus

Take a moment to answer these questions…

  • When you read the Bible and see passages that address who God is, do you believe them and adapt your perspective of God to match his revealed word?
  • When you read the Bible and see passages that address who Jesus is, do you believe them and adapt your perspective of Jesus to match his revealed word?
  • When you read the Bible and see passages that address who you are, do you believe them and adapt your perspective of yourself to match his revealed word?

Here’s what I mean by the third question. Read these passages and then ask yourself if you believe you’re righteous.

Romans 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You can rebuild your self-image from a reality that’s greater than your physical ability. To have a different life you have to do things differently than you’re doing now. You have to see yourself differently, think differently. You can have a completely different future that’s not defined by your past. The best way to do that is continually remind yourself of your inheritance as a child of God and who you now are in Christ. Believe what the Word says about YOU!

 

CHECK OUT THESE TEACHING SETS
FOR MORE ON ESTABLISHING YOUR IDENTITY

We are hidden with Christ as he is so are we in this world

The post Identity Based vs Performance Based Christianity appeared first on Forward Ministries.

589. The Sanctification Proclamation (It Is Finished)

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The past few weeks we’ve been discussing our identity in Christ and how God has already perfected us, made us complete in Him, and gifted us with His righteousness. Works-based religion will still try to find a way to put some sort of responsibility back on us, such as with the subject of sanctification. To be sanctified means to be set apart, and the gospel shows us it cannot be defined outside of what Jesus did for us on our behalf. As with justification and forgiveness, sanctification is not progressive, but was included in Christ’s finished work. We can rest in that assurance.

During the podcast, Joel mentioned this blog post of his: Instant and Permanent Sanctification.



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587. Jesus Became Sin – You Became Righteous

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The Bible states in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that Jesus became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus had never sinned, yet He became sin. Likewise, we didn’t come to a place of acceptable behavior, yet we’ve been declared and identified as righteous. Jesus didn’t become sin progressively over a long period of time, neither is the gift of righteousness something that occurs progressively. We died with Him and rose to newness of life. As a believer in Jesus Christ, whatever struggles you continue to endure, it doesn’t spiritually define who you are as a holy child of the living God. Jesus put away sin once and for all by the sacrifice of Himself.



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Who Named You?

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whonamedyou

Who named you? Pastor Alan Wright, discussing Peter's confession of Jesus at Caesarea (Matt. 16:13-20), makes the point that the power to name a person is huge, for that power belongs to whoever or whatever is most important to you.

Peter recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah of Israel and the Lord of creation. When Jesus named him Peter (he had been "Simon" until then) it was settled. Peter means "rock." Though Peter had to walk through some tough lessons, he was indeed the rock that Jesus said he was. He gave the key address at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-42) and was a recognized leader in the early church. He was most honored by being martyred for his faith.

In our neo-polytheistic culture, it is no wonder that so many are confused as to their identity. With the proliferation of gods giving out names to people, the fog of confused self-identity has settled on the land. Money is a favorite god dispensing names. Those who value it most are named by it and spend their lives running from poverty and trying vainly to accumulate enough of it to be significant. They measure their standing based on the symbols of wealth like houses, land, possessions, and the friends to whom those metrics are important. Many of these people (God called them fools in Luke 12:13-21) are so sad while trying desperately to be happy.

Another popular god is sex. When this god is given the right to rule it names people based on their various lusts and desires. While this is spun to look like freedom of expression, in reality it reduces humans to the level of animals, which are primarily defined biologically. Content or even proud to be identified by sexual preferences and practices, some conclude that they have no option but to be named by this criteria, but they have yet to hear that God has a better name for them.

We could go on identifying the gods of this culture that are eager to name people. For instance, those who value peer approval above all will be named by that cruel tyrant. They will live each day for secondhand pleasure. Not able to enjoy what they are doing because they are concerned what others think of it, they are slaves to approval and affirmation. The list is long and growing as other gods crowd into the mix, but you get the point. Who should name you?

There is only one who has the right to name us. He created us with a gracious plan for our lives. We are His by creation. After Adam and Eve chose to disobey Him, Satan began his long habit of accusing the race and assigning names based on criteria other than God's word. But God's plan was permanent and gracious. He sent His Son to be sin on our behalf so that we could be called the sons of God. We are His by redemption.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Gal. 4:7 (ESV)

This identity makes all other roles we play work in harmony. Living in a false identity guarantees disharmony and dissatisfaction. When God is most important to us we listen when He names us. We refuse to allow any of the cultural gods to have that power. They did not create us nor redeem us. They just want to conform us. They don't have that right.

Be Intentional About Loving People

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My family and I had a 20 minute conversation about love yesterday morning. Why did we take the time to have this discussion? Because we want to be a family that is intentional about loving people.

The thing that started us talking is that we’re getting ready to spend the next two weeks at JUMP Camp at our church. Steve and I are volunteering together the first week and the girls and I will be there again the second week.

Of course, JUMP Camp is going to be a blast and we are really looking forward to it, but we wanted to have a conversation beforehand to discuss, as a family, how we could be intentional about walking in love with others and with each other these next two weeks.

What we talked about as a family not only applies to our family or to JUMP Camp week, but to each of us in our everyday lives. This is why I decided to share our conversation about love with you!

As we each opened up and contributed to the conversation, these were the main points we covered.

Be Realistic

To start the conversation we discussed the fact that even though we are going to have a blast at camp, there will also be times when we get tired and there may even be moments when we feel exhausted. I personally think this was a very important part of our conversation that will help us be mentally prepared  to respond to others and to each other in love, when that happens.

I’m not saying we can’t believe God for an increase in energy over these next two weeks. We will believe for this and I believe we will have it, but when the sun is beating down on you and the noise level is continuously loud, the truth of the matter is, it can cause fatigue –  mentally, physically and emotionally.

Our family went to Six Flags several weeks ago. We have season passes this year and have these special bring-a-friend-free coupons that we can use a number of times during the season. We brought some friends of ours and had a really great time.

Six Flags is a place I spent a decent amount of time at growing up; therefore, I got so excited about our day of fun that I kept saying to everyone at the beginning of the day, “let’s stay all day, until the park closes.” (10pm) That sounded great until about 5 or 6pm when exhaustion seemed to hit every one of us at the same time! It wasn’t near as much fun after we got tired!

So…what do we do at JUMP Camp or in our everyday lives when we become physically, mentally or emotionally exhausted? The answers I’ll be sharing with you in this post apply to both.

1.) Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing

In our family discussion yesterday, we were reminding ourselves that we want to be a walking in love type of family. We talked about how we want to be a blessing in other people’s lives. We discussed how we want to be the light that Jesus said we are.

Of the 6000+ kids coming to JUMP Camp, a decent percentage of those kids haven’t ever heard the Gospel, nor do they go to church. You see how this one fact right here could change our whole perspective. This opportunity is much more than a camp – it’s a missions trip and God has given our family the opportunity to be change agents in the lives of these children.

Although Angel and Starr are not volunteering this year because this is their last year of being in camp, they can be all the things we talked about to their own friends over these next two weeks. They can be a blessing. They can walk in love. They can be an example. They can be a light. They can be change agents in the lives of their current friends and in the lives of the new 8th graders they’ll meet over the next two weeks.

2.) Constantly receive God’s love for yourself

Another aspect of our conversation was talking about the fact that we can, at any given moment, receive God’s love in a very personal way. Steve, my husband, suggested to all of us, “If we’re tired, we can close our eyes for a moment (when the time is convenient) and receive God’s love all over again.”

Since we’re there to extend God’s love to others, we talked about how we would only be able to do this if we are first receiving His love for ourselves.

After all…

1 John 4:19 says, 

We love each other because He loved us first. (NLT)

Receiving from God is one of the most important things we can spend our time doing, but I also believe receiving is one of the most overlooked things in the lives of many Christians. If we’re not careful we can spend all of our mental energy thinking about what we need to be doing for God and forget to receive from Him the wisdom, strength and ability we need to fulfill what He’s called us to.

3.) Become more rooted and grounded in knowing who you are in Christ

My husband Steve and I have been talking a lot lately about the amazing results we get from knowing who we are in Christ – from understanding that our true identity comes from being God’s child and also understanding that our worth and value is 100% wrapped up in the person we are in Christ Jesus. You know what I mean, the things the Bible talks about like: we’re new, complete , alive, holy, God’s workmanship, more than conquerors, overcomers, and forgiven in Him. And I’ve just barely gotten started with this short list compared to all the Biblical promises in God’s Word of everything we are in Christ.

Please do yourself a favor and search this phrase on google sometime soon: Who I am in Christ. Biblical promise after Biblical promise after Biblical promise will come up and if you’ll read them and remember them, you’ll see such an increase in your confidence level that this will in turn change your marriage, your relationships with your kids, your business, your personal life, and the list goes on.

I guarantee you that just the one fact alone that I am so much more convinced of who I am in Christ than the old Sandra was will make these two weeks at JUMP Camp and the fact that God has asked me to do everything I do in a spirit of love so much more than a possibility… as long as I keep the truth of God’s Word ever before me!

4.) Take care of yourself by exercising, getting enough sleep, eating healthy and drinking lots of water

Recently I had to take 3 months off from CrossFit in order to allow some physical symptoms I was having to subside. When I returned a month ago I noticed right away that my energy increased from working out again.

My Mom also started a walking program over a year ago. She walks 5 miles or more almost every day and her energy level is off the charts. She actually said she was praying for God to give her more energy and He gave her a desire to walk. She has enjoyed the walking and the results from the walking so much that she never wants to miss her walks!

Thinking of exercise this way – that it actually increases our energy – can give us a whole new perspective about it. After all, it’s kind of difficult to get the things done in our lives that God has called us to do if we are tired all the time. It’s also difficult to walk in love consistently if we are tired all the time. This is precisely why I’m planning to go to CrossFit after being at camp all day long to continue my workouts this week. I won’t have to go everyday after camp, maybe 2 of the 4 days and I’ve already talked to the coach and told him I probably won’t be able to work as hard as everyone else because I’ll be in the sun a lot during the day, but I can still go and do a good workout. If I do, I bet it will give me more energy for JUMP camp week!

Am I going to feel like going to CrossFit after camp. Probably not. This is exactly why I am making an intentional decision ahead of time. I’ll also use wisdom with it. For instance, I usually workout 4 days a week and I may only be able to do 3 days a week for the next two weeks, but I’m not going to mentally set myself up to not go at all.

My husband Steve also works out very consistently. He frequently reads articles about the benefits of exercise and we talk about them. We encourage each other in this area because we have seen the results, far too often, of people who have neglected exercise their entire life and now they’re totally dependent on others to care for them. We don’t want that to be us so we have decided to be intentional in the area of exercise…whether we feel like it or not!

Now, getting enough sleep is an area I could use a little more intentionality in! I do good for a period of time and then I get off course, but our family has been talking for several weeks now about how we will all be needing 8 hours of sleep these next two weeks for sure because we don’t want to go to JUMP Camp tired. That would not be a good recipe for treating others with love.

These two weeks are going to force me to get in bed at 8pm since I will be getting up at 4am. That sounds crazy to some people, but I love getting up early. My days just go better when I get up early, but I am a morning person. I’m believing these next two weeks of being forced to keep this schedule will help me get back into this habit in my everyday life because I admit, this is an area I need to receive God’s grace in to form a better habit, more consistently.

Now, I do want to say I am a very energetic person. I always have been, but especially the new and improved Sandra who doesn’t get bogged down with guilt and condemnation, but instead spends her time receiving and living by God’s grace. So I may not even need 8 hours of sleep every single night, but I need to give my body the opportunity to get 8 hours of sleep in case it does need it.

In regards to eating healthy, for me that means taking the time to prepare healthy food each week and carrying a cooler with me everywhere I go to keep my blood sugar from dipping too low since I’ve had low blood sugar issues all my life. It’s totally manageable and isn’t even a problem if I eat right and eat often enough, but if I don’t, it can get whacked out for days.

In fact, right now I’m starting to get hungry and one of the times I despise stopping to eat the most is when I’m writing. I’m going to town here, typing away and don’t want to stop and then have to take the time to get refocused and get Back in the flow again when I return; but if I want to feel my best and if I want to be able to react to others in love on a more consistent basis, I don’t have a choice. So I’ll be back in about 15 minutes ok?

I’m back, and stopping to take the time to eat was so worth it. I feel wonderful now that my blood sugar is level again.

Regarding the food at JUMP Camp, part of the fun is the fun food; therefore, we have been talking to our girls for several weeks now about what they’ll be allowed to eat at JUMP Camp. There is actually nothing they can’t eat and they will have snow cones available every day and, in addition, Wednesday is ice cream day. We told them they could have 1 snow cone per day and the ice cream in addition on Wednesday. We are also letting them have certain things in their lunches that we don’t give them often like chips and white bread, BUT we made an agreement with them that they will need to eat healthy the rest of the week at every meal. This way they can enjoy the same things the other kids are getting to enjoy at JUMP Camp and not feel left out, but not end up sick afterwords either.

Finally, speaking of the importance of water consumption, the average adult human body is 50-65% water. Our cells must have water to live and our vital organs contain 65-85% water, depending on the organ. It always inspires me to drink more water when I read facts like this.

I am blessed that I actually really like the taste of water. It’s all I drink, but I know lots of people can’t stand water. That has to be hard, but I will say (as a way of encouragement) that there have been numerous times when I have gotten out of the the habit of drinking enough water and when I got back on track, I found the more I drank it  the more I wanted it.

To help myself drink the amount of water I need each day I recently purchased 3 water bottles and placed them different places in my home – my bedroom, my office and the kitchen!

 1 Corinthians 13 says, 

Love Is the Greatest

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. (NLT)

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

The Devil Is A Liar – Don’t Believe Him

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The devil is a liar which means the things he lies to us about… we should be believing and speaking the exact opposite. I’ve begun to practice this a lot in the past couple of years.

Here are some examples:

If I’m walking through my house and the devil lies to me by saying, “What if someone breaks into your house and tries to harm you and your family?” I don’t think or say, “Oh my goodness, what if someone breaks into our house and tries to harm me and my family?” Instead I immediately open my mouth and say something such as, “No, nobody will even be able to step a foot on our property with the intention of harming us. God, I thank you that according to Psalm 91:9-11(MSG), Because You are our refuge and You are our very own home, evil can’t even get close to us and harm can’t get through the door. In fact, You ordered Your angels to guard us wherever we go!”

OR

Let’s say I’m just doing some office work while my girls are running around the house playing with their dogs and the devil lies to me by saying, “What if your kids have a serious accident? They could fall down the steps and hit their head and get a brain injury.” Instead of gasping and thinking, “Oh my gosh. What if? What if? What if?” I respond immediately by saying, “I thank you God that Angel and Starr will live a long, healthy life in the name of Jesus. (see Psalm 91:15-16) In fact, I’m so glad Your blessing them with long life so they can enjoy their sibling relationship for lots and lots of years and even grow old together.”

OR

True story: The devil lied to me recently by saying, “Remember that person who said that really unkind thing to your face while questioning your motives for why you do what you do to help others. Well, they’re right. You’re just doing all these posts to get attention.” This did actually happen and the person’s comment hurt me so bad that it nearly shut me down. I cried for days and thought, This is stupid. All I’m trying to do is help people by setting their eyes on Jesus so forget it. I may as well just close up shop and quit trying if people are going to misunderstand me like this.

I know that’s exactly what the devil wanted me to do – close up shop. He wanted me to throw up a huge wall and just lay there wounded on the side of the road of life for the rest of my life. But guess what? The devil did not get his way.

God used the very thing that the devil meant to hurt me and tempt me to enter into a state of passivity and He showed me how to go even deeper in placing my identity in what He thinks of me as opposed to what others think about me.

In addition, God showed me how to forgive the person, after I asked for His help, by reminding me that I have also said some very hurtful things to others over the years, while judging their motives. He reminded me how He had extended His mercy and forgiveness to me every single time.

Once I got my eyes on the grace God had extended to me it was easy for me to get my eyes off what this person had done to me and forgive them. I even found myself believing the best of them as 1 Corinthians 13 encourages us to do. The transformational power of God’s grace never ceases to amaze me!

As a result of this incident, God is also helping me get free from a longstanding fear that I have had of being misunderstood.

Our God is simply a Master at taking what the devil intends for our harm and turning it and working it together for our good!

You can see, and I’m sure you have personally experienced, that the devil attempts to lie to us about a wide variety of things.

He says:

What if you get sick?
What if you get hurt?
What if people reject you?
What if you run out of money?
What if your marriage falls apart?
What if your kids hate you when they grow up as a result of all the mistakes you’ve made?

And this list is just the tip of the iceberg.

You should hear me though. I literally respond to the devil’s what if’s all day long with promises from God’s Word! It’s a fun game I play, but I’ve noticed that the devil doesn’t like the way I play the game; therefore, he doesn’t even bother lying to me very often anymore. When he does, he usually gets about a half a sentence out and I’m already interrupting him by responding with the truth – the reality – of what’s really going to happen which is the opposite of his lies. 

Here’s what Jesus said about the devil in John 8:44b – “He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (NLT)

We could even get on the devil’s last nerve by actually thanking him when he lies to us for reminding us of what’s really going to happen which is THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what he’s spouting off. Hahaha – I’m sorry, but I get the biggest kick out of this game! 

My friend, always remember that Jesus stripped satan and his personal assistants of their authority through His finished work on the cross and the moment you choose to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, satan’s authority over you ceases to be a reality!

He defeated the rulers and powers of the spiritual world. With the cross He won the victory over them and led them away, as defeated and powerless prisoners for the whole world to see. – Colossians 2:15 (ERV)

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

God’s Treasure Chest – Romans 16

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Here we go – the final chapter of Romans! I have thoroughly enjoyed this book of the Bible and enjoyed recording my thoughts of the treasure I discovered while reading and studying it. What an incredible book of the Bible!

Romans 16:16a says, 
Greet each other in Christian love. (NLT)

The Apostle Paul says this after 15 verses of greetings to his friends in a letter. These greetings were much more than a “hello.” As Paul was sending his greetings I noticed he was also speaking  words of affirmation over his friends. I think it’s pretty evident that he was calling them out one or two at a time, not just to greet them, but also to honor and encourage them!

Then, in verse 16a Paul encouraged them all to greet each other in Christian love. How blessed they were that he had just given them a living example of how to do this in his letter to them. There’s definitely a lesson to be learned here, by watching how Paul communicated to his friends. 

Here are some examples:

Romans 16:1-2 (NLT)
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. 2 Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.

Romans 16:3-4 (NLT)
3 Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. 4 In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches.

Romans 16:6 (NLT)
6 Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit.

Romans 16:7 (NLT)
7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews, who were in prison with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did.

Romans 16:8-9 (NLT)
8 Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

I personally read though verses 1-16 three times because I was so inspired by Paul’s great leadership example. 

I’ve never understood why leaders think they’re going to get the best out of their team by yelling at them, insulting them, intimidating them and making them feel as if they are never good enough. That form of leadership is such a deception.

After reading verses 1-16, I’m sure we would all agree that there is no possible way Paul’s friends could have felt anything other than encouraged by his greeting. In addition, I’m sure we would all agree that Paul’s respectful treatment of them would only serve to make them want to work even harder because they felt valued by him. Now that’s good leadership!

25 Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed His plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. 26 But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey Him. 27 All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.

Verse 25 – God is able to make us strong. How can we be sure? The Good News says so!

Verse 26 – One of the most important things that I have learned on my grace journey is how important my believing is and how right believing leads to right living and wrong believing leads to wrong living; therefore, I always notice something when reading the Bible now that I never noticed before. I notice the phase believe and obey. So they too might believe and obey Him. (from verse 26) Right believing has to come first, then obedience will follow. 

For example, if I believe the Bible is a book full of rules and I believe I need to find out what rule there is in each verse for me to follow and and I also believe that I’m going to be punished by God if fail to follow those rules, I am not going to be very enthusiastic about reading it. On the other hand, if I believe the Bible to be a love letter from God to me and a book full of His amazing grace and His promises, then I will be enthusiastic about reading it and I won’t have to be talked into reading and studying it because I will want to as a result of having a right belief system.

Here’s another example. If I believe I have to accomplish a certain amount each day and I believe if I don’t, then that means I’m a failure, that wrong belief will lead me to live in anxiety and frustration. That wrong belief will result in me living in works (self-effort) much of the time instead of being free to trust in God’s grace to carry me through. On the other hand, if I understand that my worth and value come solely from the fact that I am a child of God and He loves me unconditionally, I will be able to receive His grace to help me do my best everyday and not feel better about myself on days I get more accomplished or worse about myself on days I get less accomplished. Believing this way will actually free me to get more accomplished because I’ll be working from a place of rest and peace, assured that I am already loved and valued, instead of trying to work for my worth and value!

Do you see how wrong believing leads to wrong living and right believing leads to right living? It really made a difference for me when I understood this. Now that I do, if I’m living in disobedience in a certain area of my life, I go to the throne of grace (see Hebrews 4:16) and ask God to show me what area my believing is off in so I can begin to believe correctly in that area again, according to His Word, knowing that obedience will naturally flow out of my right believing (out of my renewed mind)!

To find my other God’s Treasure Chest posts on the book of Romans, just click here on My Grace Journey and then scroll down to the topic that says God’s Treasure Chest – Romans!

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

God’s Treasure Chest – Romans 15

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Here’s some of the treasure I discovered while reading and studying Romans chapter 15. I hope this brings you encouragement!

Romans 15:1-2 say, 

1 We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. (NLT) 

Well, I have to admit that I failed in fulfilling this verse recently. Keep in mind, this example I’ll be giving does deal with weakness, but not specifically in regards to what one eats as Paul discussed in Romans 14.

In my situation I was ministering to a lady that a friend of mine put me in contact with purposely so I could help her. There were several areas where she was really struggling to trust God and those same areas, which had also been a struggle for me in the past, are areas where I am now enjoying freedom, BUT the ONLY reason is because of God’s grace .

She just kept making excuses for her situation and blaming others and I was thinking, “Lady, do you want help or not.”

The next day I started reading Romans 15 and verses 1&2 immediately stood out . I knew right away that it was no accident. 

It’s not what I said to her that day that was wrong. In fact, I believe I was able to offer her some genuine help. It was my attitude toward her weakness that was wrong.

This situation reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which say,

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (NASB)

This is what seeing Romans 15:1-2 did for me. It taught me, reproved me and corrected me. This is something I have no problem with now, but for many years I would have taken something like this in a condemnatory type of way, even though that was never the way God intended for me to receive it. 

I talked about this in my book, I Tried Until I Almost Died. In it I said, …after coming to a grace revelation, I started seeing and reading the Bible from a completely different perspective. Instead of seeing a book of rules, I now see a book full of promises – promises made available to us by a heavenly Father who, rather than waiting to punish us when we step out of line, invites us to step into His presence just as we are.

You see, God wasn’t saying to me through His Word, ‘Wow Sandra, you’ve really blown it royally this time. Man you are so self-centered. Come on. Get your act together girl,’ although this is exactly how I would have perceived the correction prior to understanding God’s nature of goodness, love and grace.

Here’s what I felt God was showing me through His Word this time, now that I was reading it differently. First, God brought the situation from the day before to my mind immediately when I read Romans 15, verses 1 and 2. He showed me that the conversation was frustrating to me as a result of my perspective of just wanting this girl to get over her insecurities and get on with her spiritual journey and that I really wasn’t looking out for her or looking to please her, but myself. Basically, I wanted her to stop feeling sorry for herself, stop making excuses and just listen to me so she could get the help she needed. But God reminded me once again that only He can change a person’s heart. I don’t know about you, but once in a while I still try to take matters into my own hands by attempting to do God’s job. 

This has been a great reminder for me to bear with the failings of the weak!

Romans 15:5 says, 

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. (NLT)  

See, I love this. Even when we are impatient with another person’s weakness, we don’t have to go into a fix ourself up mode. This verse tells us that it is God who gives us patience and encouragement. It is Him who helps us live in complete harmony with others. And if we want His help all we have to do is ask for it!

Romans 15:7 says,

Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. (NLT)  

This Biblical truth has helped me in so many areas. For many years I tried to accept others, forgive others and love others, but I didn’t have the revelation that God accepted me, had forgiven me and loved me unconditionally. It was when I got this revelation that I was able to begin to give out what I had finally received from God. 

Of course, I’m not perfect, as you saw by my example at the beginning of this blog post, but I can testify for sure that accepting, forgiving and loving other people comes so much more naturally than it did before I understood how God truly felt about me. 

Romans 15:13 says,

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  (NLT)  

One of the most amazing things that I have discovered on my grace journey these past 4 years is how much of our Christian walk hinges on us being willing to trust God.

Jesus provided everything we will ever need to live in victory through His finished work on the cross… but we have to believe this is true in order to receive. In the New Covenant of God’s grace all of His promises are yes and amen… but we have to believe to receive. God is so amazingly good. He doesn’t just do love. He is love. But again, we have to believe in God’s goodness to receive the enormous benefits that come with right believing! 

Romans 15:14 -15a says, 

I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. (NLT) 

I simply love the Bible and I love how the Apostle Paul ministered to the church! He ministered with a gracious spirit, believing the best of them, always teaching them wisdom and reminding them (when they got off track) who they were in Christ Jesus and what was available to them through Christ Jesus. 

The apostle Paul said this in Romans 15:16:

I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. (NLT)  

I’m getting the biggest kick out of studying this chapter. I know I’ve said this before…many times, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over the difference in how I see the Bible now that I am reading it through the lens of God’s grace. It really is like a huge treasure chest to me!

It’s so cool here that Paul said bringing the Good News to them was going to make such a dynamic change in them that he would be able to present them as an acceptable offering to God. Why? Because this Good News was not just any ordinary good news. It was (and is) the Good News about Jesus and what He did for them (and us) through His death and resurrection. Paul knew they would (and we would) be made holy through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross by the power of the Holy Spirit when they chose (and we choose) to believe this Good News!

Wait a minute Sandra? I thought I had to do all these “holy acts” in order to be holy. 

Nope. All you have to do is believe the Good News about Jesus! But guess what? When you do believe in and receive Jesus as your Savior and you know you’ve been made holy because of Jesus, you will most definitely end up living a holier lifestyle than ever before because your who always affects your do.

But guess what else? You can live as a Christian for years, even decades, and not see the fruit of holiness in your life that should be there. Guess why? Because you somehow skipped getting ahold of the who you are in Christ part and went directly to the what you need to do for Christ part. Sadly, this happened to me.

and…

I believe there are a good number of Christians attempting to live out their Christianity without knowing who they are in Christ. This, my friend, is a very bad recipe for F.R.U.S.T.R.A.T.I.O.N.

But guess what? It can all be turned around when you begin to learn who you are in Christ Jesus! When you do, right doing will begin to flow naturally from your right believing about who you really, truly are in Jesus!

How do I know this? It happened to me! Thank God that He has restored everything the deceiver (satan) worked so hard to make sure I missed.

THIS is why I will be spending the rest of my life reminding others of their true identity in Christ.

Romans 15:24 says, 

I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. (NLT) 

This is very interesting to me how the apostle Paul boldly asked for financial help from the Christians in Rome so he could continue his missionary journey. In today’s world if Paul said something like this some might accuse him by saying all Paul ever wants is our money. But it seems to me from reading some of the different verses in this chapter that this was not the mentality of the early church at all. They were in it to preach the Gospel. They were in it to spread the Good News. This is what they lived for.

Now, I realize one of the reasons there is so much suspicion out there in the area of money is because of the way some churches/ministries have mishandled money. I really do understand that. Believe me, Steve and I are very careful who we give to.

All I’m saying is that reading this chapter really made me want to see the church get back to being united for the purpose Jesus gave us – to Go Into All The World And Preach The Gospel!

And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15 -NASB)

Of course, as you know, there are plenty of great churches and ministries out there that are really fulfilling The Great Commission. I’m inspired, after reading this chapter, to begin to pray that Christians worldwide will both find and get planted in a great church that is Jesus-centered and preaches the Gospel and find great ministries that do the same and begin to partner with them to fulfill the purpose Jesus gave to us, His church!  

I can’t think of any better way to invest my money than to invest it into the lives of people who don’t yet know Jesus!

My next and final God’s Treasure Chest post will be on Romans 16.

To find my other God’s Treasure Chest posts on the book of Romans, just click here on My Grace Journey and then scroll down to the topic that says God’s Treasure Chest – Romans!

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

Do I Have A Calling?

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calling

Do you know what you are called to do? It can be a complicated question. Most believers are conflicted because we want to enjoy life as God intended originally in the Garden of Eden. But given the world’s state, we want to make an impact with the Gospel. Most believers would say they want to do what God wants them to. Wouldn’t you?

This begins the pursuit to find and fulfill your call. First and foremost, the “high calling” on your life, as referenced in Philippians 3, is to embrace salvation in Christ. The calling that Paul prays you’re counted worthy of in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 is the same, that you embrace salvation. The other times the word “calling” is used is in association with a believer expressing the salvation they have embraced in Jesus.

Your calling is not your job or the reason your were created, it’s how you express Christ. Your calling is fulfilled as you daily embrace the free gift of salvation in your heart and yield to the influence of God’s spirit. Yes, there will be “assignments” that God will have for you as you go about embracing and expressing salvation but saying yes to Jesus is the fulfillment of your calling. Saying yes to Jesus includes responding to his leading daily.

He gave you a new heart that knows how to hear and follow him. You can jump off the religious stationary bike that goes nowhere and stop trying to get your job description from God and start enjoying your freedom in him. Fully walking in this freedom as a mature Christian will produce the fruit of following him. Stop trying to perform your calling and just walk in it by daily embracing this rich salvation that’s alive within you.

The definition of “calling” is: a divine invitation to embrace salvation.

Because of the performance mentality that has permeated Christianity, we have turned our “calling” into a job description rather than daily experiencing the salvation we’ve been given. This salvation produces maturity, it brings healing, it teaches us, it leads us in wisdom, it leads us to love people and take the Gospel to the world. Stop asking God what he wants you to do and fully embrace what he’s done.

To make it practical:

  • Stop asking “what should I do” and start asking “who should I love?”
  • Stop asking “what’s my passion” and start asking “who is my passion?”
  • Stop asking “why am I here” and start thanking God for salvation and open your heart to express it toward people in love.

The post Do I Have A Calling? appeared first on Forward Ministries.

Why Did God Create Mankind?

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The-Creation

Have you ever wondered why you are here?
Have you asked, “what’s my purpose?”
Maybe you’ve even wondered, “what am I supposed to do?”

How you answer those questions may determine how religious you are. How you answer those questions may reveal the level of your performance mentality before God. How you answer those questions may give you insight into the kind of relationship you think you have with God and what you think God expects from you.

A created thing can not determine its own purpose. The creator of anything has its own reason for producing that object. You are here according to God’s intentions. So what are God’s reasons for creating mankind? More specifically, why did he make you?

Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

God created everything for his pleasure. That begs another question; what brings God pleasure? How you answer that question reveals the kind of father you think God is. Does poverty bring him pleasure? Does sickness bring him pleasure? What about confusion? Many people seem to think God wants them confused. I hear many people talk about their life’s circumstances and ask the question, what are you doing God? As if he’s the one in control over that circumstance. God is not the author of confusion so it must not bring him pleasure for you to be confused about your life and it’s circumstances.

What brings God pleasure is the same as any other father, healthy loving relationships with their children. God is a good father, it is his good pleasure to give you his kingdom. What’s in his kingdom? Righteousness, peace and joy. It brings God pleasure when you to enjoy what he has given you, righteousness, peace and joy.

David wondered why God created mankind, he wrote about it in a psalm…

What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?

Then David receives his answer…

Yet you have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. Psalm 8

The words ‘glory’ and ‘majesty’ or ‘honor’ in modern day language are dignity, worth, value and royalty. God has attributed to mankind incredible worth and value. Each human life is worth every drop of the eternal blood of Jesus. God sees mankind as kings and rulers over his creation. When God looks at people he sees a dignified, royal creature worthy to have authority over his own creation.

This is true of all mankind. This is the reason Christ died for the ungodly, because everyone is valuable. This is why Jesus remained obedient unto the death of the cross and passed into the grave while we were sinners, because God sees mankind as royalty.

Once we receive Jesus and are cleansed by his blood our royalty extends into Heaven because we’re then in Jesus but even before then, each human on this planet is worth more than all its gold and precious stones combined. The reason God created mankind was to enjoy his creation and enjoy fellowship with each other and enjoy relationship with him.

Your purpose is fulfilled when you say yes to Jesus and enjoy fellowship with God, it’s that simple.

In next week’s blog I’ll cover the difference between purpose and calling and address dreams, goals and desires. You can watch part 3 of Why Am I Here? Sunday morning at 9 & 11am EST.

Stay tuned for a book and workshop entitled Why Am I Here? Discover Your Purpose and Fulfill Your Call

The post Why Did God Create Mankind? appeared first on Forward Ministries.

Why Did God Create Mankind?

by

The-Creation

Have you ever wondered why you are here?
Have you asked, “what’s my purpose?”
Maybe you’ve even wondered, “what am I supposed to do?”

How you answer those questions may determine how religious you are. How you answer those questions may reveal the level of your performance mentality before God. How you answer those questions may give you insight into the kind of relationship you think you have with God and what you think God expects from you.

A created thing can not determine its own purpose. The creator of anything has its own reason for producing that object. You are here according to God’s intentions. So what are God’s reasons for creating mankind? More specifically, why did he make you?

Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

God created everything for his pleasure. That begs another question; what brings God pleasure? How you answer that question reveals the kind of father you think God is. Does poverty bring him pleasure? Does sickness bring him pleasure? What about confusion? Many people seem to think God wants them confused. I hear many people talk about their life’s circumstances and ask the question, what are you doing God? As if he’s the one in control over that circumstance. God is not the author of confusion so it must not bring him pleasure for you to be confused about your life and it’s circumstances.

What brings God pleasure is the same as any other father, healthy loving relationships with their children. God is a good father, it is his good pleasure to give you his kingdom. What’s in his kingdom? Righteousness, peace and joy. It brings God pleasure when you to enjoy what he has given you, righteousness, peace and joy.

David wondered why God created mankind, he wrote about it in a psalm…

What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?

Then David receives his answer…

Yet you have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. Psalm 8

The words ‘glory’ and ‘majesty’ or ‘honor’ in modern day language are dignity, worth, value and royalty. God has attributed to mankind incredible worth and value. Each human life is worth every drop of the eternal blood of Jesus. God sees mankind as kings and rulers over his creation. When God looks at people he sees a dignified, royal creature worthy to have authority over his own creation.

This is true of all mankind. This is the reason Christ died for the ungodly, because everyone is valuable. This is why Jesus remained obedient unto the death of the cross and passed into the grave while we were sinners, because God sees mankind as royalty.

Once we receive Jesus and are cleansed by his blood our royalty extends into Heaven because we’re then in Jesus but even before then, each human on this planet is worth more than all its gold and precious stones combined. The reason God created mankind was to enjoy his creation and enjoy fellowship with each other and enjoy relationship with him.

Your purpose is fulfilled when you say yes to Jesus and enjoy fellowship with God, it’s that simple.

In next week’s blog I’ll cover the difference between purpose and calling and address dreams, goals and desires. You can watch part 3 of Why Am I Here? Sunday morning at 9 & 11am EST.

Stay tuned for a book and workshop entitled Why Am I Here? Discover Your Purpose and Fulfill Your Call

The post Why Did God Create Mankind? appeared first on Forward Ministries.

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