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11-19-14 Spiritual Blessings

11/19/2014

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Ephesians 1:6

As Thanksgiving draws near, how important it is for me to review the spiritual blessings which God has given.

The Scriptures are written in order that each individual might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that, in believing, he might have life through His name. When I come to God in repentance and personal faith in the shed blood of Christ, God clothes me in the garment of salvation and wraps me in the robe of Christ’s righteousness (Acts 20:21, Isaiah 61:10). He places His Spirit within me and gives me eternal life. In His infinite mercy, He regenerates me unto a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. From that moment forward, for the endless ages of a timeless eternity, I am accepted in the Beloved Son, with Whom God is well pleased. What a miracle of grace!

The spiritual blessings which God gives to His blood-bought children, in addition to the gift of eternal life, are many more that can ever be addressed in a few short paragraphs. However, I think of three basic ones:

   1.   In His Word, by His Spirit, He has given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God (Romans 10:1). In this life, He gives me His counsel, and when this earth-life is finished, He receives me into His glory (Psalm 73:24). His Word is His will, and His will is His Word; they are one in the same. As I delight in His Word, I receive His direction for every aspect of my life.

   2.   Through the privilege of prayerful communion with God, He freely gives His divine wisdom to me. It is available as I search His Word with all my heart in a desire to understand His heart, mind, will and purpose.

   3.   In my progressive conformity to Christ, when I sin, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, is my Advocate with the Father. He is my mediator with the Father in salvation and my intercessor with the Father in progressive sanctification.

May God help me today to be grateful for the spiritual blessings which God has given.

                                            (C) 1992, 2014 N.A.Collins
                    Limited copy permission given for one personal file copy

11-12-14 How to TRUST the Lord

11/12/2014

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in God is the biblical alternative to fear. I trust God when we take the gift of salvation freely offered and rejoice in Jesus alone. I further demonstrate and evidence ongoing trust as I unleash my life to His sovereign care and settle back into a life of obedience to God’s Word and service to others for God’s glory. As I continue to respond to God’s Word on a daily basis by becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ, I will wait patiently on His working out all the details of our lives for His eternal glory and our eternal good.

This issue of TRUST is one that, though desired, is oftentimes difficult to actually explain how to do it. In the
43 years of the ministry to which God has called me, I believe it has been one of the most difficult for me, and others, to articulate in the specific "how-to-do" application. The progressive and cumulative action words found in Psalm 36:3-5,7 have given me a step-step-handle I just HOW I may trust the Lord. It is as follows:

We can spell the word TRUST in an acrostic format to show the action word describing it as seen in Psalm 37:

   (trust)      T   Take the free gift of salvation        Psalm 37:3        CONVERSION

   (delight)   R   Rejoice wholly in Jesus alone       Psalm 37:4        MEDITATION

   (commit)   U   Unleash my life to the perfect        Psalm 37:5       SUBMISSION         plan of the Sovereign God

   (rest)        S   Sacrificial submission to God        Psalm 37:7        APPLICATION       and sacrificial service to man

   (wait)        T   Total responsibility on God for     Psalm 37:7        CONFIDENCE         the results of my obedience

Trust in God involves an abandonment of my own thoughts and ways, in deference to the higher perfect thoughts and ways of the sovereign Lord. As I live in obedience to His Word, and thereby give clear acknowledgment to Him in all of my ways, I can trust His unfailing promise of divine care and provision of all of my needs. He takes full authority to give me the direction in my life that is so needed by each of His blood-bought children who have received the Lord Jesus Christ by grace, through faith.

I encourage you to write this out on a 3x5 card for purposes of meditation and application, to be used for the rest of your life, as I do on a daily basis. May God bless you as you trust in Him.

                                (C) 1986, 2014 N.A. Collins
                    Limited copy permission for one personal file copy

11-5-14 Purity

11/5/2014

And every man that hath this hope in him  purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1 John 3:3

I was just thinking about the issue of purity in the life of a blood- bought believer.

Having received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, as a new creation in Him, I am to begin to order my life in accordance with His Word. As He is pure, I am to purify my thoughts, actions and words to line up with that which would magnify Him to those who are watching.

In Ephesians, Paul gives the reminder that the former sin patterns of my life ought to never be named among a follower of Jesus. On the contrary, I am to to put them to death, in that I cease to continue their practice on the one hand; on the other hand, I am to replace them with thoughts and actions of righteousness. As I walk in the Spirit, I will no longer fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Living pure life involves my thinking patterns. The Scripture teaches that as a man thinks, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). It reminds me that it is out of my heart that all the issues of life flow forth (Proverbs 4:23). It assures us that it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). When my mind is stayed on Christ, i will know His perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Only then will the world see an accurate reflection of Him and hear an accurate report of His glorious gospel. If my gospel is hidden behind the sinful old nature habit patterns of the past, it is hidden to them that are lost.

God has entrusted me with the message of reconciliation, and if I am to shine forth as a clear light in the darkness and perversity of this present world system, I must bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, then think and meditate upon His Word.

May God help me today to think the pure thoughts of His Word and live accordingly.

(C) 1986, 2014 N.A. Collins
Limited copy permission for one personal file copy

10-29-14 Justification

10/29/2014

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

When the Spirit of God woos us to Himself in His ministry of conviction and we respond to His offer of grace in salvation, we have peace with God through Christ. Having been made righteous by the will of God, through the substitutionary atonement of Christ, we no longer stand condemned before God, but rather we stand justified before Him.

While the human system of religion teaches that man can be made right with God through human efforts of self‑goodness and morality, the Word of God assures us that he cannot. God gives us clear instruction that man is not justified or made righteous by any works of the law or demonstrations of the flesh. He reminds us that it is impossible for man, in the flesh, to ever please God. It is only faith in Jesus Christ that enables man to be acceptable in God’s sight.

The gospel message, as found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, is that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification. Is it any wonder that the event of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the victory song of the believer?

Because we have been justified through faith in His blood, we have been rescued from His wrath against sin, unrighteousness and rebellion. We have been translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son and have become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Our eternal future is secure, and our positional peace with God is the cornerstone of biblical hope and practical joy.

Those who have been justified by faith in their position with Christ at salvation are to subsequently live by faith in their daily practice as well. As the Word of God instructs us on how to respond to God through faith in Christ, so it instructs us on how to live for God through faith in Christ. As His Word is our only source of both faith and practice, we will consistently examine every aspect of our lives under the scrutiny of the Scriptures. We will compare our attitudes, behavior and communication with those of the son of God and make the changes necessary to bring our lives into conformity to His thus glorifying God by being like Jesus.

(c) 1993, 2007 N.A.Collins
Limited copy permission for one personal file copy

10-22-14 Confidence

10/22/2014

...in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength... Isaiah 30:15b

In the hustle and bustle of the busy world system, there are many days in which there is often a lack of confidence in anything or anyone. Sometimes people find themselves questioning their own goals and motives and begin to ask whether there is any stable value system worthy of their confidence and trust.

What a wonderful HOPE in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only in confident quietness before Him, because of Who He is, that blood‑bought believers are able to come to the place of both rest and strength.

Think with me about REST and STRENGTH. Do those two words sound like they would mean the same thing? Actually, one provides for the other. Confidence must always be in WHO God is. He gives real rest to our own hearts as I cease the labor of attempting to do what only He can do. The “rest” of confident trust in Him, through the ministry of His indwelling Spirit, provides me with the desire, ability and strength to obediently live in ways that please Him.

It is HIS grace that provides HIS strength for moment by moment obedience to Him in my life. In the heat of an interpersonal problem with sinful anger welling up inside of me, it is HIS Spirit and HIS strength that remind me from 2 Timothy 2:24 that the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be apt to teach in a demonstration of Christlike gentleness and patience. It is HIS strength by HIS Spirit that brings me to answer lovingly and describe appropriate steps of biblical action to resolve human conflict.

   CONFIDENCE IN GOD

Quietly relying upon HIS grace and strength as I obey Him, to accomplish His will in my life, moment by moment, hour by hour, and day by day.

May God help me today to confidently rest in active obedience to His Word.

                                    (c) 1992, 2014 N.A.Collins
                 Limited copy permission for one personal file copy

10-15-14 Doubt

10/15/2014

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?  Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it,  Why hast thou made me thus?
Romans 9:20

How can I, the creation of God, attempt to correct or counsel the sovereign, all-wise God, the Creator of the universe, Whose ways are perfect?

Faith is required to please God, and even my prayer requests need to be scriptural and in line with the thoughts of God. His thoughts are higher than mine, and if I communicate with Him from my earthly vantage point, I often will have wrong human expectations and thus pray with doubting. If I will recognize that God cannot lie and is eternally faithful to His infallible Word, I can pray His Word back to Him, in faith, and without doubting. When that change occurs in our prayer life, I will trust Him implicitly, find my joy in Him alone, take my hands off of my life, submit to God, serve others and leave the results of my obedience in His all-wise hands. Then I will pray in faith without doubting.

A heart of unbelief departs from the living God, and my unbelief is rooted in my failure to employ absolute confidence in the eternal character and nature of God. Fear in my life is merely an indication of having made that sinful transference in my thinking, thus giving the demonstration of little faith.

The Bible teaches us that I am either FOR God or AGAINST Him, and that there is no middle road. If I will have
the most intimate of fellowship with Him on earth, and will ultimately enter Heaven , it must be that my walk is consistent with my talk since Matthew 7 teaches me that it is the DOING of God’s will that pleases Him, not simply SAYING, “Lord, Lord.”

As I identify areas of unbelief in my own heart, my immediate prayer response ought to be that of the father in Mark 9, “…Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” The subsequent action following that prayer response to God must be consistent with trusting His ways to be perfect and praising Him for how He is working all things together for the good purpose of conforming me to the image of His Son.

                                    (C) 1986, 2014 N.A.Collins
                   Copy permission limited to one personal file copy

10-8-14 Secular Humanism

10/8/2014

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,  after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:8

We live in a world that is largely committed to self-pleasure and autonomous living. Folks are often encouraged to “take care of #1,” “please themselves at the expense of others,” etc. Feelings of self‑worth and emotions of self-love have overtaken commitments to holiness and godliness. Humanistic philosophy and media influence have directed us toward a system of judgment based upon how we feel about things, more than that which God declares on any particular matter. All too often, men judge the Word of God by the faulty standard of their human feelings and emotions. Rather, they should be judging their actions by the inerrant and eternal Word of God.

What can we do to turn this position around? The Bible reminds us that we can earnestly contend for the faith, endure trials with joy, thank God for the opportunity to suffer for righteousness sake and be an accurate ambassador for Christ. Our strength and joy will come from our own personal intimate fellowship with Christ through studying and applying His Word. In Ecclesiastes 5:8, God has promised to right all wrongs and to fulfill His obligatory promise for equity and justice in due time.

In a world that is looking to find some meaning for it all, born again believers ought to be giving a demonstration of biblical hope as well as knowing the Bible reason for that hope when folks ask, as seen in 1 Peter 3:15.

The passage shown above reminds us that we must be very careful not to be swept away by the philosophy of an unregenerate world. Natural men do not understand or desire the guidance of the Spirit by the Word. So why do we who have received Christ and been regenerated by the Spirit reject His message? Why do we kick against the Truth? Why do we struggle in resentment, resistance and rebellion?

May God help us today to be concerned about our personal faithfulness to God in sacrificial obedience to His Holy Word. Then may we execute practical faithfulness in sacrificial service to others for their eternal profit.

                                    (c) 1986 N. A. Collins
                 Limited copy permission for one personal file copy

10-1-14 The Mercies of God

10/1/2014

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,  because His compassions fail not.
Lamentations 3:22

The compassionate heart of my faithful God is renewed each day. It is because of His great mercy and compassion that He has loved me and called me to glory and virtue. He has saved me by His grace and brought me into His family. i now wear His name and am to accurately bear His image.

It is from His great heart of love that He invited me to come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. My prayer request, like the psalmist of old, ought to be that the mercy of God satisfy me early that I may rejoice and be glad all my days. When He satisfies the deepest longings of my heart with Himself, joy overflows my being, and a clear declaration of His mercy is seen by all who watch.

By the substitutionary atonement of His Son on Calvary, He has shown mercy, retained His justice, and yet justified the one who has believed in Jesus. The good and merciful hand of God is leading me through life by the counsel of His Word, and afterward He will receive me into glory, to dwell with God forever.

Our response to His mercy is demonstrated as we:

   1.   Do justly

Live out my life in accordance with the revealed will of God, obedient to the Scriptures and walking in such a way that others see the Savior.

   2.   Love mercy

Deal interpersonally in ways of self-denial and forgiveness to imitate the pattern of the mercies of God to me.

   3.   Walk humbly

Live sacrificially willing to please God and profit others more than myself.

May God help me to demonstrate the mercies of God in my life this very day.

                                            (C) 1992 N.A.Collins
                    Limited copy permission for one personal file copy

9-23-14 Faith

9/23/2014

So then faith cometh by hearing,and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17

Faith is an individual issue, a resultant byproduct of exposure to the Word of God. It can only be based upon, rooted and grounded in the eternal soil of the Scriptures. When the Word of God reaches the heart of a man, his righteous response to God is in repentance toward God for his sin and in personal faith toward the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross of Calvary.

Scripture encourages me to examine myself, to see whether I truly am in the faith. I must recognize that, even as a born again believer, whatever is not of faith is sin. Therefore, each thought, deed and word need to be scrutinized before the heart of God.

As I take the shield of faith in the believer’s armor, found in Ephesians 6, I am able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. As I flee lusts and follow righteousness, I will find my battle with Satan being won by the Victor, Jesus Christ, the Righteous.

I must constantly look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He, in His greatest trial, endured the cross, despising the shame...for the joy that was set before Him. Today He is set down at the right hand of the throne of God where He prays for me.

The matter of faith is a personal matter of believing God and responding to Him. Faith in the shed blood of Christ changes my eternal destiny, causes me to look differently at life, gives me the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit, opens my eyes of understanding to the Scriptures, makes the privilege of prayer a reality in my life, brings peace and equips me for a life and ministry that glorifies God. As I strive to share my faith in God with others, it is never to have personal dominion over their faith, but to be a helper of their joy, understanding that for all of us, it is by faith that we stand.

May God help me today to accurately and clearly demonstrate my faith in Christ.

(C) 1992, 2014 N.A.Collins
Limited copy permission for one personal file copy

9-17-14 Strength

9/17/2014

Many times in my life, I have faced difficulties and trials that seem greater than I can bear. However, as a blood‑bought believers, I know that God has promised me, as His child, to never allow more testing or trials than I can bear. His promise, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, based on His own perfect faithfulness, is that if the testing seems greater than I could handle, He will make a way of escape for me—as I handle the trial biblically. In that way, He enables us, by His grace, to bear the trial.

In my own human understanding, I do not comprehend the depth of the riches of God’s heart, mind, will and purpose for our lives. But I DO know that I can trust Him implicitly without question or reservation. It is this kind of childlike faith in my great God that brings to me the personal awareness of His perfect peace even amidst great burdens. When I establish my confidence upon His character and nature, as revealed in His inerrant Word, I know the full measure of His grace and peace in our hour of need. I violate His purpose and plan when i, by the demonstration of my independent self-will and autonomous spirit, chart out a course that is in opposition to the divine design of God.

It is when I am humanly weak, faint and without strength, that God wants to show Himself strong on my behalf. As I demonstrate faith and confidence in Him, His grace is shown to be all sufficient, and His glory is manifested to a lost and dying world. It is for this reason that the apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), gave the following summary of his practical perspective on suffering:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Today, I want to live out "the joy of the Lord is my strength." (Nehemiah 8:10)

(C) 1992, 2014 N.A. Collins
Limited Copy Permission to one personal file copy

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