Tuesday, October 30, 2018

An Act of the Will


“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:10-11).

Hey Gang:  I love the fifteenth chapter of John.  It makes me feel all gushy and secure knowing I am attached to the vine.  Now think about that, Jesus, the Son of Jehovah, Almighty God, desires the we attach to His vine.   Wow, is that not out-of-sight? 

But wait a minute.  Grab hold of John 17:20 and 21I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me”.   

Do you hear what He is saying?  As believers, children of the Most-High God, we are one with He (Abba Father) and His Son Jesus Christ! We are one with the Creator of the universe!!  

Jesus is not finished,  He goes on, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (John 17:22-23).

Can you get your heart and mind around the truths that even in this busted, sin filled, broken world that grows darker each minute of every day, as believers in Jesus Christ we are in oneness with God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son?

Our Pastor has been pounding the point that the only way you will come into understanding of who you really are is to get into the Word and prayer closet and get very quiet before the Lord and serious about connecting with Him as Lord through the Holy Spirit with the Oneness of the God-head. 

Sooo, unless you develop those hooks on the inside of your cranium on which to hang knowledge and keep them filled with a constant input of His Word you are vulnerable to the deception that Jesus warned about in the Olivet discourse.  His warning: “See to it that no one, misleads you.  For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ and will mislead many (Matt. 24:4-5).

As hurricane Florence approached the shore of America and news makers were warning that it was going to be catastrophic with record setting winds, flooding that would cause humongous damage, I   asked the question, what does one do when they have no Lord to pray to?  Where does one turn when they do not have the assurance of God’s promise that He will not leave them or forsake them?

My friends, if there is one out there who opens the Gramps Morning Messages and is not secure in the Lords hands, I pray you will follow the leading of Isaiah when he said, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.  (Isa. 55:6).  Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the gospel.”

I close this epistle with a favorite verse -one of my thousand or more favorite verses: “For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace: The mountains and the hills will break forth with into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees in the field will clap their hands” (Isa. 55:12). 

Blessings,   

Gramps

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