A Precious Faith!

Even when we were dead (spiritually) in our transgressions, Jesus died for us.Though He was without sin, He took upon Himself our sins and died for us, so that through His death we may be redeemed, our filthy righteousness could be replaced by His righteousness. The access that we had lost to the presence of the Father could be gained back by His redeeming work.

Inspite of all this, even today, there are many believers who live just as the world around them does. They may appear to be a little better: somewhat better a husband in respect to an unbelieving one, somewhat better a wife in respect to an unbelieving one, somewhat better a son/daughter than an unbelieving one, in short somewhat better a human being in respect to an unbelieving one. But that is not what God has called us for!

God is interested in us having a relationship with Him, which is ever growing. He wants us to be more intimate with Him, each passing day. When we hear such things, it seems something very easy, but it is not. He has blessed us with everything that makes this possible (Ephesians 1:3), but we do usually do not let Him work those into our lives so that the intimacy that He desires with us become a reality.

God has given to us some precious promises to us, and He is a person who always keeps His promises. His promises are always a 'Yes' and 'Amen'! But, still many of us live far away from realizing these promises as a reality in our lives. I'm not just mentioning here the promises in general, because the Word of God is full of promises. The precious ones are those, which are not just promising us something here on earth, but which accompany us in our journey towards eternal life. One such promise is the one that we see below:
"Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ". ...2 Peter 2:1.

Yes, the precious faith. Peter says that we have received the same faith that they as disciples have received. Of course, first we need to realize that the faith that we have is not something which is ours, it is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8,9). But, we often commit the error of assuming that it is something that we generate.

When our parents gift us with something, they do not differentiate between their kids (though at times, it may appear so...), then our Heavenly Father, whose love for us is so great that He did not withhold the most precious possession of His (Jesus Christ), how will He keep from us anything else, or be partial with anyone.

But then, why is it that inspite of having these precious promise from God, we don't have a life as that of the disciples. Well, if there's no problem with the Giver, or with what He has given, the problem has to be with those who receive (we). We need to look into our lives to examine the source of hindrances in His promises being untrue in our lives. May God enable us to look within ourselves in the light that He has given us (His Word), so that we may regularly wash ourselves with it and be sanctified (Ephesians 5:26). Amen!

Salvation, an ongoing process.

For many of us, being saved, is just a one time experience. We fail to realize that salvation is not something that happens to you and you are transformed all of a sudden, forever. Salvation is not magic! It is an ongoing process. We have to move on, work towards the growth of salvation in our lives; rather than we working let God work in our lives. We read about it in Philippians 2:12,13 "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose".
Over the last few years, I've observed this transformation in my life, as well as many of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Since the day, when I had a personal encounter with Christ, to this day, it has been a learning curve, which keeps on progressing. If we find ourselves in the same place we began, when we realized His call in our lives, there is something seriously wrong. We need to examine our lives. We need to make our calling and election sure. As Peter states in 2 Peter 1:10 "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure".
We may not realize how important it is to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ, but it is important to note that without doing so, we will never see a complete accomplishment of the Almighty's plan in our lives. We will never be able to reach our goal. It is necessary that we realize the importance of sanctification. The word of God makes it very clear that without being sanctified, we will never be in His presence. Hebrews 12: 14 says, "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."
Of course, that doesn't mean that we need to work too hard towards it. Everything required for our salvation is given to us in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. We are sanctified by His work. But, we should remember, that we are always being made perfect in Him, being made holy. Let us remember this always, and submit ourselves to His grace and let the Holy Spirit work in our lives towards the accomplishment of the plans and purpose that the Lord Almighty has planned for each one of us. Hallelujah!

The Great Calling!!!

Have you ever felt like your life is simply moving on with the course without any destiny at all?? Now wait a minute!!! God says you have a great calling from above. Scrpture says on Col 1:13 "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves". Isn't it great to hear that the Almighty has called us to His kingdom? All those things that happened in the course of time..that you accepted Jesus..you took baptism...you attended the churches..you walked with Him...You never knew it was because of this great Calling of Lord and be sure that it was never an accident. It was because His love attracted you even before the formation of this world you could experience and seek His love. Wow!!! thats mind-blowing that God decided to love us even before he laid the foundations of this behemoth universe.
In view of this great calling we can be sure of one thing. The One who called us is faithful.But we need to take heed when Scriptues says "Live a life worthy of the calling you recieved" in Eph 4:1. and in 2 Peter 1:10 "Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure".
Since this is the most precious treasure that we ever recieved how diligent we should be to pursue it relentlessy.