As I contemplate what is my utmost desire for the coming year, 2013...I think I would have to choose....Freedom! The freedom I speak of is one where I awake without the pressures of life coming down upon me. I certainly realize we all have times where our personal freedoms are tested...yet it is my desire to be as free as I possibly can. The reason I think this is simple: I don't what to spend so much of my focus in everyday life...on me. I want to find freedom to just be there...for others....
Freedom is defined as having the power to act, to speak, or to think as one would care to express without hindrance or restraint. One definition goes as far as to say: to be in a mindset of knowing you are free...even when found in confinement or under physical restraint.
As I gather my New Year's Resolutions together, I think I will call this: "The Year of Freedom". As of right now, I have 10 different Scriptures to look at in support of this resolution...or should I call it: "My New Year's Revolution".....(hey...I was in the hippie movement in the late 60's..."Revolution"...I loved that word then...and I love that word now!)
Saint Paul spoke of freedom...the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. He specifically identifies that because of our hope in Christ Jesus, we are enabled with the power to be bold in our daily lives...bold in the sense of being confident that we have been given the power... to actually please God!
Through our acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ into our own individual hearts, we now have with this invitation One who accompanies Christ Himself...His name is the Holy Spirit. What then makes our lives unique to many and pleasing to God is the fact we do not attempt to please the God we serve by following a set of rules.
This One we call the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus declared Himself was necessary for us to meet, now enlightens our hearts on how to follow the Master and learn the proper ways in pleasing God.
One of the first lessons I have incurred from the Holy Spirit is that my love for God is required to go beyond any set of rules that help us to understand His lifestyle.
Moses, when coming down from the mountain to the people of Israel, had to cover his face with a veil, so the people would not see the glory of God that shown from his face. It was too strong...and would perhaps hurt or even kill them if their eyes beheld the glory of God. The veil allowed time for His glory to fade from the face of Moses. The reason this had to be done this way is the very fact God's glory cannot be seen through the eyes of those attempting to please God by obeying His laws. His glory does not come...through the laws.
In this passage of Scripture, Paul explains God's glory can only fade from us when we attempt to obey and love Him by following rules. On the other hand, God's glory can actually increase in our own lives when we invite the Lord Jesus into our hearts and allow the One who accompanies Him, the Holy Spirit to make the adjustments needed in our lives by the power of changing our hearts...something the law is incapable of.
A Gleaning from ll Corinthians 3:12-17
"This new way...of coming to meet and know the Living God...allows us to be empowered with such a confidence...it has the power to excite us, and there is nothing that can hold us back from developing and deepening our friendship with Almighty God, for now we can walk in our daily lives in a way we had never done before.
Because of this new found freedom, we are not like Moses, who had to cover his face so the people of Israel would not gaze upon His magnificent splendor, and put their own lives in jeopardy.
You see, during the time of Moses, the glory of God was forced to fade...because the people's minds and hearts had grown hard, their thoughts were callous, and they really had no power to understand Him.
This veil, that kept the glory of God from entering individual lives, could only be removed one way...by one man. And that man, the One who became one of us, is God's very own Son...the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, even to this day, those who attempt to know the Lord God through the following of a set of laws, just as in the days of Moses, must still have their own hearts covered with this veil, for you can not have the glory of God enter your own lives based on your own merits...that is to obey a set of laws.
Instead, when any one of you make a decision to invite the Lord Jesus Christ into your own individual heart, and allow Him to take the lead in your everyday lives, the Holy Spirit lives within our hearts as well and gives us the vital directions we need in our lives. As this amazing transformation begins to take place within you, the very glory of Almighty God enters your hearts and begins to increase (rather than fade as in the days of the law), and directs your lives. Here is why: the Lord Himself is a Spirit, and His Spirit...the Holy Spirit now has home in your heart...and it is then you will begin to experience the liberty and the freedom of knowing Him...as your friend...not just a God you "read on paper".
Freedom is defined as having the power to act, to speak, or to think as one would care to express without hindrance or restraint. One definition goes as far as to say: to be in a mindset of knowing you are free...even when found in confinement or under physical restraint.
As I gather my New Year's Resolutions together, I think I will call this: "The Year of Freedom". As of right now, I have 10 different Scriptures to look at in support of this resolution...or should I call it: "My New Year's Revolution".....(hey...I was in the hippie movement in the late 60's..."Revolution"...I loved that word then...and I love that word now!)
Saint Paul spoke of freedom...the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. He specifically identifies that because of our hope in Christ Jesus, we are enabled with the power to be bold in our daily lives...bold in the sense of being confident that we have been given the power... to actually please God!
Through our acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ into our own individual hearts, we now have with this invitation One who accompanies Christ Himself...His name is the Holy Spirit. What then makes our lives unique to many and pleasing to God is the fact we do not attempt to please the God we serve by following a set of rules.
This One we call the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus declared Himself was necessary for us to meet, now enlightens our hearts on how to follow the Master and learn the proper ways in pleasing God.
One of the first lessons I have incurred from the Holy Spirit is that my love for God is required to go beyond any set of rules that help us to understand His lifestyle.
Moses, when coming down from the mountain to the people of Israel, had to cover his face with a veil, so the people would not see the glory of God that shown from his face. It was too strong...and would perhaps hurt or even kill them if their eyes beheld the glory of God. The veil allowed time for His glory to fade from the face of Moses. The reason this had to be done this way is the very fact God's glory cannot be seen through the eyes of those attempting to please God by obeying His laws. His glory does not come...through the laws.
In this passage of Scripture, Paul explains God's glory can only fade from us when we attempt to obey and love Him by following rules. On the other hand, God's glory can actually increase in our own lives when we invite the Lord Jesus into our hearts and allow the One who accompanies Him, the Holy Spirit to make the adjustments needed in our lives by the power of changing our hearts...something the law is incapable of.
A Gleaning from ll Corinthians 3:12-17
"This new way...of coming to meet and know the Living God...allows us to be empowered with such a confidence...it has the power to excite us, and there is nothing that can hold us back from developing and deepening our friendship with Almighty God, for now we can walk in our daily lives in a way we had never done before.
Because of this new found freedom, we are not like Moses, who had to cover his face so the people of Israel would not gaze upon His magnificent splendor, and put their own lives in jeopardy.
You see, during the time of Moses, the glory of God was forced to fade...because the people's minds and hearts had grown hard, their thoughts were callous, and they really had no power to understand Him.
This veil, that kept the glory of God from entering individual lives, could only be removed one way...by one man. And that man, the One who became one of us, is God's very own Son...the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, even to this day, those who attempt to know the Lord God through the following of a set of laws, just as in the days of Moses, must still have their own hearts covered with this veil, for you can not have the glory of God enter your own lives based on your own merits...that is to obey a set of laws.
Instead, when any one of you make a decision to invite the Lord Jesus Christ into your own individual heart, and allow Him to take the lead in your everyday lives, the Holy Spirit lives within our hearts as well and gives us the vital directions we need in our lives. As this amazing transformation begins to take place within you, the very glory of Almighty God enters your hearts and begins to increase (rather than fade as in the days of the law), and directs your lives. Here is why: the Lord Himself is a Spirit, and His Spirit...the Holy Spirit now has home in your heart...and it is then you will begin to experience the liberty and the freedom of knowing Him...as your friend...not just a God you "read on paper".
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