Wonderful Jesus!

Tag: Salvation

• Free From Bondage

  Posted at 2:43 am by wonderfuljesus8, on February 3, 2020

  Romans 8:3 – For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh” NKJV

  I thought that I had concluded the matter on being torn between living for God and not quite living for God. I thought I had made the point clear that Paul was not struggling in his flesh. Nor was he writing to say that he understood that we would have struggles in the flesh and that was to be expected. But I may not have been as clear as I originally thought. Or maybe I just feel like I need to say one more thing!

  If we look at Romans 8, reading it without seeing the chapter and verses, we will clearly see that Paul is continuing his thinking from chapter 7. As I have read and reread these chapters I’ve added to my thinking. And I am thinking that maybe, just maybe, Paul addressed this issue in 6-8 because some of them were struggling in their walk with the Lord. Probably some of these Roman Christians had the same problems that some Christians we know seem to have. An inability to live a life of victory!

  So Paul has taken time to explain in Romans 6 that sin should not reign in our lives, for the wages of sin is death. That since we have died to sin, and have been raised to newness of life, that we should no longer live in sin. In Romans 7, Paul shared how before we came to Christ, our life was a struggle because sin had control over us. Even when we wanted to do right, because of our sinful nature, we were powerless to do right. But then he concludes chapter 7, (as we know it) saying that God, through Jesus Christ, broke the power of sin by giving us a new nature! His nature! And sin should no longer have this same hold over our lives that it had prior to us coming to know Jesus as our personal Savior!

  In the first verse of chapter 8, Paul tells us that there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus when we are walking according to the Spirit; but if we are walking according to the flesh, then condemnation is obviously our constant friend. It’s not too often I bring a lot of scriptures in to play because I want to make a quick point, but today I will refer to just a couple other scriptures.

  In Galatians 5:19-22, Paul mentions the works of the flesh: adultery, fornication, idolatry, hatred, jealousies, selfish ambitions, drunkenness (to name a few). And it is easy to see that these are unfamiliar sins, but sins that some of us could easily identify with. But Paul is informing us that when we are doing these things, we are in our flesh, and operating as if our nature has not been changed. And when we do it repeatedly, it’s difficult for us to believe that grace has been given to us, and we feel condemned. And to make sure we are thinking alike, the type of condemnation I am referring to is a feeling that someone strongly disapproves of what you do. So in this case, you should feel condemnation. God strongly disapproves of His people acting as if the crucifixion and the Blood of Jesus was a small thing. As if it wasn’t enough! But I can assure that it was!

  However, the word condemnation in verse 1, is the Greek word, “katakrima”, and it means that a sentence has been pronounced and you are judged. But there is no judgment against the people who are walking after the Spirit, only those walking after the flesh! And since that judgment was paid in full by Christ Jesus, Paul is reminding us that His Blood still works!

  Galatians 5:1, a personal favorite of mine, states: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Paul is the author of these words. In writing to the Galatians he tells them that Christ made them free and they should stand in that freedom and not get tangled again in the bondage of sin. Getting tangled in the bondage of sin again is a choice! Getting set free is a privilege. And all too often Christians are found living beneath their privileges!

  This verse brings us right back to Romans 8, verse 2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Again, reminding us that we are free from the dictates of sin and death through Christ Jesus! That’s why verse 3 basically refers to chapter 7 when it says, “For what the law could no do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

  Many people believe that they can’t live free from sin. This must disappoint the heart of God because His blood is sufficient for us to live free. We just have to believe that we can live free and trust Him to assist us in doing it! You are free if you are a Christian! You just have to take God at His word that you can live it!

  Charle Finney, in his autobiography, wrote about his salvation experience. He was first interested in the Bible because he was studying law and many of the laws referred to the Bible. Then he started attending church and a prayer meeting. But much to his dismay, he was not impressed, for it seemed that the people prayed, but without much expectation to seeing their prayers answered. He discovered that what was in the Bible and what Christians actually lived was not the same. But one day he decide that the Bible would be his point of reference and sought the Lord for salvation. When he received salvation, he was made completely free of his sin. He never looked back. Does God free some and not others? I think He frees all who believe! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Acts 8:3, Believers, Christian, Romans 7:15, Victorious Living | 4 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, condemnation, freedom, Galatians, Jesus, Paul, Romans 7:15, Romans 8:3, Salvation, Sin, Victorious Living

• Who Will Deliver Me?

  Posted at 1:00 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on January 30, 2020

  Romans 7:15 – I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. NIV

  Today, I want to actually delve into my key text. Paul wrote, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” And traditionally, it is believed that Paul was confessing to having struggles in his life as a Christian that he couldn’t overcome. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

  Paul begins talking about the flesh. Actually, he talks about the spirit and the flesh throughout the book, and we will look at this word today. The Greek word for flesh is “sarx”. In the book of Romans, Paul uses this word frequently. Sarx was used literally to mean our physical body, it was rendered “according to the flesh”, and it was also used to mean “from a human point of view.” But in Romans 7, Paul used it in reference to us being “in the flesh”. In this reference he is actually referring to our sinful human nature, apart from Christ.

  It is to this nature that Paul is referring as he writes in verse 14 (but I am a creature of the flesh, sold into slavery to sin) because it is in our state before Christ that we are slaves to sin. When he gets to verse 15 and states, “I do not understand what. For what I want to do I do not do but what I hate I do,” it is because when we are bound in sin, we do things that God knows we don’t always want to do. Some of those things we hate, but we find ourselves yielding to them again and again.

  How many people do you know, who are bound in their sin, often crying afterwards because deep down in their heart they don’t like the way they are living? They feel as if they have no escape from this desperate and hopeless state that their lives are in and want out of it, by any means necessary! This is what Paul is referring to! Our Pastor likes to say that sin will take you farther than you wanted to go and keep you longer than you wanted to stay. How? Because you are in bondage to sin! Sin is your master!

  Paul states that as a sinner, as an unbeliever, in his sinful state, there was nothing good that lived in him; because even when he was willing to do good, it was not always what he did. And in fact, it wasn’t so much him, as it was his sin nature which dominated his thinking, his actions, his behavior, and basically the way he lived. Before Christ! After all, when he was known as Saul, he was known as a persecutor of the believers, and was in agreement with Stephen being stoned to death. That surely qualifies as no good thing!

  Paul tells the believers in Rome that he discovered that a law was at work in him, a law that evil was present in him when he was trying to do good. Paul, as a Jewish rabbi loved the law, but he saw a lack in his life that the law could not fulfill. He found that even though the law was wonderful, it didn’t have the power to influence his actions and to keep sin at bay. And neither will anyone else’s sins be kept at bay outside of Jesus! He forgives them, then He casts them into the sea of forgetfulness! Glory to God!

  That’s when Paul makes the statement that he is a wretched man and asks, “Who will deliver me from this state of sin, this spiritual death?” People are still asking this question. And it’s a necessary one, because it’s this question that opens a heart to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But again, I believe that Paul is not speaking in a present tense of his state, but more in a reflective sense of where he was at before his Damascus Road experience and how he got to where he was after it!

  Really, in all honest, chapter 8 breaks it down further and makes it clearer that Paul was not speaking as a believer who struggled with his flesh. He actually answers his own question by saying, “Thanks be to God (for my deliverance) through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (AMP)

  Paul was giving God praise for delivering him from that state of warring in his soul: trying to be good when in actuality what he did was evil. There are many today who think that because they do good, that is an entrance way to God, but your righteous or good deeds are as filthy rags before the Father and therefore unacceptable. Basically, that was Paul’s message in chapter 7. The law, even though it is spiritual cannot and will not save you from your sin nature. It only has the power to reveal your sin, the penalty of sin, and a loving Father who says, you can’t do enough in the flesh to be free from sin.

  When I read this chapter, I understand that without chapters 6 and 8, it could easily sound like Paul had a hard time being a Christian. However, if you read the rest of the New Testament, there is no evidence that Paul struggled with his flesh, incapable of living the life that Jesus required of him. Of us all! This is Paul who emphatically stated that he was ready to die for the cause of Christ. A man with this type of dedication isn’t flaky with his lifestyle. He isn’t struggling day in and day out to live for God!

  But here’s the most profound part of it all! If you believe that this chapter is actually about Paul struggling as a believer and therefore, of course you will; then you have bought into the lie of the devil that you can’t live a holy life for God. And that’s the biggest tragedy of the lie! Because the answer to “who can deliver you” is the same for you as it was for Paul, “Jesus!” His blood is sufficient to redeem you! His blood is sufficient to free you! And His blood is sufficient to keep you! There’s so much more than I can say, but I will end here with this parting word: He is well able to deliver you! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Believers, Christian, freedom, Romans 7:15, Satan, Victorious Living | 4 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, encouragement, freedom, hard times, Jesus, righteousness, Romans 7:15, Salvation, Sin, Sinner, Victorious Living, victory

• Torn Between Two Worlds-Part 2

  Posted at 1:00 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on January 28, 2020

  Romans 7:15 – “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

  Paul begins his discourse in chapter 7 referencing the jurisdiction of the law over a person for as long as he lives. He uses the example of a wife’s commitment to her husband until his departure as an example of the legal binding of the law. He continues by reminding the readers that if a wife was to become involved with a man while her husband is alive, she will be an adulteress. This principle is still in affect today!

  In verse 4, Paul tells the believers in the Roman church that they died to the Law through the crucified body of Christ, so that they might belong to Him and bear fruit for God. In verse 5, Paul tells them that when we were living in the flesh, (not our physical bodies, but our spiritually dead state), we were trapped in sinful passions, a fact that the Law made known to us. And because we were in that state, we were separated from God and our sinful ways led to our being spiritually dead.

  When we read verse 6, Paul reminds the Roman believers that we have been released from the Law and the penalty of the Law, to which we had been held captive, so that we could now serve God in the newness of the Spirit. Paul is warming up to his subject. He is getting ready to make a point, and in doing so, he is laying the ground work. Since he is probably talking to Jewish converts, (because he mentioned that they knew the Law) he is using that which they already understand, to help them to understand something equally as important. Their freedom in Christ Jesus!

  Looking at verse 7, Paul asks the question, “Is the Law sin?” Then, he answers it by stating, “Certainly not!” Paul goes on to tell the Roman believers that without the Law we wouldn’t know what sin is. In the Law we learned coveting was sin, because the Law told us not to covet that which belongs to another. In the law we learned that we are not to lie, to steal, or commit murder because it is sin, and therefore, when we do these things we sin. The Law taught us this! However, Paul states, that sin found an opportunity to make itself known by stirring up every sinful desire that the Law spoke against. Before the Law was given, we didn’t even know or recognize sin because it was dead to us; but once we understood the law, we died to it because it became alive in us.

  In verse 10, Paul again writes and says that the Law which was intended to bring life, actually proved to bring us death. Still, in answering his question, “Is the Law sin?,” Paul lets us know that the Law is holy, righteous and good! And that through the Law sin is revealed as sinful! Paul is making the point that he is not trying to say that Law is sinful, because it is not, but that the Law revealed that mankind by nature, is sinful.

  Now let’s just stop a minute and think about all of this. In order for any of us to become saved, redeemed, born again, or a child of God (pick your term), we must come to grips with the nature of sin that is within all of us before Christ. In verses 1-13, Paul is just breaking down for us the nature of sin as revealed through the Law. We understand that the Law is God’s word to mankind and as such is holy, righteous, and good. Yet, we also understand that before He gave the law and revealed what sin was, there was no accountability between man and God for that sin.

  Through the Law, God established a system, whereby His people were now made accountable of the things that they did or did not do. When they wronged another it was sin. When they lied, it was sinned. When they worked on the Sabbath, it was sin. When they worshipped another God, again, it was sin. Even today, before we can lead anyone to the cross for salvation, we have to help them to understand that their life prior to God was a life filled with sin. That God Himself declared that it was a life a sin, separated from Him, and that if we died in this sin, we would live a Christ-less eternity. All of this that Paul is teaching, would be a lesson or sermon taught to even new believers to help them to understand theologically their salvation.

  And with all of this revelation of what sin was came an understanding that we must pay for sin. God’s judgment is that the payment was death! Something or someone was to shed blood to cover the sin. Therefore, in the Law, where God revealed sin, He also revealed the method of dealing with sin. If you murdered someone, you had to die. If you stole, you had to repay. If you sinned against Him, you had to provide a sacrifice. All of this teaching that Paul is giving to the Roman believers is leading to a point. Join me next time, as I bring the point home. Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Believers, Christian, God, Romans 7:15, Sin, Victorious Living | 0 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, consequences, God, holy, Jesus, John 15:7, Salvation, Sin, word of God

• Torn Between Two Worlds?

  Posted at 6:15 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on January 25, 2020

  Romans 7:15 – I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

  I’ve been contemplating this chapter for years, as have many. And for some reason, when I read chapter 7, I walk away with an entirely different point of view than many Christians. As a matter of fact, I have often heard people use this passage (verses 14-25) to justify their inability to live the Christian life.

  These individuals explain, quite passionately, that if Paul, the great Apostle, struggled in his flesh, well, all the more reason they should struggle! Well, I don’t believe this is what Paul was saying at all! And it’s impossible to go into depth about all he did say with a blog, but I will do my best!

  Let me remind you that Paul was indeed writing a letter to the Roman believers, actually to the church in Rome. When I looked up the history of the book of Romans, (bible.org) I read these words and liked what the author had to say:

  “Romans is placed first among Paul’s letters in the New Testament not only because it is his longest work, but because it also furnishes a massive and basic theological frame-work for the whole collection of the apostle’s writings.”

  Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we understand the theological principles set forth in the book of Romans and especially, in my opinion, in Romans 7. It lays a real groundwork for our belief system. And this book, one of my personal favorites, is where Paul takes time to break down the theology of Christianity.

  Keeping Romans 7 in context, when chapters 6 and 8 are read along with it, there’s no way to walk away thinking that Paul was saying that he was struggling in his flesh as a Christian, and that it was simply the way of life. If you read the entire New Testament, there is no other place where you can find scripture and verse to show Paul as such, a struggling believer. As a matter of fact, after reading the New Testament, most people I know walk away feeling that Paul was over the top in his faith and relationship with Jesus, and in a league of his own! So not a struggler!

  Romans 6 ends with Paul making a foundational point about redemption. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And in making this point, he continues in chapter 7 to express the power of sin, and our inability outside of Christ to get the victory over sin. Furthermore, in the outline on Bible.org, this chapter is listed under the section of sanctification and titled, “Freedom in the New Life.” Now that doesn’t sound like an individual who can’t live for Jesus because his flesh is too strong. God forbid! Then in chapter 8 he writes of the power of walking after the Spirit! Paul is talking, not about a defeated life of dealing with the weaknesses of our flesh, but the Spirit’s ability to deliver us and to lead us in a life of victory!

  So for now, I just want to say to you, if you have been struggling in your walk with the Lord, and you have been using this chapter as your crutch, in the next couple of blogs I am snatching that crutch away! God’s heart for us is not that we live life between two worlds. He has not redeemed us from sin that sin may still reign in our mortal bodies. Paul mentions this in chapter 6, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” Proof positive that we are not to continually struggle over sin. The battle over sin was won at Calvary, and the Holy Spirit is at work in us to maintain that victory! But we have to stop seeing ourselves as wretched, struggling sinners, and begin to see ourselves as Christ sees us!

  Join me for the next few blogs as I endeavor to explain some of what is being addressed in this chapter. I believe the devil likes it when we think that sin is more power than the cross of Calvary. And that’s just not true! Jesus defeated Satan and the power of sin, once and for all, and it was that we might live life free of the power of sin! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Believers, Christian, freedom, Romans 7:15, Sin | 4 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, encouragement, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Romans 7:15, Salvation, Sin, Sinner, Victorious Living, victory

• From Darkness to Light!

  Posted at 3:36 am by wonderfuljesus8, on December 8, 2019

  1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

  All good things must come to an end, and tonight I am going to end my study on 1 Peter 2:9. I trust you have enjoyed it as much as I have. I’ve written about who we are: a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a treasured possession, and about proclaiming His praises. In this blog, I will end with being called out of darkness into His marvelous Light!

  Skotos! A place of spiritual and moral darkness. Sounds like the world in which we currently live although Peter wrote this about the society in which he lived. We have been called out of skotos, or out of spiritual and moral darkness.

  I don’t need to elaborate on the state of society today, where right has become wrong and wrong has become right in our world. But I could! Neither do I have to point out that the things associated with Jesus and the Word of God have become unpopular in this day and time while we laud and applaud and are entertained by the things that represent darkness. It’s a well known fact!

  But what I do want to bring out is this: salvation through Jesus Christ is a spiritual translation that cannot be duplicated in any other “religion”. This translation from darkness to light, from being a people who have not obtained the mercy of God, to becoming a people who have experienced His mercy is parallel to none.

  Once, many years ago, I experienced a translation. I was riding in a station wagon, with my young niece in the car, and it was pouring down raining. There were two problems to this scenario. First, the car I was driving didn’t have windshield wipers and second, it was dark and the roads were constantly curving in the hilly terrain. We were both frightened and I truly could not see. I had unknowingly placed our lives in a dangerous situation because I knew the windshield wipers didn’t work, but I had no sense about weather patterns and this was prior to weather apps and even cell phones.

  It got so bad that I finally said to the Lord, “Father, I may as well close my eyes and drive for all the good they are doing for me in this situation.” Immediately, I was in my parking space in front of my apartment with the car in park. What happened? We were translated out of that life threatening situation into a place of safety. Out of the blinding rain wrapped in darkness into the a lit parking lot with a drizzle of rain. We looked at each and said something like, “How did we get here?” Neither one of us knew how it had happened, but we realized that God had done it. We took off running into the apartment and fell on our knees and prayed. We never talked about it. She could even be reading this now and be remembering that night. But we never spoke of it because it was not something we thought anyone would believe. But it happened!

  Salvation is just like that! You are heading down a road that you have no idea how you got on it. You feel like things are out of control and you are hopeless to do anything about it. You see your life spinning out of control, and darkness is all around you. No way to survive it. You are going through the motions. Then you cry out to God! You acknowledge that there is absolutely no way of you surviving the darkness, you can’t see, and you give up trying! You acknowledge that you need help from another source, One bigger than you, more capable than you! One who operates in the miraculous and you hope He has one more miracle left with your name on it! And guess what? He does! For you, for many others!

  Then Light explodes on the scene, pushing away the darkness! Bringing clarity to your life, hope to your soul, purpose to your today and your tomorrow. You’ve been translated. You don’t know all that has happened, but you know God did it! You know you were translated out of darkness into His kingdom of light, of salvation. And you fall before Him in worship! In absolute heartfelt gratitude for what He has done!

  Peter understood the magnitude of a changed life, a changed heart, a changed destiny. He understood what translation was and how it felt. Miraculous! Supernatural! Impactful! That’s the kind of experience we are to have. Not just saying words after someone, but having an impactful, meaningful, translation out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Wonderful Jesus!!!

  When that part is taken care of, experiencing the first part is much easier. What a wonderful and loving God we serve! Nothing is small, mediocre, irrelevant or unimportant in Him! He does Big things! Marvelous things! Earth shaking things! And He does it that we might tell others about His glorious acts on our behalf, that they too might experience the glory of His grace! If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous light, then I know you have much you can add to this! But if you have not, don’t wait another minute! Bow your heart, your will, your life to Him and allow Him to translate you out of darkness into the light! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in 1 Peter 2:9, Believers, Christian, Salvation, Victorious Living | 6 Comments | Tagged 1 Peter 2:9, Believer, Christian, encouragement, Jesus, miraculous, Salvation

• Reconciled to Bring Reconciliation

  Posted at 12:30 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on November 7, 2019

  2 Corinthians 5:18 – Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

  Reconciliation, according to the Vine’s, is what God accomplishes with His grace towards the sinner through the Blood of Jesus! To be reconciled means to be changed from an enemy of God to a friend. It also means to change our attitude and to accept the provision God made through the cross!

  God, out of a heart of love, provided the only means by which we can be reconciled to Him, His Son Jesus. This plan of salvation, by which all of mankind can be saved, is and was His idea. He is always the one offering reconciliation to mankind through Jesus.

  Sin was a major obstacle to reconciliation. After all, when Adam sinned, sin entered the world creating a great gulf between mankind and the God of the Universe. But even then, in His anger, His love prevailed causing Him to extend grace and mercy through Jesus. All barriers that were erected through sin were destroyed through Calvary. This is the message of the gospel, this is the message of reconciliation.

  Reconciliation doesn’t involve God being reconciled to us, but us being reconciled to Him. We were His enemies by the mere fact that we weren’t His sons. He was never our enemy. Our attitudes need adjustment, He needs no adjustment. So reconciliation to God is a beautiful and humbling experience.

  Then God handed over to us, the believers, the ministry of reconciliation. It is our responsibility to preach, teach, share, or sing this gospel message to the world, that God provided a way that mankind could be reconciled to Him. No longer do we have to be slaves to sin, burdened with the guilt of our past, separated from God, because reconciliation has been provided to all who accept it. No longer do we have to be an enemy to the Father, but we can have friendship, sonship, through His Blood!

  People every where need the Lord. They need to know that God isn’t mad at them, waiting to catch them in sin to send them to a Christ-less eternity. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth!! He provided the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the perfect mediator for our trespasses. The perfect answer to the question: “What must I do to be saved?”

  If you haven’t received reconciliation from God, through the Blood of Jesus and the forgiveness of your sin, allow me to be your reconciler. Choose Jesus today! Ask the Father to demonstrate His grace towards you as pour out your heart before Him in repentance. Then get up, dust the past off your person and become a reconciler; reconciling others to the Father! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Christian, God, Jesus, Salvation | 2 Comments | Tagged Attitude, Christian, Jesus, reconciliation, Salvation

• Life After Death

  Posted at 1:49 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on July 1, 2019

  Galatians 2:20 – I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.

  In my previous blog I wrote about the need to die to hypocrisy. The same hypocrisy that Paul addressed when he spoke to Peter and the other Messianic Believers of his day. The same hypocrisy that needs to be addressed in us all! But there is so much more we die to!

  We not only die to our old ways of thinking, behaving and acting, but we die to our sin. Paul knew that, and so did the others. I didn’t address it because he was talking to believers and that was understood. His point in this verse is that when they died to their sins, they died to the law and to their traditions. And it was worth it!

  But today I want to address life after death!

  Nevertheless, I live!” Paul has just mentioned the effects of his death by crucifixion, but he doesn’t stop there. He lets us know that he has been raised from that spiritual crucifixion to being very much alive. Paul could have just as easily said, “I have a new way of living since I died to my old way of living and it is much better than that old life I had because I am truly alive!”

  If you know anything about Saul of Tarsus, then you know that he was a busy man for the Sanhedrin and the cause of Judaism. As a young man he was zealous for God without any spiritual revelation of his knowledge. He went about gathering Believers and turning them over to be killed because he felt they were a bunch of heresy practicing lunatics! In Acts, Luke makes a point of letting us know that Paul was there when Stephen was martyred and was instrumental in his death! So Paul had a full and busy life, yet he recognized it was life he had to die to in order to live!

  “Yet not I, but Christ lives in me!” However, Paul is saying, I am not alive because of laws, traditions, and hypocrisy, but because Christ lives in me. By now I am sure the Jewish believers are squirming in their seats! Paul reminds them all, life didn’t begin for any of them until Christ came to live in them. Jew and Gentile both lay claim to same thing “salvation by faith in Jesus Christ”, because if they don’t, they are yet not living. True life springs forth from the life of Christ that radiates from the inside to the outside. It did then, and it does now.

  Jesus introduced this concept when He made the statement, “The thief comes but to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I come that you may have life, and that more abundantly!” (John 10:10)

  I was just reminded of something that happened to me many years ago. We went to pick up a young lady for church services who lived in the projects of Chicago. My husband drove me there, but on the way he made a statement about her being in the tallest building without a working elevator in it, living on the top floor. I told him to stop it! But sure enough, it turned out to be true. He then decided that the girls and I should go back to the van and wait for him because he didn’t want us in that building.

  As I was headed back to the van, I saw four young men headed towards us and I knew by the Spirit of God that they were up to no good. I put my daughters in the van quickly, locked the door and turned to face them.

  The first thing that came out of my mouth was, “Have you heard that Jesus came to give you life and that more abundantly?” It stopped them in their tracks! They surely was not expecting that! As I began to share the gospel, that saved me from being robbed or something, three of them walked away and the fourth one prayed the prayer for salvation with me! Glory to God!! If that young man was sincere, he died to his sinful ways that he came to assault me with and walked over to new life in Christ!!! And when my husband came back down he reported that the young lady was not there and he knew she had probably given me the wrong address to begin with. But someone still got saved that day!!

  Paul reminded Peter of this new life and that there was so much more to it than being one way with the Jewish brethren and another way with the Gentile brothers. He reminded Peter that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and Life and that no one comes to the Father, but through Him!” And since that had happened with him and with the the Galatians, he should have known better. Abundant life in Jesus is not through our contacts, our heritage, our family, our works, or our church affiliation…only through Him and in Him!

  Life after death!! That is the greatest and most powerful testimony any of us can have! And it can be yours today if you have not been crucified with Him. Ask Him in today that you may be crucified to your death and alive in Him. Say this simple prayer: “Father God, I recognize that I have never given my life and my heart to you. Today I recognize I am in need of your salvation. I believe in You, God! And more importantly, I believe that Jesus is Your Son, who came to earth in the flesh and died on the cross for my sins. That He rose again from physical death and is alive in You. Forgive me of my arrogance of thinking that I could live my life without You. I want Him to be alive in me. Jesus come into my life today. Change it! Crucify the old man in me and make me alive in You! Then lead me where I can learn more about You so that our relationship can grow and I can experience life more abundantly. In Your Name I pray! Amen”

  Well, if you have prayed this prayer today, I welcome you into the family of God. We are family!! Praise God for another member being ingrafted in the family! One last thing— if you have prayed this prayer today, please leave me a comment so that I can begin praying for you that Christ will be formed in you and also rejoice in this great salvation! You have just experience life after death! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Believers, Family, Galatians, Galatians 2:20, Salvation, testimony, Victorious Living | 0 Comments | Tagged Believer, Evangelism, Family, Galatians 2:20, Jesus, Salvation, testimony

• Supernatural You!

  Posted at 2:20 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on April 18, 2019

  Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

  There isn’t a single Christian who couldn’t expound on the glory days of yesterday when Jesus walked on the earth. He accomplished much in the short time of ministry He conducted.

  The blind received their sight! The lame walked! Limbs were stored! The dead was raised! Leprosy was cleansed and body parts were restored! Water was turned to wine! Storms were stopped! And He even walked on water!

  Even with all of these amazing things, John wrote that all the books in the world couldn’t hold the amazing and wonderful things that Jesus did in just under four years! And so we marvel at a time and even long for the time when Jesus was on the earth!

  But the writer of Hebrews echoes a truth that we fail to understand. Jesus is the same today, as He was yesterday (during biblical times) and He always will be! The problem with Him moving in our lives and our situations is that we have not truly grasped the concept, or the reality of this truth!

  Every thing about Jesus was supernatural! He was born supernaturally when the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, who at that time was a virgin, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit!

  There was a movie a few years ago, about the “young Jesus”! That was a bunch of foolishness, for the Bible clearly lets us know when He completed His first miracle; however, I am sure the writer was just trying to show that He always had a life of the supernatural.

  He even died supernaturally! Yes, the cross was natural, but the swiftness of His death and more importantly, His resurrection was definitely supernatural.

  What’s my point today? Since Jesus is the same today, shouldn’t we, His believers, experience Him in the supernatural? Yes we should!

  First of all, our salvation is a supernatural experience! Some teach that we just confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that we are saved, and so we are. That is definitely what the scripture teach. But when Paul wrote this, he wrote of an experience that was far more supernatural than ordinary. He explained in layman terms what happens supernaturally when we are transformed out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son.

  He explained in simplicity what happens when old things are passed away and all things become new. The “act” may seem simple, but the truth is, it’s supernatural! When the Holy Spirit sees the faith of the repentant heart that is open to the truth of Jesus, He steps in and takes those simple words, and cause a transformation to happen spiritually on the inside of us that changes us forever!

  We become a “new creation”. We look the same on the outside but when God looks at us, He sees Jesus! And when Satan looks at us, He sees Jesus! But when we fail to grasp the reality of the change in our lives and all that means for us because we see us and not Jesus, we hinder the supernatural in our lives and continue to operate naturally.

  Well, you don’t have to live “naturally” in Christ when He offers you a “supernatural” life. When your life looks like someone who doesn’t know Him or even worst, there’s a problem. And it isn’t with Jesus! Stop and take inventory of who you are and where you are spiritually. If you look like Jesus, and act like Jesus, you must be born of Jesus; but if not, reevaluate, repent, and get on track! Because the same Jesus who did all those wonderful things when He walked on the earth lives on the inside of every believer and wants to do wonderful things in and through us! I’ll continue this next time! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Believers, Jesus, Salvation, Victorious Living | 0 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, Jesus, Salvation, supernatural

• Add it to the Mix!

  Posted at 5:09 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on September 8, 2018

  Hebrews 4:2 – For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

  I am a firm believer in the power of the gospel. As a matter of fact, I wholeheartedly agree with Paul when he wrote: 

  Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

  Many times in a service, or in one to one evangelism we witness people “getting saved” and later find that their lives have not been changed at all. The reason I put “getting saved” in quotes, because after many years of watching altar calls and being a part of evangelism, I have to admit that I grew cynical to the process of what we term as witnessing.

  I believe that I have been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus! And I believe that anyone can be redeemed. Yet and still, people pray “the sinner’s prayer” and continue on in life as if nothing happened.

  I was so puzzled and troubled by this that I had to go to the Lord. 

  Hebrews 4 gives a powerful insight to this dilemma. When the gospel is preached (the power of the gospel to get people saved) is in the message. And there is nothing wrong with the message! Both Romans and Hebrews agree with the key to that happening, “faith has to be mixed with the gospel”. Plain and simple faith. It was true for the people in Word, it was true during the Reformation period, it was true, during the Great Awakening, it was true when I was born again, and it is still true for the millennias and generation Z.

  When I was in high school, my English teacher had a quote on the wall that read, “A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still”. Benjamin Franklin is noted for having said this. I have never forgotten it. So when I share my faith in the Lord Jesus, I never ever try and convince people to believe. I want them to believe and I pray that they will believe, but I never try to make them believe. Because I can’t! When we try to “strong arm” people with the gospel, they will walk away from you still believing what they believed beforehand. As a matter fact, they now have another belief: a belief that Christians are pushy!

  In a service, when the altar call is given and people come to altar it can be a really sad time or a time of rejoicing. If people come to the altar for salvation because they want to embrace the Savior, Jesus, then it is a time of rejoicing. The Word tells us that all of heaven rejoices when even one person come to the Savior. If they come because someone pulled on them, it can be sad, for they leave thinking that they are alright when they are actually not alright! Or they leave knowing that they didn’t believe what they prayed, they just wanted to get you off of their back!

  The power for salvation is in the gospel. If people don’t believe it, they are not going to be any different afterwards because they heard the gospel but didn’t add faith in the mix. Therefore, they didn’t profit from the benefit of having heard it. However, when they believe the gospel is not only truth, but truth for them, they are born again of the Spirit of God. And their profit is great!

  A wise man once told me, “I can’t be the Holy Spirit in people’s lives. Only He can! So I let Him!” And so as much as we want to see people saved from eternal damnation; as much as we want to see people live blessed lives, as much as we want to see people in heaven when we get there; we absolutely must allow the Holy Spirit to work on the hearts of those people and lead them to the Savior.

  Paul wrote, “Some plant, some water, but God gets the increase!” We must realize that our responsibility in the ministry of reconciliation is to plant and water and to trust God with the increase! People need Jesus! And Jesus saves and desire that none should perish. So the Holy Spirit will help us in witnessing. Let’s just remember the part that we play and stop trying to convince people that they are saved because they prayed when faith was never involved in the mix. Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Evangelism, Faith, Jesus, Salvation | 0 Comments | Tagged Evangelism, Faith, Jesus, Salvation

• Women History Month-Hero of Faith

  Posted at 1:04 am by wonderfuljesus8, on April 1, 2018

  Women History Month: Heroes of Faith

  If you haven’t figured it out yet, let me just admit, I love reading about the pioneers of faith. As a matter of fact, it was a book named, “Pioneers of Faith” written by Lester Sumerall that got me hooked. If you have not read that book, I highly recommend it.

  This month I would like to highlight Maria Woodworth-Etter.

  Maria (pronounced Mariah) began full time ministry in the late 1800s at 35 years of age. She is quoted as having said that she didn’t feel qualified to go out and preach. At the time that she went, female preachers were still heavily frowned upon, but she knew she had been called by God to go, so she went.

  Maria’s ministry was known for the many signs and wonders, trances, and conversions of the masses. Through many difficulties, such as arrests, death threats, divorce, and accusations of insanity, she spread the gospel under the tent.

  In 1912, she conducted a five month long revival for F.F. Bosworth that propelled her ministry to another level. John Lake referred to her as “Mother Etter” while others referred to her as the “Grandmother of the Pentecostal Movemet.”

  I found her book, “A Diary of Signs of Wonders” several years ago and I am still impressed with the relationship this woman had the Holy Spirit. She is truly a hero of the faith and someone you should know. Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Faith, Healing, Heroes of Faith, testimony | 0 Comments | Tagged Christian, Faith, Salvation, testimony

• Search for:

• Recent Posts

  • Don’t Count Yourself Out!
  • Don’t Compromise With the Enemy!
  • I’m Melting, I’m Melting!
  • The Shout of Victory!
  • The Battle For Family!

• Categories

  • Victorious Living (90)
  • Christian (47)
  • Believers (37)
  • Faith (29)
  • encouragement (26)
  • Jesus (20)
  • testimony (19)
  • Uncategorized (16)
  • Healing (12)
  • the Word of God (11)