and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
‘Spare them from going down to the pit;
    I have found a ransom for them— (Job 33:24, NIV).

 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:23-26).

Many of us have known someone, or it may even be ourselves, who has placed self-condemnation upon him or herself. Sometimes, others place this condemnation upon another. One thing that we must never forget is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). I don’t think anyone can dispute this biblical truth. So if all have sinned and God’s grace has freed you from sin, then why do others condemn themselves or others?

The Apostle Paul called himself the “worst of sinners” (Romans 1:15). Moses murdered an Egyptian (Exodus 2:12). David had an affair with a married woman and then had her husband murdered (2 Samuel 11:12, 2 Samuel 11:17). All of these men are known for great sins in their life, yet God’s grace was still upon them.

If God forgave our sins on the cross, then there is no condemnation for those who’s faith is in Christ Jesus. Turn and ask God to forgive your sins and remember that if Paul, the self-proclaimed “worst of sinners” was justified through his faith in Christ, then you too are justified by your faith in Christ.

May God’s grace reassure you of your place in His kingdom. May God’s grace be sufficient to hold you firmly to this gift that you have received. May the Lord Jesus Christ and his atonement be your ladder to crawl out of the pit of self-condemnation today.

Be blessed in all you do!

Your brother in Christ,

Tim

Open my eyes that I may see
 wonderful things in your law (Psalm 119:18, NIV).

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us (1 Corinthians 2:12)

The Word of God is full of insights that we can easily skip right over if we are not reading it through a spiritual lens. God has revealed His truth, His love, His purpose, and His grace through the Words so eloquently inspired by the Holy Spirit. When we turn to the Bible, we should first pray, asking God to reveal to us His Word through the lens of the Holy Spirit. The same Word that we seek to understand says that the Spirit of God gives us the ability to understand what God has freely given. He has opened our minds to understand the scriptures.

When we read the Bible without asking for God’s revelation, we often miss just that! There are so many truths that can be revealed in a small verse, but missed when reading with the mindset of a historian or if reading the Bible as one reads a novel. For example, consider this verse:

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).

When looking at this passage with human eyes, one might see that Satan was attacking Simon and Jesus prayed a prayer of protection over him. However, when viewing this through the spiritual eyes given by revelation of the Holy Spirit, one might understand additional revelations. For example, Peter’s faith needed to be strengthened in order to carry out a future mission that Jesus assigned to him. Jesus knew that without divine faith, Peter would not serve his purpose as a church planter in the middle of massive persecution that was on the horizon. In addition, Jesus set an example that we must pray for the unfailing faith of Christian leaders.

Before you begin to read your Bible, pray and ask God to give you wisdom and understanding before you read. You might find revelations in the truth of God that you have not noticed before. The Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians, when he wrote:

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people (Ephesians 1:17-18).

This is my prayer for you as you move on your journey to know the Lord better.

May God give you wisdom and revelation that will bring forth all understanding that surpasses the knowledge of this world.

Be blessed in all you do!

Your brother in Christ,

Tim

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5, NIV).

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6).

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me (John 15:4).

It astonishes me how people go to great extremes to disprove that God exists. I recently saw a documentary that theorized mankind came from extra terrestrial beings (i.e. aliens). The theory is that these beings from outer space simply combined their genetic code with that of a Neanderthal man and out came the human race. Let me ask those who believe this theory a question? Who created the DNA that could even make such a theoretical idea possible? More than that, who created the space men?

As scientists journey through the question of creation, many atheistic scientists, who set out to disprove the existence of God, end up concluding that creation cannot just exist without an “intelligent designer”. They are close, but pride leads them to state an “intelligent designer”, while refusing to acknowledge that God, the creator of all things, is the responsible party for creation.

God has made himself known to the world. This is what theologians refer to as “general revelation”. When we look at God’s creation and see how sophisticated life really is, and we see how everything works so eloquently together, why do some fail to recognize God?

The former atheist and writer for the Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel, went on a quest to disprove the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As a highly regarded legal journalist with a law background, he looked for substantial evidence that could proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, in a court of law. In his quest, the evidence he uncovered was so substantial, that his research led him to the fact that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be denied. This brought Mr. Strobel from a diehard atheist into a believing Christian. He documented the research in his book, “A Case for Christ”.

So, why do people deny God?

When Christians are living a fruitless faith, others look and ask, “Where is God in your Christian life?”. When we thump people over the head with the Bible and judge people according to the Ten Commandments, how can anyone clearly understand a message of grace as it was delivered in the New Testament? I don’t know of anyone who has received Christ through being abused by scripture. However, every professing Christian that I personally know has been led to Christ through seeing the grace in another’s life.

Therefore, let us remember that we must help others to see God through the lens of grace. Our faith must testify by the way in which we live our lives. By remaining in Christ, your faith will bear fruit, and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which surpasses all understanding, will be made known to those around you. Let us pray that this grace will manifest and be known by those who are looking for God.

May God strengthen you and guide you. May the knowledge of Christ be seen through your faith in action.

Be blessed in all you do!

Your brother in Christ,

Tim

Tim’s Daily Devotional
When Insults are Hurled

Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

 

“He committed no sin,

    and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

 

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (2 Peter 21-24, NIV).

Have you ever been treated unjustly? Of course this is a rhetorical question. If you live in the same world as I, then the answer is obviously yes. We have all been treated unjustly in one-way or another. However, as one who claims Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, how are you to respond to such treatment? As Simon Peter tells us, we are to model Christ. Christ trusted the Father’s judgment and left it in His hands. Retaliation is not the answer. This does not insinuate that we are to be walked over, but we are to be gentle in spirit, meek at heart and humble in our attitudes.

When we remember that our sins were abolished on the cross through grace, we should not be so quick to receive this grace while passing judgment upon another. The same blood that was shed for you was also shed for those who offend you. Since grace was shown to you, will you show the same grace to others? When we trust the Father’s judgment, as Jesus did, we must trust that justice will be served. The Psalmist writes:

“The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands” (Psalm 9:16). And “the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice” (Psalm 50:6).

May you be quick to forgive, slow to anger, and abound in the grace of Jesus Christ.

Be blessed in all you do!

Your brother in Christ,

Tim

Tim’s Daily Devotional
A Divided House Cannot Stand

I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them (Jeremiah 32:39, NIV).

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-5).

I have experienced divisions amongst Christians and this breaks my heart. The Lord has given us singleness of heart, yet we see divisions. Why is this? I believe it is because one of the hardest things to do as a human being is “deny self”.  James points this out clearly when he wrote:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:1-3).

We see divisions amongst our brothers and sisters, not only in the church itself, but also amongst husbands and wives, children and parents, brothers and sisters, all from the same faith. This is not in accordance with the Spirit you received. If you want to be an effective Christian, then it starts with being effective in your personal relationships. We must agree with God’s Spirit daily that we are to put others before ourselves.

Jesus commands us to “love one another” (John 13:34). God does not cause divisions, people who are walking in disobedience to God cause divisions. Jesus reminds us that, “a house divided against itself will fall”. (Luke 11:17). This is Satan’s hope for you. He is out to seek, kill and destroy all of the goodness of God. By allowing your desires to cause divisions, you are breaking down the defenses, allowing the enemy to achieve his mission, which is to cause divisions that paralyze the body of Christ.

May you walk in the calling that Paul gave to the Ephesians, through one body, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, and one baptism. In doing so, you will see the power of God released, strengthening the church, and seeing others come to Christ; receiving the same Spirit that binds everything together in perfect love.

Be blessed in all you do!

Your brother in Christ,

Tim

“but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14, NIV).
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).

The name of our church is The Well Church of Lewisville. One of the symbols of the well is water. We go to a well to draw water when we are thirsty. Jesus often used the analogy of water to what only He can offer spiritually. Just as our physical bodies become thirsty and dehydrated, so does our spirit. The problems we face in life deplete our spirit and leave us spiritually dehydrated. This is also true when we are constantly pouring ourselves out to others. We can deplete ourselves and forget to go to the well.

The water of life is right in front of you, waiting for you. All you have to do is receive this gift. Jesus welcomes you and offers you the replenishing water of life that will satisfy your thirst. If you are depleted today, I encourage you to remember to draw the water from Christ. Draw near to Him and ask Him to fill you with the spring of water. Remember that Jesus said, “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst”. May the grace of God lift you up and may the waters of Jesus Christ replenish you today.

Be blessed in all you do!

Your brother in Christ,

Tim