God Saved Me

This was a journal entry on Feb. 8, 2012

February 8, 2012

Are you struggling with sin?  Do you want to be freed from it? 

Are you willing to take the necessary steps to be freed in Christ?

Do you want to have a closer walk with Christ? 

Do you want God to be glorified through you?

Make no mistake it is easy to fall into the beliefs of this world.  In America, we have made the truth to be everything but the Word of God.  We have to be very careful about the false prophets.  They are believable in words but there is a lot of deception behind what they “preach.”

Matthew 7:15-16a “Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them.”

The Bible is inerrant, meaning there is no mistake.  God’s word is never changing.  God himself is the same yesterday today and tomorrow.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

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

                        Meaning Jesus was with God from the very beginning of creation. 

There are many out there who will teach the Bible and omit many of the passages that cause a lot of conflict in the world today.  The choice to omit these passages is because they do not feel they are relevant, or that they are misleading.  Because of this, many may begin to preach or teach what they feel is right rather than what is truth in God’s word.  In this, it is therefore man’s own choosing and deceptive thoughts led by sin and fleshy desires (Romans 7:15-25), who have twisted God’s word to fit them.  That is where a huge mistake lies.  God’s creation – mankind – are not to look at God and say, “You accept me for me,” but rather, mankind should look to God and say, “Make me who you need me to be for You.”

Isaiah 64:8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Be not fooled by the one in sheep’s clothing who proclaims part of the gospel to be misleading.  For if what they proclaim is misleading, then of what value is the rest of the Bible to them?  Is it not all misleading?  However, if you know that the Bible is God breathed therefore God inspired, (refer to Bible verse 2 Tim. 3:16) then you must proclaim that the whole work of the Bible to be true.

When you know that the Bible in its entirety is without error, stand strong in your faith and belief.  Many will try to persuade you otherwise.  The devil is sly and will use others – even ones you care about to manipulate you into thinking that something of God’s word is false.  Stand strong.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

Realize that not you or anyone else cannot pick apart what is fitting and disregard the rest of the Word.  You don’t buy a table with only two legs and say you don’t need the other two for it to stand.  So, when you hear someone proclaim the gospel to be misleading or a verse is a “clobber” verse, run the other way.  There belief is not focused on God’s inspired, inerrant word.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your ways, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.

The undivided heart is the inner spiritual and moral transformation = single minded commitment to the Lord and His will.

To whom do you belong?  Do you belong to God or to this world?  If you say God, then do not be like Lot’s wife.

Luke 17:32-33 “Remember Lot’s wife!  Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

If you feel you belong to the world, then realize that you do not live for God but for Satan.  You will continue to live in darkness.  Salvation is not yours.  Your fleshy desires and how you can fulfill those desires is more important that following the commands of God.  You can be freed from sinful actions, thoughts and if you believe born into an orientation.  Know the amazing and wonderful good news and that is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ came to conquer sin and death and He did so by the sacrifice of his body, bearing yours and my sins; and he rose from death three days later conquering death.

You can be freed from the chains, from the bondage and lies that this world feeds you with.  His way is a way of salvation, to everlasting life with our Creator – the Alpha and the Omega.  Don’t be fooled any longer.  Just because we live in a sinful world does not mean you have to live in a sinful nature with the world.

If you are already being convicted of what you are doing, of what you are feeling is ungodly – a sinful path – go to God.  Know that you have to be willing to seek Gods help.  Be willing to hear the truth – for Him to show you the truth.  If you truly seek God in wanting to be freed from the bondage, then God will surely give you the strength. 

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Don’t wait till you are 15 – 20 years into the sinful nature, surrounded by others living in the same sin.  The turning from the sin is harder.  Grab it by the horns now and find freedom in Christ. 

Come talk to me, lets work through your convictions in Gods word, not man’s word.  Lets look to God to remove the chains that are keeping you from walking closer to Him.  Lets seek God and godly counsel on how to overcome the battles of this fleshy world.  Lets seek God’s true will for you and for me.

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Take the first step and recognize that what you are doing is sinful, repent and turn to God.

Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Romans 6:17-18 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

~Anna R. Morrison~

P.S.  Paul is such a great example to see a transformation from a sinful life to a life of Godly choices and even convictions.  I have added a very powerful chapter of Philippians where he is able to recognize his sinful actions before truly having Christ in his life.  Therefore, I share this with you (the above) because I have walked the walk and I have been freed.  God has been so gracious to me, and I want more than anything to see you freed from the burdens.  I walked in sin for 15+ years.  It took many people, a lot of rebellion, intense heartache, and buckets of tears.  I do not want this for you my friend.  Don’t struggle another day!

Philippians 3

No Confidence in the Flesh

¹ Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ² Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. ³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴ though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.