Vol.4 Valley Of Vision

Merciful Lord,
Pardon all my sins of this day, week, year, all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle and advanced years, of omission and commission, of morose, peevish and angry tempers, of lip, life and walk, of hard-heartedness, unbelief, presumption, pride, of unfaithfulness to the souls of men, of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ, of deficiency in outspoken zeal for His glory, of bringing dishonor upon Thy great name, of deception, injustice, untruthfulness in my dealings with others, of impurity in thought, word and deed, of covetousness, which is idolatry, of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered, not consecrated to the glory of Thee, the great Giver; sins in private and in the family, in study and recreation, in the busy haunts of men, in the study of Thy Word and in the neglect of it, in prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld, in time misspent, in yielding to Satan’s wiles, in opening my heart to his temptations, in being unwatchful when I know him nigh, in quenching the Holy Spirit; sins against light and knowledge, against conscience and the restraints of Thy Spirit, against the law of eternal love.
Pardon all my sins, known and unknown, felt and unfelt, confessed and not confessed, remembered or forgotten. Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive.

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Vol. 3

Ephesians 1:12-14

In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

So continued from Last time. Jesus declares to us the 'word of truth'! That word is the gospel of our salvation. When you peel away all the stories, history and incredible promises in God's word you are left with the raw word of truth - Your salvation!

1 Cor 15:2 says "I preached to you the gospel . . . by which you are saved if you hold it fast—unless you believed in vain."

That Gospel is steadfast and secure. It is something we can claim and hold onto. In fact everything we believe about God and experience through him is centered and chained to it - otherwise; we believe in vain.
That gospel IS our salvation, our saving hope. Jesus IS that Gospel, if we hold on to that and make that primary - everything else falls into place.

Sealed with the Promised Holy Spirit- Our Faith is sealed, it is Authentic and Trademanrked by God. The Seal is the Holy Spirit, a sign of our authority and certain sonship to God.

That seal is a promise, a guarantee of our etenal promised inheritance that we have in Jesus. It is our mark others shouls be able to see that says 'i am the elected son of God, Sealed by the Holy Spirit to receive God's promised eternal inheritance'

RAMBLING Vol2

Ephesians 1:7-10 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,  he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Redemption = to Rescue, to deliver from sin, to give salvation to.

Through the blood of Jesus, i have been rescued, delivered and saved. Nice! But why? Because of God's grace. Because God wants me to find favor in His sight, He rescues me! Not because of me, or anything i have done. Not bacause i desre any good thing, but because of His Will.

Not only is His grace 'there' when i need it - It is LAVISHED upon me! The thought i have is of walking along a beach, on an extremely hot day seeking refreshment and deliverence from the heat. Cupping some cool water is nice, i can splash it onto my face and for a moment feel... good.

But... Diving into that ocean of refreshment, being lavished by it, totally consumed by it - Well, THERE is true refreshent and satisfaction. God's grace is not only there, and totally satisfying - but always readily available (remember we don't need MORE of God's grace, just to experience it more). We need to take that dive.

With all Wisdom and Knowledge God not only gives us this grace, but also makes known to us what His will is for us. He does this to make a connection between us and heaven.

- God doesn't delight in us not knowing or experienceing His good will, but instead enjoys and finds delight in us experiencing Hid desire for our lives and our connection with him in heaven.

The Unifying factor is Christ (v.10). Christ's work on the cross unites us with God. It makes the revelation of his will possible, the experience of His Grace ever satisfying, and makes our experiences here on earth literally heavenly!

Proverbs 17:10  A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.

Cost of VIP Entry...

I've been reading the book of Ephesians again lately. It's my go-to book of the bible because it's lays out some GREAT reminders, and contains some INCREDIBLE truths.

So as i go through this again, i'll be throwing up (on the blog), some thoughts that arise and some healthy reminders. Enjoy...

Eph 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Now, i don't really like the word 'destiny' as we so often use it out of context, but in this case it's a great place to use that term. As believers we have a for-certain Destiny in Jesus christ. Just like He chose us, He also gives us a destiny in Him, a long time ago, actually a really long time ago - ok; before the 'foundations of the world'!

So He chose me, gave me a destiny and reason to be, but why? So i could be 'holy and blameless before Him'. God can't have filth before Him (me and my sin), knowing this fact long before sin ever existed, God decided to love me enough to choose me to be His own, to give me a destiny, and to want me to be before Him  and with Him, and to experience Him forever. But the only way that could happen was for me to be clean, so He adopted me and like a father does his child he bathed me. (only with His blood)

In His love he adopted me to be His own child! (Parents chose what children they adopt - children don't chose what parents they want to be adopted by - Side note for another day)

So these few verses say this:

 - God chose Me a really long time ago
 - God chose me to be His child
 - So that i can be clean
 - i'm clean to i can experience God in a way ptherwise impossible
 - This was all His will, through His son Jesus
 - All this was for His benefit and the glory of His grace
 - Oh yeah, and that GRACE, He also Gives me! (another day)
 - Now i truly have a Destiny with God

WOW, talk about being loved beyond my means right? We'll never know why God would choose us to be His children, but He does. Why He loves us so much, but He does. Why He gives us His glorious grace, but He does. I just want to live in light of those awesome truths.

Rambling Vol.1...

So during prayer time last night at Bible Study, i was thinking through the way i normally pray (We've been discussing this of late). My conclusions is that i'm a prayer-spastic.

I address the "Lord" first of all, thank Him for my day, chance to gather blah blah. Often times i move on to whatever we discussed in church and so on.

What peeved me off was this - I'm actually stupid enough to ask God for more Grace! (like what He's given me is not enough or something) When Paul asked God to remove his thorn in the flesh God answered that His grace was sufficient (2 cor 12:9)

Although the intention of asking God for more grace is pure, the demonstration of the understanding of His grace readily available, is tainted!

God gives us all different situations that we must face. Some are really crappy and some are disguised as 'mountain top experiences'. Good times or bad - we need grace.

So i was thinking 'more grace' or 'more realization of the grace already available'?

Oswald Chambers wrote - "I feel sorry for the believer who has not something in his life that he wishes were not there."

I've had stuff in my life lately that i wish wasn't there, situations that often times left me feeling like my head was being held underwater and in desperate need of fresh air. God didn't pull my head out of that water so i wouldn't drown, He let me swing my arms like crazy and fight it until i finally realized the water was going nowhere - and He shoved a bloody oxygen pipe in my gob.

Living an easy christian life where all is roses, we're friends with everybody blah blah is easy - but not true christianity. We ARE going to find ourselves in tough situations, fighting for a breath of fresh air, asking God for 'more grace' - the sooner we realize that God's grace is enough, and start asking Him for the opportunity to experience that Grace wholly, the better off we will be.

"God i don't need more grace, i just need You to continue to provide opportunities both Rosey and Thorny, that help me to experience wholley that grace you've already given to me'

First Of...

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