Friday, July 21, 2017

Fear God, 79



~ Affliction Will Come to Those Who Do Not Fear God ~

God does not want His children living in fear.  “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:2-3).  However, God does want His children to have a proper respect and reverence for Him.  We are told in many places in Scripture to “fear God.”  

This Week’s Passage  ~  As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me.  Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.  He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me.  God will hear, and afflict them, even He who abides from of old.  Selah.  Because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God” (Psalm 55:16-19).

Fearing God Results in Salvation  ~  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  A wise person fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident” (Proverbs 14:16).  This does not mean the Christian is to live a fearful life—but a life which reverences God and seeks to do His will. 

Fearing God Results in Fearlessness  ~  “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).  The answer is: only God.  With the gift of salvation comes responsibility.

Fearing God Results in Witnessing  ~  “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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Thursday, July 20, 2017

Possession, 3of3



~ Everything Belongs to You ~

  1. Christian: You belong to Jesus Christ.
  2. Jesus Christ belongs to God, therefore
  3. Everything belongs to You (if you are a Christian).

What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32).

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.  Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim 6:17-19).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Possession, 2of3



~ Jesus Christ Belongs to God ~

“When He [Jesus Christ] had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice [of God the Father] came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17).  (Side note: notice the Trinity in this passage.)

For to which of the angels did He [God the Father] ever say:You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’?  And again: I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son’?  But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him’” (Hebrews 1:5-6). 

I will declare the decree: the Lord [God the Father] has said to Me [Jesus Christ], 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You.  Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel’” (Psalm 2:7-9).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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