REVELATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS ALONE

REVELATIONS FOR CHRISTIANS ALONE

From time to time God allows me to see what I should have realized years ago. His timing is always perfect so I’m happy whenever it appears for it’s all about Jesus in the first place. It is never about us and the sooner we realize it the more quickly He can use us. I bet that’s a revelation for many reading this.

If you’ve grown up in the church you know there are tiers of opportunity. If you’re ordained the top levels of preaching and teaching is yours. But, if you aren’t, then those in charge will limit you. Now this changed back in the 1970’s where I was serving the Lord. The outpouring of God’s Spirit allowed the Lord to uplift the “common folks” into powerful ministries.

My cousin Betty Moore was given an extremely important prayer ministry that is still fruitful decades later. Her husband John and I were sent to work in a jail ministry that lasted two years. One, a former inmate, began a prison ministry, “Reconciled Ministries”, based in Pensacola that is still bearing fruit as I write. There are more but these two examples should suffice in revealing that God can use anyone who is willing. Are you willing?

The most important thing is to be born again. This means you have died to your old life and have received Jesus into your heart as Lord. The most recent revelation given to me is simple, we must live in Him. We may have heard this before like in John 15. However, we can find ourselves just outside, trying to walk along side the Lord rather than “inside Him.” My favorite verse reveals it, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for or unto good works that God Himself has prepared for us to walk in.”

Do you see the “in Christ Jesus”? Before you brush this off, think for a second about a water baptism. Those submerged and uplifted while being baptized in the “Name of Jesus: as in Acts they should have understood the water is a grave. Graves are where we place dead people. While down in it all possessions as well as our life is buried. When uplifted the Holy Spirit comes to stay. Now think for a moment, if we’re in Him shouldn’t we stay there? We can by listening to Jesus who said, “we must pick up our crosses daily and follow after Him“. Doing so won’t make us “more saved” for we are already His but it causes our flesh to die which is absolutely necessary.

If you’ve been struggling as a Christian, could this be the reason? You aren’t dead to your desires and may feel overwhelmed by them. If so, you’re in the vast majority of Christians struggling with you. Do you want to change? It’s up to you, for God will never force us.

There is one thing that can help you and it’s a daily visit to the Cross. If you want freedom to serve God with all your heart don’t go anywhere else. God allowed Jesus to die in the most horrible way possible. There was a very good reason for He knows that our hearts are hard and will get harder as we struggle to live. We can see this in ourselves by our wanting to be first or to put others down. This is the opposite of true Christianity and we know it. I’m not saying we will be able to completely conquer it but we can sure try.

I’m not saying we can make ourselves “humble” for if we try we are doomed to fail. Humility is an award given by God to those who have learned to walk in Jesus. Just as an apple tree doesn’t strain to make apples neither will a Christian in Jesus need to struggle either. He is moving along and allows us to see what He sees. Then the Holy Spirit nudges us to do “something”. We know what it is and sometimes have to argue with our flesh over doing it. The less arguing we do the more peace we enjoy in our relationship with the Lord, simple isn’t it?

Now if you aren’t born again there’s nothing more important, Jesus said you can’t enter into the Kingdom of God without it.? Read John 3. If your denomination doesn’t teach or better yet preach it, run for your life. If there isn’t any joy in your life, run for your life. If you’re being controlled by your denomination, run for your life. If you aren’t being encouraged to read the scriptures daily, run for your life. If you’re being “fleeced” or forced to pay a tithe, run for your life. Our giving is up to the Lord and many times He’s telling us to give way beyond a tithe. It all belongs to Him now.

The most important gift is the giving of yourself to God in Christ Jesus. Will you do it? Time is getting shorter and you must not put it off any longer. Today is the day of salvation.

In His Service,

Capt. Ben Marler


captben61@gmail.com
captben61.blogspot.com