Category Archives: experiencing God

The Romans Challenge: The Debt to Love

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“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus loves! When I truly get my heart and my mind wrapped around that statement, I am changed. His love reached down into my mess and not only forgave my debt of sins, the areas I have missed the mark, but His love has cleansed me from them and put me in right standing with God. This is not anything I can do on my own. I could never repay Him for what He has done for me. So what is my response? I am indebted to love!

When you and I see how much we are loved by God, our only correct response is to love in return. This is a love for God and those He has placed around us.

When we love, we fulfill the law. Love doesn’t seek its own. Love wants to prosper and benefit others. It isn’t selfish. Love gives itself away for the good of others. “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Loving as God does — completely, deeply, and selflessly — is not something we can do on our own. As believers, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and pours God’s love out into our hearts. “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 NIV

There are times that I struggled to love as Jesus loves, but I can stand on the promise of God. I can ask Him to fill me with His perfect love so that I am not bound up by the debt of sin once again. 

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love…”

The Romans Challenge: Overcome Evil With Good

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“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Life is not fair…” My mom told me these words when I was a teenager. Things hadn’t gone as she hoped with some family situations. Everything seemed to be so bleak.

When our eyes are on our circumstances, we will not see things clearly. If our eyes are on ourselves, we will want justice our way. We cannot live the life of faith and live a self-focused life at the same time. Living our lives seeking to do what we want, when and how we want to do it, with no consideration of God, will lead to one thing. We will “be overcome by evil…” BUT God has given us His victory. We do not have to live our lives “overcome by evil.” We can “overcome evil with good.”

God is good! All His ways are good! Everything He does is good! He is working all things out for our good! He wants us to experience His goodness!

It is true that we live in a broken world that is marred by sin. There will be situations and circumstances that will try to overwhelm us. Evil wants us to be overcome by them. But when we truly look to God, we will KNOW His goodness! God’s goodness will overcome every evil that tries to overwhelm us. We must look to Him! We must keep our focus on our Good God! We must obey His Good Word! When we do, we will “overcome evil with good.”

The Romans Challenge: Live In Harmony

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“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You and I were meant for connection to God and each other. We aren’t meant to do our lives alone. This is why believers in Jesus are united in a family — the Church. When we live in harmony — a connected whole (Websters 1828) — we will experience growth, encouragement, love, and relationship with each other. This is God’s plan for us.

Pride kills harmony. When our focus is on ourselves — what we want when and how we want it, we CANNOT live as God intends for us to live, connected and united with our brothers and sister in Christ.

We are called to live a God centered life. Our focus is to be on Him. We are to display Him in our actions. Our lives are to be totally submitted to God, totally dependent upon God, and totally obedient to God. When we live this way, God unites us to Himself and to others within His body, the Church.

BUT, if our lives are built upon ourselves — doing what we want and calling our own shots… we will exhibit pride, conceit, and division. We will be separated from the connection to the Body of Christ that we are meant to experience. Destruction will be the result of our choice to follow “self.”

Father, help us to live in harmony with each other. Help us to leave behind our selfish ways and to live our lives with You in the center. As we follow You and obey You, fill us with love for our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can live as You intended us to live in harmony — ONE!

The Romans Challenge: One Body In Christ

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“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are one. We are connected, attached, and united to each other. Paul uses the metaphor of a human body. “We have many members, and the members do not all have the same function.” We have unity, but we are also diverse. My part of the body differs from yours. We each have our function. BUT, even though we are different, we NEED each other!

Each of us are gifted in different ways to bring glory to God and to serve Him and serve one another. One persons gifting and abilities is solely for that purpose. No one is better than the other. We shouldn’t “think of {ourselves} more highly than {we} ought to think.”

God has gifted us with His gifting for a purpose. What He has given to us we need to use! If we don’t the other parts of the Body of Christ— the Church will suffer. What God has given to us, our part we play, is important for making the Body of Christ strong and building it up. He wants us to participate in His good plan to have His people united, strong, and on mission to share with others His love. He has given us all that we need and equipped us. The question is, “will I respond ‘yes’ to Him and live connected to Him and His Church?”

The Romans Challenge: Living Sacrifice

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“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If we are in relationship with Jesus, there will be evidence. We will be changed! When we look at all that Jesus did for us on the cross and see how great the mercy of God is towards us, we see what a wonderful and giving God we have. The only response is for us to give back to Him all that we have, our lives. This is our “spiritual worship.” (ESV). How do we give ourselves to God as we should? He wants EVERYTHING! He wants us to love Him with all that we are (entirely, totally, and completely).

The sacrifices in the Old Testament were laid upon an altar and burned completely. They were offered up completely to God. We are to live our lives that way. Everything about us is His – our time, our money, our entertainment, our jobs, our homes, our cars, our family, our clothing, our choices of food and drink, etc. It is ALL His!

How does this work practically in our world we live in today? We are to live our lives not as the world patterns it, but as God has told us we need to live in His Word! We are to continue to be “transformed” in our hearts and our lives. This comes as we allow God to renew our minds (our way we think and act) by coming to His Word over and over throughout our day.

You and I were meant to display God to the world around us. We are to be distinctly different. This only occurs as we allow God to change us and we become more and more like Him every moment of every day. As we know Him more, we will love Him more. As we love Him more, we will obey Him more. As we obey Him and live as He desires, we will be like Him. Living like this requires surrender to Him and His ways!

May we live our lives as “a living sacrifice.” Set apart for Him and His Glory!

The Romans Challenge: Bigger, Bigger, and Bigger God

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“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭33‬, ‭36‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Since I am a Missouri Girl, it means one thing with regard to the ocean. I don’t get to see it that much… Every once in a blue moon, my husband and I take a trip to the coast and I find myself standing there staring at the ocean. It is amazing to me how BIG it is. Looking at a globe, seeing pictures, or even seeing it from a distance, cannot compare to standing there with your toes in sand as the waves are crashing on your ankles, gazing straight out to sea.

This is how it is in my relationship with God. When I have only heard about Him, maybe read a few Scriptures or heard a good sermon, He seems somewhat large, BUT when I am experiencing Him by hearing Him speak, seeing His miracles, or watching Him do things I could never do, He becomes bigger and bigger, until His greatness just blows me away!

Have You ever dove into the ocean of God’s great Word and explored knowing Him? Have You ever thought about the depths of His love or the vastness of His goodness? These are “the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”

Years ago, I was reading a Bible story to my kids and I stopped to tell them that God was like the ocean, He wants us to dive in and explore and grow in our knowledge of Him. Then I distinctly heard the Holy Spirit say, “Yes, and you are content to sit on the shore dangling your toes on the edge…”.

We were created for the adventure of KNOWING Him! “For from Him” God made all of creation to show us Himself. “For through Him”… God is the One who sustains us and everything around us. We cannot do anything without Him. “For to Him”… God is to be glorified in our lives. This life is not about you or me. It is all about Him! If we try to make it anything less, we will live outside of His purpose and we will be discontented, discouraged, and eventually destroyed by our pursuit of “self” and selfish ways.

Where are You in relating to God. As you experience Him in a relationship, is He becoming BIGGER and BIGGER and BIGGER in your life. Or is He simply an occasional thought? Are you like I was years ago, “dangling your toes on the edge” of His vastness? You and I are meant for more! Dive in! Let the adventure begin!

The Romans Challenge: The Kindness and Severity of God

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“Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭22‬ ‭ESV‬

When we think about God and use the words “Kindness” and “Severity” to describe Him, it seems like we are contradicting ourselves. How can the two exist in a perfect and complete person? The very thought of a severe God or a God of judgement makes many cringe. “God is love.” How can a God who is perfect in love judge and punish?

What we tend to forget is the destructiveness of sin. Sin destroys! It brings nothing but death, darkness, and destruction into our lives. It separates us from God. God knows this. He is perfect, or complete, or Holy. He cannot have imperfection within Himself. He cannot have sin.

God’s deepest desire if for us to experience Him in relationship. He wants for us to be connected to Him and intimate with Him. His desire is for our good. He wants us to be happy in Him. BUT He also knows that sin will keep us from all of this, because sin keeps us from Him.

God’s severity is against sin. He HATES sin! Because He is completely holy (perfect in every way), He must be completely just (upright, honest, true, etc…) The same God who is love and acts only from love also is just and acts only with justice. This justice is exact or “severe.” However, even in judgement God is always working good and He is always judging out of love. His judgements and severity are against the very things that will destroy us. They are against the very things that separate us from Him.

There is a place where God’s kindness and His severity meet — the Cross of Jesus. It was there that Jesus took the punishment we deserve in order for God to be completely just. It was on the Cross that God’s complete kindness towards us was displayed. When Jesus took our punishment, it was so we could experience all of God’s goodness towards us. What is required of us? TO BELIEVE. It is faith in Jesus that gives us the right standing with God.

Jesus we thank You for paying the price for our sin. Thank You for the Cross you bore and the punishment You took for us. Thank You for providing the way for us to receive Your great gift of salvation by faith alone. You did it all! Your kindness and severity have met and we are free when we come to You! We love You! In Jesus Name!

The Romans Challenge: Grafted In

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“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Long ago Abraham received a promise from God of an everlasting covenant. “I will…be your God.” (Genesis 17:7) God established relationship with him and his descendants forever. God chose His people. God also promised Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3)

You and I (as non Jewish believers) are like a “wild olive shoot” that has been attached or grafted in to the true olive tree which is that same promise/ covenant that God made to Abraham.

Because of Jesus, we belong to God. We are attached to Him! We receive from Him all that we need to live life as God’s people. We are “grafted in” to Him. To be “grafted in” is to be inserted into a body to which it did not originally belong. (Websters 1828) All of us were separated from God. But He has taken us and attached us to Himself. We now live our lives not on our own, but supported by Him.

I love this imagery. It teaches us a truth. “Without Jesus, we can do nothing.” We need to live our lives attached and connected to Him, depending on Him for everything! When we do we will experience relationship with Him and we will live in His blessing.

Father, help us to know what it truly is to live connected to You… “grafted in.” We know that Jesus came so we could experience a relationship of oneness with You — attached, united, connected, indivisible, and inseparable from You. Your desire is for us to receive Your “nourishment” and to be supported by You. We are not meant to live apart from You. This connected relationship is new to us. It’s not something we understand because all we have known in our lives is the separation that sin caused. But we desire to know You and experience You in this relationship You have provided for us more and more each day. In Jesus name!

The Romans Challenge: The Remnant

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“So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” Romans 11:5-6 ESV

Have you ever felt alone in your faith? There are times that we all feel that way. Paul writes regarding his people, the Jews of his time, that it may seem that God had rejected them when He called out to the non Jewish — Gentiles — to receive His salvation. But God had not rejected His people at all. He has always had a chosen people, a remnant. This remnant was a small, faithful group, that remained true to God.

Throughout history, God has always preserved His people. There have been very dark hours of persecution of His church and His chosen people Israel. But He has always had someone who was faithful to Him.

In our world today, there are so many things going on. It can be frightening to watch. At times, it seems God’s Church is so small against the onslaught. But we too can take comfort that “there is a remnant…” We have those around us that have responded to God’s grace and received salvation through faith in Jesus. We are able to stand together for our LORD.

I would be negligent to not say that God is also at work in Israel of today. He has a remnant there as well. Though we do not see all the details of what God is working, we can be assured He is not finished yet! He is faithful to us (the non Jewish believers of our time). He is faithful to His chosen people. What He has promised He will fulfill!

For now, we can be assured that there is “a remnant, chosen by grace.” We are not alone. We are a part of God’s family. His church!

The Roman’s Challenge: The Origin of Faith

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“So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 ESV

“If only I had more faith…”. I’ve thought that many times. “Maybe if I would squeeze my eyes tight enough and think about it enough, I will be able to believe for something big.” But faith is not something we generate on our own. It is a gift. The Scripture says we have all been given a measure of it. (Romans 12:3)

We receive this gift of faith through hearing. Which is to listen to; attend to; obey; and observe what is commanded. (Websters 1828)

In our walk of faith, we can all trace back the moment when someone, somewhere, spoke to us about Jesus. We heard the Word. Then we believed.

Faith continues to grow in that same manner. Our lifelong walk of faith becomes a strong pattern of believing and trust as we spend time in God’s Word. When we hear the Word (listen to what we have read) and obey the Word. Our faith will grow. We will see that God’s Word is the Truth. It is life. It will sustain us.

If you find yourself thinking as I have before, “I need more faith.” Or “I need stronger faith.” Or “I need my faith to grow.” God has given you and I all we need to live a godly life. May I encourage you to spend time in the Word of God.

You won’t be disappointed!