Category Archives: Jesus

The Romans Challenge: Overflow!

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“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We were not created to dwell in anxiety, fear, and depression!

Long ago, in the Garden of Eden, mankind was created to dwell connected to God. We were made to be His image bearers, reflecting all that He is to our world. When sin entered, that connection was broken and that image was shattered. However, Jesus came!

Jesus came to set us free from sin and to enable us to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives the moment we receive the New Life Jesus came to give us! The Holy Spirit empowers us to live according to our original design as “image bearers” of God.

Our God is a God of Peace. Our God is a God of joy. Our God is a God of hope! By the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, we can be filled to overflowing with His peace, joy, and hope! Yet so many of us do not live our lives this way…

I know this from experience. For years, I lived as a Christian full of anxiety, fear, and depression… I tried in my own power, using man’s ways, to fix the way I felt. All of these attempts ended in failure. Until, I determined that I needed to truly surrender EVERY area of my life to God. I decided that I would pursue Him above all things, and live my life focused on Him!

How is this even possible? By the power of the Holy Spirit! By faith in God and His Word, i.e. trusting in Him!

I was living my life focused on me. I was very me-centered! God made us to live our lives focused on Him. Our thoughts are to be focused on Him and His Word. Our speech is to reflect that focus — speaking His truth and His life regarding ourselves, our circumstances, our families, etc. Our actions will fall into line as our focus is laser focused on God and His Word!

Here is the truth of what we all need… We need to live our lives with this motto: Less of me…More of Him! When we overflow with the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will experience what we were created to be all along: People who dwell with hope— a confident expectation of good; People who trust Him — believe that God said it, I believe it, that settles it; People who live with joy, — an emotion that is excited by the expectation of good; People who live with peace — freedom from disturbance or agitation.

Holy Spirit we ask You to fill us up til we overflow with You!

The Romans Challenge: Bear With The Failings of the Weak

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“We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself…”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We need to be patient with the people that God has placed around us. This is not easy. Especially when we know we are right in an area, and that they are wrong. I know I want people to get into line and see it my way. The truth is, my way might not be as correct as I think it is… BUT even if it truly is, I need to “bear with the failings of the weak.”

Our sinful nature always wants what it wants, when and how it wants it. It is very selfish. It is always thinking about itself… It wants to please itself. But we are to “please our neighbors for their good…” To please in the Greek means “willingly serve.” Jesus displayed this to us. “For even Christ did not please himself…” Jesus is patient with us. He bears with our failings. He is always working in all things for our good. He builds us up. We are to love like He does. To love like Jesus is to benefit and prosper those around us not asking anything in return.

Simply put… We are to be like Jesus!

This is not something that we do easily on our own. The Holy Spirit will help us if we ask Him to.

Holy Spirit, we ask You to fill us with Your Love. So we can willing serve those around us and patiently bear with their failings and weakness. We know as we serve the least of these, we are serving You! In Jesus Name!

The Romans Challenge: Peace and Mutual Edification

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“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭14‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God places a high value on unity. His desire is for us to be connected to each other and Him. Selfishness and sin is what separates us. Unfortunately, this what we are all the most familiar with. Humanity has been experiencing disunity, separation, and discord since the moment Adam and Eve sinned in the garden.

Jesus came to restore us to God’s original design. Jesus prayed this prayer for us:

““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be united and live as one, we must lay down our own ways. We need to “make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” This will require us to put to death our “me-centered” life. It will require us to think of others before ourselves. It will require us to be like Jesus — laying down our lives for each other:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Mutual edification” is a reciprocal relationship. Where we all give of ourselves for each other. Making “every effort to do what leads to peace” is being determined in our actions to live united and in harmony. This is not easy. But it is God’s will for us. Whatever God desires for us to do He will empower us to do through the Holy Spirit. We must depend on Him! He will help us!

The Romans Challenge: We Are The Lord’s

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“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭14‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It is the most natural thing for us to think about what we want, when and how we want it. This is because we have inherited a selfish nature from way back when Adam and Eve decided to do what THEY wanted to do and not obey God. But when we Jesus becomes LORD of our lives, this changes.

We no longer live to ourselves or die to ourselves. We are the Lord’s. We are to live our lives in total submission to Him, total dependence on Him, and total obedience to Him. Where He wants us to go, we go. What He wants us to do, we do. We are His!

There is joy and excitement in living this way! What God does in our lives and through our lives is always good. His power will be displayed in us and through us. He has placed us where we are to represent Him and to carry out His great and awesome plan. In order for us to experience this we must recognize this truth, “none of us live for ourselves alone…we belong to the Lord.”

The Romans Challenge: Clothe Yourselves With the Lord

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“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When I was in High School, back in the 80’s, it was every girls dream to get to wear the Letter Jacket of some cute boy. It was a signal of all that you had entered into an exclusive relationship. At that point, you identified as their girlfriend and your status was “taken.”

In a similar way, God’s desire is for us to “wear His letter jacket.” This Jacket is “the Lord Jesus Christ” Himself. We are to clothe ourselves with HIM! When we put on Jesus, we “embody his teachings, love, and righteousness.” (Berean Study Notes Bible Hub) We receive our new identity in Christ living a life reflecting His nature. It is a signal that we have entered into an exclusive relationship with Him. At that point, we our spiritual status becomes “taken.” We are HIS!

How we lived before — chasing after what we wanted, when and how we wanted — is not our consideration. We are pursuing Jesus with total surrender, total obedience, and total dependence upon Him. We are not to “think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

What a privilege it is to be His! May we take into consideration every moment of every day who it is that we have been clothed with!

The Romans Challenge: Wake Up!

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“And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Spiritual drift happens… It’s easy to get lulled away into spiritual “slumber.” Our enemy will work little by little in our circumstances over a period of years and years to get us to slowly wander from the truth.

I know this from first hand experience. One “little” lie that I believed 20 years ago took root and slowly grew inside of me until I had drifted and found myself in a spiritual “slumber” or negligence. This negligence of my relationship with God, drift away from Him, caused me to be miserable. I was anxious, angry, bitter, and more. Thankfully God used some godly older women in my life to encourage me to “wake up!!” In fact, the exact wording one spoke to me as I sat in her home telling her all of my troubles, “Janet, the problem you are having is you have left your first love.” Instead of putting “aside the deeds of darkness,” I was dabbling with whatever I felt like I could get away with. I was not living my life in a wholehearted pursuit of God.

“The hour has already come for {us} to awake from {our} slumber.” God wants us to be alert and pursuing Him! Spiritual complacency will only lead to death, darkness, and destruction in our lives. We are either moving forward towards God or drifting away. If we are drifting off to sleep, we will find ourselves far from the peace, joy, love, and life that God desires for us to experience in a close and intimate relationship with Him.

Wake up!! You and I have been called to live “Awake and Alive.”

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: Authorities— God’s Servant for Your Good

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“For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God establishes authorities. He has placed them over us “for your good” As a Christian citizen, we are to respect those that God has placed in authority over us. Those who serve us in governmental offices are placed in those positions to promote good and restrain evil. They are working for the welfare of our society.

If we are doing what is good, “you will receive his {the authority’s }approval.” (Verse 3 ESV) BUT, if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid because God has placed these authorities in position to “bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”

Simply put, God has placed those who govern over us in that position. We are to respect and honor them for the service they provide. 

“Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV

May we resolve to pray for those who serve as governmental authorities over us. They hold an important role and service to us. This is our first and foremost civic duty! 

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Romans Challenge: Governing Authorities

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“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Years ago I was consumed with Talk Radio. I listened to it every day for hours. I talked about what I heard to my family. I was very concerned about the “Governing authorities.” I was so concerned that I would worry about the world I was raising my kids in. I lived in an uneasy state. I felt like it was up to me to do something to change things and I knew the problems were bigger than me…After a huge election loss of the party that I supported, I was in great dismay. It was then that I came to the conclusion that I needed to look to Someone bigger than the situations that I was seeing around me — God.

God is sovereign. This means He is supreme in power. He is King over all! Daniel 2:21 says:

“He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.”
‭‭Daniel‬ ‭2‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We can be confident knowing that “There is no authority except that which God has established.” God is in control! Whether the authorities over us follow God wholeheartedly or refuse to acknowledge Him, God is working in our Nation and the nations of the world. We can take courage that God has a plan. This plan is not one of a political bent. It is the advancement of His Kingdom! He is King of Kings! Ultimately, it does not matter what the earthly rulers choose, God’s purposes for our world will prevail!

God instructs us to pray for those who are in authority over us. But ours is not to worry about who is sitting in the Oval Office, the Kremlin, or any other governing office. God is in control of that. As citizens of Heaven FIRST, our allegiance is King Jesus!

We can rest in the assurance that “The authorities that exist have been established by God.” God is always at work, and He is in control!

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!