06/03/22 I WAS REMINDED

06/03/22 I WAS REMINDED

My previous post reminded me of one I wrote in January, and I thought it would be helpful, here and now.

 

01/10/22 THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Sometimes you catch the wave and sometimes the wave catches you.

This principle is true in the spiritual realm as well as the natural realm and it applies to individual Christians as well as churches.

In order to catch the wave you have to be in the right place at the right time. In order to catch the moving of the Spirit of God we need to be in the right place at the right time. It is worth noting that this means a Christian must not be in the wrong place or be at the wrong time.

God provides the blessing for us, but if we deliberately choose to rush ahead of God or lag behind God or veer to the left or right of God, we will either miss the right place or we will miss the right time or we will miss the right place at the right time.
Our rebellion does not keep God from doing that which is consistent with His Own nature. He will save whosoever comes to Him by faith in Christ, as He said. He will not save those who resist, reject and rebel against His will, as He said.

As God's word says, our salvation is conditioned upon faith, repentance, obedience because God has sovereignly chosen to enable and require us to choose to receive His gracious work of salvation through faith and He requires that we continue in the faith, that we abide in the Spirit and that we walk in the light in order to be saved ultimately from our sins.
Matthew 16:24-26
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

God is good to all men, but there is a salvific goodness experienced and enjoyed only by those who are in a right relationship with God. As long as we trust in Him, follow Him, obey Him then we are in line to receive from Him the blessings that He intends to give to His faithful followers. Rebellion, rejection, resistance disqualifies a person from receiving the blessings, which God has promised only to His children.

Therefore, if we are going to catch the wave of promised blessings...

WE MUST keep ourselves in the love of God;
Jude 1:21
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
John 15:9-10
(9) As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
(10) If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

WE MUST walk in the light, even as He is in the light;
1 John 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

WE MUST continue in His word,
John 8:31-32
(31) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
(32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

WE MUST continue in the Lord,
Acts 11:23
(23) Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

WE MUST continue in the grace of God,
Acts 13:43
(43) Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

WE MUST continue in the faith.
Acts 14:22
(22) Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

We do not decide the plan of salvation but by God's grace we can choose to believe, accept, follow God's plan of salvation.
Likewise, we can choose to reject God's plan of salvation.
We do not create the blessings of God but by God's grace we can avail ourselves of God's blessings.
Likewise, we can refuse God's blessings.

Being a Christian is not devising or providing our own salvation, but rather it is accepting the salvation of God, on God's terms, in God's time.

Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.