- Aug 10, 2006
- 14,927
- 3,815
- 74
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
I woke up a little after midnight after having only had about an hour of sleep. The song “Full Release” was playing in my mind, so I read the lyrics. The word that stood out to me in each stanza was the word “daily.” From that I sensed the Lord wanted me to write on the subject of “daily.” So, I did a word search in the scriptures for that word, and it rendered several scriptures here that I believe the Lord would have me talk on today.
This was Jesus talking. He was letting us know that, if we want to come after him, i.e. if we want to believe in him as our Lord and Savior, first of all we must deny ourselves. We must humble ourselves before him, owning up to our sin, and willingly die with him to sin so that we might live with him to righteousness. We can’t hold on to our old lives. We can’t retain control over our own lives, either. We must surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and make him truly Lord (owner-master) of our lives, and let him have control.
But, we don’t do this just one time and then it is over. We must daily deny ourselves. We must daily yield to his Lordship over our lives and surrender control of our lives over to him. Daily, by the Spirit, we must be putting to death the misdeeds of the body. Daily we must be putting on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s temptations to do wrong and his evil attacks against us. And, daily we must follow our Lord in obedience to his will and to his ways, and we must do what his Word teaches us we must do.
Daily we should let our lights shine before all people. Daily we should be a witness for Jesus Christ and for his gospel of salvation. Sometimes this will be just through our lives, and through how we conduct our lives day in and day out, but that should never be our total witness for Jesus Christ. For, God called us to be his holy people that we might proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. For, people need to hear the gospel if they are ever to be saved from their sins.
And, not only are we to daily be a witness for Jesus Christ and for his gospel, but we are to do so even in the face of great opposition. We are to do so even if people are seeking to destroy our lives, for many people are. We have to stand strong on the Word of God, and tell people the truth about the gospel, even in the face of most certain death. For, people’s lives depend on them hearing the truth. So, we have to care more about them than we do about our own comfort, or more than we care about our own lives.
Since “church” today has become synonymous with organizations and businesses of men, and with buildings, and with denominations, many people have this idea that the church increasing in numbers has to do with adding people on to church roles through church memberships and baptisms. But, that is not what this is talking about. For, the church is the people of God, not a building or a business. The church is the people who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior.
So, when the people of God, when we who believe in Jesus Christ are strengthened in our faith, no one will have to tell us to share our faith with others. We will want to share the love and grace of Jesus with others. We will want to share the message of the gospel of our salvation so that others can be saved from their bondage to sin, too. And, when the church is on fire for the Lord, and is spreading the gospel message, many will be added to the church, the body of Christ, via faith in Jesus Christ, and this should be happening daily when the church is spreading the message of the gospel.
Whenever we hear the Word of God preached or taught or shared in some way or another, or whenever we hear anyone proclaim anything about a particular scripture or a belief or a doctrine, we should examine what we hear against the Word of God to make sure that what we are receiving is true or not. But, we have to do this in context, i.e. we have to read scriptures in the context in which they are written to get the full meaning of what they are saying, for many false beliefs come from scriptures taken out of context and made to say something they are not saying at all.
I don’t know if this is something we will do daily, but daily can also mean habitually, as a matter of habit, of practice. This should be a regular and consistent practice to examine what we read or hear others say about the scriptures so that we are not led astray by those who are in error. We should be in a regular practice of testing what others say or teach to make sure what they are teaching lines up with the Word of God, for many people are twisting the scriptures to their own advantage to make them say what they want them to say in order to appease the flesh. So, we need to be wise and discerning about this, lest we are led astray, too.
Since so many Christians today, and so many institutional churches today have gone the way of the world, and have cheapened God’s grace, and have diluted his gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh, much of the church, here in America at least, has rejected the true gospel of our salvation, and along with that those who are proclaiming the true gospel, too. And, thus they have driven dedicated followers of Jesus right out of their gatherings. In reality, they have driven out the Holy Spirit, too.
And, so God has placed many of us out on the internet where daily we are sharing the truth of the Word of God, not just with the world, but with the church, too. For, there is no opportunity for us within many gatherings of the church to truly share what the Lord is teaching us through his Word for the encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ, since so many church congregations have adopted the ways of the world, instead. And, so God has given us a place in the public to do what we are not able to do within the gatherings of the church.
If we are truly following Jesus Christ with our lives, and if he is truly Lord of our lives, and his heart has now become our heart, then daily we should feel much concern for the part of the body of Christ which has become so worldly and fleshly. We should be very burdened for them that they hear the truth, and that they follow the truth. It should break our hearts that so many pastors and teachers of the Word are diluting the gospel message in order to appease the world, and that they are leading people straight to hell.
It should concern us greatly that so many pastors and leaders within our churches, and so many of our men who are supposed to be leading us spiritually, have gone AWOL spiritually because they are addicted to inappropriate content or to lust of their flesh in other respects.
And, it should break our hearts that they are feeding the people in their congregations lies which tickle their itching ears and which tell them what they want to hear but not what they need to hear. We should be crying out to God with tears streaming down our faces because of the spiritual and moral decline of the church and of families, and concerning the breakups of marriages and homes because of sinful addictions.
This should make us indignant! If it doesn’t, then something is seriously wrong with us! For, if we have the heart of God, then it should break our hearts that sin, in particular sexual sin, is allowed to run rampant within the church, and among the church leadership, and that the gospel of salvation is taking a hit because of it, and that people are being given a false hope of salvation based on a lie, and that our children are addicted to inappropriate content, too.
We need to be crying out to God for him to send revival to our churches and to this nation or to other nations because our churches and our nation(s) are headed for disaster. We need to pray that they will return to God.
Full Release
An Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with my Savior
brings me joy.
Loving Father; precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and my Lord.
Gently leads me; follow Him.
I’ve invited Him within.
Now abiding in His presence,
oh, what peace.
From my self-life
He has brought me,
By His mercy, full release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety Jesus brings
When I daily bow before Him;
Obey freely; do His will.
Follow Him where’er He leads.
Listen to Him; His words heed.
Now obeying his words fully,
oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from above.
Loving Father; precious Jesus,
He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by His Spirit,
I will endure to the end.
Share the gospel, tell what’s true.
Witness daily; His will do.
Tell the world of how their Savior
bled and died.
On a cruel cross He suffered
So that we might be alive.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 ESV
This was Jesus talking. He was letting us know that, if we want to come after him, i.e. if we want to believe in him as our Lord and Savior, first of all we must deny ourselves. We must humble ourselves before him, owning up to our sin, and willingly die with him to sin so that we might live with him to righteousness. We can’t hold on to our old lives. We can’t retain control over our own lives, either. We must surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and make him truly Lord (owner-master) of our lives, and let him have control.
But, we don’t do this just one time and then it is over. We must daily deny ourselves. We must daily yield to his Lordship over our lives and surrender control of our lives over to him. Daily, by the Spirit, we must be putting to death the misdeeds of the body. Daily we must be putting on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s temptations to do wrong and his evil attacks against us. And, daily we must follow our Lord in obedience to his will and to his ways, and we must do what his Word teaches us we must do.
“And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.” Luke 19:47-48 ESV
Daily we should let our lights shine before all people. Daily we should be a witness for Jesus Christ and for his gospel of salvation. Sometimes this will be just through our lives, and through how we conduct our lives day in and day out, but that should never be our total witness for Jesus Christ. For, God called us to be his holy people that we might proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. For, people need to hear the gospel if they are ever to be saved from their sins.
And, not only are we to daily be a witness for Jesus Christ and for his gospel, but we are to do so even in the face of great opposition. We are to do so even if people are seeking to destroy our lives, for many people are. We have to stand strong on the Word of God, and tell people the truth about the gospel, even in the face of most certain death. For, people’s lives depend on them hearing the truth. So, we have to care more about them than we do about our own comfort, or more than we care about our own lives.
“So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” Acts 16:5 ESV
Since “church” today has become synonymous with organizations and businesses of men, and with buildings, and with denominations, many people have this idea that the church increasing in numbers has to do with adding people on to church roles through church memberships and baptisms. But, that is not what this is talking about. For, the church is the people of God, not a building or a business. The church is the people who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior.
So, when the people of God, when we who believe in Jesus Christ are strengthened in our faith, no one will have to tell us to share our faith with others. We will want to share the love and grace of Jesus with others. We will want to share the message of the gospel of our salvation so that others can be saved from their bondage to sin, too. And, when the church is on fire for the Lord, and is spreading the gospel message, many will be added to the church, the body of Christ, via faith in Jesus Christ, and this should be happening daily when the church is spreading the message of the gospel.
“Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Acts 17:11 ESV
Whenever we hear the Word of God preached or taught or shared in some way or another, or whenever we hear anyone proclaim anything about a particular scripture or a belief or a doctrine, we should examine what we hear against the Word of God to make sure that what we are receiving is true or not. But, we have to do this in context, i.e. we have to read scriptures in the context in which they are written to get the full meaning of what they are saying, for many false beliefs come from scriptures taken out of context and made to say something they are not saying at all.
I don’t know if this is something we will do daily, but daily can also mean habitually, as a matter of habit, of practice. This should be a regular and consistent practice to examine what we read or hear others say about the scriptures so that we are not led astray by those who are in error. We should be in a regular practice of testing what others say or teach to make sure what they are teaching lines up with the Word of God, for many people are twisting the scriptures to their own advantage to make them say what they want them to say in order to appease the flesh. So, we need to be wise and discerning about this, lest we are led astray, too.
“And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.” Acts 19:8-9 ESV
Since so many Christians today, and so many institutional churches today have gone the way of the world, and have cheapened God’s grace, and have diluted his gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh, much of the church, here in America at least, has rejected the true gospel of our salvation, and along with that those who are proclaiming the true gospel, too. And, thus they have driven dedicated followers of Jesus right out of their gatherings. In reality, they have driven out the Holy Spirit, too.
And, so God has placed many of us out on the internet where daily we are sharing the truth of the Word of God, not just with the world, but with the church, too. For, there is no opportunity for us within many gatherings of the church to truly share what the Lord is teaching us through his Word for the encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ, since so many church congregations have adopted the ways of the world, instead. And, so God has given us a place in the public to do what we are not able to do within the gatherings of the church.
“And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” 2 Corinthians 11:28-29 ESV
If we are truly following Jesus Christ with our lives, and if he is truly Lord of our lives, and his heart has now become our heart, then daily we should feel much concern for the part of the body of Christ which has become so worldly and fleshly. We should be very burdened for them that they hear the truth, and that they follow the truth. It should break our hearts that so many pastors and teachers of the Word are diluting the gospel message in order to appease the world, and that they are leading people straight to hell.
It should concern us greatly that so many pastors and leaders within our churches, and so many of our men who are supposed to be leading us spiritually, have gone AWOL spiritually because they are addicted to inappropriate content or to lust of their flesh in other respects.
And, it should break our hearts that they are feeding the people in their congregations lies which tickle their itching ears and which tell them what they want to hear but not what they need to hear. We should be crying out to God with tears streaming down our faces because of the spiritual and moral decline of the church and of families, and concerning the breakups of marriages and homes because of sinful addictions.
This should make us indignant! If it doesn’t, then something is seriously wrong with us! For, if we have the heart of God, then it should break our hearts that sin, in particular sexual sin, is allowed to run rampant within the church, and among the church leadership, and that the gospel of salvation is taking a hit because of it, and that people are being given a false hope of salvation based on a lie, and that our children are addicted to inappropriate content, too.
We need to be crying out to God for him to send revival to our churches and to this nation or to other nations because our churches and our nation(s) are headed for disaster. We need to pray that they will return to God.
Full Release
An Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with my Savior
brings me joy.
Loving Father; precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and my Lord.
Gently leads me; follow Him.
I’ve invited Him within.
Now abiding in His presence,
oh, what peace.
From my self-life
He has brought me,
By His mercy, full release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety Jesus brings
When I daily bow before Him;
Obey freely; do His will.
Follow Him where’er He leads.
Listen to Him; His words heed.
Now obeying his words fully,
oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from above.
Loving Father; precious Jesus,
He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by His Spirit,
I will endure to the end.
Share the gospel, tell what’s true.
Witness daily; His will do.
Tell the world of how their Savior
bled and died.
On a cruel cross He suffered
So that we might be alive.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
