Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. We are no longer to be children (from yesterday) but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head even Christ. We are not supposed to stay where we started in the Christian life. No one wants to take care of a 30-year-old baby. Sometimes people speak the truth, but not in love. They say they just want to be honest, but they say it in a hurtful manner. The truth may make you sorry for all that you sinned against God, but it is not meant to hurt you - rather to help you. Back to Christ: from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that with every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Like a puzzle where each piece's place matters, so it is with those in the body of Christ. Each member has his or her place that is necessary. If one piece of the puzzle is missing, it is not complete. If one member of the body ...

  Good morning. And so some of the gifts that were given to the Church – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And why were they given? It wasn't just so they could lord it over the rest of the church; it was for the equipping of the Saints for the work of the service, to the building up of the body of Christ. God did not give us our pastor just so we can hear some funny stories on Sunday morning. Those are like the BOGO ads. They get you into the store so you will buy things other than those. His funny stories get you into the "store" so that you will "buy into" all of the rest. If you put his teachings into action, they will build you up. And just how long are these gifts to be building us up? Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Previously we talked about that you did not have to attain to the unity of th...

  Good morning. Back to the book of Ephesians. Paul says that he wants us to: walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called. We have a noble calling, and we should act that way. And how should we walk? With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love. Even though we have a noble calling, we should not go around with our nose stuck in the air acting like we are something special. We are to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Notice that it said to preserve the unity - not to obtain it. It is natural, or rather supernatural, for there to be unity of the Spirit. Whenever you have two or more people together, it is easy for there to be disunity. We are all one – one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. One is the operative word. One is natural in the Holy Spirit. And though we are one, to ea...

  Good morning. As Paul prayed for the Ephesians, I pray for you: that God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith; and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. That was some prayer by Paul. Having all of that is great (you would be ready for anything that came against you), but the greatest is to know the love of Christ. Sometimes you may feel like you're running on empty; but Paul wants us to be filled up to all the fullness of God. We are to have a tiger in our tank. Do you have something big that you want God to do for you? Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that w...

  Good morning. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Wow! That is the gospel in a nutshell. We didn't do it – God did. If we could do it by ourselves, we would not have needed for Jesus to die for our sins. All we needed was a little faith to believe what God said. The "have been saved" is in the perfect tense. Again that means an action completed in the past with effects felt in the present. It is a done deal - we are saved. A long time ago we talked about the next verse – that we are His workmanship created for good works. The good works come as a result of being saved, not to obtain it. He Himself is our peace. In context He's talking about the Jews versus the Gentiles. But it is true in general. For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. And so we are fellow citizens with the Saints, and are of God's household. Paul then...

  Good morning. Continuing with this power toward us who believe: in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. That is a whole lot of power! And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. This reminds us of chapter 15 of first Corinthians and chapter 2 of Hebrews - they also talked about God putting all things in subjection under Jesus' feet. He is the head, and we are the body. Remember that in Corinthians Paul talked about there is no part of the body that is unnecessary. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formally walked… According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Yes we were like them – indulging the desires of the flesh and of th...

  Good morning. Why has He blessed us so? That we should be to the praise of His glory. In Him, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. We hear the word on good soil; we believe in what the word says; and then God seals us in the Holy Spirit. This is kind of like you have seen in the old movies. They put hot wax on an envelope and then take a device that they pressed onto the wax that puts a seal in the wax on the envelope. That seal said this is mine. God seals us, and says this is Mine. Like other verses, it says that the Holy Spirit is a pledge – engagement ring. He has paid the price, and one day soon He is coming to collect His own. Paul's prayer for them is also a prayer for us: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,...

  Good morning. And so He chose us to be holy and blameless and to be adopted as His sons – to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness us of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. He didn't just sprinkle us with Grace – He lavished it upon us. The price for our redemption was His blood. He paid a price He did not owe. In the Old Testament sins were just covered up by the blood of animals. There was no true forgiveness until Christ shed His blood. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him… The summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. His will was in the Scriptures; but it was hidden until the right time. The same thing is true about the end times. It is in the Scriptures, but it has been hidden until the righ...

  Good morning. Today we're going to start the book of Ephesians. I only mentioned a few verses previously; and it is possible that I will mention the same ones again. It says that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Need a spiritual blessing – it's yours. Of course we've got to get it from up there to down here. In Christ we have everything. He has blessed us – just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. God chose you Rani! And it wasn't just at the last moment. It was before the world existed. It was a deliberate choice, because He saw something special in you. Why did He choose us – that we should be holy and blameless before Him. It's kind of like choosing up sides to play backyard baseball. Only God got to do all of His choosing first. He didn't just choose us and leave us. He had something special planned for us – that we should be holy and blameless. That is His will, and that will happen...

  Good morning. Paul says that even if someone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. In this sense we are our brother's keeper. The word restore comes with the meaning as of mending a fishing net. Sometimes Christians take this to the extreme. They have their magnifying glasses out looking for anything they consider to be a sin. Concerning the phrase "lest you too be tempted": I'm sure you've seen cases where some pastor or evangelist strongly criticized people who did a certain wrong thing. Later it was revealed that they were doing the exact same thing. It seems like the louder one criticizes, the more likely it is that they are committing the same sin. Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. When we love one another as Christ loved us, then we will bear one another's burdens. And then one of those biggie verses: do...

  Good morning. So what's the deal between the Spirit and the flesh? Why is there a problem? It is because the flesh set its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. There is a war going on within you. It's like the battle going on that Paul talks about in Romans chapter 7 - doing what you really don't want to do. So how do we cure this? We make sure that we are led by the Spirit. Paul then says that the deeds of the flesh are evident. These are not secret sins. They may start out that way but sooner or later they become fully evident to all. He then lists a bunch of them. He says that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. He doesn't say that just because you do them once, that you won't inherit the kingdom of God – it's if you practice them. However practicing something begins with doing it just one time. He then li...

  Good morning. Back to Galatians. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Christ set us free; so we do not need to come back under a set of rules and regulations made by man. It's good to have guidelines; but all too soon guidelines become Commandments (usually more than 10). Paul says that they were seeking to be justified by law, and that they had fallen from grace. That does not necessarily mean they were no longer saved. It means that they were no longer walking by the loftiness of grace but by their own power. If you have rules and regulations, then perhaps you can do it all on your own without the grace of God. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. ...

  Good morning. Paul talks about Christ becoming a curse for us in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Without that Holy Spirit, we could not live the Christian life. He talks about no law could have imparted life. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. We are children of God, not because of anything we've done, but because of our faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. And so we need to act like it. The world is supposed to see Christ when they look at us; just like Jesus told His disciples "when you've seen Me you've seen the Father". And so when the world sees us, they've seen Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Rani, you are an heir of God. People are all concerned about when will Jesus come again? It i...

  Good morning. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. Remember that we are dead. The old man is not supposed to be acting. Christ is the one living in us. We are not supposed to be living in our own strength; we are supposed to live by faith in Jesus. He loved us and gave up His life for us before we even knew Him. The Galatians had received salvation by faith in Jesus; but apparently they were trying to live the Christian life by works of the law. Paul calls them foolish Galatians. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? They did not come into the Christian life by doing works of the law – it was by hearing with faith. But now: having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Too many churches do that today. They preach Grace Grace Grace for salv...

  Good morning. We are now in the book of Galatians. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. There was no other acceptable sacrifice but that of Jesus on the cross. Nothing else could pay for all of our sins. We no longer belong to this world and its system; and we should act that way. Sometimes though we forget that. We start behaving like we did before we became Christians. Some like strict rules and regulations, and some like to do just whatever they want. Paul says: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another – only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. We were saved by grace, but they want us to live by rules and regulations. We were set free from sin – but they want us to still...

  Good morning. Hope everything is going well. Paul talks about himself being a true apostle of Jesus Christ. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. Being in the Assembly of God church you may or may not be aware of what goes on in other churches. There are men and women who claim to be apostles. They even have their own groups. They are structured kind of like Amway. Certain churches are under one apostle who is under another apostle who is under another apostle until you get to the top of the pyramid. And of course you give tithes upward. They are more interested in building their own empire than the church of God. They can be very legalistic and demanding of those under them. Back to Paul: and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds. Paul then tells o...

  Good morning. Continuing the thought of destroying fortresses. Just what kind of fortresses is Paul talking about? We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Those are the fortresses we are destroying; and they truly are fortresses. They are not easily brought down. That is why we need the power of the Holy Spirit. Moving on to Chapter 11: but I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be lead astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. This is very true in some realms of Christianity. They are so in enamored with the thought of obtaining special knowledge (remember Gnosticism?), that they no longer concentrate on the simple truth – that of devotion to Christ. They want to "move on" from the foundation mentioned in Hebrews. If the foundation is not solid, the building will fall. When you are seeking ...

  Good morning. Back to Corinthians: now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality. We don't even have to supply the seed – He does it! He gives to us so we can give to others. And the result: they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. Too many times Christians try to fight spiritual battles with physical weapons. They try to do it in their own strength. They try to figure out some way to make it happen. Notice that it says for attacking fortresses. Have you ever been attacked by a fortress? No. We are the ones doing the attacking! Father th...

  Good morning. W e are skipping a number of verses. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. He had it made; and yet He gave it all up for us. It would be like a billionaire deciding to live like a homeless person. He had everything in heaven and nothing on earth. He was not born into a wealthy family – He was born in a manger. And yet because of that, we became rich beyond belief. Then Paul writes a lot of verses about giving. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. You get what you give - and that multiplied. Of course it all comes from the heart. Are you counting it down to the penny what you should give? Then that is what you will receive. Now I'm talking about those who could give more but don't, because they think they don't have to. However I am not legalistic like some....

  Good morning. Continuing from yesterday: therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We are like the ambassadors from our country. They represent the interests of the United States and its citizens in other countries. We also represent Christ and Christians' interests in this world, foreign to us. When people see us, they are supposed to see Christ. When we behave badly, we give Christ a bad name; just like ambassadors of the United States give the United States a bad name, if they behave badly. Now the next verse can be confusing if you do not realize that the word sin is a noun and not a verb. He made Him who knew no sin (to be) sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. God did not make Jesus commit the act of sin – He made Him to actually become sin on the cross. When Jesus died, sin died. We could not have become the righteousness of God without that ...

  Good Morning.   How should we live our everyday lives as a Christian? For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died. If we lived our lives with that in mind, how much better would our lives be? Usually it is our own self-interest that controls us, not the love of Christ. After all – it says that we are dead. And why did Christ die? And He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Sometimes it is hard to not live for ourselves. With all of our pressing needs, it is hard to think "what would Jesus do"? Sometimes it is hard to put into practice the following: therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature (creation), the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. If we keep thinking the old way, then we won't behave the new way. It's all in your mind. Stinking thinking brings behavior not of our Savior. Then Paul...

  Good morning! Hope you have a great time with your family. Continuing: for indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal maybe swallowed up by life. Someone has called our physical bodies our earth suits like astronauts have spacesuits. The real we needs these earth suits to operate in the physical world. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge (remember – engagement ring). Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord (too many times Christians are too much at home in the body – they don't want to leave this world). And now a verse, which is true, but many times taken out of context: for we walk by faith, not by sight. In context it is talking about after we die having this house in heaven instead of this tent here on earth. It is true though that in all ...

  Good morning. Paul says: for we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. It is easy to lose heart when one sees the body essentially falling apart. And it is hard enough just with the natural aging process; but if there's some sort of disease or affliction it makes it almost impossible to not lose heart. However our inner man, the one that really matters, can be renewed every day as long as we keep our faith in God and His word. Paul was under a lot of trials and afflictions and he still said: for momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. Note the contrast: momentary and light affliction versus eternal and weight of glory. What he went through was definitely not light affliction, and I'm sure did not seem like it was momentary to him while he was going through it. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for ...

  Good morning. Paul says… Not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. He is continuing with the theme of not trying to fool people. He does not twist the word of God to suit his needs. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. This refers back to the verse from yesterday. In that verse it talks about that we have unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord, and are being transformed into that image of Christ who is the image of God. Unlike some preachers Paul says "we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord". He did not promote himself. God is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in th...

  Good morning. Paul talks about: not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as   coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. Whatever we do that is good, it is God in us that does it – we can claim no glory from it. Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Sadly too many Christians turn to a legalistic life after they've been set free by the Holy Spirit. You cannot be saved by legalistically following the law; and neither can you live the Christian life in a legalistic way. If someone does not agree with you, they are automatically wrong! The letter looks for what is wrong in a person; the Spirit looks for what's right in a person. Paul then talks about the ministry of the Spirit being with even more glory than that of the letter. The letter brought condemnation just like people who are legalistic today. That glory of the law faded away; but the glo...

  Good morning. Hope you have a great day today. Paul tells the Corinthians that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom – there it is again – but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, especially towards you. We are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. Paul tells them that with him there would not be yes, yes and no, no at the same time. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our amen to the glory of God through us. We don't have to worry about God changing His mind. If He said it, He will do it. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. I believe I mentioned this before: that the Greek word translated pledge means engagement ring in modern Greek. So th...

  Good morning. I hope everything is well with you. We are now in second Corinthians. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. We were not comforted just for ourselves. We were comforted in order that we might help those who need help. We can tell others that we went through something similar. God helped us, so they can be sure that God will help them. God usually does not give us something just for our own sake. He gives us something so that we can give to others. This is true even of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you look at those nine gifts in chapter 12 of first Corinthians, the gifts actually are for others, not for ourselves; though we may benefit from those gifts also. Even Paul says that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is for the common go...

  Good morning. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Adam blew it, but Jesus did not. Adam had only one command – don't eat! Jesus had 10 Commandments - He did not fail. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Because Adam sinned, everyone dies. Because Christ did not sin, those that believe in Him shall be made alive, even if they do die. First Christ was made alive; then those who are His will be made alive at His coming. Then comes the end when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, after He has abolished all rule, authority, and power. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. Then the famous "bad company corrupts good morals". That is oh so true. Once in a while it is the other way around; but almost always it is true. Seldom does associating with good people change a bad person's heart. It is much easier to go l...

  Good morning. We read the love chapter yesterday. Then Paul says to pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. The love of chapter 13 doesn't just happen on its own. We have to pursue it. It takes a lot of effort to achieve the kind of love demonstrated in chapter 13. We are going to skip most of chapter 14, especially the part where women are to keep silent in the churches. The gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. That does not sound like greasy grace to me. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised the third day. He appeared to a number of different people some who remained and some who had fallen asleep. Like Paul, by the grace of God we are what we are. Some had been preaching that Christ had not been raised from the dead. He could be referring to those who were ...

  Good morning. I hope all is well with you. This morning I think we will just let the Scripture speak for itself. It's probably not your favorite version though. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they w...

  Good morning. A verse that tells us that we are not unique in our situation: no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. We don't have to give in. Help is on the way! As they say "God won't give you any more than you can handle". And we say "that's easy for you to say". Skipping a bunch of verses, Paul tells us that whatever we do, do all to the glory of God. Too many times we do what is good for us without even thinking about what God desires. Paul says: just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. We need someone we can look up to; and we also need to be examples to others that they can look up to. Skipping a bunch of verses: wh...