Category: Firm Foundation

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, Firm Foundation, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Quiet Time

No Longer Ashamed

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based on the LGG Study, Firm Foundation, w2d1

Scripture and Observation

Read: Romans 6:21-23 / SOAP v23 (It is most helpful to read the entire chapter)

So, what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. 23 For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

WOW! Talk about. a truth that changed everything and is essential to our firm foundation. We could stop here with the reading of these three verses, soak them in and move on – but we would do ourselves an injustice. You see – the question asked in verse 21 requires us to look back to the previous verse(s) to see what Paul is talking about. I found reading the whole chapter to be most helpful, but even going back a few verses revealed that he is referring to slavery to sin, which had resulted in impurity and lawlessness.

Before believing in Christ, the people had been free from the obligation to do/live righteously, and the result of that freedom led to sin and shame. However, and a mighty HALLELUJAH! The result of believing in Christ brought freedom from sin and shame and a life with God, which leads to eternal life!

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23 NLT
Application from the Journey

If you haven’t placed your faith and hope in Jesus Christ – I plead with you to do that today. – The Bible tells us the way to this salvation, this hope, and freedom from slavery to sin, and the shame sin brings is to “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.”1 – If you have believed – rejoice in the freedom from sin and shame and live the holy life He has called us to by giving yourselves as slaves to righteousness, through the power of Christ and His Spirit in us. 2

I am so thankful for the freedom from sin and truly rejoice in the freedom from shame. That’s right – God didn’t just free us from the law of sin and death – He poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom He gave to us, and because of that hope, we do not stand in shame but rejoice in the righteousness of Christ and His blood that covers us! (please tell me this brought a hallelujah!) Friend, because of this hope: “There is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus! Scripture makes it clear that …

  • We are made right with God by faith (Rom 5:1,3, 5 and 7)
  • We have peace with God because of what Christ did for us (Rom 5:1)
  • Our sins are put out of sight (Rom 5:7-8)

“Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

(Romans 5:5)
Prayer and Worship Response to the Journey

Father, You are worthy of more praise than we can give – for You have saved us not only from our sins but from the stain and shame those sins marked us with. You have removed their power over us, and You have covered us with the righteousness of Christ and poured the love of Your Spirit out into our hearts! We are most blessed to stand before You, forgiven and cleansed – not because of anything we have done or ever could do but because of what Christ did for us on the cross. He took our sins and their shame upon Himself that we might be made right with You, have peace with You, and have our sins be put out of Your sight! Ah! Lord God – Hallelujah! How very loving and merciful You are! – May we, in turn, give ourselves fully to You, living as slaves to righteous living… being holy as You are holy, hating sin and all that is wrong, and clinging to what is good. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus who bore my sin and shame – Amen and amen!

The More We Know
Click Here for more insight from Love God Greatly

Last week’s journey led us through a lesson on the holiness of God and His instruction for His children to be holy as He is Holy. In backing up and reading the passage that led to our verses today, I found this nugget of gold. If we want to become/live the holy life, “we must give ourselves to be slaves to righteous living.3“

Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

Romans 6:19

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, Firm Foundation, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Quiet Time

To Act Justly

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based on the LGG Study, Firm Foundation/w1dd5

Scripture and Observation

Read: Deuteronomy 32:1-4 and Psalm 9:1-8 / SOAP: Deut 32:4 and Ps 9:7-8

He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
    Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
    how just and upright he is!

Deuteronomy 32:4

But the Lord reigns forever,
    executing judgment from his throne.
8 He will judge the world with justice
    and rule the nations with fairness.

Psalm 9:7-8

“.When we say that God is just, we mean that He is perfectly righteous in His treatment of His creatures. God shows no partiality.” This definition is from gotquestions.org. It is truly as simple as it sounds, yet so much more profound that I encourage you to visit the link for the fuller and most helpful explanation included in the footnotes below.

“.When we say that God is just, we mean that He is perfectly righteous in His treatment of His creatures. God shows no partiality.”

gotquestions.org/What Does It Mean that God is Just?1

I believe it is safe to say that we all want to be treated justly (fairly) in this life. Likewise, we also struggle with the injustices of this world, where the wicked are known to prosper. The problem is we live in a flawed world, and more often than not, we come to the various situations and encounters of this life with a variety of opinions on what is fair and what is not fair. This is because, In large part, humans are ruled by their emotions, and decisions are made far too often in the heat of the moment, based – not on what is good and right in God’s eyes but on our emotions at the time.

It is important to remember that on this side of Heaven, our sinful nature will remain a thorn in our flesh to deal with, which is why we must also remember that “Those who belong to Christ Jesus are to have nailed their passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.” This is why we must choose to live, not by our emotions, blown and tossed about by the wind, but guided by the Word and ways of God. Heeding the warning of Paul – we should strive to “keep in step with the Spirit.” When we walk in step with the Spirit, not only will our hearts and minds be ruled by the Spirit, but we will act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, which is yet another call of God on the lives of His people.2

He has told you, O man, what is good,
and what the Lord really wants from you:
He wants you to carry out justice, to love faithfulness,
and to live obediently before your God.

Micah 6:8

Today’s LGG journal entry, p57, explains that – “The importance of understanding God’s justice is vital to understanding His righteousness. It goes on to say, that God’s justice and righteousness are inseparable.

The More We Know

Do you struggle with the injustices of this world? Consider these words found in today’s LGG Journal entry:

“In a world where injustice still exists and evildoers, unfortunately, often prosper, we can trust that God will ultimately judge all sin one day (Psalm 9:7-8). As followers of Christ, we are called to reflect God’s justice by protecting the vulnerable and confronting evil, while walking humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).

God’s justice informs our understanding of righteousness by teaching us that true righteousness embodies fairness, integrity, and obedience to God’s ways, as listed out in Scripture. In times of doubt or frustration over the injustices around us, we can take comfort in knowing that God is a good, fair, and loving judge. His justice will ultimately prevail, and His righteousness will shine forth.”

p 57 of Love God Greatly’s, Firm Foundation, journal
Prayer of Response to the Journey

Dear Jesus, thank You for Your perfect justice and righteousness. Help me to trust in Your fairness and to reflect Your justice in my life. Thank You for the reminder that we are to carry out justice, to love faithfulness, and to live obediently before our God. May we be careful to keep in step with the Spirit and not let our emotions hinder us from acting justly. – In Jesus’ Name and power, Amen

,

For More Insight on the Journey click HERE

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, Firm Foundation, From the Insideout, God is good, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study, Quiet Time

Love Is Essential

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based on the LGG Study, Firm Foundation, w1/d4

Scripture and Observation

Read: 1 John 4:7-10 and John 3:16-17 / SOAP: 1 John 4:8 and John 3:1

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:81

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Love is essential to Christian living because it is an essential part of God’s identity.

bibleref.com/1 Jn 4:8

Fresh off of yesterday’s journey exploring God’s call on our life to be holy as He is holy we are now met with the measure of His love and what it means if we do not love. I’m not sure which is harder to embrace: the act of being holy as God is holy or the act of loving others the way God loves us, and what it says about us if we don’t. Both callings are acts that God has called us to and equipped us for, but both can seem impossible to carry out. Actually, in and of ourselves, they are impossible. Holiness and love require the presence of God in us, and His presence is only received when we place our faith in Jesus – the second person of the Trinity – who Himself is holy and loved us enough to leave heaven’s splendor and die for our sins on a cross of shame. Now, this is love!

I don’t know about you but throughout the course of my life there have been some people that have been particularly hard for me to like, let alone love. So when I read our passages today, particularly 1 John 4:8 and the inference that if we do not love then then we do not love God – I knew I had to look a little deeper into the meaning behind it. I found the commentary from bibleref.com to be the most helpful:

To “know” God requires a person to have a relationship with Him … Love comes from God, so those who demonstrate love show they have fellowship with Him. The inverse is also true. The person who does not demonstrate love does not know (or is not walking in fellowship with)* God.

Bibleref.com/1 John 4:8

If we are walking close to God His love will naturally flow through us – even toward those who we don’t really care for. For this holiness and love to be seen and heard in us we must be in fellowship with God. To “know” God requires a person to have a relationship with Him, Love comes from God, so those who demonstrate love show they have fellowship with Him. 

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

1 John 4:10

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are filled with His Holy Spirit, the third person of the Triune God, who teaches, guides, and empowers us to live as God called us to live.2 Paul teaches us that believers are not only sealed with the Spirit but we are filled with and controlled by the Spirit. He also teaches that when we let the Holy Spirit guide our lives, we will be known by His fruit – which includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.3

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

Romans 8:9

 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

Ephesians 1:13-14

The bottom line is this: if we want to live out God’s calling on our lives of holiness and love, we must first believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.4 Following our salvation, we must choose for ourselves which nature will control us – the old sinful nature or the new spiritual nature. 5One leads us away from God, and the other leads us to a life of holiness filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

It seems fitting to close with these words of Joshua to the Israelites: “But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”6

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, Your love is indeed powerful – it saves and actively, lovingly pursues. Yours is a relentless love, or as David described it, a “love that follows us all the days of our lives…” and for this, I am most grateful. I pray for everyone who is on this journey with me that they might be building their lives on the truths of Your Word. I pray that they might find their feet firm on the foundation of Your Word and live out Your calling on their lives. I pray that we will choose to live by Your Spirit and not by our old sinful nature. I pray for anyone on this journey who does not know you to believe in Jesus and be saved that they too might know and share in the power and promise of Your Love – In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray and praise You – Amen!

*Emphasis mine

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, Firm Foundation, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Know These Truths, LGG Study

A Holiness to Imitate

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based on the Love God Greatly study, Firm Foundation/w1d3

Scripture and Observation

Isaiah 6:1-5 and 1 Peter 1;13-16/Soap: Isaiah 6:3 and 1 Peter 1:16

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
    The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Isaiah 6:3

For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16

God is holy, and He has called His people to be holy. So, if as God’s people, we are committed to living the holy life He has called us to, we must be wise and search the Scriptures to understand first…

  • What it means that God is holy.
    • There are plenty of explanations out there but I love this one from gotquestions.org:
      • “In Him, there is not even the faintest trace of evil He is impeccably pure, wholly without fault, and uncompromisingly just. He cannot lie. He cannot make wrong decisions. He is blameless, tireless, and sinless.
Application from the Journey

We must also ask ourselves:

  • Can we be holy, and if so, how?
    • Can we? Without a doubt – yes. You see, if God has called us to something He has equipped us to do it. One of the ways He has done this, is explained by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where he tells us that if anyone is in Christ they have a “new nature..” He says, “the old is gone the new is here.” As we learn in Romans this means we are no longer controlled by the law of sin and death.1 Instead, we have been given His Spirit, and as Paul wrote, “when we let the Spirit control our mind it leads us to life and peace.”2
      • On top of this, Peter told his readers that God has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. It is through these promises that He has given us His very great and precious promises
    • But how can we possibly be holy like God is? Thankfully, God didn’t just call us to be holy but He told us how in His Word:

Clearly, God did not call us to holiness without making a way to be holy and telling us how to be. if we want to live out God’s call for holiness we must choose a life of faith and heed the teaching of God in His Word – not to follow the world’s ways but to let God transform us into His image.

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:6

Prayer of Response to the Journey

Father, thank You for equipping us to live as You have called us to live. Whether it is to live and love like Jesus, to be holy as You are holy, to forgive others, to obey Your commands, to go and make disciples, to be light and salt in this dark and corrupted world, to walk by faith and not by sight … or the myriad of other teachings we know that we can do all these things through Christ who strengthens us. Thank You for Your Spirit in us and for Your Word that is living and active, a light to our path and correction when we veer from that path. How blessed we are to be loved and called by You and to have Jesus, our King and Savior, as our example. Thank You for Your promised forgiveness when we fall short of Your glory and for this study about building our lives on the truths of Your Word, our Firm Foundation. – Strengthen us all to Your glory and honor – Amen and Amen!

The More We Know about the Journey
lovegodgreatly.com blog post
  1. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Romans 6:14 ↩︎
  2. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:6 ↩︎