Journal entry from October 15, 2018

"Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; - Luke 21:34

This verse really speaks to me this morning, because it addresses what I have struggled with so much - my mind being pulled because of “worries of life.”

By the Lord’s command, I must “be on guard” in order to overcome and rise above the worries of life. To be on guard I must abide in Christ, in His word, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, in communion with the Lord and fellowship with His Church.

Thank you Lord for this wonderful light of truth, of clarity, of wisdom from you. Praise the Lord!

in Him we live and move and exist - Acts 17:28a

 Also, it seems that if the human will is required, if it is the initiating force to accept the working of God’s will - especially through His plan of salvation, then the truth of God’s word being living and active would have to be rejected. God’s word is living and active because of God’s will working through it. If the choice to accept or reject the gospel in God’s word is reliant upon the decision of man, then how could the word be living and active? Why would it need to be living and active?

The argument that God is only justified in pouring out His wrath on those who reject the gospel because they had an opportunity to make a free will choice is absurd. God would be justified if He chose to save no one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are saved only by God’s merciful grace.

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, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9

​It’s as if God is saying, “I am far more than you can see and comprehend. So, I have given you my word in scripture so that through it you may see and know enough of me to keep you and guide you until I bring you home. Abide in me, abide in my word on your journey. Do not leave the narrow path that I have set before you through my word - and there will be many who will try to entice you to do so.”

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. - 1 Corinthians 13:12

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Christian life is one of mountains, valleys, streams, and deserts. Times of communing with God and times of reaching for Him. Times of abounding happiness and times of depression and suffering. Times of victory and times of being attacked. But in Christ there is always joy. Because we must be in this world for a period of our existence we are given the Word to revive us, restore us and keep us on the narrow path of Christ.

​So much of what we have in Jesus Christ is missed through lack of faith. So much of the spirit passing from the loving hand of God, through the blessed and worthy hand of Christ is stifled by fear, anxiety, and our compromising and capitulation to the things of this world. God’s grace and love and blessings and glory are poured out to us through Jesus Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not opinion, theory, or philosophy - it is the only infallible and pure truth, the revelation of the eternal mind of God.

He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. - John 3:31