God Is Your Rewarder
One of the classes I teach at Rhema is Blood Covenant. And the more I look into this amazing covenant between God and man by the blood of Jesus, the more I find God’s amazing grace and goodness toward us.
The deal that Almighty God made with Jesus by accepting His blood as the payment for our sins, is TOTALLY based on what Jesus did, and not based on what we do. It's just up to you and me to believe it (Gal. 2:20).
Think about that. It means that you can’t undo this covenant by acting wrong! You couldn't save yourself, or ever be good enough to earn God’s blessings – so God sent a Savior . And now you must believe by faith that Jesus did it all. He was the spotless Lamb, the perfect man….and He paid a price that you and I could never pay.
But does that mean we can just sin all we want, ask for forgiveness later and expect God’s blessings to fall on us because He’s good? Is there a part for us to play? I believe there is.
DILIGENCE
I think that Hebrews 11:6 gives us a good picture of the way God sees it. It says, “Without faith it’s impossible to please God, for those who come to him must believe that He is (the savior) and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
Yes, we receive salvation when we don’t deserve it – and God is willing to save anyone. We receive healing because He is good, not because we earn or deserve it. God is the savior of ALL….He is the healer of ALL….but he’s a REWARDER of those who DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM.
The diligence is our part.
I think the book of Ephesians is a great picture of God’s part and our part. The first three chapters show us all the blessings and benefits we are heirs to because we believe in Jesus as Lord….and the last three show us our part – what is required of us as a result of becoming Christians.
Just as an example, Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." That's true even though we don’t deserve it and we can't earn it.
Chapter 2 goes on to say, "Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (vv. 5-7).
OUR PART
But then beginning in Chapter 4 we find there is a part for us to play. "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (vv. 1-3).
We're to walk worthy. We're to be humble and gentle, patient and tolerant, diligent in preserving unity. Chapters 5 and 6 continue to give us instructions for living the Christian life -- how to love our spouses and train our children, among other things. I encourage you to read them.
Aren't you glad that God gives us instructions? And when we diligently follow them, and do things His way, we can expect His rewards in our lives.
Diligently doing “our part” (outlined in the last 3 chapters) is meant to be OUR RESPONSE to the goodness of God. His instructions are not meant to make us feel guilty, or to bind us with rules.
When we hear of God’s goodness and understand who He is in us and what He’s done in the first chapters, it’s easy for us to live the way the last chapters tell us to live. He gave His all for us….it’s easy to give our all for Him.
So I want to encourage you that your Heavenly Father loves you. Your savior paid a price for you that could never pay, and you are all the way saved, all the way healed, all the way redeemed. You can expect God’s REWARDS when you diligently do your part to believe and walk in the covenant He died to give you by faith.
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SOMETHING NEW
I often wish that you and I could sit down face to face once in a while and share the things of God together!
But since time and distance stand in our way, I'm starting something new this year that I hope will feel sort of like a heart ot heart chat between us.
Every month, starting with this month, I am recording a new podcast where I just sit down at my kitchen table and share what God has put on my heart for you that month. It won't be from a message I've preached, or from any CD -- it will just be a special message from me to you.
I hope you'll check it out....just click here
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An Amazing Opportunity
This summer, God has opened a door for me to minister to Christian exiles from Uzbekistan.
You might remember that I have friends who minister in this part of the world (they are the ones who were instrumental in printing bibles in the Uzbek language for the first time ever) -- they have been teaching the Word to the young leaders there in the underground church, but as you can imagine it's very dangerous, both for them and for the Uzbek leaders.
For a while now they've been looking for a way to get the leaders out to a nearby country and teach them there, but nothing has worked out. Now God has miraculously led them to an entire colony of approximately 800,000 Uzbek exiles living in Russia who are hungry to be taught and carry the Word back into their own nation!
So along with 2 other ministers (a team of 6 total) I will be going to Russia in early June to hold public services and, most important of all, teach an intensive level one of a Bible school to hungry Uzbeks. It's legal to preach the Gospel in Russia, and obviously, we hope to continue to travel there to teach Uzbeks as many levels as possible.
We truly believe that God has set this up to impact an entire nation, a stronghold of the Islamic world. Every Uzbek Christian we are able to teach in Russia will have influence over hundreds, perhaps thousands, of precious people in Uzbekistan and Central Asia, to set them free with the good news of the Gospel.
If you're interested in giving towards this opportunity, just mark "Uzbeks" on your offering. And thanks, in advance, for being part of bringing Jesus to the Islamic nations of Central Asia!
