God is calling us to a "Crazy Generosity." It isn't one birthed out of the Law, compulsion or guilt, but a generosity driven by the grace of God. We shouldn't have to be commanded to give. When we fully understand Christ's love and generosity toward us, we can't help but pour out all that we can for others.
We're all involved in spiritual warfare—no matter our standing in life—and like a predator, our enemy goes after the weak. We must be strong in the Lord and wield the shield of faith, which extinguishes all the fiery arrows of the enemy. These aren't just arrows that kill, but they hit and set the whole body aflame. That can be lust, resentment, anger, worry, etc. Faith produces an assurance of future things to happen and a certainty that things unseen are just as real, or more real in some cases, than what we can see with our eyes. Faith comes by God's word being revealed to our hearts. Lord, increase our faith!
Crazy faith is believing that the best is yet to come. Before God can bring the best in our lives, he must do something deeper in our lives. He needs to take away the one thing that is holding you back. God wants to give us victory but we must allow him to remove that one thing that is holding us back from complete devotion. God also sometimes asks us to add one thing to our lives to bring his best. In Acts, before Pentecost the disciples needed to add a new member, Matthias to replace Judas. The disciples needed to deal with their past hurts and add one thing to their lives in order for God to release the blessing.
The Tree of Life, planted in the Garden, demarcates a point in time, before which, God always was. He was complete and had need of nothing. Creation was meant to reflect His character. Man was meant to be in line and in synch with God, but sin entered into man's heart. Through history and even today man tries in his own strength to reconcile his relationship with God — an impossible task. In His mercy and love, God plants another tree in time — the old Roman cross. Through Christ's perfect life and sacrifice on the cross we are reconciled back to God and our relationship is restored.
In Genesis, God gave man dominion over all the earth and crowned him with honor and glory. In the garden, though, sin entered into man's heart and he lost his authority. What we once had dominion over, now had dominion over us. The good news is that God doesn't leave us in our misery and failure. He sends Christ Jesus, as man, to restore the authority originally given to us. Now Jesus is crowned with honor and glory and everything is under subjection to Him. He invites us to partake in His authority and victory.
There are four levels of people in the church — the "come and see" crowd, new beginners, growing disciples and the radically devoted. A healthy growing church will have them all. When Jesus is in the house, people at every level will experience the extraordinary. He wants us all to grow to deeper depths with Him, but our biggest hindrance is clinging to the things that Christ is asking us to surrender. Turn your clenched fist to an open palm and give it all to Jesus. He doesn't promise that it will be easy, or that it won't be messy, but don't give up! God will bring you to a greater glory.
The Question: Will I ever be fully accepted? Will He [God] ever fully accept me? Behold [Jesus], the sacrifice that God will accept for all people. Jesus Christ has covered my blemishes, He has covered my failings and my faults.
The fulfillment of marriage as God intended it to be is still within reach of all of us. True love comes from communication. It comes from knowing one another, from taking the time to talk. Those that make that choice break through. Seek first the Kingdom of God.
The promise of God to Abraham was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and subsequently through the church of Jesus Christ. You are an extension of this promise that God made to Abraham. Your greatest enemy is fear. No one can triumph over the plan that Christ has destined for you. No one! Fear not!
All of God's previous covenants were never fulfilled — the angels fell, Adam sinned and the Israelites couldn't follow the Law — until Christ came and completely fulfilled the Old Covenant. Jesus established the New Covenant — one where God gives us the grace to follow His commands. When we "drift away," as the writer of Hebrews says, it is not toward immorality, but back toward an old covenant works-based mentality. Our good works cannot add anything to Christ's finished work on the Cross. Works are a result of God's grace. They do not make us more holy or more acceptable to God.