Jesus told the disciples that it is for our advantage that He went away. In His place He sent His Holy Spirit to be our helper. The Holy Spirit's role is to convict the world of their sin and impending judgment from God, but for believers He convinces us of the righteousness that we have in Christ. It's time to believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ still has the power to change and transform lives!
Like the church in Revelation, some of us have left our first love. We have grown distant from God. It doesn't happen overnight, but occurs gradually, like a slow leak. Familiarity and convenience cause us to drift away from Jesus and toward religion. When we realize our hearts have grown cold we try to get back to our first love by reading, praying and fasting more; but our efforts are in vain. God wants to bring a fire back to our hearts, and it starts with us acknowledging who God is—that He is good and His mercy endures forever.
God has made promises to us and God is going to keep us. Promises of God—this is the victory, this is the sweetness of the cross. It is for those of us engaged in the battle of faith who want to see the name of Christ glorified in the earth. The sweetness of the cross is available to those of us willing to fight this fight to the end!
It’s inconceivable that God would have a people who can become so religiously blind towards the ways of God that they would actually be willing to kill Him. But seeing the promises of God written for us say: “Jesus, Lord forbid that I should ever set my thoughts above your will for my life. Take me and glorify thy name on the earth!”
See worship as an oasis in a desert, a hiding place. For the Christian, no matter what the difficulty, there is always a place of safety. That place is the place of Worship. It is the time we take to get alone with the Lord and be reminded of who we are in Him.
One of the great keys to winning in difficult times is to cut your problem down to one day. Say, “God give me the victory today, tomorrow – I’ll leave it with you. Just let me be successful today. Let me praise You today, help me to win today! ” So win day by day!
As believers, when we find sin still operating in our lives we start to question whether God's grace is really at work. Like Abraham, we start to doubt the promises of God and try to make them happen in our own human effort. We measure our righteousness by how well we are able to manage our sin. Our righteousness is not determined by our performance, but by the justifying work of Christ on the cross. His grace is at work in our lives, sanctifying us. Our good works cannot add anything to the righteousness that we have in Jesus.
Beloved, are you hindered by something? Is it an overcoming reaction to certain people, places, and things? If we say, “Lord, whatever it is that steals my testimony, shuts out the light, keeps me in prison, and bondage: You will be faithful to go to the root. You will heal and deliver. I will submit!”
There are times which come even to the people of God, where thoughts of death call out to them. You have a right to speak to that hopelessness, that darkness. Say in the name of Jesus, the Son of God, “You are not going to take away my future, my hope; you are not stealing my song!”