#knowing christ

[dramoor]

“Knowing God without knowing our wretchedness leads to pride.    Knowing our wretchedness without knowing God leads to despair.   Knowing Christ gives the balance.”

~Blaise Pascal

(Image via Wal-Mart)

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Renewing Your Mind | Things Unseen | Ligonier Ministries

In a world of distractions, Christians must fix their focus on knowing Christ and His Word. Today, Sinclair Ferguson introduces his new daily devotional podcast from Ligonier Ministries to help God’s people think clearly and live faithfully for the Lord.

[walkswithmyfather]

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” —John 1:1 (CSB)

“IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Isa. 9:6.] He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.” —John 1:1‭-‬3 (AMPC)

“You can’t know the real Jesus apart from where He’s revealed, the Bible. If you reject the Bible, you reject Christ.”

—Dustin Benge

[yashablu]

given over

Sometimes when this deal gets real heated there’s this thought comes around in my head that God’s given me over to this thing that I’m struggling to overcome following Christ, this guy thing that’s pounding within. It’s strong cause this deal’s never-ending and it pounds even tho I stay clean and don’t go off with a guy or even look at gay stuff on a screen. It feels like it’s true cause this deal’s never thru of fighting what’s eating me up from within. But it’s a lie cause my heart still wants Jesus, and it’s what He’s said in the book, that the Father never loses who He’s got hold of, even tho sin’s still clinging real close.

Against that lie that I’m given over there’s another word I’m finding that’s true that says that we’re jars of clay containing something greater, the Spirit of Christ living within. And if it’s Christ that God’s given, He’s given so that I’ll live. But living in Him means bearing His dying and being given over to death every day. But it’s for His sake and meant to show Him to others so that they also may live. It means being troubled and perplexed, maybe even pursued and struck down, but Christ is God’s ‘but not’ that none of these things can keep me from going on.

So I’m either given over to what’s in me, or I’m given over to death, neither one is an easy road taken when it’s Jesus that means most. But if it’s the dying of Jesus I’m bearing in living this life each day, it means the life of Jesus may be seen in this body of flesh and I am redeemed by life. The point of this deal is what I am is becoming real in You, that it’s You others see when they’re looking at me, and for that I’ll go where You call.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Warning: Don’t Trust in the Flesh

1 So then, my dear family, it comes down to this: celebrate in the Lord! It’s no trouble for me to write the same things to you, and it’s safe for you.

2 Watch out for the dogs! Watch out for the ‘bad works’ people! Watch out for the ‘incision’ party, that is, the mutilators! 3 We are the ‘circumcision’, you see – we who worship God by the spirit, and boast in King Jesus, and refuse to trust in the flesh.

4 Mind you, I’ve got good reason to trust in the flesh. If anyone else thinks they have reason to trust in the flesh, I’ve got more. 5 Circumcised? On the eighth day. Race? Israelite. Tribe? Benjamin. Descent? Hebrew through and through. Torah-observance? A Pharisee. 6 Zealous? I persecuted the church! Official status under the law? Blameless.

Gaining the Messiah

7 Does that sound as though my account was well in credit? Well, maybe; but whatever I had written in on the profit side, I calculated it instead as a loss – because of the Messiah. 8 Yes, I know that’s weird, but there’s more: I calculate everything as a loss, because knowing King Jesus as my Lord is worth far more than everything else put together! In fact, because of the Messiah I’ve suffered the loss of everything, and I now calculate it as trash, so that my profit may be the Messiah, 9 and that I may be discovered in him, not having my own covenant status defined by Torah, but the status which comes through the Messiah’s faithfulness: the covenant status from God which is given to faith. 10 This means knowing him, knowing the power of his resurrection, and knowing the partnership of his sufferings. It means sharing the form and pattern of his death, 11 so that somehow I may arrive at the final resurrection from the dead.

Chasing on to the Finish

12 I’m not implying that I’ve already received ‘resurrection’, or that I’ve already become complete and mature! No; I’m hurrying on, eager to overtake it, because King Jesus has overtaken me. 13 My dear family, I don’t reckon that I have yet overtaken it. But this is my one aim: to forget everything that’s behind, and to strain every nerve to go after what’s ahead. 14 I mean to chase on towards the finishing post, where the prize waiting for me is the upward call of God in King Jesus.

15 Those of us who are mature should think like this! If you think differently about it, God will reveal this to you as well. 16 Only let’s be sure to keep in line with the position we have reached.

Citizens of Heaven

17 So, my dear family, I want you, all together, to watch what I do and copy me. You’ve got us as a pattern of behaviour; pay careful attention to people who follow it.

18 You see, there are several people who behave as enemies of the cross of the Messiah. I told you about them often enough, and now I’m weeping as I say it again. 19 They are on the road to destruction; their stomach is their god, and they find glory in their own shame. All they ever think about is what’s on the earth.

20 We are citizens of heaven, you see, and we’re eagerly waiting for the saviour, the Lord, King Jesus, who is going to come from there. 21 Our present body is a shabby old thing, but he’s going to transform it so that it’s just like his glorious body. And he’s going to do this by the power which makes him able to bring everything into line under his authority. — Philippians 3 | New Testament for Everyone (NTE) The New Testament for Everyone copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011. Cross References: Psalm 73:25; Ecclesiastes 7:16; Jeremiah 9:23; Jeremiah 33:16; Matthew 5:48; Luke 1:59; Luke 8:18; John 4:23-24; Romans 6:21; Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 4:16; 2 Corinthians 11:13; Philippians 1:27; Philippians 4:4; Colossians 2:18; Colossians 4:2; Hebrews 6:1; Hebrews 11:26; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 22:15

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

I Want to Know Him | Easter Devotional by Katherine Kehler

I have been thinking about Jerry McGrath. He was a marvelous singer and performed at many of our staff conferences. He had been in the secular entertainment industry when he was struck down with leukemia and was longer able to sing. He yielded his life to the Lord, and the Lord touched and healed him. After that he used his marvelous voice to serve God...

[pastorhogg]

The Blessing Hidden in Obedience

On Second Thought “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” — Philippians 3:10 Most Christians enjoy reading about faith, prayer, victory, and blessing. We are encouraged when we hear stories of answered prayers and divine intervention. Yet there is another side of the Christian life that receives far less…

The Blessing Hidden in Obedience