Monthly Archives: October 2014

“Multiplied” by NEEDTOBREATHE

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.” Revelation 19:6

“Multiplied” by NEEDTOBREATHE

This song goes deep into my soul; it resonates with my spirit; it hits a spiritual nerve; it wakes me up; picks me up, and lifts me up. In other words it blesses me. It makes me think about my precious Lord, my God of Mercy, and how worthy of praise He really is.

As I went to post it, I found an article about NEEDTOBREATHE and what they were going through as their latest album was being produced and I read the following about this track:

“But it’s the spiritual yearning on the heartfelt track “Multiply” that best illustrates the setting in which the band has arrived. “The first line from my favorite hymn sings these words: ‘The Love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell.’ If we spent the rest of our life singing Hallelujahs, it still wouldn’t amount to what God truly deserves,” says Bo. “I need God, even in worship, to help make what little I have to offer worthy of him. This song is a prayer. ‘May this offering stretch across the skies and these Hallelujahs be multiplied.’ Also, God cannot be contained. He has no limits. Then, couldn’t God use us to spark his exponential ripple effect into motion that could change the entire world? ‘May these Hallelujahs
be multiplied!’”

This song rocks- and makes me look forward to the day that Hallellujahs really are multiplied.

The Christian and Self-Examination

08 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Call to the Cross, Confession of Sin, Edification, Encouragement, Exhortation, Repentance, Salvation, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5.

We all need to check the quality of our professing faith against the fruit of salvation in our lives. We can do this by comparing our lives with the Biblical description of what the Christian life is supposed to be like. We can ask ourselves Bible-based questions that help us measure the genuineness of our faith by the objective standard of God’s Word. For example, we can ask ourselves questions like: Do we find joy in God? Do we want to be with other people who find their joy in God? Are we sinning less than before we came to faith in Christ? Do we feel conviction when we do sin? Do we want to obey God’s word? Do we even want to read God’s Word? Do we love God more than we love ourselves?  All this to say, we must obey the admonition of Scripture, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

None of us should foolishly buy into the false belief that salvation from sin is accomplished because we give verbal assent to the truth of the Bible. Even demons do that! James 2:19 says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” Real Christians – those who are being saved – experience the power of the cross to save them from sin more and more every day of their lives. We experience God’s power in real-time as God destroys our deadly sin patterns and gives us new life through our relationship with Jesus. We experience God’s power through the message of the cross every time that we are kept from fulfilling our sinful desires, we are enabled to deal with our messed up pasts, or we receive God’s grace to accept our own frailties, and love others despite their frailties. The power of the cross is a present-tense reality; it is not just a future hope. For the power of the cross is the power of God to put us on a new path, walking in newness of life. The longer that we walk on that new path, the more we will experientially know that, to those of us who are being saved, the message of the cross really is the very power of God.

On Being Saved

06 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by in Call to the Cross, Cross-Bearing, Edification, Encouragement, Repentance, Sin, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

First Corinthians 1:18 says that the message of the cross is the power of God to those that are being saved. Those who are being saved are those who are daily experiencing God’s resurrection-power in their lives; not those who just say that they believe the gospel message. There are some people who think that they are in the group of those who are being saved, but they have no real relationship with Jesus Christ; they have no personal experiential knowledge of the power of the cross to save them from sin. The Word of God warns us about these people saying, “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.” And also warns us, “Stay away from people like that” (2 Timothy 3:5, NLT).

People that think they are being saved, and yet, never seem to experience any of the fruit of saving faith (conviction over wrong-doing, hunger for God, love for God, joy in God, a desire to be with other Christians, etc. etc.); are self-deceived: they are not really being saved. People who are being saved experience the power of the cross of Christ to save them from sin’s power every day – not just judgment day. Unfortunately, there are some people that do not even realize that they do not know God (Matthew 7:21-23, 25:31-46).

A Song that I want to Get Stuck in My Head…

04 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by in Cool Christian Tunes, Edification, Encouragement, Exhortation, Music, The Wrath of God

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“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Because, “On account of these the wrath of God is coming” Colossians 3:5-6

Shai Linne really knows how to communicate the main point about important truth. I love that about his music.  All Consuming Fire has got to be one of the best examples of his ability to communicate the bottom-line truth of Scripture in a powerful way. Most of us (Christians) know and understand that sin is missing the mark; its a fault, a failure (in an ethical sense), a sinful deed. Most of us know that sin consists of missing the mark of God’s holiness.We know that sin is anything that we say, think, or do that is not holy – as God is Holy.We understand that sin is any way in which we, (humans- who were created to be God’s image bearers, Genesis 1:26-27), fail to reveal an accurate picture of who God is or fail to worship Him as God. We also know that sin is a suppression of the truth about God; a suppression of the truth about God’s holiness; a suppression of the truth about God’s glory. We know that the Bible qualifies sin as a falling short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Even though we know all of this about sin, we sometimes forget that the Christian is charged with the command of God to “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Because, “On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5-6). This masterpiece of a rap helps us remember that God’s wrath is coming because of sin- therefore, we must needs put sin to death in our lives. That is why this is one of those songs that I want to get stuck in my head...

Happy Saturday.

 

A Violent Assault Against the Majesty and Glory of God

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Edification, Repentance, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, The Glory of God, The Nature of God, The Wrath of God

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“The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies” Nahum 1:2

“God does not take kindly to people who ignore Him; actually, He hates them (Psalm 5:5; 11:5). Ignoring God is a violent assault against the majesty and glory of who God is. It is wrong to pretend that God does not exist (Romans 1:18-32). It is an affront to God to pay no heed to His glorious holiness. It is a hostile thing in the eyes of God that men prefer to drown in the sewage pipes of human sin; rather than swim in the clean, refreshing ocean of the glory of God. For, God is jealous for His people; God is jealous for His glory (Exodus 20:5; 34:14). Truly, God hates all sin, and God is wrathful towards all sinners. As Nahum 1:2 says, “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies” (Nahum 1:2).”

Walking in Newness of Life: Experiencing the Power of God in Resurrection by Identifying with Christ in His Death and Burial p. 41