Dec. 3 Stand Up

I'm a day late on what I have planned to do with the collection of writing that will follow. I have never been one to plan each day because no one ever knows what God has in store, despite our own silly schedules. The Church I now attend gave the congregation a planner for Advent. Each day has a Truth to meditate upon so I will share the words that come to me with each day beginning today. I pray as always that each word, each collection of conscienceness is a blessing to you all. I also ask the Lord to give us all a clearer and fuller understanding of all that is His Word, not my own. May we grow closer to God with every breath and every step we take.
"By the grace of God, we will be able to stand up when the Lord comes."
It all begins with the Grace of God. Anyone who sets themselves above another by anything they have done has lost this truth along their journey. A journey that would never have begun without Gods Grace, which is undeserved favor that is given. Rom. 3:24 "For by Gods grace all are put right with Him through Jesus Christ." There will come the time when the end or beginning arrives and you will rise to judgement or eternal life. Which will it be? Luk. 21:25-36 "There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the sea and the raging tides. People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. When these things happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near." Your salvation began with Gods Grace.
Joh. 1:16 "Out of the fullness of His grace He has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another." What is grace besides a definition of things given to us that we do not deserve. It is this Joh. 1:17 "God gave the Law through Moses, but Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ." This extends to salvation for without Grace such a sacrifice would never have been given. Act 15:11 "No! We believe and are saved by the Grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are." Act 20:32 "And now I commend you to the care of God and to the message of His Grace, which is able to build up and give you the blessings God has for all His people." We need to stop focusing on deeds and look toward God. As we fix our hearts and minds on what God has already done for us, without notice our nature will be conformed to His will from deep within. Rom. 5:15 "But the two are not the same, because Gods free gift is not like Adams sin. It is true that many people died because of the sin of one man. But Gods Grace is much greater, and so is His free gift to so many people through the Grace of the one man, Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:17 "It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who recieve Gods abundant Grace and are freely put right with Him will rule in life through Christ." Rom. 5:21 "So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also Gods Grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." How does God choose His Chosen then? We must first always remember that God is Sovereign, before we move to the next Truth. Rom. 11:6 "His choice is based on His Grace, not on what they have done. For if Gods choice were based on what people do, then His Grace would not be real Grace."
Grace is what God the Father shed when He allowed the blood of His very own Son to be shed for us. But, there is one thing that must be done for that Grace to be bestowed upon us. There is a choice that we must make for that power to be released within us. Rom. 5:2 "He has brought us by Faith into this experience of Gods Grace, in which we now live. And so we boast of the Hope we have of sharing Gods glory!" By Faith we believe and accept the free gift of the Son of God who was given by Grace and allows such Grace to be given. At the point we reach the end of ourselves and choose to believe with all our hearts that Jesus Christ is our Lord then we are born again of Heaven. Your walk has begun. Joh. 3:3-6 "Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person be born again, he cannot ever see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mothers womb again and be born? Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh; and what is born of Spirit is spirit." When we have made the choice we are born of Spirit and at that moment the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. Joh. 14:15-19 "If you love Me, you will keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may remain with you forever--The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot recieve, because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Just a little while now, and the world will not see Me any more, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also." So each of us has the Teacher within us, although some can recognize Him easier than others. Jesus Christ through Grace will continually teach us all that is needed. Nothing less and nothing more than that which we need to know at just the right moment in time. Thus, the name of this blog, " A Walk", throughout our entire time here. Luk. 11:9-13 "So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened. For everyone that asks and keeps asking recieves; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking the door shall be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!" The Holy Spirit is a gift from our true Father in Heaven to teach us Truth. What Grace! Joh. 14:26 "But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall everything I have told you." Joh. 16:13-15 "But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the Truth. For He will not speak His own message; but He will tell whatever He hears[from the Father, He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come. He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of what is Mine and will reveal it to you. Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He(the Spirit) will take the things that are Mine and will reveal it to you."
So, it is by Grace that God the Father gave His Son to be sacrificed in order that we may be given a new birth. A new birth of the Spirit allows the blood of the Lamb of God to wash away our sinful state. It is essential that we are covered over by the righteousness of Jesus Christ so that we may approach a Holy God. He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us forever to guide us to all Truth. When we experience Truth we become more obedient to Gods will and are able to move from one glory to another. We grow through faithfulness which allows for blessings to freely flow, while God fills our spirit more with His Spirit. The more we allow control of our lives to be placed into Gods hands the more we grow. None of these things would be possible without Gods Grace, which gives us liberty through Law, power in our weakness, Truth in our confusion, and eternal life in our death.