By Grace Through Faith

Often I have had people ask me, "How can I do good works, as God says in the bible?" This is a common question, actually, and the answer is really quite simple. First, let's examine the Scriptures on this subject...

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Verse 2:8 mentions the pivotal element by which all believers are given the power to do good works: grace. Grace describes the undeserved kindness by which salvation is given, but it is also the power-word describing the Holy Spirit's operational means. Grace is a force as well as a favor, a verb as well as a noun.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)

Verse 2:10 now gives us the answer to the question How can I do good works...? We are created by God in Christ Jesus so that the ability to do good works is now inherent in us. The genius of God's new creation work in each believer is that He renovates the nature of His redeemed children to make good works a living possibility.

So looking at these verses in this way it is obvious that if a person is truly saved then they will naturally desire to do good works. It isn't something they will have to struggle with or ask God to help them with, because it will come naturally to them through the indwelling force of the Holy Spirit. God has created in all who believe this desire to do good works in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Are You Going to Finish Strong?

Kind of hard to dance when you have no arms or legs, yet this blessed man does so using God and Jesus Christ. Amazing ...

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." - 1 Corinthians 9:24

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..." - Hebrews 12:1

Amen.

Perfect? Not yet!

Sinless perfection will not be had until we are with the Lord. As long as we are in these fleshly bodies we cannot be perfect. We are made perfect in Him, not through ourselves. Every day we run the race, looking forward to the finish line, being "perfected" every day, but not perfect until the end, when we are with the Lord. "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 10:14)

He died for our sins and therefore perfected us, then you notice the words "who are being sanctified" - means a continual process, every day we are being sanctified as we walk with Him. It does not mean that we are as yet "wholly" sanctified, but that we have been brought under the influence of that gospel (of Jesus Christ) which sanctifies and saves.

This gradual "perfection process" is further illustrated in Proverbs 4:18, "But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day."

So to say we must be perfect - now - is just ignorant. Lack of reading (and understanding) God's Word is clearly evident in those who make such claims.

Amen.

The Father of Lights

I wrote this many years ago after I had lost my job and then my home. The last night before I had to leave, I was sitting in my empty apartment, having prayed to God about everything that was happening, when this story came to me. I wrote it all down from beginning to end. The main characters are named after stars in the Pleiades, a cluster of stars mentioned three times in the Bible (Job 9:9, Job 38:31, and Amos 5:8).

I wanted to share it here for anyone who is searching for God or has any questions about Him. I realized after the experience of losing my home that I wasn't just homeless in a physical sense, but also homeless spiritually - wandering for years like the Israelites in a wilderness of my own making.

Perhaps you are wandering, too. And like the young woman in this story, you are seeking a little Light in your life.

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There was a young girl named Cassiopeia who had a very stressful life. She had a lot of things on her mind, but at night, when it was dark and quiet, she would look up at the stars and feel at peace. She liked the peaceful times, watching the stars, and she often wondered how she could take some of that peace and put it into her daily life. One day she met some friends in a chat room, and those friends told her about a man named Jesus. She wasn't sure about Jesus. She had never met the man before.

One of her friends, Orion, told her about how God had made the stars (Genesis 1:16), which were called "the heavens." He had made them simply because He liked beautiful things. He made other things, too. Some of them seemed rather odd. Like the platypus and the giraffe. She thought these things were neat -- in a funny looking sort of way.

One day she asked Arcturus, another of her friends, "Why did God make me?"

Arcturus said, "Because God likes beautiful things."

She thought about that for a while, and one night, when she was looking up at the stars, she asked out loud, "God, if I am beautiful, why is my life so full of ugliness?"

And then she heard a thought come into her mind, not one of her own thoughts, but something that came from outside of her someplace.

The thought was, "You are more beautiful than all the riches in the world to Me, child. And if you will lay all your burdens at the feet of My Son, I will take them from you."

Well, she wondered at that. How could she do that? Was it that easy? Her life had been pretty stressful, and so she decided, "I will do it."

The next day she returned to her friends, in the chat room, and asked them about what had happened to her.

She said, "I asked God why I have all these burdens in my life, and he said to lay them at the feet of his son, Jesus. Does this mean he is real, or is it just me?"

Orion shared a Scripture with her, from the book of Matthew (11:28) - "Come to me, all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

She asked, "Did he say that?"

Orion said, "Yes."

She was amazed. It had happened just like he said. Could it be he was really there after all?

The next night, looking once again up at the stars, she said aloud, "God, thank you for taking away all my burdens. Now what do I do next?"

The thought came again, "Now that you know He is real, give your life to Him, and He will always be there for you, in bad times and in good. Whenever bad things happen, just give them to Me, and I will take them from you. But in all things, whether good or bad, He will always be there for you, shining just like the stars upon whom you stare every night."

The next day she went out and bought herself a bible. That night, while reading it, she discovered that Jesus was known as The Bright and Morning Star (Revelations 22:16), and that God himself was known as The Father of Lights (James 1:17). Then she came upon a passage that said we are to walk as lights among men (Ephesians 5:8). Right then and there she knew what she wanted. The beauty of the stars, the light; she wanted that beauty and light to be a part of her life. So she bowed her head, right where she was sitting, and asked Jesus Christ to come into her life.

The next morning, when she got up, she realized she felt better -- not anything she could see or touch, but she felt lighter somehow. She had no explanation for this, and she was amazed by the realization that he must be real after all. And if he was real then his words must be as well.

So ends the story of Cassiopeia, who went on to know the will of God, and shine like a star herself, in the darkness that is the world.

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