By Bob Chandler
Psalm 85: 10-13 "Loving kindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs from the earth and righteousness looks down from heaven. Indeed, the Lord will give what is good and our land will yield its produce. Righteousness will go before Him, and will make His footsteps into a way."
In regards to each and every believer, I believe that through "election," heralded by God's grace and design, lays the predetermined path by which God's given faith, righteousness and salvation are delivered. Therefore, through election, God's righteousness is both imparted and measured out to us according to his sovereign design in order to establish an order of purpose in our lives, designed by Him to bring all glory and honor to himself.
Through His infinite knowledge concerning the hearts of all mankind, (a) election allows the gift of salvation, through grace and accompanied by faith to establish his holy righteousness within each one of us. This gift of righteousness by God produces peace and effects quietness and confidence forever. (b) I believe that by and through faith, God's righteousness wins out over our own sinful self righteousness which continually provides pridefully induced stumbling blocks that bring about confusion and doubt during our feeble attempts to please God through works.
Today, as I look to some marital relationships within the church, I see a great deal of frustration between couples that may be borne out of self righteousness. Consequently,as a result of such self indulgent and worldly behavior, we are are blindly led to ignore God's holy righteousness that has been granted to us by faith.
Within all of us, there's a constant battle between our sinful desire to embrace our own self righteousness, that promises worldly answers and pleasures, but in reality only produces wrath. (c) While being driven by self righteousness, we remain intent on conducting our lives in "our way," through pride, rather that serving our Lord and Savior in "His way" by faith through grace. (Romans 9.)
All of God's blessings are prayed for, but never fully understood. Therefore, because we are trapped within our earthly shells, our abilities to understand such spiritual gifts from God, such as grace, faith and righteousness are severely limited. When we study God's word and read about these spiritual gifts given to us by God, our anticipation tounderstand their meanings is genuine, but for the most part it is quickly passed over, due to our limited ability to grasp the full measure of our salvation and the soul reaching changes that are related to it.
During our time in prayer with God, I believe that we should spend more time beseeching Him to clearly manifest His divine gifts within our lives. For too long, Satan has succeeded in dividing churches, marriages and families, by continually manipulating all of them into acts of self righteousness. Sadly, through his insidious manipulations, our enemy has been all too successful in spurring on our sinful natures that produce pride,intimidation, selfishness, fear and uncertainty. We should all remember that God's gift of righteousness is far greater than our own and that each and every day, through our faith in His son Jesus Christ, we are able to cast aside the filthiness found in our self righteousness and instead demonstrate the values found within the gift of God's holy righteousness.
In our attempts to understand and live out God's gift of righteousness, it's important that we remember that the enemy is always on the prowl to deceive us at every turn. While God's version of righteousness carries with it "humility", Satan's version cites within it the act of "pride." During our individual growth in the Lord, we are to humbly remember that we all develop within God's gift of righteousness at different rates and that our walks with Him are determined by Him and Him alone. Therefore, out of our own self righteousness, we should never attempt to judge anyone, or demean any brother or sister in any way if their walk with the Lord doesn't match our own or doesn't measure up to our own selfish expectations or requirements. Any such personal judgment, especially in a marriage, is not only wrong and harmful, but it also demonstrates a lack of faith and a fundamental lack of understanding related to God's grace.
In Ephesians 6:14-16, Paul describes to us the "full armor of God." With the dawning of each day, both Christian husbands and wives are to dutifully put on all of these articles described as God's holy armor in order for them both to remain victorious over any of Satan's attempts to discourage or even defeat them in their commitments to serve God. Along with helping each other to thoughtfully prepare for spiritual battle, I would also remind them both to wisely rest in the knowledge that the perfect fit of God's armor can only come from Him and not by any other measure or intent. While one size of armor may "fit all," both the "all" and the "fit" are both of God's design and therefore they should never be disputed through thoughtless acts of self righteousness. Of course, it goes without saying, that during all of these spiritual preparations and beyond, both husbands and wives should always keep each other in fervent prayer. (d)
We all intend to lead righteous lives that are pleasing to God, but during the time between Monday mornings and Saturday evenings, once again, our tendencies seem to lean more towards doing things "our way," rather than "God's way." On Sunday mornings, our faith is rekindled through hearing the word of God and our spiritual fervor is once again restored. I believe that it's during the time when we're neglecting the word of God, that the enemy can strikes us the hardest through hismanipulation of our sinful natures manifested by self righteousness. The ways in which to fend off Satan's attacks are by making concerted efforts to love one another, staying in the word and by remaining committed to a prayer life.
There isn't a day that passes by that we don't all fall short of the Glory of God. Let's all strive to love one another through acts of compassion, patience, humility and forgiveness. (e)
1 Peter 2: 24-25 "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
Through His infinite knowledge concerning the hearts of all mankind, (a) election allows the gift of salvation, through grace and accompanied by faith to establish his holy righteousness within each one of us. This gift of righteousness by God produces peace and effects quietness and confidence forever. (b) I believe that by and through faith, God's righteousness wins out over our own sinful self righteousness which continually provides pridefully induced stumbling blocks that bring about confusion and doubt during our feeble attempts to please God through works.
Today, as I look to some marital relationships within the church, I see a great deal of frustration between couples that may be borne out of self righteousness. Consequently,
Within all of us, there's a constant battle between our sinful desire to embrace our own self righteousness, that promises worldly answers and pleasures, but in reality only produces wrath. (c) While being driven by self righteousness, we remain intent on conducting our lives in "our way," through pride, rather that serving our Lord and Savior in "His way" by faith through grace. (Romans 9.)
All of God's blessings are prayed for, but never fully understood. Therefore, because we are trapped within our earthly shells, our abilities to understand such spiritual gifts from God, such as grace, faith and righteousness are severely limited. When we study God's word and read about these spiritual gifts given to us by God, our anticipation to
During our time in prayer with God, I believe that we should spend more time beseeching Him to clearly manifest His divine gifts within our lives. For too long, Satan has succeeded in dividing churches, marriages and families, by continually manipulating all of them into acts of self righteousness. Sadly, through his insidious manipulations, our enemy has been all too successful in spurring on our sinful natures that produce pride,
In our attempts to understand and live out God's gift of righteousness, it's important that we remember that the enemy is always on the prowl to deceive us at every turn. While God's version of righteousness carries with it "humility", Satan's version cites within it the act of "pride." During our individual growth in the Lord, we are to humbly remember that we all develop within God's gift of righteousness at different rates and that our walks with Him are determined by Him and Him alone. Therefore, out of our own self righteousness, we should never attempt to judge anyone, or demean any brother or sister in any way if their walk with the Lord doesn't match our own or doesn't measure up to our own selfish expectations or requirements. Any such personal judgment, especially in a marriage, is not only wrong and harmful, but it also demonstrates a lack of faith and a fundamental lack of understanding related to God's grace.
In Ephesians 6:14-16, Paul describes to us the "full armor of God." With the dawning of each day, both Christian husbands and wives are to dutifully put on all of these articles described as God's holy armor in order for them both to remain victorious over any of Satan's attempts to discourage or even defeat them in their commitments to serve God. Along with helping each other to thoughtfully prepare for spiritual battle, I would also remind them both to wisely rest in the knowledge that the perfect fit of God's armor can only come from Him and not by any other measure or intent. While one size of armor may "fit all," both the "all" and the "fit" are both of God's design and therefore they should never be disputed through thoughtless acts of self righteousness. Of course, it goes without saying, that during all of these spiritual preparations and beyond, both husbands and wives should always keep each other in fervent prayer. (d)
We all intend to lead righteous lives that are pleasing to God, but during the time between Monday mornings and Saturday evenings, once again, our tendencies seem to lean more towards doing things "our way," rather than "God's way." On Sunday mornings, our faith is rekindled through hearing the word of God and our spiritual fervor is once again restored. I believe that it's during the time when we're neglecting the word of God, that the enemy can strikes us the hardest through his
There isn't a day that passes by that we don't all fall short of the Glory of God. Let's all strive to love one another through acts of compassion, patience, humility and forgiveness. (e)
1 Peter 2: 24-25 "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
in Christ, Bob
a. 1Kings 8: 39 "Then hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest, for Thou alone dost know the hearts of all the sons of men."
b. Isaiah 32: 16-17 "And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever."
c. Romans 4:13-15 "For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation.".
d. 1Thes. 5:16-18 "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
e. 1 John 4: 7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."
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