Archive for the ‘God’s Plan’ Category

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GOD KNOWS YOU

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Day 273

“He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them”
Psalm 11:4

Did you know that God knew you before you were conceived? He knew who we would be. Our birth, planned or not planned, does not change that God knew us. He chose you to be His child and He knew all your days ahead; the good and bad, days of darkness, sin, failures and days filled with happiness and joy.

Consider this: He created Adam and Eve. He knew they would sin.

He chose Jacob, foreknowing he would be a deceiver, reach great heights, only to sink again.

He chose David. God knew he would commit adultery followed by planning and carrying out a murder to cover his sin.

He chose Peter, foreknowing the day he would deny Christ three times.

He chose all these men and you to be His child. He knows all the trials and temptations that you will undergo. He fully knows your infirmities, failures and sins today, tomorrow and in the remaining days of your life. He knows all your ways.

Here is the glory of the Lord: He knows our infirmities and He intercedes for us. He has experienced all temptation and endured the cross for the joy set before Him. He will complete the good work He began in us and will purify us. He has given us the Holy Spirit as a seal of our inheritance and we are eternally His. Saint, do not let sin and failures cause you to lose sight of your eternal Father.

Rise up, and drive the enemies of your soul out.

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive your out enemy
before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’”
Deuteronomy 33:27

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THE KINGDOM

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Day 252

“Fear not, little flock, for your Father takes pleasure in giving you the kingdom”
Luke 12:32

This is the very heart of God our Father.

It reveals the tenderness of God and His pleasure in giving us gifts. He not only has freely given us grace and mercy, but now He imparts His kingdom to us. He gives of Himself so that we may rest under His kingship, rule and sovereignty.

He says to us, “Fear not.” We need not be anxious about our life. We are not to live in fear of man or the world. He takes care of the less and menial, so how much more will He care for us. We are His children, He is our Father and knows our needs and will supply them. We are free from worry to live in His kingdom, a gift to us.

We are the crown of His creation, the joy of His heart and He takes great pleasure in us. God is so pleased, joyful and happy that He sings! Yes, He sings—”He will rejoice over you with singing” [Zephaniah 3:17].

“Fear not, little flock”

“He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart;
He gently leads those that have young”
Isaiah 40:11

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JESUS, THE MAN

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

Day 237

“But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law”
Galatians 4:4

Jesus was both God and Man. It was always part of God’s plan because the word says, “…at the appointed time God sent His Son.” He came from heaven to earth to live as man. It is an extraordinary revelation that God would send His Son to be man, live as a man and then permit him to die on a cross.

God could have executed His overall plan with a snap of His finger. He could have decreed it. He could make it happen anyway He wanted, but He did not. He chose to make Himself subservient by becoming one of us. He did this for a reason. He wanted to identify with us in our poverty and demonstrate His love. With the greatest love, kindness and compassion Jesus became the first man to obey perfectly the Father’s will. He pioneered the way for us by demonstrating that we could do the same in Him.

Jesus, as man, was intensely spiritual, completely natural and thoroughly practical. He experienced growth as we all do, living in a physical body, sleep, sorrow, hunger, weariness, and even experiencing our emotions. He was raised as all other children were and was trained by His father as a carpenter. This is our God and all of this was for you.

“Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, but being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:6-8

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THE LAST ADAM

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Day 235

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry”
Matthew 4:1-11

What Adam failed to do, Jesus, fully as man, did.

Everyone was waiting for the Messiah. They expected a triumphant appearance with the armies of heaven to declare His kingship. Instead, He comes as baby to a lowly family, is raised quietly without much notice, and then begins His public ministry at 33 years of age.

He came in a way no one expected — as a man. He subjected Himself to live in our earthly state. And, as if this isn’t enough, He begins His ministry by being baptized and then led into the desert by the Spirit to be proven. Here is the most marvelous demonstration of God’s divine plan; Jesus the man becomes the second Adam and does what Adam did not do — the will of the Father!

Yes, Jesus picks up at the beginning of man’s history and demonstrates to us, as a man, how to do the will of the Father. He not only does what Adam did not do, but in 40 days and nights, through three major temptations, He did what the people of Israel did not do in the wilderness in 40 years. He does all of this as man! What a God and Father we have that loves us so deeply that He takes the time to show us the way through His Son, Jesus Christ.

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:14-16

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HE ADOPTED US

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Day 234

“In love having predestined us to adoption
as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself”
Ephesians 1:5

We have become God’s children and now call Him Father. “I will receive you, and I will be to you a Father, and you will be to me sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” [2 Corinthians 6:17-18]. We have a new family relationship with a new nature, new name, and new legal standing.

Our earthly form of adoption does not give us an adequate understanding of what God has accomplished in this adoption. God’s adoption of us as children brings His glorious work to the forefront. It is a demonstration before all of heaven and earth, principalities and powers, of His love, wisdom and greatness. He delivered us from the greatest evil and crowned us with the greatest blessings. His act goes beyond earthly adoption by imparting His Spirit to us and making us acceptable in the Beloved.

Think of it! Because we are His children, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. He dwells with us. We are in Christ and He is seated at the right hand of His Father where we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Our adoption is the highest expression of God’s love.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified”
Romans 8:29-30

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BOUNDLESS LOVE

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Day 233

“In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, according the good pleasure of His will”
Ephesians 1:5

Our Father’s boundless love broke right into our fallen world with salvation. It destroyed the work of the devil who held the power of death, and restored us to His original plan. The glorious beauty of His boundless love not only restored us, but brought us to stand before our Father holy and without blame. We can fellowship with our God and call Him “Abba”-Father, a term of endearment.

The verse “He predestined us” further accents God’s glory. This is part of His original and ultimate plan. He determined before hand, before time began. It has never changed! Read this carefully—before the foundation of the world, before anything was, we were chosen in Him [Ephesians 1:4]. How can we fathom this? In the face of our rebellion and separation from Him, living our lives onto ourselves, He still remained steadfast, faithful and true to His nature. It is beyond our comprehension, yet it is the power, depth and magnificence of this love that overwhelms us.

God’s love reaches the highest expression as John states, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed (lavished) on us, that we should be called children of God” [1 John 3:1]. The Amplified says, “See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given …” We’ve been adopted as His children, given His Spirit. Why? For one reason, and one reason only—His love. It was according to the good pleasure of His will. He was motivated by love alone. He delights in the revelation of His divine plan, of restoration to His original purposes.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be His treasured possession”
Deuteronomy 14:2

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GOD’S ORIGINAL PLAN

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

Day 232

“Now, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory, before time began”
1 Corinthians 2:7

For our glory—before time began.

Think about this. God’s original plan has never changed. God created us to fellowship and share in His divine nature. He created us with a free will so that our acceptance and fellowship with Him placed us in the highest order—above created objects and even angels. The question is what about man’s fall, his rebellion and wickedness?

This is the marvel of it all! Before time began, God had a plan for our glory and even the fall of man could not divert it! Where we would believe that man’s fall is a loss and the results of it would cause God to turn away from us, it became the opposite. God not only turned it to good, He had already made provision for us in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom hidden, but revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

The revelation is the wisdom of His glorious divine plan, a plan that has not changed from the beginning. God’s answer to man’s sin was a greater increase of grace and mercy. This was revealed to us when He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to bring us back into His original plan. He has now revealed it to us by His Spirit.

“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves”
Ephesians 1:4-6

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DELIVERANCE AND TRUE FREEDOM

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Day 228

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death”
Romans 8:2

Freedom.

People think they are free. They value personal freedom and fight to maintain these rights. Western culture, in particular, prides itself as an enlightened people where education has solved all our problems. The total sum of all this is deceit. People are not free at all. The opposite is true; they are in bondage.

At one time, we were also in bondage. Moreover, we could cry with Paul, “I know that nothing good lives in me” [Romans 7:18]. In fact, we lived under the law of sin and death. There is no choice when you are under the law. All the good of man is unacceptable to God because it does not honor or bring glory to Him. It is a vain imitation of God’s goodness, all without God.

Our glorious Father, though, made provision for those who would believe in Him. The Lord superseded the law of sin with the Law of the Spirit of Life through the death of His Son Jesus Christ and His resurrection. We, who were condemned, are now free because of the law of the Spirit of life. What an amazing thing! It is not through our own works and self-help, but through the resurrected power of our Savior we are no longer under condemnation and are free.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”
2 Corinthians 3:17

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THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

Day 225

“What he sees the Father do; for whatever He does,
the Son also does in like manner”
John 5:19-23

Jesus shows us the patterns of God’s character as a Father. During His 33 years, He continued revealing His Father as an example for us to follow. His own life of obedience to the Father also shows us how to be pleasing to the Father and glorify Him.

The Father demonstrates love for the Son, unity in the Trinity, and shows Him all things. These ‘things’ become of the work of Jesus, His love, healings, miracles, mentoring disciples, appointing apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. It is the Divine plan for reconciling man to God. The Father demonstrates what it means to make an investment in others and through Jesus teaches us to do the same.

We then see He will show Him greater works than those He was presently doing. Like here, He desires to show us how to excel in all that we do. He delegates (vs 22) responsibility to the Son. Likewise, as we prove trustworthy with small things in our lives, Jesus said we will be trusted with greater things.

The Father sees that the Son is honored (vs 23). There is great honor in the Godhead and the body of Christ is to reflect that. We are to love the brethren, laying down our lives for each other. In fact, we are to honor one another above ourselves. In this, we love God and the Father is glorified. His Fatherhood is replicated through His son and every member of His body. This is the glory of the Lord.

“O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay,
You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand”
Isaiah 64:8

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THE DIVINE PLAN

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Day 223

“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand”
Isaiah 14:24

That God has a divine plan is unmistakable. His plan is revealed throughout the scriptures and is both universal and individual, as Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Although some wrestle with doubts about being in God’s plan, it should be the opposite, giving us great peace and comfort knowing He has mapped out the future.

Our plans fail—“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” [Proverbs 19:21]. Even with the best of intentions, our plans fail. Because we do not posses the abilities to foresee the future, our plans cannot take in every scenario. We are limited by our own weaknesses and frailties. John understood that when he gave instructions [1 John 5:14-15] about prayer. We have assurance when we ask anything according to His will. The first part of prayer is to know His will.

It becomes crystal clear that His plan prevails when you read the history of God’s people. Place yourself in the people’s shoes and you’ll see their choices often lead to destruction. As soon as they were out of Egypt they grumbled, complained and rebelled. But, under God’s plan, even when evil is turned against us, God turns it to good (Genesis 50:20). How great of a Father we have that is leading us to glory.

“For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
Isaiah 14:27

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