Category: Salvation

Hosanna!

Posted on by Dorci

The God of Israel had just rescued His people from their mighty enemies through a parted sea on dry ground. Dry ground. They didn’t have to wade through a little bit of water or even slog through mud. God provided a red carpet toward the Promised Land.

Days later, they camped near some springs of water and seventy palm trees. (Countless studies could be done on the significance of the number 70 in God’s Word.)

Not too long after, God ordained certain holy days to be celebrated every year, one of them being the Festival, or Feast of Tabernacles.  During the seven days this feast was observed, the Israelites were to live in tents, or tabernacles, made from the leaves of various trees, including palm trees, as a celebration and remembrance of the Lord’s deliverance and provision in the desert.

Because this joyful holiday had been celebrated generation after generation, palm leaves became a symbol of victory, triumph, and faithfulness.

So when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey just before Passover, the crowds who had gathered there, recognizing Jesus as their savior (although their idea of what He was there to do would be vastly different), it was only right that they cut down palm branches to welcome Him.

“On the next day, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, a great crowd who had come to the Feast took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. And they cried,

‘Hosanna (oh save)! 
Blessed is the King of Israel
who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
John 12:12-13

He did indeed come to save us, but in an even much greater way than they thought. He didn’t come to only save us from a cruel and unjust government, but to save us from ourselves, from our own sins that would have brought a certain death to our souls in this life and an eternal one in the next.

The next time the apostle John would give us a look at the significance of palm leaves would be as he was given a glimpse into heaven.

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

‘Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!’”
Revelation 7:9-12

 

 


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Sunday Praise and a Prayer As We Look Forward

Posted on by Dorci

“{The disciples} brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’

‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’

‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!'”
Matthew 21:7-9

***

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’”
Revelation 7:9-10


Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you today and every day as we remember what you’ve done through your Son, and what you have prepared for our future. 

Christ’s triumphal entry was but a small foretaste of the victorious never-ending glory we’ll revel in while in the presence of our Savior and King. 

Thank you, Holy Father, for your immeasurable grace and mercy. Through all we must endure here, we look forward to this most joyful time, celebrating with You and one another the victory you’ve won for us. 

In Jesus’ most holy and precious name we pray, amen. 

 

What is Reformation Day?

Posted on by Dorci

Today marks the 504th anniversary, otherwise known as Reformation Day, that Martin Luther is said to have nailed his famed Ninety-five Theses to the door of the All Saints’ Church in Germany, and sent his theses with a letter to the Archbishop of Mainz, under whose authority the Roman Catholic church sent out preachers to sell “indulgences” – an act such as a prayer or good work which the Roman Catholic church claimed was “a way to the reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins.”

Just before Luther wrote his theses, which he called “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” a Dominican Friar had been sent to Germany to sell indulgences to raise money to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. 

Martin Luther, a professor of moral theology and a preacher, meant his theses to open an academic debate on this and other teachings of the church that he believed were in direct conflict with God’s Word.

His theses made statements such as: that the Lord Jesus called for followers to live a life of true inner repentance rather than a system of outward sacramental confession; that the pope could not absolve sin; and that in selling indulgences, those preachers were giving false certainty of forgiveness and leading people to believe that obtaining an indulgence made repentance unnecessary.

The theses was quickly distributed throughout Germany and Europe, and leadership in the Roman Catholic church charged Martin Luther with heresy, some even calling for his punishment by burning.

A few years later he was excommunicated, but by then the church in Europe had begun its reformation.

We are privileged to live in a time and place where we can own God’s Word for ourselves and, in prayer, search it, study it, and know the truth God’s set forth in it. This should be our solemn duty as those who have been given the greatest, most life-altering, eternity-changing gift. 

We can emulate the Berean Jews, who “were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)

Though it’s been more than 500 years since Martin Luther sought know and proclaim the truth, there are still a lot of erroneous beliefs, philosophies, and religious doctrines floating around out there, lying to people and leading them away from the truth. 

We cannot let ourselves fall into that trap. If we are to continually abide in Christ who is the truth, we must, through the Holy Spirit, discern the lies from the truth and never waiver from it. 

Time gets shorter every day, for the souls around us and for us, and people need the truth in God’s Word.

“It is finished.”

These are the last words of Christ before He “bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

This statement in the Greek is teleō,-to end, complete, execute, conclude, discharge a debt, accomplish, make an end, expire, fill up, finish, go over, pay, perform.

The work of payment for sins is done. Anything added to Christ’s work on the cross for forgiveness of sins and salvation makes a mockery of His life, His death, and His words, and serves only to lead people away from the truth. 

The free gift of the forgiveness for all one’s sins and eternal life is one that only Christ can offer, and He offers it to anyone – ANYONE! – who will believe in Him as Lord, receiving His payment on the cross for their sins.  

***

Heavenly Father, we pray for your mercy, for a revival of hearts around the world, and for boldness to live and speak as witnesses of your truth, in love and humility and in the power of your Holy Spirit, to those you bring to us. As we walk in faith, we pray you would enlarge our territories for your glory, Lord.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

 

The Believer’s Speech

Posted on by Dorci

My son was at the store the other day standing in an aisle searching for what he needed when he overhead a couple of employees near him deep into a very colorful conversation deriding this group and that one. Their conversation disturbed him so much that he found another employee to let her know what was going on, and then he called me. 

Of course it was disheartening to hear that that kind of divisive and hateful talk was going on, let alone by two employees who are supposed to be working, and that some of the hateful comments were directed toward Israel. 

But it shouldn’t be surprising. 

1 John 3:13 tells us

“Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” 

The world doesn’t only hate believers, though. It just hates. And the hate seems to be revving up. Or at least people seem to feel more free to speak their hatred out loud, joining in the chorus. 

Hate seems to be the speech of the day. 

But it should never be our speech. 

The speech of believers ought to be prayer. 

Jesus said

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:43-44

As I talked to my son, empathizing with him, that yes, this was a terrible thing that people were talking this way, and even worse that it was in their own place of business for any customer to hear, the Lord put on my heart to tell him that maybe God put him in that aisle, at that moment in time, so that he could hear their hateful words and pray for them. 

Is there anyone who needs prayer more that someone whose heart is filled with hatred? Is there anyone who needs the redeeming grace of God more? 

I told him God’s given him an opportunity to pray for these men. Maybe, just maybe, God wants to save them and give the world two more souls who love instead of hate.

Praying for them also protects our hearts from unforgiveness and bitterness.

I hear a lot of believers talking about the terrible sins going on in the world, but how we talk about it much of the time is no different than the world. I hear speech that is hateful, mocking, divisive. 

Friends, that is not God’s way. Yes, it’s our natural instinct and gut reaction to the sin we see, but being in Christ we should hate the sin because we know that the people caught in it are people loved by God and made in His image, and are being swallowed up by it. That should grieve us just as it grieves the Lord. 

But if we act like the world instead, how do we expect it to see the love of Christ and know there’s a better way? How do we expect to be walking, breathing testimonies of His love and grace? How can we hate in one breath and in the next talk about God’s love? 

As we let God’s love mature in our hearts, we’ll see with His eyes of mercy, our speech will always be gracious, seasoned with salt, and we’ll understand the privilege and responsibility we have to pray for the lost souls God puts in our way. After all, we were all lost once. 

The world has enough hate. It needs our love and it needs our prayers. 

 

Father, forgive me for the times my speech has not been glorifying to you or edifying to those around me. Set a guard over my tongue, and give me eyes that see with your grace, that I might pray and do your will.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen. 

By This Everyone Will Know

Posted on by Dorci

Jesus is reclining at the Passover table with His disciples after Judas leaves. He gives His beloved friends some parting words to prepare them for what’s about to come, and He tells them this:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13: 34-35

He doesn’t tell them everyone will know they are His disciples if they go to church, or memorize scripture, or carry a Bible, or be nice, or any of a million other things. 

He says everyone will know if they love one another as He had loved them. Agape love.  Sacrificial love. All-encompassing, forgiving, loving-kindness love. 

And He didn’t just say other believers will know they are His disciples, but everyone will know.  The world will know. 

He tells them to love one another so profoundly, so boldly, so much so that the world sits up and takes notice and says “Hey, there go those Christians, loving each other again.”

Why does Jesus tell His disciples that?

Well, one, because that’s just how much Christ loves. He loved those around Him so much that everyone knew who He was.  He loved all the way to the cross.  And by extension, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, that is how much we’ll love when we’re following Him.

When we’re loving God, we’ll love one another.

And two, because that’s our witness. He says “everyone will know…” We are His ambassadors, and our witness to the world is our love for one another.  The gospel message that lives in and through us is that we have a love that goes beyond a worldly love. We have a divine, supernaturally given, godly love. 

And as that love drew multitudes to Him, that love lived out through us will draw the world to Him.

We want revival, we pray for revival, but are we living out the love Christ called us to in such a way that would be noticed by the world, that would draw them to Him, and lead to revival?

Let’s take a look. Is that what believers are known by? What is our reputation? Does the world look at us and talk about the love we have for one another?  Or do they talk about the way we judge, and criticize, and live hypocritically? 

I would tend to say the latter. Now, I know not all those criticisms are deserved, but maybe if the world doesn’t see who Jesus truly is, the all-encompassing love He offers them, it’s because we haven’t shown them. I know that after walking with Christ for 30 years and experienced what I have, even I don’t always have that view of believers.  And I know I’m not alone.

There are entire books written on how to heal after being hurt by those in the church, by people who have chosen to treat their brothers and sisters in ways that are far from loving.  Even Anne Graham Lotz talks about her own experience being hurt by Christians in her book Wounded by God’s People. And she also freely admits at times she’s been the one to wound. 

We all have. 

What we need to do right now, though, is regroup, repent, claim Christ’s commandment, and start loving one another. 

Jesus tell us in Matthew 5, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

And in Mark 11, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

We don’t know how long we have here before Christ returns.  Right now we may be experiencing a time when God is speaking to us, desiring that revival among His people first, preparing us, completing us, fully maturing us before He takes us up with Him, and also desiring revival throughout the world, the salvation of as many souls as possible before that time.  

We need to start the revival through our own repentance, forgiveness, and commitment, through Christ, to love one another as Christ loves the Church.

And then maybe, just maybe, the world will sit up and take notice of our love for one another. And in their desperate need for that kind of love, will be drawn to Christ, and repent, and forgive, be saved, and through Him, begin loving one another. 

Saturday Song – Holy Water

Posted on by Dorci

I was driving down the road minding my own business when a song I’d never heard before came on the radio.  It grabbed my soul by the shoulders, shook it and said “get your eyes off the world, off yourself, and back onto the gracious, refreshing, life-giving, life-renewing Living Water of Jesus Christ.” Maybe it’ll do the same for you.  God bless you today and always.

 

 

Holy Water
by We The Kingdom

God, I’m on my knees again
God, I’m beginning please again
I need you
Oh, I need you


Walking down these desert roads
Water for my thirsty soul
I need you
Oh, I need you


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
Like Holy water on my skin


Dead man walking, slave to sin
I wanna know being born again
I need you
Oh, God, I need you


So, take me to the riverside
Take me under, baptize
I need you
Oh, God I need you


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
Like holy water on my skin
(On my skin, on my…)


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips (Yes, it is)
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
It’s like holy water…


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
It’s like holy water on my skin
It’s like holy water on my skin
It’s like holy water.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Miracles

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We praise you for your immeasurable love and grace and mercy, and for your joy that surpasses all understanding.  Thank you for the joy of our salvation that resides deep in our souls and remains no matter what’s happening at the surface of our lives.

Father, we come to you and petition for those who have been affected by storms and hurricanes.  For those who have lost loved ones we pray that you would comfort them in a way that only you can.  We pray you would provide for them in miraculous ways. We pray you would provide food and medicine and clothing and shelter. 

We pray for restoration and salvation. We pray for wisdom and hope and healing to hearts and to the land. We pray for those first responders and those who are there in your Son’s name to bring provisions and to wrap their arms around them in love. 

Father, the devastation seems overwhelming, but we are asking you, the One who is omnipotent – all powerful, and omniscient – all knowing, the One who is El Shaddai – The All Sufficient God, to do miracle after miracle in the wake of these storms.

May your powerful name be called upon over and over, and may you hear and answer those calls over and above anything we could ever ask or think. May your holy name be glorified, Lord Jesus.  We trust you and we thank you in advance for all you’re going to do.  In Jesus’ Holy and Precious Name, the Name above all names, amen.

The Miracle of Snowflakes and Souls

Posted on by Dorci

The last couple of weeks or so here in the U.S., people have shoveled, scraped, and trudged their way through enough ice and snow to last the rest of the year.

But as we take a magnifying glass and look at a single snowflake, we’ll see that they really are fascinating little miracles, and so is Christ’s life in us.

Just like precious pearls begin as something ordinary–a grain of sand, snowflakes also begin as something just as unpretentious–a dust particle, a piece of volcanic ash, or sea salt.

As it falls through the atmosphere, each particle forms into a clear ice crystal, its individual shape and size determined by the various conditions each particle encounters as it falls to the ground, like the altitude, temperature, and humidity.

The one thing all snowflakes have in common is they each have six sides or branches.

Each of us is also born with an ingrained imperfection, that is, our sin nature. As we grow, the conditions we encounter, like the family we grew up in, the experiences we have in life, and our own personalities determine the one-of-a-kind person we become.

But our sin nature continues to act as an irritant, wreaking havoc in our souls.

“’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18

God compares our sins to scarlet and crimson.

This word for scarlet – shaniy – refers to a maggot-like insect called a “coccus illcis” which feeds on the leaves of evergreen oak trees. The dried bodies of these insects are used to make a deep red, or crimson, dye.

Our sin acts like those parasitic creatures, eating away at our joy, our souls, and our lives.

(Another factoid I found while looking up the definition of shaniy: the urban dictionary says it’s “a psychopath with demon eyes, this little creature lacks the skill of being nice, she is a very demanding person who is hard to control sometimes, she has the capability to stab someone if she wanted to; her favourite word is **** off.” Does that sound like our sin nature or what?!)

The Lord tells us that though we have been stained with the blemish of sin, He will make them white as snow.

So what makes those former pieces of dust, ash, and sea salt, and our sin, white?

As the snow crystals, or snowflakes, fall to the ground and begin to gather together, the light shining into the snow gets scattered around inside and is reflected around all those unique six-sided snow prisms and the light that comes back out appears white, and the imperfections are no longer seen.

The Bible refers to the number six as the number of mankind, of incompleteness. Just as the one commonality among snowflakes is that they have six sides, we all have in common our imperfect humanity. Without Christ, we are incomplete and impure.

But as we receive Jesus Christ by faith, He becomes a part of us (the number 7 symbolizes completeness), and we become a part of His family, joining together like a snowdrift high on a hill. His light shines into us and is filtered back out through the prism of our character, purifying our hearts and making us white as snow.

It’s amazing to me that God made snowflakes as a microscopic allegory showing us our need for Him. It’s as if He calls to us in the whisper of a tiny, almost secret world and says, “I know all about your weaknesses, your frailties, your sins, but the power of my love can overcome all that!”

We have all come through different and unique backgrounds, circumstances, sufferings, and joys, and the shape our heart and mind have become through our own uniquely-designed life allows Christ to shine through us in the extraordinary ways He’s chosen just for us and the lives around us.

So the next time you have to shovel snow or scrape it off your car, remember God’s love for you through Christ, and how His crimson blood turned our souls white and pure as snow.  And remember, too, that the more we come together as one body and one heart with God’s family, the more His light shines in and through us.  And doesn’t the world need that right now?  

God bless,

The Worst Kind of Fake News

Posted on by Dorci

“You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?” Gal 3:1-3

 

Paul spends much of his time writing, pleading with the new believers to not get sidetracked, but to continue to keep their eyes on their Savior, walking in the Spirit, and receiving from Him the grace and strength they need to live out their faith.

But some of them were being lured into believing that salvation was Jesus and…

That and can be anything.  For the Galatians it was Jesus and the law.

People were telling the believers in Galatia they needed to follow the law to be justified. They needed to rely on themselves and their works, in effect, luring them away from the grace they received by faith in Christ.  And Paul knew that as they moved toward reliance on the law, on themselves, faith in Christ would be left behind.

Paul said they’d been bewitched – to malign, that is, to speak harmful untruths about, speak evil of, slander, defame, injurious, to fascinate by false representations.

The enemy’s ways haven’t changed in 2000 years. They haven’t changed since the garden. he is the originator of fake news.

Sometimes his ways are as blatant as they were in Galatia, but oftentimes the method is more inconspicuous and gradual.

New believers can be easy prey for the enemy. The wolf enters the pen and the lambs are still naive and easily coerced. They can be convinced to do anything other than the simplicity of putting their faith in Jesus and following Him daily.  Surely it can’t be that easy, he tells them. 

Older believers can be led away, too, if they get lazy in their walk, let their relationship with Christ grow cold, or fall into sin, and instead of repenting, they gradually move away from their faith in Christ to reliance on their works to earn favor, forgiveness, grace, and love.

And no matter how long a person has been in Christ, anyone who lets the reading and studying of God’s Word slide and along with it discernment and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, any “inspirational” meme or thought going around social media that sounds good, but is deeply theologically flawed, can be used to alter our course of thinking and begin to lead us away from a pure and truthful faith in Christ.

And as individuals, and whole churches (made up of individuals), it’s easy to get past those early days, weeks, and years after salvation (or after church planting) and begin to go on autopilot.  Instead of relying on the Holy Spirit we gradually start just doing because we’ve done it for so long, forgetting that we’re living a life of faith, a life that requires the Holy Spirit to daily move in and through us.

It is Christ’s life we live now, not our own.  We cannot live it in our own strength or with our own human wisdom.  We can never presuppose we know what direction He wants us to go, what He wants us to do, and when He wants us to do it.

Paul exhorted the Christians in Galatia to not go back to trying to earn salvation or God’s love and grace by works of the law.  By trying to be perfect.  If that could ever be the case then Christ died in vain. Trying to earn our way to God through works says we don’t need the Holy Spirit any longer and we quench Him from moving in our lives.

If we try to finish in our flesh, we forfeit the strength and courage He desires to give us to live out our lives for Him, and the love and grace and peace He wants to fill us with.

There are moments in our faith, whether at 6 months in or 30 years, where we can press in to Christ harder, or we can take a step back, and begin to rely on ourselves.

All of us will have those moments, and most of us will choose at some point, to one degree or another, to rely on ourselves for a time.

The good news is God’s grace toward His children doesn’t run out.

Anytime we’ve been relying on ourselves and looking around we realize we’re not following Jesus anymore, all we need to do is call Him.

Do the thing we did at first: return to our first love. Believe in Christ and repent. Turn our minds back to Him and His Word. Put our faith and trust in our Savior, and ask Him to fill us afresh with His Holy Spirit that He might lead us and give us wisdom to serve Him all the rest of our days.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Wise Building

Posted on by Dorci

“With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
‘He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.’
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord,
because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” Ezra 3:11

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you because you’ve laid the foundation of our salvation, which is Jesus Christ, and you’ve made us the temple of your Holy Spirit. Lord, I simply ask you today to help us keep our hearts and spirits focused on you. With all the distractions we have coming at us from so many directions, help us keep The Main Thing, the main thing.

Help us remember that this life is about Who you’ve called us to believe in, to trust, to follow, to proclaim. Help us use the limited time and the gifts you’ve given us to be about our Father’s business, and build only on the foundation of Jesus Christ, serving Him only, building by your Spirit and not our flesh.

For “If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”  1 Cor. 3: 12-15

Lead us, Lord, so that what we build will survive, and we will receive your reward. In Jesus’ eternal name we pray, amen.