SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/19/2019 9:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Believer’s Life Principles”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:15
Message of the verses: “15 Therefore be
careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,”
One
of the things that John MacArthur believes in is that when a person accepts the
Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior they must accept them as their Lord. It is called the Lordship salvation. I have spoken to different Pastors about this
who do not believe this to be true. One
of the things that I believe happened to me when I was saved was that I did not
realize that Jesus Christ was my Lord, but knew at that time that He was indeed
my Savior. God called me to Himself in
January of 1974 as I have stated in my Spiritual Diaries on a number of
occasions, and all that I knew at that time was that I was different, I had not
only new goals for my life but the Lord gave me a new vocabulary, that is I lost
the desire to swear, as it was the Lord who took this away from me. Later on in my walk with the Lord I realized
that He was not only my Savior but also my Lord and that has never changed. The process of sanctification has three
parts, the first part is that once a person is born into the family of God that
they are sanctified, and as they grow in their walk with the Lord it is the
continue process of sanctification, and once they get to heaven the
sanctification process is complete. In
my opinion not many people realize that Jesus Christ is their Lord right at the
point of salvation, but a true believer will realize this as the process of
sanctification works in their life. I
believe that a true believer realizes that Jesus Christ is their Lord during
this process, and this means that the person is truly born-again.
John MacArthur writes “Akribos (‘careful’) has the basic meaning of accurate and exact,
and carries the associated idea of looking, examining, and investigating
something with great care. It also
carries the idea of alertness. As
believers walk through the spiritual mine field of the world, they are to be
constantly alert to every danger that Satan puts in their way. That is why Jesus warned that ‘the gate is
small, and the way is narrow that leads to life’ (Matt. 7:14).”
In
his commentary on this verse in Ephesians MacArthur mentions that there are two
things that speak of this careful walk with the Lord. The first one he mentions comes from the second chapter of Proverbs which the writer of
Proverbs speaks of walking in the wise path and the wise way and of not going
into the way of the wicked or straying into the company of evil people. The second example is from the great book
written by John Bunyan; “Pilgrim’s
Progress.” This book is about a man
named Christian as it describes his walk with the Lord in making his way to
heaven. I have to admit that I have
never read this book through but at times have read portions from it. I know that it is a classic and one day it is
my desire to perhaps listen to this book on audio.
In
a believer’s walk with the Lord at times it is an “unwise” walk as the believer
falls into traps set by the devil which can cause them to begin to once again
walk in the ways of the world. I have to
admit that because I was a few months from my 27th birthday when God
called me to Himself that I had a lot of living in the world in those 26+ years
and at times there is a pull to go back to those ways, something I must
continue to understand as a trap from the devil or even my own flesh. Paul wrote to Titus the following in 3:3 “For
we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various
lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one
another.” This verse shows us the kind of living from which God’s wisdom is to
separate us. “4
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind
appeared, 5 He saved us,
not on the basis of deeds
which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 4:6).
This is what happened to all true believers when they were
saved. MacArthur adds “Our change in
relationship to God is meant to bring a change in daily living, as Paul went on
to explain to Titus: ‘8 This is a
trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak
confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in
good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.’”
It
is my desire, Lord willing, to finish looking at verse 15 in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful that Jesus Christ is my Savior
and my Lord and that because of His death, burial, and resurrection I can be
born into His family and look forward to living with Him in the New Jerusalem
some day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility is something that when you notice
you have it you have then lost it. It is
my desire to be humble before my Lord each day.
Today’s quote is from Abraham Lincoln
who said “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of
men.” I have to say that this goes along
with what we were just looking at in our study of Ephesians; something that I
wrote had to do with the abortion industry in our country.
6/19/2019 10:18 AM
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