Smith Wiggelsworth once said this; "I can get more out of God by believing Him for one minute than by shouting at Him all night." Does this apply to yo?

Read:

Romans 9:17-32 -link-

Response:

Paul is still wrestling with the specific problem of why the Jews should have rejected their Messiah. His answer lies in the character of God and in our response:

• God’s sovereignty (v 22). God can choose to do as he wills – it is not for us to make the decisions or to argue. This may seem hard, but God’s actions are always performed in the light of his mercy.

• God’s grace (v 23). God does not act to exclude people but to include. His intention was that all nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3). So the emphasis is on the inclusion of the Gentiles (v 30). For most of the Romans (who are gentiles) this is good news!

• The human response. Despite every opportunity to respond, the Jewish nation had, by and large, ignored, rejected or failed to understand what God was doing in Christ – not all, though, for the first Christians obviously were Jews. Throughout Jewish history there had been those who rebelled and those who had faithfully served God – ‘the remnant’ (v 27). Into that faithful group the Gentile believers are now added.

This tension between the sovereign will of God and human responsibility isn’t easy to understand or explain. It is one of the mysteries of our faith, but emphasise either one at the expense of the other and something important is lost. Paul always keeps his eagerness to evangelise people – so should we.

Reflect on the words of AW Tozier

"Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly free. If we understand our first and sole duty to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even our enemies, for God's dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual tranquility under every circumstance."

Read:

Romans 8:28-39 -link-

Response:

Romans 8 moves from ‘no condemnation’ to ‘no separation’. If you’ve absorbed things so far, you should be speechless (v 31). If you’re not, you haven’t fully understood the gospel! Paul argues from the greater to the lesser. Our eternal security is God’s work, and nothing can undo it. God never will. If God was against you, then no one could be for you. But if God is for you, does it matter who isn’t (v 31b)?

I love the imagery of v33 on. Who could successfully prosecute you, when it is God himself who’s acquitted you? The charges would be thrown out of court for lack of evidence (v 33). Christ stands at ‘the bench’ for your defence. God won’t even give anyone else a hearing, let alone issue a warrant for your arrest and return to ‘death row’ (v 34)!

There may be trouble ahead…don't forget that Paul wrote this from prison and the Roman christians of the day faced all sorts of persecutions (dont forget this letter is written in the day of the Emporer Nero)...so the Christian life never promises to be trouble free, you could face accident, illness, hatred or murder. Deprivation, hunger or cold are all possible. These things happen to believers. But neither wicked men nor devils will ever finally win. Christ is our 'covenant' Protector; he won’t let you go. In Christ, spiritual ‘hypochondriacs’ become ‘hyper-conquerors’ (v 37)!

Meditate on the character of God and upon the qualities of God’s heart. Then give thanks for the fact that we have been created in the ‘image’ of  God!

Read:

Romans 8: 1-17 -link-

Response:

If you think you cannot learn life-lessons from cartoons, you’ve obviously never watched them! One of my favourites is Scooby Doo, which teaches us the important principle that whatever disguise the baddie adopts, their true colours are always revealed in the end! Case solved and the ‘Mystery Machine’ travels on!

Similarly, how often have you changed your mind about someone the more you have got to know them? Eventually, you begin to see through the outer image and discover the core motives and true desires of the heart.

Have you ever poured a glass of milk only to realise after the first sip, that what looked fresh and appealing was actually gross and four days past its use-by date and is now approaching a form of cheese? Appearances can be deceiving, whether we are talking food, clothing or people! The most important factor is the true condition of the raw material or the ingredients, or with regard to people, the inner nature of the heart. If we live according to selfish desires, then we will live selfishly (vs 5a,7,8). If we live according to the pleasure principle, then we will chase pleasure. But if we live according to the Spirit, then we will desire to please God (v 5b). This does not mean we will always succeed, but it does mean that the focus of our heart is facing the right direction, towards God and not infatuated with self-service.

Express to God the true desires of your heart. Be ruthlessly honest about motives that are self-centred rather than God-centred.

Reflect:

Reflect upon God's majesty - write as many scripture references that you can think of that refer to how all creation bows to his name.

Read:

Romans 6:1-14 -link-

Response:

The great theme here, particularly in verses 1–11, is that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are not only historical facts and significant doctrines but personal experiences of the Christian believer. This experience shouldn’t involve disobeying God when we like on the basis that this provides opportunity for experiencing his grace - as this is a potential heresy known as ‘antinomianism’ or the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the laws of ethics or morality.

Read Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians for insight into how the early Christians were seduced by this approach – and consider how contemporary culture influences our thinking about wrongdoing and God’s grace-full provision of forgiveness.

Paul bluntly tells the Roman church that sin is inadmissible because of our union with Christ. The Christian life begins with a death to sin – literally ‘we died to sin’ (past tense) so how can we live in it (future tense)? It is not the literal impossibility but the moral incongruity that Paul is stressing.  

We live under a regime of grace, which liberates us from sin instead of encouraging it, enabling us to overcome temptation. This involves a mindset of living as having already received resurrection life.

It doesn’t mean we are corpse-like. Disobedience to God will still have its attraction. Because we have died to sin, in the sense that Christ has taken its penalty and we’ve been given a new life, our cooperation with the Holy Spirit living in us in pursuing God’s ways means we can actively choose to live rightly (vs 11–13).

Remember we are made up of three parts – the Spirit (The eternal being), the soul (Mind, will & emotions), the body (the physical). The Spirit will speak, the mind then makes choices based upon how it sees, and then the will and emotions fall into line, and then the body reacts. Now if God is speaking faith hope life, and the mind sees something else - it corrupts your ability to be able to step into the plan of God. For example if I said the word Horse - what did you see? A horse. We think in pictures. If you see a bad result in your minds eye, then all the prayer and action you can muster will not change a simple fact – you have decided to not allow God to flow through you.

So, a key part of living for God is in the mind. It is in knowing (v 6) that our old self was crucified with Christ. It is in knowing (v 3) that baptism into Christ is baptism into his death and resurrection. It is in reckoning, intellectually recognising (v 11), that in Christ we have died to sin and we live to God.

We need so to grasp this truth, its fact and significance, that a return to the old life is unthinkable.

How often do we focus on the incredible love of God? Free yourself from distraction and receive a fresh realisation of the love that God pours out over each one of us.

Read:

Romans 5:1-11 -link-

Response:

When I was training to be an accountant, there were many times I would stay up late when I was at HMAS Cerberus trying to get the bank reconciliation to reconcile. Sometimes it would take me hours because the figures just didn’t add up! For us nerdy accountant types, there is an excitement in the act of balancing numbers...nerdy hey?

There is also this other odd phenonomena that we possess and that is this understanding that the answer to the problem lies in methodically deconstructing the issues and in the methodical reconstruction you will discover the problem and that will bring resolution. To help when I was training the Navy had textbooks which written to help us on all of these things, outlining the established accounting laws and principles. What has that got to do with me? Well, Jesus enters the textbook of our life and miraculously rewrites the existing law! Because of our selfishness, our sin-nature and our inheritance as enemies of God, the only possible conclusion should be eternal separation from God.

But no!

Through the sacrifice of Jesus, the outcome is dramatically altered (v 6). Love enters the equation and gives us a reconciliation we do not deserve. That can only be described as grace – undeserved favour (vs 9,11)! When the accounts balanced, I felt incredibly relieved and temporarily happy. This is nothing compared to the ecstatic joy and overwhelming peace that is found in the measureless love and unconditional acceptance of Jesus Christ.

We are receivers of the favour of God. No one is deserving. Can you be gracious and kind to those you meet today, especially to those you think are ‘undeserving’?

I heard a comment once that said; "Worship is a real and truthful, active and living response to our relationship with God". Spend a few minutes in a conversation with God and reflect on whether your life is a reflection of your worship...

Read:

Romans 5:12 -21  -link-

Response:

Anyone who has watched or played in a football (soccer) game will know the pain of a penalty. The appointed player feels the intense pressure on him – and him alone – to score - pressure city. What about the player that caused the penalty? How many players have fallen to their knees, head in hands, agonising over their misfortune which may ultimately bring defeat to their team and gloom to their fans!

OK, it’s only a game, but, in so many other instances, the behaviour of one person can have a far-reaching impact – for good or for bad!

Adam’s disobedience to God led to a disaster of massive proportions and all humanity immediately shared the fate of one person’s offence (v 12). However, similar to football (soccer), life is also a game of two halves… Jesus gets brought on as a substitute for Adam and literally, saves the day (v 17)! We are part of a world system that elevates sporting heroes to an almost Godlike status; where stadiums become temples of extravagant worship as devotees bow down to the altar of sport! However, the true champion who really does deserve our undivided worship is Jesus. He is the one who has reversed the consequences of a disastrous act that should have resulted in a no-win result for us all (vs 18,19).....

Read: Romans 4:1-12 -link-

Response:

1. Abrahm was counted as righteous BEFORE he was circumcised. As Paul says that it was by faith that he was seen as righteous...

Often within Christendom, and unfortunately, people are desperate to belong, but we expect people to behave as mature christians before we acknowledge that they belong to the church community. Then when they behave like mature christians that is when we will talk belief issues...

But God shows us through Abraham that His desire is that we belong, before we go through any external rituals, and if you look at Abrahams life, often before we have everything sorted out in our beliefs...

If the process is Belong-> Beleif-> Behave... then that will mean messy church, as we all walk different journey's...but I would prefer that rather than mediocrity...