Repentance: Change of the Mind or Change of Action?

The word of God states in Ezekiel 18:30:
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
In Matthew 4:17 Jesus says “ … Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” These are just a few of the many verses God speaks directly about repentance. God is very concerned about His people repenting of their evil actions, thoughts, and ways. This is a truth that, I believe, has fallen by the wayside in today’s Christian culture. I seldom hear Christians speak about repentance. I only hear, “believe and that’s all you need.” Is this a true statement? I would say yes and no.

I agree with Martin Luther and the reformers that your are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Amen, hallelujah! However, we must remember the caveat that they place on this statement that is so often excluded: “I believe in faith alone, but not a faith that is alone,” – Martin Luther.

What did he mean by a faith that is not alone? At first glance, it appears that Martin Luther is merely contradicting himself. However, after careful examination, one sees that Martin Luther was speaking about a great paradox in the bible.

James says that faith without works is dead. Faith needs works to be alive or existent. You, however, don’t need faith plus works. They are invariably interwoven. If you have faith without works, then the reality is that you don’t have faith at all. See James illustrates this in 3:15-17:
¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good^[b] is that? ¹⁷So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Take note to what James is saying: that faith without works is like a man saying go in peace and be warmed and filled without actually doing anything for him. This is ridiculous. This is not true concern or charity. This “concern” or “charity” lacks consistency. There is no substance found within.

This is how faith without works is. It lacks validity. How can you say Jesus is Lord, and not do his will (works). How can you say Lord not my will but your will be done (works) and do only your own? You my friend have a dead faith, which will produce nothing.

Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven

What is Jesus saying here? He clearly states that not everyone who professes faith (Lord, Lord) is truly saved. It’s not the one who professes to have faith and has no works, but the one who does the Father’s will.

Can you do the Father’s will and not believe in him? Of course not. As Martin Luther said, “Faith alone, but not a faith that is alone.” How much works do you have to have? There is no such requirement given in scripture. If you truly have faith in Jesus Christ, you will be born again, and your new redeemed person will have works.

One of these works that will result from your new redeemed life is repentance. God will give you not only the desire, but also the power to repent of your former ways. Philippians 2:12 :
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So who then is doing the work? Is it you or is it God? The Word of the Lord says it is God. So whether it is faith (Ephesian 2:8 …it is a gift from God…) or your work (Philippians 2:12 …it is God who works…) it all comes from the Lord. Therefore, if you are in Christ, you will have no problem doing Jesus’ command, “to believe and repent,” for both of these things will be given to you.

This is all, however, God’s perspective. Man’s perspective is that you need to believe and repent — work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Don’t let any tradition of man rob you from the truth. It is not enough to simply believe. You must believe and repent, for this is true faith — the former will only get you to Matthew 7:21 “…Lord, Lord…” The latter will bring you to Revelation 21:1 “…a new earth and the new Heaven… “

Modesty

It isn’t easy, as a woman, to remain pure. We are surrounded by a culture that glorifies our immorality. Have you ever heard a man compliment a woman on her modest apparel? Or is it that you always hear a man complimenting a woman who is not so “covered up?” It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the girls who dress flashy are noticed, and the girls who dress modestly are ignored. It’s so extreme that our definitions of beauty revolve around our immodest dress codes. The girl wearing a tank-top and miniskirt is seen as beautiful, while the girl in an ankle skirt and sweater vest is just plain ugly. We are Christians living in the unbeliever’s world. To make things more complicated, our “main” goal as a woman is to get married and have a family (feminist movement will tell you otherwise- a whole different issue on its own).

How do we balance the finding of a mate with unappealing modesty? We all know the answer, we just don’t like to discuss it. As a woman, especially as a Christian woman, it is crucial to dress in a manner that will not cause a brother to stumble. There is something inherently disturbing about seeing a daughter dress promiscuously in front of her father. If it is an odd sight in this situation, shouldn’t it be considered even worse in public? If you are anything like me, you did not grow up with this modesty principal at all. My parents never governed my clothing choices, nor did they discuss that my body was a private matter. In the eyes of society I have been considered “normal” looking. My skin was covered; isn’t that the definition of being modest? It was too late for my parents to say anything as I grew older. Issues like this need to be instilled from the beginning. It was only by the grace of God that I was convicted on the subject of modesty.

How would I dress if I was going to stand before my Creator? All of a sudden my entire view on my wardrobe had been shifted. It isn’t just enough to have your skin covered. Are your clothes form fitting? This eliminates all of my jeans! Those form fitting “t-shirts” I bought from the mall are now out of the question. What about my big hoop earrings and my push-up bras? These things that were once so normal to me became an abomination.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you have to be so plain that you can’t even stand to look at yourself in the mirror. It feels nice to look and feel feminine. For those of us with husbands, it’s advised that we should try to be attractive for them (but ONLY for them). If you are “on the market,” I wouldn’t say not to wear those stud earrings or that pretty necklace you like. Of course, anything that could potentially catch the attention of the lustful eye should not be worn. Why wear a push-up bra if you aren’t going to be revealing that area? Does the shirt you wear show the curve of your body? How about your pants? How far above your knees are your shorts? These are just some examples of questions to ask yourself when you are getting dressed for the day.

In my opinion, one of the biggest motivators as a single person to dress modestly is that the way you dress will attract certain men. If you dress like Mariah Carey, all the men that walk up to you are going to be lust-driven individuals. If they lust after you, they will lust after others while with you. Dressing in this way also is a signal to any “quality” guy to stay away. If you dress modestly, you practically filter out the secular men. The most important thing to understand -again, just my opinion- is that God is sovereign, and His will be done on earth. If He has called you to marry, you will be married regardless of how “ugly” you look. As far as guidelines go, take a quick look at our celebrities and dress the exact opposite of them.

–The wife
———————-

God’s Word instructs far better than I can:

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 3:3, 4 NKJV)

“in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.” (1 Timothy 2:9, 10 NKJV)

“Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30 NKJV)

Financial Infidelity

Money decisions dictate many aspects of our lives, from what you will eat to what your do for recreation fun. Money plays a role in all of these decisions — even mundane ones. In marriage we must recognize this and make decisions accordingly. Communication is key. Understanding each others spending ideology and concepts helps couples see each other perspective and compromise. This will limit potential fights and stress in the relationship.

Financial infidelity is when one person in the covenantal relationship is making financial decisions behind their spouses back. This includes spending more money than previously agreed on, buying things outside of agreements, treating ourselves continuously , and anything else that we do behind our love’s back.

This can be very damaging emotionally — let alone financially — to a marriage. Financial transparency is key to avoiding these pit-falls.

Sources: Focus on the Family With Jim Daly: Building a Secure Financial Future With Your Spouse (friday October 7, 2011)

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/focus-on-the-family/

God bless you; Abide in his Love – 10-10-11

Trust in the Lord: Through Trials and Tribulations

The apostles praise the Lord in the book of acts right after they were beaten; then where beaten and they praised the lord for there opportunity to suffer for Christ. How amazing of a group of individuals to do such a thing. Praise the Lord of creating such wonderful workmanship for his kingdom. I pray that the Lord will provide more men with this attitude and understanding of God. I pray that the Lord makes me like these men when I am called to suffer in my life.

Currently, I am being sued for a grand total of $ 30,000. Now I can fret and worry. I can freak out and throw my hands up at the sky and ask why, Lord, why! Or I can trust in the Lord. Psalms 40:3 blessed is the man who trust in the Lord. I want to be this man, me and my family. I want to praise the Lord of the opportunity to put my trust in the Lord and if I am called to suffer for the Lord praise his name. This is an exceptable reality.

It is not my story, but his-story. This is not my life – I count my life nothing. I am only here for the glory of the Lord. I am bought at a price. I am a slave, a doulous (greek word for slave). Who is man that God is mindful of him? God never answers this question because the answer is he is not anything that the Lord should be mindful of him. We are created for the glory of the Lord. If he is glorified by the the seasons of joy in you life praise the Lord! If he is glorified by the trials and tribulations in your life praise the Lord! What did Job say? The Lord gives and takes away, blessed be the Lord. Blessed it be the Lord and give him praise all you saints.

I love the song “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus” absolutely praise Jesus. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus . Psalm 127:2 says “The Lord gives his beloved sleep”. I shall sleep well today and tomorrow and forever more. My sleep and my rest in the Lord has nothing to do with my situations, but my relationship with the Lord. I am his servant! I am his son. If God is with me then who can be against me? Who can stand against the Lord and his anointed ? Not satan, not the world, and differently not trials and tribulations.

What does James 1:2 say, ” count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Count it all joy! Let’s live this scripture. James also says, “be not hears of the world only but doers of the world.” It is easy to say you trust in the Lord when all is well but can you say it is well with my soul in the midst of the storm. This reminds me of when in the gospel Jesus was sleeping in a boat during a great storm. His apostles where freaking out believing they would be consumed by the storm and awoke Jesus. Jesus then rebuked them and said, “ye of little faith.” The Lord can calm the storms in your life and the Lord will take you where he wants you. This may not always be where you wanna go but this where the Lord wants you.

God bless you; fear the Lord all the days of your life and it shall be well with you soul.

The Importance of Education

Parents, adults, and the wise – they have repeated the truth of the importance of education since I was a young pup. I, however, either did not believe them at best and thought they were naive at worst. The power of education and knowledge, I thought, were simply theoretical. How could learning, beyond the mere basics of reading, writing, and basic math, actually help anyone? I applied this philosophy of suspicion and disbelief all through my life. I simply “got” through school. I gave school probably 40% of my effort in my first ten years. Then, I became a Christian and decided to give probably 70% of my efforts. I just didn’t see the lasting results, either eternally or long-term, benefits of giving my all.

It wasn’t until I got to AIT (Advanced Individual Training) that I truly realized the importance of education: How important things I previously shrugged off as unimportant truly were. Knowing how to spell, use proper punctuation, and to write and think analytically – these are all essential characteristics of an educated individual. This is knowledge that is taught free to all school aged children. You can choose to absorb all of this or, as I did, reject it. The latter is folly.

Why cripple yourself from the respect and ethos of all your future coworkers, employees, and bosses? There is nothing more embarrassing than to misspell a common or easily spelled word or to not punctuate correctly, complex sentences; ironically, in this situation, your ability to write complex and interesting sentences, actually, works against you rather than for you. This, however, is the only earthly reason to strive for knowledge, for God is concerned with this realm: education. Education, or better stated: our attitude on education, is underneath the sphere of labor; have you not heard the old saying, “school is your job”? As a school aged child or an adult in school, education is your job and God is very concerned in the sphere of labor. In Ecclesiastes 9:10, ” Whatever your hands finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where your going,” the bible commands us to do everything with our “might” (give it all you have). Is this a suggestion or command? You will find that in the bible there are very few suggestions in all of scripture. To conclude, Ephesians 6:5-8 says, “Bondservants [workers] be obedient to those who are your masters [bosses] according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ [Christ is who you should be working unto, not man] not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants [workers] of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, [working for the Lord] and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.” The Lord says when we work we need to work unto the Lord, not unto men. If we were to work unto the Lord, would we not work with all our might? I think not. Lastly, it promise that we will receive rewards for our good deeds. If you trust in the Lord God, you will be blessed: Psalms 40:4, “blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.”

Inscribed by Maritn, Jamie
Edited by Martin, Stephanie