But Do Not Take Advantage Of God’s Grace

Posted on by Dr. Linda Agnes Knowles

When it comes to God’s grace, there is no quick exercise.  Grace is a gift bestowed upon us as children of God.  Grace is not inexpensive; It is costly.  Grace came at the cost of Jesus giving up His life for us.  Grace is given freely to us, but we are not to take advantage of His grace.  We ARE SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH not by works.  Ephesians 2:8-9 states, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”  We can NEVER boast about earning God’s grace because grace is a gift.  Rewards/Awards are earned.  Gifts are NOT earned; Gifts are given.

2 Corinthians 12:9 states, “Each time he said, ‘my grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.  So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me.”  What does that tell you?  That verse is telling you that you need God’s grace, and His grace is all your need.  Basically, we can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).  No matter what situation or obstacle comes your way, you ARE victorious.  Despite all these things–trials, heartache, pain, sorrow, tragedy, death, and the like–overwhelming victory is ours through Christ (Romans 8:37).  You ARE an overcomer.

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EITHER YOU CHOOSE TO OBEY OR YOU DON’T. GOD WANTS WHOLEHEARTED OBEDIENCE.

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Here is what the Word of God says in Deuteronomy 30:19, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses.  Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.  Oh that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”  Obedience is a choice, and as believers, we have the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live a holy and obedient life as commanded by God.  You can choose life which includes blessing and being in right relationship with God and seeking after Him, or you can choose death which means you are out of right relationship with God, living for yourself.  God is the One who sets the standard to live by, and His standard is holiness (1 Peter 1:16) “Be holy for I am holy.”

In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments,” and in John 15:5, Jesus says, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.  Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.  FOR APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING.”  If you rely on self-effort and self-reliance to try to obey God, that is all it will amount to.  Trying to obey, anything based on man-made wisdom and understanding will collapse, amounting to absolutely nothing.  We are also told in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

The things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned.  The bible is not something we read with our carnal understanding.  As children of God, we have the mind of Christ, and we should be asking the Lord to help us to understand by leaning on the Holy Spirit who helps us to understand the truth of God’s Word as shown in John 16: 13 which states, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard.  He will tell you about the future.”  When the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the words in Scripture, we are getting understanding and wisdom from God.  With the mind of Christ, we are able to understand the things of the Spirit.  The Apostle Paul had this to say, in 2 Corinthians 2:13-16, “When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom.  Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.  But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit.  It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.  Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.  For, ‘Who can know the LORD’S thoughts?  Who knows enough to teach him?’  But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”

God does NOT make suggestions.  God gives commands, and His commands are clearly laid out in Scripture such as the Ten Commandments.  When God says, “Don’t lie,” that’s a command.  Make no mistake about it.  The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth DOES make commands.  You are merely the clay in the Potter’s hands.  You don’t get to tell the Creator who created you what to do.

The Scriptures demand you make a choice.  The Word is meant to be applied to our lives.  Even King David the Psalmist recognized this as he meditated on the law of God day and night.  King David understood God gave commands; “I will pursue your command, for you expand my understanding,” Psalm 119:32.  Also, King David understood the importance of believing in God’s commands.  He states in Psalm 119:66, “I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgment and knowledge.”  Understand and see God lays out His commands in the Scriptures.  However, when reading and studying God’s laws, His commands, His precepts, His demands, you are faced with having to make a decision.  Will you or won’t you obey the commands of God?  Choosing God’s way is choosing life.  Choosing your way only leads down the broad road to death, hell, and destruction.

CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE!

The Creator has made Himself very clear.  Now follow His laws and commands.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ our Lord.

Second Corinthians 5:15 shows us, “He did for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.  Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”  According to that verse, we, as children of God, do NOT live for ourselves because we are not your own, and we have been bought with a price.  Christ did the will of the Heavenly Father and stated why He had come, “For the Son of Man came here not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45).

Follow His example.  See Jesus for whom He is (John 4:26), “I am the Messiah!”  And we are to follow Him (John 8:12), “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world.  If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’”

Walking the narrow road takes our willingness.  It’s not easy, but it is worth it all.  Count the cost.  Pick up your cross.  Carry your cross.  Follow HIM.

Linda Agnes Knowles

“My old self has been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20

If You Go Into Ministry…

Posted on by Dr. Linda Agnes Knowles

IF YOU GO INTO MINISTRY expecting to make a great amount of wealth, then you do not understand what ministry is. Ministry is about reaching out to the hopeless, speaking for those who have no voice, and reaching the lost and dying by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ so they may inherit eternal life. Ministry is about winning souls for Jesus Christ. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” Luke 19:10.

IF YOU GO INTO MINISTRY expecting to make a great amount of wealth, then you have lost the purpose of what ministry is about. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” Mark 10:45, Matthew 20:28. We lay down ourselves, our ego, our desires, our will in exchange for picking up our cross, dying to selfishness, and following His Will, giving our lives in service to Him, and going forth to tell others about Jesus Christ and who He is. “He must increase; I must decrease,” John 3:30. “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” Luke 9:23. Note the words “Let Him Deny Himself.”

THE WORD “MINISTER” on its own means “servant.” MINISTERING TO (SERVING) OTHERS is a calling.

IF YOU GO INTO MINISTRY JUST SO YOU CAN GET WEALTHY AND MILK PEOPLE DRY, then your ministry is built on the foundation of self and on things that will collapse when the storms come. IF YOUR MINISTRY IS BUILT ON SELF, THE LOVE OF MONEY, EGO, GREED, AND BUILT WITHOUT CHRIST BEING THE FOUNDATION, your ministry will eventually collapse.

“Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head,” Luke 9:58. There isn’t a bible verse that says Jesus lived in mansions while He on earth, and there’s isn’t a bible verse that shows Him demanding payment before or after He ministered to people. There isn’t even a verse that shows Jesus demanding money for His ministry. You will find Jesus preaching repentance and bringing hope to the hopeless, healing the sick, teaching crowds of people, delivering those who were possessed. He is Savior and Lord, and we see Him in the Scriptures as ministering to those who cried out to Him, those who recognized their need for salvation. In those same Scriptures, we see Jesus overturning the table of the money changers for taking advantage of those who were purchasing animals they needed to make sacrifices, “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers,'” Matthew 21:12-13.

I will end this post with these words from the book of Jude Verses 10 and 11 and 2 Peter 2:11-13, “These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively. Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion,” and “Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord. These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed. The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.”

Linda A. Knowles

Discipleship Is Very Costly

Posted on by Dr. Linda Agnes Knowles

“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘Ye were bought at a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

LET GO 1

“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?  Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?  Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”  -Romans 6:1-4

When you seek counsel from God about any situation and when you decide you want to go deeper with the Lord in your walk with Him, BE CAREFUL.  Discipleship is costly.  Be careful what you ask God for.  Be careful when you ask Him to act on your behalf.  He may tell you what you have to give up, what you need to let go of, and He may tell you there is an influence over you that has got to go.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes for you to draw closer to God?  Are you willing to give up whatever God wants you to?  What are you willing to give up?  Do you want God to answer your prayers?  Are you in right relationship with Him?  Are you applying His Word to your life?  Are you spending time in His Word and in His Presence?  Is there sin in your life you haven’t repented of?  Don’t be surprised when you have to take a step of obedience or a giant leap of faith to do what God tells you to do? No one said living for God would be easy, but He gave us the greatest example:  Jesus Christ.  Look to Christ.  He was obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8), and He is our Teacher (Matthew 11:28-30).  Those who do the will of the Father are His family.  <> “Pointing to His disciples, He said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers.  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.'” -Matthew 12:49-50  <>  “Then Jesus told His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?'”  -Matthew 16:24-26  <>  “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it.” -Mark 8:36

When you abandon it all for Him, you won’t regret it.  He will give you the strength as you step out in faith and obey Him.  Answer His call, and do what He has called you to do.  Be deliberate in your walk with the Lord.  Be determined to do His will, and don’t let anyone or anything stop you from obeying God.  If God before You, who can be against you?

Much love to you all,

L.A. Knowles

“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.  Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will.  And I know that I will not be put to shame.” -Isaiah 50:7