Category Archives: ME

I CAN Do All Things??? Bible Ballistics: BBs #401

11 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by in Confidence, I Can Do All Things?, Jesus Is The Only Way!, Knowing God's Word, ME, The Only Way, The Word, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

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Bible Ballistics: BBs #401       I CAN Do All Things???

 

“Not that I speak in respect of want:

for I have learned,

in whatsoever state I am,

therewith to be content.

12 I know both how to be abased,

and I know how to abound:

every where

and in all things

I am instructed

both to be full

and to be hungry,

both to abound

and to suffer need.

13 I can do all things

through Christ

which strengtheneth me.”    Philippians 4:11-13

I know that verse 13 is familiar to most Christians, but we often aren’t familiar with the context. Like much of scripture, most people haven’t taken the time to check out the context—the scriptures that go before and after the verse. We must always understand the words in light of their context! Spend some time considering the context of verse 13. Paul isn’t giving us a blank check to manipulate God in order to do whatever we please, but to BE yielded to HIM. Even Jesus revealed what “all things” is really all about!

“After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father

which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

in earth,

as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day

our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

for ever. Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus instructs us to pray, and calls us to pray ‘selflessly’ not focused on what “I” want or what “I” CAN do, but on what GOD can do; ever seeking God’s will, not my own. Asking what God wants us to do in order to accomplish His work!

“Thy kingdom come”—

“Thy will be done”—

Be sure and notice the pronouns that Jesus uses! He calls us to focus on God’s will being done, but He also directs us to pray using the selfless pronouns:

“Give us”—            “our daily bread”—

“forgive us”—        “our debts”—

“lead us”—             “deliver us”!

All this because it all belongs to GOD, and believers are His children!!! It is to be God and “us/our” not “I/me/mine”! So may we pray with Jesus, “not my will, but thine, be done”! Think on these things today!!! We can do all through Jesus, but it’s to be HIS will not “mine”! Always!!!

“For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory, for ever.”     Amen and Amen.

Not My Will, But Thine, Be Done??? Bible Ballistics: BBs #399

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by in Abundant Life In Jesus, Choose You This Day!, Confidence, Knowing God's Word, ME, Salvation, SIN, The Only Way, The Word, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, Walking With Jesus

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Bible Ballistics: BBs #399 Not My Will, But Thine, Be Done???

 

“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42 Saying,

Father,

if thou be willing,

remove this cup from me:

nevertheless

not my will,

but thine,

be done.” Luke 22:42

Jesus prayed in the garden before He was taken to be tried and crucified, and while His flesh was resistant to go to the cross, His soul and spirit yielded to the will of The Father! And I praise God that He did! For if He hadn’t gone, we would be lost for eternity rather than having the salvation that His blood secured, offered to us by God! What have you done with the gift of God’s salvation, which Jesus purchased with His blood on that cross?

When we come to Jesus in repentance and faith, He transforms our lives and we begin a life-long journey of being “conformed to the image of His Son” (See Romans 8:28-29), so that God may be seen in us. God’s work of salvation displayed before a world that is lost in darkness and corruption; displayed that others may see Jesus in us and come to His cross; but to do that we must die to ourselves and live unto Jesus Christ.

“I am crucified with Christ:

nevertheless I live;

yet not I,

but Christ liveth in me:

and the life which I now live

in the flesh

I live by the faith of the Son of God,

who loved me,

and gave himself for me.”    Galatians 2:20

As we die to ‘self’ and live to Jesus, we can truly come to understand what Jesus was teaching us in the ‘model prayer’ that He gave to His disciples:

“After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

in earth,

as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10

Even as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are to seek God’s face, God’s Kingdom and God’s will in our lives each and every day, all along our way. Seeking God and His kingdom is to be a way of life, not a “one day a week” token. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow HIM, and to take up the “cross”; we must die to self, that we might live in, by, through, and for HIM!

“And he said to them all,

If any man will come after me,

let him deny himself,

and take up his cross daily,

and follow me.

24 For whosoever will save his life

shall lose it:

but whosoever will lose his life

for my sake,

the same shall save it.” Luke 9:23-24

We can cling to our own way, live our own life our own way and loose it all. Or we can come to Jesus, yielding up our right to our life; yielding it to the One who died that we might have new life–“life…, and….. have it more abundantly”! It is only in recognizing our sin, and coming to Jesus—the only cure for sin—in repentance and faith, trusting in His blood that “cleanseth us from all sin”, that we find real life, which only Jesus can impart. And when we trust in Him, it means that ‘I’ die to self, so that He can live through ‘me’, and be ‘my’ “all in all”! Life for death!

“Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free:

but Christ is all,

and in all.” Colossians 3:17

And when Jesus is all to us, we can accomplish great things as God directs our steps, and we remember that it’s all about Jesus—not about me. His will not mine.

“I am the vine,

ye are the branches:

He that abideth in me,

and I in him,

the same bringeth forth much fruit:

for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5

We must decide if we will do our own thing, or if we will seek to abide in Jesus that HE might accomplish His work in and through us. Oh what a glorious adventure—I praise God for the opportunity to join Him in seeing His “kingdom come” in ‘me’!!!

So I invite each of you to join me in pursuing “Thy will be done” rather than “my will be done”!

“Whether therefore ye eat,

or drink,

or whatsoever ye do,

do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

What a grand adventure to serve the living God of all creation, and have His power working within us. I’m so glad that it’s all about HIM—not me! May it ever be ‘Thine NOT mine’—always! But remember the flesh doesn’t die easily—that’s why Jesus said we must “take up his cross daily” and follow HIM—today, and today, and today…..

“But thanks be to God,

which giveth us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren,

be ye stedfast,

unmoveable,

always abounding

in the work of the Lord,

forasmuch as ye know

that your labour

is not in vain

in the Lord.”    1 Corinthians 15:57-58

Amen and Amen!