Here’s Why—NO—Leads to a Believer’s “YES LORD!”
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ,
(The Letter of Paul to the Colossians 3: 1-4 NASB)
keep seeking
the things above,
where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind
on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died
and your life is hidden
with Christ in God.
When Christ,
who is our life,
is revealed,
then you also will be revealed
with Him in glory.”
Salvation brings us daily into God’s presence as we walk in His newness of life, and with this ‘new walk’ & this ‘new conversation’ & ‘new want-to’—we are given a brand-new covering of His Mercy & His Grace every single morning. The Bible tells us so!
However, there must be a ‘BUT’ & a ‘BECAUSE’ & a ‘SO’ that we must acknowledge.
BUT—We must desire this newness!
BECAUSE—We must “keep seeking [daily] the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
BECAUSE—We must cry out to the Father moment-by-moment as we walk through our days!
SO—We must not walk away from our faith BUT toward intimacy With God through His Son Jesus!
SO—We must heed (that means obey) the Holy Spirit of God!
BECAUSE—We must set our minds “on the things above” [&} “not on the things that are on earth.”
BUT—We must not desire the oldness of our former lives!
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
BECAUSE—“When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
AND SO THIS MEANS—
We must LEARN more about God & LEARN & LEARN & STUDY His Word & STUDY & STUDY & PRAY to His Son Jesus & PRAY & PRAY!
AND WE MUST NEVER STOP!
YES—This is Why—Our NO to Self—Leads to a Believer’s “YES LORD!”
BECAUSE—HEAVEN IS BUT A BLINK AWAY!
WE: the Christ-followers, the Christians, the Believers, the children of Holy God CANNOT BE ON AUTOPILOT!
Every single morning, we must attend a funeral of our ‘Old Self’ as we ask God to give us spiritual eyes to see the world surrounding us as He Sees the world.
“Amen” by Matthew West puts to a toe-tapping melody what I am trying my best to say. Pause. STAND up. TWIRL. RAISE YOUR HANDS UP HIGH to the LORD. & DANCE FOR THE LORD!
God has given us a home; may we begin to long for our home more today than we did yesterday. God is at work, perhaps more so than any other time in our lives. God is at work in churches, in His People, in His Ministry. YES—It is quite possible that the LORD is doing more than we can see!
BUT—The person we were before we came to Accept, Believe, & Confess Christ Jesus—must die today, and then again tomorrow, and again . . .
BECAUSE—The person we are inside is being renewed every day!
SO, We must ask—
- Who has God entrusted to me in my life, who I can affect for the cause of Christ?
- How am I serving God, using the spiritual gift the Spirit of God has given to me?
- How do others see the Holy Spirit making a difference in me?
We are so blessed with The Word of God who explains the WHY over and over, Leading us to the path to our “YES LORD!” In the apostle Paul’s second letter written for the believers living in the city Corinth, the Spirit leads Paul to write—
“Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart,
(The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 4: 1-6 NASB)
but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God,
but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience
in the sight of God.
And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing,
in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving
so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord,
and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts
to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”