Bible Blog
Our Quote for Today:"Exercising His faith rather than mine own places Christ into my hearts meditations. And it is my meditations ON Him that maintains my position IN him when the world, the flesh and the devil are in severe attack mode!"
Seventy five times the Apostle Paul told us to situate ourselves IN Christ. Jesus taught us to 'abide IN me" over 25 times. Where we are standing is not a superstition. It's a position. When we position ourselves IN Christ and remain there during intense temptations and trials our abiding relationship with Him (the vine) gives us (the branch) the ability to be anything and do everything He would require of us.
But so often we find ourselves out of position, spiritually speaking. We look to the Lord (from whence cometh our help) but not until we are in a jam. Our walk with God is intended to be a momentum building experience that lasts throughout the day. It's not only motivational, directional and integral. It is supernatural! If we snooze we will always lose. I don't know about you but that uninterrupted 45 minutes to an hour with the Lord is the most attacked portion of my day. Nothing is harder for my stubborn flesh than early morning walks with the Lord. But absent of my walk, I am weak and can do nothing! (John 15 various verses)
In Ephesians 3 Paul prayed that God would grant the believers a most specific need in all Christendom. "That he would grant you . . . to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." This verse clearly teaches that the strength we need is not physical or soulical for the sake of our natural man, but rather spiritual for the sake of our inner man. My spirit and His Spirit dwell together in my inner man and when that relationship is strengthened then something supernatural takes place in my heart (that is to say my meditatonal thoughts). What is that supernatural phenomenon?
It is the thoughts of Christ's mind dwelling in my meditations. Paul puts it this way in the very next verse "That Christ may dwell in your hearts. . ." But how does that happen? How else would it happen but (the next two words of the verse say) "by faith. . ."? When we by faith recognize His presence within us we can ascertain His persuasion for us and find the strength in our inner man to respond purely to our adversary the devil.
The end result of His persuasive presence in my hearts meditations is not only the strength of my inner man but he concludes that I will be "rooted and grounded in love." When my whole being is properly rooted in His love, yielding to His faith, I will find the things of this world growing strangely dim and the presence of His persuasion to be the normality of illumination.
Be Blessed IN the Lord!Steven Curington
| Thursday, 01 May 2008 00:00 | |
"The Car Wash Miracle" Multiple people have asked me in the last few days if I have ceased the Bible blogs. The short answer is no. I recently dropped my laptop, and will be unable to write further Blogs until my tech guys can fix it or find me a new one.
To God Be The Glory!
Steven Curington
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 June 2008 00:40 ) |
Quote for Today:
"To be disappointed in yourself is to have believed in self."
If there is anyone who understands disappointment it's me! I spent the greatest portion of my life disappointing and the subsequent part of my life being often disappointed. Though I am sure I remain quite a disappointment to many, I am learning that it is a waste of time to be disappointed with myself.
You see, I am learning that if I am disappointed in myself, I have believed in myself. When I "think" or "feel", I should have done better, it is I who failed. What makes me think I can do anything but fail? It is Christ IN me that can do anything BUT fail!
When we depend on self to do the work of the Lord, then disappointment is the eventual, not probable, but eventual result. We are all together unprofitable. Do you believe the Bible when He (not it, the Bible is a He not an it for "the Word was God". If it's quick, that means it's, woops, He's alive!) says "there is none that doeth good" and follows that up with a double declaration-NO NOT ONE!"
If we believe we cannot do good, then why do we get disappointed in ourselves? It is because we are trusting in self. We MUST stop this nonsense! It's a revolving door that leads us to think that the flesh can be trained to be pleasing in His sight. God is not looking for a better Steve. He is looking for a deader Steve!
Now, please understand that I can and should be disappointed when I trust in self. But I should not be disappointed in my inability to do what self attempted. For self can do nothing to please God. Self is absent of faith, or else my dependence would be found IN Him. Rather than being disappointed in my inability to do what self attempted, I should be disappointed in my selfish effort. Why did I make effort in mine own power? I was trusting that I could "getter' done! That's why." But I can't, at least not long term.
Paul taught me this truth and I am finally learning it. He explains it best in Romans 7:18-20. Reread these verses again slowly. "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing." Do you know what that means? My flesh is of no value to me or to He!" But he follows the phrase "dwelleth no good thing" with a colon (:). That is a punctuation that precedes an explanation. Here is WHY the great Apostle Paul felt His own efforts were useless "for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."
Paul is saying he couldn't find the intestinal fortitude to remain victorious through the development of self. How could he conclude such a thing when most everyone thinks it's best to improve self? Because the best naturally birthed Christian in the world realized "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."
So, I conclude with this thought. If Paul was such a miserable failure at everything he tried to do, then how did he keep from being so disappointed in himself? Our final verse for the morning explains it. He concluded in verse twenty: "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
He learned to trust in the Lord and have no confidence in the flesh. If we trust in the Lord, we will never be disappointed. But if we trust in ourselves, we shall always be disappointed. At least eventually, it is guaranteed!
Do you believe? If so, then I guess you are seldom disappointed, huh! If you are oft or even sometimes disappointed, then now we understand why. It's not because of trust in self. It's because we just don't believe.
Lord, help our unbelief.
Have a wonderful day IN the Lord!
Steven Curington
"On the days you fail, does He?!"
Quote for Today:
"If we would only contemplate on what He has lead us to meditate, we would overcome our struggles to capitulate."
What was yesterday's battle for you? Was it the same type as the day before? Do your devils devise detours that leave you fighting a different type of battle every day? They would. If they needed to! But it's sad to say they seldom need such creativity. For yesterday's battle strategy is usually good for quite a while.
Why is that? It is because we refuse to submit to proper meditations. It is because the meditations of my heart are not acceptable in His sight. How can He be my Strength and my Redeemer when I am rejecting His SINGLE strategy for victory--proper thinking?
It is because of our wrong meditations that we endure similar daily capitulations.
To capitulate means "to surrender to an enemy". Effective synonyms to better understand this word are "submit, give in, yield, relent, cede, give way" and of course complete "surrender". Why would any battle ready army change tactics if the same strategy led to consistent surrender of it's enemy? They would be foolish to invest in any other game plan but the one bringing daily success.
So to gain a new devil, we must take a new level. That level can be a step backwards, where the things that no longer tempt us become a temptation once again. This backslidden regression will lead us to former positions of bondage to sin from which we were once released. In other words, if the devil can send fewer troops to do damage to your demeanor he will surely cut back. He probably has a labor shortage in his harvest as well.
But no good Christian WANTS to do that. But that is exactly what we will do if we do not ADVANCE in our battle strategies. If we do not begin to win, we will not be able to hold the fort, for He isn't coming! He only arrives when we submit to Him to gain our win.
Everyone knows the Christian battle is ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIER. Marching "as to war" is the only progressive step available. Standing still lasts less than a day. We will be overcome daily with the same level of devil and as I said afore, the former lower level devil will soon be suitable once again to steal and to kill and to destroy.
But, advance you shall if your capitulation is meet with proper calculation! You can so advance into enemy territory that the devil and his demons would need a personal "powwow" to determine how to better attack your new positions. But it will require one major step: remember the battle plan of the believer in the midst of spiritual warfare. What is the battle plan? For offense it is but one thing! It is His Sword of the Spirit.
The armor has no sheath, for the sheath is within you. As you put the Sword in and keep it ready and at hand, it can quickly be pulled out and used to overcome any situation. Meditation is the only proven method to avoid regular capitulation.
Let me ask you this question. On the days you fail, does He? I didn't think so.
Take a portion of His word with you today and dwell upon it. Every single time you start to put something in your mouth today (even a drink of water) stop and take your daily meds along with it. Read or quote the truth three times. It's ok if you don't have it memorized. If it works, you will never forget it anyway. Give it a try. No! Not today. Forever!
God has ONE strategy for ALL the devils schemes. It is meditation (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:3; Psalm 119). Without His Spirit prompted daily med, the devil only needs ONE scheme for all OUR strategies. It was the same one he used yesterday, the day before, the day before that and the day before that. Oh, and by the way. If we haven't figured it out yet, it is the one he will use again today.
But hopefully, he will need another one tomorrow. Think about that and he will!
Be Blessed IN the Lord!
Steven Curington
It's been said "Give me liberty or give me death." But it could be better said, "Give me death and I shall obtain my liberty."
Good morning! Before we get started I wanted to update you on a few things. First, I am returning from a one week "family vacation". Sad to say, but this was my first vacation as such. Most of our time off is surrounded by evangelistic meetings or work related conferences. Just getting away for a week without any responsibilities has seemed impossible. But we determined to do it this past week and had a wonderful time. I am grateful for the great staff God has given to RU. Many a years have gone by where I have not been able to take such a necessary break. But I am glad for the team with which God has surrounded me. As well, I have missed communicating with you in my semi-daily blog and am glad to be back.
Secondly, I want to update you on our car wash contest. God has done surprising miracles this year as we have sought to raise an incomprehensible amount of money. Our goal this year was over twice last year's amount. We are praying that God would allow us to raise $100,000.00. Many scoffed at the idea and rightly so. It seems impossible. But our God is so BIG! We believe He is going to do it.
But we won't make it without an even greater miracle. We are so very close. To date we have raised just under $85,000.00. Because the car wash is this Saturday, we need to raise $15,000 in the next four days! That may seem probable, given what we have raised so far. But to be quite honest with you, we have no one left to ask. So we have begun to re-ask! I would like you to please weigh in with an investment in this year's SUPER SCRUB Wash-A-Thon. We have come so far and I have one hundred students who REALLY believe that God is going to do this! I believe He will as well, but I know that He will do it through His people. If He is leading you to help, will you please cooperate with His leading? You can be assured a great blessing. Thank you.
You can email me and I will call you for your gift, or you can respond to this email with your name, address and the amount of your one time gift and we will bill you OR, you can click on this link to give my credit card: Super Scrub Final Push!
Now to today's quote: It's been said "Give me liberty or give me death." But it could be better said, "Give me death and I shall obtain my liberty."
Freedom is found within boundaries. Many young people reject the God given boundaries of their upbringing, thinking or feeling as if those restrictions are inhibiting their liberty. But nothing could be further from the truth!
As a young person, I couldn't wait to get out of my Christian home, Christian School and that Baptist church! When the day came, I would finally be free from my boundaries, or so I thought. But we only exchange boundaries with bondage!
Secondly, Freedom is not only found in submission to boundaries, but freedom is also found in submission to authority. So as we obey God's boundaries and are guided by His authority we will find restrictions set in our lives by His delegates. These delegates are people He allows to be in authority over us. It is our parents, our preachers, our teachers, our EMPLOYERS, and even our government.
Yes, God has ordained and chosen His leadership by OUR placement. He placed you in your home. He placed you in your church. He placed you in that job and He has placed you in the country in which you live. This was intentional on His part. You may wish for something different, but it is not the wish of our Lord, at least not at this time. It is our rejection of His wishes that bring us into bondage.
With this said, God has designed a system of advancing our liberty through a routine of daily dying on our part. That is to say a willingness to give our selfish thoughts, wants and feelings over to the thoughts, wants and feelings of our Lord Jesus Christ as led by His Spirit-our Holy Spirit.
The majority of our deaths, that is to say, the sacrificing of our selfishness, will come at the request or behest of our God ordained leadership. If we are unwilling to accept their role of "boundary placement and enforcement" in our lives, do we really think we will enjoy the liberty that comes from our personal death?
Liberty doesn't come because we fight to the death. Liberty comes because we submit to our death! Today, let us give up on our fight to expand our liberties at home or at church or at work and accept our boundaries, embrace our restrictions, honor our leaders and revere our Savior. Then we will find great liberty, for we have died that we may enjoy it!
Have a wonderful day IN the Lord,
"Do you believe, or do you believe, believe?!"
Our Quote for Today:
"Often I find Christians believe in hell enough to save them, but not enough to save others!"
Today's quote in our Daily Planning Journal is more somber than most. That's for sure! We need to recognize a ploy of the enemy is to encourage us to become apathetic to our bareness in producing converts. I pray the conviction I feel right now as I reviewed today's blog, be shared by many of you as well. May our shared conviction lead us to a more effective work and walk for the Lord.
Good Morning! Sometimes I ask while preaching in churches, how many people brought a visitor to church that day? Almost always, no one raises their hands.
I will usually follow that question with a second question, which is this: "How many of you believe in a literal hell the burns with fire?" It's safe to say that every hand in every congregation that I have done this exercise has raised their hand in agreement--they believe!
I then point out that if they really believed in a hell that burned forever, they would be unable to sleep at night knowing their friends or loved one's are headed there. Or, we would have to find some creative way to shut off the thoughts so that we could simply get some sleep!
Rather, it is safe to say if we are not going to invite someone to join us in church; it's unlikely we will ever invite them to join us in heaven. But why? It's because many of us believe in hell enough to save ourselves and even our families, but not enough to save others.
Recently I had a man confess to me his intense conviction over his inability to lead anyone to Christ in the whole of 2007. Though he had not tried as much as years gone by, he confessed some minimal effort. But he admitted his overall lack of effort had diminished greatly. He was expressing great remorse over the apathy he had allowed to settle into his heart. I thought to myself "no converts for a whole year?! How disappointing that must be!"
But then I realized how true that may be for many believers. May I ask you, "how was your 2007? Did your convert base increase? Was it a bad year for you, too? Ok, then, how about 2006? Or, how's 2008 shaping up for you?"
Now, please don't count the fruit matured by others who happen to fall into your lap in Sunday school, though all souls count for the Lord. But rather, I challenge you to look at your convert count and ask yourself, does it appear I fear the destiny of my unconverted friends and family? How many friends did you win? How many family members?
Maybe you would say "all my friends and family are saved!" Praise the Lord. But how about your co-workers? Your neighbors? God is not willing that any should perish, are you? It's sad, but it seems that some of us are willing for a few to perish.
We know the day will come when from the throne of God all names not found in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. At that point, the Bible indicates that God will turn to His precious children and wipe away all tears. Can I ask a question? What is everyone crying about? It seems pretty obvious to me. How about you?
Do we really believe in Hell? If so, do you believe enough to save you and yours or do we believe enough to save they and theirs?
Well, answer as we may. But time will someday tell if some of ours will be hauled off to hell!
A PRAYER FOR TODAY: "Good Morning Lord! Please give me the boldness to share my faith with (enter name of lost acquaintances). Lord provide at least one or more ample opportunities. Give me the courage to embrace those opportunities. Lord, soften their heart to the message of heaven by Christ Jesus. Lord, please empower me by your Spirit of Wisdom to lower my lost loved ones count though active, vibrant and successful evangelism. I pray these things in the blood stained name of your Son, Jesus!"
A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "Do you have little sins that are becoming bigger sins? If so, why?!"
Have a wonderful day IN the Lord,
Steven Curington
"Clean Dishes grant wishes"
Quote for Today:
"Just because we are obeying rules doesn't mean we have an enduring relationship!"
Good Morning! I want to challenge us today to look inwardly. And when we do, let us use the discernment found in our spirit to view what God might see as He analyzes and weighs our hearts.
As I have done such an exercise today, I believe He can see a man very dedicated to doing the right thing but struggling to do it the right way. Though it is admiral to be such a man, it leaves me frustrated, having failed in the most important aspect of my life-relationship!
If I offend my wife, I am quick to correct my mistake and restore our relationship. If I offend a staff member, I am fast to make it right. For I covet a strong relationship with these dedicated servants. A student, no matter how careful I can be, may become offended indeed. If I learn of it, I most surely will humble myself and seek immediate restoration in our personal relation. For most assuredly I would not want to be the cause of a weaker brother to stumble.
Yet, the most important relationship I have is with my heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. One is my Creator and the other, my Intermediator! I cannot enjoy life if my relationship with them has been strained. But yet, I find myself spending my day following His rules but overlooking damage I may be causing in our relationship.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I am doing wrong. It's that I am being wrong. I am trying to do God's work and neglecting my responsibility to be God's work. Ephesians tells us we are His "workmanship". That means we are His manufactured product. We are not manufacturing His product. We are the product He is manufacturing!
Doing wrong manifests itself in our actions. However, being wrong is revealed in erroneous thinking.
Mat 23:25 warns us with "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" The word hypocrite means "actor". He is calling these people who claim to know God actors. It's because they know a lot about God but they do not know God. Thus, they follow the rules, but they have neglected their relationship. He says it like this: "for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess."
Extortion is the "act of taking from other". Excess is "to exceed your limitations". These men did right, but they allowed themselves to think wrong. They did not take from others. They did not exceed their limitations. For that would have defiled the outside of their cup. But they allowed themselves to think about it with covetous thoughts of jealousy and improper thoughts of selfish excess. They didn't do it, they just thought it.
When we do right on the outside, but allow ourselves to think wrong on the inside we may obey rules but we are hindering our relationship. The sad thing is that some of us may do this for days, weeks and even years and never heal the damage done to our relationship with His Son! We would never do this in a relationship with man, but we will overlook the damage our thinking has in our relationship with the Son of Man! Remember our human relationships hear only our spoken words. Our superhuman relationship hears every thought!
We must recognize we "damage daily our walk by what we think not talk"! Why do we do such things? Jesus told these religious leaders it was because they were blind. And so are we at times. Verse 26 tells us "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."
Notice the outside wasn't really clean? It was clean "also", but not until the inside was "first" clean. So realizing my mistake again today, I took the time to do some dishes, first the inside of my cup and then the outside. Then I could say "here's my cup, Lord. As I lift is up would you fill it up!"
A PRAYER FOR TODAY: "Good Morning Lord! I trust you will show me the way to start each day. I will prove my trust in you by meeting with you and looking to you for the errors in my thinking that leads me to the errors in my way. As I search my heart, show me my thoughts. Like David, I ask that you renew a right spirit within me as I bring closure to my wrong meditations. Lord, as you show me my wrongs, empower me with your Spirit of Wisdom to do that which is right--internally today. I pray these things in the blood stained name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "Are you trying to satisfy a fleshly appetite by indulging in it?!"
Have a wonderful day IN the Lord,
Steven Curington
Quote for Today:
"God never forgets anything I don't ask Him to forgive. I think? Actually, I can't remember!"
Psalm 32:1, 2 promises us "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."
Blessed means "happy". The key to happiness is to have our transgressions forgiven. A transgression is a "violated rule or boundary". As Spirit inhabited believers we are given boundaries, as well as promptings from the Spirit to remain within them. When we violate our boundaries, we lose freedom and inherit bondage. This of course hinders happiness. But forgiveness of our violated boundaries restores happiness; for it restores the relationship between our spirit and His.
David goes on to say that transgressions are forgiven through the covering of sins. God's design is to cover our sins that we may obtain restored fellowship. In both the original language and in the English, the word "covered" means "concealed".
Yet, we know that not all sins confessed to God are "concealed". Often, our sins are done in public. Whether it is a secret sin that God exposes, or a public sin such as a lost temper or critical tongue that many may see , how do these "now public sins" become concealed?
The best way to understand the purpose of this supernatural restoration process is to recognize the gravest danger of our sin: condemnation! The devil uses "condemnation of self" far more often than "public perception of others" to discourage or defeat us.
When we violate our God given boundaries, Satan has a heyday, not others. Though others may critique and our testimonies may be tarnished, God has the ability to "restore such a one in a spirit of meekness". However, if Satan can wreak havoc on the "meditations from our violations", he can control a person indefinitely.
We must remember the restorative power of confessed sin if we are going to enjoy the blessedness of transgressions forgiven. David went on to say that when he remained quite (about his sin) he was miserable.
David could not have been referring to keeping his sin silent from His people. For the whole nation knew of his sin. It had been revealed publicly. It was when He finally saw the damage his sin had done to him; he realized he had acquired a period of unnecessary silence between himself and God. He confessed his sin and his "free spirit" was restored.
The devil cannot condemn a man who has had his sins covered. For the coverage is not from man, but for us! When I am protected in my meditations from condemnation, I can be happy despite my many mistakes in life.
It is true that when we reject the Spirit's prompting we have officially violated a boundary and are in need of a transgression forgiven, our sin concealed. When we confess it, God grants it and we are placed once again into a right relationship with the Spirit. So what does that bring us? Freedom from condemnation. Silence!
The promise of Romans 8:1. "There is therefore no condemnation to them that are IN Christ Jesus". Who are they? He goes on to say it is they who "walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit."
If we are not walking after the Spirit we will fulfill the lust of the flesh. When this is thus completed, His grieved Spirit will not strive with our spirit. We are thus exposed for our sins and uncovered. No one may know of our sin except our Spirit, ourselves and the enemy who designed our temptation, but condemnation begins.
It is not the exposing of that sin that will bring happiness. It is the silencing of our sin that brings happiness. That silence comes from God forgiving our sin and removing the guile in our spirit. The word guile is the word artifice. It's where we get the word artificial.
When we are in silence with God over our sin, we are artificial. Whether people know it or not, we are. But when we communicate our transgression in contrite confession, He restores our spirit and we can experience "peace and tranquility between He and me".
So, when we are vocal with God, he shushes us up! That, my friend, is how we can enjoy the "silence of the lambs".
A PRAYER FOR TODAY: Today, we should search our hearts for unconfessed sin that has hindered our happiness. This is more often sins of pride or selfishness or even unforgiveness toward others. These sins are documented more clearly in Scripture than any others. They are what lead us to greater transgressions. Pause and ask God today for clarity in your impurities. He will reveal it. Grant Him some time to bring it to your remembrance. DO NOT HURRY the prompting of the Spirit. Allow your journal time today to reflect on how we have hindered our own happiness as a result of our inconsiderate boundary violations.
A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "If God is against it, are you? If not, why?!"
Have a wonderful day IN the Lord,
Steven Curington
"A Wise Load and a Bumpy Road!"
Quote for Today:
"It's not a bump in the road. It's a bumpy road!"
Good Morning! Have you ever spent the day giving it your best only to find that no one was satisfied with your efforts on their behalf?
Have you ever dedicated yourself to thinking right or maybe to doing right only to have something go wrong that quickly slid you right back to your former fleshly position?
Have you ever thought to yourself "Boy, I'm really getting somewhere now!" only to find yourself regressing over circumstances beyond your control?
If those statements appear to be true for you, your Christian life may best be described as "three steps forward and four steps back!" When that is the case for me, and it sometimes is, I find that my focus is off.
If I could see my"whole path", I could prepared for the disappointments of the day. Don't misunderstand. I have a great life. It is full of daily delight. But every day I run into something or someone that jolts my whole being. Even though it happens every day but because I don't know when it's going to happen, I find myself less than prepared. When unprepared, I usually fail to respond properly to the disappointment.
I have learned the answer to my problem is focus. Here is my occasional wrong focus: When something goes wrong, as it is wont to do, in my optimistic view I see it as a bump in the road. Now, if I see the bump coming, I can prepare for it. Before it hits I can brace myself. Surely I won't get frustrated when I have advance knowledge of an upcoming bump in the road. I can slow down. I can even steer away from the bump. Goodness, if it's a big one, I can take another road!
But I have learned that we are seldom given advance notice of impending bumps. Rather, we are speeding along at a break neck pace and then all of a sudden "WHAM!!!" Next thing youknow we've bit our tongue, hit our head and mad at the whole world. How does that happen? We didn't see the bump in the road!
The reason that we don't see it coming is because we fail to recognize it's not a bump in the road. It's a bumpy road! When my focus is on this fact, I am seldom moved by any measure of madness. If we are traveling down a road and hit an unexpected bump, it can be quite jolting. This usually leads to driver frustration. But if the driver knows that his whole road is bumpy, he will slow to a crawl and navigate the bumps with ease. Goodness, have you ever navigated them as a parent well enough that the kids giggled at every bump on the road. Of course you have. When handled properly the bumps ARE the blessing!
But we had to respond properly to the bumps for the family to be blessed by the bounce. Yet, we won't respond properly to those bumps unless we focus on the quality of our road. Ephesians 3:13 promises we will ride life on a bumpy road of tribulation. But it is intended to make us "look good to the kids"! Paul says it like this "Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory."
Don't reject the bumpy road of tribulation. Expect it. The only way we change our focus from rejecting bumps to accepting bumps is to realize in advance each day that there won't be a difficult bump in the road. But rather, we are riding a simple bumpy road.
A PRAYER FOR TODAY: "Good Morning Lord! Help me to see today's difficulties and God ordained adversity for the glorification of You. Prompt me strongly in each bump to yield to your Spirit in each circumstance that I may be more useful in Your work. And in so doing, empower me today through your Spirit of Wisdom. I love you and I pray this in the blood stained name of Jesus, Amen!"
A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "In your opinion, do you respond well to unwanted circumstances that are unexpected?"
Have a wonderful day IN the Lord,
Steven Curington
"The Simplicty of our Complexity!"
Our Quote for Today:
"I love the Truth that comes from simplicity. Only the Truth makes free. That's pretty s imple!"
"I just don't know how I am going to do it!" "I just don't know what to do!" "Now what are we going to do?!" "How am I supposed to do that?!" "Theirs is just no way!"
Good morning! I confess that those are some of the phrases I have probably said in the last week or so. If I haven't said them, I probably thought them!
Everyday things happen that leave me in difficult positions. When my walk with God is strong, I am more apt to rest in Him and trust that He has everything under control. This simple confidence "in Him" positions me to better yield to His faith in difficult situations; rather than my self-righteous doubt.
Likewise, I have learned that my problems are more complex, when my walk is weak and I am having daily "bouts with doubt". At this stage, His faith is no longer being exercised. I thus find myself dwelling on my circumstances as found in paragraph one.
Do you think that our biggest problems are complex to our God? Of course not! My God is so big, so strong and so mighty; there's nothing that our God cannot do-for you! When I worked at Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers as a teenager, our trainer taught me something I now know as a basic cliché' spoken in most training classes everywhere. It's the acronym K.I.S.S.
It means "keep it simple, stupid!" It was a creative way to challenge trainers to keep their information short, understandable, applicable and useful for the trainee. This would allow them to comprehend it and more importantly to retain it more readily.
Do you know that God did and does the same thing for us? He wants the Christian life to be simple. The word simple is used three ways in the Bible. First and most often, we see "simple people" mentioned in the book of Proverbs. A "simple person" is "naive and knows nothing". This is not something on which to be proud. It's not bad to be simple. It's bad to remain simple, especially if it is intentional. If you are capable of learning the "simple truths" of Christ, but unwilling to listen or meditate upon them, then you will remain a simple minded person and your spiritual growth will be hindered as a result.
Secondly, we see we should be "simple concerning evil". God wants us to "be or become" naive when it comes to the things of this world. If you are simple concerning this evil world, then reject the world and stay that way! If you are no longer simple concerning evil, then neglect the world and you will become simple again. For the world is becoming more and more complex as it ages.
The third way we see this word used is when discussing the Christian life. Paul tells a very confused church in Corinth not to be deceived by the alleged difficulty of Christian living. "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2Corinthians 11:3)
Paul knew it was Satan that would lead believers astray into delusions of difficulty. When minds are corrupted with "how, what, when and where" when facing difficult circumstances then thoughts become confused. God is not the author of confusion. He is the Author of simplicity. We need to realize our life is IN Christ and the question is not "how, what, when or where?" The answer to all questions is "Who"?
We should not look for simple answers to complex problems.
We need to simply look to Jesus and for the "simplicity of our complexity".
Have a blessed day IN the Lord!
Steven Curington
Please partner with us in our SUPER SCRUB WASH-A-THON!
- We can reply to this email with a phone number or our personal information and it will come to my address and I will call you to get your pledge and personally thank you. Or,
- We can call my secretary Liz at 815-986-0460 ext. 100 and she will take your pledge. Or,
- We can go to our website and post a credit card pledge to this event. that link can be accessed by clinking on these blue words. Super Scrub Investment Make sure you put my name down (or another staff or students name if you so choose) as the person your supporting with this pledge.
Please help and please pray for this event. Over 150 students and staff will be participating in the all day event to wash these 1,000 cars.
Thanks so much for loving us and our work on His behalf.
Bro. Steve
Our Quote for Today:
"We often look at this life as priceless. But "We can learn all there is to know about God but still not be one step closer to God!"
Side note: To partner with us in our WASH-A-THON Super Scrub Car Wash see the link below. Thanks for all who have helped and others, please consider joining us in this worthwhile endeavor.
Good Morning! Information "about a person" is the building blocks of a personal relationship. However, just because we know about a person does not mean we know that person. I have learned a great deal about the late, great preacher Lester Roloff, but I don’t have a personal relationship with him. As a matter of fact, no matter how much I learn about him, I never grow any closer to him. Since his death, all that is available to me is information.
Yet, there are some who consider the acquisition of information as proof of a developing personal relation. But it is not! The Bible tells us “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.”
Paul is telling us that knowledge puffs up but love builds up! There is a big difference. One person knows all the rules about what we can touch, eat or enjoy but the other person has a relationship which manifests itself in the first of nine fruits—love. Charity is the outward manifestation of love to needy people. There are a lot of people who know about Love, but they fail to show Love. Why is Love capitalized? Because God IS Love! But of course you already KNEW that information!
Knowledge in our mind often leads us to overlook sin in our heart. When we have learned so much about God we become comfortable with our data. We can talk a good talk, but that is all information improves. Information about God can improve your talk but it is only the fuel that your walk is going to burn. It does not produce a walk with God. It is simply the motivation for a dynamic walk. But many prefer to stock up on fuel (information) and talk about Him, rather than burn it up through a dynamic walk with Him.
In Isaiah 47:10, 11 we are warned of the danger of being well informed but poorly developed in our walk with God. “thou hast said, None seeth me (sins of the heart). Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.” Oh, how much we know! But it leads to a perversion of the heart. We are subconscious of the fact that know one sees our heart, but we fail to recognize there is One who is conscious (not subconscious, but conscious) of our thoughts at all times!
The next verse tells this intelligent dummy “Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.” I have met many a learned Christian who has sat in my office and wondered “why, oh why is all this evil befalling me” when they have so applied themselves to learning the faith. Oh, my friend, there is a big difference between learning the faith and living by faith. One must know more, the other must know Him!
Paul warned all information gathers to beware of stupidity. “And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” Notice what Paul says to the “puffed up information gatherer”? “If any man think he know anything”. Paul understood that to think you know is the crowning position of information gatherers. “To think you know” is to be puffed up. It’s pride! Pride is the number one problem for us when we trust in our information gained or gleaned.
Isaiah warned us this way “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” God was so frustrated with the learned children of Israel that He allowed these “God loving but information gathering hypocrites” to be blinded until He had clearly manifested Himself to the Gentiles in a personal and intimate way.
In Romans 11:25 we read “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” Here was the Lord Jesus being presented to a heathen people group who knew NOTHING about Him, but they embraced Him none the less. Why? Because they got to KNOW Him. Knowing about Him would come in time, but knowing Him was of far greater value.
Paul often warned us to beware of the pride that comes from having the supernatural ability to understand information about God. In Romans 12:16 we see one such warning, “Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”
May I explain that verse to you? Even to those of you who KNOW what it means? The word condescend means to “descend from your privileged position to do some act to an inferior”. Men of low estate are “men who have a fixed position of being low.” The word low literally means “down”. It’s referring to the depressed. HE is telling us to “descend from our high position to minister to those who are depressed with their low position”.
But wait! That’s not the final admonition. He tells us to “be not wise in [our] own conceits. The word conceit is a very important word to understand. It means “to conceive in the mind”. He is telling us to not allow our wisdom to come from that which we frame in our mind—acquired information. The Bible tells us that in the age of grace “Christ is our Wisdom” and He imparts that Wisdom through the leading of His Spirit.
Thus, we should not be conceiving our opinions of whom we should help and how to help hurting people based on what we KNOW about them or about God. Rather, we are to help people according to how we are led by God. Leading is not a manifestation of one’s acquisition of information. It is evidence of one’s development of a personal relation!
So we see that when we become learned about God, we can be in danger of becoming “high minded”, that’s pride. Our pride will cause us to be condescending instead of actually condescending. This condescending attitude does not instigate us to a condescending action. Rather this puffed up attitude causes us to “look down” on hurting people rather than to “go down” to the hurting people. These thoughts, which are conceived in the mind, come from all the knowledge we have gleaned over the years.
What does that mean? It simply means we have put our learning in front of our loving. God wants us to love. It is from a position of love that we will truly learn.
Lovers are learners. Learners are often the losers.
Have a blessed day IN the Lord!
Please partner with us in our SUPER SCRUB WASH-A-THON!
- We can reply to this email with a phone number or our personal information and it will come to my address and I will call you to get your pledge and personally thank you. Or,
- We can call my secretary Liz at 815-986-0460 ext. 100 and she will take your pledge. Or,
- We can go to our website and post a credit card pledge to this event. that link can be accessed by clinking on these blue words. Super Scrub Investment Make sure you put my name down (or another staff or students name if you so choose) as the person your supporting with this plege.
Please help and please pray for this event. Over 150 students and staff will be participating in the all day event to wash these 1,000 cars.
Thanks so much for loving us and our work on His behalf.
Bro. Steve
Good morning and MAN! What a week it's been! This week, like no recent week I can remember, has had its share of difficult decisions and circumstances. Yesterday was surely one of those days.
One thing is for sure, working late and getting to bed early in the morning doesn't help one prepare for the same day. As I awoke early yesterday for my time with Him, I thought to myself: "I can't do this!" So He did it.
Good Morning! Before our minds kick to far into high gear this morning, may be take a moment and reflect on the scenes we acted or enacted for God's viewing displeasure yesterday.
Ever day we dwell, though not often consciously, on many wrong thoughts. Sometimes they may be critical or negative of others. Often they may be rebellious toward authority. Some thoughts may be revengeful or full of anger. There are bitter thoughts and competitive thoughts and some thoughts may even be downright pornographic. These are the movies we make for our Lord.
Though many of us may excuse this FACT away, it is true that our individual thoughts are of great concern to God. I would say if we were to ask the great majority of Christians if they truly believe that God sees or scrutinizes the thoughts of man, I am sure that many would indicate doubts about it. And if they do believe, they seldom believe enough to allow this to motivate their meditations for better movie making for our Maker!
"The way to experience the faith that changes behavior is not to ask for more faith, but rather to ask God for help in yielding to the faith that is within us!"
Good Morning! In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we are told to first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. The "Kingdom of God" refers to the benefits of justification-our heavenly home. But notice the next phrase which promotes sanctification "and His righteousness".
We are to seek "His righteousness". Not our own righteousness, not a shared righteousness, but His righteousness. What is "His righteousness" and what makes it different than our own righteousness?
Good Morning! It is sad but it is true that I see more tears in a one day revival at incarceration ward than I have seen in all the Christian school and college chapels I've preached COMBINED!
Our "second or more" generation Christians are like anvils: cold, black, hard! It ought not to be this way!
Every week I travel to churches and see, nearly every day I open letters from Pastors and read how God is using the tool of RU to develop hardened addicted sinners into the most active, vibrant members of their church. It ought not to be this way!
Good Morning! Please read these often repeated verses carefully. Do your best to not allow your memory banks to gloss over them.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. (2Corinthians 10:4-6)
Jesus made us this promise in the book of John: "the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. . . will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
So we see that the Spirit of God is surely Christ's communication piece for prompting us in our thought processes to the obedience of Christ. Satan tempts using stored images (imaginations) but God directs using "prompted remembrances". These are the battle strategies between the powers of darkness and the Kingdom of His dear Son.
Good Morning! In all my life, I have never heard or seen anything more beautiful than "the grace of God that bringeth salvation". But there would be no salvation if there were not first a ministry of forgiveness.
Freedom from sin's penalty is a result of His grace, but His grace and our salvation are separated by His one ACT of forgiveness. And again, we learn in life that the grace of God that brings us freedom from sin's power is likewise separated by His many ACTS of forgiveness. I couldn't imagine grace to be so beautiful if it did not include forgiveness situated between He and me.
Good morning! Exactly how real is our walk with God? Have you ever made a major request of God at a church alter only to stand to your feet and wonder how to make it happen in your own power or how to do without that request, if you are unable to get it done?
Oh how often have I "given it all" to the Lord, only to "grab it all" back within hours in order to put my best foot forward that I might gain the satisfaction of solving my situation. This is not depending on God. This is depending on Steve! At best, it's giving God a "heads up" on what I am getting ready to attempt to orchestrate and claim or blame "in His name".
Our Quote for Today:
"We can't live the Christian life . . . only Christ can!"
Good Morning! This is Bro. Ben, International Director of Reformers Unanimous. Bro. Curington had a scheduling conflict early this morning. So I have been asked to stand in for him in writing today's blog.
I hope that you enjoy his blogs as much as I do! I will be forever indebted to him for clearly enunciating the truths of the "Hidden life". God has used Bro. Curington to help me in my relationship with Christ. None of us at RUI are perfect, but HE (Christ) is and all of us have to die daily so that we may be IN HIM.
Good morning! I define patience as enduring wrong, without complaint, while waiting for justice. Looking at the three parts of this definition we realize there are lots of people who endure wrong. But they complain about it. That's not patience!
There are others who won't complain to others abbout anything, but they refuse to endure being wronged. They snap on those who let them down. But then there are others who are the closest to being patient. They endure wrong and they don't complain to anyone BUT rather than waiting for justice to be served to the wrong doer, they take matters into their own hands and try to seek vengeance themselves. If only they could leave it in the Lord's hands they could win many a battle in life.
Good Morning! If there is anything we need a basic understanding of in scripture, it is the laws of power. You see, man has no power. We gave it away in the garden and will never have it again.
As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that power was given to us over all of creation. It was the old English word dominion. But we gave that power to Satan when we sinned in the garden. From that point forward, he dominated man. Sin was his tool of domination and our only hope was a Savior.
Good Morning! You know, it's easy to be a servant. It's even easier to tell people you're a servant. However, no servant likes it when they are treated like servants!
In the Bible a servant was an employee. A slave was not as fortunate as a servant. I servant would have been paid for his work. Some lived on the same grounds as their Master-employer. They could have been teachers, doctors, farmers or anything for a large family of adult children and their children much like Jacobs family of twelve children and their many children's children.
"I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me." Song of Solomon 7:10
Good Morning! God world remained undone until man was created. God was discontent with man in an unregenerate state. God is not willing that one perishes.
God thinks of us all the day. The prophet Zachariah says we touch the apple of His eye and the Psalmist said we ARE the apple of His eye. He loves us so much it cannot be defined in human terms.
Good Morning! The phrase "God be with you" is an oft used phrase in salutations and certain situations. It is a pleasant and cordial way to end most any conversation. It is a suggestion, you might say, for God to be with someone in all that they do in life.
If you are a believer, guess what. He is! And nothing can change that. He is with you day in and out. He's promised to never leave or forsake you. When you feel alone, guess what. Your not! Being alone is an impossibility for a believer. Your lifestyle may feel lonely, but alone is no longer an option. You belong to a lifelong Resider. He's come to stay, even if we stray.
Performing the Christian life only pleases spectators. If were doing God's work in our own power, guess what?! He's not watching anymore!
There are two works that God intends to take place post conversion. They are the transformation of the mind and the conformation of the lifestyle. Romans 12:2 uses the conjunction "but" to indicate that before we can properly conform our lifestyle we need our minds transformed. In other words, we will never consistently change the way we act, until we change the way we think.
Thus, the process of abiding In Christ begins with submission to His daily disciplines. This makes the four things that God has asked of us of utmost importance. Let us look at the first three in review: To date, we have learned that God wants us to search the scriptures-daily; God wants us to take up our cross and follow Him-daily and God wants us to exhort one another-daily!
Good Morning! Yesterday we looked again at that all familiar passage in John 15:8 where we read "Herein". That is to say, "IN HERE" "is my Father glorified." And he listed only one thing: "that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples". The disciple that Christ is looking for bears much fruit. We learn in this passage that there will be no fruit in our lives unless we abide IN the Vine. For without Him, that Life giving Vine, we can do nothing.
Again, today, we reiterate, this is the goal of every disciple of the Lord Jesus-to bear much fruit. It comes as a supernatural result of abiding IN Christ. But what does it take to abide in Christ? It will take strong discipline to reject the things of this world that we may choose the life that IS Christ. To be a disciple is to be a "disciplined one".