Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Our advocate for eternal security




24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:24-25 NKJV

We've been in a series concerning our eternal secure salvation in Christ. I titled it"Loving it, leaving it or losing it". Right now I'm teaching about loving our eternal salvation. I am revealing 7 proofs from the Word of God of our eternally secure salvation. 

Last article I posted about how by the Spirit indwelling God's people is the guarantee of our eternally secure position in Him. If you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you then you are guaranteed secure in Him. In the Old Covenant the prayer was don't take away your Spirit upon if I fail. In the New Covenant we don't just have the Spirit come upon us for ministry but we actually have Him abiding within us. He also said He will never leave us or forsake us. 

Today, I want to reveal the 5th proof of our eternal security. That is found in my opening text. 

24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:24-25 NKJV

He lives to make intercession for us. Jesus is always praying for our faith and our sustained victory. It is a beautiful thought to know we are always on His mind. Think about that for a moment. How comforting is it to know when your friends and family tell you that they have been praying for you? Now, how much more comforting is it to know Jesus is praying for you? What a joy knowing that He is in agreement with you to have manifested victory and success in life, both spiritually and physically. 

This is key to help understand the Old Covenant. Before Jesus paid the price there was no one to take away the judgment of sin and wrongdoings. When Israel failed to keep the Covenant God longed for mercy but this covenant didn't allow for the mercy that we see in the New Covenant. Why? Did God have a sudden change of heart in the New? Of course not. He is always good. It was just in this time period the penalty of sin had to be carried out by temporal sacrifices. So when we see wrath and judgments being poured out in the Old Testament realize God wasn't a hateful, I am gonna get you, type God. He had no intercessor, no one to stand in the gap.

This is why God raised up prophets and those to lead Israel. He had them intercede to avert judgment. Now in this New Covenant Jesus paid the price for all sin. He now intercedes for mercy and not judgment. Now I am not saying God is angry and wants to wipe out a nation or a people and Jesus looks at the Father and "calms" Him down. No, Jesus and the Father are in unity. They are in agreement. Jesus intercession is a remembrance of the finished work. When the enemy wants to accuse you of your sin Jesus intercedes on your behalf for you to put into remembrance the finished work. That you are the very righteousness of God in Him.

So Jesus intercedes for us that our faith in the finished work fails not. That we don't fall from grace and return to dead works and trying to earn our salvation. That we rely on His grace and reality of our New Creation in Him. 

His intercession also helps us in times of temptation. When fleshly passions (policies of the Old man) rise up He is interceding that we recall we are dead to that junk. That we are a New Creature. That sin and bad habits aren't who we are. We don't enjoy sin or wicked pursuits. That is not our nature any longer. So when you feel the lies pulling you to go the other direction rest in His intercession for you. His faith never fails. 

So our fifth proof of our eternally secure position is He intercedes for us continually. What an exciting revelation to know! Rejoice in what He has done. He is good.

I trust this post has blessed you and encouraged your walk with the Lord. I pray you are blessed more and more this week. Grow in grace.



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Monday, November 10, 2014

Our guaranteed eternal security!




Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.  Hebrews 7:25

I am back from a wonderful time away with family. I trust the guest blog by Daveda was a tremendous blessing. I know it was a joy to read it. 

We are continuing in our series "Loving it, leaving it, losing it". We have seen the beautiful and majestic Words of our Lord Jesus Christ. How comforting, how hopeful, how secure and loving and how revealing they are to us who've received Him. He guaranteed that those who trusted Him with a true heart of belief would never be lost or perish. 

This week I'd like to take a look at the Apostle Paul's Holy Spirit inspired words. As we study them we see just how God has guaranteed the Words of Jesus.

While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:4-5 

I want to direct you to Paul's words in verse five. He revealed the Holy Ghost was our guarantee of our body being resurrected in the end. In context he is offering comfort about saints that have passed on. Paul goes on to offer more comfort with the promise that to be absent from this present body is to be in the presence of our Father in Heaven. Yet even in this context Paul gives us an insight about our eternal security. He reveals the Spirit of God is our guarantee for eternal life. 

And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Ephesians 1:13-14
It doesn't get much clearer than this. The Spirit of God is the guarantee for eternal life in Him. What would be a good illustration for this in our present day? If you own a home or ever owned one or know someone that does you more than likely aware of the phrase earnest money. Earnest money is a type of payment one makes to "prove" or reveal intent that they wish to purchase a particular home. This is exactly what our Father did for us. 

As a down payment on our eternal life with Him He gave us His Spirit. The indwelling Spirit of God within you proves beyond doubt He will finish what He started in you. The Spirit is God's earnest deposit on your salvation that you will persevere until the end. The Holy Ghost on the inside produces the fruit that reveals your new nature. 

Now we have the fourth reason for our eternal security in Him. The Spirit is our God guarantee. To recap it's the Father's will to save us eternally. Secondly, Jesus was the one who first introduced this concept of our salvation. Thirdly, He promised we would be forever secure in His hands. We now have a stronger foundation for trusting Him for our eternally secure salvation. 

I trust this post has blessed you and encouraged you and motivated you for more devotion toward our loving good Father. I pray His goodness surrounds you this week. Blessing overtake you. In Him.



















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Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Special guest blog by Daveda

On a much needed vacation. Enjoy this amazing post by Daveda Schmidlin.


Forever
It's funny how life can take us spiraling in different directions. When I look back on my life I see a lot of places, a lot of pain and a lot of joy. I see a lot of bad decision as well as a lot of good ones. I see my life before I knew the Lord and I see my life after, yet one thing has always remained the same. God has always known me. He has always called me by my name and accepted me just as I am. 
I believe I accepted Jesus into my heart as a little girl, four or five years old , maybe younger. I didn't truly come to know Him until I was in my early twenties though. I made a lot of bad choices in my life, I lived the consequences of my sin, yet God never took His hand off of me....
and when I was ready to hear Him, when I had come to the end of myself, He called my name and I responded to Him, this time, looking back only to see how His grace covered me.
It is true that sometimes people accept Jesus and then turn around and live a life that is not glorifying. Are they really saved? Do they really know Him? Only God knows the true condition of their hearts, so who can really be the judge of that? 
What I do know is that once we are His, once He has given us a new Spirit, once we are grafted into Christ, He never lets go of us. No amount of bad choices, no amount of lies we believe, no amount of destructive behavior can change His eternal commitment to us, and that's what really matters. 
God doesn't work in time as we do. He works through the eyes of eternity and once He calls us His own, we are His, forever. 
"It is through Him that we have received grace (God’s unmerited favor) and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among all the nations,6And this includes you, called of Jesus Christ and invited [as you are] to belong to Him."   Romans 1:5-6

BIO: Daveda Schmidlin is a happy wife, mother, and grandmother. She is a  speaker, teacher, author and former pastor who is passionate about the Gospel of Grace. Her message is sincere, encouraging, simple and profound. Her words will set people free from condemnation and will help usher them into a deeper revelation and understanding of God’s great love.



For more from Daveda check out her podcast. 

/http://gracetalkwithdaveda.com/empowered-lord-psst-happens-stop-trying/