Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Truths of the Gospel

So it's been, what, four months since I last posted? Wow!


I can tell you without hesitation that the last year, and the last four months in particular, have proved the most challenging, transitional, and interesting months I have ever experienced! Throughout these last few months, I have learned so much: about God, about His Word, and about His people.

One of the truths I have been realizing anew is that of the Gospel.

And yes, I understood and believed the Gospel before my last post...

However, I am starting to see the Gospel's truths more clearly, and I can only attribute this to God and His mercy! Here are just a few of the truths about the Gospel that He has either taught me or reminded me of afresh:

~The Gospel is completely and utterly incomprehensible! The fact that God the Father would allow His Son to dwell with filthy, contaminated, sin-infested humans, and then to die a cruel and painful death for those humans, makes absolutely no sense!
Romans 5:8--"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
~The excruciating physical pain that Christ experienced on our behalf is not the only or even the primary point that should bring us to our knees. The most awe-inspiring truth is that every individual sin of every human being who ever lived, lives, or will live, was placed on a pure and perfect God. He bore all of my sins in that one moment on the cross, and God the Father turned His face away from His Son. All for me and you.
1 Peter 2:24--"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."
~Christ's resurrection completely and permanently dissolved sin's power over me. There is no condemnation, no restricted access to His throne, no fear in my relationship with Him.
Hebrew 4:16--"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Colossians 2:13-14--"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."
~The Gospel affects every aspect of my life. My worldview, my every decision, my every action, should be driven by my awareness of God's mercy and by the fact that the Gospel grants me "everything [I] need for life and godliness."
2 Peter 1:3--"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."
~When I become discouraged or overwhelmed by some challenge or trial, I only need to remember that Christ already took care of my biggest problem, that of sin and separation from Him, and that I can confidently place my trust in His control.
Hebrews 2:14-18--"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."
How awesome is His mercy, and how AMAZING is His grace!

I want to encourage you: keep praying that God would increase your appreciation for and understanding of the Gospel! He is answering my prayer, and in doing so, He is giving me joy and a renewed love for our incredible God!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

That's MY King!

Friday, January 9, 2009

What Are You Learning?

My mom started a weekly series called "What Are You Learning?" so that we can share with each other what God is teaching us, and so I decided to participate. If you'd like to share what God is teaching you, click on the link at the end of this post.


"Jesus is...asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding." (Oswald Chambers)

Complete surrender is so difficult! Lately I've been thinking about surrender and what it means, and honestly, I've had difficulty accepting the fact that God desires, well, total surrender, not just little bits and pieces of my life.

Total surrender means stepping out of my comfort zone! It means allowing Him to point me in a direction that I may not want to go! It means letting Him get all the glory and possibly not getting any for myself!

When I look at total surrender through my limited human perspective, it sounds miserable. Yet when I look at it through the lens of God's Word and realize that He's had my life planned out to the smallest, minutest detail since before the beginning of time; and when I remember that total surrender equals true joy (if not happiness), I'm filled with a sense of peace and gratefulness. God--the Creator of a universe so complex and enormous that the most brilliant scientific minds could not possibly understand it completely--that same God stoops down and carries me through this life. He works each detail of my life into His perfect plan!

Certainly, a God like that deserves my total surrender to His will! He deserves every ounce of my life!

I recently read this excerpt from "My Utmost for His Highest" (can you tell I enjoy this book??):

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a "living sacrifice"--to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.


God wants all of me. He wants the gifts He has given me to be used for His glory. He wants my very existence to direct glory to Him.

I fall so pitifully short of total surrender, but God is always patient! Thank You Father!

If you want to participate in "What Are You Learning?" just visit my mom's blog and link your post to

Tuesday, January 6, 2009


No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives. All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to "receive the Holy Spirit." "Receive the Holy Spirit"--the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

~Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost For His Highest