Thursday, June 29, 2017

"Freely Given" Part 4 - Persistence


"Freely Given"   

Part 4 - Persistence
  
     "Freely ye have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).   
     "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
    "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (I Corinthians 2:12).
    "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (II Peter 1:3).

    
    If the maintenance of our relationship and fellowship with God depended on ourselves, the bond would be soon broken.  Thankfully, the God who begins our life with Him freely and persistently maintains it, and calls us to the same response of faith in our walk with Him as we exercised in our spiritual birth.

   "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
   "As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).

   Just as we would never have approached the Lord apart from His convincing and convicting work of the Holy Spirit, so do we require His ongoing working in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).  We have a vital role in the matter, with the capacity to respond to God woven deeply into our innermost being.  "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith" (Romans 10:8).  We nevertheless require the Spirit of God to move upon the face of the waters, as it were, if we are to begin and continue in fellowship with God.  He continually and perfectly fulfills His role.  "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (I Thessalonians 5:24).  The more knowledgable and confident we become in God's loving desire for our fellowship, the more we will avail ourselves of the freely provided gift, including the fruits of faith and faithfulness that abound in us as we discover God's trustworthy working.  "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).

   Our faithfulness is always the fruit of God's faithfulness, first bestowed, then revealed, and finally received and assimilated by us as we trust and submit to our Heavenly Father.  He fulfills His role continually and forever.  This is our hope, a certain hope, and this is the dynamic Truth whereby we find ourselves more and more desiring fellowship with the wondrous and generous Lord who gave to us so great a gift, and who secures it within our hearts by the indwelling and persistent Holy Spirit…

"Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory."
(Ephesians 1:12-14).

Weekly Memory Verse 
    Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
(Proverbs 17:28)
   

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