Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9 (ESV) I love the Apostle Paul's integrity. He could write these words without any dishonesty. He was a WYSIWYG kind of person: 'what you see is what you get'. Not only did Paul wear his heart on his sleeve, but he had a good heart. This wasn't natural to him. It was thanks to his Damascene conversion. Because Paul encountered the risen Lord Jesus, his life was turned right side up. He went from being a blasphemer, a persecutor and a hypocrite to becoming a godly man. Jesus made the difference: he knew he couldn't claim any credit for his turnaround. If we live lives of integrity, the God of peace will be with us. He will give us His peace. We'll have the peace of a good conscience. 'God of peace, please presence Yourself amongst us as we seek to live lives of integrity for Your glory, and in Christ's name we pray, ame...

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 (NIV) We are naturally spiritually dead. If we trust in Christ crucified on our behalf, we become spiritually alive. Just as He defeated death on the third day, we can rise again as well. If we live by the Spirit, we're to keep in step with Him. We're not to run ahead or lag behind, but simply to keep in step with Him. He's like a pace setter in a race. How do we know whether we are keeping in step with the Spirit? If we are keeping in step with Him, we will increasingly bear His fruit. Aspects of this fruitfulness include love, patience, gentleness and self-control. If we're not sure how we're doing spiritually, we can ask God to help us. We can ask others too if they can see progress in us. Sometimes the Spirit might want us to stop in our tracks and to consider where we're at. 'Heavenly Father, we praise You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit, received through faith in Your Son...

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 (NIV) If we were to just read Romans 3:23, we might feel obliged to admit its truth, but it would be pretty depressing. Most people would admit they're not perfect. That makes us all sinners before the glorious God. The 'and' in verse 24 is a great thing, because it shows how we can be accepted by God. It's not by us pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. It's by the grace of God. How does God reveal His grace to us? By sending His Son for our redemption. Redemption basically means that He sets us free from the condemnation we deserve. How does Jesus set us free from the condemnation we deserve? By the fact He bore our condemnation upon Himself upon the cross. Through faith in Him we can be accepted by God, there's no other way. 'God, we admit we fall short of Your glory. Please accept us as we tru...

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) If I remember correctly, the posh theological term for this verse is about the 'immutability' of Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God. In layman's terms, He's eternally consistent. Jesus who walked the earth and who we encounter in the Biblical Gospels is the same God today.  Jesus Christ is as merciful, gracious and loving as He's ever been. He hasn't become a grumpy old man two millennia after He walked the earth. He's everlastingly faithful to save repentant sinners. This truth is a great comfort to God's people. He's not going to give up on us. He'll refuse to abandon us. This truth is a fearsome thing to God's enemies. If we don't trust Jesus for salvation we're lost for eternity. He's our only hope. 'Heavenly Dad, we're grateful that Your Son is eternally consistent, we can fully rely on Him. Please help us to do so for all of our days and...

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV) Didn't Jesus say His yoke is easy and His burden is light? Why does He say that the way of life is hard? We can rest from our spiritual striving in Christ, but that doesn't mean to say life will be easy. There are only two ways to live. There's the easy, wide highway to hell. Then there's the narrow, hard stairway to heaven. By default, we set off on the highway to hell. It has two lanes: hedonism and religion. Whether we're eating, drinking and being merry; or trying to earn God's acceptance, we're on our way to destruct. Jesus is the gate. Jesus is the way to eternal life. Without Him we're lost eternally. We're to find pleasure and acceptance with God in Him. 'Lord God, please help us to enter the way...

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (ESV) Whatever God calls us to, He will empower us to do so. For Joshua, that was the conquest of the evil Canaanites, who deserved what they got. Understandably, he will have been tempted to feel afraid. The Israelites were a ragtag bunch of freed slaves, refugees to the promised land. The Canaanites were well established. The difference was though that the Lord God was with Israel, and against the Canaanites. If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is against us, who can be for us? Even if Canaan seemed unbeatable, God made sure they were overthrown. Nowadays, we're not called to kill evil people. Instead we're to call them to turn from their evil and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we have received His mercy, we should call others to do so too. 'Lord our God, please help us to be strong and courageo...

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Matthew 28:19 (ESV) Christianity isn't about sitting on a cloud strumming a harp. It's about telling everyone the good news of salvation through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God doesn't save us to become hermits, but to publicise His gospel. The new creation isn't some kind of disembodied, boring existence. It will be a physical realm where we worship and serve God for all eternity. We're to call people from all around the world to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to learn from Jesus. How do we do so? Not by sitting in a lotus position and emptying our minds. Instead, we're to fill our minds with God's word the Bible as applied by His Holy Spirit. Baptism isn't just a physical act, getting dunked in water. Water baptism is a picture of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Baptism in the Holy Spirit isn't some wacky thing where...

 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-10 (NIV) There's going to be people from all around the world in God's everlasting kingdom. We're all going to bow before the throne of God above. We won't all be able to stand before Him. We can only stand before God's throne if we have received His salvation. We need to trust in the Lamb who was slain for our sins. If we do so, we will be clothed in the white robes of His righteousness. We can't trust in ourselves. We can't come before God in the filthy rags of our own self righteousness. We must be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Salvation is 100% of the Lord. If it depended i...

 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11 (NIV) Biblical faith isn't about us. It's about God. He is worthy, we aren't. God is glorious, honourable and powerful. He created all things. He's infinitely greater than us. It is God's will that we exist. It's for us to discover what His will is for our lives. We weren't made to fritter away our days, but to make the most of them. God wants us to worship Him. This isn't because He's egotistical. It's because He's worthy. 'Creator God, we worship You, for You are worthy of all glory, honour and power, both now and forevermore. In Christ's name, amen'.