Monday, March 19, 2012

Monday, March 19th

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is  Deuteronomy 24-27
Today's scripture focus is Hebrews 13:20-21

20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

These verses speak so much truth!

We have a God of peace.  He is at peace with Himself and with us.
Jesus is our Shepherd.  A Shepherd who came back from the dead and therefore cannot die again and can never be defeated.
We are bound to God by a blood-bound covenant.  John Piper says (emphasis mine)....When Christ died, he sealed for God's elect a covenant that will last forever and will never be broken. It is God's pledge to give us eternal salvation (5:9), eternal redemption (9:12), and eternal inheritance (9:15). And what makes it eternal and unspeakably superior to the old covenant is that God swears on the blood of his Son that not only will he keep his side of the covenant, but our side as well.
We have a God who equips us to do His will.
God works in us what is needed to please Him.

He does everything!
He wants to leave us with no mistake and no uncertainty that our covenant relationship with him is eternal. So he reminds us that the very essence of the new covenant, and what makes it new, is that God keeps his side, and God keeps our side.....You are secure not because you are strong, but because God is sovereign and because God is faithful to his new covenant promises.

Our Christian growth has nothing to do with our own power.  It`s God working in us.
MacArthur (emphasis mine)....
God puts down the orders, and then God's the only one that can do them in me, as I yield to Him. And the question of the Christian life is the question of yieldingness. 

God does not do a good work in everyone.  He does a good work in everyone who is willing to yield to Him.

But make no mistake.  The power is not ours.  It is God`s and God alone.  And therefore, the glory is also God`s and God`s alone!

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Hebrews 13:22-25
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Deuteronomy 28-29

1 comment:

Miriam said...

This is definitely something I've come to realize during the past couple of years. "God is the only one that can do them in me..." and oh, how often I forget to ask! Or get carried away with my own desires and plans.