Tag Archive | Jesus Christ

Leviticus 11 & 12 – Acceptable in Gods eyes

May5

Good afternoon y’all. Today I’m combining Leviticus 11 and 12 together.

A common theme runs through both chapters (actually, it’s through all the chapters for this week).  The theme is: being acceptable by God and being holy.

As I read the chapters, I realised that God takes the issue of being clean/holy very seriously. He gives specific instructions on what makes the Israelites clean and unclean. He didn’t just stop there though,  He made provision for how to become clean, if in case they ever get themselves unclean. What a loving God He is 🙂 .

image

God demands holiness from us because He is a holy God. In verse 44 and 45 he tells the Israelites :-
“I am the Lord your God, and you must keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy”. (Leviticus 11:44-45 GNT)

I believe the same applies to us today, yes we are no longer under the law but the truth is God never changes. If He demanded holiness from the Israelites back then, He is also demanding the same from us today. In 1 Peter 1:15-16 we see Peter repeating the same instruction to us.

“But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16 NLT)

God has standards for us. Throughout the scriptures He tells and shows us what is acceptable and unacceptable by His standards. The blood of Jesus cleanses and makes us holy and acceptable before God but I believe we also have a part to play to ensure we do not defile ourselves by going back to the lifestyle or things we used to do before we met Jesus. That’s why Paul urged us in Romans 12 to offer our lives to God as pleasing sacrifice, holy and acceptable in His sight.
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him”.(Romans 12:1 NLT)

The same Paul also tells us in Eph 5:1 to copy God in all that we do.
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children”.( Ephesians 5:1 NLT)

Sin is the main blocker to living a holy life and according to psalms 119 verses 9 & 11, one of the ways we can prevent ourselves from sinning against God is to keep his word close to us and obeying them.

“How can young people keep their lives pure? By obeying your commands. I keep your law in my heart, so that I will not sin against you”.(Psalm 119:9, 11 GNT)

Today, lets pursue holiness in all that we do and let’s get rid of all that makes us unholy.

“With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God”. (2 Corinthians 7:1 MSG)

Thanks for joining today.

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Matthew 4 – Fighting Temptation

Mar5

Good evening y’all. Today we are looking at Matthew 4

Be blessed 🙂

Jesus was tempted in different ways but He didn’t yield to the temptations. It is possible to resist temptation(s). To be tempted is not the sin, its yielding to the temptation that is the sin.

The book of James explains that when we are tempted, we shouldn’t say, God tempted us: We are tempted by our own evil desires.

“Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one. But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.(James 1: 13 – 15 AMP)

You might say, ‘overcoming temptations is easier said that done’.  That is only true when we are ill-equipped to fight the temptations; or we decide to forsake the most effective tool God has given us to fight temptations: the word.  The most effective way to counter the enemy is by using the word of God. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. The word is powerful and effective. Its sharper than any 2 edged sword.

“For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart”.(Hebrews 4:12 AMP)

Jesus used the word of God that He knew to combat the devil. Note the devil too knew the bible but he twisted it to get the effect he wanted.  We have to be careful of people who lure us into temptation by twisting the bible. This is why it is important for us to spend time reading our bible. We have to know God’s word for ourselves. We can’t afford to wait till temptations come for us to start reading our bible: by then it might be too late.

Jesus’ interest in the word of God start at an early age. In Luke 2:46-47 says, ‘After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.‘  He was twelve years old at this time.

We have to be sensitive to the spirit to know that some of the offers we are given, even though they sound good, are not actually from God.  What Jesus was offered in the temptations wasn’t too bad superficially, but Jesus knew that the devil was just trying to distract him from His purpose, so he combated him by quoting the scripture back to him.

“But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God”. (Matt 4:4 AMP)

“Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, test thoroughly, or try exceedingly the Lord your God”.(Matt 4:7 AMP)

“Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve”.(Matt 4:410 AMP)

Some temptations are glaring and we should be quick to resist them. Scripture says submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  We shouldn’t even entertain the thoughts. 

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”.(James 4:7 NIV)

Let’s do what Jesus did and put on the whole amour of God.  The word of God is very vital in the various items of the amour of God.  The scripture below tells us so:

“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17)

May God give us the grace to study His word diligently; resist the devil always; and submit totally to Him. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.

Thanks for joining today.

Have a blessed evening 🙂

***With God all things are possible***