I Know. I KNOW!

“For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.” Romans 7:19

“’Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.’” Matthew 7:12

“And He said, ‘Are you still lacking in understanding also? – For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man;’” Matthew 15:17a, 19-20

“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behaviour his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder and every evil thing.” James 3:13-16

When we admit and confess recognised sin within our hearts, we simply agree we see the Truth. The truth is our heart attitude toward His leadership in our lives is what matters most, not so much what we do or do not do. In knowing this we recognise our moment-by-moment dependence on His mercy and justice. For without it, we only know we are wrong.

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer). Ongoing Requests: Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hand on USA. Barb to find the new WORK God has for her; Billy and Michelle for recovery; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, David, Bill, Denny, Gary, Michael & Adrian. New work projects for me.

Three Lessons

“For we know the Law is spiritual but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” Romans 7:15

“’No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does no tknow what his master is doing but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.’” John 15:15

“For the flesh sets ist desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” Gal 5:17

Three lessons: 1, Just knowing about sin and the Law is not enough; 2. Determining to fix sin yourself never works; 3. Becoming a Christian does not mean you are perfect, no matter how dramatic your surrender. Rather it is a walk where, as you learn to walk best, you learn to lean on Christ; you no longer stride around with confidence in your own abilities. As you weaken, He strengthens within you. As you surrender, He can have His victory in your life. And that change in attitude takes your entire lifetime!

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Randy and his family travelling to Canada for funeral, Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer). Ongoing Requests: Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hand on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; Billy and Michelle for recovery; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, David, Bill, Denny, Gary, Michael & Adrian. New work projects for me.

Utterly

“So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” Romans 7:12-13

“I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” I Corinthians 5:5

Stepping back as a parent or a leader in any sense, these verses help us remember how critical it is to separate the sin from the sinner. Christ died to save the spirit of the sinner from sin, for it IS sin that is utterly sinful, not the sinner. The sinner is loved so much by the Father that he sacrificed His beloved and only Son to make a way to save the sinner from sin. The Law helps us identify sin objectively. It is not there to condemn the sinner!

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Randy and his family travelling to Canada for funeral, Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer). Ongoing Requests: Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hand on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; Billy and Michelle for recovery; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, David, Bill, Denny, Gary, Michael & Adrian. New work projects for me.

Jumping Logs

“And I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died; and this commandment which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.” Romans 7:9-11

“And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ And the man said, ‘The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I age.’” Genesis 3:11-13

Why did God give the Law anyway, when we feel fine without it? Because sin is real and it is dangerous. One morning I was on holiday in far North Queensland. I got up early as I usually do and went for at race walk before first light. Down the beach I walked at my fast rate and jumped over a log as I came to it. On my way back, I slowed my pace to watch the sun rise and catch my breath and noticed the log wasn’t there and wondered if I had been seeing things. Then I noticed something else: a yellow and black sign indicating that this part of the beach was off limits. It said, “Beware Crocodiles”. Ignorance of the Law results in death as my ignorance of that sign could have meant my death.

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Randy and his family travelling to Canada for funeral, Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer). Ongoing Requests: Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hand on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; Billy and Michelle for recovery; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, David, Bill, Denny, Gary, Michael & Adrian. New work projects for me.

Military Base

“But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.” Romans 7:8

The word opportunity here is an interesting one...it is a military term for making a camp or base of operation. We are told about do and don’ts and eventually the Commandments as children. Laws and rules and commandments establish a comfortable and life-long stronghold in our hearts and beings from our beginnings where constant skirmishes are fought so we know if we are “right” or “wrong” – “good” or “bad”. And just like with the original sin, the prohibition itself creates a springboard or base from which sin is all too ready to take off.

“’Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfil. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. – For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.’” Matthew 5:17-18, 20

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Randy as he deals with the death of a special uncle and travels to Canada for funeral, Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer situation). Ongoing Requests: Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hand on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; Billy and Michelle for recovery; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, David, Bill, Denny, Gary, Michael & Adrian. New work projects for me.

Sinful Law ?

“What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” Romans 7:7

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” James 2:10

“For we all stumble in many ways, if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.” James 3:2

“’You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court;’” Matthew 5:21-22a

Ignorance or the Law is a good excuse for sin in some eyes because without a clear line in the sand, there is no infraction. Sounds appealing? Imagine living a life of “what feels good, just do it”! But then someone would come along and put a qualifier on that by saying, “as long as it doesn’t hurt someone.” And the minute you draw a circle around a good or bad behaviour, someone will step out of it!

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Randy as he deals with the death of a special uncle and travels to Canada for funeral, Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer situation). Ongoing Requests: Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hand on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; Billy and Michelle for recovery; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, David, Bill, Denny, Gary, Michael & Adrian. New work projects for me.

Perfect Excuse

“Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? – Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the death, that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” Romans 7:1, 4-6

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the Garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.’” Genesis 2:16-17

Just think, the Law arouses our sinful passions. So maybe we should blame the Law...or God? Underlying our thinking, this, the first sin of man (to think we know better than God) struggles with our privilege to rest in Christ for His complete payment for our sins. The purpose of the Law is to convince us of our helplessness against our wilfulness to know what is best for our lives. Trusting and resting in Christ is so difficult sometimes, isn’t it?

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Randy as he deals with the death of a special uncle and travels to Canada for funeral, Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer situation). Ongoing Requests: Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hand on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; Billy and Michelle for recovery; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, David, Bill, Denny, Gary, Michael & Adrian. New work projects for me.

A Fair Wage?

“But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:22-23

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (full, complete and perfect payment) for our sins.” I John 4:10

Remember a time when you did something for someone purely out of love, knowing the other person could never return the blessing in the same way to you. Perhaps it was sharing your table with a stranger during a holiday or giving money to a beggar on the street, or buying canned goods for a mission house or visiting cranky old shut-ins or sick people, etc. You don’t expect payment...only perhaps the potential of a growing hope in that other person’s heart that they will see the Father’s hand instead of yours.

“’’For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’’” Matthew 25:35-36

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Legend (father is dying with cancer, mother is near death and he now awaits tests for his own cancer situation); Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill – health concerns; Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hands on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me.

Pie in the Sky ?

“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dad to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:8-11

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be temp[ted beyond what you are able, but with the temptations will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” I Corinthians 10:12-13

OK...sometimes it is great to think we have a future after we are dead and that death itself holds no fear for us once we are in His irrefutable hands. However, it is not just the “pie in the sky by and by”, it is the here and now reality that by His death He melted sins’ power over us! Now that IS something to celebrate today!

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill – health concerns; Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hands on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me. Amazing ways God is using the WeakDay Devotions lately!

Compounding & Confounding Grace

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been baptised into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1-4

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away, behold new things have come.” II Corinthians 5:17

It is man’s wisdom to imagine that if you sin more, that God has more to forgive and therefore there must be a correlation between how much there is to forgive and the amount of love God has...so if God loves to forgive, we should give him more to forgive, especially since He promises He will forgive. God’s gracious gift of forgiveness does not make sin less serious...on the contrary, His Son’s death for sin shows us how dreadfully serious sin is. Some have likened our open defiance of God, as crucifying Christ again. Perhaps it is time for some spiritual scrubbing.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill – health concerns; Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hands on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me. Amazing ways God is using the WeakDay Devotions lately!

Values

“For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:19-21

God’s creation was derailed when one man disobeyed and “the many were made sinners”. Yet, there is hope in that many will, if they choose, be made righteous. The Law lets us see the “value” of our disobedience in contrast to the value of His amazing grace.

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill – health concerns; Australians and support workers still dealing with aftermath of natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hands on USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me. Amazing ways God is using the WeakDay Devotions lately!

No Sin?

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned – for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Romans 5:12

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.’” Genesis 2:16-17

Some seek a world with no laws, even if they have to force their way on others. Some wish a world in a straight jacket of laws governing every possible contingency. Yet it is clear that people sin with or without even one written law. God’s Word is there to show us the purpose of the “don’ts” of life and the solution that is provided. You see, God risked everything when He offered His creation the privilege of following Him or not and when He saw we could not, He even gave His own Son to ensure a way.

“’For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill - unspoken request; Australians and support workers still dealing with the aftermath from natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hands on the USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me. Amazing ways God is using the WeakDay Devotions lately!

Weekend Assignment !

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man’ though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (full and perfect payment) for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another.” I John 4:10-11

“’Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9

In our lives there are those who reflect small parts of His love to us. In my life there have been special ones who have demonstrated His love toward me in ways I could never have expected. Take a moment now, find a piece of paper and write down the numbers one to five. Then begin to think of five people who HAVE/ARE demonstrating His love in your life. Thank God for them. Then find a way to contact each of them and thank them.

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill - unspoken request; Australians and support workers still dealing with the aftermath from natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hands on the USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me. Amazing ways God is using the WeakDay Devotions lately!

AHAAH !!!

“Now not for his sake only was it written, that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.” Romans 4:23-25

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us have turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:3-6

In the young adult Bible study I led for many years, there was a particularly gifted, knowledgeable, verbal and passionate young man who had one issue with salvation and that was the need for the resurrection of Christ. If you are a wise teacher, you listen to your students and you are careful how you guide them. In this case he had signed on for the Romans study and I was confident of God’s Word. Sure enough, in class one night after arguing with everyone for weeks about his disbelief in the resurrection, he jumped from his seat as we were reading this very Romans passage and “got it”! What an amazing moment for the Lord as he stood there and argued through for himself the necessity of the resurrection. Oh yes, and the rest of the story? He went on to be a remarkable pastor!

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill - unspoken request; Australians and support workers still dealing with the aftermath from natural disasters (fire and floods). God’s hands on the USA. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me. Amazing ways God is using the WeakDay Devotions lately!

Point of a Promise

“yet, with respect to the promise of God, he [Abraham] did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He has promised, He was able to perform. Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:20-22

And Jesus said to him, ‘’If You can!’ All things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, I do believe, help my unbelief!’” Mark 9:23-24

“Faithful is He who calls you, AND He also will bring it to pass.” I Thessalonians 5:24

Every promise that God makes in His Word is yours to claim – valuable treasure just for you to find and enjoy. However, every promise has a condition and if you focus more on the treasure than on your responsibility to Him, you miss the point of the promise.

“’...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’” Matthew 6:21

Know His Word. Take care. Your servant & friend in Christ, Darlene

PS: New: Billy and Michelle for RECOVERY. Ongoing Requests: Bill - unspoken request; Australians recovering from natural disasters ; encouragement for support workers still labouring. God’s hands on new USA political administration. Barb to find the new job God has for her; wisdom for doctors caring for Doris, Denny, Gary, Michael, David & Adrian. Randy’s family moving to Canada and his ministry. New work projects for me. Amazing ways God is using the WeakDay Devotions lately!