January 2025
Happy New Year! The key to a happy year is simply living in the light of God's love, forgiveness and grace from the core of your being -- spirit, soul and body. Throughout the past 50 years, the Holy Spirit has empowered me to live a wholesome life in Christ. He can do the same for you.
"Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, NLT).
A New Lifestyle . . .
Your new life can start now, no matter what; through faith in Christ, all things become new.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV).
You take on an entirely new identity as a child of God. Your old-sinful spirit is created anew through faith in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. The old you died with Jesus and the new you rose up with Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Your desire to smoke pot, to drink alcohol and to go out to a club fades away. But in hindsight, how happy were you coming home drunk, fearful and angry at the world unable to sleep with your conscience in turmoil?
Though struggling with condemnation, guilt and shame is natural when dealing with sin, you don't have to wallow in it forever medicating your pain. For some, this process becomes a dead religious belief of perpetual penance. Whereas through faith in Christ, your sins are forgiven -- past, present and future. Jesus paid the price for them 2000 years ago with His precious blood at the cross. You may have to give yourself permission to live at peace with God because the price has been paid. "In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7, NKJV).
Let Us Proclaim . . .
- "Bless the LORD , O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psalm 103:1-5, NKJV).
- "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12, NKJV).
- ". . . You [LORD] have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back" (Isaiah 38:17b,c, NKJV).
- "I am He [the LORD] who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43:25, NKJV).
- "You [LORD] will cast all our sins into the depth of the sea" (Micah 7:19, NKJV).
- "For I [the LORD] will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless I will remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12; Jeremiah 31:34b, NKJV).
Listen, our happiness comes through faith in God's promises. When we simply take God at His Word, receive forgiveness as a gift paid for by Jesus, confess Him as LORD and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, the miracle of salvation takes place through the Holy Spirit regenerating our life. "For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved" (Romans 10;13; Joel 2:32, NKJV). [Click here to listen to the Abounding Love podcast #140 "Receive The Miracle Today", dated 12/20/'24].
What Happens At Salvation . . .
I have another Abounding Love podcast #217 "What Happens At Salvation", dated 10/04/'24, explaining how the Holy Spirit brings your dead spirit to life when you are born again of the Holy Spirit.
". . . if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus fromthe dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:11, NKJV).
The Holy Spirit empowers you to purity your soul [thoughts, choices, emotions and actions]. You ". . . throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God -- truly righteous and holy" (Ephesians 4:22-24, NLT).
As a believer, you begin to experience the goodness of God instead of being condemned by past sins. You'll experience love, peace and joy as your new life reflects the glory of the Lord. The apostle Paul wrote: "But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil [of condemnation] is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil [of condemnation] removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord -- who is the Spirit -- makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image" (2 Corinthians 3:16-18, NLT).
Truth vs. Condemnation . . .
Though the Lord removes, blotts out, forgives, forgets and casts our sins behind His back and into the depths of the sea, our memories and regrets are still a battle. The consequences of sin can haunt everyone it touches, causing trauma for years to come. While fighting the good fight of faith, the enemy of our soul [Satan] never lets up, speaking lies contrary to God's love, forgiveness and healing. His deceptive voice brings guilt, fear and anger through condemnation from the law that can seem unbearable. In times like this, Paul told the Corinthians, "We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this. If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil [of condemnation], it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. You see, we don't go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:2c-6, NLT).
The truth is that Jesus came to set us free from the penalty [the condemnation] of sin. As Christ's ambassadors, we share this Good News [treasure], which empowers us moment by moment to live victoriously in God's love and acceptance. "We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves . . . All of this is for your benefit. And as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory . . . So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead. 'Come back to God!' For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ . . . For God says, 'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.' Indeed, the 'right time' is now. Today is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 4:7, 15; 5:20-21; 6:2, NLT).
Praise God . . .
In this Abounding Love podcast #200 episode, we look at ten (10) reasons for praising God. We'll only look at #1 in this introduction, but I encourage you to listen to all ten for the full impact. Point #1: "But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31, NKJV). When we pray according to God's will, our prayers get answered. This verse demonstrates that prayer and praise go together. The word "wait" in the verse isn't about time and patience. "Wait" here means to serve, like a waiter serves. When we do the service of the Lord, we receive power and strength to accomplish what is needed. We need to know God's Word, and act on what it says. Things happen when we act on His Word! Chains get broken in Christ for example, when we are freed from the habits of our former life.
Meditate this verse [Isaiah 40:31]: ". . . they [you and I] shall mount up with wings like eagles." Wings; there's two of them, and they are prayer and praise. When we pray according to God's will [His Word] in faith, we need to praise God for the answer. Praise is our language of faith. It takes both wings; prayer and praise to ". . . renew [our] strength", to ". . .mount up with wings", to ". . . run and not be weary", and to ". . . walk and not faint."
The apostle John wrote: "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14-15, NKJV). This verse confirms point #1. The Word represents God's covenant with us. We need to go to God's Word and find out what it says about any given situation, then pray according to that Word. Make your prayers specific based upon the solution found in the Scriptures. If we have a problem with doubt, or finances, or relationships, go to God's Word. Find out what God says, then pray specifically, and praise Him for the answer. There are nine other points in this message. Join me as we look at all of them. [This is my last message in the praise series. Click here for the Abounding Love podcast episode #200 "Praise God", dated 12/27/'24].
A Prayer For You . . .
Heavenly Father, I thank You for this divine appointment to open my heart to the Good News of Jesus Christ; that there is salvation for me. I give You my life wholeheartedly. If You can save Charles, You can save me too! I repent of my doubts and narrow-mindedness and turn to You in faith, that Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead to free me from the bondage of sin and to give me eternal life. I receive Your righteousness through the finished works of the cross where Your Son took all my pain, guilt, shame and condemnation.
Jesus, You have washed and cleansed me with Your blood, and now I am as white as snow. I commit my all to living for Your plan and purpose for my life, which is to serve You in all that I do.
Holy Spirit, light Your fire in my heart and overflow in my life to enable me to share the testimony of Jesus with my friends, family and even the world. In the name of Your Son, my Lord Jesus. Amen!
"Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you to increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints" (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, NKJV).