Web Chapel

Serving the Saints

Month: March 2023

  • Living Word

    Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

    How important is the word of God to us? The writer of Hebrews says it is “living and powerful”. It is living and powerful because it leads us to Christ.  All of us know John 3.16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, and also we rest in the truth that Paul wrote “ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9  not of works, lest anyone should boast.(Ephesians 2:8-9) These are powerful words because they lead us to a Savior who gives us eternal life!

    How does the word divide “soul and spirit”? With our salvation comes the Indwelling Spirit. (John 14:26).  By the Indwelling Spirit we have been given a new nature, but there is always that battle between the old and the new. It is the living word of God that is to give us guidance in our daily walk each day. But to divide the soul and spirit each of us has to be in the word daily. Sometimes there is a “Sharpness’ like the cutting of a sword that cuts deeply into areas in which we need to change our ways and our thinking. We would never know this unless we allow the Lord to guide us through His word.

    The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  What does that mean?  All of our outward actions are developed by the thoughts in our mind. I believe the intents of our heart are based on who we really are. What is in our heart is deeply rooted and is based on our individual exposures to life’s experiences. The Lord is a discerner of our very heart. He knows what is lurking there, good or bad. The word of God is so powerful that if we allow it, it will expose areas that do not honor our Lord and need to be changed.

    The Lord knows and discerns what is in our very being. He will reveal what is right and what is against His will by His word.  Why is the Lord so interested in each one of us, even to the point of having an interest of what is in our heart? God so loved the world (you and I)! 

    Romans 8:39 “nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

    His word reveals to us His love and through it we learn more of Him.  Just a thought for the morning. Carl

  • God Dwells

     But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the 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 8:9-11 

    These verses certainly emphasize the indwelling nature of the Holy Spirit in the believer. What does it mean to be indwelt by the Spirit? It means having a “new nature” (2Co 5.17).  It means having guide for our walk in Christ (John 16.13).  It means to have a Helper or Comforter as we face daily problems (John 14.16). It means He is there to convict us of sin (John 16.7-11), urging us to confess (1John 1.9) and repent.

    The indwelling Spirit is associated with the new nature we have in Christ. But there seems to be a constant struggle between the old and the new nature.  Paul confirms this in the letter to the Romans (Rom 7.15-25).  “The devil made me do it” is not really an excuse! The problem is, so many times, we yield to our old nature, we are not aware of the “indwelling Spirit”.  How do we yield to the indwelling Spirit?

    We yield by obedience, obedience to the word of God. How do we know the desires of our Lord, it is through the word?  The Spirit given word is a lamp guiding us day by day.  That’s why it is so important to have it open before us as we struggle with the days problems. It is the word of God that the indwelling Spirit uses to combat the old nature within us.

    John 14:15-17 “”If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you foreve— 17  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  10  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

    John 16:13  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

    The Holy word is our sword; the Spirit speaks to us through the word.  The Lord has not left us alone!  Just a thought for the morning.

    Carl

  • But God

    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

    We see in Scripture the two words “But God” a multitude of times. Each of us, as believers, rest in the words we find in Paul’s letter to the Romans, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)  But He not only died, But God raised Him from the dead. (Acts 13.30) And what greater hope can we have, than what is seen  in the Psalmist words “ But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me. Selah” (Psalm 49:15)

    In  these three verses  beginning with “but God” we see the Gospel of salvation available to each of us! We know we have no capability to save ourselves.  Also if we look further at what is at times, attached to these words, we see His mercy and love.  I am so underserving of His love and mercy.

    There is one verse for us to consider that contains these two words, “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.” 1 Thess. 2:4  The Apostle Paul is speaking of himself, referring to his ministry of bringing the Gospel to these Gentiles in Thessalonica.

    But we can apply this to our own lives, we are not to be living focused on always pleasing those around us, but we are to consider the last phase of the verse, “but God who tests our hearts.” How does the Lord “test our heart”? The Lord knows what we do and not only that, but He also knows what we think, what is in our heart.  What we think in a situation can be totally opposite of what we are doing. We may do things based on what is expected of us by others,  but in our heart, there is a question.

    To be tested means we are measured against some standard. What is the

    Lords’ standard for us? The Lord Jesus said, “  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another”.  We are tested in how well we live according to that command.

    Psalm 73:26   My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Just a thought for the morning.

    Carl