Christian Living
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
Matthew 7:21-23
“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified”.
I Corinthians 9:27
Welcome to this edition of The Awakening Call.
God has laid it in my heart to share this word and I hope to be able to so in a series all through the month of September and in as many times in a week as the grace abounds. I invite you to come with me on a journey through scriptures to discover or remind ourselves on the heart of God on so many aspects of day-to-day living.
But it’s not just a journey down memory lane. It’s a journey for helping us hold on strong to doing what we know to be His will and to diligently attend to our areas of struggle or weaknesses.
Implied in our adoption as sons is an expectation of our obedience to God’s will. And the greatest demand on our faith is that it is expressed in the way we live or conduct ourselves.
I have struggled with this article for days as I sought for wisdom on how to share its message in a way that avoids the obvious pitfall in teaching that men must obey a set of rules to be or to stay saved. But knowing God’s will and doing it is not legalism, it is obedience.
In Matthew 7:21, Jesus declared that only those who have done the will of God will enter the kingdom of heaven. And to prove that God’s will is not fully accomplished just in accepting Jesus as saviour, He explains the plight of some who will be disallowed from entering in. These prophesied, cast out demons and did wonders in His name (only Christians do this), yet are they disqualified because they practiced lawlessness.
Runners get disqualified when they do not run by approved guidelines. In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Apostle Paul exhorts the Christians at Corinth to ‘run in such a way that you may obtain it’ and in verse 27, he teaches that lack of discipline in running their race can get them disqualified.
In 2 Corinthian 13:5, Apostle Paul again addresses the issue of disqualification and this time he tells the Corinthian church to:
‘Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves … that Christ is in you – unless indeed you are disqualified’
The Christian life is not one that allows men to live howsoever they like. In Matthew 7:14, Jesus declared that:
‘… narrow is the gate … which leads to life’.
Psalm 103:7 states that God made His way known to Moses. Thus, there is a way of God and there is a way of the world.
As believers, we need to commit to run our race in God’s way (“the Way”). Committing to this is not just in mental assent or determination. It’s way beyond that. There will be seasons of intense wrestling in the secret place as we ask God to dethrone self from our hearts; there will be seasons of coming to our senses (Luke 15:17) and there will be seasons of intense spiritual warfare. But the starting point is to finding out that Way.
September is our month to re-discovering or reminding ourselves of God’s Way. As we search the scriptures, we trust the Holy Spirit to teach and give us understanding on God’s way and how to live it out in our day-to-day lives.
And I pray that as we take this journey, God will not only make His ways known to us, but also that He will strengthen and empower us to live and stay true to the Way we find.
Shalom!
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 626 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Chi Onwuchekwa or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 626 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.