because to you it was granted,

on behalf of Christ,

not only to believe in him,

but also on behalf of him to suffer;

and not terrified in anything by those opposing,
     which to them indeed is a token of destruction,
          and to you of salvation, and that from God;

Only worthily of the good news of the Christ
conduct ye yourselves, that, whether having come
and seen you, whether being absent I may hear of the
things concerning you, that ye stand fast in one spirit,
with one soul, striving together for the faith of the good news,

and of this being persuaded,

I have known that I shall remain and

continue with you all,

to your advancement and joy of the faith,

that your boasting may abound in Christ Jesus

in me through my presence again to you.

for I am pressed by the two,

     having the desire to depart,

          and to be with Christ,

               for it is far better, 

                    and to remain in the flesh

                         is more necessary on your account,

 And if to live in the flesh
[is] to me a fruit of work,
then what shall I choose?
I know not;

for to me to live [is] Christ, and to die gain.

according to my earnest expectation and hope,
     that in nothing I shall be ashamed,
          and in all freedom, as always,
               also now Christ shall be magnified in my body,
                    whether through life or through death,

For I have known that this shall fall out to me for salvation,
through your supplication, and
the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus,

 and the other out of love,

having known that for defence

of the good news I am set:

what then? in every way,

whether in pretence or in truth,

Christ is proclaimed and in this I rejoice,

yea, and shall rejoice.

Certain, indeed, even through envy and contention,
     and certain also through good-will,
          do preach the Christ; the one, indeed,
               of rivalry the Christ do proclaim, not purely,
                    supposing to add affliction to my bonds,

and the greater part of the brethren in the Lord,
having confidence by my bonds,
are more abundantly bold fearlessly to speak the word.

And I wish you to know,

brethren, that the things concerning me,

rather to an advancement of the good news

have come, so that my bonds have become

manifest in Christ in the whole praetorium,

and to the other places -- all,

for your proving the things that differ,

     that ye may be pure and offenceless 

          to a day of Christ,

               being filled with the fruit of righteousness,

                    that [is] through Jesus Christ,

                         to the glory and praise of God.

For God is my witness,
how I long for you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ,

and this I pray,

that your love yet more and more may abound

in full knowledge, and all judgment,

according as it is righteous for me to

think this in behalf of you all,

because of my having you in the heart,

both in my bonds, and [in] the defense

and confirmation of the good news,

all of you being fellow-partakers with me of grace.

having been confident of this very thing,
     that He who did begin in you a good work,
          will perform [it] till a day of Jesus Christ,

Peace to the brethren,
and love, with faith,
from God the Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ!

whom I did send unto you for this very thing,

that ye might know the things concerning us,

and that he might comfort your hearts.

And that ye may know ye also the things
     concerning me what I do,
          all things make known to you shall Tychicus,
               the beloved brother and faithful ministrant in the Lord,

 for which I am an ambassador in a chain,
that in it I may speak freely
as it behoveth me to speak.

and in behalf of me,

that to me may be given a word

in the opening of my mouth,

in freedom,

to make known the secret of the good news,

 through all prayer and supplication
     praying at all times in the Spirit,
          and in regard to this same,
               watching in all perseverance and
                    supplication for all the saints

and the helmet of the salvation receive,
and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the saying of God,

 above all,

having taken up the shield of the faith,

in which ye shall be able all the fiery darts

of the evil one to quench,

and having the feet shod in the preparation
       of the good-news of the peace;

Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about in truth,
and having put on the breastplate of the righteousness,

because of this take ye up the whole armour of God,

that ye may be able to resist in the day of the evil,

and all things having done to stand.

because we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh,
     but with the principalities, with the authorities,
          with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age,
               with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places;

be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might;

put on the whole armor of God,

for your being able to stand against the wiles of the devil,

that he might sanctify it, having cleansed [it]

with the bathing of the water in the saying,

that he might present it to himself the assembly in glory,

not having spot or wrinkle, or any of such things,

but that it may be holy and unblemished;

as also the Christ did love the assembly,
     and did give himself for it,

          that he might sanctify it,

               having cleansed [it] with the bathing

                    of the water in the saying,

subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of God.

giving thanks always for all things,

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

to the God and Father;

speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
                 singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

and be not drunk with wine,
in which is dissoluteness,
but be filled in the Spirit,

 

See, then, how exactly ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise,

redeeming the time, because the days are evil;

because of this become not fools,

but understanding what [is] the will of the Lord,

 wherefore he saith, `Arouse thyself, thou who art sleeping,
        and arise out of the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee.'

 and all the things reproved by the light are manifested,
for everything that is manifested is light;

and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of the darkness
      and rather even convict, for the things in secret done by them

             it is a shame even to speak of,

for the fruit of the Spirit [is] in all goodness,

and righteousness, and truth,

proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord,

become not, then, partakers with them,

for ye were once darkness,

and now light in the Lord;

as children of light walk ye,

 Let no one deceive you with vain words,
       for because of these things cometh the anger of God
             upon the sons of the disobedience,

and whoredom,

and all uncleanness,

or covetousness,

let it not even be named among you,

as becometh saints;

 Become, then, followers of God, as children beloved,

and walk in love, as also the Christ did love us,

and did give himself for us,

an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell,

and become one to another kind, tender-hearted,
       forgiving one another,
              according as also God in Christ did forgive you.

 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger,

and clamour, and evil-speaking,

be put away from you, with all malice,

and make not sorrowful the Holy Spirit of God,
in which ye were sealed to a day of redemption.

 Let no corrupt word out of your mouth go forth,
       but what is good unto the needful building up,
              that it may give grace to the hearers;

whoso is stealing let him no more steal,

but rather let him labour,

working the thing that is good with the hands,

that he may have to impart to him having need.

be angry and do not sin;
let not the sun go down upon your wrath, 
neither give place to the devil;

Wherefore, putting away the lying,
      speak truth each with his neighbour,
            because we are members one of another;

and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

and to put on the new man, which, according to God,

was created in righteousness and kindness of the truth.

 ye are to put off concerning the former behaviour the old man,
that is corrupt according to the desires of the deceit,

and ye did not so learn the Christ,

     if so be ye did hear him,
          and in him were taught,

               as truth is in Jesus;

 who, having ceased to feel,

themselves did give up to the lasciviousness,

for the working of all uncleanness in greediness;

being darkened in the understanding,
being alienated from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the hardness of their heart,

This, then, I say, and I testify in the Lord;
       ye are no more to walk,
               as also the other nations walk,
                       in the vanity of their mind,

from whom the whole body,

being fitly joined together and united,

through the supply of every joint,

according to the working in the measure of each single part,

the increase of the body doth make for the building up

of itself in love.

and, being true in love,
we may increase to Him [in] all things,
who is the head, the Christ;

that we may no more be babes,

     tossed and borne about by every wind of the teaching,

          in the sleight of men, in craftiness,

               unto the artifice of leading astray,

till we may all come to the unity of the faith

and of the recognition of the Son of God,

to a perfect man, to a measure of stature

of the fulness of the Christ,

unto the perfecting of the saints,
for a work of ministration,
for a building up of the body of the Christ,

and He gave some [as] apostles,
      and some [as] prophets,
            and some [as] proclaimers of good news,
                  and some [as] shepherds and teachers,

 he who went down

is the same also who went up far above all the heavens,

that He may fill all things

and that, he went up, what is it
except that he also went down first
to the lower parts of the earth?

wherefore, he saith,
       `Having gone up on high he led captive captivity,
             and gave gifts to men,'

and to each one of you was given the grace,

according to the measure of the gift of Christ,

one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all,

who [is] over all, and through all, and in you all,

one body and one Spirit,
       according as also ye were called
                in one hope of your calling;

being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit

in the bond of the peace;

with all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love,

Call upon you, then, do I the prisoner of the Lord,
       to walk worthily of the calling with which ye
              were  called,

to Him [is] the glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus,

to all the generations of the age of the ages.  Amen.

and to Him who is able above all things
to do exceeding abundantly above what
we ask or thing, according to the
power that is working in us,

that ye may be in strength to comprehend, with all the saints,
     what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,
          to know also the love of the Christ that is exceeding the
               knowledge, that ye may be filled to all the fullness of God;

 that the Christ may dwell through the faith in your hearts,

in love having been rooted and founded,

that He may give to you,

according to the riches of His glory,

with might to be strengthened through His Spirit,

in regard to the inner man.

of whom the whole family
       in the heavens and on earth is named,

For this cause I bow my knees

unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

wherefore, I ask [you] not to faint in my tribulations
for you, which is your glory.

in whom we have the freedom and the access
          in confidence through the faith of him,

according to a purpose of the ages,

which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord,

that there might be made known
now to the principalities and the
authorities in the heavenly [places],
through the assembly,
the manifold wisdom of God.

and to cause all to see what [is] the fellowship
     of the secret that hath been hid from the ages in God,
          who the all things did create by Jesus Christ,

to me the less than the least of all the saints

was given this grace,

among the nations to proclaim good news

the untraceable riches of the Christ,

of which I became a ministrant,
according to the gift of  the grace
of God that was given to me,
according to the working of His power;

Never forget 911

that the nations be fellow-heirs,

and of the same body,

and partakers of His promise

in the Christ,

through the good news,

which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men,
as it was now revealed to holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit,

in regard to which ye are able, reading [it],
        to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ,

that by revelation He made known to me the secret,
according as I wrote before in few words

if, indeed, ye did hear of the dispensation

of the grace of God that was given to me

in regard to you,

For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus
                        for you the nations.

in whom also ye are builded together,
for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

in whom all the building fitly framed together

doth increase to an holy sanctuary in the Lord,

being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
          Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-[stone],

Then, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God,

because through him we have access
we both
in one Spirit unto the Father.

 and having come,

      he did proclaim good news

           peace to you the far-off and the nigh,

and might reconcile both in one body to God
through the cross, having slain the enmity in it,

the enmity in his flesh,

the law of the commands in ordinances having done away,

that the two he might create in himself into one new man,

making peace,

for he is our peace, who did make both one,
      and the middle was of the enclosure did break down.

 and now, in Christ Jesus, ye being once afar off became nigh in the blood of the Christ,

that ye were at that time apart from Christ,

having been alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,

and strangers to the covenants of the promise,

having no hope, and without God, in the world;

Wherefore, remember, that ye [were] once
the nations in the flesh,
who are called Uncircumcision by
that called Circumcision in the flesh made by hands,

 for of Him we are workmanship,
    created in Christ Jesus to good work,
        which God did before prepare, 
              that in them we may walk.    

for by grace ye are having been saved,

through faith, and this not of you, of God the gift,

not of works, that no one may boast;

that He might show,
in the ages that are coming,
the exceeding riches of His grace
in the kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,

and did raise [us] up together,
      and did seat [us] together
             in the heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus.

even being dead in the trespasses,

did make us to live together with the Christ,

(by grace ye a having been saved,)

and God, being rich in kindness,
because of His great love with which He loved us,

among whom also we all did walk once in the desires of our flesh,
         doing the wishes of the flesh and of the thoughts,
                 and were by nature children of wrath as also the others,

in which once ye did walk according to the age of this world,

according to the ruler of the authority of the air,

of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Also you being dead in the trespasses and the sins,

 which is his body, the fullness of Him who is filling the all in all,

        and all things He did put under his feet,
and did give him head over all things to the assembly,

for above all principality, and authority, and might,
and lordship, and every name named, not only in this age,
but also in the coming one;

 which He wrought in the Christ,

having raised him out of the dead,

and did set [him] at His right hand in the heavenly [places],



and what the exceeding greatness
       of His power to us who are believing,
                according to the of the power of His might,

the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,
for your knowing what is the hope of His calling,
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of the glory,

may give to you a spirit of wisdom

and revelation in the recognition of him,

do not cease giving thanks for you,
         making mention of you in my prayers,

Because of this I also,
having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,
and the love to all the saints.

which is an earnest of our inheritance,
to the redemption of the acquired possession,
to the praise of His glory.

in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth 

the good news of your salvation

in whom also having believed,

ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise,

for our being to the praise of His glory,
            even those who did first hope in the Christ,

in whom also we did obtain an inheritance,
being foreordained according to the purpose of Him
who the all things is working according to the counsel of His will,

in regard to the dispensation of the fullness of the times,

to bring into one the whole in the Christ,

both the things in the heavens,

and the things upon the earth, in him;

having made known to us the secret of His will,
            according to His good pleasure,
                              that He purposed in Himself,

 in which He did abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

in whom we have the redemption through his blood,

the remission of the trespasses,

according to the riches of His grace,

         to the praise of the glory of His grace,
in which He did make us accepted in the beloved,

having foreordained us to the adoption of sons
            through Jesus Christ to Himself,
                         according to the good pleasure of His will,

according as He did choose us in him

before the foundation of the world,

for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love,

 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who did bless us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Follow Jesus

Jesus,

when facing the greatest temptations by Satan,

didn't need to say anything that wasn't already recorded in the Word.

We can have great assurance
       that the written Word of God
              is sufficient for us.

Jesus quoted the written Word of God each time Satan tempted Him, the same Word we have today.

When Jesus was tempted,

He could have said anything

and the devil would have had to go.

Since Jesus is the Word of God [John 1:1],
          anything He would have spoken would be the Word.

Jesus responded to Satan's temptations with "It is written".

The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, Ephesians 6:17.

When the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, 
            it was so He could be tempted by the devil.

If we got saved by faith,

we can be healed, delivered, provided

and cared for by faith.

Since we have experienced the greatest miracle [salvation] in this life by the faith God has given us, we must not go back to thinking our needs are too big for our faith.



We know the faith God has given us works
       because we were born again by it.

We have underestimated our slave [faith].

We have thought we needed many slaves;

when the truth is, this slave is so powerful

  it can accomplish whatever we want of it.

The reason the disciples didn't see their faith work harder for them was because they hadn't demanded more from their faith.

Masters don't request slaves to work;
              they make them work.

Faith doesn't just show up and go to work for us.

Faith must be told what to do, it is our slave.

Jesus told the people that the faith they had was enough to uproot a tree and throw it into the sea.
       They weren't using the faith they had.

John the Baptist was completely yielded to the Holy Spirit.
        supernatural things happen when a person dares to go
                against the crowd and follow Him.

In a short time, John the Baptist,
    moved an entire nation to anticipate Jesus' return.

John didn't take the normal approach and go where the people were, He was out in the wilderness and the people came to him.

Some say that in six months
       John the Baptist turned an
             entire nation to God.

John the Baptist's ministry lasted about six months

before He baptized Jesus and

men started following Him.

John the Baptist spent thirty years in the deserts preparing for his ministry.

Jesus knew His purpose even in His childhood, but He still had to study and prepare Himself for the work God had called Him to.

Even though Jesus was God,
        He lived in a physical body
              with a natural mind that
                     needed to be educated.

Jesus asked the scholars questions.

This was amazing when we realize that  in Him [Jesus] was all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Colossians 2:3.

At the age of twelve, Jesus had an understanding of who His real Father was and why He had come into the world.

Jesus didn't have access to a copy of the Bible.

        He got revelation knowledge from His Father, but He had to visit the synagogue to read the scrolls of God's Word.

Happy  Mother's Day 2013

Luke 2:46 is the only scriptural record of Jesus' childhood.

                 At twelve years old, His wisdom astounded the men who had spent their lifetimes studying the Scriptures.

"And it came to pass, that after three days

they found him in the temple, sitting in the

midst of the doctors, both hearing them and

asking them questions."

Luke 2:46

This must be the generation that will bring Jesus back.
        It seems that Satan, in his desperation is trying to put off his doom by destroying this generation.

Satan is trying to kill people before they can be born [abortion]
or after through violence [murder] and suicide.

The Seed has already come
       and is multiplying Himself in
              every born-again believer.

Satan was seeking to eliminate the 'seed' that

God said would be the one who was going to

bruise his head and strip him

of all power and authority.

After Jesus was born,
  Satan motivated Herod to kill
      all the male children in Bethlehem.

When Moses was born,
    Satan moved Pharaoh to kill
        all the male children of the Israelite slaves.

It appears Satan is able to perceive
   when God is making a major move in the earth.

Ever since God first prophesied that a "seed" of a woman would bruise Satan's head, he had been seeking to find and destroy this "seed", Genesis 3:15.  The "seed," of course, was Jesus our Lord.

The only thing that restricts God is our unbelief.

The Lord said to Jeremiah,
        "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?"  Jeremiah 32:27

God created the universe,
        and it didn't even affect His ability.

So we must not wonder if our situation is too hard for Him.

We have to renew our minds with the truth that God is not like us.

                   He can do anything.
                   He is an awesome God.

His power is so great that we can't even comprehend it.

When we choose to be a living advertisement for the Gospel and allow His love to shine through us for our brothers and sisters as well as for the lost, unbelievers will know the Jesus is alive in us.

Jude spoke of the early church meetings as being "feasts of charity" in Jude 1:12.
         Love abounded and so did the Gospel; there is a relationship between the two.

The body of Christ has spent large amounts of money and
        effort to reach the lost; but has very little love in
        their hearts for one another.

The first Church met in homes; but they had a tremendous
        impact on the world with the Gospel; because they had
        God's kind of love for Him and for each other.

Possessing true love for other believers
    isn't a top priority for most Christians today.

        Jesus said that this is the number-one thing
            that will show unbelievers that He's real and
               alive in us.

John 13:31-35
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

       The distinguishing characteristic of a Christian, according to Jesus Himself, is our love for one another.

It's good to pray the prayer of Ephesians 1:15-23
and let the Holy Spirit reveal "Christ in you, the hope of glory",  Colossians 1:27.

Proverbs 23:7 says that
      whatever we think or believe in our heart is what we are.

In our spirit, we are right now as we will be throughout all eternity,

1 John 4:17.

 

   To the degree that we renew our mind to this truth

and believe it, we will actually experience God's fullness in this life.

God's Word is spirit and life, John 6:63,
         and as we abide in His Word,
                  we will begin to live more and more
                             from our spirit.

who you are in Christ

When we choose to believe what the
          Word of God says about us,
we will begin to know that in Christ Jesus
we have everything we will ever need or want.

We can't see or touch our spirit because it is spirit.
               Our spirit is the eternal, invisible part of us.

When we receive Jesus as our Lord,
           we are instantly changed in our spirits,
                       2 Corinthians 5:17,
but many of us aren't aware of the change
      that's taken place inside us,
so we continue to live by our physical senses
      and natural mind,
and we are oblivious to the new, born again part
      of us that has received the fullness of God.

Every believer has now received

the grace of God and His fulness.

Everything He is,
                   we now possess in our born-again spirits.
We are complete in Him, Colossians 2:9-10.

The Christian life isn't like an insurance policy
       that only pays off when we die and go to heaven;
              it pays off already in the here and now.

We must let the Holy Spirit
      give us a true revelation of
             His [Jesus'] deity and humanity daily.

Luke 24:5-6

We cannot let Jesus' divinity blind us
     to the truth that He knows exactly how we feel,
         and He deeply cares for us.

We must never let His humanity blind us to the truth that Almighty God Himself became our friend, John 15:13-15.

It was Jesus' divinity that gave Him the power to save us completely, Hebrews 7:25.

God, [Jesus], humbled Himself and took the form of a servant,
         Philippians 2:7; and His humanity truly made Him one of us.

        He suffered the same temptations and pressures that we suffer, Hebrews 4:15.

Jesus was God manifested in the flesh, 1 Timothy 3:16.
   Yet, this Almighty God came to dwell in a human body.

 Any giving in of the truth of Jesus' divinity,
         it will wipe out His redemptive work in our lives.

If Jesus was only a man, then regardless of how good He was, His life could only provide a substitute for one other man.

     But, since He was God, His life was worth more than every human life since creation.

            His life was worth more than the total of all the universe that He created.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." – John 14: 12

"In the beginning was the Word,
     and the Word was with God,
           and the Word was God.
                  John 1:1

Jesus was not just a man sent from God, He was God.

       This is the most important statements of the
             New Testament.
             All other truths hang on this truth.

God is my rock . He is my shield . He is my hedge of protection . He is my Father , He is everything , He is my provider, he is my hope , he is my deliverance , he is my cry , he is my shelter, he is my heart .

Matthew 22:37

When we confess with our mouth

the Lord Jesus,

and believe in our heart that God raised Him

from the dead,

the Holy Spirit comes into us,

to transform our spirit from death to life

by His grace because we have used our faith

in His Son Jesus Christ.

God's passport of righteousness describes WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST.

         The word righteousness is a description of our new born spirit.
         Righteousness is to be right with God, because God is our Father and we are his children.

God's passport is used to go from one spiritual realm to another.

         It's a passport of righteousness.

                It's given as a gift through faith in the
                blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God has given us a passport as a gift.

It's a spiritual passport.
It has the authority of Jesus Christ behind it.

With our birth certificate, we can obtain a document from the Federal Government called a passport.

            It is an official document that certifies all the information on the birth certificate.

           Only it brings the information up to date.

            It is recognized all over the world by international agreement.

            It is proof of citizenship.

            It officially describes WHO IN THE WORLD WE ARE.

In the eyes of the world, we have an official document that tells WHO IN THE WORLD WE ARE, a birth certificate.

    It doesn't tell a thing about what we do.

Doing is very important,
    but there is something more important.

    We haven't realized how we have confused
          the how and the who.

The natural thinking of righteousness as being right doing, comes from years of training to be doers.

       This thinking is easy to conform to by looking to the Old
        Testament for the definition.

              Through this meaning, man has accomplished great
               things.

The most universal definition of righteousness is "right doing." People have held this meaning for years.

          So when we read the Word of God with all the promises to  the righteous, we know we do not qualify.

          The enemy always reminds us of falling short of obedience.

Those of us Christians who ARE skillful [experienced] in the Word of righteousness, God calls mature.

            There is not one of us who doesn't want to be
                                called mature by God.

"For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe."  Hebrews 5:13

        Those of us Christians who are unskillful [inexperienced] in the word of righteousness are babies.

"And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" John 16:8

       The Holy Spirit is the teacher.

               Without Him showing us this spiritual truth,
                none of us can understand God's righteousness.

Jesus promised that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled.  In Jesus Christ we are filled with God's righteousness.

       Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God.
       He became sin so that we might be made the rightousness of God in him.

       Righteousness is a gift from God.
       Gifts cannot be earned with our goodness.
       Believe and receive God's gift of righteousness.

So many people in the world do not believe that God is a good God.

         They believe that God sends sickness and diseases, and accidents and injuries for a purpose.

         To believe that is to totally misunderstand the wonderful work of the Cross.

God is a giver of good gifts James 1:17
God's gift of righteousness is free Romans 5:17
With His righteousness we have the power to do good
2 Peter 1:4

"Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."   James 1:17

              God only gives us good things, and
              He doesn't change from time to time.

God has given us the gift of righteousness. Romans 5:17
 
      He has made us right with Himself.
      It's His doing.
      It's His gift to us.
      It's His righteousness, not ours
      Our righteousness is as filthy rags, Isaiah 64:6

God has given us promises so that we can look and act like Jesus.
BUT
     He knew that we couldn't do it without a new and living spirit within us.
     He knew that we couldn't do it without the peace that passes understanding in our souls.
     He knew that we couldn't do it unless our bodies were healed.
     He knew that we couldn't do it unless our finances and material needs were met.

God gives us these free gifts so that we will be changed.

        God wants us to change.
            God wants us to stop doing wrong.
        God wants us to be more like Jesus.

God has "given us these exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
                                  2 Peter 1:4

We have to receive Jesus' righteousness as a gift and
      stop trying to earn His love with our goodness, and
            lay aside our pride.
He did it all and all we have to do is receive it and love Him.

The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us in Romans 5:8.
             While we were yet sinners, God gave His only
              begotten on for us in John 3:16.
                       We are to receive Him as a gift
                        that we cannot earn or work for.

We reveal what is really in our heart by our response to a gift.

      If we express ourselves with humility, that's good.
               But if we are embarrassed, we may still be trying to earn the gift by our goodness.