We believers have an unspeakable blessing—we have God’s presence all the time!
In the New Testament, we find several names for our Lord Jesus. One is Emmanuel, which means God with us. A staff member at Bibles for America was enjoying the Lord as Emmanuel so much that he overflowed in song. He based his song on three verses in Matthew and set it to the tune of the American folk song “Shenandoah.” We hope you enjoy the marvelous fact that God is with us as you hear our staff singing the song.
“Emmanuel—His name men calleth, God with us—with them He dwelleth; I’m in their midst—where saints assembleth, ‘Behold, I am with thee’— ‘til this age hath ended.”
Play it here:
Let’s now briefly get into the three verses the song is based on, Matthew 1:23; 18:20; and 28:20.
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1. Matthew 1:23
“’Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel’ (which is translated, God with us).”
This word spoken by an angel to Joseph is a quotation of the great prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. Jesus’ birth was the fulfillment of that prophecy.
In the New Testament Recovery Version, note 2 for Emmanuel explains its meaning:
“Jesus was the name given by God, whereas Emmanuel, meaning God with us, was the name by which man called Him. Jesus the Savior is God with us. He is God, and He is also God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us.”
Jesus is wonderful! He’s Jesus our Savior and He’s Emmanuel, the incarnated God. Through His human birth God was no longer far away in the heavens, unreachable, and unapproachable. As Emmanuel, Jesus was the very God living, walking, and dwelling among human beings.
The blessing of having Jesus as Emmanuel wasn’t only for those who lived in Judea at the time of His earthly life. After the Lord lived a perfect human life among men, He died on the cross to accomplish eternal redemption for us. Then after three days Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended to the heavens. Yet though He’s now in the heavens, wondrously He’s also with us!
2. Matthew 18:20
“For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.”
The Lord’s pledge here is for all His believers. The two or three in this verse refers to the believers who come together to meet. Whenever we gather together in His name, that is, in His person and out of everything else, Jesus promised He would be with us. Our meeting together isn’t a religious duty but a rich enjoyment because of Christ’s own dear presence. So if two of us come together in His name, three are actually present, because the Lord Himself is among us. What an encouragement and a joy this is!
3. Matthew 28:20
“Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.”
The Lord Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, after He resurrected and commissioned them with the gospel. Jesus guarantees with this comforting and strengthening word that no matter what, He is with us now and until the end of the age when He returns. And His promise is for all the days. Jesus is with us today, and He will be with us tomorrow and every single day. As we preach and teach His Word to others in the world, He is with us.
The Gospel of Matthew begins with Jesus being called Emmanuel at His birth, the incarnation of God. It continues with Jesus’ own promise to be with us whenever we gather in His name. And Matthew ends with the resurrected Christ promising us: “Behold I am with you.” Praise God for this incomparable blessing of God with us!
All verses are quoted from the Holy Bible Recovery Version. You can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
The church is a profound and deeply significant matter in the Bible. In our post “What Is the Church according to the Bible,” we began to look into the church as it’s revealed in the Scriptures.
In this post, we’ll continue to discuss the matter of the church by getting into some verses in Ephesians, a book unique in its rich revelation of what the church is in God’s eyes. We’ll look at seven aspects of the church revealed in Ephesians and how they relate to us as believers.
1. The Body of Christ
“The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:22-23
The revelation of the church as the Body of Christ tells us that the church is not an organization but something living, just as our physical body is a living organism. The Body of Christ is an entity of life.
The church as the Body of Christ isn’t a lifeless organization, structured and arranged according to the concept of man. The Body of Christ is a living organism, issuing from the life of Christ as the Head who becomes the life in His believers as the members of His Body. This means all the members of the Body must possess Christ’s life.
Because the church is Christ’s Body, an organism with Christ’s life, a person can’t simply join it by taking an oath, agreeing to a creed, or signing a paper. One can only become a member of the Body of Christ by being born again, or regenerated, with the divine life.
Praise God, we received the life of Christ when we were born again; at that time, we became members of His Body. In His life, we’re joined to Christ as the Head and to other believers as the members of His Body. Just as with our physical body our fingers, arms, legs, and so on are joined together by our physical life, we as members of the Body of Christ share and are joined together in the life of Christ.
2. The new man
“Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.” Ephesians 2:15
For the church to be the Body of Christ means the church has Christ as its life. The aspect of the church as the new man means the church has Christ as its person. Christ is the person of the Body with His personality. For this, we as His members must live by His life and take Him as our person, and not ourselves.
As individual human beings, we all have our own personality and differ in background, upbringing, culture, preferences, etc. Although we may greatly desire to be one with one another, if we each live by our own personality, it’s impossible.
But Christ Himself now lives in us to be our new person. He wants us to take Him with His personality as our person. This means we take His preferences and feeling instead of our own.
When we live in this way, spontaneously we’re one because one Person is really living through all of us—Jesus Christ.
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3. The kingdom of God
“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are also fellow citizens with the saints.” Ephesians 2:19
The phrase fellow citizens with the saints here shows us our salvation brings us into a new kingdom—the kingdom of God. Here, all the believers are fellow citizens in God’s kingdom.
As citizens of a particular country, people have certain rights. For instance, in the US, citizens have the right of freedom of speech. But responsibilities also come with being citizens of this country, such as paying taxes.
Similarly, today we have both the rights and the responsibilities as citizens of the church as the wonderful kingdom of God. Sometimes we may want to enjoy the rights without bearing any responsibilities, but as citizens we must also acknowledge and bear the responsibilities of the church as God’s kingdom.
4. The household of God
“…and members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19
All the believers make up the household of God. This is a very sweet aspect of the church, for household refers to the church as God’s family. When we’re saved, whatever our background was before, we become a member of the household, the family, of God.
As the kingdom of God, we have rights and fulfill our responsibilities as citizens. But as the household of God, God’s family, we have God as our Father and the other believers as our brothers and sisters. The church is God’s home, God’s family, where we enjoy the care of our Father and where we care for one another. We find true rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment as members of the household of God.
5. The dwelling place of God
“In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22
The church is also God’s dwelling place on earth. How incredible that today, God’s dwelling place is our spirit, and not simply individually but corporately with all the believers in Christ. Today we are growing in His life and being built together to be God’s corporate dwelling place!
Note 4 on verse 21 in the New Testament Recovery Version helps us see what this implies:
“Since the building is living (1 Pet. 2:5), it is growing. It grows into a holy temple. The actual building of the church as the house of God is by the believer’s growth in life.”
God’s dwelling place on earth isn’t a physical building but His redeemed and regenerated believers, built up by the growth of the divine life in us. Today we are growing together as God’s dwelling place. The more we grow in life, the more God’s dwelling place is built up!
6. The bride, the wife of Christ
“Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her that He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.” “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:25-27, 32
The church is the bride, the wife of Christ. In this aspect of the church, Christ loves us with the tender love of a husband, and we love Him as our dear Bridegroom. In His love, He is preparing us by the washing of the water in the Word for our wedding day when He returns.
7. The warrior
“Be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10-11
The Body of Christ, the new man, the kingdom of God, the household of God, the dwelling place of God, and the bride of Christ are all positive aspects of the church. But the church is also the warrior by which God can deal with His enemy, the devil. This a crucial aspect of the church.
Many are familiar with the verses in Ephesians 6 about putting on the parts of the armor of God. But when we look at the original Greek of these verses, we can realize this armor isn’t for an individual Christian. Paul exhorts the church, made up of all the believers, to put on the armor of God. Thus, the church is the corporate warrior of God, empowered in the Lord to fight the spiritual warfare to deal with God’s enemy.
Seeing and entering into the reality of the church
The revelation of the church in Ephesians is rich, deep, and high. We can pray for the Spirit of reality to reveal the church to us according to Ephesians, and we can ask Him to guide us into the reality of each aspect of the church in our experience.
“Dear Lord, thank You for the church. Grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation so I can see the church in all these aspects. I also ask that the Spirit of reality would guide me and my fellow members of Your Body into the reality of the church so You can gain the church You desire. Amen.”
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
A BfA staff member talks about his experience of praying with the Word of God.
In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul tells us to receive the Word of God “by means of all prayer” (vv. 17-18).
There are certainly many ways to understand and practice this charge, and probably all are profitable. If the content of our prayer mirrors the content of God’s speaking to us in His Word, we’re probably on the right track.
I once read a book that used an illustration likening the words in the Bible to a tree with limbs full of fruit, and that by prayer, we can shake a limb until some fruit comes down for us to eat.
I read the Bible regularly, chapter by chapter, but I decided to experiment and add a little bit of “pray-reading” to my daily Bible reading.
So I began to occasionally pick a verse or two from whatever chapters I was reading that day and simply prayed aloud with the phrases and words, repeating them and emphasizing them out loud.
On some days, a general appreciation resulted, but no “fireworks,” you could say. On others, though, I really sensed the Word coming alive as I prayed. That kind of specific, focused prayer made the verse vibrant, bright, and as Hebrews 4:12 says, “living and operative” to me.
A particular occasion stands out to me. I was waiting for a friend to pick me up at a bus stop one day and casually reading through Ephesians 4. The chapter ends with what I thought was a rather unremarkable verse about being kind and forgiving one another.
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But I stopped and began to pray over that final verse. Very unexpectedly, I was made keenly aware of some fair but harsh remarks I had made to some of my coworkers. As I repeated the words again and again, “Be kind. Be kind. Be kind, forgiving one another…” so much light shined from them. I saw how cold and strict I was with certain of my coworkers. I was stricken, suddenly realizing how tyrannical I could be at times. I didn’t expect that realization to come, but through my prayer over the words, it almost knocked me over!
Under the shining of the Lord’s light from His Word, I just confessed to the Lord, and let the words from that verse wash away all of my unhappiness with others. As I “ate” the words of Ephesians by praying with them, I felt the kind, forgiving One spread into new areas of my heart. I even shed a few tears.
When my friend arrived to pick me up, he took one look at my face and asked, “What happened?” How do you answer such a question? By means of prayer, a verse printed in black and white on a page became a very personal light shining within me and provided an opportunity for Christ to expand into more of me.
What a tremendous miracle that we have a book as rich as the Bible in our hands, and furthermore, that we have prayer as a means to actually realize what lies printed on every page! This experience and many others like it have taught me to always take the time to pray over one or two verses. I simply don’t want to miss any experience the Lord has ready for me in His Word.
In Mark 16:15 the Lord Jesus gave this command:
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation.”
Who is this command given to? In this post we’ll discuss who the proclaimers are and why they must proclaim the gospel.
Who are the proclaimers of the gospel?
At first, we may look at this verse and think the Lord’s command applies only to a specific group of believers, such as the eleven apostles who were with Him. But who were the apostles? The apostles were people who had seen and received the crucified and resurrected Christ as their Savior.
What does this mean? If we’ve received Christ as our Savior, then we’re qualified to proclaim the gospel. Attending a special school or completing a gospel-preaching program isn’t a requirement to proclaim the gospel. Our qualification is that we’re redeemed by Christ and regenerated with His life.
The story of the sinful Samaritan woman in John 4 is a good example. As soon as she believed in the Lord Jesus and received Him as living water, she left her water pot, went away into the city, and told the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I have done. Is this not the Christ?” She didn’t wait to go to a gospel preaching school. She simply told people about the wonderful Jesus she had met. Just like her, we all can tell someone about the precious Christ we accepted as our Savior.
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So in reality, our crucified and resurrected Lord’s command was to all His believers. He wants each of His believers to tell people the good news of His salvation.
Why must we proclaim the gospel?
Now that we’ve seen who the proclaimers are—all believers–let’s see why we must proclaim the gospel.
First, we proclaim the gospel of Jesus because our Lord commanded us to. We’re blessed when we don’t resist or argue with the Lord’s command to us, but in faith respond, “Yes, Lord, I would take this command to heart and obey You. Make me a proclaimer of Your gospel to people.”
Now let’s look at two other important reasons why we must proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
1. People need to hear the gospel
Romans 10:14 shows us how people can be saved:
“How then shall they call upon Him into whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe into Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without one who proclaims Him?”
We proclaim the gospel so people can hear and believe in the Savior who died for them and resurrected to be their life.
None of us was born a believer. Every one of us is a believer in Christ and enjoying God’s salvation only because someone proclaimed Him to us. We in turn owe it to our friends, relatives, and others God puts in our lives to tell them about the Savior.
The apostle Paul expressed this sense in Romans 1:14-15,
“I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish; so, for my part, I am ready to announce the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
We all know someone who needs salvation. Maybe it’s someone we work with, our neighbor, or a friend. People are hurting inside; they feel lost or empty. They long to know the purpose of their existence. We owe them the gospel. They need to hear about the loving Savior so they can believe in Him. This is why we must obey the Lord’s solemn command to us to proclaim the gospel to them.
2. We need to flow out
To be spiritually healthy, spending daily time with the Lord Jesus in the morning to feed on His Word is necessary. But sharing Christ with others is also just as necessary. When we don’t, we feel something’s amiss. This is because the Lord who lives in us wants us not only to receive and enjoy Him ourselves, but also to flow Him out to others.
We can use a water hose to illustrate. A water hose gets filled at the spigot, and when it’s working properly, it flows water out the other end. But if there’s a cap on the end, the hose has a big problem: nothing can flow out, which also means more can’t flow in.
We certainly need to be at the “spigot” of Christ to receive more of Him though prayer and the Word of God so we can grow in Him. That’s our intake. But like the hose, we also need to have an outflow; sharing the Lord Jesus with others is that outflow. The Lord who lives in our spirit wants to flow out. He loves people and wants them to be saved. When we don’t tell others about Him, our outflow is blocked, which both deprives others of the gospel and affects our enjoyment of Christ.
The more we receive and enjoy the Lord, the more we spontaneously want to speak to people and tell them about the Christ we appreciate and enjoy. And on the other hand, as we tell people about Christ, we experience being filled with Him as the living water again.
Trusting in prayer and the gospel
Of course, prayer should accompany our proclaiming; we must pray for the salvation of specific persons the Lord puts on our hearts. By prayer we can also be washed of our sins to be a clear channel for the Lord to flow through us to others.
The word of the gospel is powerful. Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes, both to Jew first and to Greek.”
What is this “power of God?” Note 1 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“Denoting a powerful force that can break through any obstacle. This power is the resurrected Christ Himself, who is the life-giving Spirit, and it is unto salvation to everyone who believes.”
The gospel of God can bring a sinner to salvation! And what a rich salvation, as note 2 shows us:
“To save the believing ones not only from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition but also from their natural life and their self, that they may be sanctified, transformed, and built up with others as the one Body of Christ to be His fullness and expression (Eph. 1:23).”
Proclaim to rescue the perishing
If we consider the situation of the world today, we’ll realize how urgently both our prayer and the preaching of the gospel are needed.
Fanny J. Crosby, author of many well-loved hymns, wrote the hymn below. It eloquently expresses humanity’s need for the Savior, as well as our responsibility to share the good news of Jesus Christ. May the Lord speak to our hearts to love people and to proclaim the gospel to them. And may we respond to Him by praying for and telling people of His great love and salvation for them.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying;
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting,
Waiting the penitent child to receive;
Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
He will forgive if they only believe.
Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness
Chords that are broken will vibrate once more.
Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way, patiently win them;
Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.
(You can hear the tune to this hymn here.)
If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
The Bible mentions the flesh throughout the Old and New Testaments. But although Christians are clear about what sin is, many may not have heard much about the flesh. Unfortunately, Satan’s obscuring of the truth about the flesh has allowed him to damage God’s people.
What is the flesh, and why is it so bad? Is it still bad after we’re saved? Does our flesh get better the more we grow in the Lord or the more spiritual we become? As believers who love the Lord Jesus and want to go on in our Christian life, we need to know the truth concerning the flesh.
In this post, we can only take a brief look at what the Bible says about the flesh and read some verses and notes in the New Testament Recovery Version.
What is the flesh and where did it come from?
According to God’s plan, God created man with a spirit, a soul, and a body so man could contain God and express Him. Every part of man was clean and pure, including his body.
But when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, something terrible happened. They took in the sinful nature of the devil. The result was the pure body God had created was changed into sinful flesh.
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:18:
“For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells.”
Paul’s words are emphatic. Nothing good dwells in our flesh. Why is that?
Note 2 on this verse in the Recovery Version explains clearly:
“The flesh here is the fallen and corrupted human body with all its lusts. This flesh was not created by God but is a mixture of God’s creature and sin, which is the life of Satan, the evil one. God created man’s body a pure vessel, but this vessel was corrupted and transmuted into the flesh by Satan’s injecting himself into it at the time of the fall. Now Satan as sin personified is in man’s flesh, making his home there and ruling as an illegal master, overruling man and forcing him to do things that he dislikes. It is this indwelling sin, which is the unchangeable evil nature, that constitutes all men sinners (5:19).”
Nothing good dwells in our flesh because Satan as sin personified is dwelling there.
Then verse 20 says:
“But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.”
Paul said sin “dwells in me.” Where does it dwell in Paul? In the flesh. Sin doesn’t occasionally visit our flesh; sin dwells there.
The flesh after we’re saved
When we receive Christ as our Savior, our sins are forgiven and we’re saved eternally. But is our flesh repaired? Are we free from the lusts of the flesh once we’re born again? Do we still have the flesh?
John 3:6 says:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
When we received the Lord as our Savior, we were born again in our human spirit with the divine Spirit of God. This happened with our spirit, but our flesh remains the same as it was before: sinful and full of lusts.
We have to realize that while we live in this physical life, the flesh never changes, no matter how long we’ve been saved or how much we’ve grown in the Lord.
Many verses in the New Testament show us that believers still possess the sinful flesh.
For instance, Galatians 5:16 says:
“But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
Paul wrote this word to believers in Galatia. We have the fallen flesh with its lusts even after we’re saved.
Only when the Lord Jesus returns will we be rid of the flesh. At that time, He will resurrect and transfigure our fallen body. We have this assurance in Philippians 3:20-21:
“We eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.”
God’s full salvation of our whole being includes the salvation of our fallen body. But for now, our flesh remains the sinful flesh.
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Why we need to know we still have the flesh of sin
We can’t afford to be ignorant or indifferent about the danger our flesh poses to us. If we heed the warnings regarding our flesh, our Christian life will be safeguarded.
To illustrate, let’s say we don’t know that a particular substance is extremely toxic. So we might handle it very casually and even carelessly. As a result, we can do great harm to ourselves. But if we knew its true nature, we’d handle it very carefully and cautiously in order to protect ourselves.
This illustration shows how the proper knowledge of our flesh can help us believers. It also shows us how being unaware of its danger can harm us. And unlike the toxic substance in the illustration that’s outside of us, our flesh isn’t something separate from us; it’s part of us and ever present.
Satan’s strategy with Christians
Satan’s strategy is to hide the truth about the flesh from Christians. He wants us to think our flesh isn’t a problem once we’re saved, or that it’s no longer a danger if we’ve been following the Lord for some time. Satan knows if we think like this we’ll drop our guard. We’ll adopt the attitude that we won’t fall into a particular sin. Or, we become self-confident if we haven’t committed that sin in a long time. Or, we’re sure we would never commit a certain sin just because we never have before. What happens when we think we’re safe? We’ll allow ourselves to be in certain situations where our flesh is stirred and then overpowers us. Sin will be the result.
So practically speaking, what do we mean by “drop our guard”?
As an example, let’s say before we were saved we used to go to bars with our friends and drink. After we’re saved, our coworkers or friends still invite us out to a bar. We go because we think, “I won’t be tempted to drink anymore, now that I’m saved.” Since we don’t realize our flesh hasn’t gotten any better and is just as strong as before, we’re in a dangerous position. Our flesh overcomes our willpower, pulling us back into the life we previously lived. We learn too late that we’re still subject to the lusts of the flesh.
Let’s use another example involving immorality. We know immoral acts such as fornication are sinful. But we may think, “Now that I’m a Christian, I definitely would never have a problem with that. My strong morals will prevent me from sinning that way.” Because we think this way, we repeatedly spend more and more time alone with someone, whether at work or elsewhere, because we think we’re immune to the lusts of the flesh. But eventually, through being alone together so much, we become less cautious, and in an unguarded moment, sin is the result. We didn’t realize our flesh is much stronger than our proclaimed morals.
These are just a few examples of what it means to drop our guard. And we shouldn’t think that the flesh is active in only certain types of people. It operates in every kind of person: weak or strong, educated or illiterate, rich or poor. Every human being has the lustful flesh, and every human being, including a Christian, is capable of any sin. Just being in the wrong environment can lead us to sin.
When we’re unaware of or unwise about our sinful flesh, Satan has a way to damage believers, over and over again, lulling them into not guarding against their flesh.
In the book of Romans, a book written to Christians, Paul clearly warns the believers to be on guard against sin hiding in their flesh. Romans 6:12 says:
“Do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal body so that you obey the body’s lusts.”
If we believers aren’t careful with our flesh, sin can even reign in our body and rule over us. This brings damage to our Christian life. What a tragedy!
Make no provision for the flesh
We can’t afford to give an inch to the flesh by thinking we’re no longer subject to the lusts of the flesh or that we’re strong and can overcome it.
In Romans 13:14 Paul says strongly:
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.”
What does make no provision for our flesh mean? Let’s read note 2 on the word provision in this verse:
“Or, arrangement. This word has the same root as the Greek word for take forethought in 12:17. To take forethought includes the meaning to provide. To make no provision for the flesh is to not take any forethought for the flesh or provide the flesh with anything that will support it and make it convenient for it to fulfill its lusts.”
We can apply this word to our lives by considering what places, what things we see, what things we hear, and what things we do would make it convenient for our flesh to fulfill its lusts. We need to take forethought concerning these things and avoid them so as not to make provision for our flesh. We don’t want to give any support to our flesh.
Seeing that our flesh is still a danger to us is the important first step in not letting sin reign. Our fallen, sinful flesh is like a wild animal that can never be tamed. Giving it the smallest amount of leeway can allow it to break free and cause great damage.
We need to ask the Lord to show us the peril of our flesh. Then we must guard against it and make no provision for it! We encourage you to read our post, 2 Timothy 2:22: Flee Lusts and Pursue Christ. And if you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here to read all the helpful notes on the verses in this post.
Every morning when we wake up, we have a choice of how we begin our day. Let’s look at two possibilities:
Scenario 1: The alarm goes off. You roll out of bed and start to get ready, already anxious about the day ahead. During a hurried breakfast, you catch up on the news, texts, and emails. Eventually, you rush out the door, preoccupied with your to-do list for the day.
Scenario 2: You hear the alarm go off and immediately say, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” You get out of bed and spend time talking with the Lord in prayer and reading His Word. Refreshed and nourished by His Word, you feel strengthened and supplied for the day’s challenges.
We’d probably all prefer the second scenario. Our spiritual life would benefit greatly, and perhaps even change dramatically, if we started every day by spending time with the Lord Jesus. But building up a habit takes more than fleeting inspiration; it helps to see why it’s worthwhile. In this post, we’ll look at three reasons why it’s critical to spend time with the Lord, and the best time of day to do it.
1. Our spiritual health depends on it
We can expect to be physically healthy only if we eat enough food every day. While we can get some calories from a quick donut, it’s much better for our health if we take time to eat a nourishing meal. In the same way, we can expect to be spiritually healthy only if we take time daily to feed on God’s Word in prayer and fellowship with Him.
2. Our spiritual growth depends on it
In 1 Peter 2:2, it says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow.” Just as babies need to eat food daily to grow physically, we need to eat spiritual food daily to grow in the Lord. By spending time with Jesus to feed on His Word each day, we’re supplied to live our Christian life and grow in His divine life.
3. Our relationship with Christ depends on it
Having a meaningful relationship with someone requires spending quality time with that person. Emailing and texting are good ways to stay in touch, but they’re not the same as speaking directly with someone. By spending time face to face with others, we get to know them on a deeper level.
In our relationship with the Lord Jesus, spending time with Him in this way is even more critical. Jesus Christ is a wonderful person who lives in us and who wants us to know Him. But to go beyond an objective or superficial knowledge of Him, we have to prioritize our time with Him above other things. Then we can get to know Him in a deeper way by opening our hearts to Him, speaking to Him in prayer, and letting Him speak to us in His Word. This is how we develop a deep and personal relationship with Him.
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The best time of the day to spend with Jesus
The Lord Jesus wants an intimate and personal relationship with us, not one that’s formal or formulaic. We can, and should, contact Him anytime, anywhere. He’s living in our spirit, and we can call upon Him throughout the day or night.
However, the best time for us to spend with the Lord Jesus is in the morning. This is proven by the experience of believers throughout history, and by the testimonies of God’s people in the Bible.
A picture in the Old Testament
Exodus 16 tells us how God fed His people as they journeyed in the wilderness, raining manna down from heaven every morning with the dew. If the children of Israel didn’t get up early enough to gather the manna, they would miss that day’s portion, since it would melt under the scorching sun.
This account is a good picture for us. Today, God wants to nourish us with spiritual “manna” in His Word every morning. When we spend the time to meet with Christ in His Word, we’re refreshed and equipped to face the “heat” and trials that come our way.
When we don’t have time with the Lord in the morning, we’re easily caught up in all kinds of things once the day gets going and often run out of time to be alone with Him. Before we know it, the day’s over, and we’re exhausted. We may pray a little as we’re falling asleep, but we’ve missed the special supply of Christ that was available to us in the morning.
It’s better to start our day off with the Lord, before our plans, worries, and situations rob us of our time. Spending those first minutes of the day alone with our loving Lord is particularly sweet. While things are still quiet, we can easily open our hearts and our spirits to the Lord to be filled with Him through prayer and enlivened by reading His Word (you can order a free New Testament study Bible here if you live in the US). His Word will become the gladness and joy of our hearts as we spend time in His presence.
For more on this subject, you can read chapter 1 of Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 2, a book that has helped thousands of believers. You can download this book from anywhere in the world here.
In a previous post, we provided a brief biography of Witness Lee, the author of the outlines and extensive notes in the study Bible we give away, as well as hundreds of books that minister Christ as life for God’s purpose. Bibles for America gives away this study Bible—the New Testament Recovery Version—as well as a small sampling of books by Witness Lee. In this post, we’ve compiled some nourishing and enlightening quotes by Witness Lee from books you can read for free here.
- “Christianity is not, strictly speaking, a religion teaching people to do this and to do that. It is simply Christ Himself, the living One, being wrought into us.”—The Economy of God, p. 52
- “God created and redeemed man for this purpose, that man might be the container into which He could dispense Himself. In the whole universe—time, space, and eternity—the center of God’s economy is to dispense Himself into humanity.”—The Economy of God, p. 209
- “Christ is the Spirit, we have a spirit, and these two spirits are joined as one. Now by turning to our spirit and exercising and using our spirit, we have a way to experience the reality of all that Christ is to us.”—Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 1, p. 41
- “From deep within just breathe, ‘O Lord,’ ‘Amen,’ ‘Hallelujah,’ and you will taste the sweetness and reality of Christ Himself.”—Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 2, p. 18
- “In the New Testament, there is some ground for gifts and knowledge, miracles and signs, but the main way for the Body of Christ to be built up is by Christ Himself as our life.”—Basic Elements of the Christian Life, vol. 3, p. 28
- “In our experiences of life, in our daily living, and in the activities of our work, our God is indeed a living God, a God whom we can touch and whom we can meet.” —The Knowledge of Life, p. 142
- “We must not only be saved, but also transformed into the living stones for the building of God. Originally we are not stones; we are pieces of clay. But when we accepted Christ, He came into our spirit and has been continually working to transform us. By the renewing of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed from a piece of clay to a stone that we may be material for the building of God.”—The All-Inclusive Christ, p. 79
Each of these quotes touches a profound matter related to the Christian life and our growth and experience as believers. We encourage you to read them in their full context for a deeper understanding of their meaning. You can read the books they’re taken from for free here
On July 4, 1776, Congress officially approved the Declaration of Independence. In response to this momentous declaration of the united colonies’ separation from Great Britain, John Adams wrote these insightful words in a letter to his wife concerning the remembrance of this day, now known as Independence Day:
“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
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This weekend, Americans from sea to shining sea will gather family, friends, and neighbors to celebrate their liberty with cookouts and local festivities on the Fourth of July. The warmth of early summer and the sounds of children will fill the air as patriotic music pulls at our hearts. Fireworks will be painted overhead on a canvas of clear night sky. This favorite day of summer provides the opportunity for people from all backgrounds to celebrate the precious freedoms and opportunities we enjoy in this country.
And while it’s important to be with family and friends on this day, it’s also good to reflect on why we’re celebrating. Our early forebears left England for the unfamiliar shores of America mainly because they were unhappy under the tyranny of religious persecution. Since those dawning years of our country, many others have migrated for the same reason. They gave up everything for the right to freely worship God here.
Among the many freedoms our country guarantees, what we as believers particularly hold dear is the right to worship God and to read His Word, the Bible, freely. In many countries on this earth, this freedom still does not exist. Here at Bibles for America, we are so thankful that we can spread His Word across this nation. This is something we do not take for granted; we thank God for the establishing of this country with such freedoms.
This July 4th, as we watch fireworks and wave flags in celebration, may we also pause to reflect on our nation’s heritage. As the festivities end and the last trails of smoke glide across the summer night sky, take a moment to solemnly thank God for all that our freedom allows.
May God bless all the inhabitants of America with His salvation and the full knowledge of the truth in His Word.
From all of us at BfA, have a safe, happy, and memorable Fourth of July.
Most people have heard of the crucifixion of Jesus. But have you ever wondered why Jesus died on the cross? The Bible tells us that He was a man whose conduct was irreproachable in every situation. His words were loving, wise, and full of truth. He cared for all kinds of people: the strong and sick, rich and poor, young and old, moral and immoral, esteemed and despised. So why did Jesus, a truly extraordinary person, have to die such a horrible death on the cross?
The problem of sin
To answer this question, we first need to realize that God created human beings in a very purposeful way. He wanted to have a loving relationship with them and share His divine life with them so that they could express Him.
But before this could happen, Satan, God’s enemy, interrupted God’s great plan. Through temptation and deception, he injected his evil, sinful nature into mankind. As a result, every human being was corrupted with sin. This is why the Bible tells us, “All have sinned.”
All have sinned. By examining history or considering the world we live in today, we can see that this is true. The pitiful state of the human race is all too evident in the hatred, violence, and cruelty present in today’s society.
In addition to observing the effects of sin in the world around us, we can also see them by examining our inward condition. Can anyone honestly say they’ve never done anything sinful or bad? What about our words, behavior, actions, and thoughts? Can we say they’re all pure? We all have to admit that we’re infected with the poison of sin. No matter who we are, what our culture or background is, or how diligent or accomplished we may be, none of us can say we’re without sin. The Bible says emphatically, “There is none righteous, not even one.”
So what are the consequences of sin? Although God loves us immensely, He’s righteous and holy; He can’t simply ignore or overlook sin. He has no choice but to condemn sin. Furthermore, the Bible tells us that “The wages of sin is death.” Death is the ultimate consequence of sin—not only physical death, but eternal perdition in the lake of fire.
But this isn’t the end of the story.
We need forgiveness
Throughout our lives, we’ve accumulated a number of sins, all of which separate us from God. We need God’s forgiveness. But how can we obtain it? In the Bible, Hebrews 9:22 tells us about the unique way for us to be forgiven by God:
“And without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
So we see that forgiveness requires the shedding of blood. But whose blood?
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The precious blood of Jesus
Even though we were corrupted by sin, nothing could deter God from His desire to be united with us. So He took some incredible steps to save us.
First, God became a man with flesh and blood named Jesus. Jesus was both God and man, a God-man. He lived a perfect human life on earth; He was the only One in human history who was completely without sin.
Then, after living for 33 and a half years, Jesus was crucified. He suffered the death of a criminal without ever committing a sin. But He wasn’t merely a martyr or a good man who died an unjust death. As this sinless God-man hung on the cross, He took on the full burden of our sins. As sinners, we should bear the consequence of our sins and suffer eternal death. But on the cross, Jesus bore the judgment of sin. He shed His precious blood to redeem us eternally and release us from all our sins.
So why did Jesus have to die? So that you could be forgiven and receive eternal life.
Receiving forgiveness and eternal life
Now, to be saved from God’s judgment, you simply need to repent by turning your heart to Him and believe in Him and what He’s done for you. When you do this, you receive God’s forgiveness and all your sins are washed away by His precious blood.
After Jesus died for our sins, He resurrected and became a life-giving Spirit. Like air, He’s everywhere. When you believe in Jesus, not only are you forgiven from all your sins, but you’re also born again with the life of God! This means God comes into you and is joined to you forever.
God loves you dearly. He has already done everything for you to be forgiven and to receive His eternal life. He’s just waiting for you to repent and believe in Him. You can do this right now by opening your heart to Him and praying a simple prayer like this:
“Lord Jesus, I turn my heart to you. I confess I’m sinful. Please forgive me for all of my sins, big and small. Thank You for dying for me! Thank You for paying the penalty for my sins and shedding Your own blood to save me. I open my heart to receive You right now. Come into me and live in me. Thank You for giving me Your eternal life. I love You, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
If you prayed to receive the Lord Jesus, visit this page. Order a free New Testament study Bible here.
