Month: February 2018

Driven by Eternity                      DAY 25

JUST BARELY SAVED

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:10–11 NIV)

Someone who has wasted their earthly life and not planned ahead for their eternity has nothing waiting for them, except barely their salvation. Your life is before you and your eternity has yet to begin. Live wisely today to plan for an eternity filled with reward. (John Bevere)

I think there are many people who have a passion to live but just not a plan for living here or there in eternity.  Because we don’t have a plan or a purpose for this life we throw away our opportunities to grow and build for now and then in eternity.  That day of accountability, when the Master of the house returns, is daunting for those who are deceived by this life’s pleasures and pressures.  And our actions never simply just affect us, they affect all those around us.  No, life, now and then in eternity, belongs to those who have a Holy Spirit life plan that works.

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 24

LIFE IN THE LIGHT

“For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (Luke 8:17–18)

God calls us now to be courageous by choosing to enter His light. Doing so will allow His Word to expose our hearts privately, sifting through our intentions and motivations as only His Word can, and allowing Him to shape our hearts. (John Bevere)

It’s time to get those secrets out in the light.  Better now then later.  When we stand in the presence of Jesus, all of our thoughts and motives will be exposed by His holiness and light.  That’s scary on the surface but in that moment, we will be healed.  But healing doesn’t have to wait until that day.  We can choose to live in the light today and knows God’s healing today.  We don’t want to be like the wicked, lazy servant who merely hides his responsibilities.  When we hide our lives, everyone knows it, but no one can question or evaluate those things we are hiding because they are hidden.  So, no one really knows what is buried but we do, and those things have a way of rotting under the ground producing a stench and a struggle to keep that odor covered up.

Living in the light is allowing God’s word to reveal what is life and what gives life in our lives.  God’s Scripture and God’s Spirit will do what Jesus’ presence will do if we will let the Holy Spirit show us.  On that day we won’t be able to stop God’s light from exposing our true hearts.  But the advantage is that if we allow God’s word and the Holy Spirit shine His light in our lives now we will be healed and free to make the most of this life.  And that Day will be a day of joy, not sorrow.  “For whoever has, to him more will be given…”

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 23

LIVING TO WIN

You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So, I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.

(1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NLT)

Our faith in Jesus determines where we spend eternity, but our faithfulness to His Word determines how we spend eternity (John Bevere).

I’ve always wondered if we will know how to live in heaven then if we don’t learn how to live in heaven now.  I mean, that’s really the objective as I listen to the words and prayer of Jesus.  “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” And then Jesus said that what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven.  Our great opportunity and our great objective are to live in heaven now and then.  I’m of the persuasion that we will continue to grow in wisdom, understanding, and stature in heaven.  Why would there be a tree in the center of the city of God with healing in its leaves if there was no hope of change even in heaven?  However, it does seem likely that faith determines where we spend eternity and faithfulness determines how that eternity will start.

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 22

THE BELIEVER’S JUDGMENT

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ…So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10, 12)

I meet Christians everywhere I go who assume heaven will be the same for all of us. They believe judgment is only for unbelievers—that because they have placed their faith in Jesus they have escaped all trials of their own. Their assumptions lead them to believe all believers receive an identical eternal reward. This simply is not what the Scripture teaches. (John Bevere)

Some people are motivated just to get to heaven.  Others are motivated by where and how they will live in heaven.  It’s no secret, there is a judgment day for believers.  1 Corinthians 3:10-15 lays it out, “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” 1 Cor 3:13.

It is interesting that many people believe that regardless of how we live here, we will all be the same there, in heaven.  That seems a bit strange in that our spirit and soul continue to live after this body gives out.  The question is, “What did we let God do with our soul before we died?”  If that part goes into eternity with our spirit then will our soul be ready and able to think right in heaven then if it can’t think right about heaven now?

Regardless of how all that works, I believe that what motivates our building in this life is what we believe about heaven for this life.  The believer who lives in heaven now will be ready to live in heaven then.  This life is not about twisting God’s arm but working with God’s hand bringing heaven on earth while we can.  The soul that can think and love heaven (God’s presence & passion) now will be able to do the same then.

Driven by Eternity     DAY 19

THE FUTURE OF BELIEVERS

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness. (Psalm 17:15)

Many people hope their eternal destination will work itself out, but those who believe in Jesus can know exactly what to expect when they leave this world for the next (John Bevere)

Our hope is sure, it’s of His doing.  Our process is sketching because it involves our doing.  This devotional is so good I’m just going to put most of it in here.

The very moment a person places their faith in Jesus, they become a new creation. Their spirit is born again and is recreated in the image of Jesus. This is our first taste of eternal life, but it is not our last. Every person is made up of three parts—spirit, soul, and body. We are spirits with souls (a combination of intellect, will, and emotion) who live in physical bodies. When our spirits are born again, we become able to enter God’s throne room in heaven by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus. We do this in prayer or through worship. And, once our spirit is saved, the salvation of our soul begins.

Our soul carries all that we have learned during our earthly life through either experiences or formal training, along with all the emotions associated with these lessons. These can be good lessons, like those learned from a godly and loving family, or they can be bad lessons, like those learned through trauma or abuse. Regardless of what our souls carry in our moment of salvation, it must be redeemed unto God’s salvation. Our intellect must learn to affirm God’s truth, our will must become submitted to God’s, and our emotions gloriously become healed and whole through God’s freedom and wisdom. We engage in this process through the Word of God and our obedience to it. The soul is the only part of man whose rate of salvation we help determine. The transformation of our soul is crucial to our finishing well as believers.

Finally, our bodies will be saved. As Paul writes, “So, while living in this ‘tent,’ we groan under its burden, not because we want to die but because we want these new bodies. We crave for all that is mortal to be swallowed up by eternal life” (2 Corinthians 5:4 TPT). We already feel the tension between the eternal realm and the temporary one we still live in, for our spirits have joined the eternal already, but our bodies are still mortal. Yet we know our bodies are only like tents, temporary dwellings that will be rolled up by death so that our eternal spirits can be given a new, eternal body. These new bodies truly will last forever, never aging, and will have new abilities just as Jesus did after He was raised from the dead.

If you believe in Jesus, God’s salvation has already begun and it will one day be completed—spirit, soul, and body. Let God’s salvation grow in you today.

Bevere, John. Driven by Eternity: 40-Day Devotional: Make your life count today and forever (pp. 80-81). BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC. Kindle Edition.

Driven by Eternity                           DAY 18

WHAT KEEPS US FROM SIN

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)

The fear of the Lord accomplishes something amazing for us—it keeps us from sin. One might ask why the fear of the Lord works this way since it is so counterintuitive; God explains why. It’s because when His fear is in our hearts, we will not depart from Him. We know there is no good apart from God, so the fear of the Lord brings us good because it keeps us near Him. (Bevere, John)

To fear the Lord is to fear trying to live life without the Lord.  Something changes when we begin to experience the love of God.  We become motivated by that love and we develop a desire to never find ourselves outside of that love.  It all sounds backward but then so does the Jesus way of living.  So, the fear of the Lord draws us into a closer relationship with God.  And we never want to find ourselves, by our own choice, living outside of God’s love.  We just don’t!  Does that make sense?

Driven by Eternity        DAY 17

WHEN FEAR ISN’T BEING AFRAID

“Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:20)

How can we have intimacy with the Lord (which He truly desires) if we are afraid of Him? Is that really what the fear of the Lord means? (John Bevere)

The fear of the Lord is not being afraid of the Lord.  It’s a fear that we will miss out on God and His great love for us in this life and the next.  People who are afraid of God run from Him but, people who live in the fear of the Lord live desperate lives for God because they fear life without God.  There’s a difference.  One fear drives us to our knees and the other drives us to our needs to be included with man.  Come and see what God has planned for our lives and pursue nothing else.

Driven by Eternity       DAY 16

GOOD FEAR

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. (Isaiah 33:6 NIV)

This morning John Bevere begins with this statement.  “Jesus could hardly have been clearer in His comparison. “Do not fear men, who can merely destroy your body, but cannot touch your soul,” He said. “Instead, fear God, who has the power to kill you and then destroy your soul in hell” (Matthew 10:28).”

Living this life in fear of man is a mistake.  We fear missing out, not being included and sounding different.  And we do all that while hoping dearly that we will know heaven.  Trying to live in two different worlds at once will create dangerous blind spots in our lives.  We will pick up thoughts and things that keep us from seeing heaven and heaven’s way.  This world is motivated and maddened by resentment and unforgiveness.  We cannot grab hold of heaven and harbor the hurts of here.  Just these two things can and will lead us away from the things of God, the things of heaven.  Good fear is fearing that we will miss out on the things of God, not man

Driven by Eternity                      DAY 12

SEEING SPOTS

“But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”(Luke 12:45–46)

A believer may walk away from God, but that does not mean they will also walk away from the church. When this happens—and it does happen—it is a doubly dangerous situation, for now, there is a wolf disguised as a sheep among the flock, looking to benefit himself off those around him. (John Bevere)

Today the author takes us to the issues that take us away from God and they’re not that out of the ordinary.  And yes, there are people who go to church but are not living as the church and I don’t even think they know what’s going on.  But bitterness and unforgiveness are like cancer that eats away at our heart taking us away from heaven.  Jesus had hard things to say about unforgiveness.  We can’t live in the kingdom of God and live with an unforgiving heart.  Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” Unforgiveness is dangerous, defiling and deadly.

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                    DAY 12

KNOW THAT YOU’RE KNOWN

“On the day of judgment many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, don’t you remember us? Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons and do many miracles for the sake of your name?’ But I will have to say to them, ‘Go away from me, you lawless rebels! I’ve never been joined to you!’”                                                                         (Matthew 7:22–23 TPT)

 

None of us wants to be a Judas.  Think about it.  Judas was one of the disciples of Jesus who roamed the countryside preaching the gospel, casting out demons and performing miracles and yet he betrayed Jesus.  How does that happen?  It happens when we settle for a believing in Jesus and not on Jesus.  It was Jesus who said there would be those who call Him Lord, Lord and prophesied and performed miracles in His name and yet would be unknown to Him.  Believing leads to behaving.

 

John Bevere writes today, “Judas’ problem was that his relationship with Jesus was self-focused, aimed at promoting himself. A true relationship with Jesus must be focused on love. We know from Scripture, “But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him” (1 Corinthians 8:3).  Loving God genuinely and unselfishly, being motivated to please Him, is how we become known by Him.”

 

Are we motivated by the love of God, for God from God?  Or do we just like the idea of there being a God?