Perseverance Gets Results

"I tell you, although he will not get up and supply him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence and insistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs." (Luke 11:8, The Amplified Bible)

If, as God tells us in 1 Timothy 2:4, it's His will for all men to be saved, why aren't we seeing more of the masses of lost people born again every day? Have you ever wondered that?

I have...and as I've sought the Lord about it, I've come to realize that, for the most part, it's because those of us who are already saved don't pray persistently for those who aren't. Instead of persevering--staying before the Father, praying for them to receive the bread of salvation--like the man in Luke 11:8 did for his friend, when we don't see immediate results, we simply give up and go home.

What we don't realize is this: Perseverance is the key to success in intercession!

HOLINESS IS A FRUIT

"But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone."  Luke 11:42 

LUKE 11:42-44

When Jesus said, "and not to leave the other undone," it is clear that He is not arguing against doing what is right. God's Word stresses holiness in our actions. The Pharisees' error that caused Jesus' rebuke was that they believed their actions could produce a right relationship with God. But a proper relationship with God can only come by humbling ourselves and putting faith in a Savior, who is Jesus. God cleanses our hearts by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) and then we have our fruit unto holiness (Rom. 6:22). Holiness is a fruit, not a root, of salvation.

In a similar instance found in Matthew 23:26, Jesus told the Pharisees, "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." True Christianity comes from the inside out. A good heart will change a man's actions, but a man's actions cannot change his heart.

KNOWING WHO I AM IN CHRIST

I am complete in Him Who is the Head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10).


I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).


I am free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).


I am far from oppression, and fear does not come near me (Isaiah 54:14).


I am born of God, and the evil one does not touch me (1 John 5:18).


I am holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:16).


I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5).


I have the peace of God that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).


I have the Greater One living in me; greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

The Fatherhood of God

"For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17:28)

"The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man" was a religious cliché promoted for many years, especially by religious liberals in the period between the two world wars. However, continuing hostilities between and inside most nations now make the idea of universal brotherhood in this present world almost farcical.

The fact is, however, that God truly is the Father of all men, in the sense that He created them all. "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?" (Malachi 2:10). That was the rhetorical question posed to Israel in the last book of the Old Testament. In the New Testament the apostle Paul confirmed the same great truth to the pagan Gentiles. "|God| hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth," and "we are the offspring of God" (Acts 17:26, 29).

Receive the Man of God

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." (John 13:20)

I can't tell you how many born-again, Holy Ghost-filled Christians pick their pastor apart on Saturday night and then expect him to pray the prayer of faith for them Sunday morning! They'll constantly make critical comments about the evangelists and preachers that God has sent to minister to them and then wonder why the rain of the Spirit has all but dried up in their churches.

Most of those folks would never dream of criticizing the ministry of Jesus. Yet, according to the Word of God, that's precisely what they're doing. You see, Jesus said, "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me."

I know ministers fail sometimes. I know they make mistakes. Jesus knew they would too. But, even so, He said, "If you receive them, you receive Me."

A Life Transformed: Remembering Chuck Colson

Kristin Wright, Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer

Chuck Colson, the Watergate figure and Nixon “hatchet man” whose prison term and dramatic conversion to Christianity led him to dedicate over 35 years of his life to prison ministry and evangelical leadership, died on Saturday. He was 80 years old.

Once known as Nixon's “dirty tricks” man, a cunning political operative whose ruthlessness earned him both respect and hatred in Washington, Colson made an about-face in 1973 with his conversion to Christianity. Although his “born-again” experience was met with doubt and skepticism at first, Colson ultimately proved his commitment to his new-found faith over the course of decades of work inside U.S. prisons and years of evangelical outreach throughout the world.