“… having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. … they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13-16 NASB)
Journal,
In writing to Timothy, Paul instructed him to flee from worldly attractions, especially that of a love for money. He must always pursue those things that have to do with our heavenly life. He then said to Timothy,
“Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (Cf, 1Tim6:11,12)
Two things stand out. First ‘the’ confession.
Did you know that the early Christians were called, ‘the people of the great confession.’ This is because new covenant salvation is based on the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And a confession made from the heart about Jesus as Lord is what introduces us to the kingdom of God’s beloved son. Listen to the background:
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Mat10:2)
“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:8)
“For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God … for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Cf. Rom10:1-11)
The second thing that stands out in what Paul said to Timothy, has to do with the fight of faith.
There are things we must always remember. First of all we are not of this world. We are pilgrims on a journey. But we must also learn to fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the author and the finisher of our faith.
So, let’s talk about ‘a story to be told.’
The best place to begin is with…
The struggle of temptation
Satan’s primary battle plan against believers is to disquiet their walk with the Lord. He does this by searching for something in our life that he can give a temptation against.
Satan knows well how to stir our earthly passions with worldly allurements. His attacks are generally towards the mind, but he also uses our senses. (This is why we have to train our own senses to discern good and evil. Cf. Heb5:14)
For a temptation to work it has to be something that is quite alluring to our senses and to our thought life. Otherwise it would not be a temptation.
James says it this way:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone [with evil.]. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed [baited] by his own lusts [desires].” (James 1:13,14)
— The Bible language for temptation carries two thoughts, either a solicitation to evil, or a testing from the Lord with a purpose of strengthened the believer’s faith and trust in the Lord. This was the case of Abraham;
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his own begotten son.” (Heb 11:17. Relates to Gen22)
The Solicitation to Evil
A temptation from the enemy is quite real and can be overpowering, especially when the temptation is towards something that we want. The point is that Satan is using something of our own want to bait us. This is why Jesus said to the disciples,
“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mat26:41)
And here you have the key. The flesh is weak. This means that most temptations will center on our own human nature and as an attraction to our fleshly life. The issue is that we do not lose our humanity when we become true believers. It means that a new source of strength and power is now invested in our inner man.
Is this what Biblical prosperity is about?
Keep in mind that a temptation from the enemy is very subtle. This is the reason God’s people need to be cautious when it comes to many earth-centered teachings that abound today. A great many prosperity teachings are earthly focused, worldly-minded, and yet are well wrapped in Bible language.
Does this mean that God is against prosperity? Quite the contrary. David had this to say:
“Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; and let them say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified, who delights in the prosperity of His servant.’” (Ps35:27)
The word David uses for prosperity is the Hebrew term ‘shalom.’ Shalom speaks of peace and well-being. Whereas Satan’s prosperity message will always have a worldly attachment to it, Biblical prosperity is the outflow heart in a covenant relationship with the Lord.
Listen to these promises:
“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps37:3,4)
— I would encourage every believer to meditate on all of Psalm 37. It explains God’s philosophy of life. Philosophy means a love of wisdom.
Thus we have this from the Lord:
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt6:33)
Seeking God’s kingdom was a Hebrew way of saying, ‘Seek the direct rule of God in your life.’ Seeking His righteousness speaks of seeking His way of doing things.
God’s Provision for the Believer
A temptation by its very nature should alert a believer that he is under attack. The enemy is checking to see how far he can get with attracting the believer into an area of failure.
Wow, this sounds like we have a great need of defense. We do and God has provided all that we need for our defense against the enemy. Here is one in particular:
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1Co10:13)
Paul’s point is that the Lord will never stop providing means and ways for you to overcome Satan’s attempts to draw you away from the Lord Himself. The Lord never stops overseeing our life in this world.
Now let’s talk about…
The Realness of Life
Christians who struggle the most are those who live compromised lives; sort of one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom. (As if such a thing were possible.)
Jesus came to give us life! To enjoy true life we have to become single-focused. Double-mindedness is the number one cause of spiritual instability in a believer’s life. No more double-mindedness.
James said,
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (Jas 1:5-8 NASB)
Jesus adds to this in saying,
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Mat 6:22-24 NASB)
Where Jesus said the ‘eye is bad,’ this was a Hebraisms for ‘an evil eye,’ that is, an eye fixed on greed. You cannot be worldly and spiritual at the same time. When our eyes become fixed on worldly pursuits, the result will always a dark spot in our lives. We are called to live as children of the light.
Jesus said,
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)
The point is that all true blessings come from our walk with Jesus. These are directed blessings. And this is why David said,
“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake … Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Cf. Psalm 23)
— Lovingkindness is a covenant expression that speaks of God’s very character, that is, His faithfulness to those in covenant relationship with Him. It speaks a reality that God’s love and kindness are eternal. Paul drew on this word when he said, Nothing would ever be able to separate is from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus. —
Now for a closer look at…
The Path of Separation
We are instructed by the apostles to see our life in this present world as a pilgrimage. Where the world lives in a cycle of birth to death, believers are to live as a people of destiny. We must never lose this focus.
This means in part that every trial allowed by God that we face will always have one goal in mind. The purpose of the God-allowed or directed trial is to keep us moving on the 
highway of sanctification (separation to God) and in the keeping power of God’s love.
We need to understand that we have been forever sanctified to Jesus through the blood of the eternal covenant. (This is a once-for-all eternal sanctification. To sanctify means to make holy. It speaks of anything that solely belongs to God.)
The path of sanctification has to do with learning to live in our separation to the Lord.
The path of our separation to God is going to have its struggles and temptations. But its greater spiritual feeling of the heart will be found in the joy of learning to live a separated life. Why is this? It is because someone greater is walking with us every step of the way. His presence in our lives is a constant reminder that we belong to Him.
Jesus adds to this:
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy have be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11)
“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” (John 16:24)
The joyful heart is a hallmark of our walk with the Lord. We know Him. We love Him. He is our joy of life.
There is one more thing we need to understand about ‘The Christian’s Life is a Story to be Told.’ It has to do with what Jesus meant on the cross, when He said…
It Is Finished!
When Jesus said, ‘it is finished’, this was the cry of victory! Everything else about God’s great salvation plan would be played out fully in the death, the burial, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ.
The work was over. From that moment on, every person who calls upon and confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, is given eternal salvation. Eternal salvation means that you are eternally saved.
This is why the apostle stated two absolute truth with regards to the finished work of the cross. First was the truth that no power in heaven or on earth would ever be able to separate the believer from God’s love.
Paul explains this absolute truth in Romans 8. Listen carefully:
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Rom 8:1-2) — In the Greek this is an emphatic statement. It is saying that there is not now, nor can there ever be a damnatory sentence against anyone who is in Christ Jesus, regardless of our personal failures. The reason for this is that Jesus took the total of our life with Him to the cross. In turn He gave us His life and His standing with heaven.
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39)
The second absolute truth of the finished work of the cross ties in with the first truth and relates to our heavenly placement in Christ. Our salvation was so completed at the cross, that when Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, He took us with Him.
Listen very carefully to how the apostle explains our being raised up with Christ.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
“… and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph 2:4-10)
Every believer has been made an heir of the finished work of the cross.
And so, the Christian has a story to be told.
While you think about these things, let this song minister to your heart: “Open Our Eyes, Lord.”
In Christ always,
Buddy
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