J.A. Matteson
Until the LORD reveals Himself to us personally our concept of Him is abstract and questionable. But with His self disclosure comes an ironclad joy filled assurance of His sovereign rule and guidance. "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it" (Gen. 28:16). Jacob knew of the LORD from a distance through his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham. What he understood of God was based upon their relationship with the LORD, not from personal experience. Until this time Jacob was moderately religious, practicing the family faith from duty rather than personal devotion. What we see with Jacobs elation is typical of new Christians. For some coming to Christ is a gradual dawning of their spiritual need and His lordship. For others, like the apostle Paul on the Damascus road, salvation comes like a thunderclap. However the revelation comes, its outcome is always the same, an unshakable conviction that the LORD "is in this place." Jacob would grow in his understanding that the sovereign rule of the LORD is not confined to a place, but fills every place in heaven and earth, providentially overseeing the affairs of men and creation (Jn. 4:20-23). To Jacobs delight he came to know the LORD not merely as his fathers God ("...because the LORD your God granted me success." Gen. 27:20) but as the LORD his God. That initial revelation by God changes everything and truly we become strangers and pilgrims on the earth seeking a heavenly dwelling not made by human hands (Heb. 11:8-10). Blessed are the poor in spirit who mourn over their sin, eagerly awaiting the return of their Savior Jesus Christ, who ransomed them from the power of satan by His own blood. On earth He goes before and protects them, from behind He is their rear guard lest the devil successfully accuse them of past sin to the travail of the soul. And praise be to God their confidence is not in themselves but in Him whose righteousness they wear by faith, for there is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). Rejoice, therefore, in the remembrance of your personal Bethel moment when God revealed Himself to you as being "in this place" (in the world). Rejoice continually knowing that He continues on with you in your daily journey and will never leave nor forsake you (Matt. 28:20).
Copyright (c) 2015 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Let Us Resolve
J.A. Matteson
In the new year may we resolve to be deeper students of God, daily reading His word and applying its truth so that it may transform our thinking and priorities; be better stewards of the body God has given us, for the soul cannot do what the body is unable to do; be more empathetic to people who are difficult to be around, we are often unaware of the hurt and pain that shapes a persons character; be eager to listen rather than speak, respecting another's point of view; be vigilant to extend kindness through good deeds to those less fortunate, mercy is no respecter of persons; be quick to forgive, as in Christ we have been forgiven far more; be ready to laugh and sing, for the day of mourning will certainly arrive; be in the moment in our relationships and cherish them, for you don't know what your life will be tomorrow; be grateful for your lot, as there is someone else who's circumstances are worse; be circumspect to inventory your blessings, they far outweigh hardships; be closer to Jesus Christ through prayer, for to be like Him you must be with Him; be childlike in faith, we come to know Him by trust first, reason tempts the Lord to prove Himself so that we may follow; be diligent to intercede for the lost who, apart from the grace of God awakening them to their need for Christ, most certainly face the unfathomable horrors of eternity in hell for rejecting God's forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ.
Copyright 2015 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
In the new year may we resolve to be deeper students of God, daily reading His word and applying its truth so that it may transform our thinking and priorities; be better stewards of the body God has given us, for the soul cannot do what the body is unable to do; be more empathetic to people who are difficult to be around, we are often unaware of the hurt and pain that shapes a persons character; be eager to listen rather than speak, respecting another's point of view; be vigilant to extend kindness through good deeds to those less fortunate, mercy is no respecter of persons; be quick to forgive, as in Christ we have been forgiven far more; be ready to laugh and sing, for the day of mourning will certainly arrive; be in the moment in our relationships and cherish them, for you don't know what your life will be tomorrow; be grateful for your lot, as there is someone else who's circumstances are worse; be circumspect to inventory your blessings, they far outweigh hardships; be closer to Jesus Christ through prayer, for to be like Him you must be with Him; be childlike in faith, we come to know Him by trust first, reason tempts the Lord to prove Himself so that we may follow; be diligent to intercede for the lost who, apart from the grace of God awakening them to their need for Christ, most certainly face the unfathomable horrors of eternity in hell for rejecting God's forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ.
Copyright 2015 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Fear for Them
J.A. Matteson
The name of the LORD is blasphemed. Efforts to remove reference to Him are advanced in the public square. Evil triumphs over good and all seems on a downhill trajectory toward complete chaos and ruin. But lest you loose hope, beloved, remember this: "Whatever you devise against the LORD, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice" (Nahum 1:9). Let it not escape your attention that the LORD is long suffering and gracious, and that He operates in eternity while you exist in time and space. Further, on earth it is easy to be mislead as to His graciousness, attributing it to ignorance or indifference to the evil plight of wickedness upon those who follow the Lamb (Ps. 94). But your life is like a vapor, momentary in appearance and affect, and then you will vanish (Jas. 4:14). Be assured of this: the LORD is aware of the schemes of the wicked and is patient toward them, not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Pet. 3:9). But the hour will come with all certainty when the season of grace extended toward the wicked will end and the terrible retribution of the wrath of the Lamb will arrive. And because these things take place in God's perfect time, on earth the time of your vapor may have long passed (Heb. 11:13). Nevertheless, as God is true, and every man a liar, let it assure your heart that good will triumph over evil. Be patient, therefore, trusting in the omnipotentance and omniscience of the Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. When you are weary and evil on earth appears to have the victory, remember the time is at hand for the righteous retribution of the Lamb to visit the sons of disobedience. Fear for them, urging them to be reconciled to God, and in your obedience rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life in heaven.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
The name of the LORD is blasphemed. Efforts to remove reference to Him are advanced in the public square. Evil triumphs over good and all seems on a downhill trajectory toward complete chaos and ruin. But lest you loose hope, beloved, remember this: "Whatever you devise against the LORD, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice" (Nahum 1:9). Let it not escape your attention that the LORD is long suffering and gracious, and that He operates in eternity while you exist in time and space. Further, on earth it is easy to be mislead as to His graciousness, attributing it to ignorance or indifference to the evil plight of wickedness upon those who follow the Lamb (Ps. 94). But your life is like a vapor, momentary in appearance and affect, and then you will vanish (Jas. 4:14). Be assured of this: the LORD is aware of the schemes of the wicked and is patient toward them, not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Pet. 3:9). But the hour will come with all certainty when the season of grace extended toward the wicked will end and the terrible retribution of the wrath of the Lamb will arrive. And because these things take place in God's perfect time, on earth the time of your vapor may have long passed (Heb. 11:13). Nevertheless, as God is true, and every man a liar, let it assure your heart that good will triumph over evil. Be patient, therefore, trusting in the omnipotentance and omniscience of the Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. When you are weary and evil on earth appears to have the victory, remember the time is at hand for the righteous retribution of the Lamb to visit the sons of disobedience. Fear for them, urging them to be reconciled to God, and in your obedience rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life in heaven.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Friday, December 12, 2014
God's Superlative Gift
J.A. Matteson
Prior to your awareness of God He was aware of you. "When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son" (Hos. 11:1). Small, insignificant, weak, but beloved; such was and is the relationship between God and Israel. And further, such is the astounding relationship between Christ and His church. Metaphorically, beloved, while you were in bondage to sin and death, God set His affections on you, loved you, and purposed redemption for you. With a mighty hand He bound the powers of darkness and brought you into the liberty of life, breathing into you His Spirit whereby you cry out "Hallijulia, my Redeemer lives!" Consider the gift to which you are heir to. Liberty, yes! Forgiveness, yes! Life, yes! Purpose, yes! A future and a hope, yes! Yet realize this: these delightful manifestations of your rebirth have as their origin the love of God toward you. God's superlative gift to you is Himself; He by His love toward you revealed Himself to you, through which all of the other spiritual benefits that you possess and enjoy exist. Indeed, you love Him because He first loved you, and called you into fellowship with Himself for eternity. Oh the gracious love of God toward His people, how precious are His thoughts toward you and good His providential appointments by which He leads you still higher on the mount of His eternal majesty. Let us with gratitude hearts give thanks to Him who gave us the gift beyond value, Himself.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever."). Isa. 40:8
Prior to your awareness of God He was aware of you. "When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son" (Hos. 11:1). Small, insignificant, weak, but beloved; such was and is the relationship between God and Israel. And further, such is the astounding relationship between Christ and His church. Metaphorically, beloved, while you were in bondage to sin and death, God set His affections on you, loved you, and purposed redemption for you. With a mighty hand He bound the powers of darkness and brought you into the liberty of life, breathing into you His Spirit whereby you cry out "Hallijulia, my Redeemer lives!" Consider the gift to which you are heir to. Liberty, yes! Forgiveness, yes! Life, yes! Purpose, yes! A future and a hope, yes! Yet realize this: these delightful manifestations of your rebirth have as their origin the love of God toward you. God's superlative gift to you is Himself; He by His love toward you revealed Himself to you, through which all of the other spiritual benefits that you possess and enjoy exist. Indeed, you love Him because He first loved you, and called you into fellowship with Himself for eternity. Oh the gracious love of God toward His people, how precious are His thoughts toward you and good His providential appointments by which He leads you still higher on the mount of His eternal majesty. Let us with gratitude hearts give thanks to Him who gave us the gift beyond value, Himself.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever."). Isa. 40:8
Friday, December 5, 2014
Choose the Right
J.A. Matteson
Forget about supernatural intervention to deliver you from the lusts of the flesh, God has given you a mind and a will to choose the right. "But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself ...." (Dan. 1:8). God will not do for us what He has empowered us to do for ourselves. Daniel knew the right and soberly determined to pay any price to be pleasing to God, rather than yield to that which he determined to profane His name. Joseph made up his mind before Potiphar's wife seduced him to lie with her, that he would not perform such wickedness. Peter, knowing that disobedience before the high priest and council would invoke their wrath, made up his mind that imprisonment or death was a small price to pay rather than deny the One by who's name he had been forgiven and given eternal life. Temptation to sin greet every believer at the start of each day. God has given you a will to choose the right; use it. Consider those sins into which you become so easily entangled. Are you tired of asking for forgiveness for the same things for which you are now ashamed? Make up your mind this day not to give an inch of ground to the flesh, the world, and the devil. In doing this you will be surprised how God delights strengthening you inwardly in response to your obedience; but He will not hold you up until you resolve to stand. Then when temptation arrives it will not catch you unawares and, having expected it, you will stare it in the face, endowed with the full armor of God, and resolutely proclaim, "No!"
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Forget about supernatural intervention to deliver you from the lusts of the flesh, God has given you a mind and a will to choose the right. "But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself ...." (Dan. 1:8). God will not do for us what He has empowered us to do for ourselves. Daniel knew the right and soberly determined to pay any price to be pleasing to God, rather than yield to that which he determined to profane His name. Joseph made up his mind before Potiphar's wife seduced him to lie with her, that he would not perform such wickedness. Peter, knowing that disobedience before the high priest and council would invoke their wrath, made up his mind that imprisonment or death was a small price to pay rather than deny the One by who's name he had been forgiven and given eternal life. Temptation to sin greet every believer at the start of each day. God has given you a will to choose the right; use it. Consider those sins into which you become so easily entangled. Are you tired of asking for forgiveness for the same things for which you are now ashamed? Make up your mind this day not to give an inch of ground to the flesh, the world, and the devil. In doing this you will be surprised how God delights strengthening you inwardly in response to your obedience; but He will not hold you up until you resolve to stand. Then when temptation arrives it will not catch you unawares and, having expected it, you will stare it in the face, endowed with the full armor of God, and resolutely proclaim, "No!"
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Into the Joy of His Eternal Light
J.A. Matteson
Revelation, inspiration, perception, understanding, awareness, these things are dependent upon the Word of Life and the light of His glory, filling that which was darkness, dispersing blindness with the dazzling clarity of faith. "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all" (1 Jn. 1:5). To believe in Him is to be in Him. To be in Him is to be enveloped in the brilliant glory of His presence, perfect light, peace, contentment. Concern, confusion, restless anxiety are of the darkness, but the perfect Light of Christ disperses all things contrary to His Person so that all who have fellowship with the Father through Him might abide in the Light of Peace. And the Light is eternal, self-sustaining, above all, through all, and in all who He is pleased to call His brethren. In the world darkness advances, but in Christ we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us, having called us out of darkness into the joy of His eternal Light. Rejoice, therefore, in Christ Jesus, the Light of the World.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Revelation, inspiration, perception, understanding, awareness, these things are dependent upon the Word of Life and the light of His glory, filling that which was darkness, dispersing blindness with the dazzling clarity of faith. "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all" (1 Jn. 1:5). To believe in Him is to be in Him. To be in Him is to be enveloped in the brilliant glory of His presence, perfect light, peace, contentment. Concern, confusion, restless anxiety are of the darkness, but the perfect Light of Christ disperses all things contrary to His Person so that all who have fellowship with the Father through Him might abide in the Light of Peace. And the Light is eternal, self-sustaining, above all, through all, and in all who He is pleased to call His brethren. In the world darkness advances, but in Christ we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us, having called us out of darkness into the joy of His eternal Light. Rejoice, therefore, in Christ Jesus, the Light of the World.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
Friday, November 7, 2014
The Throne of Grace
J.A. Matteson
The power of prayer and the prayer of power is in its object, Jesus Christ. "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace...." (Heb. 4:16). Believer, You heard His voice in the day He called you from darkness to light. Are you hearing Him today? Are you weak?, He is strong. Are you uncertain?, He is wisdom. Are you fearful?, He is faithful. The throne of grace, what is it and where might you find it? Abraham found it while gazing into the night sky as he considered his posterity would be as the stars. Moses found it on Mt. Sinai in the presence of a bush burning that was not consumed. Jacob found it while slumbering under a canopy of stars where a ladder from heaven descended to earth. Peter, James, and John found it on the holy mount as Jesus was transfigured before them. John found it on the isle of Patmos through the vision of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And the time would fail us to numerate an exhaustive list of additional saints who, by faith, approached the throne of grace. The throne is the presence, mercy, empowerment, love, faith, rest, and joy of the Lord, given to His children as an earnest and foreshadow of the glory to come. The throne is found anywhere and anytime believers cry out to Him, "Abba Father!" As Jesus revealed to the Samaritan women at the well the throne of grace is not locational, it is found by all who by faith come to Jesus Christ in worship to exalt Him in spirit and truth. It is there He exchanges our fears for His power, our weakness for His faithfulness, our confusion for His wisdom. Today if you hear His voice come at once without delay.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
The power of prayer and the prayer of power is in its object, Jesus Christ. "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace...." (Heb. 4:16). Believer, You heard His voice in the day He called you from darkness to light. Are you hearing Him today? Are you weak?, He is strong. Are you uncertain?, He is wisdom. Are you fearful?, He is faithful. The throne of grace, what is it and where might you find it? Abraham found it while gazing into the night sky as he considered his posterity would be as the stars. Moses found it on Mt. Sinai in the presence of a bush burning that was not consumed. Jacob found it while slumbering under a canopy of stars where a ladder from heaven descended to earth. Peter, James, and John found it on the holy mount as Jesus was transfigured before them. John found it on the isle of Patmos through the vision of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And the time would fail us to numerate an exhaustive list of additional saints who, by faith, approached the throne of grace. The throne is the presence, mercy, empowerment, love, faith, rest, and joy of the Lord, given to His children as an earnest and foreshadow of the glory to come. The throne is found anywhere and anytime believers cry out to Him, "Abba Father!" As Jesus revealed to the Samaritan women at the well the throne of grace is not locational, it is found by all who by faith come to Jesus Christ in worship to exalt Him in spirit and truth. It is there He exchanges our fears for His power, our weakness for His faithfulness, our confusion for His wisdom. Today if you hear His voice come at once without delay.
Copyright (c) 2014 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever.") Isa. 40:8
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