Tag Archives: Christian

Are You Under God’s Curse or Blessing? – Part 1

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The Bible says we are cursed if we do not perfectly keep all of the Law’s demands. How does this work and what hope is there for us to escape this curse? Paul’s teachings in Galatians 3 is very important for Christians to understand. Often we just read these passages and don’t really think through what God would have us to know and believe.

Let’s begin, though, in Joshua 8:30. In this passage, Joshua split the people up and sent half to Mount Ebal and the other half to Mount Gerizim. I know that’s not the most interesting beginning, and you may be tempted to tune me out, but please stay with me on this and follow the logic that God has laid out for us.

In Deuteronomy 27-28, Moses had commanded this event to take place when the people reached the Promised Land. The people on Mount Gerizim were to read the blessings that you will find recorded in Chapter 28. The people on Mount Ebal were to read the curses. You’ll notice that God’s blessing included every facet of life:

Deuteronomy 28:3-6 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”

Similarly the curses were declared. There are curses to match each blessing:

“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out…”  (Deut 28:16-19).

Notice the summary curse in verse 27:26: “Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by doing them.” So the point is that in order to be blessed, one must keep all of the commandments perfectly. If you look at Deut. 28:47-48 you will see that not only the deeds must be done, but the attitude must also be perfect:

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you” (Emphasis mine).

Paul picks up this theme in Galatians 3:10 where he writes, “For as many as are of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” Notice that it is necessary to continue to obey all the law in order to avoid the curse. The problem is that many Christians are viewing life as a law-based scheme. They are attempting to please God, be acceptable to God, and grow in their Christian life by keeping the law. This approach is doomed to failure, and since it is not possible to keep every single requirement of God’s law, you find yourself cursed. 

God doesn’t want you to be living this way. All false religions put an emphasis on keeping the rules and being rewarded for success and being judged for failure. Even as Christians, many of us struggle with a cycle of trying and failing, and wondering if what we are doing is going to be accepted by God. In His Word, God reveals a different way of living that avoids the impossible task of being perfect, and still puts us in the place of blessing.

To be continued…

Ephesians 1:14

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Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. He is the first installment. Just as we, when we provide a down payment on a car, we are guaranteeing the owner that we will make good on the rest of the payment. So the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of the rest of the payment that God has promised us.

This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee until God redeems His purchased possession. In other words, God has purchased us. He has provided the down payment of the Holy Spirit. The ultimate redemption and claim of his purchase hasn’t occured yet. In the mean time, God’s Holy Spirit is present with us.

This truth is meant to encourage us with the truth that God will not renege on His promise. It’s absurd to think of it, but the idea is that if God were to back out of His promise, we could keep the Holy Spirit, because He is God’s down payment.

All of this is to the praise of the glory of God. Haven’t we seen this over and over in this passage? God’s glory and grace deserve praise. Everyone in heaven and earth needs to know how great God is.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:31 PM October 1, 2020.

Ephesians 1:11

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In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

In him we have obtained an inheritance. In other words, when we receive Christ, we enter into a relationship with God that makes us joint-heirs with Christ. That means we will receive the same inheritance that Christ receives. Ultimately we will rule and reign with Him. We are brothers and sisters to the Son of God.
Verse 11 repeats the fact that we have been predestined. God has planned and ordained the destiny of every one of his children. In verse 5 we are told that we have been predestined for adoption as his children. In this verse we learn that this predestination accords with God’s will. God never does anything outside of his own will. Everything he does aligns with His will. And remember, His will and plan have been the same forever. God never changes. So our predestination to be adopted as sons is in line with God’s eternal purposes.

Verse 11 goes on to tell us the character of God that this is all based on. God works all things according to the counsel of his will. Another way to put this is that God works everything according to the decisions that result from his will. We often will to do something, and then begin to put our will into effect. But many times, we fail to accomplish what we willed to do. God doesn’t have that problem. Everything He does is an out-working of His will.

And notice one other thing before we go on to the next verse. How many things does God work according to the counsel of his will? All things! There is not one thing going on in the universe that He has lost control of.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:47 PM September 24, 2020.

Ephesians 1:6

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To the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Ephesians

Ephesians 1:6

And what was the purpose of all of the actions of God described here? So that His glorious grace would be praised. The word “blessed” in this verse is very closely related to the word “grace.” So we could almost say, “To the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has graced us.” God’s grace is multi-faceted. God wants everyone to see how grand and glorious His grace is.


This grace has made us accepted! Think about that. Accepted. Some versions use the word “accepted” where the ESV uses blessed. Most of us try hard to be accepted. We do this both consciously and subconsciously, but we do it. Sometimes we wear ourselves out trying to become accepted. But we are accepted by God! And it is by grace. There is no effort involved. Because we are in Christ, God says, “I accept you. You belong to me.” There is no checklist or achievement program to maintain. We are accepted!


And all of this, as in the previous verses, is in the Beloved. In his beloved son. As I said in a previous comment, when God gave us Christ, he gave us everything. As Paul told the Corinthians, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:20 AM September 14, 2020.

Ephesians 1:5

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He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

The phrase “in love” may belong to the previous sentence about being holy and blameless, or it may belong with verse 5. Either way, all of the things that God has accomplished on our behalf were carried out because of God’s great love for us, his creatures made in His image.
In verse 5 we are told by Christ’s emissary, that God predestined us for adoption. He designated, or appointed something to happen ahead of time. What did he predestine? That we would be adopted as sons of God through Jesus Christ and his saving work on our behalf. Don’t just read past this. God was determined to have adopted children, who, we learn in Romans 8:17, are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. If you’ve trusted Christ, you are one of those co-heirs!


The last part of the verse tells us that God did this according to the purpose of his will. In other words, because he wanted to. God can do what he wants, and this is something he wanted to do, to adopt a group of people to be his children along with his son, Jesus Christ. And, since God doesn’t change, if this is something He wants to do now, then it’s something He has always wanted to do.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 5:10 PM September 13, 2020.

Ephesians 1:4

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…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Just as he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, he chose us in Christ. Notice how the word “in” is repeated in this passage. This is a description of what we have “in Christ.”

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. When you read the story of the creation event and Adam and Eve, before this took place, he chose us in Christ. And there was a goal in that choosing. His goal was that we would be holy and blameless before him. God doesn’t need a plan B. He knew Adam would fall and the whole world would be fallen and depraved from birth. And yet, before all of this happened, he chose us to be holy and blameless before him. He planned to rescue people from the lost condition they were in, and to pour out his grace on them in such a way that they would be holy. That means set apart, and blameless before God. God knows everything about us. He knows all of our faults and failures. And yet, when Christians come before God, they are blameless.

Remember that today when you come before God through His word and in prayer. If you’ve trusted Christ as your savior, He sees you blameless. What a blessing!

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:49 AM September 3, 2020.

Behold Our God

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Who has held the oceans in his hands?
Who has numbered every grain of sand?
Kings and nations tremble at his voice
All creation rises to rejoice

Behold our God, seated on his throne
Come, let us adore him
Behold our king, nothing can compare
Come, let us adore him

Who has given counsel to the Lord?
Who can question any of his words?
Who can teach, the one who knows all things?
Who can fathom all his wondrous deeds?

Behold our God, seated on his throne
Come, let us adore him
Behold our king, nothing can compare
Come, let us adore him

Who has felt the nails upon his hands?
Bearing all the guilt of sinful man
God eternal, humbled to the grave
Jesus, Savior, risen now to reign

Behold our God, seated on his throne
Come, let us adore him
Behold our king, nothing can compare
Come, let us adore him

There is a Higher Throne

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“There is a higher throne
Than all this world has known,
Where faithful ones from ev’ry tongue
Will one day come.
Before the Son we’ll stand,
Made faultless through the Lamb;
Believing hearts find promised grace—
Salvation comes.

REFRAIN
Hear heaven’s voices sing;
Their thund’rous anthem rings
Through em’rald courts and sapphire skies.
Their praises rise.
All glory, wisdom, pow’r,
Strength, thanks, and honor are
To God our King, who reigns on high
Forevermore.

And there we’ll find our home,
Our life before the throne;
We’ll honor Him in perfect song
Where we belong.
He’ll wipe each tear-stained eye
As thirst and hunger die.
The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King;
We’ll reign with Him.”

— WORDS AND MUSIC BY KEITH & KRISTYN GETTY COPYRIGHT © 2003 THANKYOU MUSIC

Jesus Thou Joy of Loving Hearts

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Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,
Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again.

Thy truth unchanged hath ever stood;
Thou savest those that on Thee call;
To them that seek Thee Thou art good,
To them that find Thee all in all.

We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still;
We drink of Thee, the Foun­tainhead,
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.

Our restless spirits yearn for Thee,
Wherever our changeful lot is cast;
Glad when Thy gracious smile we see,
Blessed when our faith can hold Thee fast.

O Jesus, ever with us stay,
Make all our moments calm and bright;
Chase the dark night of sin away,
Shed over the world Thy holy light.

There is Hope

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Ps 33:18 His eye is on those who hope in His mercy. In Psalm 147:11 it says, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who … hope in His mercy.” Both of these verses first refer to those who fear Him and then as if to define who those are, the Psalmist says, “on those who hope in His mercy.” What does it mean to hope in His mercy? Ps 130:7 tells Israel to hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy. Because of our sinful rebellious nature, we need mercy. Without it we are without hope and without God in the world. Think of those words, “without hope”. It means we are doomed. It means there is no solution to our situation when we are without hope. But thank God, Christ took our place. He bore the wrath of God and therefore shows us mercy without doing damage to His own justice. There is hope after all. Scripture tells us that Christ in us is the hope of glory. There is hope!!