I journaled the following thoughts the other week and felt like I needed to share them, here they are…
“Jesus, YOU are what makes things right for us with God. YOU are the reason I am able to be made right with God. Not fasting, not prayer, not reading my Bible…just YOU! You are my righteousness. THANK YOU!”
“I am never going to be without a message as long as I am listening to You!”
“You are my rock my I stand on You!”
“May I never allow what people are saying to disregard what You are saying. I want to hear You!”
“The mystery of the Gospel is Christ IN ME, not Christ AND me!”
“You will NEVER leave me, WOW!”
“Because Christ was excluded, we get to be included! WOW!”
“The power of the cross is in me. Lord, what is there in me that I am completely unaware of? Jesus bring out of me Your power in me. May I live and operate in YOUR power! I don’t want to know what I can do – that is unimpressive and will not last. I want to see and know what YOU can do in, around, through and for me.”
“Blood is a beautiful Mess! Really? YES!”
“Is there anything in my life in which I am refusing to listen or obey You in?”
“When God speaks and we respond, its called Worship!”
“Your heart leans towards forgiveness – may mine always go that way as well.”
“Seven things we must do to be effective: We have to be willing to Serve, We must be willing to Love, We have to be willing to Trust, We have to dream Big, We have to be willing to stay connected, We have to be willing to play hurt (Life hurts, we carry wounds), and We have to be willing to be spirit led!”
Those are just a few thoughts I wrote down. Hope to encourage you with
There is freedom in Transparency. This is one thing that hits close to home for me. I think that out of accountability and from confession you find transparency. This is ultimately what God desires from us! Accountability is one word that we use very often in the Christian walk and sometimes abuse. I have really desired to spend time looking through scripture, to see exactly what accountability is according to what God states and not what man says. The first thing that God is clear on is that we are to be accountable to Him. Romans 14:12 says, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” This is where it all begins and ends in terms of accountability. No matter what is to follow or what the circumstance, ultimately we ourselves are accountable to God for each and every thing that we say and do.
Christians are also to be accountable to one another. Looking into 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it shows us that Christians are all a part of the body of Christ. As the body of Christ we belong to one another and we all make up the working body. This passage and others show the importance of strong accountability between believers. It is essential for every Christian to have at least one other person to confide in, trust, pray with, listen to, and encourage each other. Galatians 6:1-2 gives the next principle for accountability. This verse shares with us that we are to bare one another’s burdens. If your accountability friend has done something contrary to the Bible, you are called to confront him gently, forgive him, and comfort him. It also admonishes you to consider yourself, because no one is above temptation.
Another aspect of accountability in the life of a Christian is encouraging other believers to grow in their spiritual maturity. Hebrews 10:24 speaks directly to that. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Another scripture that speaks to this is, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “…encourage one another and build each other up…” All these things are able to be so effective in the Christian walk and are keys to spiritual maturity.
From accountability, I want to talk of confession. For a long time I saw confession as a response to conviction, which it is, but I didn’t always see a need for it. Without saying it, I would dismiss confession, thinking Christ has already died for all sin. This is also true, but I neglected the need to confess with that in mind. Paul wrote in Ephesians, “We praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.” He is talking of our salvation and how our sin has been covered. Colossians 2 says, “He has taken our sin having nailed it to the Cross for we bare it no more”. We still often suffer consequences of sin while we are here on earth. It is immeasurably hard but God disciplines the one that He loves. This is an amazing principle! Suffering consequences here on earth brings us to the question of why do we confess our sins if they have already been forgiven?
Confession of sin, according to 1 John 1:9, will help to keep us from the discipline of the Lord. If we fail to confess that sin, the discipline of the Lord is sure to come until we do confess it. As stated previously, our sins are forgiven at salvation, but our fellowship with God on a daily basis needs to stay in good standing and this cannot happen with unconfessed sin in our lives. Therefore, we need to confess our sins as they occur in order to keep that right fellowship with God.
From confession to transparency is where I think you really start to see how the three relate to one another so true. One thing that I have come to grips with lately is sin and especially sin that remains hidden. There is no stronger sin than sin that remains hidden. Secret sins are the most destructive force in the spiritual life. Hidden sin causes you to live a double life and leads you to spiritual weakness. However, when we practice confession, our sin is no longer hidden. Such transparency brings an incredible freedom. What were once iron chains of bondage are removed and the burden is now gone. If confession is so powerful for the spiritual life, why do so few of us practice it? We could identify many excuses, but the central reason is pride. We are afraid that someone will think less of us. We believe that our present “image” will be permanently defaced. But what good is an “image” if it masks inner defeat? Someone once used the example that an old tree from far away looks strong and beautiful, but as you get closer to it you see the rotten hollow trunk. It was rotting where it seemed to be the strongest.
Some of the most public examples of fallen Christian leaders revealed that the reason for their collapse was that they had no accountability. They had no one to whom they could confess. No one who could help them find freedom from their secret sins. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another….” While it is true that we need no mediator other than Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5), there is a sense in which Christ receives our confession through our fellow disciples. God acknowledges that confession through a brother in Christ. When we know that we must give an account to our trusted brother or sister in Christ, it will be easier to let go of our desire to participate in that sin. Being transparent means we will live an integrated life; we will be the same in public and private. This is an important principle to remember when dealing with sin and also where our integrity is reflected. When we can be the same in public as we are in private, then we are constantly showing our life transparency before brothers in Christ and ultimately before God.
Living transparently means first, that we acknowledge the fact that we cannot hide anything from God (Psalm 139:7-12). Living transparently means second, that we acknowledge the fact that our sin is offensive to God (Jeremiah 44:4). Living transparently means third, we recognize the fact that God must deal with sin (Nahum 1:3). If there is no stronger sin, than sin that remains hidden. There is no more impotent sin, than sin that is brought out into the open!
When you are actively seeking accountability and confession in your life then transparency is well apparent! I am seeing more freedom in Christ through living a life of clear integrity. I am so thankful for the opportunities that God continues to give me to show transparency in my life. I by no means have arrived, but God is continuing to show me His grace and redeeming power as I practice these spiritual disciplines!
March 11th, 2009.
From early morning surprises with daises to conversations at steak and shake. I think Shelby’s Birthday was a success! I am so happy for her and so excited to be apart of her life! Praise God for such an amazing friendship 
Filed under: Thankfulness
Today is Thursday and today is Thankful Thursday!
Today my list of thankfuls are:
- Warm Weather now on approach!
- A firm rock to stand on…God
- A Place to Worship!!!
- The blessing of His guidance as well for this summer…
- My boy Grant, great conversations and good food
- My friend Shelby and a wonderful first date.
- My grandmother who does so much praying and talking nothing but great things about me…I love her so much
- My Dad who shows the transparency I need in every conversation and is a discerning voice for me
- Opportunities to comintue witnessing at work
- Boldness and Humbleness to continue striving forward
- My childhood best friend being called to a worship leader! Way to listen Nathan
- My best friend Zac who alwasy listens and still longs to hangout with me…you mean alot bro
- Anoop staying on American Idol…I know but I am thankful
- This paper I am writing on Accoutability, Confession, and Transparency
- A thankful thursday night
Those are my tops for this thursday March 5th….what are you thankful for today?
I was talking to a friend the other day and he asked me the question how do you feel about once saved always saved. I was a bit caught off guard given the situation. It was unexpected but I tried to handle the question the best I could when I got through the answer he then stated the opposing side, and given his response, it is definitely something he has thought about before no doubt. But I guess when I got home I began thinking of what I should have said and went through scripture to outline what God’s word says about this certain issue. This specific issue is outlined by Calvanists as Perservence of the Saints. This is usually agreed upon by many people and is usually not one of the most disputed points of calvanism. But never the less, below is just a brief overview of where I stand on this given topic and scripture to acknowledge my thoughts behind. I hope this inlightens no matter where you stand.
Perservence of the Saints is a term that is used to summarize the eternal security of a believer. This point illustrates that once a person is saved, can they lose their salvation? Perservence of the Saints is just a term used to reveal aspects of what the Bible says about the eternal security of a believer. However like any biblical doctrine what is important is not the name assigned to the doctrine but how accurately it summarizes what the Bible teaches about that subject. Many people use the phrase “Once Saved always Saved” to describe this doctrine. I believe that the Bible clearing lays out that those who are born-again will continue trusting in Christ forever. God, by His own power through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, keeps or preserves the believer forever. This wonderful truth is seen in Esphesians 1:13-14; “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s.” It is here that we see when we are born again, we receive the promised indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that is God’s guarantee that He who began a good work in us will complete it, as laid out in Philippians 1:6. In order for us to lose our salvation after receiving the promised Holy Spirit, God would have to break His promise or renege on His “guarantee,” which He cannot do. Therefore the believer is eternally secure because God is eternally faithful.
Honestly when I look at this truth I see the understanding of God’s special love that He has for his children. Romans 28:28-39 tells us, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written. For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- No one can bring a charge against God’s elect.
- Nothing can separate the elect from the love of Christ.
- God makes everything work together for the good of the elect.
- All whom God saves will be glorified. God loves His children (the elect) so much that nothing can separate them from Him.
Of course this same truth is seen in many other passages of Scripture as well. In John 10:27-30 Jesus says: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Again in John 6:37-47 we see Jesus stating that everyone that the Father gives to the Son will come to Him and He will raise all of them up at the last day. Another evidence from Scripture of eternal security of a believer is found in verses like John 5:24 where Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” Notice that eternal life is not something we get in the future but is something that we have once we believe. By its very nature eternal life must last forever or it could not be eternal. This passage says that if we believe the Gospel we have eternal life and will not come into judgment, therefore it can be said we are eternally secure.
There is really very little scriptural basis that can be used to argue against the eternal security of the believer. While there are a few verses that, if not considered in their context, might give the impression that one could “fall from grace” or lose their salvation, when these verses are carefully considered in context it is clear that is not the case. Many people know someone who at one time expressed faith in Christ and who might have appeared to be a genuine Christian who later departed from the faith and now wants to have nothing to do with Christ or His church. These people might even deny the very existence of God. For those that do not want to accept what the Bible says about the security of the believer these types of people are proof that the doctrine of eternal security cannot be right. However, the Bible indicates otherwise and it teaches that people such as those who profess Christ as Savior at one time only to later walk away and deny Christ, were never truly saved in the first place. For example 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out from us, in order that it might be made manifest that they all are not truly of us.” The Bible is also clear that not everyone who professes to be a Christian truly is. Jesus Himself says that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven Matthew 7:21-22. Rather than proving we can lose our salvation, those people who profess Christ and fall away simply reinforces the importance of testing our salvation to make sure we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5) and making our calling and election sure by continually examining our lives to make sure we are growing in godliness (2 Peter 1:10).
Our eternal security rests on the biblical teaching that those whom God justifies, He will also glorify (Romans 8:29-30). Those who are saved will indeed be conformed to the image of Christ through the process of sanctification (1 Corinthians 6:11). When a person is saved, the Holy Spirit breaks the bondage of sin and gives the believer a new heart and a desire to seek holiness. Therefore a true Christian will desire to be obedient to God and will be convicted by the Holy Spirit when they sin. I believe considering all these things and more there is no way that one that has been “born again” can later be unborn. Because of His unique love for His children, God will keep all of His children safe from harm and Jesus has promised that He would lose none of His sheep. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints recognizes that true Christians will always persevere and are eternally secure because God keeps them that way. It is based on the fact that Jesus, the “author and perfecter of faith,” He is able to completely save those that the Father has given Him and to keep them saved through all eternity. So to me the question doesn’t come down to once I am saved, can I lose my salvation? I think you have to ask…Once I really KNOW God can I really Forget Him?
This is what I believe to be scripturally true. Something for you to chew on.
