embrace – Cross Culture Church

Meditation: November 23

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, (12) teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” Titus 2:11-12

God has dispensed from Heaven an abundance of His grace. Where sin and spiritual blindness abounded, only what one had grown accustomed to was known. Grace came to teach us that our old nature must be denied. How could one ever be freed from what he once defended because it defined him? It is the grace that has appeared in order to show us that a new life was possible. When it came on the scene, it opened our eyes to know that heaven’s order should become earth’s greatest dream. The slave can at least see freedom in order for freedom to be desired. That desire for something beyond our current patterns of living is responded to and then we are empowered to aim higher above level of ungodly and worldly lusts. Each day we will embrace all the more God’s standard of righteousness thus rising above our own. It is because of the grace that has appeared that produces the salvation that we so desperately need.

01 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 1

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Ruth 1:16

Naomi and Ruth were joined together in a God honored covenant. They became one family with bonds of love that could not be broken. It is the same with members within the Body of Christ. We are joined to Christ by the Spirit to be with Him in order to go wherever He goes. We are also joined to one another as one people. No longer are we divided by race, class, or any other division. There is a kindred spirit among those who have come to know the Lord. As we walk together with a resolve to remain together, we learn things concerning Christ and the love of the Father demonstrated through Him. It is a journey that takes us beyond our current location as we grow in both grace and knowledge. Time does not cause our commitment to fade away, but we are further strengthened in our resolve. “Your God is embraced as my God. Therefore your people that serve under Him are my people as well!” I must be with my people and be concerned about their welfare. This is the Body of Christ and members in particular.

04 Nov 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: November 4

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

This was not the initial phase of Paul’s life after meeting Jesus. After having been introduced, he was left with an indelible impression upon his soul. His whole life was spent in an attempt to fully embrace what he both saw and experienced in meeting such a man. He was intrigued by the phenomena of God in the flesh; a glimpse of the glory state of his own soul trusting that the time would come when the Christ that he saw from a distance would totally possess him. It is Christ in us that give us the hope of glory. All other expressions of life would be so futile in their pursuits after such an encounter because they become mere shadows since the realness of Christ has become so real to us. This is the place the Lord intends to deliver each of us to. Once we are there, a passion to shed all that would compete with the life in the Spirit is willingly abandoned. No longer is it the pangs of death, but rather the pleasures of willful obedience that is anticipated. A new life springs forth in the place of where the old life once occupied. Only when the old has passed will the new be realized. It is faith in the Son of God, our having that quality of faith in Him and what He has done because He of loves us that keeps us connected. Then we can glorify the Lord in our flesh through the new life now lived.

22 Jan 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: January 22

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9

True love is balanced with an attraction towards purity and truth and a distain and hatred towards evil. It is not the imbalance that embraces any behavior as being acceptable for sake of peace. True love often disturbs the peace of the wicked, in order to confront his wickedness. There are matters of the heart in need of deep change. It is mere pretense to ignore the initial promptings that occur within one’s own conscience, until it is silenced for the sake of expediency. The more those warning signs are ignored, the stronger and bolder steps are taken in the direction of hypocrisy. People are not born hypocrites. They become hypocrites by much practice. Once the plight is to move in that direction, true love is never known because the person that is not real himself cannot accept realness from others. Their own hypocrisy raises suspicion regarding all who would be honest with them. We must hate evil in order to embrace what is good. It is never both ways. It is either good or evil that we must choose.

03 Nov 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: November 3

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.” Proverbs 28:26

It is too easy to feel that a particular thing is right and rely totally upon one’s feelings. Many place their confidence in the inclinations of the heart rather than the established truth of God’s word. Our hearts may guide us in the direction away from the things we despise, but will eventually crash against the jagged rocks of reality. The good is often despised if the heart remains unchanged. Nothing is within us to embrace the truth if all we have is an empty heart in search of significance. Nothing within fallen man is able to deliver him from perishing along with the weight of passions sinking him deeper into the quagmire of sin and rebellion. His feet are not established upon any solid substance enabling him to be upheld on shaky ground. He trusts in what is within him and around him. He foolishly stumbles along in life until he utterly falls. But the wise will walk wisely because he is steadied by the power that comes from on high. God is able to lift him above the traps set before him. He is raised up while others are falling down. God sustains him through all that he may face because his heart is fixed on Jesus.

01 Feb 0Comments 0Likes

Meditation: February 1

Posted by wwalker Categories: Meditations

“Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Ruth 1:16

Naomi and Ruth were joined together in a God honored covenant. They became one family with bonds of love that could not be broken. It is the same with members within the Body of Christ. We are joined to Christ by the Spirit to be with Him in order to go wherever He goes. We are also joined to one another as one people. No longer are we divided by race, class, or any other division. There is a kindred spirit among those who have come to know the Lord. As we walk together with a resolve to remain together, we learn things concerning Christ and the love of the Father demonstrated through Him. It is a journey that takes us beyond our current location as we grow in both grace and knowledge. Time does not cause our commitment to fade away, but we are further strengthened in our resolve. “Your God is embraced as my God. Therefore your people that serve under Him are my people as well!” I must be with my people and be concerned about their welfare. This is the Body of Christ and members in particular.