Christian Holiness Journal https://christianholinessjournal.com a record of struggle and victory to know the mind of Christ Wed, 26 Apr 2017 20:53:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.21 https://christianholinessjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-CHJicon-32x32.png Christian Holiness Journal https://christianholinessjournal.com 32 32 67641945 Fear Not – I Am the God of Your Father (Genesis 26:24) https://christianholinessjournal.com/2017/01/08/fear-not-i-am-the-god-of-your-father/ https://christianholinessjournal.com/2017/01/08/fear-not-i-am-the-god-of-your-father/#respond Sun, 08 Jan 2017 09:45:27 +0000 http://christianholinessdaily.com/?p=728
Occasionally, God has to remind us that He is mighty and true. He keeps His promises and has blessed us for generations. In this case, the one to whom God speaks is the patriarch, Isaac, son of Abraham.

God reminds Isaac that He has blessed Abraham, and that He will continue to bless their family.

Isaac likely remembered when God sent a ram to serve as sacrifice in his place. He probably remembered that God had delivered their family from war and famine. God had helped them prosper.  Their family would some day be as numerous as the stars.

That God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our God. He’s the God of our fathers. He is unchanging, eternal, loving, merciful, and no respecter of persons. The same God who blessed Abraham, parted the Red Sea for Moses, delivered Daniel from the lion’s den, and raised Christ from the grave… That same God dwells in your heart.

Do not fear, the God of Abraham is with you.

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Fear Not 365 – Our Shield (Genesis 15:1) https://christianholinessjournal.com/2017/01/07/fear-not-365-our-shield-exodus-151/ https://christianholinessjournal.com/2017/01/07/fear-not-365-our-shield-exodus-151/#respond Sat, 07 Jan 2017 09:10:23 +0000 http://christianholinessdaily.com/?p=721
Abraham is one of the most revered characters in history, yet he had many flaws. He was just a human like you or me. He was full of doubt and fear. He made many bad decisions. Still, God honored him. The book of Hebrews explains why… Because of his faith.

If you know the story of Abraham, you might be inclined to think that he had the advantage over us in the faith department, that it would be easy to have faith if we could hear or clearly see visiting angels. In reality, we have the advantage over Abraham, in that we have God’s Word and we have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

So, when God promised Abraham that He would be his shield and his exceedingly great reward, think how much more that promise means to us as children of God.

Don’t be like Abraham and ask how God can deliver such great reward given the circumstances. After all, this verse does not read, “I  am your shield. I will give you great reward. It reads, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” God is our reward. God is The Shield that protects us throughout our life.  God is our Reward now and forever. Fear Not.

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I am – the Eternal, Almighty God https://christianholinessjournal.com/2016/12/08/i-am-the-eternal-almighty-god/ https://christianholinessjournal.com/2016/12/08/i-am-the-eternal-almighty-god/#respond Thu, 08 Dec 2016 09:00:39 +0000 http://christianholinessdaily.com/?p=718
Within His three-year ministry on earth, Jesus spent a great deal of time in the Temple, and this is where we find Him in John 8. Of course, any time Jesus is in Jerusalem, He is confronted by authorities looking to discredit or kill Him. It is on this particular occasion, in fact, where Temple authorities attempt to back Jesus into a corner by presenting Him with the conundrum of the woman caught in adultery. 

If Jesus agrees that she should be stoned to death, they will go to the Roman governor and accused Jesus of usurping the authority of Caesar. If He shows leniency, they will pronounce Jesus a heretic. Instead, Jesus simply puts the conundrum back on them. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” In the end, of course, no one throws a single stone.

“Go, and sin no more,” He tells her. He then turns to those who remain and proclaims Himself to be the Light of the World. 

The Pharisees are angry at such a pronouncement. How dare He? “Who bares witness to your claims?”

“The Father,” answers Jesus, telling them that they are from below, while He and the Father are of above, and that they can never know the Father because they have never known the Son. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” 

Here I can imagine Jesus clapping his hands, as if to brush off the dust, and turning His back on the Pharisees to leave. “I am going away, and you will seek Me,” He says, “and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”

The Pharisees laugh. “He’s mad.” “A lunatic.”  “He has a demon.” “He’s going to kill Himself.”

The discussion goes on, with the Pharisees working very hard to entrap Jesus and Jesus challenging them to name just one way in which He had sinned, just one – even the tiniest – sin. 

Jesus, though, is sinless, and – of course – they cannot. 

“I have no demon,” says Jesus. “I simply glorify my Father. It is He who judges.” At this, the Pharisees must be looking back at the woman caught in adultery and wondering if they are any better than she. 

“Only my Father is judge, but if you keep My words, you will never taste death,” He says. And it goes unsaid, but He could continue and say, “and never face the Judge.”

“Are you greater than our Father, Abraham, who is dead?” The Pharisees are dumbfounded at the claim of Jesus, but not as shocked as when they hear Him continue…

“Before Abraham was, I am.”

With those five words, Jesus declares Himself to be the Eternal, Almighty God, Yahweh. 

Note that He does not say, “I was.” He says, “I am.” He uses the same words that the translators of Exodus had used when they quote God telling Moses that His name is I Am.

One cannot believe that Jesus is just a good man. He is either who He says He is (God), or He was a lunatic. 

He is the Eternal, Almighty God, Yahweh. I  am.

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