THE FATHER SENT THE SON!

The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." 1John 4:14

It is an eye opening thought to think that Jesus Christ did not come to earth without His Father's permission, authority, consent, and assistance… He was sent of the Father, that He might be the Savior of men… All to often, I believe we forget that…

We are too apt to forget that, while there are distinctions as to the persons in the Trinity, there are no distinctions of honor… We too frequently attribute the honor of our salvation, or at least the depths of its compassion, more to Jesus Christ than we do the Father… This is a very great mistake… When Jesus came, did not His Father send Him? When Christ spoke wondrously, did not His Father pour grace into His lips, that He might be an able minister of the new covenant?

He who truly knows the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost as he should know them, never sets one before another in his love; he sees them at Bethlehem, at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally engaged in the work of salvation…

Listen my friend; have you put your confidence in the Man Christ Jesus? Have you placed reliance solely on Him? And have you united with Him? Then you must believe that you are united with the God of heaven and earth…

Since to the Man Christ Jesus, you are brother, and if you hold closest fellowship with Him, you are thereby linked with God the Eternal… "The Ancient of days" is also your Father and friend…

Did you ever consider the depth of love in the heart of Jehovah, when God the Father equipped His Son for the great endeavor of mercy? If not, let this be your day's meditation… The Father sent Him! We not only belong to the Christ, we belong to the Father as well…

Contemplate that subject… Think how Jesus works what the Father wills… In the wounds of the dying Savior see the love of the great I AM…In the shed blood of Jesus Christ, see the compassion of the Father…In the words of the Savior, see the instruction of the Instructor…In the pain of hard and trying times, see the comfort of the Comforter… In the darkest night, please open your eyes to see the Light of the World…

Jesus is the Light of the World, and The Father has sent that light so that we may see, not only the Savior, but also see the Father and the Holy Ghost…Let every thought of Jesus be also connected with the Eternal, ever-blessed God, for "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief…"

And God did it for us because of His never ending love for His children…

Posted by Minister Robert N. Graves, Sr.

Fisherman for Christ...
Adapted from Spurgeons Morning and Evening Devotionals

Used by permission Leadership Ministries worldwide

THE LOVE OF THE LORD!

Whenever we are feeling down and a little depressed we should look back through all our experiences, and think of the way whereby, the Lord God has led us in the wilderness, and how He has fed and clothed us every day… We should remember how He has borne with all of our sinful ways and ill manners… How He has put up with all of our murmurings, and complaining and all our longings after the flesh… How He has opened the rock to supply us, and fed us with manna that came down from heaven…

Think of how His grace has been sufficient for us in all thy troubles—How His blood has been a pardon in all our sins—how His rod and His staff have comforted us no matter where we have found ourselves…

When we have therefore, looked back upon the love of the Lord, then let faith survey His love in the future, for remember that Christ's covenant and blood have something more in them than the past… He who has loved us and pardoned us, shall never cease to love and pardon…

We must remember, no matter what we are going through, that He is not only the God of the past and of the future, he is also the God of the present…

He is Alpha, and He shall be Omega also: He is the beginning and the end… He is first, and He shall be last… Therefore, think about this, when thou shalt pass through the valley of the shadow of death, thou needest fear no evil, for He is with thee…

When we shall stand in the cold floods of Jordan, we need not fear…for death shall not separate us from His love…and when we shall come into the mysteries of eternity we need not tremble, "For I am persuaded, that neither death; nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Now, listen saint or whoever you might be, is not your love refreshed? Does not this make you love Jesus?

Does not a flight through never-ending plains of the atmosphere of love inflame your heart and compel you to delight thyself in the Lord thy God?

Surely as we meditate on "the love of the Lord," our hearts burn within us, and we long to love Him more…

Laus Deo

Posted by Minister Robert N. Graves, Sr.
Fisherman for Christ
Adapted from Spurgeons Morning and Evening Devotionals

WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS TO PRODUCE IN YOU

Galatians 5: 22:23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law…

Look close at this verse…the word fruit is really singular in number, not nine fruits, but one fruit composed of nine elements…The first three are in relation to God…the next three are in relation to man and the last three are in relation to ones on inner life…

I love fruit…fruit is wonderful! It’s healthy, beneficial, and delicious…This is one of the reasons Paul used the word “fruit” to describe the wonderful things the Holy Spirit wants to produce inside our lives!

After Paul discusses the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, he begins to elaborate about the fruit that Holy Spirit produces in a believer’s life…In Gal. 5:22 and 23, he writes, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…”

Just as Paul previously described the works of the flesh, now he tells us what the Holy Spirit wants to produce in us—and what a contrast there is between the flesh and the Spirit!

The flesh produces “works”---from the Greek word ergos, which implies hard work or hard labor… A life dominated by the flesh is filled with excess, imbalance, unhealthy extremes, laziness, self abuse, hatred, strife, bitterness, irresponsibility, and neglect…

It is the hardest route for any individual yet the flesh still cries out to be in charge, screaming to have its own way, demanding to be the boss…On the other hand, a life dominated by the Holy Spirit is filled with benefits and blessings!

Look at what the Spirit produces—fruit! The word fruit is from the Greek work karpos', which describes the fruit of plants, the fruit of trees, or the fruit of one’s body, such as a person’s children or offspring…

Regardless of whether it is a plant, an animal, or a human, all fruit is produced from some kind of seed…If there is no seed there is no fruit—and the kind of seed that is sown determines the fruit that will be produced…Apples always produce apples; oranges always produce oranges’ dogs produce dogs; cats, cats; human always produce humans…The character of the seed determines the fruit…

The moment you received Jesus as your Savior by faith, God sowed His Spirit and Word into your heart like a seed, and you were spiritually born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God…(1st Peter 1:23)…and just like apples produce apples and so forth, God’s seed in you began to produce Godly character!

The kind of seed always determines the outcome of the fruit; therefore, you should expect your life to yield the fruits of the Spirit, for that is the seed God has sown into you heart…

Does a vinedresser worry that his grapevines might produce oranges? Of course not…He knows that grapevines only produce grapes…Does the owner of an orange grove run to see if his orange trees have produced watermelons? I don’t think so…He knows his trees will produce oranges because orange trees only produce oranges…

If someone wants to grow watermelons, he has to plant watermelon seeds…Once those watermelon seeds are in the ground, he can rest assured that eventually he will have long vines growing juicy watermelons in his garden…

The same principle holds true in the spiritual realm…To get what you want, you have to plant the right seed, because seed always produce fruit after its kind…

So if God has sown His Spirit and His Word into your heart, you have every right to expect divine fruit to be produced inside you!

The fruit that the Spirit produces is wonderful, godly fruit, overflowing with blessings and life…As you allow the Holy Spirit to produce these fruits in you, you’ll find that people love to be near you because you’re such a pleasurable experience for them…Once they partake of the love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance that is evident in your life, they will want to come back for multiple servings of that luscious fruit…

So don’t give way to the flesh and allow it to produce its ugly work in your life…Instead, yield to the Spirit and allow the seed of God’s Spirit and Word to produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life…You are the one who makes the ultimate decision of who is going to rule you, so choose wisely today…

Do you want to walk in the cruel, hard, bitter works of the flesh? Or would you prefer to mortify the deeds of the flesh and allow the Holy Spirit to produce His wonderful fruit in you?

Which path are you going to choose…Every path has a predetermined destination…That is the principle of the path…

We always reap what we sow, that is the principle of the harvest…Take a second right now and review your day and think what path were you on and what seed did you plant while you were on that path?

Remember the flesh only produces vices but the Spirit produce virtues…We know that all vises are bad but a virtue is always an asset, good quality, good feature, or desirable quality…good value, good worth, high merit, high caliber…etc…

We must remember we all have evil desires, and we can’t ignore them…In order for us to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we must deal with them decisively (Crucify them, 5:24)…These desires include obvious sins such as sexual immorality and witchcraft…They also include less obvious sins such as selfish ambition, hatred; and jealousy…

Those who ignore such sins or refuse to deal with them reveal that they have not received the gift of the Spirit that leads to a transformed life…

The fruit of the Spirit is the spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit in us…The Spirit produces these character traits that are found in the nature of Christ…They are the by products of Christ control—we cannot obtain them on our own…we must have His help…If we want the fruit of the Spirit to grow in us we must join our lives to His…(John 15:4-5)…we must know Him, love Him, remember Him, and imitate Him…As a result, we will fulfill the intended purpose of the law—to love God with all of our heart and to love our neighbors as well…

Because the God who sent the law also sent the Spirit, the by-products of the Spirit filled life are in perfect harmony with the intent of God’s law…A person who exhibits the fruit of the Spirit fulfills the law far better than a person who observes the rituals but has little love in his or her heart…


Thanks,

Minister Robert. N. Graves, Sr.

Fisherman for Christ...