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Forming Our Habits to Grow Our Relationship with God

• God could have withdrawn His love from us after the original sin – or at any point thereafter. Adam and Eve had one law – don’t bite. In other words, the law could have been written as obey what God tells you to do and live. They couldn’t keep that, so they died a spiritual death – and eventually a physical death. The original sin was a conscious decision to disobey God and His law – don’t bite the fruit of a specific tree. It was where our will rebelled against God’s Will. Our submission has to be our will submitting to God’s Will – what we created to do. But God didn’t. God chose to fulfill His covenant with Abraham – and now His covenant with Jesus (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?; Keeping Us from Sin; Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• God won’t give us the forgiveness without the faith and repentance. We have to commit to being obedient to Him. Without our being cleansed of our sins, we cannot approach God. The only way we can initially approach God is through a genuine profession of faith where we ask for forgiveness by showing true repentance (Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning).
• There is no way God is going to withhold Himself from us if we make a genuine profession of faith (Assurances We Will be Kept).
• God has given us a lot of gifts and promises in His Word. However, He knew none of them would be worth anything if He did not offer us the gift of salvation. The law couldn’t save us. It could only show us what sin is. Jesus came to bring us salvation from this curse. (Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning; Keeping Us from Sin).
• The whole Plan of Salvation is about restoring us back to where we were prior to the original sin. That is the motivation behind God offering us the Plan of Salvation – to eliminate sin in our lives. Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection was the only way that the curse – sin – can be removed. We have to accept this gift of salvation in order to gain it. Jesus dying for us and God transforming us is all about keeping us from sin and its consequences (Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning; Keeping Us from Sin).
• The motivation behind God’s gift of salvation through the death of His Son was love. He wouldn’t give this great gift and not give the smaller ones (Assurances We Will be Kept).
• There are no favorites in God’s kingdom. We all get the same salvation. We all become holy ones (Keeping Us from Satan).
• Serving God must be the result of our salvation. We must replace our sinful activities with activities that glorify God (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• But that doesn’t mean God won’t correct us when we sin. He has a variety of ways in which He does that. He can switch up the mean, measure, and duration in which He does that. What we must never lose sight of is that God sends the corrections as our Father. True, it has an element of judgment, but the intent is to transform us into His pure children (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• Our persecutions will come to an end. God will have a day when He judges the world. The corrections we get here on earth are nothing compared to the judgment we will receive on Judgment Day. This isn’t punishment. This is love. God loves us enough to want to transform us to be more like Him. God loves us enough to do the hard things to cut sin out of us. Why are there degrees in judgment? God doesn’t box Himself into a corner regarding how far He will go to correct us. His goal is to get the job done, not sugarcoat it for our sake. God is correcting every one of His children. We don’t get a pass. Some correction may be physical. Some may be mental. God has a variety of methods at His disposal. Regardless of the variety of methods and duration, the root cause for the correction is the same in all cases — sin (Keeping Us from Sin; From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• God has a variety of ways that He punishes sin. Only on the day of the Lord will sin be totally crushed (Keeping Us from Sin).
• God is correcting us in anticipation of perfecting us. He is chastising His children for not worshiping Him correctly. Remember, God is interested in spiritual worship, not just physical worship (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?; Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• No matter what we are going through and no matter the reason for us going through it, God will be with us. He created us, and He redeemed us. When we are truly children of God, we won’t go one sin too far and lose our salvation. We don’t have to carry that burden (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• Since sanctification is a process, God is always creating and reforming. We don’t have to carry the burden of not being perfect. We have to focus on maturing to be as God calls us to be. God takes us where we are and changes us to be as we should. Then He charges us with the administration of His kingdom. That is when we realize God has created us, formed us, and redeemed us. God created us, and He isn’t abdicating ownership. We are His (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• Satan is under God’s direction. I knew he couldn’t do anything without God’s allowance. I guess I never really considered Satan subservient to God. Yes, he is beneath Him in the hierarchy. There is no way I would term Satan as submissive or obedient. But God does limit Satan. Whatever happens to us – good or bad – God is in control. We can find ourselves more easily tempted by Satan when we don’t feel God near to us. However, we are shown time and again that God will never leave us, which grows our faith. God’s Word and truth keeps us free from Satan. (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation; Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do; Keeping Us from Satan).
• Sin will be kept from us on Judgment Day (Keeping Us from Sin).
• Jesus removes the weight of our sin and our fear of punishment. Our sins are forgiven and forgotten. We are kept from sin because Jesus is our surety (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan; Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning).
• Temptation and sin can be used for God’s purposes. God shows us the right way to follow Him. When we choose not to, God shows us where we go wrong (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
• Sin is kept from us because we have been kept from the condemnation of the law. We are kept from sin because Jesus is praying for us (Keeping Us from Sin; Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning).
• God is in control. He orchestrates the temptations. If we are only tempted to current levels of obedience, we are not challenged to grow. I think this takes on a whole new meaning when we hook “… but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (I Cor. 10: 13 ESV) with it. We learn God is still in control. It is only through God’s abilities can we escape the temptation (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• God keeps us from relying on our own abilities when tempted. Regardless of what we think our abilities are, everyone needs God’s superior strength to rescue us from temptation (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• We like to think we are unique. But the temptations are the same. All temptations can be boiled down to one thing. Satan wants us to disobey God (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• We are never tempted to where sinning is the only option. God is going to provide an escape route – not removal – during the temptation (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• There are so many things on which the world wants us to compromise today. We can’t ignore God’s Word. Only He can tell us what is right or wrong. Neither can we follow our own opinions. God is Sovereign God and doesn’t ask for our opinions (Keeping Us from Satan).
• Evil putting on the appearance of being good is worse. This deception is intentional. It is designed to lure disciples away from God (Keeping Us from Satan).
• God didn’t want the Israelites to sink under the burden of their affliction. Did they bring the affliction upon themselves by disobeying God? Most definitely. Was God going to give them a harsh sentence? You bet. But God didn’t want them to give up and totally turn their backs on Him. He still wanted to be their God and they be His people (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• We will get a gradual revelation of God’s truth as we navigate the Sanctification Road. We will get His truth – about Him and Who He is. God is the Truth. He is all we need to know (Keeping Us from Satan).
• Only when we learn God’s truth His way will we be kept from Satan. That is a reasonable restraint because it brings us to the most valuable thing we will ever have – a relationship with God (Keeping Us from Satan).
• We gain knowledge of things holy. God reveals it to us as we navigate the Sanctification Road (Keeping Us from Satan).
• We must endure the daily trials circumstances present us. Our feelings of God’s nearness shouldn’t be what determines whether we endure or not. Regardless of how He chooses to correct us, God will never withdraw His love from us. God does not withdraw His love when disciples continue to sin no more than He withdraws it when we don’t ABCD. God’s love is based on Him and Who He is rather than what we do nor do not do. God keeps us from being outside His presence during temptations (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do; From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?; Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• I always thought it was interesting that Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. That was the going rate paid for a slave. Just as slaves were bought with a price, so are disciples. As we are slaves to sin, the going rate was paid for our substitute. Jesus gives us total freedom from our sins (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• The Jews in Jesus’ day thought this freedom meant freedom from Roman rule. Jesus as the military general isn’t going to happen until Armageddon. Isn’t it so much like us to relate this to a worldly application instead of a spiritual one? True freedom only comes through true submission of Jesus as our Savior and God as Sovereign Lord (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• Peace gives a word picture of stopping to bask in God’s love. To me, it ties right into “Be still, and know that I am God …” (Ps. 46: 10 ESV) (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be given to God’s children. In fact, it was the last promise that He gave His disciples. Think about it. Jesus was facing a painful, humiliating death. Instead of focusing on that, He was promising us comfort. Most importantly, Jesus was promising us His presence. It would be a long time before the printing press was invited and people got Bibles. Until then, they had the Holy Spirit to instruct and guide them. They needed that. Come to think of it, we still need the Holy Spirit. He interprets what we need to know of God’s truth and gives us wisdom to understand it. What we get is a loving guide (Keeping Us from Satan).
• We know Jesus prayed for us right before His arrest. We know Jesus is our Advocate in Heaven, interceding for us. Why will Jesus be interceding for us? It will be the same topic as His last prayer on earth. “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us…” (Jn 17: 21 ESV). Jesus, as always, is praying for our spiritual condition. He wants to keep us from sin (Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning).
• Jesus is our surety — not anything we do or don’t do — except accepting Him as our Savior and Redeemer and God as Sovereign Lord. We are kept from sin only through salvation in Jesus (Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning).

Glossary

Sin

The Original Sin

Obedience

Covenant

Faith

Repentance

Salvation

Perfect

Sanctification

Holy Spirit

Prayer

Forming Our Habits to Grow Our Maturity

• When we don’t know what to do, we still have to constantly keep the line of communication open with God. Praying without ceasing means it is habitual prayer. We have to pray regularly to form the habit of praying. We have to persist in prayer, even when we feeling our prayers are not being answered. We have to remain sincere and fervent – and reverent – in our prayers (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• We shouldn’t be praying to God because it is our duty – especially in the dry times. We always need to talk to Him because we are His servants and friends and siblings of Jesus (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• The inconsistency of our prayers breaks our prayer habit. We have to keep the habit of praying regardless of the situation we are in (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• We can’t stress the last one enough. We have to remain sincere in our prayer lives, or it becomes outward worship. That is just lip service (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• When we don’t know what to do, we still have to continue to approach God to cleanse and purify us (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• We have to make a conscious decision to draw near to God. Yes, God calls us to salvation, but we cannot be careless or indifferent in approaching Him. We want to come into His presence because we want to spend time with our beloved Father (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• A thankful heart is a form of worship. Prayer is also a form of worship. Even confessing our sin is worship (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• When we don’t know what to do, we have to continue to want to know what God is calling us to do. We have to want to continue to be in His Will (Actions to Take When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• When we don’t know what to do, we do a lot of things to keep busy until we know what to do. We think it is the action that is going to get us on the right track. It isn’t. Letting our hearts talk with God is the only way we are going to know. We still have to watch for God to work in our lives and wait until He does. When we don’t know what to do, we still have to remain faithful as we endure the time of silence (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Anxiety is a distraction. It takes our focus off God. It backs us out of being at the heart level. We are to give everything to God when we have the anxieties – even when we don’t know what to do. We are to cast everything on God. Peter cautioned us to not hold anything back. We are to give God everything. That everything is our anxieties. It doesn’t say that we are to work things out and get everything fixed – then come to God (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Peter told us to cast our care on God. There is an important reason for doing this. When we allow the anxiety to come in, we split our faith. We may have some faith still in God. But we don’t have complete faith in God. We know that because – if we did – we wouldn’t be having the anxiety to the extent we do (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Because we lack faith, we tend to see trouble where there is none or blow what there is out of proportion (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Exhibiting the characteristics of being self-controlled, loving, humble, modest, and content make us healthier in body and mind. We do not display anxiety when we are even keeled (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Being watchful is a component of waiting. We are to wait for God’s direction. When we don’t know what to do, we shouldn’t make a move until we know that is where God wants us to go (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Satan is diligent in trying to lead us astray.  We can’t let him get a foothold in our lives. When we let Satan in, we put our priority on the world rather than on God. Whether Satan leads us to the worldview or we let our worldview beliefs allow Satan in, the result is the same. Satan is leading our lives. We can only resist Satan when we are steadfast in our faith (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• We endure when we don’t lose our dependence on and belief in Him. We don’t give up. Our enduring is challenged when we get to the point where we don’t know what to do (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• It must be our choice to endure. We must choose to do so because of our unflinching faith. We must increase our dependence on God — even when we don’t feel Him nearby (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• When we experience these trials — in other words, as we live our lives — we gain wisdom (Jas. 1: 5), which grows our faith. We gain this through God’s power (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Our faith grows in two ways through these trials. We endure trials that bring us to a deeper understanding of the life of which He offers us. That understanding grows our confidence in God. We see Him for Who He is (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Worldview people want us to think we give up so much when we become disciples. Sin seems to be the bright, shiny things we should be coveting. Disciples know, however, that we gain much more than we give up because the only thing we give up is sin (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• We gain the crown of life. See, we focus on the crown part and gloss over the life part. A crown is an earthly symbol. We tend to skip the life part — eternal life. But that is what the whole Plan of Salvation is about. We are to accept the gift of salvation so that we can be restored to live eternity with God (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Actions are important. Attitudes are more important. The actions we perform may be suspect. Our motivations may be wrong. Our attitude must be that which Christ exhibited. We must always be honoring God in all that we say and do (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• Disciples shouldn’t be kept from discipline. Ooo, baby. We know we’ve done wrong, but we so hate to be disciplined. God uses a variety of corrections to get the job done (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• We shouldn’t kick and scream when God corrects us. That is logical. That fits in with being sober. Being even keeled when we are sober means we don’t experience the extremes when we are corrected. We are content with whatever comes our way. Instead, we should make sure we know exactly why God is correcting us. We need to evaluate ourselves to determine the status of our relationship with Him (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• God wants us to partner with Him in transforming us to who He wants us to be (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• We tend to think we become unworthy when we sin. We have to realize that God still counts us worthy enough to warrant correction (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• Whenever we are corrected, it is for God’s glory. The goal is to redirect our paths to follow Him more closely (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• Fainting here isn’t exactly as we think it is. This isn’t weak and dizzy until we lose consciousness. This is choosing to give up on God. Whether we are angry at God of what we consider punishment or whether we give up thinking this is all there is because it will never end, the choice is made to turn away from God (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• When we kick at God’s correction, we set ourselves up for further temptations by Satan. Those sins are going to be worse than the ones we’ve already committed (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• Disciples shouldn’t be kept from being judged (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• The way to look at judgment and correction is that it isn’t us against God. We are on the same team — God’s team (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• Disciples have gained salvation, but we have not yet been perfected. We are still going to sin (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• It all boils down to how we react to this correction. We respond in repentance. We respond with humility. We respond immediately. We shouldn’t ignore God’s correction (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• Disciples shouldn’t be kept from suffering (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• Disciples are to in the world but not of it. We look at that to mean that we should be righteous in a sinful world. But let’s look at the world. When it says disciples are in the world, it means we are all in it. Yes, as holy saints, we are set apart, but that is the of the world part. We aren’t taken out of the world. That means we are tempted to sin in every way possible. We still have to experience the tribulation. We have to endure the temptation and the hurt caused and not lose our dependence on and belief in Him (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• Disciples shouldn’t be kept from tribulations (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• How many times does our eyes stop on the word peace in John 16: 33? We gloss over the will have part. We think the peace negates the tribulation part — especially the worldly type. But it doesn’t. The problem is we think peace and tribulation are on opposite ends of the continuum. That limits God and is not true (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• Disciples are still going to experience the results of sin, even when we have addressed the consequences of sin. There is no getting around that (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• Jesus never sugarcoated our experiencing tribulation. In fact, He prophesied that we would face tribulation all the way up to persecution.  All this was said to prepare us for what will happen. We can equip ourselves for it as we look for it (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• We know that there will be seasons of tribulation. It will come and go in order to grow us to where we need to be (We Shouldn’t be Kept from Suffering and Tribulation).
• Disciples shouldn’t be kept from Satan’s temptations, but we shouldn’t give in to sin (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
•  Resisting temptation – and even committing the sin – is how we grow. (Don’t we learn more from our mistakes than our successes?) (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
• We are to choose obedience in all God’s ways. To do that, we must form the habit of putting on the full armor of God. Our goal is to stand and not fall into temptation (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
• We are to watch and resist temptation. Satan is the one who is supposed to be doing the fleeing (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
• Disciples shouldn’t be kept from being given thorn, but we shouldn’t necessarily want them, either (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
• Yes, God can and will use evil, sinful things to help us grow, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to hurt. God will even give us painful things that aren’t necessarily sinful to help us grow. God Himself tests us, which we can think of as trials (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
• I used to think that we needed to put on the armor of God daily. Now, I am not so sure. Oh, yes, we have to have it on daily. I just think now that we aren’t supposed to take it off. I mean, we don’t ever want to be without it. We have no idea when Satan is going to mount an assault (Not Kept from All of Satan’s Temptation).
• When we walk in submission to God, this life has its perks. It has joyful pleasures (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• Our walk with God must bring us into harmony with Him. Being in His presence means submitting our lives and will to Him (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• Since we are made in God’s image, we were made to communicate with God. That means in prayer with Him. Worship is another way to communicate — and to make Him a reality (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• This life is to be a trial run for the next life. That would mean we need to find God’s joy here. Too many disciples don’t seem to have found it.  Our faith is weak. We aren’t growing like we should. Sin has too much of a stronghold in us. We choose to abandon God during difficult times. We don’t cast our cares on God (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• Our spiritual eye won’t always be clear. God doesn’t reveal everything to us at once. We may have to grow to get to clarity. But we grow because of the muddy veil. (If we understand everything, there would be nowhere to grow.) (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• David’s request in Psalms 17: 4 was to be kept from the paths of Satan. We have to do what James told us to do — resist him (Jas. 4: 7). It seems strange that Satan will flee from us when we do. But we have to remember it really isn’t us from whom Satan is running. It is God (Keeping Us from Satan).
• Disciples must have knowledge of what to look for in order not to be pulled away from God. We have to be knowledgeable enough about God’s Word to know when someone is trying to teach us something different. We can’t always take everything on face value (Keeping Us from Satan).
• Being restrained isn’t a bad thing. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. Too much prescription medicine may help the pain go away, but it may also addict us (Keeping Us from Satan).
• Our salvation restores our moral nature. It starts us on the Sanctification Road, where we grow to have God’s character. We gain all the privileges associated with that familial relationship (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• We shouldn’t look as freedom as permission to choose evil. Yes, God allows us to not choose to submit to Him – but then we have to pay the consequences when we do that (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• We are only free when we are in God’s Will (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• Free will isn’t really about us getting to choose. (No, God isn’t a dictator, so He doesn’t give us only one option. It is still our decision.) Free will is about us choosing to choose God. That takes the focus off us and puts it on God. In other words, the focus is on the choice, not the chooser (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• We are a work in progress. Fortunately, our Creator is our Remaker. We just have to remain obedient to Him (Keeping Us from Our Burdens).
• When we accept the gift of salvation, the curse and condemnation of the law is removed (Keeping Us from Sin)..
• On Judgment Day, physical death will be eliminated. We will receive glorified bodies that no longer have the physical ailments of this life. How can that happen? It is because spiritual death will be no more (Keeping Us from Sin).
• Our preservation is dependent on our acceptance of God’s gift of salvation. Only when we accept it are we given eternal life in Heaven. We will not find eternal happiness if we do not accept God’s salvation (Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning).
• When we accept the gift of salvation, we agree to submit to God’s will — even when it is opposite to our own. That is how we are sanctified (Assurances We Will be Kept from Sinning).

Glossary

Worldview

Sober

Peace

Free Will

Forming Our Habits to Grow Our Relationship with Others

• We know that God loves believers and non-believers. God loves all the world. His salvation is available to all. Each of us has to make a conscious decision whether or not to follow Him (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• Does it surprise you that God loves non-believers? It shouldn’t. His character is love. But don’t delude yourself into thinking God will be lenient toward non-believers. They will eventually get their Judgment Day (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).
• The world was condemned as soon as Adam and Eve bit. They just don’t want to accept that. But then, the world doesn’t think that God should be the one to judge it, either. Some things God says is a sin isn’t in their book. Plus, that is when they stress free will (From What Shouldn’t Disciples be Kept?).

Sheep, Goats, and Matthew 7: 21 People

• We like to say that sheep are the ones doing things right. Doesn’t that seem what the to-do list in Matthew 25: 35-36 implies? There is this long list of you-dids that seems to be the focus. But when we focus on that, we gloss over the first thing Jesus said. The sheep on the right are there because they were blessed (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• Sheep know they are sinners and only Jesus can save them (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• We can’t think Jesus was only a fairy tale or a good story that has been passed down through the generations. More importantly, we can’t believe in the message without believing in the messenger (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• Many times, we think that bearing fruit means witnessing. That isn’t everything. Our #1 priority is getting our relationship right with God. It is getting the fruits of the Spirit. Bearing fruit is growing in the grace and knowledge of God (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• Too many times, we think it is a one-and-done conversion. Our acceptance of God’s Plan of Salvation is a onetime deal. But that isn’t the end. Salvation starts with grace but doesn’t end there. We need sanctification (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• Sanctification is a process that we can’t either not start or skip out halfway through. We have to endure to the end (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• The problem comes when we don’t count the cost at the time of salvation. It can be easy for some to give up somewhere on the Sanctification Road when we don’t (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• It boils down to making a conscious decision. We have to do this at the time of conversion, but we also have to do it every day (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• Our salvation really isn’t about knowledge. It is about faith. We’ve got to be content with the lack of knowledge. Our contentment is forged in submission (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• There are similarities between goats and Matthew 7: 21 people. We can’t tell them apart from the outside. Both thought they were fine (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• The sheep didn’t question their classification as sheep. What they questioned was doing it for Jesus (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• The goats said that they did what Jesus said the sheep did, so why aren’t we fine? Bottom line is both the goats and Matthew 7: 21 people thought they were doing the Matthew 25 to-do list. They thought it was the works were enough to make them a good person eligible for Heaven (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• We don’t want to judge people as to whether they have made a genuine profession of faith or not. But we have to encourage fellow disciples to grow closer to Jesus (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• I believe we think Matthew 7: 21 people aren’t goats because they exhibit sheep qualities. But when Judgment Day comes, they will be goats (Are Matthew 7: 21 People Goats).
• We trip over the statement that Satan allows us to have religion, don’t we? We would think he has only two option – we go worldview, or we don’t and follow God. But if – in essence – we are Matthew 7: 21 people, we don’t have a witness or any kind of influence a disciple would have. Satan doesn’t mind if the outward appearance looks like we are disciples as long as our hearts do not follow the same route (Attitudes Needed When We Don’t Know What to Do).
• When we get to Heaven, only true disciples will be there. Goats won’t be there, but neither will the Matthew 7: 21 people. That means there won’t be any delusional sheep there. The family of God will truly be unified and of one accord (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• Remember, the antichrist comes out of the Church. He is going to have his sheep’s costume all pressed and fluffy clean (Keeping Us from Satan).

Satan

• We are kept from the bondage of Satan. Satan is a tyrant. He does everything in his power to keep us separated from God. He does that by enslaving us to sin (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• Satan may be the prince of this world, but he does not have lawful authority over believers. He has violated God’s law and corrupted us to do the same. This takes us away from our intended purpose. We were created to worship God. Only God as our Creator has the right to control us. Unfortunately, mankind abdicated that right to Satan during the original sin (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• God’s Word tells us how we can find freedom. Jesus offers us freedom. We can ABCD.  When we ABCD, we accept the freedom Jesus offers. Jesus paid the ransom for us. He paid the penalty for our sins so that we can break the chains that it has in us and free us from Satan’s tyranny (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).

Heaven

• Our destination is Heaven, which will be endless and perfect (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• What do we expect Heaven to be like? One thing we know is we will have the fullness of joy (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• We aren’t going to understand and know what Heaven is like until we get there. Until then, we have the hope and assurance in God’s Word. We can be as confident as David was when we are men and women after God’s own heart (Keeping Us from Error and Delusion).
• We have to exercise liberty to prepare for eternity. If we don’t, we won’t be prepared for – and won’t get in – Heaven (Keeping Us from the Tyranny of Satan).
• The antichrist may be hard to pick out for a while. A big difference between him and the real Church is he won’t be anointed. The knowledge will only come from the anointing. The anointing is our salvation. It comes from the Holy One – Jesus (Keeping Us from Satan).
• Disciples will no longer be separated from God. We will live with Him for eternity (Keeping Us from Sin).
• We can take great comfort in the knowledge that sin has been defeated. A way has been designed so that we can access the One Who not only has the power to defeat it – but also did do just that (Keeping Us from Sin).

To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.

Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme

Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.

Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life nuggets