I don’t know if this is the first time I had a newsletter go this long, or it is just the first time I was having trouble figuring out what to cut.
Either way, this newsletter had a lot in it, so I decided to cut it into two devotions. This first part wasn’t what I was having trouble with anyway.
Main Nugget
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Forming Our Habits to Grow Our Relationship with God
- God is pleased with us when we do His Will. His Will is that we become as He is (Approving Ourselves).
- The Jews in Jesus day did a lot of things a certain way because that was always the way they had done them. Someone had interpreted something one way, and they weren’t about to change anything. But Jesus had come to change things. He wasn’t doing away with things. He was correcting the focus and practice (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- If we are not worshiping God correctly or not following His laws and commandments, God wants us to change. That is what sanctification is all about — changing to be more like God (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- One thing we can never forget is that God’s #1 priority is for our relationship with Him to be restored. He wants to get us back to the Garden of Eden relationship. God wants to have that face-to-face relationship with Him again (The Real Reasons Why We Search the Scriptures).
- God doesn’t want us to remain in sin. Therefore, through His grace, He proclaims His message to us so that we may gain salvation. This is a great gift that God has given us (Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance).
- God doesn’t want us to give in to irresistible urges to behave in a certain way. He doesn’t want us to go against our conscious wishes. God does not want us to act prematurely. He wants us to be diligent (The Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- We cannot be our own gods if we are looking for a definitive religion. If God told us everything He knows, it would be too much for us to handle. Plus, some would start thinking that makes them a god. We’re not. Never going to be (How We Read God’s Word; The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- God doesn’t accept those who have turned away from Him (Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance).
Glossary
Forming Our Habits to Grow Our Maturity
- We are born with a sinful nature. No, we have no choice in the matter. That choice was already made for us. No, it isn’t based on anything we do or don’t do. We are sinful because of the original sin. Included in that is a moral blindness. This isn’t moral blindness that makes us not a good person. It is a moral blindness to God. Satan blinds us. This blindness deflects the pleasures that God wants to give us. God can’t give them to us when we are not walking with Him (How We Search God’s Word to Grow).
- We have to choose to put our opinions aside and accept God’s provision for us. We have to be willing to accept what God is offering us — all of it — His way. That means we have to clear ourselves of preconceived notions and really see what He is saying (How We Read God’s Word).
- Fellowship isn’t just a warm fuzzy because we can attend the company party together or have a fun night at a friend’s house. It is having a relationship with God because we submit to His sovereignty. One thing we should never forget is God calls us to this fellowship. He wants salvation for us. He is the one responsible for the message and the gift it brings. God reveals Himself to us so that we may have fellowship with Him (Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance).
- Once we have salvation, we have eternal grace. When we get it to the heart level, it has to be all of us. Our sacrifice of worship has to be total — mind, body, and soul. Then it manifests itself in our actions (Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance).
- We need to consider what God is calling us to do – how we are to follow Him. Spending time considering how we are going to choose to follow His Will is important (How We Read God’s Word).
- It boils down to have we lived for Christ? Knowledge alone of this isn’t enough. This has to guide us to walk in righteousness with God. Has our character been changed to be like His? Do we have the inward life of Christ? Does our outward life reflect Him as well? (Approving Ourselves; Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian)
- If we say we are God’s children after His own heart, we say we have characteristics that God possesses (The Letter of Religion).
- Don’t many of us want to have the letter of the law? We want to have the checklist of do’s and don’ts. But God doesn’t want that. He wants us to have His character, not just going through actions. God isn’t interesting in the letter of the law. Nor is He interested in us following the spirit of the law. He doesn’t want us ignoring one law because we think another of God’s laws supersedes it (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian).
- However we acknowledge God’s presence, we must do it with a pure heart. We must constantly – habitually – recognize God’s authority in our lives. When we diligently seek to do God’s Will, we accomplish it more times than not. That is because our focus is on God. That makes us consistent. God doesn’t want a divided allegiance. He wants our total focus (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian; The Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion; The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- We think it is our actions that separate us from the world. It isn’t. It is getting our relationship with God to the heart level that separates us. Believing in Jesus is the start. God does the rest. There can be no question that we are from God when we get our relationship to the heart level (The Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- It isn’t the actions that we do. It is the motivation behind it. Instead of being hypocritical, we need to be genuine in our service to God. We have to do these with the right motivations – glorifying God and desiring to become more like Him (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian; The Letter of Religion).
- We have to be habitual so that our attitude of surrender to God can be nurtured (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian).
- The action we have when we get God’s grace to the heart level is spiritual worship (Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance).
- Our being sinful does not make God more righteous. It definitely does not grow us closer to Him. That being said, God can and does use sin to make things good. God uses trials and sins to help us want to listen to Him (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian).
- We show our faith in God by becoming more like Him. When we say we do have faith and ABCD, we are milk babies. Oh, doesn’t that burn us? We spend much of our childhood wanting to be an adult only to be told — if we are adults at time of conversion — that we are milk babies. That is where sanctification comes in. It helps us to grow to be steak adults (Why Do We Search the Scriptures?; How We Read God’s Word).
- We messed it up with the original sin. We can’t blame it on anyone else but mankind. It was our choice to disobey God. It is our choice to make it right. Making it right is called salvation. How do we get from disobedience to obedience? Enter God’s Word (The Real Reasons Why We Search the Scriptures).
- When we sin, it creates a filthiness within us. That is the opposite of what God wants. God wants us to be pure, as He is. The moral decay caused by sin goes against our new creation status (The Real Reasons Why We Search the Scriptures).
- God is glorified by everything we do now in Jesus’ name. In the end, God will be glorified. Jesus will be glorified. If glorify is to make glorious (possessing or deserving glory) by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration, we do that by becoming more like God – being perfected (How We Search God’s Word to Grow).
Glossary
Forming Our Habits to Grow Our Relationship with Others
- The world does have a different viewpoint than we do. What the world sees as important is not a priority with God. He is more interested in our character and motivation. God judges us based on what He finds in our hearts (The Letter of Religion).
- Worldview people’s knowledge isn’t great enough to realize that God is more interested in our eternal home than our worldly home. Because of that and their skewed understanding of righteousness, they fall short on obedience. When you get right down to it, regardless of their motivations, they are being hypocrites. God sees the motivations behind our actions (The Letter of Religion).
- Worldview people like to see Matthew 6: 4 as justification of being a giving person. And yes, disciples have a duty to give to the needy. I think there is more to it than that. I also think it is more than being an anonymous giver to those in need. What if we flipped this verse, too? When you give to the needy, don’t focus on the outward actions. The giving should be through your inward religion. God, Who knows your heart, will reward you (The Letter of Religion).
- Our goal should not be to impress others. Trying to please others is not what God is wanting for us. He wants us to focus on Him (Approving Ourselves).
- We don’t gain salvation by our works. Doing good works for others, while we are to love them, is a worldview way to take our focus off God and put it on gaining the praise of others (Approving Ourselves).
- We have to make a choice as to who we are going to serve — God or mankind. We should seek God’s approval as we cannot serve God and mankind (Approving Ourselves).
- The world wants a moving target. They want a religion that can stretch to handle everyone’s opinions. Then they want it to evolve when new ones are formulated (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
Inward Religion
- Our relationship with God is a marriage between inward and outward worship. Inward religion shows itself in outward religion. Our acceptance of His Plan of Salvation must be evident in our spiritual worship. The two cannot be separated. Anything less means we are Matthew 7: 21 people (Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance; Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian).
- We have to determine what our motivation for inward religion is. Are we saying we are following God when we are just trying to do the right thing? Or are we following God fully because He is God? (Approving Ourselves).
- When we do reach the heart level, that inward religion manifests itself into an outward show of repentance. Our outward display of repentance shows God that we are genuine in our desire for salvation (Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance).
- S0me believe that the Holy Spirit is our conscience. Not so. Our conscience can be called an inward witness. However, if we turn away from God, this conscience remains in us (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- We all have consciences and moral character. Having a conscience does not make us moral. We are moral because mankind was made in God’s image (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- We have to choose to exhibit that moral character or not. Worldview people have their conscience through which to guide them. Disciples have the Holy Spirit to show us God’s way (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
Glossary
Outward Religion
- We aren’t a true disciple if we don’t walk in righteousness before God. We aren’t if we only have an appearance of godliness and allow sin to reign in our hearts. When we are Matthew 7: 21 people, we lie about our relationship with God. These false disciples love religion but not the One we are created to worship (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian; Eternal Grace Joined with External Performance).
- Having an outward appearance of being a good Christian isn’t going to cut it. Only going through the motions of being a good Christian isn’t going to make the grade, either. We have to let God permeate every part of our being. We must keep God’s law His way (The Letter of Religion).
- We aren’t a true disciple if we think discipleship gives us license to sin. When we think that, we are really unregenerated (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian).
- We have an outward religion when we rely on our own knowledge and understanding. It is outward religion if we are impulsive and spontaneous. (The Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion; The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- The outward religion comes when we worship having moral character – being a good person — as the end goal. We see only our actions as being required by God. Instead, we should have moral character – God’s character – in order to glorify Him. Our conscience is just a tool to encourage us do right and not do wrong (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- We have an outward religion when we cover our bases to ensure that we are worshiping all gods we know – including when we hold onto tradition rather than following God’s way. We have to totally conform to God’s Will. It isn’t just about the ceremony of religion. We have to actively seek God – pray and read, listen, and study His Word (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion; The Letter of Religion).
- Some believe they can worship God in secret. They may know in their hearts that God is Who He says He is, but they don’t reflect this belief in their lives. They are not being godly. They are allowing sin to reign in their lives. We have to confess God. We can’t keep Him in secret (Religion Doesn’t Make a True Christian).
- It is hard to go against the crowd — especially if we are the only one with different convictions. Unfortunately, we don’t always need a crowd to have divided allegiances. We can sometimes be an only Sunday disciple. We must be an everyday disciple (The Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- We will continue to have outward religion if we do not feel like we belong. We have an outward religion when we choose our circumstances over God. We can’t take our focus off God because we think we are experiencing some small run-of-the-mill thing any more than when we are experiencing large trials. It comes down to whether or not we choose to obey God. The choice is always ours (The Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- We don’t get a pass to salvation because our parents believed. Salvation is an individual relationship with God. Can we just accept their religion as our own without really believing? I can see some might do that. They grew up in church, so they always assumed they were good to go. Maybe, maybe not. Each of us has to have a conversion experience. We must consciously choose to turn from our sins and follow Jesus (The Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- God doesn’t call us to keep what we have and add Him into our lives. We are called to place Him on the throne of our hearts (The Rest of the Reasons Why We Have an Outward Religion).
- Worldview people see our outward religion, but they must see our inward religion shining through us (The Letter of Religion).
Glossary
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Devotions in the Outward and Inward Religion study