Our progressive sanctification is an ever putting off all that belongs to the old man, and putting on all that belongs to the new man in Christ.

The old nature of man in Adam has not evolved better over the last two thousand years. Has the carnal mind with its urges become so good to the Holy Spirit that we no longer need to subject it to the Holy Spirit? Undisciplined self-gratification has never been compatible with strong, vibrant, mature spiritual growth. You cannot be a mature believer and live anyway you choose. You cannot give nature all that it desires without defrauding the grace of God.

Romans chapter seven pictures every Christian’s spiritual battle in progress. Our old nature, though judged and condemned and deposed in the death of Christ is forever revolting against the sentence of death. It struggles daily to regain its lost supremacy.

The believer who is in Christ not only has died with Christ, but is bound to “die daily” with Him so long as he is in the flesh.

The two natures, at present are dwelling together, even though they are at perpetual war with one another. When one is weak the other is strong. When one loses the other conquers.

We are new creatures in Christ whose inward man is “renewed day by day.” The new man from above battles daily with the forces of evil.

The cross and the resurrection of Christ extend their influence and power over the Christian’s life until the day we are presented perfect to our Father in heaven. The development of the Christian toward perfection is always going in two opposite directions. There is the mortifying, suppressing, subjecting the natural man, and the nurturing, renewing and developing the spiritual man who lives within.

In the crucifixion of the old man we make the death of Christ our own. The carnal mind must always be delivered up to death for Christ’s sake. This is our life-long experience.

If we are to become like Christ in our daily practice we must subdue our sinful desires, behaviors and bring them under the influence of the cross.

Our sanctification is prolonged and perpetuated in our daily experiences.

We are to have the same mind of Christ. We have been judged in the person of Christ knowing that He bore our sins in His death, follow on in the path of the cross judging and mortifying all that we find in our lives contrary to Christ. Anything that is opposed to Christ in our lives must die. We must deny and die to the expression of the old life as we knew it before we become Christians. We must refuse the indulgence of the old man.

The Holy Spirit is always bringing us to the surrender of self in all its forms to the will of God.

Our Savior’s suffering is never more beautiful than when reproduced in our daily lives as we die to self, fleshly desires and unholy ambition.

However, no amount of self-denial of the old nature will make us holier, unless we are brought at the same time into a deeper intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. As we abide in Christ we walk as Christ walked.

Daily communion with Jesus is a certain way of overcoming sin in our lives. Our growth in grace and knowledge of Christ can never fail to promote the subjection of nature. Our natural man cannot endure the burning heat of the unclouded presence of Christ.

May our steady gaze upon Christ blind our hearts to the desires of the unregenerate life-style.

Oh, blessed day when the battle is over and we cease from our putting off and putting on and we are presented spotless in Christ “when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortal.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:6-8 (NIV) 

Our sweet spot is that place where our greatest passions and our talents or abilities intersect.

Living in the sweet spot means having courage to follow our dreams, take risks and work harder than we ever thought to accomplish our goals.

Don’t let the fear of falling short deter you from trying. You will make mistakes. You will mess up. You may have to admit defeat. Keep going. Use them as opportunities to discover what doesn’t work, but always persevere.

We are involved in something that will still be worthwhile a million years from now because God has not revoked the great commission.

Today the kingdom of God is realized as we proclaim the crucified, risen, and returning Lord Jesus Christ.

The gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God that has come in the person and work of Jesus Christ. How do we enter into the kingdom of God? There is only one way. “Repent of your sins and believe on Jesus Christ.” That is the message we preach.

John Ryle once said, “Men are apt to forget that it does not require great open sins to be sinned in order to ruin a soul forever. They have only to give hearing without believing, listening without repenting, going to church without going to Christ, and by and by they will find themselves in hell.”

Every time we share that message we are personally involved in what God is doing in building His eternal kingdom.

We can expect God’s power and sustaining grace to meet all of our necessities as we take the good news to a lost world. Jesus said, “When they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak” (v. 19). Those are instructions for martyrs and Christians under persecution, not preachers getting ready for Sunday morning without doing their homework.  The Holy Spirit gives boldness to testify under all circumstances for Christ. “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (v. 20). Success in personal witnessing is simply sharing Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and then leaving the results up to God.

The Lord is sovereign in His kingdom (vv. 30-33). There is nothing that can happen to His faithful servant who is not fully known to Him. Whatever we experience as His servants is fully known to Him and happens ultimately for our good and His eternal glory. The responsibilities are great for all believers (vv. 34-39).

However, the rewards of being faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ are eternal (vv. 40-42). “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. . . . And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you he shall not lose his reward” (vv. 40, 42).

What is your response to suffering? There is no escape from intense pressures in this life, but it helps when we get God into the picture.

“After you have suffered for a little,” says Peter. The suffering is temporary, in contrast and comparison to the eternal glory that is in store for the believer.

Before God blesses us there come times of trouble, distress, grief and pain. We can rejoice knowing the suffering is for a short time, but out of the suffering comes blessings that cannot be had any other way.

God equips believers for His service through suffering. He strengthens character in the fires of pressure.

“After you have suffered for a little while,” indicates the blessings come only after we submit to the refiner’s fire. We cannot disregard the sufferings.

Who will bless us? “The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ . . .” He is faithful and consistent in the way He treats us. He is the “God of all grace.” Everything He does will be consistent with His eternal glory. Whatever He begins in His grace will lead to His glory. What He begins He will see through to completion. One day He will say, “Come to Me you blood-bought sinners. Come unto My eternal glory.”

We have been called, not just to eternal glory, but God “called you to His eternal glory in Christ.” He called you and me, sinners saved by His manifold grace, to His eternal glory. He called us to that very glory and honor in which the LORD God invests Himself forever. Yes, we who have “sinned and come short of the glory of God” are called into His holy presence dressed in His robes of righteousness.

The promise is “in Christ,” and to His glory. Everything comes through Christ. He is the atmosphere or climate of the whole Christian life.

He is the God of all grace—quickening grace, pardoning grace, cleansing grace, believing grace, sustaining grace, sovereign grace. The God of all grace, manifold grace, has a storehouse that never runs out. It is infinite, boundless, limitless, amazing grace.

Out of that constant supply of saving and sanctifying grace God does a marvelous work in us. His goal is to “perfect” us. The word for “perfect” in the original means to equip, to adjust, and to fit together, “to put into order, to mend, to make whole.” It is also used for mending of torn fishing nets, and the “setting a broken bone.” Everything that happens in our Christian life is used to conform us to Christ. Whatever God has begun He will complete in the day of Christ. God will make us just like Christ. Shall God fail in His eternal purpose? Never. And He will not in your life or mine.

You cannot be perfected except by the refiner’s fire. God uses the rod to chastise His children. Nothing but the rod will remove the foolishness in our lives. The Holy Spirit uses these fires to remove every corruption within. How is God restoring your broken nets, and setting your brokenness?

God uses stress to set up, fix firmly, to establish and strengthen the believer. “Confirm,” or “establishment” is to make solid like granite. God tempers us in the hot fires of suffering. Sufferings make us steadfast. It secures and stabilizes us and makes us mature believers. Suffering has a way of focusing our eyes on Christ, and off of ourselves. Pressures in our lives force us to rest upon the Rock of Ages. Our hope is fixed upon His blood and His righteousness. We cannot be established on the solid foundation without suffering.

Peter also prays that the suffering will produce a solid foundation for spiritual growth. Suffering also strengthens us spiritually. We gain new strength by wrapping ourselves around the Lord. He gives us strength to bear up under incredible suffering. When we depend upon God’s grace our suffering will glorify God. The Christian learns to face life with the sense that God is all he really need. Watch the Christian who has God with him.

Moreover, God strengthens His people as they undergo suffering. He gives us grace and power in time of need. As we submit to Him, He gives us the grace we need for the moment.

How do you pray in the midst of bad times?  How do you approach God when everything seems to you to be going from bad to worse?  What is your attitude when God answers, but not in the manner in which you asked?  What is your response when to your perspective God contradicts His own righteousness?

Welcome to Habakkuk, the Hebrew prophet in the seventh century B.C.  God taught him how to trust Him when everything is filled with confusion and perplexities. Where is God?  What is He doing?  Why doesn’t He do something now?  Habakkuk sounds like us when life begins to unravel and fall apart.

Habakkuk teaches us how to pray and trust the LORD God when we don’t have the answers.  Let’s center our thoughts around a phrase P.R.A.Y.E.R.

P – pursue God.

Habakkuk 2:1

R – examine self and confess sin.

The only way we dare approach God is in humility and a plea that He be merciful to us.  We need to ask God to do a new work in us. In Your wrath please remember us with mercy.

A – ffirmation of what God is doing.

The God of history was busy at work.  “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans” (v. 6).  Babylonians!  Yes.  Things are not always as they appear to us.  There is no power in the world that is not ultimately controlled by Him.  Every nation of the earth is under the hand of a sovereign God.  God is over all – even the evil Babylonians!  The events of history are not random accidents; they follow God’s eternal plan (cf. 3:3-15).  The LORD God is the Lord of history.  He is in control of history, and He will continue to accomplish His eternal purpose of redemption for His people.

Y – ield yourself to the LORD God.  Habakkuk did not like what he heard God reveal.  “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?” (Habakkuk 1:13, NASB 1995

This is where the prophet grew in His knowledge of God and understanding of His ways with men.  What is God teaching me that needs to be corrected?  Let us learn to judge everything in the light of His eternal purpose.  “The righteous will live by his faith” (2:4).  God is still the eternal God, and nothing catches Him by surprise.  Nothing can separate us from His love.  It is in those moments we must reaffirm that conviction and yield to His sovereignty.

E – xpect God to answer according to His will.  “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14, NASB 1995

In time God will answer according to His eternal purposes.  God controls history.  The Babylonians did not rise up on their own.  God raised them up to accomplish His purposes in the history of Israel.  They were the tool in God’s hand for correction and purification of His people.  Look for God’s answer in His Word.  God will answer your prayers, and you will be able to stand back in awe and say, “I saw God do it.” 

 R – ejoice and give thanks to God.  Habakkuk closes with a doxology.  “Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments” (Habakkuk 3:18-19, NASB 1995).

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).

The Psalmist invites us to abide in the Father’s shadow where we see only the face of the Almighty. The veil of the temple was torn in two making it possible for every believer to go into the presence of the LORD God anytime he desires. In deed, as the Psalmist said we can abide in His presence all the time.

The “shelter of the Almighty” implies His holy presence. In the “shadow of the Almighty” we find strength to live a holy life.

Has the Most High become your dwelling presence? The believer finds refuge and a secure place in the strong fortress of Yahweh. The LORD is “My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust” (v. 2). Whoever trusts in the Most High finds security and protection in God’s holy presence.

Elyônsuggests the exaltedness and overwhelming majesty of God, signifying the supremacy of the deity. This divine name reflects the ideas of omnipotence (Ps 18:13; Lam. 3:38), universality (Ps 83:18), and constancy (Ps 21:7). He is the place of protection and shelter for Israel (Ps 9:2; 91:1, 9), and for her king (Ps 21:7). Elyôn

El Shaddai saying, “I am the Almighty God. Obey Me and always do what is right” (Genesis 17:1). The Almighty is all-powerful. As El Shaddai

In addition, the images “shelter” and “the shadow” suggest a secure hiding place from the storms of life. We have a secure refuge in His hiding place. We have safety in the presence of the LORD.

How often we ago looking for security and safety in that which offers only a false security. The LORD God removes our false securities one by one until we trust in Him alone.

Is He your hiding place? Have you learned how to find refuge in trusting in the abiding presence of the most powerful God?

The all-powerful God is our eternal refuge. The Almighty God is our protection.

The “secure place” is in the presence of the Most Holy One in the Most Holy Place, and it is where He covers us with His “wings.” There He guards us and gives us victory over the enemy, answers our prayers, and strengthens us and satisfies our hearts.

The Psalmist in 27:5 said, “In times of trouble He will shelter me; He will keep me safe in His Temple and make me secure on a high rock.” In 32:7, David testified, “You are my hiding place; You will save me from trouble; You do surround me with songs of deliverance.” As we claim the promises in God’s Word we can also declare, “You are my defender and protector; I put my hope in your promise” (19:14). He is our refuge and shelter in a secure hiding place.

Have you learned to hide as a baby chicken does under the mother hen’s wing? The LORD “will cover you with His wings, you will be safe in His care; His faithfulness will protect and defend you” (91:4).

Have you learned to trust in God’s great providence for the believer? It will be amazing in heaven when the Lord pulls us aside and says, “You remember when . . . . I was there. I protected and watched over you during those events.” He is our refuge in time of trouble. He is our refuge, fortress and security.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (KJV).

Have you learned how to abide in the secret place of the Almighty? He teaches us in secret how to abide. The highest privilege we have as Christians is to commune with God. Walking with God is the source of our strength. The intimate walk with Christ involves pulling down every proud obstacle that raises up against the knowledge of God. In our thought life, “we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

The difference between success and failure in the Christian life and service is going into God’s secret place and then coming out from His presence to serve. Jesus set the example for the servants when He spent the whole night in prayer before He called His disciples (Luke 6:12-13).

The shadow of the Almighty is over the saint who dwells in the secret place of the Most High. Encourage your faith in the omnipotence of God. Since God is for you who can possibly be against you? God has the answer for our needs. Insignificant means are sufficient for Him. “The LORD will provide” has been the testimony of faithful believers down through history.

Tucked away in his father’s blessing is an illustration that the blessings of the Lord are greater than anything we can imagine on this earth. One commentator has said, “It is the Old Testament equivalent to John 15:1-17 where Jesus taught His disciples to abide in the vine. Whether the Old or the New Testament, the secret of spiritual fruitfulness is union with the Lord God through Jesus Christ.”

“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall” (Genesis 49:22 NIV).  That is the testimony of the Bible. “The LORD was with Joseph… The LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph… The LORD was with Joseph… The LORD was with him, and whatever he did, that the LORD made to prosper” (Genesis 39: 2, 5, 21).

The LORD God caused Joseph’s vine to “climb over a wall” into Egypt, and God used him there. “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction” (41:52).  “God has made me lord of all Egypt” (45:9).

Joseph was saying, “I saw God do it!”  The LORD God was sovereign in his life, and it was His sovereign grace that delivered and sustained him during those long hard years in Egypt as a Hebrew slave.

If Joseph had been living in our day, he would say without Christ we can do nothing.  However, when we are in union with Him, it is His life that is seen in us; it is His power at work in us, and our works are therefore His works.

Jacob told his son Joseph how he would be a fruitful vine.  It would not be without adversity, trials, and temptations.  Bitter archers who hated him attacked Joseph.  “They shot at him with hostility” (v.23a-24a).  He kept liberally “in an unyielding position.”

Joseph’s own brothers shot their bitter arrows of hatred and envy at him.  “If God loves you, man will hate you; if God honors you, man will dishonor you,” cried Spurgeon.  Joseph’s own brothers shot their bitter and hostile arrows at them conspiring to kill him, threw him in a cistern and sold him unto slavery and was taken to Egypt.  The first archers were the archers of envying in his own home. “When they saw him, they plotted against him to put him to death” (Gen. 37:18). 

The hot arrows of temptation from Potiphar’s lusty wife took aim at Joseph.  When given the opportunity that many a man craves for, Joseph ran for his life shouting, “How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”  (39:9).  It was not just one lustful, passionate advance because “She spoke to Joseph day after day” (v.10). 

Joseph said, “No!”  “He did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her” (v.10).  He fled, and he paid for it by going to prison.

Joseph was maligned in the eyes of his master, and  his character was ruined. Spurgeon said, “It was a marvelous providence that Potiphar did not put Joseph to death.”  This lying person ruined Joseph’s character..

1. H. Spurgeon drew an application saying, “There are no royal roads to heaven – they are paths of trial and trouble; the archers will shoot at you as long as you are on this side the flood.”  Those who are true to God’s Word can expect it, indeed, must expect it.  “Bless be God, they have not said worse things of us than they said of our Master.”

Again, the great old Baptist preacher said, “Do not be in a hurry to set yourselves right.  God will take care of you.  Leave yourselves alone; only be very valiant for the Lord God of Israel, be steadfast in the truth of Jesus and your bow shall abide.”

No one was able to bend Joseph’s bow but he and God.  “His bow abode in strength; it did not snap, it did not stray aside.  His chastity was his bow, and he did not lose that; his faith was his bow, and that did not yield it did or break; his courage was his bow, and that did not fail him; his character and his honesty was his bow, nor did he cast it away.”

What was Joseph’s secret?  How did he bear such fruit of righteousness?

“His bow remained in an unyielding position, and the arms of his hands were agile, from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob” (v.24 using the marginal notes).  The NIV reads, “But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you…” (49:24-25b).

Joseph’s arms “Were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.”  The image is that of the LORD God placing His strong hands upon the hands of Joseph as he draws the string of his bow just as a strong father might steady and guide his son in giving an archery lesson.

Who steadies your hand?  Who gives you inner strength?  Joseph’s “bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5b).  The secret of Joseph’s strength is divine strength.  And if you and I ever accomplish anything to God’s glory, it will be in and by and through abiding in Jesus Christ.

What do you do when the pressures of daily life assail and assault you?

Since the LORD God has saved you by His grace from beginning to end, why should you tremble before the lesser dangers of this life?

King David tells of an experience how he was able to lie down and sleep in the midst of a sudden danger occasioned by his son Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15-16).

“I lie down and sleep; I awake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side” (Psalm 3:5-6).

David went to sleep trusting God with one of the greatest threats to his life. God was a shield around David as he slept trusting God with his life.

1. H. Spurgeon said, “It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God.” Those are the most crushing moments in our lives. We feel as if the very floor has been pulled out from us, and someone has greased the rope we were holding on to desperately.

King David in the first stanza gave expression to the great crisis he was experiencing. He acknowledged and deeply experienced the deep anxious feelings. His enemies have risen up against him. “O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me? Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him’” (vv. 1-2).

Think about it. Sometimes we, too, feel like our enemies are giants much larger than life, and we are mere ants ready to be crushed. We seem overwhelmed when we take inventory of our lives.

David was fleeing from his son Absalom. Are you fleeing the presence of a son, daughter, or spouse who has turned their lives against everything you believe in and are committed to in life? Perhaps you face an uphill battle in pursuing the God-given goals in your life. You may feel like the cutthroat environment where you work is an open warfare. Instead of swords, knives and bullets they are swords of lying gossip, rumors, deceit, misrepresentation, etc. As you go to work you are dreading the living hell in the jungle at the office. There is always that animal that is pushing buttons trying to find your vulnerable spot. The enemies of the gospel are saying, “God will not deliver you.” Who hasn’t felt the assault of the enemy?

The second stanza tells us how David gained the victory. He put his confidence in the LORD God. There is no other way to explain the change. He takes his mind off his enemies and focuses his attention on the only one who can deliver him.

“But You are a shield around me, O LORD, You bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the LORD I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill. Selah” (vv. 3-4).

Like a great crescendo of orchestra music the psalmist says, “Pause. Just think about it.” We often respond with “Praise the Lord!”

Faith says, “I have committed my soul to the LORD God in His matchless grace in Jesus Christ. Since He has saved me by His grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, He is quite capable as my sovereign God to take care of this frightful matter at hand. This personal ordeal I am presently facing is small in comparison to what God has done to save my soul. I can trust this to Him and rest.”

When we gaze at the problems we face and see our weakness it all seems impossible. However, when we bring God into the picture we see Him in His true great stature as the eternal sovereign one. Our mountains become foothills. Our giants become ants. Our fears become occasions to see the great hand of God in our lives.

David cried out to God for help, knowing that God heard Him. He leaned upon the LORD saying, “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side” (vv. 5-6).

Are you willing to say? “Lord, I hand this matter over to You. You are bigger than this problem can ever become. Nothing gets out of hand with You.”

David prayed, “Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! . . . From the LORD comes deliverance.” And like David, you can go to sleep knowing the LORD will deliver you.