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Lose Your Religion in 2011
This may seem like a strange resolution to you at first, but you may not understand the true meaning of the word 'religion'. The English word is taken from the Latin word relgio, originally meaning 'obligation' or 'bond.' It was probably derived from the verb religare, which means to 'tie tight.' (Taken from The Dictionary of Word Origins, by John Ayto.)
The origin of the word 'religion' explains its problem. Religion ties people up tight, obligating them to a particular set of standards and behavior. In time the word became associated with the obligation men had toward ancient gods.
Authentic Christianity is different from religion in many ways. In modern terminology, the word denotes the idea of performing certain actions with the goal in mind of gaining divine favor. Religion is a greenhouse for legalism because it focuses on duty and performance. It puts the duty on man to reach God by his actions. It puts a bond on people, consequently leaving them in bondage.
God's actions are sufficient
Authentic Christianity is grounded in the Gospel. The word 'gospel' means 'good news.' What is the good news? It's that we don't have to try to reach God by our actions anymore, but that it is God's actions that unite us to Him. It's the good news that God has reached down to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It's the good news that the cross and empty tomb were sufficient to cause God to tear up the score card on your life and to call the game over — with you as a winner.
All we need is to trust in the finished work of Christ. That's it — nothing else. The disciples once asked Jesus, 'What should we do that we might work the works of God?' The answer Jesus gave sounds strange to religious ears. He said, 'This is the work of God — that you believe on Him who He has sent' (John 6:28-29). Believe — that's it.
Do you need to lose your religion?
Religion will tie you down. Jesus Christ will set you free. Religion will obligate you to work for God, but Jesus will liberate you to serve because of love. Religion will leave you exhausted. Jesus will invigorate your spirit with divine life continously.
Do you need to lose your religion? You'll find yourself much better off when you find your life in Christ. Go ahead, do it. Say good-bye to the bondage of being tied up by religious duty and fall into the arms of Jesus Christ. You won't be sorry and 2011 will be a much happier one! Happy Religous Free New Year!
Andy Wall
So You Have Been Told To Stop Muttering, But God Wants You To Start Muttering
Because Success and Prosperity Follow It
I recently came across a powerful revelation that has become a real blessing to me, and I pray it does for you too!
Psalms 1: 1-3
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The word meditate is the key word I want to bring to your attention. It is not to go into a trance, nor enter into a higher state of being, or even to just think over. The Hebrew literally translated means to mutter (to talk under your own breath, to speak the word to yourself).
When things aren't going right, mutter the word of God to yourself; when you are strapped financially, mutter the answer, "My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory"; or when you are feeling ill, "By His stripes I am healed"; or when you are feeling unworthy, "I am the righteousness of God because of the blood of Jesus and not my own effort". Grace!
Joshua 1: 8
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
There we go again; same Hebrew word for meditate = Mutter. As you mutter to yourself the blessings and promises of God, you will find God will talk with you and a revelation of that truth will be conceived. Once you have that revelation, you can then confess it out of belief and not hope, and that is true faith confession.
So start muttering and never stop. Even if you have been told not to mutter, start!
Andy Wall
God Doesn't Count Your Sins Against You - But He Counts You Righteous
You are blessed today because all your sins are forgiven in Christ. God does not count your sins against you. Instead, He counts you righteous in Christ. That is why you are the blessed man to whom the Lord does not and will not impute sin!
What happens to such a man? The Bible is full of GRACE! Let's look at the story of Jacob to find out.
The Bible records how Jacob had deceived his father and cheated his elder brother Esau of his firstborn blessing (Genesis 27:1-41). Yet, in spite of his sin of deception, God chose to speak to Jacob. And no, God did not say to him, "You cheat, you terrible sinner! How can you deceive your own father? You are cursed!"
No, to deceitful Jacob, God said, "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants... Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you" (Genesis 28:13-15). Here was a man to whom God did not impute sin!
God did not rebuke Jacob at all. Instead, we hear Him telling Jacob, "I will give to you... I am with you... I will keep you... I will bring you back... I will not leave you...." Jacob certainly did not deserve these blessings. This is one man who walked in the truth of Romans 4:8 — "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin"! Now, I am not encouraging you to sin, I repeat, "I'm not saying its OK to sin; you will always reap what you sow; remember that Jacob got cheated on as well, when he chose a wife. But I want you to see the LOVE and GRACE of God toward us.
If Jacob was so blessed, how much more you and I today, who are under the new covenant of grace established by the blood of Jesus. How much more is our blessedness because Jesus has removed all our sins at the cross!
Beloved, because of Jesus' finished work, God does not impute sin to you. What He does impute to you is righteousness apart from works. (Romans 4:6) And because you are righteous, get ready for His blessings (Proverbs 10:6)!
Andy Wall
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Andy Wall is Senior Pastor of Grace International Church.
Grace Missions • A Ministry of Grace International Church
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Grace: God's Unearned, Unmerited Favour — Nothing More, Nothing Less