Well said. It's my hope there are still people out there with an open mind and a willingness to go against the grain of tradition.

Understand Faith without works is dead in book of James

Read Entire chapter of James 1-3.

Morning Guys.

We all know that Salvation is made possible and available because of what God did. Not because of what we did. The Cross where Christ died and was resurrected made it happened. I want this to be established in your understanding of doctrine. The Lord imputes righteousness when we believe in Christ. Why? Because.................It is no small feat to believe in a God you cannot see with your natural eyes. Some of you may think it is easy to just believe, but wait till you face Harsh and Critical difficulty of life that will really test your faith, see if you think it's just that easy to continue to believe in God. I can testify it is not.

So do not think mental assent is to be ridiculed, it is of equally paramount importance. it has it's place.

YET what about Faith without works is dead scripture verse? Is it really talking about the much need works to merit and to satisfy the opinion of people or God to Salvation? That Salvation requires works as evidence? Because unless we can establish the right foundation of your Salvation, your faith will always be on shaky ground. I want you to have unshakable ground of faith so that no people or devil can disrupt your walk with God especially when you pray.

Today we will study this to understand and to correctly divide what is what.


Ephesians 2:8-10 says in the NIV: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I'm quoting the whole verse so that no one can misconstrue this verse. It is very very clear from verse 8 to 9, Salvation is a gift. If you can earn something by your effort, it is no longer call a gift but something that is obliged. The important key phrase here that disqualify any kind of inclination that works is required for salvation in the phrase "and this is not from yourselves". And even in verse 9, it is reinforced by the phrase not by works. Sometime I wonder if people can read that. There is nothing obscure in these 2 phrases. Very clear..not of ourselves (meaning nothing we can do in performance) not by works basically disqualify any kind of works. The word works in the Greek is "ergon which means; work, task, employment; a deed, action; that which is wrought or made, a work. Do you see the meaning "action" there? It is the same word use in the book of James chapter 2. The very same word and meaning. With that being said....the works that is mentioned in book James cannot qualify you to heaven. To disagree with this is to throw out what Ephesians 2:8-9 just said. This must be firmly established.

What about verse 10 on God's handiwork, that we are created to do good works? Shouldn't this testify to Faith without works is dead also?

Before I get to that; understand this correctly. God paid a dear price..a very dear price which no one can put value to it. The value of the blood of Christ is extremely too high. The effort of your works do not even come close. To think that it matches or need in justification to Salvation together with Christ is to put your works value on the same level with what Jesus did at the cross. That to me is vanity self righteousness which stink and God calls it Filthy Rags. (Isaiah 64:6) Either Salvation is a gift or it is not, there is no 2 way about it.

So what about the verse on God's handiwork and Faith without works is dead? Aren't they mutually exclusive? Aren't they 2 side of the same coin?

Answer is: Yes they are. Then how do you separate justification to Salvation? There is a difference.

1st of all understand the meaning God's handiwork....who is doing the handiwork? You or God? God's handiwork means God is the one who is doing the work in you. Without God, you can try and do all the work you want yourself, anything that is not born of God has no eternal value. It is as good as decay and death, they are fallen like this current world. So the question to ask is; can you demand from God to have works? Can you pay to God for works? Think about it. How do you get it? Is it by Grace? I hope you are beginning to see the picture and the blinding scales are starting to fall off! Answer is Yes. When it comes to God, there is no way you will be able to merit or earn for anything, God would not have, it is by his love and free grace, God is a good God.

Being God's handiwork to do good works.......the power "originate" in Christ. Where do I get this?

Philippians 2:13 (NIV) - for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Nothing can be further from this truth. If you are still not convinced then 1 more verse;

John 15:5 (NIV) - "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

What about Faith without works is dead? If you have read the entire chapter of James 1-3, no where do you find any phrases that tells you those works are required for Salvation. None of it. What about James 2:14 (NIV) - What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?

You may say...see? The word Save is there. Dear friends...the word save there is the word "sózó" in the Greek which means; I save, heal, preserve, rescue. It the same word used when God delivers his people from predicaments. Then look at the examples given in the book of James. They all talk about providing assistance to the people in need, provide cloths, food, ... nothing talks about Salvation.

Then what about Abraham sacrificing Issac or Rahab, helping the spies? What has those got to do with Salvation? If you think about, killing or lying for that matter are nothing virtuous but sin. They are not something to look up to. So what is the point the book of James is trying to make then?

Well, it is simply this. When you believe in God, Act like it. <---That is the Gist or essence of what James is trying to say. For example when you pray believing for a deliverance or answer, act like it. Or that when you wish someone well, don't just say it, provide if you can. Don't profess your faith in one instance then act contradictory in the next instance.

One last question. What about people who profess mental assent faith but don't want to repent or change or work? My answer is this: I'm not here to judge you but to just affirm that there is a nature built into your flesh that is Anti-God.

Romans 8:7 tells us; The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

For you to be set free, come to Christ and just pray, submit and acknowledge you have this weakness and you cannot obey. Use the mental assent that you have as the door for God to come in and work in you. Hold tenaciously to it believing. In time it will happen BECAUSE God is faithful, what He promise, He will do!

God Bless.

Actually what you wrote is similar to the Catholic teaching of a soul doing good works in the state of sanctifying grace. If a soul is in a state of sin, no amount of works however good it may look in the eyes of the world is worthy before God. However, God can and does provide actual grace out of his own goodness even for such actions, those actual graces are not saving grace, but they are aids He sends people to dispose them towards repentance/penance and back to sanctifying grace. This is why people in mortal sin, even though, they cannot atone for their sins through good works, must continue to pray and perform good works because this disposes the soul to receiving God’s help as He tries to guide you back to Him.

Let me use the analogy of a doctor, since some anti-Catholics here like to use the doctors as an example

=> A sick person cannot be healed if he refuse to take the medicine and exercises prescribed by the doctor. He can't just wait on the bed and say "Doctor, please heal me, but I don't want to take your medicine!"

The people back in Jesus days, the prostitute, tax collectors, etc were still in their state of sin...yet all could receive healing, deliverance, grace, etc from Jesus Christ. ALL of them.

No qualification, nothing to tell they were pious in their prayers or good works.

Whereas the teachers of the law, the one who are supposedly praying a lot, meticulous in their works to the law... could not.

Something to digest and ponder.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 7 2019, 02:35 PM

Nothing to disagree here. The people back in Jesus' days that received healing, deliverance, grace, asked Jesus to heal them, regardless of their state of sin. After deliverance and forgiving their sins, what did He say? "Go and sin no more".

Well the point is, they all could receive from God "while" in their state of sin.

That is something the church today need to teach.

Are we teaching people to continue to sin that Grace may abound? No.

I'm just saying believers who don't have it altogether, Christians who may fall here and there are still close with God.

I think there was some kind of teaching in the past when a Christian fall from grace or have sin, God has hidden his face and does not answer. Or that they must repent first before God is please to answer or as you have said they must pray and do good works to obtain favor from God.

That would have been true prior to the coming of Christ under the Old Testament Covenant. But not today. These people during Christ time all receive before they repented, BEFORE they were even close to God. Prostitutes are not religious people mind you. It was true back then, it is still true today. How is this possible? Because this is the Age of the Gospel of the Grace of God. (I'm adamant that people in here still do not understand what God's Grace is really about)


Acts 20:24 (KJV) - But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Grace of God or Unmerited Favour/Goodness of God = The Gospel!


PS: for those who don't know. Gospel means Good News.
PS2: Am I glorifying the state of sin? No. I'm opening a flood gate of opportunity for sinners to come home back to Father God. A Wonderful Good God.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 7 2019, 03:36 PM

Well the point is, they all could receive from God "while" in their state of sin. => That's why for Catholics (and Eastern Christians), there are the sacraments of confession & baptism. Both we call the sacraments of the "dead", meaning it can be received by those whose souls are not in the state of grace.

OK, here's where we disagree. You say Christian who may fall here and there are still close with God. Disagree! Sin is offensive to God. There are different degrees of sin of course as per I John 5:16-18. If we sin mortally, we are cut off from the Body of Christ and are no longer in union with God.

This post has been edited by yeeck: Nov 7 2019, 04:00 PM

Your Righteousness is in Heaven, you cannot lose it

Jeremiah 23:6 (KJV) - In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Morning Guys,

In the Old Testament, when a sinner goes to a High Priest for sin atonement, did you know, the High Priest does not examine the sinner? It's obvious he is defiled or have sin, what is the point of examining that? So....what or who does the High Priest examine? Well, he examine the sin sacrifice animal whether it has blemishes. The animal sacrifice needs to be free from blemishes or defect in order to be accepted by God.

The Bible tells us, What happened in the Old Testament, the way people atone for the sins is a shadow copy of the reality in Heaven. (Hebrews 8:5). Meaning to say, how the way sin was atoned for, today the basic principle is the same but only better. What do I mean on the shadow copy?

Today, when a sinner comes to God, (Likewise) God does not examine the sinner but examine the lamb for atonement and likewise the lamb MUST be free from blemish. Who is the Lamb that was sacrifice for our sins today? His wonderful name is Jesus Christ.

That is precisely why the sacrifice is "WELL" accepted. If God were to examine you, NO WAY. Before the day is even over, you will never accepted and sin will never be atoned for.

With that being said, we need to understand there is nothing in us whether by deed or words that can ever be accepted by God as justification to righteousness or holiness. I need you to understand this because today's devotion is about righteousness.

Jeremiah 23:6, it says there The Name that God will be known for is The Lord our righteousness. We need to understand this righteousness is not based on our words or deeds....it can never. It is based on God's Righteousness. And Yet God credit his righteousness to us.

In Matthew 6, the word tells us to Seek First the Kingdom of God and...????? Your Righteousness? No...HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. There is an erroneous teaching that teaches seeking Jesus Righteousness means we do right in our character and deed. The erroneous teaching even went to the Armour of God on the breastplate of righteousness. No, that is not what it means.

Seeking His (Christ) righteousness means, you seek to established that God has made you righteous by Faith and that righteousness is a gift to you from God, not from your deed or words. You need to cast out every inclination to think your character behavior is the link to this righteousness. It will never be and can never be..ALL Good things given comes from God.

When you begin to understand that Jesus Christ IS our righteousness. You can never lose it as long as you still have Christ as your Savior and God. Why? Because God always examine the sacrifice lamb without blemish! Always REMEMBER that. Burn that Solid Truth into your heart, mind and soul so that you cannot be easily shaken. Be ready, after reading this, the devil will try everything to confuse you on this, there will be people whom the devil will use to make you forget this.

Still not convinced?

I give you scripture verse;

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NIV) - It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Do you see it? Christ Jesus = our righteousness, holiness and redemption. These 3 matters....Righteousness, Holiness and redemption is Christ's and when you have Christ, you are given automatically all these FREELY by Grace. You cannot earn or merit this by your words or deeds.

Dear Friends....be at rest to know your Right Standing is seated at the Father's Right Hand today in Heaven. Because Jesus is the solid foundation of righteousness, by Faith believe what God has given you is sure and secured!

God Bless.

Why most of the times I feel distanced from God? We keep praying to be obedience and all but really, how do I know what God wants me to do?

Could be 2 things.

1. Your wrong idea about God, maybe you think God is out to get you, trying to condemn you by your wrongs.
2. attack of your spiritual enemy, they're always 24/7 trying to distance you from God, planting thoughts like No. 1

Nope. I dont have any thoughts like that. I know God loves me and He's a forgiving God. But its just when I pray, I dont seem to hear what He wants to tell me. We pray to understand God will but how?

How do you do accounting of yourself?

Romans 6:11 (NIV) - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Morning Guys.

Today we're going to continue in the series why God doesn't look to you to judge but to the lamb sacrifice as how I've explained in the previous devotion.
Today's scripture verse is as above and the word "count" in the Greek is the word " logizomai" which means: I reckon, count, charge with; reason, decide, conclude; think, suppose.

It is an accounting word, like how accountants do financial accounting. To charge one self or to consider one self, it is strong emphasize. Why? Because this will firmly establish you, deeply rooted to know how God got you covered.

Many people interpret the verse above as being dead in terms of behavior. However that is not what it says. The beginning of this verse says "In the same way". Meaning if you look to verse 10, the verse before 11, it says; The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.

So it bears to scripture reasoning, the phrase "In the same way" must be accounted to what verse 10 is saying. How and why did Christ died to sin? Did Christ died to sin because of "behavior"? The Bible says Jesus did no sin, He know no sin and in Him there is no sin. Are you beginning to see this revelation?

If verse 11 is not talking about being dead to sin in terms of behavior because Jesus didn't die that way, then we need to understand how did Jesus die to sin. Jesus died to the imputation of sin judgement and this death He died, He died bearing on all of us.

In simple layman term, count yourselves dead to the judgement and imputation of sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus! Don't condemn yourself anymore but begin to see and understand and accept Christ punishment to sin is final and no more. Account yourself DEAD to the imputation of sin, sin is no more imputed to you.

But what if I sin again or fall again in the near future? That is why I've shared with you in previous devotion, when you bring yourself before God, is God going to look at you or Christ for justification and judgement? If it's you, NO WAY, you're ever going to pass the High Requirement of God's holiness. NO way, as I've said, before the hour is done, you don't even come close. In the OT, the High Priest does not examine the sinner for blemish but the sacrificial animal for blemish. Always remember that.

Still not convinced? 1 More scripture verse.

Colossians 3:3 (NIV) - For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

There is absolutely nothing obscure on this verse, it says there we died. The context here means that God no longer looks at us. Problem with many of us, we tend resurrect our own self to be justified, disobeying Colossians 3:3.

What about behavior of dead to sin? Well you MUST and it's critical importance to first establish the death of imputation to sin FIRST before handling on the subject of death to sinful behavior. Many of us try to do this without taking account of Colossians 3:3 and the scripture verse of today as above. That is why and this is where we have missed it.

Once again dear friend, your old you is no more but dead. So will you still consider yourself alive or dead to the imputation of sin? This will either spearhead your walk with God to greater heights or if you reject this, you will always remain on shaky ground.

May the Lord bless you with wisdom and revelation on this, God Bless.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 9 2019, 10:43 AM

Oh ok cool.....

To hear from God, one of the thing we can learn to do is to be at peace.

To be at peace with God. We can know that God will forgive but have you forgiven yourself? You need to be convinced that you cannot carry the guilt burden...whatever it maybe, you got to give to Christ.

We hear God the loudest when we are at peace with God, with ourselves, with others.

Maybe you want to try to meditate on this verse:


John 14:1 (NIV) - Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 9 2019, 12:09 PM

prelude23 updated on my response above.

Thank you. I understand have to be peace with this but sometimes, its really hard. I hope there's a formula for me to follow but its just hard. Its just difficult at this moment.

Studying the Scriptures is the only way to understand God's will especially the Gospel. It is not as hard as you have made it out to be but you would have to give yourself time in getting to know our Lord. Patience.

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Nov 10 2019, 01:21 PM

Today's sermon was taken from Psalm 51. It personally touched me deeply for the situation that I am in right now.

Psalm 51 was a prayer by David, a man who is after God's heart, but fell in the temptation of lust. He then tried to cover his track by murder and hardened his heart from God. I think we all know this story.

David, a true worshipper, also fell to sinful ways what more to say me. It also shows God's grace in forgiving those who sin against him provided we are willing to repent and seek Him again. This really offers a lot of comfort to me but often times, it is we ourselves who can forgive ourselves. Hopefully one day I will find the strength to make peace with the wrongs I did.

Salvation is a person, it's not a thing

Hebrews 5:9 (NIV) - and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

Good day dear friends.

We use to think when God gives us Salvation it is a "something". No Friends..Salvation is not a thing, it is not a subject, it is a person. On a site note, do you also know that Grace is not a subject but the person of Christ? Well that is another devotion which I've shared in the past.

Hebrews 5:9 tells us in the NIV translation Jesus become the "source" of eternal salvation. in the Greek it is the word "aitios " which means in the context of this verse..the cause, author.

This tells us Jesus IS Salvation itself. That is why it is so important for us to understand what is the revelation here?

Jesus says,

John 6:37 (NIV) - All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

This verse does not say those who come to Him have been living righteous or have flaws. it just say those who comes to Christ. Many of us come to God when we are ok and when we have fallen. God is all encompassing, He does not drive you away when you have failed.

So if you come to God in your flaws and God promise to never drive you away, what does that tell you? I'm here to tell you dear friend even when you have fallen in Sin, you are still close to God. John 6:37 assures us, it is God's own promise after all.

But what about Scripture verse that tells us in the OT, God has hidden his face from those have sin? Well if you understand timeline, those in the OT are people prior to Christ hence it stands to scripture reasoning they are people who do not have the dispensation of grace as we do today. And the phrase here " All those the father give me..." is not referring to predestination. It just referring to people who come to accepted Christ as their Savior and Lord. So don't feel intimidated by this verse.

Still not convinced? 1 more verse. Well..3 to be exact

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

If God is not counting the world's sin against them what more for those of us who have receive Him but have failures and weaknesses?

Is God contradicting himself? Why in the OT, God can say He has hidden his face but in the NT, He is not counting Man's trespasses which is just another word for sin. No He is not. Why?

Because Salvation is the person of Christ, There is the cross where He died and rose again conquering death and sin. There is a righteous outlet for God to be graceful and merciful to you, This has been made available to you today.

I don't know where you are in your journey of life but it is still not too late for Salvation. I pray that you will return to God as you are.

God Bless

Knowing God

John 10:14 (NIV) - I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me

Hallo everybody. Good day to you. Today we are going to understand more or less on what God say "Not everyone who calls me Lord Lord" Though it's not the main devotion title but it has everything to do with knowing God. We don't want God to say to us " I don't know you" right? Because in God rejecting the person, He says, I don't know you or I don't know where you are from. Either way God is saying He didn't know the person.

Now it's important to note, doesn't mean God doesn't know anything about the person. He is omniscience after all, God knows everything, nothing is hidden from Him, else He cannot judge. So basically when God says 'I don't know you" what he means is that; the person rejected God, having no relationship. If a believer has been in a relationship with God before but has backslide, can God ever say God didn't know the person? It would have been true for God to say I knew you but you have slipped rather than I do not know you, which would not be true.. right? Something for you to ponder.

We need to understand God does not lie and always say something that is true. In Fact all his words are truth.

Notice that relationship with God is a 2 way channel? In today's main text, Jesus says in John 10:14...I know my sheep and my sheep know me. God knows you. And you know God. 2 way. What this means is that God wants participation and not Him alone in this relationship. We don't do this in order to be saved. We do this because we are saved. That is the fundamental doctrine of the new covenant.

Question to ask is, how do you know God? Make no mistake, God already knew everything about us, this is not about God discovering us but for us to know Him.

for us, it takes time to know God, just like it takes time to know a person....to know what the person is like. And God is not a mystery to know what He is like. What He likes and don't has already been recorded in the Bible. To really know God, get to know what he says, particularly understand everything under the light of the New Covenant.

Jesus says in Luke 6:46; "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I think it's imperative to understand God knows what He is doing. God knows what He is saying. It would be vanity to think that we don't need to listen to everything God says because there are some things we know better than God. That is not only vanity but also really naive IMO.

2 Timothy 2:19 Tell us; Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."

As Christians we need to agree with God sin is wrong. Sin is just destructive and wicked. Have this one important understanding as Christians. Your end objective Home is Heaven. If you're not used to living God's way now, how are you going to get use to it when you passed on from this life? you will feel out of place. There are no wickedness in Heaven. It is a place of pure peace, pure goodness, pure righteousness, a place so pure, there are no hospitals, no law firms, no funeral companies, No politics...you get the idea.

So how do you get to know God? Well, the answer is; the best way and the fastest way to know God is to do what He says. Just obey his word. The more you are active pursuing God, the faster you will know Him. Now there is a disclaimer to make here. There will always be a mystery part of God that we will never understand completely, which is the grandeur of his sovereign plan and of Himself being God. It is not important.

What is important is doing what God ask of us. When God says in Luke 6 for example:

Luke 6:37 - Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

The faster we do this, the faster we get to know God. Is there anyone you are holding unforgiveness towards? Is there anyone you are still condemning? Perhaps it's time to let go and forgive. When we are cleared of all heavy burdens, you will clearly see and know God.

I pray today's devotion will speak to you. God Bless

Proverbs 21:30-31

30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan

that can succeed against the Lord.

31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle,

but victory rests with the Lord.