1 Peter 3:15 - King James Version
15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"
"Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a living presence." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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BUT GOD. . .
These two significant and powerful words impart to us a greater understanding of the profound nature of God as well as his concern for us. Just two little words, words that change EVERYTHING!
When we leave God out of our thinking and planning, we can rest assured that we will run into difficulty. Temptation will win the victory over us, sin will seduce us, self will sway us, and the world around us will warp and twist our thinking, our ability to discern, our choices, our actions and our lives. We will daily be faced with seeming impossibilities, and these will irritate us, wear on us, and defeat us.
Unbelief will undermine our faith and we will find ourselves slipping. Our stewardship for Christ will become a worry instead of a joy. When we leave God out of our daily living, fear creeps in; fear brings torment, and “he that feareth hath not been made perfect in love.” OBG
BUT GOD…
When our eye is singled on God, when we recognize Him as THE One who undertakes for us, THE One who is our life, in whom we live and move and have our being, it is then that we find that we are His workmanship and that Christ is our life. When we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, when we are in the yoke with Him, He carries the burden…Our yoke becomes easy and our burden becomes light. It is in this right Spiritual position that all things become possible.
There are many scriptures that speak of the wonderful ability of God. Oh when all seems hopeless, put your faith in God, for all things are possible to them who are in Christ Jesus.
“…Who can forgive sins BUT GOD only?” Mark 2:7
It is an awesome wonder indeed that we who deserve eternal punishment can receive such a gift of forgiveness, of mercy, of grace and of Love. Only because of Calvary, only because of the blood of Jesus, only because of His willingness to take our place, can God forgive our sins. Yes! We deserve hell:
“BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved; And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” Eph. 2:4-6
God is the giver of life both physical and spiritual. We not only receive life FROM Christ, we also have life IN Christ. (Romans 8:1, 2) Not only have received life From Christ and have life IN Christ, but Christ IS our life. Col. 3:4; Galatians 2:20)
Acts 7:9
“And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: BUT GOD delivered him.”
Luke 16:15
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; BUT GOD knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
1 Cor. 12:24
“For our comely parts have no need: BUT GOD hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.”
Psalm 49:14-15
“Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. BUT GOD will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.”
Acts 13:29-30
“And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. BUT GOD raised him from the dead”
Romans 5:7-8
“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. BUT GOD commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 Corinthians 10:13
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: BUT GOD is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Psalm 73:26
“My flesh and my heart faileth: BUT GOD is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
We are MORE than conquerors through Him! The time may come in the life of a believer when it seems that all hope is gone. It may seem that we are beaten and defeated – BUT GOD!
Romans 8:31-39
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Dear Reader, if you ever come to the place where you say to yourself, “What’s the use? I give up!” Remember this: BUT GOD!
When we realize that God is infinite, and that He is much more concerned about us than we could ever be concerned about ourselves, then all of our difficulties become opportunities to trust Him and all of our heartaches become stepping stones to greater victories.
~~ A.M. Kisly
TRUTH MATTERS
