THE ARMOR OF GOD

Uncategorized
“10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.
 
11 Put on the whole Armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10-11
 
We do not have to get up every morning, stand in the mirror and pretend we are putting on the Armor of God.
 
“And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23
 
However, we do have to get up every morning and deny ourselves; our efforts, will and abilities in order to pick up the blessings afforded us by Jesus Christ at Calvary’s Cross and follow Him. This is a daily experience for those who are determined to know nothing else among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is not a routine in front of the mirror or a mental nod of acknowledgment but a fight…a fight of faith.
 
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.” 1 Tim. 6:12
 
Because they are superstitious, the devil has convinced many that if they fail to put on their “armor” that they will be overcome by evil. It is God’s Armor, not our own. When we place our faith solely and exclusively in the Cross of Christ for all that we need for life and living, we are IN Christ Jesus; covered by HIS BLOOD and we walk in the Armor of God with the Holy Spirit superintending the work of God; ordering our footsteps as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
 
You see, in Christ Jesus…with our faith placed in Who HE is and what HE has done (the good fight of faith), our loins are wrapped in the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified; we are imputed HIS Righteousness. The peace beyond all understanding orders our footsteps and our faith in the Cross of Christ is the shield which quenches the fiery darts of the enemy and affords us the Grace of God to flow uninterrupted…His Grace truly is sufficient.
 
In Christ Jesus we are Redeemed; bought with a price and the Spirit of God bears witness to the Word of God and we are able to STAND steadfast in Jesus; not looking to or fro and we SEE the Salvation of the Lord in our lives. We’ve heard the Gospel and we have believed. As we continue hearing and continue believing; we begin to see and understand in Whom we have believed. We may not be theologians but we know that we know that we know that we no longer live but Christ lives in us and the life which we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God…Jesus Christ and we are determined to know nothing else. Another’s voice we will not recognize nor will we follow.
 
Fight the good fight. Lay hold on eternal life. Be determined to know nothing else among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

TILLING THE GROUND OF DEAD WORKS

Uncategorized

“1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why are you angry? and why is your countenance fallen?

7 If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not well, sin (a sin offering) lies at the door. And unto you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him.

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” Genesis 4:1-8

Persecution against the Saints of God has and will always come from apostate religion. If the preacher is not preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified as the answer to man’s dilemma and have embraced the commandments of men as biblical doctrine, they are apostate and will persecute those who choose to know nothing else among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

“6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another gospel:

7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.

8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8-9

The Atoning Work of Christ Jesus on Calvary’s Cross was and is the only Sacrifice God will accept. The works of our hands; our talents, intellect, abilities, etc. will always be rejected by God…no matter the sincerity behind the offering. Religion points us to ourselves, who we are and what we have done for the Lord. Grace points us to Jesus Christ, Who He is and what He has done for whosoever will believe.

When our faith begins to waver to and fro with every wind of doctrine, the Cross of Christ becomes of no effect and the Grace of God is interrupted at which point many will make the mistake of engaging their willpower and ‘staying the course’ of which they have chosen…not matter the difficulties. Instead of liberty, they are bound. Their yoke is hard and their burden heavy, yet their religion motivates them weekly to stay the course.

“6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why are you angry? and why is your countenance fallen?

7 If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not well, sin (a sin offering) lies at the door. And unto you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him.” Genesis 4:6-7

Friend, there remains a sin offering at the door knocking. If any man hears His Voice and opens the door, He will come.

“20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My Voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.

21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne.

22 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.” Revelation 3:20-22

There remains a Sin Offering at the door. How long will you continue tilling the ground of dead works? Come out from among them and be ye separate. There is joy unspeakable in the Cross of Christ; peace beyond all understanding. The answer to life and living is in the Cross of Christ Jesus…be determined to know nothing else.

-Donna Clark Warren

EFFECTUAL PRAYER

Uncategorized
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16
 
Being quick to confess any fault if necessary, we must pray for one another. The root of bitterness and pride will grow deep and often hinder any confession of fault by the offender. To be sure, no – we’re not to confess our sins one to another for forgiveness of sins. We confess our sins to the Lord and He is faithful and just to forgive us.
 
“8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9
 
For fervent prayers to avail much, they must be mixed with the intercessory Work of Jesus. Aligning with heathen religions and ‘praying’ WITH them is grossly wrong. Please note, I said ‘with’ them and not ‘for’ them. We should certainly pray for them to come to the Saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ but should never pray with them in agreement. Even if the heathen’s prayer seems right and good, simply put, it is not mixed with the intercessory work of Christ Jesus and therefore ineffective.
 
“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25
 
There is no other Name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be Saved (Acts 4:12). It is HIS People Who are called by His Name that need to humble ourselves and PRAY. It is HIS People that need to turn from our wicked ways; the way of Balaam which has tickled our ears and swept us to and fro, and confess OUR sins so that our land might be healed.
 
“If My People, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
 
Judgment begins at the House of God (1 Peter 4:17). This is not tiddly winks but it is the souls of men and women being led into a ditch by false apostles and deceitful workers who have transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ.
 
“13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
 
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
 
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” 2 Cor. 11:13-15
 
Until the church confesses THEIR sin of spiritual adultery and seeking the ways of the world for victorious Christian living, their prayers are ineffective. Using the Name of Jesus as a magic charm to induce the spirit world of righteousness into action is NOT mixing prayer with the intercessory work of Christ Jesus but is in reality dismissing the intercessory work of Jesus and replacing It with one’s own incantation (aka prayer). God forbid no!
 
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17
 
Jesus Christ and Him crucified…be DETERMINED to know nothing else among you.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

IN Christ Jesus

Uncategorized
“For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death.” Romans 8:2
40 days of purpose will not make you free from the Law of Sin and Death. Wearing yamachas and prayer shawls will not make you free from the Law of Sin and Death. Being water baptized, taking communion, going to church on Sunday morning or any other Scriptural ordinance will make you free from the Law of Sin and Death.
“3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His Death?
 
4 Therefore we are buried with Him by Baptism into Death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4
God’s Grace through our faith IN Christ Jesus, Who He is and what He did on Calvary’s Cross to break the power of sin in the Believer’s life, is the only power that can isolate our sin nature. All who are born are born with a sin nature due to Adam’s Fall. This sin nature has bent our flesh toward’s sin and it rules and reigns in the unbeliever’s heart.
At Salvation, the believing sinner’s faith is placed in Christ Jesus for Salvation. Coming to the understanding that we are a sinner in need of a Saviour after hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we either choose to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour or we reject Him as our Lord and Saviour. For those who choose to accept, the Holy Spirit immediately comes to reside in the heart and lives of the Believer and makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death. It is the Holy Spirit alone Who has the power to isolate our sin nature and freeing us from the Law of Sin and Death. This is His ministry; His work to circumcise the heart of the Believer and write the laws of God on our heart causing us to want to do those things which are Holy and Righteous.
However, immediately after our Salvation, religion steps in and begins telling us all of the ‘things’ we must do to be ‘holy and righteous’. To be sure, the ONLY thing the Believer can do to be Holy and Righteous is believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holiness and Righteousness is imputed unto us.
Once we begin partaking in all of the various commandments of men being taught as biblical doctrine to the new Believer, we remove ourselves from Grace and put ourselves back under law. There, we are no longer free from the Law of Sin and Death because we are no longer in Christ Jesus for daily living for God. Are we Saved? Yes! Are we living a victorious Christian life with sin’s dominion laid waste by God’s Grace through faith in the Cross of Christ? NO!
“21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
 
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
 
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
 
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans 7:21-24
These laws, any law given to live a victorious Christian life, makes the Cross of Christ of no effect and that is exactly what the majority of the church world is doing. By removing our faith from the Cross of Christ to the methods of man, we prohibit the Holy Spirit from isolating our sin nature which is the ONLY way we are free from the Law of Sin and Death. What the church attempts to do is usurp the ministry of the Holy Spirit and instruct the Believer on how to do these things on their own accord using their self will, talents, intellect, abilities, etc. It is foolishness that the church has accepted whole heartedly. If victory over sin could be found in the methods of man, the Cross of Christ was in vain. God forbid No!
“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under Grace.” Romans 6:14
It is God’s Grace that frees us from the dominion of sin…not methods of man. Freedom from the Law of Sin and Death is found only in Christ Jesus by faith in HIS victory…not our own.
“20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
 
21 I do not frustrate the Grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Galatians 2:20-21
Do not frustrate the Grace of God. Be determined to know nothing else among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
-Donna Clark Warren

MATTER OF FACT

Uncategorized
“3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were Baptized into His Death?
 
4 Therefore we are buried with Him by Baptism into Death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4
 
We are justified by faith through Grace, not works (Eph. 2:8-9). The Baptism into the Body of Christ is the only baptism necessary to be born again. That is not a matter of interpretation…that is a matter of fact.
 
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” John 3:5
 
Unless a man be born of water (natural child birth and not water baptism) and of the Spirit, ‘Born Again’, he will not see the Kingdom of God. Again, this is not a matter of interpretation but it is a matter of fact.
 
“Jesus said unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me.” John 14:6
 
If one adds anything to the finished work of Christ Jesus for Salvation, that ordinance of which they have added has become their savior. Church membership, water baptism, speaking in tongues or whatever it may be, if their faith has been directed into anything other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified, they are lost and on their way to a devil’s hell.
 
One cannot have faith in two things; it’s impossible. I either have faith that the chair will hold me or I don’t. If by putting a brace under that chair, I am then sure the chair will hold me, then my faith is in that brace and not the chair for support. The same thing goes for adding to the Cross of Christ for Salvation AND for Sanctification. When we, I’m talking to Believer’s now, add to the Cross of Christ our man made methods for victory over sin, our faith is in those methods and the Cross of Christ has become of no effect..we have fallen from Grace.
 
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from Grace.” Galatians 5:4
 
Those man made philosophies which are being taught as biblical doctrine have corrupted the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and have made It of no effect.
 
Beware of false doctrines which attempt to add to the finished work of Christ Jesus for Salvation and for daily living for God. Be determined to know nothing else among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
 
“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” 1 Cor. 1:17
 
-Donna Clark Warren

Peculiar

Uncategorized
“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.” Proverbs 3:7
 
Wisdom of the world is evil even when it seems right. The good works born of earthly wisdom are wicked because of the fruit it bears in one’s own heart; namely pride and self righteousness. The religious do many wonderful works without ever realizing they are not a requirement of Salvation.
 
“21 Not every one that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in Heaven.
 
22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name? and in Your Name have cast out devils? and in Your Name done many wonderful works?
 
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 721-23
 
Religion keeps us busy in those many wonderful works, civic event which bring glory to the local church and not God. Because their faith is dead, the works of the religious is dead as well. Their labor and toil in the world will profit them nothing in the Kingdom of God. Harsh but true.
 
“The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
 
The only fight the Believer is called to fight is the fight of faith…faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Who Jesus is and what He did on Calvary’s Cross to break the power of sin in the Believer’s life affords whosoever will believe life and life more abundantly. This faith in the Cross of Christ gives the Holy Spirit latitude to superintend the work of God in our hearts. Faith no longer being dead because of the object of which it is placed, the Cross of Christ Jesus, the good works of which we do produce fruit unto God and is profitable for the Kingdom of God. This fruit is not something mankind can produce by doing many wonderful works. No matter the earthly wisdom and intellect of the individual, unless it’s birthed by the Spirit of God through faith in the Cross of Christ it is dead works which work death in the heart of the Believer.
 
“…Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear My Words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” Deuteronomy 4:10
 
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Lift Jesus Christ and Him crucified up and the Spirit of God will draw the people that they may learn to fear the Lord and understand their condition without His Saving Grace that they might be Saved.
 
This fear is not a fear of dread but a reverence and understanding of WHO Jesus Christ is and WHAT He did on Calvary’s Cross for whosoever will believe. It is this fear of the Lord that allows our faith to be authored and finished by Christ Jesus. It is the saving knowledge that our life is now built upon a solid foundation. Seeing His Hand; His Salvation, working in our lives daily, fearing life without Him yet seeing our life in Him, by Him and through Him…a life much more abundant than any earthly wisdom can afford or imagine. Through every trial and tribulation, He shows us He is with us although sometimes we don’t see it until we look back into that fiery furnace and see that fourth man in our midst. Because we have believed, He once again helps our unbelief. Precept upon precept and line upon line, we know in Whom we have believed and are determined to know nothing else among you. We are indeed peculiar.
-Donna Clark Warren

WILL TO FOLLOW

Uncategorized

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Every Bible believing Christian understands Salvation is for whosoever will. When the sinner is convicted by the Holy Spirit under the hearing of the Word of God, faith the size of a mustard seed is imparted in their heart and if they so ‘will’ (choose) to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are born again; born of the Spirit of God, alive unto God through God’s Grace by their faith. This faith that is given us under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit comes as we understand our need for a Saviour. If we will to believe, we are given the ability to believe. If we will not to believe, we already have that ability – as should be obvious.

Mankind cannot be Saved without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said if He be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Him (Jn. 12:32). Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). The convicted sinner then has a choice to make. The Lord will never tamper with our free moral agency.

Again, this is something every Bible believing Christian understands.

Here is what they don’t understand:

Just as the lost have the capacity to use their will to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, the Believer has the same will to follow Jesus Christ…if they ‘will’ (want) to do so. It is our will to go God’s Way that gives the Holy Spirit latitude to do His mighty work in our heart. God’s Way is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Who Jesus is and what He did affords us God’s Grace. God’s Promises are conditional and if we don’t go to Him His Way, we are not walking in Grace but have in fact fallen from Grace.

“Jesus said unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me.” John 14:6

Once we will to go God’s way and our faith is placed solely and exclusively in the Cross of Christ, it is not our willpower that overcomes…our willpower is not effected at Salvation but it is our faith; more specifically the object of our faith, that breaks the power of sin in our lives. If our will is to say no to the devil, he will not flee. No, not at all. If our will is to say ‘yes’ to God, we submit unto Him and His Grace flows uninterrupted into our heart and we can resist the devil and the devil will flee.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

For many Bible believing Christians they do not understand our free will to choose to go God’s Way after our Salvation. They think it’s a one time event. Again – not so. We are Saved once but we must choose daily who we will to follow.

“And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23

Until we deny ourselves, our self-will, we cannot pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Our cross is a place of great blessing for the Believer. Our cross is everything the Cross of Christ afforded whosoever will believe. No where in the Bible does it say it is by the ‘willpower’ of the Believer that we are Sanctified. It is by faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified that the Believer is afforded God’s Grace which breaks the power of sin. Whosoever wills to go God’s Way is afforded the ability to do so but we all must choose in Whom we are going to follow.

“And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that hear say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22:17

Jesus Christ and Him crucified, be determined to know nothing else among you. Will today to go His Way.

-Donna Clark Warren

DOUBLE MINDED

Uncategorized
“5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him.
 
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
 
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
 
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:5-8
 
The Lord doesn’t deliver His Children through various manifestations or works. Sadly, much of the modern church has chosen to abandon faith in the Cross of Christ and resort to other practices for deliverance from the yoke of bondage.
 
For instance the ‘positive confession craze’ which professed the way to victory was repeating over and over that which the Believer needed or hoped to be as ‘true’ and it would soon come to pass. Not necessarily so.
 
“Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?” Lamentations 3:37
 
Then there is the casting demons out of Christians craze. If a Christian has a problem with a particular sin, that demon is cast out and their problem is solved. Again, not so.
 
There are a host of other crazes that are too numerous to count. Family curses and soul ties are also a very popular method to ‘break’ the power of sin in one’s life. The only problem with these things is they are not God’s plan for victorious Christian living and partaking in these plans makes one double minded and unstable in all of their ways.
 
“And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” John 8:32
 
It is the Truth that sets man free and at the same time it is the Truth that is being cast aside by the modern church and deemed insufficient with the concoctions of religious man being taught as biblical doctrine. Religious pride abounds as it refuses to admit it’s error and the Cross of Christ becomes of no effect.
 
“4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from Grace.
 
5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by faith.” Galatians 5:4-5
 
These religious laws for victory over sin are not perceived as ‘laws’ to the Believer, yet they are laws and have caused many to fall from Grace.
 
It is by faith in the Son of God that we live. It is this faith which allows the Grace of God to flow uninterrupted in the heart and life of the Believer. There will still be valleys and storms that rage but it is then that we see God’s Grace; the Grace that is sufficient and gives us victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. We’re not fallen from Grace but walking in Grace. We’re daily looking unto Jesus to author and finish our faith as we wait for the hope of Righteousness and knowing in Whom we have believed.
 
Casting aside every sin that so easily besets us, we run this race before us. We have known the Truth and the Truth has set us free and the same Truth keeps us free from the bondage of religion. Peculiar yet determined to know nothing else among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
 
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Gal. 2:20
 
Error always comes in on the coat tail of Truth. It is the poison in the pot which corrupts. The snare of the devil which redirects one’s faith to another method for freedom from the yoke of bondage and have caused many to be double minded and unstable in all of their ways.
 
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1
 
Jesus Christ and Him crucified…be determined to know nothing else among you.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

DISPENSATION OF GRACE

Uncategorized
God has both the Power and the Will to bring about full deliverance from the yoke of bondage for His Children if we only believe His testimony concerning His Son:
 
“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13
 
Once the believing sinner accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they (we) are given a ‘new condition’; a new nature is birthed in us…we are born of the Spirit; aka ‘Born Again’.
 
Trying to improve our old nature with humanistic psychology while using the Word of God and the Name of Jesus as some sort of magic trinket is not belief but witchcraft. We may in fact become religious and exhibit an appearance of moral reform but by no means is our condition affected before God.
 
At Calvary’s Cross the claims of a thrice Holy God were satisfied by the precious Blood of Jesus. The perfect Lamb of God Who came to die on Calvary’s Cross afforded us the ability to be partakers of God’s Grace. He Who was and is without spot or blemish, upheld the Law in every capacity yet laid down His Life that we may be reconciled with God and afforded God’s Power and God’s Will if we who are called by His Name will only believe His testimony…the testimony of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
 
Sadly, many who are made partakers in God’s Divine Nature by faith are not taught how to live for God by faith in the Son of God but by religious rules and rites which greatly hinder and weaken their spiritual walk causing acute difficulty in their lives. Despising Grace and loving law, the religious justify themselves by their many wonderful works, penance and religious rites.
 
If the Believer doesn’t understand the Cross of Christ for daily living for God; they don’t understand Grace and are living and functioning under law…whether the realize this or not.
 
God’s Grace is afforded whosoever will believe the testimony of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. As a believing sinner, God’s Grace is the power to Save fallen man from an eternity in a devil’s hell. As a believing Saint, God’s Grace is the power to Sanctify; to deliver and to utterly break the power of sin in the Believer’s life. God’s Grace is not afforded and does not flow to the Believer whose faith is in their religious rites, wonderful works or self will.
 
God’s Grace is sufficient to deliver whosoever will believe the testimony of His Son, Jesus Christ. Choose this day in whom you will believe. Be determined to know nothing else among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Be still and see the Salvation of the Lord working in you and through you.
 
-Donna Clark Warren

CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

Uncategorized
“3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common Salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.
 
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:3-4
 
Contending for the faith, standing up for Biblical doctrine according to the Word of God, is offensive to the religious.
 
“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
 
The Word of God will do what It says It will do. It WILL cut asunder and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart and when those thoughts and intents of our heart fail to line up with what the Word of God says we are driven to choose; to choose this day in whom we are going to serve.
 
Just as the sun melts wax, so too does the Word of God melt a humble heart. With one side of It’s sword, it causes fear and trembling when transgressed against. While the other edge, seers the wound with joy unspeakable for the revelation knowledge of a God Who loves us enough to correct us and keep us in His perfect Will.
 
On the other hand, the same sun that melts wax will harden clay. When the Word of God pierces a prideful heart, the heart is hardened. It is the condition of the heart that we must consider when presented with a Biblical Truth. Is our heart hardened or softened? It is the same Word of God..how are we receiving it?
 
Contending for the faith, faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, is received as foolishness or it is received as the Power of God. To the one who is perishing, their heart is hardened and the Cross of Christ is foolishness. To the one who is Saved, their heart is humbled…it is softened as wax under the Power of God unto Salvation.
 
“For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are Saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor. 1:18
 
Decide this day in whom you are going to serve. Consider the condition of your heart today. Be determined to know nothing else among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
 
-Donna Clark Warren