For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 1:17

Grace is God’s gift to men.  It is His unmerited favor, it is His divine enablement, it is never deserved.

Grace and holiness always go hand in hand. His Grace teaches us to say no to sin, and by it we put to death the misdeeds of the flesh in the finished works. Any “grace” that is not intrinsically tied to real, practical holiness is not Grace. And by humbling ourselves and repenting and mourning, more Grace is given, submitting to God, resisting the devil, Christ within conquers all our foes.

Read more…

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;

Luke 2:34

For His name was Immanuel, and He was God.  He was with us.  And He was here.

There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be disclosed.

For, it pleased the Father to crush Him, and by His stripes we were healed.

This man, this all bright one, this delight of all our heart, it is He that set the nations, it is He that formed the Earth.

 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Matthew 16:4

No sign given but the sign of the prophet Jonah, for man demanded a sign, but God gave them his heart.  His prize, His first, His possession, His own, He gave, and in giving, gave all.

Read more…

The Word became flesh, and [tabernacled] among us.

John 1:14, portion, paraphrased

We live in our tents, our bodies.  Jesus, in becoming man, put on flesh as a garment.  We are not our own.  Our bodies are not ours, nor are we all that is within.

The spirit realm is complex and vast.  The inter-workings of the body and the spirit are not generally well understood by those in Western cultures.  Yet, as when two people come together in intimacy they become one flesh, there are realities that go Beyond the carnal, which the Western mindset as a whole has no capacity to account for.

Read more…