Ed Christian's World

Food Of The Holy…

God held the priests of Israel to higher standards in everything. As holy ministers of God, they had to live on holy food; they ate the holy sacrifices of God.

When you eat food, it supplies your energy. If you partake of unholy things, you’ll end up with unholy energy to do unholy things—lust, carnality, idolatry, pride, bitterness, and immorality. But if you eat holy food, you end up with holy energy to do holy things- to love, to repent, to do right, the energy to break free from sin, and be victorious in God.

But how do you eat holy food? It’s when you partake of good things – when you dwell on the Word of God, and the love of God. Philippians says, whatever is good, right, pure, and excellent, let your mind dwell on these things. When you take God’s Holy Word into your spirit, it becomes holy energy.

Partake of what is good and what is of heaven, rejoice in them, soak them in, let them come in, and you will walk with something new. You will have the power and energy of godliness.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35

Today, partake of holy spiritual food, so that you will have holy energy to break free and do what pleases the Lord.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Tree…

When man fell, the Tree of Life was sealed up from his sight, never to be partaken of again. So what happened to the Tree of life? It disappeared. And yet it has come back in disguise – it’s the cross.

The cross looks like the tree of death, but it’s really the Tree of Life. When you partake of the cross, you’re partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life; true life, everlasting life, and you come out with grace, with a new beginning, and with freedom.

The cross seems hard at first; to give up your life, die to self, love your enemy, forgive, and sacrifice your own will. But when you give up, you gain; when you surrender, you win. When you lose your life, you find it. When you die to self, you come alive. Your tears and sorrow turn into rejoicing.

Don’t be fooled; the cross only looks hard, but every time you partake of it, it’s going to bear you fruit upon fruit; love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, and goodness. For the cross is none other than the Tree of Life in disguise.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Revelations 22:14

Today, take up the cross, the harder path, the sacrifice – knowing that it’s a tree of life – and it will bring forth blessings.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Problem – The Test – The Blessing…

Matthew 4:1 says that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested of the devil. Strange. The Spirit led Jesus to the devil? The devil is the voice of evil.

Jesus is going to be confronted with evil: evil motives, twisting of scripture, the desire to stop His ministry, and for His destruction. It was a test; the Spirit led to it because, in the end, Jesus would come out of it approved and prepared for ministry.

In your life, you may have been hit by the enemy, by bad things, evil things, people, circumstances, words, and events in your life, but God is and will use these things for your good. In fact, He will even use it to grow you and prepare you for the ministry and the calling that He placed you here for.

When you go through that trial, that test, remember it’s not an accident. So don’t get discouraged, but pass your test. It is all being used for your good. God is so awesome that the devil’s worst will be used for God’s best to prepare you for your calling and ministry.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Roman’s 11:29

Today, see every problem as a test, and every test as a blessing waiting to begin – and pass that test!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Nothing To Lose…

In 1519, Captain Hernan Cortez, after arriving in Veracruz on his conquest mission, ordered the destruction of his ships so there would be no turning back. His men had to go forward and fight all the way. With no retreat, no way back, the only way was to win.

As a believer, you’re in a fight. Do you want to win? Then have the same attitude. There’s no option but Jesus. I’ll enter the battle, and I will win the battle.

That’s how David won against Goliath. He ran to him! That’s how the disciples overcame the world. God wants a people with nothing to lose. The truth is, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain in Jesus.

Burn all bridges to the past, to the dark, or to going back. Burn all ships that would leave you the option of wavering or retreating. Then press on as if there was no other choice but to move forward in God, move forward in faith, forward in love, forward in the Spirit. Because there is no other choice, for the only thing we have is what lies ahead.

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

Today, burn the ships of doubt and fear. Live as you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by pressing forward in Jesus.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Midnight Miracle…

Have you ever been in a situation that seems like a dark jail cell of circumstances? Paul and Silas were in prison, and yet instead of getting depressed, or being miserable in the darkness, they praised God. They worshiped God! They thanked Him, and the whole prison changed because of it.

The world is never going to be used to the light. That dark situation is never going to be used to the light, but you need to shine your light anyway. When it’s hardest to shine your light, that’s when you have to shine it anyway.

When you don’t feel like it, that’s when you need to shine. When it makes no sense, when it seems naturally inappropriate, when it’s going to cause a commotion, or when it’s completely uncalled for, shine your light.

Praise Him, rejoice, and lift Him up. Do the right thing anyway, and shine your light. No matter what your circumstance, no matter what your problem, make a commotion of praise.

Start a disturbance of faith. Begin an uproar of righteousness and cause an explosion of light and let the world deal with it.

As for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more. Psalm 71:14

Today, go against what feels natural. Take it to the spiritual level and start a commotion of praise. Praise no matter what. Overcome the darkness.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The God Quest…

In the Scriptures, Jesus commanded unclean spirits. They heard His command once and immediately obeyed. The demons were more responsive to the Lord than a lot of believers are today.

Many believers struggle with obeying the Lord. We argue with Him. We delay obeying Him. We ignore Him. We put off doing what we know is His will, or we justify not obeying Him. But the demons obeyed Him instantly, without a long struggle.

If demons, the enemies of God, obey Him without delay, without ignoring, without putting off, without rationalizing, how much more must we?

If God is calling you to something, telling you to do something, or His Spirit is prompting you to something, but you’re not doing it, you’re only hurting and hindering your own life.

The demons don’t get any blessing in obeying Him, but you do. Just do what He says. Go where He leads. Trust and obey. For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey. Beyond that, we have to have a better witness in our obedience to the Lord than demons.

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:18

If God is prompting you to do something, listen to His direction and just do it, go where He leads you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Dropping Your Nets…

In Matthew 4, Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee and saw Simon and Andrew fishing. He said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Why did they immediately drop everything over a man they’d never seen before? The key is that it was not the first time. John 1:40 tells us that Andrew was already a follower, but apparently, he had settled back into fishing.

This is the second calling, but this time it’s going to change his life. The true disciple doesn’t just say yes to God once, but again and again and again. You need to choose Him every day. Become a disciple, pick up your cross, forsake everything, and surrender every day.

Seek Him more every day. It’s not the one-time answer that makes a disciple, it’s the continual, increasingly progressive answer. Even if you’ve said “yes” before, you can say yes today.

That yes can change your life as if it was the first time, because, for the disciple, the call of God, the answer is always for the first time.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Today, drop your net and give Him a new yes whole heartedly and surrender yourself as if it was the first time.

Walk daily with God at your side!

The Omega Oath…

In Luke 1:55 and 1:73, Mary and Zechariah make references to an oath that God made. Zechariah means God has remembered. His wife’s name, Elisheva means His oath. Put together, it says, God has remembered His oath.

What oath did God make? In Genesis 22, on Mount Moriah, God made an oath, when Abraham offered up Isaac. Verse 16 says that God swore by Himself. It’s amazing for God to swear by Himself because when you swear by something you’re offering it up.

Thus God is offering up Himself. Verse 14 says, in that mountain, it shall be provided. What mountain? Mount Moriah, which is also Calvary. God swore by Himself to Abraham, and 2,000 years later on that same mountain, He fulfilled His oath by offering His life on Calvary.

All the promises of God rest on His oath, and that oath rests on Calvary. You can depend on Him. Whatever He promises in His Word, His love, His faithfulness to you, He will do it. He swore it by His own life which He offered up for you in the land of Moriah on a hill called Calvary.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

If you are in a situation that looks impossible, have faith that God will accomplish His Word in you. He will never forget His promise.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Temptation vs Sin…

In my Christian life, I can feel that being tempted makes me impure, and that I have sinned in my thought life. However that is not true. Grandfather always taught temptation is not sin, but a trial of my faith, and through the gospel, I can endure temptations without ever committing sin!

Sin entered the world due to an act of disobedience by the first people, Adam and Eve. All of Adam and Eve’s descendants have since inherited sin in the flesh – not guilt, but a tendency or inclination to follow their own free-will rather than God’s will. The Bible uses many words to describe this inclination: sin in the flesh, the body of sin, the law of sin, lusts and desires etc.

In Romans 7:18 Paul writes, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.” Here he describes this tendency to sin that we have all inherited.

James writes very clearly on the subject of temptation and sin: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:13-15.

From this we can see that temptation alone is not the same as committing sin; sin is the result of a conception – when my mind agrees with the desire that dwells in my flesh, or human nature. That is, committing sin is something I choose to do, and sin cannot be carried out unless I agree with it.

In fact, James teaches us that temptations are a trial of our faith, and those who endure without committing sin will receive the crown of life. (James 1:12) Similarly, Peter writes that our trials or temptations are cause for rejoicing, as our faith is tested, with the result being the salvation of our souls.

The gospel is that though I am tempted, I don’t have to sin – in fact I can follow in Jesus’ footsteps and overcome in temptation. The wages of sin is death, but those who overcome will receive eternal life!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Satan’s Fear…

In Mark 1:24, the demons say to Jesus, “Have you come to destroy us?” Sometimes we think that demons are scary things, but they don’t scare Jesus. Rather, He scares them! It’s a legion, and yet they’re totally afraid.

That’s the truth! The enemy is actually on the defense in the face of Jesus. If you’re in Jesus, then the enemy is on the defense with regard to you.

Of course, he’ll never tell you that. Few enemies will let on that they’re really afraid of you. He wants you to believe that you’re going to lose. But you must stand and take the authority of the Word to overcome.

Jesus didn’t believe the lies of the enemy. He didn’t spend much time arguing. He just cast out the legion with His Word. Have that same attitude. Because we’re not only conquerors, we’re more than conquerors.

So live more than confident, more than powerful, and more than victorious. The enemy is on the defense when it comes to Jesus. If you’re in Jesus’s will, and Jesus is in you, then you’re more than a conqueror. Be on the offense.

The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 1 John 3:8

Today, live on the offense – victorious, confident and powerful. For you really are more than a conqueror.

Walk daily with God at your side!