Ed Christian's World

One Believer Under God…

On June 26, 2002, a divided Court of Appeals declared the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ unconstitutional because of the words ‘under God’. But the Supreme Court held that it wasn’t. God is, however, being removed from American mainstream culture.

But it’s not just about the word ‘God’, it’s about the word ‘under’. Without God, there is no under; the state becomes the final authority, man becomes the measure of all things, there’s nothing above him, and everybody becomes a god.

What separates a true believer from false believers and non-believers is that they live under. They don’t just know about and praise God, they live under God by actually submitting their lives to Him.

Are you truly living under God? When God’s will, plan, and desire isn’t yours, do you put your will, plan, and desire under God? The desire to remove the words ‘under God’ isn’t good, but the real point isn’t the words ‘under God’.

It’s whether God’s people are living under God. If you want ‘under God’ to be in the pledge of allegiance, put ‘under God’ in your own pledge of allegiance to God. Live your life as a true believer, one believer under God.

Now, the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  2 Corinthians 5:5

Today, truly submit your will to God and allow Him to direct your plans. Live truly as one believer under God!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always

Ed

The Simple Maxim…

Psalm 37:3 says, “Trust in the Lord and do good.” This perfectly sums up a great theological truth. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. If you don’t believe, you can’t do well. If you do believe, you have to do good.

Faith without works is dead. Works without faith are empty. Work out your salvation, because it’s God who’s at work with you. Trust, believe, and then act on your faith. Don’t try to do good without believing. Don’t believe and then not apply your faith into action.

Let every work come from faith, and let your faith work. As the hymn says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

The key to abundant life is very simple. Believe His Word and then just do it, just truly believe. Then, take that faith into your life, with real faith actions, and see what happens.

Keep it simple. Trust in the Lord and do good. Even more simple: “Trust and obey. For there’s no other way to be happy in Yeshua/Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Those who listen to instruction will prosper; those who trust the Lord will be joyful.  Proverbs 16:20

Take a word from Scripture today. Believe it, and then act on it.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Path Of The Magi…

The magi were priests of a pagan religion, yet they found Jesus because they were seeking Him.The Jewish leaders of that day, knew about God but didn’t find Him because they weren’t seeking Him, they were heading the wrong way.

It’s not your position or your past that matters – it’s where you’re heading. A sinner who’s heading to God is better off than a saint who’s falling away. So where are you heading?

Paul said, “I discipline my body[…] so that after I’ve preached to others, I won’t be disqualified. ” He also said, “Forgetting what lies behind, I press on.”

He started out every day as if he were a new believer who had as much to know about the Lord then as at the beginning. Have the same attitude.

Seek to know God because we don’t even know the half of God. It’s not who you have been, or even where you are. It’s where your heart is heading. Don’t rest on your laurels. Seek God again as you did at first. It’s a good road, it’s the road of the Magi.

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God.  Jeremiah 24:7

Make it your aim today to seek God with all your heart and draw nearer to Him.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Other Heaven…

The Hebrew word for heaven is Shamayim. The ‘im’ at the end makes it plural, so the word heaven means specifically two or more. Shamayim means not just heaven, it means heavens.

We think of heaven as that which comes after this life is over; it’s not yet, but it will be. In one sense, yes. But that’s just one heaven, so there has to be another one. If one is then, then the other heaven is now.

Heaven can’t just be a place you go to after this life, it’s got to be the place you live now. For a child of God, heaven is not just something that will happen in the future, it’s where we live now. We’ve been born from above. We’re already seated in the heavenlies.

It’s not just getting into heaven, it’s about letting heaven get into you into your life because it’s not just heaven, it is Shamayim – heavens.

Discover the secret of it and start dwelling on it right now. Don’t wait until you’re dead to start living it. Heaven is too important to not live in now.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6

Learn the secret of dwelling in the heavenlies now, and live our life from heaven to earth.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Your Sacred Access…

In the Scriptures, those who minister to God are called Cohanim, meaning the priests. They were those in charge of God’s service and were given access to the Holy Place behind the veil.

It’s no accident that the ministers of God were given access to His presence because those who minister to God have to dwell in His presence. The only good things we can do for God are the good things we receive from Him first.

Those who do the will of God are given special access to the presence of God. As a servant of God, He’s opened for you the doors of His sanctuary to meet you in the secret place. If you’re committed to doing His will, He will open the doors to show you His glory and fill you with His power so you can do His work.

Because you are a spiritual Cohanim through Jesus, serve Him with all your heart. Come into the Holy Place daily where the glory, power, and presence of God are waiting just for you, His priest. Enter in behind the veil, for that is your privilege and your access.

May your priests be clothed in godliness; may your loyal servants sing for joy.  Psalm132:9

Enter into the holy place of His presence today and minister to Him in His presence, as His priest.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Your Father’s Blessing…

Scripture teaches us about the father’s blessing; Abraham blessing Isaac, Isaac blessing Jacob, and Jacob blessing his sons.

In every generation, fathers are supposed to bless their children and children are supposed to receive the blessing. Adolf Hitler, who propelled the world into WWII and was responsible for the death of 6 million Jews and millions of others, was raised by a father who treated him harshly, with rage and beatings.

Not that his father was responsible for what he did, but it’s noteworthy that he never received his father’s blessing. It’s really important to receive your father’s blessing. Maybe you never did and your life has been affected by it.

The good news is, if you’re born again, you now have a Heavenly Father who’ll never refuse to give His blessing to you, the child He loves. As a beloved child of God, you can now receive your Father’s blessing.

Receive it because it’s time to live as a beloved child. All you need to do to live a blessed life is get blessed. So get your blessing because your Father is waiting to give it.

The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.   Proverbs 10:22

Receive the blessing from your Heavenly Father today and become the beloved.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Promised Land In All Places…

Eretz is a Hebrew word used in scripture for the world or the land – specifically, the land of Israel – and the earth. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was quoting Psalm 37:11: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”. Eretz can mean both promised land and the whole world.

As a believer, wherever you are in the world, you’re meant to be dwelling in the promised land. Anywhere in the world/eretz, you can dwell in the eretz/promised land. Anywhere you live can become a promised land for you. Wherever you live, live as if you’re in a land of promises. That’s the way to dwell in His perfect will.

His blessings, His promises, and His goodness. It doesn’t matter where you are, it’s Who you’re with that makes any place in the world the Promised Land. It’s great to make a pilgrimage to Israel, but it’s even better to dwell in the Promised Land no matter where you live.

Learn to dwell there all the time because, as a child of God, you’re given the blessing of dwelling in the land of promises.

Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.   1 Kings 8:56

Whatever you go today, live as if you’re in the land of God, walking into His promises, and you will be!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Seeing Things As They Are Not…

Much of world history happened because of revolutionaries making a difference. There’s a trait that revolutionaries share. They never accept things as they are or the status quo as the final story.

They see it as temporary, something that’s going to change. They see their defeats as temporary setbacks and their dreams as if they’re already the final reality.

Most believers tend to just accept the world, situations, and people as they are, resigning themselves to the darkness. God called you to be a light to the world, to make a difference, to be a true revolutionary.

In order to do that, you need to see things in a revolutionary way. As God’s revolutionary, you can’t accept the world or the status quo as the final story.

Your situation is only temporary. Darkness and sin are not the final stories. Your failures are no longer failures, they’re now only setbacks. There are no more real problems in God, only challenges.

No more hopeless defeats, only victories and triumphs waiting to happen. Put on revolutionary eyes because it’s time to change the world. It’s time to live like a revolutionary.

For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.  Psalm 33:4

Put on revolutionary eyes today. Don’t accept things as they seem, but as God has willed them to be – your circumstances, your life, and even yourself.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Tarrying Factor…

Some people have formulas about how to receive the fullness and empowering of God’s Spirit, some have seminars on it. Jesus said, “Tarry in Jerusalem”. The word in Greek is kath-id’- zo. It means to stay, to continue. They had to continue in Jerusalem, in God’s will and presence.

If they’d only stayed four days instead of ten, they’d have missed the blessing. If you want the fullness and power of His Spirit, you have to kath-id’ – zo. Stay, continue, and keep on in the will of God.

Consistency in God is important. Many people give up before they get the blessing. The secret of receiving the blessing in God’s Spirit is linked to tarrying. They didn’t just go to Jerusalem and get the blessing, they had to stay there and persevere before they saw anything.

The Spirit life is about continuing, abiding, perseverance, consistency, endurance, and continuing in His Word and will without giving up. Do you want to reap?

Keep on keeping on, in the will, and calling of God, and He will come to you to fill your life with fullness and power from on high. You just continue.

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.  Luke 24:49

Make it your aim to keep on in what is good. Don’t give up in the Lord, but press on no matter what.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Mirrors Of God…

I met two great saints of God, Sabina and Richard Wurmbrand, leaders of the underground church in Romania. In Sabina’s last days, she was in great pain. Feeling overwhelmed, she asked the Lord, “How long?”

He reminded her of how, as a young woman, she’d taken some jewelry to be worked on. The jeweler put her jewelry over a flame. Panicking, she’d cried, “You’re going to destroy it!” He turned up the fire and said, “Trust me, I know what I’m doing. I have to keep it on the fire until I can see my reflection on the metal. Then it’s finished.”

She heard the Lord say, “Don’t panic, trust Me. I Am the Master Jeweler. You must go through the fire for a moment, and when I can see My face reflected in you, it will be finished.”

Soon after that, she peacefully went home to be with the Lord. When you go through trials, don’t fear. God’s purpose isn’t to hurt you but to change you into the image of Jesus.

God wants to see His reflection in you because you’re His jewel, and He’s your Master Jeweler.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Romans 12:12

Are you going through a trial today? Allow God to purify you so that He can see His reflection in you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed