Author Archives: lrbartel

Jan 18 2018
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Devos

Living by “the nudge” – The secret to a victorious and fruitful Christian life!

The Holy Spirit within

You’ll never enjoy Christian victory or live pleasing to God by… Simply trying to keep a list of religious rules, or just trying to do what seems right – what you feel inclined to do naturally… Instead the secret to pleasing God and enjoying victory in your Christian walk is to live all of life – that’s right, all of life – every aspect of it oriented to what the Holy Spirit at work within you prompts and empowers you to do! The Greek phrase for it is “kata Pneuma” – “walking” (living moment-by-moment, day-by-day) “according to the Spirit!”

Read the following passage (I read it again this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord”…

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit [Greek ‘kata Pneuma’]. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (from Romans 8:1–8 NIV)

Those who know me well know that I consider this to be one the greatest secrets of living a victorious, productive Christian life! Hey, I’m still learning to live all of life “kata Pneuma” – according to the Spirit’s inner dynamic and prompting… I call it “living by the nudge!” – The Holy Spirit’s “nudge.”

Jan 17 2018
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Devos

Think you got the answer to Christian victory over sin? Jesus provides it!

Young Boy at School Raising His Hand to Answer in Class“Conflicted!” … I jotted it in the margin of my Bible after reading Romans 7:15-24 this morning during “coffee with the Lord!” As I read it I admit I identified with Apostle Paul… Read it yourself, be honest, and I think you’ll admit that you’ve felt that way too!

“For I do not understand my own actions! For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh! For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing! Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:15–24 ESV)

After reading that, I paused and sighed deeply… Is there no answer?!

Then I read the next verse and thought to myself, “Too simplistic?” And then I thought of the class of 1st and 2nd grade boys I once taught in Sunday school and one little redheaded boy who would always wave his hand wildly to any question… He desperately wanted to give the answer! But to every question his answer was, “JESUS!”

Well, in this case “JESUS” is the right answer, simplistic though it may seem. In fact, a good reading of Romans 6 and 8 proves it! A full and complete, decisive, appropriation of the merits of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus IS THE ANSWER to Christian victory! Verse 25 of Romans 7 declares it:

“Who will deliver me? … THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!” A simple answer? Yes… but I intend to soak my head and heart in Romans 6 and 8 again until the full benefit of what Jesus did through His death, burial and resurrection on my behalf sinks in, is appropriated, and takes full effect! How about you?

Jan 16 2018
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Devos

A Better Tomorrow! Isaiah 11:1-9

A better tomorrowI read the following wonderful words in the Bible this morning…Been relishing them all day! Frankly, they describe an antidote and salve to the poison and painful condition that exists in our world and country at the present time! Read it all! … It describes a leader our world desperately needs (in fact a Savior we all need). It also describes a wonderful idyllic state of affairs that can only be realized when He is fully in control!

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:1–9 ESV)

Oh, I know there is a theological debate over whether the passage describes a temporary (but very long) state of affairs during a period referred to as “the Millennium” – or whether it is a description of eternal bliss finally realized in what we call “Heaven!” WHO CARES! The heart’s cry of devoted followers of Jesus cry, “Even so come quickly Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

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