In continuation of the Lord of the Rings, please review the first 10 rings discussed in my last blog!
Our first identification with Christ as our Savior is a desire to be like Him and a willingness to share in His sufferings. The higher calling of God is a bid to lay our lives for Him.
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer shares in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, page 99:
“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship, we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death-we give over our lives to death. Thus, it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
The other Rings:
11. Empowering-The Holy Spirit will empower us for the tasks God lays ahead of us. Acts 1:8a reads: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…
12. Outpouring-He will pour out The Holy Spirit upon you for direction, comfort, and confirmation. “for I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants” (Isaiah44:3).
13. Ministering-When we feel alone or like we can’t go any further, God’s ministering angles will strengthen us. “Are not angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14)
14. Sharing-The early church shared with others having all things in common. Can’t be greedy. Acts 2:44 reads: And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.
15. Preferring-Put others before you. Consider them as valuable creations of God. We’re all made in His image. Romans 12:10 Have kindly affection one for the other with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another;
16. Rendering-Give to God what is His and to man what belongs to him. God is not man. We need to know how to separate the two. Matthew 22:21 Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”
17. Covering-Don’t hide behind lies or false teachings. If there’s sin in your life, rid it! Proverbs 28:13 reads: He who covers his sins shall not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
18. Appearing-We are to love His appearing! We’re to pray for God to return quickly and take us home to ever be with Him. The AMP reads: In the future there is reserved for me the (victor’s) crown of righteousness(for being right with God and doing right), which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award me on that (great) day-and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved and longed for and welcomed His appearing.
19. Decluttering-We’re told to set aside all sin that easily besets us. Let’s declutter our minds of things that sap our energy. Hebrews 12:1 reads: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that do easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
The ‘Ring’ leading all other rings, the one behind our reason for living; the one that causes men to lay their lives for God’s purposes, is
20. Restoring-The crowning glory in our walk with Christ, suffering, and enduring shame, is for the sole purpose He has had behind our redemption: to restore us to the Father. We’re on a journey with Him with unforeseen challenges and with the ultimate goal being to heal a broken relationship with God which manmade religion can never heal. Only Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection could mend that relationship. Why? Because only a sinless person could lay His life for all humanity (God became man not through a regular birth). He became you and me-billions of times over. That is, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Now, being made righteous through Christ
we can stand before God as clean and as able to fellowship with Him.
May we have a great year growing in Him as we wear His rings.
God Bless,
Sam