“My Father, which gave [them] to me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand.” – John 10:29
When our children act out and misbehave, we, as par-ents, discipline them. Though they may be naughty and troublesome, they are still our children. The same is true when it comes to our relationship with God our Father. When we sin, God will discipline us. God is not pleased with our sinning, but he never abandons us; he remains our Father.
The Bible says that those who the Lord loves, he disciplines (Hebrew 12:6).
I wrote this book with you in mind. If you are a Christian struggling in your walk, the devil will try to bring condemna-tion upon you and cause you to question or doubt your salvation. Other Christians may even look down on you be-cause of your challenges. I want to encourage you to press forward in the Lord. If you’ve fallen in your Christian walk, get back up and press forward.
This book begins with a short story about a man who loved the Lord, but made some bad choices, and eventually fell into condemnation and hopelessness. I see this happen-ing often in the Body of Christ. We must understand that God is our keeper, and he loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins. God says he is married to the back-slider. God wants us to understand that even though there may be problems in the relationship, he’s still our Father.
As you read this book, remember that it is our duty to present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God. The Bible says this is our reasonable service. This book does not make light of sin. When we sin and live in a way that’s not pleasing to God, he grieves.
I write this book for you, praying that you will never fall short of pleasing God. I pray that you never sin, but if you do, I want you to know that you have an advocate with the Father; his name is Jesus (1 John 2:1).
Excerpt
In the eighteenth chapter of the book of Jeremiah is a perfect example of our salvation in God. Jeremiah is told to go to the potter’s house; God would cause him to hear his word there.
“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.” – Jer. 18:3
The Bible tells us that Jeremiah went down to the pot-ter’s house, just as God had instructed. When God instructs us to do something, our trust in him should cause us to re-spond in obedience to his word. We will never receive from God unless our faith is directed by what God says. When Jeremiah arrived at the potter’s house, he observed the potter working on the wheel used for clay. The potter was dili-gently perfecting his creation. Jeremiah said the potter fashioned a work on the wheel. The potter knew what he was doing and performed his work with skill and precision.
A potter’s wheel is a revolving horizontal disk, on which clay is shaped manually into vessels. To operate it, the potter kicks or propels the disk or (crank) to keep the turntable spinning. This spinning enables the potter to easily fashion the clay as the potter desires. The psalmist said of God, “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.” Just as the potter fashions the clay, God fashions us. The Bible tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and marvelous are the works of God.
“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter.” – Jer. 18:4
Jeremiah looked closely at the vessel the potter was fash-ioning and noticed that the vessel was marred (flawed or damaged). It is not stated that the potter did anything in er-ror, or how the imperfection in the vessel came to be, but we know that the vessel was marred. Imperfections in the clay could certainly have rendered the vessel flawed. Likewise, when we come to Christ, we may come with flaws that ren-der our Christian walk imperfect. Though we are flawed and have problems in our lives, God doesn’t give up on us. The vessel was marred, but the potter didn’t give up on the ves-sel; neither did he cast it out. Just because you might have issues you need deliverance from, God will not cast you out.
Finally! Understand and learn from the New Testament Book of James.
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