by George Runyan | Aug 2, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Psalm 16:10 – You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
The Psalmist David writes prophetically concerning Christ in Psalm 16. In Jesus’ sufferings and death we can clearly see the triune nature of man. When hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out to His Father saying, “Father into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). Just as Jesus is about to draw His last breath, He commits His spirit to God. Next, David’s prophetic words come to pass as His body is removed from the cross and laid in the tomb and Jesus’ soul descends into hell. The Hebrew word for hell is Sheol. There were two parts to Sheol, upper and lower. Both parts were described in Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).
As Jesus’ soul descended into Sheol, He first preached the gospel to those who died during the Flood. He then took the keys of death and hell from Satan. Lastly, as Jesus arose, overcoming death and hell, He brought with Him all the dead that waited in upper Sheol, waiting for His Day. His whole spirit, soul, and body were united on the third day. When He revealed Himself to His apostles after His resurrection, they were afraid, thinking it was a spirit that had come into the room. Listen to what Jesus says to them, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39).
Jesus was fully raised from the dead. His disciples could see and touch Him. Notice He pointed out His flesh and bones, but did not mention the blood. His blood was in heaven witnessing to our redemption and our pardon (Revelation 5:9-10). For the natural man, “the life is in the blood and God offers it on an altar for atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). Jesus no longer needed to depend upon blood coursing through His veins for life. His life was now fully sustained by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. One day, we too, will know His full resurrection power as our bodies, along with all the saints, are raised from the dead. If we are alive when He comes back for His own, then we will be changed immediately (1 Corinthians 15:50-58).
Rejoice saints! You will live on with Him throughout eternity with your spirit, soul, and body. By the Holy Spirit we know His resurrected life even now, while awaiting that blessed day and His glorious return.
Father, as Jesus committed His spirit into Your hands on the cross, I too surrender and invite You to have complete control of my inner man. Because Jesus suffered in His soul and descended into hell on my behalf, I freely give You control of my soul. As Jesus’ body was raised from the dead, I am looking forward to the day of resurrection when death will have no more control over mankind.
by George Runyan | Aug 1, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.
This verse of Scripture is packed with a lot of information. It reveals the eternal purpose of the one and only true God. He purposed that mankind be created in His image. Two questions arise: “What is the image of God?” “Who is the Us to whom God is referring?” Throughout the Scriptures, the Eternal One is revealed as Triune in His being. In this passage, the Hebrew word “Elohim” is used, which is the “plural” form of God’s name.
The first question in some catechisms is, “What is the chief end of man?” “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” We will experience God in such fashion—we will glorify Him and enjoy Him—only in proportion as we know Him. The knowledge of God is more essential for the Christian, and indeed for the entire world, than the knowledge of anything else. Jesus prays, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John17:3). Paul sums up the goal of his life when he declares, “That I may know Him” (Philippians 3:10).
God’s image is triune in terms of His nature. He revealed Himself to His creation man as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created man triune as well: spirit, soul and body. When communicating to the church in Thessalonica, Paul said “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Only the Word of God can bring adequate understanding to this great mystery. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Just as God is One, the human is one. It is the Scriptures that reveal God’s makeup to us and it is the Scriptures that reveal how we have been created in His image and likeness. Through the study of the Scriptures, we learn all that God has chosen to reveal to us concerning Him. Through the study of Scriptures, we also learn what we need to know about God’s plan for His creation man and apply that knowledge to our personal lives. The great promise of God was that forever His Spirit would dwell with those who trust Him (John 14:16-17).
Father, I thank You for creating man in Your image and Your likeness. Father thank You for “eternal life” by knowing You and Jesus Christ whom You sent. Father, I thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to dwell in all those who put their trust in You.
by George Runyan | Jul 31, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Philippians 4:4 – Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
We can rejoice always because of all the Lord has done for His children. He has given to the children of God His divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:3). Maturing in Christ is yielding to the Holy Spirit’s help in developing the nature of God in the believer. It is not trying to become a better person. We can never attain to God’s righteousness by our own effort. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we grow up into Christ.
As Paul writes to the Philippians he goes on to instruct, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5). Father God is gentle. The Lord Jesus is gentle. The Spirit of God is gentle. The gentleness of God has been placed in the believer’s spirit in the new birth. The Holy Spirit will help us exercise that gentleness in a world that attacks and can make us reactionary. Paul says “The Lord is near.” I believe that scripture can be understood in two ways.
First, the Lord is near in His coming for His own. In the first century, the Lord did come, not in the promised Second Coming, but in the promise of judgment on that generation (see Matthew 24:34). Second, He is near to be our helper. “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). David writes, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). We can see God is the same in the Old or New Covenant.
Paul goes on to say, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). The real proof of trust in God is the absence of anxiety. Anxiety is controlled by a life given to prayer and supplication connected to gratitude. Not just coming to the Lord when we are in trouble, but a lifestyle of communication with our heavenly Father.
The peace of God surpasses all our comprehension. The peace of God is what guards our hearts and our minds (see Philippians 4:7). That peace is rooted in Christ Jesus. Gentleness, absence of anxiety, peace of God, and a heart and mind that is protected comes to those who “rejoice in the Lord always.”
Father, I rejoice in You. Help me to learn how to rejoice always. No matter what is happening around me, I ask for the Holy Spirit to release gentleness and peace to my heart and mind in Jesus’ name.
by George Runyan | Jul 30, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 – Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.
The main purpose for Jesus’ living among His creation was to reveal the Father. Jesus is the express image of the Father in human form. The disciples really did not truly understand, even after three and a half years of walking with Jesus. This was demonstrated by Phillip’s request in John 14, “Show us the Father and it will be enough.” Jesus responded to Phillip by saying, “Have I been so long with you that you do not yet understand that when you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”
Fathering is at the heart of restoration in the human race. Adam is the father of all on a human level. In his sin of disobedience, he lost the human standing before God. We have inherited his nature of self. Self is manifested in “selfishness.” Jesus came in human form, but did not have Adam’s nature of self, thus He did not have a sin nature. Jesus came with the nature of His heavenly Father (see Philippians chapter 2). It is a nature of “selflessness.” He gave up all His glory for every human being. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
When the Holy Spirit’s power “gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12), we exchanged fathers. In baptism we die to Adam and are raised up in Christ a “new creation” (see Romans 6 and 2 Corinthians 5). God is now our Father. As His new creation we become part of His whole new work in Christ. Consider what Peter writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).
Father, I thank You that I can call You Father. I thank You for the redemptive work of Christ Your Son. I thank You for the power of the Holy Spirit who is working mightily in me.
by George Runyan | Jul 29, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
1 Kings 21:3 – But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”
The story of Naboth and Ahab is a powerful example of how the Lord respects the inheritance of our fathers. Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard for selfish reasons. Ahab moved from desire to coveting the vineyard. For Naboth it was more than the money or even the offer of a better vineyard. It was about his inheritance which he had received from his fathers. It was about generations. It was about identity. It was, for Naboth, an integral issue.
Ahab did not understand “integrity.” Ahab’s evil wife certainly did not understand. She only knew the lust in her heart. She plotted to have Naboth killed so evil Ahab could have his heart’s desire. “The thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy . . .” (John 10:10). Satan is a thief and his objective is to steel our inheritance given to us by our heavenly Father. John 10:10 concludes by saying, “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.”
The enemy tried to rob the vineyard of God, but failed through the power of the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ (see Matthew 21:33-46). As the parable declares, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons” (Matthew 21:41).
The parable of the landowner is an illustration of Israel and Christ’s church made up of Jew and Gentile. The Lord protected His vineyard when He judged those who were in charge (the religious leaders of Jesus’ day). He has installed new vine-growers through the new birth. The Baptism of the Spirit is the all-inclusive work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The Spirit causes the believer to be a fruitful branch on the “Vine” which is Christ (see John 15). The Spirit makes us a worker in the Lord’s vineyard and calls us to give Him increased fruit.
Our inheritance is in the Lord. We must, through the power of the Holy Spirit, protect the portion of the vineyard He has assigned to us. It is our inheritance. Do not let an Ahab or a Jezebel rob you. We have authority over Satan’s kingdom as it affects our life and inheritance. Resist the devil and he will flee.
Father, I pray for an infilling of the Holy Spirit to be a successful worker in Your vineyard. I pray for increase that I might give to You, knowing it all belongs to You.
