Derek Hill's Page

God Bless You Derek! Thank you for your help in the discussion forum :)
GinnyB

hello. i am also a retired person like you. glad to visit your page.

Gracias mucho Derek para su mensaje. Me satisface ser su hermano en Cristo. Es bueno tener amigos en otros lugares para la conversacion, el rezo y la ayuda cristiana. Puede Dios continuar estando con tu y bendecirle en todos lo que tu hace y su caminata diaria con el.
Aunque yo gozando aprendiendo espanol, tu puedes ver que no es algo que he perfeccionada. He estado estudiando y en de cerca de dos anos.

Derek, this is a very nice picture. It's good for us now to put a face to your kind personality already of much blessing and inspiration to us on this site. Also thanks for joining us at Grace To Help group. I know you will be a blessing to us there.

I am praising the Lord with you, Derek, as you enter into the joy of this great salvation the Lord offers us.

You are hearing the Gospel message, brother, not from man, nor from man's traditions and philosophy, but from the living voice of God in His word. And, therefore, you must be quickened the way you are being quickened now by it.

Continue on in the faith. Our on-going walk in this great salvation is designed by God to be in the same manner we began - in absolute dependence upon the Lord. This to me is what faith in God is all about - absolute reliance upon God.

Dead in sin when God by grace saved us, is there anything we could have done to initiate this salvation in our lives? We know the meaning of physical death; it is no different with spiritual death. It is not lightly or meaninglessly the Bible describes our condition before salvation as dead. Man will have difficulty accommodating the idea of salvation being absolutely God's initial work because of man's fallen mindset of self-dependence, as we discussed before. But that's God's way of salvation.

Take some time and meditate on these two Scripture passages and note the extent to which God is the absolute producer of our salvation. John 1:12-13: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Ephesians 2:1: "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins."

So having been saved and brought to this godly life by God's own initiative by grace (favour granted unconditionally or without merit), we are instructed by the Bible to go on to live in this great salvation in absolute dependence on God's grace.

Paul puts it this way in Colossians 2:6-10: "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."

It's indeed an explosion of joy, peace, and strength when we come to the realization that everything we need to live on in this great salvation is there in Christ for us and we aborb it all like a plant absorbs nutrients or a branch absorbs sap for life and growth. This is the rest in Christ for the People of God.

Thanks for your comment, Derek. It's good what the Lord is doing through you in ministering to others. That's the purpose of being a member of the Body of Christ and being endowed with the gifts of the Spirit; it is for the benefit of all.

I am thankful especially that the Lord has placed my son, Clinton James, and his young family on your prayerful heart.

I also can sense the renewal of Life in you, Derek. God is blessing you. We come to know the truth by the revelation of the Spirit. Then the truth becomes personalized and sets us free in Christ.

The Scripture passages that you shared have inspired me too. Another wonderful teaching the Lord gave regarding spiritual life, growth, and fruitfulness by resting in Him is the parable of the vine in John 15. There Jesus is very plain and assuring that it is by abiding in Him we can live and be productive.

God bless you. I am praying for you.

I am always so blessed in what you write. And it stirs so much in me.

Your testimony is heart-breaking. A couple days ago I was listening to a secular song I loved years ago. It's entitled "You left me just when I needed you most." I don't know if you have ever heard it. But it seems it was meant to describe a broken love relationship. But in listening to it this time all I was hearing were the voices of forsaken and unloved children, abandoned by or deprived of their parents just when they needed their parents the most. My eyes were filled with tears. I thought of my son's three kids after he and his wife were separated about three years ago. They range in years at 4, 3, and 2 and live in California with their young Mom. But my heart yearned for them as I listened to the message the Spirit was giving through this secular song. They certainly need their Dad. Then my son called yesterday and was excited because the mom for the first time since the separation was permitting him to spend Christmas eve with the kids. Pray for these kids.

Christ through your childhood experiences make you able to sympathize and empathize with the many who sorrowfull and unloved are wandering in this dark cold world without the warmth and comfort of a caring someone to talk to.

Your friendship is God sent to me, Derek. I am praying for you. Thanks for your prayers. I always need them.

Thanks for writing. You are right. One needs always to consider the reader or listener in our zeal to communicate. In any case, what is the meaningfulness of communication if what is communicated is not communicated?! Yet, at the same time, we who communicate in the name of the Lord must give out as the Spirit moves us, long or short, even like casting our bread upon the water, hoping that the ones whom God intends it for will get it, whatever they may have to put out to get it.

Regarding spiritual growth, I think a great challenge is the fact that we cannot do it for ourselves. It bothers the zealousness of a mindset shaped by the world's self-centred philosophy of living and achieving. It becomes difficult to accept from such a mindset that God will do it all for us without our input.

Jesus once said no man by taking thought can add one cubit to His stature. That relates even more so to our spiritual stature. Nonetheless, it should be a comfort to us to know that what we cannot do for ourselves God is actively involved in doing for us all by His mercy and grace. And so, after bringing us into communion with Him in Christ at salvation, He goes on to produce spiritual growth in us in a self-effortlessness that may be likened to the growth of a plant.

I have found encouragement in Paul's way of putting it in Philippians 2:12-15:
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."

After exhorting the believer in Christ to "to work out" our own salvation, lest we should either be dispondent because of a sense of weakness or over-zealous out of a notion we can do it on our own, Paul immediately continues by stating "for it is God who works in" us. So the truth is we work out what God works in. We can work out our own salvation, we can do all things without complaining, we can function with excellence, because the all wise and mighty God operates in us. And what is even more strange to human self-centred philosophy of living and achieving, Paul writes that God works in us "both to will and to do." The phrase "work in" in the passage carries the meaning of powerfully energizing.

The discovery of this truth has brought me much rest in Christ as well as a comforting sense that I can trust God to faithfully generate in me the will and active power or drive to accomplish His will in every situation. The basis of all this is being in communion with God. It's what Jesus meant by abiding in Him if at all we are going to be productive.

I hope you will find some time to ponder on this Scripture passage and the powerful truth it represents. There are several other similar Scripture passages you may find links to. But the truth supports the fact that giving the glory to God for all Christian accomplishment is certainly not a flattery. The glory is truly His fully deserved own.