Month: January 2024

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Need Direction?

Sue’s Views
So the year is underway ….. the question is ….. ‘which way will we go.’ It’s easy to let life carry us along. The needs and expectations of others ….. or consequences of our decisions ….. can dictate how we live and what we do. The Bible gives us great advice. ‘In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.’ He sees the obstacles and the better way to reach your destination.
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Let Us Offer Up A Sacrifice Of Praise

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year but Derek Prince
Step 12: Let Us Offer Up A Sacrifice Of Praise
“Through Him [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15 NASB)
This final step of offering up a sacrifice of praise to God is related in a direct and practical way with the two previous steps, which were, “Let us show gratitude” and “Let us go out to Him outside the gate.” You see, gratitude naturally leads to praise. There are so many passages in the Bible where it relates thanksgiving with praise. One of the most beautiful is Psalm 100:4:
“[We] enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.” (NKJV)
The step just before this one, “Let us go out to Him outside the camp,” means for us to be identified with the cross of Jesus. To follow Jesus, we must accept the reproach of His cross. This brings us release from the two slaveries of pleasing self and pleasing the world.
This step is directly related to offering the sacrifice of praise. You might not see it at first, but there are two hindrances to spontaneous, free flowing praise in our lives. They are: love of self and love of the world. As long as our affections are centered in ourselves or in the world, we are not really free to praise God. But the cross removes these two hindrances and sets us free to praise God.
Set free in this way, we are no longer affected by what happens to us. We are not affected by our moods, by our problems, by apparent adversity. We are no longer affected by what goes on in the world around us. You know, sometimes when we listen to the news, we think, “Well, the situation’s pretty bad—problems, disasters, crime, immorality…” But you see, we are not living in this world. The world doesn’t dominate us. It doesn’t dominate our thinking. We are in the world but not of the world.
When we are released from that slavery to the world—when the world doesn’t control our thinking and our motivation, when we have been liberated by the cross in that inner attitude toward the world—then there is nothing left to hinder our praise. We don’t praise God just when things are going right in the world. We don’t praise God just when things are going right with ourselves. Rather, we praise God because He is worthy to be praised. Our liberated spirit isn’t entangled with self-love and the love of the world.
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Let Us Go Out To Him

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)
Step 11: Let Us Go Out To Him
The eleventh step is found in Hebrews chapter 13:
“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” (verses 12–14 NASB)
This passage deals with our attitude and our relationship to this present world. It is telling us that our home is not in this world. We do not have an enduring place in this world.
The world rejected Jesus—it drove Him out of the city and crucified Him outside the gate. The Scriptures always emphasize the crucifixion took place outside the city wall. He was rejected; He was put out of society; the world did not want Him. We know that the way the world treated Jesus—sooner or later, in one way or another—is going to be the way the world will treat you and me as believers. We must be willing to go out to Him to the place of crucifixion, the place of rejection and shame, bearing His reproach.
“For here we do not have a lasting city [other people may think this is permanent, but we know it isn’t], but we are seeking the city which is to come.” (verse 14 NASB)
I like that translation which says, “the city.” There is one particular city which is the destination and the home of all true believers. That is where we really belong.
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Let Us Show Gratitude

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)
Step 10: Let Us Show Gratitude
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28–29)
You see, God requires two responses from us as His people. First, He requires that we appreciate what He does for us and second, He requires that we express our appreciation. It is important to understand that we need to express our appreciation.
One of my favorite Scriptures is Proverbs 3:6:
“In all your ways acknowledge Him [God], and He shall direct your paths.”
I have learned by experience that if I pause at every stage in life to acknowledge God, I can be confident that He will continue to direct my path. You may ask: “How can I acknowledge God?” The simplest and the best way is simply by thanking Him—thanking Him for all He has done; thanking Him for His faithfulness. When you do, you will get the assurance immediately that He is going to go on being faithful. Just as He has helped and guided in the past, He will guide in the future. But the key to this assurance is acknowledging Him by our thanksgiving.
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Let Us Run With Endurance

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)
Step 9: Let Us Run With Endurance 
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2)
In the original Greek, the first phrase, “lay aside every encumbrance,” is not in that form. Instead, it reads like this: “Laying aside every encumbrance, let us run with endurance the race.” The real “let us” phrase on which we need to focus is, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Here and elsewhere in the New Testament, the Christian life is compared to a race. This implies there is a specific course marked out for us in advance, and success in the Christian life consists in completing the course in accordance with the rules of the competition.
There are 4 requirements for a successful race:
1. Right Mental Attitude
2. Self Control
3. Endurance
4. Eyes Fixed on Jesus
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Let Us Consider One Another

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)
Step 8: Let Us Consider One Another
“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” (Hebrews 10:24–26 NASB)
In Greek, this would read: “Let us consider one another, how to stimulate to love and good deeds.” That brings out the real essence of this particular resolution: “Let us consider one another.” We are to consider one another from the point of view of how we can bring out the best in each other.
So many people today are shut up in the prison of self. Their basic problem is self-centeredness. I have never met a self-centered person who was truly happy and enjoyed true peace. In fact, the more you concentrate on yourself—the more you worry about yourself and seek to please yourself—the more your problems will increase. You must first be released from that prison of self-centeredness. As this passage indicates, there is one scriptural way to be released: Stop worrying about yourself. Stop caring for yourself all the time. Stop fighting for yourself. Instead, start to consider your fellow believers. “Let us consider one another.”
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  (Philippians 2:3–4 NASB)
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Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession Without Wavering

Sue’s Views
 12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)
Step 7: Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession Without Wavering
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23 NASB)
If we take these passages from Hebrews in the correct order, we see that, in respect to our confession, there are three successive stages. First, we make the confession. Second, having made it, we hold fast to it—we do not change. Third, we hold it fast without wavering. Why do you think without wavering is put in? To me, it implies—not merely on the basis of logic, but on the basis of personal experience—that when we make the right confession, we are going to encounter negative forces and pressures that will come against us. Even though we have made the right confession and we are holding it fast, there may come a time when the pressure increases. In fact, it may seem that all the forces of Satan and all the powers of darkness are turned loose against us, tempting us to let go of our confession.
But this is the point at which the writer of Hebrews encourages us: “Don’t let go. Hold fast—without wavering.” The darker the situation, the greater the problem. The more the pressure, the more important it is for us to hold fast without wavering. Why? Because “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).You may feel you have lost sight of God, and you don’t know what He’s doing. You may feel He’s behind the clouds, out of sight. But Scripture says He is faithful. Whether you see Him or not, whether you understand or not, He is faithful. He is committed to His Word and He is our High Priest. If we hold fast our confession without wavering, He will do His job as our High Priest.
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Let Us Draw Near to the Most Holy Place

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)
Step 6: Let Us Draw Near To The Most Holy Place
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19–22 NIV)
Let us draw near to the throne (Step4) means that we are to come for the help we need—for mercy and grace. But Let us draw near to the Most Holy Place is to draw close to God Himself. I believe it takes us much further. The suggestion is not merely that we come to the throne for help, but that we are invited to take our place with Christ on the throne. That is what it means to enter into the Most Holy Place.
Speaking about our entrance into the Most Holy Place and approaching the Mercy Seat and the throne, the writer of Hebrews says there are four requirements. Let’s look very briefly at each of those requirements.
1. A sincere heart. We approach God with our heart, not with our head. God is not the answer to an intellectual riddle, but He does meet a longing heart. It must be a sincere heart, without any pretensions or hypocrisy. We have to expose ourselves to God just as we are and not try to cover up anything or pretend to be different than we are. We must be open and honest with God.
2. A full assurance of faith. In the next chapter of Hebrews we read:
“But without faith it is impossible to please [God], for he who comes to God must believe…”(Hebrews 11:6 NKJ)
So we see that we must come with faith in God’s faithfulness; in other words, not in our own ability or righteousness, but with absolute faith in God’s faithfulness.
3. Our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. An “evil conscience” comes from wrong and sinful deeds that we have committed in the past. Through the blood of Jesus, however, we can receive assurance that all those evil deeds in the past have been forgiven and our hearts are pure from sin. We can have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience through the blood of Jesus.
4. Our bodies washed with pure water. In his first epistle, John tells us that Jesus came by water and by blood. (See 1 John 5:6.) In these two conditions, we see both elements: the blood that sprinkles from an evil conscience, and the water that washes our bodies. I believe that “water” refers to Christian baptism. In every place where it is explained in the New Testament, Christian baptism is depicted as sharing in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So “the new and living way” is Jesus. It is the act of coming and partaking of His death, His burial and His resurrection. We are to be identified with everything that Jesus went through in dying for our sins.
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Let Us Press On To Maturity

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year (by Derek Prince)
Step 5: Let Us Press On To Maturity
Now we will look at the fifth resolution, found in Hebrews 6:1:
“Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity.” (NASB)
To remain static in the spiritual life is almost impossible One very penetrating verse from Proverbs 4:18 reads:
“The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” (NASB)
Notice, first of all, that righteousness is a path. A path is something that we move along. A path is never designed for standing still, much less sitting down. Righteousness, as a path, implies motion. It implies progress and development.
When we are walking in the path of righteousness, the light should always be getting brighter on our day. With each step and each day, the light should be brighter than it was before. “Until the full day” describes our destination. “The full day” is the height of noonday. God is not content that we should stop short of that full brightness of the noonday sun. The dawn is our beginning point, the path is the way of progress, and the light gets brighter and brighter. No stopping place is permitted until we reach the full day.
There are two main requirements. First, we must come under the discipline of the God-given ministries Paul has listed: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Without that discipline, oversight, and instruction, I do not see how God’s people can ever attain to maturity. Jesus Christ never made a provision that was not important, and I believe this provision is essential.
The second condition is that we must be part of a growing body, not just isolated individuals. 
“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:14 (NIV)
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Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession

Sue’s Views
12 Steps to a Good Year
Step 3: Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” (Hebrews 4:14 NASB)
The word confession is derived from a word in the original Greek of the New Testament which means “to say the same as.” In its scriptural context, it means that we say the same as God says—that we make the words of our mouth agree with God’s Word.
Then the passage points out, particularly, that it is our confession that relates us to Jesus as our High Priest. Every time we make the right confession—speaking out a positive declaration with our mouths—Jesus  has obligated Himself to ensure that our confession is made good in our experience. 
“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” (Hebrews 3:1 NASB)
Those last five words tell us that our confession enlists Jesus as our High Priest. But the opposite, unfortunately, is also true. If we make no confession, we have no High Priest. Not that Jesus has ceased to be our High Priest, but that we have not given Him the opportunity to minister as our High Priest. He is the High Priest of our confession. If we make the right professions in faith, with our mouths, according to Scripture, then Jesus has eternally obligated Himself to see that we will never be put to shame—that we will always come into the experience of what we confess. But if we do not say the right thing then, alas, we silence the lips of our High Priest. We give Him nothing to say on our behalf in heaven.
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