The Saving Power of Jesus

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9.
Our precious Saviour has invited us to join ourselves to Him and unite our weakness with His strength, our ignorance with His wisdom, our unworthiness with His merit.
Rigid precision in obeying the law would entitle no man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
There must be a new birth, a new mind through the operation of the Spirit of God, which purifies the life and ennobles the character. This connection with God fits man for the glorious kingdom of heaven. No human invention can ever find a remedy for the sinning soul.
There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness…. The idea that it is necessary only to develop the good that exists in man by nature, is a fatal deception. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14…. Of Christ it is written, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”—the only “name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” John 1:4; Acts 4:12….
Paul the apostle … longed for the purity, the righteousness, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and he cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24, margin. Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. To all, there is but one answer, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.
The Faith I Live By p. 96
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for me. I am clinically depressed. M
—-Please pray for a friend of mine. He has migraines all the time. They seem to be getting worse. Jeon is a true believer in Jesus Christ. Roberta
—-Please pray for my dear 84 year old mother and her 89 year old brother. They live together and have for years. There is a situation going on and so this is an unspoken prayer request but prayer is urgently needed for both of them. Connie
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Dear Friends,
In my grandparents’ yard was a very old and neglected apple tree. The apples were small and not good for eating. I can still remember the smell of those rotting apples as they fell off and lay untouched below the tree. Because of its age, unusually large size, and the neglect it suffered; it was hollow inside. Despite this, it was still alive with green leaves and was still producing their small, wormy fruit.
That tree fascinated me. Often I would gaze at that tree and think about the many warnings of my grandparents to stay away from that tree. I especially thought about a story that my mother had once told me. Before I was born, she had been standing under that tree talking to my dad. Suddenly, he grabbed her roughly and ran, still holding her tightly, down the driveway a little way. She was a little upset with him and about to get angry, when he stopped and pointed toward where she had been standing. As my mother looked, she saw a large part of that apple tree had split and had come crashing down right where she had been standing. He explained that as they had been talking, he had heard a cracking noise. Instantly he knew what it was. He knew that she was in danger and reacted quickly. Her anger was replaced by gratitude.
Even though that ancient apple tree was old and could have split again, my grandparents never cut it down. They just warned me never to play under the tree. The warnings only made the tree fascinating to me.
How often we have old, rotten “apple trees” in our lives. We fear them but allow them to take root and grow in our heart even though they should have been gotten rid of years ago. They produce rotten, wormy fruit in our lives that lead to death. Often, we do not want it there, but we still allow that old, familiar sin to remain inside our hearts until it grows large and difficult to deal with.
Jesus, speaking of this, said, “those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man.” Matt 15:18-20 Paul warns,” Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Gal 5:19-21 Jeremiah asks, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” He, then, gives the answer, “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jer 17:9,10
How often we try the pleasures of this world to forget that growing “apple tree”, but “even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.” Prov 14:13 How much we need Someone to cut down that “rotten tree” that is ever growing and producing fruit to our destruction. James advises, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:6-10 “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa 57:15; 1:16-18
Let us come to our Dear Saviour that He may help us to cut down the old, “rotten apple trees” that we have allowed to grow in our heart for so many years. Let us pray as did David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Ps 51:10 “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” to “forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness;” that we may be free from the fruit of iniquity that we have produced for so long. Heb 10:23; 1 John 1:9
Rose