Jesus Is Both Savior and Lord

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

In the last one-hundred years there has been an effort to divide Christians into two groups: carnal and spiritual (Read 1 Cor. 2:14-3:3). And they have likewise said that many have received Christ as Savior, but not as Lord. They would be the carnal ones. They would be saved but not really committed to Christ.

And surprisingly, some have been okay with this, because they say that if they accept Him as Lord they would be guilty of human works.

But this is crazy, because that would be dividing Christ. For He is both Savior and Lord. And so, when we seek to be saved we must accept all of Him, in all that He is—Savior and Lord. He must be our Savior and our Lord. If He is not, we really haven’t accepted Him (the real Him) at all.

And, as far as being guilty of “human works,” Jesus tells us that true faith requires works (James 2:14-26); that without works faith is dead. And works is not something we do without His help. He is the worker in us. When we are saved He gives us a new life, a life that naturally does the work of God.

And by the way, if you are called a carnal Christian, you may not be a Christian at all. Because carnality is not of God. A carnal person is a person void of spirituality, or void of the Holy Spirit. So here it is: a carnal person is a pagan, not a Christian; and a Spiritual person is a Christian, because he walks by the Spirit and he does the works of God (Romans 8:9-11).

However, there will be periods in the Christian’s life when he takes the wrong road or gets off track. But that will be only temporary. God provides for him a way to get back on track—he will just need to repent of his sins and start again. And this will happen many times because we are still in our fleshly body. And God understands this—and so should we. But we endeavor to abide with Him from day to day failing along the way, but getting back up again and again. And thank God that He has provided for us constant forgiveness and cleansing (1 Jn 1:9).

We depend on His constant forgiveness and cleansing; yet we strive to abide with Him and trust Him more.

Holiness of Abiding

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Pleasing God is the element in abiding that we will consider here. I have called it holiness because that is exactly how we please Him—by our holiness.

In 1 John 3:22 we find that the promise of answered prayer comes to us when we keep His commandments and do those things that please Him: “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Notice that the requirement of pleasing God is not by itself; it is coupled with the requirement of keeping His commandments—the chief of which is to love God and others. This tells us that the two go together and that they cannot be separated. We cannot please God without obeying Him and we cannot truly obey Him without pleasing Him.

But the fact that the two requirements are separated tells us also that…

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The Meditation of Abiding

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Abiding I believe is the key to receiving regular and many answers to prayer. For Jesus says to us in John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Abiding in Christ and in His words means to continue in them, that is, to continue believing them and living by them. Abiding also means to dwell with and to be connected to as a branch is to a vine. I conclude, therefore, that abiding in Jesus means that we are continually dwelling with Him and perpetually letting His life flow into us just as living sap flows from a vine to its branches; hence, it means that we are always sipping and tasting and drinking in His goodness, ever being satisfied with what we need and long for.

Now it seems that…

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Abiding in Christ: Eight Things a Christian Does to Keep Himself Abiding

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

The following article is an excerpt from this book.

The key to answered prayer is to abide in Christ and to let His words abide in us. In John 15:7 it says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (NKJV).

Here are eight things an abiding Christian does to strengthen his faith in order to keep himself abiding in Christ—taken from my e-book Prayer A to Z.

1. He makes it his habit to meditate on the Word every day. This daily meditation time helps him to see things from God’s perspective, gives him a desire for God, and helps him to adjust his desires to God’s desires.

2. He obeys God and keeps himself busy with His work. The abiding believer knows that faith isn’t really faith without obedience and work. …

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