A Call To The Remnant

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Posts Tagged ‘Calvary’

The faith that pleases God

Posted by appolus on June 24, 2025

The Pentecostal and Charismatic world has been shaped by movements such as “name it and claim it” and the so-called “word of faith” message. Add to that the prosperity gospel, and what remains is a witches brew, a kind of spiritual confusion brewed in our own theological cauldron. These movements have often shifted the focus of faith from trusting in God to demanding from God, turning faith into a formula for material gain rather than a pathway to spiritual depth. What was once a holy dependence on the sovereignty of God has, in many circles, become a technique for manipulating outcomes.

Yet Scripture offers a deeper, more sobering view. Depending on the translation, the word “faith,”  appears around 270 times in the Bible. The vast majority of these references are not about miracles or breakthrough, but about trust, trust in God’s character, His promises, and His sovereign will.

Hebrews 11:6 says,
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”


The kind of faith that pleases God is not transactional, but relational. It is the quiet, unwavering confidence in who God is, even when heaven is silent and the way is dark.

Romans 8:8 reinforces this truth:
“So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Faith and flesh are incompatible. One walks by sight, the other by belief. To walk in the flesh is, functionally, to walk without faith.

Romans 8:5 explains,
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.”
The word mind here, phroneó, speaks of setting one’s affections, fixing one’s thoughts and desires. To “mind” the things of the flesh is to be consumed with the visible, temporal world. The Greek word for flesh, sarx, in this context means “the symbol of what is external.”

What does that look like in practical terms? It means being consumed with our careers, our possessions, our reputations, our politics, our social standing, our image, gaining our miracles, our health, rather than being absorbed in the things of God. A mind dominated by these mostly earthly concerns is incompatible with the Spirit-led life. Such a person is not walking in the Spirit, and therefore cannot please God. Being obsessed with miracles often flows, not from the heart of God, rather , it flows from the depths of our flesh.


“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)


The spiritual mind is one that seeks first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). It is a life oriented toward the eternal, not the temporary.

Hebrews 11, that great chapter of faith, gives us a dual picture. We rejoice in the stories of deliverance:


“By faith the walls of Jericho fell” (v.30),
“Through faith they subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions” (v.33).
These are victories worth celebrating.

Yet the chapter shifts abruptly.
“Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two… being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.” (vv.35–38)

The common thread?


“And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.” (v.39)

Their faith was not measured by immediate reward, but by enduring trust in the unseen. Job expressed it best:


“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15)


Habakkuk echoes the same heart:
“Though the fig tree may not blossom… yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” (Habakkuk 3:17–18)

This kind of faith is not swayed by trials or silence. It is rooted in relationship, not reward. Psalm 23 reminds us that God does not remove the enemies, but prepares a table in their midst.


“You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.” (Psalm 23:5)
The oil flows not in times of ease, but in times of pressure. The true reward of faith is not what we receive, but who we receive—His presence.


“In Your presence is fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16:11)

The last 2,000 years of Church history bear witness to this truth. Millions have suffered for Christ, not because their faith failed, but because their faith endured. They possessed a spiritual mind and a heart anchored in another world. Their lives pleased God. Their testimonies still speak.

So the question is this: will you walk in the Spirit today? Will you cast aside the fleeting things of this world and set your affections on things above (Colossians 3:2)? Will you walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)? Will you trust God even when there is no sign of deliverance?

This is the faith that pleases God. And without it, we cannot.

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Victory in Christ

Posted by appolus on April 12, 2025

Who, I ask you, who can separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trial? Shall agony? Shall persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or the edge of the sword?
It is written—For Your sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

And yet—yet! In all these things, not outside of them, not after them, but in the very midst of them, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

I am fully persuaded—utterly convinced—anchored with a faith that will not be shaken,
That neither death, nor life,
Nor angels nor demons,
Nor rulers nor tyrants,
Nor the present agony nor the looming shadow of the future,
Nor the height of ecstasy nor the depths of despair,
Nor anything that has ever been created in heaven or on earth or beneath the earth
—none of it, nothing—
shall be able to sever us, to tear us, to pry us loose from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Oh, do you see it, saints?
We are more than conquerors—not just survivors, not merely enduring, but victorious with eternal weight—in every circumstance.

Whether clothed in splendor or stripped bare in affliction,
Whether seated in honor or cast into the pit of shame,
Whether celebrated or scorned,
Whether fed at a banquet or starved in a wasteland,
Whether on the mountaintop or in the furnace—we overcome.

And we do not boast in our own strength. No! We walk humbly before men when they praise us. And we fall humbly before God when they revile us. For in the kingdom of God, victory and defeat are not what the world claims they are.

The cross proves this.

For at the hour when Jesus hung stripped, beaten, nailed to a tree—when the world saw only ruin,
He was in fact winning the greatest victory ever known in heaven or on earth.
He triumphed over sin. He broke the power of death.
He shamed the powers of darkness and bore the full weight of the wrath of God.
And He did it not by avoiding the humiliation—but by embracing it, enduring it for the joy set before Him.

And now, because He conquered, we too conquer.

Because He stood, we stand.

Because He rose, we rise.

So let the sword come. Let famine rage. Let persecution howl. Let all hell be loosed against us.
We will not be moved.
For we are more than conquerors—not in ourselves, but in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And nothing—nothing—shall separate us from His love.

Posted in Jesus, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Knowing Calvary.

Posted by appolus on February 16, 2024

Sometimes life can be just too much and it threatens to overwhelm us and drown us beneath the waves of afflictions and trials. Many times in my own Christian walk I have fallen to my knees and cried out to my Father in heaven. And He heard me and He “knows.” And just knowing that He hears and knows begins to lift our heads above the waters. Sometimes we are called to walk upon the waters, other times He takes us in the palm of His hand and lifts us above the fray, lest we lose our very minds.

He will not let us go under. He lifts us up to higher ground. The Lord intercedes for us before the throne. The Holy Spirit strengthens us and enables us to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint. To rise up on wings like eagles! Glorifying God and praising Him and testifying of Him gives us strength and promotes in us joy and that joy is our very strength. We have joy where there should be no joy. We have peace when all around us is in turmoil. We love even when we are hated. We stand immovable upon the Rock that is higher than us. When life makes our head hang low, then He calls us to look up. Look up into the heavens from where our help comes from.

In all of these things we have choices. We choose to worship Him, not because we somehow are trying to manipulate the Lord, but rather from a deep wellspring of love. From out of the depths of this love we cry unto God with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a mark of the saint. A heart that is full of thanksgiving is a heart that has encountered the presence of God and in that encounter peered into the depths of Calvary. And the vision that we see infuses itself into our spiritual DNA. The “knowledge,’ of Calvary informs every part of who we are. Without this “knowledge,” we can only be, at best, two dimensional. The head knowledge of Calvary can only promote the soulish elements of religion. Yet to encounter Calvary is to “know.” And it is from this “knowing,” that our hearts are primed.

Posted in bible, Christian, Daily devotional, Devotions, God's love, God's voice, healing, hope, intimacy, Jesus, manifest presence, revival, spiritual growth, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, The presence of God, the remnant, Uncategorized | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

The Kingdom of God

Posted by appolus on April 13, 2015

raptured-saintsJesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Joh_18:36

Jesus says that His Kingdom is not of this world. There is a Kingdom and there is a King and He rules and reigns on His throne. Some in eschatological circles would have you believe that the enemy is not yet crushed but he is crushed. Some would tell you that a future physical kingdom has to be established on this earth for the fulfillment of previous prophecies but they are all fulfilled in Christ. His was the victory at Calvary. The power of Satan was crushed at Calvary. There was total victory at Calvary. The power of the enemy was fully and forever vanquished right there. Any teaching that says differently is an assault on the totality of Calvary and the resurrection of Christ. The nations have not been deceived in these last days but have been willfully ignorant and rebellious to the Word of God and the victory of Calvary.

We are in this world but we are not of this world. We walk in power and the victory of the Kingdom of Christ. If the saints would only open their eyes they would see that theirs is a victorious walk. They run a race that has already been won. They fight in a war that has already had its outcome at Calvary. Peace is theirs, joy is theirs and righteousness is theirs. It has been established. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (Rev 12:10)

You see brothers and sisters, salvation has come and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ. All this came at Calvary. The accuser of the brethren was cast down, exposed and humiliated at the cross. Now with great rage he began his war against the saints but he was restrained because they overcame Him by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony and the fact that they loved not their lives even unto death. There is coming a time when he will not be restrained in his war against the saints.

For these the last of the last days are coming upon us and the Scriptures say we, the saints around the world, the Body of Christ, must be delivered into his hands and he will overcome us. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. (Rev 13:7) Now that word overcome in the Greek means to conquer. And the world will rejoice and celebrate the seeming victory, just as the hordes of hell must have celebrated their ” victory,” at Calvary. You see, for a time, as Jesus hung there dead upon the cross, all seemed lost. Yet the Father had allowed the Son to suffer and die for you and I.

Yet brothers and sisters we know how the story ended at Calvary! And we know how the story ends in Revelation. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev 22:4-5) And so brothers and sisters, stand strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. The time is coming soon when we shall be called to face the full fury of hell and all of its hordes as it makes its last stand, but the victory has already been won. Their fate is sealed. For a few moments in time hell shall rejoice but only for a moment. Our Christ shall come in all His glory in the sky for every one to see. We shall be with Him and those few saints still alive here on earth shall join them in the sky as the Lion of Judah comes to end it all and establish for all time that which begun at Calvary.

You have the power today brothers and sisters, walk in it. Let no lie from hell rob you of your sight and your joy and your peace. You are covered by the Blood and you are a living epistle read of men, a witness to the world, and you love not your own lives or you would have never given it up in the first place to be born again. He who loses His life for Christ’s sake shall gain eternal life. We do not have to be martyred to “lose our lives,’ but their must be a willingness in us to give our all for Him. This is the power, this is the Kingdom and this is the glory and all victory flows from this.

Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, prophecy, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »