The doctrine of Lordship Salvation views saving faith neither as passive nor fruitless. The faith that is the product of regeneration, the faith that embraces the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross energizes a life of love and obedience and worship. The controversy is not a dispute about whether salvation is by faith only or by faith plus works. All agree that we are saved by grace through faith, apart from works (Eph. 2:8-10). But the controversy is about the nature of the faith that saves. According to Lordship Salvation, Sola fides iustificat (faith alone justifies), sed non fides quae est sola (but not the faith which is alone).
Sam Storms

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The Eagle That Cackled

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#1 · July 24, 2003, 7:45 am

Posted by: bigguyhereagain <bigguyhereagain@...>

<>< The Eagle That Cackled ><>
 
Dear friends:
 
There are different versions of this story, but they all make an excellent spiritual point.
 
Thinking he was a chicken, the eagle did what the chickens did.  He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects.  He clucked and he cackled.  He flew in a brief thrashing of wings and a flurry of feathers, but he never got more than a few feet off the ground because he thought he was just a prairie chicken and wasn't supposed to fly.
 
As time passed, the eagle matured.  One day he looked up into the sky, and high above him he saw a magnificent bird hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful currents of air.  He marveled at how the bird soared with scarcely a beat of its wings.
 
"What a beautiful bird," the eagle clucked to his prairie chicken neighbors.  "What is it?"
 
"That's an eagle -- chief of all birds," cackled one of the chickens. "But don't you give it another thought.  You could never be like him."
 
And so the eagle, thinking he was just a prairie chicken and not able to soar into the heights, lived his life groveling and picking at the ground, never experiencing the exhilaration of flight and the majesty which was his by birthright.
 
Tragically, this is the picture of the average Christian today.  With the ability to "mount up with wings like eagles" as Isaiah wrote in chapter 40, verse 31, many are content to grovel in their problems and pick at their misfortunes when God wants us to rise into the heavenlies on the wings of praise and soar far above our circumstances in the glorious majesty of His presence, where our Lord Jesus is seated at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19), and where we are seated with Him (Ephesians 2:6).
 
But God reveals a different identity for those who trust in His Son and are committed to Him.  We are created in His image, adopted into His heavenly family, are citizens of His eternal Kingdom, and He has endued us with power from on high to be His servants. 
 
God created us to soar with Him, not grovel!
 
 
 
<>< I Asked God ><>
 
I asked God for Strength.
And He gave me difficulties
to make me strong.
 
I asked God for Wisdom.
And He gave me problems
to solve.
 
I asked God for Prosperity.
And He gave me brain and brawn
to work.
 
I asked God for Courage.
And He gave me danger
to overcome.
 
I asked God for Love.
And He gave me troubled people
to help.
 
I asked God for Favors.
And He gave me opportunities.
 
I received nothing I wanted.
And I received everything I needed.
 
 
 
Have a Blessed Day
Dave and Barbara
 

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