Begotten Again - Born Again

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently--

1Pe 1:23  having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.

Begotten again means-

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Born again- begotten again.

Born not of CORRUPTIBLE SEED.  Born of INCORRUPTIBLE SEED.

Born of-- 

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Born of incorruptible seed, born of the Spirit.

Begotten again, born again.

Incorruptible seed, born of the Spirit.

When we are born of incorruptible seed that is the seed of the SPIRIT and we are born of the Spirit through the Word of God--

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Do you see, we must be born again through Jesus Christ our Savior if we have any hope at all whatsoever. I know we know this but we have to have this in our HEARTS. We have to have this in our lives. We have to LIVE this, breathe this, make this our life, our NEW LIFE, our born again life.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently--

1Pe 1:23  having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.

We can love one another from the heart fervently when we are born again, living in the Spirit. Of ourselves we cannot love that way.  We CANNOT love others on our own, because the love we have of our own is a very selfish love, a corruptible love.

The Word of God lives and not only lives but ABIDES.

Abiding in the Word of God, abiding in our Savior--

Joh_14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will abide with us forever!  Jesus prays to the Father for US to have another Comforter. He comforted those He was with while He walked the earth, and the Holy Spirit is sent to comfort all those who are His while He is no longer upon the earth.

Joh_15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

We have NOTHING of God unless we are living in GOD, nothing. We can do NOTHING of ourselves.  Even our Savior could do NOTHING of Himself while He was upon earth.

Joh_5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

The biggest trouble with us is that we seek our own will, we do it all the time. We think of ourselves first before everything. We think of our feelings, our needs, our desires, our wants, our time, our actions, we focus on ourselves more than anything else. We put ourselves first in  all things we do it all the time. And we need Christ to live in us so that we can put CHRIST first in all things.

Joh_15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

If we are NOT in Christ we are dead, the living dead, and our fate is to burn.  We must live in Christ, He must be alive in us, a part of us through the Holy Spirit!

Joh_15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

All by the GRACE of GOD! All through HIS LOVE, we abide.

Joh_15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

TRUTH!

TRUTH!

So why do we not believe the truth?

Our Savior kept His Father's commandments and not one jot or one tittle was every taken away from that law.  Our Savior kept the Father's Commandments and if He kept the Father's commandments then we must keep the commandments that He kept, His commandments. Our Savior said this--

Luk_16:17  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

It always comes back to the laws given to us, the laws of LOVE.

Joh_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Jesus' words.

If we love Him, we will abide in His love and if we keep His commandments we are abiding in His love, if we are loving Him we are keeping His commandments.

HE and HE alone makes it possible for us to keep His commandments, for us to love HIM.

Everything is CHRIST!

Please, Lord, please let us love YOU, let us abide in YOU always!

1Pe 1:23  having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.

All by HIM!

In HIS LOVE.

Obeying the truth through the Spirit

1Pe 1:20,21  indeed having been foreknown before the foundation of the world, but revealed in the last times for you,  those believing in God through Him,  He who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory,  so that your faith and hope might be in God.

1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

1Pe 1:21  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

Our faith and hope might be in GOD.

Jesus Christ KNOWN BEFORE the FOUNDATION of the WORLD.

Let that sink in for a moment. Before the foundation of OUR world, our Savior existed. Our Savior REVEALED in the last times for us.  The plan of salvation for this world was a part of this world before this world existed.  It's just like any of us making plans to do something spectacular but knowing there are risks involved. Because we know there are risks involve we make contingency plans should any of those risks become realized. We can comprehend that, so why can't we comprehend the Creator of our World, the Creator of Us, doing the same thing? 

The plan for salvation wasn't introduced to mankind until it was absolutely necessary. All the while Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden before sinning, they didn't need to know there was a plan in place, the plan was there if needed. Once it became needed mankind heard this…

Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

A hatred was PUT between Satan and God's people.

This hatred between sin and love would result in the enmity's being bruised in the heel- and the sin, Satan, being destroyed with its head bruised.

Our Savior's contingency plan included His own temporary death and great suffering. The Creator became the Savior.

 1Pe 1:20,21 'those believing in God through Him,  He who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory,  so that your faith and hope might be in God.

Our FAITH and HOPE must be in GOD who did all this for us.

1Pe 1:22  Purifying your souls in the OBEDIENCE OF THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT TO UNFEIGNED LOVE OF THE BROTHERS, LOVE ONE ANOTHER FERVENTLY OUT OF A PURE HEART,

We must purify our souls - purify ourselves with the OBEDIENCE of the truth- obedience of the truth through the Spirit- through the spirit to unfeigned love of the brothers- unfeigned love, loving one another- loving one another fervently- loving one another fervently out of a pure heart.

Do you see?  Through the Spirit we can love others, from a pure heart, this purifies us!

Loving through the Spirit.

Obeying the truth through the Spirit.

Please, Lord, please… help us to love, to obey, to be YOURS, all by YOUR LOVE.

Our Earthly Residence

'And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, pass the time of your earthly residence in fear,  knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers,  but with the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot'  1Pe 1:17-19

IF we call on the Father.
The Father- who without respect of persons-judges according to the work of each one.
Pass the time of your earthly residence in fear.
Knowing that you were not redeem with corruptible things- silver or gold.
Not redeemed from our VAIN manner of life handed down from our fathers.
REDEEMED by the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

What is this telling us?

We must call on the Father, right?  Jesus told us we are to pray--'Our Father…'  We must call upon the Father and IF we call upon the Father we have to do so while realizing that our Father is NOT one who respects person, meaning He treats us ALL the same. The ONLY thing our Father judges us on is the actions of our life, each one of us individually are judged based on the choices we make, this is our work that is judged.

Because we choose to call upon the Father we have to realize that the Father and the Father alone is our JUDGE. HE IS OUR JUDGE! When we call upon Him we have to do so knowing He is our judge. We can't call upon Him in any other way. We must call upon Him with this knowledge as we call upon Him.  Because we are to - 'PASS the time of our EARTHLY residence in FEAR!'  

Yes, in FEAR!  A fear that demands we respect the only One who can save us from ourselves. A fear that we will fall short of accepting the salvation offered to us. A fear that tells us to seek the FATHER as a child who is solely dependent upon that Father for all life, in fact for life eternal.  A fear that tells us to go anywhere else but to the Father is to give up all love, all life.

We are told not to fear but to trust, but we are also told to fear. The difference between the two is the things we fear.

Remember --

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

A consuming fire.

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Let us have grace…

Whereby we may serve God acceptably with REVERENCE and GODLY FEAR.

Our life is in HIS hands.  We must revere and fear, we must love and fear, we must let the fear be attached to our faith.

1Jn_4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Perfect love- only GOD has perfect love and we have to let our fear be faith by the grace of our LORD.

'And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, pass the time of your earthly residence in fear,  knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers,  but with the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot'  1Pe 1:17-19

We re NOT redeemed with anything that is corruptible.
No silver, no gold can save us from our VAIN manner of life, a life we've inherited.

The ONLY thing that can save us is the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST!

A perfect LAMB, the perfect SACRIFICE.

Please, Lord, please let our fear become faith all by YOUR grace.

We are passing our time here, our time on this earthly residence in fear. We cannot redeem ourselves, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves we can't buy our salvation in any way shape or form. Please let Your Son be our Savior! He alone is worthy to save us, while we are unworthy to be saved. By His GRACE, HIS MERCY, HIS LOVE, save us who are unworthy, us whose works are nothing, save our choice to believe and even that is by YOUR GRACE!

Hope to the End

1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

*******

When you gird up your loins, what are you doing? You're protecting your body.  You're preparing for action. We are told this--

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth

We are told this is part of the whole armor of God.

Armor protects us in battle.  The truth protects us in our spiritual battle.

Here in 1 Peter we are told to gird up the loins of our MINDS.

We must protect our MINDS.

We protect our minds by remaining sober. We protect our minds by HOPING to the END for the GRACE that is TO BE BROUGHT unto us at the REVELATION of JESUS CHRIST.

Hope protects us.  We can understand how remaining sober would protect our minds, can't we? Anyone who has ever been drunk can understand how they're not in their right minds when they are under the influence. People do things and say things they don't mean to do and say and would NEVER do or say if they weren't drunk. Our guards are down when we are drunk. At least in remaining sober we are NOT opening ourselves up to evil influences and yes, this protects us.

Can we understand how hope protect our minds?

Without hope …

Heb_11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hope is faith, isn't it?

Heb_11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Without hope it is impossible to please God.
Without hope we have NO hope.

We must hope and we must NEVER lose hope.

This is the devil's chief goal, to make us lose hope. Hope offers us the best protection ever.

1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance

We must be OBEDIENT children of God.
We must NOT fashion ourselves according to our former lusts that we held in ignorance.

This all ties into striving, to resisting unto blood, to fighting the good fight, to being active spiritually.

1Ti_6:12  Fight the good fight of faith

We aren't to be passive in our spiritual life. We are to FIGHT, we have ARMOR. If we truly believe these are mere words without any substance, words that are said in metaphor without any practical application to our spiritual life, then we are lost.

It is a battle, it is a fight, and it's one that we all are taking a part in.

Some of us choose to remain at home on the sidelines keeping off enemy territory, staying out of the real fight, keeping far away from the front lines- but in doing that we are placing ourselves at risk.  We are acknowledging there is a spiritual battle going on, but not one that we really have to be a part of. We'd like our part to be one that doesn't see any action. We want our part in this battle to not require us to put on any armor at all.

But it isn't enough to sit out this battle.  We are all on the front lines daily, and satan will gladly destroy your spiritual life while you sit back believing all the while you are fighting a good fight. Satan deals chiefly in deception and he'll use every means at his disposal to keep us deceived.

God give us TRUTH. God takes off our blinders. God wants us to fight the good fight, to be in the spiritual battle with all our armor on.

God has call us to be holy in all things, are we?

1Pe 1:15  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Do we set aside our Christianity and tell ourselves we are only human, and can't help but live in our humanity first and foremost?  Do we make all manner of excuses so we can keep from fighting the spiritual battle, so we can live a life of spiritual ease?

Be holy as God is holy.

We tell ourselves this is impossible.  And it is impossible for us, but not for God.

We are called to be holy and we can be holy only through the hope we have in Christ Jesus our SAVIOR.

Hope.

More tomorrow all by the GRACE of our God.

Please LORD be our HOPE in all things!  Help us to HOPE to the END for the GRACE brought to us by JESUS CHRIST, the REVELATOR.

Serve God Acceptably

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Receiving a kingdom which CANNOT be moved…

We just talked about the heavens and earth being shaken and things being removed, and now we are talking about a kingdom which cannot be moved. It's that simple isn't it?

What can be moved and cannot be moved.
Things not of God and things of God.

If we are God's we will NOT be moved, we will not be removed from all existence. All things that are not God's will be removed it's that simple.

We are told- we who receive the kingdom- receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, cannot be moved and then we are told to have grace- grace so we may SERVE God ACCEPTABLY with REVERENCE and GODLY FEAR.  Why? Because our GOD is a CONSUMING FIRE.

A consuming fire.

Believing God is a big ol' softy who will not harm anyone or anything is wrong. What He will never do, is harm anyone or anything UNJUSTLY.

Let us have grace.

Grace is not forced upon anyone. No one will be forced against their will to receive the grace of God.  Those who refuse the grace of God will one day cry out that they should have been forced, but force is not love.

We are not forced but we are chastened. We are shown the errors of our ways. We are guided lovingly, if strictly and at times painfully- because God says no chastening for the present seems pleasant, but accepting the chastening and learning from it, learning the lesson we are being taught is necessary.

Let us have grace.

Having grace is accepting Christ as our Savior, accepting He and He alone can save us through that grace of His.

1Pe_5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Oh, please, let us have grace!

Let us serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

Serve, please let us serve You, let Your will be done in us. Help us to revere You as we should, help us to have godly fear as we fully comprehend that You are a CONSUMING FIRE. You are not one who will compromise any of what You are, You will never compromise Your love, never. You have laid ALL Your cards on the table plain for all to see. You have explained Your plan of salvation leaving nothing out, nothing whatsoever. You leave it for every human being to decide whether or not they want You and accept Your plan of salvation.

Lord, we choose You.
Lord, we serve You, help our serving be acceptable to You.
Lord, help us to revere You.
Lord, help us have a godly fear of You.
Lord, help us to comprehend that You are a consuming fire, never forgetting, never soft-selling You. Never believing that sin will not be eradicated fully in every aspect by Your consuming fire.

All by Your love.

Savior or Self?

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

'Whose voice'- a voice speaks.
'And this word'- what a voice says.

And this word, ONCE MORE- SIGNIFIES the REMOVING of those things that are SHAKEN.

When did this word remove shaken things in the past?

Psa_18:7  Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

Psa 46:6  The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
Psa 46:7  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Psa 46:8  Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

God's word is powerful, so incredibly powerful. The world could end at His word. One word from our Creator we could be blotted out of existence.  The power is there, the power ruled by love which cannot blot us out because Christ sacrificed Himself to save us from ourselves.

There are many things that can be shaken, many things that can be removed, but there are things that CANNOT be shaken and those things will remain.

God's love cannot be shaken. God's law cannot be shaken.  Evil will be shaken and all the things attached to evil, all things that are a result of evil will be removed.

Satan- once Lucifer- a covering cherub took one third of the heavenly angels with Him, not by force but by lies and deception. He deceived the angels and they chose to follow him over their Creator, God. Yes, the heavens will be shaken…

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Everything will be shaken and for a final time and only the things that CANNOT be shaken will remain.  Only the things that are GOD'S will remain.

Our Savior, our Mediator, the One who stands between us and God is the One we MUST cling to! Our lives, our allegiance must be to our SAVIOR.

Savior or self.

Savior or self.

This is truly what we decide between.

We can be shaken, we can be removed if we are not God's, if Christ is not in us, if we are not known by Christ, and the way we are known, the way He is in us, the way we are God's is by choosing to let self DIE and choosing DAILY to let self die, not yielding to self, but yielding to God. Willing to strive against sin, strive unto blood, resist unto blood knowing we are battling self.  All the powers of Satan will encourage us to not resist sin, not to resist ourselves. All the powers of Satan will convince us that sin is good, and good is sin, so our conscience will be quiet.  Please, Lord, let our conscience never be silenced by our giving into Satan's deceptions. Live in us! Let us live in You. Let us be YOURS always!  Guide us, help us, teach us, love us!

Let us choose YOU, our SAVIOR, over ourselves.

All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE! Let us be Yours so we will not be removed, not be shaken.

I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Yesterday we studying the above verse. There is so much meat on that verse's bone -so to speak. We are feasting on meat now and not milk, we are no longer babes but we've grown up into Christ, haven't we? We have to believe we will grow up, by the grace of God, into spiritual adults because we aren't supposed to forever remain babes needing feeding, needing milk.

Ultimately the above verse is telling us that our Savior is a MEDIATOR of a new covenant, the old one involved sacrificial services that included the sacrifice of animals. This new covenant only needed Jesus' blood, His blood being the only blood that could redeem us, blood that is holier than even Abel's, the first to die- murdered by his brother.

Continuing on...

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven

Remember this from just a short bit ago--

Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20  (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Moses spoke upon earth. The people wanted Moses to speak to them, not God because they were afraid.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Now read this-

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven

They escaped NOT who refused him that spake on earth.

People did NOT escape the law through Moses. People were given the truth of God's love, a love that is so incredibly amazing, a love that is beyond them to know on their own. They were shown their sin- the reason for their separation from God and His love, and then shown a way to be reconciled as much as would be possible until the time for the Messiah would come.  No one escaped that life, no child of God, no chosen of God, no one whose heart went after the TRUE GOD.

And if NO one could escape from the ceremonial law of God, why does anyone imagine they can escape the voice of the Son of God, the heavenly voice of the Redeemer?

It's truly amazing that people have the audacity to NOT believe. They have the freedom of choice and they choose to disbelieve, they choose to look away, they choose a path of their own divination, they walk according to their own wills as if they had a hand in their own creation. NONE of us have created ourselves, not a single one of us had ANYTHING at all to do with our own creation!  NO ONE!  Not the smartest, not the dumbest, not the prettiest, not the ugliest, not the skinniest, not the fattest, not a single person has ever had a hand in their own creation. And, if not a single person has EVER had a hand in their own creation why do they imagine they were not created by God?  I know, I know there are all sorts of theories to explain away our existence, but none of them make complete sense except our being designed by a Creator as beings who could propagate. And each being that has a hand in creating another being does so only by the fact the original parent was created by God.

So I ask again, if no one could escape from the ceremonial law of God, why does anyone imagine they can escape the voice of the Son of God, the heavenly voice of the Redeemer?  Not a single one of us will escape the truth it confronts us all.  The heavenly voice of our Savior-- God becoming a Man-God; a Man-God dying, a Man-God resurrected, a Man-God to save all who would be saved, all who would be His, all who would know His love, all who would hear His voice and be known by Him.

His--

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

And by the grace of God we will study more tomorrow, feasting on the word of our Lord, filling our spiritual bellies full with the meat of His word, growing strong in the LORD.

All by HIS LOVE!

Jesus, our Mediator

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Truly this is a very amazing spiritual meal here. The spiritual meat here is very filling. To be able to discern between good and evil we must study, and study means more than merely read the words and let them pass over us. We have to study to … well, read this…

2Ti_2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Study to show yourself approved unto God.
A WORKMAN who isn't ashamed.
RIGHTLY DIVIDING the WORD OF TRUTH.

A workman, we are workmen! We are working, and to NOT be ashamed we must study diligently because only by studying diligently can we divide the word of truth.  Dividing the word- comprehending the word of truth.

So let's take the above six verses and study them one by one, slowly.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Jesus the MEDIATOR.  Jesus, God's Son, our Savior- a MEDIATOR.

me·di·a·tor
1. One that mediates, especially one that reconciles differences between disputants.

Pasted from

One who mediates.
One who reconciles.

1Ti_2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

Jesus the mediator, the reconciler- OUR mediator, yours and mine!

We comprehend this, don't we? We know we need Jesus Christ our Savior to reconcile us to God. We have all chosen self and sin over God and all of us are in need of forgiveness so we can be reconciled with God.  Jesus alone can reconcile us to God.

Continuing with the verse.. 'to the blood of sprinkling'

Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Blood used to purge sin, to make clean. The HEAVENLY things are purged not with the blood of animals but the BLOOD of the SON of GOD!

We have to realize that our Savior changed things by His death.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Jesus' blood is better than any other blood ever shed. The most innocent of human beings whose blood is spilled cannot measure up at all to Christ's blood. Forever the human beings have tainted their blood by sin. The son of our first parents, a good son, a son that pleased God in His devotion and in His sacrifice to God- a son with innocent blood, righteous blood. 

Mat_23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

As innocent as Abel was, as innocent as any human being can be, His blood was no match to the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Jesus our mediator of the new covenant.  The NEW covenant. No longer were people to be under the ceremonial law, the ceremonial covenant that pointed to the Savior who would make perfect that which NO man can make perfect.  Once our Savior's blood was shed, no other blood has EVER been needed to be shed. Not a single drop of animal blood signified anything any longer.  The only sacrifice ever needed would be Christ's.

Remember this…

Psa_51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Truly God want us to be HIS and we can only be HIS through Jesus Christ our Mediator who shed His innocent blood, blood that is more worthy than any other blood.  A price paid so we could be reconciled to God once more.

This is what it is ALL about, a reconciliation between God and man.  God and man together as intended, with LOVE.

Please LORD, help us to comprehend Your love for us in the perfect Sacrifice of Your Son! We are not worthy and can never be worthy, Jesus and Jesus alone is worthy. 

More on this tomorrow ALL by the grace of our SAVIOR!

Help us LORD, help us to understand, to comprehend all we need to comprehend in YOU.

We would love as You would have us love. Please, Lord, all by YOUR GRACE and MERCY, all by YOUR LOVE!

The Living God

Today's spiritual feast is going to include history.

Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20  (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

We are being told that we are not in the same circumstances as God's chosen people were in the days following their escape from slavery.  Physical slavery, spiritual slavery, both.  Today most of us are NOT living as captives of others. We have a freedom that those who are slaves of others do not. Moses by God's hand freed God's people.  Here we read that we are not like those slaves. It isn't Moses who has brought us spiritual freedom but our Savior.  We are not being called into a situation filled with fear. We are not being called into a situation where we can claim we really don't know the Lord's will, the Lord's way.  We know and have known, we come with the history of knowing God's will. With all that history we are not like those slaves newly freed from Egyptian rule, slaves who knew of the faith of their forefathers, slaves who knew there was a prophesized deliverer, but beyond that not incredibly much. These slaves would be delivered and taught.  The result of all that teaching produced a people who could know God.  However, people are hard hearted, people are in love with their evil, even God's chosen people often choose to worship self over God.

God's plan wasn't for just a lull in evil, but an end to all evil while saving the humanity that He created, the humanity that He intended to exist.

Every step of the way the end game has always been in mind.

We live in a time beyond  focusing  on the earthly Jerusalem.

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

We are come to the heavenly Jerusalem.
We are come to mount Sion.
We are come to the city of the living God.
We are come to an innumerable company of angels.
We are come to the general assembly and church of the firstborn.
We are come to God the Judge of all.
We are come to the spirits of just men made perfect.

We are come to JESUS.

We are come to the TRUTH.

We are come to SALVATION ETERNAL.

We have been brought to the WAY, the full WAY.

Imagine it, we are living in a time of knowing God. 
We do NOT live in a time of shadows but of revelation. 

We are come to the SPIRITUAL truth!

Think about it, we don't have a God who has hidden truth from us, a God who leaves us guessing His will. Our God has made His way plain before us.

We are blessed to know His will, blessed to know His way.

More tomorrow all by HIS WILL, HIS GRACE, HIS LOVE!

Profane and rejected

Spiritual feasting on the word of our God.

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Fornicator, or profane person- as Esau.

Esau, let's learn about Esau.

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
Gen 25:24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Gen 25:25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
Gen 25:26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Gen 25:27  And the boys grew: and ESAU WAS A CUNNING HUNTER, A MAN OF THE FIELD; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
Gen 25:28  And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and ESAU came from the field, and he  WAS FAINT:
Gen 25:30  And ESAU SAID TO JACOB, FEED ME, I PRAY THEE, WITH THAT SAME RED POTTAGE; FOR I AM FAINT: THEREFORE WAS HIS NAME CALLED EDOM.

Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

Gen 25:32  And ESAU SAID BEHOLD I AM AT THE POINT TO DIE AND WHAT PROFIT SHALL THIS BIRTHRIGHT DO TO ME?

Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and HE SWARE UNTO HIM AND HE SOLD HIS BIRHTRIGHT UNTO JACOB.

Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and HE DID EAT AND DRINK AND ROSE UP AND WENT HIS WAY, THUS ESAU DESPISED HIS BIRTHRIGHT.

*******

Now let's fast forward to this…

Heb. 12:16- ... Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Clearly Esau was WRONG to sell his birthright for food and drink.  We all know what it means to be extremely hungry, don't we? Yet there are something's that aren't worth giving into even if it means we die, right?

Let's think about that for a moment.

What are some of the things you don't do in fact, you die before you do them? 

Murder someone.  Right? You don't kill someone ever, you die first, right?

You don't torture someone, right?

I mean we've all, or most of us, have seen horror movies about people being driven to do awful things to each other all in the name of self survival. 

It's easy to NOT be in the situations and say what we would and would not do. Get into the situation and then you know what's what. But we don't want to be put in those situations just to see either. We have to look at others situations and try and learn from them. We can't be boastful and imagine we'd do better, we can however hope and pray that we will do the right things.

Would you sell your house to someone for a bowl of food? You might if you were starving, right? What good is a house if you're not alive to live in it?  A birthright was something more than a material possession though, right?

birthright [ˈbɜːθˌraɪt]
n
1. privileges or possessions that a person has or is believed to be entitled to as soon as he is born
2. the privileges or possessions of a first-born son
3. inheritance; patrimony

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A privilege  OR possessions a person is entitled to by birth, an inheritance.

What was Esau's birthright?  It was a privilege, it was an honor. If you give away your position of privilege you are placing yourself beneath the one who takes that position. Esau put himself second to Jacob. 

Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Esau was a profane person. Profane.
pro·fane
prəˈfān,prō-/
adjective
adjective: profane
    1.
relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious.
2.
(of a person or their behavior) not respectful of orthodox religious practice; irreverent.

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Esau was more secular than religious.
Esau cared more for things other than God.

All who CHOOSE to embrace a sinful life are profane.  All who CHOOSE sin over God, all who CHOOSE self over God, are like ESAU.  Esau cared so little for God and the things of God, including the inheritance He knew was His through His father Jacob, His grandfather Isaac, and His great grandfather Abraham. His inheritance into a family of GOD was impressive, it was amazing, it was something irreplaceable, NOT something to be squander for a bit of food! Esau's birthright was to become the head of the family of God's chosen people and He tossed it aside.

We are all called to into the family of God! Every single one of us are called to be in God's family and yet so many of us will just throw that all away as if it doesn't matter at all whatsoever!  Is it any wonder we are told NOT to be like Esau?

Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

After Esau sold his birthright HE WAS REJECTED.

Esau rejected GOD and as a result, was rejected by GOD.

God does NOT and WILL NEVER force any one of us to accept HIM!  And if we choose NOT to accept Him, He is NOT going to accept us. He will NOT force Himself upon us!

People strangely want to believe that He will do just that. People want to believe that God will accept them, that He will drag them into His kingdom but He won't! He will reject us. We can be rejected. Remember-

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God

We can FAIL of the grace of God!

Esau mourned what he'd done, he tried to repent, he cried to be able to repent- but it just wasn't in him to do so.  He regretted what he'd done to the point of tears, but he NEVER sought GOD, he never turned to God. He rejected God and God rejected Him. He never desired to be God's. He wanted all the importance that went with his inheritance, but He did NOT want to be God's.

We have to desire GOD!

We have to seek GOD!

We have to put self last, not first!

We have to examine our lives and in doing so, PUT GOD FIRST!

And we can ONLY do this by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

Please LORD we would be YOURS! By YOUR LOVE.

Root of bitterness

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled

Remember yesterday we talked about looking diligently.  We discussed how it takes EFFORT to look diligently. We discussed how important it is for us to truly be diligent about our spiritual walk with Christ.  We can't take our spiritual walk lightly!  We can't, we truly can't.  Or rather, we can but only to our own detriment, our eternal detriment.

Maybe these studies are my attempt to feed my Spiritual self, and maybe you'll use them to help you feed spiritually too, but ONLY through the Holy Spirit guiding us and opening our hearts and minds to all truth.

We need to dig deep for full comprehension.  We are told to 'look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God' . We are told to look diligently 'lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble you.'

Root of bitterness.

Deu 29:18  Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood

A root that beareth gall and wormwood.

A poisonous root, a bitter root.

A root of bitterness, a poisonous root, something that destroys, something that kills.  Anything that would kill us spiritually must be avoided, not embraced, not ignored, not wished away but seriously avoided. Too often we allow ourselves to overlook evil, right?

We have to be able to discern between good and evil this is what growing up into Christ is all about, discerning, and that discernment through the grace of Christ, through the power of Christ allowing us to choose good over evil.

Roots of bitterness spring up-troubling us-and then defiling us.

Roots of bitterness poisoning us, killing us.

We have to look diligently LEST we are poisoned!

What sort of poison? What are the roots of bitterness?

After reading Deuteronomy 29:18 it's clear that turning our hearts from the LORD our God is a root of bitterness and serving false gods is a root of bitterness.

We turn our hearts from the LORD our God whenever we disobey Him, don't we? When we embrace and welcome sin we are turning our hearts from God. We have to call evil - evil and good - good. We can't allow ourselves to be deceived!

Look at your life, look at it and try to see any evil in it you might be clinging to, evil that you've grown accustomed to.   We must look and look diligently, if we don't… we will fail of the grace of God.

What are the roots of bitterness surrounding us? What are they? Are they there? Is there anything that would keep us from our Savior? Anything?  Is there anything we put in the place of our Savior?  We must ask ourselves these questions and get honest answers because if we don't we are purposely allowing ourselves to be blind. 

Please LORD help us! Give us the discernment we need! We don't want any roots of bitterness to spring up and trouble us, defile us.  Please LORD save us from ourselves!  Please.

All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE!

Pick up your spiritual fork

Shall we feast some more…. pick up your spiritual forks and knives and dig in. By the grace of our Lord we will be well fed.

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God...

Looking DILIGENTLY.

If I tell you to look diligently what exactly am I telling you to do?

Dictionary definition-

dil·i·gent  (dnt)
adj.

Marked by persevering, painstaking effort.

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Did you read that?  Looking with effort painstakingly, persevering! 

Does that mean you should do this half-heartedly? Does it mean you should put very little effort into this?  I'm just trying to get the REAL meaning here, not the one we gloss over as we read Bible verses and nod and smile to ourselves telling ourselves they're nice verses and then we go away having not been fed by them at all.  It's true! We read but we are not EATING.  Or we are eating but we are NOT digesting!  We don't even know what we are putting into our spiritual mouths beyond that it's spiritual food. We think gulping it down, swallowing without tasting, eating it as if it is just empty spiritual calories holding no sustenance whatsoever that we are spiritually feasting but we are not!  So what if you've filled your spiritual belly to the fullest if you've not taken the time to savor and truly taste each and every bit of the spiritual food you are feeding on.  It does no good to read the entire Bible and learn nothing from it, no good at all. The words can go in and just as soon as they've gone in they can disappear as well and in the next moment you remember nothing.

We need to look diligently!  Our effort has to be painstaking and persevering! 

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God

We need to look diligently as we are following PEACE with all men, because if we don't we may FAIL of the grace of God!

People hear the words - grace of God and believe that no matter what it's theirs.  If that's true how can this statement be truth as well? How can anyone fail of the grace of God?

You can fail of it, you really can and this is truly FOOD for thought, isn't it?

Again, I have to mention that spiritual food isn't sweet honey and chocolate, it can be castor oil and hot sauce.  It's not going to go down smoothly all the time, it's meant to open our spiritual eyes so we can discern good and evil and that isn't something that is pleasant. It is especially not pleasant for us when our eyes are opened to see that some cherished behavior we have is really an evil behavior. Remember, we like to call evil good and good evil, but our eyes will be opened by the Holy Spirit if we choose to believe and have faith in God for ALL things.  When we eat the bitter food and realize we are standing on sinking sand we are meant to realize that we must cling to Christ for our salvation. We must repent of that evil we've been allowed to see, and repent daily if need be, seeking forgiveness.  The repentance has to be a real repentance though, not some habit we've formed admitting to our wrongs but truly not intending to make any effort to stop them. 

If we are impatient by nature we must repent of that nature and seek to cultivate patience all with Christ's help. If we are shown our impatience over and over, day by day, we must each and every time feel the remorse it calls for- not just shrug it off, not just give up, not when the chastisement is the spiritual fire purifying us.  Remember this--

Heb_12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

We aren't supposed to enjoy being chastised, but we are supposed to realize that we are being taught. We are being shown. We are being guided. 

Children often rebel against chastisement. Adults who are chastised have a better chance to learn from it than a child.  Still, adults can take offense when they are chastised and they too can rebel against it, but they have more maturity to look for the reason for the chastisement, looking beyond the initial emotional injury of being chastised.  Remember, it's not pleasant now but it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.  Get that, PEACEABLE fruit of righteousness and we are to what… follow peace with all men.  If we are exercised by the chastisement, if we learn from it we have hope.  We can choose not to be exercised by the chastisement- despising it, rebelling against it, but that will only lead to our failing of the grace of God.  It is most assuredly the grace of God that works in us as we are being exercised by chastisement.

Please Lord, please help us to accept Your chastisement, help us to be exercised by it, help us to follow peace with all men, bless us Lord, keep us in YOU always. We are wretched, poor, blind, and naked, and we need YOU for everything! We need YOU in us making us NEW in YOU.

Thank you, Lord, for the spiritual feast You prepared for us tonight, please let it nurture us as we need it so desperately to do.

All by YOUR LOVE!

A bitter spiritual feast

Spiritual Feasting.

Let's have a spiritual feast, by the grace of our Lord.  May the Holy Spirit guide us to all truth...

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord

The spiritual feast before us is meant to nourish us spiritually. We need to be able to discern between good and evil and all our spiritual feasting is geared towards that end.

We are told here to follow peace with all men. Something that sounds simple enough but when we get right down to it, we have to realize that all the contentions we call NORMAL are really NOT NORMAL at all. We've learned to call evil good, remember? So now we need to be reminded by our Lord and Savior what evil is truly evil and what good is truly good.  As I mentioned, we call all our petty little spats good- we call them healthy and tell ourselves it's better than holding all the anger inside. We bicker and pick at each other as a way of life and call it love because in truth no one would ever have this warped thing we call love if we believed that contention and all the annoyances were detrimental and something to avoid. 

ALL those nitpicking nasty nuisances, all those tiny snide remarks, each one is WRONG! They aren't cute, they aren't sweet, they are NOT terms of endearment that we've come to pretend that they are.  We lie to ourselves and call them good but the truth is out there for us to realize. The truth is that all contention from the tiniest bit to the biggest is not peaceful.  We are not following peace with someone we are belittling. We are not following peace with someone we are answering cockily. The tone of our voice revealing our feelings at the moment can show more than our words.  Saying the words 'I love you' with a nasty tone doesn't reveal love at all.

Peace.

We need to recognize that our lives are filled with things that are not PEACEFUL and in recognizing that- we need to beg for forgiveness and repent of that behavior, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us into peace, true peace with all men.  We can't simply accept our inherent nastiness and label it good and acceptable. We must be allowed to see all our evil so that we may cling to Christ's goodness.

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, more feasting spiritually.  What we might taste is bitter and hard to swallow, but if it nourishes our spirit that's all that really matters.

All by the grace, the love of Jesus Christ, always!  All praise, all honor, all glory, all thanksgiving to God!

How do we keep our spiritual life alive?

Peace with all men.
Holiness with all men.

These are TWO mandatory things for all Christians because without them NO MAN will see the LORD.

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord

We have to strive to be CHRIST'S, always!

We have to strive to live a SPIRITUAL life, always!

We have the physical life down pat, but the spiritual life is tricky.

We barely feed our spiritual being let tend to it in any other way.

How do you feed your spiritual life?

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
1Pe 2:3  If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Milk of the word.

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Drinking from the Spiritual Rock-  the Rock was Christ.

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Need of milk (spiritual milk).

Need of strong meat (spiritual meat).

Milk is for babes- milk is for the unskilled in the word of righteousness.

Meat for those of full age- by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Do we see- do we understand?

We grow with spiritual milk and once we are grown enough we switch from spiritual milk to spiritual meat.

Once we are grown spiritually we are able to discern both good and evil.

Could it be true that we simply want spiritual milk all the way through? Milk is easy to digest. Milk is easy to tolerate. We want to be fed the milk. We want the milk giver to be more accountable then we are. You don't hold a baby accountable for getting its own milk. You don't expect an infant to feed the milk to itself, but be fed. 

The consequence of never growing spiritually is remaining a babe and remaining unskillful, it is  being unable to follow peace and holiness with all men and if we can't do that remember the outcome?

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord

This is truth.

As long as we refuse to grow spiritually we are denying ourselves eternal life.  Eternal life is a spiritual life fully realized.

We must grow in CHRIST.

We must truly study God's word and spend time with God every single day! If we can, even more than once a day. We have no trouble feeding our physical selves, no trouble at all. Of course we don't have someone constantly by our side doing all they can to keep us from eating physically either. We do have someone constantly trying to keep us from feeding spiritually. We have an enemy who has used every trick in existence to keep people from feeding spiritually. Denying access to food, giving an over abundance of food but stealing the desire to feed, he'll do EVERYTHING and ANYTHING to keep us spiritually sipping at the milk and never finding the meat. Satan does NOT want us to be able to discern between good and evil, and in that discerning keep from evil!

Please Lord, help us to grow spiritually. Help us to feed spiritually. Help us to realize that we truly need to be immersed in your word, in YOU.

We would follow peace and holiness with all men- this is YOUR will that we live spiritually in YOU, by YOU, for YOU.

All by YOUR LOVE!

Never give up

Heb 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord

Another action.

Why do we try to deceive ourselves into believing we don't need to act? Is it because we recognize our total inability to be what we know or think we know God wants us to be?

We are told to FOLLOW PEACE with all men.
We are told to FOLLOW HOLINESS with all men.

Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Have your FRUIT unto holiness.

2Co 7:1  Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

CLEANSE ourselves from ALL FILTHINESS of the flesh and spirit.
PERFECTING holiness in the FEAR of GOD.

1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

PURFIETH HIMSELF.

Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

DO HIS COMMANDMENTS.

We CAN'T work our way to heaven, but at the same time we cannot live in such a way that we are encouraging sin in our lives. All the changes we might make, all the actions we might take- every commandment we keep, every bit of purifying we attempt, all the cleansing of filthiness from our lives, all the perfecting of holiness, all of that will NOT save us.  Only CHRIST JESUS saves us! We KNOW the life our Savior lived. We KNOW the life our Savior would have us live. We KNOW the life we will have in eternity is a life CHANGED completely by our SAVIOR.

As we cling to CHRIST, cling to HIS righteousness, HIS grace and mercy. While we cling to HIM, we learn more of HIM through HIS word. When we learn more of Him we want to BE MORE LIKE HIM.  We WANT it, even if we feel very far from being capable of being like Him.  And desiring to be LIKE HIM, to have HIM live in us, we are convicted by the Holy Spirit to know right from wrong and do to right over wrong! 

We cleanse ourselves, we purify ourselves, we perfect the holiness in the fear of God by growing CLOSER to CHRIST.

By choosing NOT to do the things that we are convicted are things that Christ would not have us do, we choose CHRIST. By seeking FORGIVENESS over and over again, not ever giving into the despair of desiring to give up because we KNOW how utterly impossible it is for us to be what our Savior would have us be, this is what we must do!

We must continue to do all that we are admonished to do, never giving up! Never giving up EXCEPT giving up in believing that we can ever save ourselves in any way.

Please LORD know us! Please LORD keep us! Please LORD save us from ourselves!

PLEASE.

All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE!

Let it be healed

Chastised -- learning from that chastisement we should--

Heb 12:12  Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13  And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Lift up the hands.
Lift us the feeble knees.
Make straight paths.

The lame will be turned out.

Let it be healed.

We have to let our spirit be healed. We have to have faith- raising our hands, our knees, walking straight.  We have to be spiritually strong! If our spiritual Father is chastising us - teaching us so we are made spiritually sound in Him, we have to accept this chastising and let it make us STRONGER spiritually, NOT weaker.  We will be tempted to let our chastisement get us down, to depress us, to make us weaker and not stronger. When you're put through a fire you feel the pain and agony of that fire but when the fire is over you either heal and are determined to be stronger, or succumb to the chastisement letting it make you weaker. It's satan's entire purpose to bring us to despair. Satan wants us to remain weak spiritually. Satan doesn't want us strong in the Lord! Satan would have us weak, he would have us walk on crooked paths, he wants us lame.  Satan does not want us HEALED.

We have to let ourselves be healed.

We can stand in the way of our own healing.

We can set up our lives so we sabotage ourselves spiritually. We can leave no time in our day for spiritual growth. We can put more importance on work and pleasure than we do on our spirit growth.  We call it RELAXING. I just need to relax which means not troubling ourselves over anything remotely like something that could possible lead us to worrying or stressing in any way.

Seriously.

We say we need to unwind which means just shutting off our minds to anything of real importance. We put ourselves in front of our television sets and just let it entertain us, but what its really doing is stealing our time. No? You'll say it makes you laugh, is lets you live without a time without thinking about your jobs, your money, your worries, your sickness, your future etc. you KNOW what I'm talking about.  Next you'll say to study your Bible means having to think, having to worry, having to let go of doing nothing and work your brain when all you really want to do is NOTHING, you want to relax. You want to do something that doesn't trouble you in the least. You don't want to think about your chastisement but rather forget about it, as if it didn't happen. You don't want to be exercised by your chastisement. You don't want to learn from it. You don't want to make your paths straight, you'd much rather just forget you were walking a crooked road. 

This is truth, what I'm speaking is TRUTH! You know it's truth!

We want downtime, time that means we don't have to do anything except while away the hours in semi-enjoyment, if not full-enjoyment.  Laugh at your television shows, cry at them as they bring you into their lives of pure fiction and cause you heartache for imaginary beings.  Pick up your books and play your computer games, your video games, do all that just so you don't have to deal with the reality of your spirit life.

Do we stand in the way of our own healing?

Let it be healed.

We are told to act-

Lift up the hands.
Lift us the feeble knees.
Make straight paths.

To 'lift', to 'make', to 'let'.   These are all actions.

Lifting, making, letting.

Do we? Do we act on behalf of our Spiritual life?

More tomorrow by the GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! 

May we lift, make, and let!

We would be YOURS LORD! Teach us to be YOURS. In a world that would have us concentrate totally on ourselves in a selfish way, help us to concentrate on YOU and YOUR will for us! 

Please let us let it be healed!

We love You Father of spirits!  We need YOU!

Bless us LORD, forgive us!

All glory, praise, and HONOR unto YOU!

Father of Spirits

The Father of Spirits.

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

The Father of Spirits.

There are fathers of flesh, we know all about that don't we. We are flesh, and every man who impregnates a woman becomes a father. They've contributed to creating another human being. Those fathers are our birth fathers, fathers of our flesh. The fathers of our flesh correct us in order to teach us obedience, teach us to behave in the proper manner. If we misbehave then we need instruction to teach us how to behave and the consequences of our not behaving.  We understand this without any problem, don't we? We've all as adults (those of us who are) have had that sort of correction from a father or if not a father, a mother, or if not a mother then another authority figure raising us from childhood. 

The Father of Spirits .

We have to be spiritually born to have a spiritual Father. 

Remember Jesus telling us that we must be born again? Born of Spirit and born of water.  When we are born of Spirit we have a Spiritual Father.

Our Spiritual Father will only ever chasten us for our PROFIT.  Our flesh fathers often chasten us without any real standard but their own. They feel annoyed they chasten us, and they can chasten us unjustly as happens all too often.  Our Spiritual Father will NEVER chasten us unjustly. The ONLY reason our Spiritual Father chastens us is so that we may become His sons and daughters and partake in the holiness of Him, the love that is Him.

Chastened. 

Chastening is grievous, not joyous.  IF, when we are chastened we are EXERCISED by that chastening- meaning we LEARN from that chastening- then we will have the righteousness of Christ as the result. The fruit that results from the experience is peace and righteousness all found solely in Christ.

We MUST accept our Spiritual chastisement and learn from it, let it be a part of us. Our Savior alone is righteous and He will live in us! He loves us! He died for us! He wants to live in us and us in Him.

Chastened.

Remember the definition--
1. the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment) It also includes the training and care of the body
2. whatever in adults also cultivates the soul, esp. by correcting mistakes and curbing passions.
a. instruction which aims at increasing virtue
b. chastisement, chastening, (of the evils with which God visits men for their amendment)

We are chastised when we have our mistakes corrected, our passions curbed. We don't like having our passions curbed or being corrected. We want to do what is right don't we, but our flesh nature seems to steer us towards doing things that aren't good for us. Because isn't that what it boils down to?  The things we do that aren't what our Spiritual Father wants us to do so that we may be with Him, are only things that are harmful to us- if not in flesh, then in spirit.

Please Lord, let us NOT despise Your chastening! We need our Spiritual Father to bless us, to keep us, to teach us, to chastise us as often as is needed so that we may be HIS. We won't like it, it's not pleasant, but LORD help us to LEARN and be exercised by YOUR chastising. Please LORD, please.

Plagued and chastened every morning

Psa 73:14  For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

All the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning

Read this in context…

Psa 73:1-14  A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.   But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.


This is a man of God who in witnessing the prosperity of the wicked, is very troubled.  Like many of us we come face to face with the reality that fudging the truth, skimming off the top, harmless deceptions, little bitty lies, all of those will bring more prosperity than remaining true to the truth, to God. 

We are told all the time there is no harm in the small evils that really don't hurt anyone and besides those who are being deceived deserve to be deceived because they are evil any way.

We justify our own evils but in truth they CANNOT be justified, not ever. Sinning can NEVER be justified.  The tiniest of sins is just as deadly as the biggest of sins.  Though you'll get a bunch of people in an uproar if you dare to say that a mass murderer is worthy of death just as the man who coveted his neighbors wife. Sin has wages and the wages of all sin are DEATH. When we sin we separate ourselves from God and we cannot live eternally, not ever,  not without God. We need to atone for our sins and the only way we can do that is through our Savior who alone has paid the price for all sin. We need to seek forgiveness, we need to repent- ALWAYS.

Getting back to this man of God who was a witness to the well being of the wicked, the man who lamented his own righteous suffering- he spoke these words-

All the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning.

We've been studying a bit about being chastened, and here is an excellent example.  ALL day long plagued.  EVERY morning chastened. This is a spiritual plague, a spiritual chastening. The knowledge we have when we see the wicked prospering ignites something in us that cries out- "IT'S NOT FAIR!" And it's not fair.  If you're good you should be rewarded for that, right? And if you're evil you should be punished for that, right? We know it's right, but the reality is far from fair, it's distorted because of sin.  Our world is tainted by sin and everything in it is subject to that tainting.  Fairness is something you can strive for but have to realize that in a world governed by sin it will be something fleeting. Sinners without morals, without standards, without laws, without commandments to adhere to are free to use all manner of deceit to gain earthly pleasures and treasures.

This  man of God was being chastened every morning.

How so?

What sort of chastening?

People are not always chastened in a physical way, but spiritually as well. Our spiritual chastisement can be a constant realization that we NEED CHRIST in all things all the while our flesh wars against our spirit. 

We are allowed to suffer in order that we learn.
We are allowed torment so we learn.
If we want to be children of God we have to accept that God wants to teach us, God wants us to grow up in HIM. This teaching process isn't set on a time limit such as the one we give to our own children. Go to school for 13 years and you're all set for the minimum amount of education needed to be a well rounded adult. Continue on in school for a higher level of learning and you are merely adding on to that basic education every adult should have had. We've put labels on learning and time frames on expected behavior, expected educational growth. We don't expect an 18 year old to act like a five year old.  We expect the years of aging to accomplish the change from child to adult.  In the spiritual reality a person might not even become spiritually born until they are late in adulthood, there is no time frame, no set age for the spiritual birth.  Once we are spiritually born we will grow spiritually as long as we are being spiritually nurtured towards that end.  If a child is fed well we expect them to grow well. If a child is fed poorly we expect them to grow poorly.  We've all heard horror stories about nine year olds weighing as much as a three year old because they've lived for years on a starvation diet, only getting enough to barely live. Spiritual horror stories are self induced when a person spiritually born stops nurturing their spirit through Christ.  We need to be constantly spiritually fed. We will never get to a place where we can stop being fed spiritually, any more than an adult fully grown could stop eating and expect to live. 

There is a reason our Savior started the Last Supper ritual in remembrance of life in Him. We are to remember we die spiritually without Him- without the bread and wine, the life and blood of Christ.  He made the example with something that would truly hit home to us- we need to eat and drink to LIVE physically and we need to eat and drink spiritually to LIVE spiritually.   Yet if we don't let this truth become a reality to us, the Lord will chasten us, hoping to get us to realize that we MUST live in Him spiritually all the time! We must feed spiritually. 

We can look around us and see the prosperity of the wicked and we can lament our own poor state- but we are to learn from that, that the end of the wicked is eternal nothingness. All their wealth and prosperity now is FLEETING, truly fleeting. The end of the wicked is death ever after. So while they prosper physically now their spiritual death is certain in their clinging to their wickedness.

Psa 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

Chastened.  Enduring the spiritual warfare. Allowed to suffer in order to promote spiritual growth.  Truly no chastening when it's happening is pleasant but…

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

...we have to comprehend that after all the chastening is over we solely, by the grace and mercy of our Lord, will have the peaceable fruit of righteousness- CHRIST'S righteousness!

The war between the mind and the flesh is a real one.  The war between the spirit and the flesh is very, very real!  We cannot believe otherwise.  Please, Lord continue to chasten us as long as we, as YOUR children, need to be chastened, as long as we are spiritually growing up into YOU.

All by YOUR LOVE!

Chastise as needed

Again I ask…

'What child has ever been raised without any chastisement?
 Is it possible to raise a child without  chastising them? I'm not saying abusing them, but chastising them?'

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

chastisement,G3809 -Greek (Strong's Dictionary)
- Original: παιδεία
- Transliteration: Paideia
- Phonetic: pahee-di'-ah
- Definition:
1. the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment) It also includes the training and care of the body
2. whatever in adults also cultivates the soul, esp. by correcting mistakes and curbing passions.
a. instruction which aims at increasing virtue
b. chastisement, chastening, (of the evils with which God visits men for their amendment)

The Lord chastens us.
The Lord trains and educates us- cultivating our minds and morals.
The Lord commands, admonishes, reproves, and punishes us.
The Lord trains us.
The Lord corrects our mistakes.
The Lord curbs our passions.
The Lord increases our virtues.

How does the Lord do all this?

It's a daily work, an ongoing way of life just as no parent takes a child and limits their chastening to a certain time frame but rather chastens them as it is needed on a daily basis. 

We are the Lord's children. We are called to never forget that we are created and our Creator is our God, our Savior, our Redeemer. God with God created us, the Father God and God who would be the Son created us!  Jesus the Son now shares God the Father with us. Having human flesh from one born from one created in the beginning, coming into the world born in the flesh, arriving as a helpless newborn babe the Son, God with us shares with us humanity. The Heavenly Father will forever be our Father and we will forever be His children- children meant to grow up spiritually in Him. Children needing chastising as we are taught, as we are trained, as our spiritual natures are nurtured.  Just as every single one of us has been chastised as we grew up physically, and just as we chastise our own children and they will chastise  their children and so on, we need to have spiritual chastisement in order to grow in the Lord. We cannot despise this chastising, we must endure it in whatever form it takes knowing that we are loved by the Father and are sons and daughters of God.

Forgive us, Lord, please forgive us! We need You so desperately to forever chastise us as long and as much as we need that chastising so that we maybe be Your sons and daughters, loved by You! Teach us, train us, guide us, help us as ONLY YOU can do! 

No matter the form of the chastisement, Lord, we only hope and pray that You work in us all that needs to be worked in us so we maybe YOURS, wholly YOURS.

In Your LOVE always!

God's Children - Chastened

Striving against sin.
Resisting unto blood.

Very few, if any of us can say we've resisted sinning unto blood.

Very few, if any of us can say we've counted sinning so horrendous that we did everything in our power to resist it. It's so much easier for us to give into sin and beg forgiveness than it is for us to deprive ourselves of our sinful urgings, our sinful temptations. 

We tell ourselves all kinds of stories as to why it is okay for us to give into our particular sins, but truthfully there is not a single story that makes any sinning okay.

Sin will separate us from God.
When we are separated from God we are separated from love.
Separated from love we are nothing.

Joh_17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

I've said it before and I mean it, we are the living dead if we do not have Christ Jesus as our Savior right now. He is life.

Our senses are dulled. Our spiritual senses so deadened we don't realize the great peril we are in by sinning. There was a time when sin was called by its rightful name and its consequence was well known- death. We become appalled at the though of being put to death for sinning, but we are put to death- eternal death if we die without repenting and seeking forgiveness for our sins.

We must realize the truly deadly consequences of sin and the necessity of our resisting unto blood, our striving against sin.

Yes, we are helpless on our own but Christ in us enables us to set aside the sins that so easily beset us.

Lets read on…

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Despise NOT the chastening.
ENDURE chastisement.

If we are without chastisement then we are NOT God's.

We are children, all of us! Children of God from the youngest to the oldest of us. Do we submit to the chastisement of our Father?

What child has ever been raised without any chastisement? Is it possible to raise a child without  chastising them? I'm not saying abusing them, but chastising them. 

chastisement,G3809 -Greek (Strong's Dictionary)
- Original: παιδεία
- Transliteration: Paideia
- Phonetic: pahee-di'-ah
- Definition:
1. the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment) It also includes the training and care of the body
2. whatever in adults also cultivates the soul, esp. by correcting mistakes and curbing passions.
a. instruction which aims at increasing virtue
b. chastisement, chastening, (of the evils with which God visits men for their amendment)

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ!

May we NOT despise the chastening of our Lord.
May we ENDURE as sons and daughters of our eternal Heavenly Father. 

All in HIS LOVE ALWAYS!