Living Sacrifice

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

Col 3:8  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him

Mortify.

'To put to death; to take away.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do MORTIFY the deeds of the body, ye shall live. ( Romans 8:13 )

From <http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/mortify/>

subdue (the body or its needs and desires) by self-denial or discipline:

synonyms: subdue · suppress · subjugate · control · discipline ·

chasten · punish

From <http://www.bing.com/search?q=Mortify&form=OFC14S&mkt=en-us> '

Put to death- an action. Take away- an action. Subdue- an action. Self-denial- an action.

Discipline- an action.

So tell me how we can read this and then say we have NO part to play in our Christian walk other than believing?

None of our actions will save us. Our actions can be such that will draw others to know Christ.

How we act matters. Jesus did NOT advocate blatant sinning, not ever.

And if we think for one moment our anger, our malice, our back biting, our gossiping, our self-serving, our silence when we should be speaking are not all sinning, then we are deluded. We have called sin good and good sin. We have convinced ourselves that our brand of Christ following is exactly what God expects of us and no more.  Ranked among those who cry out about how much they did in Christ's name will be all those who believe self-serving in any form is Christ-like and they will be told Christ does not know them at all.

Let's take a closer look at the above verse-

Col 3:5-10 'Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him'

Subdue your members. No fornication, no uncleanness, no inordinate affection, no evil concupiscence, no covetousness, no idolatry, no anger, no wrath, no malice, no blasphemy, no filthy communication, no lying…  

And our world is FILLED with all of those things on many, many levels. And many of those levels we've deemed acceptable to God. They are not acceptable to God on any level and are in need of repentance, of forgiveness wherever they are found.

We have to STOP accepting SIN!

We have to STOP calling SIN - GOOD!

We have to STOP lying to ourselves!

We have to STOP being deluded!

God is unchanging, and God is OUR CREATOR.

Choose not to even believe that if you wish, you do so at your own peril. If you do believe that God and His declared Son, Jesus Christ created mankind, then you must believe the rest of God's truth. 

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

A living sacrifice not conformed to this world. Transformed.  This is truth!

How much more simple would it be to die sacrificed to God, than to LIVE sacrificed.

A living sacrifice- mortifying ourselves-  these are NOT idle words that have no substance for us in our time right now. If anything they are more important because of the time we live in.

Be a living sacrifice. Contemplate what that really means. Only through the mercy of God can we do this.  We will be conformed to this world and we will not be transformed if we do not through the mercy of God present ourselves as living sacrifices.

Our lives such that they are sacrificed completely to God's will.

Please Father God, please to this end we plead for Your mercy, Your will to be done in us in all things!

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

Now and forever!

Amen!

God in our entire life, or not in our life at all, not really.

Riches and pleasures of this life, are these good things?  I don't think so.  Let's study this for a moment. I've grown up in the shadow of materialism, as have most of us in the Western world. We've grown up with society all around us at every turn pushing at us to attain material goods of one sort or another.  On a moments deeper reflection, maybe from the get go out of the Garden of Eden materialism reared its ugly head. Having to work to obtain their very sustenance, when prior to that all the sustenance they needed was at their fingertips without any hard labor at all, didn't this institute a desire for things, a desire to sow and reap a good harvest as opposed to an adequate harvest?  And then when more than one family began to sow and reap- comparison began. The family with the better harvest envied by the family with the lesser harvest.  Sin birthed envy for the materialistic and when we take stock of where we are right now, isn't it truthful to say that the sin of materialism is rampant in most lives?  Satan has allowed us to taste the lives of the materialistic and in tasting we desire more, we desire better. Our senses have switched from the desire for the barest necessity towards the desire for accumulation, and the best we can afford.  We love being able to show off the things we can afford because we believe success is measured in our possessions. We are filled with regrets of past actions which caused our lives to turn down such paths that we feel we were robbed of fortunes that might have been.  Riches and pleasures of this life. 

You don't have to be rich to be consumed with the desire of pleasure.  Pleasures of this life. Anything that makes our flesh nature happy at the expense of our spiritual nature is a pleasure of this life that steals the pleasure of eternal life from us. This is truth!

Whenever our spiritual nature is put unrepentantly second to our flesh nature we are sacrificing eternal life.  Even a seemingly very Christian pastime can become a pleasure to our flesh if we are sacrificing our spiritual nature. We can't pat ourselves on the back and say we spent hours helping others and gained much pleasure from that, if we neglected to have God first in that activity. Many so called Christ followers are going to be shocked to hear that their wonderful Christian works were in fact void altogether of Christ.  The truth of the matter is, their works however good were done in selfishness, a selfish pleasure was derived from their sacrifice.  Self-serving pleasure is contrary to being spiritually minded. Pleasure is not altogether wrong. We can derive pleasure from spiritually centered activities. In fact a lot of our pleasures can be spiritual, but God needs to come first and that pleasure from Him, not a self-induced, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, self-generated pleasure. 

God first, or God truly will be last in your life and you won't even know it. Satan loves to deceive us and we stop short of examining our pleasures too closely because we don't want to be numbered among those whose pleasures of this life rob us of absorbing the truth through God's word. We'd rather simply believe all of our pleasures are all on the up and up and God approved and not able to keep us from truth. As if not examining them will keep the truth from God- which is a LIE.

Luk 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Choked with cares, we can understand this easily enough- not trusting God to get us through the hard times, but instead we worry about them and let them consume us.

Choked with riches, this is a bit harder to comprehend, maybe because most of the people in the world don't have riches to be choked with.  Truthfully you can be choked with the riches of this life by not having them as well as having them.

Choked with pleasures, this is hardest of all to comprehend because we are taught and almost innately through our flesh nature-believe that  it's important that we find pleasures as often as we can, because life is hard and pleasure very important.

What good are any pleasures, any riches, any cares if God is NOT in them, truly in them, if God's pleasure is not thought about at all? God's pleasure, God's will, God first in all we do.

We keep God in His place and all too often that place is completely separate from the majority of our lives. We give God His time slot and then go about our days, not fully comprehending there is no time slot for God- He is either in our entire life or He is not in our life at all, not really.

Please Father we would have you in our life, truly in our life, in ALL of our life!

By the grace and mercy, the incomprehensible love of our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Amen!

We are only strong when we are in the presence of God

2Co_12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Is this truth?

YES, it is truth.

Paul said- HE takes pleasure in INFIRMITIES- do we?

HE takes pleasure in reproaches.

HE takes pleasure in persecutions.

HE takes pleasure in distresses.

ONLY when they are for CHRIST'S SAKE.

He lives for CHRIST. And when a person truly LIVES for CHRIST, they KNOW that all their seeming bad luck and misfortune is an opportunity to suffer FOR Christ. There is NO blaming God for the torture in any of its forms. There is a comprehension that whatever befalls us will work towards the ultimate will of God. We TRULY believe this--

Rom_8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

ALL THINGS - the GOOD and the WORST THAT CAN EVER HAPPEN- will somehow, someway that we may not ever be able to imagine- things will work together for good.  When we are under spiritual attack - attacks that take on many forms of very real evil - it isn't easy to see how things will work out. When our pain and suffering is more that we fear we'll ever be able to bear, when the worst of the worst happens and we can't imagine anything worse taking place, it is extremely HARD for us to hold onto the faith we need to hold onto.

Unfortunately we often would rather give into the evil than face the pain in any of its forms. Satan counts on this weakness in us. Satan exploits our every single weakness.

I've been doing my most recent studies on the following writings-  Practice the Presence of God -  by Brother Lawerence

And He truly lived practicing the presence of God.

He lived his life daily in the presence of God, he PRACTICED the presence of God. He made it a constant exercise to bring his mind back to God all the time. He wasn't perfect, he failed constantly and constantly he drew himself back to God. He didn't let his constant failures derail Him from living in the presence of God.

Now more than ever we need to do the same.  We need to practice the presence of God when we feel LEAST incline to practice the presence of God.  We need to turn our thoughts to God always. 

2Co_12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Can we say this? We need to say this. When we are WEAK then we are STRONG and the only way we can be STRONG when we are weakest is when we are in the presence of God.

Please Lord, please help us be in Your presence, help us!

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord now and forever!

AMEN.

GOD needs to come first now, or He sure will NOT come first in eternity.

' Let us live and die with God. Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant while we are with Him. Without Him, the greatest pleasures will be a cruel punishment to us. May He be blessed by all.

Let us often consider that our only business in this life is to please God, that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity'

The above quotes are from -  Practice the Presence of God - Brother Lawerence

*******

Let us LIVE with God.

Let us DIE with God.

Suffering sweet?

Suffering pleasant?

Without God-  are our greatest pleasures- cruel punishments?

Is our only business right now in this life to PLEASE God?

Is ALL besides pleasing God- folly and vanity?

Seriously, let's ASK ourselves these questions. We should have NO trouble asking ourselves, no trouble examining ourselves as deeply as possible in order to determine where we in our relationship with God.

Do you believe that without God the greatest pleasures will be cruel punishment?

We love our pleasures, we often live for our pleasures whatever they may be. When something interferes with our pleasures we tend to get irked don't we? You're going to sit down and relax but something comes up, don't you groan a bit? You've waited all day to watch your favorite television show and something else calls you away from it, again, don't you groan, even inwardly? You've spent weeks setting up a special date night and again there is interference even a natural- no fault interference like illness, aren't you filled with disappointment?  I'm not saying we shouldn't be disappointed, but honestly we do not like our PLEASURES interfered with. Yet, WITHOUT God those pleasures are NOT good, they are in fact, Satan disguised trickery that hide completely that those very pleasures are cruel punishments.  Pleasures that weigh us down heavily and we don't even recognize it.  Asked to give up our pleasures we shrink from that and start making up excuses as to why they are good and God would understand.  If we EVER have to ask ourselves or rather try to convince ourselves that God will understand our special circumstances we better take several very good long hard looks at ourselves and figure out why we are trying to believe God will understand. Are we really saying God will excuse us, that we have special circumstances, that our case is different.  If we have to do these things then we REALLY need to ask ourselves if our pleasures mean more to us than God does. 

GOD needs to come first now, or He sure will NOT come first in eternity.

In ALL we do God needs to be there!

In every job, every pleasure, in everything. If you need to keep God separated from any part of your life then you are NOT living for GOD at all, but Satan in disguise. You are worshipping the god of self if you have to keep GOD the Father out of any part of your life.

God DOES understand all our circumstances and HE LOVES US and will make it possible for us to LOVE and WORSHIP HIM in all things when this is our desire, to submit to His will, to have faith in Him.

It's no wonder so few will be alive when Christ returns, because so few want God in their life completely. So few believe worshipping and loving God, living for Him is the greatest pleasure.

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

Now and forever, amen!

Yes, we must live in this world, but we must live FOR another world.

'That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of GOD we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.

That the greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent it is upon Divine grace.'

The above quotes are from -  Practice the Presence of God - Brother Lawerence

*******

Yesterday we studied the truth that we need to truly live for our Heaven Home and we need to live for it RIGHT NOW. We can't wait until we are dying to give up all our cherished vices. We can't wait until we truly believe that Christ's second coming is imminent, to stop living for this world.  No, we can't take ourselves out of this world and our God can't take us out of this world.

Jesus prayed to our Heavenly Father-

Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world…

We are NOT going to be taken out of this world, we have to live in this world filled with evil, filled with sin, filled with temptation, filled with lusts, filled with all that would keep us separated from our Father God, our Creator, from love.  And I'm not going to bother with the WHYS, we know why. We know that mankind chose sin over love and we, like it or not, understand it or not, inherited this world through them. We also inherited a chance for REDEMPTION.  One was not without the other- EVER, NOT EVER!  When sin separated God and man- a way for redemption was created, in fact it was IMPLEMENTED because it had been created before mankind existed.  REDEMPTION.

Yes, we must live in this world, but we must live FOR another world.

We have to take stock of our lives and continuously ask ourselves if we are seeking to become the most perfect worshippers of God that we can be, because this is our END GAME. Being PERFECT WORSHIPPERS of GOD is our END, our ETERNITY!  If you do NOT want to be a perfect worshipper of God, then you are NOT seeking heaven as your home.  If you WANT to be this perfect worshipper of God BUT find yourself failing over and over, find that Satan is trying to convince you that you don't want this at all, it's because he seeks to have you rely on your feelings of desire as the want and not the knowledge beyond the feeling as the want.  Our failing is our flesh nature, our succeeding is our submission to God.  When we fail, we FALL before the THRONE and seek forgiveness.

'That the greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent it is upon Divine grace.'

If you are dependent upon someone for something that means you are counting of them in some way. If you grow MORE dependent upon someone, you are counting on them even more. If you are completely dependent upon someone, you are counting on them for EVERYTHING. 

When we strive against sin, truly aspiring after the perfection of our Savior to have Christ in us, to be perfect worshippers of God, then we have to realize that we are going to grow more and more dependent upon DIVINE GRACE!

Please Father, please teach us to be Yours now in this world, for Your world to come! Please!

More tomorrow by Your grace and love.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

AMEN!

Eternity starts here...now

'That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of GOD we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.'

The above is a quote from -  Practice the Presence of God - Brother Lawerence

My thoughts--

In truth do WE truly hope to be perfect worshippers of God through all eternity? Do we?

Eternity in Heaven…

Heaven is the HOME of God.

Heaven is the HOME of Jesus Christ.

Heaven is the HOME of the Holy Spirit.

Heaven is the HOME of God's Angels.

Heaven is the HOME of the Saints of God who have been taken to heaven ahead of the majority of people who will be raised from the graves when Christ returns for them.

Heaven is the HOME we are PROMISED in the Gospel of Salvation that our Savior came to preach to us.

Heaven is the HOME where our treasures are, treasures that belong to us because we are going to go to heaven.

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven…

Rev 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Luk 14:14 … for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Pe_1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you

Are we LIVING for eternity with God in our Heavenly home?  Right NOW are we living with that blessed HOPE? Are we truly hoping to be the most perfect worshippers of God we can be here and now? Are we?! And if we AREN'T we need to ask ourselves WHY NOT?!   Why aren't we striving to be perfect worshippers of God?  God told us that we living in these last days would be LUKEWARM. Isn't it lukewarmness that keeps us from striving to be perfect worshippers of God here and now?

'That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of GOD we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity'

What we should be hoping to become as Christ followers in this life truly is to be the MOST PERFECT worshippers of GOD we can possibly be- AS WE HOPE TO BE through all eternity!

This is why we are CHRIST followers in the first place, isn't it?! To become one with our God, our Creator, our Redeemer and live with Him forever, isn't this our HOPE?   And if this is truly our real hope then we need to be living HERE and NOW towards that end, don't we? We need to be living for ETERNITY- NOW, not waiting to live for eternity in eternity, by then it will be too late.

More on this tomorrow by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR, Jesus Christ now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen!

God in ALL we do

'That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of GOD, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed. That we should not wonder if, in the beginning, we often failed in our endeavours, but that at last we should gain a habit, which will naturally produce its acts in us, without our care, and to our exceeding great delight.'  (Brother Lawrence-Practice the Presence of God)

Not weary in doing little things.

God doesn't regard the greatness of the work, BUT THE LOVE with which it is PERFORMED.

In the beginning we often FAIL in our endeavors- but at LAST we should GAIN HABIT.

Words of wisdom? Do they follow God's Holy Word?

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Col 3:23  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men

The word of the Lord.

WHATEVER we do-  tell me, what does that 'whatever' include? Are we to take it to mean truly 'whatever' as in all things, everything we do? I think it does. Because when we do ANYTHING that we can't do in the name of our Lord Jesus, and we can't give thanks to God and the Father by him, are we doing God's will? Isn't God supposed to be in all we do? Isn't God supposed to be our END goal? Isn't God, communion with God, being a part of God's life, God's world, God's existence our LONGING? When we are instructed to do whatever we do as unto the Lord and NOT men, that means all the LOVE we have for God, the LOVE God gives to us we are to give to ALL others as if we were giving that LOVE to God!

Too often we want to hate, to dislike, to annoy, to give pain, to retaliate to harm as we are driven to do by many worldly influences around us. There is spiritual wickedness in high places and it will attack us spiritually at every opportunity.

We take on small seemingly thankless tasks and often that spiritual wickedness will make us seem put upon, degraded, used by others in having to do a myriad of small tasks. But there is GREATNESS, spiritual GREATNESS in the most seemingly degrading, low level, disgusting even, task if it is done for the LOVE of God!  We are NOT doing menial tasks for others, not really, but for God. In ALL we do we are doing for GOD.  We haven't be taught to believe this truth. Satan will go to great lengths to keep us from this comprehension, and especially from making it a reality so that we begin to recognize it in all we do.

When we have ingrained in our lifestyle certain ways of thinking it's hard to retrain ourselves.  God will help us! The Holy Spirit will help us! We must practice this in our actions. Whenever we find ourselves feeling those awful feelings and thinking those awful thoughts and recognize them for what they are we need to pray and seek to change our thoughts to God, knowing what we are doing for others or even ourselves is truly for GOD.

Please LORD, please, we need to live for YOU in ALL we do!

Please!

Help us!

By Your mercy, Your grace, Your LOVE!

Always!

Amen.

There is no part time God, only full time.

Gal 1:10  For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Eph 6:5  Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

Eph 6:6  Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

Eph 6:7  With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men

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First and foremost we must seek to PLEASE GOD.

For what are our fellow men but creatures of God?  None of mankind will ever usurp God's place as our Heavenly Father, our Creator. None will ever be as pleased by our obedience, our service, our actions towards them as God is by our submission, our service to Him. God gives us the necessary compassion, the necessary components whatever they may be in order for us to do any good towards others. It is by the power of God we can please our fellow man and if we do so in accordance to the will of God, we are pleasing God first in our service to others. If our pleasing our fellow man is done in ways God would not approve of, if our pleasing our fellow man is done to further our own bloated egos, to pin another feather in our caps, then it will NOT PLEASE GOD.

We are to please God if we are to be servants of Christ.  All Christ did was pleasing to the Father.

We are to live onto Christ knowing that in whatever situation we find ourselves- working for others or working for ourselves- we are accountable to Christ, accountable to live for Him first and foremost.  While you work for another your service is NOT just to them, but answerable to God. As you bend over backwards to please a boss, are you doing it to receive ego stroking brownie points? Are you doing it so you can pat yourself on the back, stroking your own ego when your boss won't? Or are you doing the job to the best of your ability going above and beyond what might be expected of you because you wish to please God, knowing doing your best is pleasing to God?

The jobs we do - all of them - the ones we are paid for, the ones we aren't paid for, the ones we do because no one else is doing them, the thankless tasks we take on day after day, are we doing them to the BEST of our ability knowing that would please God? Is God is so REAL to us that we comprehend that He is there as we scrub the floor, as we clean a toilet, as we pick up laundry and dog droppings, and clean cat boxes.  God in us- is an all the time happening not something we can choose to stop while we go about the mundane tasks of life. God can't just be in us when we sit down and choose to think of Him. God can't be with us only when we enter a church, or kneel in our own homes to pray, or simply bow our heads. God CANNOT be a part time God in our lives! God is a FULL TIME, twenty-four hours, seven days a week God in our lives and that means He is with us in ALL our actions, every single one of them.   If you find yourself needing to shield God's eyes from something you're prone to do, you need to ask yourself if you truly love God.  Seriously!  Loving God is a REAL living, breathing, very active thing we do. If you need to put God in a corner, or tell God to cover His eyes and ears, you need to rethink your relationship with God. 

Whenever any of our actions are such we know they are displeasing to God, we have to ask for forgiveness and ask for Him to take away our desire, our inclinations to do things not pleasing to Him.  We can't ignore our failings hoping they'll be overlooked, or assuming they'll be overlooked, we have to actively seek pardon for them. Constantly we will be shown how utterly impossible it is for us to save ourselves and we need this constant reminder, but not by our excusing our willful sins, accepting them and even encouraging them because we've convinced ourselves we need that reminder.  We are ever to seek repentance, ever to seek to rid ourselves of our sins- those that so EASILY beset us.

Do we live to please God?

Eph 6:6…    doing the will of God from the heart;

Eph 6:7  With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men

Doing the will of God from the heart… ALWAYS as a way of LIFE!

With good will doing service … AS TO THE LORD… not to men.

We live for GOD not for others and as stated at the beginning of this writing, any living we do for others must be for God as well, for it is by God we exist at all.

May He bless us all and keep us in Him ever drawing us closer to Him in His LOVE, His MERCY, His GRACE and FORGIVENESS always!

Amen!

Repairer of the Breach

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

Jesus foreordained.

Some use this as an occasion to say the God planned our failure.

Do men who have safeguards, plan tragedies?  No. They have safeguards in place because the possibility exists for tragedy to occur.

Before mankind was created with the very real possibility they'd separate themselves from God- believing they could live without their Creator and Sustainer- a plan was put in motion for the worst case scenario.  If man chose to separate themselves from their Creator and Sustainer, they would have an opportunity to comprehend their wrongdoing and submit to a Redeemer who would offer them a way to once more be one with their Creator and Sustainer.

Before the foundation of the world our Savior was in place and then when it was time- He was manifested for mankind.

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.

God raised the Son, Jesus Christ a God in His own right, from the dead. God the Father gave the Son glory and now our FAITH and HOPE is in God. Our faith and hope for redemption.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

We obey the truth through the SPIRIT and the LOVE that is unfeigned in us is GOD'S love through the SPIRIT not some sort of love we try to manufacture on our own to claim we LOVE others of our own accord. The love we must love others with is God's love, His love for all mankind.  The pure heart is Christ's pure heart, through the Spirit we receive Christ's love in us, Christ in us! It's HIS love!

Col_1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

Christ in us is the HOPE of glory! Christ in US, not us in us. Our reuniting with God, our oneness with God is what it is all about. Repairing the breach so that we are NO longer separated from God. Christ alone repairs this breach! And when the oneness through Christ by the Holy Spirit is in us we have the love of God in us and that love alone is capable of loving others unfeigned.  We allow Christ to repair the breach! We comprehend that once the breach is repaired it allows God in us! And with God in us, we love with His love. He loves through us!

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Truth.

We are born again with a spiritual seed which is incorruptible and that birth is the birth of the Christ in us, the birth of the breach being repaired through Christ. The word of God -  lives and abides forever. 

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.

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

All of our flesh is as grass, all mankind's glory is like a flower of grass.  The grass as we all know withers and flowers fall away.  All things of flesh wither and fade. The word of the Lord endures forever- it never withers and never fades.   This is the gospel we must comprehend.

Christ in us- our hope of glory- His glory in us, we have no glory of our own, none.

All in HIS amazing, wondrous love, His mercy and grace!

Amen!

People can tell you how JESUS can save you, but they cannot save you.

1Pe 1:18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

1Pe 1:19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot

We are NOT saved by words! We are saved by THE WORD.

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.

We were saved by the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST.

The traditions and vain conversations we have received from many, haven't we? The Christian religion is FILLED with traditions that are not Biblical. Vain conversations- we can talk until we are blue in the face and it'll mean nothing, we can't be redeemed from our traditions and our inane chatter by anything BUT the BLOOD OF CHRIST.  We can't buy our way out of our sins.  We can't use traditions, we can't use pretty speeches, we have to accept the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST. 

To equate the precious blood of Christ with a LAMB without blemish and without spot is equating Him with a PERFECT sacrifice. 

The people of God were given a sacrificial system and the Lambs that were slain, that were sacrificed for their sins were something they were completely familiar with. 

The Savior as a Lamb without blemish and without spot is our ONLY HOPE.

Do not believe ANYONE who tells you that you can redeem yourself by paying for it, I don't care who they are! If anyone offers to forgive you of your sins in order for You to gain salvation- they are LIARS!  Only the SAVIOR can forgive us and offer Salvation to us! No other! Not a single other person can redeem us!

People can tell you how JESUS can save you, but they cannot save you.

People can forgive you for the wrong you've done to them, but they can't forgive you to redeem you.

People can tell you how JESUS will forgive you, but if they TRY to tell you that their forgiving you gives you salvation, they are lying to you.  No one can ABSOLVE you of the penalty of sin. No one can take away any punishment you deserve for the sins you've committed. You can't WORK off your sins!

The LAMB of God, the PERFECT LAMB of GOD- JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, OUR SAVIOR, He alone can save us through His blood, His sacrifice. 

By HIS grace may we be forgiven, may we be saved!

Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.

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;

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

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.

1Pe 1:17  And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear

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.

*******

Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.

Serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

We should be in fear, shouldn't we?

Seriously. We talk about the fear of God as if we have to explain it away. We call it godly fear, and we try to twist it into something that isn't fear at all but rather something much different. We don't want to equate God with fear because we read this--

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.

So let's read from a Bible Commentator and see what we think about what he has to say -  ADAM CLARKE'S COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE -

1 John 4:18

'There is no fear in love - The man who feels that he loves God with all his heart can never dread him as his Judge. As he is now made a partaker of his Spirit, and carries a sense of the Divine approbation in his conscience, he has nothing of that fear that produces terror or brings torment. The perfect love - that fullness of love, which he has received, casteth out fear - removes all terror relative to this day of judgment, for it is of this that the apostle particularly speaks. And as it is inconsistent with the gracious design of God to have his followers miserable, and as he cannot be unhappy whose heart is full of the love of his God, this love must necessarily exclude this fear or terror; because that brings torment, and hence is inconsistent with that happiness which a man must have who continually enjoys the approbation of his God.

He that feareth - He who is still uncertain concerning his interest in Christ; who, although he has many heavenly drawings, and often sits with Christ some moments on a throne of love, yet feels from the evils of his heart a dread of the day of judgment; is not made perfect in love - has not yet received the abiding witness of the Spirit that he is begotten of God; nor that fullness of love to God and man which excludes the enmity of the carnal mind, and which it is his privilege to receive. But is the case of such a man desperate? No: it is neither desperate nor deplorable; he is in the way of salvation, and not far from the kingdom of heaven. Let such earnestly seek, and fervently believe on the Son of God; and he will soon give them another baptism of his Spirit, will purge out all the old leaven, and fill their whole souls with that love which is the fulfilling of the law. He who is not yet perfect in love may speedily become so, because God can say in a moment, I will, be thou clean; and immediately his leprosy will depart. Among men we find some that have neither love nor fear; others that have fear without love; others that have love and fear; and others that have love without fear.

1.        Profligates, and worldly men in general, have neither the fear nor love of God.

2.        Deeply awakened and distressed penitents have the fear or terror of God without his love.

3.        Babes in Christ, or young converts, have often distressing fear mixed with their love.

4.        Adult Christians have love without this fear; because fear hath torment, and they are ever happy, being filled with God. See Mr. Wesley’s note on this place.

1.        We must not suppose that the love of God shed abroad in the heart is ever imperfect in itself; it is only so in degree. There may be a less or greater degree of what is perfect in itself; so it is with respect to the love which the followers of God have; they may have measures or degrees of perfect love without its fullness. There is nothing imperfect in the love of God, whether it be considered as existing in himself, or as communicated to his followers.

2.        We are not to suppose that the love of God casts out every kind of fear from the soul; it only casts out that which has torment.

1.        A filial fear is consistent with the highest degrees of love; and even necessary to the preservation of that grace. This is properly its guardian; and, without this, love would soon degenerate into listlessness, or presumptive boldness.

2.        Nor does it cast out that fear which is so necessary to the preservation of life; that fear which leads a man to flee from danger lest his life should be destroyed.

3.        Nor does it cast out that fear which may be engendered by sudden alarm. All these are necessary to our well-being. But it destroys,

1.        The fear of want;

2.        The fear of death; and

3.        The fear or terror of judgment. All these fears bring torment, and are inconsistent with this perfect love.'

*******

There is a fear of God that is NECESSARY. A realization that there is good and evil and if we let ourselves forget that that there is a judgment that we all will face, we won't fear at all.  If we forget evil's existence and begin to call evil good, we have no fear of that evil we commit and the fact there is a punishment for the evil. We don't want to believe there is real punishment. We let the talk of love swallow up the talk of the judgment.  It's hard to find fearful Christians today and it's NOT because they are consumed by reverencing God. It's hard to find fearful Christians today because Christians have called evil good and accept that evil assuming that God now accepts the evil as being good too.  He doesn't, and He never will. He doesn't change. 

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.

Our God is truly a consuming fire, there will be a time and place when and where all evil will be destroyed in a lake of fire and for that to happen- evil must exist. If evil exists then we have to know what the evil is and in knowing, choose not to commit evil. And if we DO commit evil we need to seek forgiveness and repent, knowing we must seek not to do what is evil.

We need to fear being deceived, we need to fear the lake of fire, we need to fear the consuming fire. And the LOVE, the perfect love of Christ will KEEP us through FAITH, and that FAITH in Christ's love will give us the HOPE we need so that fear doesn't turn into despair. Our HOPE must be in Christ's perfect love, not in ourselves.

Truly, as Clarke says (not that I agree with all he says by far) but he makes a point we do not have to fear want, death, judgment. We do however have to realize that certain fears are necessary, the fear of rising water. You don't sit in a flood as it's rising without taking action that the fear of it killing you produces. You have a fear of fire when your house is engulfed so you take action and run to safety. There are fears that we can't say are wrong.  What we need to trust in God. That all things- that flood, that fire are going to somehow work for our eternal good.  There the perfect love casts out fear that would consume us with cares of this life and reveal a real lack of love, of faith, of trust in our Savior, our God, and the Holy Spirit.

Fear.  Love. 

May God give us all we need- no matter what it is so that we are drawn ever closer to HIM. Help us Father, save us Lord, guide us Holy Spirit, please may we belong to all of YOU and be with YOU in heaven, rising to meet You in the air upon the return of the Son.

Please!

By Your mercy and grace, Your love now and forever!

AMEN!

He alone can keep us from falling.

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God and Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. (Jude 24, 25)

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:6-8)

Do you LOVE His appearing?

The appearing of the ONLY One who is able to present us FAULTLESS before God?

Do you LONG for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ Your Savior?

Or are you fearful of His return? Not quite ready or right with Him? Feeling completely full of all sorts of faults, and not at all feeling faultless?

I think we rely way too much on our feelings and not enough on fact. Satan would have us lost in our feelings, and he would love to lead us to despair. Despair of ever being considered faultless before the presence of God. Satan wants us focused on ourselves, and not on our Savior.

We can convince ourselves we aren't worthy, because we aren't. We have to believe HE IS worthy for us!

Christ alone is ABLE to KEEP us from falling.

Christ alone is ABLE to PRESENT us faultless.

We must FIGHT the GOOD FIGHT.

We must FINISH the COURSE.

We must KEEP the FAITH.

We must LOVE HIS APPEARING.

We must long for Him, really and truly long for Him. Do we?

Have you ever longed for someone you love, to appear?  Has anyone you've ever loved gone away and you can't wait for them to return? We know that feeling, we know how desperate that feeling can become. If we can have that feeling, that longing for another fellow human being, how much more do we need that feeling for our Creator, our Savior who loves us in a way we can't even imagine.

Lord and Savior, please, keep us from falling! Please, present us faultless through YOUR righteousness. Help us as we fight this fight as we race in this race. Help us, save us! We are lost without You, completely LOST.

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

As for me and my house

Does is seem evil to you to serve the Lord?

Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:14,15)

You might think you have no other gods. You might say that your fathers didn't serve any other gods. You might even tell me that God is God and if you're Christian, Muslim, or Jewish that you all believe in the one God, and He's the same for all those religions. Then again you may not believe in any god at all, or so you say. You may claim you believe in nature, or in Budda, or any other religious deity that doesn't claim to be a god.  Whatever it is you believe from 0 meaning no god, to 100 meaning God the Father of us and the declared Father of Jesus Christ, you believe in something. There is no believing in nothing, without believing in the nothing so that is something you believe in.  A conundrum perhaps but truth.  We are creatures prone to belief and by our Creator we are given that very necessary attribute. Not a single one of us of sound mind are able to say we didn't have a chance to believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and God the Father. A chance, we ALL have the opportunity to believe.

In the verses above we read about putting away other gods, not serving other gods, not serving the gods those who were on the other side of the flood served. We know that ALL but Noah and his family were destroyed by the flood.

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Gen 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

We know that the wickedness of those on the other side of the flood was GREAT, that EVERY imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually! They were not serving God their creator, but gods of their own creation.

And today…

Mat_24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat_24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

Today there is great wickedness in man, it's great in the earth, and EVERY imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is evil continually. It's sad but TRUE.

I struggle, the Lord knows how much I struggle with my own thoughts. Just the other day in a study I talked about the awfulness of my personal struggle with the thoughts of my heart. I long to belong to God, to be saved by my Savior, to be used by my Lord, to live for my Lord, with Christ in me, the Holy Spirit living in me, but I struggle! I'm in this spiritual war! It's a REAL war of the spirit and no one can convince me otherwise! I know how I struggle and I know my struggle is REAL. The horrors of this world are real. There are scores of people who believe in the gods their fathers believed in on the other side of the flood- gods of wickedness, gods void of true love, gods that deceive and warp minds so that good is considered bad and bad is considered good. People worship these gods without even acknowledging the reality of their existence. People believe they are simply walking to the beat of their own drums without any god over them, but we can't escape them. Our gods take the forms of all our selfish, self-serving desires.  It's no surprise that satan - an angel of light- sinned through his pride. He made a god of himself. 

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

And today… so many people do the exact same thing- they would be like the most high- their own god.

… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)

Please! Please FATHER, please we will SERVE THE LORD!  We don't want to serve any other god, not the god of self or any other! Please, we would be YOURS!

All by the mercy, the grace, the forgiveness of our Savior Jesus Christ our Lord now and forever!

AMEN.

Throne of Grace

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. (Heb. 12:1)

Can you name the SINS that so easily besets you?  Sins- transgressions of God's law.  And God's law is summed up in two directives- Love God, Love Man.  The ten moral laws are more detailed, and Jesus took it even a step further and expounded on the ten moral laws - explaining them even more clearly. Not only are we not to murder- commit the act of murder- we are not to THINK about murder. Not only are we not to commit adultery or fornication we are not to THINK about women/men that are not our partners in a lustful way.  Our HEARTS, we think with our hearts, our thoughts reveal our hearts. When our thoughts are evil we need to fall at the feet of our Savior and beg for forgiveness, we need to surrender to our Savior who alone can save us even from our thoughts.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Heb 4:13  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Do we come BOLDLY unto the throne of grace?

Do we want to find MERCY,?

Do we want to find grace to help us in time of need?

Are we laying aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us?

Again I ask, can you name those sins that beset you?  Or are you like me, with your heart aching from the weight of the sins besetting you, there are so many?

We have to RUN with patience.

We have to BELIEVE that our Savior will be able to perform what He promised.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ

Please, Lord. We know we have besetting sins and we WANT to set them aside. Teach us how! Set them aside for us if possible! Through Your righteousness alone can we have hope.