Striving to Belong.

 

Empty Prayers No More.

 

He Was Made Sin For Us.

 (((My brief thoughts on the following article- Jesus was made sin for us, He wasn't guilty of a single sin and yet He was made to feel the weight of all sin to save us. The depths of anguish we feel when our sinfulness rests on us is to know just a miniscule of what our Savior had to feel. We find forgiveness through our Savior, but that forgiveness becomes ours at an unfathomable cost- such LOVE we can scarcely grasp. ))))

Written - January 1, 1901

“LET this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery [“a thing to be seized upon and held fast”] to be equal with God; but emptied himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:5-7.

He was made in the likeness of men, as men are, just where they are.

“The Word was made flesh.” He “took part of the same” flesh and blood as that of which the children of men are partakers, as they are since man has fallen into sin. And so it is written: “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made... under the law.”

To be under the law is to be guilty, condemned, and subject to the curse. For it is written: “We know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that... all the world may become guilty before God.” This, because “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

And the guilt of sin brings the curse. In Zechariah 5:1-4 the prophet beheld a “flying roll; the length thereof... twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” The Lord said to him: “This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth."

This roll represents all the curse that is upon the face of the whole earth. And what is the cause of this curse over the face of the whole earth? This: “For every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.”

That is, this roll is the law of God, and one commandment it cited from each table, showing that both tables of the law are included in the roll. Every one that stealeth—every one that transgresseth the law in the things of the second table—shall be cut off as on this side of the law according to it; and every one that sweareth—every one that transgresseth in the things of the first table of the law—shall be cut off as on that side of the law according to it.

The heavenly recorders do not need to write out a statement of each particular sin of every man, but simply to indicate of the roll that pertains to each man, the particular commandment that is violated in each transgression. And that such a roll of the law does go with every man wherever he goes, and even abides in his house, is plain from the next words: “I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house.”

And unless a remedy shall be found, there that roll of the law will remain until the curse shall consume that man, and his house, “with the timber thereof and the stones thereof;” that is, until the curse shall devour the earth in that great day when the very elements shall melt with fervent heat. For “the strength of sin” and the curse “is the law.” 1 Corinthians 15:56.

But, thanks be to God, “God sent forth His Son, made... under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” Galatians 4:4, 5. By His coming He brought redemption to every soul who is under the law. But in order perfectly to bring that redemption to men under the law, He himself must come to men, just where they are, and as they are, under the law.

And this He did; for He was “made under the law;” He was made “guilty;” He was made condemned by the law; He was counted, “made,” as guilty as any man is guilty who is under the law. He was counted, “made,” under condemnation as fully as any man is under condemnation because of his violation of the law. He was counted, “made,” under the curse as completely as any man in the world has ever been, or ever can be, under the curse. For it is written: “He that is hanged [“on a tree”] is accursed of God.” Deuteronomy 21:23.

(((2Co_5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him))))

The Hebrew makes this stronger still; for the literal translation is: “He that hangeth on a tree is the curse of God.” And this is exactly the strength of the fact respecting Christ; for it is written that He was “made a curse.” Thus, when He was made under the law, He was made all that it means to be under the law. He was made guilty; He was made condemned; He was made a curse.

But bear in mind forever that all this He “was made.” He was none of this of himself, of native right; but all of it He “was made.” And He was made it all for us: for us who are under the law; for us who are under condemnation because of transgressions of the law; for us who are under the curse because of swearing, and lying, and stealing, and committing adultery, and all the other infractions of the roll of God’s law that goeth with us and that remaineth in our house.

He was made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law. He was made a curse, to redeem them that are under the curse because of being under the law.

But for whomsoever it was done, and whatsoever is accomplished by the doing of it, there must never be forgotten the fact that, in order to the doing of that which was done, He had to be made that which those already were for whom the thing was done.

Any man, therefore, in all the world, who knows guilt, by that very thing knows also what Jesus felt for him, and by this knows how close Jesus has come to him. Whosoever knows what is condemnation, in that knows exactly what Jesus felt for him, and so knows how thoroughly Jesus is able to sympathize with him and to redeem him. Whosoever knows the curse of sin, “the plague of his own heart,” in that can know exactly what Jesus experienced for him, and how entirely Jesus identified himself, in very experience, with him.

Bearing guilty, being under condemnation, and so under the weight of the curse, Jesus, a whole lifetime in this world of guilt, condemnation, and the curse, lived the perfect life of the righteousness of God, without ever sinning at all. And whenever any man knowing guilt, condemnation, and the curse of sin, and knowing that Jesus actually felt in His experience all this just as man feels it, then, in addition, that man can know in his experience the blessedness of the perfect life of God, in righteousness in his life, to redeem him from guilt, from condemnation, and from the curse; and manifested in his whole lifetime to keep him from ever sinning at all.

Christ was made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. And that blessed work is accomplished for every soul who will accept of that redemption.

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” His being made a curse is not in vain: it accomplishes all that was intended by it, in behalf of every man who will receive it; for it was all done “that the blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:14.

Still, whatever was intended by it, and whatever is accomplished by it, there must always be borne in mind by every soul the FACT that, in His condescension, in His emptying himself and being “made in the likeness of men,” and “made flesh,” He was made under the law, guilty,—under condemnation, under the curse,—as really and as entirely as is any soul that shall ever be redeemed.

Having passed through it all, He is the author of eternal salvation, and able to save to the uttermost from deepest loss all who come unto God by Him.

“The Faith of Jesus” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 78, 1, p. 8. 1901

Both Shepherd and Sheep/Lamb-- Jesus.

Active Christianity

 

Cleansing

 

The Perfect Guide -

 

Your Heart, Is It Gods? 100% or 99%?

 

Promised.

 

Take Heed!

 

Will Faith Let You Sing?

 

Living Your Worst Life.

 

Slip Into Holy Time.

 

Jesus' Peace Is Not the World's.

 Note- Jesus did not sugarcoat what our lives would be like! Jesus did NOT tell us this world would give us happiness! Jesus told us we would have tribulation! Jesus told us we would SUFFER! So why are we so surprised at all the suffering? We should be horrified by it, agonize over the awfulness of it all, but we shouldn't be surprised it exists. We shouldn't let it touch even the tiniest bit of our faith in Jesus!

Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Jesus left His peace with us.
Jesus gave us His peace.
Jesus told us His peace wouldn't be peace that the world offers.
Jesus doesn't want our hearts to be troubled.
Jesus doesn’t want our hearts to be afraid.

Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Jesus gave us His words so we might have peace.
Jesus told us that in the world we will suffer.
Jesus told us to be of good cheer, knowing, HE overcame the world.

Do YOU have any tribulation in your life? Any at all? Do you know anyone who has tribulation in their life? Do you recognize that people have tribulations in their lives?

Tribulation- 'a cause of great trouble or suffering'

Great trouble, great suffering.

These are subjective to a point, yes? I say that because there are lives filled with nothing but torturous pain from illness, disease, enemies, and there are lives filled with lesser degrees of these things, and still other lives even less- minimal suffering. There is emotional agony some endure just from having minds that don't function in the proper way- and their lives are full of personal tribulation- suffering and trouble.

Tribulations - suffering and troubles truly are subjective to each individual though many who suffer even the worst of horrors will still agree that there are horrors still worse than their own. Witnessing others suffering is its own kind of suffering and trouble, sometimes having to witness another immersed in great tribulations is its own greatest of tribulations.

Jesus did NOT lie to us! Jesus did NOT try to sell us a song and a dance of peace and safety here upon earth! Jesus is truth and He told us TRUTHFULLY there would be GREAT SUFFERING, GREAT TROUBLE in our lives! He told us?! HE TOLD US! He never tried to spin a great yarn of peace on earth, peace in our lives, peace in our existence. He told us we could have peace, but not the world's peace. He told us He would leave us peace, He would give us HIS peace.

HIS PEACE.

And His peace overcame the world!

Hope to overcome. Hope for a better world. Hope real hope in a life of the truest of peace. A future of hope- this is His peace for us. This is why during ALL the horribleness of life, and there is so much, we can have peace where our hearts aren't troubled, where we aren't afraid. I'm not talking about the natural fear that springs up in us all the time. I'm talking about the fear that steals the hope of salvation, the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Please, Lord Jesus, let us know the peace you left with us, the peace you give to us, not the peace of the world, but the peace you gave and continue to give!

All through Your amazing love! Thank you! All glory, all honor, all praise to YOU LORD JESUS now and forever! Amen!!!!!!!

Accountable God.

 

Christ Expectations!

 

Come and Dine.

 

Logic

 

Signs

 

Idols- Tear Them Down

 Hos 3:1  Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. 

The Lord told Hosea to love a sinful woman, strange? Very. Yet the reason why the Lord told Hosea this was because it mirrors the Love of God toward his backsliding people.

A wayward husband or wife-- who doesn't know about such things? Some know firsthand how it feels to be cheated on, others don't. Most people know someone who was cheated on. There are way too many divorces from this very thing for people not to know anyone at all who wasn't cheated on. Barring any personal experience with infidelity- either yourself, family members, relatives of any sort, friends, co-workers-- friends of friends … we have television, movies, and books that are filled with this sort of behavior. The truth is, you know about cheating even if you don't have experience with cheating.

Still, and I have to bring this up, right or wrong, many people live in relationships where they say it's fine to look (lust) upon others and find them arousing, as long as they don't touch (commit the physical act) of adultery. It's true, you hear about it all the time. Men will be men, women will be women, and it's all natural to do this, God made us this way, it's normal for human beings to lust after each other that's how the species keeps going, and so on.

When God told Hosea to find… no, that's not right, God told Hosea to go LOVE an adulteress He was telling Hosea to go LOVE a woman KNOWN to stray from her husband.  

God's people then and still right now, are prone to adultery - straying from HIM and taking other 'gods' into their lives that they shouldn't. 

The Book of Hosea tells of how Hosea's love of this adulteress and her continued cheating on him resulted in a very hard relationship. We are shown that Hosea's unrelenting love is just that- a love so deep it cannot be lost. 

Am I saying a person should stay with a cheating spouse? I'm saying if that person desires to stay because they truly love that spouse even though that spouse is unfaithful- well, that's a personal decision the person has to make and no other.

God chooses to stay with His people. God chooses to have a people upon a corrupt earth filled to the brim with mostly cheating people- people cheating on Him. God chooses to believe there will be an adulteress people who will cease their adulteress acts and love only Him, a faithful people.

In the parable of the prodigal son we know that the wayward son returning was more joyous than anything to the father! But, the wayward son was not joyous to the father while he was being wayward, it wasn't until he returned, leaving his wayward existence.

It is extremely hard living in a world so full of evil that only a few out of the many will truly belong to God. We live in a time where God has been altered to fit into a sinful existence. Changing God to suit a sinful life makes it all the more harder to recognize sinning because we no longer recognize the adultery for what it is, we've made what was once considered adultery (straying from God) into something acceptable. Satan has done his job very, very well.  We've erected false idols covered in the apparel of God and bow down to worship them fooling ourselves that we are worshiping God when we aren't. We don't recognize our adultery and this is why when our Lord returns He is going to tell many, many people that He doesn't know them. 

Look at the God you are worshiping very, very closely. Go to God's word and study it like never before! Get on your knees and pray like your life depends upon it because it does. Seek God with all your heart! Search for God with all your heart! God will be found if there is even a sliver of sincerity in our searching, our seeking!

Don't lie to yourself, don't blind yourself to truth, don't stop up your own ears to keep from hearing truth because it might mean destroying the beloved idols of your life. Those idols whatever they are- will gladly holdfast to you all the way to non-existence.

Hosea was told to love an adulteress as God loves his people- God loves his people and wants them to be true to Him, to turn away from the adultery in their hearts, the idols they cheat upon Him with. God wants us wayward people to return to a true love of Him.

God please help us do this, please! Bring our hearts back to the true love of Your love. God, give us all we need to tear down and rid ourselves of the idols in our lives- especially the idols we've decked in the garb of Your appearance. Don't let us fool ourselves any longer that we are worshiping you in truth if we are not! Create in us clean hearts! Renew in us right spirits! Take us back into Your fold, let us filthy, desperate, prodigals come home, show us the way back to You and let us walk in that way while all around us the world wallows in the filth of deception. Let us not be deceived, help us! Save us! We know You love us with an unwavering love, You sacrificed all because You loved us, love us still and always!  

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Yours is the glory, the praise, the honor now and forever! Amen!

Innumerable Company of Angels.

 Trapped. No way out. No help to be seen. Can you imagine how this must feel? Elisha's servant felt this way. Elisha and his servant were sleeping and when the servant woke up he went and spied out the land. To his dismay there were enemy horses and chariots all around the entire city surrounding them. With fear filling him to his very core he cried out to Elisha, asking what they were going to do.  Elisha wasn't fearful at all, why? Read the following… 

2Ki 6:15-17  And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 

… FEAR NOT for they that be with US are MORE than they that be with THEM. 

Yet, the servant couldn't see ANYONE on their side, let alone MORE than those that were surrounding the city! Then Elisha PRAYED and asked the LORD to open the servants eyes so he could see.  When the young man's eyes were opened he did indeed see that the MOUNTAIN was full of horses and chariots of FIRE all around Elisha! What a vision to have, what a blessing to see the unseen.

We often feel alone, defeated, demoralized, despairing, ready to scream in frustration as we walk our Christian walk. We, like the servant of Elisha, have no clue what we are going to do in our awful, seemingly unsurmountable circumstances. We long to see the unseen army of angels on our side. We have to walk by faith, not by sight. We have to take God's word into our hearts. God's word is written for US, for our learning! We need to believe in God's word.  Elisha had an army of angels to protect him and his servant. We have angels to protect us as well! We have ministering spirits as we are those who are going to inherit salvation, and those ministering to us are angels, real angels.

Does this mean that in every situation we will be miraculously helped- that we won't go through awful times, horrific trials, nightmarish tribulations? NO! A very resounding NO, it doesn't mean this at all. It means that we have angels on our side and as God wills, and if we aren't meant to endure the trial, we will be given supernatural help. It means that most of our trials and tribulations are refining us in ways we can't comprehend, preparing us for God's kingdom as we hold fast to God in spite of Satan trying his hardest to rip our faith in God from us. We will do a lot of suffering now, but joy will come.

People often wonder how anyone would believe in God after they go through horrific situations, and that person of God will tell them that we live in a Satan ruled world, and God is in control of our eternal life and this is why. We understand that in this world there are going to be lots of nightmares, lots of them, but we also know that in the world to come there will be NONE, not a single nightmare. We know the world to come is for ETERNITY, while this world has an expiration date stamped on it. Knowing these truths, we know that angels are here to comfort us and see us through the trials, to keep us from the despair as they minister to us God's truth. 

May we belong to God when this world expires. May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be ours now and forever! Al through HIS LOVE!

AMEN!!!!!!!

*******

(Excerpt)

5. NUMBER OF THE ANGELS

The definite number of the holy angels is not given in the Scriptures, yet there are declarations from which we may form an idea of the vastness of this host of God. Jesus said: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?" Matt. 26:53. 

John, as he had a view of heaven, the glory and majesty of God, and the vast host of angels worshiping before the throne, spoke of their great numbers thus: "And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands Of thousands." Rev. 5:11. 

Bengel, in his Gnomon, translates this, "Myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands." He adds the following excellent note: "A myriad consists of ten thousand; myriads, if only two of them are meant, make twenty thousand; a thousand taken twice, makes two thousands. But there are myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, i. e., the myriads are multiplied with each other, and, likewise, the thousands. In order to more easily conceive the meaning, it could be imagined thus: Here is a regiment consisting of ten thousand angels; then there would be ten thousand such regiments, and this not only once, but at least twice. In the same way are thousands to be taken thousand-fold; that is to say, if one counts a thousand angels to one body, then there are of such bodies of thousands (in the plural) at least two thousand bodies. The myriads make two hundred millions, and the thousands two million, a Vast throng!"

While this gives some idea of the greatness of the throng, it is by no means certain that the computation is nearly large enough. Instead of being simply two myriads, as the plural must contain, it may mean many more, which would enormously swell the aggregate. And all these were only those whom John saw worshiping around the throne at one time. We have no language in which to express the number of the heavenly family; we can have no conception of the number. The Bible declares that they are the messengers of God to carry out His will, and it is reasonable to believe that they are His messengers to other worlds. On a clear night view the stars, consider the millions in the milky way, and remember that each one is a sun, with a whole system of worlds revolving around it, and consider that the angels are God's messengers to all parts of His dominions, to all these countless worlds, and then we shall best be able to appreciate the words of Paul, that there is "an innumerable company of angels." Heb. 12:22.

Angels: Their Nature and Ministry

 (Excerpt - for continuing study) Revised by J.H. Waggoner.  1891 by Pacific Press Publishing Co.)

Comfort One Another!

 Do you remember the day the Lord descended from heaven with a shout?

Do you remember the day the Lord shouted with the voice of the archangel?

What about this… Do you remember the day the Lord shouted with the trumpet of God? 

Do you remember the day that those who died believing in Christ rose from their graves?

Or maybe you remember…  the day when you, still living and believing in Christ were caught up together with them in the clouds?

Do you remember meeting the Lord in the air?

Do you remember being with the Lord forevermore?

You DON'T remember any of that do you, you CAN'T because none of it has happened yet.

We are told to COMFORT one another with those words above.

How can I comfort you with those words? I am told to comfort you with those words, BUT HOW?

To comfort someone means one thing for certain- they are in NEED of being comforted, they are in some sort of distress. There can be no greater distress than living in a world over run by sin and all the results of sin. We need the comfort of what? Of KNOWING that --

-- the LORD will descend from heaven one day and he'll do so with a shout! 

He's not going to descend from heaven in silence, in stealth mode, quietly behind the scenes.  Our LORD is going to SHOUT out His glorious return and everyone will know of His returning at once! You say that's impossible? It's far from impossible!  We who live in this world where if everyone in the entire world could be woken up at once- sure it might be in the middle of the night for some, but it's still a very real possibility. 

You can be sure if I wrote a story about aliens coming from outer space and wrote that at the moment of that ship's arrival everyone's cellphones sounded at once, everyone left their homes and pounded on their  neighbor's doors, not a single person was left to sleep through it- it didn't matter the time of day because this wondrous thing was occurring. Sirens were blaring everywhere, alarms going off as never before.   You could picture that couldn't you?  I can.  If at 3am in the morning an alien ship arrived in the United States and the majority of the United States people were sleeping, do you think they'd be sleeping for long? Not in our day and age of technology. Something as momentous as an alien ship coming to earth would be worth being woken up for, right? The news would travel so fast. Now couple that with a NOISE that alien ship blasted in such a way that it sent that very loud, earl splitting, wake up noise all over the world at the same time.

Science fiction allows for us to believe this could happen. 

There we are sitting in the movie theater, munching away on popcorn, eyes riveted to the huge theater screen and we see that alien ship arriving and the response of everyone seeing it happening.  Then we watch as the Aliens set off an alarm that is being heard around the entire earth. The scene cuts from the United States where people everywhere are running out of their houses, buildings, from wherever they happen to be to get out into the streets to see what's happening  to find out where is that noise coming from?!  Then the scene cuts to the United Kingdom where the same thing is taking place, and China, and Russia, and Israel, and Africa, and Australia, everywhere - but all those scenes are depicting people hearing that noise. We watch the movie and understand that these aliens possess powers and abilities far beyond ours that have the entire earth hearing their noise and them at once - night or day around the globe everyone is awakened to this noise.

Are you still with me? Hopefully you are. What I'm getting at here is we CAN believe that ALIENS could do something like that, but we let our mind get boggle-down at the thought of when Christ descends from heaven with a SHOUT, with the voice of the ARCHANGEL, with a TRUMPET sound that not everyone will be able to hear Him at the same time. FAITHLESS people! 

Our LORD is going to return with that LOUD SHOUT! Our LORD is going to return with a voice EVERYONE can hear! There will be such a loud noise when our LORD returns that everyone in the entire world will hear it! And I'm telling you RIGHT now, find comfort in that! No matter what your circumstances right now, no matter how awful, horrifically awful, painfully awful, devastatingly awful your life is in this moment or in future moments…  CHRIST IS GOING TO RETURN! This is our ONLY comfort! This is our ONLY HOPE! Don't put your hope anywhere else! There is NO comfort in this world. You can be given a world of hope one day only to have it all taken away the very next day! As long as your comfort and hope are tied up in this world you are setting yourself up to be perpetually in distress and unhappy.  I can ONLY comfort you with CHRIST'S RETURN, because that is the only surety of comfort we truly can have! When ALL ELSE around us completely crumbles away there is forever CHRIST'S RETURN! 

CHIRST will return and in such a manner EVERYONE WILL KNOW!

And when CHRIST returns, ALL those who have ever died in His love- from Adam and Eve, to the last person to die in His love a second before His return, will be RAISED UP TO MEET HIM IN THE AIR!  

Not everyone will be raised up ONLY those who are called 'the Dead In Christ' and, there is an 'AND'…. ONLY those who are alive in CHRIST will be caught up together in the clouds to MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR and from that moment on we will EVER BE WITH THE LORD!

This is our HOPE, this is our COMFORT! I have NO other comfort to give anyone at all! None. I have the HOPE of our LORD returning for us and ushering in a NEW Life for all of us forever more. A LIFE without ANY of the millions and millions of heartaches and horrors of this sinful world!  

Don't you dare ask me WHEN Christ is going to return, because I DON'T KNOW.  What I DO know is that HE WILL RETURN and whether I'm DEAD IN CHRIST, or ALIVE IN CHRIST I will rise to meet HIM in the air and be with HIM forevermore! And forevermore is a lot longer than any number of years I will ever be given to live upon this earth. 

I long for HIM to return while I still live, but I know no matter what-- I will SEE my SAVIOR RETURN just as every other person that belongs to Him will see Him, we will ALL see HIM at the same time! Our God is a mighty GOD!  

FIND COMFORT in CHRIST, HE IS GOING TO RETURN!

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.