Delivered from the power of darkness

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins

The Father has delivered us from the power of darkness.

What is the power of darkness?

Luk 22:47  And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
Luk 22:48  But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
Luk 22:49  When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
Luk 22:50  And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.
Luk 22:51  And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.
Luk 22:52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?
Luk 22:53  When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
Luk 22:54  Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off.

Evil was transpiring. The chief priests of the very faith Jesus was; the captains of the temple- the very temple that Jesus went to as a boy and taught in as a man, the temple of God's chosen people; the elders- those appointed to do the work of God by those in the temple; all these people were there to do one thing and one thing only- take Jesus the Son of God captive so they could put Him to death. Evil. And this evil was working under the power of darkness.

Act 26:14  And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 26:15  And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
Act 26:16  But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
Act 26:17  Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

To OPEN their eyes- TURN them from the DARKNESS to the LIGHT- from the POWER OF SATAN unto GOD.

The power of darkness is the power of Satan.
The power of light is the power of God.

The power of darkness is something we NEED to be delivered from because it's the power to led us to permanent destruction.

It's FACTUAL that two opposing forces exist in life, if you have any sort of sense you can realize this just by being alive.  You know what it is to be happy, you know what it is to be sad. You know what it is to be in turmoil and you know what it is to be content. You also know that none of these states of being is a constant but ever fluctuating. When sadness comes you long to be happy again. When discontent occurs you want to be content again. When you're upset you long to have that upset resolved so it doesn't continue to upset you.  There is a right and wrong - can any one really dispute that? People try. They say your wrong could be my right, and in some things they may be right, but in the fundamental basics of life we we know there is a right and wrong. We know that murder is wrong no matter how some might try to justify it. We know that stealing is wrong, no matter the justification for that as well.  I could go on but this is truth and if you don't see the truth then it's because you don't want to and perhaps you're being allowed to believe the lies you'd rather trust in. 

Two opposing forces and they can be summed up in God and Satan- the power of Light and the power of Darkness.

We need to be delivered from darkness and God the Father will deliver us through His Son Jesus Christ, our LORD and SAVIOR.

The power of darkness will blind every one it can. The power of light will save all that choose to be saved.

As we live we are exposed to these two opposing powers. The power of darkness fights for us, but NEVER sacrifices itself for us in any way. The power of Light died for us, sacrificing everything so we could have the choice - to choose Light or Dark. While dark will do everything short of sacrificing itself to get people to not believe in the LIGHT, the Light does not tell you that the dark doesn't exist, in fact it warns you of the darkness. 

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins

When we are delivered from the power of darkness, we are delivered from permanent death, from nothingness, from non-existence. We will be translated to the kingdom of our SAVIOR, the FATHER'S SON'S KINGDOM. He will return for us, for those who CHOOSE Him, choose light over darkness, life over death.  We only have redemption, we only have salvation through our Savior, through the blood He spilled, through the sacrifice He made, through the life He gave all so that HE could cleanses us - all so He could forgive us for the darkness we've embraced over our life. He alone can forgive us, He alone earned that right to save us from the darkness. He alone has POWER over darkness. God the Father truly has delivered us from the power of darkness offering us EVERYTHING through His Son!

All through HIS love! His amazing, amazing LOVE.

By HIS GRACE, He is the light of life.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Eternal inheritance

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light

We MUST give thanks  to the FATHER, because HE and HE alone has made it possible for us to be PARTAKERS of the INHERITANCE of the SAINTS in LIGHT.

The INHERITANCE. 

Act 20:32  And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

An inheritance among ALL them which are sanctified.

Jesus said- Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Receive- an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me (JESUS).

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an INHERITANCE, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE,
Eph 1:14  Which is the EARNEST of our INHERITANCE until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Eph 1:16  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Eph 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of HIS INHERITANCE in the saints

Eph 5:5  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any INHERITANCE IN THE KINGDOM CHRIST and of GOD.

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,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the POWER OF GOD THROUGH FAITH UNTO SALVATION ready to be revealed in the last time.

Tell me…

…if you received a letter in the mail telling you that you have inherited something how would that make you feel? Excited, right?  You'd feel excited to know what the inheritance would be. Would the inheritance be money, lots of money, land, a house, a car, jewelry? The idea of receiving an inheritance is exciting in it own way. Some people know long before they get it that there is an inheritance on its way- when of course the one giving it to them dies.  Some grow up knowing they'll inherit their parents things- all of them. They have an expectation of what they'll receive. Does it please them? I don't know, I'm not one of those. No one will be giving me an inheritance, no one I know has one to give. I can only imagine how I'd feel.

We need to imagine. Let's imagine how we'd feel if out of the blue some long lost relative or even friend decided to give all their wealth to us, a huge sum of money.  You can do this can't you, imagine? Very few people, if any would feel disappointed in hearing this news. Most would be ecstatic to be given such an unexpected gift.

Now we have to take this a step further- to our INTERNAL INHERITANCE. We all have one.  NO ONE IS EXEMPT!

What that inheritance is, well, that's another story.

There are TWO inheritances we can possibly have.

One is the inheritance of eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

The other is the inheritance of non-existence.

Only two and we all have one or the other.

How often do you think about this inheritance you'll receive?  I personally believe that we should be thinking about it every single day of our lives.  While we live we actually get to choose the inheritance we'd like to receive.  We do.  We choose. And you know what? We choose it everyday.

 More on this tomorrow all by the grace of GOD.  This is something we need to study deeper. This is our inheritance we're discussing- our eternal inheritance.

ALL through HIS LOVE! All by HIS GRACE and MERCY! Please LORD please let our inheritance be eternity with YOU, not because we deserve it, because we don't, but because of YOUR love for us, help us love You as we should, please! Please LORD. Your will!

According to HIS glorious power

Col 1:10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Col 1:11  Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Strengthened with ALL might- how? According to HIS GLORIOUS POWER. Unto ALL patience and longsuffering with JOYFULNESS.

We are only strengthened by HIS GLORIOUS POWER. When we imagine we strengthen ourselves we are giving credit where NO credit is due. It is the power of GOD that strengthens us. As we face trials and tribulations - and they come in many, many forms- and we somehow prevail, it isn't through our own power that we've done so, but through God's. Some trials and many tribulations are messy, horrible business and we struggle wildly, kicking and screaming as we endure them. Sometimes we despair that we'd ever make it through, but then somehow we do it, we are on the other side of those horrific obstacles life throws at us, and there we are given an amazing opportunity to praise God, to thank God for His mercy, His strength.  All too often  people come out the other side of things and they are eager to brag about how THEY overcame. They quickly collect their flesh badges- pride, arrogance, self-serving- and pin them on, never once realizing that they were given the strength to endure by God.

We must walk worthy of our LORD - we must increase our knowledge of GOD- we have to be strengthened with all might according to HIS GLORIOUS POWER. And that strength will give us patience, the patience we need in life because more and more people are losing the ability to have patience. That strength will enable us to be LONGSUFFERING- enduring all that we must, suffering all that we must whether it's a situation of our own making, or a situation of another's that we are called to be long suffering towards.  And we are strengthened to have this patience and longsuffering- JOYFULLY! 

There are many who pat themselves on their backs because they believe they are patient and longsuffering but while they're doing that patting they're complaining endlessly about what they must have patience for, for what they must be long suffering towards. Their complaining negates their patience and long suffering. Sure, maybe they didn't show any complaints or signs of agitation during the situations and they believe that entitles them to a good back patting courtesy of their own hands. But the very essence of true patience and longsuffering means there is NO back patting involved whatsoever. There is NO complaining to third parties about the situations, again that negates the truth of the patience and long suffering.  We are strengthened by GOD to have true patience and long suffering, enduring our lives with joyfulness!  Something so many will admit is incredibly hard to do.

Endure life with joyfulness. 

Just saying endure makes a situation sound instantly very trying, and that's what our lives are, trying, very, very trying. And to be able to endure them with JOYFULNESS- truly that is GOD GIVEN STRENGTH!

All by HIS grace and mercy, all through HIS love we must live! Seeking Him and His love, His strength daily, hourly, minutely!

All in Christ Jesus' love!

Walk worthy of the Lord

Col 1:10  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God

This is the desire-

That we WALK worthy of the LORD unto ALL pleasing.
BEING fruitful in every GOOD WORK.
INCREASING in the KNOWLEDGE of GOD.

We live, we breath, we exist and because of this our lives are filled with actions. All but a very few in the grand scheme of things are busy day in and day out simply living in their own little world. I say all but a very few because there are some people who are paralyzed and their every move is made by another. The majority are busy though, even if their existence is boring, monotonous, mundane, they are committing actions - and their actions are their works and their works reveal a lot- but not all- about the way they believe. 

We need to LIVE worthy of the LORD.
We must LIVE pleasingly for the LORD.
We have to LIVE being fruitful in good works for the LORD.
We must LIVE increasing our KNOWLEDGE of GOD.

Would the LORD be please with how you live? Seriously, you have to have some idea about that. We have to know otherwise why are people told to live this way if they can't know? That would make no sense whatsoever. We know whether or not we are increasing our knowledge of God, right? We know whether we are committing fruitful good works- works that our SAVIOR worked, living to reveal HIS FATHER. We live to REVEAL the sacrifice of our SAVIOR.  He came to SAVE US! And we must reveal this in our lives. When we reveal this- we are preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom- when we preach the Gospel of the Kingdom then Jesus our Savior is reveal and when our Savior is reveal the Father is revealed.  THIS is how we should live. Yet it is far from how most of us truly live.

We get so caught up in our existence here we neglect the very real truth of our future existence with our Savior.

If we lived as if our Savior would return for us tomorrow what would we do differently?
We are supposed to watch for His return. We are supposed to be ready. We are not supposed to live our lives in an ignorant stupor, but be prepared. If we do fall asleep we must do so be prepared. To prepare for our Savior's return we must live as He told us to live in His word. We must live as the Holy Spirit guides us to live. We must love Him, we must love others. We cannot neglect the actions we are to make here, the works we are to do, we have to live for our Savior now if we imagine we will truly one day live with Him forever.

In HIS LOVE!

Filled with the knowledge of HIS WILL

Col 1:7  As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
Col 1:8  Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
Col 1:9  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Desire that you might be FILLED with the KNOWLEDGE of HIS WILL-  in ALL WISDOM and SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.

Dan 4:35  And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth ACCORDING TO HIS WILL in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

He does according to HIS WILL- where? IN THE ARMY OF HEAVEN and AMONG the INHABITANTS of the EARTH.

NONE CAN STAY HIS HAND, or say unto Him,  WHAT DOEST THOU?

God's will - WILL be done. God's will is done in HEAVEN. God's will is done here on earth.

We have a part in all this because we can choose to FIGHT against God's will or desire God's will be done in our lives.  God's will cannot be stopped- but we choose whether or not to accept His will or our own.

Joh 7:17  If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

Joh 9:31  Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

Those who choose to not accept God as their Creator, their Redeemer, cannot expect God to hear them. Will He? Often times God does hear the cry of a sinner who is in a position to believe in Him and choose His will. But the sinner than wants NOTHING to do with God, let alone chooses to worship Him or do God's will, has NO reason to believe God will hear Him.

God will hear the voice of those who worship Him and seek to do His will. Does this mean everything they ask for will be given? Yes. It means they are trusting in God to know the end from the beginning and to know what His followers, His worshipers need. They will receive everything they ask for when they ask ultimately for GOD'S WILL to be DONE and not their own.

Act 22:14  And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of HIS WILL,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of HIS WILL, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him

Heb 13:21  Make you perfect in every good work to do HIS WILL, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1Jn 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to HIS WILL, he heareth us

Psa 143:10  TEACH ME TO DO THY WILL, for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

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.

Eph 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the WILL OF THE LORD IS.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done THE WILL OF GOD, ye might receive the promise.

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that DOETH THE WILL OF GOD  abideth for ever.

Desire that you might be FILLED with the KNOWLEDGE of HIS WILL-  in ALL WISDOM and SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.

Is it any wonder the men of God DESIRE that others that are seeking Christ be FILLED with the KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL? 

Being filled with the knowledge of His will in ALL WISDOM, and in ALL SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. This gift is amazing. To be filled with the knowledge of HIS WILL. How often we desire to know the WILL of God. We falter, we worry, we wonder and but we can KNOW the will of God. The problem is not many want to know the will of God because it is contrary to their own will. They say they want God's will but when it interferes with their own selfish will they change their minds pretty quickly.

To be filled with the knowledge of God's WILL in all wisdom and spiritual understanding is the ultimate gift.

This is a gift to be prayed for, we all need to this, all of us! Less of our will more of God's- in fact - ALL God's will!

In His LOVE always!

Love the TRUTH

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

They received NOT the LOVE of the TRUTH that they might be SAVED.

LOVE of the TRUTH.

Damned who believed NOT the TRUTH.

Truth. In a world filled with lie upon lie the truth still exists and will always exist even if it's only in a few people who believe in that truth.

You can call lies- truth and believe them as your truth, but that will not make them truth, but deception. People will be allowed to believe their lies as if they are truths because this is what their heart truly desires.

Are your truths really lies? How do you know? Deception is called deception because you are fooled into believing something that isn't true. Sometimes it's because people perfect the art of deception and use their skilled art of deceiving to truly make you believe something that isn't real. Other times there is a choice you make to ALLOW yourself to be deceived. You overlook inconsistencies in a story told. You look the other way when you realize something isn't quite right because you'd rather not face what that could mean. It might only be a flicker of knowledge, a tiny suspicion that is easily squashed, but it's enough for you to be a willing participant in the deception.

God will present the truth to all. That's right, to EVERYONE who lives the truth will be presented. Along with that truth a lot of lies will be offered by another source. Even though the lies will be swimming around us by the millions and the truth will be there alone by itself, it is unique enough to stand out to everyone if only for a moment- long enough to prick the conscience giving people time to either embrace or reject the truth.

You wouldn't think if fair would you? You'd call it a sham, the game is rigged so to speak. You're immersed in  a tank of fake 100 dollar bills and only one real 100 dollar bill is among the many and it's your job to snatch the real 100 dollar bill. In truth the real hundred dollar bill is larger, it's real color is infinitely brighter than the false ones, it stands out brilliantly so that you do have a fighting chance to grab the real one. When the game is up and you are allowed to see the real placed next to the false you can't believe you didn't recognize the real one- it really is LARGER by two times- double the size. It really is the real color of a dollar while all the others are a much faded color barely recognizable as that green dollar bill hue. So how did you miss the mark? How did you not recognize the true dollar? Were you caught up in the belief that it was going to be extremely hard to pick out the single bill? Did you allow yourself to believe that it would be so incredibly difficult that you didn't really look?

The TRUTH will stand out for EVERYONE to either receive or reject. No one will be able to say they were NOT given a chance to know the truth. In fact there will come a moment in time when everyone will be able to witness their rejection of the truth, and a lot of people will be shown how they rejected it time and time again, not just once. They will not be able to accuse God of not giving them ample opportunity to know the truth.

Love of the truth.

People love to say that the truth is subjective, that my truth might not be your truth, and that other person might still have another kind of truth.  We can believe that if we want to, but that goes along the same vein as this saying I've been caught up preaching myself in the past-  'As long as their hearts are in the right place it doesn't matter what they believe. God knows they're good people, He knows and won't fault them for not outright believing as the Bible teaches.'  Yes, I've said that and I've meant it, but then after being blessed with a 'prodigal son' experience I could no longer say that. I wanted to believe it because the friends I had were pagans, witches, and the like and they were super nice, loving, kind people. I couldn't for the life of me believe that God would condemn that sweet pagan who would lay down her life for a friend if need be. But in the end the TRUTH is the TRUTH and there are sweet, loving, and self-sacrificing devil worshipers- and that devil worship keeps them from the TRUTH in CHRIST JESUS the ONLY SAVIOR! Being mean and nasty isn't a prerequisite towards being deceived, towards being lost, towards being an enemy of God's. We'd love if that were true, it'd make things easier for us wouldn't it, to be able to point to all the evil people and say - see, they're not God's they're blatantly bad.  But there will be many people who we believe are brilliantly good people without a stain upon them because they never ceased to do good for others, but they will not have surrendered their hearts, their lives to their SAVIOR, Jesus Christ. Those amazing good people who appear to be better than a lot of so called Christ followers are truly serving themselves- the good they do will be done in their own names, not God's. The praise they received they'll award to themselves, not God. The humility they show will be a humble selfishness as they absorb the praise and use it to give themselves self-worth, not God-worth.  So while they might appear to be truly, honestly, wonderfully amazing people their hearts are not God's.

Can we judge ANYONE'S eternal life? NO! I'll say it again, NO!  We can only judge actions not the end results of those actions. The blatant sinner might be a secret confessor- repenting and asking forgiveness for their outward sins- something we never see. We might be witness to a struggling Christian engaged in a fierce battle with Satan while we sit back and judge wrongly. We CAN'T know the things God knows. While we can judge right and wrong actions- whether or not they'll result in condemnation is NOT within our realm of knowledge- it can't be!  We can ONLY hope and pray those we believe are far from Christ will come to know His saving grace before it's too late, and that we will NOT judge them, but leave that judging to GOD.

Let's read those verses above again--

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

WE HAVE TO BELIEVE IN THE TRUTH or we will be lost, completely and utterly lost.

If we choose NOT to believe in the truth we will be deceived there is NO getting around this fact, none. Without a love of the truth there is NO SALVATION. Without a love for the truth there is only a life of delusion, a life believing in lies, a damnation, as pleasure is taken in that which is unrighteous.

WE HAVE TO LOVE THE TRUTH!

We will live in a world rife with deception, delusions, lies and even as we live in this world we must love the TRUTH, knowing the TRUTH isn't of this world, but found in our SAVIOR!

BY HIS GRACE!

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Hope in TRUTH

Col 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ BY THE WILL OF GOD, and Timotheus our brother,
Col 1:2  To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 1:3  We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Col 1:4  Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

Col 1:5  FOR THE HOPE WHICH IS LAID UP FOR YOU IN HEAVEN, WHEREOF YE HEARD BEFORE IN THE WORD OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL
Col 1:6  WHICH IS COME UNTO YOU AS IT IS IN ALL THE WORLD AND BRINGETH FORTH FRUIT AS IT DOTH ALSO IN YOU SINCE THE DAY YE HEARD OF IT AND KNEW THE GRACE OF GOD IN TRUTH

This same hope is LAID up for US in heaven, isn't it? The FAITH in CHRIST JESUS. The LOVE which we have to all.

The HOPE we find in the WORD of the TRUTH of the GOSPEL.

The TRUTH.

Too many refuse outright to believe in truth stubbornly imagining they have truth in themselves by their mere existence. They exist therefore they are truth. They take it all the way back to the beginning- agreeing that there must have been a beginning of some sort- and that beginning was a big bang - the chance happenstance of elements uniting that would eventually produce us. Because they just happened and were NOT created, they are free to believe  they are truth. They know that history reveals our past, generation after generation attesting to the fact we came from others like us. Counting backwards I know my mother, and I knew her father, and I knew her father's mother, but I never knew her father's mother's mother or father the trail ends there for me holding tangible proof seen by me. However I know she had a mother and father because she exists and to exist you must have a father and mother- a seed and an egg to unite. At one point my mother's father's mother most likely knew tangibly her mother's father's mother, most certainly my mother knew further back than I did, and so it goes. But after a few generations those before are forgotten for the most part. We know they existed but by mere tales and pictures, possibly certificates and other documents their names might have been written upon- in fact I have a copy of the document dating back to the census taken in the 1800's with my ancestor's signatures.  I've seen pictures of gravestones where those relatives have been buried. I know they existed because I exist. We can go back and back and back, and the meticulous record keeping of those who first started record keeping might have ancestors dating back thousands and thousands of years. In fact… we do have a genealogy that is widely known.

The Bible.

Non-fiction if you please.

Details the FIRST man all the way to JESUS CHRIST.

Genealogy of Jesus according to Luke

1. God
2. Adam
3. Seth
4. Enosh
5. Kenan
6. Mahalalel
7. Jared
8. Enoch
9. Methuselah
10. Lamech
11. Noah
12. Shem
13. Arphaxad
14. Cainan
15. Shelah
16. Eber
17. Peleg
18. Reu
19. Serug
20. Nahor
21. Terah
22. Abraham
23. Isaac
24. Jacob
25. Judah
26. Perez
27. Hezron
28. Ram
29. Amminadab
30. Nahshon
31. Salmon
32. Boaz
33. Obed
34. Jesse
35. David
36. Nathan
37. Mattatha
38. Menna
39. Melea
40. Eliakim
41. Jonam
42. Joseph
43. Judah
44. Simeon
45. Levi
46. Matthat
47. Jorim
48. Eliezer
49. Joshua
50. Er
51. Elmadam
52. Cosam
53. Addi
54. Melchi
55. Neri
56. Shealtiel
57. Zerubbabel
58. Rhesa
59. Joanan
60. Joda
61. Josech
62. Semein
63. Mattathias
64. Mahath
65. Naggai
66. Hesli
67. Nahum
68. Amos
69. Mattathias
70. Joseph
71. Jannai
72. Melchi
73. Levi
74. Matthat
75. Heli
76. Joseph

77. Jesus

This genealogy exists and many do not believe it, preferring if you will, to believe in 'primordial ooze' as their descendant in common with all other people.

If we are going to believe in the TRUTH- we have to comprehend that we are not truth in and of ourselves and way too many do not want to believe they are not truth- it upsets their way of thinking.

They would rather believe that we -often times despicable, vile creatures- are truth. It stands to reason if a person believes they are truth in and of themselves then all others are their own truth as well- even the most evil among them.

Truth isn't found in ourselves. We cannot find truth in ourselves.

What we find in ourselves is that we are part of a collection of beings that exist- very defective beings far from every single ones highest idea of perfection. At best a collection of human beings that find it hard to even be loving towards other human beings like themselves. In fact it is extremely hard for us to imagine that we are truly all the same- human beings. We value our uniqueness so much we've all but done away with the fact we are in the end ALL just human beings- we ALL have that in common. We'd much rather do away with our commonalities and tout our uniqueness. Yet is it our commonality that allows us to feel compassion towards one another. The richest, the prettiest, the smartest person alive is merely human- they live, they die - every single one.

The Truth.

Col 1:5  FOR THE HOPE WHICH IS LAID UP FOR YOU IN HEAVEN, WHEREOF YE HEARD BEFORE IN THE WORD OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL
Col 1:6  WHICH IS COME UNTO YOU AS IT IS IN ALL THE WORLD AND BRINGETH FORTH FRUIT AS IT DOTH ALSO IN YOU SINCE THE DAY YE HEARD OF IT AND KNEW THE GRACE OF GOD IN TRUTH

The word of the truth of the gospel. The word of truth- CHRIST- the gospel. The gospel of the kingdom the eternity with CHRIST. Eternity begins in heaven. Knowing the GRACE of GOD in TRUTH.

TRUTH is found outside of ourselves and in CHRIST.

Our beginning, our end, our eternity all found in CHRIST JESUS our LORD, our SAVIOR, our CREATOR.

We will never be satisfied in the belief that we are the truth, never. Deep down in the most staunch among atheists and the like they know aren't satisfied with life as they know it, their short existence. So many scientists seek that ever elusive key to eternal life knowing that as a finite being their hope lies in being able to come up with a way to turn the finite being into an infinite being with quality of life. That ever elusive fountain of life, the heavenly being guarded Tree of Life, these are their hope only they seek it in among cures created by fallible beings, who are truly NOT creators, but rather reproducers.

Knowing the grace of GOD in truth.
Knowing the truth of the gospel.
Knowing that the truth is out there to be known, and not instinctively within ourselves, this is fact, logical fact when you realize how imperfect we are.

We have a HOPE laid up in HEAVEN.
We have a SAVIOR!  This is all the truth we must proclaim! We can be SAVED! We are NOT doomed to this existence there  really, truly is something more, much, much more than we can even imagine.

By the mercy and grace of our God may we seek TRUTH always.

In HIS LOVE!

Unto HIM that is able to KEEP you from falling

Jud 1:24  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,
Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

To HIM that is able to keep you from falling.

There is only ONE who is able to keep us from falling.
There is only ONE who can present us faultless.

The thing is we WILL fall if He doesn't KEEP us from falling.

We will be taken over by sin if we don't cling to Him who can save us from sin. Without our Savior we have no hope. Too many believe that they can in fact save themselves. They believe if they do not act too badly that they deserve salvation. Satan has come up with this deceptive plot and has taken many captive with it, many.  Those who believe they can be good enough haven't comprehended the fact that they cannot ever be sinless in and of themselves. Any sin they've committed needs to be forgiven or the filth of that sin remains upon them, staining them. They could go and never commit a single other sin but the stain of that one would remain unless they go to the ONLY ONE who can present us faultless before the Presence of His Glory.

We MUST be kept from falling. We must be presented faultless before God. Our Savior is the ONLY One who can do this and NONE other.

We've studied the book of Jude and we've seen that God will PUNISH the sinners. It isn't a fake tale made up to scare people into behaving as best they can. This is so incredibly serious yet so few actually take it that way. It's much more easy for them to simply live their lives any ol' way and let come what may.

The belief that everyone will move on right after death, no matter what, pervades the entire world. They'll move on in some spirit form and maybe they'll suffer a little but in the end everything will be just fine. Some do believe they'll face a torturous hell environment with fire and brimstone, pain, agony unlike anything they've ever felt and they'll have to feel it forever, but it's not real to them, only here and now is real and therefore if they have to suffer something later well that's what will happen and they'll worry about it then.  Others who do their best to live sinless for fear of eternal everlasting pain and suffering, are missing the point of God's love. Is it fear God wants us to live in, or love?  Did Jesus come and expound on pain and suffering, or did He preach on love?  Some will say both and that's the truth- but his main message was of the LOVE of God and revealing the FATHER'S LOVE to us, not the FATHER'S hatred. His love, His longsuffering.

Sin will destroy us if we allow it to.  And we will allow it if we don't go to the ONLY ONE who is able to KEEP US from falling.

We are warned, we aren't left clueless, our God would NEVER leave us clueless. We will ALL have the chance to know the TRUTH, plainly.

We will ALL be able to be KEPT from FALLING by our SAVIOR but we have to ALLOW Him to KEEP us.

To HIM that is able to keep us from falling.

Please LORD keep us from falling! Without you we are HELPLESS!

Keep yourselves in the love of God

Jud 1:20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Jud 1:21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jud 1:22  And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Jud 1:23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Those who are NOT caught up in living for their senses, being deemed sensual over spiritual must receive instruction. We must, because do to otherwise is to leave ourselves wide open for deception. We are told to BUILD UP OURSELVES and do that on our MOST HOLY FAITH- PRAYING in the HOLY GHOST. We are told to KEEP OURSELVES in the LOVE OF GOD. We are told to LOOK FOR the MERCY of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST UNTO ETERNAL LIFE. We are told to have COMPASSION. We are told to SAVE with FEAR- PULLING others out of the FIRE- what fire? The fire that is eternal- the fire that destroys to the uttermost- the fire that burns to ashes never to rise up again in any way, in any form- the fire that takes the whole being the living soul- the spirit and the flesh.  SAVE from the fire. We are told to HATE even the garment spotted by the FLESH- the sensual. 

The garment spotted by the flesh.

Hate the garment.

Why would you hate a garment? Hate something that clothes you? Or rather when would you hate a garment?  You wouldn't like to wear a filthy garment would you? Most people would MUCH rather have on clean garments than dirty ones, right? What would you think about someone giving you a garment that is filthy with all manner of filth? Seriously? A garment spotted with all the filthy flesh diseases is held out to you- what would you do? Would you reach to take it or would you shrink away from it, doing all you can to keep it away from you? The answer should be yes, you'd run far, far away from it and in fact you'd hope someone would burn up that filthy garment so no one could ever be infected by it, not ever!

The garment spotted by the flesh is that filthy garment. It's the flesh traits that people wear, that people reveal in themselves. We are NOT supposed to encourage the flesh traits, the carnal nature, that which would kill the spirit in favor of the flesh. We are NOT supposed to love those flesh garments draped over others or those we unfortunately all too often don ourselves. We are supposed to HATE the flesh spotted garments. We are supposed to seek the clean garments of CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS! We are supposed to desire the filthy garments to be removed…

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

TAKE AWAY the filthy garments!

Please TAKE AWAY our filthy garments!

Let our iniquity pass from us, clothe us with a change of raiment, clothe us with CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

By the grace of our God we must put on HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS and truly hate the garments that are spotted by the flesh, the filthy garments filled with flesh and no spirit.

We have to build ourselves up on our most holy FAITH, praying in the HOLY GHOST.
We must keep ourselves in the love of GOD.
We must look for the mercy of our LORD JESUS CHRIST- unto eternal life.

Our lives must reflect our faith! And that faith is reflected in our lives so others may see and by the grace of God may they be inspired by the SPIRIT to seek God, to seek living in the SPIRIT and not the flesh.

All by our GOD'S LOVE!

Senses or Spirit

Jud 1:17  But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Jud 1:18  How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Jud 1:19  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

Mockers.
Walking after their own lusts.
Separate themselves.
Sensual.
Not having the Spirit.

Mockers are scoffers and just what are they mocking and scoffing at?

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Scoffing against our LORD and the promises He made to us. Mocking the promises we LIVE by when we choose to follow our Savior. Promises so many don't really believe at all. Promises so many have twisted to fit their own agendas or the agendas of those they choose to follow instead of following our Lord and Savior.

Do people walk after their own lusts?

We've been talking about this a lot because it NEEDS talking about. When we live for SELF we've lost Christ. Yet we've been raised to do this from our youth. Raised to seek fulfillment in getting what we want. If we want something we have to seek it- through presents as children, through jobs as we get older. And if people think just because they've worked for the things they desire that there is no lust involved, they're wrong. Some people spend their entire lives working and spending to gain the lusts they have and they think it's fine and dandy because they didn't take a handout to get what they want, they didn't steal the things they want, they worked hard for them. If you work hard for the wrong things does it make them right because of your hard work? No. Even murders, liars, thieves can work hard at their jobs- it doesn't make them a good thing.  Lusts are lusts and when we walk after our own lusts we are NOT following our Savior, no matter how we try to fix it so it seems fine. We do that a lot. We make internal excuses for ourselves so we can continue serving our own lusts in disguise- disguises of our own designing.

Walking after their own lusts.  This is something we HAVE to study because of the deceptive power Satan uses indoctrinating us from our youth to live for our own self satisfaction, to live to fulfill the lusts, any lusts we have.

The Definition of lust- 1. Longing desire; eagerness to possess or enjoy; as the lust of gain.

Lust doesn't have to mean sexual desires, you can lust after anything.

Separating themselves- keeping themselves from the SPIRIT.

We NEED the HOLY SPIRIT!

If we remain only sensual - living for our senses and not for our spirit- we are LOST. 

There is a part in ALL of us that is given to us that LONGS for God, that can ONLY be fulfilled by GOD through the HOLY SPIRIT.

You can deny it if you want. You can scoff if you like, no one forces anyone to believe, but it is TRUTH.

If we live only for our senses - that which we can see, hear, taste, touch, smell- then we are lost.

Ask yourself if you live for your senses. Take stock of yourself. Examine yourself and realize just how much you do live for your senses.

Do you live for the HOLY SPIRIT? Do you live for our SAVIOR? Do you live for GOD?  When you do, you are NOT living for your senses.

Jud 1:17  But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Jud 1:18  How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Jud 1:19  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

Remember.

In the LAST TIME.

Those who follow God will encounter a world filled with these people, and we have to know this. We have to understand the truth that is before us. We are told to remember and we have to do this because if we don't we will be in danger of being deceived.

Please Lord, please help us do YOUR WILL! Help us NOT be deceived, help us NOT to seek to live for our senses, but wholly for YOU.

True happiness is choosing eternal life

Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God

Enemy of God.

Jas 2:23  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Friend of God.

We can choose to be enemies of God or friends of God. It's a choice we make.

If we choose the world because it's so much easier to do that than to choose to live for God- then we have to accept that we have made our choice and our eternal fate is of our own choosing. 

It is easier to choose the world. Why? Because the world loves its own. The world does not love those who are God's. The world puts on a great show of pretense towards accepting God, and some of even loving God, but underneath that show there is a lot of corruption. When the corruption seeps out into the open the world is eager to point fingers at the supposed lovers of God and accuse them of their false religion. The world is eager to paint God in a bad light. The world is more willing to doubt than to believe as if their doubt gives them an edge in life. It's easier to live for self and self contentment, self satisfaction, self love than it is to live denying self. When we are called to deny self we feel that deprivation, the world shouts that we are being deprived of something that is owed to us by the mere fact that we were born. Being born entitles us to self happiness, or at least the world wants us to believe that. What being born entitles us to is a chance for eternal life, this is a very special, special gift we are entitled to and yet how many are raised to comprehend that this is our real entitlement- not happiness here and now, not pleasure here and now.  No, I'm not saying we have to live our lives in severe deprivation as some monasteries and such promote, but we are called to deny our selves and we do this as we make the choice to put others first, others before our own wants, our own happiness, our own desires, our own needs.  Is it any wonder that it is so much easier to be a friend of the world?  Is it any wonder that being a friend of the world means being an enemy of God's?

We can comprehend this, our God will help us to comprehend this if we really choose to do so. If not, Satan will gladly skew our understanding and warp it to the point we are deceived.

Joh 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

A servant is not told what his master is thinking- they are just ordered to serve with no explanation and they must obey. A servant is not entitled to know the reasoning behind their master's requests, they aren't allowed to know the innermost thoughts of the one they are serving.  When Jesus ministered He revealed the Father to us through that ministry. We were allowed to know the innermost thoughts, we were told the reasoning, we were given explanations, the Father God was REVEALED to us.  Because of this revelation given to us by the Son of God, we can be called the friends of God. We can choose to study, to know, to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our lives teaching us to live as a friend of God and not a friend of the world.

We must ask ourselves if we are a friend of God's or a friend of the world's. This question has to be asked. Take stock of your life and truly seek the real answer. It's super easy to just spout off what you want to believe, but not so easy to really examine your life and ask the question.  If the answer turns out to be that you are a friend of the world's then you need to ask for forgiveness and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you towards friendship with God, a true friendship with God where He does come first and you don't, where others come first and you don't.

We must remember the world is run by Satan and he'll use every trick he has to ensnare all those he possibly can. If you believe in God, you have to believe in Him and you have to believe that he truly has power in this world to deceive. Our God is greater than Satan, and the Holy Spirit will guide us and keep us in Christ, we must choose to allow our entitlement of life not be our happiness here and now but the choice of eternal life and the happiness found in knowing we are God's -that and that alone is true happiness.

All in Him, all by Him, all through Him.

His mercy, His grace, His love!

Always.

A friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Friendship of the world is enmity with God.

And YET, we are to love one another, so this must be something totally different, yes?

A friend of the world is the enemy of God.

This is TRUTH.

This is such amazing truth that all who would know our Savior should study this, really study this because Satan has presented this world as all there really is, and when we fall for that we are in his deceptive trap.

A friend of the world.

So why shouldn't we be a friend of the world?

Especially when so many are extreme in promoting this world as something we should love- in most respects.

 To tell anyone NOT to be a friend of this world is to risk being thought of as someone who is extremely strange and in truth- loveless. If we aren't loving- as the world loves and as those in the world choose to love -then we are the strange ones. Why shouldn't we love the place we live in? Some will even go as far as to say God made this world and we must love what He made, we must not only be friends with the world but, love the world.  Yet here we are in God's word being told outright NOT to be a friend of the world and if we ARE a friend of the world then we are an ENEMY of God's.  So how do we reconcile the love we are supposed to have for the things of God and being told that even to be a friend of the world is to be God's enemy.

Did Jesus love this world? People tend to answer 'yes' without giving it much thought. Jesus did not love this world, Jesus loved the people in the world.

Jesus wasn't a part of this world and we are not supposed to be a part of this world but we FORGET this!

Joh 17:9  I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:10  And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13  And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

WE ARE NOT TO BE PART OF THIS WORLD so WHY do we try so hard to be a part of this world, why? WHY?

Why do we let the alienation we feel towards this world and the people that are friends with the world get to us so badly? When we feel out of sorts, when nothing seems to be going quite right, we let it worry us, we get upset. We like when things are going smoothly, calmly, the world and all in it are in harmony with us - at least those in our little part of world. We want to get along with the world because to do otherwise would put us at odds with things and we don't like that feeling. We want to find love from this world, we want to find acceptance from this world, we want to be at peace with this world - so much in life - movies, books, school, families all emphasize this idea. So it's no wonder that when we don't fit in we get upset. The world - the ruler of this world- wants us to strive to be friends with the world rather than enemies and most people are truly caught up in doing just that.

It'd be strange to believe we should actually celebrate our lack of friendship with the world- right? Just writing it sounds strange. Maybe we really should celebrate it though, because in truth, aren't we celebrating our closeness with God, our friendship with God, when we celebrate our lack of friendship with the world?

If we took every instance when we begin to feel that lack of friendship with the world we are living in and praised God how would this alter our perception about life in general?

Would we draw closer to God through this praise? Closer to God and further from the world? Isn't this what we are supposed to - draw closer to God and further from the world and things worldly.

Putting our hope in God- not in this world. Putting our love in God- not in things of this world, this is what we are to do, right? 

So, why are we so determined to be friends with the world?  To fit in this world?  To get along with this world?

The truth- the closer we are to our God the more loving we would naturally become towards others. Not being a friend of the world does NOT mean not being friends with others, it does not mean not loving others. We will love others more the less we love the world and this is God's truth! It sounds contrary but it's not. 

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

The Devil rules this world- He even told our Savior He had ownership- so much so that He could offer the kingdoms of the world to Jesus.

Mat 12:32  ... neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

We are told that there is a WORLD to come.

We are not to live for this world but we are to live for the world to come, the world our Savior will usher in after the thousand years of reigning with Him in heaven. This is Biblical, this is factual.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and REIGNED WITH CHRIST A THOUSAND YEARS.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and SHALL REIGN WITH HIM A THOUSAND YEARS.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH: FOR THE FIRST HEAVEN AND THE FIRST EARTH WERE PASSED AWAY and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband

Biblical!

Truth!

If you DO NOT fit in this world, if you feel more at odds with the world than you do a part of it, there is a reason for it and it's not a bad thing, not like those in this world, those who are a part of this world want you to believe it is. They want you to be depressed, they want you to be angry, they want you to feel lonely, feeling a lot of heart ache and they want this because this is Satan's world and he will do anything and everything to bring us to himself, wanting us to die lost in Him, lost in this world.

 We truly cannot be friends with this world we live in, we can't and we have to stop trying.

We must love God and because loving God means loving others, we will love others, but we will NOT love the world and the horrors of this world, or the lusts of this world. We will NOT seek to be friends with the world. We have to check ourselves when we get upset for not fitting in, for not feeling affection for this world. No matter what any person says- we are NOT to be friends with this world unless we want to be enemies of God.

More tomorrow by the grace of our SAVIOR!

All in His love!

Cleansing

Cleansing-

Eze 36:25  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Eze 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Psa 19:12  Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Psa 119:9  Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

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.

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Something only needs to be cleaned if it's dirty, right? You don't clean that which is already clean, because that second cleaning is senseless. In this day and age with massive amounts of people have OCD- obsessive compulsive disorder- you do find a lot of people cleaning things that are already cleaned because they have an abnormal fear of the unseen germs, the unseen filth that could be lurking on something that only appears to be clean but in reality isn't clean at all. 

It's true that since we've discovered the invisible culprits in many sicknesses that we don't always know when something is free from that invisible filth. Yet, we know that our God sees even the invisible stains upon us. In fact most of our sin-filth is invisible isn't it? You don't find any medical examiners removing the hearts of dead men and exclaiming how filthy they are. Our internal organs are not generally filthy. They might have diseases that will alter them from their normal healthy state, but to say they are covered in a filth that can be cleansed would be wrong. Our heart filth, our spirit dirt is often very invisible.   I can't point a finger at a person and tell them they have a corrupted heart, or a diseased spirit. We are told that 'by their fruits you'll know them' and this is true to an extent. Our spirit sickness and heart disease that has nothing to do with clogged arteries or defective valves, don't always produce outward signs.

A smiling, corrupted person who seemingly has everything going great with God could be the farthest from Him in truth and because of deception we wouldn't know- but God ALWAYS knows.

Our God knows the extent of our filthiness. Our God will cleanse us in a way we cannot cleanse ourselvs but our God also expects us to fight the good fight of faith as well and not sit back and allow sin corruption to run rampant over us without us ever trying to deflect it. We are given armor, spiritual armor to fight a spiritual war. The war of Satan tempting us to sin, to cover ourselves in spiritual filth, against our God who would have us found clean and pure from all sin in Jesus Christ.

Why give armor if there is NOTHING to fight? Explain that, please.

Just for show? Our God would not put on a show without reason, He does NOTHING without a reason. Would He tell us to deck ourselves in armor and strut around for the fun of it? No, He would not.

We are given spiritual armor to fight a spiritual battle, a very real battle that has us facing the temptations to sin all the time, unceasing barrages of temptations to overcome us, overwhelm us, defeat us. Satan loves when He can get us to stop fighting. Satan loves having us lay down our swords, our shields, taking off our helmets, our breastplate,  removing the protection from our loins, kicking off the boots we need to keep peace. If we can stand before Satan without our armor he has to do very little to wound us, to cover us in His sin filth.

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

RESIST.

DRAW NIGH.

CLEANSE YOUR HANDS.

PURIFY YOUR HEARTS.

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.

PERFECTING HOLINESS.

We have our part to play, and it's silly, in fact deadly silly, to believe otherwise. 

We must SUBMIT ourselves to God.  And once we submit ourselves to God we must live as one submitted to God. We cannot submit ourselves to someone and continue to act as if we haven't. That's like a wife submitting to her husband and then going out on dates with other men- has she truly submitted herself to her husband if she's out cheating on him by submitting to others? Can you submit yourself to someone and then turn around and submit yourself to another without betraying the one you first submitted to? No. We must submit ourselves to God and in doing so we live according to HIS WILL, not our own. If we say we've submitted ourselves to God and then go about doing the devil's will, have we truly given ourselves to God? No.  There has to be a conscious choice to live for God not because doing so will earn you anything, but because in living for God we are choosing to allow the SACRIFICE of our Savior mean something to us, in saving us with His sinlessness. We are choosing the way of Christ, who is the WAY the TRUTH the LIFE.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

He is the Way, He is the Truth, He is the LIFE.  We are to follow Him and HIS ways, not our own. When we are touched by the Holy Spirit and shown the way that is Christ's and it's contrary to the way we are going we MUST choose Christ's way.

Satan is around every corner ready to throw his filth at us and tempt us to go his way, to believe his lies, to be lead down the path of permanent death.

We have been given the armor of God and while it's not a physical armor we can put on, much to the dismay of many because how much more simple would it be to put on the REAL PHYSICAL armor of God and declare we are His. This armor is the HELMET of  CHRIST'S SALVATION, the BREASTPLATE of CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, LOINS GIRDED in CHRIST'S TRUTH, FEET shod in CHRIST'S GOSPEL OF PEACE, holding a SHIELD of CHRIST'S FAITH, wielding a SWORD of CHRIST'S WORD.

Salvation

Righteousness

Truth

Gospel of Peace

Faith

Word of God

This is our ARMOR!

This is what we MUST put on as we go about living day by day in a world where Satan is slinging his evil darts every which way.

We will be permanently cleansed by our God, our hearts will be made new by Him in a way that is impossible for us to achieve on our own. Only Christ's blood can make us whiter than snow, this is the ultimate cleansing miracle.

May our stony hearts become hearts of flesh, may His Spirit keep us in His way doing His will always!

Ungodly Sinners

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.


The ungodly aren't always aware of their ungodliness. It's true. You'd think you'd know, right? Like some bright lighted sign flashing inside your brain announcing the path you're on is the path to destruction, that you're on the road of the ungodly. The thing is, people choose to live in darkness and when that choice is made there is not bright lighted sign going to flash.

A choice, we make hundreds, thousands of choices - in fact we make choices every single day and yet because we aren't given a clipboard and told to check which choice we don't really believe we are making choices. We are not automatons, we are not programmed to run only one certain way. We are living, breathing, thinking beings that are given this amazing power of choice.

I bet you could tell me right now of at least one bad choice you've made in your lifetime. Those bad choices tend to stand out a little bit.

Yet for all the thousands and thousands of choices we make how often do we make them with any real contemplation?  What will I get for breakfast- mmm- pancakes or cereal. Cereal. Choice made- not really much thought put into it, no sit down and let's contemplate this for a moment.  Not all choices really need tons of contemplation, right? But some should have more than others.

The fact that we can CHOOSE darkness over light should be a choice we contemplate long and hard. Because when we choose that darkness we are essentially choosing to cut ourselves off from eternal life. We are choosing to place ourselves somewhere that no bright lights, flashing or otherwise, will penetrate.

You might doubt this by an experience of your own where you were in a very dark place and the bright light of hope brought you up out of that darkness, and that's okay, doubt away, but while you're doubting get down on your knees and praise God for that amazing truly undeserved blessing.

Sometimes when we place ourselves in deliberate darkness from that point on we are unable to see any real truth.  We might even believe we are godly, we might believe we are saved but the truth is something much different. Remember that verse I've probably referenced a hundred times by now-

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Sinners, ungodly sinners who believe they are living godly.

How much further into the darkness can you get? Blind to your own ungodliness. So consumed by the pitch black surrounding you that you aren't seeing a single flicker of the light of truth. Yet that darkness you've wrapped around yourself you've chosen to call something good, you've lied to yourself and called it truth, and you believe your own lies. You'll be shocked in that day when Christ says to depart from Him that He never knew you.

Yet you won't have to be shocked for long because--

Jud 1:14  ... Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

Judgment will be executed upon all.
And all that are ungodly will be convinced of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.

No one at all will perish eternally without understanding why, and no one left alive will have any doubt as to the guilt of those that perish. All will comprehend that the deliberate choices they've made have led them to that place of guilt. They might initially be shocked that they are not known by our Lord, but then they'll know why our Savior doesn't know them. They'll be able to look into their own filthy hearts and see the sin stains there that they refused to give over to the Lord for cleansing in His blood. They'll know that their condemnation is just and wholly by their own fault.

Have you ever been 'found out', has the 'jig' ever been 'up' on something you've done? Were you ever caught in a lie without any way out? Fumble and stumble all over the place but in the end you had to admit to your wrong? Embarrassing as all get out, shamed beyond belief, yet there was NO other recourse but to admit to the wrong. Then the punishment for that wrong is given and you know it is a fair punishment. You accept it don't you? You accept the fact you screwed up and must pay for it. Okay, maybe that's the ideal way of things, but in the end all unrepentant sinners will have no choice but to admit to their wrong, they'll know why they are being denied eternal life and it will be a just punishment. Most likely they'll even know deep down at least that they never would have been happy in a sinless world.  No one clinging to sin, no one unrepentant would be happy in the world our God has prepared for them that would be truly His, how could they be?

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

Murmuers.
Complainers.
Walking after their own lusts.
Mouths speaking great swelling words.
Admiring others for selfish advantage.

Sadly who isn't in this list?

God forgive us, God help us! God SAVE US! Because we most assuredly cannot save ourselves, our filthy, filthy  selves. God alone can preserve us by the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ. Surrendering ourselves fully, wholly unto Him, to His will.

All by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ may we be known by Him, found in HIM, ready for HIM, loving Him, loved by Him.

Deliver us from Evil

Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Speaking evil
Brute beasts
Corrupting themselves
The way of Cain
Ran greedily after the error of Balaam
Perished in the gainsaying of Core
Feeding without fear
Clouds without water
Carried by the wind
Trees with withered fruit, without fruit, dead, plucked up by the roots
Raging waves foaming shame
Wandering stars reserved for the blackness of darkness forever

Evil.

Look around you.

Look around you, don't hide yourself in a protective bubble refusing to see the evil that truly exists.

I'm like a lot of people, I don't like reading or hearing about all the nasty, horrible things going on in the world. Why would I like it? Why would anyone like it? Yet it does exist and our news people today have no problem whatsoever with exploiting every bit of evil they can as often as they can making it very easy for those who want to see just what state our world is in. Some would say, and they'd be right, that what is revealed in the media is only the tip of the huge iceberg of evil that truly exists.

People we'd never suspect are living in evil and when a few of them are caught we are shocked- yes, even today we can be shocked. You wouldn't expect your cousin, your uncle, your mother, your neighbor, your mailman, your grocery cashier, your bank teller, etc of sick, evil, depraved beyond our comprehension. Yet every single person we do read/hear about is the relative of someone, is the person who is known by another and loved by people.

Evil.

We cannot forget the evil exists as much as we'd love to. 

We have to continue to watch- to know what is happening in our world. If we find ourselves becoming desensitized by what we hear and read, we need to pray and pray hard. If we allow our horror, our heartache to  die away then we become accepting of it all and lose our compassion. We must have compassion without compassion we've lost the ability to love others as our God would have us love them. Without compassion we are most likely among those who can turn their heads away from those in need, and as soon as we turn away from those in need our heart is in the process of hardening and when that happens we cannot claim the love of God as ours.  God doesn't want us to harden our hearts! God doesn't want us to stop crying and feeling the pain and heartache of the results of all the evil around us. We have to watch, we have to know, we have to comprehend that evil exists beyond anything we want to imagine and know that Satan is the cause, Satan is the reason, and Satan will be destroyed, completely and utterly destroyed and all His evil will be destroyed with him.

Do we want to be among those who are destroyed? Most will be. But we don't have to be. We are given a choice and depending upon our choice we will have eternal life or eternal death.

Jesus said this when praying to His Father, our Father in Heaven-

Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Keep us from EVIL  heavenly Father! Keep us from EVIL!

And this…

Deliver us from EVIL!

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Keep us from EVIL.
Deliver us from EVIL.

Why say this? Why ask for this? Why would our SAVIOR ask our Heavenly FATHER to keep us from evil if it weren't something that would be everywhere and easy for us to succumb to?

Evil is everywhere and we are fools that want to remain blind to the truth if we don't realize that fact.

We need to pray to be delivered from evil.
We need to be kept from evil.

Please LORD, only by YOUR grace, only through YOUR power may we be kept from the evil that surrounds us, that constantly confronts us, that would drag us down and keep us from You. Please SAVE US!

The Lord Rebukes

Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Michael the archangel.

There is only ONE archangel.

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

This is another verse  -  'the voice of THE archangel'.

A single archangel, just as there is a single nemesis.

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels

The dragon.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Satan, the Devil.

The war between good and evil has its key players- Our Savior and Satan. 

Good vs. Evil.

Michael - the archangel WHEN contending with the devil--  DISPUTED about the body of Moses - and He DIDN'T bring a railing accusation against Satan but said- THE LORD REBUKE THEE.

Rebuking Satan.

Luk 4:41  And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.

Jesus rebuked the devils inhabiting people- and he SUFFERED THEM NOT TO SPEAK.

Rebukes.

The Lord rebuked the evil devils- the evil angels cast out with Satan and the Lord rebuked Satan himself.

We've been discussing the fact that there is a REAL judgment for us, a REAL punishment for our failing to choose the love of our Father God, the love of our Savior Jesus Christ over self, over evil.  And here we have this verse--

 Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

The LORD rebukes Satan.  Evil doers will have their punishment, Satan will have His as well. Satan the chief of evil, the father of lies, He dares dispute with the Lord Himself and the LORD had NO NEED to engage in  any sort of spirited dispute, no railing accusations were necessary at all. There was NO NEED because the truth stands on it's own. A rebuke was given, nothing more was needed. A rebuke.

We are rebuked. 

By being told, by being warned we are being rebuked aren't we? Seriously, we are being rebuked when we are told that there will be a judgment, that there is GOOD and there is EVIL and we have to CHOOSE! The message could not be clearer, it just couldn't and yet so many never, ever think about this most important of choices.  So many go about their day to day lives without ever thinking about the choices they've made concerning the most important aspects of their lives- eternity.

We are rebuked. We are chastised. We are warned. We are LOVED.

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

We, unlike the evil one who decided his fate long, long ago by refusing to repent, do have the choice of repenting of our sins and receiving the pardon of our Savior.

We are loved and out of that love we are rebuked and chastened- we are told we need to surrender to the mercy of our Lord, to rely upon His grace and His mercy, His LOVE.

We must listen!

Our Savior wants us to listen and will have done all He possibly can through the Holy Spirit to reveal His love to us as a very real thing, a living thing, a necessary thing.

All in HIM, always!

Evil will end

Jud 1:7  Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Jud 1:8  Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Sodom and Gomorrha--

Fornicators.
Strange flesh.
Filthy dreamers.
Defiling the flesh.
Despising dominion.
Speaking evil of dignities.

Gen 13:13  But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

Wicked sinners.

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous

Very grievous sin.

Isa 3:9  The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Declaring their sin like Sodom- not hiding it.

Jer 23:14  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Committing adultery.
Walking in lies.
Strengthening evildoers.
Not returning from their wickedness

Eze 16:49  Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Pride.
Gluttony.
Sloth.
Lack of compassion.

2Pe 2:6  And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly

Living ungodly.

There is a whole list of evils there isn't there? Sodom and Gomorrah was a wicked, wicked place without any doubt. People get all caught up on the sex aspect of Sodom and Gomorrah and neglect all the other evils that go hand in hand with those who choose wickedness over Godliness.

It wasn't just abnormal sexual perversions- it was lies, pride, delighting in evil, despising their position of being a creature and not their own creators, sloth, having no real love for others, helping others with their evil, wanting to live in and promote evil in any way they can. Evil, so incredibly evil that there couldn't be found even TEN people who didn't love evil, not ten people in a city full of people that didn't live for the evil they were intent upon committing.

Evil. Pure evil.

Evil that corrupted completely, leaving no hope at all for any because NONE desired good over evil!

Pure evil on this level is something we can unfortunately understand because we see it all the time these days. The last days are filled with this same evil. As it was in the days of Noah- evil. As it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah- evil. As it will be in the last days- evil. FEW will be found faithful.  Few just as in the days of Noah and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, ONLY A FEW survived!

This world will NOT end until that evil is full and all we have to do is look around us to know that there is an incredible amount of evil. Read the news, watch television, listen to people around you. Where is the love- the TRUE love that runs deep, that is unselfish, that comes from our Savior through the Holy Spirit?  We can all agree that there are a lot of kind, loving people, and a lot of us would love to believe we are among those kind, loving people. But God knows the hearts. God knows all the hearts, He knows the truth of us all.

We have no righteousness that we can claim as our own, none, not a single bit.

God alone is righteous and through the sacrifice of our Savior we are to claim HIS righteousness as ours through FAITH, believing and loving Him, choosing to believe in Him as our Redeemer, our Creator!

You can be as sweet as the sweetest person ever and unless you have faith in God, believing in the truth that He is, that sweetness will not stem from love, true love.  We can fool ourselves all we want, we're very, very good at that and we have a great helper who loves to assist us in pulling the wool over our eyes.

God will punish the wicked and the wicked will include a lot more than just sexual sinners, a lot more than murderers, a lot more than sadistic torturers, a lot more than deceivers, joining them will be liars, the arrogant, the selfish, those who deny God, those who deny Jesus Christ, those who have no faith.

God will NOT spare the unrepentant sinner, He can't, He can't allow any evil into the new world, not the tiniest bit. What we as sinners might label evil isn't always what He would label evil. He knows the deepest depths of our hearts and He alone can clean them, He alone can make them new. He won't allow evil to exist endlessly, there will be an end to ALL evil unlike love which will endure forever- without beginning and without end. 

By His grace may we LOVE Him always, faithfully with the love He gives us to love with. All through His mercy, His longsuffering, through the righteousness of His sacrificed Son, Jesus Christ our Savior.

Please Lord we would be Yours.