Pro 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
We can't trust our own heart. Some might say if that is true then who can we trust. I don't know about you or anyone else but I know that I've disappointed myself more times than I can count. I've lived and made a lot of my decisions through my life based on how I feel about things. Some might say all we have to go on is our feelings, what we feel, what we think about what we feel and so on. Sometimes when we are made to do things for our own good that we don't want to do they end up being not quite so awful as we thought they'd be. When we were forced to NOT take our feelings into consideration but act out of duty, though we might fight against having to ignore our feelings there is a sense of doing what is right - isn't there? How many times through our lives do we trust in our own hearts? All too often, right? Do we go to God in prayer and ask for guidance as much as we need to? I know throughout my life I haven't. I've gotten something in my head about things and I'd twist things if I had to just to make them fit my desire- my heart's desire. It sounds all wrong to tell someone NOT to follow their heart because we've grown up in a world that prides itself on telling people to follow their hearts, follow their dreams no matter what. How many lives have been ruined because people have followed their hearts over wisdom? I think it's safe to say that many, many lives have been ruined. When we have an opportunity to look back and see where we've made the mistake of following our hearts it's a blessing really, isn't it? God allowing us to see our foolishness. God doesn't convict us to belittle us or make us feel a sense of despair, God will convict our hearts and allow us to see where we've gone astray in order to help us learn. If following our hearts, if trusting our own hearts has not been successful in the past why do we think it might be successful in the future? It won't be. We can't get rid of our heart it's part of us, part of who we are. Our feelings are part of who we are. How we perceive the world and every single situation that occurs in our lives is based in part upon how we feel about what's taking place. When we feel hurt we want that hurt alleviated. When we feel pain we want that pain to go away. When we feel happy we want that happiness to go on and on. When we're sad we want to be happy. We want a sense of contentment in our lives and all too often that contentment is based not upon wisdom but upon our hearts. If our hearts don't feel good about something then we immediately begin to question our lives and how to make that bad feeling go away. Wisdom tells us to measure everything by God and to do that we must know God, God must be real to us. People will say 'God first, always.' But do they mean it? Is God first when everything seems to be falling apart and nothing feels right as we seek to follow God? Yes, He can be and most likely is first because when we are following God and seeking Him first Satan wants to do all he can to make us feel horrible. Instinctively we'll want to feel better so we'll try and get rid of the thing making us feel bad- and if that thing is our walk with God- all too often we sacrifice that walk so we can feel better. We take on the attitude that if a relationship with God is filled with all this pain and heartache, with worsening life conditions, then who wants it? If someone were to tell you that your life would become filled with one trial after another, with one battle after another, with a lot of sadness and confusion, with pain and great heartache if you choose to follow God- are they making a great sales pitch for God worship? No. But God doesn't want to be pitched like a sale. God loves us and offers us His love, out of that love He offers us a way to Him that means great sacrifice. God's Son was born as Jesus and He lived and then died for us as our Savior Jesus Christ. God paved the way and it's a way of faith, not fun. Now before you start up saying how wonderful it is to follow God, how much fun you have, I'm not saying it's all heartache and pain, but we cannot depend upon fun- upon our feelings- if we are to truly be our Savior's. Life will throw you curveballs and that fun- that feeling of happiness will disappear. As you watch a loved one suffering, dying right before your eyes there is NO happiness in that, not a bit. If you depend upon feeling happiness to know you're right with God then you're setting yourself up to fail hard. Faith. Hope. Love. NONE of these have to include our feeling good, our feeling happy, our feeling fulfilled. We do NOT live by feelings, or rather we should not but we do- so much we live day in and day out by our feelings and base our relationship with God on those feelings.
Are you happy today? Are you content today? Are you miserable today? Are you sad today? Are you angry today? We can't help but feel these things because we are beings that feel, but we cannot live by our feelings, we cannot trust our own heart and what it feels. We have to live by faith that goes beyond every feeling we might have- good or bad. God does not change ever, He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Heb 13:8
Whether or not we are feeling good, and whether or not we are having what we'd call a good life- doesn't matter like we've been taught.
What matters is our relationship with God- not our feelings.
What matters is our faith in God- not our feelings.
What matters is the love of God- not our feelings.
Will we be hurt? Yes, often and in many ways, ways we don't even suspect. Does it matter? We are told it does matter so we react in that way. We are told we shouldn't be hurt and if we are we need to do something to feel better. The truth is- we can expect this--
Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
This is God talking!
We will be reviled and we shouldn't be hurt by it, we will be persecuted and we shouldn't feel bad, we will be talked about evilly and falsely and we shouldn't feel bad.
All those things we think we should feel and have a right to feel because society says so, we shouldn't feel. Our reaction shouldn't be of sadness, of anger, of self-righteous affront.
We should rejoice- the complete OPPOSITE of how we naturally feel upon being set upon by others, by life's many digs at us.
Some might argue that we aren't being abused that way for Christ's sake so it's not the same, but in truth if you have given your life to Christ and have accepted Him as Your Savior then all attacks that come to you will be satan led and they are attacks meant to weaken your relationship with God by preying upon your natural, fleshy, worldly reactions.
We need to walk with God trusting in God, living for God not living for ourselves. We need to live by faith in God not faith in ourselves. We need to stop trusting in our own hearts and trust in God and His wisdom. We need to depart from the evil that comes our way striving to rip us from the arms of our loving Savior.
Please Lord, please help us to live wisely in YOU and not to trust in our own hearts which we are so incredibly prone to do.
Bless us Lord as we seek to live for YOU, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, and through no power of our own.
We choose You Lord! We want You! Please Lord keep us from the evil in this world that would keep us from You.
In Your love!
Amen.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
The Eighth Commandment
Exo 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
Definition-
Steal- A primitive root; to thieve (literally or figuratively); by implication to deceive: - carry away, secretly bring, steal (away), get by stealth.
Webster's-
STEAL-
1. To take and carry away feloniously, as the personal goods of another. To constitute stealing or theft, the taking must be felonious, that is, with an intent to take what belongs to another, and without his consent.
Let him that stole, steal no more. Eph 4.
2. To Withdraw or convey without notice or clandestinely.
They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by submission.
3. To gain or win by address or gradual and imperceptible means.
Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind from its steady pursuit of any subject.
So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 2 Sam 15.
STEAL, v.i.
1. To withdraw or pass privily; to slip along or away unperceived.
Fixed of mind to fly all company, one night she stole away.
From whom you now must steal and take no leave.
A soft and solemn breathing sound rose like a steam of rich distilld perfumes, and stole upon the air.
2. To practice theft; to take feloniously. He steals for a livelihood.
Thou shalt not steal. Exo 20.
*******
Is stealing ever good? Some might say yes. Some might even call stealing good if done for a good cause, or if you're stealing from a thief kind of cancelling out the theft, right? Wrong.
Stealing is based upon deception, right? Of course there are some very bold people who will steal and tell the person exactly what they're doing hoping maybe in some cases to gain permission to steal so it's not really, truly stealing. Not always though, some will steal right in front of you and in doing some almost dare you to do anything about it. Unless you have permission- silent or not silent- unless you have consent to take what belongs to another it is stealing.
Taking what isn't yours.
Satan took what wasn't his and he used deception to do so. Satan took away the innocence of Adam and Eve. If Satan had never deceived Adam and Eve, if Satan had never tempted Adam and Eve, they would not have sinned.
Some might dispute that claim by saying we don't really know if they would have sinned on their own without any promptings, without any temptation to do so. One thing we don't really know is how long they were in that garden before Satan tempted them. But if we really think about it would Satan have involved himself if the pair would sin on their own? It would have been much better for him if they did it on their own, right? It'd be more proof that God was unjust- as Satan was trying to prove and had been since sin was found in him. Satan didn't wait though, he could have waited and yet he chose to tempt Eve to have his hand in the sinning. Man without Satan's prompting would not have sinned and Satan sealed his fate when he involved mankind. Until that point Satan had been found guilty but not yet sentenced to death. When Satan became instrumental in causing man to sin he was given his death sentence.
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
There would be an end to Satan. The eternal beings that angels were created to be would no longer have eternity. The angels that chose to disobey would be put to an end, their existence would no longer be.
Satan is a thief.
God created the earth to be man's dominion and Satan stole it from man after tempting man to sin. Satan became the ruler of earth- even to the point of being able to tempt the very Creator of the earth with his possession of the earth.
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.
ARROGANT THIEF! The audacity of him!
Satan wanted to take the place of God.
Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
He would take God's place! THIEF!
Would stealing ever be something Jesus would condone? No. So why would Jesus do away with this commandment? He wouldn't. He would NEVER destroy this commandment, just as He would never destroy ANY of the commandments of God.
Taking something that doesn't belong to you is stealing and just as you would not want anyone to ever steal from you- stealing from another is sin- it is the breaking of one of God's ten commandments.
Stealing is something we as a society do not condone and yet so many who steal are never, ever punished, not by man. No unrepentant thief will go without punishment.
Make no mistake you don't have to steal tangible things to be a thief.
Jer 23:30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
Stealing words.
2Sa 15:6 And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Stealing hearts.
Gen 31:27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?
Steal away.
Deceptively done, wrongfully representing, taking without consent from another. How could any of that ever be a good thing? It can't.
Thou shalt not steal.
Don't try to justify taking something - the moment you have to justify taking something warning bells should sound. If something isn't yours to take, if you cannot ask for and receive permission to take something then it's stealing. If you for one moment believe the if you were to ask for something that the person would say no, they don't take it, just don't. We live in a world where it is common to take little things because it's expected. What might be expected isn't necessarily condoned. If you don't know whether or not something is proper to take- find its owner and ask.
Please God help us to realize that stealing is wrong on all levels. Keep us from stealing Lord, please…please.
In Your Love!
Through Your grace!
Amen.
Definition-
Steal- A primitive root; to thieve (literally or figuratively); by implication to deceive: - carry away, secretly bring, steal (away), get by stealth.
Webster's-
STEAL-
1. To take and carry away feloniously, as the personal goods of another. To constitute stealing or theft, the taking must be felonious, that is, with an intent to take what belongs to another, and without his consent.
Let him that stole, steal no more. Eph 4.
2. To Withdraw or convey without notice or clandestinely.
They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by submission.
3. To gain or win by address or gradual and imperceptible means.
Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind from its steady pursuit of any subject.
So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 2 Sam 15.
STEAL, v.i.
1. To withdraw or pass privily; to slip along or away unperceived.
Fixed of mind to fly all company, one night she stole away.
From whom you now must steal and take no leave.
A soft and solemn breathing sound rose like a steam of rich distilld perfumes, and stole upon the air.
2. To practice theft; to take feloniously. He steals for a livelihood.
Thou shalt not steal. Exo 20.
*******
Is stealing ever good? Some might say yes. Some might even call stealing good if done for a good cause, or if you're stealing from a thief kind of cancelling out the theft, right? Wrong.
Stealing is based upon deception, right? Of course there are some very bold people who will steal and tell the person exactly what they're doing hoping maybe in some cases to gain permission to steal so it's not really, truly stealing. Not always though, some will steal right in front of you and in doing some almost dare you to do anything about it. Unless you have permission- silent or not silent- unless you have consent to take what belongs to another it is stealing.
Taking what isn't yours.
Satan took what wasn't his and he used deception to do so. Satan took away the innocence of Adam and Eve. If Satan had never deceived Adam and Eve, if Satan had never tempted Adam and Eve, they would not have sinned.
Some might dispute that claim by saying we don't really know if they would have sinned on their own without any promptings, without any temptation to do so. One thing we don't really know is how long they were in that garden before Satan tempted them. But if we really think about it would Satan have involved himself if the pair would sin on their own? It would have been much better for him if they did it on their own, right? It'd be more proof that God was unjust- as Satan was trying to prove and had been since sin was found in him. Satan didn't wait though, he could have waited and yet he chose to tempt Eve to have his hand in the sinning. Man without Satan's prompting would not have sinned and Satan sealed his fate when he involved mankind. Until that point Satan had been found guilty but not yet sentenced to death. When Satan became instrumental in causing man to sin he was given his death sentence.
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
There would be an end to Satan. The eternal beings that angels were created to be would no longer have eternity. The angels that chose to disobey would be put to an end, their existence would no longer be.
Satan is a thief.
God created the earth to be man's dominion and Satan stole it from man after tempting man to sin. Satan became the ruler of earth- even to the point of being able to tempt the very Creator of the earth with his possession of the earth.
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.
ARROGANT THIEF! The audacity of him!
Satan wanted to take the place of God.
Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
He would take God's place! THIEF!
Would stealing ever be something Jesus would condone? No. So why would Jesus do away with this commandment? He wouldn't. He would NEVER destroy this commandment, just as He would never destroy ANY of the commandments of God.
Taking something that doesn't belong to you is stealing and just as you would not want anyone to ever steal from you- stealing from another is sin- it is the breaking of one of God's ten commandments.
Stealing is something we as a society do not condone and yet so many who steal are never, ever punished, not by man. No unrepentant thief will go without punishment.
Make no mistake you don't have to steal tangible things to be a thief.
Jer 23:30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
Stealing words.
2Sa 15:6 And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Stealing hearts.
Gen 31:27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?
Steal away.
Deceptively done, wrongfully representing, taking without consent from another. How could any of that ever be a good thing? It can't.
Thou shalt not steal.
Don't try to justify taking something - the moment you have to justify taking something warning bells should sound. If something isn't yours to take, if you cannot ask for and receive permission to take something then it's stealing. If you for one moment believe the if you were to ask for something that the person would say no, they don't take it, just don't. We live in a world where it is common to take little things because it's expected. What might be expected isn't necessarily condoned. If you don't know whether or not something is proper to take- find its owner and ask.
Please God help us to realize that stealing is wrong on all levels. Keep us from stealing Lord, please…please.
In Your Love!
Through Your grace!
Amen.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
The Seventh Commandment
The seventh commandment-
Exo 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Lev 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Pro 6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Adultery- breaking wedlock.
(Webster's-)
1. Violation of the marriage bed; a crime, or a civil injury, which introduces, or may introduce, into a family, a spurious offspring.
2. In a scriptural sense, all manner of lewdness or unchastity, as in the seventh commandment.
Marriage is a commitment - a husband towards a wife, a wife towards a husband. When one makes that commitment they have taken a vow.
Symbolically God's people are the bride, and our Savior is the groom. A commitment is made between God and His people, between the people of God and their God.
A covenant is made.
The law of God is a covenant between God and His people.
Typically when a man and woman marry they do so with much more than just the mere 'I do's.' They say things about honoring, about having no others, about loving no matter what. People taking these vows do so with the intent on keeping them, with the intent that they are true, that they are real, that they are to never be broken. Of course with any truth there is a possibly perversion of that truth. Not all who take those vows are doing so in truth. Some marry when they don't even love each other, but they're doing it for other reasons. They are making that commitment not out of love but maybe out of a sense of responsibility, or even selfishly for gain.
Once that commitment is made it is MEANT to be kept, yes?
Once God's people agreed to the covenant between God and them that covenant was meant to be kept, yes?
When a commitment, when a covenant is broken adultery has occurred. Way too many people believe that adultery is simply a married person having physical marital relations with someone other than their spouse and that's it. But honestly you can be an adulterer in a marriage without ever touching another person. You can break those vows of marriage in many, many ways. When we restrict our belief of adultery to just marital relation violations, then we are losing sight of so much more God was trying to convey to us in this commandment.
Let's read a bit from Jeremiah who talks about adultery in a sense other than the typical.
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Jer 3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Israel committing adultery. God's chosen.
Jer 5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
God's people choosing to break the covenant, to seek other gods after God took care of them.
Read more, read this slowly- thoroughly.
Jer 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 7:2 Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
Jer 7:3 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Jer 7:4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
Jer 7:5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
Jer 7:6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
Jer 7:7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Jer 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Jer 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Jer 7:10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Jer 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Jer 7:13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
Jer 7:14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
Jer 7:15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
Jer 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
Jer 7:17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
Jer 7:20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Jer 7:21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Jer 7:22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
Jer 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Jer 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Jer 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
Jer 7:26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Jer 7:27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
Jer 7:28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Jer 7:29 Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
Jer 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Jer 7:32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
Jer 7:33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Jer 7:34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
Covenants, vows, commitments- these are things that are meant to NEVER be broken.
As sinners we have a propensity towards the flesh, towards Satan. When Adam and Eve broke the covenant between them and God they opened a door to sin that made us forever there after prone towards sinning. Our flesh nature is strong, very, very strong and God knew (and knows) this. Yet God did not give up on us but rather made a way for us to overcome. We have a spiritual nature that gives us a power of choice. We all - just like Adam and Eve- must choose God. Every single one of us much choose, we must uphold the covenant with God through our Savior Jesus Christ.
No matter what anyone tries to tell you- we have to choose and choose daily to be faithful to God. We cannot commit adultery in any sense of the word - between each other or between God and us.
If we do commit adultery we are breaking one of God's commandments just as we do when we break any other of the nine.
Tell me- did Christ do away with this commandment? No. Just like He didn't do away with ANY of the commandments. Christ remained faithful to God, He fulfilled this aspect of the commandment just as He fulfilled them all. Christ also did not as a human being succumb to physical adultery with any married woman. Before you scoff at that you have to realize that Christ was tempted in ALL ways just as we are, only He remained sinless.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
If we do break any of God's commandments we need to repent, to seek to repent, to forsake, to ask forgiveness, to GO AND SIN NO MORE.
So many people believe things are black and white in life as they look at each others lives, but in truth they are mostly shades of gray. We think we can discern the sin in other's lives but all too often we can't not really because we aren't even willing to look at the sin in our own lives.
Remember this--
Joh 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
Joh 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Joh 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Joh 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
Joh 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Joh 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Joh 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Joh 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Joh 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Did this make it okay to commit adultery? No. The woman was to go and SIN NO MORE. What this did was tell all those accusing her that they too had sins, many, many sins in their lives that would warrant even death and yet there they stood accusing rather than being accused. They could seek forgiveness but this woman wasn't given this opportunity they would rather kill her. Jesus made them look into their own sinfilled lives and feel the weight of that sin- to understand that they, just like that woman were guilty of transgressing God's law.
Please Lord help us to know and understand the truth in Your amazing laws of love. Help us to know that when we obey we are obeying the dictates of love in its purest form. Help us to realize that we are allowing Christ to be formed in us as we live as He lived- and He committed no sin, He obeyed all the commandments every single one as an example to us. We are to obey out of love, live in love for God and our fellowman. Please Lord God, help us…help us do all that we are called to do in Your love.
Amen.
Exo 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Lev 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Pro 6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Adultery- breaking wedlock.
(Webster's-)
1. Violation of the marriage bed; a crime, or a civil injury, which introduces, or may introduce, into a family, a spurious offspring.
2. In a scriptural sense, all manner of lewdness or unchastity, as in the seventh commandment.
Marriage is a commitment - a husband towards a wife, a wife towards a husband. When one makes that commitment they have taken a vow.
Symbolically God's people are the bride, and our Savior is the groom. A commitment is made between God and His people, between the people of God and their God.
A covenant is made.
The law of God is a covenant between God and His people.
Typically when a man and woman marry they do so with much more than just the mere 'I do's.' They say things about honoring, about having no others, about loving no matter what. People taking these vows do so with the intent on keeping them, with the intent that they are true, that they are real, that they are to never be broken. Of course with any truth there is a possibly perversion of that truth. Not all who take those vows are doing so in truth. Some marry when they don't even love each other, but they're doing it for other reasons. They are making that commitment not out of love but maybe out of a sense of responsibility, or even selfishly for gain.
Once that commitment is made it is MEANT to be kept, yes?
Once God's people agreed to the covenant between God and them that covenant was meant to be kept, yes?
When a commitment, when a covenant is broken adultery has occurred. Way too many people believe that adultery is simply a married person having physical marital relations with someone other than their spouse and that's it. But honestly you can be an adulterer in a marriage without ever touching another person. You can break those vows of marriage in many, many ways. When we restrict our belief of adultery to just marital relation violations, then we are losing sight of so much more God was trying to convey to us in this commandment.
Let's read a bit from Jeremiah who talks about adultery in a sense other than the typical.
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Jer 3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Israel committing adultery. God's chosen.
Jer 5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
God's people choosing to break the covenant, to seek other gods after God took care of them.
Read more, read this slowly- thoroughly.
Jer 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 7:2 Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
Jer 7:3 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Jer 7:4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
Jer 7:5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
Jer 7:6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
Jer 7:7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Jer 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Jer 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Jer 7:10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Jer 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Jer 7:13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
Jer 7:14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
Jer 7:15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
Jer 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
Jer 7:17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
Jer 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
Jer 7:20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Jer 7:21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Jer 7:22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
Jer 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Jer 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Jer 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
Jer 7:26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Jer 7:27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
Jer 7:28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
Jer 7:29 Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
Jer 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Jer 7:32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
Jer 7:33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Jer 7:34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
Covenants, vows, commitments- these are things that are meant to NEVER be broken.
As sinners we have a propensity towards the flesh, towards Satan. When Adam and Eve broke the covenant between them and God they opened a door to sin that made us forever there after prone towards sinning. Our flesh nature is strong, very, very strong and God knew (and knows) this. Yet God did not give up on us but rather made a way for us to overcome. We have a spiritual nature that gives us a power of choice. We all - just like Adam and Eve- must choose God. Every single one of us much choose, we must uphold the covenant with God through our Savior Jesus Christ.
No matter what anyone tries to tell you- we have to choose and choose daily to be faithful to God. We cannot commit adultery in any sense of the word - between each other or between God and us.
If we do commit adultery we are breaking one of God's commandments just as we do when we break any other of the nine.
Tell me- did Christ do away with this commandment? No. Just like He didn't do away with ANY of the commandments. Christ remained faithful to God, He fulfilled this aspect of the commandment just as He fulfilled them all. Christ also did not as a human being succumb to physical adultery with any married woman. Before you scoff at that you have to realize that Christ was tempted in ALL ways just as we are, only He remained sinless.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
If we do break any of God's commandments we need to repent, to seek to repent, to forsake, to ask forgiveness, to GO AND SIN NO MORE.
So many people believe things are black and white in life as they look at each others lives, but in truth they are mostly shades of gray. We think we can discern the sin in other's lives but all too often we can't not really because we aren't even willing to look at the sin in our own lives.
Remember this--
Joh 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
Joh 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Joh 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Joh 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
Joh 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Joh 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Joh 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Joh 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Joh 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Did this make it okay to commit adultery? No. The woman was to go and SIN NO MORE. What this did was tell all those accusing her that they too had sins, many, many sins in their lives that would warrant even death and yet there they stood accusing rather than being accused. They could seek forgiveness but this woman wasn't given this opportunity they would rather kill her. Jesus made them look into their own sinfilled lives and feel the weight of that sin- to understand that they, just like that woman were guilty of transgressing God's law.
Please Lord help us to know and understand the truth in Your amazing laws of love. Help us to know that when we obey we are obeying the dictates of love in its purest form. Help us to realize that we are allowing Christ to be formed in us as we live as He lived- and He committed no sin, He obeyed all the commandments every single one as an example to us. We are to obey out of love, live in love for God and our fellowman. Please Lord God, help us…help us do all that we are called to do in Your love.
Amen.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Until Christ be formed in you
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
Travail in birth - until Christ be formed in you.
Painful, life is painful and you won't find any one that will tell you different. No one escapes the pain, not a single person. Some deal with the pain a lot better than others, but it doesn't mean their pain is any less. We learn from a very young age that there is pain- emotional pain involved in life. Growing up isn't easy, ask most kids and they'll tell you right off that it's not easy. Learning to behave is a trial of successes and errors. We make a mistake and we learn from the mistakes, sometimes it takes making several of the exact same mistakes before we really realize that we need to learn something. Unfortunately sometimes people never learn and keep making mistakes over and over again, the same ones even. We often learn by the degree of punishment we receive. A stern no might deter a child from touching something they aren't supposed to touch, and a stern no plus a hand tap might further deter them. A stern no and a firm spanking on the behind will get the point across even more. We all hope as parents that our children will learn from our verbal reprimands first, and even our time outs and other non-touch punishments but that's not always the case. Misbehavior and punishments go hand in hand. Mistakes and punishments go hand in hand. We all understand this as part of our growing and learning process. It's no different for our spiritual rebirth. We will suffer much as we go through our spirit birthing, and that birthing will continue until we are fully Christ's. The rebirthing process starts but won't be complete until our Savior returns.
Too many people believe the rebirthing into our new lives is instantaneous. Too many are under the impression that when they are born again they are born into this new creature that automatically abhors the old creature and all that old creatures sin filled ways. And Satan is eager for people to believe it isn't a life long process so he'll hang back and things will be amazing. You'll feel this sense of newness in your life, things will change in many ways. Then inevitably one, two months, six months, a year, maybe even two to five years later suddenly things won't seem quite the same any longer and that sense of closeness to Christ will have worn off and problems will seem insurmountable. The old man inside will be struggling to rear its ugly head and the fight is on, and all the while that impression you had of how it was supposed to be will have been obliterated and you'll begin to question everything. You'll lose faith and crash all the while wondering what happened to that new man you'd become so long ago.
The truth of the matter is- after choosing to accept Christ as our Savior we do BEGIN a new life. That new life is a LIFE LONG process of choosing Christ as our Savior no matter what we go through. Daily choosing Christ, and yes, sometimes choosing Christ moment by moment. We cannot afford to believe being a Christian is taking the smooth easy road in life, it's a life of suffering we are called to and we can find joy in that suffering because we know we are living for eternal life not for the life we have now here on earth.
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
Travail in birth. Such a metaphor. One we NEED to take to heart. All who are Christ's will experience this painful process… Paul did and Paul knew those he was guiding to Christ would go through it as well.
Remember this from yesterday--
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin
Suffering.
We suffer. We think we shouldn't have to suffer when we are plainly told we will suffer. We need to think ahead of time how we should handle our suffering. And even as I say that I realize that everyone has different suffering to endure, not all suffering is on the same level. In all suffering though we HAVE to keep our Savior first and foremost, don't we? From the smallest amount of suffering to the greatest suffering our Savior must come first. We cannot lose our faith as it is tried to the uttermost. We have to hang on to our hope, hang on to the promises given to us. We might not have anything even remotely close to a good life here and now, in fact we might have one of the worst lives ever and still we need to keep our hope in Christ and the promise we are given through Him.
If we could just get it through our minds some how and into our hearts that this life is temporary to eternity how much better off would we be?
No, I'm not saying that we don't want to have a good life here and now, it would be strange not to want good things instead of hard things, instead of bad things for ourselves and for others. The reality is though that we are fighting a battle, a war with Satan and he will NOT let things go easy for us, or if he does choose to let them go easy for us it's with deceptive purposes knowing that easy life can just as well lead us down his path and not God's.
Please Lord, please help us to understand your truth, help us to be Yours fully. Please Lord this life is so incredibly hard in so many ways and even while it's hard we know others have it immensely harder. Save us Lord, we cannot save ourselves without Your love, Your sacrifice, Your amazing grace! Please Lord, give us understanding, give us compassion, help us as we grow and travail as we seek to be more and more like You.
In Your love!
Amen.
Travail in birth - until Christ be formed in you.
Painful, life is painful and you won't find any one that will tell you different. No one escapes the pain, not a single person. Some deal with the pain a lot better than others, but it doesn't mean their pain is any less. We learn from a very young age that there is pain- emotional pain involved in life. Growing up isn't easy, ask most kids and they'll tell you right off that it's not easy. Learning to behave is a trial of successes and errors. We make a mistake and we learn from the mistakes, sometimes it takes making several of the exact same mistakes before we really realize that we need to learn something. Unfortunately sometimes people never learn and keep making mistakes over and over again, the same ones even. We often learn by the degree of punishment we receive. A stern no might deter a child from touching something they aren't supposed to touch, and a stern no plus a hand tap might further deter them. A stern no and a firm spanking on the behind will get the point across even more. We all hope as parents that our children will learn from our verbal reprimands first, and even our time outs and other non-touch punishments but that's not always the case. Misbehavior and punishments go hand in hand. Mistakes and punishments go hand in hand. We all understand this as part of our growing and learning process. It's no different for our spiritual rebirth. We will suffer much as we go through our spirit birthing, and that birthing will continue until we are fully Christ's. The rebirthing process starts but won't be complete until our Savior returns.
Too many people believe the rebirthing into our new lives is instantaneous. Too many are under the impression that when they are born again they are born into this new creature that automatically abhors the old creature and all that old creatures sin filled ways. And Satan is eager for people to believe it isn't a life long process so he'll hang back and things will be amazing. You'll feel this sense of newness in your life, things will change in many ways. Then inevitably one, two months, six months, a year, maybe even two to five years later suddenly things won't seem quite the same any longer and that sense of closeness to Christ will have worn off and problems will seem insurmountable. The old man inside will be struggling to rear its ugly head and the fight is on, and all the while that impression you had of how it was supposed to be will have been obliterated and you'll begin to question everything. You'll lose faith and crash all the while wondering what happened to that new man you'd become so long ago.
The truth of the matter is- after choosing to accept Christ as our Savior we do BEGIN a new life. That new life is a LIFE LONG process of choosing Christ as our Savior no matter what we go through. Daily choosing Christ, and yes, sometimes choosing Christ moment by moment. We cannot afford to believe being a Christian is taking the smooth easy road in life, it's a life of suffering we are called to and we can find joy in that suffering because we know we are living for eternal life not for the life we have now here on earth.
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
Travail in birth. Such a metaphor. One we NEED to take to heart. All who are Christ's will experience this painful process… Paul did and Paul knew those he was guiding to Christ would go through it as well.
Remember this from yesterday--
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin
Suffering.
We suffer. We think we shouldn't have to suffer when we are plainly told we will suffer. We need to think ahead of time how we should handle our suffering. And even as I say that I realize that everyone has different suffering to endure, not all suffering is on the same level. In all suffering though we HAVE to keep our Savior first and foremost, don't we? From the smallest amount of suffering to the greatest suffering our Savior must come first. We cannot lose our faith as it is tried to the uttermost. We have to hang on to our hope, hang on to the promises given to us. We might not have anything even remotely close to a good life here and now, in fact we might have one of the worst lives ever and still we need to keep our hope in Christ and the promise we are given through Him.
If we could just get it through our minds some how and into our hearts that this life is temporary to eternity how much better off would we be?
No, I'm not saying that we don't want to have a good life here and now, it would be strange not to want good things instead of hard things, instead of bad things for ourselves and for others. The reality is though that we are fighting a battle, a war with Satan and he will NOT let things go easy for us, or if he does choose to let them go easy for us it's with deceptive purposes knowing that easy life can just as well lead us down his path and not God's.
Please Lord, please help us to understand your truth, help us to be Yours fully. Please Lord this life is so incredibly hard in so many ways and even while it's hard we know others have it immensely harder. Save us Lord, we cannot save ourselves without Your love, Your sacrifice, Your amazing grace! Please Lord, give us understanding, give us compassion, help us as we grow and travail as we seek to be more and more like You.
In Your love!
Amen.
Spiritual Rebirth
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
Travail in birth UNTIL Christ be formed in you.
This is an amazing verse. People love to believe that when they accept Christ as their Savior that life from there on in will be wonderful but the truth is Satan begins to attack us and He does so in ways that we don't even imagine. Some people believe that they can recognize all of Satan's ways, they look at the blatant outrageous acts and point the finger of identification at Satan. People forget to look at the small things and notice the evil one in them, yet it will be with the small things that he will gain most of his victims.
When a woman travails in birth it is a very PAINFUL process. Paul knew this, most people do know that giving birth is an extremely painful thing to do. Paul is telling those who look to him that He is going through the painful process of Spiritual birth with them until Christ is formed in them. The PAINFUL process of travailing in birth and that birth resulting in Christ being formed in them.
We NEED Christ formed in us, don't we? Seriously. We look to Christ and in looking to Him we long to be like Him, don't we? The more we are like Him the better, He is love!
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin
Walk in love as Christ has loved us.
Forbear one another.
Forgive one another as Christ forgave us.
Christ suffered in the flesh- we need to suffer in the flesh-when we suffer in the flesh we are ceasing from sin.
But tell people to suffer in the flesh today and they jump all over you because if you think it's appropriate to suffer in the flesh then you must not believe grace is by faith and not of works- you're working to be saved. They are WRONG!
When Christ suffered was He saved by his suffering?
Christ was saved by the Father, not by His suffering and yet He did suffer.
Christ was sinless, Christ did not break a single law of God's, a law He created with the Father before He took on flesh and was begotten as the Son.
Christ suffered for not breaking the laws.
Remember Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness? Did Christ suffer when He chose to obey God rather than listen to Satan and fall to His tempting ways? Yes. People don't want to think about that though. They think because He was God on earth that He was kept from suffering in the small ways, or in all the ways we suffered but He suffered tremendously.
So should we suffer?
Do we suffer?
What should we suffer?
Some people believe in purposely, physically inflicting pain upon themselves as if this was what was meant. It's not.
We are being reborn and this is happening while we've been born physically already. This is a spiritual rebirth and unlike a physical birth this isn't something that happens after nine months of gestation and a long hard labor. This spiritual birth is a progressive birthing, a gestation time that is undetermined.
It's hard for us to comprehend that we can be spiritually gestating, but we are, we truly are and the completion of that birthing results in our having Christ formed in us. This gestation isn't us spiritually in a warm, wet womb protected from so much and allowed to form oblivious to our surroundings. We are aware, and certainly NOT in a protected state at least not physically protected but our Savior protects our eternity.
More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, all through His love!
Amen.
Travail in birth UNTIL Christ be formed in you.
This is an amazing verse. People love to believe that when they accept Christ as their Savior that life from there on in will be wonderful but the truth is Satan begins to attack us and He does so in ways that we don't even imagine. Some people believe that they can recognize all of Satan's ways, they look at the blatant outrageous acts and point the finger of identification at Satan. People forget to look at the small things and notice the evil one in them, yet it will be with the small things that he will gain most of his victims.
When a woman travails in birth it is a very PAINFUL process. Paul knew this, most people do know that giving birth is an extremely painful thing to do. Paul is telling those who look to him that He is going through the painful process of Spiritual birth with them until Christ is formed in them. The PAINFUL process of travailing in birth and that birth resulting in Christ being formed in them.
We NEED Christ formed in us, don't we? Seriously. We look to Christ and in looking to Him we long to be like Him, don't we? The more we are like Him the better, He is love!
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin
Walk in love as Christ has loved us.
Forbear one another.
Forgive one another as Christ forgave us.
Christ suffered in the flesh- we need to suffer in the flesh-when we suffer in the flesh we are ceasing from sin.
But tell people to suffer in the flesh today and they jump all over you because if you think it's appropriate to suffer in the flesh then you must not believe grace is by faith and not of works- you're working to be saved. They are WRONG!
When Christ suffered was He saved by his suffering?
Christ was saved by the Father, not by His suffering and yet He did suffer.
Christ was sinless, Christ did not break a single law of God's, a law He created with the Father before He took on flesh and was begotten as the Son.
Christ suffered for not breaking the laws.
Remember Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness? Did Christ suffer when He chose to obey God rather than listen to Satan and fall to His tempting ways? Yes. People don't want to think about that though. They think because He was God on earth that He was kept from suffering in the small ways, or in all the ways we suffered but He suffered tremendously.
So should we suffer?
Do we suffer?
What should we suffer?
Some people believe in purposely, physically inflicting pain upon themselves as if this was what was meant. It's not.
We are being reborn and this is happening while we've been born physically already. This is a spiritual rebirth and unlike a physical birth this isn't something that happens after nine months of gestation and a long hard labor. This spiritual birth is a progressive birthing, a gestation time that is undetermined.
It's hard for us to comprehend that we can be spiritually gestating, but we are, we truly are and the completion of that birthing results in our having Christ formed in us. This gestation isn't us spiritually in a warm, wet womb protected from so much and allowed to form oblivious to our surroundings. We are aware, and certainly NOT in a protected state at least not physically protected but our Savior protects our eternity.
More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, all through His love!
Amen.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Order our steps in THY word!
Psa 119:113 I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
Psa 119:124 Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes.
Psa 119:125 I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.
sa 119:126 It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
Psa 119:127 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
Psa 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psa 119:132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
Psa 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Psa 119:151 Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
The entrance of God's words give light.
The entrance of God's words give understanding.
When we read of light in the Bible it often does refer to gaining understanding. We need to desire light over darkness. We need to comprehend the truth. We can be told the truth all day long and lack understanding. Without comprehension of what we read we might as well be reading drivel, truthfully. People can pat themselves on the backs all day long if they want to because they read their Bible, but if they do not comprehend the truth in God's words what does it matter? We can recite the Bible over and over and yet if we don't find the love of the truth in the word of God what good does it do us? Seriously, without comprehension we could read the whole Bible a million times and it will mean nothing. God's love is in the Bible, His pure love, His amazing love.
David longs for understanding and knows that the ENTRANCE of God's words give us light, give us understanding. The entrance-
Let's look up the meaning of this word- entrance.
H6608
1. opening, unfolding, entrance, doorway
- Origin: from H6605
- TWOT entry: 1854b
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
- Strong's: From H6605; opening (figuratively) that is disclosure: - entrance.
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
• entrance, 1
Psa_119:130
Disclosure- Opening- Unfolding- Doorway.
The disclosure of God's words.
The opening of God's words.
The unfolding of God's words.
The doorway of God's words.
The entrance of God's words.
We need the disclosure of God's words.
We need the opening of God's words.
We need the unfolding of God's words.
We need the doorway of God's words.
We NEED to understand God's words.
With that understanding comes the knowledge of God's Love.
David LOVES God's law.
David LOVES God's words.
David VALUES God's words more than GOLD!
Do we value God's words more than money?
Do we value God's words more than our possessions?
How important is God's Word to us?! How important is the comprehension of God's words to us? Do we feel as if a day should NOT go by without delving in to the amazing word of God available to readily to us? Do we TREASURE the words of God we do read? Do the words of God give us a heart understanding, a deeper, deeper love of God?
These are questions we need to ask ourselves. These are important words.
By the grace of God may we find this amazing LOVE. We are so incredibly blessed to have access to the love of God found in His words.
Psa 119:132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
Psa 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Psa 119:151 Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
We like David must pray- Look up on us, be merciful to us as you were to those that LOVE THY NAME!
ORDER our steps in THY WORD!
Order our steps! We need to have the blessing of God - having HIM ORDER our steps! Having HIM guide our way, our LIVES. We need GOD to help us, to NOT let ANY sin have dominion over us! This is through GOD, it must be through God and we need to realize it IS by God. ALL glory, praise and honor to GOD!
Please God, please be NEAR to us LORD.
ALL THY COMMANDMENTS ARE TRUTH!
Psa 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
We have to HIDE these words in our hearts and when God is in our hearts, when God is ordering our steps, when sin is not having dominion over us we are in God's love, His pure, pure love, in His truth!
Please Lord please….
In Your love!
Amen.
Psa 119:124 Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes.
Psa 119:125 I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.
sa 119:126 It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
Psa 119:127 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
Psa 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psa 119:132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
Psa 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Psa 119:151 Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
The entrance of God's words give light.
The entrance of God's words give understanding.
When we read of light in the Bible it often does refer to gaining understanding. We need to desire light over darkness. We need to comprehend the truth. We can be told the truth all day long and lack understanding. Without comprehension of what we read we might as well be reading drivel, truthfully. People can pat themselves on the backs all day long if they want to because they read their Bible, but if they do not comprehend the truth in God's words what does it matter? We can recite the Bible over and over and yet if we don't find the love of the truth in the word of God what good does it do us? Seriously, without comprehension we could read the whole Bible a million times and it will mean nothing. God's love is in the Bible, His pure love, His amazing love.
David longs for understanding and knows that the ENTRANCE of God's words give us light, give us understanding. The entrance-
Let's look up the meaning of this word- entrance.
H6608
1. opening, unfolding, entrance, doorway
- Origin: from H6605
- TWOT entry: 1854b
- Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
- Strong's: From H6605; opening (figuratively) that is disclosure: - entrance.
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
• entrance, 1
Psa_119:130
Disclosure- Opening- Unfolding- Doorway.
The disclosure of God's words.
The opening of God's words.
The unfolding of God's words.
The doorway of God's words.
The entrance of God's words.
We need the disclosure of God's words.
We need the opening of God's words.
We need the unfolding of God's words.
We need the doorway of God's words.
We NEED to understand God's words.
With that understanding comes the knowledge of God's Love.
David LOVES God's law.
David LOVES God's words.
David VALUES God's words more than GOLD!
Do we value God's words more than money?
Do we value God's words more than our possessions?
How important is God's Word to us?! How important is the comprehension of God's words to us? Do we feel as if a day should NOT go by without delving in to the amazing word of God available to readily to us? Do we TREASURE the words of God we do read? Do the words of God give us a heart understanding, a deeper, deeper love of God?
These are questions we need to ask ourselves. These are important words.
By the grace of God may we find this amazing LOVE. We are so incredibly blessed to have access to the love of God found in His words.
Psa 119:132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
Psa 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Psa 119:151 Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
We like David must pray- Look up on us, be merciful to us as you were to those that LOVE THY NAME!
ORDER our steps in THY WORD!
Order our steps! We need to have the blessing of God - having HIM ORDER our steps! Having HIM guide our way, our LIVES. We need GOD to help us, to NOT let ANY sin have dominion over us! This is through GOD, it must be through God and we need to realize it IS by God. ALL glory, praise and honor to GOD!
Please God, please be NEAR to us LORD.
ALL THY COMMANDMENTS ARE TRUTH!
Psa 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
We have to HIDE these words in our hearts and when God is in our hearts, when God is ordering our steps, when sin is not having dominion over us we are in God's love, His pure, pure love, in His truth!
Please Lord please….
In Your love!
Amen.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
His Hands Made Us
Psa 119:73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
God made Adam-
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
And David makes this claim- 'Thy hands have made me and fashioned me'
God has formed us, yes, US, each one of us. We don't want to believe this, in fact most people refuse to believe this. People will bring up those deformed at birth and ask - did God form them too? If so, why did He form them wrong? We can't know the answer to that question, God knows though and that is enough, it has to be enough because --
Deu 29:29 'The secret things belong unto the LORD our God…'
We cannot know the wisdom behind His workings. God created each one of us and man would have us believe otherwise. Man, who has taken pieces out of the bodies God has formed and manipulated them to form children in wombs otherwise barren- believe that it is they who are the author of life, they are the creators of life, they are the ones who have formed that baby in the womb- not God. They couldn't be more wrong. They DID NOT create that egg, they DID NOT create that seed. God allowed them the knowledge of joining them together but it is GOD who forms the child from those manipulated elements. All too often there are MANY manipulated elements that are supposed to take and NEVER do. God forms man- God formed the first man and God will form the very last man.
Deu 32:6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
Deu 32:18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
Job 33:6 Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
Isa 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
Isa 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isa 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself
Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Psa 119:73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
The God who formed us, the God who created us, the God who willed us into being can give us understanding. We need understanding if we are to learn of God's commandments. God's wondrous commandments, His law of the purest love upon which we all are called to live. Our natural self will not want understanding, it will not want to learn of God's commandments. Satan doesn't want us to have understanding of God's commandments. Satan knows that when we truly understand God's commandments that we'll understand the amazing love He has for us and that is the last thing the evil one wants us to understand. God can give us understanding, we, like David, must desire that understanding, we must ask for that understanding. We MUST ask knowing that it is God who formed us, God who created us and only God who can open our hearts. We must choose God in spite of all the sensual fleshy ways our natural man would have us focus on ourselves and NOT God.
Psa 119:90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
Psa 119:91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.
No one alive today, no one who lived in the past has ever seen the earth destroyed, they've never seen the sun destroyed, they've never seen the sun not set, the sun not rise, the moon not show its many phases, the seasons never change, the ocean lose it's ebb and flow, the majestic mountains fall to nothing, the stars no longer guiding. All these things, all these undeniable and set forces were created to be that way and only arrogant man has decided they just came into existence by pure chance. God created all these things and they serve God! Yet man would have them be gods, foolish, foolish man.
Psa 119:97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Can you even begin to imagine meditating upon God's law all day? We're lucky if we can even think of God's law for a moment in a day let alone meditate upon it ALL day. The love of God's law is amazing. When we realize that it is by the law of God that we live, that we breathe, that we love how can we help but recognize the law in all we do? We've stripped the law of God's love away from our lives and put it on a pedestal or in a trash heap- either place has it's dangers because when we take the law of God out of our lives and make it inaccessible we've lost all the true meaning of God's law. When we consign the law to a trash heap and believe it no longer matters we've taken God out of life and substituted a false god for the true. God's law is love, God is love.
We lose the love of God that Jesus came to reveal to us in the flesh when we set the law aside- either making it too high to reach or too low to bother with.
Please God, you who fashioned us in the womb, you who knew us before we were born, help us to understand and learn Your amazing commandments. Help us to find the love in them that guides us every single day of our lives. You are revealed in Your law, Jesus lived Your law perfectly, let us not set aside something so incredibly important to our Savior- He did not come to destroy the law.
Open our hearts and our minds to You Lord, let the Holy Spirit come down and comfort us, teach us, help us in all ways.
All through Your grace!
Amen.
God made Adam-
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
And David makes this claim- 'Thy hands have made me and fashioned me'
God has formed us, yes, US, each one of us. We don't want to believe this, in fact most people refuse to believe this. People will bring up those deformed at birth and ask - did God form them too? If so, why did He form them wrong? We can't know the answer to that question, God knows though and that is enough, it has to be enough because --
Deu 29:29 'The secret things belong unto the LORD our God…'
We cannot know the wisdom behind His workings. God created each one of us and man would have us believe otherwise. Man, who has taken pieces out of the bodies God has formed and manipulated them to form children in wombs otherwise barren- believe that it is they who are the author of life, they are the creators of life, they are the ones who have formed that baby in the womb- not God. They couldn't be more wrong. They DID NOT create that egg, they DID NOT create that seed. God allowed them the knowledge of joining them together but it is GOD who forms the child from those manipulated elements. All too often there are MANY manipulated elements that are supposed to take and NEVER do. God forms man- God formed the first man and God will form the very last man.
Deu 32:6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
Deu 32:18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
Job 33:6 Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
Isa 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
Isa 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isa 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself
Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Psa 119:73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
The God who formed us, the God who created us, the God who willed us into being can give us understanding. We need understanding if we are to learn of God's commandments. God's wondrous commandments, His law of the purest love upon which we all are called to live. Our natural self will not want understanding, it will not want to learn of God's commandments. Satan doesn't want us to have understanding of God's commandments. Satan knows that when we truly understand God's commandments that we'll understand the amazing love He has for us and that is the last thing the evil one wants us to understand. God can give us understanding, we, like David, must desire that understanding, we must ask for that understanding. We MUST ask knowing that it is God who formed us, God who created us and only God who can open our hearts. We must choose God in spite of all the sensual fleshy ways our natural man would have us focus on ourselves and NOT God.
Psa 119:90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
Psa 119:91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.
No one alive today, no one who lived in the past has ever seen the earth destroyed, they've never seen the sun destroyed, they've never seen the sun not set, the sun not rise, the moon not show its many phases, the seasons never change, the ocean lose it's ebb and flow, the majestic mountains fall to nothing, the stars no longer guiding. All these things, all these undeniable and set forces were created to be that way and only arrogant man has decided they just came into existence by pure chance. God created all these things and they serve God! Yet man would have them be gods, foolish, foolish man.
Psa 119:97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Can you even begin to imagine meditating upon God's law all day? We're lucky if we can even think of God's law for a moment in a day let alone meditate upon it ALL day. The love of God's law is amazing. When we realize that it is by the law of God that we live, that we breathe, that we love how can we help but recognize the law in all we do? We've stripped the law of God's love away from our lives and put it on a pedestal or in a trash heap- either place has it's dangers because when we take the law of God out of our lives and make it inaccessible we've lost all the true meaning of God's law. When we consign the law to a trash heap and believe it no longer matters we've taken God out of life and substituted a false god for the true. God's law is love, God is love.
We lose the love of God that Jesus came to reveal to us in the flesh when we set the law aside- either making it too high to reach or too low to bother with.
Please God, you who fashioned us in the womb, you who knew us before we were born, help us to understand and learn Your amazing commandments. Help us to find the love in them that guides us every single day of our lives. You are revealed in Your law, Jesus lived Your law perfectly, let us not set aside something so incredibly important to our Savior- He did not come to destroy the law.
Open our hearts and our minds to You Lord, let the Holy Spirit come down and comfort us, teach us, help us in all ways.
All through Your grace!
Amen.
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