Saturday, April 7, 2012

No Fence to Straddle

Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

1Jn 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

There will be only TWO types of people at the coming of our Savior.
Those in Christ and those filled with shame and guilt.
Only two types, there will be NONE that are in between the two, not a single one.

We think that hovering somewhere between abiding in Christ and living for the world is a good place to be. We're not among the class of people considered on the lunatic fringe for their obsessive religion, and we aren't fully engulfed in the debauchery of the world. As we live in that hovering existence we somehow try to convince ourselves that it's an acceptable place to live. Yet there is NO fence to straddle when our Savior comes. All those who are sitting on the fence - not fully Christ's, and not fully the world's- will be LOST. Because at His coming ONLY those who are abiding in Him will have the confidence that will come from living in Him, and they won't be ashamed at all. Those who have one foot dangling over the fence dipped in the mire of the world will feel shame, shame for not living fully in Christ.

Living in Christ.

What it means to live in Christ is to live as He lived, to love as He loves.

Does this mean we need to live a cultish life in a commune somewhere? For some it might mean just that. Each of us has to pray that the Lord shows us the path we need to take. For some they'll need to stand in the middle of the sin darkened world as beacons of light set on a hill, not hid away in some wooded secluded cabin. Some will have to live among temptation, their cross to bear a very, very heavy one. Others will face less temptation, but have other fires to refine them.

Everyone has their own refining furnace to face, no two furnaces are the same. I can look at another's furnace and wish it were mine because it seems to burn less hot, yet the truth is, EVERYONE has a furnace designed to burn the impurities from them and it's a painful process whether you only have a few impurities or many.

We can't walk in another's shoes, but sometimes it'd be great if we could, just so we could understand the reality they are immersed in and not judge them by our own reality.

We have to live in Christ as HE guides us as individuals to live.

John did not live as Peter did, yet they were both Apostles of Christ. Shouldn't their lives have been exactly the same if they were both walking with our Savior? No. Why? Because each was called down a separate road with different obstacles. Some might say Peter suffered more for having been murdered, while John was allowed to live into old age. Others would say John suffered more because he lived so much longer. The opinions are varied and yet the bottom line is their abiding in Christ, no matter what they faced.

We have to CHOOSE to live for Christ, a conscious, fully aware choice to live in HIM.
We cannot pull on a costume of Christianity and hope the costume is enough. The heart must be Christ's. Our outward covering means nothing if our heart is not our God's. We can tug on the costume every day, some day's wearing more of it than others, but that façade will NOT keep God from seeing through to our hearts. It doesn't matter a whit what others believe, it matters what our Savior knows.

When our Savior comes He will find only two sorts of people living-

Those that are abiding in Him and those who are not.
Those that will feel the amazing love fully at His coming, and those who will feel nothing but shame.
Those that will no longer feel any weight of guilt upon them, and those who will feel the crushing guilt of their sins.

We choose daily.
We choose to abide in our Savior or abide in Satan.
When we aren't choosing to abide in Jesus Christ then we are automatically abiding in Satan.
We can't fool ourselves into thinking there is a fence to sit upon because there isn't, it's illusion that Satan has erected to keep many people lost in Him while they are none the wiser.

Please Lord help us to fully abide in YOU, no matter the seeming cost to us, that cost is NOTHING compared to the price YOU paid to give us the choice to choose SALVATION IN YOU!

Hope purifies

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

Hope.

Without hope there is NOTHING.

Those who have no hope have nothing to believe in.

You see it all the time on various tv shows, in various movies the tragic sense of living a life of hopelessness. The theme in a lot of those shows is getting that hope back, because the moral of the story is to live without hope is to live without really being alive. But unlike movies a lot people today live without hope. The living for the here and now is all that matters. The living for the various plans made for the next day, or the next week, or even the next vacation might be a way of life but beyond that the hope for more is missing. A lot people have lost sight of the reason our Savior came to earth, taking on human flesh, living among sin, and dying among sin and sinners. He came to bring the gospel of the kingdom of HEAVEN. He came to bring the message of hope in eternal life through HIM, through HIS grace. Our Savior's sole purpose in coming to our world was to bring us salvation in HIM and that salvation is for eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. Our Savior did NOT come to bring us a happy, wonderful, pain free, life here and now. The promise was for SALVATION from this world of sin, this world of pain. This is the HOPE. The hope isn't for things to go wonderfully here and now. When tragedy strikes as it all too often does we somehow feel abandoned by God, forsaken by God, forgotten by God, punished by God, we feel betrayed by God, and as a result of all that we hardened our hearts towards God. Satan loves when this happens, absolutely dances with delight when people blame God for the tragedies that are allowed to happen to them. They, for some reason believe that by believing and loving God that they'll be put under a protective dome and the horrible tragedies of life will pass them by, that they'll be spared the agonies others who don't believe in God like they do must endure. That isn't found anywhere in the Bible, not in one single place. We are to hope for the NEXT world, our REAL home, our heavenly abode, for life with our Savior, not for our lives here and now to be tragedy free.

The hope we must have is in JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, OUR COMING KING. This is the hope we must have CONSTANTLY, not just on certain occasions, it's a hope we must have LIVING in us. This hope that when our Savior appears we will be like Him, that we will see HIM as He is, must be REAL to us because it is that HOPE that will purify us- EVEN AS HE IS PURE.

We can be purified through the HOPE in our Savior, that we will be PURE as HE is PURE. It is HIS purity that we are given, not a purity of our own outside of HIM. We do NOT purify ourselves and then go to HIM, that is a HUGE DEADLY mistake too many make. We GO to HIM and live with the HOPE OF HIM and THAT hope will purify us. Satan wants us to try and purify ourselves without Christ, thinking we cannot go to our Savior without first being pure. Was the adulteress pure when she lay at his feet, thrown there by her many accusers who wanted to stone her to death? No. Did Jesus tell her she was filthy and turn His back on her because of her unclean state? No. Jesus forgave her in her unclean, filthy, impure state and told her to sin no more. HE forgave her, HE worked the purifying in her. He could tell her to go and sin no more because He'd purified her, He'd given her the full hope of salvation in Himself, and that hope would guide her from then on, purifying her.

Try all you want you will NEVER make yourself clean enough, it's IMPOSSIBLE!

It's focusing on the HOPE we have in our SAVIOR that will PURIFY us.

As long as we are focusing on ourselves and our inability, or seeming ability to cleanse ourselves, we will keep our eyes off the only One who can truly purify us.

Our focus- this is key. Our HOPE cannot be in our achieving self-cleansing, our HOPE as to be in seeking to be cleansed.

This is truth as it is found IN CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR! This is HOPE.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Called the sons of God

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.


Sons of God.

We have various organizations that people consider themselves sons and daughters of, and yet they have no blood tie to anyone.

The aspect of begin a son or daughter is more than our blood relation.

We have children adopted by parents without any blood ties.

Being a son of someone is MORE than just blood.

When a person willingly adopts a child they do so with the intention of raising that child as their own. For all intents and purposes by law they are responsible to do just that- raise the child as their own, they've taken over ownership of that child. The child will not be free of that ownership by law- ever, unless they willingly choose to emancipate themselves from their adopted parents when they are of age.

Just as a birth child at 18 and/or 21 is considered responsible for themselves, an adopted child is the same.

However, any child remains the child of their parents forever, they just become adult children.

Called the sons of God.

Adam was created by God, in God's image.

Jesus was God with God, chosen to be the Son of God when He took on human flesh. The Father God took on His role as the Father as Jesus took on the role of the Son. We become sons of God when we take on the role of repenting, of one seeking to be forgiven, as one who is BORN AGAIN into a spiritual life with Christ, through Christ our Savior.

These are all chosen acts, nothing forced upon anyone, but a willing acceptance, a willing decision that is made.

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

It's through LOVE that is given to US by the Father we are given the Son's love.

The WORLD will not KNOW those who are God's sons, why? Because they do not KNOW GOD.

How do we know if we know God- we keep His commandments.

The world does NOT keep God's commandments, and they do NOT know God.

We love God, we keep His commandments, He calls us His sons and the world will NOT know us, will not love us, will not have anything to do with us just as it has nothing to do with God- IN TRUTH.

There will be a lot of false love, a claim to love without any real love at all.

By the grace of God may WE know God and be known of Him as His sons.

Please LORD, know us, love us.

All through Christ Jesus our Savior.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Abide in Him

1Jn 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
1Jn 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
1Jn 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

Abide in Him.

Live in Christ.

Make our life in Christ.

Make Christ our life.

This isn't something for just preachers, evangelists, or those who say they have a special calling from God. This is for ALL OF US!

We must ALL make Christ our life because if we don't we aren't abiding in Him and if we aren't abiding in Him then we are going to be ashamed at HIS coming.

Ashamed.

You've felt ashamed before haven't you? Ashamed at some bad behavior you've committed, something hurtful you've said. That shame penetrates to your very core, doesn't it? It can eat away at a person, it can cause a spiritual ache inside that is brutal. Shame. It's KNOWING you've sinned, you've done wrong. We feel that shame because the HOLY SPIRIT is convicting us of that wrong, of that sin.

IF we are not abiding in Christ then when He comes we WILL feel ashamed without any doubt. We will feel the weight of our sin upon us because our Savior will not have taken that sin for us. When we abide in Christ we are abiding in His forgiveness, His love, His salvation. We cannot live a life separated from our Savior and expect salvation, it's an impossibility.

It's very true that ol' saying about imagine Jesus with you at all times, if you can't then you have to question whether or not you're walking with Him. People will get ridiculous with it and say silly nonsense about that, but for the MOST part if you cannot live with Jesus by your side even in your imagining, will you ever be able to imagine the reality of eternal life with Him?

It's true, another bit about the people that do not gain salvation are not losing out because they would NOT be happy there if they did have it. To those who believe eternal life in Christ is everything that seems ludicrous, but to those whose lives are happiest in their sins, in their separation from God, they would not desire life eternal with Him. It's heartbreakingly sad, but true.

We MUST abide in Christ!

By HIS GRACE!

In HIS LOVE!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Promised Eternal Life

1Jn 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
1Jn 2:25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
1Jn 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

The truth has forever been in the beginning.
Our Savior brought the truth with Him, He was and is the truth.
Salvation in Him is our only hope and this is the gospel of the kingdom which Jesus came to preach to us.
We continue forever in the Son and in the Father with we continue in the truth given to us at the beginning.
Eternal life is the promise given in truth and we can never forget it.
We are NOT promised anything here and now.
We are not promised good health, great wealth, love from others, intelligence. We are NOT promised these things in fact of ALL the many followers, the many believers of our Savior - as the Messiah to come and the Messiah having come- very few have been given all those things- VERY FEW. The majority are the average, humble people who have nothing of great prestige upon earth. We are PROMISED only eternal life through our Savior and what an amazing gift that is.
Often we lose sight of the big picture because we are so caught up in the little one- our life here and now. We think our life here and now is the big picture but it's not, not if we believe- truly believe and have faith in our Savior and His promise.

The promise is ETERNAL LIFE, not a good life now.

And those that would seduce us want us to believe that this life here and now is all that matters and if we are not given great rewards now but rather made to live a life of poverty, of illness, of mental and emotional trauma, that we are somehow disappointing God and He is punishing us now.

It's not unheard of that God works in our lives and we have the Bible, His word telling us how He's worked in the past and with that in mind we know His hand guides all we do. Some of us are meant to fill the role of the needy, and it's not because God hates us. God wants to save us all and He will do, and has done all He can for us. We have to trust Him fully, not ourselves and not other people, but GOD.

We have to keep what we hear from the beginning.
We have to keep the truth we heard from the start.
We have to keep the gospel of the kingdom in our lives as it first rang out in our hearts, giving us a new birth, a spiritual birth, a new life in Christ our SAVIOR!

All in HIM!

Always!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Satan's words are in our mouths every single time we lie!

1Jn 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
1Jn 2:21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
1Jn 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1Jn 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

No LIE is of the truth.

No lie.

Not ONE single lie has truth in it.

Is it any wonder that LYING is of the devil? Seriously.

Truth and lies.

God and Satan.

The Father of Truth and the Father of Lies.

We cannot lie and not be speaking Satan's words- that is truth!

Satan's words are in our mouths every single time we lie!

No lie is of the truth.

No lie is of our God.

Liars need to ask for forgiveness every bit as much as any other sinner, you cannot lie and not repent of it if you are seeking truth in God.

Lairs put themselves in the place of Christ. Seriously. When we lie we are pushing Christ out, we are pushing the truth away and setting ourselves up in place of Christ by trying to make our lies truth.

That's what a lie is, right? A lie is someone trying to make a falsehood truth, trying to get others to believe that their lies are really truth.

We have to see things for what they REALLY are and not what we want them to be. LIES are so incredibly insidious. That saying- oh what tangled webs we weave when at first we practice to deceive- is true. Webs of deceit, webs of lies that will most certainly entangle us.

1Jn 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1Jn 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

This is TRUTH!

Liars deny the truth of JESUS CHRIST.
Liars put themselves in place of the truth as it is found in our Savior.
Liars do not know and cannot be known by the Father and the Son.

You cannot say you know God and not know Jesus Christ, the Son.
You cannot say you know Jesus Christ and not know God, the Father.

If you know One you know the Other.

If you deny One- you deny Both.

These words are TRUTH!

We must hold to the truth!

We must hold to our SAVIOR!

Please Lord, please help us to stay and live in You, in the TRUTH!

Let us NEVER put ourselves in Your place, never!

Please Lord, all by Your love, Your grace!

All in YOU!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Are you living in place of Christ?

1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

It is the last time.

The last time. It makes sense doesn't it, seriously, it does- WHEN we look at the BIG picture and not the small one.

The big picture- 4000 some years passing with the promise of a Messiah.
The promise finally realized.
The Messiah realized.
And NO longer could Satan strive to keep the Promised One from coming to save mankind.
Salvation was REALIZED, it was a REALITY for all who would seek it, and all who WILL seek it.
What is left but the LAST of time?

Seriously, the time left with us remaining here on earth before our Savior returns for us is the last of time. Once our Lord returns time will be NO MORE. The PROMISE is realized and what is left is for us to accept what has been promised. We no longer wait for Salvation, we no longer wait for a Savior, we have salvation and an amazing Savior!

We have lived in the last time from the moment our Savior died for us and rose again, giving to us eternal life through HIM.

The antichrist --

This is the true meaning of Antichrist. In the Greek, anti means, "in place of" rather than as in English, "against."

In place of Christ.

We have heard that antichrists would come and even now are many that live in PLACE OF Christ. They've put themselves in the place of our true God. Anyone who puts themselves in the place where Christ alone belongs- is an antichrist.

After our Savior's death many of His followers banded together into groups, and many left those groups that followed our Savior's truths. Many created falsehoods, teaching their own doctrines for the commandments of God. They put their own spin on things and began to teach their OWN way, NOT Christ's way.

1Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

As more and more people put themselves in the place of our God and His truths, we know it is closer to the return of our LORD.

Those who LEAVE the truth of God in favor of their own truths were NEVER really committed to our God, never. Those who leave the truth reveal their true selves, and those selves are NOT those who belong to God.

Way too many people believe they follow the Lord when they do NOT follow His truths, but their own. They are DECEIVED!

God's truth this is what matters more than anything!
God's truth is ALL that matters.
Our Savior had told us that more and more will seek their OWN ways to take the PLACE of Christ, and in our day and age this is so incredibly true!

Look around us, look around and see the truth before our eyes, the truth that many feel NO need of following our Lord's truths, as if they don't matter at all.

IN PLACE OF CHRIST.

Do you live in place of Christ? Do you? Ask yourself WHOSE truths you are following, your own or God's?

If you cannot answer- God's, then you are an antichrist even if you don't want to believe that you are- you are, plain and simple!

It's not enough to just believe-

Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

We have to do more than believe! We have to live God's truths! We have to LIVE God's truths. We have to follow our LORD'S truths, whether we like them or not. Whether the truths are convenient to us or not. Whether or not we enjoy the truths. The TRUTHS will war with our flesh nature because they are SPIRITUAL. We must keep the spiritual truths ALIVE! If we do not keep the spiritual truths alive then we are dead to them and we are NOT Christ's.

The TRUTH or nothing! God's truth or nothing!

We cannot put ourselves in PLACE of Christ! We just cannot!

By the grace of God we must live in Him and ONLY HIM.

Please Lord, help us! Please! We would be YOURS.