1Jn 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Not seen Him.
Doesn't know Him.
Those who CHOOSE to willfully sin, those who choose NOT to love God or love others, can't see our Savior, the can't know Him.
When we CHOOSE not to love, we are in fact CHOOSING to live in sin.
So many get all caught up in the BLATANT sins they ignore the fact that that ALL sins are transgressions of God's laws and all of God's laws have to do with love because- God is love. NOT loving is the GREATEST sin, seriously, because it is the source of each and every sin.
If we abide in our Savior we are abiding in LOVE. Remember- God is LOVE. Abiding in love keeps us from sinning.
The love of God is so amazing we can scarcely comprehend it.
We get so caught up in our own self we believe love is something we are to get, to obtain, to seek. We believe we are loved when others treat us special and care for us.
The truth is love is something we are to GIVE. Our lives should not be spent trying to find love, but rather trying to give love to others, to God.
We spend SO much time thinking about the love we receive, or should receive, want to receive. How many days of depression are spent by millions because of the HUGE misconceptions about love? We kill ourselves because we are NOT loved by others, we haven't found love.
People say they are IN LOVE when the truth is, they are CHOOSING to involve themselves with another person to mutually benefit each other, by sharing their feelings, their lives, their trials, their happiness. LOVE isn't the idealized fantasy we grow up on- that shows up in movies and in books, on tv, over and over again. So many of those idealize LOVE end up without any love, why, because they stop choosing to share the burdens, and the good times with each other. Maybe someone more exciting comes along, someone who seems better to share our lives with, or maybe we want to simply not share our lives with anyone for awhile.
When we put the fantasy spin on love if we are NOT grounded in the reality of that newness - that learning and sharing with another - wearing off over time, then that love we are so filled with can tragically die. We have to CONTINUE to choose to share the life of another when we view them at their worst. We need to imagine them at their worst, not idolize them at their best and end up shocked when we view their basest humanity.
Love.
1Jn 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
If we love we see- we know our Savior.
If we do not love, if we don't see and know our Savior then we are sinning and living in sin.
We need to love.
To love and in love abide in our Savior- who IS LOVE.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Sin- not loving God or others
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jn 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
When you think of sin do you think of the law of God?
Seriously. Do you think of the law of God when you sin?
The law says that we are to LOVE GOD, and LOVE OUR FELLOW MAN, all those ten commandments- that moral law is summed up in those two acts. Out of love for God we follow the first four commandments, out of love for our fellow man we follow the last six commandments.
When we sin- we are NOT loving God, and we are NOT loving our fellow man.
Any sin we commit is a sin because we stop loving God and our fellow man.
You cannot sin in any other way because sin IS the transgression of the law and that law tells us to LOVE God and LOVE others.
We STOP loving God when we love ourselves more than we love Him.
So many of our sins are committed because we choose to love ourselves more than God. We can spend our whole lives believing we love others and if we do NOT love God it means nothing. That love we believe we have for others is really a selfish desire to get accolades from them, to feel self-important, to be the person who is lauded for their actions. We HAVE to realize that every SIN we commit is a breaking of the law, it's GOD'S law and we break it when we sin.
Our Savior was manifested- our Savior - our God took on human flesh- so He could TAKE AWAY our sins. So that He could FORGIVE us when we commit acts that show our lack of love for Him and for Others. When we transgress His law that tells us we MUST LOVE HIM and OTHERS, He came to forgive us those acts that reveal how unloving we really, really are!
We can be unloving towards HIM and towards others, and that is sin.
Our Savior forgives our lovelessness, knowing that our propensity towards selfishness, towards self-love, is soooo incredibly great. We NEED HIM to draw us out of ourselves, it is ONLY our SAVIOR who can give us what we need to LOVE as we need to LOVE- selflessly. It is HIS righteousness that must stand in place of our unrighteousness. God has to see His Son's righteousness in OUR PLACE, because we have NONE. And we must submit ourselves to the SON completely, knowing we have NOTHING that is worthy in and of ourselves, it's ALL HIM and ONLY HIM, we choose!
By HIS GRACE! HIS LOVE!
1Jn 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
When you think of sin do you think of the law of God?
Seriously. Do you think of the law of God when you sin?
The law says that we are to LOVE GOD, and LOVE OUR FELLOW MAN, all those ten commandments- that moral law is summed up in those two acts. Out of love for God we follow the first four commandments, out of love for our fellow man we follow the last six commandments.
When we sin- we are NOT loving God, and we are NOT loving our fellow man.
Any sin we commit is a sin because we stop loving God and our fellow man.
You cannot sin in any other way because sin IS the transgression of the law and that law tells us to LOVE God and LOVE others.
We STOP loving God when we love ourselves more than we love Him.
So many of our sins are committed because we choose to love ourselves more than God. We can spend our whole lives believing we love others and if we do NOT love God it means nothing. That love we believe we have for others is really a selfish desire to get accolades from them, to feel self-important, to be the person who is lauded for their actions. We HAVE to realize that every SIN we commit is a breaking of the law, it's GOD'S law and we break it when we sin.
Our Savior was manifested- our Savior - our God took on human flesh- so He could TAKE AWAY our sins. So that He could FORGIVE us when we commit acts that show our lack of love for Him and for Others. When we transgress His law that tells us we MUST LOVE HIM and OTHERS, He came to forgive us those acts that reveal how unloving we really, really are!
We can be unloving towards HIM and towards others, and that is sin.
Our Savior forgives our lovelessness, knowing that our propensity towards selfishness, towards self-love, is soooo incredibly great. We NEED HIM to draw us out of ourselves, it is ONLY our SAVIOR who can give us what we need to LOVE as we need to LOVE- selflessly. It is HIS righteousness that must stand in place of our unrighteousness. God has to see His Son's righteousness in OUR PLACE, because we have NONE. And we must submit ourselves to the SON completely, knowing we have NOTHING that is worthy in and of ourselves, it's ALL HIM and ONLY HIM, we choose!
By HIS GRACE! HIS LOVE!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Not peace- but division
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division
Way too many people believe that our Savior came to GIVE peace on earth.
We've heard it over and over especially during the Christmas holiday season- Peace on Earth. Why because of this--
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Who said those words?
Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
This is on the occasion of Jesus' birth and the angels are praising God. The goal of having peace on earth is a goal that will only be achieved when our Savior comes again. That Jesus was born - the fact that He is the AUTHOR of peace means everything. Without the birth of the Messiah there would be no hope for any peace on earth, ever.
Too many people take this to mean that Jesus wants peace on earth here and now without His return, yet clearly our Savior speaks these words.
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division
How do you equate that with the belief people have that we are to STRIVE for peace on earth?
The fact of the matter is- there will NOT be world peace- but we are to strive for individual peace among each other.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord
We are to abide in our Savior and in abiding in Him we are to have peace towards all those around us- not strife.
World peace- no- not until our Savior returns.
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division
Jesus said- suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?
And He answers-
No.
Not only does he say no, He says this-
But RATHER division.
DIVISION!
And He continues by explaining this--
Luk 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
Luk 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Division- NOT PEACE.
The dividing factor is between those with our Savior and those not with our Savior. And the division will be as close as one family member against another. This isn't PEACE promised, this is division. And wherever there is division there comes strife. When peace isn't prevailing then strife is. There is one or the other.
Our Savior KNOWS that there is a fight between the flesh and the spirit, a fight between those who strive to live in the spirit and those who choose to live in the flesh. We war with ourselves over the spirit and the flesh and we war with others around us. As long as there is sin in the world there will be this division, our Savior has told us this. He didn't come to give peace on earth.
We have to comprehend this because way too many people WANT there to be worldwide peace without our Savior having come again. They're expecting this now, striving towards it as if they're ignoring our Savior's own words completely.
We cannot ignore His words, we have to hear them! We have to understand what we're facing not hide from it. When we try to put our own spin on the words of the Lord then we are following our own path and NOT His. We need to follow HIM in all ways.
Please Lord help us to understand that the division we face is something that will remain in the world around us until You come again to take us home with You. Help us Lord to understand that we can be in You and have division surround us. Satan will fight us at ever step, and at every step You are there to fight for us!
Please Lord, help us, bless us, forgive us! LOVE us.
Your love always.
Way too many people believe that our Savior came to GIVE peace on earth.
We've heard it over and over especially during the Christmas holiday season- Peace on Earth. Why because of this--
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Who said those words?
Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
This is on the occasion of Jesus' birth and the angels are praising God. The goal of having peace on earth is a goal that will only be achieved when our Savior comes again. That Jesus was born - the fact that He is the AUTHOR of peace means everything. Without the birth of the Messiah there would be no hope for any peace on earth, ever.
Too many people take this to mean that Jesus wants peace on earth here and now without His return, yet clearly our Savior speaks these words.
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division
How do you equate that with the belief people have that we are to STRIVE for peace on earth?
The fact of the matter is- there will NOT be world peace- but we are to strive for individual peace among each other.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord
We are to abide in our Savior and in abiding in Him we are to have peace towards all those around us- not strife.
World peace- no- not until our Savior returns.
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division
Jesus said- suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?
And He answers-
No.
Not only does he say no, He says this-
But RATHER division.
DIVISION!
And He continues by explaining this--
Luk 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
Luk 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Division- NOT PEACE.
The dividing factor is between those with our Savior and those not with our Savior. And the division will be as close as one family member against another. This isn't PEACE promised, this is division. And wherever there is division there comes strife. When peace isn't prevailing then strife is. There is one or the other.
Our Savior KNOWS that there is a fight between the flesh and the spirit, a fight between those who strive to live in the spirit and those who choose to live in the flesh. We war with ourselves over the spirit and the flesh and we war with others around us. As long as there is sin in the world there will be this division, our Savior has told us this. He didn't come to give peace on earth.
We have to comprehend this because way too many people WANT there to be worldwide peace without our Savior having come again. They're expecting this now, striving towards it as if they're ignoring our Savior's own words completely.
We cannot ignore His words, we have to hear them! We have to understand what we're facing not hide from it. When we try to put our own spin on the words of the Lord then we are following our own path and NOT His. We need to follow HIM in all ways.
Please Lord help us to understand that the division we face is something that will remain in the world around us until You come again to take us home with You. Help us Lord to understand that we can be in You and have division surround us. Satan will fight us at ever step, and at every step You are there to fight for us!
Please Lord, help us, bless us, forgive us! LOVE us.
Your love always.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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