Love

1Ti 1:5  Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned

The end of the commandment-  the summary of the commandment - is LOVE.
Love out of a pure heart.
Love out of a good conscience.
Love out of faith unfeigned.

LOVE.

Love is God.

1Jn 4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

God is love.

God created us, not to pain, not to torture, not to agony, not to hopelessness, not to despair, not to hatred, not to sadness, God created us with LOVE in mind, not evil.

God created us with the ability to love, with the ability to choose.

We know a little bit of what this means, don't we? We make the choice to love others don't we? Some call it falling in love but the truth is, we make the choice to love others. We are choosing to get to know that person, we aren't forced to get to know them. The fact of the matter is we CHOOSE love, it's not an accident that just happens to us. We even choose to love our own family, it's not automatic. Some people might think it is automatic but it isn't. We choose to love. Society tells us we have an obligation to our family and we do often feel that obligation, but mostly I believe we choose to love our family because we live with their daily caring for us and showing us that caring in the things they do for us- even if it's just a kind word, or a listening ear, they care for us and we love them, and we care for them and they love us. We grow up with our family and that familiarity means a lot as well- they know us, they have shared memories with us that others will never have.

Love. People say it can't be defined but I say it is a choice to care and in choosing to care we reveal that caring in our actions.

God gave us that choice when He created us, the choice to care, the choice to obey- yes, to obey, to believe in the love offered to us, the caring offered to us by God. 

Eve doubted God's love.

People might not believe that but it's true. Satan put that thought into her mind- he was instrumental in her downfall. Satan put doubt about God into Eve's mind, and Eve made the choice to listen and believe in that doubt. That doubt called into question God's love of Adam and Eve, because Satan was telling Eve that God wasn't giving them all He could give them, that He was withholding that ONE tree from them because it was special and would make them special too.  The doubt of God's love was planted and that seed grew quickly because Eve allowed it to grow. She had the ability to make a choice, it was hers to make, no one could make it for her. She was given that choice because that is part and parcel of love, a choice, not force. 

You can live with someone and not love them. You can't be forced to love them. You can love those who never want to be with you or love you back, because you are making that choice to love them. 

Love is a choice to believe in someone, to hope they'll return that love and care for you and allow you to care for them.

1Ti 1:5  Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned

The end of the commandment-  the summary of the commandment - is LOVE.
Love out of a pure heart.
Love out of a good conscience.
Love out of faith unfeigned.

We are commanded to love- to choose to care for others.

Care for others out of a pure heart- not one that desires selfish gain from giving that love.
Care for others out of a good conscience- not because you feel guilt, or obligation, or again not because you desire something in return selfishly.
Care for others out of faith without any pretense.

God is love.
God is caring.

Some may doubt this but it's true. God did NOT turn from us, we turned from God. The good news it we still have the opportunity to turn BACK to God, our Savior made it possible for us to do that, to turn back to God- to accept His caring, His love for us. We can choose to obey God knowing that even if we do NOT comprehend, we can trust Him, this is faith. We believe in God's love though Satan will do all he can to make us believe only that God hates us, deprives us, keeps good from us. Satan twists it all around and he'll never stop, only grow more and more active the closer it is to our Savior's return.

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Please LORD, help us to LOVE from a pure heart- the heart only YOU can give us. Please LORD, help us to love out of a good conscience as ONLY the HOLY SPIRIT can give us, please LORD, help us to have FAITH UNFEIGNED, the real faith that we can have ONLY THROUGH YOU and YOUR LOVE!

Godly edifying which is in faith

1Ti 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
1Ti 1:2  Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
1Ti 1:3  As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
1Ti 1:4  Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

Teach no other doctrine.
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies.

We all know how quickly the truth can be altered, all it takes is a few misplaced words, a few different ideas.  We've all played the game before, or most of us have- where you write down a little story and then whisper it into someone's ear, they in turn whisper it into another's ear and so on until the whole room has heard the little story. Then the last person reveals the story out loud then they compare it to the story written down only to realize they are only slightly similar!  How is it that the story became so convoluted? People embellish, people hear things differently and then relate it the way they interpret it and it suddenly it's all changed.  That's one way a story can change over time unless it is written down, and another is people like the idea of proving upon another person's original concepts- making them their own.

Being told to teach no other doctrine, these new followers of Christ were being warned that there were OTHER doctrines out there being taught.  A whole new world of ideas were suddenly being noised about all of them based off the truth, but far enough from the truth to distort things and people ended up believing a lie rather than the truth. When you believe a lie no matter how good it sounds it is deadly. Teaching NO OTHER DOCTRINE.  We aren't to change things to suit our own ideas, we aren't to embellish even a bit, we aren't to alter God's Word, God's TRUTH!

And, we aren't to listen to FABLES.

So many call the gospel a fable, so many call God's word- the Bible- a fable. Very few people back in the time of the Apostles call the scriptures fables, but they had a lot of new stories running about after the ministry of Christ, after His death and resurrection, after all the miracles, tons of fables- easy to believe if you don't want to hold fast to the truth. 

We aren't to listen to endless genealogies-  ENDLESS genealogies- genealogy while having its place isn't what the gospel of our Lord and Savior is all about. We all know about people bragging on their important relatives, and that saying, it is all about WHO you know, but the truth is that it isn't about any other people. It's not about relatives, it's not about friends, it's not about any of that stuff- it is about our LORD and SAVIOR, it's about JESUS CHRIST and HIS dying for us, and rising, His pleading on our behalf before the throne, His making a place for us in Heaven, His ultimate return for US.

The gospel of the kingdom of heaven, this is WHY our Savior came to us, to SAVE US. 

When we forget this and make up our own whys and wherefores about life then we are in grave danger of losing the eternal life He offers to us.

We can't listen to fables, we can't get caught up in endless genealogies, we can't teach any other doctrine than what was taught by OUR SAVIOR!

Please LORD, help us to only listen to YOUR truth and NOTHING ELSE, no matter how pleasant it appears, no matter how soothing to our ears.

IN HIS LOVE!

Be not weary in well doing

2Th 3:6  Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
2Th 3:7  For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
2Th 3:8  Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
2Th 3:9  Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
2Th 3:10  For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
2Th 3:11  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
2Th 3:12  Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
2Th 3:13  But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
2Th 3:14  And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
2Th 3:15  Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

The example- HARD WORK, not being a busy body, lazy, interfering. 

The Apostles knew they would be cared for simply for the miracles they could perform. People would flock to them, be healed by them- spiritually, physically, and then they'd be extremely grateful for the miracles performed on their behalf. The power was there for the Apostles to be for the most part tended to- fed, clothed, etc. Yet the Apostles did NOT take advantage of their ability given to them by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. They didn't sit back and rest on their laurels. They worked and worked HARD. Why did they do this? As an example to us!  We aren't to believe that being a Christ follower means having an easy, work free life. We are all called to work hard and provide for others and ourselves not depend upon others to do for us what we can do ourselves. 

We are ALL called to different paths in life. Every single one of us is called in a unique way. We have to answer to God for either fulfilling or neglecting the calling we are given. Did we do our best in hard work in what we were called to do? Did we slack and expect others to do for us what we could have done ourselves? Did we rather gossip than work? Were we weary in well-doing? Did we get fed up with doing the work we have been called to do?

If we are caught up with those who encourage laziness and gossiping, if we take part in their wrong behavior then we are guilty of it. If we can keep out of it then we are obligated to do so.  If we are called to face those we are shunning we must let them know why we are keeping ourselves from them and by the GRACE of God they will feel the shame of their behavior.

All too often living in our modern world of office work, corporate work, the work hierarchy so incredibly different then so long ago, we feel these same things do not apply and yet they do.  We are to do our work whatever it is- honorably, quietly, and NOT call our gossiping and laziness our work- that is never our job.

We aren't to call our co-workers who are caught up in wrong doing- our enemies- they are our misguided brothers and as such where God guides us we must obey and admonish where He wills.  I'm not saying that we should take on a superior attitude, a self-righteous, holier-than-thou position, NOT AT ALL! You can admonish others humbly when the Holy Spirit is leading you.

We need to pray, pray that we do NOT grow weary in well-doing, that we do NOT become a part of the crowd, the norm, who encourage gossiping and busybody behavior. By the grace of God alone can we keep ourselves IN HIM as HE would have us be, and only by HIS GRACE.

We live in Godless times. We live in times of powerful deceptions. We live in a time where right is said to be wrong and wrong is said to be right. We need to grow ever closer to God, ever closer to our Savior who alone can save us, who can keep us in HIM.  We need to cling to Christ and HIS word, HIS love!

All by HIS GRACE!

The patient waiting for Christ

2Th 3:4  And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.
2Th 3:5  And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

The LORD direct our hearts into the LOVE of GOD.
The LORD direct our hearts into the PATIENT waiting for CHRIST.

Think about this for a moment. The Apostles were all Jewish. The Apostles had a religion that was four thousand years old. The Apostles knew from their Scriptures  that a Messiah WOULD come, a Messiah was promised to them, a Deliverer from God. Already in their history they'd witnessed the delivering from a four hundred year captivity by the Egyptians. Their history was filled with their backsliding and renewals, their prophets, their kings, their patriarchs. They had a very, very rich history filled with promises from God. They believed in their heritage because time and time again the prophecies of God to them came to pass as foretold. Over and over they witnessed the hand of God in their lives. These Apostles KNEW what it meant to wait for the Messiah promised to them by one of their greatest kings - David. They understood patience. In fact many- rather than believe in all the proof Jesus Christ offered chose to stick to their patient waiting and are still waiting today, two thousand years later.

The Apostles knew what it meant to wait, but then also knew what it meant to realize the reward of patience. They were in a very unique situation. They lived in a time of prophecy being fulfilled. They welcomed the long awaited Messiah. Can you even begin to imagine how that must have been for them? Waiting, and waiting, a heritage of waiting, taught to wait from their youth in their synagogues. They had read the scriptures, listened to the scriptures every single Sabbath and they knew intimately the promise of a Messiah. And to have Him appear in their TIME! How amazing! How utterly almost unimaginably amazing to live in a time of realized prophecy. They had to want EVERYONE to comprehend the truth they were witness to. They wanted the leaders of their religion to understand that they too were living in realized prophecy, but that didn't happen. They REJECTED Jesus, they REJECTED the Messiah.  The Apostles were probably unable to comprehend their darkened understanding.  Then as their own understanding was tested as instead of coming as a conquering king to set up a kingdom right there and right then on earth, Jesus allowed Himself to be sacrificed, they were rocked to their very core. Then Jesus, Himself resurrected, came to them and expounded on all the scriptures concerning Himself.

Luk 24:23  And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
Luk 24:24  And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
Luk 24:25  Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luk 24:28  And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
Luk 24:29  But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
Luk 24:30  And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
Luk 24:31  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

They understood that what happened had to happen and that now they had a new prophecy- the prophecy of Jesus' return!

Act 1:7  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Act 1:10  And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Act 1:11  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Once more they were called to PATIENCE in WAITING.

They and their forefathers had waited for so long and now they were to wait again. They knew what it meant to wait and now we read this…

2Th 3:5  And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

We are CALLED to the patient waiting for Christ in the love of God.

People may call us fools, it's been 2000 years of waiting, and yet the Apostles and all the others of Jewish ancestry had waited 4000 years before the Messiah came the first time. From generation to generation the hope has been alive and passed on and by the grace of God it will continue to be passed down until the return of our Savior for His people- all His people - the dead in Him will rise and the living will be transformed and rise to meet Him in the air! Praise the LORD!

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

This WILL COME TO PASS! Doubt if you must, but by the grace and mercy of God may you stop doubting before it's too late. 

The Bible is so rich in prophecy that has come to pass and been made our history, nothing will stop the rest of Biblical prophecy from coming to pass, not one single thing. Not a single person's doubt will hinder the return of Jesus Christ for His people. He will find a people alive when He comes, not many but they will exist, those who love Him and are known by Him. Those who have His testimony and keep His commandments, are His. 

We must be patient in waiting. The Lord is NOT SLACK concerning His promise--

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

He will not return until the very last person that will repent and be His, has done so! All glory to HIM for his MERCY! All praise, all thanksgiving to our God of mercy, of grace, of love unlike anything we can truly comprehend!

May our hearts be directed into the LOVE OF GOD and into the PATIENT WAITING FOR CHRIST!

Temptation Escape

2Th 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

The LORD is faithful.

The LORD is TRUSTWORTHY.

The LORD will establish us.

The LORD will keep us from evil.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

God is FAITHFUL.

There is a way to ESCAPE, to keep from sinning blatantly.  The way to escape is placed there so we can BEAR being tempted.

 We will NOT be tempted above that we are able to endure- if we take the way of escape offered to us.

We cannot escape if we do not take that way made for us to escape. We can try all our own methods of escape but they will all fall flat and we will give in to the temptation. The ONLY way to bear being tempted and not succumb to it is through the way of escape that GOD is faithful to make for us. 

trouble comes when we look for our own escape routes shunning the way made for us. We do that all the time, don't we? We have a little voice inside us that convinces us that we should NOT deny ourselves whatever tempting sinful offer is being made to us. That little voice is accompanied by many others- one who tells us that we are too weak to overcome, another telling us we are hopeless, while still another tells us we are only human and what else can we expect.  You know those voices, you have those voices inside you working against God, the voices that would have us keep our eyes, our minds, focused on ourselves at all costs because those voices know that as long as we are looking to ourselves we will not see the way of escape made for us-the way of escape that tells us things like this--

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

And this--

Joh 8:11  ...Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

And this--

1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not…

And this--

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

And this--

1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not…

And this--

Psa 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

The way of escape.  We all know about fire escapes, right? They put them on the outside of buildings generally so people can escape a fire inside the building and not perish.  As a rule people who live in buildings with fire escapes know where they're located- what room they're in, what window they are outside of.  If a fire erupted they'd know where to go, right? What good would that fire escape do if they chose to go to a different room, a different window where there was no fire escape? It wouldn't do them any good at all to try and go somewhere else, try as they might- they could even go to the windows but no magically appearing fire escape will come into view. They'll have condemned themselves by choosing their own path and not the path of the fire escape, right?  Some would call it ludicrous to even imagine trying to go where you know there is no fire escape, and it is, it's totally ludicrous. Yet we all the time try to go where there is no escape from sin rather than go to the way made for us to escape.

What was that last verse-  Thy word have I hid in mine heart -  why was the Word of God hid in the heart?  That I might not sin against God.

The Word of God in our heart.  A way of escape!  How often when temptation comes your way do you look to the Word of God? Seriously?  That first inkling of temptation presents itself and you …. do…what?  First of all, that temptation isn't going to be quiet, remember those little voices that accompany temptation? So what do you do, you're under attack by temptation, do you stay put and listen to the voices of temptation? Have you been suddenly paralyzed? No, your limbs still work. Do you rush to get your Bible all the while humming loudly some Christian song that will hopefully drown out those temptation voices? Where is your focus?

Temptations are REAL and POWERFUL! Those voices won't be drowned out easily! We are fighting a SPIRITUAL battle that is REAL. The sword the enemy may wield could be a bottle of alcohol, or a recreational drug, or a prostitute, or the television tuned to sinful shows, or a chocolate cake and a 1/2 gallon of ice cream, or a fuse of anger ignited and simply ready for you to take over and go with the flow, or it could be a streak of jealousy, of covetousness, you name it the spiritual enemy we are at war with has an entire arsenal of your most powerful temptations at his disposal and he's not afraid to use every single one of them.  We need to recognize the power of the enemy and temptation, not ignore it. We need to recognize it for what it is, a SPIRITUAL POWER poking at us trying to get us to walk HIS path, not GOD'S! If he can poke and prod us into his path we are lost.  God makes a way for us to escape every temptation, we won't be tempted above what we're able to endure, this is a fact! It doesn't say God will take temptation away, that you will never again be tempted, if anything the word of God tells us that we are going to face more temptation the closer we are to God.  Satan doesn't need to tempt those that are comfortably his, he doesn’t need to waste effort on those he has, but he has to expend a lot of effort going after those he doesn't have and the only ones he doesn't have are those whose hearts belong to God, those who have CHOSEN to LOVE GOD.

It's no joke that you'll face your greatest trials and tribulations the closer you come to God.  So many Christians falter and flail about when they are put to the test, their first line of defense is to BLAME God for allowing their trial, their temptation, their tribulation, Satan LOVES that!  That weapon of Satan's is one he has honed to perfection- he whips it out often and whispers it into our minds conveniently so that we do NOT focus on going to God for help but rather blame him for needing help at all.

Temptations are REAL and POWERFUL, I'm saying it again! These are REAL and recognizable things. They aren't things that just pop up out of no where and are something we've never imagined. We've fallen to our temptations so often that we know them, but we fail to recognize our need of an ESCAPE. We'd rather just face temptation when it comes around and hey, sometimes we'll succumb and sometimes we won't, sometimes we're strong other times we're not. Do you see the flaw in that logic? We need to be prepared- we NEED to know where our FIRE - our TEMPTATION escape is!  We need to KNOW that there is a temptation escape and that is the WORD of God hiding in our hearts! That's CHRIST hiding in our hearts! That's HIS WORD TO US! The SWORD of the Spirit of the Word of God!  We have armor, we have an escape, we have weapons, we have everything we could possibly need when we HAVE a REAL, LIVING, BREATHING relationship with our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!  When we TURN to God and look away from ourselves and our own failings, our own weakness and to HIS STRENGTH, that is our HOPE! JESUS !

2Th 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

PRAISE GOD! PRAISE OUR LORD! He will establish us and keep us from evil!!!!!!!

All glory to God!

For all men have not faith

2Th 3:1  Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
2Th 3:2  And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
Unreasonable and wicked men.
We don't want to believe they really exist, do we?  I mean, we know they do, history proves it and so does our daily news. We know wicked and unreasonable people are alive and well walking the earth but we cannot judge their eternal life. And just because we cannot point a finger and judge another doesn't mean we can't be aware of the wickedness going on. We are told here that 'ALL MEN HAVE NOT FAITH'.
If a person does not have faith they don't believe in God and our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ- right?
It's a fact that not all men have faith. I know several that have no faith by their own admission.  Are they horrible, wicked people? As a rule, no, at least not to my knowledge. Yet that is exactly how Satan wants them to appear isn't it? He wants those who do not believe to appear calm, reasonable, and not at all wicked.  He's changed his strategy time and time again and will continue to do so to fit the needs of the present time. When our Savior died and rose, and went to heaven promising to return again, this threatened the current leadership in the churches of the times. Church leaders were FURIOUS and reacted by having the Christians tortured and killed.  These were truly unreasonable and wicked men that had no faith.  And in MANY places today these same types of people exist and they are killing and torturing and making the lives of Christ followers horrific. Yet in my little world I don't know a single person who is out to kill or torture Christians, not one. 
The Apostle wanted to be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.
The Apostle pointed out that 'all men have NOT faith'.
Today those who live in my type of world - without any real, visible persecution from unreasonable and wicked people- have to be alert as well because the enemy surrounding us is spiritual and our Christian battle as real as anyone's.  All men do NOT have faith, all people do NOT have faith.
I say it again- the nicest person in the world isn't saved by their niceness. The sweetest person isn't saved by being sweet. The most seemingly loving person in the world is NOT saved unless that love is a genuine love which can ONLY stem from God! If the most loving person outright denies God and Jesus Christ, can they be saved? Do they have faith?  
God KNOWS their hearts and ONLY God. Their mouths could be professing one thing while their hearts are professing another. We see it ALL the time with men of faith professing their faith and then committing grave sins- their hearts filled with filth while their mouths speak of perfect peace in God.
Truly only God can judge, and we are to pray to be delivered from any that would hinder our own faith in God no matter what they appear to be.  God knows if they have faith in Him, God knows.
We need to be kept from deception, we need to be kept from the wicked who would have us lose our faith.
Please LORD help us. Help ALL those throughout the WORLD who are suffering under the wicked and unreasonable people who have NO faith in You! Please this is our prayer that Your word may have free course, and that Your word may be glorified! Please God help us, save us from the evil in this world, keep us from the evil, please. We live in desperate times as Satan grows angrier and angrier knowing his time will end and he will be punished and then exist no more.  The closer to Your coming to take us Your people home with You, the more horrid this world grows. Keep us in YOU LORD, always!

 

Belief of the Truth

2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth

We all are CHOSEN from the beginning to SALVATION THROUGH the SANCTIFICATION of the SPIRIT and BELIEF of the TRUTH.

We are chosen just by being born, just by being blessed with the intellect our Savior has given to us or order to make choices, to comprehend truth.  We choose. We make the decision, it is NOT made for us. Salvation is NOT forced upon anyone at all. I've said it before and I know I'll most likely say it again, NO ONE IS FORCED TO ACCEPT SALVATION! You are NOT forced saved. You will NOT rise in the air and meet the Lord against your will! Not a single person will be hogtied and dragged to heaven. You choose! If you choose NOT to be saved it's horrible tragic and heartbreaking to our Savior, but He will always and forever respect your right to choose.

If we CHOOSE to be saved then we are sanctified-made holy- by the SPIRIT and by our BELIEF of the TRUTH.

We do NOT make ourselves holy- but the SPIRIT does that work. We MUST believe, we MUST have faith in the TRUTH.

2Th 2:14  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise the LORD!

2Th 2:15  Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

Traditions-teachings- and they were and we are taught so much, if only we avail ourselves of the teachings in the gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.  We can't stand fast in something we do not know. You can't live something you aren't learning. I could know more call myself a cook if I never went to a cookbook than I can truly call myself a Christian without going to the WORD of Christ. 

Yes, I could dabble in cooking and come up with all sorts of things, some probably even good, but my knowledge would be extremely limited if I never learned from an outside source.  There are millions of Christians who call themselves that name who NEVER read the word of God, who NEVER study the word of God.  Is it right? Is it wrong? Only GOD can judge, but from what we can read in that Word we are told  we need to hold fast to what we are taught in the word of God.  Whether you read it for yourself, or listen to others, whether your heartfelt prayer is to have the word explained to you by a true source of truth, it doesn't matter, you are SEEKING to be taught of God. He and HE alone knows our heart and our desire, He knows and He will give to us all we need and in the way we need it. We just can't let ourselves be deceived because as we discussed yesterday PEOPLE WILL CHOOSE to be DECEIVED loving unrighteousness!  God help us not be among them!

2Th 2:16  Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
2Th 2:17  Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

Such a blessing, may it be true for ALL of us who seek to follow our LORD JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, and GOD, OUR FATHER-  HE LOVES US!