The very narrow way - Cost of Discipleship pt 107

Chapter 19 - The Great Divide

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:15  Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Bonhoeffer- 'A little band of men, the followers of Christ are separated from the rest of the world. The disciples are few in number and will always be few. This saying of Jesus forestalls all exaggerated hopes of success. Never let a disciple of Jesus pin his hopes on large numbers. "Few there be…" The rest of the world are many, and will always be many. But they are on the road to perdition. The only comfort the disciples have in face of this prospect is the promise of life and eternal fellowship with Jesus.

The path of discipleship is narrow, and it is fatally easy to miss one's way and stray from the path, even after years of discipleship. And it is hard to find. On either side of the narrow path deep chasms yawn. To be called to a life of extraordinary quality, to live up to it, and yet to be unconscious of it is indeed a narrow way. To confess and testify to the truth as it is in Jesus, and at the same time to love the enemies of that truth, his enemies and ours, and to love them with the infinite love of Jesus Christ, is indeed a narrow way.'

My thoughts-

The day before the following-

Joh 6:66  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

-Jesus fed 5000-

Joh 6:10  ...So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 

5000 people.

5000 PEOPLE.

And the next day-   '...many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.' 

Joh 6:67  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

ALL BUT His chosen 12?! So that Jesus turned to them and asked them if they were going to leave too! His chosen 12!  5000 people down to 12!  From the many so very quickly to the few.

Peter answered for the 12-

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

When we read Bonhoeffer expounding on the fact that there truly will be FEW, that we are deceiving ourselves if we believe that EVERYONE and their BROTHERS will be HIS, we have to believe it-- because it's not Bonhoeffer's truth, it is CHRIST JESUS' TRUTH! Christ tells us that FEW will truly be HIS!  How do we dare hope to be among them? How? We have to, we have to have HOPE.

Bonhoeffer- 'A little band of men, the followers of Christ are separated from the rest of the world. The disciples are few in number and will always be few. This saying of Jesus forestalls all exaggerated hopes of success. Never let a disciple of Jesus pin his hopes on large numbers. "Few there be…" The rest of the world are many, and will always be many. But they are on the road to perdition. The only comfort the disciples have in face of this prospect is the promise of life and eternal fellowship with Jesus.

The path of discipleship is narrow, and it is fatally easy to miss one's way and stray from the path, even after years of discipleship. And it is hard to find...'

My thoughts continued-

Isn't this a very scary thought- 'The path of discipleship is narrow, and it is fatally easy to miss one's way and stray from the path, even after YEARS of discipleship.'

Fatally easy to miss one's way.

This is truth, isn't it? It has to be. If it were EASY then Christ would NEVER have said the things He said, never! He wouldn't tell us this--

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Strait and narrow.

We hear about the straight and narrow, but we hear it in a different sense don't we? We hear it in an offhand way. 'He's on the straight and narrow.' Meaning he's no longer living his life in ways that are detrimental to him, but not necessarily Christ's path. 

Our Savior tells us the path is NARROW and it's STRAIGHT. It is NOT the WORLD'S PATH. All we have to do is look at the WORLD'S path and we know what the broad path entails.  Remember up there Bonhoeffer saying 'it is fatally easy to miss one's way'?  The broad path, we could be on the narrow path for years and then a side street catches our attention. That side street leads right to the BROAD path of destruction but it's not advertised as such. That side street is covered in deception, it's a wolf in sheep' clothing meant to trick us into believing it is still part of the narrow way.  We have to surrender to our SAVIOR in all things! We have to be on guard, we have to have our armor on, we have to be fully committed to CHRIST our SAVIOR, forever seeking forgiveness and repenting of our sins, our evils.

Bonhoeffer- ' On either side of the narrow path deep chasms yawn. To be called to a life of extraordinary quality, to live up to it, and yet to be unconscious of it is indeed a narrow way. To confess and testify to the truth as it is in Jesus, and at the same time to love the enemies of that truth, his enemies and ours, and to love them with the infinite love of Jesus Christ, is indeed a narrow way.'

Truth.

What is impossible with us is ONLY possible with CHRIST JESUS!

Mat_19:26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Mar_9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

READ this again--

Bonhoeffer- ' On either side of the narrow path deep chasms yawn. To be called to a life of extraordinary quality, to live up to it, and yet to be unconscious of it is indeed a narrow way. To confess and testify to the truth as it is in Jesus, and at the same time to love the enemies of that truth, his enemies and ours, and to love them with the infinite love of Jesus Christ, is indeed a narrow way.'

Deep chasms… on either side of the narrow path we walk.

'To be CALLED to a life of extraordinary quality, to LIVE up to it, and yet be UNCONSCIOUS of it….is indeed a narrow way.'

Live up to it, and yet UNCONSCIOUS of it-- ONLY THROUGH CHRIST, not at all through us!

'To confess and testify to the truth as it is IN JESUS, and at the SAME time love the ENEMIES of that truth - his and ours, and to LOVE them with the INFINITE love of JESUS CHRIST…..  Is INDEED A NARROW WAY.'

TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH!

Please LORD SAVE US!

FORGIVE US!

No special privlege, no power of our own - Cost of Discipleship Pt 106

Chapter 18 - The Disciple and Unbelievers

Bonhoeffer- 'The difference between the disciples' seeking and the Gentiles' quest for God is that the disciples know what they are looking for. We can only seek God when we know him already.  How can you look for something or find it if you do not know what you are looking for? The disciples seek a God whom they have found in the promise they have received from Jesus.'  AMEN!

'To sum it up: it is clear from the foregoing that the disciple has no special privilege or power of his own in all his intercourse with others. The mainspring of his life and work is the strength which comes from fellowship with Jesus Christ. Jesus offers his disciples a simple rule of thumb which will enable even the least sophisticated of them to tell whether his intercourse with others is on the right lines or not. All he need do is to say "I" instead of "Thou," and put himself in the other man's place. "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophet."  The moment he does that, the disciple forfeits all advantage over other men, and can no longer excuse  in himself what he condemns in others. He is as strict in condemning evil in himself as he was before to himself. The evil in the other person is exactly the same evil as in ourselves. There is only one judgment, one law, and one grace. Henceforth the disciple will look upon other men as forgiven sinners who owe their lives to the love of God. "This is the law and the prophets"-- for this is none other than the supreme commandment: to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves.'

Mat_7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Luk 10:25  And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 10:26  He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
Luk 10:27  And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Luk 10:28  And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

My Thoughts-

We have NO power of our own. Our only HOPE is in Christ and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, not Christ and our righteousness, NEVER our righteousness. 

Any good we possess, any good we use, any good we do, any good at all comes from CHRIST.

Christ tells us to LOVE Him, and to LOVE others. When we are loving others we are loving HIM.

Bonhoeffer says it plain enough, true enough. We have to live in the here and now, ready to comprehend the truth of putting others FIRST, others before ourselves. We want others to treat us with dignity, with respect, with love, with niceness, with kindness, with loyalty, with common decency, without talking back, without any belittling, without any snide-ness, without subterfuge, without anger.  We hurt others ALL the time- sometimes intentionally but a lot of times not intentionally, but intentional or not, we have to seek forgiveness when we recognize that we've hurt someone. It's not easy, because we have spent a lifetime of justifying our righteous indignation, our right to anger.

Only through CHRIST can we hope to live as HE wants us to live in HIM. We must hate the sin, love the sinner, just as GOD hates sin and loves the sinner.

We must choose God because to do otherwise is death, hate, evil in all its forms. We might embrace the tiniest of evils, but it will still warrant death, just like the greatest of evils.  We must choose God because He is LIFE, He is LOVE, He is good.

By the GRACE of our GOD we are HIS, and as HIS we are gifted with the HOLY SPIRIT, and through the Holy Spirit we are to live in CHRIST, as CHRIST'S.

Protector from Sin

Excerpt- 'Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness for by it God was manifest in the flesh. God-like-ness - godliness - is God manifest in human flesh. This Christ revealed even in the slave-form of man. Those who partake of the "divine nature" again manifest God in their slave-forms. God dwells in them, and walks in them. '

Php 2:6  Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God.
Php 2:7  Instead he gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us.
Php 2:8  Christ was humble. He obeyed God and even died on a cross.
Php 2:9  Then God gave Christ the highest place and honored his name above all others.
Php 2:10  So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
Php 2:11  And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, "Jesus Christ is Lord!"
 (CEV)

Joh_14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Joh_15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

My thoughts-  People don't like to believe that Christ divested Himself of His divinity, but He did. God with God.  Jesus was with God and by Jesus all things were created.

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him

Christ God, with the Father God, equal in all ways until Christ became FLESH. To become FLESH He gave us His immortality, and became subject to death. Christ truly took on the form of a slave, a servant. We are slaves, we are servants, but were are NOT slaves and servants to a hated, brutal, vicious, abusive master! Our Master is LOVE in all its truth.

We are born slaves and servants, we are NOT born with any divinity in us at all. We must be BORN AGAIN and we receive the Holy Spirit, and Christ lives in US, and we in HIM.  This is a MIRACLE of which we can scarcely fathom. Such LOVE to make this possible! To choose to JOIN with us, the Creator taking on the form of the Creature just so He could SAVE US!

Excerpt- 'When each mystery has run its course in time, certain results will become manifest. Of those who have yielded to the energies of Satan, it is prophesied:  Through yielding to satanic influences, men will be transformed into fiends; and those who were created in the image of God, who were formed to honor and glorify their Creator, will become the habitation of dragons, and Satan will see in an apostate race his masterpiece of evil, - men who reflect his own image.

Of those who have yielded to the life-giving energies which Christ brought with Him into humanity, and which through the Holy Spirit are ministered to each believer, it is written:   We must learn of Christ. We must know what He is to those He has ransomed. We must realize that through belief in Him it is our privilege to be partakers of the divine nature, and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Then we are cleansed from all sin, all defects of character. We need not retain one sinful propensity.

As we partake of the divine nature, hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong are cut away from the character, and we are made a living power for good. Ever learning of the divine Teacher, daily partaking of His nature, we cooperate with God in overcoming Satan's temptations. God works, and man works, that man may be one with Christ as Christ is one with God. Then we sit together with Christ in heavenly places. The mind rests with peace and assurance in Jesus. '

Excerpt- 'The true Christian obtains an experience which brings holiness. He is without a spot of guilt upon the conscience, or a taint of corruption upon the soul. The spirituality of the law of God, with its limiting principles, is brought into his life. The light of truth irradiates his understanding. A glow of perfect love for the Redeemer clears away the miasma which has interposed between his soul and God. The will of God has become his will, pure, elevated, refined, and sanctified. His countenance reveals the light of heaven. His body is a fit temple for the Holy Spirit. Holiness adorns his character. God can commune with him; for soul and body are in harmony with God.'

My thoughts - 

Being truly God's will mean accepting a real, viable hatred of all things sinful. That hatred of sin, the Grace of our SAVIOR and His hatred for sin, will reveal our evil propensities, ALL OF THEM, but only if we allow. We are NEVER forced to give up a single sin. If we believe the giving up of any sin in our life is wrong, then we are NOT God's.  How do we know what is sinful and what is not? Sin is the transgression of God's law. Sin is NOT loving God, and NOT loving others as CHRIST would have us love.  If any action we commit goes against God's love, or the love we should possess for others, then it is sin. We can't know what sin is except we look to God's law. We know that it is ONLY through CHRIST that any sin we overcome is most assuredly overcome BY HIM IN US and NOT US ON OUR OWN. We need to have CHRIST closer to us in ALL things, not just a select few, but ALL THINGS, it is the only way we are protected by HIM, by being in Him and He in us.  If you have a body guard, the body guard is no good if he/she is not present with you in all situations. If you are abducted from your bathroom, it's only because you didn't have your guard in their with you and the abductor took a route to you that your guard was not covering. We want sin protection and the ONLY way we can have sin protection is to live IN CHRIST, and CHRIST IN US-- ALWAYS! He is the all in all, all Glory belongs to HIM, none to us.

May we take the time to realize that it is CHRIST alive in us through the HOLY SPIRIT that enables us to live for HIM. When we fall and fail, when we give into some temptation it is because we go around our  Protector from Sin to get to it, we need to seek forgiveness! We need to repent! We need to resist, we need to sacrifice, we need to pick up our crosses. We need to comprehend that we have a wicked enemy that will stop at nothing to entice us to leave our Protector from Sin and he's extremely skilled knowing our EVERY weakness. May we CLING tightly to our GOD, our SAVIOR, knowing it's only as we are connected to HIM, that we can live at all!

He is our HOPE!
He is our SALVATION!
He is our LOVE!
He is our LIFE!

Supernatural Hatred

Excerpt- 'Only through the impartation of the life-giving energies - the divine nature - can one realize the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. To be baptized by the Holy Spirit with fire - which is the truth as it is in Jesus; to be impregnated with supernatural enmity against sin - which is the grace which Christ implants; and to be imbued with the self-renouncing love which leads one to seek first the honor of God and the salvation of souls, is to be possessed with a power that neither earth, nor death, nor hell can master. Divinity and humanity is thus combined in such an one.'

(My thoughts- 'Impregnated with supernatural enmity against sin.'  Don't we often long for some supernatural power? Seriously. We've paid authors/movie script writers millions upon millions of dollars to bring to life through word and visuals the idea of a mere human becoming something more. We have so many 'super heroes', so many 'power possessing characters' that there are probably too many to count. Taking the normal every day mundane life and altering it into something remarkable is the fantasy of many- and it remains a fantasy because the things of fiction will never be realized they only fuel the desire for something more. I'm not saying people go around trying to become any of these characters, but people enjoy the character so much because they can associate with them, with the idea they present. Children often will 'pretend' to be their favorite characters in books and tv/movies, and there are plenty of costumes that can attest to this even outside celebrating the pagan holiday of halloween. We desire something MORE in life, and the truth is, there is something MORE only it's not the fictional, self serving idea that is so popular (yes, even those characters whose persona is geared to helping the helpless, are more often than not exhibiting self satisfaction from their super ability to help).

Supernatural enmity against sin.

Why is our hatred against sin, supernatural? Because we were NOT created with this hatred. God ADDED this hatred and He did so in order that we could make an informed choice in regards to our salvation.

Satan induced Eve to sin. Eve did NOT sin on her own without enticement. Evil enticed Eve to sin.  She had NO evil of her own, none. She had only goodness, purity, all things God created mankind to possess. God did NOT want man to know the horrors of evil, the excruciating pain of evil. And as long as man did NOT disobey God they never had to know all the awful effects of sin, of evil. 

When Eve sinned this was how Satan tempted her-

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Eve didn't know what death was, how could she? But she was told, along with Adam, that if they ate of that ONE tree they would die. God had to have explained that their dying would mean they would no longer be awake, but sleeping permanently. They knew what sleep was. They had morning and night, they had a day time and an evening time. Their lives were spent existing in a garden so unbelievably beautiful we can't truly imagine it. This garden had animals they were to care for (dress and keep, work and preserve), and plants to tend.

Gen 2:15  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

They knew when the light of the sun dispelled the night's lesser light, that they were to work and the darkness was time for resting- they could scarcely see near as well as they could in the day time. Logic tells us that they knew what sleep was, and to explain death sleep has been used in the Bible, because death IS a sleep. There is NO consciousness in death. God had to have told them that to die was NOT something they would want because once they could die that would bring in all manner of awful things.  Eve KNEW that she SHOULD NOT eat of that ONE tree in the huge garden full of trees, and the serpent under Satan's guidance encouraged Eve to believe that she wouldn't really die, but her understanding would be fully open and she'd know the things that God knows. 

God did NOT want her eating of that tree. God did NOT want Eve to have the understanding that He has about evil. God wanted to protect His new creatures from the AWFUL reality of the sin that Satan had introduced into existence.  He WOULD protect them. He would offer them ALL they needed to live forever and never taste death at all, never know any pain, any evil whatsoever, all they had to do was BELIEVE Him, believe in His LOVE for them.

Eve doubted because Satan told her that God LIED. Satan told her God was keeping something wonderful from her. Satan told her that God just wanted to keep her in the dark about all there is to know. Satan told her NOT to believe God. Satan told her to DOUBT God, her Creator. 

Once Eve fell victim to Satan's subtle beguiling and she enticed Adam to the same--

Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

--they ate of the fruit. They DISOBEYED, they DOUBTED, they no longer BELIEVED in God the way they had before. Their eyes were opened- but we know their eyes had been opened already in the literal sense, right? Eve saw the tree, she had her eyes opened. This opening of her eyes was the opening of the realization of what they'd DONE in doubting their Creator. Their purity was instantly GONE, instantly! The light of God's righteousness which clothed them was gone! They weren't appalled by their nudity so much as they were appalled by the fact they no longer had God's righteousness covering them. They wanted it BACK! They wanted that righteousness that was now totally gone. Satan's beguiling, telling Eve her eyes would be opened wasn't a lie, their eyes were opened- their UNDERSTANDING of their unrighteous act was CLEARLY seen by them, and instantly so. They hurried to sew leaves together to clothe themselves. They wanted some sort of righteousness back, some sort of covering over themselves, they wanted to FIX things, they wanted things to go back they way they were before they'd sinned, but it was IMPOSSIBLE. They could NOT create any righteousness of their own, that is GOD given!

God found them hiding in the garden and He told them, and the serpent this--

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Gen 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

God was to PUT a HATRED between Satan and God's people.

Life would be HARD on many accounts. Satan was now free to work all of his evil with mankind, but mankind would not be left helpless. A hatred was set up, a hatred of Satan and His evil. Like before though, before mankind sin, every man would be given a CHOICE to obey or disobey God throughout their lives. Every man would be given that opportunity to accept God and accept that hatred of sin, of evil, that God put between mankind (those who would be known as HIS) and Satan. When we CHOOSE to obey God we are choosing to ACCEPT that He and HE alone can save us with HIS righteousness. We are choosing to accept the grace of our Savior. We are choosing to accept the HATRED of sin, NOT the excusing of it! We are choosing to hate sin and in hating it, repenting of it and seeking forgiveness for it- all the time!

 'To be baptized by the Holy Spirit with fire - which is the truth as it is in Jesus; to be impregnated with supernatural enmity against sin - which is the grace which Christ implants; and to be imbued with the self-renouncing love which leads one to seek first the honor of God and the salvation of souls, is to be possessed with a power that neither earth, nor death, nor hell can master. Divinity and humanity is thus combined in such an one.'

We are given SUPERNATURAL hatred against sin!

Supernatural because we cannot manufacture that hatred on our own. It is given to us by our Savior! A real supernatural power, and it's a power to hate sin! A power we can ONLY possess in our relationship with our Savior.  We must renounce ourselves, because on our own we are sinful and prone to evil.  When we renounce ourselves and choose Christ we want His honor and glory first and foremost! When we realize this amazing life giving relationship we know that Christ would have us have, we want others to have this too all through HIM.  We need to be possessed with a POWER that neither earth, nor death, nor hell can master, and that's only a power that CHRIST possesses and gives to us through the Holy Spirit! Truly it is Christ in us our hope of glory- divinity and humanity combined! We are the dead, lifeless, powerless thing until Christ revives us bringing us back to life, giving us His power unto salvation! Separate from Him we are forever lifeless, powerless, and dead- the living dead.

All by YOUR Grace and Mercy! All by YOUR LOVE, SAVIOR GOD! All in YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS JESUS CHRIST, we would live! All PRAISE and THANKSGIVING UNTO YOU! ALWAYS!


*******
Note-

The above excerpts that I expounded on were taken from the manuscript 'In the Form of a Slave' By William Grotheer. If you are interested in this manuscript you may go to the following website where it is possible for you to order a copy of it. 

http://www.alfiowa.com/

Why don't we truly hate sin?

Excerpt- 'We hear much today about how easy it is to be a Christian; just believe and the grace of God will do all that needs to be done. But the implantation of the true grace of God in the soul - hatred of sin - is the beginning of a life-long struggle marked by tedious battles and severe, bitter contests. It is written: The evil tendencies of mankind are hard to overcome. The battles are tedious. Every soul in the strife knows how severe, how bitter, are these contests. Everything about growth in grace is difficult, because the standard and maxims of the world are constantly interposed between the soul and God's holy standard. The Lord would have us elevated, ennobled, purified, by carrying out the principles underlying His great moral standard, which will test every character in the great day of final reckoning.'

(My thoughts-

A LIFE LONG STRUGGLE- this is CHRISTIANITY, this is the DISCIPLE'S LIFE, not a life of ease, not a life without a without a battle. TEDIOUS battles, SEVERE BITTER CONTESTS, does this sound like a life that is preached upon the pulpits? We're so incredibly used to wanting to hear things that appease us, things that bring us peace, and make us happy. We want things to relax us and take away all our concerns. Truly we are NOT to worry, we are to TRUST, but this doesn't mean we are not going to experience hardships in our trusting. This doesn't mean the peace that passes understanding can't be ours, it can. But it won't be OUR power that makes this peace arise it'll be CHRIST'S. The contests, the battles, the hardships, the struggles have to be undertaken, and any soldier will tell you that while they are in the midst of a fight they are singularly focused on the battle at hand, while underneath it all they are hoping beyond hope that they win the battle, and their faith could be in many things, a Christian's faith must be in GOD. So while we are fighting, we KNOW God is our all in all. But to even think we won't face any struggles or battles is just a delusion we set up for ourselves. The BATTLES will come to ALL Christ followers!

Our EVIL tendencies are not easy to overcome. 'EVERYTHING about growing in GRACE is DIFFICULT, because the STANDARD and MAXIMS of the WORLD are constantly interposed between the soul and God's HOLY standard.'  

So why, why do we believe growing in grace will be easy, pleasant, fun, exciting? Why?)

*******

Excerpt- 'Christ's heart "overflowed with love for the whole human race, but He was never indulgent to their sins. He was too much their friend to remain silent while they were pursuing a course that would ruin their souls, - the souls He had purchased with His own blood. He labored that man should be true to himself, true to his higher and eternal interest.'

(My thoughts-  How could Christ EVER indulge sin? He couldn't! He told people to 'GO and sin no more'. He never said, Go and *TRY* not to sin.  He NEVER ever said sinning was okay, not once! So why do we say it? Why do we excuse it? Why don't we truly HATE it?! Why don't we DESPISE SIN? Seriously, why don't we? We're too busy indulging in it, and making excuses for it to hate it, truly hate it.  God Help us! Help us to hate sin as You hate sin!)

God's Grace- A Hatred for Sin, Not the Sinner

Excerpt - 'God's grace is not something by which He winks at man's transgressions, but His grace teaches us that we should deny ungodliness and lusts which war against the soul. That this may be accomplished in us, we must accept the promises of the powerful energies heaven has provided whereby we can escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. The grace which Christ implants in the soul through the Holy Spirit does something specific for the recipient.'

(My thoughts- Too often we really do believe that God's grace just overlooks our sins. We tell ourselves that God understands that we can't help ourselves and therefore He will excuse all our wrongs- past, present, and future. Then we go on cherishing our favored sins as if they are beyond God's ability to take from us. Every sin should be abhorred! And even if it's a ten times daily abhorring of a sin besetting us, it must forever be abhorred and constantly repented of, never accepted as a matter of our life's burden, never accepted as that's just the way we are. If we become accepting of our sins then we are moving further away from Christ, not closer to Him. If we stop recognizing our sins as being sins at all, we are in grave danger. Truly God's grace is much more than His overlooking sin, it is a power. When, through the Holy Spirit we are given this power it isn't so we can overlook our sins, not a single one of them. It clarifies our sins and makes them more apparent to us so that we may comprehend that even the smallest of our sins has the power to separate us from God. Once it is clarified, once we are able to recognize that smallest of sins we are - by GRACE- forgiven that sin if we seek forgiveness for it, and repent of it, hating it with our entire being, hating even more the fact that we might enjoy it and that is why it's so incredibly hard for us to give it over to God. It's not all happy, happy, joy, joy in our Christ following life,  not when we are at war, warring against the spiritual wickedness in our lives. Not that there won't be a lot of moments of happiness and joy, but if we expect only to feel the happy without the suffering, we are going to sabotage ourselves. We are told to count it all joy and such, but even our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane was not all smiles, but suffering beyond our comprehension.)

Excerpt- 'Whoever is seen to abhor sin instead of loving it, whoever resists and conquers those passions that have held sway within, displays the operation of a principle wholly from above.'

My thoughts- (The power is from GOD, not from within us, not some source of untapped, hidden power we possess in and our ourselves and need to cultivate, or tease to surface so we may conquer sin. It isn't our WILL power that overcomes at all! It is the power of God from above! And it lives in us as we are convicted of the sin in our lives, as we resist and conquer through Christ- this is all God's power, not a single ounce, not a tiny smidgen of power comes from us. When a sin is conquered it truly is ALL GLORY and PRAISE, all THANKSGIVING and HONOR to our KING, our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!)

Excerpt - 'In the statement, 'I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed,' God pledged Himself to introduce into the hearts of human beings a new principle, - a hatred of sin, of deception, or pretense, of everything that bears the marks of Satan's guile.'

My thoughts- (TRUTH.  This hatred for sin is put into our hearts if we choose to accept it! If not we will be allowed to be blinded to sin's evil. We often ask ourselves how people can be so cruel when we read of horrific acts committed and in truth those people are truly blind to their evil. On a much lesser scale have you ever dealt with anyone who just couldn't see things as you did. No matter how you tried to explain something to them they just could not grasp what you were saying. You could see the blank expression where comprehension should be, and then possibly their irritation at your insistence - wanting them to understand, and sometimes anger and then a futile end, agreeing to disagree or perhaps a lingering anger, or a truly noticeable placating of pretense at comprehension where there is none.  If you've ever experienced this then you know it's possible for people to just not understand and on a much GREATER level, a whole group of people choosing NOT to love God, their Creator and Redeemer and therefore being allowed their delusions, blinded and allowed to remain so - and evil in the smallest of sins or the greatest will not be understood the same way as one, who by God's grace and mercy, has been allowed to feel and understand the true hatred for all sin that God has and that we have been given through His promise to put an enmity (hatred) between Satan and God's People.) 

(Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman
Psa_97:10  Ye that love the LORD, hate evil
Pro_8:13  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil
Amo_5:15  Hate the evil, and love the good, 
Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Heb 1:9  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity)

By God's grace may we all fully understand our need for the grace of God in a very real, powerful way. May our hatred for sin match that of our Savior's as our love for Him over comes all! May we never ever find sin acceptable no matter how much the world has labeled sin human nature, undeniable and unconquerable. In Christ, through Christ all things are possible, and only possible through HIM.

All by HIS GRACE!

NOTE: The above excerpts were taken from the manuscript 'In the Form of a Slave' By William Grotheer. If you are interested in this manuscript you may go to the following website where it is possible for you to order a copy of it.  http://www.alfiowa.com/

The Spirit of Truth - A Transforming Power

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'"The word of God - the truth - is the channel through which the Lord manifests His Spirit and power."  If then, the powerful energy of truth has filled one's life, he has been baptized by the Holy Spirit with fire. When the Day of Pentecost came, the Spirit symbolized by tongues of fire, representing the organ of articulation, awakened the slumbering senses of the recipient, not only permitting truth to find its way into his life, but also enabling him to speak truth that pierced the stubborn hearts of the murderers of Christ, and lifted the darkness from their minds.

Jeremiah the prophet had received much abuse because he had spoken unflinchingly the word of the Lord to disobedient Israel. The burden had become so heavy that he decided the best course to follow was to keep his mouth shut and say nothing more. This he could not do for the word of God - the truth - according to his own testimony, "was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forebearing, and I could not stay."  This is the baptism by fire so needed today, and can only become real, when men and women open their hearts to the life-giving energy of truth, which Christ wants to impart in unlimited power through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus declared, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."   In the transforming power of truth, by which the divine nature is brought to us, there are those who would make this experience almost akin to a surgical heart transplant. They would have us believe that there must be an eradication of what is termed the "stony heart", and an implantation of a "new heart." But this life-giving energy of truth restores the powers of the mind by removing the darkness which sin has brought. Of this experience it is stated:  The truths of the Word of God are the utterances of the Most High. He who makes these truths a part of his life becomes in every sense a new creature. He is not given new mental powers, but the darkness that through ignorance and sin has clouded the understanding, is removed. The words, "A new heart also will I give you," means, "A new mind will I give you." A change of heart is always attended by a clear conviction of Christian duty, an understanding of truth. He who gives the Scriptures close, prayerful attention will gain clear comprehension and sound judgment, as if in turning to God he had reached a higher plane of intelligence.   Truth does not destroy or eradicate the mind by which eternal decisions must be made, but it restores the mind to its original capacity to discern the deceptive temptations of the enemy so that the trauma of Eden need not be repeated.'     P63

The above excerpt was taken from the manuscript 'In the Form of a Slave' By William Grotheer. If you are interested in this manuscript you may go to the following website where it is possible for you to order a copy of it.

http://www.alfiowa.com/

My thoughts-

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;


This is SPIRITUAL armor.  God's truth, God's righteousness, God's gospel of peace, God's faith, God's Salvation, God's Word.

This is baptism in the Holy Spirit! This is living in the Spirit.

Joh_8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Eze_36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh

I particularly was impressed by this statement- 'Truth does not destroy or eradicate the mind by which eternal decisions must be made, but it restores the mind to its original capacity to discern the deceptive temptations of the enemy so that the trauma of Eden need not be repeated'

Eternal decisions. We all make them, and we make them daily. Our choice to follow Christ is a constant choice, a living choice. How else could we read throughout God's word about people making a covenant with God only to turn away from Him afterwards breaking that covenant. Our decision to accept Christ as our Savior is a decision we make constantly when we are faced with temptations to do evil, it's not a once and for all decision. It's not a decision set in stone that is unable to be altered. We can change our minds at any time. So, the idea of our having to make eternal decisions is a reality. Realizing our minds can be restored to their original capacity to discern the deception, the temptations of Satan, is so incredibly necessary otherwise we'd be lost to sin, choosing sin constantly. Christ through the Holy Spirit enables us to realize our shortcomings. And while realizing our manifold shortcomings can be cause for us wanting to despair of ever being acceptable, it also, and this is VERY important, is a CONSTANT reminder that we are ever dependent upon our Savior and His Righteousness and not ours.  Not being able to discern our own propensities towards sins, having our eyes blinded to our sins is a horrific thing, because if we cannot discern our sins we cannot seek to repent and find forgiveness in our Savior! How important it truly is for us to be convicted of our sins, and the Holy Spirit will do this in us! This is a gift of the Holy Spirit, this is a baptism of the Spirit.

If we are waiting for some magical powers to be given to us we are looking for the wrong thing. The power is forever Christ's and He promises to give us the Spirit, and…

Joh_14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever

Joh_14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Joh_15:26  But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me

Joh_16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

How marvelous is this?!  The Spirit of TRUTH will come to US. The Spirit of TRUTH will testify of CHRIST and His glorious gospel of the kingdom, Salvation found in HIM. Every conviction of sin is an opportunity to seek forgiveness, not to despair as Satan would have us do. We are to grow closer to our Savior not further away. We aren't to fear that we will ever be sinless, because it is only when we are so close to Christ that we can truly see our horrific worthlessness and His amazing, wondrous worth, and it's only then we that we can live in Him by HIS grace fully! He is everything! And it's only by HIM we live!  He is our constant HOPE.

He is our Truth!

He is our Way!

He is our Life!

Without Him we have no way to the Father!

Please LORD bless us with the Holy Spirit, guide us to all truth as it is found solely in YOU! Help us to seek you always, constantly seeking Your forgiveness for our sins, seeking always to grow closer, ever closer to You!

All in You, all in LOVE.