The Word of the Lord Abides Forever

1Pe 1:24  For, All flesh is as grass, And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth:
1Pe 1:25  But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.

All flesh is as grass.
All glory of the grass the flower.
Grass withers.
Flowers fall.

We know this for a fact don't we? We've all seen grass die. We've all seen flowers wither and fall.  We know that we are no better than the grass or flowers in that we too have a life that begins and ends. We wither, we fall.  If it is our lot to live unto old age it isn't a very pretty thing at all. The withering is very obvious.

All flesh withers and falls without exception.

ONLY the word of the LORD abides for ever.

The Word of good tidings.  We know what that word is, we know it is the TRUTH of salvation. The truth that we pass our earthly residence as something being TEMPORARY.  Yes, we have a life here, but the life here is a prelude for those who would be God's people.

A prelude.  A beginning. We all begin here upon our earthly residence, this journey we call our life. It's a beginning and we choose whether or not we want to be born again into a new life. Once we make that choice we are one step closer to our heavenly residence. I'm not talking about life after death, life after death is NOT Biblical.  I'm talking about the Gospel preached by our Savior, the heavenly kingdom to come.  He's told us that He will come again for us. He's told us that He is preparing a place for us so we can be with Him.  We are told that when He returns all that are dead in HIM will live again and rise to meet Him in the air, this is what our Bible says. This is the thought we must have all the time, daily, not just on special occasions. We need to think on these things, we need to daily call upon our Heavenly Father, we must daily seek forgiveness, repenting of our succumbing to our flesh natures, knowing that one day through Him we will be with Him in His heavenly kingdom.  

Whether we live 1 year, 10 years, 20 years, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 100 years  we are living in a prelude to eternity if we are Christ's because HE abides forever, the WORD abides forever.

All in Christ, please, Lord, let us be in YOU always. Help us through this prelude to eternity. We have a beginning here and with You we will have no end...no end.

All by YOUR LOVE, YOUR GRACE!

Begotten Again - Born Again

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently--

1Pe 1:23  having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.

Begotten again means-

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Born again- begotten again.

Born not of CORRUPTIBLE SEED.  Born of INCORRUPTIBLE SEED.

Born of-- 

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Born of incorruptible seed, born of the Spirit.

Begotten again, born again.

Incorruptible seed, born of the Spirit.

When we are born of incorruptible seed that is the seed of the SPIRIT and we are born of the Spirit through the Word of God--

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Do you see, we must be born again through Jesus Christ our Savior if we have any hope at all whatsoever. I know we know this but we have to have this in our HEARTS. We have to have this in our lives. We have to LIVE this, breathe this, make this our life, our NEW LIFE, our born again life.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently--

1Pe 1:23  having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.

We can love one another from the heart fervently when we are born again, living in the Spirit. Of ourselves we cannot love that way.  We CANNOT love others on our own, because the love we have of our own is a very selfish love, a corruptible love.

The Word of God lives and not only lives but ABIDES.

Abiding in the Word of God, abiding in our Savior--

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

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will abide with us forever!  Jesus prays to the Father for US to have another Comforter. He comforted those He was with while He walked the earth, and the Holy Spirit is sent to comfort all those who are His while He is no longer upon the earth.

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.

We have NOTHING of God unless we are living in GOD, nothing. We can do NOTHING of ourselves.  Even our Savior could do NOTHING of Himself while He was upon earth.

Joh_5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

The biggest trouble with us is that we seek our own will, we do it all the time. We think of ourselves first before everything. We think of our feelings, our needs, our desires, our wants, our time, our actions, we focus on ourselves more than anything else. We put ourselves first in  all things we do it all the time. And we need Christ to live in us so that we can put CHRIST first in all things.

Joh_15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

If we are NOT in Christ we are dead, the living dead, and our fate is to burn.  We must live in Christ, He must be alive in us, a part of us through the Holy Spirit!

Joh_15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

All by the GRACE of GOD! All through HIS LOVE, we abide.

Joh_15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

TRUTH!

TRUTH!

So why do we not believe the truth?

Our Savior kept His Father's commandments and not one jot or one tittle was every taken away from that law.  Our Savior kept the Father's Commandments and if He kept the Father's commandments then we must keep the commandments that He kept, His commandments. Our Savior said this--

Luk_16:17  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

It always comes back to the laws given to us, the laws of LOVE.

Joh_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Jesus' words.

If we love Him, we will abide in His love and if we keep His commandments we are abiding in His love, if we are loving Him we are keeping His commandments.

HE and HE alone makes it possible for us to keep His commandments, for us to love HIM.

Everything is CHRIST!

Please, Lord, please let us love YOU, let us abide in YOU always!

1Pe 1:23  having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.

All by HIM!

In HIS LOVE.

Obeying the truth through the Spirit

1Pe 1:20,21  indeed having been foreknown before the foundation of the world, but revealed in the last times for you,  those believing in God through Him,  He who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory,  so that your faith and hope might be in God.

1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

1Pe 1:21  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

Our faith and hope might be in GOD.

Jesus Christ KNOWN BEFORE the FOUNDATION of the WORLD.

Let that sink in for a moment. Before the foundation of OUR world, our Savior existed. Our Savior REVEALED in the last times for us.  The plan of salvation for this world was a part of this world before this world existed.  It's just like any of us making plans to do something spectacular but knowing there are risks involved. Because we know there are risks involve we make contingency plans should any of those risks become realized. We can comprehend that, so why can't we comprehend the Creator of our World, the Creator of Us, doing the same thing? 

The plan for salvation wasn't introduced to mankind until it was absolutely necessary. All the while Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden before sinning, they didn't need to know there was a plan in place, the plan was there if needed. Once it became needed mankind heard this…

Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

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.

A hatred was PUT between Satan and God's people.

This hatred between sin and love would result in the enmity's being bruised in the heel- and the sin, Satan, being destroyed with its head bruised.

Our Savior's contingency plan included His own temporary death and great suffering. The Creator became the Savior.

 1Pe 1:20,21 'those believing in God through Him,  He who raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory,  so that your faith and hope might be in God.

Our FAITH and HOPE must be in GOD who did all this for us.

1Pe 1:22  Purifying your souls in the OBEDIENCE OF THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT TO UNFEIGNED LOVE OF THE BROTHERS, LOVE ONE ANOTHER FERVENTLY OUT OF A PURE HEART,

We must purify our souls - purify ourselves with the OBEDIENCE of the truth- obedience of the truth through the Spirit- through the spirit to unfeigned love of the brothers- unfeigned love, loving one another- loving one another fervently- loving one another fervently out of a pure heart.

Do you see?  Through the Spirit we can love others, from a pure heart, this purifies us!

Loving through the Spirit.

Obeying the truth through the Spirit.

Please, Lord, please… help us to love, to obey, to be YOURS, all by YOUR LOVE.

Our Earthly Residence

'And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, pass the time of your earthly residence in fear,  knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers,  but with the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot'  1Pe 1:17-19

IF we call on the Father.
The Father- who without respect of persons-judges according to the work of each one.
Pass the time of your earthly residence in fear.
Knowing that you were not redeem with corruptible things- silver or gold.
Not redeemed from our VAIN manner of life handed down from our fathers.
REDEEMED by the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

What is this telling us?

We must call on the Father, right?  Jesus told us we are to pray--'Our Father…'  We must call upon the Father and IF we call upon the Father we have to do so while realizing that our Father is NOT one who respects person, meaning He treats us ALL the same. The ONLY thing our Father judges us on is the actions of our life, each one of us individually are judged based on the choices we make, this is our work that is judged.

Because we choose to call upon the Father we have to realize that the Father and the Father alone is our JUDGE. HE IS OUR JUDGE! When we call upon Him we have to do so knowing He is our judge. We can't call upon Him in any other way. We must call upon Him with this knowledge as we call upon Him.  Because we are to - 'PASS the time of our EARTHLY residence in FEAR!'  

Yes, in FEAR!  A fear that demands we respect the only One who can save us from ourselves. A fear that we will fall short of accepting the salvation offered to us. A fear that tells us to seek the FATHER as a child who is solely dependent upon that Father for all life, in fact for life eternal.  A fear that tells us to go anywhere else but to the Father is to give up all love, all life.

We are told not to fear but to trust, but we are also told to fear. The difference between the two is the things we fear.

Remember --

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

A consuming fire.

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Let us have grace…

Whereby we may serve God acceptably with REVERENCE and GODLY FEAR.

Our life is in HIS hands.  We must revere and fear, we must love and fear, we must let the fear be attached to our faith.

1Jn_4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Perfect love- only GOD has perfect love and we have to let our fear be faith by the grace of our LORD.

'And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, pass the time of your earthly residence in fear,  knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers,  but with the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot'  1Pe 1:17-19

We re NOT redeemed with anything that is corruptible.
No silver, no gold can save us from our VAIN manner of life, a life we've inherited.

The ONLY thing that can save us is the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST!

A perfect LAMB, the perfect SACRIFICE.

Please, Lord, please let our fear become faith all by YOUR grace.

We are passing our time here, our time on this earthly residence in fear. We cannot redeem ourselves, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves we can't buy our salvation in any way shape or form. Please let Your Son be our Savior! He alone is worthy to save us, while we are unworthy to be saved. By His GRACE, HIS MERCY, HIS LOVE, save us who are unworthy, us whose works are nothing, save our choice to believe and even that is by YOUR GRACE!

Hope to the End

1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

*******

When you gird up your loins, what are you doing? You're protecting your body.  You're preparing for action. We are told this--

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth

We are told this is part of the whole armor of God.

Armor protects us in battle.  The truth protects us in our spiritual battle.

Here in 1 Peter we are told to gird up the loins of our MINDS.

We must protect our MINDS.

We protect our minds by remaining sober. We protect our minds by HOPING to the END for the GRACE that is TO BE BROUGHT unto us at the REVELATION of JESUS CHRIST.

Hope protects us.  We can understand how remaining sober would protect our minds, can't we? Anyone who has ever been drunk can understand how they're not in their right minds when they are under the influence. People do things and say things they don't mean to do and say and would NEVER do or say if they weren't drunk. Our guards are down when we are drunk. At least in remaining sober we are NOT opening ourselves up to evil influences and yes, this protects us.

Can we understand how hope protect our minds?

Without hope …

Heb_11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hope is faith, isn't it?

Heb_11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Without hope it is impossible to please God.
Without hope we have NO hope.

We must hope and we must NEVER lose hope.

This is the devil's chief goal, to make us lose hope. Hope offers us the best protection ever.

1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance

We must be OBEDIENT children of God.
We must NOT fashion ourselves according to our former lusts that we held in ignorance.

This all ties into striving, to resisting unto blood, to fighting the good fight, to being active spiritually.

1Ti_6:12  Fight the good fight of faith

We aren't to be passive in our spiritual life. We are to FIGHT, we have ARMOR. If we truly believe these are mere words without any substance, words that are said in metaphor without any practical application to our spiritual life, then we are lost.

It is a battle, it is a fight, and it's one that we all are taking a part in.

Some of us choose to remain at home on the sidelines keeping off enemy territory, staying out of the real fight, keeping far away from the front lines- but in doing that we are placing ourselves at risk.  We are acknowledging there is a spiritual battle going on, but not one that we really have to be a part of. We'd like our part to be one that doesn't see any action. We want our part in this battle to not require us to put on any armor at all.

But it isn't enough to sit out this battle.  We are all on the front lines daily, and satan will gladly destroy your spiritual life while you sit back believing all the while you are fighting a good fight. Satan deals chiefly in deception and he'll use every means at his disposal to keep us deceived.

God give us TRUTH. God takes off our blinders. God wants us to fight the good fight, to be in the spiritual battle with all our armor on.

God has call us to be holy in all things, are we?

1Pe 1:15  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Do we set aside our Christianity and tell ourselves we are only human, and can't help but live in our humanity first and foremost?  Do we make all manner of excuses so we can keep from fighting the spiritual battle, so we can live a life of spiritual ease?

Be holy as God is holy.

We tell ourselves this is impossible.  And it is impossible for us, but not for God.

We are called to be holy and we can be holy only through the hope we have in Christ Jesus our SAVIOR.

Hope.

More tomorrow all by the GRACE of our God.

Please LORD be our HOPE in all things!  Help us to HOPE to the END for the GRACE brought to us by JESUS CHRIST, the REVELATOR.

Serve God Acceptably

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Receiving a kingdom which CANNOT be moved…

We just talked about the heavens and earth being shaken and things being removed, and now we are talking about a kingdom which cannot be moved. It's that simple isn't it?

What can be moved and cannot be moved.
Things not of God and things of God.

If we are God's we will NOT be moved, we will not be removed from all existence. All things that are not God's will be removed it's that simple.

We are told- we who receive the kingdom- receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, cannot be moved and then we are told to have grace- grace so we may SERVE God ACCEPTABLY with REVERENCE and GODLY FEAR.  Why? Because our GOD is a CONSUMING FIRE.

A consuming fire.

Believing God is a big ol' softy who will not harm anyone or anything is wrong. What He will never do, is harm anyone or anything UNJUSTLY.

Let us have grace.

Grace is not forced upon anyone. No one will be forced against their will to receive the grace of God.  Those who refuse the grace of God will one day cry out that they should have been forced, but force is not love.

We are not forced but we are chastened. We are shown the errors of our ways. We are guided lovingly, if strictly and at times painfully- because God says no chastening for the present seems pleasant, but accepting the chastening and learning from it, learning the lesson we are being taught is necessary.

Let us have grace.

Having grace is accepting Christ as our Savior, accepting He and He alone can save us through that grace of His.

1Pe_5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Oh, please, let us have grace!

Let us serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

Serve, please let us serve You, let Your will be done in us. Help us to revere You as we should, help us to have godly fear as we fully comprehend that You are a CONSUMING FIRE. You are not one who will compromise any of what You are, You will never compromise Your love, never. You have laid ALL Your cards on the table plain for all to see. You have explained Your plan of salvation leaving nothing out, nothing whatsoever. You leave it for every human being to decide whether or not they want You and accept Your plan of salvation.

Lord, we choose You.
Lord, we serve You, help our serving be acceptable to You.
Lord, help us to revere You.
Lord, help us have a godly fear of You.
Lord, help us to comprehend that You are a consuming fire, never forgetting, never soft-selling You. Never believing that sin will not be eradicated fully in every aspect by Your consuming fire.

All by Your love.

Savior or Self?

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

'Whose voice'- a voice speaks.
'And this word'- what a voice says.

And this word, ONCE MORE- SIGNIFIES the REMOVING of those things that are SHAKEN.

When did this word remove shaken things in the past?

Psa_18:7  Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

Psa 46:6  The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
Psa 46:7  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Psa 46:8  Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

God's word is powerful, so incredibly powerful. The world could end at His word. One word from our Creator we could be blotted out of existence.  The power is there, the power ruled by love which cannot blot us out because Christ sacrificed Himself to save us from ourselves.

There are many things that can be shaken, many things that can be removed, but there are things that CANNOT be shaken and those things will remain.

God's love cannot be shaken. God's law cannot be shaken.  Evil will be shaken and all the things attached to evil, all things that are a result of evil will be removed.

Satan- once Lucifer- a covering cherub took one third of the heavenly angels with Him, not by force but by lies and deception. He deceived the angels and they chose to follow him over their Creator, God. Yes, the heavens will be shaken…

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Everything will be shaken and for a final time and only the things that CANNOT be shaken will remain.  Only the things that are GOD'S will remain.

Our Savior, our Mediator, the One who stands between us and God is the One we MUST cling to! Our lives, our allegiance must be to our SAVIOR.

Savior or self.

Savior or self.

This is truly what we decide between.

We can be shaken, we can be removed if we are not God's, if Christ is not in us, if we are not known by Christ, and the way we are known, the way He is in us, the way we are God's is by choosing to let self DIE and choosing DAILY to let self die, not yielding to self, but yielding to God. Willing to strive against sin, strive unto blood, resist unto blood knowing we are battling self.  All the powers of Satan will encourage us to not resist sin, not to resist ourselves. All the powers of Satan will convince us that sin is good, and good is sin, so our conscience will be quiet.  Please, Lord, let our conscience never be silenced by our giving into Satan's deceptions. Live in us! Let us live in You. Let us be YOURS always!  Guide us, help us, teach us, love us!

Let us choose YOU, our SAVIOR, over ourselves.

All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE! Let us be Yours so we will not be removed, not be shaken.