The truth or the world

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 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Jesus will PRAY the FATHER, Jesus will petition the FATHER,  Jesus wants the FATHER to give us ANOTHER Comforter. Jesus KNOWS that He will be in heaven beside His Father after He is raised from the grave days after His death. Jesus  knows He won't be on earth to be with followers, and Jesus knows they will NEED another Comforter, One who will be with us forever.  Jesus knows that we will need the Spirit of TRUTH. Jesus knows the WORLD CANNOT RECEIVE the Spirit of Truth. The WORLD cannot see the TRUTH, or KNOW the TRUTH.  We CAN know the TRUTH, because the TRUTH will be with us, the TRUTH will be in us.

So are we of the world or of Christ?

If we are of the world we cannot know the truth, and if we can't know the truth, we cannot be Christ's.

Where does the world rank with us?

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Who rules you? The natural man or the Spirit?

We need truth! We need Christ! We need another Comforter.

Please Father, please help us to choose YOU over all the world has to offer us!

Please Father, we would be YOURS!

Please Father.

Jesus, Your only begotten Son prayed for us, please hear His prayer and give us Another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth!

All in HIS NAME!

Moses chose to suffer

Truth-  Moses--

Heb 11:25,26  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;  esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Moses- esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

Stop and think about that for a moment, Christ was NOT yet human, He had not yet taken on flesh when Moses lived.  Moses knew the entire Sacrificial system that He was instrumental in setting up with God guiding him every step of the way, was set up pointing to the ultimate sacrifice. Moses knew!  The things he set up were a pattern of heavenly things, the things he set up were never intended to take the place of the promised Messiah, they were to POINT to Him and they did!

Moses understood that one day the Messiah would come and that HOPE of the Messiah was worth anything and everything He had to endure to serve God.

He served God in all things. Does this mean He was perfect? No.  But  it means His desire to be God's was greater than the desire for all pleasures he could have for a season- the short span of his life before death's sleep.

So many of us want the pleasures of here and now more than anything else. So many of us want to have things now in this life time not realizing that anything we can have now pales in comparison to the heavenly rewards that await us upon Christ's return.

Moses understood this and suffered rather than live a life of luxury because that is what He was called to do by God.  The future with his Savior, the PROMISE by FAITH in his Savior was all Moses had, and WE have that too. 

Our Savior needs to mean more to us than all else.  By HIS grace this will be possible! By His power alone is it possible.  Lord, we believe, help our unbelief!

All in YOU and YOUR LOVE- this is TRUTH, help us live Your truth!

I am so blessed!

My God, my King, my Savior! Blessed be Your Name! God is so incredibly good to us in so many ways.  As I say those words I realize that many people don't have a life filled with loved ones and good things. Many people are living lives filled with hardship and pain. Can they say the same things I can? Can they say God is so incredibly good to us in so many ways?  Perhaps they can and I just can't imagine them being able to do so because my idea of good things differ from theirs. Some times it takes having a lot of things stripped away from us before we realize what really matters, and yet even as I say those words I realize some people would rather not live then do without things that are stripped away from them.  The value we place on our lives can be great, or it can be little to no value.  What value does God place upon our lives?

God with God, places so great a value on our lives that He took on human flesh, removing Himself from His Spirit form and allowed Himself to be murdered- for US, because He values US so incredibly much! We are THAT important to Him.

Truly, God who was decreed the Father so loved the WORLD that gave His only begotten decreed Son, and whosoever BELIEVES in HIM will NOT perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE.

This is truth!

God loves those with awful lives, and those with lives of ease and luxury, and in some ways those with the lives of ease have a much harder time than those with lives of pain and hardship. We are called to be God's in giving, in taking, in good, in bad, in ease, and in hardship- may we never forget this, not ever.  May God bless those who give so much without ever expecting things in return. May God bless those who have enriched my life with their blessings. May God fill them with His truth, His love, His light, with all that He is!

I am blessed, so incredibly blessed in so many ways

The heavenly city is promised to all those who are called forth from their graves

'And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. ' Heb 11:15-16

Do you desire a better country, a HEAVENLY country to live in?

This heavenly city is promised to all those who are called forth from their graves to meet the Lord in the air upon His return for His saints.  Those who are alive when He returns will also meet our Lord in the air.

If the dead saints are called from their graves, and the living taken up to meet the Lord in the air upon His return, are the majority of people who have died in heaven already? NO!

I shout it again, NO!

Let me give you the truth from God's Holy Word--

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

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.

The DEAD in CHRIST shall RISE FIRST!

When do the dead rise from their graves?  When the LORD descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of GOD, AND NOT BEFORE!

Has the Lord descended from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God? NO! The dead in Christ have NOT been called from their graves and been told to rise. And most assuredly no others, no living, have been caught up together with the dead that have newly risen and gone to the clouds to meet the LORD IN THE AIR, and also most assuredly we have NOT gone up and been with the LORD for ever.

We are told to COMFORT one another with THESE word, not lies.

These words can offer comfort to all who are living as pilgrims and strangers upon this earth seeking a heavenly home.  You will NOT find that home in heaven upon death no matter what anyone tells you. No matter if the most supposedly holy person in the world tells you, no matter if the smartest Biblical scholar tells you that a person who has passed away is now in heaven with God and other previously passed loved ones, they are WRONG! Because our Bibles tell us the DEAD KNOW NOTHING. Our Bibles tell us that the dead in Christ rise from their graves when Jesus returns, why would our Bibles lie? They wouldn't lie to us. So as many hear preachers preaching and people comforting each other with lies, we are to comfort with the truth … God give us a voice to speak that truth.

I don't have a voice, I have words upon a screen and I pray that our Lord and Savior can use my in His service in this way. I fail Him so much otherwise, I fail Him in my inability to speak aloud the truth I know. Please LORD, please by the grace You give to us, be with me in all I'm called to do. Please, help me in my weakness. Please, forgive me!

By Your amazing LOVE, always!

These all died in faith...

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

We are all strangers and pilgrims on earth, but we don't all realize that we are strangers and pilgrims.

We have faith that one day we will be called to heaven to be with our Savior when He returns for us. We have faith that all those who die and sleep the long sleep will rise from the graves and be transformed in a twinkling of an eye, to meet their Lord in the air.

My uncle has ended his pilgrimage on earth, he has entered the long sleep, but I have faith that He will rise when our Savior returns, that He will be with Him and all of us who wait in faith for the return of our Lord. 

Truly as pilgrims searching for our heavenly home we are strangers here in this world of chaos, but cling to the faith of a much better world. We journey onwards ever hoping in the mercy and grace of our Lord to save us from all evil, from our selves, from anything nd everything that would separate us from the Way, the Truth, and the Life- our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ!

All in HIS love always!

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

We Suffer

2Co 4:8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

2Co 4:9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Too many believe that if you are a child of Christ's that you shouldn't suffer, yet how can that be true if what we read in the above verses is truth?

'We are troubled on every side.'  Does this sound like not suffering?

'We are perplexed.' Does this sound like not suffering?

'Persecuted, cast down, bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus' Does all that sound like not suffering?

Yet in ALL suffering we who have Christ as our GOD- should not be 'distressed', not be 'in despair', not 'forsaken', not 'destroyed'.

So why are we so very often in distress? Why are we in despair? Why do we feel forsaken and destroyed? 

We need to learn to trust in our God.

We need to comprehend the same treatment of our Lord is the treatment we will very likely meet if we walk the walk of Christ.  Yet we shirk from ever doing anything that will bring us distress, despair, suffering of any sort. 

God, please help us. We are so incredibly weak. I am weak! I am a very poor example of what we need to be! Forgive me! Please, Lord, forgive me!

For Your sake we endure suffering, the same suffering You endured.  You did not come and settle yourself to fit into the crowd, you stood out from the crowd. You endured the ridicule heaped upon You for being different, for standing up for all You believe- the truth.

Forgive me, please, forgive me.

For the Truth's Sake, for the Gospel's Sake- We Preach Jesus Christ!

2Jn 1:2  For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

For the TRUTH SAKE- Truth which dwells IN US, will be with us FOREVER.

What truth dwells in us?

Joh_17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

The Father is in the Son Jesus Christ,  the Son Jesus Christ is in the Father- and we are all supposed to be one in both of them.   All agreeing as one. This is the truth that dwells in us, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the FATHER GOD living in us, it is THEIR truth that dwells in us.

1Co 9:23  And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

The truth's sake- the gospel's sake- the gospel is TRUTH.

2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

We preach Christ Jesus our LORD.

We preach truth.

Joh_14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus is The WAY, Jesus is The TRUTH, and Jesus is The LIFE.  The only way to that oneship with the Father is through the Son. 

The gospel is the gospel of the kingdom.

The gospel is the gospel of the true world beyond this temporary world we live in now, this testing ground, this war zone of a world, this place we are but pilgrims upon as we search for our final home, as we seek a new world.  Jesus' gospel was the gospel of the KINGDOM!  Jesus came so we could have access to His kingdom, access to that better world. Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom as a VERY REAL place, it was the Hope of our SAVIOR that we would choose to be with Him in the kingdom He came to preach to us.

We live here and now, but we do NOT have to live for here and now, we can live for the kingdom just as our Savior preached and this is truth- that there is life, everlasting life in the kingdom of God for all who would believe in the Savior, the truth.

Please, Father, please heavenly Father we long for Your kingdom to come, we need Your will to be done in our lives! Please, bless us in You! Please forgive us our sins, there are so many of them and so many we must forgive, help us to do this as we seek to live in YOU, for YOU and Your truth! Give us ALL we need to live daily- spiritually and physically, please!  All glory, praise, and honor unto YOU my KING, my SAVIOR, my LORD, my TRUTH!

Amen!