We must be taught to deny self as we embrace Christ!

From January 3, 2015-

'Php 2:5  For think this within you, which mind was also in Christ Jesus,

Php 2:6  who subsisting in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,

Php 2:7  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, having become in the likeness of men

Php 2:8  and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, having become obedient until death, even the death of a cross. (LITV)

Christ put HIMSELF into the form of a slave! We are to be like Christ, and if HE took on the form of a slave, shouldn't we? Don't we need to?  We are BOUGHT and the price we are bought with is the Blood of Christ! He bought us with His life!'

1Co_6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We BELONG TO GOD when we CHOOSE to belong to God. 

We get to CHOOSE our Master.  Unlike those forced into Slavery we CHOOSE slavery.  WE choose to be bought, to be owned, to be Christ's.

Our Master requires us to give up our self-sufficiency, the  hardest thing we'll ever do.

Do we care if our actions are acceptable to Christ?

So many want to do anything they can, anything they desire, not denying themselves anything at all. If they feel inclined to do something they do it. If they don't want to do something, they don't, and they call it their right. We call it our right. Yet throughout the Word of God there are numerous examples of living uprightly, living by denying flesh desires that would keep us from God.  Were all flesh desires denied. NO. And they aren't all to be denied. Yet ANYTHING that would keep us from our Walk with God, anything that would steal us from God, ANYTHING THAT WOULD interfere with our spiritual walk with God - HAS to be denied!  How do we know what we should deny? I think it is a very personal knowledge that we are given when we seek God with all our heart, leaning NOT unto our own understanding. We need to pray for guidance, pray for understanding, study to know! God's word gives us the ANSWERS.

Do some people take things to extreme? Maybe to our understanding, but maybe not to theirs. They have their own walk with God. They have to answer to God for what they are called to do or not do.  I say this thinking of John the Baptist. John was called to live very roughly- in camel skins and eating honey and locusts while in the desert, but were others called to follow that walk? No, not all others. Some might be called to such a walk, but not all. Some are allowed to drink wine, and eat fine food, and have very fine linen, they are called to that in their walk with God. Some are called to great hardship, others to lives of earthly luxury, but each to their own walk according to the Word of the Lord.  There are basic actions in the Moral Commandments of God that ALL rich or poor must obey by the grace of God, but in all the material aspects of our lives, in all the day to day existing we are called to do beyond the initial born again moment, we have to find our path in God's word, in God's love, through prayer, through meditation, through the love of our God and by the grace of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ now and forever! We must be taught to deny self as we embrace Christ!

More tomorrow by our Savior's will, by the Father's will, through the Holy Spirit!

Amen.

Form of a slave...

A little bit from Jan. 2, 2015...

‘What is evil?

In a nutshell, evil is selfishness, self-centeredness, evil is self-indulgence, evil is self.

We are to abstain from anything that would keep us centered on ourselves!

How can that be? How would we live at all if we weren't concerned for our own well-being- feeding, bathing, clothing ourselves?  All these things are necessary just because we exist, right? So how can they be evil?  They can be perverted. There is an acceptable indulgence of self so that the needs of living are taken care of, but beyond that shouldn't our center be on God and others, and off of ourselves?

No wonder so few will be known by our Savior when He returns. We are a world filled with self indulgence, self centeredness, selfishness.  We come first simply because we exist, and others may come (before us) only as it suits our selfishness to put them there.’

*******

Jan. 3, 2015

Renouncing SELF.

Mat_16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mar_8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Let him deny himself.  

What exactly is this saying?  A renunciation of self? A doing away with self? How do you deny yourself?  We know that we can deny ourselves *things*. I can deny myself a chocolate sundae and that means I’m denying myself….something.  But what does it truly mean to deny ourselves beyond denying ourselves *things*?

If we deny ourselves aren’t we truly giving ourselves up? Aren’t we giving up supposed ownership of ourselves? If I deny myself I am deny myself of having self-sufficiency. I am denying myself of having possession of myself.  How can we give up possession of ourselves?  

We know how it is possible to do this literally in the physical world between each other, don’t we? We can offer ourselves as a slave to someone allowing them to make all our decisions for us, allowing them to direct our lives in every detail. We can allow them to tell us what to do (and we have to do it no matter what it is). We can allow them to tell us everything- when to sleep, eat, drink, use the bathroom, bathe, talk, see, hear, touch, taste.  To be a slave, as only slaves could probably tell us, can be - but doesn’t have to be - horrific.  What do I mean by that? All slavery is horrific, right?  Not necessarily.  A case in point is the slaves who are treated like family, only they are owned by another and have to answer to another. A slave owner can be loving, kind, compassionate, inspiring in many ways. After the civil war there were many tales of slaves being lost by not being owned, of slaves wanting to be slaves because suddenly they were denied the security they had, the protection, the love, the care from their compassionate owners.  No, I am NOT saying it was like that even in the majority of cases, in fact the opposite is most likely true- slavery was awful for the majority.  However, there are cases of generations of slaves (not necessarily here in the United States solely but throughout history around the world) where one generation after another were slaves and were content in their lot, never abused, never harmed as what we would imagine a typical slave had to endure.

Why am I touting the positive side of slavery? Because of this--

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We are bought if we are Christ’s. We are BOUGHT by HIM.  He is our MASTER we are HIS SLAVES.  And we are NOT slaves in a bad sense, but WILLINGLY slaves, desiring Him to be our owner, to be our master.

In fact read this--

Php 2:5  For think this within you, which mind was also in Christ Jesus,

Php 2:6  who subsisting in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,

Php 2:7  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, having become in the likeness of men

Php 2:8  and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, having become obedient until death, even the death of a cross. (LITV)

Our Savior took the form of a slave when He became human.  

Our Savior- a slave!

We are to be slaves of Christ and we are to be His slaves in the best sense ever!

Yet Satan would twist everything around and most people just hearing that we are to be slaves of Christ would rebel against the suggestion.

Slavery is truly horrific and anyone FORCED into slavery is a victim, a tragic victim! No one should EVER be forced into slavery, no one!

And Christ would NEVER force any one into slavery, NEVER! We are invited into this form of slavery. Christ put HIMSELF into the form of a slave! We are to be like Christ, and if HE took on the form of a slave, shouldn't we? Don't we need to?  We are BOUGHT and the price we are bought with is the Blood of Christ! He bought us with His life!

More on all this tomorrow by the grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST!

Amen!

Abstain from fleshly lusts

ABSTAIN. 1 Peter 2:11

DENY YOURSELF. Luke 9:23

PUT OFF.  Ephesians 4:22-24

We find it a great hardship when we are told to abstain from food eight hours before a medical test. Deprivation in order to have some procedure done, from the testing of blood to surgery. Deprivation why? We are told it's because the 'fasting' bloodwork reveals differences from the non-fasting bloodwork. We are told we must have an empty stomach  to lessen the chances of vomiting during surgery. We are told to deprive ourselves for our own good.  We generally listen,  with perhaps a few liberties such as a sip of water, a swallow of coffee, or some such and even as we take that liberty we know we could be endangering ourselves by our action- according to doctors/surgeons and all the history they have to draw on that led them to the conclusions fasting is better for certain things.  We listen because we want to be safe. We want the correct blood work done in order to show the results untampered with in order to determine if we need various medicines to help us should our blood work reveal things that aren't so good. We want to keep from vomiting during surgery and after surgery, we don't want to choke, we don't want to injure ourselves from the forceful throes of vomiting.  We are protecting ourselves. We are abstaining to protect ourselves.  We only feel a mild irritation that things have to be this way, that we have to abstain because we know it is what it is and we can't change anything. 

Our Lord in His Most Holy Word tells us to ABSTAIN from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Definitions:

Fleshy lusts-

G4559 sarkikos,  pertaining to flesh, that is, (by extension) bodily, temporal, or (by implication) animal, unregenerate: - carnal, fleshly.

G1939 epithumia, a longing (especially for what is forbidden): - concupiscence, desire, lust (after).

These flesh fueled cravings that WAR against us, what are they? If they're things we desire then how are they warring against us? 

We know the flesh is at war with the spirit, right?

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Again, if we want to do things, why are they wrong things? 

What sort of flesh desiring things are contrary to the Spirit?

Rom 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Evil. What flesh desiring things are evil?

What is evil?

In a nutshell, evil is selfishness, self-centeredness, evil is self-indulgence, evil is self.

We are to abstain from anything that would keep us centered on ourselves!

How can that be? How would we live at all if we weren't concerned for our own well-being- feeding, bathing, clothing ourselves?  All these things are necessary just because we exist, right? So how can they be evil?  They can be perverted. There is an acceptable indulgence of self so that the needs of living are taken care of, but beyond that shouldn't our centered be on God and others and off of ourselves?

No wonder so few will be known by our Savior when He returns. We are a world filled with self indulgence, self centeredness, selfishness.  We come first simply because we exist, and others may come first only as it suits our selfishness to put them there.

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR Jesus Christ- the PERFECTLY SELFLESS ONE!

Amen!

*******

1 Peter 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul

Luke 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Ephesians  4:22-24 Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

War against the soul

Decisions. We have to make constant decisions throughout our lives.  Daily decisions. We choose whether or not to 'feed' the old man or the new man.  When we are born again in Christ there is NO magical transformation that takes away all our flesh ruled tendencies. The deceitful lusts that war against the us will do just that… WAR.

1Pe 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul

Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph 4:22-24.

Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 13:14.

We have to choose to put on the LORD JESUS CHRIST.  We have to choose to put off the former ways.  We have to choose to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. 

Choices, so many choices. Our old nature doesn't disappear, as much as we want it to. We are in a war, a real war even if it's not a war in the flesh alone but in spirit as well. The war of our mind… no wonder we have to be RENEWED in the spirit of our minds.  Our minds NEED constant renewing! Our minds are under constant assault! We need to put off the old man! We need to put off the corruption in us! The lusts in us are deceitful, trying to convince us that they are GOOD. We talked a little about this the other day.  The calling of evil, good and good, evil.  The deceit in us is overwhelming so we must cling to CHRIST! We must CHOOSE to abstain from anything that would keep us from Christ!  We have to CHOOSE CHRIST constantly throughout our day. 

It is a choice and we CAN'T forget it! We can't let ourselves be so caught up in our selves we fail to see Christ in everything! When we shut Christ out because we don't *feel* Him, or we are too caught up in anger, or wrong doing, or even doing good selfishly, we are not putting on Christ.

So often it is revealed to me as I'm in the throes of flesh passions that war against the spirit that I am NOT putting on Christ, and what I need to do is STOP right then and put on Christ, not let the deceitful flesh lusts rule in me.

It's true, this is what I need to do and CAN do only by the grace and mercy, the love of my Savior, through the Holy Spirit that He has sent to me.

This is TRUTH!

We have to choose Christ and Christ's way, not our own, not Satan's way.

Please Father, please renew the spirit of our minds! We need this renewal CONSTANTLY, daily! 

You are our RIGHTEOUSNESS! You are our HOLINESS! You are our SAVIOR! Please, save us from ourselves and all that would keep us from being Yours! Please!

All by Your love and grace, your mercy, by Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, always! 

Jesus stood and cried... if any man thirst

Joh 7:37-39 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Living water.

Remember when Jesus said we must be born again?  Born of the spirit and water.

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.

Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Life giving water.  The Holy Spirit is promised to us, and without the Holy Spirit we will not see God.  We must be born of the SPIRIT. 

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.

The Holy Spirit is sent to us. Except we are BORN of the water and of the SPIRIT- we will not be able to enter the kingdom of God. If we cannot enter the kingdom of God we will NOT have eternal life  with our Savior. 

We must have the SPIRIT and Jesus wants us to come to HIM to receive the SPIRIT.  We must THIRST -

Mat_5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

We must thirst.

Please Father, we THIRST after You, after the Spirit, after the Lord our Savior!

Kept from Evil

Departing from evil.

When we understand- we depart from evil. We are no longer inclined to embrace evil- at least not spiritually.  Jesus asks our Father to keep us from evil, knowing this was paramount to us as those who would belong to Him.

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Depart from evil.

Kept from evil.

Evil would have us if it can, it will stop at nothing to get us. Jesus spoke nothing lightly! Jesus asked the FATHER to keep us from the evil.  Jesus wanted us to know that He was asking the Father to do this for us.  Jesus PRAYED for us and His prayer will be heard! For all who would be His, He would stop at nothing to keep us in His love. WE MUST desire this. WE have to desire Christ to lead us now and forever.  We need to be kept from evil!

We need to also depart from evil.

We cannot  choose evil over Christ. We cannot choose Satan over Christ. Satan is the ruler of this world and so much in this world belongs to him. The evil has only grown and grown and the only way we've been able to live with ourselves is because we call evil good now. We do. We call evil good.  We've blinded our eyes to the evil. We have accepted the evil and call it life. If a person in a coma for a hundred years woke up today and witnessed our world they would be totally overwhelmed by the EVIL of today. They would NOT be amused by it. They'd be appalled. We make movies of this sort and find it humorous to watch the people from the past pulled to the future stumble about and find themselves drawn into the evil. Rarely do we make movies that would have a person NOT accepting the evil of this world.  WE laugh at what isn't funny, but we do so to fit in. We play along because we are helpless to do otherwise in so many ways. The evil is surrounding us in this world and is it any wonder our Savior prayed for us to be kept from the evil?

The only way we are to be kept from the evil is by our God keeping us from it. WE must look to Him for all things, for all hope!

Depart from evil.

Please, Father, save us! Come Lord Jesus, come soon! We need You, we need You desperately! This world is covered in evil. Keep us from that evil so we may be YOURS! Please, Father, please once again I beg You to save us from ourselves, from our flesh selves, from the evil that we are prone to do in the flesh. Please, Father. In the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior!

Amen.

Depart from evil

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Wisdom - when we comprehend the Lord and know that He is our Creator, our Redeemer- and ALL that entails.

Understanding- departing from evil.

Evil--

'Evil -E'VIL, a. e'vl. [Heb. to be unjust or injurious, to defraud.]

1. Having bad qualities of a natural kind; mischievous; having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief.

Some evil beast hath devoured him. Gen 37.

2. Having bad qualities of a moral kind; wicked; corrupt; perverse; wrong; as evil thoughts; evil deeds; evil speaking; an evil generation.

3. Unfortunate; unhappy; producing sorrow, distress, injury or calamity; as evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.

E'VIL, n. Evil is natural or moral. Natural evil is any thing which produces pain, distress, loss or calamity, or which in any way disturbs the peace, impairs the happiness, or destroys the perfection of natural beings.

Moral evil is any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God, or by legitimate human authority; or it is any violation of the plain principles of justice and rectitude.

There are also evils called civil, which affect injuriously the peace or prosperity of a city or state; and political evils, which injure a nation, in its public capacity.

All wickedness, all crimes, all violations of law and right are moral evils. Diseases are natural evils, but they often proceed from moral evils.

2. Misfortune; mischief; injury.

There shall no evil befall thee. Psa 91.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. Prov 22.

3. Depravity; corruption of heart, or disposition to commit wickedness; malignity.

The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Eccl 9.

4. Malady; as the king's evil or scrophula.

E'VIL, adv. [generally contracted to ill.]

1. Not well; not with justice or propriety; unsuitable.

Evil it beseems thee.

2. Not virtuously; not innocently.

3. Not happily; unfortunately.

It went evil with his house.

4. Injuriously; not kindly.

The Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us.

In composition, evil, denoting something bad or wrong, is often contracted to ill.

(Webster's)

Departing from evil.

When we understand- we depart from evil. We are no longer inclined to embrace evil- at least not spiritually.  Jesus asks our Father to keep us from evil, knowing this was paramount to us as those who would belong to Him.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord.

All in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

Amen.de-art