Thank You for all your prayers

     Thank you for being so patient with my sporadic blogging as of late.  My brother is home from the hospital.  Thank you for all the prayers.

                                                                      Jim

Lesson 5 The Marriage Covenant

     We should all read Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified), especially Verses31-32 which say, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."
     When the marriage covenant is made according to the Word, it is the closest covenant the earth has to describe Jesus and His Body, the Church.  Ephesians 5:25 (Amplified) says, "Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her."  When a man takes a wife in the Christian marriage covenant, he is no longer working for or fulfilling his own desires and longings, but he is now earning, building, creating and striving for everything in his life to lavish upon his wife.
     Everything Jesus did was for us.  The sin He bore was to free us.  The home He left was to prepare a place for us.  The curse He bore was for us.  The stripes He took was for our healing.  Even the authority He delegated to the Church was only for us.  The destruction or the destroying of the works of the devil was for us.  Nothing Jesus did was actually for Himself.  He was never under the curse or sickness or sin or the power of the devil, until He did it for us.
      In the same token, the husband has now gives everything for his wife.  Ephesians 5:24 (Amplified) says, "As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands."  This scripture isn't one to be defined in any way we choose or according to what we believe, but according to our covenant with Jesus.
     There are some who take this to mean that a woman would be "afraid" to do anything on her own, away from her husband, and to live in fear of him.  The Church is to be subject to the Lord because of His great love for her.  The Church doesn't stay and be subject to Christ because of their fear of retribution, but out of love for His goodness.  My wife hasn't stayed with me for fifty-three years because she's afraid to leave, but because she desires to stay.
     I don't have to threaten my wife with sickness or discipline if she wants to leave, she stays with me because she loves me.  Many in today's Church believe that we have no free will or voice in where we go or what we do, but that isn't true.  We have a will of our own that we choose to surrender (by choice) to His will.  We have become "one" with Christ just like my wife has become one with me.  We've obviously two separate persons.  She's prettier than I am and she wears clothes that would look very strange on me, but we are one in every other respect.
     She has taken my name and has forsaken her own.  She has absolute authority to my bank account, my care, my home and my children.  Everything I have is made subject unto her by the taking of my name.  We're now called the same name.  She has power of attorney to whatever is mine, by the use of my name.  She isn't in me in the fact that we're in the same skin, but we are still one (although separate).
     You and I are not Jesus as far as being the Lord, but the things that are His are now ours.  We have become "Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus," according to Romans 8:17.  Romans 6:5 (Amplified) says, "For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, We shall also be (one with Him in sharing) His resurrection (by a new life lived for God)."
     Ephesians 5:23 (Amplified)  says, "For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the Church, Himself the Savior of (His) Body."  There are many who believe this scripture says that wives are to be under submission to their husbands, but this isn't what the scripture says if you look in the Concordance.  1Corinthians 11:3 (Amplified) says, "But I want you to know and realize that Christ is the head of every man, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."
     What Paul was saying in the above scripture is, "Pattern yourselves after me (follow my example) as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah)."  Jesus said the same thing about the Father in John 12:45 (Amplified) saying, "And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me."  The word "head" is best described as "reflection."  The wife is the reflection of her husband and her husband is the reflection of Christ and Christ is the reflection of the Father.
     This in no way denotes that the wife is inferior in any way to her husband or that Christ is in any way inferior to the Father.  Christ and the Father are One in every respect.  Jesus said, "When you see Me, you see the Father."  Paul said that, "When you see me, you have seen the On Who sent me."  The husband says, "When you see me, you see my wife."  The wife is the reflection of her husband and brings glory to her husband, to those around them, by her modest and loving person.
    

Lesson 4 The Marriage Covenant

     The vows exchanged in a marriage covenant are sacred vows that include our Father in heaven.  Sometimes, we don't realize the importance of these vows.  There is always a third Person involved in the marriage covenant between two Christian peoples.  Only God can cause the "Two to become one flesh."  Any Justice of the Peace, Minister or other entities can marry two people according to the law of the land, but only God can perform the miracle of oneness.
    Eve was taken from Adam's very person.  This was God's plan for marriage from the very beginning. The Bible says that, "The life is in the blood" and virginity supplies the blood in the marriage covenant.  The relationship between Christ and the Church is the example for a husband and a wife.  Jesus shed His Blood and gave His life for us on the cross.  We are called the "Bride of Christ" because of His Blood and our life is in His Blood.
     There are many things in our covenant with the Lord that we simply don't understand.  grace has given us courage for our lack of understanding, but we are to grow in our knowledge of His great grace according to 2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) which says, "Grace and peace will be multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord."  We will see what grace has provided as we seek knowledge of Him.  There are some things in our covenant that are overlooked and made to seem like they no longer make a difference.
     God, Who made the blood covenant between a man and his wife, can and has restored the integrity of the shed blood in Christian marriages.  God can restore the power of this sacred vow by His Own power, even if a woman has been married before.  When we believe God in this blood covenant, we have the opportunity to enter into the new covenant of life in all respects.  2Corinthians 5:17-21 says, "Behold, old things have passed away, and all things are made new."  This includes the power of the blood in marriage.
     We have forgotten the truths that old traditions hold in the wedding ceremonies.  There is a truth held in the tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold of their home, for example.  In the old days, they sprinkled a lamb's blood on the doorposts and the threshold of the house.  No one walked in the blood, but they stepped over it.  There are many things done under the old covenant marriage that had to do with the blood.
     The precious Blood of Jesus has taken on the Life of the Blood in our new covenant.  Jesus' Blood has cleansed us from our old dead self and given us new life.  New life has been given in Jesus' Blood and is the very life of God Himself which will not only cleanse us, but will bring all things new.
     We learned from Joel in a previous lesson, that God declared He, "Will restore that which the canter worm and the palmer worm had destroyed."  In the newness of life, God can and will restore even the shed blood of virginity that was "wasted" in our foolish past outside of marriage.  The vow of life is now made by the perfect Blood of Jesus and contains not only His life, but ours too.
     So many people "fall out of love" by allowing their marriage to be a joining only of their flesh and soul.  The commitment of life comes only in the Spirit.  This love has been "Shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit," according to Romans 5:5.  We have the opportunity to reset our lives and this time we can "get it right." 
     Under the old covenant, we had "Two or more witnesses" who could actually determine whether a man lived or died.  The two witnesses in a Christian marriage hold the responsibility before God to declare life in that marriage.  They counseled, prayed for and ministered life in that marriage.  God heard their intercession and honored it by His Blood.
     Being married in the Lord is more than just having a church wedding.  Even in a Christian's life, there are consequences in simply doing things on our own and away from God.  Although the sin is forgiven, it can still hold some consequences in the flesh.  We can avoid many things plaguing the Christian's life on earth by observing the power in the Blood of our Lamb.
    It doesn't matter how hard we pray and seek God, if we plant corn, then only corn will grow.  We may have desired green beans, but if we don't plant green beans, then we won't get them.  Even if we do things in not knowing, the principle still works the same way.  If you can't tell the difference between corn and green bean seeds, then for goodness sake, ask someone. 
     Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded, and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked, by mere pretensions, or professions, or by His precepts being set aside) (He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God).  For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap."  Verse 8 says, "For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."
     As Christians, we many times reap the things of the flesh and it's not because God is testing or punishing us, but because we've sown it to our own destruction.  Grace has covered the sin, but the seed is still what it was and is producing in our lives.  We carry out our traditions without knowing the truth of what we do.  We've even lost the truth of the life, health, protection and power of our Lamb in communion.  When Jesus said to, "Do this in remembrance of Me," He meant we're to remember what His sacrifice has done and not to forget the power of the Blood.

Lesson 3 The Marriage Covenant

     My wife and I ministered to a young Christian woman who was seeing an ungodly man.  Despite our caution and counsel, she pursued the relationship.  She eventually yielded to his pressuring and had sex with him, which resulted in pregnancy.  Upon learning out about the pregnancy, the man directed her to abort the child.  She refused and had the baby and the relationship continued for a long time.
     The ungodly man remained unfaithful to her and was seeing many other women.  He also fell into drug and alcohol use.  This young woman was faithful to him and still "in love with" him, despite these things.  So, I sought God about this and He instructed me to "sever the tie" of the blood that was shed on her behalf in this relationship.
     Without anyone knowing about what was being done, her mother and father went before God and petitioned Him to "sever the blood tie" and "release her from that tie."  Within two days, she sent the man away.  It was like he never had a hold on her and she was free of this tie that bound them.  She never even knew about her parent's prayer, but God did.
     Since God was the One Who had placed that "bond," He had the power to break or replace that bond.  God can restore the blood tie all in the Blood of Jesus for Christian couples.  However, we need to know about it in order to pray properly.  We sometimes think that when we get saved, everything is completed.  It is as far as the sin is concerned, but sometimes the consequence of sin remains.  If someone contracted Aids from sin, for instance, then God can forgive the sin causing that disease.  But, the consequence still leads to death in the body.
     God tells us in Joel 2:25 that, "I will restore what the locust and cancer worm has destroyed."  I believe this means much more than crops of grain, but includes everything that was destroyed.  I know that God can restore the power of the blood tie that was meant for marriage, as well as restore everything else (see the lessons on the Law of the Kinsman Redeemer).  We haven't allowed ourselves to put faith in everything that grace has come to do in our lives.
     The blood covenant that God placed in our lives, has been one of the most powerful weapon satan has used against us.  Because we didn't know or understand it, we walked in the consequence of the misuse of it instead of the power of it.  There is much we still need to learn as we continue our walk with God on this side of glory.
     Many will see this as foolishness, but to those the enemy has held captive by this, it will be a great day of deliverance.  Jesus said in Matthew 18:18-19 (Amplified), "Truly I tell you, Whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already in heaven."
     This blood tie is already "proper and lawful in heaven" and you can use the power of the Name and covenant with Jesus to declare it proper and lawful here on earth.  God can, and will, restore that which the enemy has tried to destroy.  We must know what is "lawful and proper" on earth in order to have faith in the restoration of our own blood covenant with one another in heaven.
     Remember, that the life is in the blood.  It doesn't matter whether it was the temporal blood life of bulls and goats or the eternal Blood of the Lord Himself or the blood of the covenant with each other in marriage.  The life is still in the blood.  Redemption has come and the power of it goes far beyond what we have previously believed.
     The blood covenant was God's way of binding and uniting man and God.  It was also His way of uniting man and woman.  If you come before the Lord in earnest and seek His counsel on this subject, then He will reveal the power of His idea of the marriage covenant to you.
     God doesn't tell us everything He knows, but only that which we ask Him in our time of prayer and fellowship.  Most of us have probably never sought God's wisdom about this subject.  I went before God on behalf of another because I didn't know the truth on this subject.  God revealed things to me concerning the blood covenant, but I'm sure there is must more to be learned about this.
     This is something we can teach our young people that will arm them with understanding about premarital sex.  We can prepare them with insight and wisdom to help them know the power of this blood covenant and will hold their marriages together under nearly anything that comes at them.
     This blood covenant between a man and his wife, is second only to the Blood covenant between God and man.  This is the second most power covenant in all of creation.  We missed the power of the covenant altogether, because we failed to understand virginity as God intended.  Even in today's Christian circles, virginity is looked down upon as being "old fashioned."
     It's not that the sin of premarital sex isn't forgiven, but the blood is shed for all the wrong purposes and the life it is as wasted in the life it poured out.  It's like the blood of goats and bulls being shed outside the altar in the old covenant.  Even though the life is in the blood, it was wasted when it poured out on the ground.  It had no purpose and there was no faith in that blood.
     So much precious blood has been shed on the altar of carnality and has been wasted with no power of life in it for marriage.  There are some women for whom virginity is just a cumbersome thing that doctors needed to remove for convenience.  Lack of understanding has made the Word of God of no effect.  God made this covenant and He will perform it in our lives.
      

Lesson 2 The Marriage Covenant

    Throughout the years, my wife and I have ministered to many couples having problems in their relationship.  Most of them had premarital sex, either before being saved or after.  Many were married to an unsaved partner.  Many of the women we counseled were already married when they got saved.  Some were living with men who were abusive and/or unfaithful in that relationship.
     Some of the women who were in abusive relationships had a history of being battered.  The question most of their friends and family asked them was, "Why don't you leave him?"  You might wonder what could hold this relationship together under these circumstances.  In many cases we found that this was the man with whom they had sex with first.
     There is something in their bond that defied common sense and it must be something more than just natural things.  As I began seeking the Lord about this, He began revealing to me that it was the power of the blood covenant.  I was ignorant of and unaware of the power of the blood that occurred between a a husband and wife.  There is a spiritual bond and tie in the blood relationship that eluded the world and the Church.
     God's Word instructed that both the man and woman were to be virgins at the time of their marriage.  The shedding of blood and the life of the man (in his seed) were to be exchanged on the wedding night that would activate a life long covenant.  This bond was so strong on the woman's behalf, that it would go way beyond that natural degree of comfort or care.
     The blood covenant bond was so strong that is exceeded what most would call, "common sense."  One would think that a woman who was being beaten and abused would simply leave, but she doesn't.  Some women were shamed and neglected by their spouses and didn't leave.  God began revealing the power of the blood in the marriage covenant to me.  He showed me how it was greater than what we had previously thought.
     Most of us in the Church, viewed premarital sex as simply a sin to be avoided.  Most people believed it was especially sinful for the woman and didn't judge it in the same way for men.  God set forth the way of marriage to be a covenant and not just a license.
     For many years we knew there was something that tied a woman to her "first love, but we didn't recognize what that tie was.  Many virgin women who have sex with a man for the first time, still felt a tie to their first love.  Whether or not the experience was a good one, there was a tie that couldn't be explained.
     This was a spiritual tie that couldn't be explained by the natural mind.  If one of them was saved and the other was not, there was always something missing in their relationship.  The two could satisfy their flesh and even their soul (their emotional part), but something in that relationship made them feel like something was being withheld from them.  There was a distance that seemed to trouble their union.  It was wrong and they both felt it.
     The marriage covenant is a spiritual thing and not simply a physical one.  It doesn't matter how hard the two tried, the "life" of the relationship wasn't present.  If one of the two was born again and their partner wasn't, then the spirit or life of the relationship wasn't present.  Life couldn't be put into the relationship without the Spirit of life.
     This is the reason why many would go from person to person seeking fulfillment and not being able to satisfy what was wrong with them.  Their satisfaction in the relationship was fleeting and short lasted.  There was a "hold" from their first sexual partner that wouldn't last beyond that first partner.
     There are Christians today, who still have a spiritual tie to someone other than their spouse.  If we're sincere in our walk with God and we love Him, then we hold that dissatisfaction in check, but it still exists in many couples.
     God can restore this tie to the marriage covenant if we know how and what to pray for.  It's more than just asking forgiveness for premarital sex.  It's restoring the life of the blood back to the relationship.  Life and death share nothing in common.  The spiritually live person who is married to the spiritually dead person are only joined in body and soul and not in the spirit or life.
     This "disconnect" is something felt in the relationship, even if it's not discussed or recognized.  At least one third of the person is being withheld from the other and it's something always present in that relationship.  We've never really given this much thought and assumed that since it was forgiven when we got saved, then everything was alright.
     The sin of premarital sex was forgiven, along with all our other sins.  It's not a matter of forgiveness, but of restoration of the "tie" in the blood.  Leviticus 17 tells us that, "The life is in the blood," speaking about the spirit life. 
     We've probably all heard someone say, "We just fell out of love for some reason."  Or, "I still love him/her, but I'm not in love with them."  The blood tie was there to hold a married couple together through anything that could arise in the marriage covenant.
     If a tie could hold a woman to someone who abused her, was unfaithful to her or was unsaved and ungodly, what would it do for someone who loved God and walked in love with her?  The blood covenant was meant to cement the relationship with the "blood" of her life that was given in the relationship of marriage.
    

Lesson 1 The Marriage Covenant

     The years have convinced me that we Christians have undergone so many bad experiences because we do not understand our covenant with God.  Many events happen in our lives from simple lack of understanding.  Most of the things I've learned from God, I learned because I was in a troubled place and needed wisdom.
     James 1:5 (Amplified) says that, "If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him."   We've ceased seeking God's wisdom for many things and have relied on the quid pro quo answers of religion.
     I've wondered about the marriage covenant and the real power it holds.  I understood the scriptures generally associated with this covenant, but I failed to see results in new covenant that I should have seen.  Many things in our covenant with God, through Jesus, don't seem to be like the Word declares they should be.  I'm not the sharpest kid on the block, by any means, but I know one thing for sure.  If something isn't working in my life the way the Word of God says it should, then I'm the one who missed it and not God.  So, instead of simply trying to assuage my pride and ego, I need to find out why things aren't working.
     Our marriage covenant with God is one of those misunderstood things.  Paul gives a discourse on the marriage covenant and the way we should respond to one another in Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified).  In Verse 32 he says something that changed everything (if we will read it correctly), saying, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."
     The scriptures tell us that our life and relationship is in His Blood.  Leviticus 17:11 (Amplified) says, "For the life (the animal soul) is in the blood, and I have given it for you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life (which it represents)."  The scriptures also tell us that it was the Blood of Jesus that gave us new life with His Own life.  Romans 5:9-10 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, since we are now justified (acquitted, made righteous, and brought into right relationship with God) by Christ's Blood, how much more (certain is it that) we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God."  Verse 10 goes on, "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son; it is much more (certain), now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin's dominion) through His (resurrection) life."
     Our life is in Jesus' Blood and His Blood has given us the life of God, which was poured out against death that held dominion over us.  The Life is in the Blood.  We understand (to a certain degree) that God would use the innocent life in the blood of a lamb and would extend that life to give us life (to a limited extent).  The blood would have to be renewed continually because it was only animal blood and wasn't enough to stave off the death that came through Adam. 
     God said in Genesis 2:24 (Amplified), "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."  Paul reaffirms this in Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified) with a discourse on the husband and wife relationship, saying in Verse 32, "This mystery is very great; but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."  We have become one flesh (or Body of Christ) by His Blood.  His very life is now our life, by His Blood.
     We preach abstinence to our young women in church, but we do so from a purely "sinful" viewpoint.  This isn't wrong, it's only incomplete.  There is a far greater meaning and power in remaining a virgin, other than we teach about.  The marriage covenant is a blood covenant and is consummated by the shedding of the blood on the wedding night.  This makes the two become one by the Life in the blood.  This blood covenant made between a man and his wife is second only to the Blood covenant between us and God.
     In Genesis 2:24, Jesus left His father to become man and was made One with His bride, the Church.  His Blood has made us One with Him for all of eternity.  His life is our life for forever and forever.  The two have now become one flesh by the power of the shed Blood.
     There is more than a sex act that occurs between a man and his bride on their wedding night.  There is an exchange of life that will hold a marriage through anything.  

Lesson 10 Faith and Grace

     The message of, "May grace and peace be with you through the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus" opens nearly every Epistle in the New Testament.  It's especially interesting to note how "peace" is always of.
     My experience with most Christians throughout the years is that they are not at peace with themselves and therefore, they're not at peace in their relationship with the Father.  Guilt and condemnation seem to be constantly part of our lives and as a result, we're always expecting "the other shoe to fall."  We're always awaiting God's punishment (of some sort) for some mistake we've made.
     It seems so difficult to walk in God's perfect grace.  We have always known that we're imperfect and yet, we've tried to walk upright before God.  We were always conscious of our imperfections and that is the problem.  A perfect God rendered a perfect grace.  And, this perfect grace was always greater than our imperfections.
     Grace provided the perfection of our sacrifice and not for our own righteousness.  We were made righteous with His righteousness and not our own.  Grace provided such a great righteousness that it would cover our mistakes.  No one could do this on their own.  It had to be Jesus' right standing and not our own.
     We must walk in this peace with God and we must put faith in His grace.  We must stop depending on our own works.  We still should perform good works, but not in order to obtain our right standing with God.  Our own works could never keep us in righteousness or right standing with God.
     Peace can never be a constant part of our relationship with a Holy God if we don't put faith in His grace.  God hasn't changed His stance on righteousness, but He did change us into righteousness through Jesus.  Now, we can stand upright before Him like nothing ever happened in our lives or in the Garden of Eden.  Jesus did that for us on the cross and His raising from the dead.
  Through Jesus, grace has provided everything needed to make us and keep us in right standing with the Father.  We, though, have been more conscious of our failures rather than in His success.  2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passion and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full, personal, precise, and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
     The "knowledge of God and Jesus" is something every believer must seek out for themselves.  The more you learn from Him, the more your faith will receive the "peace" between you and the Father.  With inspiration from the Holy Spirit, 2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) tells us, "For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and godliness, through the (full, personal) knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue)."  It is "By and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue) and not by our own works.  It's not by our obedience, perfection or striving, but by His Own divine power."
     We walk with our Father like we're "walking on eggshells."  We're so careful, believing that every small mistake will remove years of our relationship with Him.  Don't get me wrong, I do believe that we should do our best to walk as best we can, but we shouldn't depend on our own walk to determine His grace.  It seems like we're always walking in one ditch or the other.  We act like grace doesn't cover our mistakes and then on the other hand we act like we can do as we please (sin and walk in all unrighteousness) and grace will not see it.  Both are wrong. 
     As we learn and grow in the things of God, grace covers every mistake we make and as we mature in the things of God, grace will keep us from committing our precious mistakes.  I still make mistakes and blunders in my walk with the Father, but they are thing in which I'm learning to walk in.  I've outgrown the dumb things I used to walk in.  If we continued walking around with our favorite blankies like we did as babies, then others would believe there's something wrong with us. 
     We've outgrown our need for blankies, but now we depend on something else in it's place.  We do the same in our Christian walk as well.  When we first were saved, we still did things of the world like we'd always done.  As we grow in our faith, we learn to walk above the flesh in many areas, but do so gradually.  There are areas of our life that we still haven't turned loose of and we're haunted by past failures.  This is mostly because we don't understand His grace.
     The same grace that fostered the first part of our Christian will continue to take us through the last part too.  The song "Amazing Grace" says that, "It was grace that brought me this far and grace will lead me home."  We will never arrive at a point in our Christian walk where we won't need His "Amazing Grace." 
     We must learn to put faith in His grace and not in ourselves.  Only God's grace can cover our feeble attempts to walk totally upright in His presence.  We must learn to walk in His righteousness and stop depending on our own.

Lesson 9 Faith and Grace

     We have limited God's grace and goodness in our lives because we lack hearing this goodness preached and not putting faith in what we did hear like in Romans 10:17.  Even after we hear about God's goodness, it almost always preached about in the light of our doing something to deserve it.  And, it seem like we can never do enough to deserve it.  That's what grace is.
     All of God's mercy, grace, favor, power, deliverance, His goodness and His promise, are all by grace.  God's great love for His family is the basis of all His goodness.  He so loved the world that He gave.  Gave what?  Everything the heart of a loving Father and an Almighty God had to give, which was everything heaven had to pour out on this earth.  When God poured out His Spirit on mankind, He actually poured out Himself on everyone who will accept Him.
     Remember, everything that is on and in this planet (including the planet itself) came from the Spirit of God.  Now we have the promise of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord.  This is the blessing promised to Abraham in Galatians 3.  This isn't simply the ability to speak in tongues, but is in reality, the whole of the Creator Himself to create a new creation.  2Corinthians 5:17-21 (Amplified) says we are a "new creation" by the same Spirit of God as in the first creation.  This "new creation" has the entire blessing that was on Adam and more.  It is the Joint Heir of Jesus Himself. 
     We still, somehow believe that we're taking advantage of God if we believe for something too big or we expect too much.  It view God like He's some rich old man Who we are trying to extract favors from by fraud. Remember, this covenant was God's idea.  He knew who and what we were.  God didn't ask us what we could do, He only depended on what He could do.  God knew we could never live up to what we would expect of ourselves and fulfilled the covenant by His goodness for us.
     Dare to trust God's goodness for the fullness of His grace.  It's sort of working with a net and you can't fail.  If you miss it, then try again.  Don't do what the Israelites did in the wilderness and let the "word of giants" prevent you from entering into God's promise of rest.  Only twelve spies actually even saw the giants while scouting the Promised Land.  The simple retelling about the giants kept them from the Promised Land even though the spies brought back bountiful produce from there.
    There are times when we do the same after hearing a testimony and allow the word of the testimony override the proof of the promise.  The retelling of Jesus being raised from the dead should be all the proof any believer needs.  We were raised with Him and seated at God's right hand with Him in power, goodness, blessing, protection and unity.  This is God's new covenant and we've received the dominion of His covenant and have been reunited as His family, through Jesus.
     If grace and truth came through Jesus and Jesus lives in us, then is there any part of this grace and truth held back from those who seek it out?  Jesus wasn't a down payment on a layaway.  He was the whole price of redemption.  Everything that was lost is now restored, with the exception of the glorified body that will come at the end of the Church age.  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
     We need the Joshuas and Calebs who will see the giants and say, "We are well able to take the Land, and the giants are meat for us."  Some say that this is too extreme when they hear that.  God hears the sound like Elijah did and hears an abundance of rain in a cloud the size of a man's hand.  It sounds like faith in His goodness and promise through Jesus.
     If you dare to believe and fail, then you still have the opportunity to try again.  God never limits His grace to strengthen and lift us up.  The results of my laying hands on others, aren't always perfect, but I do get results.  My faith improves through every victory and the victories improve through every deed of my faith in His grace.
     When I see somehow who is sick, I know this isn't what God meant when He said, "Everything was good."  Therefore, I can have faith that my God will return everything that is out of order.  My faith must grow in His grace or it won't grow at all.  I must study and seek the full knowledge of His grace according to 2Timothy 1:2 where it will multiply what my faith will receive.
     Failures in my Christian walk can be expected, much like when I learned to walk.  But, I stayed at it until I can now walk without falling on my backside.  Walking looked impossible when I was five years old, but I've grown in my faith and walk with my Father.
      

Lesson 8 Faith and Grace

      John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ."
     We probably never think about grace being granted to the entire world, but only to the believer.  Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) though, says, "For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
     Grace has been granted and poured out on the entire world through the coming of Jesus.  Why then, hasn't the whole world come to salvation?  Because they haven't believed, by faith, in this grace.  We've placed faith in what we heard about Jesus and salvation was the result of our faith.  Even after being saved, faith is a very important part of our Christian walk.  Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the message that came from the lips) of Christ (the Messiah Himself)."
     Even after we've received salvation by faith in God's grace, we have only believed (put faith in) certain portions of God's grace.  2Peter 1:2 (Amplified) says, "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you (in the full personal and precise and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."
     Grace has granted so much more to us than the simple assurance of heaven when we die.  It has granted things to us while we live here on earth.  We haven't put our faith into what grace has provided here for us and therefore, we don't partake of what is has provided.  It's like the lost man not putting faith in what he's heard about salvation.  Everything God has provided is produced from our ability to believe in what He has done.
     There are so many questions plaguing today's Church that could be answered if we'd only put faith in God's grace for our lives.  We still live in a fallen world and there are things occurring here that aren't God's will.  I do not believe it's God's will for the world's children to die from starvation and disease.  Nor do I believe it's God will that men should butcher one another and murder one another.  I believe that it all comes back to us putting our faith in what God's grace has made available to us.
     God's grace in John 3:16 (Amplified) says that, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His Only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him, shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."  1Timothy 2:3-4 (Amplified)  says, "For such (praying) is good and right, and (it is) pleasing and acceptable to God our Savior Who wishes all men to be saved and (increasingly) to perceive and discern and know precisely and correctly the (divine) truth."  God has provided salvation and grace to all mankind, without exception.  There will still be those who will not believe or put faith in what God's done.
     We, the Church, have done the same thing when it comes to His grace.  We've been afraid to trust God concerning parts of His grace.  And, because we've failed to put faith into these portions of God's grace, we haven't appropriated them into our lives, even though they are ours by His unmerited favor.
     We know that we cannot be saved by our own good works and that salvation is given totally by God's grace.  We continue feeling as though everything else that grace provides must be granted by our good works.  We continue trying to be deserving of God's healing until we put faith in our actions rather than God's Word. 
     We're like the people referred to in Hebrews 4:1-2 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore, While the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered (today) let us be afraid (to distrust it) lest any of you should think that he has come too late and has come short of (reaching it)."  Verse 2 says, "For indeed we have had the glad tidings (Gospel of God) proclaimed to us, just as truly as they 9the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them) but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it. Neither were they united in faith with the ones (Joshua and Caleb) who heard (and did believe)."
     I don't know why we find it so difficult to believe that God is good.  God is God.  He can do what He wants and He want to be good to us.  Our way of thinking has become that God can't really be so good because, after all, we don't really deserve His goodness.  That's what grace is really about.  We don't deserve and cannot do anything to be able to deserve it.
     Like the people from long ago, we've been afraid to trust God's grace and goodness.  Romans 2:4 (Amplified) says, "Or are you (so blind as to) trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant (of the fact) that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God's will)?"  The King James Version says, "It is the goodness of God, that brings man to repentance (to change his mind about God)."
     We've focused so intently on our own failures that we feel undeserving of God's goodness.  We forget that it was His goodness that saved us when we were at our worst.  Now that we have believed and placed our faith in His goodness to save us, is there anything His goodness won't overcome and do?
     The Israelites in the wilderness had the same promise of His grace, but refused to accept it by faith.  God brought them out of bondage with great wealth, healing and health.  He dwelt with them in their camp.  He led them with His presence.  He warmed them with fire, shaded them with smoke and delivered them from their enemies, but they wouldn't enter into and rest in His goodness.
     When Joshua and Caleb dared trust God for His goodness, they were shouted down and out voted by unbelievers in the camp.  Do you recognize the greatest part of this story?  Even though none would dare to believe, God didn't cease performing His will for those who did believe Him.
     Although no other ones would believe God for His grace to heal, deliver of perform His goodness in their lives, God wasn't stopped from giving His grace.  Nothing can stop Him from doing it for you, too, if you will only believe what He's said and done by His grace and His goodness.  We can find testimonies throughout the world telling about God's healing power and His goodness.  We choose to believe that grace is "special" for a few.  It is something special God has done for those who aren't afraid to trust His goodness and grace.

     

Lesson 7 Faith and Grace

     Countless developments have occurred over the past two thousand years concerning the scriptures, that we have come up with many different views of Jesus and our new covenant.  Some have come because of different translations of the Bible and some have come because of the way we understand the scriptures.  Certainly though, we all agree on the fact that salvation comes only through Jesus.
     There are so many differing opinions and speculation about our salvation that leave some believing one thing and others another.  We've had many divisions occur in the Body of Christ because of the way we view scriptures.  I don't believe there's any difference in the way God said it, but rather in the way we heard it.  Even during Jesus' Own time, if He said something they disagreed with or disbelieved in, then they would discount it.
     I went to find out certain things from the Lord for myself when I first got saved.  The same should be for the readers of these blogs.  Many people say that God spoke certain things to them.  The Apostle Paul wrote about what "Jesus told him" and we have only Paul's word about it.  There are people today who still disagree with Paul's revelation in one way or another.
     The Bible assures us that if we lack wisdom, then we should ask God and He will give it to us.  James 1:5 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him."
     Sometimes, we forget that as individuals, we each have the liberty to go before the Father and seek wisdom from His Holy Spirit.  God's Word will still do everything that He ever said it would...no matter what.  The Word of God will work for anyone, even if no one else believes it.  God will do for one or one billion persons who will believe Him.  During His time on earth, Jesus said and did many things that only He believed.  Just because the others didn't believe it, didn't mean that it wouldn't work for Jesus (Who did believe).
     You might be the only person who dares believe what God has to say to you, but first, you must be certain it's God Who speaks.  Being unsure that it's God Who has spoken to us is what mostly prevents our entering into the deeper things of God.  God isn't limited to His written Word, but He will never speak contrary to His written Word.  And, God will never say one thing and then do something contrary to it.
     If God says that, "All who call upon the Lord will be saved," then He will never tell you that you weren't chosen to be saved.  If God said something, then He meant what He said.  There are many people who over the years have been unsure whether God is their answer or their problem.  We've debated with one another for years about whether God uses sickness, disease and even the devil to deal with His children.  And, sadly, this battle will most likely still be raging when Jesus returns.
     For my own Christian walk, I go to the Lord like James 1:5 says.  I don't go to have some other doctrine to preach or to start another war in the Body of Christ, but for my own personal walk with my Heavenly Father.  I remember being unsure over the subject of God's trying and testing His children.  I'd heard many good men of God preach both points of view and was unsure which side to believe.  I don't believe they were false prophets or that they are deliberately trying to deceive God's people, but I know they can't both be right.
     I needed to know for myself which was right so I could walk before God in faith and grace.  If God put sickness on me to teach me a lesson, then I'm in error going to the doctor to remove what He gave me, but I should learn from that sickness.  If I'm being tested, then I need to know how and why so I can know how to study, learn and pass this test.  If I don't know why or what I'm being tested on, then how will I ever be able to pass this test?  The teachers alerted us about an upcoming test and what we should study in order to pass the test.  I never had a teacher say she was giving a math test tomorrow and then give us a history test instead.
     Confusion has nearly paralyzed the faith in today's Church.  We've come to where we don't know what to believe or not.  Anyone who truly loves God, wants to walk in the fullness of His truth and enjoy all of His grace.  We want to know how to enter into God's rest and to trust His Word.
     I once asked the Lord whether He used sickness and disease to teach, train and correct His children.  The Holy Spirit spoke into my spirit using a scripture that I had to bring to the forefront of my spirit.  He told me that, "This will be as the waters of Noah, unto Me."  This might not mean anything to you, but it meant everything to me.  I found this passage in Isaiah 54:7-9 (Amplified) which says, "For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion and mercy I will gather you (to Me) again."  Verses 8-9 say, "In a little burst of wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, but with age enduring love and kindness I will have compassion and mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer for this is like the days of Noah to Me; As I swore that the waters should no more go over the earth, So have I sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you."
     The confidence that Noah had was that the rains may come, but will never destroy anymore.  Every time the rain came, his covenant with God was reinforced with the appearance of the rainbow.  Every time I see the rainbow, I trust in God's mercy and His promise to me and have the peace that this judgment won't be on me again.
     The rainbow was Noah's assurance that the floods would never happen again.  The cross was to be like the rainbow was to Noah and every time I looked upon the cross I would know that God would never do those things to me again.
     This still might not mean anything to you, but to me everything was settled for my own personal walk with my Father.  I had no need to fear that God was testing and teaching me with fear, sickness or punishment.  I can look upon the cross and find peace and trust for my own walk.  If this isn't your reality, then this might still mean nothing.  I didn't seek Him to have something contrary to preach, but to have something concrete in my life to build off from.
     God's Word will always work in what He sent it to do.  If you were the only person on earth who believed in salvation through Jesus' sacrifice, then it would still work for you.  Wouldn't it?  Of course it would.  We have a responsibility to seek truth out on our own.  I don't mean we should disregard everyone and everything we've been taught throughout the years, but we must discover where we stand for our own walk.
     I don't want you to simply take my word just because I believe, am a man of God or a Pastor.  If you believe anything, then I want you to believe it because it's God's Word and you believe it for yourself.  There are too many times where we've believed something simply because someone else believed it.  If it's what someone else believes and not what you believe for yourself, then it's not really faith.
     People the world over are caught up in cults and diverse religions because they believes what others said and didn't seek wisdom and truth on their own.  We, the Church, are one Body made up of many parts where each part plays an important part in the Body, but each is still different in nature.  Although you're part of the Body, you are not the whole Body.  As individuals, we are obligated to seek God on our own and to have a personal relationship with Him.
     Every part of the Body is important, but every part is not the whole.  Each part has it's own function in order to keep the whole operating.  I know that I hold differing beliefs than others in the Body.  If I find that I am wrong and they are right, according to the Word, then I will come into union with them.  I will go with the truth, but not via a Democratic vote.  When it comes to the Word of God, it's not always that the majority rules.
     I encourage each of you to seek God on your own as well as be in fellowship with His family.  We're all part of the Body of Christ and it doesn't depend on what we know or what we don't know.  Some new "revelation" doesn't make us a separate Body, but an aid to the rest of the Body.  It doesn't come in order to start another denomination (God forbid), but comes to aid and reveal the Light and truths of God's Word.  All of us have a personal relationship with the Father, this is what Jesus' sacrifice was for.  We're not to have a religion, but a relationship with Christ, as a whole Body and as individuals.

Lesson 6 Faith and Grace

     Hebrews 4:11 (Amplified) says, "Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves) that no one may fail or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell)."
     The "rest" spoken about in Hebrews 4:11 is none other than God's grace and His unmerited favor.  All of the Hebrew people who were brought out of bondage were brought out by His grace.  Up until this time, the Law hadn't been given.  Even after God's grace fed the people manna from heaven, gave them water to drink from a rock and provided them with protection and provision by grace, it wasn't enough for them to trust Him.  They believed they could do better on their own.
     They murmured and complained all the way through the wilderness.  When grace is accepted, faith is always present.  It's difficult to simply believe that God has taken care of everything and allow your faith and trust be in Him.  Our problem comes from not knowing the difference between what God has provided and what the world and the enemy has made available in its place.  Somehow, we've concluded that everything that happens to us is God's will and His grace.  If we closely examine what happened to those in the wilderness, then we'll find how despite the trials that came against them, God delivered them out of them all.
     God's unmerited favor or grace, gave only what was good and kept them from all that was evil.  It was only after God decided to give what they wanted, that things went wrong.  I don't believe that for three months, everything went alright for many people.  Exodus 19:1 (Amplified) says that, "In the third month after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, the same day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai."
    During these three months, the people continued complaining and grumbling about how God was caring for them.  In the next chapter of Exodus, God gives them the ten commandments.  By chapter 32, they built a golden calf to worship (even with the laws and ordinances through Moses).
    They refused to enter into God's rest or His grace and depended on themselves to make it on their own.  We too, feel the need to have a part of our own salvation.  Most denominations still lay down laws in order to keep the people in line.  We've lost faith because we don't understand grace.
     One denomination wants to be saved by grace and governed by man-made laws.  Another wants to have grace with the ability to live any way we want without consequences.  Both ways are wrong.  We are, by grace, supposed to be able to govern ourselves by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the teacher of the new covenant and if we're doing things that grieve Him, then He will reveal it to us.  1John 2:27 (Amplified) says, "But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides (permanently) in you; (so) then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him (being rooted in Him, knit to Him), just as (His anointing) has taught you (to do)."
     This doesn't mean that we do not need teachers in the Church.  Ephesians 4:11-12 (Amplified) says, "And His gifts were (varied) (He Himself appointed and gave men to us) Some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of the flock) and teachers."  Verse 12 says, "His intention was the perfecting and full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people) (that they should do) the work of ministering towards building up Christ's body (the Church)."
     It doesn't matter how many teachers the Church has, none can compare with the anointing of the Holy Spirit Who lives inside each believer.  It doesn't matter how much a teacher knows, the Holy Spirit is still the anointed Guide to the Church.  Men still have a way of allowing "self" to creep into their teachings.  You have an unction from the Holy Spirit, Who is within you, that makes you able to determine which is the God's teaching or and that which is from man and then walk in that teaching.
     Many well meaning people in the Church have imposed laws and opinions on God's people that aren't necessarily the truth of the covenant.  Through the Holy Spirit, we're able to decide for ourselves what is from God and what is from man.  Every man is still just a man and none are without flaws.
     I do not believe that any person who loves Jesus would deliberately teach something that is wrong, but I do believe we have done so unintentionally.  We, the Church, are supposed to lean on the Holy Spirit to know the truth.  I don't mean that we're supposed to pick apart everything the pastor preaches, but we are supposed to listen and weigh what is being taught against the Word.  If you disagree with what's being taught, then don't run and talk to everyone in the church saying your pastor is a "false prophet."  After all, you might be the one who is wrong.
     We need to do what Mary did in Luke 2:19.  No one had ever done what the angel had told Mary to do.  Mary had to depend on the rest or grace of God in order to do what He said.  Mary, by faith, rested in in the words the angels and shepherds said to her in Luke 2:19 saying, "But Mary was keeping within herself all these things (sayings) weighing and pondering them in her heart."
     Notice how Mary didn't go around telling everyone what was going on.  She simply rested in God and placed her faith in Him to do what He said.  If Mary had asked everyone around what they thought about it, then she would most likely have been given many different responses.
     Jesus, too, received many different responses from the people of His time, but He "only did that which the Father had told Him to do."  Live your walk with God as your walk with God.  He sometimes tells different people different things.  He didn't tell everyone to sacrifice their son, He only told Abraham to do so.  Hearing a testimony from someone doesn't mean we're to do the same thing and receive the same results, because God only told that person to do that.
     Sometimes, we base our walk with the Father more on testimonies rather than the Holy Spirit's instruction.  Testimonies have a place to inspire you, but not to lead you.  You are in charge of your own self.  1Corinthians 14:32 (Amplified) says, "For the spirits of the prophets (the speakers of tongues) are under the speaker's control (and subject to being silenced as may be necessary)."

Lesson 5 Faith and Grace

     The entire reason for the new covenant of grace through Jesus was because man could never do on his own what was needed to restore himself back to right standing with God.  Only God Himself, through the Blood and sacrifice of Jesus, could establish this righteousness.  Only the Blood of God Himself, through Jesus, could completely remove the sin Adam had brought on all mankind.  Grace is of paramount importance to the believer because once we recognize that only grace can restore us, we will have faith enough to approach God in a way man never could before.
     When we fully realize how important grace is, our faith should be on a higher level than any man (other than Jesus Himself) could ever hope to achieve.  By grace, we've been placed in a place that Adam first walked before the fall.  We're at a higher place really, because we have been identified with Jesus and His victory, rather than Adam and his fall.
     We mostly, still feel like we must prove ourselves unto God in order to gain some kind of favor with Him.  It's only our misunderstanding grace that lead us to feel this way.  According to Hebrews 4:16, the throne of grace is actually the very presence of the Father.
     The High Priest could only enter into the throne room of grace after many sacrifices and days of fasting and cleansing.  Now, by faith in Jesus, grace has made that throne room available to the believer.  Heaven has been opened to the believer by grace and faith in this grace and the sacrifice of Jesus.  Once we understand that the only thing required of us is to believe, then all of the wealth and power of heaven is available to the believer.
     This isn't something that will be available to us some day, but is what Jesus' sacrifice has made available to us now.  It's not a matter of us going to heaven some day, but the fact that heaven has now come unto us by grace.  We've somehow looked at grace and favor as God's feeling sorry for us poor mortals.  This is true to a certain degree, but not as we would think.  God's pity or feeling sorry for us poor mortals is because man could never save himself.  For this reason, the undeserved favor and mercy of God intervened on our behalf.
     God Himself was forced into a place where He couldn't enjoy or fellowship with His Own children because of Adam's fall.  The whole purpose of creations was so that God could have a family.  The sorrow God had was the sorrow of a Father being separated from His children.  They were cut off from Him, through no fault of their own, and were cast away from His love and presence.
     The great heart of Love Himself couldn't stand the sorrow of the loss of His children.  The only way for Him to walk with them would be that He Himself would need to pay the price of their redemption.  We forget sometimes that Jesus was also God in His flesh form.  God Himself, by grace and Love, died to restore His family back to life.  And, now this awesome grace has removed all the barriers between God and His children.
     Even after everything God did to restore us back to Him, we don't understand grace and insist on staying aloof from Him.  We still feel like we're unclean and unfit to enter the throne room of grace.  We have inflicted ourselves with things that make us feel more fit to be accepted by Him. We have done what they had to do centuries ago to gain entry into His presence.  We construct rules, laws and rituals in order to appease our own sense of righteousness.  This isn't only wrong, but is actually disrespectful to what Jesus did on our behalf. 
     We still walk in the wrong belief that if we will only pray more, dress differently or follow the Law, then maybe we can gain favor with God.  Galatians 3 talks about this very thing of frustrating the grace of God.  Having begun in the Spirit, we are now trying to gain perfection through works.  We've concentrated so much on works that we forget that good works are products of God's grace and not an entry into His grace.  Some things we've learned are good things, but not all.  We need to allow the Spirit of Liberty to set us free from the Law.
     Even though we know we are free from the Law pertaining to our righteousness, we continue to use the Law to obtain it.  Only faith in Jesus can make us righteous in God's sight.  This is the gift of righteousness by faith in Jesus.  You cannot improve on it because it is God's Own self Who obtained it and it is His righteousness alone.  How can we ever hope of improving on the righteousness of Christ?
     When we, by faith in His grace, will only stop struggling and striving to become righteous and receive the righteousness of Christ Jesus by faith, then our joy will be complete.  We constantly chastise ourselves for our failure to measure up.  If we will allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us, then we will find that in Jesus, we've already measured up.
     It's only natural for the carnal man to feel unworthy and unclean before such a Holy God.  However, we are no longer the old man, but new creatures who are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.  We can't seem to get it down into our heart that God has done what we couldn't do on our own and has made us to be in right standing with Him.

Lesson 4 Faith and Grace

     Our faith works at it's best when we understand grace.  We realize that our standing with our Father is in our Lord Jesus and not in ourselves when we understand grace.  Some of us know that we no longer operate under the Law and some of us do not.  And, some of us who know we're not under the Law still put ourselves under self imposed laws and practices.  We have constructed laws of our own and impose ourselves to things that help us to feel righteous.
     When we impose self made laws on ourselves, we aren't relying on grace to provide our righteousness.  We placed certain dress codes, certain number of prayer times, certain days of worship and even certain eating habits upon ourselves.  Don't misunderstand my place of observation on this matter.  There's nothing wrong with dressing modestly or praying or even having good eating habits, but we don't do them to make ourselves righteous or to gain favor with our Father.
     The desire to pray for a set amount of time isn't wrong unless you bring yourself  under a "law" to do so.  If you think that failing to fulfill this time period of prayer makes you displeasing to God, then this is not grace.  Dressing modestly is always a good idea for both Christians and non-Christians, but if you think that not doing so causes you to lose favor with God or hinders your relationship with the Father, then this is an open door the enemy uses to bring you under fear and condemnation.
     It's usually a good idea for Christians and non-Christians to limit their intake of sugar, salt, fatty foods and preservatives, but it's my own conscience that condemns me when I overdue my intake of them and not the Holy Spirit.  There is nothing we can do to make ourselves righteous.  We must know how to receive and maintain our righteousness by faith in Jesus.  I'm not saying that once we're saved then you can live any way you wish, but I'm saying you must listen to the Holy Spirit. 
     We have developed certain things in our Christian walk that have left the door open to the "great deceiver."  When we don't fulfill all of our self imposed laws, then we feel deserving of punishment from God for our disobedience.
     The Church has taught and held this belief for many years.  There are many who inflict pain and punishment on themselves in order to become more holy or more humble in God's eyes.  I recall a lady who cut her wrists and the bend of her knees with a can lid to show her love for Jesus.  A voice told her that he was Jesus and that he shed his blood for her, so if she loved him, then she should bleed for him.
     You and I both know that God would never ask anyone to do that in order to prove their love for Him, but she was deceived by her own conscience to do so.  We have an innate need to worship and serve God within us.  Man was created for this purpose and for fellowship with our Father. 
     We need to be careful about imposing self made laws and regulations upon ourselves.  Grace has freed us from all these things.  We must have discipline in our Christian lives, but it must come from the Word and from the Holy Spirit and from the new man who is alive to God.  Man's rituals, laws and disciplines are the very things Jesus set us free from.
     We keep trying to "help God out" with our salvation instead of simply trusting Jesus with the entire thing.  We measure ourselves against other Christians as though some of us are more "saved" than others.  We judge the way we dress and act against the way others do.  This is what the Word calls "self righteousness" and it is man made law.
     Galatians 5:6 (Amplified) says, "For (if we are) in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love."  It's not in what we "think it should be," but how He thinks we should be that matters.  We should not be doing things just to please man, but we should do them because we love God and His people.  Being a Christian is not a religion, but it's a relationship with the Father.
     I don't visit those in the hospital and pray for others because it's my "job," but I do so because that's the heart of my Father.  I don't search the scriptures just to have something to teach or preach, but I do so to learn more about Him and share what I've learned with His people.  Christianity isn't a performance, but it's a life lived through us.  We shouldn't be as concerned about our living for Him, but about allowing Him to live through us.
     Jesus said that if we will clean the inside of the cup, then the outside will be made clean.  If we allow the Holy Spirit and grace to fix the inside (our new man), then the flesh (the old man) will come into subjection.  We knew the difference between right and wrong even before we were saved.  God placed His law in our hearts, so we knew it was wrong to kill, lie and steal before being saved.  We abstained from doing these things, for the most part, even while we were in the world.  Thus, for people to say that God's grace is a license to sin is a life.  What God did say is that He would put all these things into the power of His Spirit and will enable us to walk above the lust of the flesh without struggle.  Galatians 5:16 (Amplified) says, "But I say, walk and live (habitually) in the (Holy) Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit) then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God)."
     We set ourselves up to fail when we impose laws upon ourselves.  We cannot fail when we walk in grace.  God will always bring us through saying, "My grace is sufficient for you."  When we fail (and we will), His grace will bring us out of the failure into His favor, until we learn to walk out this failure in the Holy Spirit.
     
    

Lesson 3 Faith and Grace

     As we delve into our new covenant of grace, we find that God swore by Himself since there was none higher to swear by.  Hebrews 6:18 (Amplified) says, "This was so that, by two unchangeable things (His promise and His oath) in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have fled (to Him) for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before us."
     We read in Hebrews 6:13-15 (Amplified) that, "For when God made (His) promise to Abraham, He swore by Himself, since He had no one greater by whom to swear Saying, Blessing I certainly will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you."  Verse 15 says, "And so it was that he (Abraham) having waited long and endured patiently, realized and obtained (in the birth of Isaac as a pledge of what was to come) what God had promised him."
     The blessing of Abraham we have received through Jesus is, according to Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through (their receiving) Christ Jesus, the blessing (promised) to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might (all) receive (the realization of) the promise of the (Holy) Spirit."
     Our part of this covenant requires that we simply believe on Jesus by faith like Abraham did. And, God has swore by Himself and there is no way to break this covenant.  God's grace and favor that He had with Abraham has been realized in Jesus for all who will believe.  Our Father has made it so easy to walk with Him that we have a hard time believing it can be that easy.
     Walking with the Father is the easiest thing I've ever done.  My failures and mistakes are covered by His grace and my sin is gone because of His Blood.  We've complicated this covenant of grace with infinite rules and laws that it's as hard to walk in the new covenant as it was for those under the covenant and the Law.  We've complicated our walk with God to the point where we're almost constantly at war with ourselves.  We won't simply allow grace and mercy to govern us and have made our own guidelines to walk by.
     The covenant of grace that God made with Abraham simply depended on Abraham's faith in the One Who made covenant with him.  When God called upon Abraham to sacrifice his "only begotten son," Abraham was willing to do so on behalf of that covenant.  If a flesh and blood man would to that for his part of the agreement, then could God do any less for His part?
    God deliberately set Himself up to sacrifice His Son on behalf of His agreement with Abraham to fulfill His promise.  We on the other hand, have set ourselves up for fail by being dogmatic in our own rituals.  We can never feel like God is pleased with us or that we're adequate in His sight.  We place ourselves under condemnation that the Blood of Christ has already taken care of.  We always seem to expect the worst to happen and feel like we deserve the worst.
     We have forgotten that grace didn't give us what we deserve, but what the Father desired us to have.  God was under no obligation to make covenant with Abraham.  He chose to do so.  Man cannot bring about his own righteousness.  This is why we always feel deserving of God's judgment and punishment. Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please or be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder  of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him (out)."
     There are no laws or rituals (even well meaning ones) can ever break the power of guilt and condemnation over the carnal minded Christian.  The only way to walk pleasing to God is by faith in His grace and promise according to Romans 6:14 (Amplified) which says, "For sin shall not (any longer) exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law (as slaves) but under grace (as subjects of God's favor and mercy)."
     The sin that no longer has dominion over you, was the condemnation of the inability to ever keep the Law.  Now, we're under grace and free from condemnation by the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus according to Romans 8:1-2.
     When we finally allow the Holy Spirit to deliver us from the mess the carnal mind have provided us, we can walk in liberty.  This isn't to say we are to return to our old way of living, but we're to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into the Father's love and presence.
     The only thing holding us back from God's presence is the carnal mind with it's guilt and condemnation.  We have fostered many man made laws of "righteousness" that will make us acceptable to God.  None of the work and as a matter of fact, they keep us distant from Him because they are our own way of declaring ourselves righteous.  And, because we're always falling short of our own restrictions, our faith is always at a level where we feel like we don't even deserve to have our prayers answered.  Our own religious rules have negated our faith in His grace.   

Lesson 2 Faith and Grace

     As we learn to walk in the new covenant of grace, it's difficult to forget about the old covenant of Law.  As gentiles, we were never actually under the old covenant of Law because this was the covenant God made with Israel through Moses four hundred years after Abraham.  The Law God gave through Moses was never part of the new covenant of grace.  Abraham wasn't aware of those things written on stone tablets.  How then, could Abraham walk with God in such a way as to be called the friend of God?  Isaiah 41:8 (Amplified) says, "But you Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham My friend."
     God Himself called Abraham the friend of God.  There was an advantage between God and Abraham that only one other person shared and that person was Moses according to Exodus 33:11 (Amplified) which says, "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend."
     Moses and Abraham walked under a covenant of grace before and with their friend God.  All of the great deliverance that occurred during the Exodus was under grace.  The miracles delivering God's people happened because of God's grace and mercy and favor under God's covenant with His friend Abraham.  Exodus 2:24-25 (Amplified) says, "And God heard their sighing and groaning and (earnestly) remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob."  Verse 25 says, "God saw the Israelites and took knowledge of them and concerned Himself about them (knowing all, understanding all, and remembering all)."
     God had a covenant of grace before the Law was even given, that overrode all the Law He would eventually give to the people.  This covenant of grace is also the portion of the "Blessing of Abraham" we have inherited by faith in and through Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through (their receiving) Christ Jesus, the blessing (promised) to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might (all) receive (the realization of) the promise of the (Holy) Spirit."
     The Holy Spirit has now come and has been poured out from on high according to Acts 2:1-4 (Amplified) which says, "And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place when suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a mighty tempest blase, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting."  Verses 3-4 go on, "And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them. And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues) as the Spirit gave them clear and loud expressions (in each tongue in appropriate words)."
     The coming of the Holy Spirit has been something that divides many of today's Church.  Divisions arise over whether we believe in the speaking of tongues or the gifts of the Spirit.  For those who believe and accept it, the coming of the Holy Spirit is the "Blessing promised to Abraham" and their return to grace and faith.  It's no longer Laws that were written on stone to be kept by external deeds and sacrifices.  It is the friend of Abraham, God Himself, Who can speak to us as friends.  It is all the power of the Spirit to come and live within us.  It is all the great prosperity of heave, the power of heaven, the authority of heaven and the ability to actually enter into heaven to the Holy of Holies and the throne room of grace.
     Hebrews 4:14-16 (Amplified) tells us that, "In as much then as we have a great High Priest Who has (already) ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession (of faith in Him).  For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weakness and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but one who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning."  Verse 16 goes on, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners) that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well timed help, coming just when we need it)."
     This age and covenant of grace and faith is what our Father of Faith, Abraham, walked in.  All of his blessing and prosperity and ability came through his relationship with the Spirit of God.  It made him "the friend of God."  Abraham's shortcomings and mistakes were covered by God's favor and mercy.
     Jesus spoke to His disciples shortly before His death in John 15:15 (Amplified) saying, "I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his mast is doing (working out) but I have called you My friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father (I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him)."  Remember when God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:17 (Amplified) which says, "And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham (My friend and servant) what I am going to do."
     God still reveals the hidden things of the Spirit ,by His Spirit, to His friends.  As the friend of God, Abraham stood face to face bargaining for the lives of all the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.  This covenant of grace will embolden us in our faith and enable us to do what God wants done.  If God's people will forget the condemnation of the old man and walk in the grace of the new man, then grace will give legs and wings to your faith.  God is not only our friend, but now He is our Father.
     I know several sons and father who are not friends with one another,.  We don't need the commandments to be written on stone any longer because we have the very Spirit of God abiding in our own spirit.  We know what is right and we know what is wrong.  We already have a Sacrificial Lamb Who died and has covered our mistakes.  Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "There is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the Spirit."  Verse 2 says, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the Law of sin and death."
    

Lesson 1 Faith and Grace

     John 1:16-18 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received (all had a share and were all supplied with) one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) up on gift: For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Verse 18 goes on to show why we are so blessed saying, "No man has ever seen God at any time; the Only Unique Son, or the only begotten God Who is in the bosom (the intimate presence) of the Father, He has declared Him (He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him knows)."
      We know that Jesus was "Emanuel, God with us."  Sometimes we forget that Jesus was "God made flesh."  John 1:1 (Amplified) says, "In the beginning (before all time) was the Word (Christ) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself."  
     It was God Himself Who came in the form of man to bring grace to the world.  It's difficult to view our lives without the Law because we've read the Law and heard it.  Although we try to understand grace, we still see ourselves by Law.  One would think that since God isn't judging us by the Law, we wouldn't judge ourselves by it either.  Misinterpreting grace hinders our faith by our own judgments.
       Abraham, who lived 430 years before the Law was given, had no sense of wrongdoing before God.  He never worried about what wasn't there.  He was declared "righteous because he loved God."  He never judged himself of right or wrong and even when he disobeyed God, he had no sense of judgment.
     Abraham disobeyed God when he left his hometown.  God told Abraham to leave his family and relatives, but he took his nephew Lot with him.  God told Abraham that he would have a son with Sarah, but he didn't believe God and made a son with Sarah's handmaid.  Abraham lied about Sarah being his sister and not his wife.  He was disobedient many times and all would have been sin in him if the Law had been present. 
     Through all these things, grace covered Abraham and God declared him to be righteous because he believed God.
     Abraham had no sense of being in sin and his faith wasn't diminished.  He was strong in faith believing that God was able to fulfill that which He promised.  Romans 4:22 (Amplified) says that, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)."
     Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified) tells us, "Christ purchased our freedom (redeeming us) from the curse (doom) of the Law (and its condemnation) by (Himself) becoming a curse for us, for it is written (in the scriptures) cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified)."  Verse 14 goes on, "To the end that through (their receiving0 Christ Jesus, the blessing (promised) to Abraham might come to the gentiles, so that we through faith might (all) receive (the realization of) the promise of the (Holy) Spirit."
     Abraham lived his entire life under grace and had no sense of condemnation to hinder his faith.  Even when God told him he'd have a son in his old age, Abraham never had condemnation by going to Hagar (his wife's handmaiden).  Abraham only walked by faith and never walked under the Law.
     Even though we know we're "saved by grace," we still carry the condemnation of right and wrong before God.  We have never allowed pure grace to hold the first place in our lives because of guilt and condemnation we've allowed to hinder our faith.  We're more sin conscious than righteousness conscious.
     This condemnation keeps us feeling unworthy of God's blessing.  We are unworthy.  That is what grace is! John 1:18 (Amplified) says that, "Jesus is God in the flesh and came so that we could know God."  Somehow, we haven't made the connection that when we see Jesus, we see the Father.
     Remember, when Jesus walked as a Man on the earth, the whole plan of redemption was still to come.  Jesus spoke to those who were still under the Law and in their sins.  We, through Him, are in a different state. 
     We are supposed to walk in the peace we talked about at Christmas, all the time.  We can never truly walk in peace without understanding grace.  We carry a sense of guilt over the man we were before Jesus and under condemnation of past mistakes.  This makes it impossible for us to live in peace in our hearts.
     Abraham wasn't conscious of his mistakes and this allowed his faith to operate in its full capacity.  When we can understand the full meaning of grace, we can operate in a much higher capacity of faith.  Does this mean we can live in any way we want to?  No!  Of course not.  But, if we wait until we no longer make any mistakes, then we'll already be in heaven.
     Babies make mistakes, but that is expected of them because they are babies.  When they fall down, we don't kick them, but help them up.  They will finally learn to walk, but grace covers their mistakes.  They won't always crawl, but they will walk.  Babies aren't conscious of their falling down as being a mistake, but see it as a learning process.
     We look at our every failing as being a sin before our Father that needs punishment.  Because of this, our faith won't work in its full capacity.  We don't understand grace.  Grace allows us to learn without the consequence of penalty for our failures.  Our Father knows we will grow into the Image of His Son and that it just takes time.
     We need to allow the grace that got us saved, to bring us into maturity.  My children no longer fall down when they walk (they've got that part down), but they still make mistakes in other areas of their lives (their growing up).  We will still be making mistakes when Jesus comes back, but grace has already covered every one of them.
     Don't allow the guilt of your old, unrenewed mind to hinder the grace of your new born spirit.  Allow grace to do its work in you as you grow.  Grace has covered you completely unto your salvation and completeness.  Clean the inside of the cup and the outside will be clean.

Lesson 6 Unwrapping The Gift

     As the time of year we celebrate Jesus' birth ends, let's keep in mind that for Christians, the Christmas season should last all year long.  It should actually last all year long for the world too, if they would only receive the gift of life that Jesus came to give.
     Mostly though, the world only recognizes the Baby in a manger.  The precious gift of peace that God sent only becomes the reason for stress as the world struggles to purchase toys and gifts for friends and loved ones.  Truly, Christmas is the time of giving, but so is every other day.  Christmas should be the time for giving, loving and forgiving.
     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received (all had a share and we were all supplied with) one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) upon gift."  Verse 17 says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Many Christians fail to believe their salvation goes beyond just going to heaven when they die.  Others believed in the forgiveness of their sins, but aren't always secure in that promise.  Some looked at it as more rules, laws and regulations they must adhere to.
     For those who will delve into God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to direct them, it is a treasure chest of gifts to be opened and explored daily in our new lives.
      Jesus is the "Prince of Peace," according to Isaiah 9:6.  To all who will receive it, this peace or shalom is God's peace through Jesus.  This shalom comes with the eradication of sin and the gift of righteousness.  Once we understand this, we can enjoy "shalom" with God.
     And, to those who will  believe, shalom or peace means so many things if we will only dare believe the truth and grace that came through Jesus on our behalf.  Many of us constantly feel unworthy and unclean before God.  As long as we continue in this attitude, we can never enjoy the shalom of our new covenant.  And, because we've tried so hard to be perfect in our own selves, we know more about our imperfections than about His peace.
       According to Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified), "Grace is a gift from the Father.  This gift is Jesus.  We are saved by grace, through faith (which is also a gift from God in Jesus).  The only requirement for us is for us to REST.  
     Grace is a gift that we didn't deserve.  You don't work to receive it, otherwise it wouldn't be a gift.  Shalom, the peace of God, is Jesus Himself according to John 14:27 (Amplified) which says, Peace I leave with you; My (Own) peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled)."
     Jesus said, "His Own peace I now give you."  The peace He is speaking about is the peace between God and Him and like we have His righteousness, we also have His peace.  Matter of fact, everything we have is His, including His life, His righteousness, His Name, His place with the Father, His authority, His Spirit and His peace.  The only thing we have is our body and that was purchased by His Blood.  For some reason, we are still looking at "us and God" instead of understanding that it is "Him and the Father."  If we will simply understand we are "in Him," then everything He is, we are.  The peace or shalom that we have is His peace.  We always fail when trying to manufacture peace in ourselves.
     We read in 2Peter 1:2-3 (Amplified), "May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full, personal, precise and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."  Verse 3 says, "For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that (are requisite and suited) to life and Godliness, through the (full, personal) knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His Own glory and excellence (virtue)."
     The more we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us in "full and precise knowledge," the more we can understand and walk in His Shalom.  This peace or "shalom" pertains to everything about us, "including healing, health, prosperity, peace of mind (a sound mind), right-standing, completeness, wholeness, soundness, now and throughout eternity" according to Strong's Concordance.  
     And, because we've neglected to delve into and further unwrap the Christmas gift (like excited children on Christmas morning), we have missed so much more that God has already given us.  As we study God's shalom, we will open up the gift of Jesus into our lives.  Grace and peace are sent as salutations to the early Church in nearly every Epistle in the New Testament.  This salutation is so important that it is repeated in each and every letter.  If this peace isn't received into the heart of a believer, then we will continue to live in fear and condemnation of the world and the old man.  Dis-ease in our walk with the Father will result in disease in our natural bodies.
     If we will turn loose of the old guilt and condemnation, then we can enter into the peace or shalom the Father has for His family.  When Jesus was born, God's angels came and declared to all who would believe, "God has declared His peace (Shalom) to all mankind if only they would believe and receive it."  This peace is a direct result of the removal of sin and trespass by Jesus.  When we finally come to the conclusion that "my sin and iniquity He remembers no more," then we can walk in peace.