2Corinthians 5:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
In fellowshiping with my Father, I try finding His will and His pleasure, for my life andnfor his family as a whole. We've heard so many things and have been taught so many different ways of walking with Him, but although most of the people teaching these things were well-meaning, they have placed us back under Law and not grace. We've been taught that grace means we can live any way we wish and it doesn't matter. Some have even taught how the Father had planned that only a certain amount of people can be saved and that God has chosen only these people. They believe that if you were not chosen, then you cannot be saved.
It's little wonder that faith has nearly disappeared from God's people and that many believers simply decide to "Hold on until the end (when the rapture comes or we go to Heaven)." Those believers who are determined to break out of the bondage of religious and traditional teachings and walk naturally super-naturally, are ridiculed. They are considered "weird or flaky" and other Christians believe that walking in the super-natural is something "strange." I've never considered Jesus as being "weird, flaky or strange." Jesus must have been a Man Who laughed and enjoyed life, if the little children were drawn to Him.
Paul received a prayer for the Church, from the Holy Spirit in Colossians 1:10 (Amplified). If this prayer was given for the Church of that time, then it is still relavent for today's Church and we can expect it to be answered when we pray it. Thus, it says, "That we may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing and by the knowledge of God (with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition)." Verse 11 goes on, "(We pray) that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory (to exercise every kind of endurance and patience, perseverance, and forbearance) with joy."
In order to find what pleases God, I must also find out what doesn't please Him. We are instructed to do some things, while instructed not do other things. I must go to the Word, in order to know what pleases God, because if I go to the people, then I will get thousands of different answers and not all of these answers have any bearing on my walk with God. The Church has made grace, faith and fellowship, to be Law. Jesus said that we "Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." If you cannot pass a gnat, then you shouldn't eat a camel. There are things that no one should eat.
As I fellowship with God and read His Word with the Holy Spirit guiding me, I find that the thing that seems to displease God most, is our not letting Him be God in our lives. We confess that "He is Lord" and that "we believe God," but it's difficult to stand on these things when we're being taught that "God doesn't do these things today." I found a sample of what I think displeases God most, in Psalm 78:37-42 (Amplified) which says, "For their hearts were not right or sincere with Him, neither were they faithful and steadfast to His covenant, But He, full of (merciful) compassion, forgave their iniquities and destroyed them not; yes, many a time He turned His anger away and did not stir up His wrath and indignation. For He (earnestly) remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that goes and does not return. How often they defied and rebelled against Him in the wilderness and greived Him in the desert And time and again they turned back and tempted God provoking and incensing the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not (seriously the miracles of the working of) His hand, nor the day He delivered them from the enemy."
The King James Version says in Verse 41, "That they (limited) God," while The Amplified Bible translated if as "They (tempted) God." We've all read and heard about our "wilderness eperience" and how the Israelites were "tested in the wilderness." While studying this, I believe that God was the One Who was tested and limited in the wilderness. God could never complete His will for them, while leading them out of bondage, because they would not believe Him. They limited Him and He couldn't complete His plan for them, after delivering them from bondage.
They "grieved God in His heart," by their murmuering and being short-sighted. God has plans for us, both as individuals and corporately for today's Church. More than anything, God is searching out those who will remove any limitations, that we have placed on Him. We've somehow believed, that only the "special ones" can have certain things. We have walked in unbelief, by asking for only small things or things we think (with human thinking) are of God. I can do natural things by myself. When I do not limit God by my unbelief and believe Him for the Super-natural things, that gives Him joy and glory.
Is the God of our new covenant, less than the God of the old covenant? Is He not THE SAME GOD? Is He not OUR FATHER? The Father is pleased when we release His ability and allow Him to be our God and our Father. Those people we read about in the Word, were not so much "special people", but they were especially people who didn't limit God.
David was special, when he removed the limitations from God and defeated Goliath in "The Name of the Lord." David didn't approach the Giant in strength, but in God's strength. The King and his entire army (that included David's brothers) had limited God, by their fear and unbelief. King Saul or any other person present, could have destroyed Goliath, if they had done what David did and had not limited God.
Any of the spies in Numbers 13 could have done what Joshua and Caleb dd, if they had removed their limits off what God could and did do, in "the Land of the Giants." Joshua and Caleb never planned to defeat the giants on their own, but they planned to do it only through God. Every one of these spies witnessed God's parting the Red Sea and providing manna for them daily. They had seen God take out Pharoah's entire army, with His unlimited ability and power.
The heroes of the Bible and through the ages, are people who did not limit the Holy One. In Isaiah 51:7-8 (Amplified) God says, "Listen to Me, you who know rightness and justice and right standing with God, the people in whose heart is My law and My instruction; fear not the reproach of men, neither be afraid nor dismayed at their revilings. For (in comparison with the Lord they are so weak that things as insignificant as) the moth shall eat them up as a garment and the worm shall eat them like wool. But My rightness and justice (and faithfull fulfilled promise) shall be forever, and My salvation to all generations."
In our walk with God, it's not so much who you are, as it is who you limit Him to be. We've become of one family and One Father, in our new creation walk. There is nothing in this covenatn of Promise, that is limited to any one person and not another. The difference is what you limit Him to do for you, in this new covenant. God is always searching for someone who will believe Him to do great and mighty things, here and now. You don't need to do the greats works, but only unlimit God to do them.
Moses didn't need to part the Red Sea, he was only required to "hold up the staff." It wasn't the staff that did the miracle, it was the unlimited faith of the man holding the staff. Moses removed all limits and allowed God to be God. By murmuring and complaining, the Israelites limited God every time something new came up. They continually ask, "Can God do this" or "Can God do that?" They asked, "Did God bring us here to die?" This was the "testing" that the wilderness was. God wasn't testing man, but man was testing God.
Hebrews 3:7-9 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear His Voice, Do not harden your hearts, as (happened) in the rebellion (of Isreael) and their provocation and embitterment (of Me) in the day of testing in the wilderness Where your forefathers tried (My patience and tested My forebearance) and found I stood their test. And they saw My works for forty years."
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