John 1:7 (Amplified) tells us, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Grace and Truth were always God's will for His family. Grace and Truth came
through Jesus and Jesus came to do the will of the Father, which tells us that they were God's will from the beginning. We're struggled to understand God's will for mankind, because we see how God dealt with those in the old covenant and try carrying this into our new covenant with Him. God's will has never changed from the foundation of the world, when He decided to create a family for Himself.
Before the Father created the Heavens and earth and before He divided the waters and brought forth life and land, God already had it in His heart that earth would be home for His family. After everything was complete, God made a human body for His man to inhabit and dwell in on this earth. This was and is, His will for mankind and His will has never changed over the millennia.
After Adam's fall in the Garden, God needed to move in different ways, in order t repair and replace the damage Adam had done. But, God's will, purpose and plan have never changed. Unlike us, God never even considered a Plan B, but only Plan A. God now had to deal with sin and the death problem that separated Him from His family. God's will was to totally redeem and restore everything back to the original Plan A.
We've viewed the Law, as being a different plan and a different will, but it wasn't a different plan at all. God made Laws that gave Him the ability to deal with the sin and death that separated man from Himself. God's will, though, was still the same as before. God's plan for His family and His will have been done. God now has a family, who can come into His Presence. God has dealt with sin and death, so we can enter into His Presence without being destroyed by His Glory and Holiness.
1Corinthians 6:19 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that your body is the Temple (the very Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit) Who lives within you, Whom you have received as a Gift from God? You are not your own." This is as close as we can be to Him and Him to us. God actually lives within us and declares that we are the "Temple of God, Himself." God's will and testament is completed and done, as was planned from the beginning. We still do things that are wrong and displeasing to Him while we're growing into maturity with Christ, but through His will, we're restored to family with Him.
There are so many things we need to learn about who we are and Who He is, in order to fulfill His will in our lives, but this is where God's Grace and Truth come into play with our walk with Him. God's Grace covers our childish mistakes, until we're able to come to the fullness of the knowledge of Him, by His Truth. This isn't a free pass, allowing us to act like fools or to live as we please, but this is His Mercy and Grace which cover us, until we grow up. Ephesians 1:11 (Amplified) says, "In Him we also were made God's heritage (portion), and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand in accordance with His purpose), Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His Own will."
Paul goes on in Ephesians 4:23-24 (Amplified) exhorting, "Be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude And put on the new nature, the re-generate self, created in God's Image, Godlike in true righteousness and holiness." We were created righteousness and holy in God's Image, in our new creation being. God's Plan A and His will are still being fulfilled, by His Grace and Truth. You're not only to do God's will, but you are God's will.
In order to truly understand the difference between what Truth says and what man says, we must rely on the Truth of God's Word and His Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John 6:38-40 (Amplified), "For I have come down from Heaven not to do My Own will and purpose, but to do the will and purpose of Him Who sent Me. And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He has given Me, but that I should give new Life and raise them all up at the last day For this is My Father's will and His purpose, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in and cleaves to and trust in and relies on Him should have eternal Life, and I will raise him up from the dead at the last day."
God's Word is God's Truth and if man's thoughts about Truth, don't agree with the Word, then they are wrong. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." God's Word is the only place that brings Life and Truth to us. Man's thoughts or sayings have no profit in them. Satan deceptions have returned man back under the Law, where man is required to do certain works, traditions and rituals in order to seen as righteous in God's eyes. God's Word tells us that we're not only "in God's will," but we "are God's will personified in Him."
When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and become born-again, the Holy Spirit resides in our new creation spirit. When we renew our carnal minds with God's Word, the old, sinful ways of the outer-man (the flesh) are done away with, because we receive the Truth and Life in our new creation man, allowing us to put away the sins of the flesh. This all happens from the inside-out and not from the outside-in. Only Life and expel death and only Truth can conquer lies. God's will and purpose have given us, by Grace, both Life and Truth.
If you're born-again, then you're in the will of God. Now, you must take the Grace and Truth that came through Jesus and glorify God in your body by His Word. Stop trying to be righteous and simply allow Truth to reveal to you, that you are "created in righteousness and true holiness," like Ephesians 4:23-24 teaches. This is the new creation Paul writes about in 2Corinthians 5:17. You were created to be this by God's will and purposes and plan. Stop trying to be something that God has already created you to be. Live your new life, by the very Life of God Who lives in you.
No one has ever witnessed an apple tree, straining to produce apples. The trees simply produce apples from the seed in which they have life. You don't need to strain to produce the Fruit of the Spirit, but you just produce from the Seed Who gave you Life.
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