Friday, June 22, 2018

Lesson 69 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "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 upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Notice, that God says, "We have ALL received these things," as an inheritance when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Most of us have never taken part of this inheritance, mostly because we never knew about them.  These are Super-natural imputations, by and through the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit came into our lives at the new birth and we have all received these things through Him.
     This is an inheritance that shows no partiality, but is equally shared by our union with the Father, by His Spirit.  No one was given a larger or small share, but we were all supplied with these benefits equally.  We've never used our faith in God to walk in these things, because we were never taught about them.  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 comes from the lips of Christ, the Messiah Himself."
     One might ask, "Did the Messiah really say these things to us?"  Let's look at Jesus' Words from Luke 4:18-19 (Amplified) where He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the Messiah); to preach the Good News (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed, who were down trodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound."
     This was the Promise and these Promises became "Yes and Amen" at Jesus' resurrection.  2Corinthians 2:20 (Amplified) says, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they ALL find their Yes answer in Him (Christ); For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it), To God through Him (in His Person and by His Agency) to the Glory of God." 
     When we accept these Promises by faith and Trust in God's Promises, it brings glory to Him and Jesus' Sacrifice.  We've mostly dared to believe in being with Jesus in Heaven, when we leave this earth.  God intended to dwell in us and glorify Himself through us, while we're still on earth.  The only way He can do this, is by our believing His Promises and allowing the Super-natural Power and Glory of God to shine in and through us.
     It's always been God's will, to reveal Himself through His people.  We must remember, first, that God is a Spirit, according to John 4:24 (Amplified) which says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)."  When we believe God's Promises and allow Him to reveal Himself "Strong" on our behalf, this is a spiritual and reality worship.  This is truly walking with God, in Spirit and Truth.  This is the highest form of Spiritual worship.
     God is a Spiritual Being and no on can see Him, except through His Body, which is us.  When we reveal God in our natural bodies, we're revealing Him to the world, which can't see Him any other way.  Jesus told the people that, "I and the Father One," in John 10:30 (Amplified).  Jesus also told us, in John 6:63 (Amplified) that, "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."
     Without our yielding to the Spirit and allowing His Promises to work through us, we can only reveal Him by our flesh and "the flesh has no profit in it."  None of our rituals and traditions reveal God to the world, this comes only by the Super-natural Revelation through the Holy Spirit.  The Gifts, Graces, Spiritual Blessings and favors weren't only for our benefit, but are more importantly for revealing God to the world.
     Without having the Super-natural show of Him, our religious ceremonies are no different from other religions of the world.  They all hold meetings and ceremonies and gather before their gods, just like we do, so there's nothing to reveal our Mighty God to the world, through these without the Super-natural power of the Holy Spirit.  In most of our services, we do much the same things they do, with no proof to the world that our God is Greater than their gods.  We're just another religion, to the world.
     We do these things, because we love God.  It's not a matter of loving Him, but it's His way of showing Himself to the world, through our love for Him.  We need to learn to stop living for Him and start living through Him.  The world can't see Him at all, unless the Church shows Himself.  The world is spiritually blind and can only see with it's natural eyes.  If the world cannot see Him revealed in the natural realm, then they cannot believe.
     Jesus said in John 10:37-38 (Amplified), "If I am not doing the works (performing the deeds) of My Father, then do not believe Me (do not adhere to Me and trust Me and rely on Me). but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me or have faith in Me, at least believe the works and have faith in what I do, in order that you may know and understand clearly that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father (One with Him)."
     Jesus didn't rely on just the Words He spoke, but He also relied on the demonstration of God by His words.  We have all received by Him, the inheritance through the Spirit and God expects Himself to be revealed through us.  This isn't ego centered, but is a witness to the world, which they can't deny.  Our God shows Himself different than so-called other "gods" of the world.  He reveals Himself in Super-natural and Glorious ways, that can't be denied.  We see Rahab coming to two men on the roof when they were under siege, to hid them, in Joshua 2:8-12 (Amplified) which says, "And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord has given you the Land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the Land FAINT because of you For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Ammorites who were on the east side of the Jordan, Sidon and Og; whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted, neither did spirit or courage remain any more in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in Heaven above and on earth beneath Now then, I pray you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father's house and give me a sure sign."
     When the people saw the Lord in His Glory, "the courage went out from them."  Their courage didn't leave them, because of the glory of the Hebrews.  It left them, because of the God, they served.

No comments:

Post a Comment