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."
Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
We've discussed what Jesus suffering was in previous lessons. The suffering Jesus had to bare, came from the mistrust and persecution of those He came to set free. The suffering Jesus endured on the cross wasn't for you and me to suffer, but was instead so that we wouldn't have to suffer it. this was the Redemptive suffering that only Jesus could accomplish, in our stead. Until we understand this, we will continue in a place that the enemy can torment and hold us back from Jesus' Glory.
There are differences of maturity, both in the Church and the world. Not all the Church is at the same level as mature sons and daughters of God. We are all God's children and all have the same inheritance, but we're not all walking in that inheritance yet. In 1John 2:1 (Amplified), John writes to "little children" when talking about sin and restoration to righteousness. This isn't true for all of us who are born-again, but more so for little children who aren't familiar with their new identity in Christ.
John continues his writing to "little children" in 1John 2:12-13,14 (Amplified). John writes to those who should no longer be little children in Verse 13, saying, "I am writing to you fathers, because you have come to know (recognize) be aware of and understand Him Who existed from the beginning."
John goes on writing to "young men," saying, "I am writing to you young men, because you have been victorious over the wicked one." John is speaking to those who were once "little children." These children have grown up with the teachings of the Word and the Spirit by the fathers. We've all grown from little children to young men and women. We've made mistakes as young children who are learning and growing, but John tells us, "But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate, One Who will intercede for us with the Father, it is Jesus Christ the All Righteous Upright One, Just One, Who conforms to the Father's will in every thought, purpose and action." This is Truth for all the saints, but as we grow up, we should make fewer mistakes and not need forgiven all the time.
Little children don't know how to behave, until they're taught. Young men and women have been taught and should know better than to continually make the same old mistakes (sins). John addresses the "fathers who have come to know Him and understand Him," in Verse 14. These are those in the Church, who have gone from little children to young men and have become those who know and understand the Father God.
As Christians, we were never meant to remain little children or young men and women in Christ. We are called to go from milk to meat in God's Word and understanding. Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:21 (Amplified) saying, "So whoever cleanses himself from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences, will then himself be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work." Paul tells us that we have a part to work out in our growth and ability to teach or be used in the Master's House.
There are many things that we still must learn in these latter times. Many are content to remain little children in Christ and ignore the things being taught by the fathers to young men and women. We still have to come to the Father, repenting over the same mistakes over and over again, because we haven't grown beyond the childish and foolish baby stage. God's Grace and mercy will cleanse us and restore us back to Himself, but we shouldn't remain in this infantile state of sonship.
Little children learn by watching and hearing what goes on around them. In the world, there are young adults who have grown up in dysfunctional homes and they still live and act by the things they learned from the older people in those homes. Some have carried this lifestyle into adulthood and have been destroyed by the things no one should ever have learned from so-called adults. Paul told Timothy that, "Whoever cleanses himself can be a vessel fit for the Master's use."
We each have a choice to make about how we work out our own salvation. In Philippians 2:12 (Amplified) Paul writes, "Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed my suggestions, so now, not only with the enthusiasm you would show in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out, cultivate, carry out to the goal and fully complete your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling, self distrust with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the Name of Christ."
In order to understand and do this, we must mature in God's Word and Spirit and seek the Father for ourselves. There aren't as many who know about the Father, as one might think. Some have limited knowledge of the Father, because of the teachings of their local home church, while some are led off by false doctrines. This isn't a matter of their not being saved, but they haven't matured from the little children stage to the father stage. I don't believe that someone who is truly born-again would deliberately deceive the Church. Some of the things being taught and passed on in the Church aren't truly God's will and Truth, according to God's Word.
Some of the Revelations that the Holy Spirit has brought to us throughout the years, have been discredited by carnal knowledge and traditional teachings. Not everything we have heard about our Father is Truth. Paul writes in 2Timothy 2:15-18 (Amplified), "But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle talk), for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their teachings will devour (it will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene), so it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus who have missed the mark and swerved from the Truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the Truth."
Discerning the Truth from the vain, idle talk, is up to every individual. Some will listen to anything, while some won't listen to anything. Both are in error, because they don't know God's Word or the Father for themselves. Many things are being taught in the right spirit, but are received in the wrong spirit. We must discern for ourselves, by the knowledge and Wisdom of God and by knowing His heart. Many don't wish to grow up and accept the responsibility for their own relationship with the Lord. It's easier for someone else to do their praying, reading and studying, so they remain as little children in Christ.
When you hear a teaching about "The Confession of Your Mouth," then you must study it from God's Word and see if that teaching is Truth. Don't lose sight of maturity. Some have misused this revelation, believing that we can say "anything and it will be alright." You must study God's Word for yourself. When you hear about the authority of the believer, does is mean you can eliminate satan forever? No. Does it mean you can eliminate much of satan's activity in your own life? Yes, you can.
We are given instructions on "warfare and ability" for our lives, in Ephesians 6:6-18. Every individual believer is to take these instructions and use them in our own lives. You can't be the shield of faith for everyone, but you can be the shield of faith for yourself and your family. Verse 6 tells us, "Lift up over all the covering shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missile of the wicked one." Many of these flaming missiles are words that destroy the revelation and confidence of God's people. These can't hurt us, when we spend time in God's Word for ourselves. We are led about by what others think about something, instead of having firsthand knowledge.
Jesus says in Mark 4:23-24 (Amplified), "If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend. Be careful what you are hearing, the measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you-and more besides will be given to you who hear."
Just because someone doesn't believe or receive something, doesn't mean it isn't of God. You must find out for yourself. It's your shield of faith that covers you, not their shield of faith. Many rejected the things Jesus taught, but those who would believe, were healed. Everything Jesus taught was Truth, even though some chose not to believe it and the same it true today. What Jesus says is Truth, but every individual must choose whether or not he/she believes it. Don't try walking your walk on the faith of others. Learn to trust Jesus on your own faith.
Many today are being talked out of being healed, because someone else lacks faith for healing. I don't want someone else to leave me sick, when God wants to make me well. I refuse to allow someone to talk me out of receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, because they don't believe, when God's Word says these are for those who believe. I am a believer. I don't know where others are walking with the Lord, I only know where I am. Even though some things might not be working in the lives of others, doesn't mean they don't work.
You can't make someone else do what they should and you cannot do it for them. You can only seek God and His Kingdom and "All these things will be added unto you." In Matthew 6:33 (Amplified) Jesus says, "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and Righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
This is left up to the seeker. What works and "is given to you besides," is determined by what and Who you are seeking and not be what someone else thinks and reasons about it. Hugh Smith preached at our church years ago, saying, "Hoe your own row." I sow that which I reap. If my crop is good, then it comes from good seed. If I'm not reaping good crops, then I need to change what I'm sowing.
Mark 4 tells us that, "Words are seeds." If my crop is a failure, then it might be because the Law of confession is working and I'm confessing the wrong things or sowing the wrong seeds. You don't have to believe this is true simply because I say it. Go to the Word and seek it out for yourself. We've been robbed of many things of God, because we haven't been seeking them out for ourselves.
It doesn't mean you're not God's child, but it could mean that you need to seek for yourself and grown into young men or fathers in your faith with Jesus. You can't give something you don't have, but once you receive what God has for you, you can give from your abundance. If you really want to know, then "ask Him and He will tell you," according to James 1:3 (Amplified). Build your own relationship with the Lord. Don't stop because someone else does. God on in your walk and then you can help bring them along.
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