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 favor upon favor and even 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."
Verse 18 goes on to reveal to us, Who and What God is now through Jesus Christ, saying, "No man has ever seen God at any time; the Only Unique Son (or the Only Begotten Son), Who is in the Bosom (in 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 has made Him known."
Understanding God, the Father, as He really is, goes beyond what religion tells us, we must first see Jesus, as He was when the world could see Him physically. We've mostly seen God through the eyes of religious leaders and through the old covenant. We've missed seeing God as He is now through the Redemptive work of Jesus, because we've misinterpreted Jesus during His earthly ministry. James 4:7-8 (Amplified) says, "So be subject to God, Resist the devil (stand firm against him), and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you, recognize that you are sinners, get your soiled hands clean, realize that you have been disloyal, wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts of your spiritual adultery."
We usually see "spiritual adultery," as meaning serving other gods or idolatry, but above it means being, "disloyal, wavering, having divided interests and sin, in a way we seldom think of sin." We've taken God's Name and become His children, when we received His Son Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but we speak of Him with divided interests, disloyalty and being wavering individuals. These things are spiritual adultery to God.
When we see Jesus in His earthly ministry, we see how Jesus reveals to us what our Father's nature, desire, heart and will is for His people. We cannot physically see Jesus now, in His Heavenly ministry as High Priest, but we could see Him as a Man, during His earthly ministry. This earthly Man Jesus, was the Very Image of our Father. This is the only way to physically see God. How can we see Him in the flesh and misinterpret Who He is to us now, is beyond me. How could we possibly say we know Jesus and have no idea about Who God really is?
During His earthly ministry as a flesh and Blood Man, Jesus tells us Who "God with us," is, but we've failed to see that. We've been like James said, "wavering and disloyal individuals, with divided interests." Are we really so fearful that we do like those in the Wilderness did, distrusting God to the point of spiritual adultery? God showed Himself as their Deliverer, Provider and Protector, but they still didn't trust Him. Those in the Wilderness were disloyal and wavering individuals. Most of today's Church still blame God for our sickness, disease, calamities, trials and tests and bondage, and fail to recognize Who He really is.
The only way to see God, until we're finally home and in His Presence in Heaven, is to see Jesus. We have never read in God's Word that Jesus brought about sickness, disease, hardships or trials in His earthly ministry. Jesus Himself said, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father, the Father and I are One." Man's teachings have produced the Church's inability to distinguish between God and the enemy. James tells us in the King James Version of the above scripture, "Submit yourselves to God." Both versions say we're to "Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
The way our Heavenly Father is presented in today's Church, makes it difficult to know when we're supposed to submit and when we're to resist. If you don't know whether it's God or the enemy, then how do you know when to submit or when to resist? If we submit to the wrong one, then we could end up in more trouble. If we resist the wrong one, then we could also be resisting God's will and purpose for us. If we don't know whether to submit or resist, then we've put faith into a place where it can't work.
It doesn't matter if you're a preacher, apostle, prophet or anything else in the Body of Christ, you are going to have trials. This is part of your walk with the Father on this side of Glory. You must know where these trials comes from and once you know the source of your problems, you'll know when to resist. Jesus prayed, "Lead them not into temptation or trials and tests, but deliver them from the evil one or the evil." We must believe that Jesus meant what He prayed and that God hear and did what Jesus prayed.
If God is trying us and satan is also trying us, the where do we go for help and deliverance? If we don't know who is trying you, then we are wavering individuals with divided interests, like James describes. It would be easy to stand in the pulpit and preach, "Whatever will be-will be." This places no responsibility on the hearer or preacher and says that, "Whatever goes on in the believer's life, must be God's will for us."
You might have been taught this as a baby Christian, but as you grow in the Lord and in His Presence, you must come to know Him for yourself and not through someone else's relationship with Him. Paul writes about the relationship between a husband and wife, in Ephesians 5:32 (Amplified), "This Mystery is very great, but I speak concerning the relationship of Christ and the Church." I did not come to know my wife by asking others what they thought about her or by listening to others describing the relationship they have with their own wives. I came to know my wife, by fellowship and intimacy that no one else could ever know.
Every person in the Body of Christ, is supposed to know Him for themselves. You might think that God is the One Who makes you sick or gives you a disease. That might be someone else's relationship with Him, but I know Him better than that, by His Word, His Personal Revelation through Jesus and by my intimate fellowship with Him. You have the distinct privilege of coming into His Presence at any time and simply talking with Him. Don't simply take someone else's relationship with Him, but make it your personal quest in life, to know Him for yourself.
Many believers think the revelation I have with my Father, is "strange." It must seem strange and totally different, to those who are simply walking in someone else's idea of Who He is. God still gives Revelation to those who seek Him and fellowship with Him. It's not a new revelation that no one else has ever heard, but it's the Light of the Revelation that He gives in His Word. Wisdom is the principal thing, according to Proverbs where God directs us to, Therefore get Wisdom, but with all of your getting, get understanding."
Wisdom without understanding, is just walking in what someone else tells us and not thinking for ourselves. I don't walk in religion, but in the Revelation of Who He is. When trials and tests come, I know who is bringing them and I use the Word of God and His Holy Spirit to resist. I know that when sickness of disease tries to come into my body, they are from the enemy and that Jesus bore my sickness and disease, so I resist. I know that if fear tries to come upon me, that "God didn't give me a spirit of fear, but of Love, Power and a sound mind," so I resist it by faith in His Word.
You might believe that God puts these things on His family, but ask yourself, "What husband would do this to his wife, whom he loves?" Then go to God's Word and you will see that God isn't your problem, He is your Answer. God has always been our Answer. If you don't know God for Who He really is, then you can't distinguish between who is bringing sickness, fear, bondage or disease on you and Who is your Deliverer and Provider.
God told Moses to send out twelve spies to the Promised Land, in Numbers 13 & 14. These men were from the twelve tribes of Israel, chosen from the two and one half million people God delivered from Egypt. All twelve returned and agreed that what God about the Land was, "True." But, ten of the twelve decided that the problem was bigger than the Promise, so they transmitted their ideas to the people. The two and a half million people never saw the Promised Land for themselves, but they believed the ten spies instead of God and never entered the Promised Land. They died in the Wilderness. Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who believed God more than the problem, so the people tried to stone them for their faith.
The greatest part of our Redemption is that we're able to enter into God's Presence at any time, without guilt, shame or cowardliness. We can come before Him as righteous, stainless and white, because of Jesus. And, because of Jesus, we are always welcome in His Presence. Let's use this privilege, to learn of Him for ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment