The believers Paul writes to in Corinth, had a problem with the things he said. The Revelation Paul was given by the Lord Jesus, was completely foreign to them at the time. We though, have an advantage that they did not. Many focus on Paul's thorn in the flesh, saying that it was "from God." Paul referred to it as "a messenger of satan, sent to buffet him and stop him from preaching and teaching God's Message of Grace and faith." Paul writes, "True, there is nothing to be gained by it, but as I am obliged to boast, I will go on to visions and Revelations of the Lord."
Paul taught from the Revelation he received from the Lord Jesus Personally. This is the same Revelation we're now able to understand, but only through the Holy Spirit. 1Corinthians 14:2,18-19 (Amplified) reveals how we now can understand the Revelation that Paul and Jesus were presenting to us. We can now know the secret Truths and hidden things that aren't obvious to the understanding, by the Holy Spirit.
Paul writes in Verse 19, "I would rather say five words with my understanding than ten thousand words in tongues." Many read this scripture and believe that Paul didn't believe in tongues. Paul writes in the previous Verse 18, "I thank God that I speak in strange tongues (languages), more than any of you or all of you put together." When we confuse Revelation with religion, we completely lose the understanding of Wisdom. Understanding Wisdom centers on God's Grace, while religion centers on the Law. Everything God has given or granted to us, comes by Grace. We accept what He has granted by Grace, by the same faith in which we received salvation.
Religion wants you to work, in order to earn God's Blessing, but Revelation simply asks you to believe what He has done, like you did when receiving salvation. It's wrong to think that you can "make God do things," by reading your Bible. Reading God's Word with understanding, will only reveal this Truth to you. I read my Bible every day, not because I feel "I have to," but because I want to know God and fellowship in the privilege we've been given by Grace.
God's Word was Wisdom before I was saved, but I couldn't relate to what it truly meant. Now that I'm born-again, I have understanding about Wisdom and I can walk by His statues in Grace. The only requirements God asks of me is, that I believe. This is simple God-given faith in His Grace and His Goodness. Walking with God is the easiest thing I've ever done. God helps me grow . What I know, He leads me in and what I am, He made me to be.
We don't read God's Word, in order to impress Him, but we read it, in order to learn and be impressed by Him. God has already done everything that is needed to bring us out in victory. We want to do it our way, so that we feel like "we deserve to be Blessed." We believe that "If I read God's Word more, pray more or go to church more, then God will increase His Blessing on my life." God can't increase it any more than He already has. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. WE HAVE IT ALL NOW.
Without understanding, we feel like God is holding out on us, for one reason or another. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at, strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides." Understanding God's way of doing and being right, comes through reading God's Word and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Seeking God's Kingdom first of all, leads to being saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. God's Kingdom and His Righteousness comes through your union with Jesus. Romans 1 :21-22 (Amplified) says, "But now the Righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the prophets Namely, the Righteousness of God which comes by believing with person trust (confidence and reliance) on Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and is meant for all who believe; For there is no distinction."
Faith in God's Grace, is what brought you to salvation, faith in His Christ is what makes you righteous and faith in God's Grace is what makes His Grace work in your life. This is why faith is so important in the believer's life. Don't stop believing after being born-again, because your faith in Jesus and His Finished Word is paramount in your life on earth. The same faith you put in Him for salvation, is the same faith you put in Him for the things your salvation has supplied in Him, by Grace.
We activate His Blessing and allow it to flow in our lives, by faith in His Finished Work. The harder we work to get it to work, the harder it is to allow Grace to perform it's function. It's by Grace that our walk with God is what He has determined, and not ourselves. We didn't do anything, to deserve salvation. Even when we came to Jesus, we knew we didn't deserve to be save, but we put our faith in His Grace. This is God's way of doing and being right. Salvation isn't a performance based religion, but it is Love and Grace.
This doesn't mean that we're to simply sit down and do nothing. We're to understand what Wisdom has made available to us and receive it by Grace. God's part was to give the Grace and our part is applying faith to His Promises and receive them. 2Corinthians 1:20 (Amplified) says, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes Answer in Him, Christ, for that 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."
God's Promises aren't conditional, but are now already ours through Jesus, to God's praise and Glory. Most of us have never seriously considered the fact that Jesus redeemed us from the Curse of the Law. We mostly still walk in what the world and unsaved walk in, as far as the Curse is concerned. The word "redeem," means "to pay for, buy back, purchase and restore." Jesus' Sacrifice paid the penalty for sin and purchased us back, so that the debt owed for our sins is no longer held against us. Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) says, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed), of the things we hope for being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."
If I paid your mortgage off in this sense realm, then you wouldn't continue making payments on that mortgage if the bank sent you a bill. You would have the title deed, to prove that you don't owe the debt any longer. We've failed to stand on the Truth of Grace that Jesus redeemed us from the Curse of the Law. Our children have gone into captivity, like the world. Our homes and families, crops and lives, cities and countries have all remained under the Curse and operate like the world. Redemption was bought for us, at the same time our sin was removed from us. We put faith in the salvation portion of God's Grace, but for some reason, we haven't applied faith in the Redemptive work of Jesus.
Some might say, "Well, it isn't important." Jesus didn't "have" to bear the Curse of the Law, to forgive our sin. He could have simply given Himself as the Sin Offering and left us under the Curse of the Law. Jesus didn't even have to bear the beatings He took, in order to forgive our sins. He did this for our healing. If healing, deliverance and being whole weren't God's will for us, then why would He allow Jesus to take our punishment? If God's will wasn't for us to be free from all the bondage of the enemy, then why would He allow Jesus to take our punishment? Satan has deceived us, and we've believed that "God does these things to us," instead of believing the Truth that Jesus bore these things on our behalf.
Do Christians still get sick? Do Christians still walk under the Curse and need to use faith to walk out our salvation? The answer is, "Yes, because without understanding Grace and having faith in God's way of doing and being right, satan will still operate as an outlaw spirit, opposing your right standing with God in Christ Jesus." We have Wisdom from God in Christ Jesus, but we've lacked understanding about our new creature Life in Him.
If a physician instructs you to "Take this pill daily, in order to be healthy and strong," then you would probably take that pill without thinking about it. God said in Proverbs 4:20-22,10 (Amplified), "My son, attend to My Words, consent and submit to My Sayings, let them not depart from your sight, keep them in the center of your heart For they are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh." Do we believe God, as much as we believe the doctor? This is another reason, why we should read God's Word on a daily basis. In Verse 10 God says, "Hear, O My son, and receive My Sayings, and the years of your life shall be many."
Proverbs 3:32 (Amplified) says, "The Curse of the Lord (Law) is in the house of the wicked, but He declares Blessed (joyful and favored with Blessing), the home of the just and constantly righteous." We've failed to apply faith in this portion of Grace for our lives. We've accepted the Curse, more than the Blessing, believing this was God's will for our lives. Grace is frustrated and can't do it's work, when we put faith and accept the Curse, instead of the Blessing. Romans 1:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and it depends entirely on faith in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor) to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his (Abraham's) descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
Galatians 3:29 (Amplified) tells us, "And if you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed), then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to Promise." Can we believe this Promise is for while we're here on earth? Or, is this Promise conditional and only for when we die and go to Heaven? What good is the Blessing of Abraham, when I'm in the Presence of the One Who is the Source of the Blessing? The Blessing is for here and it's ours through faith in God's Grace. Do I know anyone who is walking in it yet? No, but that doesn't mean that we can't walk in it by faith in the One Who did.
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