In 1Corinthians 15:45 (Amplified) Paul, by revelation, reveals the First Adam and the Last Adam, Jesus. The First Adam never had to do the ministry of the Last Adam, because nothing was out of place, at the beginning of man on this earth. The Curse only came, after Adam transgressed in the Garden. Prior to Adam's fall, the Blessing and Spirit of God was working through and for Adam. We see the results of the Curse working at an alarming rate on the earth, during the Last Adam, Jesus' ministry.
Jesus stated in Luke 4:18-19 (Amplified), "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 to those who are oppressed, who are 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 (Isaiah 61:1-2)."
Before the First Adam transgressed, there was no need to preach or to deliver from bondage, because there was only the Blessing and not the Curse upon the earth. The Curse came about only after Adam's fall, which wasn't God's Original Intent for His family. God's Plan never changed concerning His family.
The Last Adam, Jesus came to restore the family that was and is the heart of the Father, back to Him. During His earthly ministry, Jesus only spoke, lived and demonstrated the Blessing and the Original Intent of God's Plan, for His children. Jesus restored those who had succumbed to the Curse and were sick, lame, dumb, blind, under the spirits of darkness, leprous, or were in any way other than God's Original Intent. Jesus restored the Blessing to those people. Through Jesus, this extended beyond just the Chosen people and now encompassed even the Gentiles. This was God's Original Intent from the beginning. We are all called to be His Chosen people!
We lost the purpose and intent of God's heart for us, because we never looked beyond the flesh and fallen nature of man. Today, we deal with such things as death, sickness, hardship, and hunger, but these were never God's Original Intent for His family. We've been conned into believing and accepting these things as being "God's teaching us something with these things." This might be the greatest lie, satan ever sold to the Church. And we bought it. Genesis 1-2 never says that God brought all these terrible things into being, but Genesis 1:31 (Amplified) tells us that all things were "very good." Thus, it says, "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant), and He approved it completely. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day."
Notice that God didn't make sickness, disease, death and all the other things we attribute to His idea of what man was to have or be. We've read about the scriptures, by the deception satan brought through the First Adam and have nearly forgotten the redemptive ministry of the Last Adam. Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:10-13 (Amplified) saying, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." I don't know whether or not you believe there are sick, blind or lame people in Heaven, but I don't. In Verse 13 Jesus goes on praying, Lead (bring us) not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
We've missed the entire purpose of this prayer, thinking that whatever happens on earth, "Must be God's will." John 8:19 (Amplified) says, "Then they said to [Jesus], Where is this Father of Yours? Jesus answered, You know My Father as little as you know Me. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also." Is it that we really don't know Jesus, that we've mixed up our ideas about God? Or, are we still so carnally minded that we try separating God from Jesus, as being two separate entities? We continue believing God deals with the us (the new covenant people), like He dealt with the old covenant people. We've failed to understand that through Jesus, we've been returned to the Original Intent God had for His family and that God now deals with us by His Spirit, just like He did with the Last Adam, Jesus Christ.
We've seemingly accepted the lie that says, "Whatever happens to us in our lives, must be God's will for us and that He allows it to happen, in order to teach us something." Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus told His followers in John 14:26, that, "He would send the Holy Spirit to teach us." 2Timothy 3:16 tells us that, "God Word is there to teach and correct us." Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11-14 (Amplified) that God sends the five-fold ministry for "The perfecting and full equipping of His saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the Church." Jesus told the people in John 15:3 that they were "Cleansed already by the Words and teachings." I never used blindness, cancer, sickness, to educate and teach my family.
When we cannot distinguish our Heavenly Father from our enemy, we cannot withstand the enemy's attacks. 1Peter 5:8-9 (Amplified) describes the devil as being "our adversary" and instructs us to "withstand him." If we don't know whether it's God testing us or the devil trying to deliver us, then we're double-minded.
Hebrews 1:1-3 (Amplified) tells us that Jesus is always the "Sole Expression of the Glory of God (the Light-Being, the Out-raying or Radiance of the Divine), and He is the Perfect Imprint and very Image of God's nature." Jesus said that, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father." Can you imagine Jesus putting sickness on someone, in order to teach and train them? Can you see Jesus leaving sickness to remain on someone, until that person learns their lesson? Why then, would you believe that God would do that? It's hard for God to Bless us, when we trust more in the Curse, than in the Blessing.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Lesson 13 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent
Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) says, "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom (skillful and Godly Wisdom). For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing; And with all you have gotten get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation)."
Godly Wisdom isn't the same as the world's or man's interpretation. It requires the Holy Spirit for man to understand the Word of God, according to what Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), where He says, "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."
When "Spirit Words" are spoken and received by natural ears, they become religious laws based on what man thinks those Words mean. Jesus said in the above scripture that, "The Words I speak are Spirit and Life." The Law was established because man had not Spiritual understanding of Spiritual things, which meant that man could only walk by the letter of the Law. We are born-again people, who have the Holy Spirit to teach and reveal God's Word to us. Misunderstanding of God's Word comes when man uses his natural wisdom, instead of God's Wisdom. This is why the Super-natural things of God have been lost over the years. Man needed to make sense to the natural, carnal minds of men.
We must understand God's heart and mind, in order to understand His purpose and intent for mankind. The current state of man was never God's Original Intent, when He created man at the beginning. We've only seen two men who walked in God's Original Intent. The first was Adam before his fall in the Garden and the second is Jesus, after Adam's fall. Many of the Apostles and disciples learned the principals of God's heart, from Jesus. We've looked upon these people as being "special," not thinking they walked returned to God's True Plan for us.
Jesus' entire ministry was to return God's family (us), back to God's Original Intent. Jesus performed miracles and healings, in order to restore God's will in Heaven to God's will on earth. God never willed that His children would be tormented and devoured by disease and sickness. If it was God's will that His children be sick, then Jesus wouldn't have restored them. In John 6:38 (Amplified) Jesus says, "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." Jesus came to give us Life, through the new birth, but healing and deliverance are also God's will for mankind. One doesn't need to be healed, in order to be saved or go to Heaven.
We don't know how long Adam lived on this earth before the fall and we don't know how God provided and cared for Adam, during this time. We sometimes read Genesis 1&2, thinking that God created man and then Adam disobeyed God the very next day, bringing about the fall of mankind. The entire time that Adam walked with God before the fall, was really God's Original Intent and purpose for mankind. I don't believe that Adam and Eve were ever in need, during the time before Adam's transgression. The Curse never came, until Adam's fall. Until that time, there was no sickness, disease, trials or want. Even the earth had a controlled environment, that was under God's Blessing.
Rain never came down, until "God opened the fountains of the great deep and the flood gates and the windows of Heaven," according to Genesis 7:11. It had never rained, before this time. Genesis 2:5-6 (Amplified) says, "When no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the ground. But there went up a mist (fog, vapor) from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground." This controlled environment kept Adam and Eve in comfort and safety, from the elements. Their Father, God, provided their food, water, clothing and shelter. I think that the entire earth was actually the Garden of Eden and it wasn't just a small portion of the earth. God put them in the center of His delight.
Godly Wisdom isn't the same as the world's or man's interpretation. It requires the Holy Spirit for man to understand the Word of God, according to what Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), where He says, "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."
When "Spirit Words" are spoken and received by natural ears, they become religious laws based on what man thinks those Words mean. Jesus said in the above scripture that, "The Words I speak are Spirit and Life." The Law was established because man had not Spiritual understanding of Spiritual things, which meant that man could only walk by the letter of the Law. We are born-again people, who have the Holy Spirit to teach and reveal God's Word to us. Misunderstanding of God's Word comes when man uses his natural wisdom, instead of God's Wisdom. This is why the Super-natural things of God have been lost over the years. Man needed to make sense to the natural, carnal minds of men.
We must understand God's heart and mind, in order to understand His purpose and intent for mankind. The current state of man was never God's Original Intent, when He created man at the beginning. We've only seen two men who walked in God's Original Intent. The first was Adam before his fall in the Garden and the second is Jesus, after Adam's fall. Many of the Apostles and disciples learned the principals of God's heart, from Jesus. We've looked upon these people as being "special," not thinking they walked returned to God's True Plan for us.
Jesus' entire ministry was to return God's family (us), back to God's Original Intent. Jesus performed miracles and healings, in order to restore God's will in Heaven to God's will on earth. God never willed that His children would be tormented and devoured by disease and sickness. If it was God's will that His children be sick, then Jesus wouldn't have restored them. In John 6:38 (Amplified) Jesus says, "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." Jesus came to give us Life, through the new birth, but healing and deliverance are also God's will for mankind. One doesn't need to be healed, in order to be saved or go to Heaven.
We don't know how long Adam lived on this earth before the fall and we don't know how God provided and cared for Adam, during this time. We sometimes read Genesis 1&2, thinking that God created man and then Adam disobeyed God the very next day, bringing about the fall of mankind. The entire time that Adam walked with God before the fall, was really God's Original Intent and purpose for mankind. I don't believe that Adam and Eve were ever in need, during the time before Adam's transgression. The Curse never came, until Adam's fall. Until that time, there was no sickness, disease, trials or want. Even the earth had a controlled environment, that was under God's Blessing.
Rain never came down, until "God opened the fountains of the great deep and the flood gates and the windows of Heaven," according to Genesis 7:11. It had never rained, before this time. Genesis 2:5-6 (Amplified) says, "When no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the ground. But there went up a mist (fog, vapor) from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground." This controlled environment kept Adam and Eve in comfort and safety, from the elements. Their Father, God, provided their food, water, clothing and shelter. I think that the entire earth was actually the Garden of Eden and it wasn't just a small portion of the earth. God put them in the center of His delight.
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Lesson 12 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent
Genesis 1:26-27,29 (Amplified) tells us, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the aid, the (tame) beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him: male and female He created them."
Verse 29 continues, "And God Blessed them." God's Blessing was His Original Intent for His for mankind, His family. We have very little insight into how God's family lived on the earth, before Adam's fall in the Garden. We aren't told how long Adam and Eve were on this earth, before the fall. Only two chapters in Genesis deal with how things were between the Father and His family.
The next time we see man in close relationship with the Father, is Jesus. After Jesus' Ascension, we only are given insight into how the Church functioned and is to function. We're given instructions about how to live, now that we've been restored to God's Original Intent.
The Last Adam, Jesus, was responsible to bring about the new creation or new birth, and restore mankind back to God's Original Intent. Satan set out to reduce mankind back to what he had held humans in, by usurping the authority God gave mankind, from the beginning of the Church (God's family, the Body of Christ). We have been taught by man's ideas of what the new creation was supposed to be and have been given man-made laws, in order to function accordingly. Religion points out the obvious sins of the flesh and instructs us to avoid them. Little has been taught or revealed by religion, on how to walk in the Spirit.
Trying to tame the flesh by the flesh, has mostly been a futile attempt of external willpower, instead of internal and God's Power. When looking at Jesus' earthly walk, we see how the first Adam was to walk and bring forth God's offspring. Jesus healed the sick and performed many miracles, but the first Adam wouldn't have needed healing or miracles, to keep things in order.
Jesus brought things back to what God's Original Intent from the beginning. Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:9-10 (Amplified) saying, "Our Father, Who is in Heaven, Hallowed (kept holy) be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Jesus was bringing mankind back to God's Original Intent, when He healed people, cleansed the lepers, opened blind eyes and raised people from the dead. God never intended His family to be sick, blind, diseased or have need for healing or deliverance. Jesus only restored mankind, to what he lost in the Garden. If Adam hadn't of transgressed in the Garden, then there would never have been sickness or disease on the earth.
Many of us have come to accept and believe that, "This is just how life is." It might be how life is, but it's not how life is supposed to be, according to God's Original Intent. God's family was supposed to be in dominion, authority, fully supplied and Blessed, in everything God made and provided for them. God was to be able to walk with His family, provide for His family, teach and train up His family, in peace and perfect fellowship.
Jesus' entire ministry was bringing mankind back to God's Original Intent, when making mankind. God made man in His Image and Likeness, according to the above scripture. In John 4:24 (Amplified), Jesus said, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)." The part of you that was born-again and became a new creation, is your spirit. Now that our spirit has been restored to God's Original Intent, our newly created spirit man is to rule over the flesh and the senses, just like it did in Jesus and the first Adam. I'm certain that the first Adam walked with the Father for eons of years, before satan deceived Even and Adam succumbed to sin. We have no recorded history of how God and His family walked, but we can be sure they walked in harmony and perfect fellowship.
I don't believe that Adam ever lacked or had a need, before his fall in the Garden. We see some of the struggles that Jesus, Paul and Peter endured for the sake of the Gospel they were speaking forth. The reason for these struggles, was to keep mankind under satan's bondage. We don't read about any struggle that Adam and Even h ad, before they believed satan's lie in the Garden.
Satan usurped the authority God gave Adam over the earth and put mankind into captivity and bondage. Satan was determined to keep mankind in his bondage, by the same deception. Paul taught the Revelation that he had been given, so satan placed trials and struggles on Paul, trying to quiet Paul. As far as we know, Paul was the only man on earth, who had been given this Revelation from God.
Paul's preaching this Revelation to mankind, would restore the dominion and authority satan stole from Adam and place it back into the hands of God's new creation family. Satan had to stop the Good News of salvation and redemption from being shared, in order to maintain all he'd gained by deceiving Adam and Eve. Satan needed to stop those who preached the Gospel, before too many were born-again and the Gospel was too big to stop.
The enemy tries to stop the Gospel now, by blinding the eyes and minds of the Church to the fullness of what the new creation really is. Matthew 28:18 (Amplified) reads, "Jesus approached and breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me." The Last Adam, Jesus has restored back to God, what the first Adam was to have done, which is "bring sons into glory." In order to know what this power of rule is, you must first understand what Jesus has truly done. He has brought us back to God's Original Intent, as His Own family.
Verse 29 continues, "And God Blessed them." God's Blessing was His Original Intent for His for mankind, His family. We have very little insight into how God's family lived on the earth, before Adam's fall in the Garden. We aren't told how long Adam and Eve were on this earth, before the fall. Only two chapters in Genesis deal with how things were between the Father and His family.
The next time we see man in close relationship with the Father, is Jesus. After Jesus' Ascension, we only are given insight into how the Church functioned and is to function. We're given instructions about how to live, now that we've been restored to God's Original Intent.
The Last Adam, Jesus, was responsible to bring about the new creation or new birth, and restore mankind back to God's Original Intent. Satan set out to reduce mankind back to what he had held humans in, by usurping the authority God gave mankind, from the beginning of the Church (God's family, the Body of Christ). We have been taught by man's ideas of what the new creation was supposed to be and have been given man-made laws, in order to function accordingly. Religion points out the obvious sins of the flesh and instructs us to avoid them. Little has been taught or revealed by religion, on how to walk in the Spirit.
Trying to tame the flesh by the flesh, has mostly been a futile attempt of external willpower, instead of internal and God's Power. When looking at Jesus' earthly walk, we see how the first Adam was to walk and bring forth God's offspring. Jesus healed the sick and performed many miracles, but the first Adam wouldn't have needed healing or miracles, to keep things in order.
Jesus brought things back to what God's Original Intent from the beginning. Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:9-10 (Amplified) saying, "Our Father, Who is in Heaven, Hallowed (kept holy) be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Jesus was bringing mankind back to God's Original Intent, when He healed people, cleansed the lepers, opened blind eyes and raised people from the dead. God never intended His family to be sick, blind, diseased or have need for healing or deliverance. Jesus only restored mankind, to what he lost in the Garden. If Adam hadn't of transgressed in the Garden, then there would never have been sickness or disease on the earth.
Many of us have come to accept and believe that, "This is just how life is." It might be how life is, but it's not how life is supposed to be, according to God's Original Intent. God's family was supposed to be in dominion, authority, fully supplied and Blessed, in everything God made and provided for them. God was to be able to walk with His family, provide for His family, teach and train up His family, in peace and perfect fellowship.
Jesus' entire ministry was bringing mankind back to God's Original Intent, when making mankind. God made man in His Image and Likeness, according to the above scripture. In John 4:24 (Amplified), Jesus said, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)." The part of you that was born-again and became a new creation, is your spirit. Now that our spirit has been restored to God's Original Intent, our newly created spirit man is to rule over the flesh and the senses, just like it did in Jesus and the first Adam. I'm certain that the first Adam walked with the Father for eons of years, before satan deceived Even and Adam succumbed to sin. We have no recorded history of how God and His family walked, but we can be sure they walked in harmony and perfect fellowship.
I don't believe that Adam ever lacked or had a need, before his fall in the Garden. We see some of the struggles that Jesus, Paul and Peter endured for the sake of the Gospel they were speaking forth. The reason for these struggles, was to keep mankind under satan's bondage. We don't read about any struggle that Adam and Even h ad, before they believed satan's lie in the Garden.
Satan usurped the authority God gave Adam over the earth and put mankind into captivity and bondage. Satan was determined to keep mankind in his bondage, by the same deception. Paul taught the Revelation that he had been given, so satan placed trials and struggles on Paul, trying to quiet Paul. As far as we know, Paul was the only man on earth, who had been given this Revelation from God.
Paul's preaching this Revelation to mankind, would restore the dominion and authority satan stole from Adam and place it back into the hands of God's new creation family. Satan had to stop the Good News of salvation and redemption from being shared, in order to maintain all he'd gained by deceiving Adam and Eve. Satan needed to stop those who preached the Gospel, before too many were born-again and the Gospel was too big to stop.
The enemy tries to stop the Gospel now, by blinding the eyes and minds of the Church to the fullness of what the new creation really is. Matthew 28:18 (Amplified) reads, "Jesus approached and breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me." The Last Adam, Jesus has restored back to God, what the first Adam was to have done, which is "bring sons into glory." In order to know what this power of rule is, you must first understand what Jesus has truly done. He has brought us back to God's Original Intent, as His Own family.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Lesson 11 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent
God's Word records the Original Intent He had for His family from the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth, in order to make a home for His family. If there were no people on the planet, then there would be no purpose for these. When God spoke the things in order and established all the fish of the sea and trees for fruit and food, He was making provision for His family.
Expecting parents prepare a nursery space for their babies and God did this too, preparing the earth. Then, on the sixth day, God brought forth His family and placed them into the place He prepared for them. Adam and Eve never lacked for anything, because their Heavenly Father watched over them and provided for them. God made Adam and Eve to have dominion over all He had made for them.
God made the rest of His creation was made for His Own purposes and for mankind. At that time, mankind had access to God's Kingdom and God simultaneously had access to man's. Angels were able to visit both realms at God's command. Man and God walked together in both realms. Adam and Eve were created spirit beings to begin with and God formed a physical body from the earthly elements, so they could inhabit the natural, physical home He prepared for them. They could produce and inhabit this planet, as God's Own family.
The angels and other creatures that were already in God's domain, weren't on the same level or class as the Father, so He made man "just a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honor," according to Psalm 8:4-6 (Amplified). Genesis 5:1-2 (Amplified) tells us, "This is the book (the written record, the history of the generations of the offspring of Adam). When God created man, He made him in the Likeness of God. He created them male and female and Blessed them and named them both Adam (man) at the time they were created."
God made them in "the Image and Likeness of God," which means they were created first in the spirit and then given natural bodies, so they could inhabit this earth. John 4:24 (Amplified) says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)." The True Image of God in you, is your new creation spirit-man made in His Likeness and Image.
Paul writes in 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified), "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and Spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come." The part of you that is made in God's Image and Likeness, is your new creation person who has God's Life inside it. The earth born body we inherited from the first Adam, is still dead in trespass and sin, but the new creation man is once again alive unto God.
Paul refers to our physical body as a "house," that our new creation man lives in while we're on this earth, in 2Corinthians 5:1-6. We've spent more time focusing on our outside or house, instead of focusing on the spirit who lives inside it. We've spent much of our Christian walk, trying to keep our house from falling apart while we're in it, instead of training our new creation man to heed the Voice of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. 1John 3:2 (Amplified) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children'; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifest, we shall as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."
In order to feed and mature the part of you, that is in His Likeness and Image, you must feed on God's Word. Then, we will "grow thereby." 1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) says, "Like newborn babies, you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk (God's Word) that you may be nurtured and grow unto completed salvation." Jesus tells His followers 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."
We struggling with our Christianity, trying to subdue the flesh. The very strength we need to do so, though, must come by God's Word in our spirit. We've diluted the Spiritual nourishment into a natural thing, derived from man's ideas and translations, which leaves the new creation man a baby. Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:4 (Amplified), "It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread along, but by every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God." Jesus said in John 6:33,35 (Amplified), "For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of Heaven and gives Life to the world."
Jesus declares in Verse 35, "I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE."
Expecting parents prepare a nursery space for their babies and God did this too, preparing the earth. Then, on the sixth day, God brought forth His family and placed them into the place He prepared for them. Adam and Eve never lacked for anything, because their Heavenly Father watched over them and provided for them. God made Adam and Eve to have dominion over all He had made for them.
God made the rest of His creation was made for His Own purposes and for mankind. At that time, mankind had access to God's Kingdom and God simultaneously had access to man's. Angels were able to visit both realms at God's command. Man and God walked together in both realms. Adam and Eve were created spirit beings to begin with and God formed a physical body from the earthly elements, so they could inhabit the natural, physical home He prepared for them. They could produce and inhabit this planet, as God's Own family.
The angels and other creatures that were already in God's domain, weren't on the same level or class as the Father, so He made man "just a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honor," according to Psalm 8:4-6 (Amplified). Genesis 5:1-2 (Amplified) tells us, "This is the book (the written record, the history of the generations of the offspring of Adam). When God created man, He made him in the Likeness of God. He created them male and female and Blessed them and named them both Adam (man) at the time they were created."
God made them in "the Image and Likeness of God," which means they were created first in the spirit and then given natural bodies, so they could inhabit this earth. John 4:24 (Amplified) says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)." The True Image of God in you, is your new creation spirit-man made in His Likeness and Image.
Paul writes in 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified), "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and Spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come." The part of you that is made in God's Image and Likeness, is your new creation person who has God's Life inside it. The earth born body we inherited from the first Adam, is still dead in trespass and sin, but the new creation man is once again alive unto God.
Paul refers to our physical body as a "house," that our new creation man lives in while we're on this earth, in 2Corinthians 5:1-6. We've spent more time focusing on our outside or house, instead of focusing on the spirit who lives inside it. We've spent much of our Christian walk, trying to keep our house from falling apart while we're in it, instead of training our new creation man to heed the Voice of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. 1John 3:2 (Amplified) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children'; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifest, we shall as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."
In order to feed and mature the part of you, that is in His Likeness and Image, you must feed on God's Word. Then, we will "grow thereby." 1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) says, "Like newborn babies, you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire), the pure unadulterated Spiritual milk (God's Word) that you may be nurtured and grow unto completed salvation." Jesus tells His followers 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."
We struggling with our Christianity, trying to subdue the flesh. The very strength we need to do so, though, must come by God's Word in our spirit. We've diluted the Spiritual nourishment into a natural thing, derived from man's ideas and translations, which leaves the new creation man a baby. Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:4 (Amplified), "It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread along, but by every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God." Jesus said in John 6:33,35 (Amplified), "For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of Heaven and gives Life to the world."
Jesus declares in Verse 35, "I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE."
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Lesson 10 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent
We've heard many things taught about Grace, but we continue overlooking the Power of it's Truth. John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit." Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus told His followers in Acts 1:8 (Amplified), "But you shall receive Power (ability, efficiency, and might), when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth."
This Promise of the Holy Spirit was an act of Grace and Truth, for all who would trust and believe in Jesus Christ and His Word. This was the Promise God made to Abraham, that was yet to be fulfilled. Speaking in tongues and fire accompanied this event in Acts 2:1-4 and many still see these as the totality of receiving the Holy Spirit, but this was and isn't wasn't the Father intended it to be. Jude 1:20 (Amplified) says this about the speaking of tongues, "But you, beloved, build yourselves up founded on your most holy faith, make progress, rise high like an edifice higher and higher praying in the Holy Spirit."
God restored a language, in and by the Holy Spirit, which put us back into a place where God's family had direct access to Him and the hidden mysteries of His will and intent for us. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 14:2,4 (Amplified), "One who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning because in the Holy Spirit he utters secrets truths and hidden things not obvious to the understanding." Many have failed to differentiate between the ministry Gift of Tongues and Interpretations to the congregation and the personal language of the individual to the Father.
In Verse 4, Paul writes about the individual who seeks and prays to God on his/her own and the individual God uses to speak through, to the people. Thus, he writes, "He who speaks in a strange tongue edifies and improves himself." Jude 1:20 said, "But he who prophesies (interpreting the Divine will and purpose and teaching) with inspiration edifies and improves the Church and promotes growth in Christian Wisdom, piety, holiness and happiness."
Every believer who has received the Holy Spirit in Grace and Truth, has a language of the Spirit, in our spirit, that is in direct contact with our Heavenly Father. Since you're born-again into the Spirit realm, there's also the language of the Spirit. Paul tells the Church in Corinth that, "There's a language from God to the people, which is to be used as a ministerial tool, to edify the people." The Holy Spirit uses another individual, to interpret what the Father is saying and doing to and for the people. God isn't speaking to the people through the individual speaking in tongues, but the individual is speaking to the Father, by the Holy Spirit.
Most people who are born in France, will learn to speak French, while those born in Germany, usually learn to speak German. So it is, that when you are born in the Spirit, you will speak spirit or the language of your new creation being. Speaking in tongues isn't the end of your quest for the Spirit, but is the beginning. This new language has made it possible for you to receive insight, Wisdom, and the answers to "secret Truths and hidden mysteries, which are not obvious to your own understanding." In other words, this language speaks directly to God. There are so many things God's children need to know, that are revealed to us, when we pray in the Spirit. This Revelation Knowledge is only received by and through, the Holy Spirit. 1Corinthians 14:2 (Amplified) says, "He utters secret Truths and hidden mysteries not obvious to the understanding." Man's wisdom cannot interpret God's hidden Wisdom and His secret Truths."
God made the Promise of the Spirit, to and through Abraham, which was about the coming of Jesus and the restoring of God's children back to Him. We've been brought back to what God intended His family to be from the first. Your being born-again, didn't only mean that you'd go to Heaven after dying. It meant that Heaven would be restored to you and God could now become to us, what He always intended, which is family. We are spirit and not just flesh. God's Grace has granted us access into His "secret place."
Psalm 91:1 (Amplified) says, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the Shadow of the Almighty Whose Power no foe can withstand." In Ephesians 3:3-5,32 (Amplified) Paul writes, "And that the Mystery (secret) was made known to me and I was allowed to comprehend it by direct Revelation as I already briefly wrote you. When you read this you can understand my insight into the Mystery of Christ. This Mystery was never disclosed to human beings in past generations as it has now been revealed to His holy Apostles (consecrated messengers) and prophets, by the Holy Spirit."
Jesus is the Secret Place, that the above Psalm speaks about. Paul continues writing to the Church of Ephesus in Verse 32, where he explains the relationship of a husband and wife becoming one. Thus, he writes, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning the relationship of Christ and the Church." 1Corinthians 2:7 (Amplified) says, "But rather what we are setting forth is a Wisdom of God once hidden from the human understanding and now revealed to us by God, that Wisdom which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification to lift us into the Glory of His Presence." This is God's Original Intent for His family and is now a Truth by Grace.
Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit." Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus told His followers in Acts 1:8 (Amplified), "But you shall receive Power (ability, efficiency, and might), when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth."
This Promise of the Holy Spirit was an act of Grace and Truth, for all who would trust and believe in Jesus Christ and His Word. This was the Promise God made to Abraham, that was yet to be fulfilled. Speaking in tongues and fire accompanied this event in Acts 2:1-4 and many still see these as the totality of receiving the Holy Spirit, but this was and isn't wasn't the Father intended it to be. Jude 1:20 (Amplified) says this about the speaking of tongues, "But you, beloved, build yourselves up founded on your most holy faith, make progress, rise high like an edifice higher and higher praying in the Holy Spirit."
God restored a language, in and by the Holy Spirit, which put us back into a place where God's family had direct access to Him and the hidden mysteries of His will and intent for us. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 14:2,4 (Amplified), "One who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning because in the Holy Spirit he utters secrets truths and hidden things not obvious to the understanding." Many have failed to differentiate between the ministry Gift of Tongues and Interpretations to the congregation and the personal language of the individual to the Father.
In Verse 4, Paul writes about the individual who seeks and prays to God on his/her own and the individual God uses to speak through, to the people. Thus, he writes, "He who speaks in a strange tongue edifies and improves himself." Jude 1:20 said, "But he who prophesies (interpreting the Divine will and purpose and teaching) with inspiration edifies and improves the Church and promotes growth in Christian Wisdom, piety, holiness and happiness."
Every believer who has received the Holy Spirit in Grace and Truth, has a language of the Spirit, in our spirit, that is in direct contact with our Heavenly Father. Since you're born-again into the Spirit realm, there's also the language of the Spirit. Paul tells the Church in Corinth that, "There's a language from God to the people, which is to be used as a ministerial tool, to edify the people." The Holy Spirit uses another individual, to interpret what the Father is saying and doing to and for the people. God isn't speaking to the people through the individual speaking in tongues, but the individual is speaking to the Father, by the Holy Spirit.
Most people who are born in France, will learn to speak French, while those born in Germany, usually learn to speak German. So it is, that when you are born in the Spirit, you will speak spirit or the language of your new creation being. Speaking in tongues isn't the end of your quest for the Spirit, but is the beginning. This new language has made it possible for you to receive insight, Wisdom, and the answers to "secret Truths and hidden mysteries, which are not obvious to your own understanding." In other words, this language speaks directly to God. There are so many things God's children need to know, that are revealed to us, when we pray in the Spirit. This Revelation Knowledge is only received by and through, the Holy Spirit. 1Corinthians 14:2 (Amplified) says, "He utters secret Truths and hidden mysteries not obvious to the understanding." Man's wisdom cannot interpret God's hidden Wisdom and His secret Truths."
God made the Promise of the Spirit, to and through Abraham, which was about the coming of Jesus and the restoring of God's children back to Him. We've been brought back to what God intended His family to be from the first. Your being born-again, didn't only mean that you'd go to Heaven after dying. It meant that Heaven would be restored to you and God could now become to us, what He always intended, which is family. We are spirit and not just flesh. God's Grace has granted us access into His "secret place."
Psalm 91:1 (Amplified) says, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the Shadow of the Almighty Whose Power no foe can withstand." In Ephesians 3:3-5,32 (Amplified) Paul writes, "And that the Mystery (secret) was made known to me and I was allowed to comprehend it by direct Revelation as I already briefly wrote you. When you read this you can understand my insight into the Mystery of Christ. This Mystery was never disclosed to human beings in past generations as it has now been revealed to His holy Apostles (consecrated messengers) and prophets, by the Holy Spirit."
Jesus is the Secret Place, that the above Psalm speaks about. Paul continues writing to the Church of Ephesus in Verse 32, where he explains the relationship of a husband and wife becoming one. Thus, he writes, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning the relationship of Christ and the Church." 1Corinthians 2:7 (Amplified) says, "But rather what we are setting forth is a Wisdom of God once hidden from the human understanding and now revealed to us by God, that Wisdom which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification to lift us into the Glory of His Presence." This is God's Original Intent for His family and is now a Truth by Grace.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Lesson 9 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent
The power of Grace and the Promise, brings us back to God's Original Intent for His family. There was only one law, in the beginning of man, and that was "Do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." Adam and Eve failed to observe that one law, which resulted in the entire earth and the entirety of mankind being separated from God, Who is Life. Their one sin, resulted in man's being separated from God, Who is Life and having the Curse of that law falling on mankind.
Romans 8:19 (Amplified) says, "For even the whole creation (all nature), waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known (waits for the reveling, the disclosing) of their sonship." Adam traded his inheritance for his wife Eve, which resulted with the Blessing God placed on His children to be revered and a curse effected on all creation and mankind. Adam was actually born again, but from Life to death. Spiritual death set in on all who was to be born into the earth, as well as the rest of God's creation.
God made a Promise and Blessing on man from the beginning and by His Grace, He is still fulfilling His Promise. The Blessing God pronounced on Adam, was continued all the way to us, through Jesus. Grace came before law and it continues by faith in God's Promises, today. Genesis 6:8,18 (Amplified) tells us that, "Noah found Grace (favor), in the eyes of the Lord." The promise and Blessing was continued through Noah, according to Verse 18. The covenant of Promise was extended to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3 (Amplified), where God says, "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will Bless you with abundant increase of favors and make your name famous and distinguished and you will be a Blessing, dispersing good to others. And I will Bless those who Bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you), and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be Blessed, and by you they will Bless themselves."
The Blessing and Grace that was then for Abraham, is the same Blessing that God pronounced on Adam from the beginning. God gave this Blessing and Promise on "Abraham and his Seed," according to Genesis 17:7 (Amplified) where God tells Abraham, "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an Everlasting, solemn pledge to be a God to you and to your posterity after you."
Genesis 22:2, 16-18 (Amplified) tells us that when Abraham's son was born, "God said, Take now your son (your only son Isaac), whom you love, and go to the region of Morrah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you." Verse 3 tells us that, because of the covenant he had made with God, Abraham rose up early and along with two young men servants and Isaac, he took wood and begin his trip to the mountain God showed him.
In Verses 16-18, God tells Abraham, "I have sworn by Myself says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld from Me or begrudged giving Me your son ( your only son), In Blessing I will Bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the Heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir), will possess the gates of His enemies. And in your Seed (Christ), shall all the nations of the earth be Blessed and by Him Bless themselves, because you heard and obeyed My Voice."
God deliberately put Himself on behalf of His Promise, saying, "If only a man would not hold back his only son on behalf of the covenant, then I could do no less, on My behalf of the covenant." The Seed of Promise as Jesus and the Promise and covenant God made, would flow to all who would put faith in that Promise and become heirs of this Promise, by faith in God's Grace and covenant. God made the Promise and Blessing in the beginning and now His Grace is made sufficient for all our needs, through the Seed, Jesus, Who is God's Only Begotten Son.
When God extended His Promise to all of Abraham's Seed, God committed Himself to raise up His Son, as Abraham's Seed and also all who by faith, received His Grace and accepted His Promise. Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified) says, "Christ purchased our freedom, redeeming us from the Curse (doom of the Law and it's condemnation), by Himself becoming a Curse for us, for it is written in the scriptures, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified), To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith, might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
The Promise of the Holy Spirit was Life coming again, that was lost in the Garden by Adam. This Promise restored Life and son-ship and right standing with the Father again, as well as the Power of God again.
We've lost sight of all that Grace is about. By Grace, God made man in the beginning. All God had Promise man was simply by faith in His Grace. Now, all the things He Promised man, is again being offered by faith in His Grace, through Jesus. God's Word tells us that, "By Grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, but it is the Gift of God."
God spoke many, many years ago, bout the "unclaimed riches of His Grace." He told me, "My Grace has provided much more than My children's faith has received." God was angered in the Wilderness, because of the Isralite's unbelief, limited Him and stopped the riches of His Grace. Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified) says, "Let us therefore by zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that Rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no one may fail or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the Wilderness fell."
God only requires us to have faith in His Grace and Promise, so that His Grace will bring to pass all that His Promise has declared to do. Today, we hear many say, "These things are passed away and are for another time," but God says in Hebrews 4: 9-10 (Amplified), "So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-Rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own."
We, by faith, have accepted His Promise of Salvation in Jesus, through Grace. God made Good on His Promise and restored us back to His Original Intent and started mankind all over, as from the first. Everything God told Adam, is now ours through Jesus and even more. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel, a Righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed by the way of faith that arouses to more faith. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
We were once dead in trespass and sin and were without hope, without covenant and without God in this world, but now by faith, we're made alive in Christ Jesus and have been declared Righteous before God, because of His Grace and our faith in His Grace. We are now living by faith. The Truth of the Gospel is simply trusting God and His Promises by simple faith in His integrity.
Romans 8:19 (Amplified) says, "For even the whole creation (all nature), waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known (waits for the reveling, the disclosing) of their sonship." Adam traded his inheritance for his wife Eve, which resulted with the Blessing God placed on His children to be revered and a curse effected on all creation and mankind. Adam was actually born again, but from Life to death. Spiritual death set in on all who was to be born into the earth, as well as the rest of God's creation.
God made a Promise and Blessing on man from the beginning and by His Grace, He is still fulfilling His Promise. The Blessing God pronounced on Adam, was continued all the way to us, through Jesus. Grace came before law and it continues by faith in God's Promises, today. Genesis 6:8,18 (Amplified) tells us that, "Noah found Grace (favor), in the eyes of the Lord." The promise and Blessing was continued through Noah, according to Verse 18. The covenant of Promise was extended to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3 (Amplified), where God says, "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will Bless you with abundant increase of favors and make your name famous and distinguished and you will be a Blessing, dispersing good to others. And I will Bless those who Bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you), and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be Blessed, and by you they will Bless themselves."
The Blessing and Grace that was then for Abraham, is the same Blessing that God pronounced on Adam from the beginning. God gave this Blessing and Promise on "Abraham and his Seed," according to Genesis 17:7 (Amplified) where God tells Abraham, "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an Everlasting, solemn pledge to be a God to you and to your posterity after you."
Genesis 22:2, 16-18 (Amplified) tells us that when Abraham's son was born, "God said, Take now your son (your only son Isaac), whom you love, and go to the region of Morrah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you." Verse 3 tells us that, because of the covenant he had made with God, Abraham rose up early and along with two young men servants and Isaac, he took wood and begin his trip to the mountain God showed him.
In Verses 16-18, God tells Abraham, "I have sworn by Myself says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld from Me or begrudged giving Me your son ( your only son), In Blessing I will Bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the Heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir), will possess the gates of His enemies. And in your Seed (Christ), shall all the nations of the earth be Blessed and by Him Bless themselves, because you heard and obeyed My Voice."
God deliberately put Himself on behalf of His Promise, saying, "If only a man would not hold back his only son on behalf of the covenant, then I could do no less, on My behalf of the covenant." The Seed of Promise as Jesus and the Promise and covenant God made, would flow to all who would put faith in that Promise and become heirs of this Promise, by faith in God's Grace and covenant. God made the Promise and Blessing in the beginning and now His Grace is made sufficient for all our needs, through the Seed, Jesus, Who is God's Only Begotten Son.
When God extended His Promise to all of Abraham's Seed, God committed Himself to raise up His Son, as Abraham's Seed and also all who by faith, received His Grace and accepted His Promise. Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified) says, "Christ purchased our freedom, redeeming us from the Curse (doom of the Law and it's condemnation), by Himself becoming a Curse for us, for it is written in the scriptures, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified), To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith, might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
The Promise of the Holy Spirit was Life coming again, that was lost in the Garden by Adam. This Promise restored Life and son-ship and right standing with the Father again, as well as the Power of God again.
We've lost sight of all that Grace is about. By Grace, God made man in the beginning. All God had Promise man was simply by faith in His Grace. Now, all the things He Promised man, is again being offered by faith in His Grace, through Jesus. God's Word tells us that, "By Grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, but it is the Gift of God."
God spoke many, many years ago, bout the "unclaimed riches of His Grace." He told me, "My Grace has provided much more than My children's faith has received." God was angered in the Wilderness, because of the Isralite's unbelief, limited Him and stopped the riches of His Grace. Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified) says, "Let us therefore by zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that Rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no one may fail or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the Wilderness fell."
God only requires us to have faith in His Grace and Promise, so that His Grace will bring to pass all that His Promise has declared to do. Today, we hear many say, "These things are passed away and are for another time," but God says in Hebrews 4: 9-10 (Amplified), "So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-Rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own."
We, by faith, have accepted His Promise of Salvation in Jesus, through Grace. God made Good on His Promise and restored us back to His Original Intent and started mankind all over, as from the first. Everything God told Adam, is now ours through Jesus and even more. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel, a Righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed by the way of faith that arouses to more faith. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
We were once dead in trespass and sin and were without hope, without covenant and without God in this world, but now by faith, we're made alive in Christ Jesus and have been declared Righteous before God, because of His Grace and our faith in His Grace. We are now living by faith. The Truth of the Gospel is simply trusting God and His Promises by simple faith in His integrity.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Lesson 8 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent
What was the Father's Original Intent for His family, when He created them and brought them to live in the earth? Did He intend for us to suffer sickness, death or a Curse that covered the earth and mankind? Was this really what the Father planned for His Own family? We've never really seen how things were supposed to be, when God made man and set him into this world.
There was no Curse or death, in the beginning. Man's spirit was eternal and his body was immortal. Man was created in God's Own Image and Likeness, which 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)." The part of you that is in God's Image and Likeness, is your spirit-man. This is the eternal family of God in the earth, as well as the heavens.
The division and warring that is occurring in mankind on earth, is happening because we don't know who we are and why that's so important. Paul writes in 2Corinthians 5:4 (Amplified), "For while we are still in this tent (body), we groan under the burden and sigh deeply. Not that we want to put off this body (the clothing of the spirit) but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life after the Resurrection."
The mortal body was fashioned not in mortality, but is immortal like our resurrected body will be. The mortality of our body was brought about, through Adam's transgression and continues until today. Paul tells us to look to the spirit-man withing, to determine our true identity, in 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) where he writes, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No! even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."
We've lived under the Curse for so long, that we believe "That's just how things are." Jesus bore the Curse and has given us the new creation life that has joined us back to our Father. In order to truly understand what Jesus has done, we must read what Paul writes in Romans 12:2 (Amplified). Thus, he writes, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external -superficial customs, but be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind by its new ideals and its new attitude---."
We can only renew our mind by God's Word and His Holy Spirit and know our true identity. The only place to find Truth, is in God's Word. We've determined that the things we're witnessing around us, are God's Plan for His family. If you read Genesis 1-2, then you'll discover God's Original Intent for His family was that they would be Blessed and have dominion over everything on this earth. Adam sold our dominion and life to God's eternal enemy, causing death and calamity came on mankind.
Many have misunderstood Jesus' Sacrifice and that in Him, this new creation man/woman was restored back to God's Original Intent. Through Him, we were made alive, according to John 10:10 (Amplified) where Jesus said, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, til it overflows)." Surely, those who heard Jesus say this, believed they were already alive. The Truth is, that they and we were spiritually dead and separated from God and without Life in Him.
In Ephesians 2:12 (Amplified), Paul paints a picture of man who's without Jesus, which is strong and True, saying, "Remember, that you were at the time separated, living apart from Christ, excluded from all part in Him, utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the Messianic Promise, with no knowledge of or rights in God's agreements (His covenants); And you had no hope, no Promise; you were in the world without God."
Ephesians 2:5 (Amplified) says, "Even when we were dead, slain by our own shortcomings and our trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; He gave us the very Life of Christ Himself, the same new Life with which He quickened Him." It's difficult for us to understand spiritual death, because we've associated life by our natural bodies and not from a Spiritual standpoint. Even though the body is alive, our spirit-man was dead in sin and was separated from God, WHO IS LIFE.
The spirit is eternal, so it didn't die, like we think of dying. It was cut-off from God, by Adam's transgression and was sold over to death, by separation from God Himself. Satan became the father of this world and he ruled by death, fear, and destruction, until Jesus. The new birth, was from death to Life, from satan back to God. Our Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit have made us alive to Him and placed us back into God's family, as sons and daughters. We've been born-again from death to Life and we're now back to God's Original Intent.
It's been difficult of our new identity, is for us to learn how to live in the spirit once again. We've only witnessed a very few people who've ever done this, in a flesh and blood body. One person was Adam (before the fall) and the other was Jesus Christ. Paul, along with other of the Apostles, learned some things about walking in the spirit, but most believers have fallen back into the works of the flesh, walking as mere natural men/women again.
Through the Holy Spirit, God is training us up and teaching us to be the way He created us to be. There's more of the Super-natural Life of the Father, being manifested through today's Church. Understanding is coming of age to many in the Body of Christ. Many consider that believing we are more than just forgiven sinners, is "extreme."
Righteousness is simply part of our inheritance in Christ Jesus, to this new creation body of believers. Understanding righteousness or being in right standing with God is this: through the new birth, we're new creations who've been restored to God's Original Intent and through Jesus, we now have the right again, to stand in God's Presence. The first step in seeing ourselves like the Father sees us (instead of the way we've been taught to see ourselves) is to do like Paul instructs in 2Corinthians 5:16, "Seeing no man only after the flesh, but after the spirit." Believing what God says about you, more than what man says about you, will change everything.
There was no Curse or death, in the beginning. Man's spirit was eternal and his body was immortal. Man was created in God's Own Image and Likeness, which 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)." The part of you that is in God's Image and Likeness, is your spirit-man. This is the eternal family of God in the earth, as well as the heavens.
The division and warring that is occurring in mankind on earth, is happening because we don't know who we are and why that's so important. Paul writes in 2Corinthians 5:4 (Amplified), "For while we are still in this tent (body), we groan under the burden and sigh deeply. Not that we want to put off this body (the clothing of the spirit) but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life after the Resurrection."
The mortal body was fashioned not in mortality, but is immortal like our resurrected body will be. The mortality of our body was brought about, through Adam's transgression and continues until today. Paul tells us to look to the spirit-man withing, to determine our true identity, in 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) where he writes, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No! even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."
We've lived under the Curse for so long, that we believe "That's just how things are." Jesus bore the Curse and has given us the new creation life that has joined us back to our Father. In order to truly understand what Jesus has done, we must read what Paul writes in Romans 12:2 (Amplified). Thus, he writes, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external -superficial customs, but be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind by its new ideals and its new attitude---."
We can only renew our mind by God's Word and His Holy Spirit and know our true identity. The only place to find Truth, is in God's Word. We've determined that the things we're witnessing around us, are God's Plan for His family. If you read Genesis 1-2, then you'll discover God's Original Intent for His family was that they would be Blessed and have dominion over everything on this earth. Adam sold our dominion and life to God's eternal enemy, causing death and calamity came on mankind.
Many have misunderstood Jesus' Sacrifice and that in Him, this new creation man/woman was restored back to God's Original Intent. Through Him, we were made alive, according to John 10:10 (Amplified) where Jesus said, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, til it overflows)." Surely, those who heard Jesus say this, believed they were already alive. The Truth is, that they and we were spiritually dead and separated from God and without Life in Him.
In Ephesians 2:12 (Amplified), Paul paints a picture of man who's without Jesus, which is strong and True, saying, "Remember, that you were at the time separated, living apart from Christ, excluded from all part in Him, utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the Messianic Promise, with no knowledge of or rights in God's agreements (His covenants); And you had no hope, no Promise; you were in the world without God."
Ephesians 2:5 (Amplified) says, "Even when we were dead, slain by our own shortcomings and our trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; He gave us the very Life of Christ Himself, the same new Life with which He quickened Him." It's difficult for us to understand spiritual death, because we've associated life by our natural bodies and not from a Spiritual standpoint. Even though the body is alive, our spirit-man was dead in sin and was separated from God, WHO IS LIFE.
The spirit is eternal, so it didn't die, like we think of dying. It was cut-off from God, by Adam's transgression and was sold over to death, by separation from God Himself. Satan became the father of this world and he ruled by death, fear, and destruction, until Jesus. The new birth, was from death to Life, from satan back to God. Our Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit have made us alive to Him and placed us back into God's family, as sons and daughters. We've been born-again from death to Life and we're now back to God's Original Intent.
It's been difficult of our new identity, is for us to learn how to live in the spirit once again. We've only witnessed a very few people who've ever done this, in a flesh and blood body. One person was Adam (before the fall) and the other was Jesus Christ. Paul, along with other of the Apostles, learned some things about walking in the spirit, but most believers have fallen back into the works of the flesh, walking as mere natural men/women again.
Through the Holy Spirit, God is training us up and teaching us to be the way He created us to be. There's more of the Super-natural Life of the Father, being manifested through today's Church. Understanding is coming of age to many in the Body of Christ. Many consider that believing we are more than just forgiven sinners, is "extreme."
Righteousness is simply part of our inheritance in Christ Jesus, to this new creation body of believers. Understanding righteousness or being in right standing with God is this: through the new birth, we're new creations who've been restored to God's Original Intent and through Jesus, we now have the right again, to stand in God's Presence. The first step in seeing ourselves like the Father sees us (instead of the way we've been taught to see ourselves) is to do like Paul instructs in 2Corinthians 5:16, "Seeing no man only after the flesh, but after the spirit." Believing what God says about you, more than what man says about you, will change everything.
Monday, September 2, 2019
Lesson 7 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent
We've heard and believed so many things, that aren't the Truth of and about God and His intent for us today. Much of what we've read and heard, are about fallen man. We've never seen anyone who truly walks freely in the fullness of Life, other than Jesus and Paul (and a few others).
We've heard many teachings about faith and how it works in our lives, but it's been difficult for most to connect to faith. Much of what we know about our Heavenly Father, comes by second hand knowledge, instead of knowing Him firsthand. Having a personal relationship with the Father, is the most important things in a believer's life. We feel the strong Presence of God, when worshiping with God's family in church service. This same Presence though, is available in your personal relationship with God and will grow as you talk and listen to His Voice.
Most of us only see Adam after his fall from God's Grace and union with the Father. No one knows how long Adam walked with God in fellowship, before satan could deceive him. Adam's close relationship with the Father was total faith in his Father's revealing, training and maturing the relationship with one another. Adam trust his Father in absolute faith, to show him, care for him and protect him in everything God created him to be. No one had to tell Adam what they thought about his Father, because Adam knew him.
The Last Adam, Jesus, was also in close fellowship with the Father, during His earthly ministry. Jesus knew the very heart of God, for Himself. Many of those around Jesus, couldn't understand the way Jesus walked in God, because this wasn't what others told them about God. We can relate to others telling us that Jesus is our Savior, but do we seek Him for yourself as Lord, after you're saved? Many hold differing opinions about our Heavenly Father, but most of those are based on someone else's account of Him.
There are so many different doctrines and opinions, within God's family, the Church, telling us "Who our Father really is." We claim to worship the Same Father, but we hold so many different opinions of Who He is. Some see the Father as being strict and harsh, while others view Him as being permissive and lax about sin and life itself. Some Christians believe that God is a hard Taskmaster, while others believe He allows almost anything.
Many still don't realize the difference between how God dealt with mankind in the old and how He deals with those of us in the new covenant today. Many believe Jesus and God are Separate Beings, but Jesus said, "When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." We see how Jesus never failed to heal people. Jesus never allowed the sick to remain sick, so the sickness could teach them something, but we think God does this. Jesus said that, "He could only do what the Father said to do."
God's Blessing coming on the old covenant people, depended upon their ability to perform things the Law prescribed, but today, God's Blessing depends on our faith in the things Jesus endured to receive it. We keep trying to help the Father in deliverance and salvation, instead of putting faith in the complete work of Jesus. We're only required to put faith in His Word and His Grace will fulfill His Word.
Romans 4:10 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and 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." The Gentiles had no covenant with God at all, because the Law of Moses was given to and through Moses, for the Hebrew people. The Promise was made to Abraham, concerning the Holy Spirit, by faith in God's Word. Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
We've so misunderstood the Promise of the Holy Spirit. Some believe it only refers to speaking in new tongues, while others believe it's the ability to lay hands on the sick. Those who know the very Presence of God, understand that His Life in us has returned us to His Original Intent. When we were born-again by the Holy Spirit, it placed us back to Eden and the Original Intent God had for His family from the beginning. There was no Law, no sacrifices, no Bible in the beginning of man in the beginning of Genesis. There was only Grace, Love and God's Spirit and Presence in man's life. All of man's training, wisdom and knowledge, came by the Spirit of God Who continuously lived in man's presence. Man's life was God's Life. Man's training derived from the Holy Spirit and evil wasn't part of man's life.
God never taught man the difference between Good and evil and Blessing and calamity. There was no need for him to know this, because the Father's heart only intended man to be Blessed and Good. Genesis 3:22 (Amplified) says, "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), to know how to distinguish between Good and evil and Blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever---."
God left the rest of the above sentence unsaid, because the thought of mankind in the state of curse forever, was too horrible for Him to even think on. God had no choice but to put mankind out of the Garden of Eden, until He could get Jesus into the world, pay the penalty for Adam's sin and bring about the Promise of the Holy Spirit or make man to be born-again. Without these things, man would have lived in the fallen state, without God in his life, for eternity.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit was to bring mankind back to what God intended from the beginning, where man would be united by and in God's Spirit forever. God first made man in His Image, so man was an eternal spirit. God formed man's body from the earthly elements, but he was to be immortal. When Adam transgress, he was separated from the Life of God, his spirit was still eternal. If Adam had been left to satan's plan, he would have taken from the Tree of Life and even his earthly body would have remained immortal for eternity. He would have been eternally foul, diseased, with satan ruling his flesh and blood body. Despite what happened to it, Adam's body wouldn't have died and this was too horrible for God to speak that in the above scripture.
Hollywood's nightmarish zombie movies couldn't compare to the real thing that could have happened, if God hadn't removed Adam and Eve from Eden. God was still full of Grace and mercy, even when the Curse came at Adam's fall, so He began a Sacrifice of Blood, in order to atone for sin. Sin demanded death and the death of an animal could at least provide a small payment for sin. The only thing that could pay the price for man's sin, was another man's death. That man needed to be without sin, but none could meet that requirement, so the continual sacrifice of goats and bulls, temporarily covered sin.
This is why, even though you're born-again and are alive unto God, your body is still dead in trespass and sin. God reckons your mortal body, to still be dead and your spirit alive unto Him. Jesus provided healing by His stripes and although the residue of death is still in your body, He has provided healing for the time you're living in that body. We will be given new bodies at the Resurrection. We will be returned back to God's Original Intent and will be immune from sickness and disease for all eternity.
The Blessing God pronounced on man from the first, is still available to all who will by faith, accept His Promise. His Promise to justify, proclaim Righteous and give a new life life, through faith in Jesus, is just as valid as His Promise to forgive our sins. If one part of His Promise is True, then all of God's Promises are True. God's Word tells us that, "Faith comes by hearing," so until it's preached in Truth and anointing, the faith of God's people will remain tethered.
We continue thinking God will deal with us, the way He dealt with those who weren't born-again in the old covenant. The new covenant is based on simple faith in God's Grace and Truth, to His family. We're God's children and He doesn't deal with us by our dead flesh, but by our new and living spirit, like the First and Last Adam were led. While Adam lived in the Garden, he was led by his spirit and not his flesh. Satan couldn't penetrate the Truth of his spirit, so he attacked Adam's senses and untried flesh.
From the very beginning of man, God's provision and the authority He bestowed upon man, was then and still is, by Grace. We've been brought back to God's Original Intent, living again by faith in God's unmerited favor and Love. We've misunderstood the Power of God's Love, because of man's teachings we're received. We confess that, "God Loves us," but we still expect bad things at His hands. Read Galatians 5:6 (Amplified) carefully. Thus, it says, "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."
Our faith is in His Love and trust in His Promise. We're to do good works, but not in order to gain God's Grace, but because of His Grace. We do works of righteousness, not be become righteous, but because we are Righteous, by His Grace. This might sound like a "play on words," but it's the motive of the heart that makes what we do acceptable or not, to God. Romans 14:23 (Amplified) says, "But the man who has doubts (misgivings and an uneasy conscience) about eating and then eats perhaps because of you, stands condemned before God because he is not true to his convictions and does not act from faith, whatever does not originate from faith is sin (whatever is done without a conviction of it's approval by God is sinful)."
We've heard many teachings about faith and how it works in our lives, but it's been difficult for most to connect to faith. Much of what we know about our Heavenly Father, comes by second hand knowledge, instead of knowing Him firsthand. Having a personal relationship with the Father, is the most important things in a believer's life. We feel the strong Presence of God, when worshiping with God's family in church service. This same Presence though, is available in your personal relationship with God and will grow as you talk and listen to His Voice.
Most of us only see Adam after his fall from God's Grace and union with the Father. No one knows how long Adam walked with God in fellowship, before satan could deceive him. Adam's close relationship with the Father was total faith in his Father's revealing, training and maturing the relationship with one another. Adam trust his Father in absolute faith, to show him, care for him and protect him in everything God created him to be. No one had to tell Adam what they thought about his Father, because Adam knew him.
The Last Adam, Jesus, was also in close fellowship with the Father, during His earthly ministry. Jesus knew the very heart of God, for Himself. Many of those around Jesus, couldn't understand the way Jesus walked in God, because this wasn't what others told them about God. We can relate to others telling us that Jesus is our Savior, but do we seek Him for yourself as Lord, after you're saved? Many hold differing opinions about our Heavenly Father, but most of those are based on someone else's account of Him.
There are so many different doctrines and opinions, within God's family, the Church, telling us "Who our Father really is." We claim to worship the Same Father, but we hold so many different opinions of Who He is. Some see the Father as being strict and harsh, while others view Him as being permissive and lax about sin and life itself. Some Christians believe that God is a hard Taskmaster, while others believe He allows almost anything.
Many still don't realize the difference between how God dealt with mankind in the old and how He deals with those of us in the new covenant today. Many believe Jesus and God are Separate Beings, but Jesus said, "When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." We see how Jesus never failed to heal people. Jesus never allowed the sick to remain sick, so the sickness could teach them something, but we think God does this. Jesus said that, "He could only do what the Father said to do."
God's Blessing coming on the old covenant people, depended upon their ability to perform things the Law prescribed, but today, God's Blessing depends on our faith in the things Jesus endured to receive it. We keep trying to help the Father in deliverance and salvation, instead of putting faith in the complete work of Jesus. We're only required to put faith in His Word and His Grace will fulfill His Word.
Romans 4:10 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and 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." The Gentiles had no covenant with God at all, because the Law of Moses was given to and through Moses, for the Hebrew people. The Promise was made to Abraham, concerning the Holy Spirit, by faith in God's Word. Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
We've so misunderstood the Promise of the Holy Spirit. Some believe it only refers to speaking in new tongues, while others believe it's the ability to lay hands on the sick. Those who know the very Presence of God, understand that His Life in us has returned us to His Original Intent. When we were born-again by the Holy Spirit, it placed us back to Eden and the Original Intent God had for His family from the beginning. There was no Law, no sacrifices, no Bible in the beginning of man in the beginning of Genesis. There was only Grace, Love and God's Spirit and Presence in man's life. All of man's training, wisdom and knowledge, came by the Spirit of God Who continuously lived in man's presence. Man's life was God's Life. Man's training derived from the Holy Spirit and evil wasn't part of man's life.
God never taught man the difference between Good and evil and Blessing and calamity. There was no need for him to know this, because the Father's heart only intended man to be Blessed and Good. Genesis 3:22 (Amplified) says, "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), to know how to distinguish between Good and evil and Blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever---."
God left the rest of the above sentence unsaid, because the thought of mankind in the state of curse forever, was too horrible for Him to even think on. God had no choice but to put mankind out of the Garden of Eden, until He could get Jesus into the world, pay the penalty for Adam's sin and bring about the Promise of the Holy Spirit or make man to be born-again. Without these things, man would have lived in the fallen state, without God in his life, for eternity.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit was to bring mankind back to what God intended from the beginning, where man would be united by and in God's Spirit forever. God first made man in His Image, so man was an eternal spirit. God formed man's body from the earthly elements, but he was to be immortal. When Adam transgress, he was separated from the Life of God, his spirit was still eternal. If Adam had been left to satan's plan, he would have taken from the Tree of Life and even his earthly body would have remained immortal for eternity. He would have been eternally foul, diseased, with satan ruling his flesh and blood body. Despite what happened to it, Adam's body wouldn't have died and this was too horrible for God to speak that in the above scripture.
Hollywood's nightmarish zombie movies couldn't compare to the real thing that could have happened, if God hadn't removed Adam and Eve from Eden. God was still full of Grace and mercy, even when the Curse came at Adam's fall, so He began a Sacrifice of Blood, in order to atone for sin. Sin demanded death and the death of an animal could at least provide a small payment for sin. The only thing that could pay the price for man's sin, was another man's death. That man needed to be without sin, but none could meet that requirement, so the continual sacrifice of goats and bulls, temporarily covered sin.
This is why, even though you're born-again and are alive unto God, your body is still dead in trespass and sin. God reckons your mortal body, to still be dead and your spirit alive unto Him. Jesus provided healing by His stripes and although the residue of death is still in your body, He has provided healing for the time you're living in that body. We will be given new bodies at the Resurrection. We will be returned back to God's Original Intent and will be immune from sickness and disease for all eternity.
The Blessing God pronounced on man from the first, is still available to all who will by faith, accept His Promise. His Promise to justify, proclaim Righteous and give a new life life, through faith in Jesus, is just as valid as His Promise to forgive our sins. If one part of His Promise is True, then all of God's Promises are True. God's Word tells us that, "Faith comes by hearing," so until it's preached in Truth and anointing, the faith of God's people will remain tethered.
We continue thinking God will deal with us, the way He dealt with those who weren't born-again in the old covenant. The new covenant is based on simple faith in God's Grace and Truth, to His family. We're God's children and He doesn't deal with us by our dead flesh, but by our new and living spirit, like the First and Last Adam were led. While Adam lived in the Garden, he was led by his spirit and not his flesh. Satan couldn't penetrate the Truth of his spirit, so he attacked Adam's senses and untried flesh.
From the very beginning of man, God's provision and the authority He bestowed upon man, was then and still is, by Grace. We've been brought back to God's Original Intent, living again by faith in God's unmerited favor and Love. We've misunderstood the Power of God's Love, because of man's teachings we're received. We confess that, "God Loves us," but we still expect bad things at His hands. Read Galatians 5:6 (Amplified) carefully. Thus, it says, "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."
Our faith is in His Love and trust in His Promise. We're to do good works, but not in order to gain God's Grace, but because of His Grace. We do works of righteousness, not be become righteous, but because we are Righteous, by His Grace. This might sound like a "play on words," but it's the motive of the heart that makes what we do acceptable or not, to God. Romans 14:23 (Amplified) says, "But the man who has doubts (misgivings and an uneasy conscience) about eating and then eats perhaps because of you, stands condemned before God because he is not true to his convictions and does not act from faith, whatever does not originate from faith is sin (whatever is done without a conviction of it's approval by God is sinful)."
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