John 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Law was never God's will, but was rather a stepping stone used to turn mankind back to Grace and Truth. While the blood of bulls and goats could never restore mankind to Spiritual Life and righteousness, they would cover sin until Jesus was born into the world. Grace and Truth were always the will of the Father. When God created mankind at the beginning, His relationship with man was based on Grace and Truth. John 9:31-32 (Amplified) says, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him; If you abide in My Word, hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them, you are truly My disciples And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
We often hear people quoting, "The Truth will make you free." This is certainly true, but are we always hearing "the Truth?" Many of the things we hear and have been taught, are not "the Truth," but are man's ideas of the Truth, as he sees it. Many of God's children are still in bondage to many things and accept these things as being, "God's will for His family." THIS IS NOT THE TRUTH that sets you free! We haven't distinguished between fact and Truth. It's a fact that Jesus died, the Truth is that He is not dead. Truth is greater than fact, when it's God's Word. It might be a fact that you are sick, but the Truth is that "By His stripes you are healed."
It's a fact that certain things God intended for His family aren't working in all our lives, but the Truth is that it's meant for all of us. Religion says that "Healing is not meant for everyone." Religion has watered down the Name of Jesus, to where it's being used like any other name. It's a fact that we use and sing about His Name, but the Truth is, we see very little results for doing so. This is a matter of our fellow shipping more with people who don't know the Truth, than we do with the Holy Spirit.
I can fellowship with other Christians who don't believe like I do, but there comes a place where I have to separate Truth from religion. I can listen to their reasons why the Word isn't working, but this isn't the Truth that sets me free. This might give me an excuse for accepting less than God's will for my life, but this isn't Truth. Proverbs 3:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn entirely away from evil. It shall be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones." In Proverbs 4:20-27 (Amplified) God says, "My son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sigh; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are Life to those who find them; healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life. Put away from you false and dishonest speech and willful and contrary talk put far from you. Let your eyes look right on, with fixed purpose and let your gaze be straight before you. Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered right. Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil."
God tells us to, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life." Jesus gives the Parable of the Sower, in Mark 4:14-15 (Amplified) saying, "The sower sows the Word, the ones along the path are those who have the Word sown in their hearts, but when they hear, satan comes at once and by force takes away the Message which is sown in them." Many have heard the Word and had it sown in their hearts, but they didn't guard it like they should and satan came, forcefully took away the Message they heard.
It seems like every time we change from one church to another, we hear a different gospel or word. It might all be from the Bible, but they might not be from the Teacher, Who is the Holy Spirit. All the ministers I know, use the same Bible, but they're not all speaking the same Message. One preaches that, "God uses sickness to teach us" or "God is testing you." Others say that, "The Gifts of the Spirit aren't for everyone." They all use the Bible, but they're not using Truth.
Paul told Timothy that "The Word is Truth," in 2Timothy 2:15-18 (Amplified) which says, "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved tested by trial, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing (rightly handling) and skillfully teaching the Word of Truth." When Paul speaks about "being approved and tested by trial," he's talking about satan's coming by force to take away the Message of Truth and not about God's testing you. He goes on in Verse 16, "But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle talk), for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. And their teaching will devour (it will eat away like cancer or spread like gangrene), so it is with Hymeneus and Philetus who have missed the mark and swerved from the Truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some."
I'm convinced that most ministers are preaching what they believe to be Truth. One preacher preaches one thing, while another preaches something entirely different and both claim it's from the same Word of God. God's Word doesn't contradict itself. Some preach from what they've been taught or heard, while others preach from their individual study of the Word. There are preachers who only preach what they've heard from someone else and have accepted as Truth. These preachers are good Christians and aren't deliberately trying to go against the Truth, but they're standing for what they believe is Truth.
Jesus said in John 8:31-32 (Amplified) that, "If we would abide in Him, then His Word would abide in us and we would know the Truth, and the Truth would set us free." Many have come under the bondage of religious thinking and teaching, believing it was Truth. We hear this in the words they speak and the way they approach the Father. We even hear unbelief and contrary lyrics in some of the Christian music. One might say that I'm splitting hairs. No! I'm calling our attention once again to seeking for ourselves. I'm not telling you to deny the teaching of your church, but to rightly divide it for yourself. Don't allow some of the things you're hearing to get into your heart.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Lesson 3 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
Grace and Truth are both God's will for all the earth. Both have been offered to the world, through Jesus. All who've been saved have come into the family of God, by both Grace and Truth. The only missing component for everyone to be saved, is their having faith in both God's Grace and Truth. Many view God's Word as being a historical Truth, while others view it as being a myth. Those who are saved, know that God's Word is Grace and Truth.
There are some who recognize the Truth of God's Word, but only for certain portions of it. Others believe the Word is Truth, but only for the future when we're in Heaven. In God's heart and mind, His Word is all Truth, from before He created the world, until hereafter. Many Christians have placed faith in the Gift of salvation, but only in part. They've trusted and were born-again, but have pushed the natural Blessings of being part of God's family to the time when we leave earth. God's plan and purpose is that when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we inherited the entire plan of redemption (with the exception of having a glorified body, that comes at the close of the age).
Everything we will ever need, both now and later, has already been done in the resurrection of Jesus. The Price for sin and death has been paid. Through Jesus' resurrection, our redemption has now been established and Jesus redeemed everything that the first Adam lost. At the catching away of the Church, even the full redemption of our mortal bodies will have been fulfilled. The same faith in the grace that got you saved, is the same faith we have in the Grace that heals, Baptizes in the Holy Spirit and makes us a new creation. That same faith makes us righteous, justified, and consecrated unto God.
The problem doesn't lie with God or His plan of redemption, but with the carnal minded Christians who limit God, with our own small thinking. God has never changed and He never will. The things available to His family, are the very things that were available to the first Adam and his family. God never intended that His family be subjected to the evils of this world. God never intended for His children to be under the domination of satan.
God never intended for healing to be something we would need to be concerned with. God's intent from the beginning, was that His children would never be sick or die. God was to supply everything His children would ever need or want. God intended for His children to live in an immortal body and it would continually renew every cell at the appropriate time, so we would remain young and supple forever.
Sin brought all the misery that this planet has had to endure. With sin came death (both spiritually and temporarily), in this earth. Jesus paid for the sin problem of the world. Jesus paid for and met the Law of Sin and Death. Now, Life in our new creation spirit has completed what Jesus stated in John 10:10, where He said, "I came that you now might have and enjoy Life to the full (till it overflows)." God's Own Life has been restored again, connecting us to united fellowship with Him. We can now hear, see, talk with and be in His Presence, like God had always intended from the beginning.
God's Word and instructions have restored us to all that was lost through Adam's fall. Your natural body will still age and finally fall asleep in physical death (if Jesus tarries), but at the coming of the Lord, even natural death will be vanquished in Christ. 1Corinthians 15:54-55 (Amplified) says, "And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished) forever and unto victory. Death, where is your victory, death where is your sting?" At the rapture of the Church, those of us "who are alive and remain, will not die, but will be caught away with the resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always we shall be with the Lord," according to 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 (Amplified).
The redemptive Blood of Jesus has completely restored everything to us, that the first Adam lost. We've been raised up by our Father in complete fellowship with Him. Religion and the world have downplayed the Truth of what God's Grace has now made available to us through simple faith in Jesus Christ. Many have exercised faith to the degree of going to Heaven, but few have exercised their faith in everything else that Grace has granted us, in Jesus.
If satan can keep the Church in the carnal realm of religion, even though Grace has already done everything needed to be done to overcome him, then satan will continue to control the Church, through the realm of carnal minds and futile thinking. Much of today's Church is afraid to declare that they're righteous in Christ Jesus. Many confess that, "None are righteous, no not one" or "My righteousness is as filthy rags." This is a lack of faith in God's Grace and His declaration "our righteousness is of Me." In Isaiah 54:17 (Amplified) God says, "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, those in Whom the Ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced. This is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me, this is that which I impart to them as their justification, says the Lord."
This Prophetic scripture speaks about those who are in Christ Jesus and all those who will come to Him by faith. Did you ever notice how Isaiah 53, 54 and 55 show how everything from healing t righteousness, from restoration to peace and justification and beyond that, is now made available to us today, in Him. Everything has been covered in our lives, from sin to complete reproduction of Jesus, the Ideal Servant of the Lord. It has all been made ours, by Grace and it is received by faith, according to Romans 1:17 (Amplified) which says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through 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 must allow our faith in Jesus, to grow beyond man's idea and receive what Grace has provided for us, both for here and for hereafter.
Grace and Truth are both God's will for all the earth. Both have been offered to the world, through Jesus. All who've been saved have come into the family of God, by both Grace and Truth. The only missing component for everyone to be saved, is their having faith in both God's Grace and Truth. Many view God's Word as being a historical Truth, while others view it as being a myth. Those who are saved, know that God's Word is Grace and Truth.
There are some who recognize the Truth of God's Word, but only for certain portions of it. Others believe the Word is Truth, but only for the future when we're in Heaven. In God's heart and mind, His Word is all Truth, from before He created the world, until hereafter. Many Christians have placed faith in the Gift of salvation, but only in part. They've trusted and were born-again, but have pushed the natural Blessings of being part of God's family to the time when we leave earth. God's plan and purpose is that when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we inherited the entire plan of redemption (with the exception of having a glorified body, that comes at the close of the age).
Everything we will ever need, both now and later, has already been done in the resurrection of Jesus. The Price for sin and death has been paid. Through Jesus' resurrection, our redemption has now been established and Jesus redeemed everything that the first Adam lost. At the catching away of the Church, even the full redemption of our mortal bodies will have been fulfilled. The same faith in the grace that got you saved, is the same faith we have in the Grace that heals, Baptizes in the Holy Spirit and makes us a new creation. That same faith makes us righteous, justified, and consecrated unto God.
The problem doesn't lie with God or His plan of redemption, but with the carnal minded Christians who limit God, with our own small thinking. God has never changed and He never will. The things available to His family, are the very things that were available to the first Adam and his family. God never intended that His family be subjected to the evils of this world. God never intended for His children to be under the domination of satan.
God never intended for healing to be something we would need to be concerned with. God's intent from the beginning, was that His children would never be sick or die. God was to supply everything His children would ever need or want. God intended for His children to live in an immortal body and it would continually renew every cell at the appropriate time, so we would remain young and supple forever.
Sin brought all the misery that this planet has had to endure. With sin came death (both spiritually and temporarily), in this earth. Jesus paid for the sin problem of the world. Jesus paid for and met the Law of Sin and Death. Now, Life in our new creation spirit has completed what Jesus stated in John 10:10, where He said, "I came that you now might have and enjoy Life to the full (till it overflows)." God's Own Life has been restored again, connecting us to united fellowship with Him. We can now hear, see, talk with and be in His Presence, like God had always intended from the beginning.
God's Word and instructions have restored us to all that was lost through Adam's fall. Your natural body will still age and finally fall asleep in physical death (if Jesus tarries), but at the coming of the Lord, even natural death will be vanquished in Christ. 1Corinthians 15:54-55 (Amplified) says, "And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished) forever and unto victory. Death, where is your victory, death where is your sting?" At the rapture of the Church, those of us "who are alive and remain, will not die, but will be caught away with the resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always we shall be with the Lord," according to 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 (Amplified).
The redemptive Blood of Jesus has completely restored everything to us, that the first Adam lost. We've been raised up by our Father in complete fellowship with Him. Religion and the world have downplayed the Truth of what God's Grace has now made available to us through simple faith in Jesus Christ. Many have exercised faith to the degree of going to Heaven, but few have exercised their faith in everything else that Grace has granted us, in Jesus.
If satan can keep the Church in the carnal realm of religion, even though Grace has already done everything needed to be done to overcome him, then satan will continue to control the Church, through the realm of carnal minds and futile thinking. Much of today's Church is afraid to declare that they're righteous in Christ Jesus. Many confess that, "None are righteous, no not one" or "My righteousness is as filthy rags." This is a lack of faith in God's Grace and His declaration "our righteousness is of Me." In Isaiah 54:17 (Amplified) God says, "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, those in Whom the Ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced. This is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me, this is that which I impart to them as their justification, says the Lord."
This Prophetic scripture speaks about those who are in Christ Jesus and all those who will come to Him by faith. Did you ever notice how Isaiah 53, 54 and 55 show how everything from healing t righteousness, from restoration to peace and justification and beyond that, is now made available to us today, in Him. Everything has been covered in our lives, from sin to complete reproduction of Jesus, the Ideal Servant of the Lord. It has all been made ours, by Grace and it is received by faith, according to Romans 1:17 (Amplified) which says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through 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 must allow our faith in Jesus, to grow beyond man's idea and receive what Grace has provided for us, both for here and for hereafter.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Lesson 2 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
Psalm 85:10-11 (Amplified) says, "Mercy and Loving kindness, and Truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from Heaven."
Many have become educated and familiar with the scriptures, but have no discernment or revelation of Truth from them. After reading Romans 7:14-25, I am convinced that the struggle Paul found himself in, was with the flesh that had been trained by the Law, the traditions of the senses, and the rituals of the Law. These things fought constantly against the Grace that Jesus taught and revealed to him. Paul had received a revelation about the new creation being and relationship with Jesus. He knew that it would be sin, if he returned to the Law, instead of walking in Grace.
Paul knew that in his flesh (his body) wished to return to that which it was familiar, but his spirit wished to walk in faith and Grace. Thus Paul writes in Verses 24- 25, "Who will deliver me from this body of death? O thank God! He will! through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One, our Lord!) So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the Law of sin." Paul goes on in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus (for those who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh), but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus, the Law of our new being, has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Following the Law of Moses or the religious laws of carnal man are both sin in God's eyes, because they are of works and not of faith and Grace. When speaking of "sin" here, I'm not talking about not being saved, but I'm talking about our not being in a place where we're trusting God's Grace and His Truth to make us in right standing with Him. We're still drawn by our flesh, to perform by the traditions we've been taught. Many of these traditions minister to the soul and appease the flesh, but have no real meaning to God, in His plan of salvation. I believe this is the dilemma Paul faved, in his own walk with the Lord.
When we don't have Revelation, we end up in religion. We feel like we need to do certain works, in order to feel like we deserve God's Goodness. This is opposition to faith and Grace. This leads to our trying again to make it on our own and results in our being frustrated in our walk with God. We know "He can," but we don't know why "He doesn't." When we try to deserve His Blessing by works, we frustrate God's Grace to the point where He can't. This leaves us falling back on the old religious confession of "It must not be His will."
If we read Hebrew 10 and continue onto the next chapter, then we get a fuller picture of how faith and Grace work together in our walk. In Hebrew 10 Paul speaks about the sacrifices and offerings made under the Law and how these things couldn't do away with the guilt and shame of sin. The people's sin needed to be covered again and again by sacrifices, which could never set them free. The old priesthood and rituals had to continually be covered by the blood of animals, in order to prevent the destruction of the people.
Chapters 10 and 11 are parts of the same, continuous letter Paul was writing, but man separated them into two chapters, which disrupts the flow of the Holy Spirit. Paul was telling the people, that it was no longer sacrifices of animals or the carnal priesthood of sinners or rituals and traditions of the Law which kept them. He said that the new covenant was based on faith in the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hoped for. In other words, our new covenant is based on Now faith in what God has provided through Jesus. Jesus' Sacrifice has accomplished everything that sacrifice of bulls and goats, rituals, and traditions could never accomplish. Jesus' Sacrifice has provided the thing in which we hoped for, which is right standing with God without sin to separate us any longer. It is Grace and faith.
It seems like we see a Promise God made to us, then we set about a way of obtaining it by our own works. We've failed to see that God has already provided it and it is obtained the same way our new birth was," by Grace you are saved by faith." By Grace, you are healed through faith. By Grace, you are Blessed through faith. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for." It's not by works, not by traditions, not by sacrifice, not by deserving it, but by faith and Grace that both come from Jesus, through God's Love.
There have been so many Christians who started out in faith and Grace, but returned under the bondage of man's religions and gave up on faith altogether. Paul writes about this very thing in Galatians 3:1-3 (Amplified) saying, "O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched you or cast a spell over you, unto whom, right before your very eyes-Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you this one question; Did you receive the Holy Spirit as a result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing the Message of faith? Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun your new life Spiritually with the Holy Spirit, are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh?"
This happens so gradually and subtly, that we sometimes don't see it. We go from seeking God by faith, to trying to please Him by works. We go from hearing from God from "now faith" and return to laws and rituals again. It's so subtle, that we don't realize we've changed. It's one thing to do good works from a position of righteousness by faith, than to do good works from a position of the flesh, in order to become righteous. They sound like the same thing, don't they?
Man determines what he thinks is God's will, when it doesn't work for him. If someone doesn't receive the Holy Spirit and the speaking of tongues, then he determines, "It must not be for everyone." This is religion overriding Revelation and is used as an excuse by those who don't believe in faith and Grace for mankind. We should be wise enough to know, that if something isn't working, then we're the ones who missed it and not God Who missed it. We shouldn't excuse it and let it go, but we should "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and all these things will be given to you besides," like Jesus directed in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified). God has a way of doing and being right. If we do it any other way, then we've missed it. Grace by faith, is God's will.
Psalm 85:10-11 (Amplified) says, "Mercy and Loving kindness, and Truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from Heaven."
Many have become educated and familiar with the scriptures, but have no discernment or revelation of Truth from them. After reading Romans 7:14-25, I am convinced that the struggle Paul found himself in, was with the flesh that had been trained by the Law, the traditions of the senses, and the rituals of the Law. These things fought constantly against the Grace that Jesus taught and revealed to him. Paul had received a revelation about the new creation being and relationship with Jesus. He knew that it would be sin, if he returned to the Law, instead of walking in Grace.
Paul knew that in his flesh (his body) wished to return to that which it was familiar, but his spirit wished to walk in faith and Grace. Thus Paul writes in Verses 24- 25, "Who will deliver me from this body of death? O thank God! He will! through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One, our Lord!) So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the Law of sin." Paul goes on in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus (for those who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh), but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus, the Law of our new being, has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Following the Law of Moses or the religious laws of carnal man are both sin in God's eyes, because they are of works and not of faith and Grace. When speaking of "sin" here, I'm not talking about not being saved, but I'm talking about our not being in a place where we're trusting God's Grace and His Truth to make us in right standing with Him. We're still drawn by our flesh, to perform by the traditions we've been taught. Many of these traditions minister to the soul and appease the flesh, but have no real meaning to God, in His plan of salvation. I believe this is the dilemma Paul faved, in his own walk with the Lord.
When we don't have Revelation, we end up in religion. We feel like we need to do certain works, in order to feel like we deserve God's Goodness. This is opposition to faith and Grace. This leads to our trying again to make it on our own and results in our being frustrated in our walk with God. We know "He can," but we don't know why "He doesn't." When we try to deserve His Blessing by works, we frustrate God's Grace to the point where He can't. This leaves us falling back on the old religious confession of "It must not be His will."
If we read Hebrew 10 and continue onto the next chapter, then we get a fuller picture of how faith and Grace work together in our walk. In Hebrew 10 Paul speaks about the sacrifices and offerings made under the Law and how these things couldn't do away with the guilt and shame of sin. The people's sin needed to be covered again and again by sacrifices, which could never set them free. The old priesthood and rituals had to continually be covered by the blood of animals, in order to prevent the destruction of the people.
Chapters 10 and 11 are parts of the same, continuous letter Paul was writing, but man separated them into two chapters, which disrupts the flow of the Holy Spirit. Paul was telling the people, that it was no longer sacrifices of animals or the carnal priesthood of sinners or rituals and traditions of the Law which kept them. He said that the new covenant was based on faith in the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hoped for. In other words, our new covenant is based on Now faith in what God has provided through Jesus. Jesus' Sacrifice has accomplished everything that sacrifice of bulls and goats, rituals, and traditions could never accomplish. Jesus' Sacrifice has provided the thing in which we hoped for, which is right standing with God without sin to separate us any longer. It is Grace and faith.
It seems like we see a Promise God made to us, then we set about a way of obtaining it by our own works. We've failed to see that God has already provided it and it is obtained the same way our new birth was," by Grace you are saved by faith." By Grace, you are healed through faith. By Grace, you are Blessed through faith. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for." It's not by works, not by traditions, not by sacrifice, not by deserving it, but by faith and Grace that both come from Jesus, through God's Love.
There have been so many Christians who started out in faith and Grace, but returned under the bondage of man's religions and gave up on faith altogether. Paul writes about this very thing in Galatians 3:1-3 (Amplified) saying, "O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched you or cast a spell over you, unto whom, right before your very eyes-Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you this one question; Did you receive the Holy Spirit as a result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing the Message of faith? Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun your new life Spiritually with the Holy Spirit, are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh?"
This happens so gradually and subtly, that we sometimes don't see it. We go from seeking God by faith, to trying to please Him by works. We go from hearing from God from "now faith" and return to laws and rituals again. It's so subtle, that we don't realize we've changed. It's one thing to do good works from a position of righteousness by faith, than to do good works from a position of the flesh, in order to become righteous. They sound like the same thing, don't they?
Man determines what he thinks is God's will, when it doesn't work for him. If someone doesn't receive the Holy Spirit and the speaking of tongues, then he determines, "It must not be for everyone." This is religion overriding Revelation and is used as an excuse by those who don't believe in faith and Grace for mankind. We should be wise enough to know, that if something isn't working, then we're the ones who missed it and not God Who missed it. We shouldn't excuse it and let it go, but we should "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and all these things will be given to you besides," like Jesus directed in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified). God has a way of doing and being right. If we do it any other way, then we've missed it. Grace by faith, is God's will.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Lesson 1 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
People under the Law, needed to qualify by works, in order to receive the Blessing and favor of God. In the old covenant, healing, Blessing, provision and even entry into a place with God, was earned by works. People were required to do certain works, in order to qualify for these things. Under the old covenant, people's qualification for receiving God's Blessing, was based upon their obedience to the Law and providing acceptable sacrifice before Him.
Under the new covenant, through Jesus, God has already provided everything needed to "come boldly to the Throne of Grace," according to Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) which says, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the Throne of Grace (the Throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy for our failures and find Grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well-timed help), coming just when we need it."
If every part of the Law wasn't followed perfectly and correctly, then the very Presence of God's Glory and Holiness would actually destroy the person. Leviticus 10:1-2,3 (Amplified) says, "And Nadab and Abidhu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and put incense on it, and offered strange and unholy fire before the Lord, as He had not commanded them. And there came forth fire from the Lord and killed them, and they died before the Lord." Moses brought forth the Word of God to Aaron in Verse 3 saying, "This is what the Lord meant when He said, I, and My will, not their own, will be acknowledged as hallowed by those who come near Me, and before all the people I will be honored. And Aaron said nothing."
There are several lessons to be learned from the above scripture, that apply for us today. For those who are still trying to please God by the old covenant of Law, this is not His will. God won't destroy us by fire, like He did in the old covenant, but trying to please Him by the old covenant of Law isn't His will and is unacceptable to Him. God Himself has established a new covenant for His family and we must approach Him by faith in Jesus' Sacrifice and believe that Jesus' Sacrifice covered all of the old covenant sacrifices.
We're no longer required to make one sacrifice for sin, one for a peace offering, one for healing or other such things like in the old covenant. God Himself has provided One Sacrifice for all things and for all time. Rejecting His Sacrifice and trying to approach Him by any other way, is not His will. It is our own will and way, like it was with Aaron's sons.
Our healing and provision of the Blessing of Abraham, must be appropriated by faith and faith alone, according to Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) which says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder to those who earnestly and diligently seek Him."
Our entire covenant is based upon faith in what God Himself has provided for us in Jesus, God's Own Lamb. This covenant isn't based on our own works or goodness, but on His Own works and Goodness. Many believe that they must do certain things, in order to deserve healing or Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They mean, well by trying to deserve these things, but this shows they don't believe in God's way of doing and being right. Jesus said in Mathew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
This seems to be too simply, does it? We're to only "believe," and all these things will be provided. We continue to think there's got to be something more to it and the more we do, the less we get. Why? Because, it's no less God's will for us to offer up things our own way, than it was for Aaron's sons. God's will for us is that b faith, we believe that He and He alone, has made all things possible by One Sacrifice in Jesus Christ, His Son.
Striving to make things happen, instead of allowing things to happen like God said, isn't putting trust and faith in what Jesus has done for us. In our own minds, we're made distinctions between healing and having our sins forgiven. Most Christians believe that Jesus took away their sins when they were saved, but still struggle with the healing of their flesh. We simply believed in Jesus, in order to receive salvation. We didn't need to offer any sacrifices, work any Laws,or do any works. We only needed to believe in and receive by faith, God's Lamb and Son Jesus. For some reason, we stopped believing that the same thing is true for everything else God has offered.
Jesus asked in Mark 2:9-11 (Amplified), "Which is easier; to say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven and put away, or to say, Rise, take up your sleeping pad or mat, and start walking about and keep on walking? But that you may know positively and beyond a doubt that the Son of Man has right and authority and power on earth to forgive sins-He said to the paralyzed man, I say to you, arise, pick up and carry your sleeping pad or mat, and go home."
Notice, that it took nothing more for this man to believe for his healing, than it did for his forgiveness of sin. It didn't take a separate act for him to receive healing than it did for him to receive forgiveness. He only had to have faith in Jesus. Today's Church doesn't seem to understand and believe that this simply fact of having faith in the One Sacrifice of Jesus, is the only thing needed. We believe in forgiveness, but continue believing we must do more, in order to be healed. The more we do, trying to get healed, the less faith we show in God's way of doing and being right. Matthew 6:33 (Amplified) says, "This is God's way of doing and being right."
Paul writes in Romans 1:17 (Amplified), "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." Those who are now saved, are living now by faith. Before we were saved, we were dead in sins and trespass, but now we've been made alive, by faith in Jesus Christ. Any other way is "offering up strange and unholy fire before the Lord," and that's not what He commanded us to do, just like it wasn't what He commanded Aaron's sons in Leviticus 10:1-2.
People under the Law, needed to qualify by works, in order to receive the Blessing and favor of God. In the old covenant, healing, Blessing, provision and even entry into a place with God, was earned by works. People were required to do certain works, in order to qualify for these things. Under the old covenant, people's qualification for receiving God's Blessing, was based upon their obedience to the Law and providing acceptable sacrifice before Him.
Under the new covenant, through Jesus, God has already provided everything needed to "come boldly to the Throne of Grace," according to Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) which says, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the Throne of Grace (the Throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy for our failures and find Grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well-timed help), coming just when we need it."
If every part of the Law wasn't followed perfectly and correctly, then the very Presence of God's Glory and Holiness would actually destroy the person. Leviticus 10:1-2,3 (Amplified) says, "And Nadab and Abidhu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and put incense on it, and offered strange and unholy fire before the Lord, as He had not commanded them. And there came forth fire from the Lord and killed them, and they died before the Lord." Moses brought forth the Word of God to Aaron in Verse 3 saying, "This is what the Lord meant when He said, I, and My will, not their own, will be acknowledged as hallowed by those who come near Me, and before all the people I will be honored. And Aaron said nothing."
There are several lessons to be learned from the above scripture, that apply for us today. For those who are still trying to please God by the old covenant of Law, this is not His will. God won't destroy us by fire, like He did in the old covenant, but trying to please Him by the old covenant of Law isn't His will and is unacceptable to Him. God Himself has established a new covenant for His family and we must approach Him by faith in Jesus' Sacrifice and believe that Jesus' Sacrifice covered all of the old covenant sacrifices.
We're no longer required to make one sacrifice for sin, one for a peace offering, one for healing or other such things like in the old covenant. God Himself has provided One Sacrifice for all things and for all time. Rejecting His Sacrifice and trying to approach Him by any other way, is not His will. It is our own will and way, like it was with Aaron's sons.
Our healing and provision of the Blessing of Abraham, must be appropriated by faith and faith alone, according to Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) which says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder to those who earnestly and diligently seek Him."
Our entire covenant is based upon faith in what God Himself has provided for us in Jesus, God's Own Lamb. This covenant isn't based on our own works or goodness, but on His Own works and Goodness. Many believe that they must do certain things, in order to deserve healing or Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They mean, well by trying to deserve these things, but this shows they don't believe in God's way of doing and being right. Jesus said in Mathew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
This seems to be too simply, does it? We're to only "believe," and all these things will be provided. We continue to think there's got to be something more to it and the more we do, the less we get. Why? Because, it's no less God's will for us to offer up things our own way, than it was for Aaron's sons. God's will for us is that b faith, we believe that He and He alone, has made all things possible by One Sacrifice in Jesus Christ, His Son.
Striving to make things happen, instead of allowing things to happen like God said, isn't putting trust and faith in what Jesus has done for us. In our own minds, we're made distinctions between healing and having our sins forgiven. Most Christians believe that Jesus took away their sins when they were saved, but still struggle with the healing of their flesh. We simply believed in Jesus, in order to receive salvation. We didn't need to offer any sacrifices, work any Laws,or do any works. We only needed to believe in and receive by faith, God's Lamb and Son Jesus. For some reason, we stopped believing that the same thing is true for everything else God has offered.
Jesus asked in Mark 2:9-11 (Amplified), "Which is easier; to say to the paralyzed man, Your sins are forgiven and put away, or to say, Rise, take up your sleeping pad or mat, and start walking about and keep on walking? But that you may know positively and beyond a doubt that the Son of Man has right and authority and power on earth to forgive sins-He said to the paralyzed man, I say to you, arise, pick up and carry your sleeping pad or mat, and go home."
Notice, that it took nothing more for this man to believe for his healing, than it did for his forgiveness of sin. It didn't take a separate act for him to receive healing than it did for him to receive forgiveness. He only had to have faith in Jesus. Today's Church doesn't seem to understand and believe that this simply fact of having faith in the One Sacrifice of Jesus, is the only thing needed. We believe in forgiveness, but continue believing we must do more, in order to be healed. The more we do, trying to get healed, the less faith we show in God's way of doing and being right. Matthew 6:33 (Amplified) says, "This is God's way of doing and being right."
Paul writes in Romans 1:17 (Amplified), "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." Those who are now saved, are living now by faith. Before we were saved, we were dead in sins and trespass, but now we've been made alive, by faith in Jesus Christ. Any other way is "offering up strange and unholy fire before the Lord," and that's not what He commanded us to do, just like it wasn't what He commanded Aaron's sons in Leviticus 10:1-2.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Lesson 36 DOING HIS WILL AND WORK
Jesus told His followers in John 8:18-19 (Amplified), "I am One of the Two bearing testimony concerning Myself; and My Father Who sent Me, He also testifies about Me. Then they said to Him, 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."
Jesus' statement should be ample for our knowing God, our Father. If we knew Jesus, then we also by knowing Him, know our Heavenly Father. The Church has been so divided concerning the will of God and much of that division comes from preachers not coming to the revelation distinguishing between the Old Testament God and the New Testament Father. Many are still teaching the Church by the conditions of the Law, instead of the position of family and Grace.
Everything came by obeying the Law, under the old covenant. Those people were still spiritually dead by trespass and sin, so God had to deal with them from the outside-in. They were separated from God in spirit, so God has to discipline them externally. Under our new relationship through Jesus, we've been made alive unto God in our new creation spirit and we've been moved into a place to hear and be led by His Spirit in us.
Prior to His ascending to Heaven, Jesus told His followers in John 15:26 (Amplified), "But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Stand by) comes, Whom I will sent to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes, proceeds from the Father, He Himself will testify regarding Me."
Jesus also says in John 14:26 (Amplified), "But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Stand by) The Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name (in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf), He will teach you all things, and He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance), everything I have told you."
Just like He did in Jesus' earthly life, God our Father will guide, teach, correct, lead, comfort, counsel, strengthen, intercede, bring revelation and move in our lives. We've been taught to see ourselves "as we once were," instead of "who we've become in Christ Jesus." This leaves us walking like the old covenant people under the Law, instead of like the new creation family in the Presence of our Heavenly Father.
We're often taught and quote Romans 3:10 (Amplified) which says, "As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), no, not one," along with Romans 3:25 (Amplified) which says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives." We rarely hear teachings from Romans 3:24 (Amplified) which says, "All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His Grace (His unmerited favor and mercy through the redemption which is provided in Christ Jesus."
We rarely hear teaching about Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore, Since we are justified, acquitted, declare righteous and given a right standing with God through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). THROUGH HIM also we have our access (entrance, introduction), by faith into this Grace (state of God's favor) in which we firmly and safely stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God."
We've been taught from carnal teachings, instead of revelation, to see ourselves as men and women with a spirit inside us, instead of "a spirit, who lives in a house of flesh." Both things are true. The difference is seeing what Jesus in us, rather than what the world and carnal minded men see in us. The carnal mind continues to see us as "still a sinner," while the mind of Christ and revelation from the Holy Spirit reveals us as how the Father sees us. The Father sees us as being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
We didn't "become righteous,"but we were created righteous in Jesus. This isn't something we had to obtain on our own (we can never do so), but was the Gift of God through Christ Jesus and must be accepted and received by faith in Jesus Christ. Many times we're quoted Isaiah 64:6 (Amplified) which says, "Our righteousness is as filthy rags" or "Our best deeds are nothing to bring righteousness." We don't hear 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) which says, "For our sake He made Christ virtually to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become endued with (viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God, what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His Goodness."
If the enemy can keep us in our own righteousness (which we don't have), then he can prevent us from having the boldness of fellowship and place with our Heavenly Father. Remember, it was God Who declared you "righteous," and not you, yourself. God provided the Means to make us in right standing as sons and daughter, by His Own Goodness. It had nothing to do with our "trying to be good enough to qualify." It had everything to do with He Who qualified us by faith in Jesus Christ. Don't be puffed up by your own religious idea of humility and tell God (and the world) that "Jesus wasn't enough to make me righteous." Instead, humble yourself under the Mighty hand of God and by faith, simply receive His righteousness as His Gift of Love for you. If God made you to be righteous, then that is what and who you are in Jesus, whether or not you believe it. Use the same faith you used to believe Jesus, making Him your Lord and Savior, and believe you're righteous before God in Christ Jesus.
Jesus' statement should be ample for our knowing God, our Father. If we knew Jesus, then we also by knowing Him, know our Heavenly Father. The Church has been so divided concerning the will of God and much of that division comes from preachers not coming to the revelation distinguishing between the Old Testament God and the New Testament Father. Many are still teaching the Church by the conditions of the Law, instead of the position of family and Grace.
Everything came by obeying the Law, under the old covenant. Those people were still spiritually dead by trespass and sin, so God had to deal with them from the outside-in. They were separated from God in spirit, so God has to discipline them externally. Under our new relationship through Jesus, we've been made alive unto God in our new creation spirit and we've been moved into a place to hear and be led by His Spirit in us.
Prior to His ascending to Heaven, Jesus told His followers in John 15:26 (Amplified), "But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Stand by) comes, Whom I will sent to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes, proceeds from the Father, He Himself will testify regarding Me."
Jesus also says in John 14:26 (Amplified), "But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Stand by) The Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name (in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf), He will teach you all things, and He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance), everything I have told you."
Just like He did in Jesus' earthly life, God our Father will guide, teach, correct, lead, comfort, counsel, strengthen, intercede, bring revelation and move in our lives. We've been taught to see ourselves "as we once were," instead of "who we've become in Christ Jesus." This leaves us walking like the old covenant people under the Law, instead of like the new creation family in the Presence of our Heavenly Father.
We're often taught and quote Romans 3:10 (Amplified) which says, "As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), no, not one," along with Romans 3:25 (Amplified) which says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives." We rarely hear teachings from Romans 3:24 (Amplified) which says, "All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His Grace (His unmerited favor and mercy through the redemption which is provided in Christ Jesus."
We rarely hear teaching about Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore, Since we are justified, acquitted, declare righteous and given a right standing with God through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). THROUGH HIM also we have our access (entrance, introduction), by faith into this Grace (state of God's favor) in which we firmly and safely stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God."
We've been taught from carnal teachings, instead of revelation, to see ourselves as men and women with a spirit inside us, instead of "a spirit, who lives in a house of flesh." Both things are true. The difference is seeing what Jesus in us, rather than what the world and carnal minded men see in us. The carnal mind continues to see us as "still a sinner," while the mind of Christ and revelation from the Holy Spirit reveals us as how the Father sees us. The Father sees us as being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
We didn't "become righteous,"but we were created righteous in Jesus. This isn't something we had to obtain on our own (we can never do so), but was the Gift of God through Christ Jesus and must be accepted and received by faith in Jesus Christ. Many times we're quoted Isaiah 64:6 (Amplified) which says, "Our righteousness is as filthy rags" or "Our best deeds are nothing to bring righteousness." We don't hear 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) which says, "For our sake He made Christ virtually to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become endued with (viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God, what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His Goodness."
If the enemy can keep us in our own righteousness (which we don't have), then he can prevent us from having the boldness of fellowship and place with our Heavenly Father. Remember, it was God Who declared you "righteous," and not you, yourself. God provided the Means to make us in right standing as sons and daughter, by His Own Goodness. It had nothing to do with our "trying to be good enough to qualify." It had everything to do with He Who qualified us by faith in Jesus Christ. Don't be puffed up by your own religious idea of humility and tell God (and the world) that "Jesus wasn't enough to make me righteous." Instead, humble yourself under the Mighty hand of God and by faith, simply receive His righteousness as His Gift of Love for you. If God made you to be righteous, then that is what and who you are in Jesus, whether or not you believe it. Use the same faith you used to believe Jesus, making Him your Lord and Savior, and believe you're righteous before God in Christ Jesus.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Lesson 35 DOING HIS WILL AND WORK
Jesus said this in John 10:30 (Amplified), "I and the Father are One."
We've studied the will of God, through His Word and Jesus' earthly ministry. Jesus stated many times, that "He and the Father are One." Jesus never did anything that wasn't the Father's will, but we continually and mistakenly try conflating our Heavenly Father as being the One Who brings trials, troubles, sickness, disease and destruction on His family.
The only way to know the will of God, is by watching Jesus during His earthly ministry. If Jesus did something, then God does it and if Jesus doesn't do something, then God doesn't do it either. I challenge you to go through the New Testament and find any place where Jesus made anyone sick, crippled, diseased, distressed or messed up. Jesus told His followers in John 10:10 (Amplified), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy." Jesus went on to say that, "I came that you may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
How could we have ever put God in the role of the thief? Religion has done just that, though, reversed the role of God and the thief. Our faith in God is based on our ability to trust Him at His Word. If we don't know whether God is our problem or the Answer, then we have a problem of mistrusting Him. I recently visited a Christian brother who was in the hospital for the second time, when he told me God was responsible for his being there and that God was trying to teach him something. I responded by telling him that, "If you don't find out what the lesson was and learn it soon, then this is going to kill you." We try making God look like a "poor Teacher" or we're just "stupid people." Why would anyone who loves God and wishes to do what's right, be so ignorant and disobedient that God would have to kill His children, destroy our health, and steal from them? I thought Jesus said, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy."
If you believe God is the One making you sick, then how can you have faith and believe Him for healing you? This is exactly the type of person spoken about in James 1:6-8 (Amplified) which says, "Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting), for the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out to sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord. For being as he is a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
The Church and God's family is still trying to "believe" what Jesus came to deliver to us from our Heavenly Father. We continue arguing over such things as being righteous, healed, purified, justified, consecrated and sanctified and all the things God has already given us, by Grace in Christ Jesus. This is in direct opposition to what God's Word says about God's family. Abraham's righteous was "imputed" to him, because of his faith. Our righteousness was born into us by Jesus, when He completed His work. Now, everyone who has been born of God, is made to be righteous with His righteousness.
Romans 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "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." Our righteousness, our justification and our relationship with our Heavenly Father are all based upon our faith, in what Jesus did for and to us. This is the righteousness that God ascribes or counts as our righteousness. When we stand in God's Face, declaring ourselves to be "unrighteous and unworthy," we're basically saying that, "Jesus wasn't enough to make us what God ascribes us to be." Paul says in Romans 4:16 (Amplified), "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith, and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given by an act of Grace (unmerited favor) to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants."
Righteousness, sanctification, justification and favor with God, are all ours in Jesus Christ. Paul continues in Romans 5:1-2,9-10 (Amplified) saying, "Therefore, since we are justified, acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God THROUGH FAITH, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Through Him also we have our access, entrance, introduction by faith into this Grace, state of God's favor in which we firmly and safely stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God."
Verses 9-10 continue, "Therefore, since we are NOW justified, acquitted, made righteous and brought into right relationship with God by Christ's Blood, how much more certain is it that we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved, daily delivered, from sin's dominion through His Resurrection Life."
This is God's will for His family. Saying that "we're not righteous, not justified, not reconciled, not acquitted and not in right standing with Him" is actually going against God's will. This might sound boastful to someone who hasn't believed the Gospel, but this is what the Father has said about us and done for those who have believed in His Son Jesus Christ. All these things are given by Grace, but must be accepted by faith. When we don't accept these things, by faith in God's Grace, we're placed back to the place of trying to become righteous, acquitted, justified and sanctified by our own works. This is enmity to God.
Much "faith teaching" has fallen on deaf ears or has been dismissed altogether. In Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) the Holy Spirit reveals that Grace comes by faith. Thus, it says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor), that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God." Your salvation came by believing in and having faith in God's Grace. So too, do your righteousness, justification, acquittal, reconciliation and sanctification come by faith in His Grace.
We've studied the will of God, through His Word and Jesus' earthly ministry. Jesus stated many times, that "He and the Father are One." Jesus never did anything that wasn't the Father's will, but we continually and mistakenly try conflating our Heavenly Father as being the One Who brings trials, troubles, sickness, disease and destruction on His family.
The only way to know the will of God, is by watching Jesus during His earthly ministry. If Jesus did something, then God does it and if Jesus doesn't do something, then God doesn't do it either. I challenge you to go through the New Testament and find any place where Jesus made anyone sick, crippled, diseased, distressed or messed up. Jesus told His followers in John 10:10 (Amplified), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy." Jesus went on to say that, "I came that you may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
How could we have ever put God in the role of the thief? Religion has done just that, though, reversed the role of God and the thief. Our faith in God is based on our ability to trust Him at His Word. If we don't know whether God is our problem or the Answer, then we have a problem of mistrusting Him. I recently visited a Christian brother who was in the hospital for the second time, when he told me God was responsible for his being there and that God was trying to teach him something. I responded by telling him that, "If you don't find out what the lesson was and learn it soon, then this is going to kill you." We try making God look like a "poor Teacher" or we're just "stupid people." Why would anyone who loves God and wishes to do what's right, be so ignorant and disobedient that God would have to kill His children, destroy our health, and steal from them? I thought Jesus said, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy."
If you believe God is the One making you sick, then how can you have faith and believe Him for healing you? This is exactly the type of person spoken about in James 1:6-8 (Amplified) which says, "Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting), for the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out to sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord. For being as he is a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
The Church and God's family is still trying to "believe" what Jesus came to deliver to us from our Heavenly Father. We continue arguing over such things as being righteous, healed, purified, justified, consecrated and sanctified and all the things God has already given us, by Grace in Christ Jesus. This is in direct opposition to what God's Word says about God's family. Abraham's righteous was "imputed" to him, because of his faith. Our righteousness was born into us by Jesus, when He completed His work. Now, everyone who has been born of God, is made to be righteous with His righteousness.
Romans 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "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." Our righteousness, our justification and our relationship with our Heavenly Father are all based upon our faith, in what Jesus did for and to us. This is the righteousness that God ascribes or counts as our righteousness. When we stand in God's Face, declaring ourselves to be "unrighteous and unworthy," we're basically saying that, "Jesus wasn't enough to make us what God ascribes us to be." Paul says in Romans 4:16 (Amplified), "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith, and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given by an act of Grace (unmerited favor) to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants."
Righteousness, sanctification, justification and favor with God, are all ours in Jesus Christ. Paul continues in Romans 5:1-2,9-10 (Amplified) saying, "Therefore, since we are justified, acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God THROUGH FAITH, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). Through Him also we have our access, entrance, introduction by faith into this Grace, state of God's favor in which we firmly and safely stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God."
Verses 9-10 continue, "Therefore, since we are NOW justified, acquitted, made righteous and brought into right relationship with God by Christ's Blood, how much more certain is it that we shall be saved by Him from the indignation and wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved, daily delivered, from sin's dominion through His Resurrection Life."
This is God's will for His family. Saying that "we're not righteous, not justified, not reconciled, not acquitted and not in right standing with Him" is actually going against God's will. This might sound boastful to someone who hasn't believed the Gospel, but this is what the Father has said about us and done for those who have believed in His Son Jesus Christ. All these things are given by Grace, but must be accepted by faith. When we don't accept these things, by faith in God's Grace, we're placed back to the place of trying to become righteous, acquitted, justified and sanctified by our own works. This is enmity to God.
Much "faith teaching" has fallen on deaf ears or has been dismissed altogether. In Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) the Holy Spirit reveals that Grace comes by faith. Thus, it says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor), that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God." Your salvation came by believing in and having faith in God's Grace. So too, do your righteousness, justification, acquittal, reconciliation and sanctification come by faith in His Grace.
Friday, February 16, 2018
Lesson 34 DOING HIS WILL AND WORK
Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, who had recently left the world and sin, saying in 1Corinthians 6:11 (Amplified), "And such were some of you once. But you were washed clean, purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin, and you were consecrated (set apart hallowed), and were justified (pronounced righteous by trusting in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit of our God)."
Paul makes a statement about God's will for His family and how salvation is a total act of God's Grace. Many Christians continue trying to earn God's Grace, instead of receiving it. Unknowingly, we've tried becoming "good enough," to be righteous, by establishing laws and traditions to earn God's Grace. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation), it is not of yourselves (of your own doing), it came not through your own striving, but it is the Gift of God."
Everything we receive from God, must be by faith in His Grace. When we try being good enough to deserve it, we fail in our faith in His Grace and Goodness. Paul addressed this dilemma in Galatians 5:4 (Amplified), where those who received salvation, established their own rules and laws about how they were to continue in their salvation. Thus, Paul says, "If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from Grace (from God's Gracious favor and unmerited Blessing)."
Somehow, it seems impossible for mankind to view ourselves as being righteous in God's eyes, without our own works. I'm not sure about you, but I had many things that were wrong in my life when I got saved. This didn't stop God's Grace from working though, nor did it mean that I wasn't righteous before Him. It required many years of walking with the Father, before I accepted the Truth that Jesus' righteousness made me righteous in God's eyes. My own efforts held me back from entering into God's Presence. I was waiting until "I felt good enough" to enter in and I never did feel that good about myself.
This left me with the conundrum of trying to be good enough, while knowing that I could never be that good. I finally gave up trying to be righteous in myself and by faith, accept that Truth that Jesus already made me righteous in His righteousness. This Gift by was given by His Grace and I didn't need to work for it or accomplish it through my works.
I had been trying to be, that which God already made me to be, through Jesus. The things of the old, carnal man diminish as we mature in the Spirit, but we don't need to try and be righteous, because we've already been made righteous through Christ Jesus our Lord. Everything we will ever need in this life and the afterlife, has already been granted to us by His Grace. We receive our healing, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, tongues and Gifts of the Spirit, all by Grace.
We've concocted such ways of receiving the Holy Spirit as not wearing make-up, dressing in certain ways and pleading to God for it. All of these things are by works and man-made laws, instead of faith in God's Grace. We've determined that if one person is healed and another is not healed, that "it's God's will for them to be healed" or "that person didn't do enough to receive healing." Many have stopped believing God still heals or that God only heals certain people.
Remember Jesus' Parable about the Prodigal son in Luke 15:31 (Amplified)? This son was living in sin and was separated from his father, who could restore that son by his grace. There was a second son who believed he "deserved a feast, because of his actions." One wold receive by grace,while the other by his own works. Thus, Jesus says, "The father said to the one who was angry, Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." The second son was angry and didn't what was always his to receive. We don't explain Grace, we simply receive it. If it's a matter of being "good enough" to receive it, then it isn't Grace, but is something owed to us because of our good works. We continue trying to earn what we receive from the Father. Grace is giving to us what God wants us to have instead of what we deserve. I don't want what I deserve (like the second son in the Parable of the Prodigal son) and thankfully this isn't what God has given me. I deserved death and separation from Him, but He gave me Life and right standing with Him.
Our faith isn't in God's healing, but in God's Healer, Jesus. We've tried using faith to believe in healing, instead of placing our faith in His Grace which declares "By His stripes, we ARE healed and made whole." In God's Kingdom, our healing was already done, even before we accepted His Gracious offer to be saved. We didn't need to do anything in order to be saved, except believe in His Grace. Why then, do we think we must earn His favor? We received His favor and His Love by Grace. Now, we must simply have faith that by His Grace, we have been saved, healed and made righteous through Jesus Christ, His Son.
God left nothing to change, when He sent Jesus to set us free. Our entire freedom and liberty is in His Grace and it's His will for us to enjoy these things.
Paul makes a statement about God's will for His family and how salvation is a total act of God's Grace. Many Christians continue trying to earn God's Grace, instead of receiving it. Unknowingly, we've tried becoming "good enough," to be righteous, by establishing laws and traditions to earn God's Grace. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation), it is not of yourselves (of your own doing), it came not through your own striving, but it is the Gift of God."
Everything we receive from God, must be by faith in His Grace. When we try being good enough to deserve it, we fail in our faith in His Grace and Goodness. Paul addressed this dilemma in Galatians 5:4 (Amplified), where those who received salvation, established their own rules and laws about how they were to continue in their salvation. Thus, Paul says, "If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from Grace (from God's Gracious favor and unmerited Blessing)."
Somehow, it seems impossible for mankind to view ourselves as being righteous in God's eyes, without our own works. I'm not sure about you, but I had many things that were wrong in my life when I got saved. This didn't stop God's Grace from working though, nor did it mean that I wasn't righteous before Him. It required many years of walking with the Father, before I accepted the Truth that Jesus' righteousness made me righteous in God's eyes. My own efforts held me back from entering into God's Presence. I was waiting until "I felt good enough" to enter in and I never did feel that good about myself.
This left me with the conundrum of trying to be good enough, while knowing that I could never be that good. I finally gave up trying to be righteous in myself and by faith, accept that Truth that Jesus already made me righteous in His righteousness. This Gift by was given by His Grace and I didn't need to work for it or accomplish it through my works.
I had been trying to be, that which God already made me to be, through Jesus. The things of the old, carnal man diminish as we mature in the Spirit, but we don't need to try and be righteous, because we've already been made righteous through Christ Jesus our Lord. Everything we will ever need in this life and the afterlife, has already been granted to us by His Grace. We receive our healing, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, tongues and Gifts of the Spirit, all by Grace.
We've concocted such ways of receiving the Holy Spirit as not wearing make-up, dressing in certain ways and pleading to God for it. All of these things are by works and man-made laws, instead of faith in God's Grace. We've determined that if one person is healed and another is not healed, that "it's God's will for them to be healed" or "that person didn't do enough to receive healing." Many have stopped believing God still heals or that God only heals certain people.
Remember Jesus' Parable about the Prodigal son in Luke 15:31 (Amplified)? This son was living in sin and was separated from his father, who could restore that son by his grace. There was a second son who believed he "deserved a feast, because of his actions." One wold receive by grace,while the other by his own works. Thus, Jesus says, "The father said to the one who was angry, Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." The second son was angry and didn't what was always his to receive. We don't explain Grace, we simply receive it. If it's a matter of being "good enough" to receive it, then it isn't Grace, but is something owed to us because of our good works. We continue trying to earn what we receive from the Father. Grace is giving to us what God wants us to have instead of what we deserve. I don't want what I deserve (like the second son in the Parable of the Prodigal son) and thankfully this isn't what God has given me. I deserved death and separation from Him, but He gave me Life and right standing with Him.
Our faith isn't in God's healing, but in God's Healer, Jesus. We've tried using faith to believe in healing, instead of placing our faith in His Grace which declares "By His stripes, we ARE healed and made whole." In God's Kingdom, our healing was already done, even before we accepted His Gracious offer to be saved. We didn't need to do anything in order to be saved, except believe in His Grace. Why then, do we think we must earn His favor? We received His favor and His Love by Grace. Now, we must simply have faith that by His Grace, we have been saved, healed and made righteous through Jesus Christ, His Son.
God left nothing to change, when He sent Jesus to set us free. Our entire freedom and liberty is in His Grace and it's His will for us to enjoy these things.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Lesson 33 DOING HIS WILL AND WORK
Psalm 85:10-11 (Amplified) tells us, "Mercy and loving-kindness and Truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from Heaven."
The above scripture explicitly shows us God's will for His family. From the day Adam was created in God's Own Image and Likeness, Grace, Truth, righteousness and peace were made God's will for His family. Many opinions have sprung forth from the fall of Adam, making Truth lose out to man's speculations. No father has ever sired children, with plans of torment, fear, and failure for those children. Throughout time, many children have been fathered, without having those fathers caring for them. This wasn't God's intent for any child or adult either.
God's will from the beginning, was to provide everything His children would ever need, both Spiritually and physically. Everything that Heaven and earth could produce, was to Bless His children. After Adam's transgression in the Garden of Eden, there was and continues to be, a Curse from satan's ruler ship over the earth. This Curse is still working in this earth, but God has by His Grace, activated the Blessing by Jesus Christ. The Blessing must be activated by faith in God's Love and His Goodness. This is called, "Grace." Man's idea of what is meant by "Grace," has lent to much misunderstanding what God's Grace is. Grace is simply God doing what man cannot do on his own or man's trying to make his own provision without God.
Jesus speaks about this grace to His followers in Luke 10:3-6,9 (Amplified) saying, "Go your way; Behold I send you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse (no provisions bag), no change of sandals, refrain from retarding your journey by saluting and wishing anyone well along the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this household, freedom from all the distresses that result from sin be with this family." Jesus continued in Verse 9 saying, "And heal the sick that are in the house and say to them, The Kingdom of God has come close to you." Later, when His followers returned, Jesus asked them in Luke 22:35,37 (Amplified), "When I sent you out with no purse or provision, bag or sandals, did you lack anything? They answered, NOTHING."
This was the picture of Grace, that was to come through Jesus' death and resurrection. Verse 37 continues, "For I tell you that this scripture must yet be fulfilled in Me. And He was counted and classed among the wicked (the outlaws and criminals); for what is written about Me has it's fulfillment, has reached its end and is finally settled."
By His Own authority, Jesus anointed and sent these men and women out to operate in His Own Grace and provision. This is now a reality of His redemption and Grace, for all who will believe. Like God's Grace provided for every need of the Israelites in the Wilderness, God's Grace has been sent forth fro all who will dare to believe His provision by the Blessing through Jesus Christ. we haven't walked in the Blessing that Jesus preached about in Luke 4:18-19, but we've mostly walked in the Curse that came by the Law instead.
For those who choose to believe like Abraham did, Grace will meet every need. This Grace is an all-out demonstration of God's Love for mankind. In order to understand God's will and Grace, we must first understand His Love. We've judged God's Love, by our own understanding and perceptions about "love." We fall in and out of love, love our cats or even love pizza. This is a love based solely on emotion and the five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. This isn't the Spirit of Love that has been shed abroad in our heart, by the Holy Spirit. We've measured our love for God and His Love for us by the carnal aspects of what we think love is.
Grace came through Love in the form and Body of Jesus, according to John 3:16 (Amplified) which says, "God so Loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son." John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved, favor, Spiritual Blessing) and Truth came through Jesus Christ." Under the Law, God had His way into the lives of men, based on man's own performance. Through Jesus and Grace, God has His way into man's lives based simply on faith in what Jesus has done. This is Grace. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that is might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his (Abraham's) descendants."
We've failed to understand how our covenant, isn't based on what we do, but what we believe. When we're taught "Grace," we "cease from our own works, and enter into rest," according to Hebrews 9-10 (Amplified) which says, "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."
The above scripture explicitly shows us God's will for His family. From the day Adam was created in God's Own Image and Likeness, Grace, Truth, righteousness and peace were made God's will for His family. Many opinions have sprung forth from the fall of Adam, making Truth lose out to man's speculations. No father has ever sired children, with plans of torment, fear, and failure for those children. Throughout time, many children have been fathered, without having those fathers caring for them. This wasn't God's intent for any child or adult either.
God's will from the beginning, was to provide everything His children would ever need, both Spiritually and physically. Everything that Heaven and earth could produce, was to Bless His children. After Adam's transgression in the Garden of Eden, there was and continues to be, a Curse from satan's ruler ship over the earth. This Curse is still working in this earth, but God has by His Grace, activated the Blessing by Jesus Christ. The Blessing must be activated by faith in God's Love and His Goodness. This is called, "Grace." Man's idea of what is meant by "Grace," has lent to much misunderstanding what God's Grace is. Grace is simply God doing what man cannot do on his own or man's trying to make his own provision without God.
Jesus speaks about this grace to His followers in Luke 10:3-6,9 (Amplified) saying, "Go your way; Behold I send you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse (no provisions bag), no change of sandals, refrain from retarding your journey by saluting and wishing anyone well along the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this household, freedom from all the distresses that result from sin be with this family." Jesus continued in Verse 9 saying, "And heal the sick that are in the house and say to them, The Kingdom of God has come close to you." Later, when His followers returned, Jesus asked them in Luke 22:35,37 (Amplified), "When I sent you out with no purse or provision, bag or sandals, did you lack anything? They answered, NOTHING."
This was the picture of Grace, that was to come through Jesus' death and resurrection. Verse 37 continues, "For I tell you that this scripture must yet be fulfilled in Me. And He was counted and classed among the wicked (the outlaws and criminals); for what is written about Me has it's fulfillment, has reached its end and is finally settled."
By His Own authority, Jesus anointed and sent these men and women out to operate in His Own Grace and provision. This is now a reality of His redemption and Grace, for all who will believe. Like God's Grace provided for every need of the Israelites in the Wilderness, God's Grace has been sent forth fro all who will dare to believe His provision by the Blessing through Jesus Christ. we haven't walked in the Blessing that Jesus preached about in Luke 4:18-19, but we've mostly walked in the Curse that came by the Law instead.
For those who choose to believe like Abraham did, Grace will meet every need. This Grace is an all-out demonstration of God's Love for mankind. In order to understand God's will and Grace, we must first understand His Love. We've judged God's Love, by our own understanding and perceptions about "love." We fall in and out of love, love our cats or even love pizza. This is a love based solely on emotion and the five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. This isn't the Spirit of Love that has been shed abroad in our heart, by the Holy Spirit. We've measured our love for God and His Love for us by the carnal aspects of what we think love is.
Grace came through Love in the form and Body of Jesus, according to John 3:16 (Amplified) which says, "God so Loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son." John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved, favor, Spiritual Blessing) and Truth came through Jesus Christ." Under the Law, God had His way into the lives of men, based on man's own performance. Through Jesus and Grace, God has His way into man's lives based simply on faith in what Jesus has done. This is Grace. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that is might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his (Abraham's) descendants."
We've failed to understand how our covenant, isn't based on what we do, but what we believe. When we're taught "Grace," we "cease from our own works, and enter into rest," according to Hebrews 9-10 (Amplified) which says, "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."
Friday, February 9, 2018
Lesson 32 DOING HIS WILL AND WORKS
Paul speaks to the Church in Colossi ans 1:9-10(Amplified) saying, "For this reason we also, from the first day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things." Paul goes on to say why we need this "knowledge, Wisdom and insight into God's will and purpose," in Verse 10, "That you may walk, live, and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God, with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition."
There is so much to learn about our God and Father, that is seems to be more than we can hope for in life. However, we can continue growing and seeking Him and be pleasing to Him, with all we do know. We seemingly believe that "we've figured it all out" and coast in the knowledge we've gleaned from man's past knowledge. When we reach this point, we simply become religious and steeped in tradition.
God's Grace is such a part of His will for His family, but we've missed the full idea and purpose of Grace. Abraham's Blessing was based on his complete faith in God and God's full response to his faith was total Grace. Everything that came from God's covenant with Abraham was based on total Grace.
Everything the Israelites received from God came by Grace, until the people would no longer allow God's Grace to operate in their lives. They didn't need to fight their own battles or enemies, until the Israelites disobeyed God, creating the gold statue at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Joshua had to take the land by combat, after that time, according to Exodus 14:13-14 (Amplified) which says, "At the shores of the Red Sea, Pharaoh's army was bearing down on Moses and the people. Moses heard from god, and spoke to the people, Fear not, stand still (firm, confident, undismayed), and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again. For the Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest."
This is the good fight of faith that Paul writes about in 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) saying, "Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold of the eternal Life to which you were summoned and for which you confessed the good confession of faith before many witnesses." This faith was in God's Grace to deliver and bring victory in the lives of those who hold the faith. God's will was that by His Grace would provide everything that was needed to sustain His children. God would protect, feed, clothe, heal, guide and be with and among His beloved family.
Even when God was preparing to take the Israelites into Canaan Land, He never intended them to need to fight for it. This happened because the people wouldn't allow God's Grace to provide, but desired Laws they could perform, in order to insure that they could obtain His Blessing and His provision. In Joshua 2:10-11 (Amplified) the Canaanites said to Joshua, "For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Ammorites who were on the East side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted, neither did spirit or courage remain anymore in any man because of you, for the Lord your God; He is God in Heaven above and on earth beneath."
The covenant of Grace made between God and Abraham, carried the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan and God provided their every need, including the victory or the Egyptians at the Red Sea. The Canaanites had heard about God's provision and protection of the Israelites and would have given up Jericho without a fight, if the Israelites had remained in faith in God's Grace. The Law came through Moses, because of their unbelief. Grace could no longer be just given, but had to be worked for by Law.
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received (all had a share and were all supplied with), one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor, and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor and Spiritual Blessing) and Truth came through Jesus Christ." Being the Seed of Abraham, Jesus restored us to Grace, returning God's Grace upon us again without works or Law. Grace comes by our simple faith in God's ability to provide.
While watching Jesus during His earthly ministry, we find that Jesus never had to provide for Himself or any others. Everything in Jesus' life was provided by God's Grace. The tax money and loaves and fishes were provided by the faith Jesus had in His Father's Grace to provide for Him. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or to undo the Law or the prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo, but to complete and fulfill them."
Jesus completed and fulfilled the Law and has placed us in the position with the Seed of Abraham, putting us back into the covenant of faith and Grace. We've never been taught enough about this covenant or Blessing, so that we might apply faith in God's Promises to us, through Jesus. We've walked with one foot in the Law and the other foot in Grace, without understanding either. By His Grace, the Law is fulfilled in our lives. By faith, the Promise of Grace is now ours to operate in once again.
Jesus instructed in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek, aim at and strive after first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and all these things taken together will be given you besides." "His way of righteous or being right" is faith in the righteousness we obtain through Jesus. Faith in the Promise by Grace is "His way and His Kingdom." Everything in God's Kingdom is now available to His children, by faith in His Promise to Abraham and his Seed. This lets us understand what Paul said in Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified), saying, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out."
There is so much to learn about our God and Father, that is seems to be more than we can hope for in life. However, we can continue growing and seeking Him and be pleasing to Him, with all we do know. We seemingly believe that "we've figured it all out" and coast in the knowledge we've gleaned from man's past knowledge. When we reach this point, we simply become religious and steeped in tradition.
God's Grace is such a part of His will for His family, but we've missed the full idea and purpose of Grace. Abraham's Blessing was based on his complete faith in God and God's full response to his faith was total Grace. Everything that came from God's covenant with Abraham was based on total Grace.
Everything the Israelites received from God came by Grace, until the people would no longer allow God's Grace to operate in their lives. They didn't need to fight their own battles or enemies, until the Israelites disobeyed God, creating the gold statue at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Joshua had to take the land by combat, after that time, according to Exodus 14:13-14 (Amplified) which says, "At the shores of the Red Sea, Pharaoh's army was bearing down on Moses and the people. Moses heard from god, and spoke to the people, Fear not, stand still (firm, confident, undismayed), and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again. For the Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest."
This is the good fight of faith that Paul writes about in 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) saying, "Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold of the eternal Life to which you were summoned and for which you confessed the good confession of faith before many witnesses." This faith was in God's Grace to deliver and bring victory in the lives of those who hold the faith. God's will was that by His Grace would provide everything that was needed to sustain His children. God would protect, feed, clothe, heal, guide and be with and among His beloved family.
Even when God was preparing to take the Israelites into Canaan Land, He never intended them to need to fight for it. This happened because the people wouldn't allow God's Grace to provide, but desired Laws they could perform, in order to insure that they could obtain His Blessing and His provision. In Joshua 2:10-11 (Amplified) the Canaanites said to Joshua, "For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Ammorites who were on the East side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted, neither did spirit or courage remain anymore in any man because of you, for the Lord your God; He is God in Heaven above and on earth beneath."
The covenant of Grace made between God and Abraham, carried the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan and God provided their every need, including the victory or the Egyptians at the Red Sea. The Canaanites had heard about God's provision and protection of the Israelites and would have given up Jericho without a fight, if the Israelites had remained in faith in God's Grace. The Law came through Moses, because of their unbelief. Grace could no longer be just given, but had to be worked for by Law.
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received (all had a share and were all supplied with), one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor, and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor and Spiritual Blessing) and Truth came through Jesus Christ." Being the Seed of Abraham, Jesus restored us to Grace, returning God's Grace upon us again without works or Law. Grace comes by our simple faith in God's ability to provide.
While watching Jesus during His earthly ministry, we find that Jesus never had to provide for Himself or any others. Everything in Jesus' life was provided by God's Grace. The tax money and loaves and fishes were provided by the faith Jesus had in His Father's Grace to provide for Him. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or to undo the Law or the prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo, but to complete and fulfill them."
Jesus completed and fulfilled the Law and has placed us in the position with the Seed of Abraham, putting us back into the covenant of faith and Grace. We've never been taught enough about this covenant or Blessing, so that we might apply faith in God's Promises to us, through Jesus. We've walked with one foot in the Law and the other foot in Grace, without understanding either. By His Grace, the Law is fulfilled in our lives. By faith, the Promise of Grace is now ours to operate in once again.
Jesus instructed in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek, aim at and strive after first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and all these things taken together will be given you besides." "His way of righteous or being right" is faith in the righteousness we obtain through Jesus. Faith in the Promise by Grace is "His way and His Kingdom." Everything in God's Kingdom is now available to His children, by faith in His Promise to Abraham and his Seed. This lets us understand what Paul said in Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified), saying, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out."
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Lesson 31 DOING HIS WILL AND WORKS
Paul addressed the Church in Colossi ans 1:9 (Amplified) saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
God's will for the whole Body of Christ, is that we "be filled with the full knowledge of His will." In the life of the individual Christian, the plans and purposes change according to God's calling and ministry of that person, but His will for them has never changed. In order to minister to the saved or unsaved persons, we must know what God's will is. Does God want only certain persons to be healed, filled with the Spirit, delivered from the enemy, hear His Voice, led by the Spirit, walk in the Blessing, be empowered by His indwelling Spirit, understand His Grace and operate in faith? Or, is this God's will for His entire family?
God's will was to deliver us from the Law and the penalties of the Law and to bring us back to Grace. Romans 4:16 (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 descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
This isn't a list of things we must do, but of what we must know. There's no list of things we must do, in order to deserve God's Blessing, but what we know about God's Grace for those who will only believe His Grace. Romans 4:22 (Amplified) says, "That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)." Abraham did nothing to deserve or obtain the Blessing and covenant with God. He was only required to believe. This is what our new creation man is supposed to do...believe.
One cannot do anything to become righteous in God's Presence. The only way to be righteous before Him, is by faith, receive the righteousness He provided for us through Jesus. This is God's Grace and His will for all the Church and the world. We must simply believe. The Blessing of Abraham that is our inheritance, is one of Grace by faith. When we try receiving it by works, then Grace stops working in our lives and we're left to our own human devices. Paul writes to the Church in Galatia, saying in Galatians 3:3 (Amplified), "Are you so foolish and so senseless and silly? Having begun your new life spiritually with the Holy Spirit; are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh?"
Paul goes on in Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) saying, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God."
We had to do nothing to be saved, except to believe. Our faith in His Grace, is all that God's will and His desire is for us. We must simply believe. The problem hasn't been in our believing, but with what we're hearing. Romans 10:17 (KJV) says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." If we don't hear Grace being preached, then we have nothing to put faith in. We don't need to do anything more to walk in healing, then we did to be saved...only believe. Grace has covered everything that was needed, to bring us into God's Presence as His Own righteousness and family.
We've never learned or heard God's will being preached, so our faith has been limited as to the Truth of Grace. Grace isn't an opportunity to deliberately live in sin without consequence. Grace is receiving everything needed from the Father that is sufficient for our every need. The misunderstanding of God's Grace was a matter of debate in Paul's ministry. While preaching the Good News (the Gospel) to the Gentiles, Paul ran into opposition from the enemy. His heart was right and His mission was made clear to him, but in the midst of doing God's will, Paul was confronted with opposition from seemingly everyone and everything. Satan was intent on stopping Paul's preaching at all cost and assigned a personal demon to thwart him. Being frustrated, Paul called upon the Lord to "deliver him" from the opposition. The Father's answer has baffled the Church for many years. Some even believe that God was working against Paul, in order to humble him.
Paul declared that it was "a messenger of satan, sent to buffet him," until he quit spreading the Gospel. God answers Paul's prayer for deliverance in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified) which says, "But He said to me, My Grace, (My favor and Loving kindness and mercy), is enough for you (sufficient against any danger) and enables you to bear the trouble manfully, for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in your weakness."
Paul had forgotten what God's Grace was all about, in his own life. He had learned of Abraham and how Grace delivered the Israelites from Egypt to the edge of Canaan. Paul knew about how Grace fed, watered, protected, delivered and provided for their every need, but now in his personal conflict with demonic opposition, Paul found that what he had learned by the Law couldn't deliver him from the warfare he was involved in. His teachings of the flesh could not overcome the spiritual warfare he was in. God didn't tell Paul that He would make everything go away. God told Paul that, "His Grace would provided, when Paul's flesh was too weak."
This isn't any different from those in the Wilderness who looked to the flesh and saw the flesh was too for to stand against the giants in Numbers 13-14. The flesh didn't deliver the Israelites, but it was Grace that made the way. The only thing required of the Israelites, was that they believe what God had said and trust in the same Grace that had already brought them that far. This is what angered the Lord in the Wilderness. After seeing what God's Grace had done through 40 years, the people still didn't trust Him and they returned to their own weak flesh.
Paul finally decided that he didn't care any longer about his own ability and found that in his weakness of the flesh, God's Grace would put him over in such a way that everyone knew it was God Who did the work and not him. Jesus said the same thing that, "It's not Me, but the Father in Me Who does the work."
God's will for the whole Body of Christ, is that we "be filled with the full knowledge of His will." In the life of the individual Christian, the plans and purposes change according to God's calling and ministry of that person, but His will for them has never changed. In order to minister to the saved or unsaved persons, we must know what God's will is. Does God want only certain persons to be healed, filled with the Spirit, delivered from the enemy, hear His Voice, led by the Spirit, walk in the Blessing, be empowered by His indwelling Spirit, understand His Grace and operate in faith? Or, is this God's will for His entire family?
God's will was to deliver us from the Law and the penalties of the Law and to bring us back to Grace. Romans 4:16 (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 descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
This isn't a list of things we must do, but of what we must know. There's no list of things we must do, in order to deserve God's Blessing, but what we know about God's Grace for those who will only believe His Grace. Romans 4:22 (Amplified) says, "That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)." Abraham did nothing to deserve or obtain the Blessing and covenant with God. He was only required to believe. This is what our new creation man is supposed to do...believe.
One cannot do anything to become righteous in God's Presence. The only way to be righteous before Him, is by faith, receive the righteousness He provided for us through Jesus. This is God's Grace and His will for all the Church and the world. We must simply believe. The Blessing of Abraham that is our inheritance, is one of Grace by faith. When we try receiving it by works, then Grace stops working in our lives and we're left to our own human devices. Paul writes to the Church in Galatia, saying in Galatians 3:3 (Amplified), "Are you so foolish and so senseless and silly? Having begun your new life spiritually with the Holy Spirit; are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh?"
Paul goes on in Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) saying, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God."
We had to do nothing to be saved, except to believe. Our faith in His Grace, is all that God's will and His desire is for us. We must simply believe. The problem hasn't been in our believing, but with what we're hearing. Romans 10:17 (KJV) says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." If we don't hear Grace being preached, then we have nothing to put faith in. We don't need to do anything more to walk in healing, then we did to be saved...only believe. Grace has covered everything that was needed, to bring us into God's Presence as His Own righteousness and family.
We've never learned or heard God's will being preached, so our faith has been limited as to the Truth of Grace. Grace isn't an opportunity to deliberately live in sin without consequence. Grace is receiving everything needed from the Father that is sufficient for our every need. The misunderstanding of God's Grace was a matter of debate in Paul's ministry. While preaching the Good News (the Gospel) to the Gentiles, Paul ran into opposition from the enemy. His heart was right and His mission was made clear to him, but in the midst of doing God's will, Paul was confronted with opposition from seemingly everyone and everything. Satan was intent on stopping Paul's preaching at all cost and assigned a personal demon to thwart him. Being frustrated, Paul called upon the Lord to "deliver him" from the opposition. The Father's answer has baffled the Church for many years. Some even believe that God was working against Paul, in order to humble him.
Paul declared that it was "a messenger of satan, sent to buffet him," until he quit spreading the Gospel. God answers Paul's prayer for deliverance in 2Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified) which says, "But He said to me, My Grace, (My favor and Loving kindness and mercy), is enough for you (sufficient against any danger) and enables you to bear the trouble manfully, for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in your weakness."
Paul had forgotten what God's Grace was all about, in his own life. He had learned of Abraham and how Grace delivered the Israelites from Egypt to the edge of Canaan. Paul knew about how Grace fed, watered, protected, delivered and provided for their every need, but now in his personal conflict with demonic opposition, Paul found that what he had learned by the Law couldn't deliver him from the warfare he was involved in. His teachings of the flesh could not overcome the spiritual warfare he was in. God didn't tell Paul that He would make everything go away. God told Paul that, "His Grace would provided, when Paul's flesh was too weak."
This isn't any different from those in the Wilderness who looked to the flesh and saw the flesh was too for to stand against the giants in Numbers 13-14. The flesh didn't deliver the Israelites, but it was Grace that made the way. The only thing required of the Israelites, was that they believe what God had said and trust in the same Grace that had already brought them that far. This is what angered the Lord in the Wilderness. After seeing what God's Grace had done through 40 years, the people still didn't trust Him and they returned to their own weak flesh.
Paul finally decided that he didn't care any longer about his own ability and found that in his weakness of the flesh, God's Grace would put him over in such a way that everyone knew it was God Who did the work and not him. Jesus said the same thing that, "It's not Me, but the Father in Me Who does the work."
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Lesson 30 DOING HIS WILL AND WORKS
Paul was preaching to the Church in Colossi ans 1:9 (Amplified) where he says, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it (their love) have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
Our Heavenly Father desires that we know His will in all things. Our faith won't operate in the way the Father intends, if we don't know God's will. Not one person would want or expect God to do anything for him or her, if that wasn't God's will for them. If we don't know God's will for His family or the world, then we cannot have faith, because we cannot place faith in that which we don't know. We've been so unsure about what God's will is, that we pray, "If it be Thy will." This might sound Spiritual, but it has no faith behind it, to bring that prayer to pass. It's a "shot in the dark" and more guess-work than faith.
We know God's will for the lost from John 3:16 (Amplified), which says, "For God so greatly Loved and dearly prized the world, that He even gave up His Only Begotten (Unique) Son, so whoever believes (trusts in, clings to, and relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal everlasting Life."
Our faith in this open demonstration of God's will and the act of His sending His Only Begotten Son, has resulted in into a strong Message of salvation. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," according to Romans 10:17. We've preached this by faith, so the people have heard it preached and have put faith in what they've heard, which has expanded God's family for millennia. The same thing is true for every other aspect of God's Word. The faith only comes by hearing what is preached and so many things about God's will have been preached, that we're left unsure about what His will truly is. Many are neglecting to preach about God's will, because of their being unsure what God's will is, which leads to the people "not hearing." This results in our faith not rising to the level where we believe and receive all the things that are Truly God's will for His family.
Galatians 3:29 (Amplified) says, "And if you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed), then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to the Promise." As Christians, we've not understood the full power of God's Promise, for our lives today. Romans 4:21-22 (Amplified) tells us, "Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His Word and do what He had Promised That s why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)."
We see the power of God's Promise given to Abraham in Exodus and see how He is still faithful to His Promise in Jesus, for our sake. We know how the Israelites were slaves and in bondage to Egypt and we know that God raised up Moses to deliver them. We might not know or have given thought to, why God did it. Exodus 2:23-24 (Amplified) says, "However, after a long time (nearly forty years), the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites were sighing and groaning because of the bondage. They kept crying and their cry because of slavery ascended to God. And God heard their sighing and groaning and earnestly remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."
Because of the covenant or Promise God made with Abraham, God raised a man up to deliver the Israelite people. The Promise was given 430 years before the Law and was purely a covenant of Grace, faith and favor. Paul writes in Galatians 3:17-18 (Amplified), "This is my argument; the Law, which began 430 years after the covenant concerning the coming Messiah, does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified), by God, so as to abolish the Promise and make it void. For if the inheritance of the Promise depends on observing the Law, as these false teachers would like you to believe, it no longer depends on the Promise; however, God gave it to Abraham as a free Gift solely by virtue of His Promise."
The Promise and Blessing of Abraham that has come on today's Church through Christ Jesus, is solely by Grace, favor, faith, and encompasses much more than we've previously believed. When God remembered His covenant, Promise to and through Abraham, He raised up Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. When reading about the Great Exodus, we forget it was an act of Grace, that came from God's Promise to one man, Abraham. This is the same mighty power that has come upon us through Jesus.
God's act of Grace (not Law) and His Promised delivered 2-3 million people from the mightiest power on earth, at the time. The Israelites didn't need to fight, they didn't have to be sick, die, work or do anything on their own, other than receive God's Promise to Abraham, by faith. It was God's Grace and Promise to Abraham, that brought those people out of bondage and slavery.
Psalm 105:6-10,41-43 (Amplified) says, "O you offspring of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones He is the Lord our God, His judgments are in all the earth. He is is earnestly mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart, the Word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His sworn Promise to Isaac Which He confirmed to Jacob as a statute to Israel as an everlasting covenant."
Verses 41-43 continue, "He brought Israel forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. For He earnestly remembered His Holy Word and Promise to Abraham His servant. And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen ones with gladness and singing." All of this as by Grace and faith on God's Promise to Abraham. This Grace and faith and Promise to Abraham, has now come upon the Gentiles (us) through our faith in Christ Jesus.
Don't cut short the Promise God has made to us through Abraham. This is no longer just a Promise, because "Jesus fulfilled this Promise into an inheritance by faith, to those who believe," according to Galatians 3:28-29 which says, "There is now no distinction, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed) then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to the Promise."
When those who were delivered by Promise, stopped believing in Abraham's covenant of Grace and wished to establish their own ways, the Grace stopped and Law became a thing of works and fleshly order. As long as they believed God's favor, mercy, Grace and Promise to them through Abraham, God furnished their every need. This covenant of faith and Promise, is now ours through Jesus. It only requires faith that, "God is able and mighty to keep His Word and do what He has Promised," according to Romans 4:21 (Amplified).
When we maintain our faith in God's ability to keep His Word and do what He has Promised, this Blessing of Abraham through Jesus is ours "to enjoy with singing and joy." God didn't bring us out to become victims again, but to become victors through Christ. He didn't bring us out to be ruled over by the world, but to be kings and priests unto Him. This Blessing God swore to Abraham is now activated by faith, in our lives today.
Our Heavenly Father desires that we know His will in all things. Our faith won't operate in the way the Father intends, if we don't know God's will. Not one person would want or expect God to do anything for him or her, if that wasn't God's will for them. If we don't know God's will for His family or the world, then we cannot have faith, because we cannot place faith in that which we don't know. We've been so unsure about what God's will is, that we pray, "If it be Thy will." This might sound Spiritual, but it has no faith behind it, to bring that prayer to pass. It's a "shot in the dark" and more guess-work than faith.
We know God's will for the lost from John 3:16 (Amplified), which says, "For God so greatly Loved and dearly prized the world, that He even gave up His Only Begotten (Unique) Son, so whoever believes (trusts in, clings to, and relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal everlasting Life."
Our faith in this open demonstration of God's will and the act of His sending His Only Begotten Son, has resulted in into a strong Message of salvation. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," according to Romans 10:17. We've preached this by faith, so the people have heard it preached and have put faith in what they've heard, which has expanded God's family for millennia. The same thing is true for every other aspect of God's Word. The faith only comes by hearing what is preached and so many things about God's will have been preached, that we're left unsure about what His will truly is. Many are neglecting to preach about God's will, because of their being unsure what God's will is, which leads to the people "not hearing." This results in our faith not rising to the level where we believe and receive all the things that are Truly God's will for His family.
Galatians 3:29 (Amplified) says, "And if you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed), then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to the Promise." As Christians, we've not understood the full power of God's Promise, for our lives today. Romans 4:21-22 (Amplified) tells us, "Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His Word and do what He had Promised That s why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)."
We see the power of God's Promise given to Abraham in Exodus and see how He is still faithful to His Promise in Jesus, for our sake. We know how the Israelites were slaves and in bondage to Egypt and we know that God raised up Moses to deliver them. We might not know or have given thought to, why God did it. Exodus 2:23-24 (Amplified) says, "However, after a long time (nearly forty years), the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites were sighing and groaning because of the bondage. They kept crying and their cry because of slavery ascended to God. And God heard their sighing and groaning and earnestly remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."
Because of the covenant or Promise God made with Abraham, God raised a man up to deliver the Israelite people. The Promise was given 430 years before the Law and was purely a covenant of Grace, faith and favor. Paul writes in Galatians 3:17-18 (Amplified), "This is my argument; the Law, which began 430 years after the covenant concerning the coming Messiah, does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified), by God, so as to abolish the Promise and make it void. For if the inheritance of the Promise depends on observing the Law, as these false teachers would like you to believe, it no longer depends on the Promise; however, God gave it to Abraham as a free Gift solely by virtue of His Promise."
The Promise and Blessing of Abraham that has come on today's Church through Christ Jesus, is solely by Grace, favor, faith, and encompasses much more than we've previously believed. When God remembered His covenant, Promise to and through Abraham, He raised up Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. When reading about the Great Exodus, we forget it was an act of Grace, that came from God's Promise to one man, Abraham. This is the same mighty power that has come upon us through Jesus.
God's act of Grace (not Law) and His Promised delivered 2-3 million people from the mightiest power on earth, at the time. The Israelites didn't need to fight, they didn't have to be sick, die, work or do anything on their own, other than receive God's Promise to Abraham, by faith. It was God's Grace and Promise to Abraham, that brought those people out of bondage and slavery.
Psalm 105:6-10,41-43 (Amplified) says, "O you offspring of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones He is the Lord our God, His judgments are in all the earth. He is is earnestly mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart, the Word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His sworn Promise to Isaac Which He confirmed to Jacob as a statute to Israel as an everlasting covenant."
Verses 41-43 continue, "He brought Israel forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. For He earnestly remembered His Holy Word and Promise to Abraham His servant. And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen ones with gladness and singing." All of this as by Grace and faith on God's Promise to Abraham. This Grace and faith and Promise to Abraham, has now come upon the Gentiles (us) through our faith in Christ Jesus.
Don't cut short the Promise God has made to us through Abraham. This is no longer just a Promise, because "Jesus fulfilled this Promise into an inheritance by faith, to those who believe," according to Galatians 3:28-29 which says, "There is now no distinction, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed) then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to the Promise."
When those who were delivered by Promise, stopped believing in Abraham's covenant of Grace and wished to establish their own ways, the Grace stopped and Law became a thing of works and fleshly order. As long as they believed God's favor, mercy, Grace and Promise to them through Abraham, God furnished their every need. This covenant of faith and Promise, is now ours through Jesus. It only requires faith that, "God is able and mighty to keep His Word and do what He has Promised," according to Romans 4:21 (Amplified).
When we maintain our faith in God's ability to keep His Word and do what He has Promised, this Blessing of Abraham through Jesus is ours "to enjoy with singing and joy." God didn't bring us out to become victims again, but to become victors through Christ. He didn't bring us out to be ruled over by the world, but to be kings and priests unto Him. This Blessing God swore to Abraham is now activated by faith, in our lives today.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Lesson 29 DOING HIS WILL AND WORKS
Jesus was speaking to His followers in John 8:19 (Amplified) which says, "Then they aid to Him, 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."
In this simply statement, Jesus not only showed us the Father's will, but the Father Himself. If we really knew Jesus, then we would know the Father. We've tried figuring out the Father's will and His Person, by the carnal minds of religion, for more years than we care to admit. We've been taught from The New Testament, by reading about The Old Testament. They've taught the Father deals with those of us in the new covenant, the way He dealt with the old covenant saints, without realizing the complete differences in the covenants.
God's will was the same for them as it is for us now, but the people had to function by the Laws that would keep them in a place where His will could be expressed. The people of the old covenant were still dead in trespass and sin. They were spiritually dead and separated in their spirit by Adam's transgression in the Garden, so God couldn't express the full Gift of His will by the Law. God still had to deal with them as flesh and not Spirit.
Jesus said in John 10:10 (Amplified), "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, till it overflows)." If Jesus wasn't speaking about the Life of the Spirit of God, then they wouldn't have needed what He came to offer, because they were alive already. Everyone within the sound of His Voice was alive in their flesh, but they were all dead or separated from the Life, that was in the Spirit of God. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:6 (Amplified), "What is born from the flesh is flesh (of the physical, is physical); and what is born of the Spirit is spirit."
When we were born-again, we received the Life, Grace, will and Good pleasure of the Father. Since our spirit was now made alive and our flesh was considered dead with Jesus, God's will could be given in the unrestrained fullness of His Love. Before, His will was restricted by the sinful flesh and His will was held back by spiritually dead men. Through Jesus' Sacrifice, the flesh was dead by the cross and the spirit was made alive by His resurrection.
We've been taught that God still deals with us according to the dead flesh or carnal man. Little has been taught about our new creation man of the spirit. Our instructions, discipline, correction, reproof, understanding, Wisdom and Grace, all come to us and through us, by our spirit. God's will isn't only the same Expression of His Character, but of His Very Self. This was always His will from the moment He decided to "make man in Our Image and Likeness." Genesis 1:26 (Amplified) tells us, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image, after Our Likeness."
At this time, there was no flesh and blood man, but only in God's Likeness as a spirit. God fashioned a body for this spirit man to live in and be able to contact the natural world He made for them. God was still directing, fellow shipping and walking with man, by His Spirit. It was only after Adam transgressed, that he was separated in his spirit from the Spirit of God, according to Genesis 2:17 (Amplified) which says, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die."
Genesis 5:5 (Amplified) says, "So altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and he died." God told Adam that, "He would die on the same day he ate from the tree." This death was the separation from the Life of God's Spirit and it continues even to this day for those who reject and refuse the Life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. The best known scripture of all time, tells us God's will for mankind. Thus, Jesus says in John 3:16 (Amplified), "For God so greatly Loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His Only begotten (Unique Son), so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost), but have eternal Life."
The Life that God sent through faith in Jesus, was restored Life and connection back to Him, Who is Life. We've misunderstood the fullness of God's Grace and His will, which has left us in a place that makes Grace difficult to understand. Jesus is God's will. In order to understand God's will for us today, we must only heed what Jesus told them in His Own Words. Thus, John 8:19 (Amplified) says, "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."
We cannot know the heart, will, joy, Life, Grace, Love or the Person of the Father, when we won't see Him in the very earthly ministry of Jesus. We argue among ourselves about things that have been gleaned form man's teachings about the Word of God, many of which have left us with a distorted view of our Heavenly Father. This has resulted in an inability to trust Him in anything, other than going to Heaven when we die and some Christians aren't sure of that.
The Life that God gave us by His Own will, was restoring us back to what God's will for mankind was from the beginning. The "worst" that man would have ever known before Adam's fall, was the Garden of Eden. Paradise was the worst we would have ever experienced. In the Garden, man would not know "Good and evil, Blessing or calamity," but only Good, Blessing and unbroken fellowship with the Father. This was all restored to everyone who would receive and believe in Jesus Christ. This is and always was, God's will.
God's Very Own Spirit now lives in us by Jesus and it's His Life that we now enjoy. His Life in us, is His will for us. This is why Jesus came, according to Luke 2:14 (Amplified) where the angels announced Jesus' birth to mankind forever, saying, "Glory to God in the Highest Heaven, and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased, men of good will, of His favor." We see the will of God being announced to all who will receive.
If it had been God's will to deal with mankind by his flesh, then there wouldn't have been a need for a new covenant or new creation. Jesus was our Redeemer and He redeemed those who will believe, back to to before the fall in the Garden and placed us once again into God's family. We keep seeing and dealing with ourselves, by who we once were in the flesh and that's how we expect God to deal with us. Because we still see ourselves more by the flesh and separation of carnality, we fail to enter in and be led by God's Grace and His Spirit. If God wished to guide us by our flesh, then He wouldn't have needed a new covenant. Hebrews 8:13 (Amplified) tells us, "When God speaks of a new covenant (or agreement), He makes the first one obsolete (out of use). And what is obsolete (out of use, and annulled because of age), is ripe for disappearance and to be dispenses with altogether."
The full will of God is able to be displayed in the lives of those who believe in Him, His written and spoken and revealed will of God, through the Person of Jesus Christ. How could we believe that sending Jesus was God's will for mankind and then believe that Jesus didn't do God's will when He came? That's foolishness at its best. Jesus said that, "When we see Him, we see the Father." Jesus was and still is, God's Perfect will for mankind. What we see Jesus do, is what we see the Father do and what Jesus didn't do, we will not see the Father do either. Jesus healed, He didn't make people sick. Jesus fed the hungry, He didn't take food away from people. Jesus Blessed, He didn't curse. He gave life, He didn't take life. If we will simply know Jesus, we will see God's will for mankind.
In this simply statement, Jesus not only showed us the Father's will, but the Father Himself. If we really knew Jesus, then we would know the Father. We've tried figuring out the Father's will and His Person, by the carnal minds of religion, for more years than we care to admit. We've been taught from The New Testament, by reading about The Old Testament. They've taught the Father deals with those of us in the new covenant, the way He dealt with the old covenant saints, without realizing the complete differences in the covenants.
God's will was the same for them as it is for us now, but the people had to function by the Laws that would keep them in a place where His will could be expressed. The people of the old covenant were still dead in trespass and sin. They were spiritually dead and separated in their spirit by Adam's transgression in the Garden, so God couldn't express the full Gift of His will by the Law. God still had to deal with them as flesh and not Spirit.
Jesus said in John 10:10 (Amplified), "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, till it overflows)." If Jesus wasn't speaking about the Life of the Spirit of God, then they wouldn't have needed what He came to offer, because they were alive already. Everyone within the sound of His Voice was alive in their flesh, but they were all dead or separated from the Life, that was in the Spirit of God. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:6 (Amplified), "What is born from the flesh is flesh (of the physical, is physical); and what is born of the Spirit is spirit."
When we were born-again, we received the Life, Grace, will and Good pleasure of the Father. Since our spirit was now made alive and our flesh was considered dead with Jesus, God's will could be given in the unrestrained fullness of His Love. Before, His will was restricted by the sinful flesh and His will was held back by spiritually dead men. Through Jesus' Sacrifice, the flesh was dead by the cross and the spirit was made alive by His resurrection.
We've been taught that God still deals with us according to the dead flesh or carnal man. Little has been taught about our new creation man of the spirit. Our instructions, discipline, correction, reproof, understanding, Wisdom and Grace, all come to us and through us, by our spirit. God's will isn't only the same Expression of His Character, but of His Very Self. This was always His will from the moment He decided to "make man in Our Image and Likeness." Genesis 1:26 (Amplified) tells us, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image, after Our Likeness."
At this time, there was no flesh and blood man, but only in God's Likeness as a spirit. God fashioned a body for this spirit man to live in and be able to contact the natural world He made for them. God was still directing, fellow shipping and walking with man, by His Spirit. It was only after Adam transgressed, that he was separated in his spirit from the Spirit of God, according to Genesis 2:17 (Amplified) which says, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die."
Genesis 5:5 (Amplified) says, "So altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and he died." God told Adam that, "He would die on the same day he ate from the tree." This death was the separation from the Life of God's Spirit and it continues even to this day for those who reject and refuse the Life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. The best known scripture of all time, tells us God's will for mankind. Thus, Jesus says in John 3:16 (Amplified), "For God so greatly Loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His Only begotten (Unique Son), so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost), but have eternal Life."
The Life that God sent through faith in Jesus, was restored Life and connection back to Him, Who is Life. We've misunderstood the fullness of God's Grace and His will, which has left us in a place that makes Grace difficult to understand. Jesus is God's will. In order to understand God's will for us today, we must only heed what Jesus told them in His Own Words. Thus, John 8:19 (Amplified) says, "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."
We cannot know the heart, will, joy, Life, Grace, Love or the Person of the Father, when we won't see Him in the very earthly ministry of Jesus. We argue among ourselves about things that have been gleaned form man's teachings about the Word of God, many of which have left us with a distorted view of our Heavenly Father. This has resulted in an inability to trust Him in anything, other than going to Heaven when we die and some Christians aren't sure of that.
The Life that God gave us by His Own will, was restoring us back to what God's will for mankind was from the beginning. The "worst" that man would have ever known before Adam's fall, was the Garden of Eden. Paradise was the worst we would have ever experienced. In the Garden, man would not know "Good and evil, Blessing or calamity," but only Good, Blessing and unbroken fellowship with the Father. This was all restored to everyone who would receive and believe in Jesus Christ. This is and always was, God's will.
God's Very Own Spirit now lives in us by Jesus and it's His Life that we now enjoy. His Life in us, is His will for us. This is why Jesus came, according to Luke 2:14 (Amplified) where the angels announced Jesus' birth to mankind forever, saying, "Glory to God in the Highest Heaven, and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased, men of good will, of His favor." We see the will of God being announced to all who will receive.
If it had been God's will to deal with mankind by his flesh, then there wouldn't have been a need for a new covenant or new creation. Jesus was our Redeemer and He redeemed those who will believe, back to to before the fall in the Garden and placed us once again into God's family. We keep seeing and dealing with ourselves, by who we once were in the flesh and that's how we expect God to deal with us. Because we still see ourselves more by the flesh and separation of carnality, we fail to enter in and be led by God's Grace and His Spirit. If God wished to guide us by our flesh, then He wouldn't have needed a new covenant. Hebrews 8:13 (Amplified) tells us, "When God speaks of a new covenant (or agreement), He makes the first one obsolete (out of use). And what is obsolete (out of use, and annulled because of age), is ripe for disappearance and to be dispenses with altogether."
The full will of God is able to be displayed in the lives of those who believe in Him, His written and spoken and revealed will of God, through the Person of Jesus Christ. How could we believe that sending Jesus was God's will for mankind and then believe that Jesus didn't do God's will when He came? That's foolishness at its best. Jesus said that, "When we see Him, we see the Father." Jesus was and still is, God's Perfect will for mankind. What we see Jesus do, is what we see the Father do and what Jesus didn't do, we will not see the Father do either. Jesus healed, He didn't make people sick. Jesus fed the hungry, He didn't take food away from people. Jesus Blessed, He didn't curse. He gave life, He didn't take life. If we will simply know Jesus, we will see God's will for mankind.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Lesson 28 DOING HIS WILL AND WORKS
Jesus was speaking to His followers in John 8 19 (Amplified) which says, "Then they said to Him, 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."
For centuries, there's been much debate about what God's will and His plan for mankind are. We seemingly forget that Jesus was (is) "Emanuel, God with us." We witness God's will in action for all who will believe, when we watch the earthly an Spiritual ministry of Jesus. Even Jesus' healing ministry was based on the degree people believed what He said. In Jesus' hometown, the unbelief of the people, prevented Jesus from doing any mighty works among them.
The woman with the issue of blood, was someone who decided the healing power from the Lord, by her faith in Him. The masses gathered around her didn't receive anything, except for Jairus, who received his daughter's healing. This doesn't apply for only those of Jesus' time, but also for those of us today who are in His Kingly ministry with the Father. Our faith in His ministry, determines what we receive or do not receive. It's God' will that we all receive, but not everyone does. Even salvation is determined by those who will believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Someone's unbelief, doesn't change God's will to do it, but our will to believe it. Many have believed that God's will is for the new birth, but few have dared believe much further on His Word. Man's ideas about what God's will is and the Truth of what God's will is, are two entirely different things. Romans 3:3-4 (Amplified) says, "What if some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity to His Word? By no means! Let God be found True though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written; That you may be justified and shown to be upright in what you say, and prevail when you are judged by sinful men."
Many well-meaning men and women have wrongfully taught their ideas about God's will and Word. When Jesus made a will or new covenant with the Father, it was signed and sealed forever in His Own Blood. This will is more than ironclad, it is BLOOD CLAD and ratified by Jesus' Own death. God wouldn't write a will and then go against that will, for any purpose or reason. Galatians 3:15 (Amplified) says, "To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, if even a man makes a Last Will and Testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (or ratified, confirmed)."
God's written will and His Personal will are both the same. The Promises of what God's will is and was to be for His children, are found under the Law. Under our new covenant or new Will and Testament, these Promises are now a sure thing in our lives. 2Corinthians 1:20-22 (Amplified) says, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him, Christ. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it), to God through Him in His Person and by His agency to the Glory of God But it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us in joint fellowship with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us, enduing us with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit." Verse 22 goes on, "He has also appointed and acknowledged us as His by putting His Seal upon us and giving His Holy Spirit in our hearts as the security deposit and guarantee of the fulfillment of His Promise."
My close friend recently went Home, to be with the Father. Before leaving, he made a Living Will, for his children. He determined by an act of his will, what things he would leave to his children. By this act of his will, he decided how his estate would be left to his family. This was just a promise to his children, telling them what they were to have after his leaving this earth. When he left this earth, this promise was ratified and became a reality in the lives of his family. God made Promises to His family about their inheritance. These were only a Promise of what was to come. Upon Jesus' death and resurrection, this Living Will became a reality for all His children. God's will was now ratified and made valid, by Jesus' death. God's Promises are now ours to enjoy, because God's will has been ratified.
Paul tells us in Hebrews 9:16-17 (Amplified), "For where there is a Last Will and Testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a Will and Testament is valid and takes effect only at death, since it has no force or legal power as long as the one who made it is alive." Jesus is God's Will for for all who will believe in His Last Will and Testament. Many have never read the Will with a sense of receptivity of that Will. Many read it as being a Living Will, that will happen at the future death of the Will Writer.
By an act of His Own will, God the Father ratified this Last Will and Testament, through Jesus. He decided what He wanted His family to inherit at His death. And, through Jesus' death, He ratified and made it legal for all His children. All the Promises God made in Jesus, were just that, the Promises of things to come. At the Testator, Jesus' death, all these Promises have now become Truth and fact. The healing He Promised in Isaiah 53, is now ours. The righteousness He Promised in Isaiah 54, is now ours. The "established peace" He Promised in Isaiah, between us and Himself is now ours. All of the Promises in His Living Will, are now ours by the death of the Testator, Jesus Christ.
For centuries, there's been much debate about what God's will and His plan for mankind are. We seemingly forget that Jesus was (is) "Emanuel, God with us." We witness God's will in action for all who will believe, when we watch the earthly an Spiritual ministry of Jesus. Even Jesus' healing ministry was based on the degree people believed what He said. In Jesus' hometown, the unbelief of the people, prevented Jesus from doing any mighty works among them.
The woman with the issue of blood, was someone who decided the healing power from the Lord, by her faith in Him. The masses gathered around her didn't receive anything, except for Jairus, who received his daughter's healing. This doesn't apply for only those of Jesus' time, but also for those of us today who are in His Kingly ministry with the Father. Our faith in His ministry, determines what we receive or do not receive. It's God' will that we all receive, but not everyone does. Even salvation is determined by those who will believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Someone's unbelief, doesn't change God's will to do it, but our will to believe it. Many have believed that God's will is for the new birth, but few have dared believe much further on His Word. Man's ideas about what God's will is and the Truth of what God's will is, are two entirely different things. Romans 3:3-4 (Amplified) says, "What if some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity to His Word? By no means! Let God be found True though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written; That you may be justified and shown to be upright in what you say, and prevail when you are judged by sinful men."
Many well-meaning men and women have wrongfully taught their ideas about God's will and Word. When Jesus made a will or new covenant with the Father, it was signed and sealed forever in His Own Blood. This will is more than ironclad, it is BLOOD CLAD and ratified by Jesus' Own death. God wouldn't write a will and then go against that will, for any purpose or reason. Galatians 3:15 (Amplified) says, "To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, if even a man makes a Last Will and Testament (a merely human covenant), no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed (or ratified, confirmed)."
God's written will and His Personal will are both the same. The Promises of what God's will is and was to be for His children, are found under the Law. Under our new covenant or new Will and Testament, these Promises are now a sure thing in our lives. 2Corinthians 1:20-22 (Amplified) says, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him, Christ. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it), to God through Him in His Person and by His agency to the Glory of God But it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us in joint fellowship with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us, enduing us with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit." Verse 22 goes on, "He has also appointed and acknowledged us as His by putting His Seal upon us and giving His Holy Spirit in our hearts as the security deposit and guarantee of the fulfillment of His Promise."
My close friend recently went Home, to be with the Father. Before leaving, he made a Living Will, for his children. He determined by an act of his will, what things he would leave to his children. By this act of his will, he decided how his estate would be left to his family. This was just a promise to his children, telling them what they were to have after his leaving this earth. When he left this earth, this promise was ratified and became a reality in the lives of his family. God made Promises to His family about their inheritance. These were only a Promise of what was to come. Upon Jesus' death and resurrection, this Living Will became a reality for all His children. God's will was now ratified and made valid, by Jesus' death. God's Promises are now ours to enjoy, because God's will has been ratified.
Paul tells us in Hebrews 9:16-17 (Amplified), "For where there is a Last Will and Testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a Will and Testament is valid and takes effect only at death, since it has no force or legal power as long as the one who made it is alive." Jesus is God's Will for for all who will believe in His Last Will and Testament. Many have never read the Will with a sense of receptivity of that Will. Many read it as being a Living Will, that will happen at the future death of the Will Writer.
By an act of His Own will, God the Father ratified this Last Will and Testament, through Jesus. He decided what He wanted His family to inherit at His death. And, through Jesus' death, He ratified and made it legal for all His children. All the Promises God made in Jesus, were just that, the Promises of things to come. At the Testator, Jesus' death, all these Promises have now become Truth and fact. The healing He Promised in Isaiah 53, is now ours. The righteousness He Promised in Isaiah 54, is now ours. The "established peace" He Promised in Isaiah, between us and Himself is now ours. All of the Promises in His Living Will, are now ours by the death of the Testator, Jesus Christ.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Lesson 27 DOING HIS WILL AND WORKS
Colossi ans 1:9-10 (Amplified) tells us, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things That you may walk, lived and conduct yourselves in manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in an by the knowledge of God, with fuller and deeper and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition."
In the above scripture, Paul writes about our being filled with the knowledge of God's will and ways, so we may walk in a way and manner that is worthy and pleasing to Him. When we don't understand God's will and ways, we find ourselves guessing at what His will and ways are. It's difficult to walk in a manner that is pleasing to someone, when you don't know what will please them. In Colossi ans 1:4 (Amplified) Paul tells us what prompted him to write this exhortation to the Christians in Colossi, saying, "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, Wisdom, and Goodness, and of the Love which you have and show for all the saints (God's consecrated ones)."
It was the way these Christians accepted the Father by faith in His ways and His will, that inspired Paul's prayer from Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified), "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come hear to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out." Jesus instructed His followers in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Kingdom and is righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
So, we know what pleases the Father. It's those who will continue in their faith in Him, to take them higher into His will and Wisdom, in order to learn how to walk in His Kingdom in a greater and growing faith. We've somehow limited the maturing of our faith, to after we leave this planet and arrive in the Father's Heavenly Kingdom. The Father desires that we, by faith, apply this Kingdom principals and bring them to bear on earth. Our faith is supposed to be something that grows, along with our growing trust in Him, that will take us higher in His ways.
When we don't know if it's God's will for us to walk in His Super-natural ability today, then it's difficult to obtain faith to reach out for it. We read God's Last Will and Testament in Galatians 3:15-16 (Amplified), which says, "To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, if even a man makes a Last Will and Testament (a merely human covenant) no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it, when once it has been drawn up and signed, ratified, confirmed. Now the covenant (agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed, his Offspring, his Heir." God doesn't say, "And to his Seeds, descendants or Heirs," as if referring to many persons, but He said, "To your Seed, your Descendant and your Heir, which obviously refers to One Individual Who is none other than Christ, the Messiah. Paul writes to the Church in Romans 8:17 (Amplified), "And if we are His children, then we are His Heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
God's will was and is, a written Will that we call The New Testament. It's more valid and concrete than any human will that has ever been made by mankind. This will is God's will. He gave us all that Jesus inherited when He returned to the Father, by His will. He didn't write one will and have a different will. God's written will is HIS WILL and it doesn't change from one of His children to another or from one time to another. This is God's will for us today. Jesus didn't inherit all the sickness, disease, hardship, misery and Curse that came upon earth and mankind when Adam fell, but He inherited the Blessing and favor of God, as well as all of the son-ship rights of the Father.
I cannot imagine the Father leaving us a cancer or disease, in His will. When a person leaves a will for their loved ones, that person leaves everything he or she worked for and gathered during a lifetime, in order to bless those loved ones. Would our Heavenly Father bequeath His children the Curse that came upon mankind through Adam's transgression? Or would He bequeath to His children, the Blessing that came upon us through Abraham, by faith in Jesus? This is God's will.
Abraham wasn't in Heaven, but he was living on earth when God made covenant with Him, through Jesus. We inherited the Blessings of eternal Life with the Father in Heaven, as well as the earthly Blessing that was upon Abraham while he was here on earth. Now, we've been blessed in both Heaven and earth, in Jesus. The written will of God doesn't differ from our being able to know God's will. God didn't make two different wills, but one will. We must know God's will, in order to walk in it here in Jesus Christ our Lord.
In the above scripture, Paul writes about our being filled with the knowledge of God's will and ways, so we may walk in a way and manner that is worthy and pleasing to Him. When we don't understand God's will and ways, we find ourselves guessing at what His will and ways are. It's difficult to walk in a manner that is pleasing to someone, when you don't know what will please them. In Colossi ans 1:4 (Amplified) Paul tells us what prompted him to write this exhortation to the Christians in Colossi, saying, "For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, Wisdom, and Goodness, and of the Love which you have and show for all the saints (God's consecrated ones)."
It was the way these Christians accepted the Father by faith in His ways and His will, that inspired Paul's prayer from Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified), "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come hear to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out." Jesus instructed His followers in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Kingdom and is righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
So, we know what pleases the Father. It's those who will continue in their faith in Him, to take them higher into His will and Wisdom, in order to learn how to walk in His Kingdom in a greater and growing faith. We've somehow limited the maturing of our faith, to after we leave this planet and arrive in the Father's Heavenly Kingdom. The Father desires that we, by faith, apply this Kingdom principals and bring them to bear on earth. Our faith is supposed to be something that grows, along with our growing trust in Him, that will take us higher in His ways.
When we don't know if it's God's will for us to walk in His Super-natural ability today, then it's difficult to obtain faith to reach out for it. We read God's Last Will and Testament in Galatians 3:15-16 (Amplified), which says, "To speak in terms of human relations, brethren, if even a man makes a Last Will and Testament (a merely human covenant) no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it, when once it has been drawn up and signed, ratified, confirmed. Now the covenant (agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed, his Offspring, his Heir." God doesn't say, "And to his Seeds, descendants or Heirs," as if referring to many persons, but He said, "To your Seed, your Descendant and your Heir, which obviously refers to One Individual Who is none other than Christ, the Messiah. Paul writes to the Church in Romans 8:17 (Amplified), "And if we are His children, then we are His Heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
God's will was and is, a written Will that we call The New Testament. It's more valid and concrete than any human will that has ever been made by mankind. This will is God's will. He gave us all that Jesus inherited when He returned to the Father, by His will. He didn't write one will and have a different will. God's written will is HIS WILL and it doesn't change from one of His children to another or from one time to another. This is God's will for us today. Jesus didn't inherit all the sickness, disease, hardship, misery and Curse that came upon earth and mankind when Adam fell, but He inherited the Blessing and favor of God, as well as all of the son-ship rights of the Father.
I cannot imagine the Father leaving us a cancer or disease, in His will. When a person leaves a will for their loved ones, that person leaves everything he or she worked for and gathered during a lifetime, in order to bless those loved ones. Would our Heavenly Father bequeath His children the Curse that came upon mankind through Adam's transgression? Or would He bequeath to His children, the Blessing that came upon us through Abraham, by faith in Jesus? This is God's will.
Abraham wasn't in Heaven, but he was living on earth when God made covenant with Him, through Jesus. We inherited the Blessings of eternal Life with the Father in Heaven, as well as the earthly Blessing that was upon Abraham while he was here on earth. Now, we've been blessed in both Heaven and earth, in Jesus. The written will of God doesn't differ from our being able to know God's will. God didn't make two different wills, but one will. We must know God's will, in order to walk in it here in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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