John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
God made what we call, "Noah's Ark," in order to preserve the Seed. God directed Moses to build an Ark, in order to hold the Ten Commandments and deliver God's Promise to Abraham. The seed of Noah produced the son who sired Abraham, according to Genesis 11:10,27 (Amplified) which says, "This is the history of the generation of Shem (one of Noah's sons); Shem had a son called, Terah." Verse 27 says, "This is the history of the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran, and Haran was the father of Lot."
In Genesis 3:15 (Amplified), God says to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her Offspring. He will bruise and tread your head under foot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel." God preserved Noah and his family, in order to protect His Promise concerning the Seed. Genesis 6:8-9 (Amplified) says, "But Noah found Grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his evil generation. Noah walked in habitual fellowship with God."
Genesis 12:1-3 (Amplified) says, "Now in Haran (Noah's grandson) the Lord said to Abram; Go for yourself, for your own advantage away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to a land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation; and I will Bless those who bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you), and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be Blessed, and by you will they bless themselves."
A covenant, Promise, and solemn pledge was made between God and Abraham in Genesis 17. God kept His pledge and covenant with Abraham, down through Abraham's children. God Blessed Abraham's offspring from Isaac down through Joseph, in the land of Egypt. After Joseph was made Prime Minister of and died in the land of Egypt, another Pharaoh arose who didn't know Joseph. This Pharaoh set out to destroy all the male Hebrew children, but God once again determined to hold fast to His Promise and His Promised Seed.
Genesis 2:2-3 (Amplified) says, "And the woman became pregnant and bore a son; and when she saw that he was exceedingly beautiful, she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an Ark or a basket made of bulrushes or papyrus, making it watertight by daubing it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the child (Moses) in it and laid it among the rushes by the brink of the River Nile."
After becoming a grown man, Moses was exiled because of his connection to the Hebrews in Genesis 2:23-25 (Amplified) which says, "However, after a long time, nearly 40 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, Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the Israelites and took knowledge of them and concerned Himself about them (knowing all, understanding, remembering all)."
God honored His Seed, His covenant and His Promise to Abraham, along with the declaration He made in Genesis 3 about the Seed of His Promise. So far, God twice made an Ark, in order to protect and preserve that which was yet to come. Exodus 40:20-21 (Amplified) says, "Moses took the Testimony (the Ten Commandments), and put it into the Ark, and set the poles in the rings of the Ark, and put the Mercy Seat on the Top of the Ark. Moses brought the Ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil of the screen and screened the Ark of the Testimony as the Lord had commanded him."
God set up another Ark above, to protect His Promise and His covenant to mankind. Today, the Ark of the covenant the the solemn pledge of God's Promise have been set before us with the veil removed, according to Hebrews 10:19-20 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the Holy of Holies by the Power and Virtue of the Blood of Jesus. By this fresh, new, and Living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain, veil of the Holy of Holies, that is through His flesh."
Jesus has now become the Fullness of the Promise to His Seed and to His pledge is the Last and Only True Ark of the Covenant, through our relationship with the Father. 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) says, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus the Messiah, Who has been preached among you by us (by myself and Silvanus and Timothy), was not Yes and No, but in Him is always the Divine YES. 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."
The Promises God made to mankind, from the Garden to the present, are all ours through Christ Jesus. These include those made to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and the prophets, until now. Galatians 3:16, 17 (Amplified) says, "Now the Promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed, his Offspring, His Heirs." God didn't say, "And to his seeds, descendants, or heirs," as if referring to man persons. God said, "And to your Seed, your Descendant, your Heir," in obvious reference to One Individual, Who is none other than Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Verse 17 goes on, "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." Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified) says, "Christ purchased our freedom, redeeming us from the curse (doom of the Law and its condemnation) by Himself becoming a curse for us, for it is written in the scriptures, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (crucified) To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we, through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
Galatians 3:23 (Amplified) says, "But the scriptures picture all mankind as sinners shut up and imprisoned by sin, so that the inheritance, Blessing which was Promised through faith in Jesus Christ (the Messiah), might be given (released, delivered and committed) to all those who believe (who adhere to and trust in and rely on Him)."
Revelations 11:19 (Amplified) says, "Then the Sanctuary of God in Heaven was thrown open, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen standing inside His Sanctuary---."
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Monday, August 20, 2018
Lesson 83 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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 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."
The Spiritual Blessing couldn't come into the lives of those before, because the new birth (being made alive in spirit) couldn't come until Jesus bought and paid for Adam's transgression. As a whole, we have never really understood that we were dead in spirit, before being born-again. We were alive, but unto God. Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden resulted in man's connection to God's Holy Spirit to be broken, which left mankind in spiritual death and brokenness. Our only source of connecting with God, now came through those whom God could speak to and would obey His commands.
God's covenant or His family, were started out in Grace and Truth. There was no Law, only Grace and Truth at the beginning. God's family was to walk with and fellowship with Him, by Grace and Truth. After Adam's fall, God Promised that the Seed of a woman would crush the devil's head in Genesis 3:15 (Amplified), saying, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel."
God's entire Plan of redemption was to be determined by the Seed, that would bring His sinless Son Jesus into this world. Mankind was sinful and could only produce "after kind." Genesis 1:12 (Amplified) says, "The earth brought forth vegetation; plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good, suitable, admirable and He approved it."
This Law of Genesis still works and everything (including man) can only produce after kind. One can't plant corn and get green beans. One can't plant peach trees and get apples, because everything still bears fruit after its own kind. Man was to bear the seed, in order to continue and preserve his kind. After the fall, God now needed to protect the seed of man, until The Seed could be sown into the womb of a woman and produce after kind. The Seed that God Promised in Genesis 3:15, must be preserved and protected until the appointed time.
Mankind must continue on until the Plan of redemption could be brought into the earth. We were born on the earth as children into sin and death and couldn't be in God's Image and Likeness anymore. The physical image and spiritual image of satan could produce after kind. Man produced man, according to the seed of man and satan could only produce sin and death in man's spirit, after kind. Genesis 6:5,8 (Amplified) tells us, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually."
The wickedness was so great, that God Himself was to blot out mankind. He still needed a seed to produce mankind until Jesus. In Verse 8, we find God's Grace and Truth in operation, as He searched for a source to man to propagate and bring forth fruit unto righteousness, for man's continuation. Verse 8 says, "But Noah found Grace (favor), in the eyes of God." God tells Noah in Genesis 6:13-14 (Amplified), "I intend to make an end of all flesh, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I will destroy them and the land. Make yourself an Ark of gopher or cypress wood, make it in rooms, stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, and compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch (bitumen)."
This Ark would preserve the seed of mankind (everything produces after kind), because God needed the seed of man to bring Jesus into the earth. This Ark would preserve God's Promise to Adam, for future generations to come. As the Promise of God floated above the flood, Noah's seed was producing a way for God to work in the earth again.
God once again pronounced His Blessing upon man (like He said to Adam), in Genesis 9:1-3 (Amplified), which says, "And God pronounced a Blessing upon Noah and his sons and said to them; Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread and terror of you shall be upon every beast of the land, every bird of the air, all that creeps upon the ground, and upon every fish of the sea; they are delivered into your hands. Every moving that that lives shall be food for you, and as I have given you the green vegetables and plants, I give you everything."
God's Promises to mankind, were contingent upon the preservation of the seed to produce those whom God could use. We see the seed of man being preserved through Noah's son Shem and his seed. Terah was from Shem's lineage and Abraham came from him, according to Genesis 12:1-2 (Amplified) which says, "Now in Haran the Lord said to Abram, God for yourself, for your own advantage away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you with abundant increase of favors and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a Blessing dispensing good to others."
Abram became Abraham, the father of our faith, and like the other Arks, it was through him that God preserved and protected His Word and Promises, from Adam to the Church. We read the story of the Ark of Moses in Exodus 2:3 (Amplified), which says, "When she could no longer hid him (Moses) she took for him an Ark." God used the first Ark of the Covenant and then He made a second one to hold the ten commandments tablets and the Law of Moses. God placed restrictions and Laws upon His covenant, allowing men to still walk in His Grace and Truth and not being destroyed in their sin, This, though, wasn't God's Best for them.
God's Word and Promises were wrapped up in His covenant, in order to protect mankind until the Day of Deliverance. The Spiritual Blessings of Grace couldn't function in liberty, to a spiritually dead people. So, the Promise and Spiritual Blessings were withheld until the Seed, Jesus, could be birthed into the world. Romans 3:23-24,20 (Amplified) says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and Glory which God bestows and received. 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 can see the results of the Ark's protection of God's Promises and how God's Grace kept His covenant in Verse 20, which 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."
When we understand how God used the Arks (whether it's Noah's Ark or in our time, Jesus Who is the Total Ark of the covenant) to protect His Promises, we realize how now in Jesus Christ, the Ark is restored back to all those who enter in by the Door. Jesus tells us in John 10:9 (Amplified), "I Am the Door, anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out freely, and will find pasture."
We find the Ark of God's covenant, fully enveloped in God's Own Glory, standing in the sanctuary in Revelations 11:19 (Amplified) which says, "Then the sanctuary of God in Heaven was thrown open, and the Ark of His covenant was seen standing inside His sanctuary; and there was flashes of lightning, loud rumblings, blasts, mutterings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a terrific hailstorm."
Jesus has fully protected and delivered the Fullness of God's Word, covenant, Promises, and the restoration of His Grace and Truth. Jesus has restored the desire God had for His children from the beginning until now.
The Spiritual Blessing couldn't come into the lives of those before, because the new birth (being made alive in spirit) couldn't come until Jesus bought and paid for Adam's transgression. As a whole, we have never really understood that we were dead in spirit, before being born-again. We were alive, but unto God. Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden resulted in man's connection to God's Holy Spirit to be broken, which left mankind in spiritual death and brokenness. Our only source of connecting with God, now came through those whom God could speak to and would obey His commands.
God's covenant or His family, were started out in Grace and Truth. There was no Law, only Grace and Truth at the beginning. God's family was to walk with and fellowship with Him, by Grace and Truth. After Adam's fall, God Promised that the Seed of a woman would crush the devil's head in Genesis 3:15 (Amplified), saying, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel."
God's entire Plan of redemption was to be determined by the Seed, that would bring His sinless Son Jesus into this world. Mankind was sinful and could only produce "after kind." Genesis 1:12 (Amplified) says, "The earth brought forth vegetation; plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good, suitable, admirable and He approved it."
This Law of Genesis still works and everything (including man) can only produce after kind. One can't plant corn and get green beans. One can't plant peach trees and get apples, because everything still bears fruit after its own kind. Man was to bear the seed, in order to continue and preserve his kind. After the fall, God now needed to protect the seed of man, until The Seed could be sown into the womb of a woman and produce after kind. The Seed that God Promised in Genesis 3:15, must be preserved and protected until the appointed time.
Mankind must continue on until the Plan of redemption could be brought into the earth. We were born on the earth as children into sin and death and couldn't be in God's Image and Likeness anymore. The physical image and spiritual image of satan could produce after kind. Man produced man, according to the seed of man and satan could only produce sin and death in man's spirit, after kind. Genesis 6:5,8 (Amplified) tells us, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually."
The wickedness was so great, that God Himself was to blot out mankind. He still needed a seed to produce mankind until Jesus. In Verse 8, we find God's Grace and Truth in operation, as He searched for a source to man to propagate and bring forth fruit unto righteousness, for man's continuation. Verse 8 says, "But Noah found Grace (favor), in the eyes of God." God tells Noah in Genesis 6:13-14 (Amplified), "I intend to make an end of all flesh, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I will destroy them and the land. Make yourself an Ark of gopher or cypress wood, make it in rooms, stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, and compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch (bitumen)."
This Ark would preserve the seed of mankind (everything produces after kind), because God needed the seed of man to bring Jesus into the earth. This Ark would preserve God's Promise to Adam, for future generations to come. As the Promise of God floated above the flood, Noah's seed was producing a way for God to work in the earth again.
God once again pronounced His Blessing upon man (like He said to Adam), in Genesis 9:1-3 (Amplified), which says, "And God pronounced a Blessing upon Noah and his sons and said to them; Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread and terror of you shall be upon every beast of the land, every bird of the air, all that creeps upon the ground, and upon every fish of the sea; they are delivered into your hands. Every moving that that lives shall be food for you, and as I have given you the green vegetables and plants, I give you everything."
God's Promises to mankind, were contingent upon the preservation of the seed to produce those whom God could use. We see the seed of man being preserved through Noah's son Shem and his seed. Terah was from Shem's lineage and Abraham came from him, according to Genesis 12:1-2 (Amplified) which says, "Now in Haran the Lord said to Abram, God for yourself, for your own advantage away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you with abundant increase of favors and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a Blessing dispensing good to others."
Abram became Abraham, the father of our faith, and like the other Arks, it was through him that God preserved and protected His Word and Promises, from Adam to the Church. We read the story of the Ark of Moses in Exodus 2:3 (Amplified), which says, "When she could no longer hid him (Moses) she took for him an Ark." God used the first Ark of the Covenant and then He made a second one to hold the ten commandments tablets and the Law of Moses. God placed restrictions and Laws upon His covenant, allowing men to still walk in His Grace and Truth and not being destroyed in their sin, This, though, wasn't God's Best for them.
God's Word and Promises were wrapped up in His covenant, in order to protect mankind until the Day of Deliverance. The Spiritual Blessings of Grace couldn't function in liberty, to a spiritually dead people. So, the Promise and Spiritual Blessings were withheld until the Seed, Jesus, could be birthed into the world. Romans 3:23-24,20 (Amplified) says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and Glory which God bestows and received. 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 can see the results of the Ark's protection of God's Promises and how God's Grace kept His covenant in Verse 20, which 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."
When we understand how God used the Arks (whether it's Noah's Ark or in our time, Jesus Who is the Total Ark of the covenant) to protect His Promises, we realize how now in Jesus Christ, the Ark is restored back to all those who enter in by the Door. Jesus tells us in John 10:9 (Amplified), "I Am the Door, anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out freely, and will find pasture."
We find the Ark of God's covenant, fully enveloped in God's Own Glory, standing in the sanctuary in Revelations 11:19 (Amplified) which says, "Then the sanctuary of God in Heaven was thrown open, and the Ark of His covenant was seen standing inside His sanctuary; and there was flashes of lightning, loud rumblings, blasts, mutterings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a terrific hailstorm."
Jesus has fully protected and delivered the Fullness of God's Word, covenant, Promises, and the restoration of His Grace and Truth. Jesus has restored the desire God had for His children from the beginning until now.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Lesson 82 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
Having never really gotten a Revelation of Spiritual Blessing, we've overlooked this part of what Jesus came to redeem us from. We've lost sight of the covenant God made with and through Adam, with its Spiritual Blessings. Adam had Spiritual Life, as well as physical life. He was alive in his spirit and had been given dominion and authority over all the physical creation. Adam and the Father walked together in the spirit, as well as in the flesh.
When Adam transgressed in the Garden, he lost the Spiritual Blessing and could only operate in the natural man. The Blessing of Abraham, found in Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified), didn't only include the material Blessing of his family and earthly goods, but it also brought Life back to his spirit and his Sees, which is Christ Jesus. Thus, Verse 14 says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
This Promise was realized on the Day of Pentecost, with the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh. The covenant made with Adam and the Promise made to Abraham, have both been realized in those who accept Jesus Christ. We are Blessed in this material earth and we're Blessed in the Spiritual Kingdom too, by our being in Christ Jesus. Genesis 6:8-9 (Amplified) says, "But Noah found Grace (favor), in the eyes of the Lord. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his evil generation. Noah walked in habitual fellowship with God."
God says in Genesis 9:11-17 (Amplified), "I will establish My covenant (or pledge) with you; never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood; neither shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth and make it corrupt. And God said, This is the token of the covenant (solemn pledge) which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. I set My bow (rainbow) in the cloud, and it shall be a token or sign of a covenant (or solemn pledge) between Me and the earth. And it shall be that when I bring clouds over the earth and the bow (rainbow), is seen in the clouds I will earnestly remember My covenant (or solemn pledge) which is between Me and you and ever living creature of all flesh; and the waters will no more be a flood to destroy and make all flesh corrupt. When the bow (rainbow) is in the clouds and I look upon it, I will earnestly remember the Everlasting covenant (or pledge) between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said to Noah, This rainbow is the token or sign of the covenant (or solemn pledge) which I have established between Me and all flesh upon the earth."
God directed Noah to build an Ark, in order to save His Righteousness and Grace from destruction. The Ark protected God's covenant, which He made with Adam at the creation. God needed to preserve His Promise and His Grace and the favor or His covenant, otherwise His Word to Adam would be void forever. God looked upon Noah as being "righteous, just, and blameless in his generation." Only Noah and his household were to be spared from the destruction of the flood. The Ark was God's way of preserving the covenant He made with mankind.
Through Noah God's material Blessing could be continued once again, into the earth. Noah and his family were the only ones who could carry on the Truth of Adam's Blessing and covenant with God. Mankind once again disobeyed God and disregarded His leading in their lives, but God preserved His pledge and covenant with Adam, unto Noah's children. Through Noah, God's righteous and just one, God had entry back into man's lives in the earth.
Genesis 11:24-27,29 (Amplified) continues, "When Nahor had lived 29 years he became the father of Terah. And Nahor lived after Terah was born 119 years and had other sons and daughter. After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of (at different times) Abram and Nahor and Haran his firstborn. Now this is the history of the descendants of Terah (Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran), and Haran was the father of Lot." Verse 29 tells us, "Abram and Nahor took wives, the name of Abram's wife was Sara."
We find in Genesis 12:1-3, 16-19 (Amplified), that the same blessing that had been preserved by the Ark that held Noah and his family, had produced a man who God could use to transmit this Blessing and covenant through, once again. Thus it says, "Now in Haran, the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself (for your own advantage), away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will Bless you with abundant increase of favors and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a Blessing, dispensing Good to others. And I will Bless those who bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you), and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you. In you will all the families and kindred of the earth be Blessed, and by you will they bless themselves."
The Blessing on Abraham was at this time, only a material Blessing, but God now had a man who would hold His covenant and His Promise. God Promised that He would Bless Abraham with all material Blessing and in Verses 16-19 we see the Promise of the Spiritual Blessing that he would produce through his union with Sara. Thus God says, "And I will Bless her and give you a son also by her, Yes, I will Bless her, and she shall be the mother of nations, kings of peoples shall come from her. But God said, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac (Laughter), and I will establish My covenant (or solemn pledge) with him for an Everlasting covenant and with his posterity after him."
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his first and only son, by Promise, Abraham (for the sake of his covenant with God), was willing to give his son rather than break his covenant. Genesis 22:16-18 (Amplified) says, "I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld from Me your Son, your only son. In Blessing you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies. And your Seed (Christ) shall all the nations of the earth be Blessed, and by Him bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My Voice."
Now we see the Promise of the Spiritual Blessing being pronounced upon Abraham, that was to continue as an Everlasting covenant. We find that God's Blessing continued down for many generations and into Egypt with Joseph in Exodus 1:6-8 (Amplified) which tells us, "Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But all the descendants of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, and the land was full of them. Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph."
Once again, we see the covenant of God being threatened, by man's attempts to destroy the Seed of the Promise to Abraham of his Blessing to all mankind in Exodus 1:22 (Amplified) which says, "Then Pharaoh charged all his people saying, Every son born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the river Nile, but every daughter you shall allow to live." Satan again, tried to cut off the Seed of Promise, by destroying all male children.
Exodus 2:1-3 (Amplified) goes on, "Now Amran, a man of the house of Levi, the priestly tribe, went and took as his wife Jochebed, a daughter of Levi. And the woman became pregnant and bore a son, and when she saw that he was exceedingly beautiful, she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an Ark (or basket made of bulrushes or papyrus), making it water right, by daubing it with bitumen and pitch, then she put the child in it and laid it among the rushes by the bank of the river Nile."
Once again, we see God using an Ark to protect and preserve the covenant and Promise for and to His people. The people were still dead in their spirit and could only function in the physical, so the covenant was threatened more and more. We see how twice, God has prepared an Ark of protection for His covenant and His Promise. He used these Arks to preserve His Truth, until Jesus was to come.
God offered this covenant to all those of Abraham in Exodus 19:5-6 (Amplified) saying, "Now therefore, in you will obey My Voice in Truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My Own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation consecrated, set apart to the worship of God. These are the Words you (Moses) shall speak to the Israelites."
The people turned away from the covenant of Promise and once again, we see the Lord make an Ark as a place of protection and a place of Promise for His Word. In Exodus 25:10-22 (Amplified) God directs, "They shall make an Ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. You shall overlay the Ark with pure gold inside and out and make a golden crown, a rim or border about its top. And you shall put inside the Ark the Testimony (the ten commandments which I will give you). You shall put the Mercy Seat on the top of the Ark, and in the Ark you shall put the Testimony (the ten commandments that I will give you). There will I meet with you, from above the Mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the Ark of the Testimony, I will speak intimately with you of all which I will give you in commandment to the Israelites."
The Lord again preserves and protects His Promise and His Own covenant, by placing it in an Ark, in Deuteronomy 10:1-5 (Amplified) which tells us, "At that time the Lord said to me (Moses), Hew two tablets of stone like the first and come up to Me on the mountain and make an Ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the Words that were on the first tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the Ark. So I, Moses, made an Ark of acacia wood and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tables of stone in my one hand. And the Lord wrote on the tables as at the first writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them to me And I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tables in the Ark which I had made, and there they are, as the Lord commanded me."
God gave His Word to Adam and it was an Everlasting covenant for all time. Man has repeatedly broken his part of the covenant and relationship. God is faithful to His Word and has made an Ark to protect and preserve His Word from Adam to Jesus. Jesus has now become the Ark of the Covenant, in Whom Grace and Truth has come to rest. Those of us who have trusted in Him, are safely in Christ Jesus (the Ark) and are protected from all things outside the covenant.
Many never realize the protection and preservation of our Ark, but He is the Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life! He is the Door, by which we enter into the Ark, just as surely as the door God closed on Noah and his family that kept them safe and sound during the flood. Now, through Jesus, we have the material Blessing that kept Abraham and we have the Spiritual Blessing that was the Promise to Abraham. While the Door to the Ark is still open, let us enter into the Promises and the Truth of this covenant, that God has protected for us.
Having never really gotten a Revelation of Spiritual Blessing, we've overlooked this part of what Jesus came to redeem us from. We've lost sight of the covenant God made with and through Adam, with its Spiritual Blessings. Adam had Spiritual Life, as well as physical life. He was alive in his spirit and had been given dominion and authority over all the physical creation. Adam and the Father walked together in the spirit, as well as in the flesh.
When Adam transgressed in the Garden, he lost the Spiritual Blessing and could only operate in the natural man. The Blessing of Abraham, found in Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified), didn't only include the material Blessing of his family and earthly goods, but it also brought Life back to his spirit and his Sees, which is Christ Jesus. Thus, Verse 14 says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
This Promise was realized on the Day of Pentecost, with the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh. The covenant made with Adam and the Promise made to Abraham, have both been realized in those who accept Jesus Christ. We are Blessed in this material earth and we're Blessed in the Spiritual Kingdom too, by our being in Christ Jesus. Genesis 6:8-9 (Amplified) says, "But Noah found Grace (favor), in the eyes of the Lord. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his evil generation. Noah walked in habitual fellowship with God."
God says in Genesis 9:11-17 (Amplified), "I will establish My covenant (or pledge) with you; never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood; neither shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth and make it corrupt. And God said, This is the token of the covenant (solemn pledge) which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. I set My bow (rainbow) in the cloud, and it shall be a token or sign of a covenant (or solemn pledge) between Me and the earth. And it shall be that when I bring clouds over the earth and the bow (rainbow), is seen in the clouds I will earnestly remember My covenant (or solemn pledge) which is between Me and you and ever living creature of all flesh; and the waters will no more be a flood to destroy and make all flesh corrupt. When the bow (rainbow) is in the clouds and I look upon it, I will earnestly remember the Everlasting covenant (or pledge) between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said to Noah, This rainbow is the token or sign of the covenant (or solemn pledge) which I have established between Me and all flesh upon the earth."
God directed Noah to build an Ark, in order to save His Righteousness and Grace from destruction. The Ark protected God's covenant, which He made with Adam at the creation. God needed to preserve His Promise and His Grace and the favor or His covenant, otherwise His Word to Adam would be void forever. God looked upon Noah as being "righteous, just, and blameless in his generation." Only Noah and his household were to be spared from the destruction of the flood. The Ark was God's way of preserving the covenant He made with mankind.
Through Noah God's material Blessing could be continued once again, into the earth. Noah and his family were the only ones who could carry on the Truth of Adam's Blessing and covenant with God. Mankind once again disobeyed God and disregarded His leading in their lives, but God preserved His pledge and covenant with Adam, unto Noah's children. Through Noah, God's righteous and just one, God had entry back into man's lives in the earth.
Genesis 11:24-27,29 (Amplified) continues, "When Nahor had lived 29 years he became the father of Terah. And Nahor lived after Terah was born 119 years and had other sons and daughter. After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of (at different times) Abram and Nahor and Haran his firstborn. Now this is the history of the descendants of Terah (Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran), and Haran was the father of Lot." Verse 29 tells us, "Abram and Nahor took wives, the name of Abram's wife was Sara."
We find in Genesis 12:1-3, 16-19 (Amplified), that the same blessing that had been preserved by the Ark that held Noah and his family, had produced a man who God could use to transmit this Blessing and covenant through, once again. Thus it says, "Now in Haran, the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself (for your own advantage), away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will Bless you with abundant increase of favors and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a Blessing, dispensing Good to others. And I will Bless those who bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you), and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you. In you will all the families and kindred of the earth be Blessed, and by you will they bless themselves."
The Blessing on Abraham was at this time, only a material Blessing, but God now had a man who would hold His covenant and His Promise. God Promised that He would Bless Abraham with all material Blessing and in Verses 16-19 we see the Promise of the Spiritual Blessing that he would produce through his union with Sara. Thus God says, "And I will Bless her and give you a son also by her, Yes, I will Bless her, and she shall be the mother of nations, kings of peoples shall come from her. But God said, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac (Laughter), and I will establish My covenant (or solemn pledge) with him for an Everlasting covenant and with his posterity after him."
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his first and only son, by Promise, Abraham (for the sake of his covenant with God), was willing to give his son rather than break his covenant. Genesis 22:16-18 (Amplified) says, "I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld from Me your Son, your only son. In Blessing you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies. And your Seed (Christ) shall all the nations of the earth be Blessed, and by Him bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My Voice."
Now we see the Promise of the Spiritual Blessing being pronounced upon Abraham, that was to continue as an Everlasting covenant. We find that God's Blessing continued down for many generations and into Egypt with Joseph in Exodus 1:6-8 (Amplified) which tells us, "Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But all the descendants of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, and the land was full of them. Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph."
Once again, we see the covenant of God being threatened, by man's attempts to destroy the Seed of the Promise to Abraham of his Blessing to all mankind in Exodus 1:22 (Amplified) which says, "Then Pharaoh charged all his people saying, Every son born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the river Nile, but every daughter you shall allow to live." Satan again, tried to cut off the Seed of Promise, by destroying all male children.
Exodus 2:1-3 (Amplified) goes on, "Now Amran, a man of the house of Levi, the priestly tribe, went and took as his wife Jochebed, a daughter of Levi. And the woman became pregnant and bore a son, and when she saw that he was exceedingly beautiful, she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an Ark (or basket made of bulrushes or papyrus), making it water right, by daubing it with bitumen and pitch, then she put the child in it and laid it among the rushes by the bank of the river Nile."
Once again, we see God using an Ark to protect and preserve the covenant and Promise for and to His people. The people were still dead in their spirit and could only function in the physical, so the covenant was threatened more and more. We see how twice, God has prepared an Ark of protection for His covenant and His Promise. He used these Arks to preserve His Truth, until Jesus was to come.
God offered this covenant to all those of Abraham in Exodus 19:5-6 (Amplified) saying, "Now therefore, in you will obey My Voice in Truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My Own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation consecrated, set apart to the worship of God. These are the Words you (Moses) shall speak to the Israelites."
The people turned away from the covenant of Promise and once again, we see the Lord make an Ark as a place of protection and a place of Promise for His Word. In Exodus 25:10-22 (Amplified) God directs, "They shall make an Ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. You shall overlay the Ark with pure gold inside and out and make a golden crown, a rim or border about its top. And you shall put inside the Ark the Testimony (the ten commandments which I will give you). You shall put the Mercy Seat on the top of the Ark, and in the Ark you shall put the Testimony (the ten commandments that I will give you). There will I meet with you, from above the Mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the Ark of the Testimony, I will speak intimately with you of all which I will give you in commandment to the Israelites."
The Lord again preserves and protects His Promise and His Own covenant, by placing it in an Ark, in Deuteronomy 10:1-5 (Amplified) which tells us, "At that time the Lord said to me (Moses), Hew two tablets of stone like the first and come up to Me on the mountain and make an Ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the Words that were on the first tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the Ark. So I, Moses, made an Ark of acacia wood and hewed two tables of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tables of stone in my one hand. And the Lord wrote on the tables as at the first writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them to me And I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tables in the Ark which I had made, and there they are, as the Lord commanded me."
God gave His Word to Adam and it was an Everlasting covenant for all time. Man has repeatedly broken his part of the covenant and relationship. God is faithful to His Word and has made an Ark to protect and preserve His Word from Adam to Jesus. Jesus has now become the Ark of the Covenant, in Whom Grace and Truth has come to rest. Those of us who have trusted in Him, are safely in Christ Jesus (the Ark) and are protected from all things outside the covenant.
Many never realize the protection and preservation of our Ark, but He is the Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life! He is the Door, by which we enter into the Ark, just as surely as the door God closed on Noah and his family that kept them safe and sound during the flood. Now, through Jesus, we have the material Blessing that kept Abraham and we have the Spiritual Blessing that was the Promise to Abraham. While the Door to the Ark is still open, let us enter into the Promises and the Truth of this covenant, that God has protected for us.
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Lesson 81 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Religion has taught us that, "Some are special and endowed with more than others." We've been taught that the Father has "favorites" among the Body of Christ and that's why some have it, while others don't. The above scripture declares that, "We have all been Blessed and we have all been supplied with, all these things in Jesus.
When we were made new creation sons and daughter in Christ Jesus, 2Corinthians 5:17 says that, "We inherited all of these potentials from our Heavenly Father." We now have the Spiritual DNA of God, in our new spirits. Most haven't understood what happened when we were born-again. We were born-again into the Life of God again. Adam's transgression in the Garden of Eden, caused mankind to become detached or dead in spirit and separated from the Holy Spirit of God. The only ones would could function by God's Spirit, were those who were anointed by God (like Elijah).
Certain men were anointed as prophets, kings, priests and judges. Only those were were "called," could be used by God. In the new creation family of God, we are ALL anointed by the new birth of and into God's Spirit. 1John 2:20,27 (Amplified) say, "But you have been anointed by, you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One and you know ALL the Truth, or you know all things." Verse 27 says, "But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction), which you have received from Him abides PERMANENTLY in you; so then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is True and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in) never depart from Him, being rooted in Him knit to Him, Just as His anointing has taught you to do."
There are many more scriptures that teach us that we've not only been anointed, but that Anointing lives in us, by the Holy Spirit. This isn't referring to the Gifts of the Spirit, found in 1Corinthians 12, but is in reference to the Very Spirit Who gives these Gifts. The Holy Spirit now lives in and has anointed you, by His indwelling Presence.
Many haven't discerned or understood how to hear the Holy Spirit in their lives, most likely because we're still much more carnal than Spiritual, in our Christian walk. The anointing or unction from and by the Holy Spirit, is the same anointing and unction that came upon the men of the old covenant, in order to perform what God needed said and done. The anointing doesn't come upon the new creation men and women, but it has come inside and has been infused into our new spirit. We've actually been made one with and in Him.
It's difficult for the Holy Spirit to move within men, who are still mostly carnal in their minds and thinking. Paul commented on this in 1Corinthians 1:6 (Amplified), saying, "Yet when we are among the full-grown, spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding, we do impart a higher Wisdom, the knowledge of the Divine Plan previously hidden; but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away."
Paul also writes in 1Corinthians 3:1-2 (Amplified), "However, Brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual men, but as to non-spiritual men of the flesh in whom the carnal nature predominates, as to mere infants in the new Life in Christ unable to talk yet. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough to be ready for it, but even yet you are not strong enough to be ready for it."
Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked) by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside; He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God; For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality), will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
Even the new creatures in Christ Jesus will only reap from whatever the lower nature is able to provide, which is decay and ruin, if we continue walking only in the carnal realm. God is not mocked. He can only do or produce from "good seed," and not from what the world provides. God's Word tells us that, "Whatever we sow, is what we will reap."
Don't be deluded or deceived, by what is produced in the lives of some Christians you might know. God isn't mocked and He can only do what His Word (Seed) says. If you're receiving a crop of decay, ruin or destruction, then don't be deceived. You're sowing to the lower nature (the flesh), by carnal understanding and you're reaping decay from the lower nature.
God will not be mocked! When ruin comes into your life, don't say, "God is doing it." Whatever we sow, that and only that, is what we reap. This comes from not knowing who and what we are in Christ and what we've received from Him. We've become new creation beings, but we continue walking in the old carnal, lower nature and are reaping destruction in our lives. We have deceived ourselves through religious reasoning, which can only bring forth ruin and heartache.
Everyone in the Body of Christ is anointed by and through His anointing. No one has been left out, according to 1Corinthians 6:17 (Amplified) which says, "But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one Spirit with Him." We cannot become one with Him in Spirit and not become one also with His Anointing. This Anointing is His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Anointing and you are one in Him and with Him, in Christ Jesus.
Religion has taught us that, "Some are special and endowed with more than others." We've been taught that the Father has "favorites" among the Body of Christ and that's why some have it, while others don't. The above scripture declares that, "We have all been Blessed and we have all been supplied with, all these things in Jesus.
When we were made new creation sons and daughter in Christ Jesus, 2Corinthians 5:17 says that, "We inherited all of these potentials from our Heavenly Father." We now have the Spiritual DNA of God, in our new spirits. Most haven't understood what happened when we were born-again. We were born-again into the Life of God again. Adam's transgression in the Garden of Eden, caused mankind to become detached or dead in spirit and separated from the Holy Spirit of God. The only ones would could function by God's Spirit, were those who were anointed by God (like Elijah).
Certain men were anointed as prophets, kings, priests and judges. Only those were were "called," could be used by God. In the new creation family of God, we are ALL anointed by the new birth of and into God's Spirit. 1John 2:20,27 (Amplified) say, "But you have been anointed by, you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One and you know ALL the Truth, or you know all things." Verse 27 says, "But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction), which you have received from Him abides PERMANENTLY in you; so then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is True and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in) never depart from Him, being rooted in Him knit to Him, Just as His anointing has taught you to do."
There are many more scriptures that teach us that we've not only been anointed, but that Anointing lives in us, by the Holy Spirit. This isn't referring to the Gifts of the Spirit, found in 1Corinthians 12, but is in reference to the Very Spirit Who gives these Gifts. The Holy Spirit now lives in and has anointed you, by His indwelling Presence.
Many haven't discerned or understood how to hear the Holy Spirit in their lives, most likely because we're still much more carnal than Spiritual, in our Christian walk. The anointing or unction from and by the Holy Spirit, is the same anointing and unction that came upon the men of the old covenant, in order to perform what God needed said and done. The anointing doesn't come upon the new creation men and women, but it has come inside and has been infused into our new spirit. We've actually been made one with and in Him.
It's difficult for the Holy Spirit to move within men, who are still mostly carnal in their minds and thinking. Paul commented on this in 1Corinthians 1:6 (Amplified), saying, "Yet when we are among the full-grown, spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding, we do impart a higher Wisdom, the knowledge of the Divine Plan previously hidden; but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away."
Paul also writes in 1Corinthians 3:1-2 (Amplified), "However, Brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual men, but as to non-spiritual men of the flesh in whom the carnal nature predominates, as to mere infants in the new Life in Christ unable to talk yet. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough to be ready for it, but even yet you are not strong enough to be ready for it."
Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked) by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside; He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God; For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality), will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
Even the new creatures in Christ Jesus will only reap from whatever the lower nature is able to provide, which is decay and ruin, if we continue walking only in the carnal realm. God is not mocked. He can only do or produce from "good seed," and not from what the world provides. God's Word tells us that, "Whatever we sow, is what we will reap."
Don't be deluded or deceived, by what is produced in the lives of some Christians you might know. God isn't mocked and He can only do what His Word (Seed) says. If you're receiving a crop of decay, ruin or destruction, then don't be deceived. You're sowing to the lower nature (the flesh), by carnal understanding and you're reaping decay from the lower nature.
God will not be mocked! When ruin comes into your life, don't say, "God is doing it." Whatever we sow, that and only that, is what we reap. This comes from not knowing who and what we are in Christ and what we've received from Him. We've become new creation beings, but we continue walking in the old carnal, lower nature and are reaping destruction in our lives. We have deceived ourselves through religious reasoning, which can only bring forth ruin and heartache.
Everyone in the Body of Christ is anointed by and through His anointing. No one has been left out, according to 1Corinthians 6:17 (Amplified) which says, "But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one Spirit with Him." We cannot become one with Him in Spirit and not become one also with His Anointing. This Anointing is His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Anointing and you are one in Him and with Him, in Christ Jesus.
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Lesson 80 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
When you know God's will concerning any area of your life, you will have faith in God's Word for that thing or situation. When faith comes or believing in God's Promise in that situation comes, then you will always have victory in that situation. Colossi ans 1:9-13 (Amplified) says, "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, 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, live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to 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." Verses 11-13 go on, "We pray that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the Might of His Glory, to exercise every kind of endurance and patience, perseverance and forbearance with joy. Giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love."
This might be the first time you've read the above scriptures. The Holy Spirit didn't give this prayer for the Church in Colossus, but He gave it to us. 2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."
It's difficult to conform to God's will, when we don't know what His will is. Not knowing God's will concerning our walk with Him, is one of the greatest stumbling blocks for today's Church. Some believer that hardship and sickness are His will, but Colossi ans 1:9-13 encourages us to know and understand God's will. Paul taught us further, in 2Timothy 3:16, that "God uses His Word to teach, correct, and bring us into conformity to His will."
We've become double-minded people, when it comes to knowing God's will. James 1:5-8 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of God Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him. 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 of 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 carnal mind is at enmity against the Word of Truth. The Spiritually minded believer, who wishes to know God's Truth, has God's Wisdom cancelled out by reasoning and is left without answers about God's will and mind. We've become double-minded, because of the differing teachings and education we've received. One can have enough education to read and understand the words, but still not have Revelation of the Truth they hold. This leaves us in religion, instead of relation with God. The carnal mind cannot receive the Spirit of God's Word, so we search for reasons as to why certain things aren't working like they should, in our lives. The carnal mind then determines that "It's not God's will for us to have these things."
Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." We sometimes forget that God's Word is also Spirit. It doesn't come from or for the carnal minds of men, but God's Word is from the Spirit Father. Miracles, signs, and wonders don't make sense to the carnal mind. The carnal mind can't understand it and assumes these things are not longer valid for today.
God's Word is born of the Super-natural Man Jesus and is for Super-natural men. Only the new creation people, who have the mind of Christ, can discern Truth from fiction. The carnally minded Christian might be born-again, but hasn't renewed his/her mind with God's Word and continues reading the Word from a worldly viewpoint. Many people get saved, but remain Spiritual babies, as far as Wisdom is concerned. Miracles and the Move of God's Spirit in our lives, have been mostly dismissed by today's Church, because we haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to produce Life to His Truth.
We say that, "We believe," but then say, "These things are for when we die and go to Heaven." We really do believe, but we believe it's for the future. Have you ever wondered what good is it, to lay hands on the sick, after we go to be with the Lord? How many sick people live in Heaven? We must accept Paul's writing from Colossi ans 1:9-13 as a prayer for our lives today and receive it as being God's will for His family. Then, we can truly understand the Truth of the Spirit of God's Word.
The Father wants us to know and understand His Heart. He wants His family to know His will, in order to restore everything wrong on the earth, back to Kingdom righteousness. Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:10 (Amplified), "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Jesus taught us to pray in this manner and restore the things that are out-of-order on this earth, back into the order of God's will in the Kingdom.
This takes the Super-natural power of the Holy Spirit and only He can get it done! We must simply yield to Him, by believing that He not only can do it, but it's truly His will to do it now. Jesus said that, "It's not Me Who does the work, but the Father in Me does the work." The same is true for us. It's God Who does the work. We need to believe it is still His will and He is still Almighty God.
When you know God's will concerning any area of your life, you will have faith in God's Word for that thing or situation. When faith comes or believing in God's Promise in that situation comes, then you will always have victory in that situation. Colossi ans 1:9-13 (Amplified) says, "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, 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, live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to 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." Verses 11-13 go on, "We pray that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the Might of His Glory, to exercise every kind of endurance and patience, perseverance and forbearance with joy. Giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love."
This might be the first time you've read the above scriptures. The Holy Spirit didn't give this prayer for the Church in Colossus, but He gave it to us. 2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."
It's difficult to conform to God's will, when we don't know what His will is. Not knowing God's will concerning our walk with Him, is one of the greatest stumbling blocks for today's Church. Some believer that hardship and sickness are His will, but Colossi ans 1:9-13 encourages us to know and understand God's will. Paul taught us further, in 2Timothy 3:16, that "God uses His Word to teach, correct, and bring us into conformity to His will."
We've become double-minded people, when it comes to knowing God's will. James 1:5-8 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of God Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him. 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 of 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 carnal mind is at enmity against the Word of Truth. The Spiritually minded believer, who wishes to know God's Truth, has God's Wisdom cancelled out by reasoning and is left without answers about God's will and mind. We've become double-minded, because of the differing teachings and education we've received. One can have enough education to read and understand the words, but still not have Revelation of the Truth they hold. This leaves us in religion, instead of relation with God. The carnal mind cannot receive the Spirit of God's Word, so we search for reasons as to why certain things aren't working like they should, in our lives. The carnal mind then determines that "It's not God's will for us to have these things."
Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." We sometimes forget that God's Word is also Spirit. It doesn't come from or for the carnal minds of men, but God's Word is from the Spirit Father. Miracles, signs, and wonders don't make sense to the carnal mind. The carnal mind can't understand it and assumes these things are not longer valid for today.
God's Word is born of the Super-natural Man Jesus and is for Super-natural men. Only the new creation people, who have the mind of Christ, can discern Truth from fiction. The carnally minded Christian might be born-again, but hasn't renewed his/her mind with God's Word and continues reading the Word from a worldly viewpoint. Many people get saved, but remain Spiritual babies, as far as Wisdom is concerned. Miracles and the Move of God's Spirit in our lives, have been mostly dismissed by today's Church, because we haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to produce Life to His Truth.
We say that, "We believe," but then say, "These things are for when we die and go to Heaven." We really do believe, but we believe it's for the future. Have you ever wondered what good is it, to lay hands on the sick, after we go to be with the Lord? How many sick people live in Heaven? We must accept Paul's writing from Colossi ans 1:9-13 as a prayer for our lives today and receive it as being God's will for His family. Then, we can truly understand the Truth of the Spirit of God's Word.
The Father wants us to know and understand His Heart. He wants His family to know His will, in order to restore everything wrong on the earth, back to Kingdom righteousness. Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:10 (Amplified), "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Jesus taught us to pray in this manner and restore the things that are out-of-order on this earth, back into the order of God's will in the Kingdom.
This takes the Super-natural power of the Holy Spirit and only He can get it done! We must simply yield to Him, by believing that He not only can do it, but it's truly His will to do it now. Jesus said that, "It's not Me Who does the work, but the Father in Me does the work." The same is true for us. It's God Who does the work. We need to believe it is still His will and He is still Almighty God.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Lesson 79 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
Through the new creation birth, we've become sons and daughters of God. We were molded from the Word and Pattern of Jesus Himself. We are not the Messiah, but we're made in His Likeness by the Same Seed that He came through, the Word of God. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) tells us, "You have been regenerated (born again) not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
We've been born-again and are designed to simultaneously function in two realms, like Jesus did in His earthly ministry. Jesus functioned as a Man in a flesh and blood Body, but He simultaneously functioned as a Spirit, born from Above. His natural body got hungry, tired, and required rest and food, but His Spiritual body functioned in and through His Spirit, by the Holy Spirit. Jesus walked as a Man, but functioned as a Spirit at the same time. He didn't need to wait to die, in order to flow by the Spirit, but He allowed the Spirit to flow through His Own Body. Jesus walked naturally Super-natural.
The first Adam walked with the Father in the same way, before falling from his placed of standing and Life in God. His spirit lost all connection with God, Who is Life, as a result of his transgression in the Garden of Eden. Adam's spirit took upon itself the lost innocence and became spiritual dead, like his new father, satan. From that time on, Adam could only function in one realm, which was the realm of the flesh or senses. His ability to discern from God and His Spirit, had been deadened by his disconnect with God.
Before we were born-again, we walked like the first Adam, in a a state of spiritual death and disconnect with the Father. When we were born-again, the Holy Spirit of God Himself came into our dead spirit and restored Life into it. God's Life and His Spirit, through and in our new spirit, brought us back into the realm of the Spirit again. We now simultaneously function in two realm, like Jesus did in His earthly walk. We now walk in the dominion that the first and the Last Adam Jesus walked in.
As a Man, Jesus still had the same things occurring around Him, that every one of us has to deal with. Jesus didn't have to settle for circumstances only by His flesh, but could by His Spirit contain and control those things around Him. Jesus had friends, family, relatives and physical things to deal with, but He also had a Father in Heaven Who had the ability to go beyond His flesh.
Even as a Man, Jesus had the ability to delegate this authority to other men by the Spirit from within. After His resurrection, Jesus couldn't just delegate, but He could now impart this ability and authority into our new creation spirit in His Own Image. We can see how the early Church, including Ananias and other deacons, functioned in both of these realms in Acts 9:10-11 (Amplified) which says, "Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias, the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he answered, Here am I Lord. And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold he is praying there."
I never really heard about Ananias before this scriptures. He was a man who didn't only know the Lord, but he walked in and was led by the Holy Spirit. The only thing the early Church only had to go on, was the Name of Jesus. Paul hadn't begun his ministry and he had not written the many scriptures that are available to us today. The men and women of the early Church turned the world upside-down, with the Super-natural.
Today, we have all the Revelation at our disposal and they're already combined into one book, but we have failed to do as much as a mere handful of believers from the early Church. Satan has been convincing the Church that "All these things have passed away" and "These things were only for the early Church," for over two-thousand years. So, even though there are two billion Christians in the world today, we are less effective in many ways, than the early Church was.
Can you image what would happen to the world, if all two billion Christians were walking like the early Church did? The signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit could convict even the hardest of hearts. Walking naturally Super-natural doesn't mean we're superheroes. It simply means that our spirits control our flesh, instead of having the flesh control our spirits. None of the man-made rules, traditions and regulations have produced the miracles of one deacon named Philip did by himself. We need to seek and hear from the Father, like those believers did: in faith and in His Name.
Through the new creation birth, we've become sons and daughters of God. We were molded from the Word and Pattern of Jesus Himself. We are not the Messiah, but we're made in His Likeness by the Same Seed that He came through, the Word of God. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) tells us, "You have been regenerated (born again) not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
We've been born-again and are designed to simultaneously function in two realms, like Jesus did in His earthly ministry. Jesus functioned as a Man in a flesh and blood Body, but He simultaneously functioned as a Spirit, born from Above. His natural body got hungry, tired, and required rest and food, but His Spiritual body functioned in and through His Spirit, by the Holy Spirit. Jesus walked as a Man, but functioned as a Spirit at the same time. He didn't need to wait to die, in order to flow by the Spirit, but He allowed the Spirit to flow through His Own Body. Jesus walked naturally Super-natural.
The first Adam walked with the Father in the same way, before falling from his placed of standing and Life in God. His spirit lost all connection with God, Who is Life, as a result of his transgression in the Garden of Eden. Adam's spirit took upon itself the lost innocence and became spiritual dead, like his new father, satan. From that time on, Adam could only function in one realm, which was the realm of the flesh or senses. His ability to discern from God and His Spirit, had been deadened by his disconnect with God.
Before we were born-again, we walked like the first Adam, in a a state of spiritual death and disconnect with the Father. When we were born-again, the Holy Spirit of God Himself came into our dead spirit and restored Life into it. God's Life and His Spirit, through and in our new spirit, brought us back into the realm of the Spirit again. We now simultaneously function in two realm, like Jesus did in His earthly walk. We now walk in the dominion that the first and the Last Adam Jesus walked in.
As a Man, Jesus still had the same things occurring around Him, that every one of us has to deal with. Jesus didn't have to settle for circumstances only by His flesh, but could by His Spirit contain and control those things around Him. Jesus had friends, family, relatives and physical things to deal with, but He also had a Father in Heaven Who had the ability to go beyond His flesh.
Even as a Man, Jesus had the ability to delegate this authority to other men by the Spirit from within. After His resurrection, Jesus couldn't just delegate, but He could now impart this ability and authority into our new creation spirit in His Own Image. We can see how the early Church, including Ananias and other deacons, functioned in both of these realms in Acts 9:10-11 (Amplified) which says, "Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias, the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias, and he answered, Here am I Lord. And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold he is praying there."
I never really heard about Ananias before this scriptures. He was a man who didn't only know the Lord, but he walked in and was led by the Holy Spirit. The only thing the early Church only had to go on, was the Name of Jesus. Paul hadn't begun his ministry and he had not written the many scriptures that are available to us today. The men and women of the early Church turned the world upside-down, with the Super-natural.
Today, we have all the Revelation at our disposal and they're already combined into one book, but we have failed to do as much as a mere handful of believers from the early Church. Satan has been convincing the Church that "All these things have passed away" and "These things were only for the early Church," for over two-thousand years. So, even though there are two billion Christians in the world today, we are less effective in many ways, than the early Church was.
Can you image what would happen to the world, if all two billion Christians were walking like the early Church did? The signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit could convict even the hardest of hearts. Walking naturally Super-natural doesn't mean we're superheroes. It simply means that our spirits control our flesh, instead of having the flesh control our spirits. None of the man-made rules, traditions and regulations have produced the miracles of one deacon named Philip did by himself. We need to seek and hear from the Father, like those believers did: in faith and in His Name.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Lesson 78 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
God's Word has always been Truth, but man began to make it traditionalism, until it was no longer being heard as "Truth." God has always tried sending His Truth into the world and into the hearts and minds of men. Through the years, we've lost sight of God's will and Truth for mankind. Jesus was and is the Perfect will and Truth of the Father. Before His resurrection, Jesus taught us to pray what we now call, "The Lord's Prayer." This is God's will for all of mankind. Thus, Jesus said in Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV), "Pray therefore like this; Our Father Who is in Heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted and let go of the debts and given up resentment against our debtors). And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever, Amen."
If it's God's will that things be done here as they are in Heaven, then there should no longer be any doubt about God's using sickness or the devil or any other means of dealing with His people. God's will is Perfect in Heaven and there are no sick, blind, deaf, hungry or homeless people residing there. This is what Jesus taught us to pray.
When Jesus came to do the will of His Father, He simply restored all things back to the Father's will, as it is in Heaven. When Jesus healed the sick, He restored them back as it is in Heaven. When Jesus gave sight to the blind man, He restored that man's sight according to God's will as it is in Heaven. Everything Jesus did, was the Father's will on earth as His will is in Heaven.
Jesus wouldn't have taught us to pray this way, if God didn't will us to know and have His will done in our earthly lives. This is God's Grace and His Truth, through Jesus Christ. When we imagine Heaven and God's Kingdom, it's impossible to imagine that the heartache and sickness we witness on this earth are Heaven's will.
I've heard believers say that, "The things we see here on earth are God's will." If you can witness the things occurring on earth and believe they're "God's will being done here as it is in Heaven," then Heaven is total chaos. We have yet to take God's Word literally, like those under the Law did. Grace has given us so much more "wiggle room," than the Law.
We've tried applying the command to "treat each other better," but we mostly try applying it in the flesh. We try making our flesh behave and do right, but without feeding our spirit on the Truth of God's Word, we are losing the battle. We invent excuses for why we fail and usually end up saying, "God is using this to teach me something." If we fail to feed our new creation being on the Truth of God's Word, then we only walk in traditions and teachings of those before us. And, because it didn't work for them, we're told that it won't work for us, so we remain on the same path. We can go on following men's ideas of "Why God put this on me," or we can decide to "Having done all to stand" and stand.
It's seems easier to pull in the oars and stop rowing against the current, until the current takes us over the falls. We can get into a place of comfort and become slack in seeking God. When we do this, then we've pulled the oars into the boat. Many of us walk out the things from memory, instead of walking in the Daily Bread. It doesn't matter how good the memory of a hamburger is, it won't nourish our body. The memory of God's Word won't nourish your spirit in the place of Daily Bread either.
I remember testimonies from people who God did great things for, but despite the testimony, I don't know how to have God do these things for me. I was encouraged by their testimonies for awhile, but then I would hear others say, "It's not God's will for us." I realized that I needed to seek God for myself, because no one else could do that for me. When I did this, then everything changed.
I discovered that it was God's will to heal me, just as much as it was His will to heal those people. God would speak to me and give me Wisdom and Revelation, just like He did with the men of old. I came to know the Truth of God's Word for myself and recognized that His will, Truth and Grace wasn't just for the apostles, but for all who would believe. Since this included me, I set out to find His will for not only myself, but for all who would seek, knock, and ask, just like God said.
I found a deeper meaning of Matthew 6:33 from the Amplified Bible, which says, "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." God has a way of doing and being right, but we haven't aimed after it. We read God's Word and then try doing it our own way. This has never worked before and it won't work now.
We pray and do in generals, but God deals in specifics. We wouldn't treat anything other thing in generalities, so why do we do it with God's Word? If we were constructing a building, then we wouldn't discard the blueprints and build it any old way. We don't use guesswork with our checking accounts and throw away our bank books, hoping we're not overdrawn (at least I hope we don't do this).
You cannot just say "Forget it," assuming "God knows what I mean." This isn't God's way of doing and being right. Jesus said, "Follow Me" or go in the paths He has gone before us. You can't throw away the road map or MapQuest, guessing the correct route to take and expect to arrive at the correct venue. If what you're doing isn't working, then change what you're doing and try His way of doing and being right. If you have dug yourself into a deep hole and can't seem to get out of that hole, then stop digging. God to the Word and get directions from the Holy Spirit. If someone told you that it doesn't work, that doesn't mean that it's true. They're wrong. Seek for yourself.
God's Word has always been Truth, but man began to make it traditionalism, until it was no longer being heard as "Truth." God has always tried sending His Truth into the world and into the hearts and minds of men. Through the years, we've lost sight of God's will and Truth for mankind. Jesus was and is the Perfect will and Truth of the Father. Before His resurrection, Jesus taught us to pray what we now call, "The Lord's Prayer." This is God's will for all of mankind. Thus, Jesus said in Matthew 6:9-13 (KJV), "Pray therefore like this; Our Father Who is in Heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted and let go of the debts and given up resentment against our debtors). And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever, Amen."
If it's God's will that things be done here as they are in Heaven, then there should no longer be any doubt about God's using sickness or the devil or any other means of dealing with His people. God's will is Perfect in Heaven and there are no sick, blind, deaf, hungry or homeless people residing there. This is what Jesus taught us to pray.
When Jesus came to do the will of His Father, He simply restored all things back to the Father's will, as it is in Heaven. When Jesus healed the sick, He restored them back as it is in Heaven. When Jesus gave sight to the blind man, He restored that man's sight according to God's will as it is in Heaven. Everything Jesus did, was the Father's will on earth as His will is in Heaven.
Jesus wouldn't have taught us to pray this way, if God didn't will us to know and have His will done in our earthly lives. This is God's Grace and His Truth, through Jesus Christ. When we imagine Heaven and God's Kingdom, it's impossible to imagine that the heartache and sickness we witness on this earth are Heaven's will.
I've heard believers say that, "The things we see here on earth are God's will." If you can witness the things occurring on earth and believe they're "God's will being done here as it is in Heaven," then Heaven is total chaos. We have yet to take God's Word literally, like those under the Law did. Grace has given us so much more "wiggle room," than the Law.
We've tried applying the command to "treat each other better," but we mostly try applying it in the flesh. We try making our flesh behave and do right, but without feeding our spirit on the Truth of God's Word, we are losing the battle. We invent excuses for why we fail and usually end up saying, "God is using this to teach me something." If we fail to feed our new creation being on the Truth of God's Word, then we only walk in traditions and teachings of those before us. And, because it didn't work for them, we're told that it won't work for us, so we remain on the same path. We can go on following men's ideas of "Why God put this on me," or we can decide to "Having done all to stand" and stand.
It's seems easier to pull in the oars and stop rowing against the current, until the current takes us over the falls. We can get into a place of comfort and become slack in seeking God. When we do this, then we've pulled the oars into the boat. Many of us walk out the things from memory, instead of walking in the Daily Bread. It doesn't matter how good the memory of a hamburger is, it won't nourish our body. The memory of God's Word won't nourish your spirit in the place of Daily Bread either.
I remember testimonies from people who God did great things for, but despite the testimony, I don't know how to have God do these things for me. I was encouraged by their testimonies for awhile, but then I would hear others say, "It's not God's will for us." I realized that I needed to seek God for myself, because no one else could do that for me. When I did this, then everything changed.
I discovered that it was God's will to heal me, just as much as it was His will to heal those people. God would speak to me and give me Wisdom and Revelation, just like He did with the men of old. I came to know the Truth of God's Word for myself and recognized that His will, Truth and Grace wasn't just for the apostles, but for all who would believe. Since this included me, I set out to find His will for not only myself, but for all who would seek, knock, and ask, just like God said.
I found a deeper meaning of Matthew 6:33 from the Amplified Bible, which says, "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." God has a way of doing and being right, but we haven't aimed after it. We read God's Word and then try doing it our own way. This has never worked before and it won't work now.
We pray and do in generals, but God deals in specifics. We wouldn't treat anything other thing in generalities, so why do we do it with God's Word? If we were constructing a building, then we wouldn't discard the blueprints and build it any old way. We don't use guesswork with our checking accounts and throw away our bank books, hoping we're not overdrawn (at least I hope we don't do this).
You cannot just say "Forget it," assuming "God knows what I mean." This isn't God's way of doing and being right. Jesus said, "Follow Me" or go in the paths He has gone before us. You can't throw away the road map or MapQuest, guessing the correct route to take and expect to arrive at the correct venue. If what you're doing isn't working, then change what you're doing and try His way of doing and being right. If you have dug yourself into a deep hole and can't seem to get out of that hole, then stop digging. God to the Word and get directions from the Holy Spirit. If someone told you that it doesn't work, that doesn't mean that it's true. They're wrong. Seek for yourself.
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Lesson 77 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
When we don't fully understand what Grace is all about, we miss out in so much of what Jesus came to deliver to us, in His death. Our idea of Grace has been more of a "consoling kind of thing" and more pity than power. Grace is one of the most powerful things we have in our inheritance and we haven't understood it's meaning.
Every Promise, Gift and portion of our inheritance is based on Grace. The above scripture tells us that, "We were all supplied with one Grace after another" and that "We were all supplied with all the Grace we would ever need, at any time." I don't know about you, but I need Grace all the time. Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the Throne of Grace (the Throne of God's unmerited favor to us that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help)."
The door to God's Throne of Grace is always open and God is always available to us. When Jesus gave us Grace instead of Law, it meant that everything we would ever need was now available to us by our faith, instead of by our works. When those under Law didn't strictly adhere to the Law, then the fullness of the Blessing couldn't be given, like God would like to do. God is bound by His Word and couldn't violate Himself.
James 2:10 (Amplified) says, "For whoever keeps the Law as a whole but stumbles and offends in one single instance has become guilty of breaking all of it." In Matthew 5:17 (Amplified) Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have not come to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them."
By God's Grace in Jesus, we have perfectly fulfilled the Law and are guiltless of any violations of the Law because of Jesus. This isn't a license to do anything we want and sin, but as we walk with the Father, Grace holds the Curse of the Law away from those of us who are the new creation children of God. Jesus quoted Isaiah 41 in Luke 4:18-19, so we can know that everything He preached was a Gift offered by Grace. This is what we read in John 1:16-17. The fulfilling of the Gospel is based on God's Grace.
Everything that Grace has made available to us, is based on our faith in His Promises to receive. 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 THROUGH YOUR FAITH." Salvation has been made available to all men by Grace, but unless we receive it by faith, we are still dead in trespass and sin. Everything Grace has Promised us must be received by faith, just like our forgiveness is based on faith in God's Grace. It is truly unearned and undeserved favor, with no strings attached. We must only believe in God's Grace to deliver what He has Promised; this is faith's job. When we were born-again, we didn't understand that salvation didn't just include forgiveness of sin, but also healing, deliverance, peace, joy, prosperity, and the Blessing of Abraham. All these things are included in our salvation. We weren't taught to set our faith in and believe for all these things when we received Jesus as our Lord, so we never extended faith to receive these Spiritual Blessings and Gift that God's Grace offered us.
The Father once told me that, "My Grace has provided much more than My children's faith has ever received." He said that, "His children have never accepted most of what His Grace has made available to them." I know that only satan could blind the minds and hearts of God's children to this Glorious and Great Truth. We've been taught about Heave, but acted like the rest of His Promises by Grace have no effect on our earthly lives.
Healing and deliverance were all a part of receiving Jesus as our Lord. The world reduced salvation to mean that we "go to Heaven when we die" and Grace could go no further than we were willing to believe. Grace has never failed in its Promise, but our faith has failed to believe His Grace. Ever our righteousness is a free Gift by Grace, that must be accepted by faith. Many of God's children have left the Gift of righteousness dormant in their walk with the Father, for lack of faith in His Gift of Grace.
Righteousness is a free Gift that was bought by the Precious Blood of Jesus and offered by His Grace, but it must be received by faith. There's no other way to be righteous in God's Own Presence, than by faith in the Grace that called you "righteous." Your whole acceptance into the Throne Room of Grace, must be in boldness by faith, knowing that His Love and mercy have been granted unto us through His Grace.
We've allowed the Gospel to be disrespected into many of the world's ideas about it. In the first century of the Church, the Gospel included healing and deliverance, with the forgiveness of sin. As a matter of fact and Truth, once the Price for sin was paid, sickness and disease had no right to remain in our bodies. Once the Price was paid and faith received the Offer made by His Grace, every hold satan had on our lives, was to be remitted and removed through this Salvation Gift of Grace.
Those in the early Church knew this, so miracles and healings accompanied the Truth of the Gospel. Throughout the years, the Truth about Grace became limited by man's ideas of the Gospel. When we allowed Grace to be limited to include only forgiveness of sin, our faith stopped at that level. the Super-natural display of the new birth became only what we could hear. Even though Grace had made it all available, faith never rose up to accept this Truth.
Many in today's Church believe that, "I'm not a good Christian if I want to be healed" or they believe that "sickness is God's will for their lives and His Grace is to comfort them in their sickness." They haven't understood that His Grace has provided healing for them, by faith in the Gospel of Christ.
It's nearly impossible to have God's people rise to another level of faith, when we've clouded His will for His family for so long. If you say that you know God's will, then many believers will reject it as foolishness. Grace has provided entry into God's Presence, His will and His Spirit. God wants us to know His will and Truth. If we don't have faith in His Grace to enter in, then we remain only religious and not reality, in this world.
When we don't fully understand what Grace is all about, we miss out in so much of what Jesus came to deliver to us, in His death. Our idea of Grace has been more of a "consoling kind of thing" and more pity than power. Grace is one of the most powerful things we have in our inheritance and we haven't understood it's meaning.
Every Promise, Gift and portion of our inheritance is based on Grace. The above scripture tells us that, "We were all supplied with one Grace after another" and that "We were all supplied with all the Grace we would ever need, at any time." I don't know about you, but I need Grace all the time. Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the Throne of Grace (the Throne of God's unmerited favor to us that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help)."
The door to God's Throne of Grace is always open and God is always available to us. When Jesus gave us Grace instead of Law, it meant that everything we would ever need was now available to us by our faith, instead of by our works. When those under Law didn't strictly adhere to the Law, then the fullness of the Blessing couldn't be given, like God would like to do. God is bound by His Word and couldn't violate Himself.
James 2:10 (Amplified) says, "For whoever keeps the Law as a whole but stumbles and offends in one single instance has become guilty of breaking all of it." In Matthew 5:17 (Amplified) Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have not come to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them."
By God's Grace in Jesus, we have perfectly fulfilled the Law and are guiltless of any violations of the Law because of Jesus. This isn't a license to do anything we want and sin, but as we walk with the Father, Grace holds the Curse of the Law away from those of us who are the new creation children of God. Jesus quoted Isaiah 41 in Luke 4:18-19, so we can know that everything He preached was a Gift offered by Grace. This is what we read in John 1:16-17. The fulfilling of the Gospel is based on God's Grace.
Everything that Grace has made available to us, is based on our faith in His Promises to receive. 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 THROUGH YOUR FAITH." Salvation has been made available to all men by Grace, but unless we receive it by faith, we are still dead in trespass and sin. Everything Grace has Promised us must be received by faith, just like our forgiveness is based on faith in God's Grace. It is truly unearned and undeserved favor, with no strings attached. We must only believe in God's Grace to deliver what He has Promised; this is faith's job. When we were born-again, we didn't understand that salvation didn't just include forgiveness of sin, but also healing, deliverance, peace, joy, prosperity, and the Blessing of Abraham. All these things are included in our salvation. We weren't taught to set our faith in and believe for all these things when we received Jesus as our Lord, so we never extended faith to receive these Spiritual Blessings and Gift that God's Grace offered us.
The Father once told me that, "My Grace has provided much more than My children's faith has ever received." He said that, "His children have never accepted most of what His Grace has made available to them." I know that only satan could blind the minds and hearts of God's children to this Glorious and Great Truth. We've been taught about Heave, but acted like the rest of His Promises by Grace have no effect on our earthly lives.
Healing and deliverance were all a part of receiving Jesus as our Lord. The world reduced salvation to mean that we "go to Heaven when we die" and Grace could go no further than we were willing to believe. Grace has never failed in its Promise, but our faith has failed to believe His Grace. Ever our righteousness is a free Gift by Grace, that must be accepted by faith. Many of God's children have left the Gift of righteousness dormant in their walk with the Father, for lack of faith in His Gift of Grace.
Righteousness is a free Gift that was bought by the Precious Blood of Jesus and offered by His Grace, but it must be received by faith. There's no other way to be righteous in God's Own Presence, than by faith in the Grace that called you "righteous." Your whole acceptance into the Throne Room of Grace, must be in boldness by faith, knowing that His Love and mercy have been granted unto us through His Grace.
We've allowed the Gospel to be disrespected into many of the world's ideas about it. In the first century of the Church, the Gospel included healing and deliverance, with the forgiveness of sin. As a matter of fact and Truth, once the Price for sin was paid, sickness and disease had no right to remain in our bodies. Once the Price was paid and faith received the Offer made by His Grace, every hold satan had on our lives, was to be remitted and removed through this Salvation Gift of Grace.
Those in the early Church knew this, so miracles and healings accompanied the Truth of the Gospel. Throughout the years, the Truth about Grace became limited by man's ideas of the Gospel. When we allowed Grace to be limited to include only forgiveness of sin, our faith stopped at that level. the Super-natural display of the new birth became only what we could hear. Even though Grace had made it all available, faith never rose up to accept this Truth.
Many in today's Church believe that, "I'm not a good Christian if I want to be healed" or they believe that "sickness is God's will for their lives and His Grace is to comfort them in their sickness." They haven't understood that His Grace has provided healing for them, by faith in the Gospel of Christ.
It's nearly impossible to have God's people rise to another level of faith, when we've clouded His will for His family for so long. If you say that you know God's will, then many believers will reject it as foolishness. Grace has provided entry into God's Presence, His will and His Spirit. God wants us to know His will and Truth. If we don't have faith in His Grace to enter in, then we remain only religious and not reality, in this world.
Monday, July 23, 2018
Lesson 76 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share, and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Notice that, "we have all been granted these by His fullness and we have all received them by His Grace and favor. Our walk with the Father isn't based on "only some," but we have all been supplied with these things. Some have come to the knowledge of what Jesus has done for us, while some have only understood the forgiveness of sin. Even those who've heard about the forgiveness of sin, hesitate to fully believe in this.
Many haven't renewed their minds by the Truth of God's Word and still see themselves as being "an old sinner saved by Grace." It is any wonder that we're still in the infant state of our Christianity and the world still sees us as immature? Paul writes about something that many dare to believe about our salvation in Romans 5:17 (Amplified) saying, "For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense), death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor) and the free Gift of righteousness (putting them in right standing with Himself), reign as kings in life through the One Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
We see how this aligns with our base scripture from John 1:16-17. We see how God's Grace and His Gifts overlap. They bring righteousness to the believer and God's favor to reign with Jesus in this life. The Word doesn't say we will "Reign as kings after we arrive in Heaven," but says we reign with Him in life. It is His Life, by which we reign and that Life is in us now to reign here on earth. Romans 5:17 told us that, "Much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor) and the free Gift of righteousness." These Gifts, favors, Grace and the surety must be received. They've already been delegated to God's family through Jesus, but many have never received and accepted the things we've inherited.
When we see someone who is walking in God's Grace and righteousness, we say, "These things aren't for everyone," and we put ourselves in the category of never being the one who has favor and Gifts. The Spiritual Blessings found in John 1:16-17 are inherited through the Promise made to the Seed, Who is Jesus. God's Promise of the Holy Spirit would be given to Abraham's Seed, Who is Jesus, according to Galatians 3:29 (Amplified) which 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." Galatians 4:6 (Amplified) tells us, "And because you really are His sons, God has sent the Holy Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Father."
So many things that were in the Promise to Abraham and his Seed, couldn't be fulfilled under the old covenant. When Jesus came and underwent our redemption through His Place of death, this Promise of the Spirit was fulfilled. Men under the Law, were still dead in his spirit and cut off from the Life of God. We're now in Jesus and born-again in the Spirit of God. We share in His Life through us. All the Spiritual Blessings that the Promise held through God's covenant to Abraham, can now be made sure, through Jesus.
In Genesis 17:4-7 (Amplified) God tells Abraham, "As for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations. Nor shall your name be any longer Abram, high exalted father; but your name shall be Abraham, father of a multitude, for I have made you the father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you." Romans 5:17 (Amplified) told us that, "The free Gift of righteousness (putting the believer in right standing with God), reign as kings in life through Jesus."
God didn't only include such earthly kinds as David and Solomon in His Promise, but He extended it to include those who are in Christ Jesus. By His Spiritual Blessings, those who are in Christ Jesus reign as kings in life, through Him. We don't inherit the earthly Blessing of Abraham, but now through Jesus, we have both the earthly (natural) Promise of our well-being, but we also have the Promise of our Heavenly well-being and inheritance.
In Genesis 17:7 (Amplified), God continues speaking to Abraham about His Promise, saying, "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and to your descendants after you throughout their generations for an Everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you." Galatians 3:16 (Amplified) says, "Now the Promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir)." God, does not say, "And to seeds, descendants, or heirs," in reference to many persons, but He says, "Unto your Seed, your Descendant, your Heir," obviously referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ, the Messiah.
In Jesus, the Seed, we have all received, all had a share in and are all Blessed with the fullness of the Promise made to Abraham. The Promise made to Jesus through Abraham, both physically and now spiritually, is ours in Him. The Promise isn't lacking anything, but we haven't believed the Promise and actually walked in the sons-ship inheritance, as fellow heirs with Jesus. The Promises of God are ours already. 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) tells us, "For the Son of God (Christ the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, (by myself and Silvanius and Timothy), was not Yes and no, but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him, Christ. For this reason we also after the Amen (so be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God." Did you know that it brings Glory to God, when we accept, believe His Promises and act on them?
Again, Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed 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."
This faith is a growing, continuing and revealing walk with the Father, through His Word. When we grow to believe His Promises more than we believe what others say about His Promises, then it brings Glory to Him and enhances the power of these Promises in our earthly lives, as well as when we go to Heaven. You must remember that even though all these Promises are yours in Him, you must believe them, in order for them to work in your life.
GO TO "ARCHIVES," TO READ EARLIER TEACHINGS.
Notice that, "we have all been granted these by His fullness and we have all received them by His Grace and favor. Our walk with the Father isn't based on "only some," but we have all been supplied with these things. Some have come to the knowledge of what Jesus has done for us, while some have only understood the forgiveness of sin. Even those who've heard about the forgiveness of sin, hesitate to fully believe in this.
Many haven't renewed their minds by the Truth of God's Word and still see themselves as being "an old sinner saved by Grace." It is any wonder that we're still in the infant state of our Christianity and the world still sees us as immature? Paul writes about something that many dare to believe about our salvation in Romans 5:17 (Amplified) saying, "For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense), death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor) and the free Gift of righteousness (putting them in right standing with Himself), reign as kings in life through the One Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
We see how this aligns with our base scripture from John 1:16-17. We see how God's Grace and His Gifts overlap. They bring righteousness to the believer and God's favor to reign with Jesus in this life. The Word doesn't say we will "Reign as kings after we arrive in Heaven," but says we reign with Him in life. It is His Life, by which we reign and that Life is in us now to reign here on earth. Romans 5:17 told us that, "Much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor) and the free Gift of righteousness." These Gifts, favors, Grace and the surety must be received. They've already been delegated to God's family through Jesus, but many have never received and accepted the things we've inherited.
When we see someone who is walking in God's Grace and righteousness, we say, "These things aren't for everyone," and we put ourselves in the category of never being the one who has favor and Gifts. The Spiritual Blessings found in John 1:16-17 are inherited through the Promise made to the Seed, Who is Jesus. God's Promise of the Holy Spirit would be given to Abraham's Seed, Who is Jesus, according to Galatians 3:29 (Amplified) which 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." Galatians 4:6 (Amplified) tells us, "And because you really are His sons, God has sent the Holy Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Father."
So many things that were in the Promise to Abraham and his Seed, couldn't be fulfilled under the old covenant. When Jesus came and underwent our redemption through His Place of death, this Promise of the Spirit was fulfilled. Men under the Law, were still dead in his spirit and cut off from the Life of God. We're now in Jesus and born-again in the Spirit of God. We share in His Life through us. All the Spiritual Blessings that the Promise held through God's covenant to Abraham, can now be made sure, through Jesus.
In Genesis 17:4-7 (Amplified) God tells Abraham, "As for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations. Nor shall your name be any longer Abram, high exalted father; but your name shall be Abraham, father of a multitude, for I have made you the father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you." Romans 5:17 (Amplified) told us that, "The free Gift of righteousness (putting the believer in right standing with God), reign as kings in life through Jesus."
God didn't only include such earthly kinds as David and Solomon in His Promise, but He extended it to include those who are in Christ Jesus. By His Spiritual Blessings, those who are in Christ Jesus reign as kings in life, through Him. We don't inherit the earthly Blessing of Abraham, but now through Jesus, we have both the earthly (natural) Promise of our well-being, but we also have the Promise of our Heavenly well-being and inheritance.
In Genesis 17:7 (Amplified), God continues speaking to Abraham about His Promise, saying, "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and to your descendants after you throughout their generations for an Everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you." Galatians 3:16 (Amplified) says, "Now the Promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir)." God, does not say, "And to seeds, descendants, or heirs," in reference to many persons, but He says, "Unto your Seed, your Descendant, your Heir," obviously referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ, the Messiah.
In Jesus, the Seed, we have all received, all had a share in and are all Blessed with the fullness of the Promise made to Abraham. The Promise made to Jesus through Abraham, both physically and now spiritually, is ours in Him. The Promise isn't lacking anything, but we haven't believed the Promise and actually walked in the sons-ship inheritance, as fellow heirs with Jesus. The Promises of God are ours already. 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) tells us, "For the Son of God (Christ the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, (by myself and Silvanius and Timothy), was not Yes and no, but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him, Christ. For this reason we also after the Amen (so be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God." Did you know that it brings Glory to God, when we accept, believe His Promises and act on them?
Again, Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed 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."
This faith is a growing, continuing and revealing walk with the Father, through His Word. When we grow to believe His Promises more than we believe what others say about His Promises, then it brings Glory to Him and enhances the power of these Promises in our earthly lives, as well as when we go to Heaven. You must remember that even though all these Promises are yours in Him, you must believe them, in order for them to work in your life.
GO TO "ARCHIVES," TO READ EARLIER TEACHINGS.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Lesson 75 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
We've been so indoctrinated by man's ideas and carnal thinking, that we've nearly lost sight of the power of the new creation being that the Father has birthed us to be. Man's carnal thinking has placed so many back under the Law, instead of walking in what God's Grace has made us to be. We've functioned more from the outside-in, rather than the inside-out. Those who were under the Law were spiritually dead, so God could only operate from the carnal and fleshly outside, instead of their spirit.
The new creation sons and daughters of God have been made alive in our spirit, so now the Holy Spirit can direct us from the inside-out. Proverbs 20:27 (Amplified) tells us, "The spirit of man (that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God), is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts."
The Word of God brings Light, through our spirit. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
Since we are spirit and God's Words are Spirit, only our spirit can fully know and receive the Truth of His Word. Our carnal minds are unable to receive the Truth, as God intended for us to know. We can read the Words and understand their meaning, but still not function in the Truth. We have the ability to read and understand what is written with our intellect and still not have the Truth. John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
God's Word was Truth even under the Law, but the people couldn't get Light and Life into their dead spirits, because they weren't born-again. The only way they could receive the benefit of the Spiritual Word, was by obeying fleshly rituals. God still honored His Word, if the people obeyed in the flesh. They couldn't call Him "Father," or be in His Presence like we can today. They could only expect to the Blessed, by following rituals and the blood of sacrificed bulls and goats.
As the new creation, we now have already been Blessed through the One and Only Sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus' Sacrifice not only paid for our fleshly sins, but it did much more, it paid for the spiritual sin that came from Adam. It wasn't the natural sins that held God back from mankind, but it was the far greater sin of treason, that brought death to our spirit. Bulls and goats could cover the natural sin, but couldn't atone for the greater sin, the separation of our spirit from God's spirit.
This isn't to say that natural sin is permissible, but without the spirit of man being made alive to God, our natural man had no other choice, because it was born into sin through the first Adam. Romans 5:14 (Amplified) says, "Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses (the Lawgiver), even over those who did not themselves transgress a positive command as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure), of the One Who was to come in reverse. The former, destructive, the Latter, saving."
Even though we can read and by our intellect understand about spirit, we still fail to have Revelation of the Truth, that we are above all things Spirit beings. We abide in this natural body of flesh and conduct our lives on earth as humans, but we are only alive to God, by and through our spirits. We have lives that we function in while on earth, but our conduct and relationship with our Father, is to be from our spirit.
We are to enjoy our natural lives here on earth, but our natural life is to be led by the Spirit. We have spouses, families, homes, and loved ones who bring us pleasure, but these things are only at their fullest when we live through our spirit connected with the Holy Spirit. When the flesh is left to itself, it will always stray off into a place where the Spiritual Blessings cannot do what God intended them to do. James 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "Every Good Gift and every perfect (free, large) full Gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all that gives Light, in the Shining of Whom there can be no variation (rising or setting or shadow cast by His turning as in an eclipse)."
The above scripture tells us, "THERE CAN BE NO VARIATION OF TURNING." God cannot vary in His Own Word or do anything aside from His Word. It doesn't matter how much He Loves us and would like too, God cannot violate His Own Word...not for anyone. When we're outside of His Word, we're not being led by His Spirit and we fail to receive His Spiritual Blessings. We can only receive and walk in the natural man to the fullness of the things God made available to us, through our spirit. We might feel like we have things "under control," which leads us to stop searching for greater understanding of God's Word.
Some will read this lesson and see no need to change for the better. Many accept things that happen to them here, as though those things were part of God's plan for their lives. In Truth, these things happen from their lack of knowledge. We regulate our lives by our own sacrifices, instead of His Sacrifice. We think we must give up enjoying life, while we're in this earthly body. God intended for us to live in this natural world or He wouldn't have given man a natural body to live in. God never created us to be as miserable as possible while we're here on earth, but He intended us to rule and have dominion through our union with Him in our spirit. He intended for us to enjoy the earthly home He created for us.
No matter how "good" you think you have it here, being led by the Spirit will improve life here so much, that we would wonder why we didn't listen more to His Word before.
We've been so indoctrinated by man's ideas and carnal thinking, that we've nearly lost sight of the power of the new creation being that the Father has birthed us to be. Man's carnal thinking has placed so many back under the Law, instead of walking in what God's Grace has made us to be. We've functioned more from the outside-in, rather than the inside-out. Those who were under the Law were spiritually dead, so God could only operate from the carnal and fleshly outside, instead of their spirit.
The new creation sons and daughters of God have been made alive in our spirit, so now the Holy Spirit can direct us from the inside-out. Proverbs 20:27 (Amplified) tells us, "The spirit of man (that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God), is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts."
The Word of God brings Light, through our spirit. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
Since we are spirit and God's Words are Spirit, only our spirit can fully know and receive the Truth of His Word. Our carnal minds are unable to receive the Truth, as God intended for us to know. We can read the Words and understand their meaning, but still not function in the Truth. We have the ability to read and understand what is written with our intellect and still not have the Truth. John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
God's Word was Truth even under the Law, but the people couldn't get Light and Life into their dead spirits, because they weren't born-again. The only way they could receive the benefit of the Spiritual Word, was by obeying fleshly rituals. God still honored His Word, if the people obeyed in the flesh. They couldn't call Him "Father," or be in His Presence like we can today. They could only expect to the Blessed, by following rituals and the blood of sacrificed bulls and goats.
As the new creation, we now have already been Blessed through the One and Only Sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus' Sacrifice not only paid for our fleshly sins, but it did much more, it paid for the spiritual sin that came from Adam. It wasn't the natural sins that held God back from mankind, but it was the far greater sin of treason, that brought death to our spirit. Bulls and goats could cover the natural sin, but couldn't atone for the greater sin, the separation of our spirit from God's spirit.
This isn't to say that natural sin is permissible, but without the spirit of man being made alive to God, our natural man had no other choice, because it was born into sin through the first Adam. Romans 5:14 (Amplified) says, "Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses (the Lawgiver), even over those who did not themselves transgress a positive command as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure), of the One Who was to come in reverse. The former, destructive, the Latter, saving."
Even though we can read and by our intellect understand about spirit, we still fail to have Revelation of the Truth, that we are above all things Spirit beings. We abide in this natural body of flesh and conduct our lives on earth as humans, but we are only alive to God, by and through our spirits. We have lives that we function in while on earth, but our conduct and relationship with our Father, is to be from our spirit.
We are to enjoy our natural lives here on earth, but our natural life is to be led by the Spirit. We have spouses, families, homes, and loved ones who bring us pleasure, but these things are only at their fullest when we live through our spirit connected with the Holy Spirit. When the flesh is left to itself, it will always stray off into a place where the Spiritual Blessings cannot do what God intended them to do. James 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "Every Good Gift and every perfect (free, large) full Gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all that gives Light, in the Shining of Whom there can be no variation (rising or setting or shadow cast by His turning as in an eclipse)."
The above scripture tells us, "THERE CAN BE NO VARIATION OF TURNING." God cannot vary in His Own Word or do anything aside from His Word. It doesn't matter how much He Loves us and would like too, God cannot violate His Own Word...not for anyone. When we're outside of His Word, we're not being led by His Spirit and we fail to receive His Spiritual Blessings. We can only receive and walk in the natural man to the fullness of the things God made available to us, through our spirit. We might feel like we have things "under control," which leads us to stop searching for greater understanding of God's Word.
Some will read this lesson and see no need to change for the better. Many accept things that happen to them here, as though those things were part of God's plan for their lives. In Truth, these things happen from their lack of knowledge. We regulate our lives by our own sacrifices, instead of His Sacrifice. We think we must give up enjoying life, while we're in this earthly body. God intended for us to live in this natural world or He wouldn't have given man a natural body to live in. God never created us to be as miserable as possible while we're here on earth, but He intended us to rule and have dominion through our union with Him in our spirit. He intended for us to enjoy the earthly home He created for us.
No matter how "good" you think you have it here, being led by the Spirit will improve life here so much, that we would wonder why we didn't listen more to His Word before.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Lesson 74 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
We've discussed what Jesus suffering was in previous lessons. The suffering Jesus had to bare, came from the mistrust and persecution of those He came to set free. The suffering Jesus endured on the cross wasn't for you and me to suffer, but was instead so that we wouldn't have to suffer it. this was the Redemptive suffering that only Jesus could accomplish, in our stead. Until we understand this, we will continue in a place that the enemy can torment and hold us back from Jesus' Glory.
There are differences of maturity, both in the Church and the world. Not all the Church is at the same level as mature sons and daughters of God. We are all God's children and all have the same inheritance, but we're not all walking in that inheritance yet. In 1John 2:1 (Amplified), John writes to "little children" when talking about sin and restoration to righteousness. This isn't true for all of us who are born-again, but more so for little children who aren't familiar with their new identity in Christ.
John continues his writing to "little children" in 1John 2:12-13,14 (Amplified). John writes to those who should no longer be little children in Verse 13, saying, "I am writing to you fathers, because you have come to know (recognize) be aware of and understand Him Who existed from the beginning."
John goes on writing to "young men," saying, "I am writing to you young men, because you have been victorious over the wicked one." John is speaking to those who were once "little children." These children have grown up with the teachings of the Word and the Spirit by the fathers. We've all grown from little children to young men and women. We've made mistakes as young children who are learning and growing, but John tells us, "But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate, One Who will intercede for us with the Father, it is Jesus Christ the All Righteous Upright One, Just One, Who conforms to the Father's will in every thought, purpose and action." This is Truth for all the saints, but as we grow up, we should make fewer mistakes and not need forgiven all the time.
Little children don't know how to behave, until they're taught. Young men and women have been taught and should know better than to continually make the same old mistakes (sins). John addresses the "fathers who have come to know Him and understand Him," in Verse 14. These are those in the Church, who have gone from little children to young men and have become those who know and understand the Father God.
As Christians, we were never meant to remain little children or young men and women in Christ. We are called to go from milk to meat in God's Word and understanding. Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:21 (Amplified) saying, "So whoever cleanses himself from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences, will then himself be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work." Paul tells us that we have a part to work out in our growth and ability to teach or be used in the Master's House.
There are many things that we still must learn in these latter times. Many are content to remain little children in Christ and ignore the things being taught by the fathers to young men and women. We still have to come to the Father, repenting over the same mistakes over and over again, because we haven't grown beyond the childish and foolish baby stage. God's Grace and mercy will cleanse us and restore us back to Himself, but we shouldn't remain in this infantile state of sonship.
Little children learn by watching and hearing what goes on around them. In the world, there are young adults who have grown up in dysfunctional homes and they still live and act by the things they learned from the older people in those homes. Some have carried this lifestyle into adulthood and have been destroyed by the things no one should ever have learned from so-called adults. Paul told Timothy that, "Whoever cleanses himself can be a vessel fit for the Master's use."
We each have a choice to make about how we work out our own salvation. In Philippians 2:12 (Amplified) Paul writes, "Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed my suggestions, so now, not only with the enthusiasm you would show in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out, cultivate, carry out to the goal and fully complete your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling, self distrust with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the Name of Christ."
In order to understand and do this, we must mature in God's Word and Spirit and seek the Father for ourselves. There aren't as many who know about the Father, as one might think. Some have limited knowledge of the Father, because of the teachings of their local home church, while some are led off by false doctrines. This isn't a matter of their not being saved, but they haven't matured from the little children stage to the father stage. I don't believe that someone who is truly born-again would deliberately deceive the Church. Some of the things being taught and passed on in the Church aren't truly God's will and Truth, according to God's Word.
Some of the Revelations that the Holy Spirit has brought to us throughout the years, have been discredited by carnal knowledge and traditional teachings. Not everything we have heard about our Father is Truth. Paul writes in 2Timothy 2:15-18 (Amplified), "But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle talk), for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their teachings will devour (it will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene), so it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus who have missed the mark and swerved from the Truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the Truth."
Discerning the Truth from the vain, idle talk, is up to every individual. Some will listen to anything, while some won't listen to anything. Both are in error, because they don't know God's Word or the Father for themselves. Many things are being taught in the right spirit, but are received in the wrong spirit. We must discern for ourselves, by the knowledge and Wisdom of God and by knowing His heart. Many don't wish to grow up and accept the responsibility for their own relationship with the Lord. It's easier for someone else to do their praying, reading and studying, so they remain as little children in Christ.
When you hear a teaching about "The Confession of Your Mouth," then you must study it from God's Word and see if that teaching is Truth. Don't lose sight of maturity. Some have misused this revelation, believing that we can say "anything and it will be alright." You must study God's Word for yourself. When you hear about the authority of the believer, does is mean you can eliminate satan forever? No. Does it mean you can eliminate much of satan's activity in your own life? Yes, you can.
We are given instructions on "warfare and ability" for our lives, in Ephesians 6:6-18. Every individual believer is to take these instructions and use them in our own lives. You can't be the shield of faith for everyone, but you can be the shield of faith for yourself and your family. Verse 6 tells us, "Lift up over all the covering shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missile of the wicked one." Many of these flaming missiles are words that destroy the revelation and confidence of God's people. These can't hurt us, when we spend time in God's Word for ourselves. We are led about by what others think about something, instead of having firsthand knowledge.
Jesus says in Mark 4:23-24 (Amplified), "If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend. Be careful what you are hearing, the measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you-and more besides will be given to you who hear."
Just because someone doesn't believe or receive something, doesn't mean it isn't of God. You must find out for yourself. It's your shield of faith that covers you, not their shield of faith. Many rejected the things Jesus taught, but those who would believe, were healed. Everything Jesus taught was Truth, even though some chose not to believe it and the same it true today. What Jesus says is Truth, but every individual must choose whether or not he/she believes it. Don't try walking your walk on the faith of others. Learn to trust Jesus on your own faith.
Many today are being talked out of being healed, because someone else lacks faith for healing. I don't want someone else to leave me sick, when God wants to make me well. I refuse to allow someone to talk me out of receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, because they don't believe, when God's Word says these are for those who believe. I am a believer. I don't know where others are walking with the Lord, I only know where I am. Even though some things might not be working in the lives of others, doesn't mean they don't work.
You can't make someone else do what they should and you cannot do it for them. You can only seek God and His Kingdom and "All these things will be added unto you." In Matthew 6:33 (Amplified) Jesus says, "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and Righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
This is left up to the seeker. What works and "is given to you besides," is determined by what and Who you are seeking and not be what someone else thinks and reasons about it. Hugh Smith preached at our church years ago, saying, "Hoe your own row." I sow that which I reap. If my crop is good, then it comes from good seed. If I'm not reaping good crops, then I need to change what I'm sowing.
Mark 4 tells us that, "Words are seeds." If my crop is a failure, then it might be because the Law of confession is working and I'm confessing the wrong things or sowing the wrong seeds. You don't have to believe this is true simply because I say it. Go to the Word and seek it out for yourself. We've been robbed of many things of God, because we haven't been seeking them out for ourselves.
It doesn't mean you're not God's child, but it could mean that you need to seek for yourself and grown into young men or fathers in your faith with Jesus. You can't give something you don't have, but once you receive what God has for you, you can give from your abundance. If you really want to know, then "ask Him and He will tell you," according to James 1:3 (Amplified). Build your own relationship with the Lord. Don't stop because someone else does. God on in your walk and then you can help bring them along.
Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
We've discussed what Jesus suffering was in previous lessons. The suffering Jesus had to bare, came from the mistrust and persecution of those He came to set free. The suffering Jesus endured on the cross wasn't for you and me to suffer, but was instead so that we wouldn't have to suffer it. this was the Redemptive suffering that only Jesus could accomplish, in our stead. Until we understand this, we will continue in a place that the enemy can torment and hold us back from Jesus' Glory.
There are differences of maturity, both in the Church and the world. Not all the Church is at the same level as mature sons and daughters of God. We are all God's children and all have the same inheritance, but we're not all walking in that inheritance yet. In 1John 2:1 (Amplified), John writes to "little children" when talking about sin and restoration to righteousness. This isn't true for all of us who are born-again, but more so for little children who aren't familiar with their new identity in Christ.
John continues his writing to "little children" in 1John 2:12-13,14 (Amplified). John writes to those who should no longer be little children in Verse 13, saying, "I am writing to you fathers, because you have come to know (recognize) be aware of and understand Him Who existed from the beginning."
John goes on writing to "young men," saying, "I am writing to you young men, because you have been victorious over the wicked one." John is speaking to those who were once "little children." These children have grown up with the teachings of the Word and the Spirit by the fathers. We've all grown from little children to young men and women. We've made mistakes as young children who are learning and growing, but John tells us, "But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate, One Who will intercede for us with the Father, it is Jesus Christ the All Righteous Upright One, Just One, Who conforms to the Father's will in every thought, purpose and action." This is Truth for all the saints, but as we grow up, we should make fewer mistakes and not need forgiven all the time.
Little children don't know how to behave, until they're taught. Young men and women have been taught and should know better than to continually make the same old mistakes (sins). John addresses the "fathers who have come to know Him and understand Him," in Verse 14. These are those in the Church, who have gone from little children to young men and have become those who know and understand the Father God.
As Christians, we were never meant to remain little children or young men and women in Christ. We are called to go from milk to meat in God's Word and understanding. Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:21 (Amplified) saying, "So whoever cleanses himself from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences, will then himself be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work." Paul tells us that we have a part to work out in our growth and ability to teach or be used in the Master's House.
There are many things that we still must learn in these latter times. Many are content to remain little children in Christ and ignore the things being taught by the fathers to young men and women. We still have to come to the Father, repenting over the same mistakes over and over again, because we haven't grown beyond the childish and foolish baby stage. God's Grace and mercy will cleanse us and restore us back to Himself, but we shouldn't remain in this infantile state of sonship.
Little children learn by watching and hearing what goes on around them. In the world, there are young adults who have grown up in dysfunctional homes and they still live and act by the things they learned from the older people in those homes. Some have carried this lifestyle into adulthood and have been destroyed by the things no one should ever have learned from so-called adults. Paul told Timothy that, "Whoever cleanses himself can be a vessel fit for the Master's use."
We each have a choice to make about how we work out our own salvation. In Philippians 2:12 (Amplified) Paul writes, "Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed my suggestions, so now, not only with the enthusiasm you would show in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out, cultivate, carry out to the goal and fully complete your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling, self distrust with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the Name of Christ."
In order to understand and do this, we must mature in God's Word and Spirit and seek the Father for ourselves. There aren't as many who know about the Father, as one might think. Some have limited knowledge of the Father, because of the teachings of their local home church, while some are led off by false doctrines. This isn't a matter of their not being saved, but they haven't matured from the little children stage to the father stage. I don't believe that someone who is truly born-again would deliberately deceive the Church. Some of the things being taught and passed on in the Church aren't truly God's will and Truth, according to God's Word.
Some of the Revelations that the Holy Spirit has brought to us throughout the years, have been discredited by carnal knowledge and traditional teachings. Not everything we have heard about our Father is Truth. Paul writes in 2Timothy 2:15-18 (Amplified), "But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle talk), for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their teachings will devour (it will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene), so it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus who have missed the mark and swerved from the Truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the Truth."
Discerning the Truth from the vain, idle talk, is up to every individual. Some will listen to anything, while some won't listen to anything. Both are in error, because they don't know God's Word or the Father for themselves. Many things are being taught in the right spirit, but are received in the wrong spirit. We must discern for ourselves, by the knowledge and Wisdom of God and by knowing His heart. Many don't wish to grow up and accept the responsibility for their own relationship with the Lord. It's easier for someone else to do their praying, reading and studying, so they remain as little children in Christ.
When you hear a teaching about "The Confession of Your Mouth," then you must study it from God's Word and see if that teaching is Truth. Don't lose sight of maturity. Some have misused this revelation, believing that we can say "anything and it will be alright." You must study God's Word for yourself. When you hear about the authority of the believer, does is mean you can eliminate satan forever? No. Does it mean you can eliminate much of satan's activity in your own life? Yes, you can.
We are given instructions on "warfare and ability" for our lives, in Ephesians 6:6-18. Every individual believer is to take these instructions and use them in our own lives. You can't be the shield of faith for everyone, but you can be the shield of faith for yourself and your family. Verse 6 tells us, "Lift up over all the covering shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missile of the wicked one." Many of these flaming missiles are words that destroy the revelation and confidence of God's people. These can't hurt us, when we spend time in God's Word for ourselves. We are led about by what others think about something, instead of having firsthand knowledge.
Jesus says in Mark 4:23-24 (Amplified), "If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend. Be careful what you are hearing, the measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you-and more besides will be given to you who hear."
Just because someone doesn't believe or receive something, doesn't mean it isn't of God. You must find out for yourself. It's your shield of faith that covers you, not their shield of faith. Many rejected the things Jesus taught, but those who would believe, were healed. Everything Jesus taught was Truth, even though some chose not to believe it and the same it true today. What Jesus says is Truth, but every individual must choose whether or not he/she believes it. Don't try walking your walk on the faith of others. Learn to trust Jesus on your own faith.
Many today are being talked out of being healed, because someone else lacks faith for healing. I don't want someone else to leave me sick, when God wants to make me well. I refuse to allow someone to talk me out of receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, because they don't believe, when God's Word says these are for those who believe. I am a believer. I don't know where others are walking with the Lord, I only know where I am. Even though some things might not be working in the lives of others, doesn't mean they don't work.
You can't make someone else do what they should and you cannot do it for them. You can only seek God and His Kingdom and "All these things will be added unto you." In Matthew 6:33 (Amplified) Jesus says, "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and Righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
This is left up to the seeker. What works and "is given to you besides," is determined by what and Who you are seeking and not be what someone else thinks and reasons about it. Hugh Smith preached at our church years ago, saying, "Hoe your own row." I sow that which I reap. If my crop is good, then it comes from good seed. If I'm not reaping good crops, then I need to change what I'm sowing.
Mark 4 tells us that, "Words are seeds." If my crop is a failure, then it might be because the Law of confession is working and I'm confessing the wrong things or sowing the wrong seeds. You don't have to believe this is true simply because I say it. Go to the Word and seek it out for yourself. We've been robbed of many things of God, because we haven't been seeking them out for ourselves.
It doesn't mean you're not God's child, but it could mean that you need to seek for yourself and grown into young men or fathers in your faith with Jesus. You can't give something you don't have, but once you receive what God has for you, you can give from your abundance. If you really want to know, then "ask Him and He will tell you," according to James 1:3 (Amplified). Build your own relationship with the Lord. Don't stop because someone else does. God on in your walk and then you can help bring them along.
Friday, July 13, 2018
Haying Season
Thanks for your patience and prayers. I'm almost finished bailing my first field before the rain comes. We need the rain, so I can't complain. I'll be blogging again this coming week, while the rain is falling.
See ya soon,
Cowboy Jim
See ya soon,
Cowboy Jim
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Lesson 73 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
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."
Knowing God's will isn't as difficult as we've been taught to believe or as we might think. Some things are manifested in a way we should all know, but we still have problems seeing them. God wills that all should be saved and He so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son, are two concrete proofs that salvation is God's will. Most believers share God's Message of salvation, but complicate other areas of our walk. Colossi ans 1:9-10 (Amplified) says, "For this reason we also, from the first day we heard of it (your love and understanding of God's Grace) have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full (deep, 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, 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."
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write the above scripture, which says, "that we are to know God's will." Paul even prays for the Church to know God's will. Many have said, "You can never know God's will" or "God's will is a mystery to mankind." Paul said though that, "When we know God's will, then we can walk, live, and conduct our lives in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things."
It's paramount in the believer's life that we know God's will for the world, for the Church and for ourselves. God's will for the world is that "all should be saved." His will for the Church is that, "We desire the sincere milk of the Word and that we should grow thereby." God's will for each individual is that "We know Him in a way that we obey His Word and know His Voice and instructions."
Psalm 23:3 tells us that, "Our Shepherd will restore our soul." I'm not sure what believers think this means, but Strong's Concordance says that, "Your soul is not your spirit, but your carnal mind, will and emotions." #5315 tells us that, "Soul," means "A breathing creature, i.e. animal or vitality, senses, bodily, or mentally, any appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, desire, lust, man, mind, mortality, person, pleasure, soul, will."
Your soul is not your spirit. It's the wisdom and desires we walked in before knowing Jesus. It's the carnal mind that led us in life, without God. This soul is made up of our senses, that walked contrary to God and His Spirit in our unsaved lives. When we were born-again, our minds were still carnal and didn't accept the Spiritual things of our new birth.
Paul directs us in Romans 12:2 (Amplified) saying, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Every believer is tasked with believing and studying and seeking God for him/herself. Jesus said, "He would restore our soul." He will bring your soul back to Him in a place of innocence, to where the old man is forgotten and the condemnation that was before is no longer. Many in the Church are still under condemnation from their past, because they haven't allowed Jesus (through His Word) to restore their soul. I know many good Christians who haven't have their soul restored by God's Word. I've prayed for women who had abortions before making Jesus the Lord of their lives and they live with daily regret and condemnation. I know men and women who were sexually molested as children and they're remain in bondage from this abuse.
It wasn't wasn't your spirit that"messed up", it was your soul. Your spirit will receive Jesus and be made righteous and clean in Him, but your soul will retain the shame, guilt, and condemnation of your past, if you fail to renew it and allow Jesus to restore it. Jesus will bring your soul, your senses and carnal thoughts of the past, back to a place of innocence, like it never even happened.
In order to renew our minds or restore our souls, we must allow the Truth of our new birth, by reading God's Word and seeing ourselves like God does. God's Word tells us that, "He remembers our sins and iniquities no more." We must renew our minds, so that we see ourselves like God sees us. God says in Isaiah 26:3 (Amplified), "I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Me." Strong's Concordance #3354-55-56 says, "Mind" means, "Squeezing into shape, to mold into a form, as a potter, to determine form a resolution, fashion, frame, purpose."
God is the Potter and we are the clay. We must allow God's Word to form our mind, our senses, our souls into what the Potter has made us to be. Your soul is the only part of you, that's giving you problems. Your body is subject to your soul (your mind). To keep your soul from being restored to the innocent new creation child of God, satan will keep reminding you about "who you used to be in the world."
Paul didn't merely write the Epistles, but he also had to walk them out, just like we do. Paul had a carnal mind that he needed to overcome in his ministry, when he became born-again. We can read Paul's past, where he threw Christians in jail, consented to the stoning of Stephen, and persecuted the early Church. Paul said this though, in 1Corinthians 4:3-4 (Amplified), "But as for me personally, it matters very little to me that I should be put on trial by you on this point, and that you or any other human tribunal should investigate and question and cross-question me. I do not even put myself on trial and judge myself. I am not conscious of anything against myself, and I feel blameless, but I am not vindicated and acquitted before God on that account. It is the Lord Himself Who examines and judges me."
Paul was a man, who believed and practiced what he preached. Paul hadn't forgotten who he once was, but he received God's Grace and pushed onto a higher walk with God. Instead of walking in depression and guilt, which would have made him useless for God, Paul walked in God's Grace. Paul saw himself as the new man, instead of the old man he was before receiving Jesus. Paul had to do what he instructed us to do and renew his mind to the Truth of the new birth and live under God's Grace.
God isn't your problem, your body isn't your problem and your spirit isn't your problem. It's your soul (mind) that's still thinking and reminding your of its worldly knowledge, that is contrary to the Knowledge of God, that is your problem. Psalm 23:3 says that, "My Shepherd restores my soul." Strong's Concordance #7725 tells us that the word "restore" means, "Bring back home, carry back again, continually convert, draw back, fetch home again, get ones self back again, recall, recover, refresh, restore, retrieve, cause to make to return, reverse, set again, cause to make to turn back again, backward."
Our Great Shepherd will bring us back to a place of innocence, like we never knew sin or the world. It's like the Lord restores us back to Eden, before Adam transgressed in the Garden, in complete unbroken fellowship with Him.
Knowing God's will isn't as difficult as we've been taught to believe or as we might think. Some things are manifested in a way we should all know, but we still have problems seeing them. God wills that all should be saved and He so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son, are two concrete proofs that salvation is God's will. Most believers share God's Message of salvation, but complicate other areas of our walk. Colossi ans 1:9-10 (Amplified) says, "For this reason we also, from the first day we heard of it (your love and understanding of God's Grace) have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full (deep, 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, 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."
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write the above scripture, which says, "that we are to know God's will." Paul even prays for the Church to know God's will. Many have said, "You can never know God's will" or "God's will is a mystery to mankind." Paul said though that, "When we know God's will, then we can walk, live, and conduct our lives in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things."
It's paramount in the believer's life that we know God's will for the world, for the Church and for ourselves. God's will for the world is that "all should be saved." His will for the Church is that, "We desire the sincere milk of the Word and that we should grow thereby." God's will for each individual is that "We know Him in a way that we obey His Word and know His Voice and instructions."
Psalm 23:3 tells us that, "Our Shepherd will restore our soul." I'm not sure what believers think this means, but Strong's Concordance says that, "Your soul is not your spirit, but your carnal mind, will and emotions." #5315 tells us that, "Soul," means "A breathing creature, i.e. animal or vitality, senses, bodily, or mentally, any appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, desire, lust, man, mind, mortality, person, pleasure, soul, will."
Your soul is not your spirit. It's the wisdom and desires we walked in before knowing Jesus. It's the carnal mind that led us in life, without God. This soul is made up of our senses, that walked contrary to God and His Spirit in our unsaved lives. When we were born-again, our minds were still carnal and didn't accept the Spiritual things of our new birth.
Paul directs us in Romans 12:2 (Amplified) saying, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Every believer is tasked with believing and studying and seeking God for him/herself. Jesus said, "He would restore our soul." He will bring your soul back to Him in a place of innocence, to where the old man is forgotten and the condemnation that was before is no longer. Many in the Church are still under condemnation from their past, because they haven't allowed Jesus (through His Word) to restore their soul. I know many good Christians who haven't have their soul restored by God's Word. I've prayed for women who had abortions before making Jesus the Lord of their lives and they live with daily regret and condemnation. I know men and women who were sexually molested as children and they're remain in bondage from this abuse.
It wasn't wasn't your spirit that"messed up", it was your soul. Your spirit will receive Jesus and be made righteous and clean in Him, but your soul will retain the shame, guilt, and condemnation of your past, if you fail to renew it and allow Jesus to restore it. Jesus will bring your soul, your senses and carnal thoughts of the past, back to a place of innocence, like it never even happened.
In order to renew our minds or restore our souls, we must allow the Truth of our new birth, by reading God's Word and seeing ourselves like God does. God's Word tells us that, "He remembers our sins and iniquities no more." We must renew our minds, so that we see ourselves like God sees us. God says in Isaiah 26:3 (Amplified), "I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Me." Strong's Concordance #3354-55-56 says, "Mind" means, "Squeezing into shape, to mold into a form, as a potter, to determine form a resolution, fashion, frame, purpose."
God is the Potter and we are the clay. We must allow God's Word to form our mind, our senses, our souls into what the Potter has made us to be. Your soul is the only part of you, that's giving you problems. Your body is subject to your soul (your mind). To keep your soul from being restored to the innocent new creation child of God, satan will keep reminding you about "who you used to be in the world."
Paul didn't merely write the Epistles, but he also had to walk them out, just like we do. Paul had a carnal mind that he needed to overcome in his ministry, when he became born-again. We can read Paul's past, where he threw Christians in jail, consented to the stoning of Stephen, and persecuted the early Church. Paul said this though, in 1Corinthians 4:3-4 (Amplified), "But as for me personally, it matters very little to me that I should be put on trial by you on this point, and that you or any other human tribunal should investigate and question and cross-question me. I do not even put myself on trial and judge myself. I am not conscious of anything against myself, and I feel blameless, but I am not vindicated and acquitted before God on that account. It is the Lord Himself Who examines and judges me."
Paul was a man, who believed and practiced what he preached. Paul hadn't forgotten who he once was, but he received God's Grace and pushed onto a higher walk with God. Instead of walking in depression and guilt, which would have made him useless for God, Paul walked in God's Grace. Paul saw himself as the new man, instead of the old man he was before receiving Jesus. Paul had to do what he instructed us to do and renew his mind to the Truth of the new birth and live under God's Grace.
God isn't your problem, your body isn't your problem and your spirit isn't your problem. It's your soul (mind) that's still thinking and reminding your of its worldly knowledge, that is contrary to the Knowledge of God, that is your problem. Psalm 23:3 says that, "My Shepherd restores my soul." Strong's Concordance #7725 tells us that the word "restore" means, "Bring back home, carry back again, continually convert, draw back, fetch home again, get ones self back again, recall, recover, refresh, restore, retrieve, cause to make to return, reverse, set again, cause to make to turn back again, backward."
Our Great Shepherd will bring us back to a place of innocence, like we never knew sin or the world. It's like the Lord restores us back to Eden, before Adam transgressed in the Garden, in complete unbroken fellowship with Him.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
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